Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Seasons Greetings - lessons from the past 18 months

Happy Summer Solstice! During the traditional time for such missives, I did not have the energy or clarity to send out much. Now, after a blessed retreat, I am ready to share some of my recent lessons --- * Retreats aid intentional living. I had no real idea why I was going to Ireland for 4 weeks. Our trip was like falling through a crack in time; all moved at a different pace. John O’Donohue said, “We have made time the enemy. Stress is a perverted relationship with time. Time is the mother of all presence.” For many years, I have started each day “knowing” there was not enough time – I think this is his definition of perverted. The gift of my work is that it requires me to fully show up; I am continuing to learn how to bask in the spaciousness of now. *Self Awareness is so much easier with compassion. Thanks to my lessons in self-compassion I am more able to notice what I actually do or say. I feel more open-hearted, even around my shadow. It is helps knowing I may not use these observations to beat myself up. *Attention is powerful – use it wisely. Reading about neuroscience this year has given me great hope for change. We CAN sculpt our brains by what we attend to; what do I want to focus on? That requires both knowing what I want to create and awareness of where my attention is going. This awareness has encouraged me to enhance my mindfulness practices. *When you follow your heart, it is amazing to watch how it unfolds. Many wise people have said something similar to Joseph Campbell’s quote “Follow your bliss and the universe will open doors where there were only walls.” And even though I have experienced that before and believe it for others; I am challenged to hold the faith for myself. And yet, as I get clear about where I want to focus my energy once again opportunities open up that I did not imagine. For example, I knew I wanted to host more retreats this year. The number is up 200% over last year and growing... Knowing how powerful it is to focus on what I want to create, I am sllllllooooowwwwlllyyyy learning to trust the process. In case you are wondering what readings have been influencing me this year: Buddha's Brain, Flourish, Mindsight and Self Compassion are at the top of the list.