Give It Away: How to Get Your Heart’s Desire
What do you want? In your deepest heart, what is your true desire?
All our striving stems from the same fundamental human desires:
To be safe. To be provided for. To provide for the ones we love.
To be free. To love and be loved. To be happy and healthy.
To belong. To be at home in the world.
To live in harmony with our fellow beings. To be peaceful, generous, kind.
To be whole. To live in healthy, whole communities.
To serve. To help others be happy, healthy and free.
To be a source of love, blessing and joy.
Next month, my first grandchild will arrive in this world. Lately, I’ve taken to talking with my soon-to-be grandbaby. This gentle, radiant being, who is preparing to make the long journey from the world of spirit to our complex, beautiful, sometimes-fractured world.
I tell her (or him!) that s/he is so welcome here, so deeply loved. That who she is – her particular, unique self, the Sacred in the shape of her – is a source of such joy, even before she’s arrived.
I tell her about the world I want her to experience. The astonishing beauty and delight of it. The bewildering variety of experiences it offers.
For her, and for all of us, I want to help shape a world that welcomes and nourishes her whole self. A world in which she is free and loved, in which she is prosperous and flourishes. In which she is blessed and blessing.
The central imperative of my life has been this nexus of love and freedom, prosperity, service and blessing. More than anything, I want this for myself; I want it for you all.
Love. Freedom. Prosperity. Service. Blessing.
These are qualities of the Sacred. And because we are the Sacred in human form, the seeds of these qualities are planted in our hearts; they are part of our essence.
We can nurture love and freedom, prosperity, service and blessing, in ourselves and in each other. We can grow them so they are a strong and consistent presence in our daily lives.
This is the deeper meaning of sovereignty. You rule your world by developing loving, consistent presence.
When you make the inner shift to your Source-ness – when you become a Source of all that you truly want – you rule your world by serving it.
Your business, too, is a sovereign being, an emanation of the Sacred. It too rules its world through loving presence.
It’s my deepest wish that you and your business become all that you are. That you bring your wholeness, your genius, your power, fully into the world, to serve and bless and shape it with your presence.
The Giveaway
As part of my commitment to this work, during the month of June, I’m giving away four copies of my digital program, How to Rule Your World from the Inside Out. Each copy is worth $250, and consists of a 200-page PlayBook, and eight hours of audio.
You’ll have four opportunities to win – we’ll give away one copy of the program each week. The weekly contest closes on June 8, 15, 22 and 29. And during the final week of the contest cycle, I’ll also be giving away one spot to my virtual retreat, FLOW: The Alchemy of Miracles.
Winners will be announced, here on my blog and on Twitter and Facebook, on June 9, 16, 23, and 30.
The Details
To enter, share your story about how you rule your world.
Here are some questions to consider: What matters most to you? How do you cultivate your central values in your life? In your business? How do you serve your world?
Post your story here in the Comments (no more than 300 words), or on your blog, with a link to this post. You can also tweet about it, or post your entry on Facebook, using the hashtag #ruleyourworld and this shortlink: http://bit.ly/getyourheartsdesire
Entries that don’t include a link to this post or hashtag won’t qualify. Please DO NOT email your entries to me – this contest is going to occur in a public space.
Your story can be in writing, or in audio, video, photo-essay, dance or song. Express it however the spirit moves you.
May we all be free. May we be prosperous and flourish. May we rule our world through love, service and blessing.
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Dear Hiro,
How do I rule my world? I will be married 28 years come this October. I have raised my two daughters to be independent, self-assured young women. I spent the last 27 years caring for my family and anchoring the boat so my husband could run his business. I am at a place in my life now where I am able to focus on myself. I recognize that I am in a transition. Every day I ask myself, what do I want this next phase of my life to be about?
Two years ago I completed my Masters in Consciousness Studies. During that time I experienced a very poignant awakening around humans’ relationship with the Earth and how humans treat each other. I recognized that the health of the Earth mirrors the health of our relationships. I feel called to share this with the world. I think we all want to experience deep connection with “the other”, just as the Earth longs to experience a deep connection with humans.
As I enter the autumn of my life and return to myself, I am in the process of letting go of all that no longer serves me, moving towards wholeness, and stepping forward to express my voice and my truth. Some days it is scary and painful, and others feel pregnant with possibility. Your “How to Rule Your World…” course would be a blessing on my journey.
Thank you for all that you are and do, and thank you for this opportunity.
Eileen Pardini
Eileen, I’m so moved by your story of loving service to your family, and now, to your own emerging self. YES to releasing all that no longer serves you, and to living from your wholeness.
Many blessings on your journey.
Thank you, Hiro. I felt safe reaching out to you. I love reading the wisdom in your writings.
Congratulations Eileen! As you travel back to yourself … wishing you a beautiful journey.
l i g a – love, infinite grace, abundance
Kathy Van Kleeck’s last post … really really sidetracked
Thank you so much, Kathy!I am truly grateful. By the way, I have been to your Etsy site many times. I am wondering if you have sold the angel wing, or if not, what you will be selling it for. I love your work and your blog is beautiful! So great to have found you here through Hiro!
