Prices rising in September, who wants to start now?

Hello friends

Do you know someone who needs
- Deep Healing?
- Spiritual Counseling / Direction?
- Support to follow their Inner Genius?

Participants are absolutely Loving their Process AND their Results.
See here for some feedback I've recently received.

I am finally increasing my prices for one-on-one appointments, as of September 1st.
I will honor my current prices for the next year, with folks who start before the summer ends.
I sure would appreciate if you shared this opportunity.

Questions?
Folks who are already participating would be happy to share their experience, as would I.
Ask and Receive.

happy summer!!
Wendy

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Spiritual Direction, Soul Counseling, Personal Instruction and Spiritual Healing by appointment.

$250 for 2 hour session. (currently $200)

OR

$500/month (currently $400) for Soul Evolution Members. Members choose any or all of these possibilities:

• You receive private sessions for 4 - 6 hours per month, to facilitate your Soul Evolution.
• You are supported by limited phone and e-mail interaction, as needed.
• You participate in workshops and classes, in person, via internet, and archived training.

    Available regularly in Seattle,
    about 6 weeks per year at the Jersey Shore,
    and at your location.
    Also work powerfully with individuals and small groups through Skype.

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The 'curse' becomes Blessing

Every 'curse' that affects me
is one to which I spiritually consent.

I have learned to be glad of these challenges,
because without them,
I would Never have gotten where I am,
or where i am going.

The 'curse' becomes Blessing
as it 'encourages' me back into alignment,
with myself, my path, my God.

May we all find our Way, Truth, Life,
in our own unique alignment,
as quickly and comfortably as possible.

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All Manner of Things Shall be Well

On a forest road, off of Mountain Loop Highway:
my favorite Mountain area near Seattle,
a quick and easy connection to Momma Nature,

I got stuck in the snow, in my friend's RV.

I had been on this road, near its singular entrance, for 27 hours,
and had only seen one truck come and go.
I was now near the top of one of 3 branches of this road.

I tried many ways to release the RV from the snow:
digging,
rocking,
wedging branches behind the tires
… repeat.

The snow was like a sno-cone,
packed down hard after much thawing, freezing,
so that my big-self on my little-feet barely sank-in.

Which was convenient for walking around,
not so convenient for getting the RV free.
I grumbled to myself: 'Darn this front-wheel-drive RV, with it's weight is over the back tires!'

After the RV was not immediately released,
I had offered a quick mock-up (prayer), that I would shift out of this with ease,
and set restfully to work, without haste, without fear, without concern:

All will be well...
All is well.

This is just an adventure, of many adventures.

I met my friend David, about a dozen years ago, in Baja.
He loved to say at the time:
Adventures start when breakdowns occur.

Of course, he is right. 
And what a blessing to stand in that place.  A place of serendipity.
Life, God breaks-through and breathes new direction into my well-laid plans.

It is a joy to have the luxury of time.

So that a breakdown has the time/space/energy to be a joy, a blessing;
not a time to hold my breath while I am knocked off-kilter.

Usually my life feels like there is never! enough! time/space/energy,
and of course that is tied directly to money.
Breakdowns usually seem to mean a cascade of frustrations and disappointments.

In my life, I think this is one of the most undermining cycles that I get caught in:
the lie that there is not enough time/space/energy/money.
and that the answer is to rush! to try! harder!

As if scurrying and effort actually get me anywhere...

It was Wednesday afternoon in late-May, the least traveled time of the week in a National Forest,
at a time of year unpopular for summer-activities, as well as waning interest in winter-activities.
It crossed my mind that another vehicle may not come way up here, until the weekend.

I had plenty of supplies, so my only real concern was the cold,
for the RV was resting on and surrounded by snow.
I knew I could handle the cold, with the resources I had... possibly even comfortably.

Or... I could walk the many miles down to the 'main' road,
although it would be near the edge of my endurance.

So, I went about, doing what I could do,
working/playing with snow and the RV:
in peace, in contentment, in play and in comfortable challenge.

And a half-hour after I got stuck,
long before I was out of schemes to disengage myself from this rut I got myself into,
up the road came a truck.

I was pleasantly surprised!
And as I walked up to the truck and the party unfolded before me,
I knew that God was taking amazing care of me.

This 4-wheel drive truck had a sweet man driving,
with his wife sitting beside,
with two dogs romping out of the back,
and next a babe-in-arms emerging out of the cab.

I knew I was ok.
Even if it had been 4 guys in the truck, drinking beer and toting rifles (a more likely option out here).
I knew I was ok.

But my body/thoughts/emotions were a lot happier with this rescue party
I now found frolicking around me.
A family who lived 50 miles away, and hadn't been up here in months...

The guy had a four wheel drive,
a heavy-duty web that easily hooked to our vehicles,
and he did all the work.

It took no time,
and when we were done,
he would take no money, or food, or anything I offered.

It was a joy though, to repay the debt,
when (you can't make this stuff up) they got stuck in the same snow I did,
and I was right there to pull them out. 

Ha. God is Good.

God is so good to me! and
I rest in the gentle arms of Momma Nature.
This is always true, but often I don't notice.

Jesus said: 'when your eye is single, your whole body also is full of light.'
One of the things I love about being out in Momma Nature:
life is so simple, uncomplicated, singular, of human-scale.

I sleep.  I eat.  I do nothing.
I read.  I write.  I play with quotes.
I hike.  I play in a creek.  I lay on stones in the sun.

I daydream.  I vision.  I meditate.
I play with Spirit.  I savor Momma Nature.
I just be, I am.

In day-to-day life, there are so many layers of challenge.

As we all do, I have so many piles of to-dos,
so many people/places/things to manage.
I am a good juggler and yet, life is intense.

I enjoy being in Momma Nature
where I can let that all stand aside:
challenges are straightforward, uncomplicated, solvable.

In this scenario,
a need for a bit more friction under the front wheels,
or a little help from a gracious stranger.

Less then an hour after getting stuck in the snow,
I was off on a hike up the road through which I couldn't drive.
With my snowshoes on my back.

Slipping snowshoes on and off, as needed;
I climbed the gorgeous, increasingly snow-packed road for an hour,
all the way to its amazing end.

Enjoying the view.
Savoring the challenge.
Knowing more deeply that God is with me.

Knowing All is Well…
All Manner of Things Shall be Well.

When have you known God was taking really sweet care of you?  How has that changed your life?

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Finding Balance: let the waves come, let them go

I allow balance to come to me:
Balance happens
when I do not attach to being perfectly balanced,
and I let go of fighting to stay balanced.

It is only fighting the waves that keeps me out of balance:
When I let go, I slosh back and forth for awhile;
but roaring waves rather quickly settle to ripples,
when I allow them to resolve naturally.

I allow balance to come to me,
when I let go of judging, of attaching to, of resisting
the waves of intensity, of dichotomies, of extremes that pull me off center;
I settle into a dynamic centeredness.

It is only fighting the waves that keeps me out of balance!
As I practice letting go,
I find myself comfortably floating,
swaying around center,

I allow balance to come to me.
It is only fighting the waves that keeps me out of balance.
This is a picture, a practice I received from Lao Tzu.
I have profited from his insight, for awhile now.

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and associated post with Lao Tzu:
Mountains are not better than valleys. Valleys are not better than mountains.

Magick

We are spirit, a spark of Divinity, in this physical world.
As spirit in bodies, we have great influence in this physical reality.
And it helps everyone, when we consciously choose to exercise it.

Magick is our will as soul, levered into this physical world.
When we consciously act as spirit in the world, in that spark of co-creation,
our spiritual intention shifts the physical world from its inertial course.

Magic is not a thing; it is a behavior, a practice, a choice.
It is not physical, it is not merely spiritual,
it is the intersection of both: where we fully engage; 

we play as spirit in sandbox earth.

Magick is a practice: a school, a gym, a playground
in which we Become Ourselves, we Become Powerfully Whole,
we Become the Mature spiritual Adults who shift Heaven and Earth.

Being Magick (growing into our capacity as spirit, to act in the world),
aligned with Source and our Unique soul path,
we mature, and inspire others to mature, come to fruition.

As my favorite Christian teacher, Dr Bruce Morgan, used to say:
"We are becoming who we are going to be for all eternity."
Let's keep at it.
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Being with Issues & Emotions stored in our Bodies

Photo: Anguish by Porschelinn on Flickr

Below is most of the article by Bernie Clark: Issues in our Tissues: Looking at the Emotions We Store in Our Bodies

Just as it is inappropriate and unhealthy to push past our physical edges, it is also unskillful and unhelpful to push past our emotional edges.

