Like I wrote in my newsletter that might have led you here, there’s something I feel compelled to share with you now (long before I had intended) after being inspired by the image above posted by Dóri Varga on Instagram.
This inspiration was actually a reminder, too.
I’ve been working on a project that will surely become something more over the next several months and that I’ve been developing through my Blocked 2 Blissed group coaching.
It’s about God, and who God is, and how we can individually and collectively use our God wisdom to not only change our own lives but to change the world. The whole project is called Lightning Maker, a phrase I’ve been using for a few years now and that’s finally ready for a greater explanation and purpose.
I hope you enjoy it and I’d love to hear your thoughts.
Lightning Maker: Turn Your Pain into Purpose and Set the World on Fire with Your Story (EXCERPT)
The Storm
The storms had been showing up in my dreams for as long as I could remember. When my days were littered with darkness, stress, anxiety, and fear, my dreamworld skies were filled with darkness as well. My dreams were never restful or peaceful. They were just a continuance of the struggles I faced during the day.
In the beginning of my storm dreams, I would see blooming black clouds from miles away. They would creep above the horizon and then move toward me with increasing strength. As the storm grew, the atmosphere became heavier, and I would brace myself for its imminent arrival. And then the storm would envelop me—swirling and knocking me in every direction.
The storm and I would move together in unrelenting chaos for what felt like days. Some of the worst moments of these dreams were when I was lifted from the ground by the storm, dangling like a rag doll. The darkness was unbearable too. I felt paralyzed by the claustrophobic field of vision. I couldn’t see more than three feet in front of my face.
Eventually, the storm always passed without warning or reason, leaving me even more confused. Sometimes I would be thrown violently back to the earth and left on my own to repair whatever was broken in the fall. Other times I would be placed gently in the arms of safety. I was always thankful for this gesture of Grace. But Grace never lasted long.
The storms in my dreams mimicked the chaos of my waking life. The cycle of moving in and out of this state of chaos, day and night, was exhausting at best. At worst, these relentless stretches of time were soul-crushing. The only peace I experienced came in those brief moments of relief when the storm would move on and I knew I was safe, at least for the time being.
But even though I felt safe, I wasn’t at peace. During the breaks from the storms, I showed up as my most manic and seemingly optimistic self—desperate to squeeze every ounce of goodness I could into each moment. I would approach everything from housecleaning, to relationships, to work with frenetic effort. So much would fall into disrepair during the times I was carried away by the storms. The awareness of how much was neglected in my absence cast a shadow of guilt and shame over everything in my life. All I could do was frantically try to outrun that shadow in search of even a sliver of sunshine.
And these were the good times. The storm’s power over me, the act of being swept up in my waking and dreaming states, the feeling of helplessness, and the all-too-brief and panic-filled respites left me defeated and hopeless—at times wanting to end my life, just because I was that tired. This was my disease at its worst, the height of my anxiety and my depression at its greatest depth. It was scary, and dark, and all-consuming. I couldn’t see a way out.
Lightning Strikes
“Let there be light,” and there was light. – Genesis, 1:3
Have you ever taken off in an airplane during a storm? Once you move above the clouds, it’s all blue skies and sunshine. The sunlight fills a peaceful sky at the same time a storm rages below. Both circumstances exist at once. Both conditions are true.
The only time I felt hopeful or inspired during these periods was when lightning cut through the storm. In my dreams, the flashes of light illuminated what I couldn’t see in the darkness of depression or hear in the cacophony of my anxiety. In my daily life, the lightning walked and talked and created just like me. I found it in people, books, and art.
The lightning uncovered what was real—life beyond my pain. Joy beyond the confusion and overwhelm. I caught glimpses of people moving unburdened through their days and opportunities for me to try new experiences. I received messages of hope, direction, and truth. My pain was very real, but the lightning revealed what was also real. And that was enough to keep me going.
