Typically, I like to understand why I’m feeling the way I am such as, “Why am I in a bad mood? What got triggered? Where does this feeling come from?”
 
But part of what I've been working on, is how to simply be with whatever is occurring, without diving into the details. Staying in my body, rather than spinning in mental thoughts.
 
That can be difficult. But I also realize that it’s a hook. Needing to know and understand hooks me back into the story or the wound or the emotional trauma that’s surfacing, thus taking me out of the present moment. It’s a way to think the emotion, versus feel it.
 
I had to put this into play when I unexpectedly felt intense anger the other night. It was so out of the blue and had nothing to do with what was going on. I knew that an old wound must have inadvertently gotten opened because it felt so out of present time. All I could do was be with it.
 
-First, I made sure to be responsible with my anger, which meant going somewhere private, so I didn’t negatively impact those around me. I acknowledged, allowed, and felt the anger fully, without judgment.
 
-Then I grounded myself in present time. I also stated my name, the date, and the time out loud, which is an easy way to pull yourself into the now.
 
-Finally, I sent myself love. I loved myself even though I was triggered. I loved all the parts of me that were clearly upset. I opened my heart for self-compassion and kept bringing myself into the present moment, while acknowledging that I was safe.
 
The more I did that, the calmer I got, and the more the emotion dissipated.

I still don't know what triggered the anger, and I consciously chose not to “figure it out.” I've been working to neutralize old pain, versus stir it back up by reiterating an old story. It has no bearing on my present unless I allow it to, nor is it something I want to continue creating in my future. Therefore, releasing the layers as they surface, and choosing to experience more peace instead.
 
Remember, your power lies in your body, in present time. Not in the mental spin. Be free of the past by staying in the present.
 
 

One of the greatest freedoms is the freedom to be yourself, fully and completely, regardless of what others will think. I’m not talking about being irresponsible and doing whatever you desire at the cost of others. I’m talking about showing the truth of you; your style, your preferences, your quirkiness, your uniqueness- you!
 
To some, that idea is appalling as what others think is paramount. And I get it. Many of us were raised with the idea of, “what will people think?!”
 
That can be a hard issue to overcome. I know I had to release layers of self-consciousness and worry over something someone else might be thinking. While also releasing the subconscious message of perfection that quite frankly, is unattainable and certainly not fun.
 
The more I worked through it while getting comfortable and confident in my skin, the more I realized if someone else has an issue, that’s their problem.
 
If it makes you happy and isn’t harming anyone, then live your life.
 
You need to dare to be yourself.
 
Here’s a simple example: I love stickers. A card isn't a card without stickers. I had always done it for friends, but then I expanded it to holiday cards. I spend a crazy amount at the sticker store- yes there is a sticker store in LA- and I use stickers on everyone's card. Do I know some people make fun of me? Yes. Do I care? Hell no- it's stickers and if someone is too proper and uptight to appreciate my stickers, that's their issue, not mine. If I can spread joy to anyone, why wouldn't I? Plus, it's fun- stickers are fun!
 
This is what I mean. No one would ever call me cool, and I have no problem with that. Cool requires a lot of work and my time is better spent.
 
I bring this up today as it’s been coming up in sessions lately; how to own the fullness and richness of your true self. Recognizing your value and what you bring to the table when you’re authentic.
 
If this issue triggers you, don’t judge it, simply ask, “what’s the worst that could happen if I showed up authentically?” Then listen to or write out the answers. Maybe you’re afraid of being laughed at, ostracized, or rejected. Quite possibly, there are those in your life who would respond that way. But if you’re always living to please another, you’re shrinking your own light and gifts of what you bring to the world. Don’t do that. Work through your fears, clear the pain of past incidents from childhood or adolescence, and then honor your current truth. In baby steps to make it easier and less scary. 
 
When you own who you truly are from a place of empowerment, you find it's a lot more fun to be real than to be perfect. Dare to show your true self.

I’m a rule follower; I like to follow the rules… except when I don’t. I have this dichotomy of being an extreme rule follower, and then rebelling against rules; especially rules that make no sense.
 
Yet sometimes, I can get so caught up in doing things “perfectly” that I don’t think to question the rules I’m following.
 
This happened recently in my Master’s class. The instructor was talking about finding out what color each chakra wants to be each day. At first, I rejected that idea, as all the chakras have their colors, right? But then the more I listened to her, the more it made sense that maybe for the most part chakras are a specific color, but what if sometimes they’re not? 
 
What if your body is trying to tell you that for you, the color green is the most representative of safety and security and so that’s what color you prefer in your first chakra? Maybe that color helps you to heal versus the traditional red. Who says you have to have red if you need green? 
 
When you think about it, we’re all individual, who says our chakras all match?
 
