May 2024 be filled with love, joy, abundance, peace, happy surprises and anything else that reminds you that you’re loved eternally! This week’s post is about the spiritual practice of Inspiration.
I absolutely love to ski(as you can probably tell from the photo above)!! In graduate school, I joined MIT’s ski club while I was writing my dissertation. During one particularly challenging period of writing my dissertation, the club went on a ski trip to Bretton Woods. I was so excited to go to get away from campus for the day, and, hopefully, gain some much needed perspective on the challenges I was encountering.
Bretton Woods had a new type of adapted sit ski that enabled me to ski completely independently for the first time in my life. I spent 30 minutes learning a new style of skiing. Once I was proficient, my ski instructors and I went all over that mountain. I had a blast and I was able to control all of my movement on the slopes for the first time! I loved it! I became the purple blur on the White Mountains of New Hampshire!
After about 60 minutes of skiing easy and semi-easy trails, my lead instructor told my other instructors that we were going to ski down a particular trail. My other instructors questioned him, saying that the trail was a difficult intermediate trail and my ski wasn’t built to go down such a steep trail. The lead instructor vetoed their concerns and pushed me to the top of the trail.
I looked down and immediately started praying, “Dear Lord, please help my instructor see what I see, which is if I go down this trail, I will be meeting You shortly! Amen!”
I shared part of my prayer with my instructor who, after a hearty laugh, told me I was one of the most talented skiers he had instructed and I could do it. He said he’d guide me through the steepest part and then I could take off on my own. I was still less than convinced; however, but he had gotten me this far and the trail did look like fun. So, I took a deep breath and started down the trail.
At first, every muscle in my body tightened in sheer terror, but once I saw that I was doing it, that I was staying upright and skiing past non-disabled skiers, I relaxed, took my hand off the brakes and went FLYING down that trail!! I giggled and screamed in pure delight all the way down. When we got to the bottom of the hill, my body was electric! I had so much energy coursing through my muscles.
One of my instructors said, “I didn’t know that ski could go that fast!” My lead instructor laughed and asked me how I felt.
Naturally, I replied, “Can we do that trail AGAIN!!??”
While learning a new style of skiing, skiing independently for the first time and navigating that trail were all so amazing that words cannot express their majesty, they were not the most glorious part of that trip. The most glorious part of the trip was doing all of this with my lead ski instructor, who is a Vietnam War veteran and a bilateral amputee, which means he has no hands and no arms. He helped transfer me out of my wheelchair into the ski, taught me how to ski, helped me keep my balance on the slopes with two prosthetic arms, a rubber hand and a hook.
During our many rides on the ski lift, he shared his life story with me: what Vietnam was like, how he came to terms with his disability and how much he gains by being a ski instructor to disabled athletes. I needed to hear everything he had to say about life, disability and finding your own way to realize your dreams. Learning from him inspired me to know that I could navigate anything I needed to related to my dissertation.
By the end of that ski trip, I was ready to tackle my dissertation. I transferred the inspiration from my ski trip to my studies. I knew that the challenges I was facing were nothing compared to the strength of my spirit! Nothing was going to stop me from finishing my dissertation! By helping me accomplish things on the ski slopes that I didn’t know were possible and sharing his journey with me, my instructor gave me inspiration that fueled me through the rest of grad school.
Every time I reminisce about that ski trip, I am reminded me of the transformative power of being inspired. When we are inspired, we receive an inflow of divine ideas that leads us to a new way of perceiving the world. Since this new perception is rooted in the truth of the Divine, it causes us to transcend who we were prior to the moment of inspiration and become more of who we were created to be. Hallelujah!
Have a wonderful two weeks! I’ll see you soon!
Love, blessings and purple,
Allison
Try to do this exercise once every day this week(or as often as possible). If you need modifications to the practice, scroll down to the section titled Access Notes.
Meditate On Being Inspired
Begin by setting a timer for 5 minutes. Next, say the following statement, either out loud or in your head, 3 times:
I am open to being inspired.
Start your timer. Close your eyes. Think the word “inspiration” each time you inhale and each time you exhale. When the timer signals the end of the 5 minutes, sit quietly for a few seconds.
The following modifications are intended to create equal access to the spiritual practice above. These modifications are somewhat general to be as useful as possible to as many people as possible. Please feel free to further tweak the exercise as needed so that you can participate as fully as possible while honoring your body’s needs.
1. If you have Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder(ADHD) or Substance Use Disorder, instead of sitting quietly and thinking the word “inspiration” during the 5 minutes your eyes are closed, try one of the following modifications:
a. If you use a fidget/STIM device, try manipulating that device in your hand while your eyes are closed and you say the word “inspiration” in your mind as you inhale and exhale.
b. During the 5 minutes that your eyes are closed, focus on the sensation of your belly moving in and out as you breathe. If you become aware that you are thinking about something other than the movement of your belly, bring your attention back to your breath and the sensation of your belly moving.
c. If 5 minutes is too long for you, try doing this exercise for 2 minutes.
2. If you use a ventilator to breathe, you may wonder if saying the word “inspiration” in your mind on your inhalation and exhalation is as effective it is for those who do not require mechanical ventilation. The answer is YES, ABSOLUTELY! Thinking the word “inspiration” each time you inhale and each time you exhale leads to greater openness to being inspired, regardless of how air enters and exits your body.
3. If you need a shorter statement to say before closing your eyes, you can say, “I am inspired,” or “Inspired.”
