Tag Archives: Truth

A Bigger Universal Perspective… Think Like a Hawk

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Imagine yourself sitting on the ground. You lift up a large stone & there before you exposed for your observation are a myriad of smaller life forms… bugs, worms, snails, slugs & the like… all busily…even frenetically going about their business of living their lives in their earthly environment. The closer you look, the more you tap into how each species performs their tasks for survival as well as how they interact with each other in a more communal way.
Now picture yourself as a hawk… gliding along on the wind currents… ever aware & observant from high above all that is going on below. The hawk is capable of seeing exactly what it needs to see from great distances. It doesn’t need to tune into all the details… only those which support its own life & true survival.
Nature is a wonderful & wise teacher… microcosm/ macrocosm. When we fallible humans get caught up in the “emotionality” of a situation, it then becomes very difficult to access it with the clarity needed to find a viable solution. “Emotion” is about feeling… something we need to be able to connect with to be healthy & well-rounded. It comes from a natural tendency & need to give & receive. “Emotionality” on the other hand, is about drama & being triggered into a reaction to something that has wounded us prior to that. Operating from that vantage point never serves us well so it’s important to recognize the difference.
If we can learn to mentally stand back out of the chaos that so often permeates life & observe it from a more Universal vantage point, we automatically give ourselves the gift of seeing any given situation with much more clarity & truth. It also allows us to see a new perspective in relation to the level of importance we tend to assign things out of misplaced emotion, something by the way… the animal kingdom never does. What may have appeared to be much more important when we’re right in the middle of it often is merely a drop in the bucket when we consider the bigger picture, especially when we can let go of our fear & ego & see it for what is really is.
That my friends, is a recipe for true freedom & peace of mind & when all else fails, just remember… this too shall pass.

Get Curious… Remember…

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We First Have to Recognize Who We Aren’t In the Process of Discovering Who We Really Are

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Face painted like earth

We’re birthed into this world as perfect beings coming into our bodies & respective lives to learn the lessons we’ve chosen to learn in order to continue our personal & spiritual growth. Upon our arrival, a “veil” covers our memories of where we just came from & who we truly are.

We then become human “works-in-progress” & embark on our individual studies at the “University of Life” whether we know it or not. The tough part is by our very nature, we don’t learn when things are easy & going splendidly.

When life becomes hard however, it tends to humble us & we’re better able to look beyond our egos & go within ourselves. We often develop a sense of longing for a connection to something much bigger than we are. The greater the pain, the bigger the lesson & some of us seem to think we need to learn things the hard way (just another limiting belief).

Universal God/ Goddess energy is very real & with it comes a great amount of Wisdom. Knowledge feeds our brains as we learn on a linear level but Wisdom must be earned by experience… much harder & but also infinitely more rewarding. The key is learning to be aware enough to recognize it when it crosses our paths. We have to learn to live in a more conscious way.

It’s easy to unconsciously accept what we’re told as innocent children growing up… by our parents & families… our extended community… our peers we want to fit in with. At those young ages, our survival depends on others. We gradually begin to believe our illnesses, issues, habits, belief systems, etc. are all simply part of who we are. In actuality though, nothing could be further from the Truth! They’re nothing more than lessons put in front of us to teach us something. Once the lesson is learned, it’s no longer necessary to have it in our lives & as a healer, I routinely see “miracles” occur. It’s about getting to the CAUSE… not trying to put a band-aid on the symptom.

To recognize & get beyond this, we each have to get curious enough to seek our own, individual truths. As well-meaning as others in our lives may have been, nobody has the right to decide another person’s path for them… NO ONE! Divine Free Will is our own gift & it exists for a reason.

When you take time to concertedly ponder it, just how often do you find yourself “tucking in” what you say or do to avoid making waves in an effort to keep the peace? Or maybe you fear being judged, ridiculed or shamed? Do you ever feel you’re being loved “in spite” of who you are… not “because” of who you are? These types of things are precisely the “in-authentic” issues that not only feel awful but also aren’t serving us in a Higher Way.

