An Idea Whose Time Has Come

“There will be obstacles along the way, and the question then becomes, who will you be in the midst of it?” – Lola Wright

In July, I took you along as I helped my husband expand his business and learned lessons that I never saw coming. Now I’m sharing our joy of a successful close on the property, reflecting on the final obstacles, and inviting you to celebrate the new space with us.

I am so excited to celebrate the beautiful new Logan Square space with my husband and our community. Not that long ago, however, it looked like this new chapter wouldn’t work out after all. We almost lost the chance to buy the property when we were faced with an argumentative lawyer who seemed to be looking for a fight.

This week on Find Your Fierce & Loving, I explore the ways that this world tries to teach us that a fight is necessary. Instead of joining a fight in anger, or passively rolling over, what can you do to be of service in these scenarios? How can you stay true to yourself and facilitate a better outcome for everyone? Join me in reflecting on these questions, and stay tuned until the end for a very special invitation to the new space on August 21-22!

• (00:54) – Closing on the new space
• (06:21) – Facing obstacles
• (12:33) – Conviction
• (16:20) – Welcome to the space

Do you want to unleash your inherent love and goodness, liberate yourself, and free humanity from the oppressive systems and structures we have created? We are here to support you in finding your fierce and loving life. Join us in Our Circle, a vibrant membership community rich in opportunities for engagement and transformation. Find out more at lolawright.com/our-circle.

You can follow Lola Wright, on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter and learn more about my work at lolawright.com.

Chicago born and built, Lola grew up in wealth and privilege, yet always sensed something was missing. She sought out aliveness and freedom in music, immersing herself in the hip hop and house music scenes of 90s Chicago. After finding herself on her own at 23, as the mother of two young children, she became determined to create a new experience.

Lola is an ordained minister with a gift for weaving together the mystical and material, she served for many years as the CEO of Bodhi Center, an organization committed to personal transformation, collective awakening, conscious activism, and community-building. 

This podcast is produced by Quinn Rose with theme music by independent producer Trey Royal.

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Lola Wright (00:01): Something is stirring. Maybe you’ve felt it. We are reckoning with the reality of injustice and binary thinking that feeds the political machine. Humanity is in the midst of a heartbreaking and painful paradigm shift. That is a good thing. My name is Lola Wright, and this is Find Your Fierce & Loving. This podcast is intended to help you disrupt, untangle, and free your mind of personal and collective agreements, patterns and beliefs that are holding you back and weighing you down. We desperately need your fierce and loving purpose, now more than ever.

Lola Wright (00:54): Oh, my goodness. I am so excited to share this very good news. I am excited to share what’s going on in my world and have you be up to speed. I’ve shared with you that Nathan and I have been playing together in a very unique and distinct way this summer and that we’ve been pursuing this space in Chicago’s Logan Square neighborhood, a space that quite literally just came out of nowhere, fell in our laps. It really is a demonstration of how there’s that which you know you want and that what you’re working toward, and then there is that which you don’t even know you want. And for us, this has been a deep, deep practice of surrendering to a plan greater than the one we’ve held and being sort of wowed by the extraordinary mystical, imaginative, creative capacity of the universe. And so good news, we’ve closed on the property.

Lola Wright (01:53): This incredible three lots of magical garden space in Logan Square is now ours to tend to and nurture and play in and invite into. So for all of you that have been holding this vision high with and for us, I thank you so deeply. It is some of my favorite Chicago wins. And, for those of you who are outside of Chicago that have been traveling with me, loving me through all the transitions over the last couple of years, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. It is such a demonstration of lean into another’s belief when you lose your own footing. There were times in this process where we had friends and family and collaborators, co-conspirators that could hold a vision that we could not always hold. And so, sometimes you’ve heard me talk about this as possibility partners. And so, I guess my question for you is, do you have possibility partners in your life?

Lola Wright (03:00): Do you have people that can hold a bigger field when you can’t? It is too much to hold by ourselves. There are people who have gone before us that have more experience, and there are people who just don’t have the same limiting beliefs as we have. So, get yourself some possibility partners. And, if you are among our love crew of possibility partners, people who have reminded us of what’s possible when we have forgotten, I just want to say, thank you. Thank you for seeing the vision, holding the vision and knowing us as capable in the midst of it all. Now, with that in mind, I want to tell you a little bit about the process because first of all, as you know, this came out of nowhere. This was not a desire we had. It wasn’t an intention we had, to some extent. Nathan and I love space. We love creating space. We love creating intentional and sacred space. So again, this manifested, and it was a vision we didn’t even know we had. And then, all kinds of miracles presented themselves to make it possible.