Many blessings, eileen
For 15 years, I’ve been in the business of making ‘stuff’, beautiful and well-crafted stuff, but stuff nonetheless . 2008 saw the beginning of a shift in my work which led to my spiritual coming out party, the debut of my Talismans for Fellow Travelers series. That spirit infused work has continued but it’s not been the bread and butter work.
The economic slowdown has given me the time to rethink and refocus my business priorities. What started as a series of seven themed pendants is now growing into a fully realized body of work. I’m still making the b.n.b. work, but my heart and mind is consumed with this new direction. My intention is that a Talisman might start a conversation, create an opportunity to share an intention, a prayer or belief, spreading the love and spirit behind the piece, creating a spiritual chain reaction.
I make jewelry and I blog with the awareness that one person really can make a difference and to “be the change I wish to see in the world.” I have three foundation words – congruent, gentle, loving – which I apply to my marriage, how I interact with friends, family and strangers, how I buy and prepare my food, organize and decorate my home and especially, how I operate my business.
The blessing I include on each Talisman and the message I want to share is to have faith, you are surrounded by love, infinite grace and abundance. Expanding the Talismans feels like the missing piece in making my life and business more fully congruent and promises to take my business to unknown and exhilarating heights.
A joyous leap of faith.
Kathy Van Kleeck’s last post … further designing adventures
Your work is beautiful, Kathy! I love it!
Kathy, your message, and its expression through your Talismans, is inspiring. Your work is so infused with love and beauty! Faith made visible. Thank you.
Thank you, Hiro. Mind if I borrow that idea – “faith made visible”? It’s so perfect!
liga – kvk
Kathy Van Kleeck’s last post … au revoir Port Townsend
Yes, of course! Please do.
Ten years ago, I decided to quit my job, sell my house, and buy an income property. each time i found the perfect house, something drastic happened to prevent the sale – 1 burned down the night before making an offer…when i went to take a final look at another before heading to the bank, a moving van backed up and a family started moving in! right in front of me. I realized i needed to stay put. a month later, i met my soon-to-be-husband – he’d just moved into my neighborhood. after all the roadblocks that kept me in my home, i realized there was a Living Divine & i began to look deeper for my purpose. i started every day with a simple prayer of gratitude for whatever came my way that day. what had seemed like frustrations while trying to buy a house, taught me that there is a divine purpose to everything, so i should be grateful in all things. i worked 20 years in the customer service industry, and at 911 dispatch. in these jobs I met people at their worst & nastiest. i kept a smile in my voice, and worked to feel empathetic and true gladness for the opportunity to help them. this year i left my “Big Girl” job, and have been making art full-time. with the same spirit of gladness, gratitude, and honesty, my sales and opportunities have been wonderful. i am responsible for the spirit that goes out from me – i am a representative of the Divine. I conduct all my business and creativity with that as a starting point. and i will not partner with anyone who’s ethic doesn’t align with that, or doesn’t fit with my journey. i give each person i meet, their dignity. whether it’s a homeless person i pass walking downtown, or a wealthy client facing a raw moment, they are each expressions of the divine…they each began this world as a tender baby with all the world before them…they are each on a journey and nothing more or nothing less. they are equals. i still begin each day with a prayer of gratitude, and find as i work, my mind drifts through a reminder of all the things that had to fall into place to enable me to be where i am. i listen for the spirit to lead me, and have learned to follow – no matter how crazy it seems. oh – and that husband? he came complete with 2 young children! now in college, we have such a bond of friendship that blesses me more than i can say. So i guess i feel that i am responsible for my world & what i put out into it, and take great care that i am sending out love, light, gratitude and quite a few smiles.
Linda E.
Linda’s last post … ps
Linda, yes! “i am responsible for my world & what i put out into it…” This really is the heart of our passage on this earth. Thank you for living the way you do, with intention, purpose, heart, and spirit.
Linda – YES! Exactly! “i am a representative of the Divine” – it’s like you’re writing my own thoughts. So perfect and beautifully written – thank you.
Kathy Van Kleeck’s last post … au revoir Port Townsend
oops – forgot to link http://kitasmom-gettingby.blogspot.com/ 6/6/11 post
[...] Hiro Boga is one of my favorite bloggers. She has a contest/giveaway going on right now that caught my eye. What hit me was the fact that she started the message in her newsletter with the same question Bryan Franklin ended his speech with, in the video from my last post. [...]
The last two years have been a spiritual unfolding for me. In getting to know my God-centered self, the quality of my work with clients has changed tremendously. As I’ve stretched and grown, I’ve begun to see I have the ability to feel people’s energy. I ask questions that help my clients figure out solutions that grow their businesses in ways that excite them. Many times, I don’t where the questions come from, and sometimes they seem impertinent, nosy, or off-topic, but as soon as I “hear” them, I ask them out loud. My clients also literally get unstuck because I can help them free up their blocked energy and get moving again! It’s so exciting to see the light turn on in their eyes or to feel the relief when we solve that problem that’s been aggravating the h-e-double-hockey-sticks out of them!
