I quickly recorded a short meditation which you can join me in if you like. (It could use some tweaking on the sound engineering side but my choice was to do it rough or not do it at all. I chose to let the perfectionist go and post the rough version.

For those of you that don’t know what the logo, I’m talking about in the meditation looks like, you can see it here.

Thank you for pouring the love on the world and Christchurch.

Photo © Donotattempt | Dreamstime.com

It got me thinking, what would the future me, want to tell me about how I’m living right now? Where am I making choices right now that are giving a piece of my soul away? Is there any place that I can make a more aligned choice now so that I don’t have to suffer this loss of self?

Whether you believe in the idea that a part of you could travel back in time to talk to you or not, it is an interesting question, isn’t it? Imagine yourself 30 years from now, think about how you are living right now and ask if there is anything you would do differently?

Spending a few minutes simply with that thought, re-energized my commitment to the yoga series I just signed up for and made choosing the apple as a snack quite easy. My 80 year old self wants a healthy body! My 80 year old self also told me to have a little more fun right now–to not put off laughing, loving or creating. She wants me to enjoy life and the opportunities I have today and stop worrying so much about tomorrow. In fact her message was–A today well-lived takes care of all the tomorrows you are worried about.

What would your self from the future tell you?

Image© Warrengoldswain | Dreamstime.com

When: 

• Noon Los Angeles, CA time on Tuesday February 21, 2012
• 9 a.m. Christchurch on Wednesday February 22, 2012
• other time zones click here for conversion.

Where: Wherever you are.

One of my author friends posted in an author group we both belong to on Facebook, “Our Earth mother is in terrible pain in Christchurch, New Zealand. Are there any earth healers who are willing to come down and help her?”  

A little back story on Christchurch:  Christchurch has been a very active area of earthquakes in the last year and a half. On September 4, 2010, they had a 7.1 earthquake (that is bigger than the one recorded in Haiti.)  Since then more than 10,000 aftershocks recorded, including a 6.3 earthquake on February 22, 2011 that destroyed the Central Business District and my author friend’s home. The earth activity and aftershocks keep coming. My author friend posted “There has never been anything like it in the world. Earth is heaving, quaking and rumbling here. She needs our assistance.”

When I first saw the post, I said that I would add Christchurch to my prayers and send healing energy as traveling to Christchurch wasn’t within my budget at this time. But the post stuck with me.  Did spirit want me to go to Christchurch?  What could I do?  I’m being guided to reach out to you–all my shaman, healer, clients and friends to join me in a send healing energy and love to the land and people of Christchurch and Mother Earth.

I sense that Christchurch is one of the pivot points for the shift of energy as Mother Earth gives birth to her latest becoming.  Christchurch isn’t the only area of the world that needs loving energy but since my friend so eloquently cried out for help, I know we are to answer her call.  Will you send your support and loving energy?  There is no right or wrong way to do this.  I’m simply asking for you to say the healing prayer or perform the ceremony of your choice.

If you can’t be in ceremony with us at the time listed, will you send an intention or prayer back or forward in time? February 21, 2012 is a new moon. If you are holding ceremony for the New Moon would you add intentions for Christchurch and Mother Earth?

Please come to this event page of Facebook to connect before and after the ceremony. Post comments about your ceremony or your intentions for healing.  Or post on twitter. #love4Christchurch.  Help us spread the word and the love.

Thank you.

Munay

Carol

Go to that core where you feel not worthy or judged.  Hold gently the place of fear, doubt, brokenness and not enough-ness.  Surround it with love.  This loving will shift the world.

When I sat down at my journal today and asked what I needed to know or share, the above message flowed onto the journal page.  I’m much harder on myself than I would be with friends, family or clients. Over the years doing my spiritual and personal development work, I’ve gotten better at not beating myself up but I know my self love is still at times very conditional.  Today, after seeing that message on the page,  I sat and put a hand over my heart and the other over my solar plexus and imagined sending love to all those voices and parts of myself I had judged as “not good enough.”  This act of holding myself with love was very simple and yet very emotional.  I felt old stuff shift and tears fill my eyes as I simply repeated, “I love you” while holding my heart and stomach.

Perhaps if all spent a few minutes a day doing this we really could shift the world.  As we give ourselves that love, could we share our hearts and talents more fully with the world? If we fill up on love as we start our day, would we have more to give?  Would our lights shine brighter?

