The Power of Sixty Little Seconds

...not for a minute, do I believe...

“I’m not saying anything that hasn’t been supported by science up until this point. The whole right hemisphere, left hemisphere possibilities, this has been an argument for over 200 years,” she says. “All I am doing is feeding fuel to a fire that has been going on for hundreds of years and it’s very exciting because now people are ready to hear it. People are ready to hear, ‘I am not just this, and I am not just that.’

Jill Bolte Taylor

I was driving in the car with my family last Friday headed to one of the many, many graduations we will attend this spring.  We were having a lively conversation, and I heard myself say the phrase, "not for a minute, do I believe." Truth be told, I am now unable to recall what I didn't believe, because in that moment, it ceased to be relevant. What was of impact, and I have been struck by this fact more than once, was that I had spoken the truth.

I have a theory, and I have begun to write them down, that we speak the truth more often than we realize.  And in speaking the truth, in being re-minded of the world of wisdom we possess, we are uniquely and effortlessly guided as to where to put our attention. And I am going a step further and say that, not only are we being guided as to where to put our attention, but for how long.

Let me break this down.

We have not one mind, but two or two hundred for that matter. To keep it simple, let's just start with two minds or as they are referred to in many scientific journals, our two brains.  Now, for the last six years, my right brain has had my undivided attention. More about undivided in a moment. Because, the undivided brain is an empowered brain.

Many people think they have, what I will call for the purpose of this discussion, a competitive mind. The perception is having a  mind that is in constant conflict.  Not surprisingly, we see a great deal of competition and consternation in our day-to-day lives. It is literally how one of our minds is wired. Imagine a team playing tug-of-war inside your head, pulling towards some imaginary goal line, to score a point, or capture the flag. Now, stack that team with the biggest, strongest and fastest and you have an idea how your left mind can dominate if it thinks it's a competition.  Here is an amazing illustration of the minds as imaged by a new Mercedes Benz campaign.  It illustrates the point beautifully...and literally.

Notice the differences in the image below.  See how many more words are associated with the left brain image than the right. Now, remember the tug-of-war analogy? Notice the contrast, in almost every way, between the left and right brain.  Wow, I believe the phrase, a picture is worth a thousand words is apt here.  Note how many more words were used on the left side. Here's why.

Malcolm Gladwell, in his insight-filled book Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking, describes the two minds in action. The experiential right mind doesn't 'think' in words, but in pictures.  For example, facial recognition is an automatic and what Gladwell calls an example of unconscious cognition. We don't think in words about recognizing a face. We process that information in a visual, symbolic way.  Actually, the act of describing the face lowers our ability to recognize the face again, and here's why. 


"The psychologist Jonathan W. Schooler, who pioneered research on this effect, calls it verbal overshadowing. Your brain has a part, the left hemisphere, that thinks in words and a part, the right hemisphere, that thinks in pictures.  What happens when you described the face in words was that your actual visual memory was displaced.  Your thinking was bumped from the right to the left. By forcing you to verbalize that memory, to explain yourself, I separate you from those instincts.


There is substantial research to show that the part of our brain that thinks in words does this so much faster than the part that thinks in pictures.  Biologist Bruce Lipton says that some researchers estimate that the subconscious mind is processing about 40 million bits of information in the same time frame that the conscious mind can process only 40.

Therefore, it is first vital that we pay attention to all the ways the brain,  especially the RIGHT brain, gives us clues to what is important.  The right brain is cooperative, not competitive and the pictures, symbols, emotions, feelings, connections and associations made there can be of vital use to our word processing left brain.  However, it is first important to have what I call the cooperative mind.

Yes, cooperative, not competitive is how to tap in and harness the power of the whole brain or as Daniel Pink asserts in his book of the same name, A Whole New Mind.  The subtitle for this book is 'why right-brained thinking will rule the world.' And we have a great bridge already in place to create the connection for our two brains.  Meet the corpus callosum.

The corpus callosum is a bundle of nerves that connects the two hemispheres of the brain.  It's job, like all great facilitators, is to hold the space in between so that the two minds are able to communicate. Ah, sigh, relief, brain detente.  Houston, we have contact.

So, the next time you are having that tug-of-war, hot-tempered brain argument, stop, look and listen.  (A bit like stop, drop and roll, but this one keeps your mind from burning up.) Imagine that bridge between your brains trading information like bubble gum cards.  Relax, a whole new collection of insights and information is on its way.

Now, having this information is vital to understanding and appreciating how your mind, your WHOLE CORPUS CALLOSUM CONNECTED MIND works and plays.  So, now that you understand this, you can understand how the unconscious mind sends 40 million bits of information out your mouth every second.  My contention is this:   that is a lot of un-examined truth.