The first thing to recognize when strong emotions arise in our yoga practice is: “I am not alone!” Many people experience discomforting emotions and even elating emotions while doing their practice. Just being aware that others have gone through the same experience—and survived very nicely, thank you very much—helps to take the edge off the anxiety of the moment...

We all have issues in our tissues, which is to say, we store emotions in our bodies. Where else could they possible be?

Emotions are not stored out there in some cloud server on the Internet: they are not on a Google computer in hyperspace. They are within you, close at hand and ready at a moment’s notice to manifest.

The dance of yoga is one of playing our edges: we approach the point of being too deep, never actually arriving at this point, and then we back off to see if we can approach that edge again, safely. This is the art: never actually going too deep, but moving constantly towards that edge where the sensations are juicy, where there is definitely something happening, but it is not too much sensation and we are never in danger of ripping the body open.

When we think about our edges we often think in physical terms, and you may well have had such an image in your mind when you read the above words, but we have edges emotionally, mentally and spiritually as well. Just as it is inappropriate and unhealthy to push past our physical edges it is also unskillful and unhelpful to push past our emotional edges. Just as we may have scar tissue in our body that prevents our full range of movement, we often have emotional scar tissue as well that can restrict our interpersonal and lifestyle ranges of movement. These stuck, contracted areas can be painful when worked into and we can only go so far in our yoga practice to really open up...

Once again the answer is to play your edge, but with enhanced awareness.

Our basic emotions exist within us to provide protection, healing and growth—they are not inherently bad: they are in fact very necessary for a whole life well lived. But sometimes emotions are evoked unskillfully and it is in these cases that we need to evaluate the raw experience of the emotion unemotionally, with dispassion.

Let’s take a real life example: let’s say that recently you have begun to experience a strong feeling of fear, desperately wanting to get out of the posture, wanting to scream like crazy, “A pressure on my chest!” as one student recently noted when she went into Straddle (Dragonfly) pose during a Yin Yoga class. She had been practicing Yin Yoga for over a year so this sudden arising of fear was surprising, perplexing and worrying. What does it mean and what should she do?

First, realize that you are not the only one. Emotions will arise at some point in your yoga journey. That is quite natural when you consider that yoga works the full body, not just the physical tissues. Next, consider the depth of the emotions and whether these feelings are limited only to your yoga practice or also arise at other times in life, because if they do, you may want to seek some professional assistance in determining what it means and how to work through the challenge. Finally, know that this is a wonderful opportunity to deepen your yoga practice, to go beyond the mere postures and into the depths of your own being.

Photo: raganmd on Flickr

David Williams, one of the first two Americans to practice Ashtanga Yoga, once observed that the real yoga is what you can’t see. He means that the real process of yoga unfolds beneath the obvious shapes that we contort our bodies into, it involves the breath and the way we pay attention to what is happening within. This is the invitation your strong emotional response is offering you. Rather than blindly or automatically react to the emotion, cultivate an attitude of acceptance and curiosity. Ask yourself what is really going on: “What is this?”...

Poses in yoga work the body physically and energetically, stimulating the meridian lines that correspond to the major organs of the body and sometimes eliciting strong emotional responses. In the example of the woman who experienced fear while she was in Straddle Pose, she may have created a deep stress along the inner thighs, the adductor muscle group, through which the liver and kidney meridians run. This stress may be sufficient to trigger an emotional response if there is some blockage psychically or emotionally in the pertaining organs of the liver and kidneys.

Regardless of the cause of the emotional response, the prescription is the same: awareness with dispassion. Watch what is occurring without trying to change it, without running away from it, without giving into it in despair or resignation. Of course, as we have already discussed, if you really feel you are past your edge and are too deeply into an emotional state, then back off! But if the emotions are just challenging, not dangerous, stay and observe the raw experience that is occurring. This is when something interesting is about to happen. Don’t miss it!

Ask yourself constantly, “What is this?”

Note the emotions and the associated physical sensations in detail to yourself: what are you feeling, what is your breath like, your heart rate, is there increased tension in your jaw, shoulders, neck? For example, if you are feeling fear, notice what fear feels like: “my breath is shorter and choppy; my shoulders are tense; my thoughts are foggy and I can’t focus.”

Don’t judge these sensations as good or bad and don’t try to change them; just observe them as they are...

To sum up, when a strong emotion arises in the middle of a yoga practice pay attention to it. If it is too strong, back off and perhaps even stop the practice for that day. If this continues to happen to the degree that you can no longer practice skillfully, then seek help from a qualified yoga teacher or counseling. However, if the emotions are challenging but not dangerous, use this opportunity to take your yoga practice to a new level: play the edge of the emotion without going over the edge. Start to observe what is actually occurring, without adding anything to the experience and without taking anything away from it.

One last thought, and for this I will quote Rod Stryker: “If you have never laughed or cried in a yoga class, what are you waiting for?”

  Bernie Clark

The Healing Power of NO

My encouragement to a healer who can't say NO:

In my experience:

I learned NO, MINE, and BYE-BYE by the age of two 

- but I allowed myself to be socialized out of it.  

Yet, these are the energetic cornerstones of a well, whole, self-directed system: 

I must own these tools to be a well HEALER. 

Otherwise, soon I am a broken healer of no use to anyone, including myself 

... been there got the T-shirt! 

If I say NO, I make way for a bigger YES - for everyone involved. 

It helps me to TRUST Spirit, Self, Other, Life...

My compulsion to say Yes as a healer, 

tends to be a band-aid for my own experience of pain, brokenness and need, 

the 3 most likely suspects (some of the many HUGE temptations of a healer):

1) I want to focus on others healing instead of my own.

(But the secret is the more I face my self and allow myself to heal, 

the more I am a healing presence for others.)

2) I want them to love me and think I am great.

(But the secret is the more I am my real self, 

authentically shining and doing what is best for Me 

- the more I am authentically loved and appreciated by others... 

and they are inspired to live and love, and shine!)

3) I want to believe and/or I want them to believe I am SPECIAL: 

they Need ME - ha!

(But the secret is, their healing is between THEM and their bodies and Spirit... 

I am honored to assist when appropriate! 

They don't need Me, and it is beneficial for us both to keep that at the top of mind.)

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What is your experience?
Peace and Grace to you on your unique journey 

- Wendy
         

How to receive a Spiritual Reading

I just answered this question, so I thought I would share here:

What would you tell someone who was considering a Spiritual Reading?
I would tell them what I tell my readees, and my students:

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1)  When getting a reading, remembering your Free Will is key

Humans are infinitely creative!
We can keep going in the directions we have chosen in the past 

or we can change direction whenever we choose to. 

Each of us can learn and grow and heal and change - yee ha!

This can drastically alter our lives, energies, bodies, relationships, perceptions, abilities, etc. 

This has been my experience in my own life.
I have also had the privilege to watch so many others 

become more conscious of themselves as spirit and 

co-create a very different life for themselves than might have happened otherwise.

I say all this to underline why I believe in free will. 

There is a rumor going around that our free will is a gift from Spirit. 

Therefore, I suggest:

 - avoid advice 

(information is very useful, but you are an adult, you don't need to be told what to do!)

 - avoid predictions of your future 

(you choose your route, and you can shift your direction any time!)

 - basically, I am saying, avoid 'programming' 

('buying' and 'wearing' someone else's information, expectations, desires...

that do not fit you as well as your own)

This is not meant to hamper or discourage you in your questions 

or the value you will receive in a reading – just the opposite.

You can ask to look at any situation or choice that is before you 

and ask about what the energy is now – in the present - 

and the direction you are going.

This will support you to make your own choices 

and honor the gift of your own spiritual freedom.

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2) Getting a reading, can be a wonderful gift of an outside perspective, a spiritual perspective.

A reading is like what folks say about an accident at a cross-street, 

each person on a different corner, sees a different accident.

This is the gift of a reading 

- you are receiving a different perspective on yourself and your creations 

(your life, body, relationships, etc) 

that is outside your own usual consciousness. 

It can be like looking in a sacred mirror, 

getting a reflection of yourself from a different angle.
This is potentially an incredible blessing!

Optimally, your reader will give you a spiritual perspective 

- neutral, amused, validating, spiritually-focused -  

this can be a wonderful healing, encouragement and inspiration to learn and grow.

If you perceive your reading as primarily physically-focused:

emotional, judgmental, invalidating, blaming... 

I would suggest wiping your feet and walking away.

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3)  Getting a reading is like a Spaghetti fight  - what sticks to you, is yours ; )

It is useful to stay neutral and amused, present and open in your reading.
Keep only what validates you, and leave the rest.

Just like the rest of life, 

YOUR information and experience is central.
Stay senior in your own space, 

and avoid allowing yourself to be 'programed' by other's perspective.

