Spring Cleaning for Body, Mind, Spirit and Creativity

I recently embarked on the JJ Virgin diet in an effort to cleanse and lose weight. I’d never done anything like this. JJ virgin asked that I give up 7 foods – gluten, soy, corn, peanuts, dairy, eggs, and sugar – for three weeks and then slowly reintroduce them, one weekly, to see how each affected my body. It’s been an amazingly enlightening journey. Through this process I’ve learned a lot about my willpower, what I crave, how I think, and what does and doesn’t work for my body. As a result, I’ve made significant adjustments in my eating habits that have subtly, and unexpectedly, shifted other habits and ways of being in my life.

Given that today is the Vernal Equinox and marks the first day of spring, I began to link the cleansing that I had done, to “spring cleaning” and how we might look at the areas of our life that need cleaning out, or at least readjusting. Perhaps for you it’s not what you eat, but maybe what you think, what you do repeatedly, or how you feel in your body. While cleaning out is about getting rid of, it also relates to revaluing, reorganizing, assessing what we want to keep, and about moving things around to better serve us.

In the South Bay area of Los Angeles, there is a marvelous little vegetarian restaurant called The Green Temple. They have an amazing space filled with color and life. One day I complimented the owner on her space, how it changes constantly, and how good it makes me feel. She thanked me, and told me that it was intentional; they routinely rearrange, clear, and clean, because it keeps the energy moving, and reinvigorates. Perhaps there is a way to apply this philosophy to our lives, to our body, mind and spirit, and the way we engage with our creativity and inner wisdom.

Consider the following as you enter the first day of spring, where night and day are of equal length – tomorrow we move into bringing more light into the world.

• Mind – What do you think about? Are your thoughts filled with doubt and fear, or your inner critic ridiculing you? Do you focus on the future, hold onto regrets concerning the past, or stay centered on present moment?

What if you became aware of the type of thoughts you hold throughout the day? What would it look like if you took control of your thoughts and cleared out the ones that don’t serve you?

• Body – How do you feel - healthy, or not so good? Tired, bloated, energy-less? Are you happy with your weight, the amount of exercise you get, what you eat?

What if you revalued your body, the very temple that enables your marvelous imagination to manifest its dreams - housing your wonderful brain, the arms and hands that help you to do your creative work, the legs that support you as you dance? Have you given your body the credit it deserves? Not because you “should”, but rather out of gratitude?

• Spirit – Are you experiencing synchronicity, feeling enthusiastic, joyous and overflowing, or dragging, feeling disconnected and discontent? Have you been meditating, creating art, allowing time for self-expression, taking care of self?

What if you cleared your calendar or rearranged meetings to accommodate taking care of you longings, cravings, and inner stirrings?

• Creativity – When was the last time you gave into a creative yearning? Perhaps you have a series of unfinished projects, or maybe you’ve written tons of ideas, but never started them. What about cleaning those out – either do something with them or let them go?

Get rid of, let go, shed, so that what’s underneath can blossom, emerge and spring forth. Rearrange, reconsider, renegotiate, reinvigorate.

Shine light on the area of your life that you want to address. No need to take it all on at once. Allow the first thought – the first thing you think of - to be the best thought, and act on that – start small, but start!

Embrace the wonder that is you!

Are you taking care of yourself, truly loving and valuing your magnificence? I hope so. If you are in the Los Angeles area and need a creative boost, check out my upcoming workshops and classes, consider walking the candlelit labyrinth with me tonight to meditate on what the next several months will bring into being.

Happy Spring!

Balancing Your Inner Voice and Outer World

Focusing on what's going on inside of us can be very challenging when our daily life is packed full and we don't have a minute to spare.  Believe me, I've been there.  However, listening to our inner voice and managing our outside world is a two way street.  To find true balance, you must engage both, remembering that you hold the power to bring order and solace to your life.

I'd like to share a personal experience with you and give you some of the tools I used in hopes that you can begin to bring your goals and dreams to fruition.

