Within the Deep

There is a remembrance that my soul holds onto with a fierceness unlike any I have known before. It grasps the essence tightly in a hold that is made of steel and forged with my passion's fire. It is a memory that lives deep within me. It resides so deep that the everyday forces of living this human life cannot even reach it. My ego knows not the map to find it. It has safely found the cave of my authenticity and truth.

This deep soul memory was born in the life time of my ancestors. It was carved from the lava that flows through my veins and down into the roots of the Mother. This deep authentic tale is woven in the strands of my DNA and also courses through the scattered stardust of the galaxies.

This river of remembrance cascades through me and carries with it the energies that have been passed on to my soul by the guides, the angels, the spirits of my story. My mythic heroine stands at the shore calling me onward.

My soul whispers in my dreams these memories and the images come to life for me to engage with in the realms of my strengths and the worlds of my powers. The beauty of their magic unfurls in the wind of my soul and releases the perfumed essence of the deep unforgotten scent of my life force; the very breath of my dragons and the smokey ash of my fires.

Within the deep recesses of who I am lives the call of who I am and I steep myself within its juices daily. I take long languid sips and fill my soul's belly with its nourishing tonic. It is here in the deep that I find all that I truly need and I bring it up to the surface, into the light of this lifetime and live it to fullness, with abandon and great acceptance of all the potential it offers.

Blessings, Lisa

The Opportunity of Risk

Life will bring to us opportunities to practice risk taking. Healthy, pondered and explored, experience backed risk taking can lead to two different obvious outcomes; failure or success. But there is one other outcome that we sometimes forget about. Taking a risk may end in results we had not considered and may lead us to even greater and more expansive possibilities.

Taking risks also gives us the opportunity to practice utilizing our personal power and wisdom. Bringing these energies to the moment is often what helps us move from a place of stuck to one of action. Risk taking will push us out of our comfort zone and into unknown territory. It will introduce us to new emotions, behaviors and tasks. All of which we will then need to take time adjusting to.

Taking risks brings the opportunity to be more alive within our life. We find that the endorphins that we experience propel us forward. We become more observant, we bring our awareness to the new perspective and we listen more closely to the messages being sent our way. Sometimes when taking a risk presents itself, we cannot see clearly into the next moment, we have to trust our previous experiences. The cloud that surrounds our uncertainty is unnerving, but to not take the risk feels even more unsettling.

Risk taking is often necessary. How we approach this opportunity will help direct the energies we bring, the insights we share, the receptivity we have and the courage we can summon. It takes a daring moment to step into risk. But to avoid all risk only means we are not living life fully. We are compromising. We are not expanding and growing, learning or evolving. Change will always hold a certain degree of risk. But without change we stay small and do not invite our soul to the day. We have different levels to our consciousness and within these levels are the gems to bring to our journey. We uncover new gifts of our passion. We find deeper truths. We explore and release more of what is not serving us.

I would rather make mistakes in my life than remain the same. I am wiling to fail to gain the insight and lessons that await me. I have to trust that in pushing myself, I will learn more about who I am and what I can do. Dancing with the opportunity of risk empowers me and keeps me awake!

Blessings, Lisa

Lessons in the Experience

I have a weekly practice that I have been doing for over a year now. Once a week, usually on a Sunday evening when life is a little slower, I sit with my journal. It is during this time that I reflect on the previous week. I take time to walk through the previous seven days and explore my journey. What were my peak experiences? What were the challenges?

There are tremendous gifts waiting for me in these past seven days. Having a bit of distance from them allows me a different view point. Any emotions attached have settled down. Any distractions have usually moved away. I become an observer of my life in a very objective way.

Now that I can back away I see the entire week with a fresh perspective. The information and insight I gain from this practice gets carried into my upcoming week. I learn where I need to be more patient with myself. I see what is no longer serving me. I adjust in my plans or expand in my hopes.

My inner wisdom is invited to the practice as it has much to offer. It is able to be a witness to my life experiences. It engages my intuition and my insight and explores the possibilities of the week ahead. I become the creative director of what can be. I use my experiences to color and shade my future decisions with the palette of what I have learned, felt, witnessed and made.

I take mistakes and create magic from them. I take disappointments and open them to new awareness. I take celebrations and pull from their energies. I am able to take my own unique and personal experiences and bring the vibrations of my beautiful and vibrant life into the newness of the week ahead.

Blessings, Lisa

Silence Seeks the Gold

One of the deepest skills I have worked on in the past years is that of silent listening. Creating sacred peaceful space for one to share in. Whether it be a story of pain or celebration, questions asked in anxious energy or demands made in frustration, or whispers spoken out loud of possible dreams or deep rooted fears, the blank space of silence is needed and appreciated.

My shamanic mentor, Robin Rice, taught me to add to this silence the meta skill of having no opinion. If you are listening to someone and find your self thinking of your answer, judging against your life experience, problem solving or offering sympathetic words of advice you are not only failing to bring your fullest attention to the one sharing with you, you are muddying the energies instead of keeping the vibrations clean and open to the easy and gentle flow. You can prevent the person sharing the opportunity to find their own clarity. You may be leaning against the very door that important lessons and messages are trying to come through.

As you listen with open ears, you listen with an open heart as well. You can be fully present, be of love, see beauty in the darkness, witness hope where there was thought to be none and so much more. As a shaman I have learned this is my most valuable skill I can bring to my soul mentoring. Serving as witness to someone is a sacred honor. Often it is the exact medicine that they need most.

The don't need rushing waves to come in and cleanse them. They don't need someone verifying they have been in the perfect storm. They don't need someone to help them bail the water out of their ship. They need someone to listen; deeply, fully and openly so that both the listener and the speaker create an energetic still canvas. Within this sacred canvas possibilities surface, wisdom shines, healing is accessed and life unfolds. The uncomplicated-ness of it holds tremendous beauty. Its blankness beckons new creativity, opportunities and choices.

Keeping perceptions and opinions out of the communication is vital for the potential treasure trove of gold to be found. In the silence one finds their answers, their insights, and their truth. In the energetic exchange of the speaker and the listener the soul's story is shared and witnessed. The guides visit, the angels bless, Spirit heals and the soul breathes it all in. The alchemy is pure magic. It has stood the test of time; our ancestors listened with very different ears than most of us do today. The silence seeks the gold and allows it to shine as brightly as it needs to.

Blessings, Lisa