We are earth angels. We have the power to shape our world through the choices we make, and through the qualities we cultivate, hold, embody and express.

Everything that exists in the material world has a spiritual counterpart, which holds the pattern or blueprint for its perfect unfolding. I call these subtle-energy beings Devas, a Sanskrit word that means “Shining Ones.”

Your home has its own Deva, as does your family and your business. There are Devas of place — of landscapes, cities and countries – and Devas of Nature, who hold the pattern for every tree and blade of grass, every body of water, rock, planet and galaxy.

Devas of spiritual qualities hold the pure essence of the qualities in their care.

Qualities such as love, service, tenderness, compassion, clarity, joy, play, light, adventure, humor and purpose are at the heart of all creation. They are the essence around which all incarnation takes shape, and they are the core values around which you build your life, your business, your family, and whatever else you choose to create.

By attuning to the Devas of spiritual qualities, developing relationships with them and partnering with them, you can cultivate your own ability to embody these qualities and radiate them into your life and your world.

These qualities are already within you, as seeds or potentials. But some of them may be more fully developed than others.

During this holiday season, when the pressure of entrenched expectations and old family patterns can trigger toxic emotions and unhealthy ways of relating, you can call on the Devas for help.

When Cousin Susan makes the same joking reference to your weight or your unmarried status that she makes every year; when Uncle Bob launches into his theory that global warming is a left-wing plot to take over the world; when you find yourself wondering whether you were captured by an alien tribe and forced into this family against your will as a baby – call on the Deva of Clarity, Simplicity, Peace, Wisdom, Appreciation, Humor – or any of the qualities with which you want to fill yourself, your home, your relationships, and your world.

By setting a clear intention to embody these qualities, you have the power to choose your own experience, and to shape the situations that unfold around you. But by itself, your personal power is limited. When you call on a Deva for help, support and partnership, it lends its power to yours, to help you hold a field of love and blessing that embraces everyone at your holiday table.

Through this sacred, creative partnership, miracles happen. Conflict, projections, old stories and bitterness melt in the light of the Sacred, of whom we are all fractals (even Uncle Bob!).

In any situation, the clearest, strongest energy prevails. When that energy is one you intentionally set, and hold as a field for everyone around you to participate in, if they choose, you become a source of light, love and blessing.

As my gift to you – for the holidays, and for the rest of your life, if you wish – my wonderful designer, Richard Miller, and I have created a set of online Deva cards for you to explore and play with. They come with written instructions as well as a guided audio meditation to help you focus and clarify your intention, and choose a Deva to help you fulfill it.

You can use these cards to deepen your relationships with the Devas of soul qualities, and to develop these qualities more fully within yourself. Share the cards with the people you love. Use them every day, if you like, to set an intention for your day. Play with them in various ways, and let me know what happens in your world as you develop deeper relationships with these Devas.

My dearest wish for you is that you express the radiance, beauty and miracle of your inner being, and bring the power of your presence to bless and shape a world in which you and everyone you love can truly flourish.

Many blessings to you and your beloveds in this season of the returning light.

Love, Hiro

PS: Here’s the link to the online Deva Cards.

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This Sovereign Self Space celebrates their gifts and talents, their quirks and foibles, their accomplishments, heart and love.

Then, they are to spend some time with this space each day, developing and growing it, if they wish, or just hanging out in it and taking in the fullness of who they are.

Lindsay sent me photos of a giant collage she’d made for her Sovereign Self Space. Her accompanying email was so insightful and filled with realizations about her patterns, that I asked her if she would be willing to share it with you. She very graciously agreed. So here is her lovely email, along with my response to her.

You may relate to many of the things she talks about here.

I did my homework! But I’m shy about showing it to everyone so I’m just sending it to you. 
   
It was interesting because in the beginning there was a lot of resistance but then I just hit this flow. And I liked it. I liked the feeling about not thinking about how it had to be and just making/creating/writing without a voice editing it. 
   
And it ended up being a circle. Which was not the plan. 
   
It started very literally, then became more abstract, then ended very poetically.
   
I made note of various monsters that came up, like my “there’s no time monster” and my “seriously, you think you can solve your problems by sitting around doing arts and crafts” monster, and my “you aren’t doing it right! Go review EXACTLY what Hiro said so you FOLLOW THE RULES” monster, and my “what is the point” monster. 

But now I like it. Although part of me wants to go back and ‘fix’ parts of it. Which I’m trying not to do. 

Which makes me realize how careful I am to edit myself before I go into public (by public I mean be in front of anyone who is not a close friend – and that group is small). How cautious I am of what I say and how I say it. 

