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Your Intuition

Your Intuition

by | Oct 27, 2020 | Inspiration, Mindfulness, Women

Alysa Martin, The Happy MysticTM Coach

Caroline Myss says, “Receiving intuitive information or guidance is effortless. What is difficult is removing your fears about what your intuition is telling you. Treat yourself and the voice of your psyche with respect, because it is a living force that yearns for channels through which it can communicate.”

  • You might be asking yourself, “How do I treat myself and the voice of my psyche with respect?” Here is what I’ve learned through years of study and practice:
  • Take time to listen to the voice within through journaling and meditation
  • Follow the voice within because when you show yourself that you are listening, the voice gets stronger
  • Keep learning the many ways in which your intuition speaks to you and practice intuitive exercises to sharpen your receptivity
  • Connect with other intuitives so that you have a place to express your frustrations, share your synchronicities, and receive support and validation

It’s so important to delve deep into yourself at this time because when the world around us is bumpy, our inner voice will help keep us centered and balanced… and happy!

I’d love for you to join me on Tuesday nights as we come together for a deep dive into your voice within. See the Airmid class schedule for details.

From a Grain of Sand to a Pearl

by | Oct 19, 2020 | Art, Mindfulness, Women, Writing

Pearls are what happen when an oyster or some other mollusk is irritated by the invasion of some disturbing intruder into its closed shell.  A grain of sand may be slight but not too slight to cause a pearl to form.  Pearls are layers and layers of soothing nacre intended to insulate the delicate mollusk from the irritant that has abraded it.  At the very core, a pearl is a disturbance, a beauty caused by something that isn’t supposed to be there.   It is the interruption of equilibrium that creates beauty.  Beauty is a response to provocation, to intrusion.

Artists have the ability to invite intrusions into their lives and then use its fire as creativity.  They turn the environmental irritants into words, images and sounds that renew the onerous attacks in the lives of others.  Our world is an oyster and it is filled with irritants and disturbances.  Many of us may try to keep our shell tightly closed to avoid any disturbance within.  Others may be inviting this discord in closer, allowing a metamorphosis to occur.  This change – even the most infinitesimal change – presents an opportunity to create a precious pearl in our lives.

I sit in my home office, pen-to-page, contemplating the irritants that have found their way into my life shell.  A ladder of memories, both distant and recent, form on the blue lines of the page.  Some bring pause like the larger events, divorce, births and deaths.  Others slip along one after the other with only a glimpse out of the corner of my memory’s eye.  All of them, meniscal or grand, torpid or alive, they all shimmer together forming the many pearls in my life.  In writing this blog I have realized that each and every one of the pearls, black, white, cream or green, make up a life lived and experienced.  How do I view the jewels of my painful moments in life? Do I honor them or merely place them in a crevice in my mind that goes unnoticed like a tarnished penny on the street?

Prompts:

  • Make a list of all the disruptions in your life.
  • Make a list of all the irritants – no matter how small – that have caused you to react in a way that set you on another direction in life.
  • Make a list of irritants you may have invited or allowed into your life.
  • Make a list of all the pearls that have been created because of the irritants you experienced.
  • Explore turns that have been sharp or maybe more of a slight deviation in your direction due to an interruption in your life.
  • Make a list of people that may have entered into your life whether they were welcomed or unwelcomed, and how they may have subverted your life or merely shifted your firm stance.
  • Once you have your list, I welcome you to do a free-write about the experience of the irritant entering your shell. Creating the layers of nacre over and around the irritant and then describe the pearl that was created in your life.  Slow down while remembering and allow each layer to the story to be full and enriched with details.  When your story is complete, spend time with it so that you can take in all the beauty of your transformation and resilience, wear your pearl with pride!

Writing example:

When my spouse walked out on me, he opened and closed the door behind him and never looked back.  I thought I was going to implode.  I knew it was the best thing for me but inside I felt like my lungs became stone, no air could pass, no breath could flow.  I wanted to cry a monsoon but inside was only a drought, a basin filled with memoires, debris.  They were washed there by the flooding waters and left as the monsoon softened bringing the torrid desert sun.  My lips quivered and my body trembled as my mind struggled to comprehend what had just happened. Was I standing or sitting? was I inside or outside?  I don’t remember how long I was there in this torpid state, alienated from anything around me and bound to nothing.  I don’t remember how I was able to welcome my kids’ home from school that day or to parent them at all, but I know I did.  I moved through task after task disconnected from family or friends and myself.

