Allowing the Flow

Have you ever heard someone sharing a story about some event in their life that is quite sad or overwhelming and at some point in the sharing they proudly state, "And I have not shed a tear!"? It is as though they want a badge of honor. They feel it somehow measures their strength or resiliency.

I know that there is a wonderful release when I allow my tears to flow. They cleanse my soul, they wash away the pain and they allow my emotions to move on. There is great beauty in the ability to shed tears.

And not all tears are caused by pain. Many times they flow when we are proud, moved deeply, or awestruck. We shed tears when we hear news that brings relief. We cry when we relate to someone on a very deep level.

The soul recognizes our tears as an opportunity for us to process and work through life events. Tears shed in anger can let some of the steam off. Tears of disappointment can bring a pause for us to gain a fresh perspective. Tears of loss expand the love in our heart.

Tears are a physical act that our body affords us to connect with our heart and our soul. They bring us to our vulnerable side and there is no shame in that. We need times to be soft, to let go, and to feel the release of our pain. We find inner peace under the tears. We also need times to feel the connection with others on a soft soulful level. The tears help build energetic bridges between us.

Sometimes a good cry just does a body good! And sometimes it is the best medicine of the soul.

Blessings, Lisa

Loss of Land Brings on Flood

Life has its disappointments. People let you down, circumstances do not lead you to your hopes and dreams, other's make choices that don't align with yours and so on. How do you roll with the energies that rise up from this place of loss? The way in which you respond can either help you find your way through or find you in a undertow that will cause you tremendous struggle. In a recent loss of a hoped for land to build our homestead on, I found myself in a flood of feelings to swim through.

While I try to live a life without expectations, it is not always easy. Our passions and our dreams often bring us to a place in life where we are filled with anticipation. All is well, if the next sequence of events unfolds in the way or at least somewhat like what you hoped for. But when they don't we find ourselves feeling a bit lost, maybe feeling a little empty or sad and trying to figure out what is next.

When this happens, I try to give myself time for pause. I need to be present with my feelings, rather than stuff them or ignore them. In the past, when I would do this, they would only surface once again, a bit later, often during a very inconvenient time, bringing with them a fury of energies that was disproportionate to what they originally were. Quite a mess to mop up. Eventually, I figured out I could save myself a good deal of clean up if I would just give them room right at the beginning of their bubbling forth.

Sitting in this place of pause I can grieve if I need to. I can also allow the disappointment to rise up and then release it. I don't hold onto it begrudgingly. I don't fester over it. And with time, I can look beyond. That is the beauty of feelings, they come and go, if we allow them to.

I picture myself riding the waves, rising and falling, sinking and surfacing, but always able to walk out of the waters of emotions. They are an important part of who I am, but they do not define me or control me.

Each time I can do this, I find a new depth has been reached within. I find a better understanding of who I am, why I do what I do, how I can evolve and where I am stretched. What a tremendous gift! Life brings us to these places for a reason. We may not always know why, but surely it serves us to be fuller, more aware, and closer to our truth.

So when disappointment washes over you, do not run and hide. Allow the shower to wash over you. Seek cover to wait it out. Pause and be. Feel and release. Open your heart and soul to the truth as it unfolds and embrace the gifts to be found there.

Blessings, Lisa

Bringing Presence to Your Support

There are times in my shamanic work that I am sitting with someone who is in tremendous suffering. I, no matter how much my tender heart may want to, cannot remove their suffering. Nor should I, for there are times that it is through our suffering that we find our healing. And yet the client sits before me, seeking my services; wanting to find relief and release from their pain and loss.

And so the work becomes one of being present. I bring my presence to the relationship we are sharing together. By doing this there is an expansion of the energies between us. There is a widening of the understanding, often first on a soul level, but then with time the heart and mind follow.

Pain is a great inducer of change. We all have pain in our lives. This is not about whether it is fair or not, pain cannot be measured by that scale. This is not about how terrible or unfortunate the pain is; for each of us suffering feels bad. But this is about the fact that when we are in pain it is a natural force within our soul to move away from it into an energy of change, to find a flow that supports growth, evolution and insight.

Supporting someone in understanding that their pain can become a vehicle of transformation is sometimes the very shift they need to step out of the hurt and into the healing. We cannot rid someone of their suffering or pain, but instead we can help them find that there is some truth in the pain, sometimes there is beauty there as well. In our suffering, if we can remain present, we can often find meaning. In this meaning is the next step that takes one out of their unbearable pain. It is an encouraging force that beckons them to look beyond the pain into tomorrow or at the least, into the next moment.

I have worked with those who have faced unbelievable suffering, loss and pain. In the moment, they felt there was no way out of it. But with time, remaining present for them, when they could not, space was created so that the energies could expand and shift. With time, tenderness, compassion and presence the soul found its way out of the wound and into the healing. The story did not remain stuck in the loss and hurt. The unfolding of the vibrations of the continuum of life brought the client to a place of healing and wholeness, away from the space of pain and brokenness.

The best medicine a shaman can offer to a client is that of being fully present to all that the moment holds. It is within that precise exchange of energies that the client feels witnessed, supported and held. From there the healing can begin.

Blessings, Lisa