#ShowingUp with Anese Cavanaugh

Oh gosh... friends. The fodder for today is so rich. I've had so many things happen this last quarter that have informed much of my thinking, inspired me, and given me so many answers to questions I've been grokking literally for over a year.

I'm going to be addressing some of these things here on this blog over the next year -- I hope you'll join me. And I'll be doing it in mini posts and long. Business and personal. Leadership and culture. Whatever is true for me as I write. Note: The more personal stuff that I write about, I save for our AC #TuesdayTreats email subscribers (as well as articles and announcements and deals that I don't make publicly). Would love you to join me there as well. Subscribe here. For now, let's dig in... 

Last weekend when I took my little "hear myself think"/mini "soul vacation" I crystalized the most important things I need to be working on right now in order to create the results I want (AND still feel great while doing so).

I started by taking myself through my own process I use with clients to access an authentic and efficient plan. Part of my process includes getting clear on the true intention, why it's important, who it serves, what it impacts, who I have to be to make it so, and how to create that impact with the most ease, pleasure, and meaning possible.

I have things I‘ve done in the past that I would now do 100 times differently; decisions I’ve made, the way I’ve written or spoken about something, the way I’ve navigated a relationship, the way I’ve judged something, the way I’ve parented, the way I’ve shown up in conflict -- I could make an exhaustive list.

I have few regrets. I do have “frets.” Few regrets because I can turn just about anything into a gift and a productive lesson (anything), frets because there are some things that I will “fret” on, rework in my head, and even try to change the outcome of. Sometimes for years. It’s not a full-time job, it doesn’t wreck me, but these frets can be quietly present, draining precious mental and emotional energy (even when they’re unconscious), but especially when the situation comes into memory or impacts the present state. When they show up in my consciousness, I can go to the “Land of What If.” Know it?

This past weekend was one of the best weekends of my life. Did I go anywhere? Hang out on a beach? Unplug? Do nothing? Party with friends? Get ten massages? No.

Forty-eight hours that were so restorative I felt like I'd gone on a two-week vacation. When the weekend completed I was clear and awake to questions I'd been percolating on for months and not been able to access answers to.

We are always becoming... more of ourselves, less of ourselves. More in alignment and in integrity with ourselves, less so. More helpful, less helpful. More in tune, less in tune. More on our path to mastery, less on our path. More of a contribution to the people and things we care about, less so.