Over the years what has become apparent is that many tasks are made more difficult when my intellect tries “to figure it out.” When my body-mind takes over, the task suddenly becomes so much easier. It’s taken me years of trial and error to learn to drop out of my head and inhabit my entire being, beginning with tying my shoes for the first time.

So what does that mean practically speaking? I’ve chosen the topic of  job loss, and financial stress in the midst of a surprise career transition.

In the mid-80’s I had been successfully creating very large events in hotels where people met to connect and share knowledge and resources. That career abruptly ended even though the events were packed. From the point of view of the story, it looked like a bad move on the part of the hotel and most unfortunate for me.

In the midst of a time that often felt unsettling and chaotic, I was drawn to a basic class in conflict resolution given by Danaan Perry, the founder of Earth Stewards. Six months later, with unexpected money, I attended his advanced training in Washington State; there I met a man who was nationally known, as a very successful, and charismatic corporate trainer. To this day that was the most profound training I have ever attended. At the end we received certificates as Peace Makers, and I realized that was exactly what I had always wanted to be. I also had a deep desire to work with the man I had met, while intellectually that seemed impossible. He had his Masters degree from Stanford and twelve years of successful corporate training to his credit.  I had only completed my first two courses.

When I returned to California, there was a message on my phone, asking if I would act as a mediator for a fairly large group of people. I had to listen to the message several times; it was such a shock. The person who left the message told me that the mediator he knew was unavailable and that he trusted me. I did that mediation without any formal mediation training by spontaneously moving out of my intellect and being fully present to my body-mind, while following the cues it gave me. Happily it worked, and years later after being trained and certified as a mediator, I am very thankful that I learned to do that first. Now my intellect knows the “correct procedure” and also knows how to listen to wisdom that can’t be taught intellectually. A huge gift!

However, I was still a long way from being hired as a mediator or corporate trainer. I was still just barely getting by financially with no clue how to gain the experience I needed; so that I could find myself on the career path my heart had such passion to follow.

One day I suddenly had the impulse to call a consultant I’d met a few times, and I asked him, if he knew of any available work. He told me to call the General Manager at a large local hotel, who needed help initiating a new customer service training. The training turned out to be so elementary that my young children could have taught the course. I was hired and six months later the hotel changed hands. It appeared I would be out of work again and no further along my chosen career path.

Here’s what happened instead: While some former employees were let go, the new management offered me a six month position training staff in leadership skills. I had to study a very basic training myself and be video-taped giving a lesson, which really pushed all my fears of public speaking to the surface! Somehow I managed to pass inspection, and was officially hired. After six months the job was over, and the opportunity to work for the corporation presented itself. In the end, I was told that I was “not corporate enough,” and was once again without a job–only this time I had just moved into a lovely garden apartment and had recently bought a new car.

It had clearly been time to move and my former car had expired. Both the new car and the apartment appeared in ways which were unusual enough that I knew neither had been a mistake. I also had no idea how I could now afford them.

It had become my morning habit to ask a question and then clear my mind and wait for the answer, however and whenever it came. My intellect kept pointing out that I couldn’t go on much longer without steady income and I found it challenging not to pay attention to it. However, when I let those thoughts go and became internally quiet, the message I continued to receive- day after day- was ” Do nothing.” This was the first time that had ever happened. All the other times I had to internally quiet my thoughts until my whole being knew what action to take. The knowing came in either an intuitive flash or a strong body feeling which my intellect learned to translate as “do this or say that.” Until now I had been more focused on the action which followed the stillness than the Stillness Itself.

In this case, months went by and I continued to hear “Do nothing.”  To be clear, I did manage to get some minor free lance situations which brought in a bit of money, but this was merely treading water and nothing that looked as though it could lead to my dream of training in corporations or resolve my current financial situation.

In the midst of wondering how I could avoid losing both my car and apartment and wondering if the “Do Nothing” message was a sign I needed serious therapy, one morning the phone rang. Who do you think it was?

Two years had now passed since I met the man I had such a strong desire to work with; I hadn’t thought about him in quite a while, and yes, that’s who called! He said that one of his clients wanted him to do a three-year training for a company consisting  mainly of women. They wanted him to create and give the trainings with a woman. He said that he thought of me, and asked if I was doing anything?  The message I had been receiving at last began to make sense!

