Access Your Power Now

Access Your Power Now

Letting go of old, limiting beliefs gives you power. It frees you up to be exactly who you want to be and live your truth, your light and love.

I was reminded again this morning.

As I was meditating, the words that came were, “as we release our samsara, we make room in our lives for the things we truly want.”

Samsara is a Sanskrit word that describes the cycle of life- from birth to death. This includes all the actions of our lives, the karma we accrue and bring forward into the next incarnation, etc.

I think about samsara, too, as the bodily goo that gets attached to us once we take form and become human. It’s the stuff- the emotions, relationships, duties, obligations, beliefs- that ground us in a physical form and ego.

3 Ways to Tackle Uncertainty

3 Ways to Tackle Uncertainty

I had a revelation the other day.

It was about transformation.

Our souls yearn to evolve and change, to up-level, to reach our goals and manifest our visions.

Right?

So we go for it and jump into the trenches. We start working and making things happen.

And then they do.

I experienced this last week. I realized that for the majority of this year, 2016, I have focused on closing my old life and making this transition across the country.

My life change has not only involved a physical move but also closing my coaching practice in Florida and transitioning clients, saying goodbye to friends (and family) I’ve had for over a decade, letting go of routines and habits, releasing an entire lifestyle and everything that was familiar.

And here’s the trick, the one I am now face-to face with: to make something new and not re-create the old.

Yes You Can!

Yes You Can!

When we decide to make a shift in our lives – be it a new job, relationship or home- there’s first the decision and then the doing.

Ready to make that shift in your life?

A new job, relationship or home?

Once you decide, things start to fall in place, a To-Do list or path becomes clear.

And yet, as you move closer to the actual shift, the change itself, new resistance and difficulties arise.

Here’s the trick: Don’t Quit!

5 Ways to Foster Resilience

5 Ways to Foster Resilience

Last month, a former student visited my husband at the K-8 school we founded in 2004. He came to catch up, say hi and share that he was moving to Chicago for college.

I call Shawn an angel boy and here's why.

When he first showed up eight years ago, he was a scrawny 4th grader who couldn’t read. He also seemed hyperactive and had had some discipline issues at his previous school.

His adopted mother met with us and essentially begged us to “take care of her son.”

She was already on hospice and knew she only had a few more weeks to live. She was determined to find him a place where he could be loved.

Skydiving - A Lesson In Trust

Skydiving - A Lesson In Trust

About a month ago, I finally went skydiving!

I’d been flirting with the idea for 30 years but it just never happened.

And then I got scared.

Around the winter holidays, my daughter started bugging us to go skydiving as a family.

I reluctantly agreed and we scheduled to go in January. Our reservation repeatedly got canceled due to bad weather. My daughter returned to college and I was off the hook!

As the months ticked by, I began to realize that I had to face this fear.

Love: The Antidote to Tragedy

Love: The Antidote to Tragedy

 know I’m not alone in feeling despondent about the tragic and brutal murder of 49 innocent people on Sunday morning in Orlando.

For two days I was in denial about it. I just didn’t want to feel it, believe it was real. That someone could voluntarily harm innocent people right here in my own back yard.

And yet daily, the news is filled with stories like this. Of violence in every country, and city, affecting all walks of life.

So how, as sensitive, loving people, do we face tragedy and not shy away, give up or become hostile?

Love.

Quit the Diet and Eat Mindfully: 5 Ways to Start Today

Quit the Diet and Eat Mindfully: 5 Ways to Start Today

We all know diets don’t work. So why do we keep doing them?

Study after study proves people who diet gain back all the weight they lost and often gain even more. Now even neuroscience is confirming this.

Diets are a form of deprivation that our brains respond to by thinking we are starving and then slowing our metabolism rates which is why we plateau and don’t lose more weight.

I stopped dieting over twenty years ago.

How To Get What You Really Desire

How To Get What You Really Desire

One of the best life lessons I ever learned was from Mike Dooley. He is the author of many inspirational books, published in 25 languages and offers a daily email service called Notes from the Universe which can be found on his website, TUT.com.

In these daily emails, Dooley is constantly reminding us that our only job is to focus on the what.

What?

No, this isn’t an Abbott & Costello routine. I’m not about to ask who’s on first.

This is a real-life truth.