If the idea inspires you, give it a try and let me know what happens.

Hugs

C

Photo credit: (c) Bluewren08 | Dreamstime.com

Photo© Roman Milert | Dreamstime.com

Settle yourself and breathe for a moment.  Know that the next breath is available—deep and rich.  So too are the elements you need for life.  Breathe for a moment and remind yourself of the bounty in your world.  Ask your mind to be tuned to the frequency of love and connection.  Ask that everything that keeps you from hearing and knowing how supported you are be filtered out.  Sit in this space and be willing to listen.  Don’t talk to spirit. Shhhhhhhh! Listen.  Open your heart, your mind and ears.  Wait.  It may not come today.  It may not come tomorrow but it will come as you create the space to receive.

On my walk with Sadie today, I had this moment where I realized that I had fallen away from the very practice that had helped me connect with that authentic spirit part of me.  Years ago I used to meditate for about 15 minutes and then open my journal and listen and “take dictation” from the voice within.  It led me to the book I’m getting ready to publish.  Somewhere in the later part of crafting the book, it became about the editing and the doing and my spirit time for listening became less and less important till I wasn’t doing it all all.  So after the dog walk, I committed to sitting and listening.  The quote that opens this piece was the message that came through for me today.  It seemed worth sharing.  So many of us want guidance but if we don’t create that time in our day to listen, we can’t really bitch when we can’t hear it can we?  Of course we can but it isn’t very useful.   So I’m recommitting to listen and I’m going to share what I get each day with you.   Such a deal, right?

It has taken me years to become comfortable with the journey that has unfolded after I channeled the first message for the book. You see, I never thought I was one of those “woo-woo” people. I’ve got a strong vein of common sense running through my body.  In one workshop session, we were asked to describe a secret talent we had that we don’t talk about often and I took a deep breath and said “I’m really good at making the woo-woo practical. I’m good at bridging the spirit and the practical world.” (That’s what those of you who have had sessions with me, this isn’t really a big surprise.) It felt good to talk about the path that I have stepped onto in this new public forum that wasn’t designed specifically for “spiritual” folk.

As I was sitting in that workshop, I had a direct aha moment about that term “woo-woo.” We use it to denigrate or apologize for something that is a natural part of our being. We all have a right brain, which is creative, intuitive, feeling and connected to the universal consciousness. We live in a society that honors the logical and linear more than this intuitive or “spiritual” part of our being. How often do we apologize for using our right-brain/spiritual gifts? Or perhaps we deny that we even have them. It was there in the conference, “Let’s be a little woo-woo for a moment” said by one of the amazing conference workshop leaders before leading a visualization about what we wanted to create in our businesses. I admit it I was the one who brought the term woo-woo into the room. I used it first and as I heard her repeat my language I could have kicked myself for not expressing myself better. Again and again at this conference I heard keynote speakers talk about one of the components of their success was trusting their intuition and yet when it comes to this right brain sort of thinking—many of us apologize for it.

We all have a picture in our head of what those woo-woo people are like. And we don’t want to be labeled as one of those people. We want to be taken seriously. We want to be grounded in the real world. Maybe those woo-woo people are a little bit over the top in their claims about spirit. Maybe we feel that they are ditzy or a little bit flighty. Maybe they just make us uncomfortable in their comfort in dealing with the unknown. But maybe this is also a way that we disconnect ourselves from our authentic connection to our spiritual power. Owning this power that we dismiss as woo-woo might just open up a whole other area of our personal power.

Women often say I’m sorry when they have nothing to apologize for. It is a habit that diminishes our power. When we discount the right brain, intuitive, direct connection spiritual knowledge by labeling it woo-woo or apologizing, we are feeding that deep seated erroneous belief that the spiritual, intuitive and creative is less important that the linear and logical. Einstein said, “The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift.” Even if you aren’t ready to put your intuitive mind in the leadership chair of your life, perhaps it is time to let it become a welcome partner at the table.

I know have been afraid of coming out of the spiritual closet so to speak because it might be labeled woo-woo or judged by certain folks as something even worse. In history, there are thousands of women who exercised this power and were persecuted or put to death. So perhaps we have good reasons for denying, rather than owning our spiritual powers. I believe we have to stop apologizing or belittling this powerful part of our human experience. Amazing gifts come from embracing this part of our nature.  I wouldn’t be in my amazing life today if I hadn’t listened to that soul voice whisper 4 years ago.

