Focus, eliminate the trauma, the drama, the trouble of any kind and focus on love and keeping things REAL. This month, February 13th, the theme of our Variety Hour is focus. Join us for a power hour packed with fun.
Please invite a friend and join us for this free event. You matter. Your relationships matter. So let’s gather and FOCUS on what matters most.
Right now so many people are losing focus on what matters most. Let’s keep the focus on keeping it REAL. Let’s get more our relationships to be REAL: RESOURCED. ENGAGED. AWARE. LOVING.
Here’s a sneak peak of the special guests for this Saturday’s show:
Caroline Garnet McGraw is an author, speaker, and coach for recovering perfectionists. She’s the creator of A Wish Come Clear, a popular blog devoted to trading perfectionism for possibility, as well as several online interview series. She’s a two-time TEDx speaker, and her essays have been featured on The Huffington Post, Momastery, and Women For One. Caroline lives in Florence, Alabama with her family.
I invite you right now, to write a love letter to your true self. Even if you happened to do this writing exercise last month, do it again. Let it be fresh.
Simply pause, whatever you’re doing, and drop out of your busy, busy, busy mind. In this busy mind palace you can surrender. No longer trying to rearrange all the furniture, you can quit trying to manage all its contents. Drop the remodel.
Sit down, instead, and pull out a notebook. Pick up a pen and write.
Dear Beloved,
Grateful to come home to myself again, and again, with tenderness and compassion, I touch and caress this skin on my arms, I say thank you to my arms for hugging all those you have hugged and being willing to embrace the embrace.
Tickling my armpits, I smile at the hair that grows here during these pandemic times. Thank you for wicking away the toxins. Thank you for turning me away from the public standard of beauty and tuning into my true self.
Smoothing the wrinkles on my forehead, I appreciate the laugh lines around my eyes. And on my cheeks. I remember all the good times that have transpired. And I look forward to tomorrow.
Patting my soft belly, my tender emotional brain, I greet the real, raw, and vulnerable me who has been craving oatmeal cookies for days.
As I succumb to the crumb, I allow the sweetness of my son’s girlfriend kind gesture to fill me, here, in this vulnerable tender belly. This sacred space that is void of guilt and shame and simply delights in the delicious sweetness of her spontaneous plate of cookies.
Arriving at my doorstep, I receive the sweetness I’ve craved.
I smile into my eyes as I look in the mirror and send healing vibes to this sty in my right eye.
I apply a tender moist heat. This compress of understanding of all the horror that I have seen, and all the beauty that I have soaked in through these rods and cones. A direct circuit to my brain. And I pray for more sunrises and sunsets, smiles and sorrows.
Thank you, eyes, for giving me the experience of a more beautiful way of being in my body.
During an acupuncture treatment, I found myself bracing against the next needle insertion. There were two students working on me, one very aggressive, the other more mild in her approach. I spoke up.
“It feels like two different people are treating me and I am guarding against this experience.”
Wow, miracles occur when authentic voice speaks and present moment awareness guides the next event.
Number one, in speaking my truth, I relaxed. I trusted myself to no longer abandon myself when something is not okay. I released the bracing and made myself more ready to receive the treatment.
Number two, in shifting their desire to fix, the students stimulated the healing process, and, lo and behold, the treatment mellowed in its intensity, and became more healing in the process.
And number three, in suggesting another approach, the instructor recommended that instead of moving the needle around in search of chi, they “let the chi come to the needle.”
This message, let the chi come to the needle powerfully shifted the moment.
Less effort, more being.
Less striving, more thriving.
Less seeking, more receiving.
Let connection come to you by learning this simple practice of surrender. Don’t try so hard. We live in a codependent society. The worst in me, when joined with the worst in you, brings a messy glimpse of reality. Trying to fix makes a mess. Trying to heal brings resistance. Allowing the other’s true essence to shine and connect with that is where meaningful relationships are born, and thrive.
You are surrounded by healing energy all the time. Your angels and ancestors await your request to serve you in your highest good. The healing power within you is ready to come to the needle.