So that being in public can be really stressful for me if I’m not on a stage (like at the front of the classroom), or in charge (as in the head of the group), because then I’m not in a position to craft the image of myself as I want people to see me. And I don’t think that constant desire to present only a portion of myself is very sovereign . . . 

Of course, I’m willing to have you look at it because I know you’re here to help. I thought maybe in looking it over you might be able to observe some things about me that I can’t see through the haze of all my need to construct a narrative about who I am, even to myself. 

Lindsay, this is wonderful–an intriguing mix of inner and outer qualities and accomplishments, and the underlying patterns that they reveal.
 
Thank you for taking the risk to explore all of the feelings that this exercise stirred up in you. It’s great that you met those parts of yourself that want to be right, follow the rules, feel not-good-enough and need to have their story straight before showing it to the world.
 
We all have these selves within our ego-structure. And, since everything including the ego is made of the same soul-essence, each of these parts of your self holds, in its heart, a spiritual truth.

The need to please or to be seen in a certain light is, in its essence, the need to belong, to be loved, to take your place in the circle of life, and to contribute to your world.

The expression of these needs becomes distorted through fear and misunderstanding about your own nature and your place in the world, but the needs themselves are universal, and fundamentally human.
 
We’re not here to do away with the urge to present a certain image of ourselves or construct a narrative about ourselves for the world. Rather, we are here to meet that urge with love and curiosity, and to discover the jewel hidden within it.

That willingness to explore, to be curious and open to whatever you find in yourself, brings you into your sovereignty.
 
The voices within you that say: Who do you think you are? What makes you think any of this is interesting? You didn’t do it right!  and so on, are fragments of your wholeness. So they have the memory of wholeness within them.

As their sovereign leader, you can help them feel safe and heard–first, by inviting them to tell you their stories and listening for the underlying fears in which those narratives are embedded; and then by holding up a mirror so they can see their own essence.

When you help these fragments of your selves reconnect with their wholeness, they lend the power of their gifts to the shaping of your life.
 
This is one of the main tasks of sovereignty–bringing the inner selves that live in your kingdom into harmonious relationship with each other, and making your kingdom a place where all of your selves are liberated to grow into their full potentials.
 
These feelings are so universal, yet we’re shy about talking about them, because that exposes the most vulnerable parts of our selves. We feel ashamed, tender, afraid of judgment or criticism, so we all walk around hiding our feelings under masks that stifle our power and creativity.

You’re brave for having done the homework with such clarity and determination to seek out the truth about your self and your patterns.

Your willingness to share this publicly is both an act of courage and of great generosity. We learn from each other. And in sharing our most vulnerable selves, we make the world safer and kinder for everyone. Thank you so much!

If you feel like playing kindergarten with us, go ahead and create your own Sovereign Self Space. A sacred space that celebrates you. Come back and share photos and stories, if you feel moved to.

I’d love to hear what comes up for you when you share your self more fully and honestly with your world.

Each time we risk being ourselves, we open up a channel for greater intimacy, closeness and connection. Our world needs you–your particular, unique, quirky, wonderful self.

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What do you suggest when someone is not at all sure of her grounds to assert her sovereignty? Like when the opposing forces are trying to trump her ace with the threat of hellfire and damnation? Maybe she mostly doesn’t believe in these things, but a tiny little bit of her thinks they might be possible, and so she is cowed?

Amna, to develop sovereignty you have to begin by knowing yourself. This means sorting through and clearing out the assumptions and beliefs you’ve inherited from your culture, your family, your religion, schools, media, society. And also sorting through and uncovering your own biases and unexamined points of view.

These assumptions and beliefs are forms of energy.

Once you’ve cleared them, you’re left with your own inner truth, which is the bedrock on which you can build a sustainable life.

Threats of hellfire and damnation are forms of energy intended to frighten you into obeying someone else’s rules, or buying into someone else’s version of reality. Fundamentalism is always prescriptive. It claims to know The Truth, and attempts to define reality for you. It does not honor your soul’s knowing or respect your sovereign right to choose your own path.

If you grew up in an environment that implanted such belief systems in you, the energy of those beliefs is still inside you. It’s not enough to know, intellectually, that they aren’t true. You have to actually remove that energetic implant, and replace it with your soul’s presence. With what your soul knows to be true.

There are a variety of ways to do this. When I’m working individually with clients, I look clairvoyantly at the beliefs and patterns that are embedded in their energy bodies, and use clairvoyant healing techniques to remove them. Then I help them fill up the spaces we’ve cleared out, with their own soul, and with the qualities that their soul brings.