If something the reader says doesn't jive with you, 

don't let yourself get Hooked:  

I recommend letting go of judging, resisting or invalidating the information and experience.
If something seems to not fit, if it feels wrong:  

you don't have to 'buy it', letting go of the tendency to Resist! 

– just let it go.

But, as a rule: take what is said and meditate on it 

- there are probably a lot of jewels in there for you.

Even things that don't initially seem true for you, 

there May be truth in it for you – 

So, if something is bugging you, niggling at you: 

I recommend letting it sit on 'the shelf' for a few days; 

then meditate on it, ask Spirit: what is the gift for me in this information?

I encourage you to let this perspective from outside yourself, 

hopefully a spiritual perspective, 

inform your life and your living.

But, most importantly, 

I urge you to continue to develop your own spiritual 'ears', 'eyes', 'knowing' etc 

- so you can continue to deepen as the authority in your own life, the driver of your own car (life).

YMMV,
Wendy

Clearing Trauma: it takes. Minute AND its Worth our Investment

I have had the dark blessing of a long and winding way 

with much opportunity to Clear Trauma, Abuse, PTSD, anxiety, depression, emotions, habits, addictions...

Deep wounding takes more than saying a few words to clear it. 

It takes turning the ship, not 're-arranging chairs on the Titanic' ; )

As I told a healer I worked with a while ago, 

"if it was easy for me to change and let this go, I would be healed and whole years ago."

Utilizing intention, along with meditation techniques, and wise and compassionate support, 

I have cleared a large percentage of my abuse pictures/energy and all that came with it.

As well as the 'bent-ness; that perpetuated into my adult life, and which I built my self and life upon. 

And I am still fully engaged in this process, and I will be for a long time. 

It takes courage and persistence. 

And for me, as with many, it got worse (as things came up and out to clear) before it got better.

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Healing and experiencing wholeness is available to us. 

When we clean up the mess, life can be a joy: easy and fun! 

We don't have to live with PTSD or any other brokenness, 

without hope of healing and restoration. 

And, yes, I had to change!

to begin identifying with myself as spirt, 

and not with my abuse and the brokenness that I experienced from that.

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Meanwhile, with extreme issues, it is not usually as easy as 'falling off a log.' 

I believe it is absolutely necessary to have powerful energy techniques; 

and wise, compassionate support for this process. 

For some, it is a very challenging path: 

it can feel like hell, or dying, or going completely loony, or all the above!

Wise and compassionate support is essential for many, for many reasons, including:
1) It is almost impossible to face some of the worst stuff alone.
2) It is important not to 'fall off the edge.'
3) It is necessary to deal with the tremendously temptation to want to run back to living with the terrible pain and brokenness, rather than pushing through the horror, to eventual experience of freedom and lightness and wholeness.

Enough for now, I am going out to play!

Yay for wounded healers: 

may we keep healing ourselves, so we can be Well and Happy; 

and from there we can effectively assist others!

-wendy

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spiritual senses

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Do We Have The Ability To Feel Others? www.youtube.com
- Prof. Ervin Laszlo talks with Rav Laitman about how feeling others is the mark of a higher consciousness that we need to achieve.


Wendy R Wolf
Yes, I agree, in addition to physical senses and abilities are spiritual senses and abilities. I find it encouraging to have these validated by folks from different backgrounds and religions.

In my tradition, we distinguish between different spiritual senses, including: spiritual physical feeling (including pressure, taste and touch); spiritual emotional and sexual information - where resides sympathy for example; spiritual affinity (experience of oneness) - where resides compassion and empathy; spiritual hearing and other communication information; spiritual sight; spiritual knowing.

We have distinguished, as we go along this list, information becomes more neutral, less body-focused & more spiritually-focused (for example, seeing spiritually can help me have more clear, neutral information about a relationship than perhaps utilizing my spiritual emotional or sexual information). So we practice the 'higher' senses, to access and enjoy clearer information, as well as clearer connection with God.

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When we heal ourselves, we heal the world

"I'm sorry. Please forgive me. I love you. Thank you."

you can some about this here

I don't practice Dr. Len's method, but I am informed by it in my own healing practice.

I shared about Dr. Len's modern application of hoʻoponopono 

with a couple of my students the other day in an advanced healing class. 

They came back reporting a shift for themselves 

by referencing/utilizing some of Dr Len's distinctions within their own spiritual healing practice.

I had shared about this tangentially, and i was excited to see this fruit.

I think each of these:
"I'm sorry. Please forgive me. I love you. Thank you."
can be useful doorways for healing

More usefully, from my perspective, is the KNOWing, BEing and DOing that:
what we heal inside ourselves
really does heal the world outside ourselves.

BEING the change we want to see in the world
IS the WAY

I believe Dr. Len's story is a modern example of many powerful healers through the ages 

and the shift that HAPPENS, when we shift.

I like to share it for inspiration.
Blessings, w

How can our experience of being alive, shift?

With Soul Evolution:
What might we be able to do?
How can things be different?

The leap into a spiritually-focused life can change everything.

Our new capacities that we access and build upon, shift our lives dramatically for the better, inside and out.  

Along our unique spiritual path we find support, connection and the true fulfillment of our deepest calling.  

We become more conscious, effective agents of change in our lives and in the world.

When you access the outcomes below with ease and consistency, how could it change your world?


1.  Turn glimpses of possibility and clarity into lasting change and sustained momentum

One of the universal challenges on the path of spiritual development and personal growth is converting our insights into lasting results.  

Despite hard work, glimmers of tremendous potential, and deepening awareness 

- and even periods of significant progress - 

many of us are frustrated by our tendency to slide back into old patterns.

This waning of consistency and commitment is natural.  

But when we are able to access our soul, 

we discover resources that are enduring and powerful enough to sustain our practices, 

truly embody new possibilities, 

and move us to act on what really matters to us.

Imagine tapping into a source of inspiration that so powerfully transcends the drives of our habitual self, 

that we just can't go back to the way things have been. 

With a larger perspective, and expanded internal resources, 

we become what we access in our most inspired moments. 

The result: 

an active, new-found momentum in our spiritual practices, in our lives, and in our highest aspirations in the world.

2.  Create deeper, more authentic relationships, and find community with others who share our values and aspirations

Stepping up to meaningful change in the world 

and to pioneer a new way of being human is an exciting and enlivening prospect, 

but it can also feel lonely out on the leading edge. 

When we surround ourselves with others who share a commitment to Soul Evolution, 

we can more easily overcome social gravity.

That's where evolutionary partnership with kindred spirits becomes useful. 

We can access deeply connected friendships and partnerships that serve us, and others.  

As a Soul Evolutionaries, we can both give and receive in conscious collaboration.


3.  Discover a spiritual practice that is relevant to our modern world and can be lived 24/7

Many people's spiritual longings are scarcely fulfilled by a half-hour-a-day meditation practice, 

and we wonder how to live spiritually when life's demands don't allow for extended retreats and pilgrimages.

And although traditional paths and practices have helped humans all along, 

many of us are not deeply served by them.

Soul Evolution practices are relevant to the complexities and challenges of modern life 

- an engaged, holistic approach that turns everyday life into a spiritual practice, 24/7.  

We don't sequester ourselves to prepare for a later return to living.  

It's spiritual life - in action - NOW.

When we step into Soul Evolution Practices, conscious living is part of the practice 

- how we relate to our experiences, situations, and other people. 

The result is a practical, grounded spirituality that has impact on ourselves and the world 

- and a daily life infused with meaning and purpose.

4. Learn how to defuse our physical-focus and undermining habits

Our habit of physical-focus is an obstacle 

when we are choosing to live a spiritually-focused life: 

conscious, awakened, enlightened, free.

When these unproductive habits and instincts run the show unconsciously, 

nothing really works the way we sense it could 

- not in our lives or in our world.

What's more, many spiritual and psychological disciplines have taught us that 

our human nature is fixed and must be accepted, 

offering little hope for anything more than "small change."

But the discovery of the soul self changes all that, 

offering a path beyond old patterns and ways of being,  

a path that is more direct than most of us can imagine. 

By aligning with the pure and powerful part of ourselves, 

we bypass outmoded impulses. 

We liberate ourselves from the religious and social programming of our world.

The drives toward survival, emotionality, stasis, 'being right', avoidance of truth and commitment... 

loose their grip on our lives. 

They don't go away, but they cease to be compelling. 

The voice of limitation no longer captures our attention; 

the temptation to play the victim loses its charge. 

With ourselves as spirit in the driver's seat, 

we are free to take creative healthy risks, 

lean into positive change, 

face truths with less resistance, and 

allow the flourishing of our highest human potential. 