I began to feel this force inside of me, this propulsion, but I did not know what that was or how to release it in this turbulence.  I reached out to my old writing group and found myself swaddled among all the other wonderful women whose voices and stories I had missed.  I started writing again from a deeper space, from the basement and attic of my soul.  I found myself going deep into the earth, below the roots of my life, and being able to look at them, touch them and feel the vibration of each and every one of them.  It was writing that helped me to understand them.  I wrote my way to some clarity and found my way back to me. I began to remember all my qualities and strengths, but more importantly, I remembered my passions.  It felt as though I had been swept up in the eye of a tornado and I was sent spinning and twirling, a mere particle that had no control or say in what was happening. When I relaxed, I suddenly just dropped from the tornado’s hold and landed back in my life.

My new relationship with writing was the pearl that was created out of what felt like an unbearable pain.  This pearl remains a critical part of me and one that continues to enrich my life.  It illuminates every grain of sand that enters my shell, guiding me toward  creating something better from life’s irritants, something worthier of a life lived.

Road Signs

Road Signs

by | Jul 15, 2020 | Covid-19 Support, Happiness, Inspiration, Mindfulness, Wellness, Women

Road Signs

One evening after work I was out walking my dog, a small terrier – mix named Pumpkin. I suppose that Pumpkin has forced me to take more mindful walks due to her short stature. I now notice things around me that I wouldn’t ordinarily notice because I would be more focused on distance and cardio level.

As Pumpkin and I were strolling, I noticed how many signs fill our neighborhood. Signs with directives, instructions and absolute orders: “no passing on the left”, “one way”, “no parking here to corner”, “bump”, “one way”, “stop”, “do not enter” and even playground instructions or “play smart rules”.  Signs with the name of streets and even signs in people’s yards showing a dog squatted to poop with a circle and a line through it, often with the word “PLEASE” highlighted above the dog image.

I began to think about all the messages that these signs project to the community.  I wondered if we could flash a sign, perhaps on our foreheads, that would provide information to others. Information about our needs, requests, wants and even warnings. How nice that might be.  No need to explain, argue or feel bad for asking questions.  The message merely lights up on our foreheads and others need only obey the directives or simply be informed.

Think about some of the bad dates you might have had.  Don’t you wish that your date bore a sign like; “be prepared to stop”, “exit only”, “hidden driveway” or “keep left”?  How many “I told you so’s” could you have avoided?  I wondered about all the conversations that felt more like monologues by the other person.  Wouldn’t It have been helpful if they had a sign that said something like “one-way street” or “no U turns”?  How extremely helpful that would have been – not to mention, a great time management tool.

How many of us have missed the sign for the “Recharge Vehicle station”?  Instead, we continue to burn energy with work and commitments to friends and family until our engines stall and we find ourselves stuck on the side of a remote street.

Sometimes we might not see the sign before we enter into a situation, but the signs do present themselves and it is important that we do acknowledge them. I have heard many people talk about the “red flags” they were aware of but had ignored at the time.  Perhaps they were preoccupied by the scenery and did not fully grasp the meaning of the sign or they did not trust what they saw.

I began to think about these signs and the ones I would like to have available in certain times of my life or particular times of the day.  When I am sitting at the computer and am pulled out away from my body while writing and then someone knocks on my front door or decides to ask me a question.  I wish I had a sign “road closed”, or “caution” or “no parking.”  When I am playing with my grandson, I need the sign “beware unfenced road for next 150 Km” or the squiggly arrow for a crazy ride!   There are some people that need a “do not enter” sign and others I would like to see have the “share the road” sign”.

Think about the people in your life and what signs you would like or need to light up on your forehead when you are around them.  Or what sign you wish would light up on someone else’s forehead to warn you or welcome you.  Have fun with this and as always keep your pen moving and “no parking.”

Some sign examples: “stop”, “yield”, “R/R”, “dead end”, “no U turns”, “no passing”, “do not enter”, arrows pointing in various directions, “pedestrian crossing”, “parking” and “no parking”, “one way”, “slippery road” or “sharp curves”, “give way”, “wrong way”, “traffic light”, “bike route”, and “trash sign-Pitch in”, “construction ahead”, “caution”, “road under construction”, “speed limits”, “food and gas signs”, signs “warning of falling rock in mountain areas” or “animal crossings”, there are even “social distancing” signs now, and of course signs with “rules at swimming pools, playgrounds and parks”, “avalanche area”, “no vehicles beyond this point”, “pavement ends”, “blind corner proceed with caution”, “cross traffic ahead”, “hard hat area”, “private driveway”, “road may flood”.  Look around as you walk and notice signs and imagine how and when you might use that sign.