If you’d like to learn more about sovereignty–what it is, and how to practice it–please join us for Sovereignty Kindergarten. Starting July 14th, we’ll spend six weeks together learning skills to help you discover your inner sovereignty and apply it in your daily life. Early bird discount of $100 until July 7th.

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My question relates to sovereignty and physical ill-health / incapacity.

On one hand I have a sense of being placed in a physical prison, and having my choices limited.

But I also have other conflicting feelings about it. Some days I feel angry because no-one in my kingdom (my body) is obeying my commands. But then I feel sad and guilty because I think that I must be a very poor Queen for my kingdom to be in such disrepair. It hurts.

How can you live as the Queen or King, when it feels like the whole kingdom is rebelling?

Bec, I’m so sorry you’re feeling ill, angry, sad and guilty in your relationship with your body and your health.

The thing is, the sovereign is the leader who serves, rather than She Who Must Be Obeyed. Your inner selves won’t take kindly to being ordered around. Why would they?

Sovereignty brings all of your selves into right relationship with each other, and restores the inner order and pattern of your wholeness.

Its function is not to command your body to do what you want, but rather to create safety and support for all of your selves–to create an inner kingdom in which each self can flourish. Sovereignty means that you provide wise leadership, draw the very best out of your selves, and bring them together as a family to create the life that’s in harmony with your soul’s purposes.

A kingdom rebels because the needs of its members aren’t being heard and met.

We are not a singular self, but a collection of selves. And each of our selves is sovereign too; each one has the capacity for wholeness. Each of our selves emerges from the same Sacred source.

Our selves may become distorted and disconnected from their inner essence, but at the heart of every aspect of our selves is wholeness.

At the heart of pain, physical illness, incapacity, there is still wholeness. This is not just a nice idea, but a very real vibrational field which you can experience. It can be harder to access in the midst of physical pain, illness and disability, but we are fundamentally whole, even when we don’t feel that way.

This doesn’t mean that the physical disability is necessarily healed. There may be karmic or genetic reasons for it. But it does mean that you can know yourself as whole even though your body is disabled.

When you stand in your wholeness–when you identify yourself as whole, rather than identifying yourself as ill or disabled–then you can meet your illness, pain and disability with respect, love, delight and compassion. Remembering always that each of your selves has at its heart a truth and a gift that you need, in order to grow into your full potential.

You can talk with yourselves, especially the ones that carry illness and pain, and ask them to tell you about the spiritual truths at their hearts. Let them know how much you need their gifts, to create the life that’s yours to live. Listen to how they feel and what they need. Not with impatience or condescension, guilt or blame, but simply because they have wisdom and strength that are essential for your well-being.

Honor their sovereignty, and they’ll help you create a healthy personal ecology.

How do you handle illness, vulnerability, and pain? I’d love to hear your insights and comments, as well as your questions about Sovereignty.

If you’d like to learn more about sovereignty–what it is, and how to practice it–please join us for Sovereignty Kindergarten, starting July 14.

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• Them

This one is from Sarah, who very kindly gave me permission to share it with you:

What can you do when you get into a situation–particularly in a relationship, of any kind–in which you have set a precedent of disrespecting your sovereignty, so to speak (for example, doing favors for someone when you really don’t have the capacity)? How can you re-assert your sovereignty when you suddenly realize that you’ve been neglecting it?

I ask because I’ve been in situations like this, and tried to re-assert my sovereignty, and it has backfired. Usually the other person reacts as if I’ve thrown a shoe at them, no matter how careful I am in communicating. How can we do this in such a way that supports both our sovereignty and the other person’s?

Sarah, thanks for the great question.

When you change–when you take responsibility for recognizing your own capacity, honoring it, and acting accordingly–the relationship between you and your friend changes as well.

Change may bring up ancient fears for your friend: Fear of being abandoned, of not being taken care of, of having to take responsibility for himself, or for having to change what may have been a comfortable dynamic for her.

So the first thing to recognize is that your friend’s reaction is not about you. It’s a response to her own fears, emotions, thoughts and beliefs. And it may come from a much younger self, rather than from her wholeness.

When you ground, center, and become present in your own space, you can see each element in this situation–yourself, the person you’re relating to, and the relationship between you–just as it is, without judgment or sentimentality.

This means that you can see who your friend is, beyond his or her reaction to the change in your relationship, and you won’t take their reaction personally.

