Recently, we explored the big idea in which I asked you what myth are you living. If you’re still ruminating on this, here’s another tool that might help you drill into it: archetypes.
The concept of archetype is something Carl Jung spent a tremendous amount of time exploring and is so rich! Caroline Myss has built on Jung’s work and expounded on how we can access and utilize archetypal energy to better understand ourselves and the world.
A powerful way to help understand where you are on your life path, is to recognize what story or stories are playing out in your life. This is a question/idea that comes from Carl Jung. He famously said:
I was driven to ask myself in all seriousness: “What is the myth you are living?”
I found no answer to this question, and had to admit that I was not living with a myth, or even in a myth, but rather in an uncertain cloud
of theoretical possibilities which I was beginning to regard with increasing distrust.
Happy New Year!
Are you ready for 2025?
It still feels pretty new, which is why it’s helpful to employ some anchoring exercises to support you as you get clear about how you want this year to be for you.
I always start my year by choosing a word or phrase, something to focus on, dive into, and act as a theme or inquiry for the upcoming 365 days.
Some of the ones I’ve chosen in past years include: receive, relax, joy, shine, communion… you get the idea. Once you hit on your word (or phrase), the invitation is to spend the next 12 months deepening into how you can experience it in your life.
I love sharing spiritual tools with you with this blog.
Sometimes it's a poem, mantra, prayer, breath exercise, or affirmation. But each technique is one I’ve tried and tested over the decades and is now part of my box of go-tos. The ones I rely on when I need additional support, assistance or help reconnecting to the truth of myself, which is love.
Today I felt called to share one that I return to again and again. It's a breath I was taught by my guru over twenty years ago called the Chittakash, which is the heart space over the head.
The other day I saw this quote by Stephen Covey:
“The biggest communication problem is we do not listen to understand. We listen to reply.”
I’ve always considered myself a good listener, how about you?
I enjoy paying attention to what others say, but it’s definitely a different kind of listening when we truly want to understand what someone else is saying!
And despite thinking I was good at this particular skill, I got a whole new perspective a few years ago when I received training from a facilitator who was part of the Compassionate Listening Project
Recently, we explored the big idea in which I asked you what myth are you living. If you’re still ruminating on this, here’s another tool that might help you drill into it: archetypes.
The concept of archetype is something Carl Jung spent a tremendous amount of time exploring and is so rich! Caroline Myss has built on Jung’s work and expounded on how we can access and utilize archetypal energy to better understand ourselves and the world.
A powerful way to help understand where you are on your life path, is to recognize what story or stories are playing out in your life. This is a question/idea that comes from Carl Jung. He famously said:
I was driven to ask myself in all seriousness: “What is the myth you are living?”
I found no answer to this question, and had to admit that I was not living with a myth, or even in a myth, but rather in an uncertain cloud
of theoretical possibilities which I was beginning to regard with increasing distrust.
Happy New Year!
Are you ready for 2025?
It still feels pretty new, which is why it’s helpful to employ some anchoring exercises to support you as you get clear about how you want this year to be for you.
I always start my year by choosing a word or phrase, something to focus on, dive into, and act as a theme or inquiry for the upcoming 365 days.
Some of the ones I’ve chosen in past years include: receive, relax, joy, shine, communion… you get the idea. Once you hit on your word (or phrase), the invitation is to spend the next 12 months deepening into how you can experience it in your life.
I love sharing spiritual tools with you with this blog.
Sometimes it's a poem, mantra, prayer, breath exercise, or affirmation. But each technique is one I’ve tried and tested over the decades and is now part of my box of go-tos. The ones I rely on when I need additional support, assistance or help reconnecting to the truth of myself, which is love.
Today I felt called to share one that I return to again and again. It's a breath I was taught by my guru over twenty years ago called the Chittakash, which is the heart space over the head.
The other day I saw this quote by Stephen Covey:
“The biggest communication problem is we do not listen to understand. We listen to reply.”
I’ve always considered myself a good listener, how about you?
I enjoy paying attention to what others say, but it’s definitely a different kind of listening when we truly want to understand what someone else is saying!
And despite thinking I was good at this particular skill, I got a whole new perspective a few years ago when I received training from a facilitator who was part of the Compassionate Listening Project
Some days it feels hard not to succumb to strife – be it internal or external.
Particularly when there feels like there’s so much churning taking place. Whether it’s within your own being, with your family/friends, society or planetary, it’s hard not to get sucked into it.
The other day, one of my daughter’s said to me, “no one was going to save me. I have to save myself.”
I nearly fell off my chair.
Why?
Because she’s 24-years-old!
I don’t even want to think how long it took me to understand that idea!
