- You can never destroy the essence of who you are which is pure being, you can only postpone your awareness to your own magnificence.
- Our awakening to our hearts just a little more each day is the only real job we have on earth.
- When you listen to the deepest calling of your soul, and align your life with your essence, miracles happen.
These Things I Know to be True
What I know to be true is no matter how turbulent the roller coaster of life seems to be, or however many times I swing from one emotional high, to any emotional low, this life is a precious gift of experience I honor and treasure - no matter what form it appears to take. I know that whatever I know is only a point of view based on a past history of experiences, with every single point of view hiding in the minds of all, being equally unique and valid to their past, as similar or as different as it…
- There is a magnificent life that is waiting for you to wake up and remember who you are and why you are here.
- Tune into your heart, and explore your part!
Living the Downward Way – Through the Senses to the One
To truly know what it means to be human, to feel fully alive, is to deepen awareness of our interconnectedness with the greater web of life. This awareness is innate; we are born with it. But as we are indoctrinated into the social and technical complexities of the industrialized world, maintaining that awareness requires conscious effort. Our innate human senses are dulled by the assault of distracting forces in our hyperactive, social-technological systems. Such is life in the human-built world. But life can be richer, more glorious and refined, when we use our eyes, ears, nose and skin to return…
The Next Step in the Mindfulness Revolution
We can stop the busy mind and come into our calm heart. Instead of always thinking, our awareness can be open, soft, and present. No matter what are the circumstances of our day, the details, frustrations, and desires do not need to constantly occupy and overflow the river of our awareness. We do not need to live in constant stress. Meditation can bring us to the beauty of the moment, simple, and free. There is an alternative to our minds constantly on the go. There is simple peace. Meditation brings us back to the river of our own being without…
10 Truths That Will Change Your Life
1. If this were your last day, what would you want to be experiencing? How often do we spend our days recounting our hurts, how we were wronged, what we don’t have, what is stressing us, and how we were disappointed? Choose instead in every moment to experience joy, love, happiness, laughter, connection, and creativity. 2. Pain comes from expecting a dog to be a cat. A dog is going to be a dog. Accept people for who and how they are, not who and how you want them to be. In doing so, both of you will find release,…
Flowing With The River Of Life
Imagine walking through the woods when suddenly you begin to hear the sounds of running water. The sound touches you like music. It calls to you. Then imagine coming out of the trees and finding yourself standing on the banks of a stream that is cascading over moss-covered boulders. Pause for a moment and allow that image to nourish you. Why does moving water touch us so deeply? It may be because water flows! To watch a river is to see a glimpse into what Life is really like – a great river of dancing energy that has been flowing and…
How To Be Held By The Earth
Spring has arrived, and I invite you to take some time in this magical season to truly connect with the Earth. You are the Earth. Your bones are made out of particles that were once a part of mountains. Your cells are surrounded and penetrated by the ocean. The breath that moves through you once moved through mighty cedar trees and baby pandas. And all the plants and herbs that you partake of come from a love affair with the sun! To connect with the Earth is to remember that you are a part of the mysterious and awesomely creative…
3 Quick Ways to Access Your Inner Guru
While I have many teachers I am grateful for and whom I have learned priceless lessons from, I know that my own inner Guru is the most powerful teacher of all. When we begin to love and trust ourselves enough to tap into our intuition and Higher Consciousness, which has access to unlimited knowledge, we can truly begin to know and trust ourselves at a much deeper level and be the most powerful and trustworthy Guru we will ever find. There are many talented teachers, and I believe even one sentence in some cases from a teacher can in fact…
Honoring Stephen Levine
Stephen Levine, who is one of the most amazing hearts on our planet, died on Sunday, January 17, 2016. I am filled with gratitude for his presence and how much he helped so many of us to see through our stories and come home to our hearts. In honor of his life and how deeply he changed mine, I want to share with you an experience I wrote about after I came back from a retreat led by Stephen in 1985. I had been at a 10-day workshop with Stephen, a skilled teacher of consciousness and author of many books on…
