Episode Details

A picture is worth a 1000 words. It’s true. The brain processes imagery at an exceptional speed. Advertisers, marketers, and people selling results know the power punch a single image can produce.  The overweight body to toned and thin. Single and alone to an embracing love. Money pains to money gains. A cluttered mess to a “Feng Shui success”. A small unspoken spirit to a dazzling out-spoken soul. The list goes on and on. It’s the classic storyline of the “before and after”. Pictures, phrases and desires plastered everywhere attempting to motivate, sell or inspire.

We look at the “after” photos and think. Wow, aren’t they amazing? And yes, the transformational results are amazing! However, the real power started in the “before” picture with the brave soul who stepped forward. _Made a new choice.  __Took the first step. __ Broke the silence.  __Began the program. __ Declined the drink.  __Went to the gym. __ Had the hard conversation.  __Made the amends. __ Formed a commitment.  _Said yes. Said no. __ Made a decision to set a new trajectory of self-transformation.

What is most often overlooked is the magical messy middle it took to become that “after” state. It’s where the true soul strength lives. It’s in that “before” picture believing in something, even before others can see it.

What isn’t captured in the “before” picture is how many times they doubted themselves but still went for the walk, still showed up at the gym, declined the sweet treats so lovingly offered, said no to that lump sum of money that would have brought a lot of immediate financial freedom while only selling their soul and said yes in a new way.

Most likely, the magical messy middle is happening for you in one or more areas of your life. Could be in health or body improvement. Relationship seeking or deepening. Career redefining. Family dynamics. Financial restoration or healing. Home stability. Business expansion. A divorce. Creative expression. Raising children. The range of the ways we can encounter the messy middle on life’s journey is endless. 

The unknowns in the messy middle can sweep in. Overtake us in frightening scary ways or with a subtle unraveling pressure. We could get stuck at these roadblocks that will show up on the path if we don’t know how to re-calibrate ourselves, and make meaningful momentum toward our own soul-inspired “becoming” that leads to the “after” snapshot.

I have found that most of real life is happening in the magical messy middle.

I was standing thirty-five feet above the ground on a telephone pole for an event called, “the perch”. Nothing but open space and a gushing breeze of air surrounded me. I stood completely confined, not being able to step to the left or right. Both feet perched on a twelve-inch disc attached to a pole thirty-five feet in the air.

As I stood on that perch, the pole would take on whatever kind of energy I was transferring to it. If I was shaky, the pole would tremble and shake back. It was a matching energy feedback system between myself and the pole. My inner state would transfer to my outer environment instantaneously. My fastest way to getting stable was to focus on the inspired action. Across from me six feet in the air was a trapeze representing the inspired vision ahead.

Still, to this day, I can say the most significant aspect of that impacted me most wasn’t the exhilaration I felt jumping thirty-five feet in the air to a trapeze and catching it. The most magical part of the entire experience was that uncertain, scary, timeless, expansive zone of the unknown that happened right in the middle. We have all experienced certain events where time slows down and the moment becomes so expansive we enter a new zone.

It is truly a courageous soul who stands before each of us in the “before” picture full of so much power, possibility and willingness to embrace self-love one day at a time.

_It takes real s