Seek Only the Barriers to Love

A member in the audience of a talk philosopher J. Krishnamurti was giving in 1964 asked a question, “Why do we love our mothers so much?” To which J. Krishnamurti responded with, “Do you love your mother if you hate your father? When you love somebody very much, do you exclude others from that love? If you really love your mother, don’t you also love your father, your aunt, your neighbor? Don’t  you have the feeling of love first, then the love of someone in particular? Can you be considerate of your mother if you are not being considerate of also another? Otherwise, you don’t really love your mother, it is just a word, a convenience.”

Another mentor I have in my life often says, ”Teach only love, because that is who you really are. Everything else is false, or the ego, or based in fear.” If you think about it, everyone is a teacher. Every single one of us. From little babies to the elderly, there is not a single person who...

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Happy RENEW Year

Just when you thought the cascade of “Happy New Year” wishes had dried up, here I am to wish you not just a Happy New Year but in fact a Happy RENEW Year!

For my part this year feels like a year to reset, reboot and relaunch! The past 18 months have been an incredible and intense journey on levels that I can’t get into in one single blog. Suffice to say that I have referred to this past year a lot like Charles Dickens in the opening lines of his classic, A Tale of Two Cities, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times”!

However, what I can say is that rather than a new year’s resolution, I chose to set an intention, and that intention is to make 2018 a year to RENEW!

To RENEW health, relationships, faith, connection to spirit, intuition and the voice of God.

To RENEW and remember that I possess innate peace and power within me. Everyone does. It is a power that can never be taken away. It has never been taken away. It has only ever been...

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Ditch the Drag & Transform 2018

Have you ever noticed sometimes your computer slows down? You check to see if you are still connected to wifi? You might delete some files, or close out some windows. Software needs an update? Or are too many programs running in the background?

A heavyweight lifter who has trained to lift 300 lbs, doesn’t just walk up to a 600 lb barbell and lift it without injury. No one, in their right mind that is, would ever buy a newborn baby a bicycle.

A few years ago the principle of “drag” was explained to me. In aerodynamics, it is the mechanical force that helps an airplane take off, land, even stay up in the air. But the drag has to be just right, or none of those things will occur. Some drag is good, but too much drag will not let an airplane even take off!

Our minds are like the world wide web, in a constant “browse” mode. Browsing our thoughts from the past, thoughts about the future and ever so rarely we pause for what is in the present. Staying in the...

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I Recently Had a Life-Changing Experience...

I'd like to start this post by saying thank you to all of you who have been with me on my journey and who have contributed your love and light to my life along the way. Your presence is appreciated more than you could ever possibly know.

So recently, I attended a seminar as I have numerous times over the past 20+ years. I came into the seminar with the limited expectation of receiving some amazing training, maybe doing a little networking, and then quietly going home. That is so NOT what happened.  It was at this seminar that I was shaken to my core. I was given the opportunity to step out of my comfort zone and do something I have never, ever done in the over 20 years I have spent in my work. This was truly a life-changing experience for me. Click on the video below and listen as I share my experience with you.

 

Have you ever had a similar experience? What are the areas in your life where you feel you could be more kind, loving, and patient with yourself? Feel free to...

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These MCCS Students Know How to Stand Up to Bullying

Many of you are parents, like me. We all know how devastating bullying can be in our schools. Just read the news and you'll see stories of families who have been torn apart by young ones committing suicide due to the effects of being bullied at school. Schools should be a place where all children feel safe and accepted; where they are free to share their thoughts and feelings and should never be afraid of being made to feel that they are less than others or not good enough.

Recently, I had the opportunity to work with a group of amazing children from Middleburg Community Charter School and together we came up with an incredible Bullying Prevention video.  In this video, children share their heartwrenching stories of how bullying has affected their lives. They talk about how bullying made them feel and discuss how, when they were bullied by others, it made them stop and think about whether or not they had unintentionally bullied others or made others feel sad. Teachers...

