An Investment in Self

It is Friday and I am coming off of a very busy and full week. My body, mind and soul are looking forward to the downtime of the weekend. While I still have quite a lot on my “plate” for the upcoming days there is a transition time of tomorrow that will give me the pause, the rest and the time for restoration. I honor that my body is telling me to slow down, to rest, and to have some pleasure and fun. I intend to listen fully. Do you listen to your body’s messages? Do you take notice? Or do you just keep plugging along until the bottom drops out and you get sick, hurt, angry, stressed or wait until some other unfortunate result occurs? If this is you, have you asked yourself why?

Some folks just don’t know how to slow down. They don’t know what that looks like for them. Sometimes their self worth is based on production and busy-ness. Sometimes people are afraid to stop and listen because of what they might hear will not be to their liking or frighten them. Some people just don’t know how to relax, it feels awkward, causes some anxiety and they feel lost.

Unfortunately, listening to our body’s messages and responding to its needs is one more thing to do. It truly is. But if you don’t, I can promise you that you will pay the price eventually and it could be far more than what you anticipated. And for those that have to learn how, it is an investment, but again I promise that it is a worthy investment.

The bottom line is this attention to your body’s needs cannot be done effectively by anyone else but you. And for all the time it may take, the effort it may need, the awkwardness it may cause, in the end it will be worth it. I recommend to my clients to try it fortwo weeks and if at the end of those two weeks you are noticing positive changes, try for another two weeks. It is amazing how this type of investment multiplies so quickly in its value. You will discover things that it improves that you were not even aware of or thought they needed improving.

You have one body. You have twenty-four hours in a day and seven days in a week. If you can give your body a mere 30 minutes as day of attention, whether it be exercise, healthy food choices, stress management or even laughter and companionship you are taking only three and one half hours out of 168 hours in a week for yourself. Now really, are you going to try to convince yourself that you don’t have the time? You know you are worth it and you know that in the end you will appreciate the difference and value the investment in Self.

Blessings ~ Lisa

©COPYRIGHT 2013 Lisa Meade

The Power in Women's Truth

Can you feel the difference when you speak your truth? Do you feel the fibers of your being stretch in recognition? Do you feel your soul expand within at the possibilities that your truth will bring? Do you feel the Universe respond with appreciation and blessings? When you speak your truth, do you hear your ancestors applauding and celebrating throughout time? Do you see your spirit guides shine brighter? When others hear your truth do you see them awaken and come to attention? Do you see how it calls to their truth? Over time and perhaps in some of our childhoods we have been told to play a role. We are often typecast as women to be less of who we are and are meant to be. We find ourselves scripting our words, our songs and our messages to fit this role and our truth is stifled and restrained. In some relationships we dare not speak our truth, for fear it will split it apart. In some situations we hold back from our truth out of fear that it will be shunned. In some lives the truth is so hidden, so unspoken and so unwelcome that it is forgotten.

But to empower a woman to share her truth is one of the most gracious gifts we can share. We can model, we can celebrate and we can support another’s truth, even when it differs from ours. That is not the point. The point is that personal power and beauty are embraced when the truth is shared. The point is wisdom and gifts are offered when we reveal the truth. The point is lives are saved when the truth is allowed. Helping a woman find her truth aligns the planets, brightens the stars, and welcomes the healing of time to all.

Clarissa Pinkola Estes shares, “It is that holy poetry and singing we are after. We want powerful words and songs that can be heard underwater and over land. It is the wild singing we are after, our chance to use the wild language we are learning by heart under the sea. When a woman speaks her truth, fires up her intention and feeling, staying tight with the instinctive nature, she is singing, she is living in the wild breath-stream of the soul. To live this way is a cycle in itself, one meant to go on, go on, go on.”

Bring the truth to your soul, witness the truth of others, celebrate the differences of our truths and recognize the power that is always within the truth. Encourage your daughter’s truth, welcome your sister’s truth, share your mother’s truth, embrace the truth of your grandmothers and great grandmothers and celebrate your truth as often and as proudly as you can.