And if you do find yourself feeling defensive, or trying to explain or justify your actions, you’ll be able to step back, check in with yourself to see what you’re feeling and what you need, and take care of your needs first.

Once you’ve taken care of yourself, you can talk with your friend about the changes you’re making, about the ways in which you’re trying to be more honest about your capacity. You can tell them how you feel about the process–the hard and the good around it. And you can ask for what you need from them, without being attached to whether or not you’ll get those needs met by them.

You might say something like:

I know in the past when you’ve called me because you’re feeling alone and unappreciated and want to talk, I’ve set aside whatever I was doing to talk with you.

What I realize now is that I haven’t always been honest with myself, at those times. I haven’t paid attention to what I need, and I haven’t been honest with you about what I can offer.

So there have been times when I really didn’t want to talk to anyone, or I was in the middle of a project of my own, but I didn’t say so. I’m sorry about that.

I’m working on taking responsibility for myself–checking in to see how I’m feeling and what I need. So when I do say Yes, it’s because I’m really able to be present for our conversation. And when I say No or Not Now, it’s because that’s what’s true for me in that moment.

This means that when you call me, I may not be available to talk right then. I care about you, and I will be there for you in whatever ways I can. My commitment is to be honest with myself and with you. I’ll tell you if I’m not available to talk with you when you call. If I know when I’ll be available, I’ll tell you that too.

And since I’m practicing asking for what I need, I’m going to ask you now if you would like to tell me how you feel about this change in our relationship.

Try it. See what happens when you shift the terms of your relationship so it’s more in alignment with your own truth.

Some of your friendships may naturally fade away. Others will become energized and stronger because you’re standing in your sovereignty, and respecting your friend’s sovereignty too.

Honesty is a good basis for real friendship.

How about you? I’d love to hear your insights and comments, as well as your questions about Sovereignty.

If you’d like to learn foundational practices to strengthen your sovereignty in a playful, light-hearted way, join us for Sovereignty Kindergarten, starting July 14.

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I’m moving house again.

And even though the move is still a couple of months away, I’ve begun the process of withdrawing my energy from this place that’s been the home of my heart for the past three years.

My ancestors made the perilous journey across the Arabian Sea from Persia to India nearly 1300 years ago. Something of their peregrine spirit must live in me, because I’ve moved so many times during my life.

First, from India to North America, when I was just 21 years old.

The shadow of that first leave-taking is imprinted in my body. These past few weeks, I’ve dreamed repeatedly of my childhood home. And woken confused by the chitter-chrreee of eagles instead of the caw-caw-caww of crows.

The spirit of transformation is my guiding star.

This means that I choose life at the tideline. Right there, on the shifting shore. Welcoming the incoming waves. Knowing I’ll soon wave goodbye to the outgoing ones.

A rhythm as constant as my breath.

There’s a reassuring constancy to the rhythms of change. And an art to living improvisationally, responding to the tides without being swept away.

Surfers know this in their bodies.

For me, transformation happens most effortlessly, with the least amount of resistance, when I give myself safety, stability and support.

This is not the safety of a battleship or an aircraft carrier. It’s the safety of a sail boat. Or a surfboard. Something small and light and responsive enough to ride the waves without capsizing. Something as fragile as the coracles in which my ancestors sailed east, to India and freedom.

My sail boat is made of sturdy, durable materials. Daily rituals and routines that sustain me.

Lighting a candle each morning to welcome the spirit of my home. Invoking the spirit of grace. Invoking the qualities that add buoyancy to my life.

Paying attention to my feelings.

Eating consciously. Going to bed early.

Choosing presence and nourishment. Choosing connection, soul, heart.

Choosing what I truly love.

These practices are a boat when I’m on the sea. And when I return to shore, they form a lap.

A lap formed by the simple act of sitting cross-legged on the sand.

A lap that is an invitation to be held for a while, in safety and comfort. A lap doesn’t impose or insist–it’s just there, an available and loving support.

The cat or child who visits a lap curls up in it easily, with no thought of “should” or “ought”. The familiar warmth of the lap offers comfort, a place where we’re loved, accepted, restored to our selves.

It is, by its very nature, a temporary resting place, not a permanent dwelling.

When the refuge of the lap has worked its magic, the cat stalks off to chase seagulls across the beach; the child runs out to play in the shallows.

The lap reminds us that we are held; we are loved; we are safe. Visiting a lap restores us to the essential friendliness of our world.

So I’ve been contemplating laps. And turbulent tides. And how I can–simply by sitting with conscious intent–make a lap. Right here on the shore of the restless sea.

