Long-Suffering Fan or Fan of Long Suffering

I was born in Cleveland, Ohio, as were my two older brothers. One of my brothers grew up watching and playing sports. Now he’s in his fifties. Following the major league sports teams of Cleveland has been a way of live for him, as for many die-hard Cleveland sports fans. No professional team in the city has won a championship since the Cleveland Browns won the NFL championship in 1964. My brother calls the fans of Cleveland the most long-suffering fans of any city with the three major league sports played on their city’s turf. They get close to winning it all, and somehow, championship slips through their fingers, and the fans’ heartbreak lingers.

For now, my brother is mostly a sports spectator, especially of Major League Baseball. My brother possesses an exclusive, multi-decades-old devotion to the Cleveland Indians, and a vast knowledge of the history, the legacy, and rules governing the game. I don’t know a whole lot about sports, but after spending some quality baseball-watching time around my brother, I have a bit more knowledge than I had in, say the last 40 years of my life.



Anyone who knows anything about the MLB realizes that soon the playoffs will take place, setting the stage for the World Series. Cleveland clinched the American League’s Central Division championship on September 23, 2007, their 7th central division title in 13 years, assuring the Tribe’s place in the 2007 playoffs. I know this excites my brother.

I never realized what a grueling schedule a Major League Baseball team adheres to, in one year’s time. Compared to the seventeen weeks that the National Football league plays in a regular football season, a typical baseball season has well over 158 games played. Cleveland is tied for the most wins this season (the eastern division’s Boston Red Sox also has won 94 games this season).

Chief Wahoo

The last time the Cleveland Indians held a division championship was 2001. The last time the Tribe won the World Series was 1948. Tribe fans are joyously looking for that victory to savor, and just maybe, the long-suffering fans of Cleveland will enjoy the sweet taste of a championship this year. Then perhaps the fans can let go of their past.

Looking at myself, can I let go of what keeps me stuck? I know if I let go of my past, I can move forward with more intensity and more vitality. For me, if I ignore what I’m feeling, I hold on to the energy of resistance, and the feeling persists. I would say I’ve been an unwitting fan of long suffering. I’ve resisted so many of the feelings (of course they didn’t “feel” good, and ignoring or numbing them was how I dealt with sadness, anger, disappointment, instead of allowing the feeling to move through my body, and out of my energy field). I wallowed in the deeds of my past. That allowed me to be stuck in my story, and basically I gave my power away. I became a victim.

Each day, when I stay in consciousness, I move toward change, through physical movement, transformative studies, and meditation. I have to possess a blatant intolerance toward hanging onto suffering, with consciousness.

“Fan” is a word derived from fanatical. The definition of fanatical is filled with excessive and single-minded zeal or obsessively concerned with something.

Each day, I give up a little of my “fan” based thinking that doesn’t serve my highest good. Beliefs and ideas about security, finances, what I can or can’t do, that I’m not good enough or pretty enough, or that things “should” be a certain way are reviewed; those fanatical beliefs and concepts are being replaced by radically empowering ideas. And slowly, my life is changing. Sometimes it’s a subtle change, sometimes it’s a major shift.

So here’s a question to ponder. Are you a long-suffering fan, or a fan of long suffering? You have a choice of how you perceive life, and how you live it. Shift your perception, and your life will shift, too. The Universe supports whatever you are zealous about. Whatever you are obsessing about, whether it’s what you want or what you don’t want, you are attracting that very thing.

Whatever you choose to be concerned about, somehow works for you (only you can decide if it’s working in your benefit or detriment). Maybe, you’re ready to choose something different for yourself; to allow your gifts and your self-love to bring you more of what you want. You have to be your biggest fan in this life.

Hey, and I’m cheering you (and myself) on to victory!

The Everyday Shaman

Opportunities in life appear to us in every moment. Dr. Susan Gregg, author of The Toltec Way, suggests those occurrences show up in our lives by invitation. This idea supports that a belief held by a person, as well as actions, thoughts, conscious and unconscious, as well as reactions “invite” the situation into a person's life.

Think about it. When you drop something breakable and it shatters in bits and pieces as it hits the ground, most of the time, some reaction springs forth. It could be screaming, muttering, or cursing. It could be an inner voice that says, "oh, you fumbling idiot". It may be an inner voice exclaiming, "I must slow down; things like this can happen when I'm in a hurry". What's your experience with reaction? What is a pattern you have held onto when you're in reaction?

What if you just observed something drop, shatter, and break. Would there be the same reaction? Even if you were the one dropping that breakable? Could your discernment and conscious awareness change the situation? The breakable is still broken. If it's a simple glass jar or a treasured family heirloom, any way you look at it, it's broken, plain and simple.

You can choose is your reaction to the experience. With practice, you can shift your perception, and the breakable will be the breakable, and you will be you. Yes, it would be very sad to break a precious family heirloom. These things happen. You create your story, and you can recreate your story, especially when your story is not serving you in your life experience. So why would you want to hold on to your story if it doesn't serve you or bring you joy?

Every day is a new opportunity to remake and reclaim one's self. When we bring awareness to not just what we do, but how we approach what we do, and bring our good feelings into the equation, a wholeness and lightness in our energy field takes place. We are all energy, as is all that surrounds us. Some things are more dense energetically than others, and have a different vibrational resonance, but we all are the stuff of the stars. How you live in the energetic world has a mirroring effect on your experience externally. When you think in a negative way, tell yourself a negative story, and focus on the external "stuff" being "done" to you, instead of focusing internally on allowing your light shine brightly, and your gifts to the world to come through, you surrender your personal power and freedom to the external world around you.

Every single day, YOU are the shaman. You have power, or you give up your power. You make the choice to greet the day with openness and take pleasure in how you view your life, or you can focus on what's lacking in your life, and in that focus, you bring more of what you're lacking. Limited thinking creates a limited life.

When you go through life thinking, "if only I had… (and you can fill in the blank for anything you lack or don't have)", your belief system is holding you back from what you truly desire. Being a conscious "everyday shaman" takes a shift in belief, focusing on what you want, and asking to clearly see what obstacles stand in your way.

Those obstacles may be "real" to you, at least in the external world. Obstacles drop away when true intention links up with passion and action. When intention, awareness, and conscious positive emotion intersect, amazing things happen. The everyday shaman knows this and knows how to co-create with the Universe in every moment.

So, just for today, create one life situation with intention, openness, and joy. No manipulation is needed. See this situation as it is already done. Feel the gratitude that it is so, that this situation is. The situation could be something as small as intending a parking space close to a building where you need to do business, or thinking about a friend you haven't heard from in a while and with a feeling of love, send a blessing, knowing that friend feels your total support and love, and surprise, you hear from that very friend.

If your chosen life situation doesn't pan out today, make the decision and choose to be happy in the moment. Faith works best when you allow for expansion. If you focus on "this isn't working", you have your first obstacle to work through… your limiting focus and belief.

Miracles do happen for the everyday shaman.
May you share the miracle that you are with the world,
Love, Lori