Ready to start 2021 off right? Here’s one of my MUSTS for starting a new year with intention, guidance and inquiry - vision boards.
But this year I have a twist!
I created a new thing- a Soul Vision Board!!!!!
Wanna know more?
As you know, I’m all about giving you tools to feel better, and truthfully, this one is a serious game changer!
It’s a Buddhist practice to help you cultivate compassion or loving kindness.
Loving kindness can be defined as feeling empathy, compassion, and kindness towards yourself and others.
Neuroscience research supports that these practices have tremendous benefits including to:
Last week I was at a summer party.
You know the kind, casual and filled with loads of people you don’t know personally, though you all share common friends. Naturally, I was introduced to a man, and once we’d figured out our mutual connections, we began to chat.
At one point he made a reference to politics, or managing current events, or something along those lines, and the strangest thing happened.
I began speaking to him -and at the same time that eloquent words were flowing from my mouth- I was simultaneously wondering, who is saying this? Because the ideas were spot on but were not something I’d previously even considered! Yet here they were, pouring out of me clear, concise, actionable.
The other day while I was gardening with a music playlist in the background, a Paul Simon song I had never heard came on. It’s called Learn How To Fall.
Do you know this one?
Essentially, he suggests that we must learn how to fall before we learn how to fly.
I literally stopped my weeding to think about that idea.
Why?
Because it made so much sense. If I were a bird and had the ability to fly, I’d definitely practice landing/falling until I was good at it. Then I might not be afraid to soar.
I bet you didn’t know that I’m the kind of person who has multiple projects going at the same time. Yes, it’s not typically how to be “successful”, but I crave variety and it’s a way to feed that part of me so that everything I do feels fresh and exciting.
Recently, I was at, not exactly a crossroads but more like a dead end on 2 of my projects! One an art project (sculpture) another writing.
I was eager to get back to my sculpture after taking off like 2 years (busy being a grandma and focusing on other things). I jumped into it thinking I knew where I was going, only as I started to build it up, it looked, well, how do I say it nicely… it looked TERRIBLE!
On the spiritual path, we’re often told that we are light, that we are love, that this light and love are always here and available to us. And yet often we don’t experience that!
In March of 2020, just as the entire world was going into lockdown because of Covid-19, I was getting ready to move in with Tom Carpenter and his wife Linda, who had been Course in Miracles teachers and mentors for decades. They needed support and my husband and I had volunteered.
Recently I had a conversation with someone that left me feeling uncomfortable, like I hadn’t succeeded in getting my point across well. As the afternoon ticked by, I felt my emotions shift, and I did my best to ignore and push away that internal roiling.
It wasn’t until the next day that I realized I’d fallen into an old story about myself. One that I’d probably decided to believe when I was a girl. It went something like this: “I’m bad at living in this world and asserting myself. Everyone else is so much better at it than I am.”
Do you sometimes have that nagging thought, the one that hounds you and tells you there's something wrong with you?
The thought that says if you were somehow different, life would be easier. You'd get the perfect soul mate, be abundantly wealthy, in great shape, have your perfect career...
Yes, that thought.
You have it too?
But what if it wasn't true?
Wondering where you might be on your spiritual journey?
I recently stumbled on an insightful tool called The 4- Stages of Spiritual Development. It was created by Michael Beckwith. I love his work. He is a profound spiritual presence, thinker and speaker and runs the mega-ministry of Agape in Los Angeles.
The Covid-19 crisis and the Black Lives Matter protests, are showing us - up close- that we need to see and acknowledge the pain and suffering people have been experiencing.
And take a stand.
One way we can do this is by making the unconscious conscious.
We can do this both within our own selves, as well as within the larger society, by shedding light on the ways hurt, favoritism, racism and bigotry have been institutionalized.
All of us are experiencing a form of collective grief from this corona virus, mourning the way we once lived – leaving the house without a thought to donning a mask, attending events, visiting friends, traveling, going into the office...
In addition to the weight of this collective grief, many of us have personal tragedies on top of that. Loss of a loved one, a job, financial security, etc.
And whatever happens next, we know it will be different.
You know when you get a song stuck in your head?
Well, these days instead of a tune, it’s a prayer:
Maybe you’re familiar with it, from a yoga class?
When we chant these sounds we are saying:
May all beings be happy.
May all beings know peace.
May all beings be free from suffering.
And that includes us.
We cannot wish something for another without receiving it for ourselves as well.
How’s your resilience?
Given the level of uncertainty we are living in, perhaps you are feeling challenged.
Resilience, like most things, is a muscle, and it benefits from strengthening.
If you feel like you want to fortify your resilience, here is my top 5 list:
This is the theme of a Van Morrison song off the album Magic Time. In it, Van rants about the hypocrisies of the world , but also reminds us to carry on to “satisfy your soul.”