Soul Musings

The beginning of the year is  that sweet spot where we collectively begin imagining possibilities to fill the fresh new year before us that is inviting us to try again, begin again and to once again attempt to create all we desire.   The energy and anticipation can feel so potent, so exhilarating and our intentions for greater yet to be so possible! We start strong and then, lo and behold around mid-January we settle back into our old familiar patterns and ways of being. When we set intentions or resolutions what we really are doing is acknowledging that we need to move out of our cozy limited comfort zones. And this, my friends, is no easy feat! It requires faith, trust and a willingness to be uncomfortable for a while! Goal and resolution setting and even visioning don’t work on their own for many reasons. First of all, the comfort zone is our mind’s way of attempting to keep us safe and protected from the great “unknown”, which is everything outside of t...

Did you just “get up” this morning or did you “WAKE UP”?   To "get up" we stay in a day to day familiar and routine pattern. Even before we open our eyes in the morning, our programmed mind kicks in and we start thinking about the activities of the day. We go through our current daily morning routine on automatic pilot from the stored references in our subconscious minds that make up our habitual way of being. “Waking up” begins in a sacred way, with reverence for the gift of a brand-new day. With the awareness that there is something greater happening and that greater possibilities exist beyond what our human eyes can see. It's creating rituals that weave our unique soul missions into the collective great mystery unfolding. We become present before opening our eyes to any whispers from our souls or images from our nightly Dreamtime. We pray, vision for higher possibilities, set intention and offer gratitude for what is and gratitude for the yet to be. ...

Being a healer doesn’t mean that you are “healed” or have it all “together”. Rather it means that you've dedicated your life to being on a perennial journey of self-discovery, learning, healing, seeking, unfolding, transforming, etc. and feel called to support others from the well of wisdom deepened along the way.   A healer is committed to their own inner work and honors the times when they are called to take deeper dives for more exploration of their wounded/gift-bearing places in order to surface with more awareness, compassion and additional gifts gathered from being with what surfaces. With willingness and surrender, they drop deeper roots and scatter seeds of possibilities as they grow through difficult times trusting that the time spent working with “what is” will yield a bountiful harvest of fortified insights and blessings to nourish others and themselves with. During the times requiring deeper inner work, they may need to withdraw their energies from pr...

Surrender.  Aaaah...even just typing the word invites my body to relax a bit more. There is great relief and freedom that comes from choosing to fully surrender a situation that you are powerless to change. You know what is even more powerful than the practice of surrender?   Combining surrender with the practice of gratitude!   During an early morning time of meditation and contemplation this thought popped into my mind, "if surrender and gratitude had a baby it would be called ‘give it up’!"   I laughed.   Spirit has such a good sense of humor. I sat with the words for a bit and then they morphed into “when you combine the practice of surrender with gratitude, you GIVE IT UP!”    Get it?   Well I hope you do as it offers us a greater possibility of being with what is and in experiencing equanimity. I love playing with words. It provides an opportunity to find deeper meaning, clear old outdated associations and to shift how I perc...

We are quickly approaching the day we collectively pause and give thanks here in the United States.  Weeks before Thanksgiving, the topic of gratitude begins permeating our awareness along with the seasonally favorite pumpkin spice latte that arrives around the same time.  Oh yes, the smells and feels of the season that prepare us to stuff all our gratitude into one destined to be very full day!  Thanksgiving has long been my favorite as it is a wonderful opportunity to share the gift of gratitude with others! I glommed on to the joy of sharing gratitude as a kid intuitively recognizing it as the life preserver it is.  I have early memories of trying to get my family of origin to offer gratitude around the table.  They didn't share my desire and truth be told, were uncomfortable with the idea and often just made jokes instead.  I would relentlessly try to get some deep, heartfelt sharing flowing around the holiday table. It often fell flat and lef...

Last weekend a momentous event took place. I married my best friend and the love of my life after knowing each other and being together for the greater part of 17 years.    We were blessed with a gorgeous, seasonally warm, picture-perfect Autumn day even though it was cold and pouring monsoon like rain the night before. Our intimate ceremony was next to an idyllic lake surrounded by a wooded area and meadow.  Usually a well-populated area, but on our special day, no one was there!   We walked out of the woods from opposite directions and met in the middle of the meadow with tears in our eyes and gratitude in our hearts. It was magical, everything perfectly flowed and felt divinely aligned. Like being in a dream. All the woodland animals gathered around as we held hands walking into our new chapter together. Okay, that last part wasn't real, but it felt possible. It was truly a blessed and sacred day. Are you swooning yet? Longing for a...

You are Worthy of Your Own Love & Care!  When you have a heart of compassion and a purpose that is all about helping others live their best lives, you can easily lose yourself within that quest.    Especially if you identify as being an empath, a wounded healer, an Enneagram type 2, have a tendency towards being co-dependent, a recovering "people pleaser", and/or have any wound connected to feeling worthy or valuable only when you were/are taking care of others.  You feel me?  Our unique and amazing gifts grow out of our wounds.  We can shift from these two points of reference in subtle ways and suddenly we are giving from our wound and not our gift. It takes self-awareness and present-moment focus to notice if and when we are giving from our wounds and not our gifts.  Here is a simple way I discovered to differentiate:  When we are giving from our wounded places, we feel exhausted, resentful, unwell, disconnected ...