Shakti Sutriasa
How to Know What Archetype You Embody

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.

How to Know What Archetype You Embody
Shakti Sutriasa
What Myth Are You Living?

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.

What Myth Are You Living?
Shakti Sutriasa
Step Confidently into 2025

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.

Step Confidently into 2025
Shakti Sutriasa
Stay Present Amidst Uncertainty: My Fave Tool

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.

Stay Present Amidst Uncertainty: My Fave Tool
Shakti Sutriasa
Listen More Deeply & Compassionately - 3 ...

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

Listen More Deeply & Compassionately - 3 Steps

self help

5 Major Blocks to Happiness & How to Release Them

5 Major Blocks to Happiness & How to Release Them

When people are asked what they want in their lives, it’s always more happiness.

So then why aren’t we as a society happier?

According to research, happiness levels in industrialized countries have stagnated since the 1950s and are now actually declining.

And it isn’t about needing more stuff, earning more money or having a bigger house.

As many of you know, I’ve been actively studying happiness since 2011 when I became a certified happiness coach. Since then, I’ve taught workshops on happiness as well as continued to dive into the practice of daily happiness on a deeper level in my life.

And here are the 5 biggest blocks to happiness.

3 Steps for Anxiety Free Decision Making

3 Steps for Anxiety Free Decision Making

What if you’ve spent a ton of time heading down the road to your awesome new promotion, house or relationship when you realize it’s going south fast?

Do you keep your head down, stay on track and ignore the whisper that’s telling you something is wrong?

Or do you cut your losses and come up with a new game plan?

This was me last Saturday.

Feel More Deeply Connected: 3 Simple Ways

Feel More Deeply Connected: 3 Simple Ways

Let’s face it, life, especially in the USA, has felt polarized and chaotic. Even Mother Nature seems to agree. Forest fires from Montana to California, and TWO Category 4 Hurricanes making landfall in a matter of weeks.

This is NOT a political message, this is a call to action.

Because when I think about the devastation in Houston, along the coasts in Florida and in swaths of land across the west, the message seems loud and clear.

All it took was seeing the Facebook video of the line of pickup trucks towing boats toward Houston to know.

These disasters are a reminder for us to come together.

3 Must Haves For A Happy & Rich Spiritual Life

3 Must Haves For A Happy & Rich Spiritual Life

What does it mean to be “spiritual”?

That word gets thrown around a lot.

Sometimes spirituality can sound serious. Like the word mindfulness. Maybe you imagine a room full of conscientious people, sitting and breathing in silence.

Other times it can sound airy-fairy, when people talk to angels, or leave food out for the little people.

For me, leading a “spiritual” life means committing to God but also to humanity.

A Love Contract? 4 Ways to Write One

A Love Contract? 4 Ways to Write One

 

I’d never really though about having a contract for an intimate relationship until I read an article in the New York Times about it.

At first, it seemed crazy to “formalize” love. But then I realized Mandy Len Catron's idea had merit. And, it reminded me that, in essence, my husband and I have this.

Well, not exactly.

We never created a written contract that we sign and annually review, like the one Mandy has. Instead, we have agreements or tenets that define our relationship.

Get Your Groove Back: 3 Easy Steps to Re-Awaken Creativity

Get Your Groove Back: 3 Easy Steps to Re-Awaken Creativity

Stuck in a rut?

Feel like you’re creative juices have dried up?

Let’s face it. This happens to ALL of us especially if you have a deadline or are starting a fresh, new project.

But here’s the great news. It’s actually pretty easy to fan that flame.

Check out these 3 ways to get going again:

Step Into Your Future: 3 Ways to Manifest Exactly What You Want

Step Into Your Future: 3 Ways to Manifest Exactly What You Want

Last weekend I attended a writer’s conference. There were classes and opportunities to network but most importantly, I got to pitch my book to potential agents.

Before I went, I was kind of nervous.

I had never done anything like that before.

What if none of the agents were interested?

Even when we want something to happen, dream about it, and vision it, we can be afraid when we’re looking right at it.

Which is why I found the guidance from a recent meditation so helpful. My anxiety was swirling when I heard a very distinctive voice. She cut right through the chaos and said, “Step into your future. The door is right there, in front of you.”

Procrastinate Tomorrow: 5 Ways To Push Through

Procrastinate Tomorrow: 5 Ways To Push Through

For many of us, procrastination feels like the bane of our existence.

It’s the voice saying, “I know I should be…,” the project you just don’t have time for, or the dream going unfulfilled.

I used to procrastinate with everything. I’d drag my feet, wait until the last minute, freak out and then just before the deadline, get it done. But after awhile, I realized that my pattern was causing me so much stress. I hated feeling the pressure and tension.

That’s when I decided to make some adjustments in how I approached my life. And here’s what I found most useful:

Shift Your Life With Mantra

Shift Your Life With Mantra

Feel like your life needs a shift?

Have you considered trying mantra?

A mantra is a word or phrase that, according to Yogic philosophy (Vedanta), has power. The story is that the ancient sages, (Rishi) could hear the vibrations of everything in nature and made these sounds into words and phrases known as mantra. Mantra is the literal creation of form from energy.

The Key to Creating Peace in This Troubled World

The Key to Creating Peace in This Troubled World

Last Saturday, after a day of sister marches in solidarity with the women’s march in Washington DC., I had the good fortune to hear Imam Jamal Rahman.

Jamal’s lecture was sponsored by our local Jewish temple as he is one of the three Interfaith Amigos. The other two are Rabbi Ted Falcon and Rev. Don Mackenzie. They formed a trio after 9/11 to spread a message of peace through interfaith dialogue. Together they have written three books and extensively tour the United States and Canada to share their message.

Jamal’s talk was infused with humor but his message was poignant. 

6 Easy Steps to Make your 2017 Vision Board

6 Easy Steps to Make your 2017 Vision Board

Ready to receive everything you desire?

Let the Universe know by making a vision board!

I just finished doing a vision board workshop over the weekend. Together, we cleared away what we no longer wanted from 2016 and opened the door to 2017.

Once we knew where we wanted to go, we set out to make boards!

If you missed my class, here is a brief explanation.

What is a Vision Board?

It’s a pictorial representation of your year, what you would like to manifest or be inspired by in the upcoming year.

Why do a Vision Board?

4 Ways to Choose Love in the Face of Uncertainty

4 Ways to Choose Love in the Face of Uncertainty

Life is filled with the unknown. Whether it’s a presidential election, a storm prediction, a doctor’s appointment or the stock market.

In fact, life essentially is uncertainty in action.

Think about it. Whenever you try something new – a dance class, a restaurant, lunch with a new friend, a job opportunity – there’s risk. Simply because it is new, unknown or uncertain.

So, how do we, as students of spirituality learn to embrace that which is unknown and not fall into fear?

Move into Your New Life with Joy & Ease

Move into Your New Life with Joy & Ease

In my blog a few weeks ago, I laid out the 3 steps for manifesting your vision – dreaming it, writing it out, speaking it into existence and allowing it to occur. (if you missed it, click here.)

As it begins to come to fruition, something curious happens.

Instead of being elated, you may feel scared, unsure or totally unsettled.

This is the moment when we can self-sabotage.

Embrace These Days of Awe

Embrace These Days of Awe

We are in the midst of the Days of Awe as they are known to all of our Jewish brothers and sisters. This 10-day period commences with Rosh Hashanah and ends on Yom Kippur.

This is the Jewish New Year and as such is a deep time of reflection, a turning within, as we shed the old year and turn to look at the new.

One of the main themes of the Days of Awe is the idea of atonement.

Apart from the name of a well-known book and film, what does this actually mean?