After spending two years reacting to everything around me, much like I discussed in January when I posted Patience as We Process, and doing almost nothing that brought me any real joy, I paused.  I looked inside of me for what I really wanted, then I looked at my world and realized that the two were not at all well-aligned with each other.  Over a four day period, I looked back in my life to a time when things came together and flowed smoothly; I was productive and happy.

An old calendar I created.  Color coding
not necessary; just something I need to do.

That time was in college and I remembered a weekly calendar I used to use, so I recreated it, but it didn't work this time.  I couldn't figure out why, until I realized that I used the calendar when I was single and my life was entirely my own.  Besides incorporating my family into the new calendar, I looked at what I was doing personally and it did not line up with what I wanted to be doing or where I wanted to go.  In essence, my inner voice was not being heard or represented in my external world.

I needed something else.  Remember when Chantel talked about ways to approach New Year's resolutions?  Did you make yours?  Did you set goals?  I listed my goals and priorities, but that wasn't enough.  I needed to join my goals with the way I was spending my time during the week.

There is only so much time in a week and that is where the challenge was for me, in establishing a manageable process, finding a balanced approach to turning my goals and dreams into my reality.  With my priorities in hand and my weekly calendar filled in, I drew a circle on a piece of paper and looked at how much time I was spending doing things each week and what things I was actually doing.  I didn't like what I saw.  But, I didn't attempt to change everything all at once.  I eased my way into the things I wanted to do, while easing my way out of some of the things that were time sinks I didn't need to be doing.  Some things were easier to phase out than others, but once the process started, it got easier to see how I could manage my time and spend more of it focused on things that mattered.

Balance is a thing of beauty.

 A few months later, I reevaluated the way I was spending my time and compared the first circle to the second one.  I was pleasantly surprised to see how much I had refocused my outer world to align with my inner voice.  Once you begin to realign your outer world with your inner voice, you will not only find balance, but the time you need to achieve it.  I felt balanced, productive and happy, something which continues to grow today.

As you go through this process, remember to ask yourself these questions:  How full is your plate? What's on your plate?  Is what's there what you want to have on it?  How well are your inner voice and outer world supporting each other?  Have you achieved some balance?

Practice Engaging Your Inner Wisdom
Over the next two weeks, take the time to either record the amount of time you spend on each task you do or estimate it.  You can simply list each item and record how much time you spend on it as you do it each day or use the tools I've posted on my website for you to accomplish this assessment.  Then, using my 'how full is your plate?' circle (also on my website), apply your week to the plate in the percentage of time spent on each task.  How does it look?  If it's not the way you'd like it, how can you change it?  If you're interested in some personal coaching, let me know.  I'd be happy to help.

Deepening the Connection with Our Inner Self

February, in the United States, marks a time to focus on loving others. When we celebrate Valentine’s Day we send love and kindness to our partner, children, co-workers, and/or family. With this attention on loving “others”, I began to think about the importance of loving Self. In Art and Soul Lab's February newsletter I address supporting our creative self. In today's post, I highlight connecting with our inner self – the wise, knowing part of ourselves.

Previously this month, my colleague Karen Paquin wrote about “Intuitive Listening”, those times when we act on a “hunch” without realizing why, yet on an instinctual level we know what we need to do and by following and not questioning our intuition we gain insight or support in a way that our conscious mind could not have, or might have dismissed.

How do we take our intuitive listening to another level and find ways to consciously focus on our inner guidance system? In his book “Yoga: The Spirit and Practice of Moving Into Stillness”, Erich Shiffmann explains the benefits of connecting with this deeper part of our self:

“Inner Guidance…is your deepest knowing made conscious… The spiritual teachings you'll receive from within your silent mind will be the source of new meaning in your life…Spiritual teachings will come in the form of inspiring and guiding you in your thought, speech, and behavior, they will come in the form of clarifying insights and sudden inspirations, creative ideas, intuitive knowings, life circumstances, people and situations, hunches, premonitions, desires, attractions, and spontaneous impulses.”

