The Paralysis of Fear

Have you ever been faced with a decision where you truly were struggling with what to do? You get caught up in all the choices. You find fear creeping in and surrounding your thoughts with what if and what can go wrong. This fear can grow and mount and begin to pull the brakes on your personal power. You become entangled in the paralysis of fear.

Dale Carnegie once stated, ""You can conquer almost any fear if you will only make up your mind to do so. For remember, fear doesn't exist anywhere except in the mind." And it is so true. Your soul is ready for your decision, regardless of what it is. It knows that if it is the "right" choice, it will lead you further down your path, bring into light what you need to know next and challenge you to grow. Your soul also knows that if it is NOT the "right" choice, you will be led further down your path, light will be shed on what you need to know next and you will be challenged to grow! Amazing!

It is your mind that thinks there is a do or die aspect to making the right choice. It creates story after story of all that can go wrong, who will be disappointed, the shame, the blame the consequences etc. Your anxiety level can go off the chart.

But what if there are no wrong decisions? What if you chose exactly what you need next, even if it is not in alignment with what your brain thinks? What if you remain present and open, no matter what you choose? You will be given an experience that will add to your life in some way, it will teach you, encourage you, propel you in some way. Imagine the possibilities in this truth.

We each have incredible resiliency and strength far greater than we give ourselves credit for. How many times have you created a story around choices in your life, that should have resulted in extremes far worse than you can describe and yet, somehow, your survived? You managed to rise above. You managed to learn something about your self. Somehow you handled what you deemed to be the wrong decision. Even if it was in reality the right decision!

Celebrate the choices, live large, practice your intentions, honor your callings, embrace your passions and let all this be the influence of your choices. Step away from the paralysis of fear.

Blessings, Lisa

Thinking Positive

The shaman knows that everything in life is made of energy. This energy is diverse and alive. Its vibrations are what set it apart from other energies. For example, a  living pine tree has a higher vibration than a fallen dead branch. You and I  have different vibrations as well. This diversity is what makes life so beautiful.

Our thoughts are filled with vibrational energies as well. Imagine the difference between a positive thought and a negative one. Imagine how your soul resonates with this energy. We know how others do. We can see it in their eyes, hear it in their words and feel it in their energies when we are sharing our positivity versus sharing our anger or frustration. If we find ourselves focusing on the past, reliving past wounds, angry feelings and even dysfunctional relationships over and over, without any kind of forward movement we are said to be dwelling, even stuck in the past. But we can shift those energies and make efforts to move away from them. Each step that we take to stop a negative thought from growing we shift the energetic vibration that surrounds us and flows within.

Now, imagine how this energy ripples outward to those that cross your path, influence your day, participate in your choices and more. If you bring positive thoughts to your relationships you are more likely to have a positive flow to the way things unfold. And if for some reason you hit upon a stumbling block, your positive vibrations will help you discover a resolution more readily.

Keeping our thinking more positive takes intentional effort. It is easy to slide down the slippery slope of negative thinking and have it impact our actions. Some use affirmations to help support their thoughts. Others use rituals and connection to Source. Some find honoring the body temple through healthy food choices and movement keeps the vibrations of their thoughts high. Others meditate or journey. And then others utilize the relationships with others to help keep them in a positive frame of mind. Sometimes it takes a distraction, a new practice or a supportive conversation to remain in the positive and away from the negative, but that black cloud does not need to remain and if it seems to hover, it does not need to drag us down. We can observe it, but not let its energies drown us in negativity.

Finding what supports your efforts of thinking positive is an important part of your day's energies. It is worth the effort and intention brought to it. By bringing positive thinking into balance for yourself you will find that your energies will begin to shift. You will see it reflected in your relationships, your work, and your overall life.