Now you have to imagine my resume’ positioned next to his!  I often wondered, if he was aware of how totally unprepared I was for that level of training? I don’t remember mentioning it either. I made an appointment to be interviewed and was NEVER asked for my resume’, which in itself was a miracle.

I forgot to mention that in the midst of my intellect’s continuous images of  me becoming a bag lady, my oldest daughter called to ask if I would help her financially, as she finished her last semester of college? Her dream was to spend it studying in Granada, Spain. She had already been putting herself through college and this was very important to her. All I could say, without revealing my dire circumstances, was that if I had the money when the time came, I would be glad to help her. I believe it was about $500 a month for the semester. You can probably imagine how impossible that felt. It also gave me the extra push to leap where I was afraid to go!

I have deep gratitude for all the teachers, who taught me that whenever a situation looks impossible that’s where the greatest opportunity lies. This is where many people give up because they believe it really is impossible. What I now know is that it must APPEAR impossible and we must go for it anyway because that’s how we can live lives where miracles become a natural part of how we live. They become natural when we live from our wholeness rather than stuck in the confines, the prisons of our intellects. My heart led me unerringly into a position for which I would, under “normal” circumstances, never have been interviewed, let alone hired. It was one of the happiest days of my life when I was able to tell my daughter I could send her monthly checks.

When I access my heart’s wisdom, I connect through my heart to my  Essential Self, and It in turn infuses and informs my body-mind. Ideally one is always connected, and being human, we begin by identifying with our bodies and personalities, and it can be the journey of a lifetime to remember one’s true Self. Even those who know through constant experience that we are more than our physical forms can forget when challenged, and try to solve our “problems” with our intellects. We’re all experiencing personal and/or global challenges that our intellects cannot successfully solve.

Personally, I think that all challenges, whatever the scale of importance, are an opportunity to become what we truly are and have forgotten. If our intellects could solve all our problems, how would we learn that we are so much more? We’re faced with impossible challenges right now, and our possible future is magnificent beyond anything our intellects can imagine!

I was reminded of this on New Year’s Eve, and woke up early on January 1st to see what question would emerge to set the tone for the year ahead. I spontaneously asked myself, “What I would be like; what might I do, if I were even freer from the restrictive patterns of my personality?” I’ve asked myself that before and this time the question evoked a response from me that was not just mental. It was physical, emotional and energetic. Immediately, I felt the sense of vibrant aliveness and joy that I feel when filled with the Creative Energy that comes, when I allow my voice to totally let loose or when my writing flows and I forget time altogether. I know you have felt this too. What is it that ignites your passion for life? If you don’t yet know, now is the time to find out.

This New Year calls all of us to come out of hiding, to Be and to Share our Essential Selves. We’re long past the need for proving our worth or justifying our existence. Issues of self-esteem are now past tense. Who we each are is essential; no one is more or less important to the whole. What we see in form is a fraction of the truth of creation. Our state of being, our energetic contribution and our inspired actions are an integral part of all the change upon us and happening through us.

For many years the Ancestors, who guide and infuse my work, have used the words, “Ee Yah Shay,” with emphasis, to vibrationally remind me of my true nature. It is used as both an acknowledgment (like “Namaste’ “) and a wake up call, in which case it means “BE the Light That You Are!” These times call for no less than that. My understanding is that we will be “surprised and amazed by all that unfolds.”

For the last thirty years, they have been teaching me to live in the Mystery so that when the time came I could assist others to do the same. Apparently I am a slow learner, although with no clear idea of the curriculum not to mention invisible teachers, it was understandably challenging, although never boring!

Yesterday when my intellect made yet another attempt to focus me back into what it considers “reality” this poem suddenly popped out onto my page. I’m not suggesting that you should stop balancing your check book (or ignore any other current situation), only that you and I both do it from a state of consciousness that is attuned to reality rather than illusion.

