Down Time and The Gifts To Be Found

Vacation, rest, pause, or holiday. Each of these words may bring a different image to one's mind. But to the soul they all hold the same energetic vibration; down time! Our soul recognizes that our body and mind is functioning within a world of busy-ness. Sometimes we are just so busy that it hurts! Our soul pokes at us until we cry, "Uncle" and hit the pause button.

Many times I will hear from my clients that they have no time for down time, for "me" time or for any kind of stillness. Yet, they have come to me for support, release, or healing of some kind. Their soul has managed to convince their heart and body that this is a dire need.  It is trying to get the mind on board as well. Our thoughts are incredibly powerful. They will try to justify and rationalize. If we want our thoughts to work in our favor we have to entice our mind.

The mind likes to solve problems. Often, the way around this denial of downtime is to ask the brain to come up with creative possibilities for the hidden down time. Entice it to seek the elusive moments throughout the day that can be embraced. We often think that our down time needs to be scheduled, mapped out and of a certain duration. But the truth is a few moments here and there does the world of good.

Moments spent in traffic can create an opportunity for some deep breathing. Standing in line at the grocery store repeat an affirmation or a mantra until it is your turn in line. Waiting on hold on the phone listening to boring music; stretch your body. Folding a load of laundry; check in with your guides or angels.

Bringing connection to the resources that honor and celebrate your soul does not need to be an act of labor. It does not need extensive planning, purchasing of a group pass or even your calendar. It simply needs awareness and creativity.  Entice your beautiful mind into the equation. Allow it to expand with creative ideas and honored as you embrace them.

Blessings, Lisa

Awareness

Some people spend their days learning more about others than themselves. It is true. For many, it is blindness, avoidance or hesitancy. It is challenging to dig deep and bring our awareness to who we are and why. It is challenging to find our patterns and to question if they serve our higher good or not.

To learn who we really are, beneath the roles and labels placed upon us, beneath other's expectations and even our own, we need to become aware. How do we do this? We pay attention. We listen to the messages of our body, from our soul, and within our heart. We also have to learn to watch ourselves in action, day by day, relationship by relationship and note the patterns to our reactions, the needs we fill, the responses we make and the things we shun.

So much of what we do in life is out of habit. We do it without giving it much thought. For the most part this serves us well. Who wants to give full concentration to putting on our socks or wiping down a counter. But what about the parts of our day that we are on autopilot and we would benefit from bringing more awareness to? Examples would be how we react to our child complaining, the time we spend eating a meal, the critical voices we listen to in our head or the way we receive a compliment.

Habitual behavior and patterns can keep us stuck in life. It is not until we become aware of how they are doing that and decide to change them that we see things begin to shift in our lives. When we make a conscious decision to change and do or approach something differently we alter the energies around us. People may react differently to us. Obstacles seem to move out of the way. We find solutions where we thought there were none.

Change can also be unnerving. The tried and true is comfortable. Doing something new feels risky. We can feel unsettled by the change. That is why being gentle and approaching this slowly, checking in with our self and listening to its needs is important.

With practice and patience we become the author of our story and step aside from the labels and roles that we do not want upon us. We live a life that is authentic to us. We call in our desires and act upon them. We let go of things we no longer identify with and have only been carrying around out of habit. Life becomes freer and feels much more in alignment with our heart and soul's callings.

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

The Love of Self

For many, the criticism and comments that are said in their minds to themselves would never escape their lips and be spoken of someone else. The inner critic has a sharp tongue. It cuts one off at the knees, it draws blood, it keeps long hours and it is the ultimate opportunist. If someone spoke to them the way they speak to themselves, they would leave the relationship. And yet, the inner dialogue continues. It does not like to let up and always knows the best time to strike, or perhaps that is the worst time.

The inner critic has the poorest opinion of you and you allow it. You allow the power of your thoughts to create these inner conversations and they influence your personal view of your body, your life, your choices and more. Your soul shrinks from its touch, your heart aches, your mind stirs with more negativity and your life suffers. You accept mediocrity.

The only way one can interrupt this cycle is to begin with small acts of kindness and self-love. Simple steps taken will eventually lead to major gains made. Start with a simple kind mantra that you can repeat throughout the day. Or perhaps a gentle cup of tea and some quiet time to think positive thoughts about yourself.

Keep a gratitude journal or a blessing jar. Make note of what you are grateful for in your life day by day or the blessings that shower upon you. With time your perspective begins to shift and the focus is far less on the negative and more on the positive. Life becomes a bit brighter. Finding beauty becomes easier. Embracing a bit of self-love is welcomed.

The only way one can find the love of self is by seeking it and welcoming it. There are enough voices and images, messages and lies as well as slogans and opinions that bombard our day that try to detract us from our love of self. We need to be committed to this act of self. It becomes a choice we make each and every day, but a very worthwhile one. With time, this self-love radiates out to those around us. We model it, we share it and we spread it. Love's energy is contagious and very effective. And it is cyclical. The beauty of loving self is that it vibrates out the the world around us and then opens us up to receive more back. What a wondrous and beautiful thing! All for the love of self.

Blessings, Lisa