5. Live our highest aspirations, wisdom and callings, even when we don't feel like it

From the soul self, we experience an un-linking of the bondage 

between our thoughts & feelings, and our choices & actions. 

We discover the liberation of our capacity to consciously align our self with Higher Consciousness.

Instead of being thrown off-course by strong feelings, 

we are informed by them and we can keep our course.  

You can give up the notion that "I couldn't help it."   

Emotions such as fear don't have to be obstacles to internal freedom and external action. 

This doesn't mean suppressing our feelings.  

We can feel all our feelings deeply - even more so - 

with an expanding care for the whole;

and still see clearly in the face of them. 

And, we learn to read our feelings more accurately 

and obtain the wisdom and data they contain... 

without getting sidetracked by them.

The result:  Better choices, commitment, and a life of integrity and presence.

Emotional and intellectual freedom 

is one of the most liberating and powerful transformations of Soul Evolution.  

Spiritual freedom is key.

6. "Draft" on the momentum and energy of evolution

When we don't seem to be getting the results our spiritual practices were intended to deliver, 

many of us begin to doubt that the ideals we once set out to manifest are even possible.  

Unfortunately, much of contemporary spiritual thought supports this reduced vision, 

suggesting we "call off the search" and accept that this is as good as it gets.  

One of the pitfalls most people don't even realize they're stuck in 

is a context for our spiritual work that's simply too small. 

An unfortunate byproduct of our individualistic culture 

is that spiritual growth is often seen as being strictly personal 

- for our own fulfillment, happiness, and enlightenment.

Entire generation has thus been earnestly working on themselves 

chiefly to obtain happier, more peaceful lives 

- and wondering why this doesn't catalyze significant change.

What if the purpose of a spiritual path includes us, but doesn't end with us? 

In Soul Evolution, we connect with the role our own progress plays in the great game of Soul Evolution 

- the way that, as evolving beings in an evolving universe, we can participate in the advancement of humanity and Consciousness itself.  

Our healing and transformation effects those around us, and beyond.

7. Find the resilience, perspective and genuine optimism to face the biggest challenges confronting humanity today

The Spiritual perspective helps us understand and navigate our problems and challenges more accurately, 

and offers a vantage-point that is the ultimate antidote to cynicism: 

we realize that everything can and will change.

The practices of Soul Evolution infuse us 

with resilience, inspiration, creativity, and energy. 

With spirit leading the charge, 

we're tapped into the limitless, positive and unstoppable momentum of the cosmos itself. 

Rather than take on issues alone, as individuals or even as a community, 

we're fueled by something much larger.

We can also take heart in the fact that by developing ourselves, 

we are "being the change" 

and doing perhaps the most important work of all:

contributing to a cultural and energetic shift 

that may ultimately instigate more improvement than tackling any one issue on its own.

-------------------------------------------

These are a few of the ways in which our experience of being alive can shift 

when we step into what is an evolutionary relationship to life 

- the fundamental shift in our orientation that is generated 

when we awaken this deeper part of our self as spirit and take the reins.

When we are able to cultivate these very real capabilities, 

we find that our deepest hopes and dreams 

for a comfortable self and a better world weren't a pipe dream after all. 

We learn that we can evolve what it is to be human 

- not modestly, but radically - 

in a way that not only better serves our work, families and lives, 

but fulfills on the highest promise of humanity's potential.

Soul Evolution, take the next step.

My Spiritual & Psychic Journey

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One of the ways to introduce myself, is by sharing the highlights of my Psychic journey, as someone who Loves God.

I always remember experiencing strong clairsentience (spiritual feeling) & some claircognizance (spiritual knowingness). Growing up in an abusive household, I used that to help "protect" me (It didn’t really help, in retrospect, but I had an illusion of some control at least ; )

I grew up Catholic. I can point to my first conscious mystical encounter, when I experienced Mary while doing rosary in my room, a few weeks before Confirmation - so i was IDK 12-ish? That was Awesome.

What was Not awesome, was my actual Confirmation experience: where i watched the Bishop having behavior that pretended to be spiritual, but had no 'magic' in it… it was just words and waving of arms, but nothing real occurred as happening. I was afraid of him, yes, and the prospect of being called to account, and being terribly shy, and such. But, I was actively NOT Awed… in retrospect, i was actively disappointed by the lack of Actual spiritual experience. What a shame to have the shell of the experience left as a ritual, but the experience itself be empty, hollow. Confirmation is intended to be a turn farther INTO the church, but for me, it ended up being a turn away… I know now, that If I want to experience God in church, I gotta 'bring God with me', but I remember my Confirmation as one of the 2 significant disappointments with my Catholic church experience.

The other big disappointment in my Catholicism, I was IDK 15, and I had been agnostic for a couple years. I finally told my folks, and they were UPSET, as were many of my family and friends. My mom dragged me off to the priest to FIX me: aye… He said things that make sense to me Now, about his personal experience of God. But at the time, the interaction just fed my belief that these religious people are, um, let's say intellectually challenged ; )

I found the whole 'coming out as agnostic' experience very strange, because, except for Sunday mornings and holidays, their belief in God seemed to make no noticeable difference in the life of my friends and family. But, most of them were UPSET about my agnosticism. I couldn't understand that, I still don't, really...

I spent the bulk of my teens as an agnostic. And, I continue to believe that the intellect cannot understand God or spiritual reality very well (if at all) and has very different values and priorities; and therefore the intellect doesn't have good reason to believe in God, IMO. In retrospect, I also see my agnosticism as an important and necessary stage in my spiritual journey.

Another important stage was being 'born again Christian' in a house church. I opened to this expereince becasue of the palpable Love of these people for each other and for God. I opened and I became willing to experience something awesome, a spiritual experience that could be named experiencing 'God' *directly*. It was in part an emotional experience, and yet also spiritually true. So, no matter where I have been since, I cannot deny this spiritual experience - this is a touchstone for me, which has been really helpful along the way. Reminds me of what Amy Grant says in her song: 1974:
As the years go by
How I need to see
That's still me


My clairaudience (spiritual hearing) came on strong after a Christian ‘baptism in the Spirit’ right after being 'born again' when I was 17. I was 'on fire' with God for a couple years, after that the honeymoon was over, but real 'married life' had begun, in earnest...

As I said, my relationship with God was really delicious for at least a year or two, but then, the intellect I purposefully 'gave to God' when i was 'born again' was overtly given back to me: it was time for me to grow up, spiritually. I did have and I do have real spiritual experience: I had to learn to reconcile that with competing thoughts, beliefs, emotions, influences and experiences in my life. That process has been extremely challenging and rewarding beyond measure.

I spent most of my 20's struggling with intellectual issues around God, and then also struggling with allowing my perceptions and relationship with God to shift: again and again. I opened to different spiritual paths and ways of experiencing God, outside of the Christian paradigm. I resisted a lot, so it was painful and slow... I can see now that spiritually I was being pushed out of the 'nest': to learn, to grow, to change, to experience many different pathways to The One.

At 29, my clairvoyance (spiritual seeing) came ON very strongly in a life-changing interaction with (what occurred to me as) ‘Goddess’ while driving alone across the Delaware Memorial Bridge (of all places!) on my way to a weekend alone, beach camping. I went 'out of time' for what seemed like a really long time, but really was just the time it took to cross the bridge...

The one I related to as Goddess turned out to be like a Guardian Angel, but she was the primary 'face of God' that I related to for about 10 years. This Goddess experience and my spiritual visual senses turning way UP was not consciously asked for, and stood my world on-end! I am grateful And it was very challenging to deal with at the time. I had no conscious control over my clairvoyance - visions would come when they came… my clairaudience was turned way down for awhile, which encouraged my clairvoyance to develop; but this was disconcerting, since I was used to HEARING God. I was used to talking with God and now, instead, I was being encouraged to visually relate to Goddess instead… I had related to many different concepts and faces of God through my 20's, but I was encouraged to let them go and interact primarily with this Goddess face of God - this was truly a Delight, but strange and unnerving as well. I was grok-ing the world very differently, I was opening to new and very challenging paradigms. This was a time of Huge shift, uncomfortable and exciting.

Also, my healing abilities really started waking up, ~8 months later, when I turned 30, I was ‘called’ as a healer (“You are a Healer becoming”)

This is when I started getting into Real Trouble.

