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Discover The Upside of Anger
Most of us are prone to anger! As we grow older, a certain degree of control keeps us in check, but the pot is on simmer and the lid is loosely fixed. An unexpected jolt, or a sudden increase in heat will nearly always result in a boiling...
Eliminating Trans-fatty Chaos
Eliminating Trans-fatty Chaos
Not all chaos is bad, true if you ask the universe, itself in states of chaos. The stars beyond exist in a swirling soup of tumbling energy, opening outward in rhythmic bliss. But some chaos, like some fats, are not...
Philosophy and cancer treatment
1000 years ago in Europe pre-Christian tribes originally had a Goddess culture - a matriarchy where the earth and nature and their cycles and secrets were revered. In pre-industrial societies illness was not seen as a 'random assault from outside'...
Spirituality and Success: Bridging the Gap
Copyright 2005 David Ferruolo There is a new breed of spiritual seekers these days; people looking for a better way to live. We, as a whole, are not content with the routines of daily life, and the quest for material gain is no longer...
Will Yoga Help You Lose More Weight?
I suppose it was only a matter of time before the mass marketing about diet and fitness and weight loss caught up with Yoga. After all, Yoga is certainly going through a period of resurgance - not the first, as these things typically move in...
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Whose Thought is it Anyway?
Winter is finally yielding to spring in the New England town I live in. I woke up this morning excited to go outside for a walk to feel the warming air and sunshine on my face. As I walked briskly throughout my neighborhood I was grateful for my life and all my blessings.
As I was breathing in all those good feelings I became aware of some not so nice thoughts that began nudging me for attention. Thoughts like, you’ll never make it as a coach, you’re not good enough, don’t let down your guard, you’ll wind up alone. The thoughts began to get louder, and pester me like a child wanting candy in the grocery store check out line. My good feeling was quickly being drowned out. Where did these thoughts come from to threaten my great day?
Our lives and experiences are always being shaped by something. When we are growing up we are influenced by our surroundings, our family, culture etc. and we absorb and make part of us what we hear and experience both positive and negative. We go on and live our lives with these subtle, and sometimes not so subtle messages running in the background.
Many of us live our whole lives listening to the messages with the loudest and most persistent voices, and often these voices can be the ones that represent fear and limitation.
I’d like to share a story from my own life to show how we live with thoughts and pain from outside ourselves.
Early on my path of self-discovery I was curious about Native American ceremonies. I was seeking experiences to deepen my spirituality and connection to the earth. I was also looking for ways to reclaim my wholeness and resolve some of the fear that I had learned to live with. I became interested in the sweat lodge ceremony because it offers the opportunity for purification and a chance to face some core fears and issues. It also symbolizes the safety and nurturing womb of mother earth.
I accepted an invitation to participate in my first sweat lodge ceremony with a Cherokee elder. I shared that auspicious day with 8 other women. We spent the day preparing for what was to be a rather intense experience.
When it was time to enter the lodge, I followed tradition and removed my clothes. I crawled on my hands and knees in to this very small, structure made of bent tree limbs covered with tarps and blankets. Once inside the dark, musty lodge, sitting on the bare, cold ground shoulder-to-shoulder with the other women I began to feel a bit claustrophobic and nervous.
As
the red-hot rocks were brought in to the lodge to create the heat and steam for the ceremony I began saying to myself, ‘I am safe within the womb of the mother, I am safe within the womb of the mother’. I repeated this spontaneous chant over and over as I tried to center and calm myself in the rising heat.
When I heard what I was saying to myself I also became aware of a loud voice churning up from the depth of my being that shouted, “No, you are NOT safe!”
A flood of memories suddenly washed over me and I remembered what my mother told me about my own birth. She shared that she was terrified when she was giving birth to me.
As if struck by lightening I realized that the fear I was experiencing in the lodge and in most of my life was not my fear at all. It was my mothers fear. I learned to take on my mothers fear as if it were my own. I also became aware of a bigger part of me that isn’t afraid at all and feels quite confident and at ease in the world.
As I later processed what I had created in that sweat lodge I embraced this very profound and life changing lesson.
Here are 4 questions based on the Life on Purpose Institute’s Purpose Process to discover if your life is being shaped by thoughts and feelings that limit your wholeness and expression of who you truly are.
1. Are your thoughts often fearful and based in the need to survive?
2. Do you sometimes feel unfulfilled and unsatisfied?
3. Do you often say to yourself or others “that’s just the way I am”?
4. Do you eventually default back to limiting thinking even when things are going well?
What would your life be like if you learned to embrace those loud, limiting voices, yet not be controlled by them? What if you chose to listen and respond to your true voice instead? Your life would be more relaxed, more in the flow. You might finally live your dreams and feel the fulfillment and deep satisfaction that is possible when you are living true to who you are. You could walk in the sunshine and count your blessings in peace.
It’s your life…imagine the possibilities!
About the Author
Helaine Iris is a Certified Life Coach She works with people who want more out of life. People who want to make personal, relationship or career changes, and lead successful, balanced lives filled with love, passion and purpose For a complimentary session visit her website http://www.pathofpurpose.com or call her
603-357-8546 or email her helaine@pathofpurpose.com
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