Hi Everyone
Just a quick anecdote from day 1 in Atlanta visiting the Weekend Wellness Summit. I'm here volunteering with Real Rife Technologies to A) get to know the technology better and B) network with those active in the alternative health community.
It was a relatively long day of booth set-up, standing in place for a few hours at a time and getting familiar with fellow vendors in the space. I'm exhausted by all the stimulation.
Coming to events like this is exciting for me. I enter with the mentality to learn. Everyone is here with a story to tell. Whether that be a business story, a healing story, a product to launch, a technology to share etc. I prep myself on two fronts:
STAY OPEN! LEARN! LISTEN! I can never underestimate where wisdom lies or what it looks like. Keep my eyes and ears open, Bowie! Don't let arrogance drown out anything of value. I am particularly sensitive to arrogance in sales and typically fold and withdraw in scenarios where I feel I'm being talked down to.
But still LISTEN AND REFLECT! Don't let listening and open-mindedness downplay MY expertise and intuition. My distaste for sales largely stems from my gullibility to it all. I have always been an easy sell. Quick to believe, quick to trust. Just because someone has a business in something does NOT make them an expert, nor does it mean that they have my best interests at heart.
Some tell their story to me like a salesperson, some like a professor. Some talk to me like an idiot, some are engaged in hearing my story. Can I strike a balance between #1 and #2?
But #2 takes the cake for me this weekend. I am standing in my power, my knowing. I am sick and tired of the feeling of looking for my answers in others. The stories, pitches and demonstrations given by others are tools for me to do MY bidding. Today was a good reminder to stick to my guns.
They haven't heard of what I'm doing? No matter to me.
I had an instance where I was in the midst of sharing some of my strategies in approaching type 1 diabetes. The fellow across from me responded, "Oh have you heard of Dr. XXX YYY? He's cured type 1 and type 2 doing AAA and BBB."
End of conversation. No follow-up, no further explanation. Next topic please.
And they move on in the conversation as if what they've just said is common knowledge and my not knowing it has inconvenienced them.
I was quietly shell-shocked. I fumbled for my phone to jot down the name he mentioned. Before I even finished the name I smiled to myself.
I've abbreviated what was shared with Xs, Ys, As and Bs, because what was shared was equally as unhelpful and nondescript. But there were two important moments immediately following that exchange:
The first was my noticing the "OH, I'VE GOT IT!" rush of being told the cure. Finally, this fine gentleman has given me what I've asked for! QUICK WRITE IT DOWN!
The second was the gentle and compassionate reminder that I am still in the process of dropping the habit of looking outside myself for the cure.
No, Bowie, this man selling colloidal silver does not have the cure for diabetes I've been looking for.
I do.
So let this be a loving reminder to those fully committed to their healing journey, never give someone else the responsibility to heal you. Don't forfeit your self-trust so easily. It can creep up on you in sneaky ways. Coming into this weekend I could have sold anyone on the idea that I was here to put the finishing touches on my ideas and my hard work. Yet in a simple exchange, I almost get swept off my feet at the mention of a cure from a complete stranger.
If I'm to be the expert I truly am, I have the BE THE EXPERT I TRULY AM. An expert that listens with intention, reads people as much as their words and never loses their place in the flow of the conversation.
I stand in my power, I stand in my knowing. I can learn, I can listen to others AND I can let it all wash over without grabbing on to any of it. I've got everything I need. That incudes the intuition to incorporate what needs to be incorporated at the right time and leave behind what doesn't.
My confidence is battle-tested. Lost and regained, lost again and argued against, mourned and re-birthed.
I am grateful to have the opportunity to have this internal battle. As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.