METTA CENTER

(This article was first published in December 2008 Metta Center email newsletter.) In a recent personal EFT session, I connected to a deep part of me that was so anguished because she couldn't find what she has been looking for on Earth. This part connected me to a felt-sense memory of sweet and total abiding love, a place where I felt like I had melted into the gentle bosom of the Universe. It was a glorious and wonderful feeling. My conscious and adult self recognized it as Home to me, even though this was not how my childhood home felt. Somehow, I remembered that this is the blissful place I came from, and I realized that this is where I go to when I find my alignment with Source. But strangely to me, it seemed that this deep part of me wasn't aware that I had learned to find my way Home quite often. It was as if she had not been connected to me as I grew up spiritually. This part showed me that she was tired of looking. She trusted my soul, and was expecting to find H

Thanksgiving Day usually involves getting together with one's own family. For some people, that is both good news and bad news. If it's bad news to you and you'd like to find a way to be appreciative rather than grumpy while you are with your family, here are some simple tips: Using EFT , you can tap with the setup phrase of: " Even though I don't like my family, I deeply and completely love and accept myself ," and tap on all the points. Don't worry if at first you feel guilty admitting you don't like your family. After tapping, you most likely will see that there are aspects of your family that you DO like after all. Then, you can choose to focus on those aspects to maintain a loving connection with your family while you are together. Even I don't like my family all the time, and after tapping using this setup phrase, I am able to realize and remember that I LOVE my family. Using TAT , get in the TAT Pose and focus on whatever it is tha

(This article was first published in November 2007 Metta Center email newsletter.) In Taoism and Chinese Energy medicine, there is an exercise called "Inner Smile", where you smile at your inner organs. This exercise has a very practical purpose: self-acceptance and appreciation. This simple and gentle practice is very effective in balancing your meridian system and is very nourishing to your spirit. Here is a slightly different version of this exercise: Sit or lie comfortably. Alternatively, you can even do this exercise when you are walking or in the shower. Begin by taking several deep breaths, exhaling slowly. Allow yourself to recall the time someone extend a kindness to you and you can feel a sense of appreciation gently arising from within your heart-center. Noticing this feeling of appreciation, you bring your attention and extend this feeling to various parts of your body. Starting from the top of your head, bring your attention and appreciation to

 "The foundations of a person are not in matter but in spirit." -- Ralph Waldo Emerson The leaves are beginning to turn colors. I feel that suddenly fall has begun in earnest with the first rain of the season. The air smells different and feels crisper. As mother nature slows down in preparation for winter, you might want to check in with yourself to see if there is a need for you to turn inward as well. As the trees change and drop the leaves in autumn, and then grow more roots in winter, you might be going through similar changes internally. Perhaps there is an internal urge to drop old ways of being and to change something in your life. Perhaps there is the call to nurture your spiritual self, the root of you. Perhaps this is the time to ask yourself, how are you nurturing yourself? We nurture ourselves when we connect with and meet our soul's needs. Our soul's needs are always spiritual, expressed as qualities or virtues like acceptance, freedom, peace, respect

"If we want to be compassionate we must be conscious of the words we use. We must both speak and listen from the heart." -- Marshall B. Rosenberg Conscious communication requires us to be truly present to what is occurring. When we are unconscious, we both speak to and react to others out of habit. And in the face of what we perceive as someone's judgment and criticism, we automatically (and unconsciously) defend, withdraw or attack. To communicate consciously requires attention to two areas:     You speak from awareness of what you are observing, feeling and needing, and     Through watching and listening, you are aware of those same needs in others I learned about conscious communication through NVC (Non Violent Communication.) It is a process of learning to communicate compassionately and authentically. NVC was created by Marhall B. Rosenberg who wrote "Nonviolent Communication: A Language of Life" (available through major bookstores and amazon

from "Woman As Healer" by Jeanne Achterberg Healing is a lifelong journey towards wholeness Healing is remembering what has been forgotten about connection, unity and interdepence among all things living and non-living Healing is embracing what is most feared Healing is opening what has been closed, softening what has hardened into obstruction Healing is entering into the transcendent, timeless moment when one experiences the divine Healing is creativity and passion and love Healing is seeking and expressing self in its fullness, its light and shadow, its male and female Healing is learning to trust life

(This article was first published in November 2008 Metta Center email newsletter.) I was asking Spirit about what to write for this newsletter that would be most beneficial for my readers. Spirit answered, "Remind them of their Truth." Hmmm, I didn't know what that meant, to tell you the truth. (No pun intended.) So, I asked for more guidance on it. Spirit showed me that deep inside ourselves, we already know that all is well -- that all has always been well, will always be well and can only be well. Often, however, we don't remember this Truth. Like many of you, I don't always feel that all is well nor do I think that everything is well all the time. Again, I asked for more guidance. And, this time, Spirit asked me a question: "Have you ever seen your daughter having a tantrum and feeling anxious about something and you know it was not as big a problem as she thought it was, and that all is well, because you have the advantage of having a broa

(This article was first published in May 2006 Metta Center email newsletter.) Joy, I think, comes in two flavors: the euphoric feeling (Hurray! Amazing! Yes! Hallelujah!) and the easy-and-happy feeling (Ain’t life good? Ahh, bliss, life is sweet!) Both flavors are delicious. How do you get to joy, and how do you maintain it? There are many paths to joy, as many as the grains of sand. Recall the various times you felt happy, and at ease. Was there any one formula for your happiness? Or were they varied, and in that variation, you felt alive and happy? What is “joy” to you? Perhaps your joys come in predictable patterns: you love nature, flowers, clouds, winds, water, music, birds, etc. So, by allowing yourself to experience and notice these wonders as much as possible, you feel joyous. Some of your joys may not be so predictable. They might come from your allowing your self to grow in your awareness, to bring healing to yourself, to explore life, to have adventures, to rest, to listen