By connecting to what is inside we enhance the quality of our lives; by knowing our truths we may follow them and ultimately live richer and more meaningful lives.

“To the person who does not know where he wants to go there is no favorable wind.”

~Seneca

So how do we intentionally get to the gems of wisdom that we have inside? How do we connect to and support those parts of ourselves that we don’t always listen to, so that we may experience our internal “spiritual teachings”?

We know that eating well, exercising, taking time to go inward through yoga or meditation, and having a spiritual practice can help us to better hear our inner voice. What about other ways to listen? Here are a few ideas:

• Take time to reflect – How often do you stop and really allow yourself to think about where you would like your life’s journey to take you? What about thinking about past actions in relation to future desires – what has worked, what hasn’t? How do you really feel in a day? Are you happy? Satisfied? Reacting or Responding? 

“Reflection is looking in so you can look out with a broader, bigger, and more accurate perspective.”
~Mick Ukleja and Robert Lorber

• Consider taking yourself on a “self-discovery journey” - Take a trip on your own solely for the purpose of being with yourself to hear and listen to what you want and to what makes you feel passionate and inspired. You could do a “pilgrimage” or visit an awe-inspiring location like Alaska or an event like the season when humpback whales birth. Invest in a journey where it is just you, with you, exploring you. This doesn’t have to be an expensive trip, or even a literal trip as Cat Caracello pointed out in a recent email:

“Journeys can be experienced in the flow of dreaming, making art, accessing imaginal states and engaging creative connections. Journeys are a way of exploring what is sensed, felt, intuited, experienced, known and unknown.”

Be alone with yourself and your thoughts, pay attention, listen and see what you discover. As Tbird Luv suggests, “Stop the doing and be present in your being”. Sit and reflect, ponder, consider, allow ideas to bubble up, review the past in a loving way.

• Try SoulCollage® - SoulCollage® provides an innovative way of connecting to your inner self through images. By intuitively selecting images, creating cards from those images and then interpreting the cards’ meanings, you can discover aspects of yourself that beckon and wish to be seen, but haven’t consciously blossomed. Engaging in creative expression gets us into a zone that allows for ideas and insights to bubble up. 
  
  

In the coming months we will explore other ways of deepening your connection to "self" I hope that you are slowing down enough to really listen and hear, taking needed time to reflect and consider, and doing the work necessary to feel great and have a sense of purpose and vision.

Practice Engaging Your Inner Wisdom:

Select one of the modalities suggested above and try it! Let us know how engaging in one of these activities inspired you or supported you. Leave us a comment and let us know!

Intuitive Listening

An important feature of engaging your inner wisdom is paying attention to what you know at your core and engaging it on a conscious level.  However, sometimes we can listen on an unconscious level.  It's called intuitive listening and basically, we do things without really understanding why we do them - trusting your gut.  At some point, if we consciously engage our inner wisdom (that core), we realize we have done some intuitive listening, because as we become consciously aware of our thoughts and actions, we connect the dots between unconscious and conscious ones.

You may have heard "intuitive listening" used in a variety of ways, perhaps likened to body language, tone of the voice, and other non-verbal communication signals.  I would argue that picking up on those types of signals is perceptive listening, but not intuitive, because you're doing it on a conscious level.  Others describe intuitive listening the way Chantel and I present engaging inner wisdom, by opening yourself up and being receptive to what's going on around you and inside of you.  Again, that makes it conscious and not intuitive.  If you type 'intuitive' into Google, here is the definition you get:  using or based on what one feels to be true even without conscious reasoning.  That is why these definitions of intuitive listening are not accurate, because they are being done consciously.

Following on the defined meaning, I present intuitive listening as being something we do without understanding why.  At the same time, that undertaking will be beneficial to us at some point in the future.  Many of us will automatically think, "Well, I have done a lot of stupid things in my life that I've learned from and haven't repeated.  I've made the links."  That is not exactly it.  Let me give you a personal example, so you can see the difference.

