Is It Life-Giving?

I just recently returned from Fairfield, Iowa, where I was lucky enough to spend a week with my dear friend and her husband, receiving Shamanic initiations and partaking in two community events. While there, I was blessed to forge a new connection with an extraordinary woman. She invited me into her home, and began sharing with me her incredible artwork. I immediately felt inspired by the collages, paintings and drawings she has created. Most especially, what stood out to me was her ability to create visual representations that transmitted the energy of her deep spiritual and Shamanic investigations. The transmission from these pieces was palpable! These images also challenged aspects of my artistic rigidity, and green lighted my creative freedom to bring seemingly unrelated images together in a seamless way. She naturally creates from a sense of freedom, and I learned, while sitting with her divinely inspired creations that I, too, could and breathe more of my most essential expression into my art by letting go of limitations I had placed on myself.

Denise, Cielle and I offered a Sound Healing night mid-week and we had a blast sharing our unique offerings to the group. Cielle played her gong, Denise sang a hymn about the Breath of God, and I drummed and toned. Then, we facilitated a Harmonic Choir, in which a portion of the group members had the opportunity to ask for an intention for themselves to be expressed and met through group sound. This part of the night was so delightful and it was surprising how quickly the group attuned to one another and worked together to deliver gorgeous healing sounds, in a completely spontaneous and intuitive way.

This experience was deeply moving for me, and I had such an incredible time partaking in the event that I couldn't relate to "hosting" the event by the end of it. It felt as though we were each hosting spirit and celebrating divine creation through our voices. There was truly no boundary between the receiver of the sound and the one singing, or the one being sung. I was in a place of complete ecstacy throughout the entire evening, being fed by sound coming through me and all around me.

It is becoming more and more clear to me that sound healing a big aspect of my calling, and that I need to have fun, no matter what kind of "work" I am doing. This sense of not knowing who is receiving more--the "audience" or "me" is a very welcome answer to the question of "what I am supposed to be doing". I am really getting that it is important for me to do my work, and that it is equally important that my work be FUN! This is quite a revelation for me, because I was born rather serious minded. So, to find that sweet spot where I can work and play simultaneously is an incredible gift.

I feel so blessed to have had my fire ignited by my dear friends in Fairfield, and I feel inspired to pursue opportunities for collaboration and to share my teachings with those who are moved to receive them. But most of all, I discovered that God wants me to have fun and he/she wants me to delight in the work I do. This is a very real and surprising revelation.

I am feeling such gratitude for my friends and colleagues who ignited my creative freedom, my call to sacred sound, and my deep soul nature as a Shamanic practitioner.

Each of us has a "calling", which may show up as a specific activity like gardening, drawing, counseling, management, mentoring, working with children, flying, writing, seeing the beauty in every living being, devotional practices, guiding meditation, infusing life with laughter...the list goes on. Or your whole life might be your calling, as you offer each and every moment to the All That Is as your most natural expression. Or maybe you can't relate to either of these examples. I encourage you to feel into the question, "What activities do I partake in that allow me to lose all track of time and induce a state of relaxation and peace?" This will point you to what your most sacred expressions. Make a list of them.

Who in your life ignites these passions and helps you to cultivate them? I invite you to carve out some time this week, even 15 mins, to devote to that which feeds your soul. You can do these activities alone or with friends who draw you out. Either way, this one small act will enliven you. You are worth it!

I am weightless,
Kneeling at the edge of sky...

Birds flap all around me
I feel their wings like kisses on my cheeks
And I smile in the silence.

I am both single-pointed awareness
And complete relaxation.

I sway in the wind
Yet I am steadfast and unmoving.

There are no more rules!

I am without fear.

It’s great when the sun comes out to play, but what about the days when you are feeling blue and the sky is full of clouds? The good news is that there are very simple steps you can take to let your inner light shine.

Pray. Ask for help, and take time to write a Thank You note to God/Goddess for your many blessings. They will multiply!

Clear Your Mind. Take time daily for quiet meditative, unplugged time. This one small act will increase inner peace and you’ll inevitably bring into your life and relationships.