The other important change I’m experiencing is I now approach life from a place of love. I know, down to my core, that I am a spiritual being having a physical experience. I am in love with my soul, my physical self, my friends and family, my community, and the world. I’m not here to save people – but I am here to contribute, even if it means simply planting flowers in my yard that make people smile. Beyond that, I know I am here to contribute deeply to healing businesses, especially women in business who are wearing their martyr capes, but feeling exhausted to their cores.
I’ve also discovered an ability to look for the meaning beyond the meaning. I deeply realize we are all love – at all times either asking for or giving love (and people have some kooky ways of asking for love, don’t they?!?). Love is my essence. The who – and how – I am.
Angela J. Mattson’s last post … Taking Time
Lovely, Angela, thank you.
How I Rule My World
‘The most important thing in life for me is being useful. I seek to be of service by inspiring others and creating beauty in the world. I’ve never sought to be rich or been concerned about ownership. My motto has always been ‘I travel light, the universe provides’ and ‘I have so as others can see what’s possible’.
Letting go and allowing myself to be moved into the stream of life and carried along by the current has rewarded me abundantly as well. My intuition and spontaneous nature I’ve come to treasure as trusted navigators along a sometimes rocky emotional road.
Living from the context of authenticity, integrity and gratitude are the cornerstones of my metaphoric house. This is the energetic foundation with which I govern both my personal and business life.
Bottom line; I serve the world by showing up in it. I strive to show up in the world as the best version of me that I can manifest in each moment. When I fail to meet the mark I regroup with wise counsel within and realign myself. My greatest strength is the willingness to do something different whenever the need arises.
It seems clear then that as I enter the final third of my life, what I want to do is to keep doing what I’m doing. . . .with perhaps a little extra attention on trust and less on worry.’
Thank you Hiro for this opportunity. I’ve included this in my latest post on my site as well. I hope this is as useful for others as it was for me. Bless you!
Alison, thank you for showing up — for life, and for this giveaway. Our stories serve as candles to light the way, for ourselves, and for the world. Thank you for sharing yours so eloquently.
The pleasure is mine completely Hiro. I am so inspired by your ‘conversations with baby’ gives me goose bumps hearing you talk about it, can’t wait to see pictures!!
Alison Elliot’s last post … How To Rule Your World
How I rule my world!
I rule my world because I never stop learning. Learning from my mistakes and my successes. Learning new things. Learning how to listen more – and trust – the wisdom I have inside of me to lead the life I really want. And it’s scary! But I continue to rule my world by *trying* not to give into that fear. Easier said than done.
I have recently learned just how much I need community. I need other people, other strong women to support my successes and failures. And the support I get from my community I pass on. I serve my community by supporting people to do what their being is called to do. I love mentoring and fostering others creativity and passion. I do this when teaching yoga, I do this when mentoring my social media assistant in the day job, I do this by providing others the freedom to create their own space and time.
Your digital program and retreat would be a dream come true. I’m new to the idea of shifting to my Source-ness. Having lived so long in the world of shoulds and have tos the idea that I can live as exactly who I am is new, wondrous, exciting. And terrifying. My inner critic has other ideas. But I will continue to rule my world and meet my inner critic and tell her that I’m in charge. That I want to bring my wholeness to the world and by doing so be able to better serve my community.
Blessings to you Hiro and thank you for sharing your commitment to your work!
Ah, yes…all those shoulds and musts and have-tos. The thing is, they change with the times, with the zeitgeist. They are reflections of someone else’s shifting truth, not of your own.
Thank you for your courage in undertaking this journey back to your self.
I serve the world with my smile. I rule my world with my heart song. When I was younger I had an enormous gap in my two front teeth that made me ashamed to smile. Eventually in college, I got braces to get the “perfect smile”. Some days I go back to feeling like I did in grade school and I don’t smile. The braces are off, but sometimes I feel a resistance to smiling and laughing. I have realized that my smile is my genius. When I smile people are comforted and feel safe. A smile is a joyful laser into someone’s soul. I serve the world with a smile that is backed up by a healthy serving of compassion. From that smile, a revolution can be sparked because powerful conversations can happen. Behind my smile is understanding and connectedness. I connect with your story and say in the simplest language: I see you. I am here for you in this perfect moment. Ruling my world through my heart song. My heart is fluttering and trying to lead me lovingly on the journey that the Universe has destined for me. When my heart song is playing loudly, I am doing what matters in business, in life. I have to tune into the beautiful frequency of that heart song. When I do, it moves me to tears. My goal in my life and business is to empower people to be whole, great, and fierce right now because the treasure they seek is already within them .
Hiro, the Ruling Your world course would empower me to harness the power of my smile and turn up the volume on my heart song so that I can define my business in a life-changing way. Thank you such a reflective exercise.