Blessings, Lisa

The Shaman's Compassion

In all the work the shaman does, it is her compassion that weaves through the energies and brings a calming essence, a loving presence and a wisdom surrounded by beauty to her client. Without compassion we do not see the heart of our client clearly, we do not understand the pain fully, and we cannot identify the loss specifically. A shaman is able to bring healing and return of the lost soul through the realms by holding this energy tenderly in an embrace of compassion. Compassion is a vital ingredient that is necessary when one is in service to others. It is the bridge that makes the connection. It is the medium that helps soften what has been made hard with time. It is the balm of understanding and witnessing. A shaman knows this and brings her compassion to each interaction she has.

Compassion is not to be confused with being soft, quite the contrary. Compassion, when mastered and understood, can be the strongest tool one has. It breaks apart untruth, it burns through judgements, it pries open blockages and it can fiercely stand up to anger and fear. Compassion, when understood and used properly, helps bring clarity and perception to the situation.

Soul work requires a good deal of understanding of the energies that we surround our lives with. Additionally, there are the universal energies that interact as well. Often times, the misunderstanding of these energies will create confusion and fear in someone. They will feel shame for not knowing, experience blame for not being able to master the events of their life and will often shut down. A shaman can bring the key of compassion to this work and is able to open what has been closed off. Compassion along with the many other skills and tools acquired through her training and experience, become effective ways to restore and heal the energies of the soul by the shaman. Gently, with compassion, yet powerfully with understanding of the work done within the realms, the shaman's perspective sees all the possibilities.

Blessings ~ Lisa

©COPYRIGHT 2013 Lisa Meade

Today's Soul Work

I had a client recently who came to me and asked if there were anyway we could work on a plan to help her clean up the messes in her life so that she could then begin to do some work with her soul. She felt there was just no time in her life to even consider working with her soul and its needs. I gently told her that the working with her soul could be a part of working with the mess and the time could be found there. She was puzzled, genuinely, and said she thought her life had to be in a much better state before she could ever begin to start something as sacred as getting to know her soul. Quite the contrary, I told her, and so we began. There will never be an end to the "To Do" list in our life. And even as we complete task after task, take on challenge after challenge, we do not get a big prize at the end of the day because we have finally cleaned up the junk drawer or paid our bills or sorted through the basement, other than our satisfaction. The ordinary life and its messes will always be there and to put off the sacred work of our soul just does not make sense. Especially because this work can be found within the ordinary of our day, within the tasks at hand and the satisfaction at the end of their completion. I often say doing the dishes can be a sacred act if you approach it that way!

Sacred work is in the present, the here and now. It is in the regular routine parts and pieces of our life. When we can find the sacred in our everyday, even when we are up to our elbows with life's challenges, we discover a new way of moving through our life. Our perspective changes, we hear things differently and our approach is impacted. We learn the importance of the sacred in our life, and so we set out to embrace it in the ordinary of our life. To show up day after day we recognize the importance of soul care, of self care, of quality over quantity and then what we value shifts.

Waiting for the perfect day to address her soul's needs quickly got tossed out the window for my client. We dove in. She began to understand that her intentions were often fueled by her inspirations. Her inspirations were gifts of her soul. She began to give them the attention they needed to become a reality in her life, a force to dip into when she needed a recharge, a beauty to be recalled when she felt overwhelmed. She began to recognize her soul's needs. For her, quiet space and time were a big part of what she was hungry for. The desire to feed that hunger gave her the energies and insights as to where this quiet time could be found in her busy life. She creatively set out to claim ways to begin embracing this in her life.

Working with your soul need not wait until the perfect day, the right moment or when all conditions have been met. That day will never come! Working with your soul happens here and now, it can be done while we are in the mess or in the beauty of life. The soul will respond to our attention, regardless of the life events that surround us. It is waiting for our touch, our call and our awareness. It will respond with delight, inspiration, beauty and wonder. And with that new energy brought to our day, life's flow will shift in our dance.

Blessings ~ Lisa

©COPYRIGHT 2013 Lisa Meade