My re-commitment ceremony

We can be free.

Late last year and earlier this year I faltered.

I faltered on my uncompromising certainty on a premise that I never falter on - the premise that has been the golden gate to freedom and the predominant reason why I started coaching 19 years ago -

• the premise that there is no freedom when we sit in blame and judgment and the subsequent roles that we play here - victim, persecutor and rescuer

• and the contrasting premise that freedom can only be found when we decide to be in unconditional self-responsibility for creating the whole of our lives regardless of the circumstance. This places us in the position of cause versus being at the effect of the circumstance. It allows us to see

  • that we always have choice as to how we perceive and respond to situations

  • the beliefs and assumptions sitting unconsciously within us that created that reality and new beliefs and assumptions that can create a more loving reality

  • that there is a bigger picture unfolding, one where we get to experience who we really are and the infinite possibility that life is because we have experienced the contrast of that in the stories of our and each others’ not enough’ness

This doesn’t mean that we take 100% personal responsibility in some circumstances. This means taking 100% personal responsibility in all circumstances - even if we could never initially fathom that we are the source, causal point for our lives, and even if we could never initially fathom the idea that life is in reality working on behalf of us for our greater good.

This means being willing to sit in the causal seat even if we don’t know how to, even if we think that we can’t, even if we are so lost, hurt, scared and confused and even if we don’t want to. It’s not easy, I know that from personal experience, and more about this later.

Over my 19 years of coaching I have held this premise strong for myself and in coaching. I have held it in death, divorce, financial crisis, mental illness, motor neurone disease and cancer, suicide, parenting, relationships with our parents, our siblings and even relationships with parents who have passed. One person who was in severe financial crisis said to me that I never gave her the choice not to be in unconditional self responsibility.

One of my great loves is to hold this premise with people who have cancer (or had cancer). I have also had the very deep privilege working with people with terminal illness until the time of their passing and what a great honour that has been. I have never faltered on this premise and wouldn’t we think that people in these circumstances would have every reason under the sun to feel victim and powerless to their diagnosis’, especially in the face of death?

I can say hand on heart that the two people who passed did not leave this world feeling powerless. I understand this could be very difficult to take in. I know however that they felt like they were truly valuable regardless of what their body could or couldn't do, that they lived their purpose, that they left their mark on their families and beyond and they did this by giving their energy and attention to what mattered most to them - which only revealed itself through their illness. What had once been held in fear, judgment and misunderstanding returned to love.

I had one final conversation with a beautiful woman who called me from her doctor’s office in Mexico. She’d had such an estranged relationship with her mother and hadn’t seen her in 2.5 years. She told me that she called her mother from that office and it was the most profound, unexplainable in words experience. She said that on the phone call with her mother that she met God and that her life was now complete. She passed a week later.

I remember the day when I realised that this premise around unconditional self responsibility was so perfectly placed in the context of terminal illness. After all the death of my baby was the catalyst for my own awakening. When I discovered this was right under my nose I was in such disbelief that I hadn’t seen it before! In all this inspiration I called Dr Carol Haddad, Integrative Oncologist, overwhelmingly excited that I’d made this connection and she said ‘Gisele, I’ve been waiting for you to see this.’

One of the reasons why I love working with people who have looked death in the face is that they are so incredibly willing. They are so willing to sit in humility, to sit in the all-ness of their humanity, and to feel it all. They are so willing ‘do the work’, to look at their ways of being and doing that have worked against them, to understand their belief systems, to look at re-occurring patterns, and to take full responsibility for the possible emotional contribution to their un-wellness.

They are so willing to surrender to the idea that their illness is the catalyst for their journey of coming home to who they really are, and that there is purpose borne from this. It’s interesting that I’ve seen a common denominator in those I’ve coached who have had/have cancer - control. AND they are so willing to give control up including who they thought they needed to be in order to feel safe, good enough and valued in this world. They are that powerful.

I faltered on this premise late last year and early this year.

I will do everything in my power to never do that again - for me, for you, for us.

Holding life in this premise of 100% personal responsibility is not easy. Sometimes it takes radical acceptance, radical compassion and radical forgiveness of self as we own our forgetting.

Sometimes it takes radical willingness and radical humility to see what has been in our blindspots that created thresholds on how loving and powerful we can be.

As I re-commit to my uncompromising certainty, my vow to you is this -

I am starting with the end result of who you truly are. I see the purity, the innocence and power of your spirit - regardless of your circumstances. I always have. This is second skin.

I am calling you home to that truth from the get go. This is my greatest joy.

Equally I am holding space for what is in the shadows so that what is held in fear and judgment is returned home to love. I feel like this is a work in progress for all of us, perhaps until our last breath. So many restorations back to love. How very precious.

I am calling forward both the lightness and profundity of your being. So much joy. So much fun and adventure in the not knowing. And so much depth.

I am making a declaration that we are here to live what matters the most to us, and not only that, that we have the power to do that, regardless of our circumstances.

I am making a declaration that there is no time to languish in the belief that we are powerless and yet there is all the time in the world (for the blessed some) to take responsibility for those beliefs of powerlessness…..remembering too that we can shift our perception in an instant.

I am calling you into your own sacred power; your capacity to hold in equal parts all of your exquisite humanity, your capacity for unconditional self responsibility, your capacity for presence, intuition, knowingness and authenticity, your capacity to surrender, let go and let in, and your capacity for faith and grace as you invite in the plans that you didn’t make that are calling you (and us) home.

❤️

I never expected a re-brand this year but in my re-commitment to our sacred power, I am re-branding The Catalysts 3 month and yearlong Mastermind programs to the Sacred Power 3 month and yearlong Mastermind programs.

This feels really, really good to me. With this unequivocal intention, I expect nothing but miracles.

If this post called you and you’re feeling drawn to own your Sacred Power in the 3 month or Mastermind program, send me an email at gisele@giselegambi.com.au