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Coming Home to the Heart: Beginning to Heal

Unless you've been living under a rock, you've heard about the numerous recent scandals concerning sexual abuse and harassment in Hollywood, D.C., pretty much everywhere. Women have stayed silent for decades, enduring years of heartache, guilt, and shame. I know how they feel. I've been there, and now I want to share a portion of my book Coming Home to the Heart that perfectly describes this time in my life:

"I have seen support groups for survivors of abuse and watched online forums as well to see how participants interact with each other. Decades after the abuse, there is still unprocessed anger and shame. There is still the “me against the abuser” rhetoric. I find that such groups of people gravitate toward one another. We love what is familiar even if it is painful, usually because even those things that cause pain may seem safer than the unknown. The repeated use of the terms “victim” and “survivor” continue to foster feelings of...

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The Essential Indestructible Self

“Only to the extent that we expose ourselves over and over to annihilation can that which is indestructible in us be found.”

― Pema Chödrön

I have been on a journey of recovery, healing, and transformation most of my life. There is no destination on this journey, no “arriving”. There is awareness and an awakening to the truth of who you really are and once that happens you can’t look the other way. You know there is more, and so you put one foot in front of the other and move yourself forward one day at a time.

We have all had our hearts broken at least once if not many times. On some level, most people experience some form of trauma, betrayal, pain or heartache. I have recently been finding my art and poetry from 20-25 years ago and am hoping that it might bring hope and healing to some on this similar journey…

This was one of those times that I found my heart went through annihilation yet again:

 

The Essential Self

 

I...

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The Trauma, Truth and Triumph of Transformation

I have found that my life has been on a journey on a lazy river of recovery and transformation for most of my life. And along this journey, I have encountered all three – trauma, truth, and triumph.

Lately, I have found myself writing a lot more and I feel like sharing some of it here with you today. In moments of my awakening and shifts, I write. When I am moved, sad or shedding my scales, I write. I find deep healing and transformation occurs for me when I do this. I find access to happiness and peace through writing. There are times it literally feels unrealistic that I could go from one diametrically opposite state of being and feeling to another. But something shifts once I have written, and I feel renewed. In this piece of writing below this happened once again for me and I lived through the trauma, truth and triumph all in this stream of consciousness. There truly are infinite opportunities for healing. Here is Choices:

Choices

I could go on and on about the pain
About...

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Be a Light Unto Yourself

The last words of Gautama the Buddha on the earth were: Be a light unto yourself. Do not follow others, do not imitate, because imitation, following, creates stupidity. You are born with a tremendous possibility of intelligence. You are born with a light within you. Listen to the still, small voice within, and that will guide you. Nobody else can guide you, nobody else can become a model for your life because you are unique. Nobody has there ever been who was exactly like you, and nobody is ever going to be there again who will be exactly like you. This is your glory, your grandeur -- that you are utterly irreplaceable, that you are just yourself and nobody else. -- Osho, Indian mystic

I was reminded of this quote because of late I have been experiencing a shift in perception. I can go back 30 years at least, and vividly remember instances where the rug got pulled out from under my feet and I felt alone, ashamed and worthless. It became really important for me to be accepted and...

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What Would You Have Me Do?

I wrote this “prayer” this morning. The words began pouring through as I was waking up, which seemed like at least an hour before even my alarm rang at 5:30....thank you for holding me in your love, light, and hearts....


What Would You Have Me Do?

Sometimes there is nothing more to do than surrender
Flipping, flopping, and floundering has no use
The struggle is useless
The suffering is pointless
All there is to do is surrender to the WILL of God
And ask a direct question - What Would You Have Me Do?

What would you have me do?
Because my mind is limited and not unconditioned and free from my own small thinking.
What may I do to be more miracle-minded, because that’s what I need today?    

 

What would you have me say?
Because the words that come out of this mouth are false when I am flustered with fear and terror and not receiving the purity of love that flows from you, my creator.
My words are not always kind as they are riddled with doubt and I begin...

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