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Morning Pages

3/29/2022

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Have you heard about the practice, the tool, called morning pages? It comes from the book The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron. I've heard it mentioned many times over the years and then a good friend suggested the book. I picked it up and began reading and then set it aside with the excuse to myself that I didn't have time to explore this new practice. Well, it's come up yet again and I've decided that it's time to dive in and explore the practice. 

So what are morning pages? Morning pages are three pages of longhand writing, strictly stream-of-conscious. Cameron says that there's no wrong way to do morning pages.
She writes in the book, "Nothing is too petty, too silly, too stupid, or too weird to be included ... If you can’t think of anything to write, then write, ‘I can’t think of anything to write…’ Do this until you have filled three pages. Do anything until you have filled three pages.” 

Cameron suggests that you can write ... this is what I like, this is what I don't like, this is what I want more of, this is what I want less of. She says that, "It's as if you are sending a little telegram to the universe and you're saying here is my precise position and here's how I authentically actually feel. It's a form of prayer and meditation."

Cameron makes the case that morning pages will make your life better ... you will find solutions to big life problems, your relationships will improve, you’ll be more courageous, your senses will be awakened, you’ll take action and take risks, you’ll advocate for yourself, you’ll live more authentically, and the universe will start answering your questions and responding to your needs.

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​Here are some quotes from Cameron on describing some of the  benefits of the morning pages tool:


• “When people ask, ‘Why do we write morning pages?’ I joke, ‘To get to the other side.’ They think I am kidding, but I’m not. Morning pages do get us to the other side: the other side of our fear, our negativity, of our moods.” 
• “It is impossible to write morning pages for any extended period of time without coming into contact with an unexpected inner power. Although I used them for many years before I realized this, the pages are a pathway to a strong and clear sense of self.” 
• “Pages clarify our yearnings. They keep an eye on our goals. … If we are drifting, the pages will point that out. They will point the way True North. Each morning, as we face the page, we meet ourselves. They will dare you to become larger and they are stubborn."
• Morning pages are about tuning out our inner critic. “We learn to hear our censor’s comments and say, simply, ‘Thank you for sharing,’ while we go right on writing. We are training our censor to stand aside and let us create.” 
• “The morning pages teach logic brain to stand aside and let artist brain play.”
• “Morning pages may hold insights and intuitions that startle you. Typically, they puncture denial." 

There is something therapeutic that happens when we get things out of our head and down on paper. It helps us to explore and to stop ruminating. I'm going to start incorporating this practice into my day and I invite you to give it consideration too. 
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Planting Seeds

3/21/2022

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The spring equinox occurred this past Sunday. This is a time in the spring where the amount of light and darkness are equal. Soon the balance will shift and the amount of light will over take the darkness.

At t
his time of year we begin to experience more life force creative energy within our minds and bodies. As the darkness diminishes and the light increases you may feel a building of imaginative and creative energy.

Spring is a time for the planting of seeds, a time of renewal and rebirth. Many will celebrate the rebirth of Christ. The spring flowers begin to surface and bloom, the trees begin budding, the grass turns green, farmers plant their fields, and the robins return.

Some of us mark spring by engaging in spring housecleaning. Decluttering our homes and renewing them for the year. It can be a time for the attitude of "out with the old and in with the new". Spring can also be a great time to declutter our minds, our mental energy and our spiritual energy. An "out with the old and in with the new" mentally, spiritually and energetically ... the planting of a new energetic seed. 

It's a great time to check in with ourselves. To reflect on what we want to clear out and let go of, along with what it is that we want to plant. It's a time for transference and manifesting. Now is a time of celebrating the freshness of life and of taking the time to raise our energy to regenerate abundance and manifest our dreams.


A time to remember that what you water, what you give energy to, what you give your attention to ... grows. You reap what you sow. 

What is it that you would like to energetically clear out to make space for planting new seeds to grow? What old story are you willing to let go of, so you can energize a new story, a new way of being, a new mindset, a new experience? What are those seeds that you would like to plant this spring? 

We are almost a quarter of the way through this year already. What is it that you are setting out to accomplish this year? Are you giving it positive energy, are you shining some light on it, some water and nourishment? 


