Posts

Friendship as a work of art: Being a Helpful Person

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Friends, as opposed to associates, are a rare find.   We are typically a society of users and takers where “networking” has become synonymous with friendship and it really is not synonymous……in fact there is nothing in common with the two.   As children of the industrialized revolution we have become acculturated to disconnection as a norm…. to using each other and calling it friendship when it is mutually beneficial and calling it a variety of unsavory names when it is not mutually beneficial.   Friendship for business and networking is quite different than true friendship. One of the added burdens of success, of any kind, is the strain it can put on friendship. When one is a failure, or struggling, you can be pretty sure about friendship as one has nothing to gain from knowing or associating with you. When one is successful or talented, people gravitate towards you to bask in the sunlight you generate. What makes it more complicated is often people are completel...

On Feeling Lost

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America (and many other industrialized nations ) place a great deal of emphasis on being special, getting noticed (sometimes just for existing such as Paris Hilton, Kardashians etc.). Many citizens would never say they have this desire or need; many do not notice how ingrained this is in the culture of our societies. Yet many people get Readings because they want to be told about their Mission, Purpose or Special Gifts.  Many people I work with have an unbelievable plethora of undefined and persistent physical ailments that disappear when the person gets busy, or starts being of service.  This leads me to wonder if an egocentric existence, (promoted by the media but bought by the consumer) isn't one of our primary ailments-- making many prime targets for grandiosity sometimes offered via the Spiritual/New Age Industry, the Motivational Speaker Industry, and other Feel Good Industries. Don't get me wrong, there are wonderful people/helpers out there.  But just like finding...

I cannot help you

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No one can help anyone, really. We can share our experience strength and hope (as it is said in 12 Step meetings). All the great tool s are just that....tools. Tools don't use themselves...... people use tools. Motivational speeches or motivational encouragement can indeed be helpful (and Lord knows it the Motivation Industry is a billion dollar business) however it can become a kind of drug. Motivation ultimately needs to come from a Higher Source and an Internal Source. Otherwise we risk becoming a slave to someone who makes us feel good.  Additionally, motivation is not always the necessary ingredient. Sometimes we simply need  (gasp) self discipline, not a big hit currently in USA society. Self discipline requires delayed gratification, which is the opposite of addiction, and is a hallmark of developmental maturity. Self discipline does not mean we have to go all "boot camp" on our self, only put one foot in front of the other, and persist. Good healers share the...

Animal Communication

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I was recently watching Cesar Millan (Dog Whisperer) working with an “animal communicator”   who could read her dog, but could not   “talk” to him, at least not in ways the dog understood.   I was struck by behaviors I have seen quite often—we humans want everyone and everything   to understand and accept what we say, from our perspective. In psychology we call this being egocentric, and it is a developmental stage common in a 2 year old (You have to laugh , no ?).      Animal communicators can understand what animals say however do not assume s/he has the skill  to then talk to the animals in ways that have meaning for THEM.   For example, one can do a Reading for someone who only speaks Farsi, but then may not be able to communicate in a meaningful fashion to that person—as:   1) We don’t speak Farsi   and,   2) Without understanding the culture, we are not able to address the priorities that dominate that culture’s ...

Guidance: Not for everyone

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Sometimes people contact me (or the public) to tell me how wrong I am—not for just for them or their one experience —   but in general. I am not sure how they know that I am “wrong” …. Market research? Polling ?   While doing a Reading a few years ago I told the person in front of me that she had Russian military in her ancestry (and that was currently influencing her in this life). I told her this and she vehemently told me I was dead wrong.   Those moments are awkward.   Weeks later, (in a rare occurrence) the person contacted me again to say that in researching her family tree, she discovered there was indeed Russian military in her background. This is not about me being right… or wrong…. It is about how to get a Reading, or assistance from any source.   While we don’t want to simply accept what someone tells us, we do need the ability to keep an open mind.   How else do we hear new information—especially if it threatens our current belief system...

What's my Mission? Really ?