Kandice’s last post … 2 Year Marriage Secret
Kandice, may you and your smile continue to be a source of love and blessing in your world.
[...] June 2, spiritual teacher Hiro Boga posed the provocative question, “How do you rule your world?” as part of a beautiful [...]
So many moving entries! Thank you Hiro for the space in which to ponder this deep question.
In response, I was moved to sing a little ditty which I included on my website.
I’d love to hear any comments you may have.
Bright Blessings,
Dalit
Dalit Berkowitz’s last post … Giving it away- the ultimate sovereignty
Dalit, thank you for your lovely song!
Hiro, I am so glad it “reached you.” I am new to this internet/blogging dimension and it was the first time I ever posted anything like that. (I had to get some help to figure how to link it properly to you :). Asking for help: ruling one’s world!
Dalit Berkowitz’s last post … Giving it away- the ultimate sovereignty
We’re on this planet, to grow in kindness and love. Nothing is more important than learning to love on a deeper level. We’re all connected and every moment matters.
Daily, I sit in stillness and remember my purpose; to think and extend loving thoughts, to express through my actions, the good, the beautiful and the sacred.
If I have made someone’s life easier today, if I have made someone feel blessed or loved, I’ve done my job. I have made a difference in the world.
I offer myself, my family, my clients and the world much peace, joy, fun, laughter and unlimitedness. I serve others with my love, gifts, and talents.
When I got married, I was 17 and pregnant. I was the mom to four little girls by the age of 22. To say my life was crazy is an understatement.
We found our way in life, step by step, together, the six of us. Our 40th wedding anniversary is January 14, 2012.
As the girls grew up, I went back to school part time. 12 years later, I graduated with a master’s degree in counseling psychology.
After working as a therapist for 18 years, I began teaching, writing and blogging. The message of all of my work is to love, love heals.
I have always been involved in volunteer work. I’ve counseled women in prison, served in soup kitchens, and even spent time in Mississippi after hurricane Katrina.
Currently, a blogging buddy and I, are gathering articles, from top bloggers to compile into an e-book. !00% of the proceeds will go to the Red Cross in Joplin, Missouri.
We have a magnificent future to create. Anything is possible at anytime. Together we can accomplish great things!
Tess, love heals — that’s all, really!
[...] wonderful woman, Hiro Boga has written a post: Give It Away: How to Get Your Life's Desire. Check it out and leave a [...]
I forgot to put my link in the post but I see that it follows my comment. Do you want me to re-enter it in the comments, and include the link in the comment? Or will it count this way?
Thanks, Tess
[...] is my entry to Hiro Boga’s competition, running for the month of June over at her beautiful bloggy home. On the theme of [...]
Hullo Hiro, m’dear,
here’s my entry, in the shape of a blog-post:
navigatingbyheart.wordpress.com/2011/06/07/the-queen-surveys-her-queendom/
(it’s linked back to this here post)
Adorations and much love,
Reba x
Reba’s last post … The Queen surveys her Queendom
Thank you, Reba!
Raindrops on the edge of blossoming flowers are the kind of things that matters to me : light, smart, fragile, ready for anything…
I wanted to participate with a postcard here, but not sure I can paste a picture in the comment so please check it here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/galiment/5777872372/in/photostream/
To share my poetic vision of the world is my way of serving… hoping to sow seeds of beauty wherever I am (a class room of 5 year olds, a French blog, a dance workshop…). I am in love with words and colours, shapes and stories, mouvement, things that pass. I try to organize a gathering of words and images everyday for my friends and readers (and myself) to stay in touch with gentleness in the middle of a crazy world.
This for me is the beginning of a new road. Serious instructions are still needed on how to be and behave. Your sacred intuitions are so very precious Hiro. Thank you for all of what you have given to this world already.
bénédicte motte’s last post … tribute
Benedicte, thank you for your beautiful photo, and for this wonderful line: “I am in love with…things that pass.”
Dear Hiro,
Here’s my entry (blog post, linked back here): http://www.eleanorgraham.com/2011/crowning-the-circle/
Thank you for being you — such a gift.
With love,
Eleanor
Eleanor’s last post … Crowning the Circle
Lovely, Eleanor, thank you!
I am so enjoying reading these entries as they come it! It is so expanding and joyful and gives me such hope and optimism to read how open, wonderful, interesting, and BRAVE each of the respondents is. :-) Regardless of the “winning” or not here, the chance to read about these beautiful women is awesome! :-)
Angela J. Mattson’s last post … Taking Time
I rule my world by honoring my intuition. I’m learning not only to honor myself and my inner wisdom, but to fall in love with me. (Even still, that sounds egotistical to my slowly-changing eyes, but I’m honoring myself by putting it out there.) I have spent so many years putting myself second (or fifth, or eightieth) that now, to honor who I am first, to take care of me, feels like coming home.
I know that the ways I rule my world will change and evolve, but this is the center- taking care of my spirit and honoring who I am.
