Category Archives: holistic
Universe of Love
Many relationships run into trouble because the other person fails to act as a convincing representative of our own personality or world-view. However, a truly reciprocal relationship is based on whole-hearted acceptance of otherness. We grow by taking the loved one’s individuality into ourselves and accepting it, not as our own but as something precious we respect and enjoy–a unique star in our universe. True love is a crystal chalice, not a mirror.
May’s Focus–Nurturing Relationships
So, with April’s focus of raising our energy as our background, we move into May with the intention of creating nurturing relationships. I think I’ll like this focus! I don’t have a cell phone. I still use maps. And I enjoy a good ol’ fashioned letter. I occasionally like the–ahem–conveniences of technology, but I prefer good quality connections with people. How great is it to get a phone call instead of an e-mail? Amen! Here’s to May and Nurturing Relationships!!
Social networking websites would have us believe that what counts in friendship is quantity. But once we pry ourselves away from the computer screen, we realize that what really matters are the people we hold close and see in 3-D–a considerably smaller number. Texting and e-mail can’t substitute for face-to-face conversation and physical contact. “My friends are my estate,” Emily Dickinson wrote. Protect your wealth by cultivating intimacy in real time and space.
The Pagoda of Health
For the fourth week in April from the One Spirit Book of Days:
Well-being is composed of various elements–exercise, diet, lifestyle, awareness, love.
These can be broken down further–for example, under diet you might place your daily quota of fruits and vegetables; and avoidance of fat, sugar, and salt. Identify the factors that make up health and well-being and arrange them in an imaginary pagoda. Each floor is where you practice disciplines that contribute to your wellness. Frequent your pagoda of health. Admire the view from its windows.
Practice: Make a NOT-to-do List
Seems counterintuitive, doesn’t it?
A not-to-do list will help you most now. Include people, activities, habits, clutter, unproductive thinking that you need to eliminate from your mind and your life so you can focus on moving forward. Draw up a positive encouragement statement to read when you’re tempted to indulge in negative self-talk. Make sure it includes your accomplishments, the strengths and talents you can draw on, and the people on your loyal support team.
For other entrepreneurs out there, I came across this great article of “not-to-dos” that can add more clutter and chaos to your already busy life.
http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2007/08/16/the-not-to-do-list-9-habits-to-stop-now/
Here is the Cliff’s Notes list; click on the link above to get a better description.
1. Do not answer calls from unrecognizable phone numbers
2. Do not e-mail first thing in the morning or last thing at night
3. Do not agree to meetings with no clear agenda or a definite ending time
4. Do not let people ramble on.
5. Do not check e-mail constantly–“batch” and check at set times only
6. Do not over-communicate with low-profit, high-maintenance customers
7. Do not work more to fix overwhelm–prioritize
8. Do not carry a cellphone or Crackberry 24/7
9. Do not expect work to fill a void that non-relationships and activities should
Final Thoughts on January: Discovering Your Passion
I don’t know about you, but I really enjoyed January’s focus of DISCOVERING YOUR PASSION. I think my favorite part of this project was doing the daily postings on Facebook with questions like “What would you do if you had 20 million dollars?” and “What can you talk about for endless hours?” It was such a joy to read people’s responses–both PG and R-rated alike. In a nutshell, people want to 1) make a comfortable living and 2) be happy and loved in the process. Seems like simple things, right? Then why can it seem so difficult…
So…
Now that January is over. Does that mean the PASSION theme is completed? Absolutely not!
You may be shifting gears as you transition into February (See tomorrow’s post), but the background scenery will always be focused on your passion. February will be more about creating your path, while taking into account ALL of those things you discovered you actually wanted.
To achieve these things, you often try to make monumental changes in life. If you can revisit your passion of what you REALLY want, then your plans and goals become more focused. Sometimes you THINK you want things because someone else told us you should without executing deeper reflection. Knowing what you really want makes change easy!
REMEMBER: Your passion will be your flavor for the rest of 2011! Keep it spicy 😉
Setting the Intention–Staying pointed in the direction of your passion
Feeling the pull in the direction of all of the “shoulds?” “I should start eating better.” “I should be disciplined about balancing my checkbook or following a budget.” “I should make the bed every morning.”
“I should, I should, I should…”
Quit “shoulding” all over yourself!!
Set your intention and focus on things that excite you and your “shoulds” will become more effortless. THAT is why you “should” discover your passion!
Make the intention of this month solely about your passion and do it with whole-hearted gusto and let the world see you on FIRE!!
Now if the suggested journaling doesn’t seem to resonate with you, here are some other ways to tap into that fire.
