The Girl Who Washed Clothes

One day I asked my guides for help. I was feeling frustrated with work. Why was something better not showing up? I felt like I deserved the next best thing, I was trying my best to just be happy with where I was, yet I was also at this spot of feeling like enough is enough, a feeling of “I have decided I wont tolerate something that is not fulfilling me anymore, and in doing so, decide I am worthy of the next best thing, and therefor it will happen!”

It was like my ego had decided the solution was to get in this “Ra Ra” attitude and hold my frequency there, and then by the law of attraction, the universe MUST match my vibration, and the new job or the “next best thing" MUST show up in my reality.

Now I want to impart on you that this type of shift in vibration (deciding I deserved something better) had worked for me before… in a different scenario. And in a recent experience, during a hard running workout, I had made a shift inside my brain, and realized “Why am I listening to this negative crap in my head? Yes it is hard, but what if I decide I can handle it? What if I decide: yes it is a challenging pace, but its just WHO I AM to run this workout fast! Its not hard, its within my wheel house to do this!” And what happened is that things instantly shifted. I COULD do it. And I felt SO empowered, and much more like my true self.

So why wouldn’t this type of shift also work on the job front? Why not just get pissed at what I am currently experiencing, and rev myself up enough to ascend my energy, and just BAM call in the next thing.

Well my team had other things to “say” / show me about this. And they were humbling, but the exact medicine I needed.

Speaking of medicine, here is what they relayed first:

First, they described how pulling my own thoughts out of the negative by getting sick of them (sick of listening to negative self chatter, or limiting / negative thoughts of how hard things are, etc) was the correct medicine for THAT situation. That does not mean it applies to every situation I am stuck in. 

Now letting go of negative thoughts is probably always a good thing, but trying to get sick of a situation, and therefor it should change…probably not such a good idea. 

They said: you would not give yourself anti-itch cream to cure the flu. Each situation can have its own specific remedy. But just because a cream worked great in one scenario, does not mean it applies to every illness you have. 

That hit home. I was trying to apply me standing up to my own negative thoughts to standing up to what the universe was presenting me. I hate to say it, but the universe will always “win” if you are trying to bully your way through a tough situation. Raising your energy to overcome limiting beliefs: great. …But trying to plow over a life lesson the universe is presenting you, and not really learn the lesson… probably not such a good idea. 

Here is what they showed me to convey the message:

First I saw a young girl, maybe 15, washing clothes on one of those old wooden wash boards …and she was angry. And it showed on her face as she forcefully shoved her clothes up and down the board. Getting angrier and more frustrated with every pass. Slowly, the shirt she was washing got more and more balled up and twisted, so that she was just scrubbing one little patch over and over with each pass down the board. It was very apparent that only one little patch was getting “clean” and because she was being so forceful and angry while working, all that pressure continuously rubbing in just one spot was making that spot go thread bare and worn out. 

Her body was also straining and under so much stress and tension — it was clear that trying to wash her clothes in this way was exhausting her! Soon the image zoomed out and I saw more women of all ages also washing their own clothes on their wash racks, but doing so with no strain, no stress, just perhaps apprehensive glances in the other young woman’s direction.

“Why is she so angry?” their faces seemed to say. “I am getting my clothes just as clean (if not cleaner since I am not just scrubbing in one little spot) without all that tension and strain in my body.” Basically you could see that they were confused, and concerned, why someone felt they needed to do their same job with so much more effort. One could just do it with ease and grace, and even joy! Taking pride in their work and finding purpose and flow in it. 

Key here: It was the same job, same “experience” yet by attitude, and energy choice with which to “DO” or “PURSUE” this experience, these same “experiences” were WILDLY different. 

And I realized in that instant I had been going about creating the next “thing” in my life, with force and push and absolutely exhausting myself. I could feel it in my body. It takes a whole lot of effort to constantly “Ra Ra” your energy up every day to “make” things happen. Its a lot of will and effort. And I instantly realized I needed to let go. I needed to surrender and I needed a better way. To become more like the other women in the image.

I asked my team what needed to happen, and sent healing energy to the image, and instantly it was like the young girl broke down crying. It was the only (or best way I suppose) to let all that tension and strain release out of her body. She was actually exhausted from straining and when it finally became too much to keep forcing progress, all that trauma from forcing herself came out in one big cry fest. And wow did that feel good to let go. You could feel it. She finally gave in and allowed herself to just release and surrender. Not fight and push.

And in the letting go, what felt like her will breaking, grace came in. Soon I saw an older woman  come over and kneel beside her, placing her hand on the young girl’s back and said “May I show you a better way?” And since the young girl felt so broken and hopeless, she was receptive to it. She nodded.