The person inserting the needle does not need to try so hard. He doesn’t need to stir the needle in search of the tug or zing of the evidence of chi. The chi is there, waiting, patiently for space to show up. For safety to emerge within so the healing can transpire.
If you are looking for connection, sit back. Stir your own energy field and find stillness. Trust yourself to no longer abandon yourself. Bring your best self forth. Shine. Your magnetism will create just the connections you need. And just what your heart desires.
Try it. You matter. Your relationships matter.
Here are my take-aways: may they serve you as well.
*Let inspiration come to the pen, the canvas. (show up to write or to paint)
*Let connection come to the soul. (show up in sacred stillness & silence)
*Let chi come to the needle. (show up to serve without the agenda to “fix”)
If you are longing to recharge and refresh your relationships, each and every one of them, I’m here to guide you. I wholeheartedly believe you can experience relational health when you are ready to commit to the journey of Moonshot Magic and write a new ending to this chapter of your life.
Here you will find opportunity for an attitude adjustment, greater accountability, as well as endless inspiration. Feel the shift away from longing and lack toward a tender-hearted and powerful mindset.Is now your time?
This membership is a way to do your future self a favor. It’s a way to uplift your family. It’s a fantastic return on investment. Reserve your spot now to stay committed and take an unwavering stand for yourself and the more beautiful world your heart knows is possible.
Here’s some helpful definitions to keep in mind:· Moonshot: We put our thinking minds to work and create the life we desire. We can commitment to something extraordinary by declaring what we will do and when we will do. Think effort.· Magic: When we are constantly striving, we create a life of strife. We must surrender to win and invite magic. Ask for support from something greater than yourself; inviting ease, flow and grace. Feel ease. · Movement: When we want change, it is important to connect with others on a similar path of transformation. Enjoy the benefits of an alchemical mix and energetic exchange of excellence. Know belonging.
Monthly membership is the best way to get the my offerings at an affordable rate. Recordings of the monthly masterclass are available if you can’t make the noon Pacific time on the 3rd Friday of every month.Membership also includes Q & A office hours with Amy E, and special rates to online and in person retreats and much more…
BEST BONUS EVER: Sign-up by Friday and get a bonus laser love coaching call with me. Here we will heart-storm and create your personal plan of action.
This is spiritual work, but the spiritual life is not a theory, we have to live it. It requires both work (Moonshot) and faith (Magic). It’s the both/and. Together, we rise to a new vibration of living, beyond petty frustrations and sleepless nights. We go beyond surviving and we enjoy thriving.
I’m honored to support you on this journey of the heart.
Trust yourself to no longer abandon yourself. This is foundational. This really is an invitation to an extraordinary life.
So what exactly gets in the way of this extraordinary life? Pests. Erosion. Termites erode the foundation. Termites like mistrust, fear, and reactivity eat away at trust and erode the integrity of the foundation of our relationships.
For example, mistrust happens when social contracts are broken and neglected. You must heal your agreements with others, and start by trusting yourself first.
Lack of safety habitually haunts those of us familiar with traumatic events, thereby leading to exaggerated startle responses and over-reactive nervous systems create an uptight experience of the chapters of life.
3 things we can do
We can learn to calm ourselves down in stressful situations.
2. We can, indeed, break the spells that bind us.
3. And we can rewrite the ending to this chapter of our lives.
pause. breathe. reset.
As I’m sitting here, I’m experiencing gratitude for my practice of Pause. Breathe. Reset. I’m so relieved to relax more fully into my tender heart. Even though it can seem scary as hell to not defend against the pain and suffering of the world.
And I’m so excited to share with you what I’ve learned on this extraordinary journey of resilience, compassion and service. I’m poised to share insights from my own addiction recovery, relational healing and contemplative practice.