So, let's examine it.

As I shared at the start of the article, I said the phrase, not for a minute do I believe.  Research now shows that I have spoken the absolute truth whether I meant too or not.  Now, given that 88% of what is being process is from our sub-conscious mind, it makes a lot of sense to me to listen to what I say.  And what I find is that I speak truthfully, intuitively, and wisely more often than not.  And so do YOU.

Now, here is the second part of my theory at the start of the post.  There is significant research that shows that if you can or can't sustain a belief for 60 to 90 seconds, it will be harder to activate or suppress that thought. Think the Cowardly Lion in The Wizard of Oz (I do believe, I do believe, I do, I do, I do believe).  It is likely that there was sound scientific reasoning that he took his time to create his courage.

Really, the Cowardly Lion created his own mantra.  A mantra is "a sound, syllable, word or group of words that is considered capable of creating transformation".  Even if someone isn't familiar with the concept of a mantra, they are likely familiar with affirmations, intentions and the mother of them all, prayer.  I am likely speaking the truth once again when I used the phrase the mother of them all, that which gives birth to new strands of the same thread.

One of my top mind-flexing, green-thinking ready to read books is My Stroke of Insight by Jill Bolte Taylor.  I read this book at a time when I was going through a powerful transformation myself and the similarities in our experiences under vastly different circumstances was striking.  I use Jill's book as a primer for all the ways spiritually transformative experiences are happening here in the West.  And the power of sixty little seconds (and 90 seconds) are written about in Bolte-Taylor's memoir. Here is an excerpt that highlights the way we are guided to believe or not believe it for a minute.  Here is Jill's 90 second rule.

 “We can all learn that we can take full responsibility for what thoughts we are thinking and what emotional circuitry we are feeling. Knowing this and acting on this can lead us into feeling a wonderful sense of well-being and peacefulness. Whether it is my fear circuitry or my anger circuitry or even my joy circuitry – it is really hard to hold a good belly laugh for more than 90 seconds naturally. The 90-second rule is totally empowering. That means for 90 seconds, I can watch this happen, I can feel this happen and I can watch it go away. After that, if I continue to feel that fear or feel that anger, I need to look at the thoughts I am thinking that are re-stimulating that circuitry that is resulting in me having this physiology over and over again."



This idea of the power of sixty little seconds can be found in many practices, exercises and ideas in the work of other teachers.  Abraham-Hicks highlights this principle in some of their brilliant tools and techniques.  No matter how you are inspired or what you believe or don't believe, try it yourself.  Experiential learning is the most empowering tool in our evolutionary toolbox.

Begin to notice what you say, listen to yourself when you speak.  Your words have the power to change the way you think...the way you see your world.

In as little as sixty seconds.

A Dream of A Life

Our life is composed greatly from dreams, from the unconscious, and they must be brought into connection with action.  They must be woven together.

~Anais Nin

Opening Doors

When you follow your bliss...doors will open where you would not have thought there would be doors; and where there wouldn't have been a door for anyone else.

~Joseph Campbell

I have about five unfinished blog posts.

FIVE. 

One for every day of this INCREDIBLY BUSY WEEK.  All started, none finished.  

And you know what...I'm thrilled.


Painfully thrilled, maddenly thrilled, frustrating thrilled.

I love that there are so many ideas moving through me write now - WRITE NOW.  

There are so many ideas that  pop on the paper and then the writing process takes me down Alice's rabbit hole and out into Wonderland. Once in wonder-land, I realize that what I am writing is SO layered, SO complex and sooooooooooooo  ponderous that I can't find my way back out.

And I REALLY don't want you all to ponder quite so much with me.  So, I am re-working those five OTHER posts and bringing them back from that wonderous land of imagination.  

So, this is a simple post celebrating doors. I have been playing on Pinterest - http://pinterest.com/maryweltydapkus/ and I was moved to create a board about doors.  I love door images.  I always have. And today, the door image is the inspiration for this post.  

The door to unimaginable creativity opened up for me this month.

And I can't keep up.

The idea of KEEPING UP feels crummy, so I will keep it simple - I will keep IT alive and I will keep showing up...because as a wise man once said, commitment comes before success.  


So, I am committed to this write door to creation and I will keep showing up.  One door at a time.


What door opened for you today?

What are you committed to doing to bring your dreams into reality?

Here are the titles of those five unfinished Funny You Would Say That posts.  I'm curious which ones will make it back from Wonderland?

When a thing is wick, it will grow...

Energy Flows Where Attention Goes

Solving for X

Just call out my name

Inside the Intuitive's Studio

i spy with my little i

i to infinity

I spy with my little i...

