Difficult Situations Make Powerful Allies

Have you ever had a day or say even a month - ok, maybe longer - where asking for help seemed to fall on deaf ears? You try and you try, yet things don't get better. Or worse yet, they do get better, only to fall apart later.


It took me years to learn to recognize this pattern as one of the most powerful allies in life. Hardship is very tough to see as an ally. (And I like to be clear that all hardship is not an ally. Sometimes we just believe things should be hard, so we do everything the hard way!) Hardship is not warm and supportive in the moment, but like other allies and guides, it can illuminate the way. Like a fine steel edge, sometimes we need to be tempered. This requires heat and friction. It wears us down --- down to a finely honed edge that can really get the job done. A blade that is not sharp causes a lot of damage!


It is often within hardship that we learn the skills we need to meet our purpose, stay in relationship, find or own strengths and limits. So how do we know whether we're just making things difficult or whether we are in the middle of a really big personal teaching that will give us fabulous life skills? This is not an important question. Regardless of the reason, the pathway out is the same.

The important question (and the key to moving on) is, "What is the teaching here for me?" As soon as one can understand and honor the personal lesson(s), the resistance to moving on eases - and often what seemed impossible now lies at your feet. And even better, you have the skills you need to handle it. This is a gift - don't step over it.

Finding Yourself in the Midst of Being Lost

Stop waiting for someone else to do it. Whatever it is for you.

Here in Ellensburg, we might say, "Cowgirl UP!"

Somewhere we have recieved the idea that we are small and have little to offer - and that that is a bad thing, or at least not very powerful. I teach empowerment classes and still, on occassion, find myself waiting for something outside myself to make the difference.

This weekend I was at my sister's. I don't have TV, so I was channel surfing to see what's out there these days. Click. Suze Orman fills the screen as she demands that I (and everyone listening) take back my power and make my dreams come true. Little actions add up to big change, she tells us.

This is not new information to me AND it was good to hear it again in that moment. I have been a little lost in the last week or so. Being lost is a great way to lose track of the things that are not really helpful in your life. Feeling that sense of discontent, that craving for something, that knowing that you could do/have more - can be really uncomfortable. But if you don't waller in it too long and really listen while you're sitting in it, you recognize it as a blessed wake up call.

"Do something to make a difference in your life. YOU. Do it, now!"

If upon hearing this call you find yourself responding, "Me, I don't know how. I can't. Where would I start?" - then it's time for a healthy dose of inspiration and motivation. (Please, don't depend on the TV to provide that - it's not really reliable in this area!)

For years, I planned an annual dose of inspiration and motivational spark via the Women of Wisdom (WOW) Conference (every february in Seattle). Thanks to Kris Steinnes, founder of WOW, I now have it ready at my finger tips. It is a fount, a plethora, an overflowing cornacopia of practical, inspirational, motivational and beautiful wisdom culled together from 17 years of conferences. Yes, Kris has a certain brilliance! Thank you Kris.

Sometimes I just open the book to a random page and let the ally I need to hear from reveal herself. When I got back home from my sister's that's exactly what I did. Here's what Frances Moore Lappé shared with me:

In order to break free from the mental maps that threaten our world, I believe we have to bring them into consciousness and name them. Naming has power. So we can ask, "What are the dominant thought traps that we carry around in our heads, that we breathe like an invisible ether?" One thought trap I call the "scarcity scare". This is the notion that there is just not enough and that we're not enough: that there's not enough love, not enough jobs, not enough food. This message comes to us in image after image and word after word so that we don't even know that we're holding it in our heads.

Ironically,...the scarcity scare ends up creating scarcity. We end up creating what we most fear. I think this is a deep spiritual truth, and it is very real in the world today...We are creating scarcity out of abundance.

I sat with this knowing and saw how it might resonate with my own experiences. It helps me to know that I am not alone in my foibles - even within the my own area of expertise. It's important to understand the source of our mental traps so we don't move into self blame.

Brooke Medicine Eagle's words later in the book reminded me of my own purpose and knowing:

"...I was offered an interesting choice: to talk about community, or to walk my talk in my community. I chose to put my head, heart and hands into nurturing, supporting and being there for them. That was a wonderful opportunity, and I think the same choice is what we all have in front of us: to understand how to not just talk about it, but to actually be with each other in common unity. When we come together in community, the quality of our lives will multiply exponentially. Being together is so powerful."

As it happens, this week the Women of Wisdom book is doing a special promotion. I think it's worth checking out.

I invite you to go to this page - www.wisewomanpublishing.com/womenofwisdom.html - to access the order page and then go back to this page and enter your confirmation code and your email address. That will take you to the sign up page for the Women of Wisdom newsletter, once you join the WOW book group, you will be sent an email with a link to the bonus gifts that are available to the people who buy the book today. You can later opt out of being on the Women of Wisdom newsletter list if you choose.

Blessings on your journey!

Following Passion, Following Joy

Last year during a reading with a client, the Angels offered information so simple and profound, I knew it was to be shared with more than just the client sitting with me that day.

"Follow your joy and find your purpose."

Some of us need to go back to when we were children to remember our joy - and it's worth the trip. The angels pointed out to us that we would be given both the gifts we needed and the love for doing whatever it is we are to do in this lifetime.

When we get the chance to experience someone following their passion, we become inspired. It is incredibly irresistable to engage with someone doing joyful and passionate work. I'm sharing with you today a story of an inspiring man I recently met and a glimpse at how his joy and passion serve the world.

I first met him at a lecture on a sunday evening early in the year. I was so tired I almost did not go. When I came in he was already speaking. His voice was quiet and on the slow side and I remember thinking I might just fall asleep. Then he started talking about tomatoes. His eyes twinkled, he smiled and told us about his passion. At one point he spoke about it being time to plant seeds for tomato starts. He became serious and said, "when you've got starts, your whole life changes - cause you've got babies to take care of". His face softened and joy flowed into the room.

The first day of the Farmer's Market, I headed down to get my tomato starts from Michael and took them home to climatize. I had been given some other tomato starts by a friend and even did a few starts of my own. Michael's starts were clearly different; they were really happy. The love, passion and joy Michael felt for them radiated through them.

Last week I was visiting a friend and admiring her garden. She told me about where each plant came from. When we got to tomatoes I looked at a few and thought, "those are Michael's", just before Willow said, "those three came from Michael."

Later that evening as I sat in my own garden among the tomatoes, I considered the words of the angels and how very right they were. I imagined all the joy and passion in every one of Michael's tomatoes and how that joy was feeding other people's lives throughout this county and beyond. I imagined all the people eating all the tomatoes that enjoyed the benefits of Michael's passion. They might never meet Michael, yet his joy and passion are flowing through their lives, inspiring them to move into their own unique and wonderful purpose. It was good to be able to see and touch (and in a few weeks, eat) this very real example of magic moving through the Universe - whether we know it consciously or not.

Thanks for the inspiration and the wonderful tomatoes, Michael!

What and how we do things do make a difference. Follow your joy and find your purpose.