A lap for each of you to visit for a while. To restore yourself to your Self, whenever you choose.

How about you? What are some of the ways you make a lap for others? What are the laps that shelter you?

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Here is a recap of that talk–an offering to Spring, to all that is struggling to be born within us.

The Sacred is the ground of our being, so how do we open to that which is not separate from our selves? The Sacred is not remote from us–out there, in some transcendent realm. The Sacred is my own heartbeat, and yours, and yours. We are fractals of the One Source. It is the essence of who we are, the Void out of which all of creation emerges.

Many religious and spiritual teachings emphasize the need to destroy or transcend the ego in order to be one with All That Is.

Yet the ego–that which makes up our personalities, our uniqueness–is essential to our incarnation. And it too is sacred. This is the Tantric view, that all of life is a hologram of Source. Anything and anyone, including our own bodies and our imperfect selves, can be a portal to the Sacred because everything is made of Sacredness.

We are incarnate beings. One way of thinking about our relationship with the Sacred is that Source expresses Itself in each of us along an arc or continuum.

At one end of this continuum we are a unified field of one-ness. Here, there is no differentiation between you and me, between you and the most distant stars, between me and the earth, between tree, rock, rain and ocean. This is the realm of formlessness, which precedes even the Divine matrix in which all forms first come into being. Everything in this realm is pure potential.

At the other end of this continuum of being is your particular, unique incarnation. This is your self-hood, that which makes you unlike anyone else who has ever lived before. No-one else can be or will ever be YOUR expression of the Sacred–as distinctive as your voice or your fingerprint.

To change a pattern or to create a new one, we must begin where we are. So, to be receptive to the Sacred, we begin by being receptive to ourselves. To our bodies, our minds and hearts, our emotions, our personhood.

Each of these elements that make up the totality of our being is the Sacred incarnate within us.

The week before I was to teach at Jen’s Virtual Retreat, I was sick with the flu. My voice, when it finally returned, sounded like a cranky frog. So I worried: How will I teach if I have no voice? My head feels like jello–how will I remember what to say?

And then the cosmic joke finally landed through the fog in my head, and I laughed out loud.

Of course! The light of the Sacred doesn’t disappear with my voice! It’s always there–in sickness and in health. It’s always there.

So let’s explore opening to the Sacred in our frog-throated, splay-footed, warts-and-all selves. Let’s explore the Sacred in a spirit of play and curiosity.

Close your eyes and bring your awareness behind your eyes and up a bit, into the area of your mid-brain, between your pineal gland near the back and your pituitary gland in front. This, along with the center of your heart, is the seat of your incarnate soul in your body.

Feel the radiance of your soul, here in the center of your head. From here, connect with the light of your personhood — of everything that makes you who you are. Let this light fill your whole brain and radiate out into your body, into the center of your heart, into the center of your belly. Let it continue to radiate out through your cells, into your energy field all around you.

Feel the boundary of your personal energy field–the place where you end and the rest of the world begins–like a great circle all around you. You can mark this boundary with a hedge of roses, or a picket fence. A stone wall, or a mantra or a sound. Anything that gives you a clear sense of where your personal energy ends and the rest of the world begins.

Now fill everything within this boundary–fill your whole energy field–with the light of your self; that aspect of your soul that is in incarnation right now. This is different from the light of your soul, which encompasses more multidimensional realities, but it is equally Sacred. It exists along a continuum with all Light everywhere.

So attune to this light within you, the light of your personhood.

Your precious miracle of a body, which performs dozens of highly complex processes effortlessly every day to keep you alive.

Your ancestry, the gifts of your biology and history, the gifts of your lineage. The gifts of your home and country as they are woven into your incarnation.

Your mind and imagination, which enable you to travel with me on this journey without ever leaving your chair or your bed.

Your genius, your skills and talents. Your friendships and loves, your creations, the things that bring you joy. Each of your accomplishments.

Your qualities of kindness and friendship, of generosity, creativity and playfulness.

The light of your self does not ignore that which is ill or angry; painful, wounded, or fragmented in you. It doesn’t shut out whatever still needs love and integration. It embraces and enfolds all aspects of your self within its warmth.

So take a moment to feel these parts of yourself as a play of shadows and patterns within the light. Bring them into your inner wholeness, which holds all of your inner selves in love.

As you do this, notice what happens to your fragmented selves–notice the relationship between them and your wholeness.

You, yourself, are a source of Sacredness in the world. You are not just a consumer of spiritual stuff. You are a source of love and light and blessing.