In my next post I’m going to share a practical example of how the heart’s wisdom can more effectively handle life challenges. Here’s the poem:

Updating Ulysses

Enough brooding over bank balances
This day holds mysteries that call you to follow
The siren song of your heart

There are no rocks to dash your dreams to bits
That’s the illusion that
Those who feared to follow sold you

Take the leap
Let the magic carpet of your heart carry you
There really is no-thing left to do
But LET GO
At last
And FLY

What is still there in my heart, in your heart, that causes us to recreate stories we no longer chose to live?

This is the time of year for reflection; it is easier now to see what may have been hidden from view. For those of us in the Northern Hemisphere there is less external light. It can be a time when our internal light can burn brighter when we take the time to go inward, and witness the thoughts, feelings and physical sensations that arise, setting aside attachment and judgment.

Winter Solstice will be here soon; a time when many of us traditionally write down what we want to release from our lives and what we want to create; we ritually burn what we have written so that we can begin again fresh. Now we have an opportunity to release what is, perhaps, a more hidden layer of things forgotten, but not gone. Our heart’s true visions are too large for these small but often potent past stories.

During our Solstice ritual, we will feed these old patterns to the fire, allowing them to become a blazing light. As the flames transmute the words on our papers, the fire, our inspired sounds and intention will be the alchemical force that transmutes these memories and cleans our hearts.

As enough of us become free of the old patterns and imprints in our hearts– we free our collective World Heart. This is part of the planetary work many of us are here to do. Our dreams and Gaia’s dreams are intertwined.

“I dreamt — marvellous error! — that I had a beehive here inside my heart. And the golden bees were making white combs and sweet honey from my old failures.” Antonio Machado

Winter Solstice this year is on Monday December 21st at 12:47 PM EST. We will celebrate our ritual on Sunday December 20th at 4:30 PST. You are invited to join us in person or energetically. You may find it helpful to write your list between now and then, as part of your preparation. Together we will burn all that is ready to be transmuted and then connect with the dynamic, passionate aspect of our hearts, as we sound our visions into creation. We release the need to know “how” and open to Inspiration and the synchronicity of Spirit.

This quote and graphic are from a great post by Amara Rose, which you may also enjoy reading. I include it here because I found the reference to “intentional attunement” and the Earth as a “cosmic egg” particularly relevant. Thanks to Amara and Barbara Hand Clow!

Clow writes, “I believe the tilting axis inspired a preliterate scientific revolution that we are decoding in our times. The axial tilt changed the way we receive light on Earth…Megalithic astronomy, as well as indigenous astronomy, suggests that the Light is more potent and transmutative for humans during the equinoxes, solstices, and new and full moons. Perhaps that intentional attunement awakens cosmic intelligence. Perhaps a new evolutionary form began when the tilting axis cracked Earth open, as if Earth were a cosmic egg ready to hatch in the universe.”

May your clean heart expand with all the unmanifest dreams of your soul and may you give birth to them with ease, joy and gratitude!

We are in the midst of redefining our view of and relationship to death, and the rituals involving it. In this post I am focusing on relationship with our ancestors, known and unknown, as it affects our individual and collective visions.

This year Sunday November 1st is All Saint’s Day and in Mexico, The Day of the Dead, and the day we will hold our next Sound Alchemy event in Sonoma, California. We will connect with our ancestors in sacred ritual; so that they can assist us to fulfill our hearts’ dreams, which are also their dreams. (If you are reading this post after  November 1, 2009, please know that this ritual can be done at any time—alone or with others.)

It is said that at this particular time of year “the veils between this world and the next are very thin” and therefore an especially powerful time to participate in such a ritual. However, I have given ancestor rituals at many different times of the year and they have all felt very powerful to me and to those who participated. What is necessary is to allow your inspiration to guide you, to connect with your heart’s vision, and allow your intellect to rest.

Prior to conducting your own ritual or, if you wish, to be connected with us on Nov. 1st at 4:30 PST, here are a few thoughts and some guidelines:

• My experience is that our ancestors are with us both in cell memory and as teachers and guides in the non-physical realm. Since they exist within us ,as us, our dreams are their dreams; we are fulfilling what many of them envisioned long ago. In reality, there is no time and we are able to connect with all those, past and future, who want to join more consciously with us now to assist us to move through this current transition and create the world of our collective vision.

