It's The Season for Hope

According to advent, a Christian tradition of preparation, the 1st week of December is the week of hope.

I always thought advent was about those fun children’s calendars. Remember them? The cute posters with little doors and windows that open for every day of December, and often hold little surprises behinds them.  

Apparently there’s much more to advent than candies behind closed doors.

Advent invites us to slow down and reflect. 

What a contrast to what we’re used to: crowded shops, cars filled with gifts, pressed time for decorating, awkward family conversations…

Instead (or perhaps in addition) what if we consciously chose to slow down and remember what’s really important right now?

Advent also suggests weekly themes for December too.

This first one is hope.

• What do you hope for right now?

• How is hope showing up in your life?

• Is hope trying to show you something today?

A fun activity I just recently came upon is the advent wreath. It contains specific candles, all with particular symbolism. Check it out.

Here is our invitation: spend a few minutes or the rest of the week reflecting on hope. Sound fun, yes?

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Awe for the Changing Season - 3 Ways to Celebrate

Did you enjoy the equinox?  

Good news because the fall celebrations continue!

Everywhere folks are welcoming in the harvest. In India, it’s Durga Puja, the celebration of the Mother. And in the Jewish tradition, it’s the new year and the days of atonement, otherwise known as Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.

This time of year always feels like new beginnings to me. Maybe it’s the decades I spent as a student and then a teacher, but the fall is definitely a transition time.

There is a closeness to God now, and we see it actualized in many faiths. The veil is thin.

The spring and summer were all about outward expression, and now, as we have reaped the rewards from nature, it’s time to turn within.

The invitation, if we choose to connect with any of these traditions, or follow our own, is to go deep. This is a time for reflection, for taking charge of our own journey and healing process, for finding our way back to ourselves.

Here are some ideas:

1.Journal

What is asking to be birthed right now? What are you ready to release?

2. Devotion

What is your soul asking of you? Is it a silent meditation experience? A walking retreat? Some form of ritual?

3. Body as Vessel

What would it take for you to treat your body as a vessel for God? How can you spend some time right now purifying it with foods, baths, movement?

We are being asked to connect to our true selves, the God within. Whether it’s the atonement or at-one-ment (meaning being one with God) or honoring all of the faces of the Mother, we are celebrating divinity as reflected in us.

 If you want to align with powerful dates, here are a few:

• Rosh Hashanah (the beginning of the Jewish new year) 9/29 -10/1 sundown to sundown

• Yom Kippur- Oct 8-9 sundown to sundown

• Durga Puja – Sept 28- October 8

• New Moon -September 28th

• Harvest Moon - Oct 13th

Remember, there is no right or wrong way. It is simply an invitation to return to our original nature, which is being one with God.

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Fail Your Way to Success

What is it about failing that feels so hard?

Is it perfectionist syndrome?

Has our society become so risk averse we’re all afraid of looking stupid? Inadequate?

Because this fear of failure, is pervasive!

Students unwilling to raise their hands lest they appear ignorant.

Employees afraid to ask for help, concerned they’ll look incompetent.

When I find myself stymied by the fear of failure, I always go worst case scenario.

Here's what I say, "if this all goes south, what’s the worst thing that can happen?"

• I look stupid.

• People will laugh

• I’ll get vilified on social media

• I’ll lose my job

Once I walk through as many negative outcomes as I can think of, and, even if I don’t love, relish OR want any of them to happen, I move ahead.

How about you?

What would it take for you to be willing to fail?

Because failing really works.

It's a Great Teacher

Are you the kind of person who remembers that spelling word BECAUSE it’s the only one you got wrong? Yes? Then you know the power of failure.

Failure Helps Build Resilience

You know that saying, what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. Yeah, I never liked it either, but it sure is true!

Failure Offers Great Stories

Don’t you relate to people more when they share there WHOOPS stories than the ones where they got everything right?

Direct Correlation Between Success & Failure

I know it sounds counterintuitive, but it isn’t. When we learn from failure, it helps us narrow down, redirect and get closer to achieving.

So HOW DO WE FAIL?

I love Brene Brown’s words, "choose courage over comfort."

Rather than opting for what is familiar, stretch yourself.