How do we break free of these limitations? PERCEPTION is the first place to begin. If 10 people stood in the same place at the same time & had the same experience, all 10 of them could & would likely have 10 different opinions & descriptions. Each of them would be basing their thinking on their own, individual, past experiences which formed the way they see the world they live in.

Soooo… reality is actually only a personal matter & another person’s opinion is just that… THEIR opinion… not the last word! It takes courage & effort to look honestly at ourselves & learn to recognize what doesn’t feel good or positive about ourselves. Those things either aren’t authentically us or they’re things we need to look at & change. Either way, it’s something we have to do to grow & expand. If it isn’t good for us, it ultimately isn’t good for anyone or anything else either.

I’ve learned that TRUE Freedom is an inside job. We can’t control what’s coming at us on an on-going, daily basis. The key is learning to control how we react to it & not giving our Power away to someone else’s idea of what we should or shouldn’t be.

There’s no greater joy than living our own lives in a sincere way that feeds us on deeper levels & by surrounding ourselves with situations & people who see, love & value us for who we are. At the core of every human being is the innate need to be valued for taking up space in this world & to be part of a bigger “community” of Love & Support. It’s what gives us our humanity, joy & compassion & without it, we become disabled in sharing our gifts, talents & Wisdom with others.

                                           GET CURIOUS… REMEMBER…

How Do You Define Intelligence?

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Many people think of intelligence as our brain-based I.Q.  Although helpful & necessary for linear information, it’s only 1/3 of the entire equation…

How many times in your life have you noticed someone you considered to be intellectually bright & talented yet unable to maintain personal or business relationships? If they’re in positions of authority… managers, CEOs… teachers… parents… partners… friends… this definitely makes for a miserable & destructive atmosphere.

Without empathetic wisdom… instead of empowering others through good communication, they tend to deplete & undermine them. Regardless of their ability to understand & pull off the day-to-day tasks, they don’t have the ability to relate to or understand those they share their homes, work-spaces & lives with. After all, we get back what we put out there at the end of the day…

Sometimes it actually becomes harder for someone with a gifted MENTAL I.Q. to even understand the concept of this. Because things always came so easily for them in their heightened intellectual capacity, they become accustomed to feeling superior. Their egos disable them from being able to humble themselves enough to seek or recognize what they’re missing. Certainly, this doesn’t apply to every person of high intelligence. I’ve know many wonderful, very compassionate, gifted people but I’ve witnessed enough of the misery caused by those stuck in their egos to warrant speaking out.

Not only is there a great deal of damage done to others affected  by someone’s lack of emotional understanding but also to the person propagating it because they’re not able to interact with others in the fulfilling, rewarding ways they deserve as well.

The important component which is lacking in these situations is EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE. It’s the ability to tap into someone else’s feelings through body-language, intuition & their words. For some, it comes so naturally they simply react that way without being conscious of it. They have gifted emotional I.Q.s. For others, it must be learned & sometimes in order to do that, they have to leave their intellect at the door.

Although it can be learned at any age, the best place to begin this development is in childhood… right along with our ABCs. Parents & teachers need to “teach” children how to have empathy and to be kind & compassionate. The lack of it manifests in bullying & other destructive behaviors that create woundings for the recipients they often carry around inside for a lifetime.

This is also where SPIRITUAL INTELLIGENCE comes in. It’s our ability to connect not just within but also without… to something bigger than ourselves. It allows us to expand our perspectives & consider the collective good instead of just our own well-being. It’s not a dogma… it’s a way of “being”… towards ourselves & others. It’s what gives us our humanity towards ALL life.

Not only do these 3 types of intelligence each play their own specific part of the whole but every one of them can be used in creating whatever it is we want… art, business models, curriculums, our plans for our lives… literally anything. Everyone is born with certain gifts whether they recognize it or not & when we’re given a gift, we’re expected to use it to the best of our abilities. When we know better… we do better. To use them wisely, we need to be humble & caring enough to use them to benefit the most people.

