How’s your perspective these days?
When stress increases, your perspective naturally narrows. It is important for survival and safety. The velcro brain shrinks the bigger picture so you make sure you’ve got plenty of food, funds, and friends/family. (Unless you’re ready to toss your family out the window, but that’s another story. Hang in.)
Remember the basics: breathe, soothe yourself, and connect to the higher/inner wisdom.
Whenever you are stressed, your system is disorganized. So harmonize first and engage your Soul in order to see more and know more. This is essential. Not only for you but for all of us in this interconnected family.
When you live from a Soulful perspective, you ask beautiful questions.
What am I learning? How may I grow, mature, evolve during this challenging situation? What do I have in common with people around the world? What am I to do in this moment? What do I have to offer others in a way that does not compromise my wellbeing? What needs to be healed within me so I can transcend the small story of my life?
Hint: This last one is a biggie right now.
Your personal patterns and vulnerabilities are likely activating. View this as your Inner Healer trying to catch your attention. Notice what is creating stress for you. Once soothed, be curious and ask your inner wisdom, what belief or pattern is creating this stress.
What is ready to be released now?
Do the work. Alone if you can. With a friend, mentor, professional, or a celestial being. This time – right now – is rich with potential for your Soul’s evolution. You likely are fine in this moment (reading these words). Belly full, house providing safety, internet for connection, a book to read. By letting go of the things that bind you, a new freedom to creatively flow your gifts to the world will emerge.
I was reminded recently of how tiny we are. And how influential when we open our hearts.
I experienced a visual perspective jolt watching tiny Andrea Bocelli standing in front of the massive Duoma Cathedral in Milan. Singing his heart out. Inspiring and connecting people the world over. Moving people to tears, hope, prayer, gratitude, and a desire to share beauty.
Humans have been building cathedrals to the Divine and the mythic perspective for eons.
Imagine perceiving a view of a majestic monument to your God. Designing it. Gathering masons, artists, and funders. Building it over generations. Grandfathers, sons, and grandsons laboring in devotion as they worked lifetimes to honor the larger Divine Idea.
There is a majesty that unfurls within us when we open to a new perspective – one that soars and astounds. When we acknowledge our human vulnerability and the magnificence with which we may (imperfectly) demonstrate this idea. (You can watch Bocelli’s performance on youtube.)
Allowing the Soul to move you through your day, especially in this time, changes how you look at everything.
Ready to learn about the potential of imagination to “build cathedrals” from a really wise master? Here’s a little glimpse: “… when you explore, you get more imagination than you already had. And, um, when you get more imagination, it makes you want to go deeper in – so you can get more and see beautifuller things.” (yup – she created THAT word.)
Ready to fall in love with life and this moment?
I listened to the words of the wise child and the childlike adult in Louie Schwartzberg’s short film called Gratitude. And I was deeply moved and inspired to step more fully into the infinite potential of this Holy Moment. Witnessing the vision of humans translated into words, music, and ways of being. Shared through the beauty of film with the freedom of the world wide web. So amazing, this life. (Watch Gratitude here.)
What you focus on matters deeply. Especially now.
I’m inspired to listen to my Soul and my inner angst as a clue to what wants to break free. I’m open to the wisdom of these inspiring humans and to the beautiful lessons from the natural world. And to the mythic story that wants to birth through me.
I’m committed to building cathedrals, not walls.
Peace be with you and with all. No exceptions.
The CEO of Copia, a food distribution company, didn’t set out to solve world hunger. She had lunch with a man begging for food. Listened to him. Did some research. Learned how much food is wasted. Turns out hunger is not a scarcity problem, there’s plenty of food. It’s a logistics problem. Copia built an algorithm matching nonprofits who need food with businesses that have extra. A team of inspired business members paired with cafeterias, restaurants, hotels, and hospitals are making a dent in hunger. “Impossible is nothing. Impossible is temporary.” says founder, Komal Ahmad. Kudos.
Learn the one essential skill that allows you to face any challenge with confidence, sturdiness, and inner calm.
More than a technique. It’s a game changer.
Three months ago, I unexpectedly entered into a relationship with a horse.
I met Zor during a visit to Liberty Stables in Florida, where I had gone to spend time with a friend’s horses. I had no particular expectations. I have no background with horses, no training, and no experience in equine-assisted therapy. I simply met this magnificent Friesian, and something quietly familiar unfolded between us.
I fell in love.
The women who arrive in my classes, retreats, and therapy sessions are sincerely looking for healing, expansion, clarity, or sometimes just a little room to breathe.
They are thoughtful women, deeply engaged with the people and work they love. Rarely do they arrive because they want another spiritual philosophy. Most are carrying something much more ordinary.
A life that has become full. Beautiful in many ways, but crowded.
About twenty-five years ago, I was driving with a colleague to a local conference. As we approached the hotel entrance, I noticed an open parking spot near the front door.
“There’s a spot,” I said, pointing to the right. He drove past it.
A few seconds later, another one appeared. He drove past that one, too. Then I pointed to a third. “There’s a spot.” Without the slightest hesitation, Dan replied, “I’ll leave that for someone else.” And he calmly parked much farther away. As we walked to the entrance, I asked about that statement.
During the Seeding the Light Gathering, I had the privilege of hosting Pascual and Jose Tomas in our home.
They feel like family as this was their second visit to New Jersey. We’ve also spent a week together in Damanhur and the Temples of Humankind in Italy. I’ve sat in many ceremonies with Pascual in Peru’s Sacred Valley. His flute playing often carried me up mountain trails in the thin air and hot sun.
I planned to work a bit, complete some projects, and enjoy slow days with plenty of relaxation.
All of that certainly occurred, but beneath it all, something else began quietly inviting my attention.
The plane had begun its slow fall toward the earth when a sharp ache pierced my ears. Half-dozing, half-aware, I surfaced into the moment just as the toddler in front of me woke with a scream that broke her open. The sound wasn’t defiance or misbehavior. It was pain.
I felt her small body struggling to make sense of something she couldn’t name.
Her mother bent over her with the tenderness of someone trying very hard to be a good parent. But her soothing came dressed in urgency, in the quiet pressure to behave, to use words, to be okay, to not disturb those seated around her. Her voice shook with the effort of managing her child’s distress and her own rising shame.
