My Favorite Things About Lightning in a Bottle

by Danielle Barry (@energyqueenn & www.energyqueen.org)

Energy Queen here to talk to you about my favorite festival ever. Lightning in a Bottle. I am so happy to be able to share my thoughts on this festival, as it was my first transformational festival last year. I got to bring all my favorite people this year, including my boyfriend, who had never been to a transformational festival until now. It felt very full circle to have gone in last year knowing nothing and being completely unprepared to feeling like an experienced veteran this year. I learned so much and wanted to share some of that with you all. I couldn’t imagine a more perfect place than this beautiful slice of heaven, because it had all my favorite people and all my favorite things.

My Favorite Things About Lightning in a Bottle

1. The perfect balance between a rave and a transformational festival (amazing music but still the incredible vibes)
2. The music. Obviously, a music festival is about the music. But what is special about LIB is that there are a ton of artists that you might not have heard of, but they still throw down just as well as the bigger DJs. Plus, there are performers, dancers, live music, and occasional types of music other than only EDM.
3. THE LAKE!! On a hot day, it’s amazing to grab a giant pool floatie and float on the lake with all of your best friends.
4. The fashion and food vendors. There are such a wide variety of vendors that curate the best products for the attendees. I love seeing all the beautiful art up close and personal after admiring so much of it online. There are hundreds of vendors around the whole place!
5. The art. I could walk around the festival the whole time and keep seeing new things every day, with all of the art installations and fun nooks with crazy decorations. There are tons of interactive areas and experiences to keep you amazed the whole time.
6. The vibes. Everyone is so fricken happy, dressed in the funkiest clothing, and dancing their hearts out. There is something for everyone, and everyone is living their true best lives as their authentic selves.

LIB Lessons

1. Be as Positive as Possible

I did a lot of observing of the people that I was surrounded by all weekend. I really found myself in awe of the positivity that some of my friends carried. If a problem arose, they chose optimism over pessimism. A friend of mine lent her furry coat to another friend, and while she was wearing it someone burnt a hole in it. My friend exclaimed how glad she was that my other friend was unharmed, and didn’t even care about her coat. Even though this was such a small thing, it made me look inside myself and examine the minor inconveniences that upset me. I began noticing how happy she was the whole weekend no matter what she was doing. I also noticed how compassionate and patient she was towards everyone around her. Everyone loved her and gravitated towards her radiant energy. I quickly realized how ridiculous I was being by expecting that everything would go my way, and started just being happy to be in such a magical and wonderful place with all my favorite people and all my favorite things. It can be difficult to stay positive, but at the end of the day, you are only making yourself unhappy, and others with your complaining. People will be attracted to that positivity, and you will find yourself attracting better and brighter things.

2. Surround Yourself With the Right Energy

Going off of my last lesson, I really began to notice at LIB how much my mood changed depending on who I was around. I came with a big group of 30 people, and I spent a lot of time with different smaller groups within my campsite, as well as new people that I met throughout the weekend. On the last day, I realized how peaceful and calm I was with one of the groups I was hanging out with. I looked around at my friends sitting with me in the grass and had a realization that because of the energy of those people, my mind was completely at ease. I couldn’t care less about what we were doing, as long as I had them by my side. A few times before this I had noticed myself wanting to go to the next set or workshop, or anxious about sticking to the schedule we had made. This was fed by anxieties and worries from other people that I had been spending time with. I also noticed some of my friends being super controlling about when and where our whole group would be, and this made me filled with anxiety. But when I was with this one group, I was content just sitting there on the grass, and I didn’t mind that we were missing a set I wanted to see. The lesson I learned is that sometimes people we love can make us anxious, and if a relationship with someone isn’t creating good energy in your heart, it might be time to re-examine how that relationship is serving you. Surround yourself with happiness ✨

3. Fuel Your Body (and Make it Fun!)

This is something I’ve been practicing for 3 years now, but I still learn new things about diet and nutrition to this day. I’m constantly improving my diet and making adjustments to make sure my body is as happy as possible. It’s always been a struggle for me because I LOVE food. The way I’ve been making my meals for the last couple of years was good but definitely not great. I’ve been getting super bored with my meals since I mostly eat the same thing every day to keep to my nutritious foods. I got the chance to try a bunch of new foods at the LIB vendors, and I realized how many different healthy options there were that I didn’t even know about. It might take a little more time to prepare the food, but it’s so worth it when your tastebuds thank you. I promised myself that 2-3 times a week, that I would try and make myself a nutritious, fun meal that is different and yummy. I really want to become a better cook, but it’s hard to find meals that are part of my diet. I eat a mostly plant-based diet, with little to no dairy, and I only eat chicken 1-2 times a week (I eat red meat maybe once a month), as well as mostly unprocessed carbs (brown rice, potatoes, oatmeal). There were so many vegan and vegetarian dishes at LIB, you just have to search the internet. This week, I was inspired and I made myself a vegetarian pad Thai that can be easily adjusted to be vegan (I put the instructions on how to make it on my Instagram highlights section). It was absolutely delicious, Go check it out!

4. Seek Knowledge and New Things

There are so many workshops, yoga/movement classes, and informational talks/discussions at LIB, and I definitely didn’t get to go to all of the ones I wanted. I spent all my time doing what the group wanted, that I sometimes forgot about my own desires. I had a friend who spent a whole day going to the workshops and talks that she wanted to go to, even though she had to do it all alone. The glow she came back to camp with at the end of the day was so beautiful that I asked her what she had done. She told me about how happy it made her to gain so much information and knowledge about the topics that she cared about, and how she didn’t mind that she had to go alone. I was so inspired by her and I vowed to myself that for LIB 2020, I would do the same thing. It doesn’t matter if you have to be alone for a few hours at a festival, because you won’t live with any regrets about missing something that you really care about. Your friends will be waiting for you when you’re done venturing out on your own. Don’t let your fear of being alone stop you from having the experience you want.

I did actually get to go to an amazing workshop with my boyfriend called Compassionate Communication, and it was incredible. We talked about how to resolve conflict in a way that doesn’t hurt and doesn’t escalate to a toxic level. We also discussed our deepest needs/desires, and how those are connected to why we get into conflicts. I realized that one of my biggest needs is support, and when I don’t feel that I have that, is when I get frustrated and upset. The speaker gave us a breakdown of how you can communicate when a conflict arises, so I wrote it down to share with all of you:

Compassionate Communication: Observation, Emotion, Need, Request

1. State your OBSERVATION
   • “I noticed that I could hear the door when you walked out of the room”
   • Instead of “Stop slamming the doors !!!”
2. State your EMOTION
   • When this… happened, I felt this…
   • “When you slammed the door, I felt frustrated.”
   • This allows the other person to feel empathy
3. State what you NEED
   • Because…
   • “I would like it if you could be more gentle because when I’m in my house I want to feel peace”
   • This allows the other person to understand where you are coming from.
4. Make a request
   • “Even if we are arguing, can we make an agreement that we don’t slam doors and that we hold peace when we are arguing?”
   • Because it’s so specific, it can allow for further conversation and target a specific problem and resolve it

I hope the lessons I learned can help guide you on your personal and spiritual journey. I like to take away more than just memories from my festival experiences. I take away lifelong lessons and friendships that fill me with joy. I highly recommend going to Lightning in a Bottle if you have never been before, so you can experience one of the most beautiful spaces on Earth.

Much love,
Danielle (Energy Queen)

Danielle owns her own blog www.energyqueen.org and you can also find her on Instagram @energyqueenn.