Awareness, even tiny flashes of it, is a practice that will serve you well. I would have perished in those moments of despair if I had refused to believe there were clear skies above the storm. When it felt impossible to sit on a pillow in meditation or to talk through my problems with a friend—when I was too tired to muster up the whispers to pray to God for relief, the practice of simple awareness saved my life. Because all it took was a flash of light to illuminate the path, to allow me to take one step at a time forward.
Who is God?
I talk about God a lot, but don’t be alarmed if you consider yourself more spiritual than religious or not spiritual at all. The content I offer still works regardless of your beliefs (or non-beliefs). The practice is the important part, and it’s free of any religious dogma.
First, I want to share what God means to me and how my relationship with God has evolved over time. Today, when I meditate or pray to an entity outside of my immediate self, I still picture the God of my childhood. There He is with a long white beard and large, imposing frame, sitting upon a golden throne, perched atop pillowy white clouds. He rules over a kingdom crisscrossed with streets of shimmering gold, and angels wait by His feet for Him to impart some bit of wisdom for them to carry to the humans they were assigned to guard.
This is the God of my first illustrated children’s Bible, and He’s the one who still lives in my imagination. I have a childhood memory of sitting in the backseat of my Aunt Kathy’s car with my sister Leah. As we drove along the highway to Aunt Kathy’s house, beams of light streamed down through the clouds. “Those are God’s hands reaching down to earth,” Aunt Kathy told us. And I remember thinking, “So God is light, too.”
These images might feel familiar (and comforting) to you, or you may feel the opposite. Many people viscerally reject the idea of an all-knowing, all-powerful, singular creator. Religion can bring up feelings of shame or of not being enough. It can be an oppressive force in some lives. So again, if you’re not into religion or God talk, just replace God with “collective consciousness” or “Universe” or “energy.” Whatever works best for you.
In truth, that’s what I believe God to be. God is all that is, all the so-called good, bad, and ugly of life. All we experience is God—our outer and inner worlds, our emotions and feelings, every living person, animal, and plant we encounter. And here’s the most controversial thing I’m going to say, the basis of how I know what you’re going to learn here is real and that it works: Because God is all that is, you and I are both God.
I belong to a small Unity Church congregation on the Jersey Shore. During one of her sermons, our spiritual leader, Angela, referred to human beings as “tiny gods in skin suits.” Though those words sounded as ridiculous to me as they probably do to you right now, this image immediately shifted my perspective on who God is and how I can connect with God in new ways. Human beings are tiny gods in skin suits.
My old belief was that all human beings are children of God. And that we are all brothers and sisters here on earth. So I tried my best to treat and view everyone as I would my biological family. What Angela said didn’t challenge my belief as much as it expanded it, and I was so excited for what that expansion meant. God’s wisdom didn’t just live in exalted gurus on mountaintops or spiritual media juggernauts like Oprah or Deepak; all God’s wisdom and the very energy that is God lives and moves through every single person on this planet. And it’s accessible at all times through something as simple as a conversation or a request for help. How exciting is that?!
Meditation is my favorite means of connection to myself and all that is. It’s the modality I teach every day to my community of tens of thousands online to help them experience more peace and calm. But sometimes my meditation practice is less than perfect. Life can be hectic and jam-packed with all the goings on of my busy life with a big family and a business to run. So meditation isn’t the only method I use to commune with the collective consciousness. I also connect through relationships—all kinds—with other people. Connecting with others always guides me back to my spiritual home.
When I talk about communing with the collective consciousness through relationships, I’m not talking about witchy circles of women performing ceremonies with crystals and burning sage (though I’m 100% into those, too). I’m talking about a good cry on the phone with a girlfriend, a thread of conversation with virtual strangers in a private Facebook group, or the small talk before yoga class that turns into deeper conversation and new revelations on a decision you’ve been fretting over. These everyday moments of connection are where the lightning is found. God’s wisdom is everywhere, just waiting to be accessed.
Lightning Makers
I had always deeply valued the stories of everyday folks—even before the notion of humans-as-tiny-gods-in-skin-suits clicked in my mind and heart. My online platform, BexLife, was built on stories. My stories and the ones I collected through interviews with friends and people I admired. I would share my musings on parenthood, wellness, spirituality, and anything else I was itching to talk about at that particular moment. Most of the time, I was imparting pretty run-of-the-mill, common sense wisdom. Which, in my opinion, is the best kind of wisdom.
