Archive for August, 2008
Walking Out
Posted by: | CommentsA few months ago, I spent the day at a Woman’s Leadership conference sponsored by a wonderful organization called Berkana. One topic of discussion was the concept of “Walk Outs”. A “Walk Out” occurs when someone decides that they can no longer tolerate living a pre-packaged life from the ready made world. This person makes the choice to “walk out” of the school system, job, institution, or what ever it is they are no longer choosing and move on to some other situation that better serves them. In many situations these people are creating something new for themselves, something that represents who they are.
WOW!! This idea struck me as being at the core of the work that I do with people. Let’s face it; we do live in a ready made world. I am not just talking about food here! It seems that nearly everything is pre-packaged: the education system; the American Dream; health care; and financial institutions. Then there is the kind of work that you are supposed to do to make the money you need in order to live the way you are supposed to live. Marriage and relationships are supposed to look a certain way. You are supposed to look and act a specific way. There are all these ideas about who, what and how we are supposed to be in order to be successful and achieve all we are supposed to achieve.
What do you do when these pre-packaged ideas do not resonate with you? How about when you tried to live that life but it is no longer feeling good to you and you want MORE from your life? Now you want the freedom to be who you really are, to let your unique freakiness out, and to be prosperous while doing it!
One thing you might do is give me a call to talk about how I might help you create something new for yourself ! In my life I have “walked out” of many traditional pre-packaged roles and have been successful in creating a life that allows me to be to be my freaky self. I can help you do that too!
Finding Freedom: It Is All a Matter of Perspective
Posted by: | CommentsOne thing I learned about myself during my cleanse and diet is that I HATE to be restricted in any way. As soon as I feel like I CAN NOT have something a defiant energy gets activated in me. I feel rebelous and the outraged little kid who stomps her foot and wants what she wants appears. I feel like my freedom is being restricted in some way.
For me, feeling FREE is where it is at!
This feeling of being restricted became an obstacle for me on my journey. I knew that this was some of my “Stuff” coming up and I wanted to explore it. I allowed myself to really feel into the core of the energy when it was activated. This lead me to a clear perspective on what the energy was and where it was coming from. This awareness released me from the grip of the “restricted” feeling.
I also recognized that my feeling restricted is all a matter of perspective. If I focus my attention on what “I can not have” then I feel like I am being restricted by someone outside of me and that triggers my “stuff” around freedom. An easy upgrade to this thought is “I choose” not to have something. This puts me at a place of choice and that feels much better.
Another easy upgrade to this is to focus my attention on what I can have rather than what I can not. Rather than thinking “I can not have the smoothie I like for breakfast”, I focus on all the delicious fruit I can choose from. When I focus on all my options it opens things up. When I focus on my choices, I feel a sense of freedom.
Tuning Out : What are you avoiding?
Posted by: | CommentsLately I have been thinking about Tuning Out. I know I do it! Sometimes, all I want to do is put on the TV and ignore everything else while I waste the day watching movies on cable. My parents used to do it; they would come home from work and make a cocktail or have some wine, which usually lead to a few more drinks, and watching TV. Maybe you smoke a few joints every day, or go out and meet your friends for drinks, or play video games, or surf the net. All of these things can quickly become your main point of focus and work as a wonderful avoidance tactics. Don’t get me wrong, all of these things are good fun here and there, but when they become an avoidance tactic, or a way to separate yourself from your life, that is when you might want to take a step back and ask yourself “what am I trying to avoid?”
In my experience, when I am tuning out, I am trying to avoid dealing with something in my life that does not feel good. This thing can be real or imagined, but in my mind, thinking about it and the ideas of dealing with it makes me uncomfortable, so I avoid it all together!
