I was honored to be invited to present to high school students last week on their Wellness Day. I was offered two 40-minute sessions with a short break in between. The first session flowed beautifully. I was open, following the leads the students were giving me, offering the next piece of information based on what the youth seemed to need/want next. It was fun, aligned, and (I think) really beneficial for the students. They got a good selection of tools from simple body positions to change their brains to help them feel more confident and/or more joy to tapping skills to help them tap through their own issues/concerns. It was pretty nifty! There was a teacher at that session who understood the body language and body-brain connection and was able to share examples of how she uses it to be a better teacher. Nice!
I started the second session a little differently – offering for each student to choose a free Quantum Shift What If card. They each chose one, as did the teacher who stayed for a second session. I asked them just to hold on to them until we were ready to learn how to use them. Then I started to teach. I decided that I needed to keep it as similar to the first session as possible so that I was giving similar content to both groups. I made that choice when I realized the teacher was staying and would see the difference if I took a different route with the second group. I felt like that is what she would expect a presenter to do… give the same or similar content.
Alas, this smaller group was very different — and probably would have benefited from different content and a different approach. But I had made the decision to do it as closely as possible and I tried to stick with that. I’m sure they benefited from the activities, but I definitely didn’t feel like I was giving them what they most needed in the moment. They were (mostly) respectful and participatory, but still resistant to some of the ideas and activities. The teacher was supportive and seemed happy with both sessions, but I didn’t have a chance to get real feedback from her.
This was a good reminder that my participants and I both benefit most when I just allow the information to flow through me to them in whatever way feels right at the time. I blocked my openness to hearing/feeling their input as I pushed through the same information as the first session.
I rarely offer two similar workshops on the same day like that, so it was kind of a new thing for me. But still I know better than to try and force information. I know that allowing whatever needs to come to flow out of me is best. And STILL I did it the other way.
What happens when you do things how you think they “should” be done or how others expect them to be done? What happens when you do it your way?
Let’s all step into our own power and remember what we already know…and then do it.
We deserve each other’s genius and the world deeply needs it.