• When I first consciously connected with my ancestors, they spontaneously spoke (through my voice) a language that can sound like a fusion of many languages. It is not gibberish, but a language that I, and others, feel as vibration in our bodies. I also understand it, but it is reduced from what it is when I translate it into English. I now chant, sing and sound, while connected in this way, in both healing sessions and rituals.

• I encourage everyone to allow your own sounds to be part of collective or individual ritual. This is a very immediate way that your ancestors directly assist you. It is not necessary to sound in language, although I notice that more people are spontaneously beginning to do that. Our ancestors send higher frequencies to us through a wide variety of sounds and tones. Allowing your own inner child to freely express is the key.

• Your ritual can be whatever brings you out of ordinary time into sacred time. I highly suggest connecting with Mother Earth, and with Spirit, through the Sun, Sky or Space. Then connect with the Divine Child, the Light that you are, and in your heart feel the love of your Divine Mother and Father flowing into you, along with the love and support of all your ancestors and non-physical guides and teachers. Connecting with the elements and/or the directions also creates a container for the sacred.

• After we create sacred space together, we ask our ancestors to assist us to clear/transform anything in our lineage lines, which now needs to shift so that we can freely and joyfully manifest our individual and collective visions. Again your inspired sounds allow this to be done in very powerful way that you can feel in your body. Often dormant gifts and abilities are also awakened or accelerated through sound vibration. If you are in a place where you do not feel comfortable making audible sound, you can make very soft sounds or use the power of the Light in your breath. Intention and focusing on your heart as you breath are essential parts of this process.

• We then use inspired sound to connect with our hearts’ dreams, so that those in the non-physical can assist us to both magnetize all that we need and help us to open fully to inspired ideas and the passion and courage to act on them.

• There are times during the ritual when participants receive instrumental sounds and you may wish to play music that resonates with your heart or you may prefer to be in the sound of silence.

• When you feel complete, you may find it very helpful to write down any messages you have received: via knowing, impressions, images. It can also be very useful to have magazines handy so that you can randomly look through them and see if you are drawn to any particular images. Since our souls speak to us in symbols and images, often the next piece of your story will be revealed in an inner or outer image. You may wish to expand this into a vision board or “soul collage.”

• Finally and perhaps most important, remember to close sacred space and to Thank all those who have assisted you.

Members of our monthly group are invited to connect with us energetically, if they cannot be physically present. This month I extend the invitation to those of you who are reading this post. If you would like to join us, please send me your name and intention via my contact page, and you will be included in our ritual. Your heart’s dreams may become clearer or unfold in new, and even more wonderful ways, as many of us are already experiencing. You may enjoy using what I have written as a guideline and feel a strong connection, if you are able to join with us on Sunday, November 1st. However, since time is illusion, whenever and whatever way you are inspired to create ritual and connect is perfect for you.

One of my dreams is to help create a heart-based economy, in which we all give and receive from our deep sense of Oneness. This event is offered from the heart and those who participate are invited to give from their hearts in a way that feels joyful and expansive. If you feel drawn to make a financial contribution in this spirit, you are welcome to make a donation through my PayPal account.

I am very interested to hear the results of your participation in this ritual. Please share them as a comment to this post, so I can respond to you and others can also benefit.

May this time be a powerful turning point for you and for all of us!

I can feel that there is a reorganization and a transformation that is taking place so that the individual and collective foundation we have created through “time” can birth both evolved humans and an evolved Earth. Many people are saying this in different words; I know this is not new information.

What has changed, for me, is really feeling rather than thinking or hoping this is true. I can feel the truth of this positive change in my heart as I access truth that is available to all of us, when we allow our hearts to be opened and can access the wisdom that is there.

A friend sent me a very sweet animated video this morning called “Winter Song.”

One of the lyrics stood out for me, “My words will be your Light,” and as I heard these words I thought of friends I have recently met, though we do not feel new to each other. Relating with them connects me with my own heart in a way I have not often felt so naturally or easily since I was very young.