Set Yourself Free: 2 Great Tools To Forgive

Set Yourself Free: 2 Great Tools To Forgive

There are a lot of misconceptions about forgiveness.

People often think if they forgive, then it excuses behavior or absolves someone. But that isn’t true. Forgiveness is not the same as forgetting

When I hold on to resentment, anger or a grievance, who is suffering? I am. Because I feel it. Maybe the person with whom I have a conflict isn’t even aware of how I feel. Perhaps s/he doesn’t even know they’ve slighted me.

Forgiveness is an act of generosity. You are willing to let go of a wrong, release a past hurt, release an unmet expectation.

Holding on to a grievance keeps us stuck in the past and feeling like a victim. Instead, if we come from a place of love, forgiveness can set us free, allows us to live in the present and opens us up to joy.

10 Reasons To Meditate

10 Reasons To Meditate

In 1997, I officially began a meditation practice.

At the time, I was receiving acupuncture for a physical condition and my practitioner and I soon became friends, sharing interests in film, politics and spirituality.

One day when speaking about a recent visit from the Dalai Lama, my acupuncturist friend looked at me and said, “you really need to meditate.”

I knew her words were meant as encouragement, but I was scared and quickly made an excuse. “I don’t have time.” I had a 3 year-old, a full time job and a long commute...

She ignored my excuses. “You have to make time.”

Why Archetypes Matter & How to Use Them

Why Archetypes Matter & How to Use Them

Since I was a girl, I’ve been obsessed with myths and legends, the hero’s journey and the fight between good and evil.

When I got into college, I discovered Carl Jung and his work on both the collective unconscious and archetypes.

Don’t stop reading because this sounds too heady – I promise it isn’t.

Recently, I dove back into learning more about archetypes because I realized they play a huge roll in our lives. They influence us in seen and unseen ways and I wanted clarity about which ones were influencing me and how I could both recognize and harness them.

This inspired me to read Caroline Myss’ book, Sacred Contracts. In it, she shares that we all have 12 archetypes playing out in our lives. I think of them like guardians.

3 Ways Spiritual Work Helps with Life & Death

3 Ways Spiritual Work Helps with Life & Death

Last weekend I attended a memorial service for a woman I’d known for fifteen years. It’s a story you’ve all heard before. She was fine, couldn’t get rid of a cough, went to the doctor and received a stage IV cancer diagnosis.

As I sat in the crowd, surrounded by people who loved her, I was reminded of a memorial service I attended twenty years ago, when I had just begun my spiritual practice.

My brother’s best friend had hung himself. It was a tragedy and everyone was shocked. I happened to be in New York and was able to attend the service.

As I walked uptown to the venue, I was nervous. I’d known this young man well and was both shocked and saddened by the loss. What could I say to his family? Truth is, we’re all uncomfortable with death. We avoid thinking about it, looking at it, talking about it.

Then I heard my meditation teacher’s words echo as my feet hit the pavement. “We do spiritual work to deal with death.”

5 Reasons Traveling Feeds Your Soul

5 Reasons Traveling Feeds Your Soul

I have to confess, I’m a nomad at heart.

Sometimes I even fantasize about wandering the globe, staying in Tahiti a month, off to New Zealand for half the year then slowly hopping my way around the world.

But life has a way of rooting us to a spot. Maybe it’s a family obligation – taking care of an ailing parent or raising children. It could be a job, familiarity or convenience.

Whatever the reason you have for staying in a place, make sure to schedule time away to explore a new city or to simply relax. We all need it – our bodies, minds, and psyches.

Self Love or Shame?

Self Love or Shame?

I’m a big fan of Brené Brown because she’s willing to research topics that no one wants to talk about, like shame. One of my favorite books of hers is Daring Greatly.

In it, Brown says that shame needs three things to grow: silence, secrecy and judgment.

We all have shame, those places inside where we feel bad about ourselves, unworthy, embarrassed, ashamed.

Why Changing You Changes the World

Why Changing You Changes the World

Have you ever felt like you were on a mission to save the world? A super hero or advocate fighting to rescue the planet from total destruction?

That was me. And my mission was to save earth singlehandedly, or at least that’s what I envisioned as a naïve 21 year-old. I saw myself equipped with a massive vacuum able to suck up all the excess carbon out of the air, replant trees on clear cut mountainsides, recycle all plastics, metals. You get the idea.

But then life took me to Asia.