FireWalk Any One?

Every now and then I sign up for something to rejuvenate me…. This time I signed up for a 2.5 day women business owners retreat with Tory Johnson’s Spark & Hustle program www.womenforhire.com . I knew very little about the people putting it on and the event itself. I just followed my intuition and signed up.

Upon arriving, I learned the first morning that that first night, we’d be doing a ‘fire walk’. At first, I was annoyed! I did not sign up for this! I never had ‘walking on fire’ on my bucket list! The truth, I did not want to do it, I was scared to put my tender, feeling feet into hot coals, it simply sounded stupid!

I remembered 7 or so years ago when I wanted to strap a hang-glider to my back and jump off a cliff in California. Stupid? Maybe, but I wanted to do it! I wanted to feel what it felt like to be a bird in the silent air 100’s of feet above the noise on the ground.

As I reflected on that experience, at the retreat, I was trying to find parallels… what intrigued me was the difference between doing something I wanted to do and something I did not want to do. I began to see how I felt about doing things I want to do and did not want to do…. And realized there is going to be a big opportunity for learning here should I choose to take it on. I was not yet convinced I would.

So at the end of the day, as the sun was going down, 22 of us gathered in 3 small busses and headed north to www.firewalking.com where a man named Charles Horton greeted us, he was our fearless leader. His story was so motivating and moving in and of itself.

He said a few very wise and simple things:

1. In order to do this fire walk, we must get ‘in state’ and realized what he was referring to was to get in ‘best self’ state like we talk about in the www.bigfishnation.com. He went on to say that his goal is to stay in this positive state for 95 percent of each day. I realized that he just raised my bar. Could I be in best self 95% of each day? Could you?

2. He went on to say that we had choice if we wanted to walk. We were not to pressure each other or encourage. Just focus on ourselves and allow each person to make their own choice. And accept what each person’s choice was. Again, a great point, I had to ask myself how often I judge those closest to me for their choices.

3. He continued, no matter our decision don’t make it easy, rather ‘Let it be Easy’ — ah this bit of advice I heard loudly. And I realized what a huge difference it was to make it easy rather than let it be easy. Allow. Allow. Allowing is so much easier than making! AH, it was starting to sound doable…. Walking on fire.

4. Another thing he said: put your attention on something OTHER than your feet and fire! ‘Energy flows where attention goes.’ I said to myself, this is the first principle in the book I wrote!? I have to walk my talk and do it… and I have to admit that I felt this was the ultimate test of me really being able to do so!

5. There was another sign in his ‘space’ that said: ‘Highly successful people routinely step out of their comfort zone to accomplish what they want.’ The truth, I had to admit that I had not been out of my comfort zone in while. And as time went on, I was realizing I was about to. UGH!

So it was time to start the process. He first had us break boards! Yes, break boards. At first I was thinking, ‘this is stupid!’ First of all, I use my hands a lot, I do not want to hurt them! So, 23 women started breaking boards. Everyone broke their board, but me! My board DID NOT BREAK! Or shall I say, I DID NOT BREAK MY BOARD THE FIRST TIME! Charles being the kind man that he is, allowed me to try a second time (after announcing that this is a onetime deal)… I barely broke the board, but I did. There were still wood fibers attaching the two sides… oh no, I started to have doubts about the fire thing. I remember saying to myself, ‘If I cannot break the board easily, how can I walk on fire?!?!’ I could have started freaking out. But I did a few deep breaths and did not put my energy there… I looked forward. Put my energy on the next thing. We threw our boards with our limiting beliefs written on them in fire, burned those shallow, disempowering thoughts in the fire.

It was time… the coals were hot. I could feel the heat from the fire. I really could easily have gone down the ‘You’ve got to be freakin’ kidding me…. ‘ path. But I didn’t. I stayed with the notion of ‘I feel great today. I feel terrific. I feel healthy. I feel happy. I am powerful. YES! YES! YES!’ I put my attention on the moment not the coals or heat.

The first woman walked! She did it. The second woman walked. She did it! In that moment, I knew that if I thought at all about what I was about to do, I would not do it. I was the 3rd woman to walk. The first step was warm. The second like warm rocks that sun was beating on. I did not feel the other steps and before I knew it, I was back on cool, moist grass. No pain. Nothing! Just pure elation! I DID IT! I REALLY JUST WALKED ON HOT COALS!

So the bottom-line, when we decide that we are going to do something we do not want to do (sales, speaking, a conversation, walking on fire) there are some basics:
1. Know what you have to do and DO IT! Don’t think too much about it.
2. As successful people, we should be doing this consistently!
3. When doing such things, remember where your energy is, it matters!
4. Let it be easy… .allow it to be easy.
5. Remember you always have choice! Even if we do not want to do it… and know we need to do it to go to the next level… Choice is powerful.
6. Get ‘in state’ and stay ‘in stay in state’… and simply this is Best Self in the big fish program.

I have written in this blog about this experience and the truth is, it is just the beginning of the learning from this experience and should you want the full ‘story’ about my fire walk journey email me: lorin@bigfishnation.com and I’ll share my full story with you.