On a minor level, from the time my clairvoyance opened, I started experiencing energetic ‘attacks’ that were uncomfortable and confusing, sometimes disturbing and scary. (the worst was experiencing ‘entities’ coming into my space in uncomfortable and invasive ways)

More detrimental to my wellness, I started using my abilities in healing relationships (I became a massage therapist) I was very good at it, but ended up drained, and sick, eventually bed-ridden for years because Energetically I had terrible boundaries – I was inclined to take on other’s energy to try to heal them and transmute their negative energies. I ended up getting almost every injury and illness, as well as emotional challenge, that my clients experienced – ugh. For Me this was a difficult, painful, dangerous road!

Eventually after many years of churning and suffering (and RESISTING), I dedicated myself to an intense psychic training program. Because of my 'religious programming' against psychics AND my fear of being 'seen' and judged; as well as avoidance of getting down to my Real Healing (which has been Intense) - I avoided this for many years.

I was very ill and headed down fast, I believe if I hadn’t finally been willing to take this road, to repent (change direction), I would be dead by now... This lever of extreme illness Forced me to shift and take on my own psychic healing and development; I wasn't willing to LET GO, to shift my concept of God and myself and the world, except under these most dire of circumstances!

I learned to utilize techniques that really serve me energetically, to co-create healing for myself and others. I learned to be safe & comfortable, to own my space, and be in charge of my abilities. Practicing daily meditation and regularly ‘reading’ and ‘healing’ and 'teaching' in safe, structured ways have served me greatly in the process of my physical, emotional, relational and spiritual wellness. And of course made a huge difference in my ability to serve others, as well. I was in an intense healing & training program for 4 years, and since then I have been healing and serving on my own.

I enjoy my abilities very much, and I allow them to continue opening/increasing. I believe we are all spirit, and we all have these spiritual senses and abilities, it is a matter of allowing them to open (or re-open) in safe and comfortable ways that I believe is most important.

I continue to deepen in my spiritual path, relationship with God, Angels, Ascended Masters and Healing Guides. I work with others to assist them on their own unique journey.

I am so glad for my challenges, they have led me to an Incredible, Exciting, Fruitful life in God and in service to other's spiritual deepening.

So that is my spiritual and psychic journey, in a *relatively* small nutshell

thank you for your attention,
-wendy
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Meeting the Red Dragon

I have had a lot of challenge in and with my body,
and my life on this planet.

To get on this bucking bronco of life IN my body,
and learn to ride, again;
I have been practicing Energy Healing, Reading and Teaching.

This path has served me and blessed me immeasurably.
Meanwhile, 'owning' my body and my body energy, again,
has been a very long and challenging process.

Lately, I have turned a very large corner in my relationship with my body.
I think of the song: Secret of Life: Isn't it a Lovely Ride?

It IS a LOVELY Ride.
It CAN BE a Lovely Ride, as much as I let it...
as much as I LET it...

9 years ago, I came to Seattle 'sick unto death'.
I was So broken and so stopped in my life and in my body:
I knew if I didn't change my trajectory,
I would die a protracted and painful death.

I was not slidin down, glidin down:
I was free falling... without a parachute
... and Not enjoying it.

In the last 9 years, my life and my body have changed Tremendously.
I recently started Yoga, again.
And the day before, I started Network Chiropractic.
They are each amazing, magical.

Here is one recent day of being with my body and allowing healing:

Yoga Day 5: Sunday morning - woo hoo.
It felt good to do it: I had skipped Friday morning,
I have been fighting a 'cold' and changing too quickly!

Today I had so much fear,
seen as cockroaches,
coming out of my body as I did Yoga!

I noticed this particular time, that the breathing Really brought everything to a head.
I could get through with the postures - such as they are when I do them - ha!
But in adding breath, so much came to the surface! 

The fear crescendoed about 2/3 of the way through the 70 minute class.
If felt like I would break somehow,
and I was fortunate that the Red Dragon appeared to assist me.

He is an Ascended Master who is just new to me, today.
He is not very verbal - but very Powerful.
He doesn't have "nice pictures" (happy to fry someone's ass, as needed ; )

I matched the Dragon.
He helped me to run anger.
To run kundalini.
To run red vitality, life force energy.

To throw the fear in the fire.
To own back my space.
To let go of victim pictures,
and most importantly, shift victim habits.

I moved to the hot tub where I stayed too long!
I moved off more 'not me' and gained back more of 'me'.
I owned a new way of being and made a mock-up to attract a dozen subscription clients, by the end of the year; and keep a dozen subscription clients, moving forward.

I came home to a new subscription client in my e-mail,
after showering and going to the farmer's market.
The new client is excited and scheduled:
seems like a really Good fit: YES it can be This easy...

I had the 'runs' this morning before yoga and my energy waned quickly this afternoon.
I am fighting whopping flu-like symptoms tonight
Very painful body, very low energy, sore throat, FREEZING!

I feel the energy of fear and invalidation in my muscles. 
I am running light yellows, the red is too much for now.
I am detoxing like crazy: feels like metal coming out.

I SO want to blow through all this in one fell swoop!
....everything that is in the way of my full spiritual, emotional, mental, financial, vocational and physical wellness / wholeness!

But, I KNOW from long learning the hard and painful way,
with so much unnecessary suffering:
Easy Does It: gentle and balanced is the only way forward, for me, on this road.

Like I've had on my wall for the last dozen years:
Pursue Growth with Reckless Moderation.
Challenging but useful!

May all beings enjoy nurturing support,
resting in the cupped hands of the Creator.

in Life, Wendy

The curse and blessing of Perfection

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I used to be dominated by the pressure to be perfect - i.e. to be very different, 'better!', than I was/am and different than I ever could realistically be.
In various layers of my being, consciously and not-consciously, I used to think that I had to be perfect to be loved, to be acceptable, to deserve the earth under my feet and the sun & rain on my face.
I have been allowing shift on this for many years now, layer after layer, thought after habit after emotional default after energetic attachment... shifting and allowing light and lightness. It is a blessing to allow healing and change at the deep layers.

It gave me a lever to help me free myself, when my spiritual teacher told me that there is NO perfection in this world, on the PHYSICAL it is an unobtainable ideal, so it would serve me to let it go.
At the same time. it helped me to see and expereince over and over, from a SPIRITUAL perspective, that Everything and Everyone really is perfect: right now; always have been, always will be. Everything is ALL Right. As Julian of Norwich said: 'All shall be well, and all shall be well and all manner of thing shall be well.' That is the spiritual reality which I expereince, when I tune into my mystical senses.

It also helps me to notice what I think perfect is.

Is it a rigid picture of how someone or something should be, an IDEAL? This doesn't work for me, I never live up to my own or other's idealized pictures of who I should be, what I should look like, and what I should do. And nothing in this world lives up to my idealized pictures either. This is a painful way to live, and it doesn't work for me. Fortunately my spiritual practice has very useful distinctions and practices around these 'perfect pictures' that so often drive us - so I am grateful to be in the process of letting go of them, and the mechanisms behind them, deep in my psyche.

Another way to look at perfect, which I find enlivening:
The Greek word that is often translated as perfect, can also mean "having reached its end, full-grown, complete in all its parts, of full age, consummated goal, mature from going through the necessary stages to reach the end-goal, developed into a consummating completion by fulfilling the necessary process, reaching the end (aim)…"
I find this a useful way to look at 'perfection' - like an acorn that has now become a mighty oak (Dr Bruce Morgan used to say ; )
Of course, I STILL won't get there, until my life completes and I am ready to transition. But, I really like this definition of perfection: to be allowing myself be in active process of wholeness, maturity and coming to completion as MYSELF in my Unique Being and Doing in this world.

And to be clear! I do not mean coming to maturity through Striving, through Effort, though Trying to be bigger, faster, smarter, BETTER!
I mean like a child in the sandbox, playing: and while I play: learning and growing and maturing.
I mean like the beautiful tree BEING itself every day in every way: enjoying the land it is on, soaking up the rain, delighting in the sunlight, swaying in the breeze... then millimeter by millimeter = after years, or decades, or centuries of being - it comes to its fullness.
I mean a maturity that comes with being myself, creating and playing in the physical reality, trusting Spirit. I am excited about that kind of perfection!
.

Allowing wholeness: letting go of eschewing pain

.
In my spiritual tradition, we practice letting go of energies that no longer serve us, and this 'housecleaning' in my energy system serves me, A LOT.

AND what I have noticed is: for the 'core issues', the deep wounding:
- eschewing the pain, pictures, experiences, energy...
- wanting to turn away and not grok this dark gift, rather just let it go:
this path Does Not Work.
I notice it doesn't make the pain move out easily in my system, or my healees or students systems either. In general, I notice for our deepest wounds, something else is often needed.

What seems to work, is being present to the brokenness, betrayal... whatever it is
- being present to what happened
- being present to what I thought and felt and made it all mean
- being present to how 'what happened' affected me then and affected me throughout my life to now;
- seeing the players and the game spiritually
- and holding it all, 'being with' myself then and now, and eventually validating and loving it all.