Be willing - even if you're scared. Try something even if it doesn’t go as you expected.

And IF that happens, Be your biggest cheerleader!

Life is here to be experienced. And as my daughter reminded me the other day, wouldn’t you rather fail trying to reach your dreams than playing it small?

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3 Simple Ways to Release Trauma

The physical body is truly remarkable.

And the more we learn about it, the more we see how interconnected our physical body is to our emotional well being.

Thanks to neuroscience, we now know that the body stores stress, memories, and trauma.

In part because the physical body is always present!

Whether you’re watching a movie or sleeping, working on the computer or making a speech – regardless of where your attention is, your body is present in that physical space.

It’s like the silent witness.

Which is why, it’s even more important than ever to work with the body when a trauma occurs – from something small like a rejection to something big like a car accident or physical violence.

Yes, it’s vital to talk about what happened and process your thoughts and emotions. But don’t forget to also support your body in that healing work.

Because when we experience trauma, it’s common to feel completely unsafe.

Here are 3 ways to safely return to your body: 

1. Self Hug

Take your right hand and place it under your left armpit, kind of over your heart. Then take your left hand and place it on your upper right shoulder. Take a few deep breaths as you gently hold yourself.

As somatic therapist, Peter Levine notes, this technique helps you to become more aware of your body as a container. It also helps release tension.

2. Grounding

Place your right hand on your forehead. Place your left hand over your heart chakra in the center of your chest. Close your eyes and take a few deep breaths until you feel a shift in energy and physical sensation. Then take your right hand and move it to the center of your belly, over your belly button. Breathe in again with eyes closed until feel a shift. This will help you ground back into your body and have more clarity and less anxiety.

3. Tap/Squeeze

Gently tap or squeeze your arms, and legs. This is another exercise that helps you return into your physical body and feel the stress/tension contract.

Whenever you feel trauma or even anxiety, try one or all 3 of these exercises and see if by reconnecting to your body you can release tension and feel more relaxed in this sacred vessel that is your physical body.

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What Feeds You?

The other day I was talking to a young woman who’s been living in the city for a while. On a work trip recently she visited a sleepy town surrounded by national forest. While there, she realized the city was no longer feeding her.

More and more I hear that. And it echoes my own experiences.

I crave nature- trees, water, silence. 

How about you?

When life pulls at you, demanding your time and energy, it’s SO easy to feel depleted. 

Then what do you do? Sleep for a week? Binge watch Netflix?

Instead, think about what feeds you?

For some of us, it’s creativity. And choosing art activities. For my father, it was opera! Sometimes he'd call me after a performance and he was so blissed out, he often sounded high.

For some, it’s movement.  Think dancing, surfing, sailing, horseback riding...

For others, stillness.  

What is it for you?

If you’re not sure, try a bunch of different activities – nature hikes, visiting a garden, dancing or doing yoga, making something with your hands, going to a play or musical, even the ballet, a boat ride...

After each activity, check in with yourself.

How do you feel? Energized or depleted?

Grade each one so you know how that experience was for you.

Once you’ve taken inventory, see how you can regularly schedule the UPLIFTING activities into your life.

This is it- your one extraordinary life. If you don’t celebrate it, cherish it and feed your soul now, when will you?

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What's In Your God Box?

I recently learned a new spiritual tool!

It’s called a God box.

Do you have one?

If you’re like me and JUST heard about this, you’re in for a treat!

A God Box can be anything – a container you already have, a mason jar or a cardboard box you want to collage.

I’m always about collaging, but when I thought about what to use, I instantly knew.

Here is a picture of mine

For Christmas, my cousin sent me a package full of assorted things, and one of them was a little wooden bowl with a lid. I didn’t really need it, but because she’d sent it to me, I put it on my desk. It is now my God box.

So take a minute and scrounge around. Do you have an unused container lying about? If not, maybe save the next cardboard box you get and decorate it.

Once you’ve got a receptacle, write away.

Here’s the idea. Put anything and everything that feels challenging, hard, unsolvable, worrying, or uncertain into it.

Just grab a scrap of paper.

Write it down.

Here are a few examples: climate change, test in statistics, getting new clients, making my monthly quota, mom's health…

OR

You can write it as a sentence, “Dear God, please help me with __________. Love, _____”

Don’t like the word God? Change it both for your box AND missives.