These are activities and more interactive ways to help you discover your passion suggested from the e-zine article Find Your Passion—Easy Ways to Tap Into your True Self.
I, myself, like the idea of an empowerment party…
I also came across something called The Passion Test. I LOVE taking little quizzies…all of the crazy Facebook tests, Meyers-Briggs, Strengthsfinder—I guess I like to be analyzed and put into a category with a fun little description of who I am. I did not take this one (because it wasn’t completely free) but noticed the promises to “reclaim my power” and “take charge of my life.” Maybe I’ll fork over the $2.00 for the 30-day trial membership…
I also found this really great blog article summarizing ways to find passion in the minutiae of everyday life or in things we may not particularly enjoy. These tips are simple ways to help tweak your perspective.
17 Ways to Find Your Passion in Any and Everything
There’s a big myth in our culture: that passion can only be spontaneous. You either love your job or you don’t. You either enjoy exercising or hate it. You are interested in reading books or you find them boring. That passion can’t be forced or created.
I disagree. Passion can be created. Even for things you don’t currently enjoy.
By tweaking the activities and pursuits you engage in, you can find a passion for anything. All it takes is a bit of patience and an open mind.
The benefit is that you end up loving the things you have to do anyways. Exercising, learning, studying, working and almost any pursuit can be made into a passion. And if you know how to do it, existing passions can be turned from mildly interesting to exciting. The skill of finding your passion is like turning up the dial for the amount of color you experience in life.
Here are some ways to find your passion:
1. Get Curious – Curiosity is the basis of passion. Shake off your current understandings and begin from the view that you are almost completely ignorant on the subject. Then look for novelty to boost your interest.
2. Make it a Game – Give yourself rules, objectives and strategic constraints. The more creative thinking required, the better.
3. Set a Goal – Create a specific goal along with a deadline. This can infuse mundane activities with a sense of direction and purpose. Writing a report goes from being just another task, to a creative challenge that pushes you.
4. Express Yourself – Find hidden opportunities for self-expression. This could mean inventing a style for folding clothes. Changing the format you write code in or altering the style of your presentation. View each activity as an act of expression and originality.
5. Focus – Cut distractions and eliminate noise. The more you focus on an activity the better you can notice interesting qualities about it. The only truly boring activity is the one you can’t pay attention to.
6. Jigsaw Piecing – A jigsaw puzzle has hundreds of uniquely shaped pieces of a picture. View your activities as pieces of a larger image. This can turn dull activities into individual snippets of a more fascinating whole.
7. Dial Down Cravings – Have you ever noticed how the hungrier you are, the less able you are to enjoy the taste of food? This works the same way with passion. The more you crave a goal (instead of the process containing the goal) the less likely you are to develop a passion for it. Goal-setting is good. Goal-obsession is not.
8. Connect with Talents – How can you apply your existing talents to an activity? Find ways to use skills you already have in a new endeavor. An artistic person could draw pictures to help himself study. An athletic person might be able to use her strength and endurance as a speaker.
9. Overcome the Frustration Barrier – If an activity is too difficult for you to become enthusiastic about it, slow down. Worry less about results and more about experimenting until you build up skill. Whenever I try a new hobby, I strive to just try things out before building skills. This keeps me from getting frustrated and ensures the process is fun.
10. Leech Enthusiasm – Energy is contagious. If you spend time with someone who exudes passion about a subject, some of it will rub off on you. Seek out people who have the energy you want and get them to describe their motivation. Often it will point you to key information you had no idea could be so interesting.
11. Remove the Chains – Feeling forced into an activity is a sure way to kill any passion. Instead of flowing with the task, you rebel against it, making you miserable. Be aware of the consequences for not acting, but remove the feeling that you don’t have a choice. You always have a choice.
12. Tune the Challenge – For boring tasks, make them more difficult. For frustrating tasks, make them easier. This can be done by varying the speed or constraints you need to complete a task. Boring chores can be made more interesting by setting a time-limit. Frustrating assignments can be made easier by allowing yourself an awful first-draft instead of perfection.
13. Get instruction – Finding a teacher can give you the basic level of understanding necessary to enjoy an activity. Sometimes passion can be drained just by not knowing the basics.
14. Humble confidence – Confidence is necessary for passion, but arrogance can destroy it. Build a humble confidence where you believe in your abilities to handle the unknown, but you also have a great respect for it.
15. Focus Immediately – Look at the next immediate step. Don’t concern yourself over what needs to be done next month or next year if it overwhelms you. Focus on each step of the marathon, not how many miles you have left.
