As I work on book two “Stop APE-ing Around” and the “21 Day Transformational Detox” to share with others (be on the look out for the Youtube channel on both), I find myself reflecting on the lessons I have learned along life’s path. Smiling of course, for I am always a work in progress, growing and becoming everyday.

A practice I started years ago, continues to surface with soft grace. I keep trying to remember when I embraced this powerful practice. I think it came around the time I had a life altering experience with forgiveness, which rocked me to my core and changed me forever. It was the summer of 2008, a time of humbling proportions for me. The dictionary defines humility and humble as a “lowering” of one’s importance or dignity. While “lower” is often defined as less than, I must say that with regard to humble humility, the “lowering” of my importance and or dignity is the most gracious gift I can give myself and others. When I am in this state I feel as though I float on a cloud of love, wrapped with sunlit inter-connectedness.

hu·mil·i·ty

noun

1. a modest or low view of one’s own importance; humbleness.

hum·ble

verb

1. lower (someone) in dignity or importance.

So, where does humble humility fit in with my next book, the detox and a practice? Well, the book is digging into how Attachments, Perceptions, and Expectations (APE) can intensely impact our relationships and interactions with others. The detox requires one to let go of addictions, patterns, and sabotaging behaviors with food, to really get clean within the body, mind and spirit. The practice keeps me in humble honoring authenticity with myself and all others.

The day lightening struck me with the true intensity of forgiveness, is also the moment I came home to a practice that can always bring me back to the truth. I am not a “religious” person, actually rebelled against it all during my growing up years, I am however a very spiritual being, and have been my whole life. That being said, on the morning of my grand awakening, the teaching to bow and wash the feet of another, especially one once considered an enemy, absolutely filled my heart and soul with a level of love beyond anything I had ever thought possible.

I took this newfound awareness and asked for the privilege to wash the feet of the person involved with my profound journey. They elected not to receive, which of course was of their choosing. I bowed in gratitude and swelled with joy for the love I could now feel for this person. Since this experience I check myself always to see if I am in a space of loving humility, leaving behind the ego attachments, perceptions, expectations and judgments. It is a “feeling” driven experience, as all things truly are…

How does it work? When I find myself reacting to someone, I understand clearly that I am taking something personal, due to attachments, perceptions, expectations or judgments. This is not how I personally wish to connect or experience time with others. So, I check myself! I take a deep breath, truly look at the person and ask my internal self, “Can I bow down in this moment to wash this person’s feet?” As I shift into the humble feeling, all reaction is washed away and I am free to interact from a place of compassion and truth. When I move into the feeling of humility, I visualize myself washing their feet, how incredible it feels to honor someone with such vulnerable openness. I am free of all attachments, preconceived perceptions, expectations and judgments in that moment. It changes everything.

I am no better than another. I am merely a human being doing my best with love, compassion, joy, and a little bit of grace. With this practice, I get to always choose love. It does not mean I stay and allow myself to be attacked or abused. It frees me inside to not carry and hold the experience as negative. I get to drop into humility, forgive, let go, and step forward accordingly. It is a simple practice that has empowered and changed how I live. I am daily grateful for the light heart it bestows upon me.

May today offer you the gentle cradling of humility, for its loving grace opens grand pathways to the heart and soul. A.C.T. (always choose truth) with humble awe for the gifts that each new day bestows upon you.