Thank you for these questions, Hiro.
Belle’s last post … How To Change Your Energy
Belle, yes: “…this is the center — taking care of my spirit and honoring who I am.”
When we do this, we come into right relationship with our world, and with wholeness. It’s challenging to remember this, yet it is the key to a truly sustainable, sovereign life.
Amen.
I rule my world through trust and surrender. It is my trust in the process of a living source that allows me to continue to offer myself up to this great and mysterious miracle of life. What I have discovered is this: there is nothing out of the reach of life force.
My father was killed when I was 6 years old and I lived for decades with a wounding I thought was beyond reach. An aspect of me gave up hope and yet another aspect of me, the aspect of me that has never experienced itself as apart from its source, propelled me through this last twelve years of intense spiritual renewal and re-emergence. For this I am deeply appreciative.
Hope did not give up on me. Hope built a bridge that I crossed on the day when I called out to the universe to lift me up from what I perceived to be an endless descent into limitless grief. What a relief it was to me that I underestimated the power of source. I misperceived my path by holding off diving into the depths of my feelings. I became willing to explore inside me. Delightfully, I did not drown in the deep.
I am finding treasure in recognizing the gentle beauty of my rooted into source self. I am awake to the reality that life force has never abandoned me. Source sifted through me and shifted me into broadened perspectives that widened my ability and willingness to embrace being human. The source from which all life emerges is made of fulfillment. When I trust the source my hopes blossom into certainty. I am here to share what shows up at the altar of my awareness. My lifespan is my sacred path and platform.
Hope, your story, and these words, moved me deeply: “I am here to share what shows up at the altar of my awareness.”
May your inner light guide you, always, and illumine your path for all to see.
Congratulations, Hope!!!
Hello Hiro,
This question is framed in such a way that I can think of multiple approaches to answering it. But I’m going to saddle up to it sideways :)
When I think of sovereignty, I think of kings and queens of old: mythological figures who asked 3 questions of suitors to win their daughters, who required quests. But I also think of the kings in Shakespearean works who were best mirrored by their jesters, the figures who provided them with alternate perspectives and fresh insights into themselves and their abundance.
I am just building a business now. It is gestating, and there are bits that are birthed like blossoms, periodically from my ideas. I value the truth that resides in me like groundwater, and I value the process of extracting it with utmost kindness and care. Like any ruler, I wish to share my water to slake the thirst of others in order to promote the happiness and prosperity of all my people, whether they be family, friends or my students.
Because I value careful extraction of sourcewater wisdom for the benefit of all, sometimes my process may seem slow, and, on the surface, ground-less or source-less. My sovereignty comes from the knowledge passed on from generation to generation of women, from other diviners, that the groundwater exists, and that it blesses. In this way I am sovereign.
However, sometimes, I lose my way. Sometimes I go on the quest myself (for I am sovereign and servant) and find myself alone in a dark place. I call out to trusted advisors, and they appear. I ask for help, and it comes. Sometimes in the form of a suggestion from a friend, sometimes in the form of a dream. And sometimes an answer doesn’t come, and I sit in silence and listen.
My business is based upon the principles of engaging people in envisioning their future, basing this on the inherent connection that strings us all together in the most intricate of webs. I model for them by telling stories and as a leader, how they can tap into connection through empathy and, paradoxically, by setting boundaries.
The walls in my land protect us from unwanted invaders, but they also contain intricate doors that welcome visitors and offer luck to those leaving on quests.
My jester has said that creativity is freedom within boundaries. Sometimes she says the funniest things! Sometimes I don’t understand her, and sometimes I understand that it is the laughter that counts the most. She is one of my most valued resources, because she defamiliarizes situations for me, and shocks me into being here now. I have asked her to partner with me in my business, and I continue to await the form of her response.
I feel blessed to be able to be sovereign in my world. It has taken a lot of time for me to recognize the gowns I have been wearing as a queen’s garb. I have also recognized the best way I can rule in abundance is to continue to listen to my subjects (of which I include myself), advisors and the groundwater that calls to me, and to offer up my own questions, thoughts and connections to make our precious web manifest and to reduce the suffering of all by showing them that they, too, are, unbeknownst to them, royalty.
Emily, your jester is wise indeed. Creativity IS freedom within boundaries. Thank you for sharing your story.
and thank you Hiro and to all that have shared here. We are breathing life into each other.
For a very long time, I’ve been ruling the corridors of my inner world more than I have anywhere else. I was in hiding so often that I mistook it for home. So I formed a secret garden to tend to. I prune and pluck it often; I sit in its colors; I arrange its contours. It’s a beautiful place to be, but it’s missing community. My cartwheels are fabulous but no one else gets to see them. My gazebo’s all aglow, but no one else is dancing. And then I had an A-ha! What good are my gifts if others can’t experience them with me?