Here are some touchstones of what we can do to trust more fully:
touchstones to trust
Be the prayer
Allow and commit to deep listening
Find your identity inside yourself
Be very honest, open, and straight with yourself
Learn compassionate self-control
Learn to contain your own energy
Cultivate inner contentment
If there is a choice, choose the positive
Identify your destiny and serve
Cultivate character, commitment, and grace
Balance yourself, so you don’t need to be compensated from the outside
Give up manipulation and control
When you want something , get clear, ask, be calm, and let it come
Develop a meditative mind to wait and see what comes to you
Receive what comes
Let go of what goes
Don’t chase after anything
Cultivate a tender heart of forgiveness
Develop a relationship with a working God that dwells and breathes within you
Tune in to the monthly variety show: what matters most in relational health on the 2nd Saturday of the month at noon Pacific Time. Check out the emails for the most current Zoom link.
Join me in my Relational Health Masterclass Series starting next week. watch email for details and further inspiration.
let me know what landed for you…and why…email me at [email protected]
We gotta talk. We get to talk about race. We need to have the painful conversations and heed the call to action for the truth to rise to the top.
Dwelling in the spirit of solidarity, empathy and understanding, we are coming together, sharing our stories, and exploring what matter most: relational health.
In my transformational memoir, Moonshot: aim high, dive deep, live an extraordinary life, I get real with my experience of growing up American. Here I’m taking a brave leap to share a few painful blinks from my personal history. Once again, this is real, raw, vulnerable. Caveat.
I grew up in America, in the South, wallowing in the soup of an us/them mentality. I didn’t understand this mentality of inequality. And I never felt a sense of belonging.
At the age of 15, I was raped by a skinhead; a white supremacist. This event marked the loss of my virginity, my innocence. Based on the religion of my upbringing, I feared I was going to hell.
At the age of 16, while seriously drunk, I walked alone in a neighborhood, and I was assaulted by 5 black men; my head cracked open with a lead pipe or tire iron, I know not what. I fumbled, bled, escaped. Fortunately, I went to the hospital for treatment, stitches and concussion protocol.
At the age of 18, I lived in the student ghetto in Gainesville and was robbed by a black man who sold my bike for crack. I yelled to him, “Excuse me sir, that’s my bike,” I protested, futilely, all-the-while addressing the inherent worth and dignity in every human being, in this man (hence the term, “sir.”)
Here’s the most painful part: In each instance of trauma, abuse and violation, I blamed myself. Ouch. I never pressed charges. I never trusted the system. I never trusted myself.
Even when I knew the perpetrator/the rapist/the skinhead. I knew his name, where he lived; I still kept quiet. I didn’t seek support. Even with a line-up of other criminals, I couldn’t trust the system to provide justice. I didn’t seek support. Even with
The American Dominant Culture impacts lives. I suffered trauma and I thought it was karma. For years I warped spiritual principles into a savvy and sophisticated intellectualized approach toward overcoming these transgressions. That’s a fancy way of saying, I blamed myself. No more.
Have you ever felt you need to keep the silence and suffer?
Have you ever felt outrage at the lack of equality and empathy in our dominant culture?
Have you ever felt that the true essence of power (self-sovereignty) is needed now more that ever?
What can you do? Trust yourself to no longer abandon yourself. Be the silence breaker. Lean into the difficult conversations and be the change you wish to see in the world.
CALL TO ACTION: Seek support. Know belonging. Cultivate resilience.
My journey of recovery and transformation began 30 years ago, and continues to this day. I realized I no longer needed to keep the silence and suffer. I needed, and continue to need, spiritual help.
I ask you to gather with me on the second Saturday of the month, to breathe, to engage in the ritual of building an altar of awareness, to celebrate personal Moonshots and release what is no longer needed.
This month, January 9th of the new year of 2021, the theme is TRUST.
We will engage in a short ritual of connection and conscious breath-work
We will invite a few moments to celebrate being alive and become fully embodied with laughter yoga
We will explore the power of Moonshot Magic, through declaring our intentions and acknowledging a power greater than ourselves, and continue releasing the pinch of Dominant Culture
We will entertain special guests to explore what matters most in relational health with greater ease, joy and earnestness.
