Living from Essence
The New Year brings with it expectations of resolutions; often in the form of breaking old habits and forming new ones. Most of us want to live better lives, whatever that may mean. For me, a couple of things come to mind. One is my commitment to write again after a hiatus of a couple of months. Part of this hiatus has been driven by my enthusiasm for a new project I’ve been on which I’ve been working. If you’ve been reading a while, you might remember that I’ve been studying and practicing Spiritual Technology, the work of Zivorad...
read moreThe One Desire
The desire to know and recognize God, Truth, to experience that sweet space of Oneness is thought by some philosophers to be the root of all desire, the one desire. It may be that the desire disguises itself, showing up as a wish for a new car, or a particular job. Perhaps it shows up as some wanting for a girlfriend, a boyfriend, a relationship. However it comes to us, there is desire. We, in our ignorance, sometimes think that desire itself will cease when we obtain the object of our wanting. Yet, the moment we fulfill one desire,...
read moreRestoring Your State
Your state of being is at the heart of how you experience yourself in life. It informs your perspective and your choices. It is your responsibility to protect and restore your state. Yet, when your state is jangled by the challenges of life, you get thrown into a variety of very human reactions — anger, sad, frustrated, scared or even wild, over the moon joy. These reactions can be like a filter for a camera lens that distorts the perspective a bit. You cannot get a clear read on a situation through a distorted lens. These...
read morePoint of View
Have you ever noticed that when you are trying to make a decision and if you try to make that decision based solely on what you think someone else thinks you kind of throw yourself off? That’s not to say that considering other points of view is a bad thing. In fact, I think it would serve us all to be able to slide into another point of view, and allow other points of view to impact us. Nonetheless, each of us has a point of view. Reflecting on “what is my point of view?” can open up a world of creativity and...
read moreSoftening into Remembrance
I was on the phone with a client. I heard her gasp and say, “they’re telling me a plane just hit one of the towers of the World Trade Center.” I remember we both carried on for another minute or so, a little in shock. How do you actually take in information like that? After a minute or so, she said they were evacuating her building and she had to go. At the time she worked in a multistory government building in Detroit and I was in my cozy east Tennessee home. Ever so gradually, it dawned on me that our country...
read moreBegin With the End In Mind
I am a big believer in mentors. Mentors have enriched my life throughout my life. My first mentor was Dick Olney, the father of Self Acceptance Training. More recently, I’ve been studying with Zivorad Slavinski, the founder of Spiritual Technology. Both Dick and Zivorad have deeply influenced me both personally and professionally. More recently, I’ve found business mentors – two incredible women who are teaching me how to share what I have to share. As a social worker, I’ve been challenged to find teachers...
read moreBring on the Light!
It’s that time of year again. If you are one of those people who tends to experience the “winter blues,” now is the time to get out your light therapy lamps and start using them. That’s right, now’s the time. I know that it might seem like the dark months of winter are so very far away. However, research shows us that if we start using light therapy at the end of August, beginning of September, your experience of winter blues will “lighter” than if you don’t use light. So, if you...
read morecourage and compassion
It was a dark night in Memphis. I was heading to the hotel. Friendly people on the corner greeted me. As I turned to respond, I missed the curb and BAM! In an instant I was on the ground. My glasses flew off my face and my bag went flying. Yowee. Kazowee! All is well, just a scrape here and bruise there. No big deal. The big deal came later as I sat down to reflect on what happened. I have fallen in the past, on ski slopes, in the back yard, on stage (during rehearsal, thank goodness) and countless other places. In fact,...
read morespiritual freedom
At dinner the other night with a group of friends, my friend Ginny shared pictures and stories from a trip she took to Bali. For me, what was striking about the conversation was how she kept coming back to the word “freedom.” Ginny also touched on something that I’ve been thinking about for a very long time now, that our freedom is also our responsibility. She illustrated this with a great story about an elephant driver, Mu. It seems that Mu was pegged to enter banking as a career. Then to the dismay and hopefully...
read morebeginner’s mind
I’m a big believer in life long learning. My mom was too. One principle she had about learning was to occasionally be a beginner. The way this took shape for me as a child was to take beginning dance classes. I danced from age 5 to about 26. Throughout those years, I occasionally took beginner dance classes. In the early years, my sense of pride was wounded when she would insist that I take a beginner class. I’d hang up my point shoes and wear out yet another pair of ballet flats. However, when I hit college, I started...
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