I’ve made a commitment to watch closely how I talk about what I do and my journey in learning to communicate with the spirit whispers and knowing deep inside. I’m honoring that I have a beautiful practical logical side and a beautiful spiritual, creative, intuitive side. Why would we want to limit ourselves to only working with half of what we were given? Let’s not apologize for having intuition and these amazing creative powers within us.

What do you think? Have you ever caught yourself judging that right brain spiritual part of yourself? Do you use the term woo-woo when another term with less judgment might be better? What are your fears about owning that right brain part of you?  Or are you completely at home there? Would love to hear from you!

PS  I got a lot more out of the conference than just learning this Woo-Woo Aha!  Met amazing people, got some clarity on where I was going.  It is good to step out and mix it up with new people.  You learn about them and in doing so, you learn about yourself!

Photo by © 1lancer | Dreamstime.com

© Mia Rose | Dreamstime.com

When you hear “You are a gift to the world” do you confidently say, “I am! Thanks for noticing?”  Or is there a part of you that thinks, “That is a nice sentiment but some people have better gifts to offer than I do!”?  Or do you hear “Who do you think you are? God’s gift to the world?” as the sarcastic question often thrown out when someone is acting as my mother used to say, “too big for their britches.” 

Most of us agree that babies and children are gifts, but we may have doubts about our own gift worthiness. Shakespeare said “Our doubts are traitors. And make us lose the good we oft might win by fearing to attempt.”  Doubt about our personal gifts keep us from being fully present in the world and offering what we have to share. Such doubt often leads to overspending at the holidays as we try to fill what we think we lack with material things. Believe me I have no problem with a nice gift from anyone but so many friends and clients I know overspend because they want to prove something. How much authentic interaction is lost when you think the thing you buy for someone means more than the time you spend together?

I’ve spent a good portion of my life, walking the self improvement path—thinking that if I just fixed myself enough, healed another wound, and got a little more confidence, I’d understand what my gifts were and be able to share them.  I realized I had it all wrong.  Our gifts are not revealed when we wait to show up until we feel we are perfect. They are revealed in showing up and working with what we were given with love.

How much is lost because we think we have to get really good at something before we can share? We might say, “I’ll just play small until I figure it out.”  Or even worse, “I’ll let someone else use their talents for the world, mine aren’t that special.”  Have you ever been in an art museum and thought—I could do that?  Why is that hanging in a museum?  Regardless of whether you like what the artist created, that artist got out the paints or the sculpting materials or other media and actually made something.  That artist also took the risk of showing other people what he or she created in smaller showings long before his or her art hung on that museum wall.  The artist didn’t just think about bringing his or her gifts to the world, he or she took action.

Henry Van Dyke, (1852 –1933) American author, educator, and clergyman, said, “Use what talent you possess: the woods would be very silent if no birds sang except those that sang best.”   In the natural world every animal has its place and role.  For example the bees pollinate our food; bats get rid of pest insects, etc.  All the worlds are interdependent.  So too, each of us has our own role or a certain medicine to bring to the world.  There is something about the way that you are configured that is a perfect gift for the world right now.

As we navigate the changes in the world and step into 2012, the world needs all us to find our song and sing it. Even if you think there are others who have better talents, your talents are needed or you wouldn’t be here.  Your gift is how you show up in the world—fully as the authentic you.   Have you been holding back your love, your talents or your gifts? It’s time to put them out there! Remember the gift your family, friends and the world needs most this Holiday Season is you!

The following five minute meditation is designed to help you own your light, your beauty your gifts.  It is my gift to you. Please share with your friends.

LOVING YOURSELF AS THE GIFT MEDITATION

In this simple video the amazing teacher Pema Chodron walks us through this simple meditation in under 5 minutes.  Give it a try and let me know how you experience it.

Ideas:

If you are feeling stressed about money, connect with everyone who feels the same. Breathe that in and hold the wish for that to be transformed for all. Breathe out a wish for abundance, peace and for everyone’s needs to be met.

If you or someone you know are struggling with a health issue, connect with everyone who is struggling with a health issue. Breathe that in and hold the wish for health. Breathe out healing energy.

It’s simple and doing it for just a minute or two, always is a profound experience for me.

Hugs!