We all have those moments, hours, days when it feels like everything in life is just ganging up on us. Or our mind has gone way off down some story line of disaster. Or someone has said something that hurts. Or you feel like you just can’t take another day of office politics. Or you’ve just done something really stupid and you feel awful about it. Or … We all have our personal list of experiences we would really rather not experience.

It isn’t always possible to make an instant change. Sometimes we just have to allow what is and keep breathing. New jobs sometimes take a while to find. Relationships have ups and downs. Friends don’t realize they’ve said something hurtful. We act and speak before we think. There is something that you can do instantly. It has to do with humor … a slightly different flavor of humor.

Once upon a time (only a few months ago, but it seems like longer) every one of us in my mastermind group had yucky stuff up. Same kind of stuff I’ve already mentioned.

We all had all kinds of words for what we were feeling – all the tried and true four letter curse words (we weren’t saying them but we sure were thinking them), plus the ones you make up on a keyboard (*#&@^!) They weren’t helping very much.

That’s when someone mentioned creative cursing. Creative cursing is when your inner child comes out and has a giggly good time making up silly (sometimes gross) things to say. Things like “frosted bat-wings” and “pig boogers” and “snail slime” and …You get the idea. It’s the kind of stuff that gives you shivers while making a eeuuwwwww face, and then begin to grin because it’s just so silly… and different yucky, fun yucky. I’m sure you’ve got a few yourself.

This is where the unicorn turds were born. We all knew that there would be good things coming out of our issues. It was the allowing that was “the problem”. How to re-frame all of that? Ah-hah!! How about unicorn turds? YES!! Unicorn turds. They are very pretty actually, sort of rainbow colored, some bright, some pastel. Some of them even sparkle, like someone sprinkled glitter on them. The really cool thing about unicorn turds is they are the best ever fertilizer for the next new thing in our life. Who knew?

However, they were still turds. We still had to walk through them. That’s when poo boots were born. I mean, given a choice, would your walk through turds, even unicorn turds, bare foot or in boots? In boots, of course! Our poo boots are really comfortable. Some of them are even high-fashion statements.

Poo boots are our imaginary, magical boots that keep our feet and energy clean as we wade through life’s yucky stuff. In Law of Attraction terms, poo boots (and humor) let us move up the emotional scale. They let us allow what is without having to go wallowing in it or through it.

That is the key. There is a fine line between dealing with what is and wallowing in what is.

Dealing with what is lets it be without fixing or resisting. A frequent benefit is that the situation changes or resolves more quickly than if you go charging at it or try to stuff it away somewhere. Any action that you take will come from a calmer, more centered position.

Wallowing means you’re having WAY too much fun being in the mess and feeling like a victim. I’ll grant you … sometimes that poor-me place is just so comfortably familiar. Even if you don’t like it much, it does have familiarity going for it. On the other hand, you wouldn’t be on your path of personal and spiritual growth if you wanted things to be the same as they’ve always been.

Why is it even important to find something even a little funny? Because it gives your mind a break. You begin to breathe a little more deeply. Your brain begins to get more oxygen. You begin to think more clearly.

This is your official invitation to join the Unicorn Turds and Poo Boots Club (no membership dues, cards, etc.). Indulge in creative cursing.

And, if you would like some assistance working on what caused your unhappiness in the first place, drop me a line. There are many tools that can e used to unravel your pain and find clarity about your next steps.

I would love to hear some of your favorites. We’ll get some giggles going here.

Seems like no matter who I talk to, people are feeling some real challenges since Christmas. They range from sadness to physical “stuff” to old patterns raising their heads again. The sadness may feel more intense. The physical response is probably your usual physical response to stress, magnified. And the old patterns . . . we know them soooo well!

So . . . what’s up with all this?!?

There has been a very significant energy shift, which kicked into high gear on the Winter Solstice. What happened then was Winter Solstice combined with a full moon and lunar eclipse. The last time that happened was 1634 (376 years ago)!

Then we had some planetary alignments that we’ve been working up to for decades, with, if I’m understanding it correctly, it all falling into place on January 4, 2011, which also happened to be a New Moon.

• The good news is: this is a higher order shift with really supportive energies.

• The challenge is: our systems are used to the old energies.

