Awaken the Inner Warrior

Sometimes that shaking comes from job loss or change.  Sometimes the loss of a family member through death, divorce or incarceration.  Sometimes the addition of family members.  And sometimes through a major health crisis or other event.  The catalyst is less important than the outcome.  You see, in the process of getting from the life changing event to the outcome is a stripping away, a baring of ourselves that cannot be ignored.  Emotionally naked we experience a level of vulnerability that quickly clarifies for us what is truly important.

Once you awaken your inner warrior, it’s a bit like trying to place a genie back in the bottle, you cannot “undo it”.  Your inner warrior provides focus and clarity around who to spend time with and how to spend your time.  It gives you perspective on forgiveness and grace.  It sheds light on wasteful habits and practices.  It puts you in touch with fear and joy.

In my own life, awakening the warrior turned me into a semi nutrition expert as I desperately looked for a meaningful way to participate in my son’s healing from acute lymphoblastic leukemia.  I read obsessively and contacted physicians from around the world learning everything I could about what turns cancer on and off and what detoxifies the body from the chemical cocktails he was receiving.  I’ve unleashed my inner warrior in the kitchen.  Now I’m not only interested in detoxing our son from his cancer treatments and helping to prevent a recurrence but also detoxing the rest of the family from all the pollutants that impact us every day and protecting our health as best I can.

As I’ve mastered the kitchen, my inner warrior is now downsizing the “things” of life with plans to invest the time and resources in experiences with family and friends instead.  While trappings have never been important to me, I still accumulate unintentionally like most do.  I’m more aware than ever of the burden of things and the absolute lack of importance they hold in my day to day life.

My kids have been teasing me that my inner hippie is coming out—maybe it was my worm farm research that tipped them off.  Truth is, my inner hippie was there all along—awaiting the awakening of my inner warrior.