This gorgeousness inside me is ready to bust out and greet the world. No more barriers between where I am and where I long to be. It’s alignment time – a call of duty. I can smell how I might serve: the aromas tickle my nose. I can feel it: shivers and butterflies. I can taste it: drops of lavender rose. Its empress, me, is being measured for the coming out party. The gowns will be lovely and the people will cheer, wondering, “What took you so long?”
I will celebrate with them. I will listen to them. I will open up my channel to communicate divine wisdom.
Together, we will find beauty in the everyday. Oh, what a party it will be!
[...] Boga, a coach I greatly admire, posted a contest on her blog. To enter, you share in the comments how you rule your world. She goes on to prompt us: What matters [...]
I am an artist. I am becoming a healer.
I am going to rule the world…. because I am one with the world. And my particular physical heritage is one that has given me, and my precious cousins, more pain than we can carry.
I have let go of the suicidal urge, the voice in my head learned from decades of assimilation policies, that said, “You do not deserve to be here.”
And my cousin did not know that he deserved to be here before he killed himself.
And my other cousin has been to the brink. She is sixteen. I hope that she will not have to go back there, to the place where extinguishing her light seems the only way to see any light at all.
And I must, must, must, learn to become a healer, to finsh healing myself, so that this will stop happening in my family.
And that is why I am here. I haven’t got a clue how to do this, but I know I must, so the universe will be providing a way. We will see.
katana’s last post … How To Draw- Skip The First Chapter of Most Every Drawing Book
In October I birthed a still baby in my bath tub, unassisted.
We knew she was going to die. She had trisomy 18 and a hole in her heart. I asked a doctor if she was in pain and she said, “I think babies can’t feel pain when they are in their mama”. I spent days rubbing my belly, telling her that it was ok for her to let go inside of me, that we were strong enough to do this hard work and I didn’t want her to suffer.
We were told there was something wrong in every cell of her body. But her long piano fingers, her itsy elbows that moved proper-like, her teeny heels, her swollen eyes, were all so perfectly her. I named her Annie.
My wish in having another child was the opportunity to teach her to love herself, know herself and express herself fully. One of the things that helped me through losing Annie was a deep knowing and owning that I still get to do that work — only with other children.
I am starting to rule my world by preparing to launch my own business that uses my expertise in creating play drama experiences for children and those that work with them. I rule my world by taking the time to examine deeply what my calling is and how I can most honestly and joyfully bring that into the world. I rule my world by making sure my days are challenging enough for my imagination, include a mix of play and peace with my children and that each day I do something — even something tiny — for my emerging business. I rule my world by feeling pain and sorrow when it arises, letting it work through me and then releasing it out. I rule my world by loving myself and allowing myself to make a living doing what I love. I rule my world by being me.
Congratulations, Kerri!!!
I think of my life as an enormous garden: sometimes I’m digging, watering, mulching; sometimes I’m laying back and enjoying the bloom, flavor, and fragrance. Sometimes both! I enjoy playing and wondering with my husband and 8-year-old son, our dogs, cats, and foster dogs. We consciously create a life together that feels deeply satisfying. Expressing my love for family and friends is part of the art of my life. To find my path, I listen for what I love and hunger for and I follow my love and hunger like following a delicious smell to find out where the fresh-baked bread is! I’m creating my life like a patchwork quilt, allowing color, form, feeling, and other delights to help me discover how I want the quilt to take form. Sometimes I see only the next piece; sometimes I dream of the whole quilt in all its beauty. I have two branches of work I’m following right now: teaching music and movement to young children and being a spiritual companion. I thought it was two separate branches, but they’re connected by a root that goes deep into the ground and is fed by my love and respect for others’ stories, for music, and for a deep desire to help others connect with their own stories to help them remember who they are and how to hear the Divine within them in the truest, clearest sense. I don’t need easy or happy all the time, but a sense that my life is my creation. My connection with others and the design of my life springs fully from a sense of my desire to bring blessing and love into the world and a desire to scoop up learning like beans off a vine.
Dear Hiro, I came across your interview in Fearless Magazine and navigated to your site. I am very touched by all the comments and your warm and inspiring responses. I am still searching for how to rule my world but for the time being will continue to serve all I can. I have come to understand that ego is an impediment so I leave it on my pillow when I get up everyday. I have found it to be a ten ton set of bricks strapped around my neck that does not let me look up and observe the beauty that exists all around us. Beauty in all the people that I meet, all the beautiful landscapes that adorn this beautiful world that will not wait for us to decide whether we are coming or not. Like the poet said: “What we give to ourselves dies with us; what we give to others and the world remains and is immortal.”
hello Hiro
are we invited to play every week ? I am not sure I understood the rule but anyway, for the pleasure of sending you a postcard… and because “to share a poetic vision of the world” is the way by which I try to serve… here is my link : http://www.flickr.com/photos/galiment/5832033805/in/photostream/
Have a beautiful day everyone.
Benedicte, yes, you’re welcome to share your stories, postcards, photos and vision as often as you wish. Thanks so much for this one!