• Our opportunity is to be with:

• our resistance (often unconscious) to making new inner alignments

• old patterns that seem to be showing up for one last “are you SURE you want to let me go?” effort

• trust the process – it really is taking us to new territory that is supportive and new.

The main thing you can do during this period of time is support your body. This kind of work takes incredible amounts of energy. It’s as if we’re running a marathon. How best to support your body?

• Let yourself get extra sleep, if possible

• Eat good, clean food, as organic as possible

• Find a really good Vitamin B complex. It’s my understanding that B’s are the happy vitamins and you can take bunches of them. I take the Coenzyme B-Complex from Country Life. I know there are others out there. If you have one that works really well for you, please feel free to share via the comments below.

• Just do those things you need to (work, family, etc.) and let the rest unfold.

• Remember that you volunteered to be alive now, at this really exciting time of human evolution. If you’re like me, you have days when you wonder what you were thinking and . . . it’s quite a rich and wonderful adventure!!

We’re pretty amazing . . . really!! We’ve come such a long way from even a year ago. If you take a moment to look back, I believe you’ll be amazed at the changes within yourself and your expanding awareness!!

If any of the following ring true for you, there is a very strong probability you are experiencing past life memories and feelings:

1. You have this feeling or this situation that you just can’t shake. Seems like it’s been with you for-ev-er!! You’ve done inner work, maybe even therapy. You still can’t seem to shake it. Just keeps popping up.
2. you are really attracted to a period in history
3. you’re really attracted to a language
4. you just love (or hate) everything about a particular country
5. you just know how do something even though you’ve never studied it.
6. You haven’t found anything in your life that explains these feelings

If this sounds like you, then you may want to consider past life regression therapy. Past life regression therapy will help you recover past life memories, shedding light, awareness, and understanding on those feelings and situations. Ninety-five percent of healing is the awareness of what you want to heal.

How do you find these past life memories? Where you do begin? The most direct and powerful way is past life regression therapy. A well-trained and certified past life therapist will help you explore your past life memories, keeping you focused on your intention and helping you integrate the information into your daily life.

Where do you find a past-life therapist?

If you live in a metropolitan area, look for an alternative magazine. Likely spots to find them are health food and herbal/alternative medicine stores and metaphysical/new age bookstores and shops. Many past-life therapists advertise in these publications. You can also search on the Internet. Three sites I recommend are:

1. International Board of Regression Therapy: http://www.ibrt.org Certifies Past Life Therapists and Researchers and lists the certified Past Life Therapists by name or by state.
2. International Association for Regression Research and Therapies: http://www.iarrt.org/ is a community of past life therapists, including listings. Not all are certified.
3. International Between Lives Regression Network: http://www.iblrn.org lists therapists who have trained and certified in Michael Newton’s Life Between Lives therapy.

How do you narrow the field?

First, look for past life therapists who are near where you live (within a few hours). Then give them a call and interview them. A professional will understand what you are doing and why. This is true of any therapist (past life regression, life between lives, counselor, social worker, psychologist, psychiatrist). It’s crucial that you feel comfortable with the therapist, that you trust her or him. Trust your intuition, your gut feelings.

If there are no past life therapists near you, or you just don’t click with those who are, expand your search. You may need to make a short trip out of it. If the only time you have is a short (or long) weekend, see if the past life therapist can work with you in arranging that. When I have clients coming from more than two or three hours away, I e-mail a list of area hotels and restaurants on request.

6 Questions to Ask a Past Life Regression Therapist

1. How long have you been practicing past life regression therapy?
2. What is your training/background?
3. Are you certified? If so, with and by who? How long?
4. How much does a past life regression therapy session cost?
5. How long is the past life regression session?
6. How many past life regression sessions do you recommend?

Talk with them a little about what you want to explore. Keep it brief and be as specific as you can. Like you, they are probably busy people.

When you’ve set up your past life regression therapy session

1. do your best to keep your expectations under control
2. trust that you will have exactly the experience and remember exactly the past life memories you are ready to remember now
3. write down what your question or inquiry is
4. come to your past life regression therapy session with curiosity and an open heart
5. let your past life memories set you free.