I invite you to take a few moments this week to be still and check in with where you are at. What's going well and what isn't? What would you like to clear out to make room for something different? Take a step off that hamster wheel of life and reflect, reevaluate, renew, reenergize and rejuvenate. Plant those seeds, shine some light on them, give them nourishment and watch them grow.
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Anxiety Is The Worst Use Of Your Imagination

3/14/2022

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I love this quote by Deepak Chopra ... "The best use of imagination is creativity. The worst use of imagination is anxiety." Anxiety is something that I hear people mention frequently as more and more people are experiencing its grip. 

Anxiety can cause excessive and persistent worry and fear about everyday situations. It's the body's natural response to stress. Anxiety is a feeling of fear or apprehension about what we imagine is to come. 


When struggling with anxiety, the brain has the incredible ability to think of the worst-case scenario, to predict the worst possible outcomes and explanations for things. It doesn’t know for certain what will occur, but nevertheless it imagines, predicts, and then feels certain of this awful explanation or outcome. 

​Because anxiety involves imagination, we can also intentionally choose to use our imagination to help ourselves. We can use the same skill that makes us anxious to make us less anxious. I'm not trying to minimize or make light of anxiety, however for basic anxiety we can serve ourselves by not letting our natural negativity bias and imagination run rampant. 

​Anxiety wants to imagine an awful, terrible outcome or explanation, but with intention we can use our imagination to consider other possibilities. By doing this, we can take what feels certain and make it less certain.  We can open the door to new possibilities allowing our anxiety to settle ... creating the opportunity for a shift. This shift will help us to attract a more positive reality into our life. 

​Imagination involves creative thinking and problem solving, identifying new and different ideas, thinking outside of the box, stretching beyond our initial ideas and finding new ones.

We can start by letting ourselves to imagine the worst. But then challenge yourself to imagine as many other explanations and outcomes as you can. No matter how silly, small, or unlikely you might think it is, name it and imagine it as a possibility.

The act of imagination is a tool to counter anxiety. It’s how to cast doubt on negative outcomes that seem certain in our brain. It's how we begin to manifest a new and improved reality.

The next time anxiety starts to get the better of you, I invite you to use your imagination as a tool for good, not just for bad. Let it guide you toward possible options that are uplifting and squelch the 
tendency to allow it to only focus you only on the worst case scenario.
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Empathy Fuels Connection

3/8/2022

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You've probably heard the phrase "walk in someone else's shoes." Don't you sometimes wish that others could walk in your shoes and understand you and your life better? This week let's explore empathy, what it is and why it's important. 

The Bible refers to the quality of empathy and provides several examples of empathy in action. The Bible also commands us to love our neighbor as ourself. Though we may intend to love one another, it seems that we often miss opportunities. Maybe because we are unaware of others’ needs while walking around in our "urban trance," or perhaps because we are not practicing empathy. 

Jesus was always sensitive to the plight of others, but are we exercising empathy the way Jesus did? I've heard statements such as ... the measure of a person, is how they treat someone who is of absolutely no use to them. Isn't that true? It's easier to exercise empathy for someone we know and love, someone who has a stake in our life. It's more challenging if it's someone who we have no contact with, someone who we think is of no consequence to us. 


Empathy moves us to consider the actions of others when we make decisions. It's an important component of effective relationships, it's the oil that keeps relationships running smoothly. Empathy (and compassion) might be viewed by some as soft or weak, but having the courage to show empathy and compassion is a sign of strength, not weakness. For me, it would also be the sign of a good leader. 
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A good leader is someone who can inspire others to help. As our world becomes more interconnected, and cooperation and communication become more important than ever before, empathy will be even more critical for thriving.

Empathy is perspective taking and mindfulness. It's an emotional and thinking muscle that becomes stronger the more we use it. Brene Brown explains it this way, "Perspective taking is to acknowledge that the way you see the world, through your lens, is as real and as true and as accurate as the lens by which I see the world. Perspective taking is listening to the truth as other people experience it and acknowledging it as truth. It is not taking off your lens and putting on their lens, because that is impossible to do. Our lens is soldered to our head. Empathy says, let me get curious about what you see. Let me stop and listen and hear about what you see."