My first recognition of intuitive listening happened about three years ago.  My daughter and I were making friendship bracelets and I chose blue and black as my colors.  These are not colors I would ever choose if I thought about it, but for some unknown reason, these were the colors it had to be and I worked frantically to finish it, though I had no idea why.  An hour after I completed the bracelet and tied it around my wrist, my brother called to tell me that our mom had passed away.  As I hung up the phone, I looked at the bracelet on my wrist and realized what the colors meant to me - black was mourning, blue protection.  I took a deep breath and smiled, knowing I had made the bracelet to help me manage my mom's death.

Not only did that bracelet, which I call a Tied Totem, help me deal with her passing, it set in motion the creation of one of the tools that I use in my retreats and with my coaching clients.  In fact, I have developed an entire color system relating to emotional characteristics and traits that I use not only to create the totems, but in a few of the creative exercises I lead.

Another similar instance happened last week.  After several months without one, I felt it was time to wear a totem again, though I couldn't say why.  I chose green and purple, representing focus and strength, respectively.  The day after I made it, someone I love very much received very good news at work, ensuring he will have a job for as long as he wants it.  I, however, have been struggling with my career not growing as quickly as I'd like, so not only did the totem remind me that I am strong enough to be happy for his success, but also that I have a plan on which I need to focus for my own professional well-being.

Now that I have shared my intuitive listening story with you, I hope that you can think of a similar experience you've had, where something you've done without conscious reasoning has benefited you and that you'll feel comfortable sharing it with us.  If you can't think of anything, here's your chance to give intuitive listening a try.

Practice Engaging Your Inner Wisdom

Let's practice trusting ourselves when we don't understand why we are doing something.  Keeping in mind the meaning of intuitive, (using or based on what one feels to be true even without conscious reasoning), over the next two weeks, if you have an urge to do something innocuous or a little out of character, but you aren't sure why, just go with it and see what it unleashes in you.  Let us know how it goes.

Gently Approaching New Year's Resolutions

If you're like me, you've probably tried to use willpower to achieve your New Year’s resolutions. Maybe if you've been lucky, you've either eliminated bad habits or created beneficial new ones. And sadly, like me you’ve probably failed, on multiple occasions, to follow through with your intentions. You're not alone, according to Jon Norcross, a psychology professor and distinguished university fellow at the University of Scranton, 55%-60% of people fail at adopting their new year’s resolutions.

Why do we keep trying the same methods year after year knowing they won't work?

Here's where we need to understand habits and the nature of our brains. In my January e-newsletter I refer to an article by Kelly Traverse, MD and Betty Kelly Sargent that demonstrates how and why brains form habits - it's in our hard wiring - habits are harder to break once established, and can take time to adopt.  The authors state "although your brain can change, it usually won’t do so without putting up a bit of a fight. That’s because it is set up to resist change, especially sudden change."

Many of us have heard the phrase, "it takes 21-days to form a new habit". Unfortunately, this may not be the case. Recent research suggests that it may actually take an average of 66 days to adopt a new habit. But that average is based on a lot of variables, like the individual and the type of habit they were trying to change. In truth, adoption of a habit can take quite a bit longer. Moreover, research indicates that easier activities more readily turn into habits than do more difficult activities and, the better you are at sticking to the new activity early on, the better your chances for success.

So what does all of this mean to us?

Here’s where willpower comes into play. Many of us try to form new habits or break old ones by invoking our willpower, which like a muscle, fatigues. Just when we need our willpower the most - like when we come home tired, hungry, and irritable after a long day at the office - is when it will most likely fail us. Why? Because we have spent the entire day exercising our willpower, i.e. not snapping at a co-worker when they frustrate us, avoiding the donut in the break room, and so on. The repeated flexing of our willpower makes it harder for us to maintain our new objectives. As Shawn Achor points out in The Happiness Advantage, “willpower weakens the more we use it”. Worse still, many of us berate ourselves for not being able to "do it", a feeling that reinforces itself as we seem to be unable despite our determined efforts.