Sometimes I even surprised myself. I would look back on something I wrote or said and would think, “Wow, that was actually smart! Where did that come from?” It’s not that I thought I wasn’t capable of sharing intelligent ideas, but the words were coming from something bigger than me. It was in those moments that I recognized the universal God wisdom inside me. And if it lived in me, it sure as heck lived in other people, too. I’m special, but no more special than you. It feels good when you finally get that.
I turned my small but mighty platform into a place to showcase the wisdom of others. I invited people I admired—everyone from my old friend and detox guru, Michael Perrine, to one of my wellness idols, Kris Carr—to let me interview them for my YouTube channel. I didn’t care if the interviewee had a large following or a bestselling book. When I saw magic, I wanted to spread it around. And I always got back more love and learning than I ever could have imagined from the experience.
I’ve formed so many close friendships and sacred connections with the incredible people who said yes to me—Rachel DeAlto, Danielle Diamond, Quentin Vennie, Gabby Bernstein, Jessica Ortner, Elizabeth DiAlto, Heather Waxman, Danny J Johnson, Grace Smith, Alisa Vitti, Andrea Owen, Kate Northrup, Katie Dalebout, and Erin Stutland are just some of the folks who were virtual strangers to me before we sat down to make a video together. I’m so grateful for what they shared with me and my community.
What I learned from sitting down and listening to the stories of these women and men (and many others through my TV show, Got Zen) was that the individual voice delivering the message is as equally important as the message itself. Think about it—Jesus, the Buddha, Muhammad, Mother Teresa, Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr., and virtually every other spiritual leader through time is basically sharing the same message. At the core, they are talking about love, forgiveness, tolerance, acceptance, and fellowship. But each person brings their own flavor to the message.
When teaching meditation, I often say that there are as many ways to meditate as there are people on this planet. There are also as many ways to give and receive universal wisdom as there are people who want to spread it—and each of these individuals can impact your life differently. The ways of communicating a truth that heals are innumerable, and there is wisdom even in that fact. Combine a simple but universally true and deeply meaningful message with a unique voice, and you have a recipe for miracles.
The women and men with whom I was blessed to connect through my platform were doing just that. They were sharing their stories, their experiences, their struggles, and their triumphs through a filter of love and service. They were lighting up the world one persona at a time with their messages. For the people watching our videos, my guests were uncovering areas previously shadowed by confusion, doubt, comparison, depression, anxiety, fear, and overwhelm. They were illuminating what was once hidden in darkness.
They were the lightning in someone else’s storm. And so I called them my Lightning Makers.
Turning Darkness into Lightning
Now let’s talk about what I’m going to do for you. I’m going to teach you how to become a Lightning Maker. And the secret to making that happen lives in your stories. How can you take your personal history—especially the painful experiences and seemingly insurmountable obstacles—and not only move past them but transform them? When you learn to do that, you can use your stories to influence, inspire, and uplift the people around you. You can turn your mess into your message and your pain into a passionate purpose that changes lives… (more coming soon)
I hope you enjoyed what and I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments (or feel free to connect with me on Facebook or through email). I can’t wait to bring it to light for you!
Rebekah “Bex” Borucki, founder of BexLife.com and the Blissed In® wellness movement, is a mother-of-five, TV host, meditation guide, author, speaker, birth doula, fitness and yoga instructor, and popular social media personality. Her first book, You Have 4 Minutes to Change Your Life (Hay House 2017), is available now, wherever books are sold.
DISCLAIMER: This post/video is designed for educational and/or informational purposes only and should not be used in any other manner. This information is not intended to substitute informed medical advice. You should not use this information to diagnose or treat a health problem or disease without consulting with a qualified healthcare provider. A consultation with your healthcare professional is the proper method to address your health concerns. You are encouraged to consult your healthcare provider with any questions or concerns you may have regarding your condition.