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Greetings!
 Hello,
friends!
May
this newsletter inspire new growth for you in your personal and
professional life.
Contents of this issue:
I look forward to hearing from you.
Blessings,
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Saying Yes to Life
When
a family member of mine had a serious health problem return last
month, everything in me said "No." On hearing the news, my body
contracted. I couldn't even cry right away because my throat
constricted and my mind fought the reality. For days and even weeks I
fell gratefully into my role as co-researcher, spending hours on the
Internet learning to "accept reality." I felt leaden, heavy, sad.
Everything in me said, "No, not this."
I
thought of Bob in the middle of my yoga class today. He is an ex-
brother-in-law who in the days of more frequent contact was a kind of
spiritual teacher for me. Bob got guillan-berre syndrome many years
ago, on the day of his son's graduation from college. Partially
paralyzed within hours, Bob got his father to rent a wheelchair, dress
him and take him to the graduation. I first saw Bob in Rancho los
Amigos, a rehab hospital in L.A. He was now paralyzed from the neck
down.
Bob
told me he had been doing fine ever since "making the psychological
adjustment." I probably uttered an expletive and asked him how one
makes the psychological adjustment to being paralyzed. "Ah, but you
have to," he replied. "When something like this happens, you want to
give back the hand you were dealt. But you can't. Accepting that is
the psychological adjustment that frees you to start moving ahead. So
see those toes? Come back next Thursday and I'll be moving them." I
kept that bargain, and he did too.
This
morning I had arrived for yoga feeling stiff, cranky, tired and sad
about my family health situation. In the middle of one asana that was
difficult for me, I was tempted to quit and come out of the position.
It pointed out a weakness and my reaction was to pull back and say I
couldn't, or wouldn't. Something in me remembered the yoga teaching I
often quote in my classes. "This is your edge," I "heard." "Accept
your edge. Play with it. Explore it. Meditate on it."
For
the rest of the class I could feel a subtle opening in my heart. I
remembered that in my own journey through cancer I have had to come
back to saying, "Yes, I'll do this. Yes, I'll go for life. Yes, I'll
accept whatever my journey brings."
I
remembered that in my first experience with shamanic soul retrievals,
the soul part that had been left alone to suffer in the underworld had
one condition for her return to wholeness with me. "Say yes," was the
message. I spent months--no years-- learning all about what saying yes
meant. And today I learned it once again.
We
do not get to say yes to life only when it's convenient and
comfortable. Faith in the goodness of our journey sometimes demands
saying yes to life in the midst of war, death, horror, loss or
tragedy. We are in the midst of the Mystery, and the Mystery has dark
as well as light aspects. Saying yes can be terrifying because we
cannot know what the implications are. But we cannot live with an open
heart conditionally. Our journey may be nothing more than learning to
love our journey unconditionally.
Of
course this doesn't mean loving everything that happens. It doesn't
mean we deny sadness, anger, grief, despair, disease, abuse. It just
means accepting that all feelings and experiences are part of our
journey even when we can’t understand why. This acceptance leads to
the "peace that passeth all understanding." That peace asks us to
surrender to the paradox that when we accept what is, we
can learn to bear what is and begin to move beyond it.
My
work with clients is almost always about exposing their ability to
meet themselves where they are. This isn't what their minds think they
need; the mind always grasps and wants something more. So the client
has contracted out of fear she can't have or do or be the right thing.
My
strategy is to make my way inside the dimension of the heart--that
beautiful heart that has accompanied us on every day, recognized or
not. The physical strong heart, the spiritual courageous heart and the
mysterious soul heart contain the flame of our passion and purpose and
carry that flame like an Olympic torch-bearer on our journey.
Often
the client has contracted around that heart and is listening to the
mind, which has separated from the heart. I guide my client to hold
her heart, to tell it that nothing is required, to invite it to feel
held and accepted. "You are fine exactly as you are," we tell the
heart." Often tears come at this point. When the heart has trouble
allowing itself to be held, I explore where that Little One inside is
and what she is feeling. When the client "sees" this Little One and
really holds her without asking her to change in any way, the heart
softens. A subtle but powerful shift occurs. The client sees and feels
a possibility. She is free. She has said, "Yes" to what is, to this
moment, to life. And now she can move toward wholeness with a speed
that often seems miraculous.
And
so, having learned this beautiful truth for myself once more, I invite
you to try sitting quietly and holding your heart. I invite you to go
to that yogic edge, that spiritual edge, where all is not comfortable,
and say to that edge, "I accept myself exactly where I am, edge and
all. I choose to say yes to what is at this moment. After all, what is
will be whether I say yes to it or not! So I choose to be with what is
instead of separating from it. I choose to be with myself and my
journey instead of fighting and struggling and contracting. I choose
to soften and open to my journey. I say Yes to my life."
Namaste,
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Sand Spirit
Workshops and Workbook!
The
Sand Spirit cards are about to be accompanied by a beautiful
new workbook! This spiral-bound book contains blank exercise
pages for you to photocopy for use with others, and stories
and examples from people who have used the Sand Spirits in
many surprising areas of life.
Pam
will be available for readings, book signings and workshops
featuring the workbook and the cards. If you would like to
sponsor an event in your area, email Pam at
pam@ThroughADifferentLens.com.
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FALL RETREAT
Saturday, October 21st
Our fall retreat
for women will be on Saturday, October 21, 2006. Experience 7
powerful "Flying Lessons" for piloting yourself to higher
levels of living, leading and loving!
»
Learn more...
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SHAMANIC
COACHING CIRCLES
Fall, 2006
September 6,
Wednesday: Tuning ourselves to a higher vibration
October 4,
Wednesday:
Harvesting the power that is our birthright
November 1,
Wednesday, All Saints Day:
Honoring and celebrating our ancestors
December 13,
Wednesday:
A Giveaway celebration
To register for
any of these circles, simply email me up to 24 hours in
advance. (Earlier is better!)
Cost is $25 per
circle. Or save by purchasing tickets to 3 circles by paying
$60 up front. Or, bring a new person or a life partner and pay
only $20 apiece.
Looking forward to
seeing you!
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