Lessons From Laguna: Lessons from Bubbles

There is a lot of serious stuff going on in the world. We’re surrounded by it and by discussions about it. It seeps into our lives, and we start taking everything seriously, sometimes way too seriously. As part of my on-going self-discovery journey, I’ve realized that something I love to do is to see if I can lighten things up, usually with a little humor. Acknowledge a difficult situation, and then see if/how we can shift the energy.

My intention and focus this year is to help others do three things: 1) lighten up, 2) reconnect with themselves/their bodies (mainly through reflexology), and 3) reconnect with the planet (at the beach, of course….).

I was sharing my intention with my friend Lisa, and that I was trying to figure out how I could pull it all together. Told her I was thinking about doing some sort of group meditation at the beach. Here's a piece of advice: Never tell a good friend you are thinking about doing something. They then challenge you to do it. She pulled out the calendar and held a gun to my head and told me to pick a date. Well, not really, but she did make me commit to do it and pick a date.

At that point it was right before Christmas, so of course I had every excuse in the book as to why it couldn’t be done now. She’s wasn't having any of it. OK, maybe on a Sunday morning when there’s no traffic and parking is available in Laguna. She says OK, pick a Sunday. Sheesh.

Maybe it would be a good way to start the new year. Huh. Wouldn’t you know the first day of January is a Sunday? OK – January 1^st it is. Who’s going to show up early on the morning of the 1^st? You know, all of my friends are such party animals (ahahaha!). OK. I commit.

So a text goes out to a safe number of friends, I start to get responses, and oh, shit, there are crazy people who will show up. Guess I better figure out what I’m going to do.

Very interesting process. I went from not having enough content and wondering how to fill the time, to having so many resources I didn’t know what to pull from. Then I had to fight with myself – what do I want to say versus what would they benefit from hearing? How do I stop making it about me, and make it about them? Fascinating.

Finally settled on how I thought the morning should go, and then over the course of the next two weeks, changed it at least 25 times. Changed it again the night before. Changed it again the morning of. And then something really fun happened. After getting off to an OK start with the 5 brave souls that showed up, I started to relax into it, feel it, and let my intuition take over. And, funny thing, the shift happened after we all took a few minutes to stop and connect with the beach around us (imagine that!). What we ended up doing and experiencing was not at all the way I had planned it - it was so much better.

In one of my many resources, I had come across a release meditation using bubbles. It was basically to put your cares, worries and everything you want to let go of into the bubbles and let them fly away. Then, shift and put your intentions and ideas and dreams in your bubbles to send them out into the universe. Simple, and I thought it would be appropriate for starting the new year. Thought it would be a small part of the morning. Of course, that was when I was still thinking of a more serious, contemplative focus.

Ahem, so didn’t I just say that one of my intentions was to help others lighten up? Duh. This group did not need more serious contemplation - they’ve done plenty of that. They needed some fun. Pulled out the bubbles, and everyone at first was a little hesitant, but once we started letting the bubbles go, I watched everyone shift and light up, and we had the most joyful experience of letting old crap go. Then we switched to sending out our intentions – laughing, lovingly, playfully sending them out. Awesome experience.

Now here’s the unexpected benefit from this – the bubbles were not going out over the ocean. The wind was blowing in, so they were going up towards the boardwalk. We were pelting everyone walking by on the boardwalk with bubbles. And you know what happened? We were having so much fun, everyone who walked by started smiling. And laughing. And taking pictures of the crazy women on the beach who were having so much fun. We were shifting the mood of everyone on Main Beach. How fun is that?!

There are times when a serious, contemplative meditation is the right thing. And then there are the times when a unique opportunity to lighten up comes along, and I hope I get to be the catalyst for more of them.

On a side note, Lisa, the person who challenged me to do this, works with me and helps keep me sane. We go to Starbucks when we need a break from the stress and chaos in grey cubicle world. On a lark one day, when the person at the register asked for our names, I gave the name Trixie, and Lisa gave the name Bubbles. Yes, Bubbles – should have known there would be bubbles in my future…..

We’ve been using the names Trixie and Bubbles at Starbucks ever since. And the side benefit? The same – everyone behind the counter smiles when we give our names, and when they call the drinks out, everyone in the store looks over and smiles. And we smile back. And Lisa tells them to “have a bubblicious day!” (somehow telling someone to have a Trixilicious day doesn’t quite work...)

The lesson? Keep it simple, follow your intuition, and have fun. You never know how many others you will affect, and sometimes all it takes is a smile and a 99 cent bubble wand. Or a smile and a fun name.