Use whatever word speaks to you -Goddess, Light, Love, One...

“Dear Love, I need support with _________.”

Get the idea?

Great!

But what happens when the box gets full?

• Some people store the boxes and make new ones.

• Some people have a ceremony and burn the paper prayers.

• Some people put the paper scraps in the compost.

It’s entirely up to you and what feels right.

It’s your practice to tailor to your needs.

Put everything that is vexing you in there!

Heck, why not!?!

Let me know what yours looks like! Feel free to paste a photo BELOW!

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Your Secret to Greater Happiness

I was recently asked to do a Daily Insight for the meditation app InsightTimer and the topic I chose was inner joy.

Joy, or happiness is what we all want, right? And yet is can feel SO elusive.

If you’re ready to access that loving, happy place, here are 3 ways you can experience it more right now.

1. Happiness is here because you are here

Teacher, Dr. Robert Holden reminds us that happiness is actually our original nature. Underneath fret, worry, neurosis and a chattering mind, it patiently waits for us.

I like to think about it as a frequency, like a radio station. Am I tuning into the news, the weather, golden oldies or the joy station?

Why not retune your internal dial right now? Close your eyes, take a breath into the center of your heart and see if you can feel that deep, abiding happiness. it's there for you, I promise.

Shortly after recording my meditations on joy, I watched Brené Brown's Netflix special. In it she mentioned that JOY was one of the most vulnerable emotions to experience. I was shocked! She went on to share that from her research, she noted that the folks who most are able to maintain a state of joy, practice...

2. Gratitude

So, here's an idea. Instead of worrying for the next proverbial shoe to drop or something bad to happen in the future, take a moment and express gratitude for what you have in this moment, right now.

If you've never had a gratitude practice before OR yours has lapsed, a super simple way to return to one is to name 5 things RIGHT NOW that you are grateful for. (For me - it's my family, my home, my health, husband and friends.)

Brené says, it's these folks, the ones who have a gratitude practice, that are the most joyful.

3. Who was your first happiness teacher?

I once was asked to do a happiness journey - past, present and future. When I went into the past and asked, who first taught me about joy? I instantly saw my Nana, my father's mother. She was a spunky, no-nonsense matriarch who deeply loved me AND played games with me whenever I asked. She laughed all day long, always smiled and was happy, even into her late 70s, to sit on the kitchen floor and play jacks with me. 

Have a think.

Who was your first happiness role model?

How can you emulate them more? Any ideas?

For me, simply knowing that true happiness is here is a balm. And a great reminder that there's nothing you need to do, there's no where you need to visit. It's here, always. We get to decide if we allow ourselves to be. 

So try all of these and see how happiness flows into your life. Let me know how it goes.

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Harness Your Power

The other day I got asked a question by a client about POWER.

As a woman, I'm acutely aware of when I have agency and when I feel powerless, know what I mean?

As we talked, I was reminded of a way of thinking about power that I learned from a book called Spiral Dance, by Starhawk that I read in the 1980s. (A kind of new age book before we even had that term, lol!)

As I remember it, she explained that there are 2 types of power:

Power Over & Power From Within

What we experience A LOT in our world is people exerting their power OVER others- to get what they want, to control people, to exert will...

But true power isn't about that at all.

True power is about being EMBODIED.

You know the difference, you can feel it.

So how do we awaken and harness our own internal power?

Here are 3 ways you can align with your inner power right now:

Speak Your Truth

As women this seems extra hard. We're constantly wanting to add filters around not wanting to hurt people's feelings. But the kindest thing we can do is speak truth from our hearts.

One easy way to do this is to think about the person with whom you want to speak as a loved one, a cherished soul. 

Take Action

What is it that your heart is yearning for you to do? What step can you take to be in alignment with that? 

If you really listen to that voice within, it will tell you. 

The best part about this is that you don’t have to know how to do everything, you just have to be willing to take the next step.

Create Clear Boundaries

If you only do one of these three, here's the one.

Boundaries are fences. They're clear delineators of space. We need these as much in relationships as we do for property. 

So what fences do you need to put around you? 