Lola Wright (04:19): Many of you know that there’s a particular way that Michael Beckwith says this that just lives in my bones. And, he will sometimes say, “And out of nowhere, out of no way, a way will be made.” And, that is the opportunity to lean into the unseen realm, the unknown. Our finite capacity to understand is brilliant, and it has its limitations. So, how available are you to the infinite realm, to the unseen and the unknown, and how willing are you to fall, to surrender into that? Now, this is not a place in space that is here to talk about pollyanna principles or magical thinking. I love to be in reality. I think a lot of times people will take on these mystical ancient principles of creation and get sort of wobbly in them and think that it really is just like 1, 2, 3, poof, and I don’t have to do my part. That’s just not the way the law, universal law works. You’ve got to do your part. So, in the process of this transaction, there were several points on the road where things got really dicey.

Lola Wright (05:46): Our financing fell through. We were told countless times by countless banks that this was not possible. And, it was just one little breadcrumb after another that we followed. We had to make unreasonable requests. We had to ask for support in ways that we were uncomfortable doing. Nathan went way outside of his comfort zone in expanding his own sense of what he could ask for, what he could request, how he could gain support. And, it was really a beautiful transformation to bear witness to. So, when you and I say yes to a bigger version of ourselves, rest assured, you will be asked to grow. You will be required to go beyond your comfort zone. There will be obstacles likely along the way, and the question then becomes who will you be in the midst of it? So, I want to give you just a little window into one of those obstacles. In this transaction, there were series of lawyers involved, and I remember growing up my grandfather, my paternal grandfather was a lawyer and a judge.

Lola Wright (06:58): And, based on what I imagine would be my father’s trauma, he really never had a whole lot of niceties for the profession. He basically has sort of a fundamental belief that lawyers are just a pain in the neck. I don’t think I share that belief, but there is race consciousness or collective consciousness around that. The seller’s attorney had a way of being that I just really did not prefer. I found it to be argumentative. I found it to be challenging. And, I kept saying to myself and to Nathan, “I don’t think there’s a fight here, but it feels like she wants to fight.” And again, my dad would always say growing up, “It’s not what you say, it’s how you say it.” And, this just felt like case in point. Sure, we could parse her words.

Lola Wright (07:50): And, you could say that she didn’t say anything that was unreasonable, but there was a way of being. And, one of the things I really have noticed through my dance in Nathan’s business with clients and contractors, through this transaction with different parties and this particular lawyer, there really is a sense in the human experience that fighting is needed. And, I just want to say it loud and proud, beloveds, life does not have to be a fight. When we think about what if we could create win for all solutions? What if we actually could get that we’re all on the same side, there is no opponent? It would be so much more fun, so much more creative, so much more imaginative. And, just call me naive, call me aspirational, call me whatever you want, but life doesn’t have to be a fight.

Lola Wright (08:53): So, after a series of emails that just seemed unnecessarily hostile, I found myself asking what was mine to do? I could certainly take the path of least resistance, and I could say nothing. But, that’s not really who I’m here to be. I’m not here to be someone who just rolls over and ignores what’s in a space. But, what I also knew was that I had no interest in joining the fight. One of the great gifts over the last several months is how disinterested I am in fighting. It is a tax that we place on ourselves with very little, if any, reward. It’s hard on our central nervous systems, it is… Just sort of has a toxic effect. That doesn’t mean that there’s not great value in bringing healthy pressure or challenger energy to an experience, but fighting is just not necessary. So, as I sat there and asked myself, “What is mine to do?

Lola Wright (10:03): What could I contribute that may actually be in service of this scenario?” We were down to the wire. We had a closing date scheduled. This attorney was unwilling to negotiate that date and very happy to put the property back on the market at a premium and have us try again at a higher purchase price. We did not want that for obvious reasons. And so, after the course of a few hostile email exchanges, I just took a few deep breaths, and I asked myself, “Lola, what could you contribute?” And, this is what I wrote, “If I may jump in, albeit unconventionally, we really appreciate everyone’s willingness to do their very best to move this forward. We are committed to this working out. We are trusting that a way is made and that all of the moving parts align in right and perfect timing. We have each acted in good faith. and I know that counts for something.

Lola Wright (11:07): This process has been part of a vision that Nathan has held, and I believe very deeply in him. The seller has been a great partner for us and for that, we are deeply grateful. I feel strongly that we are the right buyers to honor the legacy of the space. In spite of the state of the world, I remain an optimist. I don’t believe we have crossed paths in vain, and I can’t believe we have come this far for it to fall apart. I am excited to have this closed, to give each of you a big hug, and to celebrate. Lots of love, Lola.”