Brene explains the power of empathy to be, "I'm in it with you. I'm not here to fix you. I'm not here to feel it for you. I'm here to feel with you and let you know you're not alone." 
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​I invite you to start today looking at people who are suffering and try as best as you can to imagine the world through their eyes. If each of us did that, then I believe that the world could be a different, more loving, more kind and better place. 
Empathy is the key that can unlock the door to our kindness and compassion.
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Prayer For Peace

3/1/2022

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In this week's post I am sharing an email I received this morning from spiritual teacher Marianne Williamson. It captures what is in my heart at this moment. Here it is:

On Tuesday, June 6, 1944, Western Allies began the D-Day invasion on the beaches of Normandy. It was the decisive battle that would begin the ending phase of WW2. 

One thing was clear to the Allied commanders who led the effort: whether it succeeded or failed, more men would die in this single military operation than in any other in history. During the 85 days that the battle raged, people were well aware of the horror that was occurring. Those wishing fervently for the defeat of Hitler could only watch, and wait, and pray. 

Today we watch, and wait, and pray for the incredibly brave Ukrainians now fighting off the Russian invasion of their soil. The world does not support this war. Indications are that the Russian people do not support this war. Conscripted Russian soldiers - many of whom were apparently not even told where they were going - are as much victims of this insanity as are the Ukrainians. It is Putin’s war, and a violent transgression against the deepest bonds that have joined the Ukrainian and Russian peoples for centuries.

The war is being fought on many fronts, political and economic and well as military. One front that many are involved in, including myself, is prayer. 

This morning I remembered having once read the prayer that President Franklin Roosevelt gave when announcing to the people of the United States that D-Day had begun. Many of his words apply now to the Ukrainians, speaking not only to their predicament - as soldiers, civilians, and refugees - but also to the helplessness and heartbreak we feel bearing witness to it.

Roosevelt’s words spoke to the heart that day in 1944, and they speak to the heart today:

And so, in this poignant hour, he said, I ask you to join with me in prayer:
Almighty God: Our sons, pride of our Nation, this day have set upon a mighty endeavor, a struggle to preserve our Republic, our religion, and our civilization, and to set free a suffering humanity.

Lead them straight and true; give strength to their arms, stoutness to their hearts, steadfastness in their faith.

They will need Thy blessings. Their road will be long and hard. For the enemy is strong. He may hurl back our forces. Success may not come with rushing speed, but we shall return again and again; and we know that by Thy grace, and by the righteousness of our cause, our sons will triumph.

They will be sore tried, by night and by day, without rest-until the victory is won. The darkness will be rent by noise and flame. Men's souls will be shaken with the violences of war.

For these men are lately drawn from the ways of peace. They fight not for the lust of conquest. They fight to end conquest. They fight to liberate. They fight to let justice arise, and tolerance and good will among all Thy people. They yearn but for the end of battle, for their return to the haven of home.

Some will never return. Embrace these, Father, and receive them, Thy heroic servants, into Thy kingdom.

And for us at home -- fathers, mothers, children, wives, sisters, and brothers of brave men overseas -- whose thoughts and prayers are ever with them--help us, Almighty God, to rededicate ourselves in renewed faith in Thee in this hour of great sacrifice. 

Many people have urged that I call the Nation into a single day of special prayer. But because the road is long and the desire is great, I ask that our people devote themselves in a continuance of prayer. As we rise to each new day, and again when each day is spent, let words of prayer be on our lips, invoking Thy help to our efforts. 

Give us strength, too -- strength in our daily tasks, to redouble the contributions we make in the physical and the material support of our armed forces. 

And let our hearts be stout, to wait out the long travail, to bear sorrows that may come, to impart our courage unto our sons wheresoever they may be. 

And, O Lord, give us Faith. Give us Faith in Thee; Faith in our sons; Faith in each other; Faith in our united crusade. Let not the keenness of our spirit ever be dulled. Let not the impacts of temporary events, of temporal matters of but fleeting moment let not these deter us in our unconquerable purpose. 

With Thy blessing, we shall prevail over the unholy forces of our enemy. Help us to conquer the apostles of greed and racial arrogancies. Lead us to the saving of our country, and with our sister Nations into a world unity that will spell a sure peace - a peace invulnerable to the schemings of unworthy men. And a peace that will let all of men live in freedom, reaping the just rewards of their honest toil.

Thy will be done, Almighty God.

Amen. 

No matter what words we use, no matter at what time of day, let’s pray without ceasing for the people of Ukraine and the people of the world. May righteousness prevail. 
​
Dear God, 
Please help Ukraine
in this hour of their agony.
Send angels to minister unto them
and their horror be no more.
Amen.
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