So, from the center of your head, experience the light of your sacred self radiating out into your energy field, filling it until it resonates with the vibration of your personhood.

Now feel into the boundary of your energy field behind you, behind your heart. Feel where the light of the Sacred in you meets and blends with the light of the Sacred in your extended soul–that vast, multidimensional being that contains all of your incarnations. That extends into dimensions of soul and spirit that are not in incarnation.

Experience the Sacred in the vibration and qualities of your extended soul, behind you. This, too, is your singular vibration, but it’s more closely attuned to other resonances of the Sacred, more fluid than your personhood.

Take this further–extend the light of your personhood out to the boundary of your energy field in front of you.

Experience the boundary where your Sacredness meets the Sacred in the world.

Open your eyes and look at the objects in the room around you. Feel the Sacred within these objects. Choose one of them, and feel its presence, its essence, which is also the essence of the Sacred.

Close your eyes again, and extend your awareness outward to the edge of your boundary. This time, invite someone you love to connect with you at the boundary of your energy field. Feel their essence, the Sacred within this other person.

Next, invite someone–or a situation–with whom you have a difficult relationship, to connect with you at the boundary of your energy field. Experience the essence of this person or situation, the Sacred within them, met by the Sacred within you. Be aware of what happens when you do this.

Finally, bring your awareness back to the center of your head, to the center of your heart. Feel the light of the Sacred within you resonating at your own particular vibration, attuned to the Sacred in all dimensions, in all creation.

May the Great Pattern of your life unfold this Spring as gently as new leaves unfold on this cherry tree outside my window.

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There are powerful planetary energies at play right now that exacerbate polarization, division, fear, and friction. At the same time, there are available energies of wholeness, radiance and peace.

Each of us is both an individual being-our singular self-and in relationship with all other forces on this earth. The energies of entropy affect us because they are in the atmosphere around us–we swim in them like fish in the sea. But they also exert pressure through our connection with others in our lives who may be susceptible to them, and through our energetic connection to the earth.

So…here are some ways to stay strong, centered and calm in the midst of fear and chaos:

1. Connect your grounding to the purest, clearest energy source in the earth-the Soul of the Earth. And connect also to the Soul of the Cosmos.

2. Bring yourself back to your own center.

3. Connect with your soul, through the back of your fourth chakra. It’s more important than ever to fill yourself with your soul’s vibration. (You can listen to the audio of a teleclass on how to do this, here.)

4. Clear energies and emotions that are not yours, out of your chakras and energy field. Create a state of harmonic resonance in your own energy field. This is your inner world. Fill it with the qualities you want to experience, and work skillfully with the energies that disrupt it. Practice sovereignty.

5. Stay in touch with your own emotions, letting them flow. Call a conference of your selves, giving each part of you a voice, practicing emotional skillfulness.

6. Stay in present time. When you find yourself caught in catastrophic stories-characterized by phrases like “always” and “never” among others-breathe, ground, bring yourself back to center, and into the present moment.

At times like these, when there’s so much fear on the planet, it’s easy to get swept off into the future, and since your body can’t follow you there, it’ll leave you feeling more and more fearful.

Your senses help you connect with your body, and connect with what’s real right now. Move in ways that bring you joy. Feel the solidity of the earth under your feet.

7. Confusion is almost always a sign that you’re dealing with energies-or emotions, or pictures or beliefs-that aren’t yours. Clear out anything that doesn’t belong to you, and then see how you feel.

8. Remember to ask for help: from your soul, from the people you are close to, from your community, from the Universe, and from allies and helpers in all dimensions.

You are not the small, scared, isolated self you may feel yourself to be. You are a vast, multidimensional being, and you have capacities and resources you can barely begin to imagine. They are real. They are powerful. And they are actively invested in the success of your incarnation-they always respond when you ask.

9. Remember, too, that you are working within cycles of time and space. Give yourself the gift of spaciousness– separate from the high levels of fear that are haunting the world right now.

10. Get out into Nature if you can. Connect with your body, with the earth, with what’s real. Connect with spirit, which moves in dimensions of timelessness. Attune to the essence of the qualities you need to help you-strength; patience; fortitude; safety; humor; stability; wisdom; power; inspiration.

11. Make clear energetic separations from everything and everyone else, and return to the simplicity of your own being, as it is right now. Your senses bring you into the present moment, so tune into your breath, your body, what you taste, smell, touch, hear and see.

12. When fear comes knocking, with its stories about impending doom, ask yourself: right here, right now, am I safe? Am I dying? Or deathly ill? Or about to be eaten by a dinosaur? Is what I’m afraid of actually happening right now?

