Shakti Sutriasa
How to Know When to Keep Working or When to ...

What’s your opinion about this idea -finishing what we start versus quitting before it feels done or complete?

I had a conversation about this a while ago and am still pondering it.

Like most beliefs, this one was unconscious inside of me until I really began to unpack it. As I did, I began to see how the idea of finishing what I start, has been a big driver in my life.

It got embedded in my system when I was a teenager. I had a challenging (some might say traumatic) experience my sophomore year as a new student at boarding school, after I’d lobbied to go away. Only, a few months later, I was desperate to come home.

In my memory, I phoned home every day, begging to leave. That’s how unhappy I was. Finally, my mother told me I had to stay and “finish what I’d started.”

I resigned myself to being there and eventually graduated.

How to Know When to Keep Working or When to Pivot
Shakti Sutriasa
How to Live in 3 Simple Steps

I read this quote from the poet, Mary Oliver the other day:

Instructions for living a life:

Pay attention.

Be astonished.

Tell about it.

I found myself thinking about her words all day, both the simplicity and the truth. Maybe that’s the power of poetry. It speaks to that part of us that can hear the simplicity of truth.

How to Live in 3 Simple Steps
Shakti Sutriasa
How to Effectively Deal with Collective Pain ...

Remember when Eckhart Tolle’s book, A New Earth came out? It was in 2008! I have a distinct memory of reading that book one summer while driving around rural North Carolina. I know, random.

That book was filled with amazing insights, and if you’ve never read it, I highly recommend it. In fact, writing this now is giving me the urge to pick it back up! I know there’s more there for me.

But what I wanted to share today was an idea I learned from that book that was a major game changer for me. I’ve been sharing it recently with some of my clients which is what gave me the idea to write about it, too.

First, let’s start with a basic definition to what Eckhart Tolle refers to as the pain-body. He describes it as, “an invisible, semi-autonomous energy field of accumulated, repressed emotional pain.”

How to Effectively Deal with Collective Pain Bodies
Shakti Sutriasa
How to Heal the Hard Spaces

Before we dive into this topic- which is a personal fave – I want to let you know a bit about what’s up for me right now. I’m in a transition with my career track. Writing those words feels and sounds SO weird to me! Because it’s more that I’m wanting to focus my time and attention on nurturing my creativity and living more as a visual artist and writer rather than as a coach, teacher and psychotherapist.

How to Heal the Hard Spaces
Shakti Sutriasa
Genuine Freedom Through Forgiveness

When I was thinking about writing this blog, I was genuinely surprised by what popped into my head, but then I knew I HAD to write about it. 😆

It’s… forgiveness

Yes, I know, unexpected.

But the words I heard were, “I forgive and I set myself free.”

I think there’s so much confusion around forgiveness, and rightly so. It often gets confused with thoughts like:

If I forgive, I’m letting them off the hook

Or, if I forgive, they won’t be punished

Or, if I forgive, I have to pretend /act like nothing happened

Genuine Freedom Through Forgiveness

cultivate inner peace

Experiencing Well-Being Part III

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.

Cultivating Well-Being Part II

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.

Connection

Cultivating Well-Being Part I

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!

10 Ways to Cultivate Inner Peace

10 Ways to Cultivate Inner Peace

Recently, I received an email from a woman who told me she was struggling with life challenges, and yearned for more inner peace.

Can you relate?

It might sound counterintuitive, but the most successful way to experience peace is to cultivate it within our own beings.

We think that our focus needs to be on external strife- on conflicts in our communities, aggression among nations- and while it is important to work for justice and world peace, it is even more critical to develop that quality within ourselves.

So, how do you foster peace within?

Here are 10 Ideas for You