The genesis of this post was the Martha Beck Summit for coaches last month in Phoenix.  As I shared in previous posts, the theme was the League of Extraordinary Coaches and the tag line was i^3:

 inspire + inform + integrate.  

On the flight home, my coaching partner, Keisha and I continued to brainstorm and two more i's were added to the list:  impact and investment.  Now, it was i⁵ power.

I was inspired by all these i's and I awoke a few days after the Summit with Buzz Lightyear's voice reverberating in my head:

...to infinity and b e y o n d.

Ding.

Ah, the power of that little i.

That BIG I can be an IDENTITY trap.

Little i is

still growing

still evolving

still.

Let freedom ring.

I created the poster above to begin this i to infinity and beyond experience.

So, let's begin the journey of i^∞.


I spy with my little i:

intuition + insight + initiative

What do you spy with your little i?

Share.

...to infinity and beyond.

The Difference a Be Makes

Be Focused

I was the guest speaker on Thursday night at the Meetup of my friend and fellow Martha Beck coach Keisha Gallegos.  She hosts a monthly East Bay Life Coaching Group.  Keisha has created that perfect blend of social connections and creative content for each gathering. She has attracted the most amazing group of women and I made some really wonderful connections.  I have a hunch that this South Bay girl will be heading east at least once a month.  

I was talking with one of the aforementioned amazing women on Thursday night, Shelia, who is a self-described emerging artist.  She made a comment that went something like this.


"I'm having a hard time focusing.  I have to get focused."

When she said this, I could feel how draining this thought was for her.  I wondered if it might take so much energy  to 'get focused' that there wouldn't be any energy left to do the things she desires. Now, instead of directing her energy into her amazing artwork, (see blog link below), the inability to focus  takes center stage.  Now there are two problems (I can't get focused and therefore I can't create artwork until I can get focused) and what feels like no solutions.  These loops in our thinking show up all the time. This becomes one of those syllogisms and the energy gets blocked in one part of the equation.

Let's solve for X.  

Here is how the intuitive mind works.  As Shelia is speaking, I feel the drain of the energy of this thought, this creative block and I see in a blink this image in my mind:  a stage with spotlights.

Ah, center stage. Front and center and in the spotlight.

I have a great deal of experience with center stage as a metaphor.  Another of my life passions is the theatre.    I have been a lifelong performer, actress and in the last 20 years, I have worked on countless musicals and plays as an associate director.  So, one of the ways intuitive bytes show up for me is the all the worlds a stage metaphor.  So, as I listened to Shelia share what she was feeling and the images pop in my mind, this is my cue as a creative catalyst to redirect the energy of the creative path BLOCK to the creative path FLOW.

In this case, the image on the stage was the spotlight.  Now, for an emerging artist, being in the spotlight can feel intimidating, especially if we don't feel focused or clear about what were creating or who were creating for?  Now, an audience shows up and pretty soon, it all feels out of control -  too big - too fast.  So, when the spotlight showed up, the insight was instead of being the spot operator and trying to direct where the energy goes, become the spotlight. Be the light. And be directed to shine.  Be focused.

So, instead of the original thought as the spot operator, "I have to get the light focused," the spotlight says "I will be focused."

Can you feel the shift?

Can you feel the change with that little be?

Shelia did.  She said, 'Wow, that is a real change in perception.  I feel a weight shifted off my back." Now, the energy is free to create again and as Seth Godin says in his book Tribes "commitment comes before success."  Be committed.  Let the light be focused by desire, by curiosity, by passion.  And when the energy is moving again, and in Shelia's case it literally brings on more choices, more possibilities, more fabulous color on the canvas, the energy can be focused in unlimited, infinite ways.

Let Your Light Be Shined

This is the be-ing part of the human experience.

So, whenever you are feeling that sense of overwhelm, confusion, lack of focus or low energy notice where the energy is directed.  Do you  think you have to think about getting focused? That phrase alone makes my head hurt.  Or do you just start something - anything that sparks -  and  discover where you are focused by what you are doing.   Ah, the freedom to be the light and to be all different colors and be flexible and moved in all different directions.

And sometimes, one of the places the light shines,  is right on center stage.

Thanks to Keisha, Shelia and all the awe-inspiring women I met at the Starlit Path East Bay Life Coaching Group.  Talk about being the light...here are a whole bunch of stars.

Keisha's Find Your Starlit Path-East Bay Life Coaching Group:
http://www.meetup.com/Find-Your-Starlit-Path-East-Bay-Life-Coaching-Group/

Shelia's Blog:
http://sheilatajima.blogspot.com/

Blessings

A Peony from Fioli

This is a special dedication that graced my life today from Julia Cameron's book Blessings.  I wanted to share this beautiful gift on the blog tonight.  Peace and love to all.  Thanks to my friend Colleen for this beautiful peony as a gift and love and light to my friend Annette.