The bravest step you will ever take is the one that lets you turn and face your fear. After that, it really does get easier, regardless of whether you like what you find or not. EB♥

Frank Herbert, in Dune, phrased it another way: “Fear is a mind killer. I will face my fear; I let it pass through me. When I turn, there will be nothing. Only I will remain”.

That first step can be soooo HARD!! I don’t know about you, but almost every time, I’m afraid that, somehow, I’ll be annihilated and wiped out, or dead, or something else I don’t even have a word for. What I do know for sure is I really really don’t want to take that first step.

Then I remember: each time I’ve taken that step, I’ve come out the other side stronger and more free. It eats up tremendous energy, following that bunny trail of fear thoughts. I would rather use that energy on something FUN!! Like laughing or playing.

How, exactly, can you do that – turn around and face the fear? That made no sense to me for many years. Turn around what, how? Gradually, I came to an understanding and a process that works for me. I offer it here for you to try out and see if it works for you.

When I’m feeling fear, it is usually about something specific. The first thing I do is tell myself “STOP”. That’s it, just “STOP!”

Then I take a look at the thought I was just having. What was the thought before that one? And the one before that? And the one before that? I follow the thoughts back as far as I can. What I usually find is that they have jumped around in the most amazing way and, horror, have anywhere from zero to negative zero relation to where I ended up. I mean, really! That’s nuts! Yup.

Which brings you back to the fear thought that had you tied up in knots, belly twisted, feeling panicked, or however else it is that you feel fear. Now you know that the thought itself isn’t really based on anything, just a random sequence of vaguely (maybe) connected thoughts. So . . . what is it about THAT thought that has me so scared?

The core source of most of my fears generally boils down to self-judgment and feeling vulnerable. That I somehow am not being or acting as I “should” based on beliefs I established at some point in my life. What is sobering is realizing that all of my friends and loved ones see me as I am (good and not so) and they love me anyway (and sometimes even because of).

And still, I hold on to those old beliefs, created in response to life situations I rarely even remember any more. These fears are your key to unlocking and dismantling the beliefs that keep you tied up in knots and small.

When you allow yourself to face the fear, you begin to take it apart. Just that single step begins the process. You can then see how it connects to a belief. Once you’ve identified the belief, you can decide what you want to do about that belief.

• Is it truly helpful (“Stoves are hot. Stoves burn. Don’t put your hand on a hot stove.” – THAT’s a keeper!)
• or is it limiting (“My father told me I was stupid at algebra, therefore I don’t understand anything to do with math., therefore I’m a failure.” — NOT a keeper – and also not true.)

I’ll warn you, some of these beliefs just can’t believe you’re serious about letting them go. You may find yourself  being tested. Just remember: it’s little, scared you testing big, strong You. Big, strong, conscious You gets to choose.

I’ll leave you with this:

“Become the sky. Take an axe to the prison wall. Escape. Walk out like someone suddenly born into color. Do it now.”  ~ Rumi

The prison wall (your fear) is paper-thin. I invite you to take that step through the smashed prison wall … even just a little tip-toe step . . . into the dream and the passion your heart yearns for.. Whether a new step or a step more deeply in, let yourself discover the new color … and freedom! EB♥

I’ve been getting a lot of messages lately about surrender. Not the give-up-roll-over-and-die kind, the stop-fighting-it kind.

Stop fighting what? Myself and what I’m here to do and experience. I’m lucky, I’m pretty clear what “it” is.

It’s such a universal theme for us spirits in body suits. I’m meeting people almost daily who either have a good idea what they’re really here to do or know that what they’re doing isn’t it. Most people (no matter how old or young) are feeling increasing pressure to be themselves, full out, doing the work they came here to do.

This issue is generally a combo of fear and confusion. Fear that nobody (maybe including themselves) will get it or want it. Confusion about how to make whatever it is happen.

Did I mention frustration? That’s in there too. That aarrgghh feeling you get when you’re doing the best you know how and . . . and . . . and . . . (aaarrrggghhh!!!)

Which brings me back to surrender. Which reminds me of a cartoon I saw many years ago in a yoga magazine.

• First panel: young woman, sitting in meditation pose.
• Second panel: young woman asking Spirit to remove whatever it is that’s blocking her.
• Third panel: ZAP lightening bolt out of the sky and the young woman zapped out of existence.