16. Play – If the process confuses or bothers you, just play with it. Don’t have a purpose until you can define one.
17. Eliminate – This one might not apply, but it is always good to use. If you really can’t enjoy something, find a way to eliminate it from your life. Don’t waste your time doing things you don’t enjoy. Either cultivate a passion or get rid of it.
Find what resonates with you and what you love to do. Maybe you will come up with your own “activity cocktail” to help you on your way to discovering your true passion!!
The Fire Inside
All About the Second Chakra
If you have never heard of a chakra before, here is a quick and dirty explanation: The human energy field (sometimes called “aura”) penetrates and encompasses your physical body. The energy field has seven major energetic centers that are found in the midline of the body. These energetic centers are the chakras and also govern the many minor energetic centers found throughout the energy field.
Each chakra is associated with a particular part of the body and works to govern various aspects of the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual. For instance, the second chakra is associated with the genitals and reproductive organs and is related to passion, sex, and creativity. Funny that should come up…
The second chakra/sacral chakra/spleen chakra, or svadisthana–the Sanskrit term for it—is centered about 3 inches below the navel. Both Japanese and Chinese healing traditions call it tan tien, the seat of your inner power. This chakra helps to facilitate movement in your life and govern relationships—with money, people, sex, emotions, etc. In the physical realm, it governs the sex organs, large intestine, lower spinal vertebrae, pelvis, appendix, bladder, hip area, and fertility. In the emotional realm, the 2nd chakra is related to money, sex, creativity, ethics, honor in relationships, graceful movement, ability to enjoy, and passion.
When embarking on a personal project, make a conscious effort to focus your breathing into this space. Your action will organically be fueled by the “fire in your belly”—your PASSION!
Other ways to connect to the 2nd chakra (svadisthana):
- Yoga Postures
- Dancing
- Especially salsa and belly-dancing, anything to move the hips
- Gemstones
- Topaz, fire opal, carnelian, red jasper, red tiger’s eye
- Do I dare state the obvious? Have a little “bunny time” as my old college friends used to call it 😉
DISCLAIMER: A healthy being has well-balanced, connected chakras—ALL OF THEM. Your troubles will not go away if you only connect to the second chakra. Some of you may have an OVE- active 2nd chakra and you may need to place your focus elsewhere. These are just ways to help you find your passion!!!
So ignite that fire within and connect to your passionate energy.
–Dr. Katie Fahnel is owner of Body Harmony Chiropractic and co-owner of The Healing Loft in Northeast Minneapolis. She can be reached at healing@thehealingloftmpls.com or 612.208.1408. Comments are welcome below. How are you finding your passion?
January Focus–Finding your Passion
The new year…always a time to become refreshed and refocused. Many of us are developing resolutions that may or may not be kept and taking on actions we may or may not complete. Our intentions may mean well, but we often haven’t done enough of the “inside work” to allow the “outside work” to stick.
My friend Stacy shared this quote on New Year’s Eve:
“Every year you make a resolution to Change yourself… this year make a resolution to BE yourself!”
Can I get an AMEN?!?!
How can you make the appropriate plans if you don’t really know your heart’s desire? You truly have everything within yourself to facilitate a year of passionate self-discovery. But does it feel like your passion is a little stifled sometimes? Allow for some self- reflection in January to find your passion. If you cannot find it, you cannot follow it. My January blogs will focus on tools to help you become better connected to your own individual passion. You can also follow me on Twitter and Facebook where I will post questions and tidbits to help you better find your own answers regarding your passion!! I also strongly recommend utilizing a journal if you do not already. Find one that inspires and attracts you, and you will be more apt to write in it. 🙂
Allow your passion to be your flavor and higher focus for 2011. See what happens when you stay pointed in the direction of your passion and desire!
The Fourth Sacred Season–Integrate
“Integrate: To form, coordinate, or blend into a functioning or unified whole; to incorporate into a larger unit.”
—-Merriam-Webster Dictionary
OK, so you’ve experienced all 12 Stages…now what?
By experiencing all 12 Stages you have now created and developed the strategies to be able to consciously observe yourself and your life.
In the season of Integrate, you can consciously choose which seasons can be blended together to create the season, stage, experience, and internal reality of your choice. You can revisit a previous season while still keeping the perspective from a different season. For instance, you may be in Discover surrounding a situation–using language like “I don’t know why this is happening” “Why doesn’t this end?”–and still have the underlying consciousness of Awaken–wondering “Where is the gift in this suffering?”
It makes sense that you are never completely immersed in one Season at one time. As a highly complex creature, you will pull wisdom from your being to form a customized plan to live out the situation. The Season of Integrate is truly an opportunity for you to create “a more unified whole.”
Body Harmony Chiropractic 