The Universe Teaches Me With Gentle Love

Spirit mentors me with care and accuracy.  As I open my heart and my hand to be counseled, I am partnered by divine wisdom.  it is a great blessing that I do not walk alone.  I am not without guidance.  In everyday, in every moment, there is a source of divine guidance available to me if I will turn within.   There is no separation, only the forgetting of union.  As I realize, accept, and appreciate my union with divinity, all things unfold for me more clearly.  As I accept the grace within my current circumstances, my grace increases and flows forward to prepare my future.  My life is a life of abundant blessings. My heart is a home for grace and good.  As I cherish the gifts which accompany me now, I see greater gifts, greater love still unfolding.  As I open my eyes to see and my ears to hear.  I find the beauty of life is dazzling.  This green planet, this garden, returns to grace as I am guided to husband it as careful as I would my child.  Graced and protected by higher forces, acutely attuned to higher goods, I protect and shepherd this planet to deepened health.  My guidance blesses me and all I touch.

A Peak - Peek Experience

A 'peek' experience

I've been to the Summit and I'm here to tell the tale(s).  Tales from the cape that is.

No, I didn't happen to get to that Summit in Nepal, not yet.  I went to a different Summit...a different peak. This Summit was in Phoenix and it was a gathering of Martha Beck coaches.  The theme was The League of Extraordinary Coaches and it was an amazing, magical experience both personally and professionally.

Though I returned from the Summit on the 20th of March, I noticed that I have not been back to post on the blog.  I started this post right after I got back but then this page remained empty for another week. This got my attention. Though the critic in my head showed up to chide me, I didn't believe all those thoughts.  It made me curious as to why I just didn't keep writing and post. I began to suspect it was something about  BIG experiences.  There is a time of descent after the climb, of conserving energy after the expension (or expansion) of a big event.  I was then struck by the insight of returning to see level. Hmmmmmm, that made me curious.

And 'see' level is exactly what happens. This play on words with peak/peek and sea/see feels so true.  We are able to experience something not just with our human body but with our wise being.   I know a number of coaches who attended returned home and promptly got sick with a cold or flu bug.  Others reported feeling low energy, restless, sad and unsure.  The phrase, the spirit was willing but the flesh was weak (or the flesh had a week of maximum energy spending.)  Which feels better:  weak or week?  They are both true, but the energy of week is much more apt and kinder for the critical mind to absorb.

Now, there were other coaches who came home and things came together, pieces fell into place and new adventures and dreams unfolded.  And that's ok too.  Each journey is different.  Each life path filled with peaks and peeks at different times.

I don't think it was an accident that this event was named The Summit.  It was indeed a peak experience that most, if not all of the participants and staff and Martha herself, had been anticipating for months.  It was indeed a league of extraordinary coaches, and events, connections and vital information that was shared over the four days. For most attendees, this was the first time 'meeting' a beloved coach, teacher and friend in person.  This alone is a heady experience.

Here's my theory about BIG peak events.  When we arrive at the summit of any experience, at that peak, for some, we catch a glimpse of the future, a peek, and this creates the beginning of the next adventure, the next wave, the next climb.  This is why the wisdom of 'base' camp is so vital.  The air at the summit, the energy, the frisson is different.  So, there is a wisdom in the time to acclimate, to practice small ascents and then return to base, - small ascents, return to base - small ascents, return to base.

So, where in your life journey did you reach the peak of an experience, climb to the top of the summit and are now feeling confused, agitated, rest-less as you have returned to 'see' level?  Stop and really see what new peek is on the horizon. Now, really connect to your base camp.  Where is it?  What or who is it filled with? How is it supporting, as all bases do, your life adventures?  This is where the best journey begins.

And when you are ready, and even sometimes when you are not, the ascent begins again.  Get ready for the climb of your life!

Hope Springs Eternal

People don't cry when they lose their hope, they cry when they get it back.

~Martha Beck, Finding Your Own NorthStar

March.

It is an aptly named month in the calendar.  There is a rhythm and a flow to March that has us doing just what it says...march.  There is a get going quality to this third month in the yearly cycle.  The old saying goes, "March comes in like a lion and out like a lamb."

Well, the lion is roaring.

I notice this in my life and in my practice.  There are a lot of people dealing with so many changes, and challenges and choices.  And with this 'c' of change, (forgive me, the alliteration was just too tempting) I am reminded of Martha Beck's brilliant observation in the quote above:

People don't cry when they lose their hope, they cry when they get it back.

