REmain: Staying In the Revelation You’ve Received

It’s not knowing that is the hard part.

We all know a lot of things that we don’t act upon.

It’s putting our knowing into practice that changes things.

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Last month, I shared with you that I am taking a REtreat right now…I’ve been led to pull back a bit from the normal pace I keep. I’m taking the mental and spiritual space to invest in myself. Congruence is one of my highest values, and I don’t want my external world to receive more tending than my internal world.

 

(If you missed “REtreat: Seclude to Renew Your Soul”; I think it’s one of the most important I’ve written and you can get it or listen to it here.)

For a social and “builder” personality, the idea of taking a REtreat was not one I warmed to easily. But when I knew I knew. My internal water level was receding.

And immediately after I declared to myself and everyone that I was secluding; everything around me tried to draw me back into hyperdrive. Business travel. Five speaking events in three days.  A massive client move. Hiring and training. All things I love. But a lot all at once.

Just days after speaking into existence my Reclaimist REtreat; I felt myself being swept along.

My desire to focus on and enjoy ordinary pleasures – reading, playing, and puttering – was being challenged by the undertow of fulfillment of responsibility. Both were important. I didn’t want the former and not the latter.

But historically in my life, activity and fulfillment of duties has overshadowed investing in myself. Can you relate? You know you need to regroup when the external has received preference over the internal.

I have always known this, but was a willing participant for most of my adult life, thinking I’d get “to me” later. And then – as my last article shared – along came the wind of the Spirit, whispering to me that I might just have things backwards. It might be not only legal, not only legitimate, but in fact critical to tend to the home fire inside me.

 

But how could I be back to my burgeoning schedule just days after the revelation of my REtreat came to me so poignantly?

How could I be at once doing the things I love externally and going internal to tend to my soul?

And herein began a new layer of my REtreat; learning to REmain….

I felt that I was standing in the middle of a circus, with a cacophony of competing organ tunes in the background, with marquee lights announcing upcoming demands on the reader board, and with lighted arrows flashing at me to enter into the many tents and show games.

I knew I had a choice.

Circus I could be the girl I once was. I could allow the inside of me to get a little smaller as I gave myself to skipping around the circus, exploring each and every thing that called to me. Hands full of caramel corn, I could self-assign the demands on the marquee board (though no one was making me), and begin going to work to fulfill them. I could follow the arrows of endless opportunity, stopping at each booth promising a reward.

The cacophony was deafening.

Or, I could govern the situation from the inside out.

I could stand. Right there in the middle of the circus of life. On multiple stages, in cars and RVs and hotels.

And breathe.

And hold my feet back from moving on the inside.

To scan instead of react.

And let the space inside me grow instead of contract.

I could govern my internal territory so that no one and nothing could sweep me along. To allow a government of peace inside me to expand.

I am learning to REmain. To stay inside the revelation I’ve received. To act on what I now know.

 

While my most recent revelation is to create time and space to renew my soul, there is a constant stream of revelation in my life – and in all our lives.

Revelation is inspiration and divine leadings from heaven.

Sometimes it comes in quiet whispers.

Sometimes it comes in a “knowing” in your heart.

Sometimes it’s the full architecture for a dream in your heart; and the instructions just unfold themselves to you.

And sometimes revelation comes with unwelcome situations.

If you’ve ever lost someone you love, you know what I’m talking about. Suddenly, you have a REVELATION about the importance of relationships. About the centrality of love. And you resolve to spend more time with loved ones, let nothing come between you, and make the most of life together.

We have all known things – even poignantly – at times, and then allowed them to slip from our consciousness.

Because the cacophony of life presents a powerful undertow.

And most of the time, we bow to it and end up as people who never knew.

You see, we KNOW things – deep down inside – and even believe them. (Like the fact that people are our greatest priority). But what we DO with what we know – over the marching of time – is what matters.

In Latin, REmain is “remanere”, comprised of “re” (expressing intensive force) and “manere,” meaning “to stay.” In short, to remain is to intentionally stay.

 

To REmain is to keep on with what you know. To stay the course. To let something inside you and let it become a part of your DNA.

If you think about it, to remain in knowledge is far better than to have knowledge.

To remain in love is far better than to have love.

Having can be short lived. Remaining is in it for the long haul.

Perhaps that’s why it’s now a special revelation to me. Because I’m a REmainer.

I’m the last one at a party.

Once I’m your friend, I’m always your friend.

One of my favorite dance songs is “I Will Survive.”

Among the highest strengths in my strengths profile is “Belief.”

Yah, I’m a REmainer.

I persist, continue forward, stay around, prevail, live on, and wait it out.

So how does it look to REmain in REtreat right in the midst of business, homeschool, and life?

For me, it’s an internal state of intention.

It’s a moment-by-moment choice to mentally overcome the “I gotta get to that” feeling that comes over me when demands are pressing on me.

It’s a weighing of opportunities and determining which has come to fullness and qualifies for my attention and which aren’t ripe yet.

It’s noticing (and preferring) that which developed naturally and effortlessly over that which is a struggle.

REmaining requires a slowness of reaction, a purposing of the mind and heart to properly govern everything that arises.

In the moment I’m in now, I’m staying committed to nurturing my soul and my homefront.

Vicki Norris and her boysWhen I look back after my kids are gone from home, I don’t want my life with them to have been utilitarian. I want it to have been juicy. Like that bubble gum with juice in the middle. Surprises and joy and fun and discovery. Love that remained and remains on. Love that draws them back home as a true north.

And when I look back after two MORE decades with Restoring Order, I don’t want our service to people to have only been practical. I want it to have been spiritual and emotional, too. Where our services and products are gifts that enhance Life Reclaimists’ journeys. Like the one thing they can count on when everything else falls apart.

And, notably, to have families and businesses that REmain throughout the changes and challenges of life, I am convinced that first WE must learn to REmain on the inside. We cannot create the lives we dream of without internal tending that guides our external investments.  We stop being carried along by life’s demands and learn to govern from the inside – full engagement in life but with keen intentionality. We learn to create an inside world that can hold ourselves and then hold others.

I hope you Life Reclaimists out there are inspired – as am I – to remain in what you know.

-Vicki Norris

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