13. Manage your energy. Bring a pink-gold vibration into your reptilian brain (at your brain stem), a clear gold light into your mid-brain. Close down your first chakra until it’s only as open as you can handle comfortably. Close down your trance-medium channels-the energy channels that are like an upside-down T, at the back of your head and neck, and across your shoulders, and fill them with clear gold light.

These practices will help. Remember, reality is always Whole, and always on your side. Even though fragmentation can be LOUD, its power is limited to volume.

Each time you recognize and name the fear and trauma around you, bring yourself back into resonance with your own soul, and into harmony with Wholeness, you contribute to the healing of the world. You bring calm, strength and peace to your own body, your life, and your community.

Times of uncertainty and change call us to the task of making meaning and wholeness within ourselves. You can choose to be a source of healing and blessing–your Presence is needed in the world, especially in these difficult times.

If this post spoke to you, you might like these as well:

• Them
• There’s Wholeness in Holes
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As I began making notes for the class, I realized this is a sprawling beast of a topic–one that deeply affects every aspect of our lives, and of our businesses.

Communication is at the heart of so much of what we do. And since many of us work online or over the phone with clients and customers, clarity in communication becomes essential.

The Oxford English Dictionary defines communication as the transmission and exchange of information.

To this I’ll add: Communication is an energy, a quality of soul. Like all energy, it has effects that can be healing and transformative, or not. Communication can expand your world and your sense of possibility, or it can fragment, divide and isolate.

This is why communication can sometimes seem so loaded.

We communicate information about who we are and what our lives are about, in a multitude of ways, many of them non-verbal. Your presence-which includes the entire sum of your thoughts, feelings and actions-transmits information constantly. So you are always communicating, whether you realize it or not.

You can feel this. When you’re with someone who knows you well, and who loves, respects and cherishes you, you feel seen and heard. You feel lovable, brilliant, and safe. This is the transformative power of communication.

This is communication that flows directly from the qualities of your being. And it results in an exchange of qualities-your friend’s presence, her love and goodwill towards you, awakens resonant qualities within you. Your own presence does the same for her.

Communication-as-transmission doesn’t just arc across the lives of human beings. The same exchange of energy and information can happen in any relationship-your relationships with Nature, music, art, poetry, food…each of these has the capacity to transmit qualities and feeling-states. Each of these can create changes in your energy field.

At the root of all communication is the quality of your communication with yourself.

When your communication with yourself is clear, fluid and healthy, your communication with others will be clear and healthy too.

Your body communicates with you through sensations and feelings, which are also forms of energy. When you listen to your body-when you tune into your feelings and invite them to move and flow without clinging to them, pushing them away or numbing them out of your consciousness-then your love and attention create a bridge of communication.

All energy wants to move, and once it moves, it changes. So your feelings change as you give them permission to be, and to flow. This is healthy communication, and it’s the key to staying in healthy relationship with your body.

Communication with your soul is communication with that essence that is you, beyond the outer circumstances of your life. It’s the voice of your innermost self, which holds the evolving energetic blueprint for the unfolding of your life.

Communication with your soul gives you access to information in the form of clear guidance, and to the transmission of your soul’s infinite capacities and qualities.

Direct knowing, love, compassion, inspiration, safety, creativity-these are all qualities of your soul.

The ability to move freely across dimensions of time and space, to travel through multi-dimensional energy fields-these are all capacities of your soul. Clear communication allows you to access them, and in doing so, vastly expands your experience of yourself and the worlds around you.

And then there’s communication with the Sacred, and with aspects of the Sacred that remain in non-physical realms. These include communication with the Soul of the Earth, which is a powerful, complex, infinitely creative and loving being who is the partner and ally of all forms of life on this earth, including yours.

Communication with these beings can greatly enhance your life, your ability to make things happen in the physical world, your ability to help create the world in which you want to live.

We’ll explore each of these aspects of communication in later posts. For today, I’d like to talk about just one for-instance.

Perhaps you find yourself not taking the time to communicate clearly and lovingly with the people who are closest to you-your spouse or partner, your family, your children.

With them, you are less patient, more demanding than you are with your customers or clients.

You love them, and yet your relationship with them suffers because of a lack of communication, or communication that’s prickly, hurried and fraught with misunderstanding.

So what’s going on here?

Your relationship with yourself is the basis for your relationship with everyone else in your life. Whatever the quality of your communication with yourself, it will be reflected in your communication with the people you are closest to.