How I rule my world:
Ever since I was young, I have always felt powerful inside. Early on, the power flung itself at everything as I tried to help it find its place. As I’ve grown older, I’ve used this confidence and fearlessness to chart territories that others find difficult. But as I continue to grow, that power has become transformed, more of a burden, weighted down by responsibility. In my recent search to recapture that power and wondrous view of the world I began with, I’ve started to mentor and encourage others to stand tall, find their power within and grab onto the reins. Here’s a reprint of a blog post I wrote earlier this year about finding one’s wild niche. I’ve used this idea as a jumping off point to help myself find contentment and balance while supporting others to reach their full potential in their lives.
Link: http://blog.vidaflora.net/?p=855
The images in my dreams are becoming more and more interesting. These images “tell” me things when I pay attention. Sometimes there are awake dreams (during meditation or when I work with my NSA doctor). Many times they occur during the night when my soul is free to travel from my body at will. More and more I’m having flying dreams, where I soar over the mountains and rivers or hover over my body which turns into a thousand shimmering mirrored pieces. Recently, I’ve begun flying through the water, moving in an out of legs of hippos and giraffes, swimming with the fish, and looking up to see the birds flying overhead. I’ve had lucid dreams where I see myself again as a pig-tailed 5 year-old, hiding and peeking out from under the massage table as I dream. Monday, as I lay on my back, I had a vision of a huge eagle flying directly above me, his wings spread over the length of my body, wingtips so close to my face I could the wind as he moved his wings up and down, up and down.
I am in love with the dreams and visions I have – even if I don’t always know what they mean (and many times, I just don’t). What I do know is that my soul, my inner source-ness and the Universe is speaking to me. Think bigger! Go deeper! Love more! Explore! Be the Queen of your waking life as you are the Queen of your dreams. Life, as in my dreams, is to be lived as a glorious adventure!
Thank you, Hiro, for giving us multiple ways and opportunities to share the glorious mysteries, and in some cases, deep tragedies and lessons, of our lives here!
I have always had a kind of faith in the world – an understanding that nature will provide. And in my experience, it’s true. I just imagine what I need and know that it will manifest. There’s no desperation; there’s not really even hope. If I just step back and allow things to emerge, they do. A misplaced tooth up in my gums – to the surprise of the dentist – found its way down. On bushwalks, lovely campsites materialise just as the sun sets. And having quit a good job where the culture was toxic, I just landed my dream job in a workplace that is nourishing.
Where I am less than sovereign is in my life partnership. I married two years ago – a man whose life was woven around mine in various subtle ways, though we did not meet for our first three decades, and it took us another five years to recognise each other as life mates. At the time, we had no doubt. But then we had a slow-building crisis from which we are yet to recover. We have lived apart for almost a year. I want to ‘consciously engage with the frictions and challenges, the gifts and opportunities of daily living’, to find our way back together. But we fail again and again; the patterns recur. I feel so very stuck. In so many ways, this relationship feels divine. Even now, I don’t doubt it. Sometimes I wake up at night with a sudden, urgent desire to sort it out. Time is short. There’s so much we could do.
Somehow, our egos are engaged in an epic unending underground battle. It weighs heavily – not just on me and him, but on my 10yo daughter and all our loved ones. I dislike asking for it but I need help.
Dearest Hiro,
I’m grateful for the profound questions you offered over two weeks ago. They inspired deep reflection, creative expression and presence with myself- bringing up pain, discomfort, love, and joy.
After embracing Gail Larsen’s transformational speaking workshop in Vancouver a month ago, I came to the realization, with the help of an ‘important stranger,’ that my original medicine is…
“I am home.”
It’s a deep place in my heart. Some days it feels terrifying and ‘too big for me.’ Some days I centre myself in it and feel beautiful and empowered. It’s time to stand in it fully.
It is what matters most to me.
Note: The “world” includes my own ego, or social self, or “small me”.
I am Home.
I’m consciousness, in a world that pulls me away from all that is conscious.
I’m movement, in a world that is often stationary.
I’m presence, in a world full of distractions.
I’m truth, in a world that prefers to avoid or pretend.
I’m gentleness, in a world that values toughness.
I’m peace, in a world where reacting is commonplace.
I’m vulnerability, in a world that would rather not feel.
I’m trust, in a world of fearfulness.
I’m beauty, in a world of throw away and quick fixes.
I’m persistence, in a world that likes ease.
I’m courage, in a world that avoids discomfort.
I’m breath, in a world that holds it in.
I’m freedom, in a world of attachment.
I’m generosity, in a world of too much ego.
I’m love, in a world that is quick to judge.
And, I am home.
With sincere gratitude and lots of love, Gillian xo
Dear Hiro,
PS. I rarely use twitter and just realized that I entered my twitter name incorrectly! … it’s @gillieberry…
! :) xoxo
hello Hiro and everyone
thank you for sharing your inspiring stories,
these posts made me reflect a lot on my own present life.