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Many people want to find their life's  "mission." Let's look at that question and the shame that lays beneath it. As if we are not good enough to exist without "doing" something that is big enough to get noticed and acknowledged as a mission.  And, as if we have some say in defining how we serve Spirit. What is the "mission" of a rose?  Or a purring cat?  Does the sunrise need a mission ?  We need to be the best rose, sunrise, platypus, worm, ant  ..... you get the picture, that we can be. If we have a "bigger" mission, trust Spirit to let us know. In the meantime, let's do what is in front of our face. As Zen often states, "chop wood, carry water."  Eat well. Heal childhood issues-- after all we picked our family of origin for that reason-- to stir up Soul issues so we work on them in this life. Fill your self up with Spirit so we don't go looking for answers just from humans who we think are more gifted than we are....

Spiritual Work-- you go to the gym don't you?

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The New Age industry is just that..... an industry. Like the "diet" industry .. ..and how many of those "just take this pill-- no exercise and no diet-- and you will lose weight" products work ? And yet those product companies make millions while personal trainers, who CAN get you in shape, cannot make a living. When did the USA become a country of no effort and all gain? I hear people comment on yogis and Gurus, psychics, healers  as having a "gift."  Well some surely do, but most that I know worked long and hard to develop, expand, and use all their talents. Yet the workshops that fill up are those that promise that if you come one time, Karma will be eliminated, prosperity will come in, etc.  Seriously, with the amount of workshops offered that promise all that success with one workshop or seminar, at least 1/2 the world should be rich, thin, and having great sex with a soulmate or twin flame. Eating healthy, getting educated, staying fit, even le...

Travel softly on Earth, Pursue the path of Spirit

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You Already Bought the Ticket .  We plan our life-- each life-- before we come here. Trying to change the ticket mid stream is like sitting on the bow of a giant cruise ship and rowing to change the course.  That is, of course, one way to spend your free time......  We plan our life when we are in our Soul perspective. We choose a course to experience events and situations that help us, allow us, or even force us to expand and grow. Once we get here, we can be horrified at the choices we made !  It can be like deciding to ski the double black diamond slopes, then when we are on the top, or in the middle, we are overwhelmed by the challenge.  We have decisions to make then.  Quit. Be a victim. Blame.....something.  Escape. Crawl through it. Walk through with dignity. Fly.  I am not sure there is a "correct" way as each option offers different learnings !  The point is not to  "win"....after all life really is really not a contest. It is a...

Tips on getting Guidance

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Tips on getting "guidance" People often seek "guidance" and messages from spiritual sources.  People long to be "told" what to do from a Guide or Angels-- even God or Jesus.  There is a caution to pay attention to when asking for guidance..... our ego !  I have seen numerous new age-er's marry, or make a big move based on their surety of receiving a "message"  that later proved to be an ego or desire based thought.  It takes detachment to separate out getting messages that reinforces what we (our ego) wants versus getting guidance that does not make sense at the time or goes against what we want.  Much of the Western world teaches us to imagine, visualize, pray to get what one wants-- to manifest what one wants, or feels they deserve or should have.  And usually that "wanting" is something external:  money (often called abundance), lose weight, marry, promotion. It is rare to meet someone who is visualizing one's sel...

Fear

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When we get to the lowest place in our life, when we are sure there is no way out, we reach a place where there is no fear....... we have given up and we are in a place with no limits, only possibilities, while we search for the next step. People often find Faith for the first time when in this "low" place, stripped of "everything."  The art of living with Spirit, with Guidance, is to get to the place of no fear and no limits before having to be brought to our knees, to the lowest place. The art of surrender is not the art of giving up when we are down and out, but instead to become open to options before we are brought to our knees. I have worked with people who have had a true nervous breakdown when life became everything they ever wanted. Why ? Fear. Now they have more to lose than ever before-- the perfect career, a wonderful relationship, big income, precious child, amazing house, etc. When people struggle, any light at the end of the tunnel is a gift. ...