Durn, there it is again – we’re our own worst enemy, throwing up our own roadblocks. How do we work with that instead of against it?

Here comes surrender again. “But how do I DO that?” you ask. Trust . . . you practice trust. Still not very helpful? (It wasn’t for me.)

Give this a shot. Imagine yourself in a huge golden field of expansive (friendly) energy. It’s vast, really big. You are a small focused point in the middle of that field. Become aware of how you are resting in that golden expansiveness.

Notice that you aren’t falling, you aren’t zipping around, you’re just there . .  . here . . . now. Notice how you feel. It may be relaxation . . . or relief . . . you may even notice that it feels easier to breathe. You may also notice that you are being moved, gently, surely. It can be quite a surprise.

Now . . . just let yourself rest here for a few minutes. Let yourself become aware of how it feels (physically, emotionally) to be carried and cocooned in this lovely golden field of energy. Feel the gentle strength of this golden field.

Resting in this field, letting yourself be moved . . . this is surrender and trust. You’ve no idea where you’re being taken and, wonder of wonders, it actually feels more than OK. And, for some reason, you may also feel you can trust this. Hmmmm . . . easier than you thought? Or more difficult. If more difficult, play with it some, customize it to YOU. Some people prefer to imagine an ocean. The key here is that you feel totally supported and safe, surrendered and trusting.

Blessings,

Elmdea

Over the past few weeks, I’ve had quite a few clients who have felt overwhelmed and stuck. They have a lot they want to do and they feel like they’re spinning their wheels.

They were having what I call Vortex issues. They had slipped out of the Vortex. For those of you who aren’t familiar with the Abraham/Hicks material, the Vortex is that wonderful state of being where you “rendezvous with everything and everyone you have been looking for . . . to reestablish the most important relationship of all: your relationship with the Eternal, Non-Physical Source that is really you.”

We all do it. We’re going along, living our lives. We’re getting things done, there is always more to do, we’re in the flow, things are feeling really good and then, WHACK . . . what happened!?

Oh yeah . . . those old patterns, the way we’re used to doing things. It’s so comfy because we know them so well. Except we know that those old patterns didn’t always work so well. A lot of the time, we also define ourselves by those patterns.

One person was saying, “I’m a do-er. That’s what I am. I’m a do-er.”  She had been in a situation where she had to be getting a lot of things done. She did. And then she kept right on with it, even though she could now back off. Her mind kicked in and she was weeks and months into the future. What about this, what about that. If I do this, will it make that happen? It was a loop and she was stuck in it.

Sound familiar? How do you get off that hamster wheel you’ve made with your thoughts?

First step is to just tell yourself “stop”. Really. Just say it quietly, no need to shout. Your mind will hear you. Then take a slow deep breath . . . a really slow deep breath. Why? Because it tells your mind you mean it. Then find another thought, any thought, that feels better.

Let yourself get good at this. It’s something that you’ll find useful again and again. We’re human. We do this. Its part of what we are here to experience, this racing mind, this calm mind, being in the Vortex, being out of the Vortex . . . all of it. Have fun with this. It really can be quite funny . . . sometimes.

Receiving has been turning up in a lot of conversation lately. A lot of us have been discovering that we thought we were good at it, and we’re being shown we aren’t.  Another layer of self-discovery opens up for exploration.

Turns out that receiving really can be a challenge.  Why? Because you have to give up control. Yeurrkkk! But . . . but . . . but . . .  Does this sound familiar? Even a little bit? What I’ve found is that it still boils down to letting go and surrendering.

The surrendering part comes in when you let go of how something actually shows up.  What you desire may show up in a different form and way than you had imagined. Often, it’s way better than you imagined.

About 6 months ago, I was looking at my tires and said to myself “I need some new ones pretty soon.”  Not too long after, a neighbor gave me a set of  almost new tires (only 3,000 miles on them — that’s new in my book). He had upgraded his rims and they used a different size tire. His old tires fit my rims. It all happened so easily and naturally.

One of my favorite receiving stories is about a fellow Chamber of Commerce member. He would win the monthly door prize 3 out of 4 months, or at least it seemed that way. It got the the point that the Chamber President announced that, with his permission, if his business card was drawn, they would draw another instead. Why did he keep winning? Because he knows how to receive.

