Happy New You!

Ah - January. We can all take in and release a deep breath, having made it through the activity of the holidays and wrapped up 2013. As testament to the fabulous holiday busyness and subsequent desire for "down time," this eNewsletter is late! Pardon me for that; I took a retreat that was both fulfilling and renewing...

Although we are still in mid Winter, the Solstice is behind us. Our days are growing longer and warmer overall, beginning to reach tentatively toward Spring. January is the perfect month to begin shifting from planning and preparation into action.

Now is the time to get clear about your "seeds" of intent for the year (and beyond if you choose), and to determine what preparation is still needed to make their future expression as likely as possible. This month you can begin (energetically) sowing your seeds into the soils of your life. There they will incubate until it is the perfect moment for them to break forth into the Sunlight!

There are many ways to change your life and even to create a whole new one for yourself if you want to. Rather then expending your energy on resolutions (which often amount to little more than an annual "to do" list), follow these simple steps to get started on a Happy New You!

• Step 1: Get clear about what you want. Make a list of all your "seeds" (intentions, ideas, dreams, wishes, projects, etc.) and decide which ones you are really ready to plant and grow into your life. Not all your seeds have to be planted this year; feel free to set some aside for another time. Consider too that you may plant seeds now for things you imagine in future years. Those seeds will rest in the loving soils of your Being until their time has come.
• Step 2: Meditate on the seeds you select for this year's life crop. Meditation is a great way to connect with the feeling of having what you want to bring into your life. Sit comfortably, close your eyes, slow your breath, get still and imagine how it will feel to have the thing - how might you and your life change or be different from what they are now? Do you feel full, happy, safe, empowered, excited, relieved, etc?? Is your life richer, more active, more restful, more free? These are the kinds of feelings to invoke as you imagine having your intentions already met. Use your strongest sensory skills to make your imaginings as real and visceral as possible.
• Step 3: Make a Vision Board. Vision Boards are a powerful way to take things in your inner Being to a physical level. They are an outward expression of your internal imaginings and energy. Your Vision Board can look however you want it to and can be made of any materials you choose. I use images and words collected from magazines, cards and catalogs glued onto a salvaged piece of cardboard. Your Board can be one dimensional or multi-dimensional; it can be one panel or several. It can contain a single image or word, or several. Be creative and open, and most of all, have FUN!
• Step 4: Make it real. Move through your life with awareness of your intentions and what you can do now to support them. Walk around each day with the sense of your intentions growing and manifesting before your eyes. Notice what arises in your life that may be linked to them in some way. Pay close attention to any sign of support that crosses your path during the day as well as in your dreams. Perhaps someone unexpected calls who has a skill you need. Perhaps you find yourself in conversation with someone who inspires you around your intentions or even offers to help you in some way. Maybe clarity or direction comes in a dream. Support can show up in magical and unimagined ways. Consciously accept that support by saying "YES!" to it, and open yourself to receive...

Embrace your inner Mystic

  

Have you ever questioned what you're doing here or why you are alive? Most, if not all of us ask such questions at some point in our lives.  I believe these are some of the most important questions we can ask ourselves. These simple questions hint at the truth of who we are and start us on a journey of self-discovery. And whether we realize it or not, such questions have the potential to open us to something much bigger than this reality.

If we choose to really embrace these questions - to not only ponder them in our heads but to engage in practices that connect us more deeply with their legacy and align our lives with what they reveal - then we are in fact embracing our inner Mystic.

Did you know you are a Mystic? I believe we are all mystics. In my recent book, The Six Sacred Gifts: Everyday wisdom for the spiritual seeker, I wrote: "Basically, mystics are people who seek a higher truth about who they are and why they're here than the one society provides for them." Mystics sense there is much more going on here than meets the eye; they long to see beyond the veil and they have the courage to explore it.

Isn't this true of everyone on some level? Aren't we all exploring what life has to offer to the best of our ability and courage? If we stand still and quiet long enough, don't we all feel a sense of some lost truth deep in our bones, something we can't quite pinpoint? When we close our eyes and connect to the warmth of the Sun, the sound of the ocean, the tickle of the wind or the strength of a Sequioa, do we not tap into something much older, deeper and magnificent than our physical selves?

Embracing our inner Mystic means we are not afraid to explore the boundary between known reality and what lies hidden beyond the veil. There is not one answer to the questions of what we're doing here or why we are alive; there is just your answer - the one that is aligned with you and your existence here. It takes courage to ask such questions because there may not be a clear answer. Or even riskier, there may not be an answer that society supports or that you feel you can embrace.

In fact, there need not be an answer at all. The answer is found in the journey we make while seeking. What actually happens on our journey doesn't have to be some big tidal wave of experience. It can be as simple as a child's laughter or watching the Sun rise... anything that opens us to the truths we discover as we peek beyond the veil.

The gift in the journey is our becoming. When we embrace the mystic in us, we live with awareness. Living with awareness supports us in becoming someone or something closer to our true essence. That essence is the pure, infinite energy in us that is not born, does not die and never changes; it simply is. Yet we lose our sense of this aspect of ourselves early on in life as we get socialized into our families and communities. We can remember and reclaim the magnificence of our true essence. All we must do is embrace it.

