Have you experienced the past few months as intense, chaotic, and full of uncertainty?
Yes?
You’re not alone.
Some days feel like a tough slog. Like we’re moving through dense resistance. Which is all the more reason to embrace your spiritual practice and deepen into it.
Many seers have spoken of this time we are in as an amplification, when everything is speeding up and gaining power. This is exactly why you have to choose your own sanity, clarity and peace.
Not only because the chaos is ever growing, but because the benefit of you doing your inner work is amplified during this time. In other words, you can use this time to fast track your liberation.
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.
Growing up I definitely took on the role of peacemaker in my family, taking care of everyone's needs and reducing conflict. As I approached my early twenties, this morphed into wanting to save people (and the world). Somehow I was convinced that was my job. I could see other people's suffering so wasn't it my responsibility to rescue them - even if they didn't want to be rescued?
Happy Valentine's Day everyone! Today is the day we are supposed to express love and, ideally, receive love. So how's that going for you?
Being a romantic, I have always loved Valentine's Day, or at least the idea of it. I have had my fair share of disappointing holidays and I am sure I am not alone. I remember in high school sending many roses and cards to boys I had crushes on without even getting a nod.
Last week I attended a training in San Diego. It was a certification for Neuro Emotional Technique (NET). This is a tool I use in psychotherapy that is a tremendous stress reliever for my clients. I first learned about the technique as an acupuncture patient since my practitioner also does it as part of her healing protocol. In fact, the technique was developed by a chiropractor, Dr. Scott Walker. Consequently, many chiropractors also utilize it.
I'm about to go on a trip which involves a training and certification. I decided to do this something like three years ago but really committed to this timeline about 10 months ago. So, I've known I'm going for awhile. But as the days get closer and the actuality of me boarding a plane and attending the seminar get nearer, my anxiety kicks into full gear.
I watch as I get edgier and more short with my loved ones, less patient than I normally am. I notice how my body becomes restless and I wander around doing errands, distractedly. And I feel it in my chest, like a tightness.
What happens when someone you love acts in a way that is disappointing, frustrating or (in your opinion) wrong? How to respond... This is something I have been struggling with lately. One way to respond is to judge his or her actions and make them wrong. This goes something like, "I can't believe you did that! How could you have been so (mean, thoughtless, self-centered)? This technique may feel good in the moment, allowing me to feel right or better than or maybe even righteous. Inevitably, though, this way never seems to help and in fact usually makes the problem worse.
Even though I created my goals for 2014, last week I decided to take up Robert Holden's suggestion and choose one word for my new year. One word to focus on and intend. One word to be my guide for 2014. The word that came to me was trust. When I think about trust, there are lots of ways to define and interpret it. For a long time, I have thought about relationships as truly being about trust. Because without it, how can you feel safe, allow yourself to be vulnerable or rely on another person? And as I delve into that idea that relationships are 'built on trust' then it is reasonable to extend that to life. If life is about relationships, then it is also about trust.
It's so easy to get caught in the when dilemma. You know exactly what I mean. The when problem goes like:
"I'll be happy when I have a Mercedes."
"I'll be happy when I have a 4-bedroom house."
"My life will be good when I find the partner of my dreams."
"I'll be fulfilled when I have a better paying job."
"I'll feel content when I find a new teacher - she will give me the answers I seek."
Hello everyone! Tomorrow is New Year's Eve. Are you ready? Okay,okay, so I don't mean party plans, champagne purchases and designated drivers. I mean, are you ready to start your year with clarity, with purpose and with intention?
This is the prefect time of year to release that which we no longer want and get clarity about what we want to attract (all that we desire.) Want to know how? Let's start with letting go...
Growing up in New York City, I was surrounded by intellectuals and an analytical culture. Both my father and stepfather relished doing the Times crossword puzzles, looking forward to completing them daily (without Google). My father even undertook the Sunday diagram-less ones, sketching them out onto graph paper. He was stingy by nature but never scrimped when it came to learning. He'd pay for any course I wanted to take to "better myself." Meanwhile, my mother and stepfather spent every evening discussing politics and theatre. So naturally, as a teenager that's what I emulated. For "light reading" I chose novels like Sophie's Choice and The Sound and The Fury. In high school, I began reading about current events so I could sound knowledgeable but towards the end of my college years, I began to wonder about all of this critical analysis and the pursuit of a 'life of the mind.'
About a month or so ago, she and I'd been on the phone when she'd started crying telling me about the inner work she'd begun, trying to understand herself better and address her "issues." In the journal entry/email she'd forwarded to me, I could see her honesty right there on the page. She was indeed delving into areas of discomfort like self esteem, body image and negative habits.
When I was a little girl, I loved Winnie the Pooh. He was the character from the A.A. Milne books that I most identified with and consequently, had a small, stuffed doll in his likeness. His simplicity and unfailing kindness always cheered me. I cherished my Pooh bear and every summer when my sister and I went to sleepaway camp, I'd bring him with me.
In 2011, I signed up to attend a 5-day professional training called "Coaching Happiness" with Dr. Robert Holden. I arrived in New York City in November, a year after my father had died there. A year of grieving that had left me pretty vulnerable. It was time for some happiness in my life after so much sadness. I was excited about the workshop but nervous too. I had been reading Robert's book, Be Happy and knew right away that his message was for me.
Who would've thought that my little short haired dachshund would have so much to teach me?
Nearly 10 years ago when I was splitting up with my husband at the time, I was worried about my kids and how the transition would affect them. My older daughter, Ayu, had been bugging me for ages about getting a dog. I always put her off. We travelled a lot and I couldn't imagine how that would work. But when things began to fall apart with her Dad, I started to reconsider.