So as we move through this cycle of winter ending and spring awakening, keep this hope-full inspired idea about tears in mind.  I find that when I cry or a client cries during a session, it feels very much like hope springs eternal.  The tears are flowing, the act of crying is cleansing and healing and a sense of renewal takes the place of the gripping tension, resistance and fear of the moment before.

Let your hope spring eternal this month even if the tears flow.

Ingredients for Change

Create your own recipe with life's ingredients.

Change is not a process for the impatient.

~Barbara Reinhold

The fall I took this fall has been a game-changer.  Literally. A child's - game - changer. And change, with the right ingredients, is the stuff of child's play. If change had the voice of your favorite children's game, it might use the following lines to lure you out:

Red Rover, Red Rover, send Mary right over, ring around the rosie or duck, duck, GOOSE.

But my favorite comes from Hide and Seek. Ready or not, here I come.

Bam.  This is the voice that called to me as I fractured my tibia that October night. Change knew it was time to play and called out- ready or not, here I come.

There is no question that having a broken leg or more accurately, being dealt a broken leg in the card game of life, brought with it a host of changes.  Some were challenging, some were painful, some were rich and beautiful - all were invaluable.

As an intuitive, I have an uncanny knack for spotting patterns everywhere.  I see parts as whole and disparate ideas as integrated solutions.  Now, when I say solution, I see it as a liquid, not a solid.  The best solutions are fluid.  They are mixed in life's lab and the chemicals - the ingredients come together to form a solution that is a variety of combinations, yielding different results.  Many are tasty, others sour and still others - downright explosive.

As I began physical therapy in January to regain balance, strength and flexibility in my left leg, a new al-chemical solution emerged with these new ingredients. It turns out that more than my left leg was impacted during the physical therapy sessions.  I have had my share of therapy during my lifetime and now I can add physical therapy to the list.  Turns out, I've had years of physical therapy, I just didn't know to call it that.

What emerged during my two days a week over six weeks at the sports-medicine clinic was a list of ingredients for change.  And just like the chemist working on a new experiment in the lab, adding a pinch of this and a dash of that, this experiment with a broken leg has deepen my awareness to be changed. 

So, here are the ingredients I've added to my shopping list when change is ready to play.

• The path of least resistance.  It is amazing how far we can go with just a little bit of stretch each day.
• Small bites.  Many have heard me talk about Turtle Steps - a great metaphor and coaching tool for being gradually changed by life.  Notice the way your body feels when you run too far, eat too much, sleep too long and push yourself up each and every hill.  Small bites is a great ingredient for change.
• Gaining momentum.  This has been so interesting to observe the physical changes as my leg has healed and to feel the ease of being stretched and strengthened with each new exercise. 
• It's not what you think.  This is an invitation to listen to other parts of yourself than your critical thinking.  Your inner critic is not your best ally or ingredient in the change process.  Using your five (dare I say six) senses is the way to grow.  This is a great time to invest in some right-minded - inspired thoughts...for a change.
• Discipline is not a dirty word. Times of change bring about a sense of chaos.  Let the origin of the word discipline be inspiring: become a disciple of order and regular action. Take your cues from the change at hand. 
• Partner.  I love the biblical quote, wherever two or more are gathered in my name.  There is a great deal that can happen when we are partnered for change - great or small.  It is a reminder that when change calls us out, we do not have to go it alone.
• Facing inertia and fear.  Yes, like turning your face to the sun, turn and face inertia and fear.  When we acknowledge and face our resistance, lean into it like those stretches I've been taught in physical therapy, we experience both stillness and movement.  Facing inertia and fear paradoxically relieves it.
• Celebrate small successes.  "Celebrate, celebrate, dance to the music."  Yes, take the time to acknowledge the changes, throw a small party, do a happy dance, rest and relax.  And then go again.

As I was writing this post, I came across an article in Time magazine that underscored some of the ingredients for change I listed above.  The article is about the negative effect of focusing on our carbon footprints and changing our awareness to seeing the benefits of our handprints.  A brilliant and simple idea.  I was particularly struck by this because I too am moved by the power that is in our hands.

The link for the article is below, but let me share with you the brilliant closing paragraph as inspiration for your own list of 'ingredients for change.' You see, when I didn't have my footing so to speak the past several months, untold resources have come into my hands.

"If we have a positive goal in mind that we can take small, manageable steps toward, we feel good - and are more likely to keep going.  Step by step by hand."

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2108015,00.html

                                 

Mind-full? Mind-less!

Mind ripples.