                            GET CURIOUS… REMEMBER WHO YOU ARE…

A Lack of Creative Vision Makes Prisoners of All of US…

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A Lack of Vision Creates Prisoners of All of US…

In just this last year in this area at least 100 people were killed or wounded by someone reported to have mental health issues. Even more concerning are the statistics which show 1400 mentally ill individuals killed family members, 13,000 committed suicide and the numbers are only increasing. These cases more often than not, end up in our juvenile & prison systems… after they’ve passed through our schools & communities. One half to two thirds of these people were “formally” diagnosed with a specific mental illness which is a stretch anyway considering the poor accuracy rate of the current testing methods.

The mentally-ill inmates in our prison systems are dealt with in ways which are at best ineffective and at worst archaic and stunningly cruel. This also applies to many of the disciplinary actions in many facets of our communities where students, inmates, patients & other community members are acting out and at risk to themselves & others. Our police & prison officials need to be adequately trained to handle them & our laws need to be changed to reflect the reality of the situation beyond the antiquated “just lock-em-up” mentality of the Old West. We’re living in a technical age. Not only is it ineffective, the cost to the taxpayers for utilizing these solutions is much, much higher on levels well beyond the financial.

Traditionally, inmates with serious behavioral issues while incarcerated are automatically put into solitary confinement. This can result in an endless procession of people doing their time there and then being released into the main prison population only to repeat their behavior & be returned literally for years on end. They’re confined to a tiny, concrete cell & allowed no human contact… their meals slid through a small opening in the door like feeding time for the dangerous animals in the zoo & an allowance of only 1-2 hrs. a day to exercise or walk around with 2 armed guards. I’ve read accounts of inmates being subjected to this treatment for 23 YEARS or more at a stretch. As any intelligent person can imagine, the result is either a far more fractured personality or total insanity. These people are often released back out into our communities far more wounded than they went in with little or no hope of successfully acclimating to a productive, non-violent life. What we do to ALL life, we ultimately do to ourselves.

I’ve always believed that the old, ineffective ways which have historically been chosen to address many problems on a personal level & as a collective society have shown a distinct lack of creativity, vision & compassion as well as an acute overdose of ego. This same “lack of” holds true for war. The legacy of pain & dysfunction it creates branches out in ways we don’t even realize. Being cut off from their humanity will do that to a person… Fighting fear & violence with more fear & violence = perpetuation NOT solutions, whether it’s physical, verbal, emotional or spiritual. At some point don’t we need to ask ourselves “How’s this working for us?” & get serious about the answer?

 It’s not about tip-toeing naively through the flowers, sprinkling fairy dust & happy intentions all around… It’s about having the wisdom and insight to see a bigger, healthier picture beyond what ails us & then having the courage to step into our Power. We have to become responsible for ourselves, work to create change & claim on our right to not be manipulated by those we trust to have our collective, best interest at heart.

                                         GET CURIOUS…. REMEMBER

 

Mental Health… So what’s in a label?

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Among the countless things I don’t know is one thing I’ve learned FOR SURE… life is anything but black and white… neat and tidy! It comes instead, in a spectrum of shades… often overlapping according to facts and perspective. The issue of mental health falls perfectly into this conundrum. We seem to have a need to define everything and give it a name. It makes us feel safer… more in control regardless of how far from the truth that really is.

The professional field of mental health has historically been broken in many ways. A diagnosis can only be as accurate and effective as the tools used to assess any given situation along with the insight and training of the psychologist and or psychiatrist making that assessment. Until recently due to a lack of funding and priorities, the human brain has not been studied beyond a certain point. The tendency has always been to view the issue from only part of our human spectrum which is only a slice of the entire pie. The reality is we’re all made up of physical, emotional, mental and spiritual bodies… each just as essential as the next and all connected and symbiotic.

Good therapists are worth their weight in gold but sadly those who aren’t seem to far outweigh them. This has been not my personal experience repeatedly but also mirrors the opinions of many friends and peers of mine in this field who have identified this as a real problem as well. Nobody in a healing profession can be effective unless they’re willing to also do their own personal work. People are often drawn to professions like these because of their own tough experiences and a sincere desire to help others. What they don’t yet understand however is we can’t help anyone else unless we’re willing to help ourselves first. When we know better… we do better. Knowledge gained through books and class-time is very different from wisdom. This is what we gain from going through the process ourselves. It shifts our perspectives and the way we deal with everything and everyone around us. Otherwise, it becomes just another way to avoid our “stuff” by focusing on someone or something else. That’s not empowering for either party!