So if our willpower won’t work, and up to 60% of us fail in achieving our new year’s resolutions, how can we make lasting, sustainable changes, and break habits that don’t serve us?

In her article, Meditation Can Reduce Habitual Responding, Heide Wenk-Sormaz, PhD, explains how establishing a meditation practice can assist us in breaking unwanted habits. Her study indicates that individuals who practiced meditation were better able to notice when they were about to do something out of habit and then make more conscious choices. While her study didn’t focus on people adopting new habits, it stands to reason that if one becomes more mindful throughout the day and is aware of when he/she is going to respond out of habit, then one would be more mindful when incorporating new habits too.

Practice Engaging Your Inner Wisdom

Do you have a regular meditation practice? If so, see if you can maintain your awareness throughout the day, noticing when you are responding to something out of habit. Then gently make a choice based on awareness rather than automation. If you have never meditated and want to learn more, check out Thrive! - The Living Well Show's introduction to meditation where I interviewed leading meditation experts. Consider taking a meditation class. Even practicing deep abdominal breathing for 5 minutes a day, can help to make you more present. Do this by breathing in through your nose to a count of 4 (this number doesn't change), and blowing out softly through rounded lips, making a wind-like sound, to a count of 8, 10 or 12. As you practice this technique your exhalations will lengthen (they may surpass a 12 count) and your inhalations will deepen.

Patience as We Process

Bottom lines usually come at the end of a long drawn-out explanation, but I am switching that;  I'm beginning with the bottom line.  The bottom line is that virtually everything we do is a process or part of a process and the way we approach the processes in our lives matters.

In today’s society, we approach life’s processes by being pushed, urged forward by external forces; things must happen faster; we must be more efficient, more productive, go, go, go!

Do you feel your body stressing at the mere mention of those ideas?  Yeah?  Me too.  It is because we allow these external forces to set the tone and pace for our processes.  It is also why, when we face set backs or unexpected challenges, we meet them with frustration, discouragement, anger, and even sadness.  The result is growing stress, because all of these emotions, coupled with our fast-paced society, increase stress.

To break this cycle, we must turn away from the external forces and listen to our inner truth, let internal forces guide us.  The first step on the path to breaking absolute external influence and the stress cycle that goes with it is to turn inward and listen to our inner truth (our gut).  This simple act begins a new process, one that requires patience and time, acceptance and understanding.

 

That brings me back to my bottom line – the way we approach the processes in our lives matters.

It does not mean choosing to listen entirely to internal or external forces.  It means finding balance between the two and letting your inner wisdom guide your choices; it means realizing that the process of looking inward and finding balance requires patience, because it takes time.

For some people looking inward is about beginning a complete lifestyle change; for others it is to get a better job; and still others seek balance or simply a way to include their favorite hobby in their life.  No matter how you apply your inner wisdom to your life, the ultimate goal is to find peace and happiness.  To do it successfully, we must begin the process with patience.

Practice Engaging Your Inner Wisdom

Take five to ten minutes to sit or lie down with your eyes closed and let your mind wander not to external worries or concerns, but to internal hopes and dreams, goals and ambitions.  Don’t feel obligated to write anything down, don’t force your thoughts in any direction.  The point is to start allowing yourself to see and accept your inner wisdom.  Begin the process by imagining yourself in a positive situation doing something you enjoy.  When you’ve completed your wander, take another moment to acknowledge how it made you feel.  Then, smile, because you’ve just allowed yourself to take the first step in listening to your inner truth.

 

Engage With Us...

We are so glad that you have decided to join us as we begin this journey to understand and support inner wisdom, to assist you as you determine your own inner wisdom, whether it be discovering or rediscovering your creative side, finding balance in your daily life or simply living an intentional one.

Our first step onto this path begins with the winter solstice and why we chose this day to launch our blog.