This has been a month where returning to mindfulness practices and meditation has been refreshing and oh so invaluable for me. Meditation is a form of exercise for the brain and it is a power tool that literally creates new places 'to sit' in the mind.  

Imagine that your mind is your living room, family room, kitchen or bedroom.  Notice the furniture.  Where are the places to sit and rest, perchance to dream?  Is this a comfortable place - a place where you can just be present?  Or are there lots of distractions.  Have you ended up in the garage?  Or the overflowing spare bedroom heaped with clutter?  

Just like we all desire a place to just BE in our homes, mindfulness practices literally creates a meditation sanctuary in our own mind.  

Now, a re-minder.  Rome wasn't built in a day.  Being mind-full, mind-less increases with practice, even a little practice.  A few moments each day will begin the creation of that new flexible-mind chair.  

I have created a sample list of exercises from some wise folks in this field.  I have a resource list below that I call the Big Idea Books.  Highly recommended reading!

Give the list a try.  

I have.

This was my old mind chair.

Mary's sad and worm out "Thinking Chair"

And this is my new one.

Mary's Technicolor Dream Chair

10 Tips To Try

Here are 10 tips culled from a variety of mind, body and spirit sources.  Pick from the list, find a favorite or try one a day for a week and notice how you feel at the end of the 10 weeks.  See which ones remain as part of your daily dose of mind-full? mind-less? experiences.  See if you don’t have a calmer, more peaceful mind…one moment at a time.

1.     Practice mindfulness when the phone rings, the doorbell, the text message or the IM on Facebook. Notice – does your response time have to be so fast (to answer the phone, the doorbell, the text, the Facebook message) that it pulls you out of the life you were living the moment before?  Great question – notice the response.

2.    Tune into your breathe when you find yourself lying down.  Feel it all through your body, feet, legs, stomach, chest, shoulders, neck and head.  Move awareness to organs, skin, and then to cells and feel it all the way through each part of yourself.

3.    Walk mindfully where every step is a miracle.  It is a gift to be able to walk.  Be aware of this simple step.

4.    Let things be as they are.  “The next time you feel a sense of dissatisfaction, of something missing or not quite right, be aware of the energy in that moment.  Stay present instead of the myriad of ways there are to distract yourself. If only for a moment, stop and breathe and notice how things are at that moment.  Don’t even think to yourself I’m going inward not.  Just sit.  Let things be as they are.”  (This tip to try comes from Jon Kabat-Zinn and Wherever You Go, There You Are.)

5.    Red light rest.  The next time you pull up to a red light; treat as if a light bulb has lit up your mind. This is your cue to ‘breathe in, breathe out and smile.’  Notice what feelings come with this time-out.  A whole new way to experience being randomly stopped by life to rest and renew.  All at a traffic light!

6.    Bells are “b”-ringing…awareness.  Whenever you hear a bell ring, a gong, a wind chime or other ‘bell’ this is a call to bring awareness back to the present moment;  the present experience - softly, gently, easily.

7.    In and Out. (Not the Burger!)  This simple focus and awareness exercise erases the past and future.  All the focus shifts when you say ‘in’ when you inhale and ‘out’ when you exhale.  Try this exercise for as little as 30 seconds and build up from there.  Notice how your mood and energy shifts.  You can add a variation and with each in set the intention to breathe in new thoughts, ideas, energy, health and inspiration and on the out the intention to release old and painful thoughts, ideas, energy, illness and exhaustion.  A ‘fuel’ with less calories than a burger!

8.    Repeat this phrase.  This is an exercise inspired by Eckhart Tolle author of The Power of Now in his book Stillness Speaks.  Repeat the following phrase:  “The opposite of life is not death.  The opposite of death is birth.  Life has no opposite.”  The repetition of certain words, sounds and phrases is in essence a mantra, (an often repeated word, formula, or phrase, often a truism).  Try this simple phrase of choice other mantras that create a new mindset or brainwave pattern.  This is a very relaxing and simple practice.

9.    Follow the beat…heartbeat.  Our heart beats in every part of our body through our pulses.  It is our bodies own natural rhythm.  Begin at the feet and notice the pulse in your ankles.  Once you can feel the pulse, move your awareness up and feel the pulse behind your knees, the small of your back, in your chest, your neck your temples and down your arms to your wrists and then send the pulse out through your fingers and start the cycle again.  Notice where else you can feel or detect the pulse in your body.  You can add a variation and begin to listen to the heartbeat or pulse in other people, animals, trees, the earth.  This is a great exercise to support interconnection and awareness.

10.  Perspective.  This one is from Martha Beck and her new book Finding Your Way In A Wild New World.

Ø  Sit, stand or lie still and focus your eyes sharply on an object in front of you.

