Rachel Swanson Coaching

When I was 14, just before entering 9th grade, my best friend’s mom took us on an overnight to Duluth, MN. It was a weekend to celebrate our promotion into high school.

What I remember most from that time was our trip to the toy store. My friend’s mom told us each to pick something out to remind us to never forget to have fun, to always remember to include play in our lives.

I chose this stuffed lion.

What a gift she gave to me that day.

He’s traveled with me to college and to my first apartment, to my first house, and even gone on a few vacations with me. But even more importantly, he reminds me to never forget my childlike wonder.

When I need inspiration for an upcoming training that I’m leading, I will often go to our local toy store, and look over every shelf. I allow myself to be curious, to be truly excited by the colors and the designs. Usually I leave with some small item to incorporate into the day’s agenda.

To me, play isn’t a side dish or a condiment, meant to be sprinkled on, to taste. Play is the main event. Play offers the chance to explore, to test limits and boundaries. Play gives space for what is possible. Play is the best recipe for learning.

I learned that as a 14 year old, and it’s still true more than twenty years later.

Today as I sat down to work I couldn’t stop remembering this story. So I dug my stuffed lion out of the storage bin he’s been in, and placed him prominently on my shelf. It was as if he was calling to me, “Don’t forget. Don’t forget to play.”

What a gift he has been to me.

How are you including play into your life?

Happy Thanksgiving 🍁

Last week our family car had the check engine light on, again. We took it into the shop, again. This time we finally got to the root of the issue. The conclusion: we need an engine rebuild.

What does this have to do with gratitude? Well I can tell you about so many things that make my life unbelievably worth living, like the way the cool breeze feels while walking my dog on a perfect midwestern fall day, or the fact that my kitchen always has chocolate in it, or the way that my partner in life is also my biggest fan.

But the car, well it has also turned into a gratitude. Because when I heard the price to repair the engine (spoiler alert: a lot) I immediately felt worry.

I was out on one of those perfect fall day walks with my dog when the mechanic called, and a few blocks after hanging up, a few blocks after the panic and worry, the calm started to settle in. We are going to be okay. We are going to be okay.

And then, the way that so often happens, I felt the voice of Spirit.

“The money will appear.”

Today I got an email from a past client, who told me that the funding had come through for some work I had done for them last summer. Not only that, but they wanted to prepay me for some more work.

How much was the pay for the work?

The exact cost of the engine repair.

There are so many ways to understand this story, so many explanations that have nothing to do with Spirit or God or the connectedness of everything.

But I think it’s a miracle. The sort of miracle that happens everyday, if I’m just paying enough attention.

I hope your Thanksgiving is filled with deep gratitude and so many everyday miracles and some really good paying attention.