Video Summary:

I want to share a spiritual inquiry that I've been working with. Spiritual inquiry or self-inquiry is when we ask a question to our higher self, spirit, inner consciousness, or intuition, and then wait for an answer. When we allow the answer to come to us we might experience it in a number of ways.

Some of you may know I've been exploring the Australian Dreamtime. In fact, the spring retreat I’m offering in March this year is going to have a Dreamtime theme. The Dreamtime is another dimension of being, so we'll do ceremony in the Dreamtime to open the doorways in our waking lives.

To further experience the Dreamtime, I'm learning to play the didgeridoo. It’s actually the oldest instrument on the planet. It's a long, hollow tube constructed of a hollowed-out tree or other material. It creates a rhythmical droning noise and can be used in ceremonies, meditation, sound baths, and dance.

I'm taking didgeridoo lessons from this amazing teacher. I’m doing a lesson every week and then I practice at least a half hour a day. I have my lesson on Friday which starts my learning cycle. It feels like I’m going around the Medicine Wheel or Wheel of Life during my week of practicing.

On lesson day, it's like the east or the spring on the Medicine Wheel as I’m excited about learning the new things she's showing me. The most challenging part of the cycle is the first few days of practicing the new exercises. This correlates to the south on the wheel which is the time of learning and adolescence.

The first day is the hardest and most frustrating because, to put it bluntly, I kind of suck at it. I don't know what I'm doing. My body can't do what my mind wants to do. The half-hour I set my timer for seems to last a very long time. And it's also frustrating on the second day, but each day gets a little better.

By the third day or so it feels like I'm starting to get the hang of it. I think to myself, “I can do this. I'm still clunky, but there's hope because I’m getting a feel for it. I think I can get this.”

And then by Wednesday or Thursday, I'm thinking, “Wow, I'm starting to get pretty good at this. I can feel some rhythm developing, and I feel like I'm actually jamming on the didge.” This would be like the west on the Medicine Wheel where I'm experiencing some mastery. And then the north is when I show my teacher what I’ve learned during the week.

For this video’s inquiry, I want to focus on the challenging first couple of days of practice and the early parts of the Medicine Wheel. Looking back on my life, I am realizing how many times I quit and didn't follow through when I got to this frustrating phase.

So my inquiry question is, “What in your life do you want to develop and learn, and how can you get through the frustrating phase of it so you can get all the value and expansiveness that lies on the other side?”