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9/28/2016 0 Comments The Scent of Water Collage: "Help is all around you." “Hello, nice to see you….” she said with a warm smile and twinkling eyes peeking out from under a red baseball cap. “Are you ready to work?” We nod slowly; weary with the residue of a long day of travel. “Ok, good because we’re going to work. Let’s talk about hell. The stuck places of darkened dreams. . .”
This was how Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estes began the training that I recently attended called “Original Voice: Getting Unstuck—Journey Through Hell to the Hidden Heart.” Over the course of five days, roughly 100 people made a deep dive into “hell” with Dante’s famous work The Divine Comedy and Dr. Estes’ 30+ years as a Jungian Analyst as our formidable guides. Although Dante wrote in the 14th century, his work is applicable today as an archetypal story describing, in detail, the perilous journey and accompanying pitfalls that we are called into to recover the true Self. The classic story begins with Dante finding himself lost in mid-life. Who of us, that have been fortunate enough to make it this far in life, can’t identify with this feeling of being lost in some ways—if not entirely? The dreams that we once had for our lives have been replaced with another form of "reality" and we question who we are and what our life is really about anyway. This is a crucial threshold in our lives and if we choose to enter it consciously, we are offered an opportunity to become, as Dr. Estes says, Ser hermano—to become true human beings. Together we journeyed through Dante’s Nine Circles of Hell, taking pause inside each layer in order to carefully examine our own lives in relation to the particular form of hell described. We asked the hard questions of ourselves and spoke the answers to each other: How did I come to get stuck in this place? Why do I remain here? What will I do in order to move out of this place? This radical kind of truth telling begins to free the creative spirit within us so that we are able, again, to use our precious life force on behalf of the unique callings that each of our Souls came into this world promising to fulfill. The symptoms of being trapped in hell are many—fear, anger, violence toward ourselves or others, jealousy, shame, addiction, etc., while the result of making our way out of hell is single-purposed: to be free to create what is uniquely ours to create. For your own consideration this month, I will share with you the three most important aspects of Dante’s Divine Comedy that you can apply to your own life. These relate to the three main characters of the story: Dante, Virgil and Beatriz. I suggest reflecting in your journal on these questions:
While I am certain that I will have much more to share about this profound experience as I assimilate all that was transmitted directly into my own Soul, I'd like to offer a poem that I wrote upon returning home that represents, in one way, my personal journey. Its roots may grow old in the ground and its stump die in the soil, Yet at the scent of water it will bud, And put forth shoots like a plant. ~Job 14:8-9 The Scent of Water What begins as a barely detectable thirst, when ignored, becomes the drought that sends us on our way. The search for water, a taste of the life that lives just for us, presses in on every side. Narrowing vision, thirst turns our pain into a prayer. We pass through the valley of hopes shattered and dreams abandoned like dusty old towns gone extinct. Pausing in the desolation to honor the aborted ones, the evicted innocence; the dry bones of what never came to be. Tears softening the cracked earth, a stuttered cry for that which no longer lives. Tracking truth-- traversing the desert of not-yet-ness. Liminal wonderland of the unseen, pre-formed, just a thought passing on the wind. Sweat forms. Moisture molecules giving way to the surface of things. Just when I thought it was over-- not another drop to be given, She appears to me. A mirage of beauty, the definition of Grace, I meet her in the middle of my unknowing. She says nothing but takes my hand to lead me forward. I give myself completely, relieved to have such a magnificent companion guide. At last we reach the end of the desert and she ushers me to the edge of a mighty shore. Silent, she makes her way into the sea~ for a moment she looks over her shoulder and smiles at me. As I begin to reach for her she disappears. I bow down to the water at my feet, Her wordless command gave me all that I needed to know. My tears, my sweat, my hopes and dreams washing over me in a single billowing tide. For the first time, I behold my true reflection. I am born again from the secret, living water. How do we move through the stuck places of darkened dreams? The answer is two-fold to begin. First, ask for help from the benevolent forces of the seen and unseen worlds--supplicate, ask, pray, knock, seek. Second, take some kind of deliberate, intentional action. Move in any way that you are able--walk, run, crawl, jump, step. If you would like help in navigating the stuck places in your life and are seeking guidance in freeing your creative spirit, I would like to invite you to consider my unique 8 week coaching program called "The Courage to Create: Awakening to an Authentic Vision for Your Life." It is designed to walk you, step by step, through a transformational process that will lead you to discover what you have been called to create in your own life and offer the tools to support you on your journey. Please go to my "Services" page for more details.