An Invitation For The New Year
It's that time of the year again…that time when you pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and decide how you want your life to be in the new year. We call this a New Year’s resolution. Now I ask you, have your resolutions ever really worked? We keep on rising to the challenge of resolutions and yet in the past, most of them have faded by the middle of January! The reason why they don’t work is in the definition of the word resolution: “a firm decision to do or not to do something.” Resolutions are all about doing because they are made…
How To Be Compassionate With Your Compulsions
My friend, Jane, has a very high pressure job, plus she travels a lot. On a Friday morning recently, she arose feeling stressed and anxious about her weekend trip out-of-town. When she got to work, she had a conversation with one of her co-workers that did not go well. Then, when she got to the airport, she discovered that her plane was delayed for many hours. Jane had a traumatic childhood and has struggled with overeating for much of her life. So what did she do to soothe her anxiety and stress? She ate. Then she got angry and berated…
Exercises to Develop Your Attention Muscles
Stephen Levine, author and spiritual teacher, once told me that focused human attention is as powerful as taking a magnifying glass and putting it right above a leaf with the sun shining through it. Even weak winter sun will start a fire on the leaf. In other words, focused human attention is phenomenally powerful. Focused attention is the ability to have your attention and your immediate experience come together. How do you bring these two things together? It begins with curiosity. Curiosity is becoming interested in what is going on right here right now without needing it to be any different…
As Is, I’m Here
During a weekend recently three big challenges came up for me and and I used one of my favorite mantras over and over again, “As Is, I’m Here.” Saying “As Is” reminds you of the willingness to allow yourself to be exactly as you are in this moment. It invites you to let go of struggling with whatever is (your usual mode), so you can move into the place of healing that comes from allowing yourself to be exactly as you are. “I’m Here” reminds you to be keenly attentive to what is, in a way that invites your heart to be open to…
Harry’s Perfect Moment, A Tale of Practical Enlightenment
It was a Monday morning and Harry swung his legs over the side of the bed. He knew something was different, but he had no idea that today he would have a “perfect” moment. Donning his cotton robe, Harry made his way to the kitchen and started his day like he always did by preparing breakfast for his wife and two young sons. He got out the usual supplies – knife, cutting board, bowl and fruit – and laid them on the butcher-block center island. Suddenly the morning took a new twist. There was a break in his routine. The…
Welcome Yourself Exactly As You Are
Welcoming means accepting yourself exactly as you are and also accepting life exactly as it unfolds. It is the ability to allow all of it, including all the parts of yourself and your life that you don’t like, and letting it all flow without getting hooked into the stories created by your mind. Welcoming is not trying to make your life any different than it is. Easier said than done, right? I know it's not always easy to welcome and accept life, especially your challenges, because you have been conditioned to continuously judge yourself and others. This is the inner voice…
Do You See What You’re Missing?
My eyesight, or lack thereof, has always taught me lessons. Back in 2008 and in my recent book, From Type A to Type Me: How to Stop “Doing” Life and Start Living It, I shared my experiences of having poor eyesight before receiving my first glasses. I learned a lot about myself through my microscopic view of the world due to my near-sightedness. Then, once I had the right glasses, I began to see the beauty and interconnectedness of the world. Now my eyes are ready to teach me the next lesson. A few years back I received Lasik surgery. For…
How You can Find Healing that Lasts
How would your life change if you trusted that your challenges are a part of your journey home – back to yourself and back to Life – instead of feeling that your challenges are here because you have done something wrong or you are being punished or God fell asleep on the job? What would happen if your illness, your difficult relationship, your demanding boss, your compulsions, and maybe even your troublesome dog were showing up in your life to help you heal? The healing you long for comes when you discover how to play the warmer, warmer/colder, colder game. Remember that…