I don't mean spending a lifetime there, or even necessarily reliving it. I do mean not continuing the lifetime habit of running away from the pain/fear/whatever, hoping to bury it so deeply that it can't hurt me anymore. Because I can never run fast enough, and the price I pay for trying is very high!

So, in my tradition we notice the energy comes 'up and out to clear', if we let it. This process can be intense for a while, and happily that intensity ends and the fruit is amazing afterward:
- we need less distraction, obsessions, addictions...
- we can stop running from that old pain/fear/whatever...
- we can Just Be in our self and in our lives, more.
And as our internal expereince changes, our external expereince usually shifts as well.

This excerpt below inspired me to share, it is a wonderful description, IMO, of someone else's process of what I am referring to as allowing wholeness: letting go of eschewing pain. I hope you are blessed.
-wendy
.

As Energy Comes Home

Compacted, frozen pain energy is like a baby. As a mother does not address her fussing baby with nondual language, neither do we in the meeting with ourselves. You may know and understand a lot and be conscious, but these energies are not conscious.

You come into direct relationship with them. Direct but gentle, not piercing, not intrusive, not willpowering anything. Asking contracted energy what it needs is a lovely way of acknowledging its presence and becoming intimate with it. Everything that is not at rest wants to be acknowledged, to be received and bathed in gentleness and benevolence.

It calls for a major slowing down, to receive the old, repressed cries of pain that show up now as contractions, as bodily sensations.

The mind is conditioned to want results - the result in this case being the disappearance of the disturbance. It is very, very sweet to bypass this, allowing the body to have what it has for as long as it does. You may walk around for hours with disturbance but you can be nurturing and aware of your precious cargo. Mercy and opening.

As you become more relaxed with meeting energy in yourself, you find a natural extension of this happening with others. Pain energy in another is no different in any way from energy in your own system. It is all the same separated, totally impersonal energy seeking resolution, looking for Home. So you find yourself, if the situation is fitting, in direct, welcoming relationship with these balls of energy in another, bypassing the personality and issue and mechanisms of mind. A catalyst for the dissolution of pain in others, a totally organic movement of Love.

The Kuan Yin of your heart is awakening. You come to see that You are Home and all is invited and welcomed Here.

- Mags Deane

Relationships: GO where the JUICE is!

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A friend of mine was talking about issues around dating on FB. I started writing and i just kept writing: I kept it up for awhile ; )

Below are a few of the ideas I have about 'dating' I feel something bubbling up in my ministry in this arena: don't know how it will come out, yet... I think starting the relationship FB group is a step in that direction as well ; )

**

When 'dating' I educate potential partners about who I am and where I come from, I share myself, I set Very Clear boundaries and expectations: I want this and not that, 'I want to snuggle but I don't want to be sexual tonight', for example.

I believe the most important time to be honest with myself and with another about who I really am, is in the beginning of a relationship. I put it all right out there, some would say I try to scare folks away: but what I really do is get both of us to be excited about what 'works' and realistic about what does and doesn't *fit* as Fast as possible.

It is like a job interview, many folks go on 'dates' saying: oh pick me! and then be on best behavior, and try to do and say it 'right'. I have learned as both an employee and an employer: the potential *employee's* job in an interview is to find out:
- Will I fit in here?
- Does this company and position fit my needs?
- What are they looking for and is it a good personality and skills match for me?
- What are the short and long-term goals for this job, and how does that suit my short and long-term goals? etc.

As an interviewer, if someone comes in knowing who they are and what they want and is PROACTIVE about finding out about the company and the position and what would be expected of them = pretty much always I want to hire their ass! Because they are taking responsibility for themselves and their life and their career path and it is very likely they will take responsibility for the job and the things that need done, if I hire them: this is Very Attractive, personally and professionally!!

Similar things are true for a 'dating' situation: when I GO FOR what I want, what I need, what is fun for me, what is juicy; and I am clear about MY priorities: 'yes I want sex, but I want to feel safe first', or whatever: this is extremely attractive!

So I practice being 'myself in extreme' when 'dating' - we might not end up together, but I have fun, we both get value, and they know what they are getting or not getting very clearly. I am not stuck in: are they a good fit or not? I don't go to fantasy land, thinking: Maybe I could make myself fit in their box, Maybe they could fit in my box if i saw off an arm: that is complete BS! In my way of being, If I am not jazzed about them, and them about me, what is the point of that? The end-game makes no sense, IMO. If it is not an exciting fit, I bless them and I am on to the next juicy, authentic encounter.

If I am not comfortable with anything in the dating situation, I say so, and I say what would work better for me. If I don't think it will work out, I say so ASAP, and deal with the issues. One of the best jobs I have had, I kept telling the owner: I don't think this job is a good fit because x, y, z - and he kept coming back with a new offer because he saw in me the potential to assist his business. One of the sweetest lovers I've ever had, I turned down over and over; and he kept coming back and saying no: we can work out p, d & q. I am not saying to play games, or play hard to get, or any of that BS - I am saying the opposite: PLAY YOUR OWN GAME!

The 'dating' game is not about putting on my best face, and my sexiest outfit and being as NICE and ACCOMMODATING as I can be. This leads to Very Bad results: because someone ends up buying a 'package' and eventually has to find out somewhere along the way that they got a bait-and-switch! Eventually I need to be Myself (I pray this is true!) and then what??

Meanwhile, if I am trying to be something I am not, it is a lot of work, and not a lot of fun for anyone! And i have to be hyper-vigilant. And I can't receive love, affection or validation because I am too busy being someone I am not! Their true attraction for me cannot come IN because I know their affection is for my facade, not for ME! Aye, 'what a tangled web we weave...'

Meanwhile, while I am busy trying to match this one person's pictures of a perfect mate, or whatever - I am missing the chance to be treasured by some one who is GAGA Crazy over *ME* - my real, true self! Because if I do not let MYSELF out to Play, then *I* am not available to fall in love with! On the other hand, If I let my freak-flag fly and BE ME: THAT IS *VERY* ATTRACTIVE - I am warm and loving and fun, interesting and interested in them - etc - who wouldn't want to play with me??

I have been Very fortunate to be blessed with amazing partners throughout my adulthood. I always say when I am open to a new partner: although I cannot imagine it (because my past partners were amazing) but, my next partner will be even More Amazing - and it is true!!

I have always been larger than the average woman, and I am average looking, and average in many ways - not especially brilliant, or especially interesting to most people. Meanwhile, some of my acquaintances are surprised: 'you are fat, how are you with that great guy?' I swear this is what they say!

Well, I continue to let go of the lovely pictures my family and this society gave me that say: 'you Have to be (model) beautiful to be loved'. My mother actually said this to me growing up, and she meant well: she wanted the best for me and she believed I needed to get with the 'program' if I wanted to be loved. Her pictures are that I need to be thin, and fit, and appropriate, and dress well and be sexy, and cook and clean... and accommodate a LOT.

Well, I did get with the program - but a very different program than hers! I am a great cook, but I only do it when I feel like it. I rarely wear makeup, I don't iron, I dress... uniquely ; ) I am a terrible cleaner and only do it when i feel like it: which is not a lot. I am really awful at most of the things my mom, and many other people, think I need to DO and Be, IN ORDER to be loved...

And I think my mom is still amazed that I can be my unpolished, somewhat slovenly self and have such an amazing, delightful relationship with an awesome partner. I still think after Michael and I being together for over 16 years now, that she cocks her head in wonder at me - still kinda wondering: 'how did she pull this off' ; )

I am not saying any of this to get down on my Mom, she loves me, she just has very different pictures about how to live life than i do!!

Here are some of my pictures about how life works for me:
I hold on to the love of Gd, which shines out from me.
And I allow myself to love myself, the best I can.
And I let Gd continue to teach me to let others love me: even when I don't live up to my own or society's pictures about beauty or whatever.

And, if I let go of I'M FAT and trip on it as little as possible, most people can let go of it too!! I think Guys especially get a really bad rap: 'oh, Men are bad, they only want young, thin, perfect little creatures'. Of course there are women who only want a certain body-type as well... Great they can play together and hope no one gets sick or hurt or old ; )

So, for some this is true. But for many this is absolutely Not true. Folks want a lot more in a relationship then some perfect facade.

The truth is, after a while, whomever I love is beautiful to me: regardless of the big nose or the pot belly - their bodies are absolutely precious to me. PRECIOUS.

