I've Been Thinking...

• PHYSICAL:  This means mainly exercising the body so that you can release chronic tension.  Breathing deeply is one way,  massage also moves the energy and so does any kinds of muscle movement. 

•  MENTAL:  Letting go of negative thoughts.  Emotional energy is dependent on thoughts. Mind sends signals to convey our beliefs. Negative self talk creates depression and fear and this in turn damages the personal energy field. 

As I travel to offer workshops and retreats, I enter a depth with willing others who’ve been opened and shaped by life. Through that depth, we create a path to what matters by which we enter the temple that is the world. I remain humbled and excited by the mystical fact that, try as we do, this depth can’t be opened alone. We need each other to do this, even though no one can experience life for you. And so we journey as pilgrims of the heart, alone and together, crossing this threshold of depth whenever we dare to tell the truth of our lives.

I open these gatherings by admitting that I have no answers and that we’re here to compare notes, because no one knows how to navigate the mystery of being alive. I then try to open a heart space through which we can enter the realm of all that matters, which is always waiting just below the interruptions of life which, if followed beyond our wants and fears, will lead us to the bareness of being that informs all life. I open this heart space by reading poems, telling stories, and sharing metaphors that reveal the unseeable architecture of existence.

Little experiences are often overlooked. It surprises me how tiny observations can have profound meaning.

It was Wednesday morning, I pulled into a preschool parking lot to perform a children’s concert.

While unloading my car, a mom arrived with a young boy probably three years old. He had a super ball that bounced out of his hand and into the road. The mom grabbed his arm to keep him from running into the busy street.

I did not expect to hear him make the same exact sound my sisters made when they learned my dad died. It was an unmistakable death wail, spontaneous and deep from one’s soul.

What I call “Super ball moments” are brief experiences of trauma. What we associate about the trauma is more dangerous than the pain itself. There can be lifelong consequences when we decide to connect beliefs of what the situation means to our identity.

There are countless reactions that could come from this super ball experience.

This week I was inspired to choose an Oracle Card to point me in a direction of what to share with you and from the Enchanted Map deck, I picked the card Education.

So with this in mind, I asked myself what I might offer you as something to learn this week.

Since I just finished creating the new amazing Oracle Card 101 course this week, (Most awesome one I might add!) how to get the most out of working with Oracle Cards are foremost on my mind.

So I’m sure if you’re reading this you also watch the weekly Oracle Card Guidance and Lesson as well as pull cards from my website for free (and hopefully own your own decks!) and I bet that once in a while you might get a “WTF- HUH?” reading that freaks you out because it a) may seem to have nothing at all to do with your question, and/or b) the cards are all upside down, or you think they imply fear, disappointment, or you interpret you’re going to get a visit from a boogeyman who might sabotage your plans. EEK!

In every age there has been a dominant worldview that people tried to conform to. In an age of faith, everyone asked how they could better serve God. This was their daily concern. In the Industrial Age the question shifted to economics and improving one's lot in life. In an age dominated by science the question shifted again--people asked every day how they could keep up with progress and add to it. As times change, so do people's vision of what is important, and usually they thought they had a better vision than the one which preceded them.

Yet if you back away to see the bigger picture, each age had one thing in common, and it wasn't God, economics, or progress. It was the fundamental idea that life is well lived only if you have a vision. Without one, purpose and meaning are limited. 

It turns out that the one question you should ask every day is this: How can I fulfill my vision today? Whether they put it exactly in these words, this is the secret behind the greatest success stories. Someone dedicated his or her life to a plan, project, or set of values larger than any individual.  A worthy vision, I think, needs to fulfill certain criteria.

“If you can dream it, you can do it,” is a famous quote attributed to Walt Disney or one of his staff. 
 

As I wrote in my book The World Is As You Dream It, this concept is also expressed by Indigenous shamans around the world. 

One of the themes in my new book Touching the Jaguar: Transforming Fear into Action to Change Your Life and the World is that our perceptions mold reality. There are no religions, cultures, countries, corporations etc. until people perceive the idea of these, accept certain values that define behavior supporting that idea, and then take actions to manifest it. When enough of us accept a perception or codify it into law, it changes reality. 

An audience member at one of my talks objected to this, saying, “the dream of a prisoner for early release does not necessarily come true.”

“That’s where actions come in,” I replied. “The prisoner starts with the dream, but then has to set in motion actions that will facilitate his early release (for example, perceiving ways to convince authorities that he should be freed ‘for good behavior’ or perceiving methods to obtain new evidence of his innocence). But you raise an important point,” I continued. “The dream does not change reality; rather, it inspires the dreamer to do things that will change reality. When we ‘touch the jaguar,’ we confront our fears – the obstacles that have convinced us that we can’t change – and use them to energize and empower us to take actions that will alter reality.” 

When you stay focused on your goals, productivity comes naturally.

Of course, then those pesky distractions come in to mess up your workflow and throw off your schedule.

If your day is anything like mine, you’re probably constantly being thrown distractions that limit the amount of work you are able to get done.

After all, you only have 24 hours in a day and no matter how you try to stretch them, they always add up to the same amount of time.

Learning how to tackle your problem head-on by limiting your distractions, can help you focus on what’s important—your goals.

Start with these six ways to stay focused on your goals and streamline your attention right this minute.