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9/20/2016 0 Comments Tending the Fire Self -care is just this: lovingly meeting ourselves exactly where we are and allowing things to be as they are. When we can hold ourselves in this way, our inner world starts to become softer, gentler. We start to trust our own basic goodness, and we even come to learn that irritation, aversion, doubt, and resistance aren't to be evicted through our self-care; they are to be allowed and included by it. ~Sara Avant Stover
This morning, as I type, the smell of banana bread is filling the kitchen. It's Monday morning--the kids are back to school and the house is quiet. Rather than tackling my to-do list or diving into emails, I baked. Instead of pushing myself through some foot pain to do my usual 3-4 mile run, I rolled out my yoga mat and spent a half an hour attuning to my body and breath through flowing movement. Then I stood for a few minutes barefoot on the grass and felt myself ground into the earth and I offered a simple prayer for today: "May I be forgiven for all of the ways that I have knowingly or unknowingly hurt myself or another. May I remember Your Love and Grace in all that I do today. May I show up wholeheartedly and do my best. Thank you." I let the spirit of gratitude fill me. I felt ready for the day. My daily practices, even though they may shift according to my current needs, are a "non-negotiable" in my life because they anchor me into feeling grounded in my body and connected to something bigger than myself. The photo that I chose for this month's post came from my summer sabbatical on Lake Ontario. It reminds me of the importance of tending well to my own inner fire so that I can give to my family, work and relationships from my very best self. My annual vacation prompted me to recommit to my own radical self-care. Even the things that we love and rely on the most for our well-being--our loved ones, exercise habits, creative projects, and spiritual practices--can become depleting rather than nourishing if what we are really needing is simply rest! The women whom I admire the most are creative, productive and respectful of their needs for healthy downtime. I am re-examinng my relationship to rest on a daily basis and finding ways to incorporate it into my busy life rather than counting the days until next summer. As women, often in a caregiving or supportive role for others, we give from our desire to help, nurture, champion, and affirm those people and projects that we love. We do this naturally, as we are neurobiologically wired with this maternal instinct. Research has shown how our brain patterns change in response to our babies distress signals. Thanks to this instinct we know how to respond to our babies and maybe even our businesses, but we have forgotten how to use it for our own flourishing. The good news is that it is within us, we just need to access the feminine wisdom we carry. It is through truly knowing and being in touch with all aspects of ourselves that we can experience real nourishment. In my life coaching practice I have seen women from various backgrounds struggle with the very same issues regarding self-care. Our families and culture have taught us to ignore our needs for rest and renewal by rewarding high level productivity at any cost. These same messages are responsible for making us feel guilty for taking time for ourselves. It is our responsibility now, as women in touch with our femininity, to challenge these expectations and fiercely protect our precious life energy so that we can live from our sensitively attuned inner knowing. It's not enough to just take a day or week or even a month off if what we need is deeper than our physicality. We need to nourish on all levels. Holistic nourishment looks something like this:
We certainly need more role models of women who are doing self-care well. If you would like support in making self-care a priority in your life or would just like a designated time each week to be, please join me for a brand new Women's Wisdom Circle beginning October 4th at One Yoga and Fitness. This four week series will provide authentic connection to other women in community by holding "circle space" for each other. Each week you will be guided through specific practices that will become essential tools that you can easily integrate into your everyday life . For more details on this event or to register go to: Nourish. |
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