Setting boundaries is an act of love - of self love and of loving another. 

If you've grown up in a family that didn't have any boundaries or had super unhealthy ones, setting clear boundaries can feel elusive. It can also feel like you're being mean or limiting. But you're not. Boundaries are as helpful to you as they are to others.

When my youngest daughter was a toddler, she was pretty wild and I struggled with getting her to channel her energy positively. I'd be patient, patient, patient and then erupt in anger that made me feel horrible (and like a really bad mom). Then I was counseled about setting clear, firm boundaries with her. At first, she bristled, feeling confined. But soon she settled down because the boundaries helped her feel safe.

It was the best thing I did for her and for me. Because then it was so clear what was expected of both of us.

Incorporate these into harnessing your power and see how life unfolds.

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3 Ways to Access Joy Right Now

Everyone wants to be happier, don’t we? 

Yet connecting to that deep feeling of contentment, that absolute joy, that pure bliss often feels elusive.

We know it’s there. We see people who clearly have it. But we don’t.

The truth is, there are no exceptions.

Joy is here for you too.

And if you want to experience it right now, try one or all of these:

1. Joy is here because you are here

The happiness guru, Dr. Robert Holden, reminds us of this all the time.

Happiness is not a destination, a goal or a place.

So all of those, “I’ll be happy when…” statements are simply untrue. And, if you really think about them, you know it.

Were you really happier after you moved? Bought a new car? Got a promotion?

Maybe for a week but then you slid backward.

What if you really believed that joy was your true nature? That joy is always here, waiting for you to remember and return to it?

Think about little kids. They are filled with joy, with awe, with playfulness. As adults, we’ve just forgotten. We get busy, get neurotic, live in our heads. Decide being an adult means we have to be serious.

Come back to joy.

What makes you happy? Write down the first 5 things that come to you.

Are you doing any of those on a regular basis?

2. Say Thank You

Have you ever noticed that when you look at what you don’t have, or what is lacking, it puts you in a bad mood?

Yet being in a body, having your health, family, career, home, are all blessings.

Offer thanks for everything you have in your life right now.

Thank you for my beautiful home, my healthy family, my strong body, my reliable car, my fun job…

It isn’t that happy people are grateful, it’s that grateful people are happy.

Try offering your thanks for the abundant blessings in your life and watch yourself tune into joy.

3. Be the most joy filled person you can be

The biggest indicator of happiness in the future, is how happy you are right now.

So how can you be happier right now, in this moment?

If you can let go of yesterday and avoid worrying about tomorrow, and simply be right here in this moment, you will discover joy. It is nestled deep inside you. For it lives in your heart, patiently waiting for you.

I invite you to breathe into that space in the center of your chest and re-connect.

It has never left you.

It is always available.

How can you connect to this every day?

• Is it a breath with your eyes closed at the beginning of the day?

• Is it a decision to dedicate your life to joy today?

• Is it getting in the habit of smiling at people for no reason? 

Think about what small actions you can take to help you experience that deep inner joy, right here, right now.

No matter what your life circumstances, inner peace and joy are always here for you. And the more you cultivate them, the easier they will be for you to access.  

Because they live within you, no one will ever be able to take them away from you. This is the power of inner work.

 Connecting to joy is a practice of remembering.

Remembering who you really are, a being of pure love, light and joy.

Doesn’t that sound fun?

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Hate Being Criticized?

Over the past few weeks I’ve been trying to discern between what is feedback and what is criticism.

 As a person committed to self growth, I care deeply about how I show up in the world, and with others. I strive to be in alignment with truth as much as I can be. So when I got some feedback recently, I found myself responding to it as if it were criticism.

 At first, I rationalized that it was just my hormones. I was being over emotional.

 Then I began to wonder what was “true” for me, and what was projection.

 I went around and around with this.

 Still, I persevered, wanting to know, wanting to identify my triggers.

 Later, I brainstormed this with my best friend. He finally asked me, “Does it really matter, feedback, criticism? What if it’s all true?”

 At first I felt myself constrict, like taking a hit. Ouch. Because that would mean I was wrong!

But then I reasoned, why not? I’d been perseverating over this and not really getting anywhere. Maybe this approach could work.