Today I am sending a little postcard,
it is my way of sharing the beauty around me, the light my eyes catch, the luck my heart feels…
Last week in my dream I could see Hiro write my name on the winner’s post, it was such a thrill, a dream trhill!!!!!!
Have a beautiful day!
and please follow this link :
http://www.flickr.com/photos/galiment/5833599839/in/pool-1614029@N24/
I value and serve the creation process of moving our inspired ideas into ordinary reality. This has been both my passion and my challenge. As a creative dreamer I discovered from a young age that I needed assistance to take the wonderland of my imagination and turn it into something material. My values of inspiration, creativity, love, play and service needed a special world in which to grow and flourish. So I created one. And this is how I rule my world.
I rule my world by designing a very original life planner + adventure game; a strategy game of time-space-traveling into the future, the past and the realms of health, wealth, creativity, love and more to become the change that changes the world.
I rule my world by creating it fresh each day with a little gameful play I call the Time Traveling Chicken (a morning process for moving through time and space to co-create my day), and I tuck my world into bed each night after I Campfire Chicken (an evening process for coming to completion with the day that has been and getting all of me into present time).
My greatest desire is to share these tools of sovereignty with others and I am developing the courage to ask for help from those who know how to put big beautiful creative ideas out into the world. I want to invite people into the Oasis of Imagination, the Inspiration Watchtower, the Palace of Place, the Garden of Love. It’s time.
Together, we will play our way to fulfilling our greatest service to our world… that of being fully and authentically ourselves. This game is all about sharing the incredible and true story of you and me, and especially we. The world needs us to be we. Wheeee!
So much to consider … knowing the shift has begun. Looking at what has come before, pondering what is ahead. Coming to the realization that my entire model for business is based on what I’ve been told is the “proper and accepted” way to do things, this is the best formula for pricing your work, this is how you interact with your clientele, this is where you sell your work, this is how it’s done.
With minor exceptions, everything about how I’ve run my business has come from outside of me, from the experts, the respected elite. It’s no wonder I’m feeling a big disconnect. My throat is closing and tears are welling as I write this, but what I now know is … I am not the ruler of my business. I’m not sure I ever have been. That’s a crushing realization.
I’ve been in business for 15 years but, in many ways, I feel I’m just beginning. The learning curve feels horribly steep, the rules have changed. I’m pretty sure there aren’t any rules. So here I sit, trying to get to that quiet place in my heart, trying to get out of my Type A head where I’ve always been able to ‘figure it out’. Not feeling so joyous about my grand leap, just feeling overwhelmed and confused and kind of sad. It feels like more of a slog through the mud than a leap.
But the light, the spark, the desire to move forward is not diminished. I know I’m on the right path; it’s time to ascend to my throne.
A very important note – Thank you, Hiro for presenting this opportunity. It’s provided the catalyst to my current level of awareness, a vital link.
L I G A – love, infinite grace, abundance
Ah, Kathy, I’m so moved by this. It is scary to turn inward rather than out there, to experts, for guidance and direction. It’s scary to act on the voice of your heart, in your business.
We are so conditioned to rely on someone else’s vision, to value it above our own, to believe that the answers are out there instead of in here.
There is always room for learning, for taking in information, insight, knowledge. But ultimately, we have to check what we gather from other sources against the truth of our own hearts. Sovereignty requires both receptivity and discernment.
Your soul is infinitely wise. The Deva of your business holds, in its energy field, everything you need for the perfect unfolding of your business.
When you listen to your inner voice, deepen your relationship with your Business Deva, and act on these inner sources of guidance, you’ll build a body of experience. You’ll see how acting on your guidance works in the 3-dimensional world of your business. Trust is built on experience.
I wish you so much love and blessing on this path.
“The Deva of your business holds, in its energy field, everything you need for the perfect unfolding of your business.”
Oh my, thank you Hiro. I can read this and know it’s true. I’m really looking forward to the deeper knowing when my heart aligns with my ever so busy mind.
l i g a – kvk
love, infinite grace, abundance
I don’t know how I rule my world.
And that makes me sad.
I do know that I am coming out of a deep depression, one that felt more like a spiritual void. I do know that I moved away from medication and have spent this time looking, searching, reading, working on myself, trying to understand the lessons.
I also know that what matters to me is not just my recovery, but finding my voice, finding a way to heal myself and then — and this is important, but I don’t know how yet — creating a compassionate space for others to share their shame and pain related to what we call mental illness. Whether that space is just me becoming a more compassionate soul, better able to listen and be there for my loved ones, or something bigger? gain, I don’t know. There are so many people who share their wisdom, but there’s a hidden, unspoken gap for so many of us that conventional remedies cannot bridge — what do you tell those people whose inner landscape is so barren that a sense of gratitude, a sense of hope, a sense of self, is impossible? I’ve started to learn some emotional alchemy. I want to learn more.
But I do know one thing. I’m on the right path.
Such a joy and encouragement to read all of these responses!
Here’s my entry: http://cynthiamorefield.com/2011/06/24/process/paint-root-shine-relax/