Daya Scheide…
“For the first time since I was probably 13 or something I have no stress, no exhaustion, no resentment…no fear even. I look for it and it’s not there!”
When Daya Scheide came to the Activate Your Personal Power program in the fall of 2013 he was overworked, stretched thin and worn out.
Being the lead Middle School teacher at a rural charter school and the father of two young children, he was dedicated, earnest and exhausted. His deep love of his kids and his students drove him to keep pushing himself to give more and more, even when he had little left to give. Constantly running on overdrive meant sacrificing his health and sanity to try to “be everything to everyone.”
When a student posted this picture of him on Facebook a co-worker made the following comment: “That is the look of a man who dedicates himself to the youth of the World! Way to go Daya!”
And that’s the way it had always been for him…Daya had bought into this disempowering belief that to be dedicated to the youth of the world means running yourself ragged…
“I’m blown away by how much has actually manifested in perfect and surprising ways throughout the last six months since I participated in the Activate program.
When I started the program I could see these three spheres in my life that were separated and weren’t working well together. One sphere was my family. One was my work. And the other one was who I am in my inner world and in my relationship with the Divine.
I’ve always had so much trouble figuring out how to integrate my spiritual self with the rest of my life. I always wondered why it was so hard to walk between these worlds…the spirit-prayer world and the rest of these worlds…and why everything felt so crazy and unmanageable.
I was strung out. I was struggling to feel comfortable at home and at work/school I was super stressed out. I even thought that was just the nature of the work…thinking to myself ‘how can anybody actually do all this without stress?’
I really appreciated the simplicity of the spiritual connection Jo lead us into during the program. The simplicity of the altar we worked with – the fire and the water and the mystery. And the creation of the sacred container we worked in.
The meditation we used really woke something up in me…it’s unbelievable how poignantly that’s alive in my life right now…six months later.
There was an initiation happening through this circle. It kicked off something powerful and then all these other things came in to support it.
During our work together I was focusing my intent on becoming more devotional in my life and that kicked off this experience of tending my own heart fire. My work became making sure my heart fire was pointed in the right direction and just keeping it real good and focused and feeding everything that didn’t feel comfortable to me right into it…refusing to turn away from anything or externalize anything or make excuses about anything.
Through this process I got to some realizations and what I found is that the thing that was bothering my heart was the same thing that was bother me in my family life and in the school community.
And it all had to do with not being fully honest about who I am and how I’m able to show up. I was trying to do too much for everybody and accepting responsibilities that were not authentically mine and engaging in contracts that I wasn’t able to make at the time and then feeling guilt that I couldn’t pull all this off.
I was running on this idea that school is going to be everything to every kid and that I’m gonna be everything to everyone in my family.
I had to get really honest and start dropping what wasn’t mine…and it took those three spheres and just brought them perfectly together and now there’s just no separation at all. It’s amazing. I just walk this one way…into everything.
In the tradition I practice I learned to begin in the East with humility and that opens the door to honesty in the South and that makes way for integrity in the West…which leads to will in the North. And, after all these years, I’m just understanding this finally…the way it really works.
For me, the humility came in choosing to come to this program in the first place…to admit that things weren’t working and to be willing to look into them. This initial curiosity.
And then the bulk of the work was really in getting honest for me. It took the sustained attention that the program provided to look at all the stuff I was so afraid to say to people…the people that were closest to me. So afraid. That if I say this thing…this thing that I’ve been holding for a long time…it’s all gonna blow up and everything’s gonna come crashing down.
And what I found out is that it’s true…everything did come crashing down but it was super easy and graceful. It was like the cracking apart of a shell and then the rising of this unbelievable force and this incredible knowing…and then all these gifts began coming in that seemed to say “THIS is how it’s supposed to be.”
THIS is love. THIS is happiness. THIS is connection. THIS is devotion. And then all the remaining blocks were totally incinerated.
And, of course, there’s still more to work through…but there’s this momentum now. Whatever comes up as an obstacle just goes into the fire of my heart and it just burns hotter and hotter.
In some ways my life has become way more full and complicated since the Activate program but for the first time since I was probably 13 or something I have no stress, no exhaustion, no resentment…no fear even. I look for it and it’s not there!
A big part of this work for me was in making room to receive the blessings when they come and learning how to say “Hell Yes!!!” when they come to my door. To tear that package open and grab it. I feel like a kid getting everything I wanted and there’s no guilt and no shame.
I’ve also found it so much easier to be super present for my loved ones when they’re having a hard time but I’m not taking on anybody else’s stuff anymore… not taking on anybody else’s karma anymore…
I’m just not doing the guilt thing at all anymore and it’s super awesome.”
– Daya Scheide
Since activating his personal power in this unique way Daya is visibly lighter and more joyful. It’s been such a pleasure to see the difference in how he relates to his students and within our community. The “weight” that was on his shoulders is noticeably gone.