In the past, I tuned out a lot because of my job! I was constantly frustrated and stressed out because of it, felt like there was nothing I could do to change it, and leaving was out of the question because I made so much money. So I went out with my friends and had drinks after work and filled my time up with parties and lots of social activities. When I was home I made sure there was lots of stimulation around me at all time. I had the TV on, while I used the computer and talked on the phone. My biggest fear was that I would not fall asleep right when I went to bed and I would be laying in the dark and the silence with all kinds of stuff swirling around in my head. The last thing I wanted to think about was how miserable I was at work! So I avoided thinking about it.
What I was really doing was separating myself from my life and my reality. No matter how busy and distracted I kept myself, at the end of the day there was a big chunk of my life that felt horrible to me.
To be honest, at that point in time I thought that that was just the way it was and I had to deal with it in order to be prosperous. I did not see any other options. Now I know that there are options! I also recognize that life is so much better when you are fully present to experience it.
Do you find yourself tuning out? Are you ready to deal with what you are avoiding? Give me a call to see how I might help you Tune into all the options available to you.
Ms. Cranky Pants
Posted by: | CommentsSome of you may be familiar with the teachings of Eckhart Tolle’s book: The New Earth. One of the major concepts he discusses is the Pain Body, which is a collection of emotional energy that each of us carries through out our lives. This energy is easily triggered by our thoughts, and can also trigger thoughts of a similar vibration. It is a vicious circle that feeds on itself and is often at the root of our self destructive patterns of behavior, out bursts and bad moods.
The other day I, woke up to my Pain Body looking for something to feed on. I started my day feeling a bit cranky and out of sorts. I did not want to get up and I did not want to stay in bed. I had a mental tug of war going on in my brain that was extremely irritating!
“MMMMM, irritation! What a tasty morsel”, said my Pain Body.
First off was a call to the Very Cool Life Network. This is an activity that I find great pleasure in, but not today! During the call, the intention was set that we would all share where we were at then cover some material that the leader wanted to share. As each person was asked to share, my Pain Body became anxious: “When is it going to be MY turn??? I have something to share!” Each time I was not called on the energy was building. I noticed a story being created in my head about how I was going to be left out and there would be no space left for me to talk. I noticed my mind becoming unwilling to listen and I began to get distracted and unwilling to participate in the exercise that was being lead and the information that was being shared. “This is stupid and worthless” my mind said . As I noticed these thoughts, I struggled to stay present and willing. The call came to an end without any space for me to share and I could feel my Pain Body going into a feeding frenzy,grabbing onto that and creating all kinds of stories around how I did not matter and I should have been called on, and how I was getting left out.
At this point, I am aware that my “stuff” is coming up and I use a few tricks I know to clear up this energy and release the story. As I am doing this, I notice that the beautiful day is turning cloudy and “why can’t it just be nice out for once!” I go about my business and find that everything is irritating me; the rain, having to wait for my car and what about my stupid computer that is not fixed yet?!? My crankiness is becomming all consuming and it is all I can do not to lash out and yell at someone. I found myself thinking about all the stuff that is irritating me. These thoughts are building and the energy of my irritation is growing. In my mind I am yelling and snapping at everyone. I am quickly becoming MS. CRANKY PANTS!!!!
Fortunately, I chose to keep it all to myself, but it was a struggle to keep it inside. It felt like it wanted to burst out and shower everyone around me.
By now, I realize that I am caught up in my Pain Body. It is hungry and wanting to feed and constantly creating thoughts that amplify the energy that it wants. Every time I tried to make myself feel better, another negative thought comes in. It felt like there was no end to it. So I took a moment and acknowledge that my Pain Body was there. I stopped trying to get away from it and I allowed myself to sit in it. “I FEEL CRANKY!!!!” I allowed those feelings to be. I felt into them. Then I made a choice to go to the gym and release some of the energy. I took a while to come back to feeling like myself, but by the end of the day I was not feeling like a victim. I was no longer looking for things to be pissed off about. My mind slowed down and there was Peace.
If you want to learn how to recognize your “Pain Body” and how to release it, come to one of my September classes and events !