 My friend then added, “if you take it all in, you render it powerless.”

 Now I definitely wanted to try!

 The next morning I woke up and read my Course in Miracles Lesson, which was “If I defend myself, I am attacked.”

Those words offered me an immediate a-ha! Because they spoke to the issue I’d been grappling with the day before. This was exactly what I’d been invited to do!

 I closed my eyes and felt into the “feedback.” As I did, I realized that my discomfort over being criticized or wrong was completely gone! Since I had chosen to accept everything as true, the words had no hold over me anymore.

I felt so free! Because I wasn’t trying to defend, I no longer felt attacked!

 The lesson goes on to say: 

A healed mind does not plan. It carries out the plans which it receives through listening to wisdom that is not its own. It waits until it has been taught what should be done and then proceeds to do it. It does not depend upon itself for anything except its adequacy to fulfill the plans assigned to it. It is secure in certainty that obstacles cannot impede its progress to accomplishment of any goal which serves the greater plan established for the good of everyone. A Course in Miracles, Lesson 135

 Now our challenge is to remember this in every situation! To surrender ourselves to be the vessel for truth.

The last line of the lesson reminds us that, “the [child] of God needs no defense against the truth of his reality.”

These words were like a healing balm to me and I felt like I could lay back into them and rest in knowing that it was all perfect.

So the next time you feel criticized or receive feedback, see if you can remember these words of salvation. And release the need to defend.

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Live the Question

If you’re a searcher like me then perhaps you’ve spent years trying to discover your “purpose.” Your raison d'être, the reason you were put on this planet.

I’ve spent years, maybe even decades trying to unlock that mystery! Heck, I even designed a 12-week course to help other people find their purpose!

Holy cow!

And then I finally stopped.

I stopped thinking (obsessing really) about it. I stopped trying to “figure it out.”

Let me clarify.

I didn’t stop because I thought I’d failed at finding it, no.

I stopped because I’d agreed to do some deep inner work with a shaman friend of mine. And when I did, I consciously chose to take a pause on my career goals, marketing, etc... Part of why I wanted to work with her was because I was at a crossroads and was unclear of how I wanted to move forward.

I remember thinking that once I completed this work with her, everything would be illuminated and I’d have all the answers I needed to move ahead with clarity and confidence. I don’t remember lumping “purpose” into that basket of things to pause on, but clearly it went in.

18 months later, I’m still integrating the work that she and I did. As I re-emerge, I am patiently allowing my life to unfold and open in new ways. And I recently realized (with astonishment) that I was no longer interested in finding my purpose!

Wait, what?

Let me explain.

It’s so easy to get caught up in the search for why you are alive, the quest for meaning as part of your identity, the soul/sole reason for existence. As you know, I spent tons of time and energy there!

But the truth is that I do know my purpose. I’ve known it all my life. It’s simple.

Here it is: to be the embodiment of love in the world.

And guess what?

This is true for every single one of us.

Yes. We ALL have the same purpose! To be the embodiment of love in the world.

How it manifests is different and is based on our unique talents, skills and abilities. So how I embody love through teaching, writing, parenting, etc. looks different than how you do it through your special gifts.

So here’s the invitation.

Instead of focusing on purpose, would you consider another idea? To live life’s question.  

This comes from the poet Rainer Maria Rilke. From Letters to a Young Poet, 1903: 

“I want to beg you, as much as I can, dear sir, to be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and to try to love the questions themselves like locked rooms and like books that are written in a very foreign tongue. Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer.”

In my exploration into living the question, the first thing I noticed was how quickly it gets linked with purpose.

Here’s how it often goes:

• Why am I like this?

• How do I understand who I really am?

• Why am I different from my friends, family…

As the questions arise, we search to answer them, to diminish them, to solve them. Because if we can, then we can understand the great mystery of who we are AND we’ve figured out our purpose!

But instead of trying to solve the question of who we are, why not choose to live it?

To enjoy being you in all of your chaos, beauty, and originality. To celebrate the enigma that is you with all of your idiosyncrasies.

In some ways, it’s an invitation to live with the unknowing. And in another way, it’s about complete acceptance of everything that is you.

What do you say? Willing to give it a go and live your unique self?