Lola Wright (11:48): You want to be more alive. You want to unleash your inherent love and goodness, liberate yourself, and free humanity from the oppressive systems and structures we have created. We are here to support you in finding your fierce and loving life. Join us in Our Circle. This is an affirming and radical space that will gather weekly, on-demand or live, whatever works best for your life. For more information on how you can engage in Our Circle, visit lolawright.com/our-circle. I’d love to have you with us.

Lola Wright (12:34): As you may imagine, I didn’t receive any responses, and I wasn’t expecting any responses. But, what my intention was, was to write a prayer. I really wanted to insert a prayer in the state of consciousness that this transaction was finding itself in, and it would have been a little weird to say, “Hey, I’m going to just send a prayer out to everyone.” I just didn’t think everyone would be receptive to that. And, it was the best attempt I knew to be intentional and creative and contributory and grateful and visionary in a seemingly benign response among lawyers and lenders, sellers and buyers. We always have the opportunity to choose how we want to be in response to any set of circumstances. And, when you are someone that chooses to lead with possibility versus probability, you will likely be met with lots of resistance, explicit and implicit, said and unsaid.

Lola Wright (13:46): That was certainly true for me through the course of this transaction. The thing I kept saying over and over and over again is, “I have never been forgotten or forsaken. Nathan, you have never been forgotten or forsaken. I do not believe in a universe of trickery. I do not believe in an external force that sort of dangles a carrot before you only to snatch it away.” One of the great quotes that came up for us in the course of this transaction is by Victor Hugo. Nathan would say it with some amount of regularity, “Nothing else in the world, not all the armies, is so powerful as an idea whose time has come.” And for us, the vision of this place really has felt like an idea whose time has come. And, there is no power in the universe, in the world… There is no army, no opponent that can serve as an ultimate opposition or barrier to an idea whose time has come.

Lola Wright (14:59): And, what that requires is conviction. It requires feeling and faith. In the work that I do when I’m supporting people in altering or manifesting a new reality and weeding the subconscious mind of limiting and false beliefs that are filtering this exquisite universe, there’s a filtration system that is your subconscious mind and when the infinite potentiality of existence presses through your subconscious mind and your subconscious mind is riddled with false and limiting beliefs, then the outcomes, that which get produced in the manifest world, in the world of form, are sort of a perversion of what’s possible. And, the ingredient that you and I are called to bring when there is a vision that is coursing through us, an idea whose time has come, is to imbue it with conviction, with feeling. You could say all the right words, right? All the right affirmations, but if you do not animate that with feeling and conviction, it’s just a parroting of principles.

Lola Wright (16:20): We want you to join us. We want you to come visit and see us at this new space, and there’s a specific day we want to invite you to. On August 21st and August 22nd, we are hosting a pots and plants sale. There are thousands of plants, perennials, trees, and shrubs that we are clearing out of this space to make room for a new design, a magical garden that Nathan and our team are going to bring to life. And in order to do that, we have to find a new loving home for hundreds of pots… So, containers that you can put beautiful plants in and thousands of plants, perennials, trees, and shrubs. Get yourself plugged in by getting on my email list. You can get all that information by visiting my website, lolawright.com. I want to make sure that you get this invitation to join us for this pots and plant sale in Logan Square, August 21st and 22nd. If you have a garden that you’re wanting to tend to, and you want to get some new life in there, come see us.

Lola Wright (17:27): We have to clear out. It’s like, “Everything must go.” There’s going to be music. There’s going to be food. We’re going to have a station for painting pots for anyone who feels inspired to get a little dirty and get a little creative, get a little messy. And then, stay tuned. Stay tuned for invitations to hang out in real life and a magical space that is intended to support the transformation of you. A space of awakening, of liberation, of aliveness, of play, of imagination, and creativity. I’m so grateful for the principles and practices that I live by. They really have given me the gift of a life that’s so far beyond what I ever could have imagined.

Lola Wright (18:25): And, if there’s anything I can do to support you in manifesting more of what you desire, in laying down the limitations that do not serve you any longer, I hope you’ll come play with me. You can always join me in Our Circle, my membership community. Come visit me August 21st and August 22nd at our new Logan Square location. And, follow me on social media because all the updates are there, and I want you plugged in. I hope you’re well. I hope you’re dreaming. I hope you’re imagining, and I hope you’re allowing yourself to be consumed by an idea whose time has come.

Lola Wright (19:09): If you enjoyed this show and would like to receive new episodes as they’re published, subscribe wherever you get your podcasts, and consider leaving a review in Apple Podcasts. Your review helps others find this show. You can follow me at Lola P. Wright on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter, and learn more about my work at lolawright.com. This episode was produced by Quinn Rose with theme music from independent music producer, Trey Royal. 

Lola Wright (19:55): The thing I kept saying over and over and over again is, “I have never been forgotten or forsaken.”