Ø  Without moving your eyes, broaden your attention until it registers everything in your field of vision, including the original object of focus.

Ø  Now, still without moving your eyes at all, make the object the foreground of your attention, and everything else the background.

Ø  Next, make the object the background and everything else the foreground

Ø  Focus on everything in your visual field at once while repeating this yoga slogan” “Floor to ceiling, wall to wall, all things are equal.”

Ø  If you want to kick it up a notch, repeat this question. “Can I imagine the space inside the distance between my eyes?”  Les Fehmi, a Princeton researcher, discovered that this question pulls the brain straight into a ‘synchronous alpha’ wave pattern, a deeply relaxed, Wordless state.

Big Idea Books

Peace Is Every Step by Thich Nhat Hanh

Wherever You Go, There You Are by Jon Kabat-Zinn

Arriving At Your Own Door: 108 Lessons in Mindfulness

Jon Kabat-Zinn

The End of Your World by Adyashanti

The Power of Now by Ekhart Tolle

Fully Present by Susan Smalley and Diane Winton

Improv Wisdom by Patricia Ryan Madson

The Wonder Wheel - A Date With Destiny

The Archetypal Wheel is an intuitive tool that makes symbolic information accessible to you.  Your 12 archetypes become even more significant when you observe them at work in the houses that signify 12 different aspects of your life.  Like other intuitive tools,  the Wheel helps you decode the behind-the-scenes patterns of your life.  It shows you how your experiences and relationships are spiritual dramas filled with opportunities for personal transformation.

— Caroline Myss, from myss.com

I have a date with Destiny.

I attended a wonderful annual intentions workshop with Denise Brouillette at http://www.denisebrouillette.com/ in January.  The focus of the workshop was to create a personal theme for 2012. This was my first year attending the workshop which Denise, an executive coach in the Bay Area,  has been hosting for several years.  It was a wonderful workshop and a day of insights.  I emerged from the day with the theme:  2012 is the year to feel my destiny.

Interestingly enough, I had already planned to spend the year using another of Caroline Myss's amazing tools, what I have fondly dubbed The Wonder Wheel.  An Archetypal Wheel is a means to uncover and explore the idea of my personal destiny.  The theme of this wheel is Fate and Destiny.  This wheel is described as  "Fate is ruled by the choices of the ego,  Destiny by the higher influences of your soul - action motivated by illuminated choices."

Light up the sky choices.

Wake-up and smell the coffee choices.

Be stretched like a rubber band choices.

Notice that each of these ends with choice...enlightened, awake and aware choices.  Some simple, some scary, some down right OMG choices.

Each house has a focus which you will read about below and a bit about the concept and idea of a Sacred Contract. The idea of a sacred contract showed up for me years ago, but I wouldn't have use that language or articulated the concept.  However, it has been present over the years and in 2006 I was introduced to Caroline's books and her words rang within me like an ancient gong.  I spent 2006 casting my Natal/Birth Sacred Contract and six years later, I am excited to explore this new set of archetypes and energies through the Fate - Destiny Wheel.  

I am working with a coach and consultant each month to set up the ideas and energies for that house.  Then, almost like a pair of glasses or the feel of the merry-go-round, I experience my life, actions, thoughts and feelings through this lens. I will share insights, thoughts and feelings on the blog connected to my chart, archetypes, discoveries, experiences and feelings during the days and months ahead.  

I will post about January and February in a separate post.

Here is some additional information about the houses and the Wheel.  

The twelve houses of the Archetypal Wheel are divided as follows:

1. Personality, Ego: the face you present to the outside world
2. Life Values: ownership, finances, your relationship to earthly power
3. Self-expression, Siblings: the power of choice
4. Home: establishing your emotional foundation
5. Creativity, Good Fortune: erotic energies, including creativity, sexuality, and synchronicity/chance
6. Occupation and Health: seeking security in the physical world
7. Relationships: marriage and partnerships
8. Other People’s Resources: stocks, inheritance, death and closure
9. Spirituality: wisdom, publishing, travel
10. Highest Potential: completing the integration of the self
11. Interaction with the World: relating your creativity to humanity
12. The Unconscious

The three levels of Chronos, Kairos, and Cosmic within the wheel represent different ways of experiencing time and space.

The Chronos “realm” contains our everyday understanding of physical time and space—minutes, hours, days, years—and it’s what carries the most weight in ones psyche.  This is where our history lives.  Things are static and happen very slowly.  The archetypes here are the ones we were born with.  They can move around between the different houses, but it’s always those primary 12 you’ll find in Chronos because they are the ones that are always with you.