Maybe, you’re an outlier in the colors that work best for you.
 
I worked on a client recently and we were doing intensive chakra healing and I told her that each of her chakras wanted to be in the red/pink/orange color scheme. That made perfect sense to her as those colors represented the vitality she was looking to create in her physical body.  When she filled those colors into her chakras, she felt more vibrant than she had in a long time.
 
Trust yourself versus what you’ve always been told. I don’t know about you, but this idea is phenomenally freeing to me. Yes on a typical day I go with the usual colors, but every so often I’ll get a message that a different color is much better that day in a specific chakra and when I listen and I allow it, it feels so good in my body. 
 
I encourage you this week to see what actually works for you versus what you’ve always been taught is correct. See if there are colors you need in certain areas of your body to bring healing. Bypass the “rules” that you’ve been taught. Connect with yourself and your needs and let that override anything else. 
 
What better way to create self-trust and self-love, than to listen to your needs above all else. Break the rules and set yourself free.
 
 

Freedom… it’s certainly been up for debate recently, hasn’t it?
 
And yet, in this country, we have the freedom to debate freedom. That’s a gift. Many in the world don’t have that luxury.
 
As I’ve reminded you before, you’re both only as free as you allow yourself to be, and as those around you are. 
 
What do I mean by that?
 
We each create our own individual reality, and simultaneously, we’re part of the whole. If you take away the freedom of some, it negatively impacts and diminishes the energy of freedom for the whole. 
 
When external freedom and choice is limited or taken away, internal freedom of choice becomes even more necessary and powerful.
 
If you want to see more freedom in the world for everyone, start with yourself. Release yourself from your limiting beliefs, thoughts, and feelings. Notice where you constrict yourself and choose greater freedom instead. Ask yourself, “Does this belief/thought serve my highest freedom or not?” If not, make a new choice.
 
You have the freedom in every minute as to how you respond, how you act, and what you focus on. You’re free to choose if you show up in love, or in hate. In compassion, or in judgment. In acceptance, or in rejection.
 
To be truly free, you need to free yourself from your internal prisons so that you can bring more of your light into the world.
 
The world needs the ever-lifting energy of freedom. Together, let’s imagine that expansive energy sweeping through our personal realities and the world as a whole, transforming darkness into light.


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It's a perfect time to talk about freedom today since here in the U.S., we just celebrated our Independence Day. I know I’ve written about it before, but it’s something that many forget to acknowledge: how lucky we are to have the freedoms that people in other countries, and sometimes even other U.S. States, don’t have. We’re only as free as those around us. If there are oppressed peoples in the world, then we don’t have as much freedom as we could because we're impacted by that resonance.
 
Take for instance Afghanistan- the Taliban just outlawed music. Music! They say it’s associated with sin and anybody caught playing it will be put to death. Death! If you put on music and danced around the room recently, can you imagine that that could cause death in another country?
 
Sound is incredibly uplifting and has the power to transform darkness into light. It doesn’t surprise me that that’s the last thing that those in power want in that area; they want to be entrenched in the dark. 
 
Let's take a moment right now and collectively, everyone reading this, send light to an area of the world in which the freedoms are phenomenally repressed. Maybe Afghanistan is where your heart is drawn to helping, or maybe there are other areas in which the freedoms are horribly restricted that move you on a soul level. Send some support now to those who are trapped in the darkness and would like freedom. Imagine embers of light filling their hearts and minds, helping create transformation.
 
This is how you make a difference in the world; you send light/love/energy to those who don’t have what you have freely.
 
Turning the attention back on you, because nothing changes until you do, where can you be freer in your own life? Where do you restrict yourself to the point of rigid control instead of allowing flow and joy? Send light to those places in you as well.
 
Next, give gratitude for the freedoms you do have: the freedom to love who you want to love, marry who you want to marry, live where you want to live, wear the clothes you want to wear, to drive, to protest and speak your mind, etc. Don’t take those freedoms for granted. You even have the freedom to think what you want and create your life based on your beliefs. That’s huge! This is a planet of free will- own yours and never surrender it.
 
The more you value freedom and appreciate it, the more the energy of freedom can increase in the world. Let’s bring more light and more freedom into being through our focus and appreciation. Together, we can move mountains.

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​This blog was intended to go out around the 4th of July, but the Dark and Light Shadows took precedence. So even though it’s belated, let’s talk about freedom. 
 
You are only as free as you allow yourself to be. And you can always be freer.
 
What I mean is that when you look at the stories you tell about your life and the people in it, do they expand your freedom or contract it?
 
I recently looked at a story I had been telling about myself for years. Through a series of insights, I really began to acknowledge that my words were allowing the story to continue. To have the new reality I so desperately longed for, I needed to write a new story. So I did- literally. I wrote it out. 
 
