Over the weekend, I had the great good fortune to facilitate a private spiritual wellness and personal growth retreat.  The primary purpose of this kind of intensive experience is to facilitate a deep remembrance of your perfection and divinity.  Mostly, this means releasing the pains and tensions that have accumulated and restoring peace as your grounding so you can move forward in life with greater love.

As you can imagine, this work is profound and deep.  However, something came out of this weekend that can support you in your movement towards greater personal peace and love.  It’s about asking skillful questions.  Let’s jump right to it.

Asking yourself and others “why” questions typically lead nowhere beneficial.  Moreover, the initial, even unconscious, impulse upon hearing a “why” question is to become defensive.  You may feel like you have to justify your position or thoughts, or perhaps you feel a little insecure.  Either way, a “why” question is not likely to take you closer to your heart.

Folks who are deeply committed to their spiritual evolution understand the deep value of self-inquiry.  Yet, this inquiry gets thrown off track by a “why” question.  In the same way, folks who aim for intimacy in their relationships sometimes ask “why” questions of their partners.  Typically, not a good idea, as any response has to get filtered through the ego’s defenses.

Instead, try asking “how” or “what.”  See how that changes the conversation.

What has been your experience with “why” questions?  What happens when you change the question to “what” or “how?”  Scroll back up and leave a comment.

Last night I had a really funny dream about a friend and me.  She was convinced that we just HAD to get tickets to an upcoming RUSH concert, because it might be our last chance to do so.  First, I know I’m an oddity, but I’m not a big fan of concerts.  Second, I’ve never seen Rush in concert, nor have I wanted to.

When I told my friend about the dream, she laughed (via facebook lol ) and shared that maybe the ego gets afraid that we’ll give up rushing.  That really struck me.  If I give up rushing, my ego gets scared!?  How funny is that!?

And, it makes sense to me.  For rushing is always about being somewhere else, and enlightenment is about being right here.  And, the ego, well, it’s not about enlightenment, that’s for sure.

I don’t particularly enjoy rushing. Does anyone?  In fact, I do see it as an impediment in spiritual growth and emotional well-being.  So much so that I’ve given it up for lent on more than one occasion.  (No, I’m not Catholic — I just think Lent’s a pretty cool holiday when householders can adopt a more monastic point of view for a limited period of time and with limited renunciation.  Yes, I know that’s a strange point of view).

Slowing down to the pace of the verb you’re in is one way to stop rushing.  Think about it, what’s the verb you are in, right now?  Reading?  Slow down and breathe as you read.  Take in the words, taste them, smell them be with each word for just a tiny moment.  Fully giving it it’s due.  Breathe again.

What if you were to slow down to the pace of the verbs you are in while you are in them?  Washing dishes…driving…bathing…exercising….just being in the verb you are in.  This kind of mindfulness has the potential to open windows of understanding in your heart and bring you into the preciousness of the present.

Wanna join me there?  I mean here?

I’ve been moving deeper and deeper into my mindfulness practice in the last few years and am finding it to be a rich, sumptuous way of living.  I’m looking forward to sharing this exploration with a small group of women in the south of France.  If you are interested, give me a call or check it out here.

Amy Miller Photos

Retreat & discover the message your heart wants you to hear!

winging my way home

On my recent trip to Greece, I once again used EFT to deal with jet lag.  Greece is 7 hours ahead of my humble abode here in the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains in east Tennessee.  If you haven’t tried EFT for jet lag, go for it.  It’s easy to learn and works like a dream for jet lag and more.

If you don’t know EFT, you can download the basic protocol, here.

Here’s the trick I used for jet lag:

1.  As you are traveling, every hour or so, set your watch towards the time where you are going.  You can set it an hour or 1/2 ahead or back.

2.  Each time you re-set your watch, use the EFT protocol with this set up:  “Even though my body is set to “Tennessee” time, I choose for it to set to “Athens” time.”

3.  Then alternate between “Tennessee Time” (that’s an example ) and “Athens Time” (another example) as you tap.  Do five rounds of tapping.  This means going through all the points five times.  I did not and rarely use the hand points.

On another note, if you are planning a summer vacation, you might want to check out turning part of your vacation into a little retreat.  You can use my award-winning book, An Illumined Life, to support you.  It’s now also available in e-book form so you can print off a bit at a time and play!