The Kairos is present time, the here and now.  In Greek, the word means “the right or opportune moment.”  This is where choice lives.  In this model, the archetypes in the Kairos are chosen consciously because we can sense the energy of them as something that we are either experiencing now or could call upon to help us in the present.  For example, I may not be born with the Engineer archetype, but if I were to find myself stranded on a deserted island, it would serve me to enlist the help of the Engineer in that moment to help me to build myself a shelter or a raft.

The Cosmic is the realm of timeless time and spaceless space.  It’s the realm of heaven and endless possibilities, where spontaneous healing and “miracles” occur.  It is not bound by any physical laws of time and space.  It’s where guidance lives, and grace.  The archetypes that land here are chosen blindly and viewed as divinely selected soul companions to inspire and assist you on your journey.

It is only February 22, but it has been an amazing experience so far.  Quite frankly, January felt magical and February, thus far, has kicked my ass!  I will share more about this in the next post.  Stay tuned...the fact that I even said ass kicking will shock and delight my friends!  See, it is my destiny to use the occasional swear word or fun shocking phrases.  A whole new world is opening up for me.  

Questions, comments, curious?

Ask, ask, ask.

Do you have a date with destiny?  I'm listening.

Agape Day!

Agape love, which the Greeks defined as unconditional giving, is the kind of love I want to highlight today.  Start with the simpliest and bravest act of love there is...yourself.  Really feel how you are loved...really loved.  This is the love that overflows through each of us in the best of times and in the worst of times.  This is the kind of love my mother talks about when she says, 'love comes back for everything.'  I love that...I agape that!  


So, this is my simple, sweet Agape Day post to send this love out into the world.  This beautiful, sweet, natural love in honor of Valentine's Day.


Here's to all the special ways to love all the animal, vegetable, miracles in our lives.


With an open heart today,
Namaste,
Mary

Inspiration

inspiration

n

...the act or process of inhaling; breathing in

I was researching the topic of mindfulness for my Meet-Up tomorrow night (come on by) and I was looking for a quote to put on the worksheet.  Needless to say, I found an amazing array.  As I read each one, it became its own meditative experience.  I felt a sense a shift from thinking to feeling as I read through the quotes.  Some I met with curiosity, others - a knowing, and still others with a deep wellness as I read page after page.  It then occurred to me that this act in itself is a simple and practical tool for centering the mind and nourishing the heart.   So, I have posted five inspirational quotes below.  Let's use reading the quotes as a mind-full? mind-less! exercise. Mind - full?  Ah, such a common experience.  Here is a quick, simple and fun way to focus, relax and be inspired.  Mind your mind. 1.  Breathe.  Feel your breathe.  Hear your breathe.  See your breathe. Relax and let the breathe settle you in your body.  Notice how your body feels as it is breathing. 2.  Read through the quotes.   You are free to read through all five quotes and return to read again or read one at a time. Notice where your attention is as you read each one.  Did you notice a shift in your observations when you read through the quote the second time? Did you find your mind wandering?  If so, gently re-focus on experiencing each of the quotes. 3. Be the observer.  Did you feel something as you read the quote?  If so, where in your body did you notice this feeling?  Did you find that you were inspired by the quote and if so, where did this inspiration take you?  What thoughts, ideas, images, places did you go and what did each place feel like, what mood did it evoke? 4. Breathe the quote - Be the quote.  Imagine the words as a fragrance that you are inhaling, and notice what fragrance accompanies the quote.  This is a powerful experience to bypass the cognitive mind and our sense of smell evokes powerful memories and feelings that can be deeply relaxing and restful.  5.  Reflect and release.  Let the words fall away and move into your day.  Notice where you have become the quote in actions, thoughts or experiences in the following hours and days. How did it feel to breathe in words; to smell the images and paint pictures in your heart?

The following quotes are from Good Reads at www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/mindfulness.  Here are the five for today.

“In the end, just three things matter: 

How well we have lived 
How well we have loved 
How well we have learned to let go” 

― Jack Kornfield

“We too should make ourselves empty, that the great soul of the universe may fill us with its breath.” 

― Lawrence Binyon

“Walk as if you are kissing the Earth with your feet.” 

― Thich Nhat Hanh

“Mindfulness is simply being aware of what is happening right now without wishing it were different; enjoying the pleasant without holding on when it changes (which it will); being with the unpleasant without fearing it will always be this way (which it won’t).” 

― James Baraz

“The most fundamental aggression to ourselves, the most fundamental harm we can do to ourselves, is to remain ignorant by not having the courage and the respect to look at ourselves honestly and gently.” 
― Pema Chödrön

Share your inspirational quotes or your experience with this quick and simple way to shift from the thinking mind to the experiential self.  

Brava!