Shakti Sutriasa
Experiencing Well-Being Part III

We’re already at the 3rd pillar of well-being!

As a quick review, the first two are:

1.Awareness

-Meaning, the ability to be more present, tuned into your here and now as well as to your mind chatter.

From Dr Davidson directly:

“Awareness: A heightened, flexible attentiveness to one’s environment and internal cues such as bodily sensations, thoughts, and feelings.

Skills: Mindfulness, attention, self-awareness”

Experiencing Well-Being Part III
Shakti Sutriasa
Cultivating Well-Being Part II

How is your practice of awareness coming along?

Another way to think about awareness, is mindfulness. If you google that word alone, you’ll find loads of practices (in addition to the pause one I gave you) to support you in cultivating more awareness.

Today we’re exploring the 2nd pillar of well-being that Dr Richard Davidson identified with his neuroscience research.

Cultivating Well-Being Part II
Shakti Sutriasa
Cultivating Well-Being Part I

Have you heard of a neuroscientist named Richard Davidson?

He’s been doing research on the brain specifically related to mindfulness, meditation, and well- being for decades. And his research is fascinating!

One of his key findings is around the idea of well-being. Through extensive study, trials and research, he has identified what he calls 4 pillars of well-being.

The really exciting news is that these so-called pillars aren’t inherent qualities, or even simply acquired knowledge. They are qualities that each and every one of us can cultivate and apply every day of our lives! Wahoo!

Cultivating Well-Being Part I
Shakti Sutriasa
3 Ways to Manage the Rate of Change in the World

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.

3 Ways to Manage the Rate of Change in the World
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

Your Life Is A Creative Venture

Your Life Is A Creative Venture

Lately I’ve been doing inventory.

I’ve been reflecting on my life and examining it by asking this question: Did I make a significant decision according to a set of rules, some kind of pre-ordained/ family inspired plan or because it was truly and deeply something that I wanted to do for my own self growth?

Take a moment to look back at your life and ask yourself the same question.

Turns out that we make a lot of decisions based on: pleasing others, fulfilling expectations, because it’s the right thing to do or is what we’re “supposed” to do.

Ouch.

What Do You Deserve?

What Do You Deserve?

How much we allow ourselves to have in our lives is a function of what we think we deserve.

Let me ask you this:

Have you ever been at a party or a club or walked down a block of a ritzy area of town and wished that it was your life, that you lived there or had those friends?

I sure have.

And over the summer I had an interesting realization.

Re-Entry With Ease

Re-Entry With Ease

I just got back from a 3-day business workshop that was designed to help women entrepreneurs break through success and money barriers. It was informative, emotional and healing but it was also a bit of a marathon, going from early in the morning until late into the night.

I enjoy these kinds of events especially because I’m committed to my personal development and self-growth. I love to immerse myself in new ways of thinking, bond with other women and meet fellow entrepreneurs. I find the experiences to be fulfilling and inspiring but then I have to come home.

The Hazards of Busy & 4 Ways to Remedy it

The Hazards of Busy & 4 Ways to Remedy it

I love being an American but one thing that’s been vexing me lately is how work and career have taken over our lives. It’s as if we are no longer human beings but human doers. The overriding message is that when I’m not “doing”, I’m nothing.

In essence, we’ve allowed work and success to define who we are.

Live Stress Free By Being Fully Present

Live Stress Free By Being Fully Present

It’s easy, when we talk about spirituality and living a “more spiritual life” to forget about the body.

We use expressions like, “we are a spirit having a human experience.” Or, “focus on the essence not on the form.” The emphasis is always away from the corporeal body because it isn’t really who we are.

Many of us who have struggled with weight or body image issues, certainly know this to be true.

There were years when I saw my body as the enemy – it was fat and ugly. Why would I want to be in it? I wanted to dissociate from it entirely. It was definitely not me.

Who’s Limiting You?

Who’s Limiting You?

I was listening to a speaker recently explain why people don’t obtain results. And do you know what she said?

It’s about our beliefs.

Think about one of the New Year’s resolutions you made ten months ago. Maybe, like many of us, you had ‘lose weight’ on your list. Let’s say fifteen pounds.

Have you accomplished it?

Being In the World But Not of the World

Being In the World But Not of the World

How do we take our spiritual practice and live it everyday?

Those of us who are committed to a spiritual path can sometimes feel split in two. There’s the contemplative, ascetic side of our nature, the part that loves meditation, silence and oneness with God. Then there’s the other side of us that’s out there in the world earning a living, being a consumer, friend and partner.

How do we merge these two aspects of ourselves that seem disparate but in reality are one? 

Is there a way to apply our spiritual practice into everyday living?

The exciting answer is, YES! 

As Pema Chodron reminds us, “Whatever is happening is the path to enlightenment.”

What My 'Ready or Not' Baby Taught Me

What My 'Ready or Not' Baby Taught Me

When I was twenty-six, I discovered, quite to my surprise, that I was pregnant.