Why are we launching on the winter solstice?

Chantel’s Thoughts

Today is the winter solstice, and the longest night of the year (in Earth's Northern hemisphere); it is the beginning of winter, and a turning point in which, starting tomorrow, daylight and the sun's energy will begin to increase. One reason to launch "Engaging Inner Wisdom" on the winter solstice is because it is a metaphor for our journey inward, and reflects the journey I hope this blog will take you on.

Like earth traveling around the sun, you too are traveling, and like earth you have seasons - seasons of your life that are punctuated by meaningful events and "turning points" in which you experience various emotions, needs and desires. One such need is that of going inward to gain insight, and illuminate core aspects of yourself. The winter solstice echoes this need; darkness and winter are a time for staying indoors (inside), contemplating and preparing, so that when the thaw comes we are ready to "spring" into action and participate fully. Some people think of the winter solstice as "sacred night", because it symbolizes a time when we go into darkness intent on discovery and inquiry, with the idea of emerging with a greater understanding of who we are and how we might move forward.

In launching this blog on the longest night of the year we pay homage to our inner stillness, our "inner night", our inner depths and quiet spaces. Night is shrouded in darkness, cloaked in silence - it is within our own silent darkness that we create space to listen and observe unencumbered by the frenetic chaos that surrounds us - we rest in our silence, and begin to notice our own inner stirrings and desires - our knowing. Blanketed in this stillness we can begin to touch places within ourselves that are often buried in the cacophony of daily life and its endless busy-ness. We rest, and in so doing, we settle. Just as winter snow gently falls and settles on the landscape covering it in a warming layer of quietude, so too will our contemplative time spent listening, cover us in a greater sense of peace and well-being.

If we are willing to slow down, to go inside, to rest in our inner space - we will hear the vibrant, pulsating, meaningful voice that speaks so clearly and vociferously when we dare to let it.

I hope you will join us on our journey with "Engaging Inner Wisdom", and that in so doing you will be inspired to listen more intently to your own personal wisdom.

Karen’s Thoughts

For us (in the northern hemisphere), the winter solstice is the shortest day of the year.  But, what does it mean?  The shortest day?  When I was a kid, all it meant to me was that it got dark very early.  We couldn’t play outside as long as we did in summer.  Only as I grew older (and, I like to think, wiser) did the nuances of this day become clear.  Yes, it is the shortest day, but the next day is slightly longer and the next slightly longer than that.  In short, the winter solstice signals the return of light, a kind of beginning.

What better way to begin to engage our inner wisdom than by celebrating the beginning of the return of light?  While we sit in the long darkness of this day, we can look inward and contemplate our inner wisdom.  We can embrace our own processes and initiate or build on them as light provides us the opportunity to do so.

In Iceland, where darkness rules the winter months, they used to spend those dark hours telling stories, stories of their families and the kings and queens of Norway and Denmark, but also of their great pagan gods.  This was their wisdom and how they engaged it – poetry and storytelling.  Not only have we gained many of those stories, but they have led to others like The Hobbit, Lord of the Rings, even Harry Potter.  By engaging their inner wisdom, the Icelandic skalds (poets) told incredible stories that led to a literary culture, which still inspires others.

We can empower ourselves and others in the same way.  On this shortest day of the year, we harken back to those practices, realizing the creative wealth and sense of community they provided, and we breathe.  As daylight increases, we feel more hopeful and energized, ready to unleash our creativity and follow our true path.  For, with light comes optimism; we can see things more clearly, bring our plans to life, and carry within them the thread of inner wisdom that we embraced through inward contemplation in the darkness whose end is at hand.

I hope you will join us on this journey as we explore what inner wisdom is and how to engage it.

Practice Engaging Your Inner Wisdom

Start a journal that captures your personal  wisdom for future reference. Take five to ten minutes to "free write" about your connection with your inner voice; have there been times when you have not listened, and should have? Have there been times when listening made all the difference? How does this inform you?