See where that takes you and how life unfolds.

My suspicion is that when you reach the end, it will all make sense.

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Perfection in Imperfection

 Over the weekend, I went to a basket weaving workshop. It’s my new favorite thing to do. I love writing, and making jewelry, but there’s something so primal about weaving.

 I’d actually forgotten about the workshop because when I first signed up in January, I was put on the waitlist. Consequently, it never went on my calendar. So, when I got a call on Monday that I could go, well, I almost didn’t. I’d filled my week with other things! Did I really want to reschedule my appointments and drive to Portland, get a hotel room, blah, blah, blah?

Yes, I really did.

The night before I left, I checked the website again. There was a supplies cost of $5 but what tools? Then I saw a tiny hyperlink that said, SUPPLY LIST. Not only were there tools but a long list of other things to bring! It was 10pm!

I scrambled around throwing embroidery floss, waxed linen, beads, stones, plastic bags, wire, and tools into a big bag. But I needed cloth... I went out to the garage and raided the giveaway pile. Then I remembered I had to get something for my daughter (who lives in Portland.) Might she have something in her closet? There I discovered her dark blue graduation gown. Into the bag it went.

That first morning, we learned an ancient technique of coiling but it was new to me. I’d coiled clay baskets but this involved lashing the coils (made of fabric) to each other with a cord. I’d decided to use my daughter’s graduation gown. Why not? Only I couldn’t rip it because it simply disintegrated in my hands. And it was slippery making it somewhat unwieldy. Nevertheless, I persevered.

 On day 2, I added wire, wrapping the fabric around it, to firm it up and, inspired by my table mate, I also incorporated a plastic bag – molding the fabric around it and the wire, to puff it up.

Then our teacher asked all of us to share what other art we made. Groan.

Well… I had nothing. I mean, I’ve only recently begun this artistic exploration. And I was daunted as one textile artist after the next displayed their beautiful creations - from quilts and dresses, to baskets, wall hangings, hats and felted objects. 

When it was my turn, I shared the realization that I’d had in 2014, when I took a printmaking class with my talented friend Ginny Piechstreet, that I was never allowed or had permission to be an artist.

As the words came out of my mouth, I welled up. Throat catching, I kept talking. I hadn’t brought any of my experiments with me except the necklace I had on.

Here’s what I shared.

On day 3, our teacher invited us to share what we’d made so far in the class. I looked down at my pathetic attempt at a coil basket and cringed. Then I listened to what my mind had to say:

• By far my basket is THE worst.

• Everyone has totally got this technique except me.

• And because of that, I feel embarrassed, slightly ashamed and self-conscious.

• My piece isn’t just not good enough, it sucks.

• Clearly somewhere I am lacking or not smart enough or creative enough or talented enough.

 And yet, here’s why it was all perfect. 

I didn’t back down. I walked into that room to do show ‘n tell with all the other artists. I’m not going to tell you that I was proud but I was undeterred.

Here’s my table mate’s basket

I heard all that naysaying, that chatter in my head, I allowed it to speak and then put it all to the side. In other words, I heard what was coming up for me, all the places of discomfort and I bore witness to them.

I recognized those feelings but I didn’t allow myself to fall into them or give them a lot of energy or drama. I honored them by allowing them space and not negating them or pushing them away but didn’t give them power.

I also allowed myself to recognize that learning takes time, that creativity is messy and that I have to honor that process. After all, I’ve made a total of 3 baskets! I also remembered that the last basket class I took in January, felt overwhelming. This time it didn’t (that’s progress!)

 Right now, my commitment is to focus on the creative process rather than on the product or end result. That’s where the real learning takes place anyway, right?

And, as an added bonus, in those three days, I met some really incredible women, had so much fun, felt energized and creatively awakened.

 See what I mean about perfection?

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Jumpstart Your Creativity

Can you feel it?

That need to be creative?

The planets are shifting and realigning, old patterns are falling away, and we, ALL OF US, are being called to open more to our intuition and inner guidance.

Being called to show up in a new way.

So what is it that is yearning to be birthed within you?

Ever since I decided to follow my joy, I've been exploring creativity in a new way. Really diving into it.

