This past year was the fourth year running that I worked with a paired mantra and intention for manifesting and transformation, and it was the most magical by far. If you’ve been following this series, you’ll have seen how I gently stair stepped my way from the darkest period of Read more…
Photo credit: Brian Rowe I’ve been sharing the details of my own engagement with this process of using a paired mantra and intention for manifestation and transformation because I want to show how it all arises organically from one’s life circumstances. This isn’t about the mind deciding what seems “good” or impressive or convenient to have, Read more…
I’ve been sharing my my new year’s transformation process which requires no striving to become something you aren’t, no forcing yourself to do things you think you “should,” no “trying to motivate” yourself to bring about your soul’s deepest desires. It involves three very simple, gentle, accessible steps, and today I am Read more…
This process I have been sharing of using your Brilliant System to bring about huge transformation is simple, gentle, and full of grace, but it takes a truckload of trust to really commit to it wholeheartedly. Especially in the beginning and during challenging times, your mind will up the ante Read more…
I recently came across an article by mindfulness and meditation teacher and author Jon Kabat-Zinn that really resonated with me as I started looking back on the two years of sharing a whole variety of meditation techniques and mindfulness tools via Dreamers & Schemers. My tendency is to try anything Read more…
As human beings, we have a lot of ways of knowing, and it can make life a whole lot easier when we can figure out how we know what we know, and tap into the most appropriate channels of knowing for every context we find ourselves in. Earlier this summer we talked a lot about discerning the difference between being in our head vs. heart because I am convinced that we tend to overuse our heads in situations where our hearts should be leading. This leads to a lot of overthinking, second-guessing, doubt, and confusion. Our heart knows what it knows, but our head constantly gets in the way. This month I revisited that idea, but with more complexity.
HEAD
First, I want to emphasize the fact that our intellectual faculty is not the enemy. There are times when the head should very definitely lead the way. Deciding between health insurance plans, for example, is a choice we want to be very rational about, because it is a decision that requires us to assess very tangible needs and constraints from financial and medical points of view. Reading through lists, crunching numbers, planning, and making sense of data is all stuff that our brains are equipped to do. The intellect is also great in a supporting role. Once you make a decision from a deeper place in your being (e.g., where you want to take your next vacation), you can task your head with budgeting, planning, and filling out the details.
I still maintain, however, that we tend to rely on our head too much. For some people, it’s when try try to make career decisions. For others, it might be in their romantic relationships. At first it can be challenging to catch ourselves overthinking, because we are so accustomed to being in our heads, and it gives us a (false) sense of being in control. But the more you drop into your body (in meditation, in any mindfulness practice), the more you will recognize the feeling of being in your head. Also, here’s another clue: If you are asking the question “Should I…?” a lot, you are probably too much in your head about something. When you find yourself in this position, I recommend you drop down “lower” or “deeper” into your being. Where, exactly, depends on the context (more on that below). (more…)
If you’ve been following this series, you already know that I aim to provide quality rather than the moving target of accuracy when I offer Akashic Record readings. I will eventually explain what I mean about the pit-falls of “accuracy,” but for now, I’m working through the elements I strive to include in every reading. They are:
In this post I talk about how to bring peace and stillness into a reading. Much of the advice I gave about being fully present applies to this topic, so if you haven’t already, I encourage you to read that post, as well. Peace and stillness, indeed, facilitate this quality of presence in the reader. There are several ways to establish this. (more…)
This past month I’ve been living at a different pace than my normal mode of going either full throttle or champing at the bit in anticipation of the next wave of high energy. These are sweet mornings when I wake up and think, The only thing I have to do Read more…
Lots of learning around how we hold #fear in our bodies, hearts, and minds today. So much #gratitude for what was shared and for the gamely way everyone jumped into the exercises. On a mission to prove that #mindfulness and shadow work can be a lot of fun! #restorativejustice #selfcare #selfcareforsocialjustice #meditation #dreamersschemers
THREE AGREEMENTS
Dreamers & Schemers kicked off our March session, as always, with an overview of the Three Agreements that uphold our sacred space. This month, since we were about to delve into the topic of fear, I really wanted to emphasize the importance of honoring the self by being gentle and self-compassionate in our self inquiry. In terms of honoring other, I wanted to introduce the idea that sometimes the best way of honoring someone else is by trusting that person’s strength rather than rushing in to comfort at the slightest show of tears. Sometimes the rush to comfort victimizes the other or distracts us from what’s going on inside ourselves in reaction to external distress. Being a compassionate witness is being able to remain centered and expansive in the face of another person’s discomfort, trusting that if the other truly needs help, she will ask for it. As for beginner’s mind, it would come in especially hand during our guided visualizations. To get the most out of them, we have to be able to step out of all our judgments and expectations, effectively emptying ourselves out so we can receive what we can through our intuition rather than being bombarded with messages from our critical voice.
GETTING TO KNOW YOU
The questions I put into the circle today were: What fear have you overcome? and What fear are you currently grappling with? (more…)
This practice of sitting mindfully with fear is inspired by the work of psychologist and Buddhist meditation teacher, Tara Brach. She teaches that fear is the root of all negative emotion, including those that manifest in ways that do not seem or feel fearful, such as anger, addiction, compulsiveness, and the need for control. If you drill down into any one of these, the root answer will always be fear. My grandmother provides a great example of how fear is the deep-rooted emotion behind most others. I’d never seen her more upset with me than when I came home hours later than I promised. (I didn’t think to call because I got caught up working on a school project.) Beneath her anger, of course, was the fear for my safety. (And beneath that was the love that she was unable to express verbally for most of her life–love tamped down by fear of vulnerability.)
Fear, you’ve surely heard, causes a physiological reaction in our bodies, regardless of how “real” the threat may be. Brach points out that most things that make us anxious are actually not imminent dangers, but either memories of past traumas or imagined future threats. This is why mindfulness—attuning ourselves to what is going on within us and around us in the present moment—is such an effective way of moving through fear. Neural plasticity enables us to interrupt our natural instincts (fight, flight, or freeze) and rewire our brains so we can create more effective ways of being in he world.
The best way of moving through fear, Brach argues, is by going against our natural instincts to turn away from it. (more…)