(This article was first published in May 2007 Metta Center email newsletter.) Our thoughts are something we can control. At some deep level, we choose our thoughts. What we choose, we focus on and it grows! Be willing to be aware of every thought you have without fear or judgment. This is how we can be "in control" of our lives. Not through controlling others, but by being aware of our thoughts and knowing we have the freedom to choose a new way of thinking when we realize the old thoughts don't serve us. This is a process of self-realization. Every thought we think is an affirmation. To borrow a computer acronym, what you think is what you get (WYTIWYG) in your life. Your thoughts create your life experiences. Negative thoughts are negative affirmations and create life-alienating experiences. Positive thoughts are positive affirmations that support the creation of a life that you prefer. Positive affirmations can really help shift your energy vibration to be more align

(This article was first published in the July 2007 Metta Center email newsletter.) When we embrace the soul's prompting to follow our inner desires and timing, the deeper wisdom of the soul is expressed. Here is an example from a Reiki/EFT session where I had the joy to witness the soul at work. This is why I love my work: when we trust our inner guidance, everyone involved is uplifted --  it is pure magic in action! This client had been a shy person for most of his life.  He came to our session without really knowing what to work on next. So, we decided to leave it to his Higher Self to guide us. As we did our Reiki session, I felt his inner yearning to become more of the person he is capable of being, and yet there was a voice that indicated how shy and fearful he was feeling about becoming who he really is. Here was an inner conflict about moving forward. I mentioned this inner conflict to the client, and we agreed to use EFT to peel the onion and go to the next laye

I love Donna Eden's work. Donna Eden has taught thousands of people how to understand the body as an energy system, to recognize their aches and pains as signals of energy imbalance, and to reclaim their natural healing capabilities. She has written many books on the subject, and one of my favorites is "Energy Medicine." I have sent the link to Donna Eden's short video-clip to many of my clients, and many have emailed me back telling me that her exercises are very beneficial and effective in helping them shift their energy. Here's her wonderful little video showing you a 5-minute daily energy exercise that is bound to pep your energy up. You can find out more about her work in her website: http://www.innersource.net/

Gary Craig, the creator of EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique), developed this tapping exercise and noticed that people were getting wonderful healing results by doing this process 2-5 times a day. It can greatly reduce anxiety and bring a sense of deep relaxation. Perhaps you have noticed that when you feel fearful or stressed or anxious or angry, your breathing is shallower than if you were feeling relaxed. When faced with a traumatic or shocking experience, or any experience we don't want to accept, we often hold our breath as a way to say "NO" to the incoming data. It is basically a defense mechanism that many of us develop, often on an unconscious level. When we do this tapping exercise, often our body will simply release the unconsciously-held trauma and we just feel better. That's a wonderful experience! Sometimes, as a result of doing this exercise, we will be in touch with some long-forgotten (or repressed) emotional issue because it is time to bring heali

Giving positive energy to others creates spiritual well-being. Imagine the light and love of the universe flowing into everyone you interact with today, bringing them peace and well-being. Give them your full attention and appreciation. Please remember to take some time to also give yourself your full attention, appreciation and love as well.

In recognition of the many forms of Light that walk with me on Earth, I am holding this Lakota Sioux Prayer close in my heart. Aho Mitakuye Oyasin All my relations.  I honor you in this circle of life with me today.  I am grateful for this opportunity to acknowledge you in this prayer... To the Creator, for the ultimate gift of life, I thank you. To the mineral nation that has built and maintained my bones and all foundations of life experience, I thank you. To the plant nation that sustains my organs and body and gives me healing herbs for sickness, I thank you. To the animal nation that feeds me from your own flesh and offers your loyal companionship in this walk of life, I thank you. To the human nation that shares my path as a soul upon the sacred wheel of Earthly life, I thank you. To the Spirit nation that guides me invisibly through the ups and downs of life and for carrying the torch of light through the Ages, I thank you. To t

This afternoon, as I was about to start on my next task on my to-do list, I felt a nudge, an invitation to play, from Spirit. I went outside to my garden and took a deep breath, feeling the cool wintry air on my face. I turned westward and saw the tree tops drenched orange in the late afternoon sun, and my heart skipped a beat. The scene was so glorious! So magnificent! In that split second, I felt so deeply nourished. My soul was fed! And, interestingly, I felt so rich, like I owned the world. 'Tis a wonderful feeling! Yes, life is full of riches for us to enjoy, even if they come in small slices of time and in unexpected packages. I invite you to allow yourself to take a moment out of your life and witness moments of life's magic. It is worth your while! You are worth your while!

(This article was first published in July 2007 Metta Center email newsletter.) "Throw your dreams into space like a kite, and you do not know what it will bring back, a new life, a new friend, a new love, a new country." ~ Anais Nin What do you dream for yourself? I am talking about the kind of dream that really tugs at you, that whispers to you and calls for you in your heart. The kind of dream that has a powerful yearning to come to life. We all have such dreams. But, we often squash them for the sake of "security", 'acceptance", "respect", etc. What would happen if you give that dream a voice and an opportunity to express itself? If you could be that who you want to be, do that what you want to do, have that what you want to have, what would your life be like? What is stopping you? Exercises: 1. During the coming week, be aware  of what longings you hold in your heart, no matter how insignificant your mind might judge them. 2. Close yo