June 2017 Newsletter

Hello, and a jubilant June to you!
Welcome, or welcome back, to my newsletter. The photo above was taken on a walk through desert property, when my friend spotted the rock next to me with the grinding hole. Many years ago Native women prepared flour here to feed their families. Seeing and understanding this made me feel more connected to this dry climate.

Today's issue has an article about having a problem, and being proud of it as if it's an asset. Enjoy!

Literature is full of quotes about the dangers of pride. "Pride goeth before a fall." Lately I've noticed a strange dynamic. A woman I barely knew came up to me telling me right away she had fibromyalgia. Did she want sympathy? Not to have too many expectations put on her? She seemed to want to wrap this diagnosis around her like a cloak, as if it defined her, since she kept talking about it. Last week a man in the grocery store started telling me about his heart bypass operation, out of nowhere, about the surgeon who did many of these procedures a day, how his unhealthy lifestyle had probably led to this, on and on. I congratulated him on his recovery and told him he looked good, hoping to help him believe in himself. Since his breathing was labored, I gently asked if it was OK for him to exercise. He replied yes, he should be exercising, which was a red flag to me -- he didn't say he was! I had a feeling he'd rather tell the dramatic story than see himself as doing the hard work to become fit and healthy again.

One more example. Several months ago I posted an article I'd written about a common eye condition, with some holistic suggestions for relief. A woman who has this condition read it, and I guess I stepped on her toes. She thought I was minimizing her big problem, which was not at all my intent! She told me how painful it was, and how none of the treatments seemed to help. I could feel her clinging tightly to her diagnosis, unwilling to let it start shifting, so she'd be more comfortable and peaceful.

Might you be stubbornly proud of something about yourself, thinking that's just the way you are, rather than trying to change? It's your choice to hang onto the way things are now if that's what you want to do. And if you don't try to shift the pattern, you will stay stuck. "Nothing ventured, nothing gained." No one says change is easy, whether it's implementing an exercise routine or a healthier diet or giving up a destructive habit like smoking or screaming at your kids. Just because your family is like this, that doesn't mean you have to be! "Oh, both my parents wear strong glasses (or have a temper, or drink too much, or ...)" sounds like an excuse for not taking responsibility for yourself. Yes, it might feel like an uphill fight at first as you break those familiar habits, and you might have to let some of your drinking buddy friends go and find some new sober ones. And it will be your life, you won't be following someone else's program. Won't that feel great?

I invite you to take a look at your "problem", to see if it's an invitation in disguise, prompting you to move forward. Wouldn't it be nice, a year from now, to see it as something you've overcome, or at least that it's well on the way to being part of your history? People would much rather listen to inspiring human stories of a challenge faced, what you learned from it, and that now it's in the past. When you complain about a long-standing problem, you're only teaching that Life is suffering. When you're solving your problems, even if it's with a lot of trial and error, you're teaching that Life is growth and progress.

To read about me being overly proud of my limited vision, click here.

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Please send me your questions and comments
Let me know what you've wondered about concerning energy medicine or vision or dreams. I'll be glad to write a short article addressing that topic. Thank you to those who have sent me questions, or see a question you asked me in a private session written about here. You're helping many other people! Enjoy the start of your June. I'll write again in a couple of weeks. Take care!