Unfortunately, the propensity for life-long damage to someone who is incorrectly diagnosed or mishandled by the so-called “professional” they’ve sought help from can be heart-breaking. It certainly has been for me as I’ve listened to countless personal stories from clients and friends who have suffered the repercussions of being incorrectly diagnosed and labeled. They’ve all held the belief that they WERE their diagnosis… somehow less than everyone else… flawed… not worth having a joyful life or a healthy relationship. In every single case, they could not have been more wrong. NOBODY should go into the field of mental health unless they’re empathic and compassionate enough to see and understand the perspectives of those they are supposed to serve. The damage I’ve witnessed from ignorance on the part of the professional who should know better has left me many times with my mouth hanging open in amazement.

Learning to truly identify who we are at our authentic best requires letting go of the antiquated beliefs that keep us stuck, powerless and unable to see the bigger picture and truth of it. Becoming aware of the labels which hurt and shame so many and keep them hostage is something everyone of us can and should do. It also means having the courage to speak up when we hear or see someone doing something counter to that. At our cores, THAT is who we ALL are.

GET CURIOUS…. REMEMBER…

Finding the Freedom to be Who We’re Meant to Be

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A few years ago I was in the business of using design and color to invoke interest and feeling in various homes which were going on the market. I noticed a wide the variety of colors in the rich, abundant and beautiful woods in my neighborhood. The branches of the trees mottled with white spots that looked like randomly splattered paint and that vibrant, neon-green lichen especially caught my eye and my creative juices began flowing as I imagined using pieces of them in a variety of ways in my design projects. I thought to myself, “This idea will give me a nice, little, creative edge in my work!” The field of staging had become fairly competitive by then.

Then one day as I entered the Interior Design Center showrooms in downtown Seattle, I was surprised to see those same beautiful branches displayed just as I had imagined them! How could that be? There was no way they had copied the idea from me. I then began to see décor from the natural world more and more in a variety of stores and catalogs. I later came to understand it was the Universe’s way of beginning the push to re-connect mankind and Nature, something the majority of mankind had lost long ago. There was a Higher reason.

This phenomenon occurred many times, in many ways after this first realization and my training in the field of physics & energy allowed me to finally understand the dynamic at play in these situations. Just as we learned in school, everything is made up of energy. This also includes our thoughts and words… ALL of them!

There exists a field of collective consciousness which is fed on a continual basis by the masses. We each contribute to it but we also” receive” from it… usually without even realizing it.

This poses two important issues well worth our consideration:

1-      With this in mind, WHAT IF… mankind began to be more aware, disciplined & responsible regarding individual thoughts and words? It’s the Law of Reverberation in the science of physics… The energy put forth multiplies ten-fold and reverberates back again, continuing to expand ten-fold. That offers a whole different perspective for the individual and collective power we humans actually have to affect change instead of the hopelessness and helplessness we so often feel instead. Could it be that the problem was never about our Power but simply about seeing it from a different point of view?

2-      Our thoughts aren’t always our own. So how do we determine which are actually ours vs. someone else’s? The only way I’ve found for myself to recognize what’s mine is to continually work to get to know myself. It’s an inside job and what it lacks in simplicity it more than makes up for in personal benefit! I was continually “told” growing up I was” supposed” to be this or do that. Ahhh… those lovely expectations we all seem to get saddled with early on in life… I was presented with a variety of labels and beliefs leading me to assume I was simply a “genetic-sponge” destined to follow in the footsteps of my family members… for better or worse. Despite it all, I discovered my own truth. My authentic self… the person I truly came here to be… was none of those things at all. In fact, I’m much more than the sum of them all! Who knew?!

If you’re someone who really values the FREEDOM to be who you’re meant to be & to live your own life being true to that (maybe with a little adventure along the way to boot!…), this is an excellent place to take that first step.

To really claim our authentic selves, we have to first recognize who we AREN”T.

GET CURIOUS AND HUNGRY FOR WHAT’S INSIDE AND THEN GET READY TO BE SURPRISED & EMPOWERED!