Do you numb out or disconnect from your body and your feelings? Maybe you do this by zoning out in front of the tv, or by eating to avoid your feelings. Or you get disconnected and isolated from your soul, and start to feel small, alone, and powerless. When this happens, your energy contracts, or else becomes very diffuse. It’s hard for you to be present in your body.

When you’re disconnected from yourself in this way, your communication with the people you’re closest to will become disconnected and fragmented too.

So how do you change this pattern?

Ultimately, you can only create healthy communication through a regular, daily practice of staying in touch with yourself. There are many ways to do this-develop a vocabulary, a repertoire of ways to stay connected with your self, and then create a rhythm that works for you.

Mindful forms of movement like yoga, tai chi, qi gong or dance work well. So does more vigorous physical activity like running, hiking, or climbing. Meditation and self-reflection put you in touch with your sensations, your heart, and your mind. Creative activities like art, music, journaling or writing connect you with your own creative spirit.

You can also spend time each day talking with your body, feeling your feelings, and clearing your energy field. You can commune with your soul, and with the essence of the natural world.

These daily practices will give you a solid foundation from which to communicate with the people you love. When your buttons get pushed, and you find yourself reacting to your partner or your kids with impatience or disrespect, check within to see which unconscious patterns are being stirred up.

Relationships are crucibles of learning and growth. They will evoke childhood patterns of communication-the ones you saw your parents use with each other, the ones you yourself developed, at a time when you felt young and powerless.

Once you develop a practice of conscious communication with yourself, you’ll become aware of these patterns and begin untangling them. You can do the inner work of taking back those aspects of your self that you’ve unconsciously projected onto your partner, and own them as yours. You can meet your own needs and feelings in a kind, conscious, loving way.

You will also realize, from this daily practice, that you are constantly changing. You are not the same person today as you were yesterday. And neither is your partner, your dear friend, or your child. So you’ll be less likely to hang onto a fixed view of them. You’ll meet them each day as they are, not as they were. You’ll respond to the person in front of you, from your own growing, changing, evolving self.

This brings both freedom and love into the conversation between you.

………………………………………………………………………………………………..

How about you? What challenges do you experience in your communication with others? With yourself?

Let’s talk about why it can sometimes be so hard to communicate clearly. And what we can do to embody the healing, transformative powers of communication.

If this post spoke to you, you might like these as well:

• Week 3 of the How to Rule Your World Giveaway…
• Sovereignty and Feelings
• Down to Earth: Making things happen

I mumbled: “Mrrtgwoof?”

“Teeth do that, you know,” he said. “You must have had braces when you were younger.”

I nodded as best I could and he continued cheerfully: “Teeth travel back to where they came from. That’s why, as you get older, the gaps between your teeth get wider.”

The rest of the conversation-in which he described the various “procedures” he could perform to close the gaps between my teeth-remains hazy in my memory. (Which must also be traveling homeward, since the gaps in it are growing!)

As I drove home, I ran my tongue in wonder over my miraculous teeth. My teeth know where they came from! And through forty years of forcible displacement, they’ve remained doggedly determined to get back to where they belong.

Everything answers the call to home.

Teeth. And spawning salmon. Birds that fly thousands of miles each spring to return home from their southern migration. Monarch butterflies. Stars. Sea lions, bats, ants trudging in military formation, and pods of whales.

We humans do too, although our lives are so noisy these days that the call of home can dwindle to the faintest whisper, inaudible to all but the most attentive ear.

That call can emerge as restlessness, emptiness, a longing for something as-yet unnamed.

We work harder, or party more. We hang onto relationships that leave our hearts blighted, or we buy stuff . . . However blindly, each of us is trying to echolocate our way home.

Home is our soul’s vibration resonating in our bodies-that unique, complex, perfect hum of heart and presence that’s so familiar, we ignore it because we think it has to be something more exotic. Something esoteric-an angelic choir; an epiphany on the road to Damascus. Something hard-to-get, as sexily out of reach as Johnny Depp.

So we go searching. In teachers and classes and books. In spiritual practices. In our spouses, our children-everywhere but ourselves. Like my traveling teeth, we follow every whisper and rumor of home.

Until, one day, exhausted from the search, buttering a piece of toast or listening idly to a song on the radio–or sitting in a dentist’s chair–we click into that home frequency that vibrates in our cells, in our breath, in our beating hearts. And we remember … we are home. WE are home.

If this post spoke to you, you might like these as well:

• Responsibility Troll, Meet the Angel of Responsibility
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