My ongoing passion for over 30 years has been guiding people out of the darkness of their souls and into the light of their hearts, but it appears to be more important now than ever before in history.

For many years I have observed large herds of folks headed, unwittingly, like a flock of sheep into the darkness of gloom and doom. Blinded by greed and fear, they marched faster and faster until they hit the wall - the wall of COVID-19.

Bam! Time to reassess. Many people are now asking “Where was I going and why?” Others are just waiting until we get back to “normal." Good luck with that - there is no going back. Those waiting to go back to “normal” will be left behind and wondering what happened. After all, weren’t they on the fast track?

Long before COVID-19 brought the world to its knees, I had recurring thoughts and dreams about the world spinning out of control. In my dreams it would be a globe spinning so fast it began to get out of control but continued to spin faster and faster and eventually it flew off its axis into space and forever nothingness. I would awaken and think about how bizarre it was but had no clue what to do, or how to help people get back on track or, to at least slow down.

Are you full to the rim?

The Practice:
Empty the cup.

Why?

Once upon a time, a scholar came to visit a saint. After the scholar had been orating and propounding for a while, the saint proposed some tea. She slowly filled the scholar’s cup: gradually the tea rose to the very brim and began spilling over onto the table, yet she kept pouring and pouring. The scholar burst out: “Stop! You can’t add anything to something that’s already full!” The saint set down the teapot and replied, “Exactly.”

Whether it’s the blankness of a canvas to an artist, the silence between the notes in music, bare dirt for a new garden, the not-knowing openness of a scientist exploring new hypotheses, an unused shelf in a closet or cupboard, or some open time in your schedule, you need space to act effectively, dance with your partners, and have room around your emotional reactions.

Yet most of us, me included, tend to stuff as much as possible into whatever room is available – room in closets, schedules, budgets, relationships, and even the mind itself.

Personally, my own mind is often filled with themes of work: details of tasks to do, problems to avert, opportunities to capture keep swelling up again into awareness to capture my attention. For a friend of mine, the wallpaper of her own mind, as she puts it, is rumination about her health problems.

Remember the cup: its value is in the space, the emptiness, it holds.

The comedian George Carlin once said, “The caterpillar does all the work and the butterfly gets all the publicity.” I am fan of caterpillars, those who are dissolving their own skins to become who they are meant to be. We who continue to grow, perpetually enter the goop of change, or butterfly soup. It’s incomplete. It wouldn’t look good on a photo shoot.

As you move along your path, you may feel angry, held back, sad, unseen, or empty. It takes so much courage to be developing or undoing or daring. Yet please don’t let the in-between space convince you that you lack anything. Being in transition doesn’t mean you’re broken. It means you’re breaking away from the old, an identity, maybe a set of assumptions or an understanding or a world that no longer fits you.

It’s easy to sit on the sidelines in the lounge chair of life and be a spectator, or a critic of those who are facing their lives head-on. But I’m a sucker for those of us who are daring to make something of this time on earth. Real life is always taking place in the middle of things, not just in the polished perfection of an illusion of the end goal. How you live in the middle really is the quality of your life.

“I know that leaving my job was the right thing to do, as it was literally making me sick, but I want so much to know how all this turns out. I’m so scared about the future.”

“I know that separating from my husband was the right thing for me to do at this time, as we were really hurting each other, but I wish I could see into the future. I want to know how all this turns out.”

“What’s going to happen on our planet with all this illness? How is all this going to turn out?”

We go to psychics and astrologers and read our horoscope to try to predict the future, hoping to hear something that will calm our fears. But we are missing the point.

As Eleanor Roosevelt so brilliantly pointed out, “…if life were predictable it would cease to be life, and be without flavor.”

I've Been Thinking...

I can’t believe that the Fourth of July is almost upon us! I can’t believe that summer is in full swing and that the year is already half over. I mean, think about that for a minute. 2020 is half over and many of us have spent the majority of it at home! Geez.

