Nurture Resilience with Stories for Body, Soul & Spirit

What a wonderful week it's been with the temperatures finally rising above 40 and the snow melting by the tremdendous power of the sun!

This weekend I am attending a conference with Nancy Mellon, the author of "Body Eloquence."  It is called, "Nurturing Resilience" and will feature storytelling to heal the body.

I took storytelling classes in college and loved being able to hold the energy of my listener's attention with the wisdom and truth of each story. 

In the past few years of studying compassionate communication, I've come to realize that we are "telling ourselves stories" all the time.  Some of these stories do not contribute to the truth of what is and then, we suffer.  Gratefully, we have the power to create a new story, one that can contribute to life and truth.  Yehuda Tagar says, "Within us lives the connection to the source of our creation.  We can re-create ourselves from within."  As we recreate ourselves by truly entering the stories of our lives, we will be graced with the connection with the awesome power of creativity and its many sources, both within us and all around us.

I find that archetypal stories speak the truth in delightful ways that allow us to hear what our souls may need. 

Look forward to learning new stories and living new truths.

Would love to hear from you if you've let go of an old story you've been telling yourself and how you've found a new truth.

Blessings upon the stories of your life, the graces of spirit, the joys and sorrows of the soul and the power of your body to hold them all!

Meeting Life Forces with Your Heart

Life is so full these days.  I have been graced in January with the gift of meeting Yehuda Tagar and experiencing a weekend workshop in psychophonetics and psychosophy with him.
     Check out the Persephone Institute website to learn more and watch the YouTube video, too, to witness the work itself.  I see this work as a process that can enhance the work of the soul that I meet in spiritual direction with others.  I am working to promote Yehuda's work in America.  We hope to bring Persephone Institute here to train new practitioners in psychophonetics.

http://www.persephone-institute.com  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2lMY0PrhKY
 
February has brought another gift in the work of Frank Chester.  I heard Frank speak of his work at a Waldorf school in Viroqua, Wisconsin this past Saturday night.  Frank has made incredible discoveries of forms that speak to the nature of our heart and the transformation needed in our hearts today.
 
      Check out Frank's website, too with many little video animations illustrating some of the wisdom he is opening to all of us to explore and deepen.
 
http://frankchester.com
 
What is it that Frank Chester and Yehuda Tagar share in common?
      For me, it is the work and the wisdom of the heart.
      We are called to develop, to expand, to grow in the capacity of our hearts...to grow compassion and love, empathy and self-acceptance, peace and good will, to seek the truth of Life, Light and Love that can be found there.

“Balancing” says Frank, “is the primary function of the heart. Our inner work improves balance. When we are able to see ‘periphery’ and ‘center’ simultaneously; when we see ‘self’ and ‘other’ with equal equanimity, then we give the heart a loosening quality of balance that allows it to evolve etheric forces." 

Yehuda says,

"Within us lives the link

to the source of our creation. 

We can re-create ourselves from within."

This is my work and yours, too.
      I enter it through the experiences of my life, the relationships of my heart, the learning of my mind, and the wisdom of my body and senses.  Thinking, feeling and willing invite consciousness in three unique paths, each with its own invitations.
 
      I invite you to join me in this work.
 

"Every idea which does not become your ideal

slays a force in your soul;
every idea which becomes your ideal
creates within you life-forces."

 

- Rudolf Steiner

(from Knowledge of the Higher Worlds)

 
Begin with a reflection on the above quote and take a moment each day to recognize what idea you've taken in during the course of the day, that can become a guide, an ideal to call you forward with expanding forces of life.  Feel the truth of the ideal in your heart.  Give your heart to living out the invitation of its call to something greater than and yet inclusive of--yourself.

Silence Beckons

In order to see birds,

it is necessary to become part of the silence.

- Robert Lynd

As I read this quote about silence, I am reminded of sitting on a bench near the edge of Mississippi backwaters with a dear friend one day last fall.  She was needing a friend to listen as her heart was grieving the loss of a friend who had died.  This friend has an ability to "see" in the silence.  As we sat there, she could spot turtles and fish under the surface of the water.  It took me awhile to adapt to the looking and to silence myself and focus my attention into the water.  Eventually, I remember spotting the turtle there that she had been following all along. 

I so enjoy being with people who have these eyes to see, but more importantly, who have the heart to dwell in the silence.

Another friend who I've longed to know from the depths, once described himself as a turtle and reminded me that he wears many shells to protect himself.  To see his vulnerability, I need to listen from the silence of my heart and patiently wait, quietly, gently...  He pokes his head out once in awhile and I know that I need to deepen the silence in my welcoming of his fragile, precious nature in order for him to truly be seen willingly.

Last night I was listening to another friend who recently faced the loss of his first wife suddenly.  His grieving is making itself known through many places in his body, soul and spirit.  His capacity to welcome whatever arrives has always amazed me.  He, too, knows how to be silent and to listen in order to see each and every visitor.

I am grateful for the silence of presence and the silence of listening.  I am grateful for the seeing and the knowing of every encounter encouraged by the gift of silence.  I realize that the visitors we are able to see and to know in the silence are always around and the meeting will happen when we are ready. 

Who have you been able to see and know, to truly meet when you have truly become a part of the silence itself?