So how do we embrace the Mystic and the wisdom that our journey brings? Someone asked me this question just yesterday. There is much that can be shared around this topic; this blog is but a preview. Here I offer you a few simple ways to begin embracing your inner Mystic:

• Own that on some level, you are a Mystic! Explore what being a Mystic means to you. If you feel resistance to identifying yourself as a Mystic, explore why. What hidden meanings, beliefs and fears are beneath that label? Are they true? Do they matter more to you than your personal evolution? What are you willing to hold on to and let go of to more fully embrace your journey of becoming?
• Go beyond thinking and reading about the questions; learn and engage in practices that connect you to the ancient wisdom found in their legacy. Then align your life with what those practices reveal to you.
• Find the courage to open your heart and explore what lies beyond the boundaries of known reality. Many have walked the Mystic's path before you; there are teachers, mentors and guides all around you. Open to what they have to offer. No matter how far you have already traveled, there is always room for more growth.
• Find your own rhythm along your journey. There is no hurry; rushing toward the unknown can be self-defeating. Take your time and move forward with the innocence of a beginner. If you decide you already "know" something so can skip ahead, you narrow your perspective, shrink your experience and close the gateway to the infinite realm of all possibility. Set your Ego aside and keep an open mind as well as an open heart along your journey.
• Let go of attachments you might have about what it means to be a Mystic. We are not Mystics to win a prize or get some reward; we are Mystics by our inherent nature. As I share in The Six Sacred Gifts: "This journey is neither hard nor easy; it is whatever you bring to it. There is no reward for making it; it is done for the doing." Pay attention to the whole of your journey, for therein lies the wisdom.

Happy Trails and Namaste'

Let Your Light Shine!!

December brings us Winter Solstice - the longest night of the year and for some, the true New Year's Eve - as the next day starts the journey into growing days and increasing light. Until the Solstice, cold Winter days and long, crisp nights call us inside, not only to stoke the fires of our hearths but also the fires in our hearts.

This month, we enter a time of introspection, reflection and integration. We reflect on our past and use the lessons we find there to make plans for our future. What does your deepest heart long for and how can you stoke the fires that burn there?

December's energy is aligned with organizing and readying yourself for what's next, even if you can't see it clearly. What preparation is needed to move toward your heart's desires? Where is growth needed? Surrender? Patience? Trust? Courage? Action? How can you best prepare yourself to be the person you want to be in the future? What skills do you need to sharpen? Are there foundational pieces to your dream that need shoring up so you can go the distance? These are questions to reflect on and tend to this month.

Despite today's very commercialized Christmas season, December is an opportunity to honor our inherent innocence and to celebrate the birth of our own light. Each one of us has a gift to offer the world, and we are the only ones who can bring that gift forward in our unique way. No one is excluded from owning the Sacred Light they bring forward.

These tips can help you make good use of December's opportunities:

• Shift your gift. Consider shifting away from commercial gifting and instead, create gifts that nourish the heart and spirit of your loved ones and others in ways that make the world a better place, such as: make donations to worthy world causes; make something homemade like art, ornaments or body products; write loved ones a special letter; take on a project to help someone; volunteer time to those in need; or just offer to be there for someone who is lonely.

• Learn from your year's harvest. Reflect on what worked and what did not. Release what feels complete or no longer serves and use it as fuel for your future successes, just as the fallen leaves become a warm protective blanket of nourishment for the tree roots beneath the ground.

• Notice your inner fire light. Does it feel strong or weak? What does it need to burn more evenly? What will sustain it through time? Make plans to bring this balance into your life.

• Honor your inner light. Use the colorful lights of the season as reminders that your inner light shines on, despite any darkness around you. All you have to do is allow it. Light a special candle in the evening and take a moment each night to sit and fill your heart with gratitude for the unique contributions of your inner light to this world.

Happy Holidays to you!

Take in and let go...

By now - November - we are deep into Autumn. Autumn calls for a celebration of the year's harvest so when Winter arrives, there is space for planning our next steps forward. Thanksgiving is just around the corner - a time of reconnecting with loved ones to celebrate and share the year's prosperity and abundance.

Each one of us has things to be thankful for; each one of us has a personal harvest. Some of our harvest has been a taking in; some has been a letting go. Neither is better or worse. November is a great time to reflect on your year and give thanks for all you took in and all you let go.

To have powerful flow in our lives, energy must move in both directions: in and out. Filling up brings nourishment, growth and fullness from what is; emptying out brings a clearing of what has passed and spaciousness for what's next. Both are aligned to the highest good. Honor both the times of filling up and the times of emptying out.
Whatever ways the flow has moved through your life this year, recognize it as a gift. Fullness and spaciousness both serve; you must empty out the old to make space for filling up with the new. This month, express your thanks for both the fullness and the spaciousness life offered you this year:

• Reflect on your year and notice where things flowed in and where they flowed out; observe how each fed your life in a positive way and give thanks.
• Celebrate the flow in your life in 2013; find a simple way to acknowledge the abundance you received this year. It may be financial, but it may also be in other forms. Give thanks for all kinds of abundance in your life (e.g., clarity, time, freedom, creativity, money, relationships, ideas, etc.).
• Share some of your harvest with loved ones; perhaps you serve up a big Thanksgiving meal, or perhaps you carry the year's lessons into your relationships in a positive way.
• Recognize that you live in a prosperous, abundant Universe in which there is plenty for all to receive and share. Notice where you feel lack in your life and explore what blocks your ability to easily and freely receive prosperity and abundance. Take steps to move beyond the blocks and into the bounty of what is available to you.