I think sometimes when we have gotten ourselves so spun out in possibly the wrong direction or timeline for our soul, that the quickest way back to grace, or back to alignment, to whats more right or better for us long term, is to actually completely surrender. What feels like a giving up actually allows the light in. The break that creates the crack that allows us to be receptive enough to listen to a new way of being, a new path or a new way to interact with the world going forward. 

This breakdown is actually a beautiful (and quick) way to get back to grace and our true flow. 

What happened next was beautiful. Since the young girl felt so “broken” she was willing to listen. Where before, no one dared to try to offer her a new way of doing her work, she was so determined in her course of action that she would reject all help, and continue with her straining and forcing and pushing. Where now, she had no fight left, she had used it all on herself to the point of surrender. 

The older woman proceeded to show her how if you actually spread the whole shirt out flat, and run it down with the palms of your hands it takes much less pressure, and hits all places on the shirt at once and therefor takes many less passes. And it can be peaceful and quite meditative. 

The young girl was intrigued as she had never considered to do the washing with such ease and with more flow. It seemed so easy and peaceful. And she could get so much more done in less time because she could cover so much more surface area this way. 

And then she got excited! She was learning something new! And It worked so much better! And she was seeing results! She was excited to hang up each shirt and see how much better and cleaner it looked! And it didn’t have all the worn out patches like hers had in the past. These were evenly clean and they would last for so many more wears and washes than before. 

She was getting more done, with less effort, more joy, and with ease and grace. Her mood had completely shifted.

And what was another bonus of this shift? Everyone else around her started to laugh and smile too! They were feeding off her joy, and her enthusiasm, and no longer having to watch her apprehensively, worried about her anger, bitterness and tension. The whole mood of the wash room had changed and it simply took a shift in one person’s energy. 

Moral of the story: What if you could go about your current reality, even if it is NOT what you want currently, with an energy of ease and grace. To quit fighting it, to allow it, and what if creating the new reality got done BETTER by just being happy in the now,  not forcing, not pushing, but by letting the universe come in and show you a better way, but we have to allow space for it to do so. Sometimes the right medicine is to let go, let the emotion out and then get enthusiastic about whatever you can in your life.

There is a better way to create the life you “want” and its not by forcing. I was trying to go about it the wrong way. 

Use the right “medicine”. If you want to create more love, BE love / FEEL love now. If you want to have a job you love, quit fighting the one you currently have, surrender to it, don’t resist it, and ask for grace to come in. Ask for a better way to go about creating the next best thing. The universe WILL listen, and respond, just maybe not in the way you might think. Stay open. Stay receptive. Stay connected to something greater.  Find the light where you can. Where/what can you appreciate today? Where can you bring more forgiveness? Or be more allowing or more accepting, and what can you (if I daresay) be grateful for in your current situation that you are hoping to shift or change? 

The universe responds to love. If you can find a way to let go of the anger, force, frustration etc, ask for grace, and take steps to find good in what you already have, things WILL change. It might still be the same job (washing the same clothes) but it could be a whole different reality upon changing your energy around it :)

The beautiful part is, I do believe that when we commit to changing ourselves, then the world does have to change to reflect that. So maybe a physical shift will happen in your reality or maybe it will not, but isn’t any change we think we want, so we can feel better? 

Feel more significant, or more loved, or more purposeful, or more successful, or happier, or more free. Start to find ways to feel these things more now, and you will feel a shift in your energy. Whether it is a physical change in your reality or just within your own experience of reality :)

SIDE NOTE: My team is cautioning me that this is still just one “type” of the right medicine. And it may not always be right in every situation for every person. This was the medicine I needed at the time. Particularly because I had built up so much angst and resistance within my own field I needed to have a breakdown to clear it and be able to move forward in a healthier more receptive state, to actually be able to hear their guidance around what would be proactive next steps towards what I desire. 

But there are times when choosing to exit a situation IS the healthiest choice. If it is emotionally abusive, or dangerous, this would obviously call for different medicine, and just learning a new way to “work” in this situation would not be the right decision. 

This was simply advice from my team around shifting our energy regarding how we are going about creating something new in our life. Are we going about the change we seek with force and anger and push and shove, because we (or our ego) doesn’t like what we are currently experiencing? Or are we going about this change with grace, and being connected to something greater? Meaning in a state of gratitude, surrender, and stepping up as the most loving grounded version of ourselves?

A good rule of thumb I’ve always loved, is “What would love do in this situation?” 

Love doesn’t force, it doesn’t push and it doesn’t fight. Surrendering often means letting go of what we “think” we should do, and instead doing what we “know” we should do, from a deeper place within ourselves.

Surrendering doesn’t always mean things will be easier, or less work, but it will be the path supported by love and grace…which is often the “work” or the lesson, or the path, we often look back on and are grateful we had to go through.

Sending so much love to you through the ethers,

Leigh Anne