Shakti Sutriasa
Fostering and Living Your Values

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.

Fostering and Living Your Values
Shakti Sutriasa
Learning to Fall

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.

Learning to Fall
Shakti Sutriasa
Deepening Into Your Creativity

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! 

Deepening Into Your Creativity
Shakti Sutriasa
The Doorway to Freedom

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.

The Doorway to Freedom
Shakti Sutriasa
Your Theme for 2025

A few years ago, my daughter turned me onto the idea that there's a Major Arcana Tarot card that informs the overarching energy for the year on a global scale. She now has a business offering astrology and Tarot card readings! (​click here to learn more​)

One way to think about this is that the card sets a tone for the year on a world-wide level.

To determine which card is being activated is simple. Add the numbers of the year together. So, for this year it would be: 2+0+2+5=9

Your Theme for 2025

How to Discern Between Love & Like

How to Discern Between Love & Like

I'm sure you’re aware of the difference between liking someone and loving them. But would you indulge me for a minute?

Call to mind a friend or colleague. Someone you genuinely like who perhaps is reliable, trustworthy…Now think about someone you love. A family member or close confidante.

Can you feel the difference?

Yes!

Unfortunately, sometimes the lines between love and like get blurred, especially with members of our family.

Here’s an example of what I’m talking about.

When I was in my early 20s, I moved across the country to live near my sister. Growing up, our relationship was complicated. Sometimes we got along wonderfully, other times, not so much.

Ready for Your 2nd Chance?

Ready for Your 2nd Chance?

Today is my grandson’s birthday. It also happens to be the day my sister was born. (She died in 2010.)

 Two years ago, when my grandson arrived looking like my sister and me (blond hair and blue eyes), it felt like a circle had been completed. I wrote about that experience and you can read it here.

As I contemplate the miracle of this day, I find my mind ruminating on the idea of repeating patterns and do-overs. The way life keeps circling people, experiences, and things around to us again and again much like the changing of the seasons.

The Place Where Dreams Come True

The Place Where Dreams Come True

I used to think that if I moved somewhere else, everything in my life would be better.

Have you fallen for that, too?

I did for decades, spending, on average, four years in any one location.

It wasn’t until I had a child that I even considered changing. One of my close friends said, “you can’t keep moving, it’s bad for the baby.”

Initially, I ignored her, rationalizing my actions by the fact that infants cling to primary support, not place. Her words, however, rang in my ears year in and year out, until I finally stopped running.

Because- 100% transparency- that’s what I was doing. Running away from me.

You see, I’d convinced myself that each new place was the answer to my unhappiness. It wasn’t that the dissatisfaction lay inside of me, absolutely not! It was the pollution, the traffic, the neighbors, the lack of opportunities…

Embracing the Mess

Embracing the Mess

The other day, I was talking to one of my daughters who was sharing her desire to embrace the messiness of life.

Since that chat, I’ve found myself thinking about this idea because, let’s face it, life is messy!

Yet we so often put expectations on ourselves to be pristine, perfect, unruffled.

Can you relate?

Do you find yourself compulsively cleaning before a friend comes over? Or self-conscious about the way you’re eating? Wanting to look neat and delicate. 

Perhaps it’s time for a reframe.

Defining Success - 4 Questions

Defining Success - 4 Questions

I have a client who, according to her, has the ideal life. She has her own business, doing something she loves. She has help with her child, and a supportive husband who financially bears the load of their life, and emotionally encourages her to pursue her passion. 

She doesn’t feel successful.

When I talk with her, I’m reminded of myself and a similar internal struggle I had for years! That persistent feeling that success alluded me.

Sound familiar?

Breathing: A Tool for Clarity

Breathing: A Tool for Clarity

Do you have a go-to strategy when you find it hard to concentrate and your brain feels fuzzy?

Or when you can’t seem to figure out what to do next, or what direction to move towards?

When I’m in that place, it sometimes feels like I’m spinning in circles, directionless, blind to possibility.

However, when I REMEMBER to use this tool (!), a breathing exercise, it can really make a difference.

Why?

Covid Journey: Healing from the Inside Out

Covid Journey: Healing from the Inside Out

Since the end of October, I’ve been struggling with aftereffects from Covid-19 and today I felt guided to share my healing journey with you.

Sometime in mid-October, I contracted Covid. As with many of us, I wasn’t exactly sure how I got it. I was traveling overseas and didn’t confirm I was positive until I returned home! After quarantining for ten days, and finally testing negative, I was ready to move on with my life!

Ha Ha.

This was my first encounter with a long-term illness, something you may live with or have experienced at some point in your life. To you, I offer my deepest condolences. You are indeed a brave warrior.

Each time I’d think I was finally better and could get BACK to my life, I’d have some kind of relapse. Mostly with a blanketing sense of fatigue that would descend like a band across my eyes. That’s when I knew I couldn’t keep going.

This went on for weeks that turned into months.

How to Reframe that Negative Thought

How to Reframe that Negative Thought

I have this mp3 track of Louise Hay called 101 Power Thoughts for Life. At the beginning of it she says, “the thoughts we think and the words we speak are constantly shaping our world and our experiences. Many of us are in an old habit of negative thinking and do not realize the damage we have inflicted upon ourselves. However, we are never stuck because we can always change our thinking.”

Riding the Manifesting Wave

Riding the Manifesting Wave

Sometimes it’s fun to sprinkle in a little astrology… why? Because those GIANT orbs in the sky actually affect us here on earth.

January thus far may have had its fits and starts, but good news is a foot! Beginning on January 28th when Uranus ends its retrograde, there will be NO major planets backspinning from now until April 1st!!!!

Why does this matter?