What I realize is that they do not speak to me from their intellects, but from their hearts and from their soul’s vision, and because of this their words are a Light for me, and I spontaneously respond to them in the same way. Here is their blog page, where you can read more about them, and download their beautiful soundtrack for the epic book, The Song of the Spheres, Vol.1, The Bard and the Queen Of Ice: This is a gift of the heart from them to all of us.*

Relating to others from our hearts is, perhaps, not a new experience for any of us but, for me, it has been rare for it to be so easily sustained. Since meeting them I realize that this is how we have always been meant to relate to one another; this is our true human blueprint, our natural state.

With all the individual and global challenges that have appeared in our lives—that could make positive change look even more difficult to achieve—I believe that those very challenges show us how close we really are to both being and manifesting the changes (the greatest of which we may not yet conceive) we hold in our collective vision! Some years ago I understood that Darkness evokes Light, and that a Third Force must be invoked to create positive change. Our hearts hold Third Force, the Power of Love. As we remember and live this, our beautiful Earth will be renewed and transformed along with all of us.

*If you feel a stirring in your own heart to respond to their gifts in a tangible way, not necessarily financial, you can contact them here.

Our intellects naturally focus on problems-on what we perceive as reality through our five senses. As Einstein put it so well, “You can’t solve a problem at the level of the problem.”

Since most of us in this culture live primarily in our heads, looking for logical answers is an automatic response. Intellectual solutions alone, especially now, fail to solve the root cause of the situation. Even focusing on a positive solution generated by the intellect can miss the point of the challenge, which is the expansion of your Essential Self.

In my last post I wrote about the benefits of “Sound Bathing” with audible sounds. You can also enter the sound or vibration of silence, and with the Life Force, the Light in each breath you take, clear your heart as your brain entrains to the wisdom of the One Mind through your own heart. Your heart is “a specialized brain” *, and is able to access wisdom that is beyond the level of any problem or challenge you will ever experience. When your brain and heart are in harmony, you free yourself from duality thinking; align with the Infinite Mind of all possibilities, and release yourself from the limitations of cause and effect!

Since your heart can also store painful or intense memories, it is essential that you consciously clear your heart first so that you can access new information. The Life Force/Light can clear your heart of old memories that limit your ability to directly access wisdom and guidance. It is not necessary to add audible sound, unless you are inspired to do so. Sounds or mantras, such as those used in the practice of Ho’oponopono, can also be silently repeated. Following what you are inspired to do is the key.

Whenever thoughts of any challenging situation arise, focus on your heart as you breathe. Intend that Light, and whichever sound vibration you chose, clear your heart. Allow Inspiration to guide you. As your heart and brain come into harmonious relationship, you reconnect with your Self—potential solutions spontaneously arise or happen independent of your actions. The timing and solutions are always “I ka pono mea” — the Hawaiian phrase which means “all things are in exellence.” This is also a powerful mantra to repeat: with thanks to Aunty Mahealani via Renee Robinson aka The Book Angel (favorite sites).

The speed of creation is accelerating; the faster we all remember to move out of our intellects and into our hearts, the faster we will be in alignment with and create our hearts’ deepest desires.

Some situations can be more emotionally challenging, and inspired sound can be a powerful catalyst. Last year, while living in Hawai’i, I had a client who had never experienced a sound session before and it was, as I understand, an initial stretch for her. The very first time and in every subsequent sound session she was profoundly affected. Her words to me were,” I don’t know what happens or what you do, but after each session my life changes.”

She was truly ready for a significant life change, and I watched that occur with her in a very powerful way. My own belief is that I don’t “do” anything for someone else. My role is as a catalyst and support—the power to change came through her conscious choice and commitment, and from the vibrational assistance that is always available for all of us when we ask.

While I am on a break from traveling, I am offering a short complimentary call so that we can explore, if what I offer is a match for your current needs. You can reach me via my contact page. As always my wish is that you manifest your most outrageous dreams, and create from a heart that is free of memories you no longer choose to repeat. It is time for each of us to be and to create from our True Nature.

* I highly recommend the book, The Secret Teachings Of Plants by Stephen Harrod Buhner. Contrary to what you might expect, the first part of this book is filled with some of the best presented and researched information I have ever read about our hearts. The rest of the book is equally wonderful—5 stars!!

