A Box and 150 New Friends

Mar 6, 2014 | Stories | 7 comments

I just knew I had my life all figured out.  I seemed happy.  I seemed like I was full of life and always ready to tackle whatever came my way.  No Problem.  The more I sat back and evaluated my life, the more I realized I was always the YES person and could barely say NO to people.  I was doing things that was pushing ME away from ME?  Sounds out of the norm, right?  I mean, how could you push yourself away from yourself?  Can that happen?!?!  Well Yes… When my best friend, Laura called me about a training that she had took several months prior to tell me that she wanted to sign me up for,  I kinda wanted to give push back as I didn’t want to go.  I wanted to fight with the idea.  I thought, hmm.  I already know where I stood with myself, why would I need to take 4 days out of my already cool life 🙂  to attend a leadership training to learn how to LOVE myself and become a leader?   This past weekend was the most AMAZING experience that I have had in quite a while.  I spent the entire weekend in tears!  I swear, I could have filled a bucket.  Why must you ask?

The training that I attended was in West Palm, Florida.  It was from Thursday – Sunday.  It was called www.gratitudetraining.com.  I love these kinds of trainings because you never know what to expect when you walk into the room.  The class was huge.  There were about 150 ppl attending this workshop.  That is AMAZING!  I thought these kinds of trainings would have small groups, but it was pretty cool to see that so many people didn’t think they had themselves figured out like myself…(hehe) I also liked how we were kinda disconnected from the real world so that we could only focus on who really mattered, ME 🙂 (You) or (them)?  You get the picture…

It was amazing to see how everyone transformed on Day 1 & 2.  We were all just trying to discover ourselves.  It’s never an easy process when you have to peel away at your past to see what is in your present to get to your future.   Letting go is the hardest as well.

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I have to say that I had my outrageous moment this weekend.  We were able to do something that no one else in the group could do.  What did I do?  Of course, I had to reenact Flashdance’s famous scene.  OH YEA!  I even had H2O.  You shoulda been there…

I guess the biggest moment for me this weekend was a little journey that I took on day 3.  We were kinda meditating and as I was sitting in the dark with my eyes closed, following the trainer, Barry’s voice..I kept hearing him say go to your pile that resembled your childhood and find up your box.  I could remember sitting there and feeling everywhere for a box, any box but couldn’t find one.  I had realized that I didn’t have a box.   The other moment that night that really upset me was when my parter at the time asked me, “What is love?” and I honestly couldn’t answer it.  As we wrapped up the night I walked out of the convention center crying like a baby.  All I kept saying was, I DON’T HAVE A BOX.  I JUST WANTED A CHANCE AT A BOX!  I didn’t realize how much this affected me.  So what did I do?  I slept on it.

Day 4!  Wow, what a day.  Today was my day.  TODAY, I took the stage in front of all those 150ppl to share my story and how I was affected by Love and a box.  I stood up their and said my name and told them I AM ELIZABETH SUTHERLAND, HEAR ME ROAR!!! Courage is an incredible thing.  It’s contagious.  I looked out at all those people and saw LOVE.  I realized that LOVE is all around us.  I knew what LOVE was.  I know how to give LOVE.  We all need to share LOVE, spread LOVE and give LOVE.

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So what about the box.  Well, it’s amazing how GOD works.  It doesn’t matter what age you are.  Your never to old to have a BOX.  On graduation night, I was standing around in a circle with all my new 150 new FRIENDS with my eyes closed doing as instructed.  When I had opened my eyes, my BEST Friend Laura, who had enrolled me in the training was standing right in front of me with tears all over her face.  I couldn’t phantom as to why….

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She handed me a bag…

Words couldn’t describe it.  We had our moment!  Laura is a once in a lifetime kind of people 🙂

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So in a nutshell, The Gratitude Training has helped me define who I am as a person.  We are all destined to be warriors.  I have found 150 new friends that will help me be committed to not neglect ME and I will in return, help them as well.  I am forever GRATEFUL!  Here’s to Part 2.  I mean, how much more AWESOME can I get? 🙂

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Have you ever attended a Leadership training before?  If so, please share.  I would love to learn more about it!

7 Comments

  1. Jessica Lee

    This sounds amazing Liz! What an awesome experience. I think I need something like this!

    Reply
    • noordinaryliz

      Yes! It was amazing. You were totally disconnected from the outside world so you didn’t have any distractions and you could really focus on yourself. There were times we did things that made me uncomfortable, there were times that made me laugh, cry, yell and be goofy. I strongly encourage you to take a look at the website, you definitely won’t regret taking the time to go!

      Reply
  2. Lady Tyrneathem

    It sounds like you had a very amazing experience. Thank you for sharing it all with us. 🙂

    Reply
  3. Tonya

    It sounds like you had an amazing experience. Thank you so much for sharing it with us. 🙂

    Reply
  4. Kerri Hale

    I’ve never attended a leadership training before, but it looks like you had an amazing time. What a great experience for you!

    Reply
  5. noordinaryliz

    I really hadn’t attending one like this before. It was awesome! One that I will never forget and the amount of gratitude that you walk away with is simply unforgetable. It was a great experience for me and one that I try to live by everyday.

    Reply

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Welcome!

No Ordinary Liz is unique stories about my past in foster care, my awesome present life and hope for the future. I have lived a not so ordinary life so to speak and feel that I need to share these experiences with each of you. These stories will be funny, sad, inspirational, uncomfortable and motivational. Stop by and take a look around. And don’t forget to purchase my book! http://tinyurl.com/noordinaryliz

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