And another fact is: humans can get used to almost anything, very quickly: SO I start dating, IDK, George Clooney or Andie McDowell tomorrow - in a couple months or years, they will be just another person to me: someone who snuggles in bed and leaves toothpaste in the sink, and who I sometimes love and sometimes hate - just normal everyday life... Not, OMG, I am sleeping with a dreamboat! Because this we can count on: we can learn to take almost anything for granted ; )

There are sweet spots, and delightful, as well as annoying, idiosyncrasies about each person - count on it - no one is a completely perfect fit - it just matters if they are annoyances that I can live with!

But, to get back to the point, if I walk around saying THEY won't love me until I am Blah, blah, blah (until I am thin with long hair - or whatever ; ) Well, then, um, they won't love me until I am thin with long hair! It is impossible for anyone to get Through that Barrier - MY BARRIER! And I am not likely to be thin with long hair any time in the next month - probably this lifetime... so until then; I might as well go play with the body I've got!!

My point is, when I get out of my own way, and start ALLOWING Love Now, then that is what I get: Love. Now.

There is spiritual work that really assists me with this. I am constantly babbling about this, so I won't add this now ; )

Anyway, here is the bottom line:
I have been a relationship coach for about 20 years, off and on, and I always tell folks: just GO where the JUICE is!
- Who are you attracted to (in whatever way, man or woman) go THERE and play!
- What situation or activities are JUICY for you - go there and play!
- and BE JUICED about it all!

While you are at it:
- BE wildly authentic.
- Allow the Universe to provide.
- Love yourself, and allow love IN.

It comes down to: FOLLOW YOUR BLISS, wherever she leads...
LIFE will open to you, Doors will open to you, Friends and Delights will open to you. Love will open to you... Bet on It!!


Happy weekend - w
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Some Fruit of Life: Beautiful & Brave

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The quote below is really one big paragraph: I formatted it for emphasis and readability:

We must assume our existence
as broadly as we in any way can;
everything, even the unheard-of, must be possible in it.
That is at bottom the only courage that is demanded of us:
to have courage for
the most strange,
the most singular and
the most inexplicable that we may encounter.

That mankind has in this sense been cowardly
has done life endless harm;
the experiences that are called "visions,"
the whole so-called "spirit-world,"
death,
all those things that are so closely akin to us,
have by daily parrying been so crowded out of life
that the senses with which we could have grasped them
are atrophied.
To say nothing of God.

But fear of the inexplicable
has not alone impoverished the existence of the individual;
the relationship between one human being and another
has also been cramped by it,
as though it had been lifted
out of the riverbed of endless possibilities
and set down in a fallow spot on the bank,
to which nothing happens.
For it is not inertia alone
that is responsible for human relationships
repeating themselves from case to case,
indescribably monotonous and unrenewed:
it is shyness before any sort of new, unforeseeable experience
with which one does not think oneself able to cope.

But only someone who is ready for everything,
who excludes nothing,
not even the most enigmatical,
will live the relation to another as something alive
and will himself draw exhaustively from his own existence.

For if we think of this existence of the individual
as a larger or smaller room,
it appears evident that most people learn to know
only a corner of their room,
a place by the window,
a strip of floor on which they walk up and down.
Thus they have a certain security.

And yet that dangerous insecurity is so much more human
which drives the prisoners in Poe's stories
to feel out the shapes of their horrible dungeons
and not be strangers to the unspeakable terror of their abode.

We, however, are not prisoners.
No traps or snares are set about us,
and there is nothing which should intimidate or worry us.
We are set down in life
as in the element to which we best correspond,
and over and above this we have
through thousands of years of accommodation
become so like this life,
that when we hold still we are,
through a happy mimicry,
scarcely to be distinguished from all that surrounds us.

We have no reason to mistrust our world,
for it is not against us.
Has it terrors, they are our terrors;
has it abysses, those abuses belong to us;
are dangers at hand, we must try to love them.

And if only we arrange our life
according to that principle which counsels us
that we must always hold to the difficult,
then that which now still seems to us the most alien
will become what we most trust and find most faithful.

How should we be able to forget
those ancient myths about dragons
that at the last moment turn into princesses;
perhaps all the dragons of our lives are princesses
who are only waiting to see us once beautiful and brave.
Perhaps everything terrible is in its deepest being
something helpless that wants help from us.
- Rainer Maria Rilke

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The Power of Play

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I just read an article that I found encouraging: Play Power: How to Turn Around Our Creativity Crisis by Laura Seargeant Richardson

This is the crux of it, IMO:

Someday, rather than measuring memorization as an indicator of progress, we will measure our children's ability to manipulate (deconstruct and hack), morph (think flexibly and be tolerant of change), and move (think "with their hands" and play productively). Standardized aptitude tests will be replaced by our abilities to see (observe and imagine), sense (have empathy and intrinsic motivation), and stretch (think abstractly and systemically). We will advance our abilities to collaborate and create.

To reap the rewards of these abilities, we must set aside the myth that play and work are two separate things. Play should be our greatest work, as it is the biggest driver of innovation.

This quote reminded me of my niece Amy.

As soon as she learns a thing, she barely has the basics and she is already running out of the 'box' with it - building on it. I live across the country and don't see her often, but this aspect of her personality is very clear (and dear) to me.

For example: I sing a lot in daily life. There was a frog in the playground, so I was singing to Amy while playing on the swings: "I'm in love with a big blue frog, a big blue for loves me... " She'd heard the song a few times and the next time I saw her, she sang it with me, most of the words anyway... And Then she immediately started making up a new song, from her Mom's POV, about her mom's relationship with her partner: "I'm in love with a big, brown worm" with half the old words and half new words - telling me why each new part was delightfully relevant to her mom's unique, loving relationship. I was blown away: first by Amy's powers of observation and ability to 'stand in someone else's shoes.' And secondly, by her drive to start improvising; WELL Before she is done (IMO) learning the original...

Another example - I used to play 'car', and 'flying angel' and 'jumping devil' with my sister, Amy's mom, when we were little (I was 6 years older): with her riding on my knees and my feet and sailing and jumping around in the air. I have played this game with Amy a few times. And again, she is barely balanced and barely safe doing the usual 'moves' - and she is off and running: improvising new maneuvers: sideways, jumping off the side, coming on and off from the bed beside us (instead of the floor), and all kinds of unplanned, unanticipated (by me) antics. I work with her on communication and safety as best I can (I am old and broken so it challenges me, and she is only 6.5 years old and doesn't yet know She can be broken) so i try to find a happy medium that is relatively safe and relatively freedom-providing for both of us... and I am amazed: she comes up with a new thing, barely gets it (IMO) and is on to the next new thing - absolutely inspirational.

It amazes me how her play is SO original: so running for the 'edge' and right on past it into amazing creativity.

Reminds me of some of the adults I know (who also happen to be ADD-labeled) and what a joy it is to interact with them, because it is fun and because it helps me learn new 'tricks'. For example, my partner Michael loves to play with words, he is very lexy. And what I have found over the course of our relationship is that first my ability to Enjoy his word-play increased and, secondly, my ability to play with words Myself is increasing as well.

Awesome note to self: playing with those who play well, increases my own creativity. Even old dogs can learn new tricks as well as rediscover lost/squashed freedom and joy!

Meanwhile, I feel frustrated about the way our systems are designed to minimize movement as well as personal creativity. Many kids are not designed to sit inside, at desks, being socialized to be still and be 'good' all day. Some adults are not designed to sit at a desk, looking at a computer screen all day. Yet, for many of us, that is the drill.

How long is Amy going to keep accessing her mind-blowing creativity when she is constantly and consistently encouraged/rewarded to sit down, shut up and stay in the box most of the time? Particularly when she is actively punished, so often, when she breaks out of that box in creative self-expression, playfulness and movement of her body, as well as her mind and spirit. Honestly, I don't know how she has kept the freedom she has for so long. Bless her, unfortunately she is showing signs of wear - tightness and holding in her body, feeling like a square-peg in a round hole, acting-out. The pressures she is under from her teachers, peers and family to conform are enormous. Most everyone who cares about her is praying that she will 'get with the program' and conform; which is completely understandable given the world in which we live, but saddening.

I do what I can to support her to continually increase her internal senses, focus and self-discipline, so she can act in increasing accord with her enlightened self interest. This way she can play her own game more, and get played by the games around her less. I pray this for all the kids I love, for all of us...

Meanwhile, I am in good company to believe that the hope for playful creativity is stifled by our current social, educational, and even religious structures: every way we turn, conformity is the name of the game. Amy's creativity will continue to be undermined... AND by grace she will keep some potion of the playfulness and joy that she is, that she has.