Then I began visualizing it and making it real in the now. I see the outcome, feel the feelings of success, and focus on that daily. I also verbally only speak what I expect and want to see; as if it’s a done deal. And I feel happy when I think about it.
 
It’s mine. I’m actively creating/allowing/receiving it now. 
 
I know these tools; they’ve helped me create brilliant miracles before, but I had forgotten. I forgot that I don’t have to put up with a hindrance to my freedom. That I can take my power back by seeing it differently, by telling a different story about it, by speaking new words. I have the creative power. After all, since I create my reality, why create more pain from an old wound? 
 
Yes, I did need to do another round of forgiveness work to release it; towards myself, the other, and the situation. I had done a ton so it was easy to forgive the hurtle that was blocking me. If you haven’t done previous forgiveness work, then I remind you that forgiveness is key! 
 
To change anything, you need to forgive yourself and everything/everyone involved. Look- it’s not always easy and sometimes you need to process through a myriad of emotions first, but ultimately, forgiveness is the gift you give yourself. They’re not suffering, you are. They’re not in jail, you are. Give yourself that freedom.
 
As I was writing this, I looked up to see a red dragonfly perched near my garden. I have never seen one before. I looked up the symbolism: courage, strength, and happiness.
 
There’s that word again from a few weeks ago: courage. Can you be courageous enough to forgive and allow yourself greater freedom? Can you be courageous enough to imagine something better for yourself and then take action by actively putting the pieces into motion?
 
This week, focus on the freedom to. You know what you want to be free from, but what do you want to create? What would bring expanse and joy into your reality? Take the time to imagine it and then do something concrete to bring it into being. A new world is being birthed, don’t forget to birth yourself new as well.
 
 
 
 

I’m talking about freedom again this week, but this time, the freedom in your personal life. Freedom from, and freedom to. 

Sometimes, we spend so much energy thinking about the things we want to be free of: the beliefs, the behaviors, the limiting and stuck areas, that we forget to also focus on freedom to. If you only focus on freedom from, your subconscious will begin to look for more and more things to be free of, keeping you in an endless loop. I’m not saying don’t be aware of those things, because we do need to acknowledge and heal what keeps us limited and not free in our lives, but we need to balance it with freedom to.

We might resist the “to” part because, who are we without all those issues we worked so hard to clear?  Maybe you had defined yourself by your limitations; it’s how you see and experience yourself in the world. If you were always the person who struggled with X, then when you are free from that, what new possibilities have opened to you? You need to create a new definition of self. That can be scary because it’s undefined and unknown. Can you allow yourself to be more then your blockages? Can you allow in more happiness and joy? That is a threat to your negative ego, so maybe it feels safer to always be fighting the blockages versus owning your light.

Think about the freedom to. When you are free from that fear/pain/struggle/behavior etc., what do you get to do? When you no longer have those limitations, what light can enter your reality? Maybe it’s the freedom to express more joy, to explore your dreams, to follow your creative urges- can you give yourself some of that right now? Can you make the freedom to more powerful then the freedom from?

Give yourself the “to” part now. Don’t wait. Waiting for fulfillment is an illusion of the negative ego. You will always be waiting if it’s out there somewhere. Give yourself permission to enjoy the very things now that you are wanting in the future.
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Try giving more attention and weight to the freedom to and see how it lifts you out of the endless cycle of clearing and healing the old.  Your future is now.

​Freedom- wonderful concept, but how much do you actually acknowledge or focus on it?

We’re very blessed in this country that we can vote, protest, wear what we like, worship as we choose- we’re lucky. Don’t take that for granted. The women in Saudi Arabia just earned the right to be able to drive. Drive! Something we were able to easily do once we turned 16. When you think about that, notice how many of your freedoms you don’t even honor, you just expect. 

The freedom of speech is one that I am particularly passionate about. The right to disagree openly with those in elected positions; to be able to say, “no, that’s unjust.” That is a powerful freedom. Do you use it? Same with voting: women went through hell to earn that right and now, people have become apathetic and don’t exercise the very freedom that was so hard won. 
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It’s when you stop forgetting how lucky you are to have these freedoms and actually exercise them, that they can slowly be undermined. I won’t go into a whole lecture on the erosion of certain freedoms, but I will say, put value on it. Recognize how fortunate you are to be able to have many freedoms that other people are still fighting for. And there is much more work to be done, clearly. So use your voice, speak your freedoms in what you choose to buy, listen to, participate in, and give attention to. Value your freedom to be you.
 
Happy 4th of July!!!
 
P.S.- For fun, before fireworks start, ask your Higher Self to clear outdated parts of you with every explosion, and as the sparkles of light rain down, to help you become more of your truer self.

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