And part of what I've realized is that so many endeavors we undertake- starting a new business, coming up with a social media plan, making dinner - all of these are creative, right?

We're making something out of nothing.

But we often don't see them that way. It's just what we do or have to do.

So first, take a moment and honor yourself and what you have already accomplished. See how creativity already works through you.

And if you're ready to go deeper, I have a terrific tool for you that thousands of people swear by.

No, really.

It's from Julia Cameron's best selling book, The Artist's Way.

She calls it Morning Pages.

Heard of it?

Here's how it works.

Every morning, first thing after you wake up... you write 3 PAGES.

That's it. 3 pages of stream of consciousness or flow.

The idea here is NOT to think about what you're writing or get hung up on sentence structure, spelling, grammar or content.

The goal is to write 3 pages in your journal, every morning for 90 days.

I first read her book in 1998 or so, and the morning pages, made a huge difference.

What do you say?

Do you think you can commit to allowing your creativity even more space to germinate, blossom and then grow?

Locate that journal you have. You know, the one that's been hanging around. Why not pick it up and start today, right now?

See where the journey takes you - and what awakens from within.

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Time For A Miracle

This week, I thought I'd share a question I received from a student who is taking my Insight Timer course on mastering uncertainty. 

She asks, how can she befriend fear when she has real life problems of paying her rent and health insurance for herself and her small child?​

My heart went out to her. Because life can sometimes feel really hard.

But how do we manage fear when it can feel so paralyzing?

When I get stuck in fear, it's as if all the doors shut, the windows are locked and I feel trapped and desperate, as if there are NO answers or ways to move. 

So what helps?

Of course breathing. 

Breathing helps immediately ground me back into my body and slows me down. It helps create a crack in the doorway back to the present moment and out of the whirlwind of future focused anxiety.

The goal is to return to the present, to the place of receiving, of openness, right? Because in that space and place, we can receive guidance.

Recently, I also learned a wonderful new affirmation that can both remind us and support us to move out of fear and open again to opportunity, the flow, love... whatever word you like.

Here it is:

​According to A Course in Miracles, a miracle occurs when we choose love instead of fear - in any relationship or situation. When we choose love, it allows us to be in that flow of GRACE.

So if you find yourself tensing up, procrastinating or avoiding doing what you have to do, use this affirmation, breathe and see how things change!

3 Ways to Foster Faith This Holiday Season

This time of year invites us to contemplate the light within us, the light of faith. 

What exactly is faith?

According to the Catholic theologian, St. Augustine, “Faith is to believe what you do not see; the reward of this faith is to see what you believe.”

Mark Twain puts it this way, “Your faith is what you believe not what you know.”

For me, having faith means that I keep moving toward the goals and dreams I have, knowing that I am supported. Even if I cannot see the angels, guides or way-showers, I believe they are there, helping, healing and willing to be called upon for support.

Faith helps us to be buoyed and supported as we continue to choose love amidst all the fear and uncertainty that is perpetually stoked around us.

And as I look back at the turbulent 2018, and ahead to 2019, I feel called to invite all of us to strengthen our faith.

Here are 3 tools to help:

1. Ask for Help

The universe waits in silent repose, for you to ask. It’s often a lack of faith that prevents us from doing so.

• What do you want?

• Who can you ask?

There are people in the world who can help, of course. And there are lots in the unseen realms.

Sometimes asking takes the form of prayer.

Sometimes asking sounds more like pleading or begging.

It all depends on where you are and what you need.

But when you can remember that you are not alone, it automatically helps you relax which, by default, deepens your faith.

2. Commit to a Meditation Practice

Meditation allows you to connect to the absolute, the one-ness of all. I often refer to this experience as the refuge, away from the mundane trivialities and stressors of life in a body.

And in this place, you get filled with grace which allows you to easily flow with faith.

3. Reflect on the Past

Take 10 minutes and allow yourself to go back in time.

How often have things worked out for you?

Can you see the pattern of grace that runs through your life?

Express gratitude for being taken care of and see how God or the universe, or whatever name you want to use, has your back.

Now use that knowledge of the past to help fortify your belief as you walk toward your next challenge.

As you move deeper into this holiday season, allow yourself to tune into the vibration of faith. And fill yourself up.

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