And fortunately, each day, each of us has a chance to open, again, to the freedom that is our birthright, as well as the hope of each new generation. We adults have choices, paths ARE open to us now, even if they were closed to us in our youth. Today, let us be the play we wish to see in the world, as we can... WE can change the quality of our lives and our world.
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The Blessing of Embodiment

Days Like This - Van Morrison

When it's not always raining there'll be days like this
When there's no one complaining there'll be days like this
When everything falls into place like the flick of a switch
Well my mama told me there'll be days like this

When you don't need to worry there'll be days like this
When no one's in a hurry there'll be days like this
When you don't get betrayed by that old Judas kiss
Oh my mama told me there'll be days like this

When you don't need an answer there'll be days like this
When you don't meet a chancer there'll be days like this
When all the parts of the puzzle start to look like they fit
Then I must remember there'll be days like this

When everyone is up front and they're not playing tricks
When you don't have no freeloaders out to get their kicks
When it's nobody's business the way that you wanna live
I just have to remember there'll be days like this

When no one steps on my dreams there'll be days like this
When people understand what I mean there'll be days like this
When you ring out the changes of how everything is
Well my mama told me there'll be days like this

Oh my mama told me
There'll be days like this
Oh my mama told me
There'll be days like this
Oh my mama told me
There'll be days like this
Oh my mama told me

this reminds me of the famus poem in Ecclesiastes, which also became many songs, this one famous

Ecclesiastes 3:1 - 8, YLT

To everything -- a season, and a time to every delight under the heavens:

A time to bring forth, And a time to die.
A time to plant, And a time to eradicate the planted.

A time to slay, And a time to heal,
A time to break down, And a time to build up.

A time to weep, And a time to laugh.
A time to mourn, And a time to skip.

A time to cast away stones, And a time to heap up stones.
A time to embrace, And a time to be far from embracing.

A time to seek, And a time to destroy.
A time to keep, And a time to cast away.

A time to rend, And a time to sew.
A time to be silent, And a time to speak.

A time to love, And a time to hate.
A time of war, And a time of peace.

I have been speaking to a friend quite a bit lately about how the needs and experience of the body is an important aspect of our life on this planet and our spiritual growth. 

Yes, we are spirit in a body. 

And yes, it is very important to honor our spiritual perspective, our spiritual growth, our spiritual communication, information, senses, abilities and gifts... 

to grow into our spiritual power, creativity and seniority.

In the circles I run in, the spiritual focus gets a lot of 'airtime' as well as practice and focus, as well it should! 

Because the world we live in (our families, our society, our churches, our friends, our jobs, our culture...) 

is almost 100% physically-focused, almost 100% of the time. 

It serves us  to find our spiritual center and hold it, 

which, like riding a bike, is EASY once we get it, 

and looks like falling down A LOT, until until we get it ; )

Personally, I don't know almost anyone who holds that spiritual center easily, yet. 

I am fortunate to play with folks who are, 

(as Paul of the Christian bible says) being diligent (other versions say: earnest endeavour, labour, hasten, strong desire, strive) 

"to enter into that rest".

And amoung us, it is easy to give short-shrift to our bodies; 

even as we focus on being spirit IN A BODY. 

The theory goes, we are here in a body, to learn,to grow, to evolve. 

The end of the evolution is, to become Masters (as our fore-runners, Ascended Masters like Lao-Tzu, Buddha, Jesus...). 

What is interesting to me is, we are ALL spirit, a part of Gd; 

what sets us souls apart: 

we who are still here on the Earth, 

we are not yet experiencing REST as the center of our being. 

I have noticed the Masters have ALL learned what we have not: 

to have the body in alignment - come into joyful, easful alignment with Spirit. 

Each of the Ascended Masters learned to love their embodied life and embody their spiritual path. 

 The Masters mastered the Earth game - so they are onto new games. 

(This makes them AWESOME friends, healers, guides for US, BTW ; )

I don't want to miss this point: 

We are ALREADY spirit, 

all the riches and beauty of all time and space are already ours. 

We are already ONE with Gd and with ALL. 

The POINT of the earth game is not to be spirit, or to be spiritual: 

the Point of being in a body, is to learn to be spirit in BODY. 

To comfortably master:
- surviving and thriving in this reality;
- dancing with our emotions and the flow of our sexuality;
- holding our power and directing our will;
- savoring our connection with the Earth, our relationship between us as spirit and our bodies, our connections with all our relations, our oneness with Gd, All That Is;
- creating the stories we live in and enjoying our communication with all within us and around us;
- being the Light on the Mountaintop: seeing and being seen clearly, staying with the Body as a Light in the world;

- being still here now with - and Knowing God, our Source - our truth, life, light, love, way...

and walking IN this, REALizing Spirit in our World.

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We are not just humans learning to become Buddhas, 

but also Buddhas waking up in human form, 

learning to become fully human. 

These two tracks of development can mutually enrich each other. 

~John Welwood

About Me

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✫*¨*.¸¸.✶*✫*¨*.¸¸.✶*¨✫*¨*.¸¸.✶*¨.¸¸ . ✶*¨*.

This is my intention for myself (and to support all who choose) to:

BE my True Self
SHINE my Beautiful Light
DANCE my Unique Journey
LIVE my Direct Body & Spirit Truth
CELEBRATE my Oneness with The Beloved

I am in the Healing, Learning, Creative Life Process
of Allowing internal Unfolding of BEING
and external Evolvement of CREATING.

I would love for myself (and all who choose) to play this game,
to consciously engage this Delightful and Challenging Dance
with ease, in grace, through joy...

✫*¨*.¸¸.✶*✫*¨*.¸¸.✶*¨✫*¨*.¸¸.✶*¨.¸¸ . ✶*¨*.

I provide Support and Services for those who resonate with this trajectory.
ReNew You! is my vehicle to serve others on this path, as well as continue in my own:

Transformation of my Inner Life
and the Creativity of my Outer Life

I use the following types of Tools and Pathways in my co-creative, holistic ministry:

* Meditation Training & Coaching,

* Spiritual Direction & Counseling,

* Psychic Reading, Healing & Support,

* Clairvoyance / Intuition Development,

* as well as Body/Energy Work (Massage).

If you know anyone looking for a Spiritual Counselor, Teacher, Healer or Reader, I would appreciate the Referral.

✫*¨*.¸¸.✶*✫*¨*.¸¸.✶*¨✫*¨*.¸¸.✶*¨.¸¸ . ✶*¨*.

Also, I have initiated this network in NJ (and intend to begin one in Seattle-area, soon): New Jersey Nexus

This is a Professional Development, Networking & Mutual Support Group AND Event Planning Organization for NJ-area Spiritual & Wellness Professionals. We desire to Serve the NJ area with Spiritual & Wellness Services AND to Grow Awareness of the value of Spiritual & Wellness services for individuals and communities.

✫*¨*.¸¸.✶*✫*¨*.¸¸.✶*¨✫*¨*.¸¸.✶*¨.¸¸ . ✶*¨*.

Some personal info about me:

* I live in beautiful Seattle with my partner Michael. I am blessed to visit my family, friends, and students in New Jersey (mostly NJ Shore) 3 - 4 times per year (~ 1/5 of my time), and to travel to other places, where I am 'called' to teach and serve.

* I also work "fill-in coverage" in 2 positions in which I used to work every day in Seattle, WA: Operations Manager, for a small, local company; and as a Doctor's Assistant, for a Naturopathic Physician.

* I invest a lot of my energy / attention in my spiritual practice, healing & development, and relationship with the Beloved / Spirit / Gd / All-That-Is. In my ministry, I encourage folks to do the same - each in our own unique way… and provide tools and support to do so.

* Energy left? I love to play in Momma Nature!!!

✫*¨*.¸¸.✶*✫*¨*.¸¸.✶*¨✫*¨*.¸¸.✶*¨.¸¸ . ✶*¨*.

Some FaceBook Links:

I post and interact on FB - if anyone would like to connect there as well, here is my page.

rEvolution begins Here, Now... Transformation from the Inside, Out... Let's BE the Change we wish to see in the world:  Soul rEvolution!

Share perspectives about Connection in all phases of our human experience: spiritual, physical, emotional, rational, relational, sexual... within self, as well as in relation to the Earth, with others and with Spirit:
All My Relations: Relationships & God: Communication, Intimacy, Sex, Spirit


Experiencing God directly and opening to our spiritual senses is the Way. Calling all Mystics, and Christians who are open to the Gifts of the Spirit: Seers, Psychics, Intuitives, Prophets, Healers, Contemplatives - let's play together!

Make Connections with NJ-area Spiritual &/or Wellness Service Providers. Share Spiritual &/or Wellness events, networking, biz dev: anything to encourage the growth and understanding of Spiritual &/or Wellness-related services.

referrals and networking at FB-centric Stik
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