Blessings ~ Lisa

©COPYRIGHT 2013 Lisa Meade

And So The Story Goes

Author Alberto Villoldo states, “When we drop our dreary stories of victim, rescuer, and perpetrator, we become storytellers and mythmakers and are provided for in every way. We no longer have to live in fear because we're no longer the victim of our ancestral or cultural stories about scarcity, intimacy, aging, or creativity. Regardless of what we own, we go from scarcity to abundance, from having been cast out of the Eden to walking with beauty on the earth. We see what everyone else sees, but think something different about it. We become like the lilies of the field, who neither toil nor spin but have all that they need. We may still have to punch a time card, but we can live the life of the artist or poet, with many creative resources available to us”. And so it is for me since I have gone through these past several years on my spiritual path and life work. So much in my life changed when I dropped the big old bag of stories I was carrying around with me. I played every role in the drama filled world you could play. Starring roles on occasion brought me to applause, which my ego loved, or to tears as I was a disappointment to others. My emotional response rode the rollercoaster of my family and peer based reviews. Rarely, if ever, did I stop to reflect on how I thought or felt I was doing? My daily actions were more reactions than choices I made with intention or consideration of lessons learned or possibilities offered.

Practicing my shamanic lessons and rituals keeps me grounded and out of story that does not serve me. I have learned to read between the lines, listen for the unspoken, see the mists beyond the trees, and look for the guides and revere their lessons. I seek beauty, I stay present in the moment, or I try at least. It is not always easy. There are days that present themselves quite challenging and as much as I look upon those days with a bit of remorse, they always prove to be the juiciest, or the most lesson filled, or abundant with surprising gifts. But only if I approach them without story and remain open to what may unfold.

I am rich. Not monetarily but with so many resources to add to my crafting of my life. I have plenty. Not with an abundance of material things that society appreciates, but with other gifts of life: friends, family, wisdom, awareness, compassion, wonder and more. I am blessed. Each day offers potential for me to learn more, give more, receive more, celebrate more, and honor more.

The story of my life has changed in ways I never dreamed possible. What the future holds I look forward to with excitement. What the past held, I no longer fret over. What today offers I embrace and celebrate and accept. Like the storyteller and mythmaker, I recognize that my story can go to amazing lands and places, meet up with charming characters, be colored by whimsy and more. Finding the riches in life is easier now. Holding on to what is important to me and not to others does not cause so much conflict within me. And when there is the difference of opinion it is so easy to just observe it as their story, not mine. There will always be new beginnings, new chapters and even when I am gone, there will be no endings, just more possibilities.

Blessings ~ Lisa ©COPYRIGHT 2013 Lisa Meade

Visiting With Our Shadow Self

Many people are fearful of the shadow world. They would rather not explore it, face it or even discuss it. But as a shaman I know the gifts to be found there, the lessons to be learned and the beauty of my soul that has been revealed there. As the late Debbie Ford said, “You can't be fully yourself if you have aspects that are hiding. The shadow holds the truth of all authentic parts of being human - your vulnerability, your discontent, your jealousy, or an experience from the past that you haven't digested. The only way to invite them out of the shadow is to bring them into the light. The light is a new perspective in which you see everything that's happening is happening to help you develop your soul. Then you're free - free to be who you are most authentically, free to ask for what you need, free to find your joy and bliss, free to share your gifts.” There is so much wholeness and greatness to be embraced once we face our shadow world. We all have a shadow self that needs to be revealed, understood and brought into the light of the day. Our soul then can be fully embraced, it can expand to all its possibilities and receive the healing it may need. Without doing the work we need to do to explore our wounds, uncover our disappointments and sadness and accept our vulnerable parts we stay stuck. Our freedom is the gift for this effort. We are given freedom to be our beautiful self, to share our gifts, to trust our truth, and to share these attributes with the lives of others.

Working with the shadow of self requires having self compassion. Ego will want to shame or blame us. Anger may try to enter the equation. Peace, patience and flexibility will serve you well when working with this aspect of our self. Working within the shadow world means being open to different perspectives on a situation and exploring the possibilities we have not been willing to entertain in the past. Many times it helps if we have someone to support us in the shadow work process to help keep us balanced and in our truth.

A shaman has worked extensively with shadow in order to get to the place where they can offer their strengths in healing and soul retrieval and to be able to decipher the messages shared for the soul from the other realms. As with many spiritual practices, learning to be fully in one’s truth can take time spent in personal reflection. Learning to see the beauty in all things, even within our pain and loss, helps to bring the balance and focus onto one’s personal spiritual path.

Blessings ~ Lisa

©COPYRIGHT 2013 Lisa Meade