Instead, for SUCH a long time, I was hooked on the fairy tale of being rescued. Think about it, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Rapunzel… ugh.
As I began to awaken to the truth of who I am, I began to see that, just as my daughter reminded me, the only one who was going to save me was ME.
At first, it felt like a big blow. Ouch. I was upset. My paradigm was getting busted.
For our final blog in this series offering tools to support you when you feel anxious, uncertain or dread, we’re focusing on community.
Firstly, what does community mean to you?
Take a moment and really think about it. What might in include:
Family
Friends
Church/temple
Walking Group
Whatever community means to you, here are 4 ways to deepen those connections.
This blog is focused on ways to support you on the physical level, when your nervous system gets hijacked by anxiety, worry or fear.
The first tool:
Take a moment right now to become aware of your breath.
Is it slow? Fast? Deep? Shallow? How we breathe directly impacts how we feel.
When I was in high school, I was on the crew team. Before every race began, when we’d be adjusting the boat, assured we were in the correct lane and pointed in the right direction, I’d get so nervous I’d actually stop breathing.
Of course, that’s the EXACT opposite of what my muscles needed to win! But it’s what anxiety can do. Fight-flight-freeze
Which is why we have to train ourselves to breathe and regularly check in with our breath.
In the last blog, the focus was on spiritual strategies to help you feel less anxious and afraid. Today, we’re exploring ways to harness the power of your mind to help control your thoughts so they don’t control you.
Ready?
One of the ideas we discussed in the last blog was: How you start your day is how you live your day. Remember?
Intention ties into this beautifully.
Let’s be honest, some days are just hard, especially if you’re a sensitive person!
We can glance up from the microcosm of our lives, and gasp at what’s happening across the globe, from searing heats and drought to political discord.
Maybe you’ve found yourself, your emotional self, teetering on the edge - trying hard not to fall into fear or anxiety- as you face this elevated level of uncertainty.
To support you through these times, I’ve put together tools to help you manage the discomfort you’re feeling be it anxiety, apprehension, dread, fear…
Over the next few weeks, I’ll provide you with tools and practices you can incorporate and use. This blog, is focused on the spiritual level. In subsequent weeks, we’ll look at mind habits, body practices, as well as community engagement.
Let’s dive in!
If you’re ready to deepen your work with the enneagram and/or with the idea of forgiveness, keep reading!
The lens of the enneagram is a powerful tool to support us in forgiving ourselves. Why do we want to do this? Because, as Louise Hay reminds us, we forgive and we set ourselves free.
If you’re not familiar with the Enneagram, it is a comprehensive system to help identify your personality and default responses to life. There a 9 different personality types or world views, numbered 1-9.
When we’re in alignment with the truth of who we are, we’re able to access all 9 points of the enneagram, using various responses to stimuli, as appropriate. However, all of us have a default number, a fallback position if you like, that’s activated when we experience fear.
The only personality tool I use regularly is the enneagram. Why? Because it’s incredibly helpful in understanding myself!
If you’re unfamiliar with the enneagram, essentially it is a set of 9 world views, orientations, or ways of experiencing the world. There is evidence of the enneagram being utilized as far back as the ancient Greeks. Learn more here
Ultimately, the idea is that when we are in alignment and feel connected to our larger essence (some call this our God selves or universal consciousness), we have the ability to access ALL 9 ways of being and can approach any situation and employ whatever personality traits we need.
That being said, we also have a default way of responding to stimuli. Some call this our learned self, others call it personality. Essentially, it’s how we respond to the world especially when we feel afraid.
A friend was visiting the other day and shared that she’s been thinking about money as an “idea.”
As you might imagine, an interesting conversation ensued! Later, I found myself contemplating the many lenses through which we can explore money.
If money is an idea, how are you defining it?
If you really think about it, money (I’m not even gonna touch crypto…) is comprised of pieces of printed paper and metal discs. We are the ones who ascribe meaning to these symbols and give them value.
What do they mean to you?
My first answer is freedom. Freedom to do what you want, to go where you want.
Money also offers opportunity.
What do you think?
Sometimes we don’t realize just how powerful we are. But the truth is that if you really want to change the world, it’s actually quite simple: tune into love.
This might sound simplistic but hear me out. In fact, let me give you an example of one thing I do, as well as the science behind it!
I live near the Puget Sound, a part of the Pacific Ocean that runs through western Washington state.
Whenever I’m near the water, I look out at it and say, “I love you ocean. I really, really love you. Thank you for providing food, shelter and oxygen for us and for so many creatures.”
Before you roll your eyes in disbelief, keep reading because there’s actual science behind my actions!