As I’ve looked at my own experiences and talked to others, they generally have at least 3 of the following things in common:

• Clarity. We know what we want. We also have a feel for it.
• Relaxation. We let things come to us, instead of rushing right out to make it happen
• Action. From this relaxed place, we take the actions that present themselves.
• Receiving. We receive it when it shows up. Sometimes it’s just like we imagined, sometimes it isn’t. Be alert to the different ways the Universe can fulfill your desires.
• Gratitude. We are happy and grateful to have our desires fulfilled.

We all have stories like this. Just take a second and think back. You’ll remember them.  Make a list and express gratitude again. I invite you to play with this.

Be open to receiving what you desire in unexpected ways. We so often box ourselves in, thinking that it has to happen exactly as we imagine it.  The Universe is infinitely creative. Our job is to imagine and feel the what. The Universe handles the how. Then we surrender and receive.

When we were born, we had a very clear idea of what we were going to do, here in these brand new body suits. Then we started getting bigger and bigger, learning words, learning what was a no-no and what got us hugs and kisses.

And we sang and we played and most of all, we pretended. Oh the fun in pretending! Then, somewhere along the way, we got the message loud and clear that pretend wasn’t real and we had to cut it out.

And along about the same time, we began to lose track of what it was we really came here to do.

Take a moment here to just get comfy, wriggle your shoulders around a bit, take a deep slow breath. Let yourself remember back to when you were a child, some time before you were 10 years old.

1. What really caught your fancy?
2. What did you keep doing, whether the grown ups thought it was a good idea or not?
3. What did you have fun pretending?
4. What did you really really really want to be when you grew up?

The answers you just told yourself are your clues to what you came here to do.

For me, I was always listening to people. I loved listening to grown-ups telling their stories, talking about their lives. I would ask questions and then listen, very carefully, to what they would say. Sometimes, I even asked questions that other grown-ups didn’t think were “appropriate”. Oh well. I kept on.

They didn’t call it coaching then, I was just a curious kid who thought people were really wonderful and interesting. Most of all, I wanted to know what they thought and why they thought that way. I learned a lot (still am).

As a grown-up, I’ve spent a lot of years dancing around that, doing all sorts of other things. What’s really interesting though is — every single one of those “other things” (one way or the other) involved listening to people, asking questions, and then really really really listening to their answers.

I’ll bet, once you start looking, you’ll discover the same thing.

So . . . what are you here to do? I would love to hear from you.

Blessings,

Elmdea

The other morning, driving to my weekly networking meeting, I noticed a low flying helicopter. As it got closer, I noticed it was staying over the power lines . . . and there was someone sitting on a platform on the outside.

As I’m looking at this guy sitting up in the air like that, I’m thinking “there is no way I would do that!” I don’t do well with heights.

My next thought was “that must be a scary job”. Oh? Wait a minute! For me it would be scary. I know people who would love to fly like that. They might even pay for it. (The photo to the left is from Haverfield Corporation, who build helicopters just to do this.)

Hmmmm . . . interesting. There are so many ways to look at any one experience. The experience is neutral until we look at it or experience it ourselves. We know it’s neutral because different people experience it differently. Just ask. Police have known for years that they will get different reports of the same event. We all see things just a little bit differently.

We see things differently based on what we have learned and experienced in our life. We see life through filters that we have created over time. My filter said, “That looks like a scary job”. Some else’s filter would say, “That looks like a dream job”. Same event, different view.

For the most part, we simply think that how we see things is part of “who I am.” We don’t question it or even really look at it.

As an experiment, pick some ordinary event that you notice today. Become aware of what you believe about that event, what you saw, how you felt about it.

Now, here comes the fun part #1: how do you imagine someone else might see the event? How would they feel about it? Let your imagination run all over the place with this. It’s pretty amazing what you come up with!

For fun part #2: ask yourself two questions about how you responded to the event:

1. Is my response part of  how I know myself, “who I am”?
2. Who would I be if that response wasn’t part of “who I am”?

This little experiment can give you some valuable information about how you view your world, ways you have created limitations . . . even with things you really like. It’s also a way to get a clearer picture on what some of your subtle belief systems are. Once you know what they are, you can decide if they stay or go. What’s important is: you get to choose!