Set Clear Intentions & Follow Your Guidance. Take the time to get clear about what you want to co-create in your life. Then, listen to your body’s signals, and watch for that warm feeling in your heart, the tingles, and repetitive messages that keep nudging you. Follow hunches, watch for dream symbols. God and your invisible guidance team are trying to tell you something!

Fill Your Cup. Remember to Play! Dance to your favorite music. Stay up late talking with loved ones. Take yourself out for a date. Surround yourself with people who make you laugh. Follow your path of joy wherever it leads you.

Take one small step to let your inner light shine this week, and watch what happens…

I had an incredible experience tonight when I was doing a reading for a loved one. I saw my husband through the eyes of his masters, teachers and loved ones on the other side--those spirits without bodies, who have chosen to assist us with our struggles here on earth.

As I was tuning in to his guides, I began to perceive my husband through their eyes. They were the eyes of pure love! I immediately began to cry because the love they have for him is so deep and wide. I was taken out of this time and place to a dimension where the internal and external pressures that so many of us feel were nonexistent. The ticking of the clock and the fast paced world of texting, Facebook messaging, Twittering, and rushing to appointments were nowhere to be found.

This is a place out of time, and away from the hustle and bustle of civilization. It was there that I got my first real glimpse of my dear Tom! I got to feel how deep and wide his heart really is! I could feel his heart bursting with love. I sensed his innocence and curiosity for life, and the purity of his intent.

This experience could have been just that--an experience to add to the list of the many spiritual experiences I've had. But I decided to consciously bring this experience to life again by invoking more of this seeing and feeling in my daily life. I want to see with the eyes of love. I want to tap into this dimension out of time, away from the noise, in which every human being is loved exactly as we are. I want to see and acknowledge the pure essence of our soul nature to as many humans as I can before I leave this earth.

I want to offer kindness to those who feel alone and angry. I want to see past a crusty demeanor to the essential Self residing in the tender heart of a neglected, abused, or overwhelmed person. I want to open my eyes and heart so that I can tap into the pure love beneath the surface of my fellow human beings.

Take a moment today to see yourself through the eyes of the Great Ones who would never judge you, belittle you or push you beyond your limits...those who really see you and who can feel your beautiful tender heart and the light you bring to the world around you. Then...challenge yourself to look a little deeper into the heart of another today, to see and acknowledge the divine spark you may have missed before. I double dog dare you!

The mind can sometimes be a frightening place to visit. It can be full of ideas as to why we shouldn't move ahead and dare to bring ourselves fully forward into life. Here we may find our doubts, self judgment, fear of judgment from others, fear that we aren't "good enough", and internal pressure to do it perfectly the first time. This mindstuff wants to gum up the works so that we won't change.

What do we get out of it? Well...we feel "safe" by avoiding risk.

Nuff said about your mind.

What is it that your SOUL really longs for?

Mine longs to connect my gifts and passions with the needs of the world around me. This blog is one way I am daring to share my gifts with the world around me. My deepest intention is to uplift and inspire at least one person with every post. I want to reach more people than I can talk to in one day. I want to help draw you out. I want to connect with like-minded and like-hearted people around topics that are genuinely life-giving.

When I am unable to move forward, and my mind gets the best of me, I ask for help. I did last night, as a matter of fact. I asked for assistance with moving forward and my guides told me to "Remember how it feels to help people this way and let that guide you, because if you get wrapped up in the trappings of the ego then you will either stop what you are doing and be miserable or push forward for the wrong reasons."

This is such a simple yet powerful message. When I focus on how I feel when I am doing my healing and teaching work, writing, sound healing, drumming, and drawing, I notice that I feel warmth in my heart, and a feeling of peace washes over me. Time stops and my mind becomes quiet.

I am in a receptive state, receiving energy and attention from Mother Earth, who I like to call "Pachamama", my angels and guides, and God. I am giving from a cup that overflows with love and compassion in these moments because I am on track with what my soul longs for--doing that which I came here to do.

What takes you out of time, into a state of peace and joy?
What feeds your soul and the world around you?