Looking back it seems as though my body was no longer willing to continue to hold the unexpressed emotion I was unconsciously carrying around. Often, while releasing, I would immediately realize what I had suppressed. As the years have gone by my process has changed; fortunately I am now more aware of my inner responses and there is much less unconscious stuffing. However, recently I began to think back on these earlier experiences, and the positive effects of taking a daily (or at least weekly) sound bath. How would you feel if you didn’t shower for months, years or ever? Yuck! Since our physical bodies are  vibrational as science is now demonstrating, we also need to clean them vibrationally. Our entire vibrational field extends far beyond our physical bodies (directly affecting our health, energy levels, mental, and emotional states), and cleaning it is also essential. The intentional use of sound is a powerful force for cleaning, and for creating. Best of all your own voice is all you need!

Why use sound when there are other less potentially invasive ways to do this— I’m thinking of housemates, families and neighbors?! While other types of vibrational cleaning are both effective and can be easier to use, I am focusing on sound because of certain essential benefits I will briefly mention.

The throat is the center for self-expression and creativity, and those qualities have been often been squelched in our homes and our  school systems, setting up early patterns of repression. When you allow yourself to make spontaneous sounds, you release constriction in your throat center, and you connect more fully with your power to express and create. In this period of dynamic change, we need each person’s contribution to the new paradigm that is unfolding on Earth, as the old one falls away.

The throat is also where we connect with our Power of Choice. We are often bombarded with thought forms and emotions both from others and from within ourselves, which challenge our ability to respond rather than react–particularly when fear is evoked. When we strengthen our connection to our own throats, we also strengthen our ability to be at the point of choice when faced with a challenge that could potentially trap us in drama. When we are aware at the point of choice, we have the opportunity to change our personal and collective destinies rather than live out endless repetitions of past patterns.

Now all that is rather serious and while necessary, we don’t want to dwell there because seriousness creates more heaviness, which is, after all, what we are clearing out! So let’s lighten up instead and have fun making sounds. Your inner child  is inherently spontaneous and creative, and loves to make all kinds of sounds. The wilder, crazier and funnier the better. This is a chance to be really creative and have fun–even while releasing stuck energy related to events that were not funny at the time. You will feel cleaner and lighter after you do this, and maybe younger too.

Our normal human state has often been described as “asleep” or “mechanical,” which seems very similar to being under a spell. Well how can we stay awake more often instead of falling under the spell of old patterns or habits, which cause us to disconnect from our power to choose how we think, feel and act?

A more playful perspective is that life is a game that requires us to keep increasing our skill level in order to really enjoy the game. It can be endlessly entertaining, interesting, and educational—it’s not unlike  board games for children, although clearly much more complex. Did you just choose a card that moved you forward, backward or off the board altogether? Since you’re choosing a card in every moment, whether you realize it or not,  how often can you stay connected to your Self and actually chose the card You really want to play?

Early in life I was taught to witness my thoughts, feelings and physical sensations in order to remember my Essential or True Self. I was told to “chose which radio station you want to listen to; you don’t have to listen to all the thoughts in your head!” In spite of this early advice, I could probably write a very funny book about what NOT to do when one is attempting to Wake Up. What I am inspired to share is the practice of LAUGHTER, while letting go of taking the character you play, in this game called Life, too seriously.

I am not saying that there aren’t situations in your life or on our beloved Planet Earth that call for change or that we can call it all illusion and simply sip our green tea and meditate. What I am saying is that seriousness keeps us identified with “our stories”. Under the spell of our story we are as powerful as a slug or upside down turtle, or in some cases an attacking rhino. We are either impotent or we may destroy rather than create. When we  identify with either our personal or global story, we  disconnect from our true Power/Self, and are cut off from potential creative solutions.

We are NOW poised to make a collective leap in skill level so that we can enjoy creating the visions so many of us hold for ourselves and  our world.

Although I do have a number of practices I use to “Self-Remember,” my current favorite is humor, and a sense of playfulness. The Game of Life is a set-up, as in all good games, mistakes are often the way we learn. The bonus is that there are endless opportunities to laugh, and humor evokes a lighter, happier feeling state, and the opportunity to wake up from whatever drama entrapped us. May we all lighten up together as we create a world with infinitely more Light and Laughter in it.