The truth is, there is so much I can’t believe these days, and I know I’m not alone. My new favorite phrase is "I didn’t see that one coming" or "I’ve never dealt with that before, so let me take a beat and think about it before I respond to you."
 

There is a lot to think and rethink these days. Each of us has a jumble of emotions that we’re trying to sort through. At least I know I do. I find myself trying to balance my physical health with my mental health. I find myself desperate to get off Zoom and yet grateful that we have it as a way to gather.

I have always thought it is fun to take part in a game of chance.  I purchase raffle tickets and enter other contests. I feel pretty lucky in life, so why not. During the early weeks of pandemic life, like many other people, I purchased a weekly lottery ticket. At that time my only outing was driving to a pool for our son to swim. On our way home, we would look at the lottery numbers on a huge sign. It was updated weekly, sharing how much money was still available. We always noticed when there had been a big payout. My son and I would entertain ourselves, talking about winning the lottery. What would we do with a big cash prize?

In truth, our everyday life probably wouldn’t change much.  I would buy new windows, doors, and a snake fence for our aging home.  I would invest some money in my business.  Mostly, it is fun to think about what animal sanctuaries, environmental and humanitarian groups I would donate to. It feels good to run all the possibilities of contributing through my mind. The thrill of making a sizable difference is very fun to explore.

A winning lottery ticket is symbolic of living a life of freedom, no restrictions.  It is a creative way to think about what you want most in your life. Buying the ticket and daydreaming of a win, helps you visualize unlimited finances, and removes restrictions. Imagining what you will do with your winnings, brings true abundance one step closer to your reality.  This process can land you a winning lottery ticket; more importantly, it can help you discover your ability to manifest your greatest desires.

When are you?

The Practice:
Enjoy now.

Why?

There’s a profound and miraculous mystery right under our noses: this instant of now has no duration at all, yet somehow it contains all the causes from the past that are creating the future. Everything arising to become this moment vanishes beneath our feet as the next moment wells up. Since it’s always now, now is eternal.

The nature of now is not New Age or esoteric. It is plain to see. It is apparent both in the material universe and in our own experiencing. Simply recognizing the nature of now can fill you with wonder, gratitude, and perhaps a sense of something sacred.

If you’re like me, you’re a big believer in symbols and signs. You also view signs and symbols as to how you’re being guided by spirit.

The most prominent form of spirit communication that involve symbols, are our dreams.

This is because while we are dreaming we are not actually in our physical bodies. This is the best time for spirit to communicate with us and show us things. They communicate with pictures and symbols because it’s the easiest way for them to get their messages across.

Every person has their own list of symbols and meanings. Those are symbols that are unique to them. There are also similarities in the symbols we see as a collective.

Today I want to give you three tips on how you can reestablish your “knowing,” which is what’s going on in your heart and body, and not just your head. It’s time to fully choose happiness. Choose health. Choose an end to distractions. Seek these things out.

I hope you’re ready!

3 Tips for Reestablishing Your Knowing

As we move towards the end of June, there is so much going on in our hearts, our minds, our world, and the heavens. Yes, Mercury is in retrograde, but that’s not all! This week we’ve also experienced a solar eclipse, a new moon, and the summer solstice… on top of everything that’s been happening in our day-to-day lives. So if you’re feeling a bit… unsettled… that’s natural! It’s all part of the divine chaos that has entered our global consciousness and the beginning of the Aquarian age. 

It feels abrupt because it is. This is a full-on paradigm shift, and although it’s been coming for a while it feels like a giant whomp on our collective and individual noggins. We’re going through momentous change, internally and externally, and it’s critical to give ourselves space and time to adapt. There is still more awesome change to come, and we need to allow ourselves recovery time so we’re ready to do our part whatever that may be. 

I see a huge opportunity in front of us. Yes, it can seem daunting.  Yes, it can seem overwhelming. But this is what is in front of us, today. We’re all being invited at this time in human history to address things that challenge us to our core like the fall out from how we handle the global pandemic, what to do and how to change systemic racism. On top of this we have seismic shifts in the economic system and the health care system and the education system, all the things that have been revealed as not working as well as we need them to.