I encourage you to take time today, and in the coming week, to notice when these sweet spots show up--"where your deep gladness and the world's deep hunger meet"(Buechner).

These moments of beauty and Grace point you to your soul's longings, and within the longing of the soul lies the world's hunger for your gifts. Remember what you came here to do!

Sonia Choquette is one of my heroines. She began doing psychic readings in middle school--her Mom was her mentor from a young age, teaching her, by example, how to tune into her spirit guides for directions and reassurance. She helped Sonia trust her higher self. Sonia went on to train with a few different teachers to refine her psychic gifts and she has gone on to become a world renowned teacher herself. I was reading her book Trust Your Vibes just now, and I was struck by a passage about "believing eyes":

" One of the most powerful ways to use your soul's eyes is to become what my writing mentor and friend, Julia Cameron, introduced me to as believing eyes. Several years ago, I wanted to write a book on awakening the sixth sense, but I doubted my ability to write. Julia, on the other hand, had no doubt that I could do it, and for the next six months she chose to see me as a gifted and prolific writer. Her steady gaze, full of conviction and faith, reflected unwaveringly back to me, eventually resonated in my view of myself, until I too had no doubt. At the end of the six months, basking in the gaze of those believing eyes, I'd written my first book, The Psychic Pathway. I'm absolutely convinced that Julia's view of me as a writer was the reason I became one. Without her ability to see me as I wanted to be seen, I wonder if my dream would still be merely that--a dream."

The synchronicity of this passage was palpable for me, because I have just recently reconnected with an old friend, David, and we have been marveling at how we are such a source of strength, deep reflection and acknowledgment of one another's gifts, and how we have similar destinies to fulfill as healers. Each of us see one another's path as healers and teachers stretching out into the future with great certainty. We provide believing eyes for each other in a very powerful way. And we both sense that God/Goddess, and our angels and guides brought us together at this moment in time to lift each other up and to create a container in which we can grow into who we are longing to become! How fortunate we are for this reciprocal relationship that feeds our souls.

My husband, Tom has always believed in me when I have experienced doubt and confusion about my path. I know that I can turn to him when I am feeling overwhelmed, weak, tired, confused, alone. He has always held the vision for me when I have lost it for myself.

I strive to hold this vision for my daughter, my dear friends, my sisters, my clients and students, looking below the surface, asking for the underlying purpose beneath their struggles and seeing them whole, loved, fulfilled. But I couldn't do that without the many pairs of believing eyes I have in my sphere, holding a steadfast gaze, moving me toward my potential.

Who lifts you up with their believing eyes?
Send them a little note or give them an extra hug today, in gratitude for their steadfast gaze upon your beauty, your gifts.

You are a gorgeous gift! Your voice is music to the angels. Make it heard!

I had an incredible experience this morning...after I did Qi Gong. I did a Shamanic journey and I asked for rejuvenation. I have been needing a way to tap into my resilience and to feel the All That Is beneath and around me. So I asked to be taken to a place within myself, where I could feel my connection to the earth, to my guides, to God/Goddess, and the Source of all life.

I was taken to a place that I experienced to be at the center of all things, and at the center of myself. I could sense that this was the Source of all creation! There was a gel-like substance there, that I experienced as the material that we have in common with the whole of creation. I was guided to step into this substance, to move within it, and to allow the energy of it to rejuvenate me. I could sense that this material was both me and separate from me. I knew that it was the nourishment my body and soul have been craving. I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to breathe amidst the substance, but breathing turned out to be quite simple in this place, and I could actually feel my breath expanding.

As I allowed the Source material to "feed" my cells, I could see that it was pure light, pure life. My body hums with pleasure as I remember Who I Am underneath all of the activity of life. As I recall this journey, I feel my deep connection to Everything, in, around and through me.

This journey reminds me that we don't have to look outside of ourselves to find the resources we need to strengthen us.
How can you tap into the Source of all life today? I invite you to take a few moments to find the silence that lies underneath all the noise of your daily activities and ask for your Wellspring of Life to show itself to you.

I invoke great joy, renewal, and the recognition of your deep, deep connection to the Source of Who You Are!