Calling myself OUT!

This week I received some really important feedback.  I want and welcome honest reactions to my blogs and vlogs so that I can grow and get better.  The hardest part about hearing a less-than-optimal opinion is NOT TAKING IT PERSONALLY.  After investing time and energy into a project, I often feel intimately connected to the results.  But here's the thing...defending my current position only keeps me stuck there.

So here's what happened.  I posted my first vlog last week about sleep.  On the intro page, I wrote my name and "Ayurveda Wellness Counselor."  Well, the honest truth is that I'm currently studying to become an Ayurveda Wellness Counselor.  I don't actually graduate until March 2013.  I am officially calling myself out, slowing myself down and recommitting to transparent and authentic posts.  In my mind, I was creating an archive of awesome wellness resources, but the reality is that I'm not quite there yet.  Of course I have a lot to offer and a unique way of doing it.  But sometimes I get ahead of myself and need to refocus.  Until I heard this feedback from a close family member, I didn't even consider this perspective.  He respects Ayurveda and didn't like me jumping the gun and declaring myself some type of expert before receiving all the training.  This point of view makes perfect sense, and he's probably not the only one to feel this way.  Of course in the moment I felt defensive, but I just tried to listen through it.  This feedback was a mirror showing me to myself.

I watched myself and my own thought process that day.  I felt guilty and embarrassed about the title page and changed it that night.  That feeling of shame was like a little red flag showing me the way to right action.  It doesn't always happen the same way, but those reminders pop up to guide us if we let them.  If I had attacked and defended my position, I would have missed the gift, the miracle, of new perception.