I panicked because I was not ready to have a baby.

I’d only been married three short months. My new husband and I were still getting to know one another. Were we, as a couple, prepared for a child?

And I certainly didn’t know enough about anything – life, parenting, culture... There was so much more I needed to learn before I could be a mom, wasn’t there? 

After spending a few weeks in denial, I quickly moved into anger. How could I have been so stupid? What was I thinking?

Time to Stop Struggling

Time to Stop Struggling

Ever have one of those days when you just hit the wall? When your efforts create no results and nothing seems to work?

Days like that are frustrating, tiring and, frankly, discouraging.

The good news is that tomorrow you get to start again, fresh.

And what if tomorrow you embraced a new idea, a new way of looking at life? One that felt more invigorating and enlivening. A perspective that was less about doing and more about receiving.

I recently had an a-ha about this when I saw a post on Facebook. It was an image of a woman floating effortlessly in the water and said:

When I stop struggling, I float.

Get Your Creativity Flowing

Get Your Creativity Flowing

Have you ever wanted to paint, throw a pot or play an instrument?

Turns out that you aren’t alone. More than ever, Americans are enhancing their every day lives by incorporating some kind of creative outlet. Whether it’s painting a plate on date night or joining a weekly Bollywood dance class, we’re choosing to spend more of our time in creative pursuit.

This is great news and here’s why:

No Excuses!

No Excuses!

Last week I was super lucky! I listened to a talk by business coach, Amanda Moxley. One of my big takeaways from her hour-long webinar was this:

We have to take 100% responsibility for our lives. For what we do AND what we don’t do.

Hmmmmm.

I remember that word, responsibility.

It was the agreement I made with myself when I left my spiritual teacher in 2004, when I agreed that I would be in charge of my life – good and bad. That whatever happened, I would own it.

Had I forgotten or was I now at a new level?

Embracing Your Process: The Good, The Bad & The Ugly

Embracing Your Process: The Good, The Bad & The Ugly

Can you relate?

Things are going exactly according to plan and you are clearly in charge of your life. But then- all of a sudden- life takes charge and is controlling the wheel of your destiny.

When that happens, tasks take forever to complete. No one calls you back. Or maybe you think things will go a specific way just to get entirely rerouted.

When life seems to be in charge - it can trigger uncertainty or the internal skeptic- and make us feel unsure or cloudy.

We wonder things like:

  • Is this really the right direction?
  •  Am I doing what’s in my best good?
  • Is this moving my career/life forward?

Here’s the good news, if it’s happening then it’s exactly what you need.

Being Okay With Change

Being Okay With Change

Change is everywhere, whether we recognize it or not.

Day turns into night, flowers bloom and wither, stocks rise and fall. We move houses, change jobs, meet new people, and shift our mindsets.

Change is a natural part of life but sometimes, especially in our intimate relationships, change can be a challenge.

Part of what makes change difficult is that most of us prefer certainty.

We want to know that there is routine, that things will stay the same. That my assistant will be at work on time, that the bus will stop at the corner at 8:30 every morning, that Safeway always carries the deodorant I prefer.

Consistency gives us a sense of stability, of reassurance.

Just as we have our coffee every morning, we come to expect people to be the same day after day, too, and when they shift, that can upset out status quo.

So the question then is, how do we give each other space to change?

Connecting to Your Inner Truth

Connecting to Your Inner Truth

A question I hear a lot from clients is how do I know what to do?

How do I know what action to take? Where to live? How to follow my passion?

Whether you’re just about to graduate from college, a millennial rethinking your career path or in your 50s looking at being an empty nester, the answer is the same.

We have to turn within and listen to our inner guidance.

This can be hard because it often seems like there are multiple people speaking to us all day long. It isn’t just one clear voice guiding us.

If we stop and really listen to the voices in our heads, we can begin to identify them.

This is a really useful tool. Because it can help us distinguish which aspect of ourselves we might be listening to or activating.

For example, one of the voices that speaks to me is the voice of fear.

What My Anxiety Taught Me About Love

What My Anxiety Taught Me About Love

It’s never easy when you come up against your ego.

Or to be more specific, when your shadow behavior is pointed out to you by someone you love and trust.

Recently I had a conversation with my husband in which he shared that over the past year I’d demonstrated more controlling behavior. He gave a few specific examples, some I agreed with and others I wanted to immediately reject.

My insides squirmed listening to him.

I just wanted him to stop, to go away and leave me alone.

Didn’t he understand anything?

It wasn’t that I was being more controlling it was that I was finally coming in to my own, doing what I wanted as opposed to what other people were telling me to do.

I felt hurt and rejected. Because that’s the only way an ego can feel.

My husband was infinitely kind, loving and soft when he spoke to me but what I heard was, “You’re a controllingbit** and I don’t want to be with you.”

My ego had been bruised. I felt raw, almost like a frightened little child.