2021 Reflection & Visioning Guide
The dawn of a New Year brings with it the hope of a personal renewal… new aliveness, new dreams and the possibility that we can be our best selves and really expand into our potential. But, by the words of psychiatrist and WWII concentration camp survivor Viktor Frankl, “What is to give light must endure…
Our Undoing is also our Becoming
The day I died, I decided not to meditate.
I sat there in the pink early morning light, coffee in hand, and wanted to just breathe and BE… letting every moment sit longingly on my tongue and be savored; not resisting the cool air on my toes, rather FEELING it… all of it… what it is to be human and fully alive.
Of course, I didn’t die that day. It was an experiment I gave myself as part of a year-long study into death… a topic that became instantly more relevant as a 21st Century pandemic shook our lives like an earthquake. No warning, no notice, just lives shattered at our feet.
How Can I Be More Self-Confident?
Aaaah, the illusive, misunderstood Self-Confidence. To those longing for it, they see the outward appearance of decisiveness, clarity and poise. And they see it’s powerful effect on others, the unspoken trust and respect it elicits. On the other hand, once you’ve “arrived” it’s kinda anti-climactic, hardly the victorious, powerful, self-important feeling you might have expected.…
Dealing With Pain & Suffering: A Helpful Perspective
I had a vision. Well, NOT a vision, actually, because I was seeing REALITY… just more clearly. I was at a silent meditation retreat, about 6 days in. I had been spending 15 hours a day in walking, eating, sitting and wakeful meditation… kinda like a training camp for the mind. Observing every detail of…
Letter to My Unborn Son (…And to ALL Sons & Daughters of Mothers)
My son, do not be afraid to enter into this world—a world of challenges, growth, a world of all things conceivable by the human mind. You are here to enlighten, to enliven, to open (sometimes painfully) to All That Is. You are here at the perfect moment, brought here specifically to be You. And if…
How Do I Get Unstuck? Bloom Where You Are Planted!
Summer is here and nature is blooming: bougainvillea, jasmine, jacarandas… Are you blooming too? Or do you find yourself stuck… or worse, wallowing in toxicity? Let’s take a tip from the season: “Bloom where you are planted” ~Mary Engelbreit Bloom… This is the easy part. Don’t wait, don’t think about it, don’t plan it. Don’t…
How Do I Change My Beliefs?: Harnessing the Placebo Effect
What if what you believed about yourself came true… because you believed it? What if the most effective and long-lasting cure for anything was… your thoughts? Wow. You are powerful. Recent studies at Harvard’s Program of Placebo Studies and elsewhere are proving it. Here are the facts, as reported in last week’s Wall Street Journal: A…
Santa Says: “Don’t Be Good!” From Unhealthy “Giving” to Authenticity and Love
What is it about the holidays that can be so bitter-sweet? Dealing with family issues and personalities that trigger you in the worst ways… Being around the people you love the most but who may not “see” you for who you truly are. And then there’s the “giving” season. Maybe you long to help in…
Healing Your Vision Naturally: A True Story
The Optometrist was clear. “There’s no way to improve your vision without surgery,” he explained, going through a whole medical explanation of why this was so. And as he diagrammed and didacted his voice sounded more and more like Charlie Brown’s school teacher: “Wah wah, wah wah, wah wah.” My mind, on the other hand, was taking a ride…
You are Perfect, Exactly the Way You Are: 7 Transformative Lessons From My Sexy Grandma
It was some kind of magical paradise. Glitter on the ceilings, hot pink carpet, full-length mirrors everywhere and a (tastefully) nude woman, back arched seductively, painted on the bathroom wall. It was Grandma’s house. And magic was in the air. Mixed with utter restfulness and a dash of food-induced lethargy. As we travelled from California…