Prompt:

  • Find as many signs as you can and write them down.
  • Begin to make a list of people you feel you need a sign for to either welcome them or to keep them distant.
  • Imagine you are able to have these signs light up on your forehead when you encounter these people. What would they state? Who would you need the sign’s for?.
  • Write about what that would look like and how that would feel.
  • Write about the signs you wish someone else had on their forehead and how that would have been helpful.
  • Write a list of situations where you could use a special sign (in social settings, walking your dog, on campus or at work).
  • Write about a sign you wish was on someone else.
  • Create a scene where every character has a sign. Maybe it is a first meeting or a job interview. Imagine how that scene would play out and write your scene.

Example:

When I was in high school, I was invited by a very popular boy to our senior prom.  I was not one of the popular kids. In fact, I was surprised he even knew me.  I was very excited of course but also nervous since I had not dated anyone in high school. I worked at an equine center to earn riding lessons.  I worked every weekend and a few nights a week mucking stalls.  While everyone else was “hanging out,” I was working.

I told my mom that I was invited to the prom and she took me shopping for a dress.  We looked at only a few stores and I was acutely aware of the need to keep in a budget.  I did find a dress that fit well, and I was comfortable in and so my mom put the dress on layaway. She was to pay the balance and pick up the dress 3 days before my prom.  I could see her hesitation on getting the dress, not because she didn’t want me to have it, but I think she knew something was not right.  I wish that her thoughts could have been displayed on her forehead. The ones I saw in her eyes said, “blind corner, proceed with caution”.

Three weeks later and two weeks before the prom, this popular boy stopped me in the hall at school and asked what the color of my dress was so he could order flowers.  I told him blue – not a deep royal blue, but a robin’s egg blue, soft and innocent.  Four days before prom night he called me over to his locker and told me he was not going to take me to the prom, he said he was taking someone else that he really wanted to go with.  I wish that I had seen the sign on his forehead before this, a sign that stated, “U-turn”, “Dead end”, or “bridge out do not enter.”  I stood there leaning against the grey metal locker, #105.  I don’t really remember what I did or didn’t do but the appropriate sign would have been the yellow crime scene tape. Or “detour”, so that I could have remained frozen and everyone could have gone around me, left me there invisible.

I did have to tell my mom, so she did not pay for the dress still on layaway.  I chose to tell her I decided not to go.  I put up a sign that stated, “drive slow saves lives”. She never asked me about why I had decided not to go or to try to fish for the real reason.  But I imagine my mom went to the store to get her money back for the blue prom dress with a sign on her forehead stating, “private road no thru traffic”, or “no idling allowed”.

Glories, Gifts and Graces

by | Jun 26, 2020 | Happiness, Inspiration, Wellness, Women

female, Grace, Women, Empowerment, Intuitive, Alyssa MartinThis is a blog that will focus on women and their ability to turn adversity into strength. Susan Wittig Albert, in her book Writing from Life, defined “Glories”, “Gifts” and “Graces” below:

  •  Glories – the achievements and successes that give pride and personal empowerment.  Glories are the product of gifts.

  •  Gifts – the aptitudes and attitudes that contribute to our success, and the education and training that sharpened and strengthen these gifts, which are then enhanced by graces.

  •  Graces – the luck of the draw such as the time, place and circumstances of our births and upbringings.  These are the Happy accidents and synchronicities. Women typically will minimize their achievements – chalk it up to luck or coincidence.

 “Women. . . internalize countless messages: we do not belong in important places; we do not really count; we do not really shape history and culture.  And so when we do achieve recognition, we tend to attribute our success to luck or if not that, then to something, anything other than our competent and entitled selves.” – Harriet Goldhor Lerner, from her book, The Dance of Deception.

Historically, women were not permitted to openly acknowledge their glories but rather needed to acknowledge them as a grace from men.  Still today it remains a struggle for women to speak their voice of success, even to themselves.  Even now as I sit to write this blog, I find myself pushing back the loud critic in my head that is shouting the familiar words – “this doesn’t matter.” I wonder how many women in my community, my state, country and the world hear similar words. I wonder how many women feel their bodies echo that same negative message, reverberating and reinforcing it.

It is important for women to remember their successes and their struggles.  When these are not brought to the conscious mind, when they are pushed to the bottom of the well, the memory of success gets lost in our everyday life.  When women are faced with a challenge, the memory of their past successes are not accessible, and they enter the new situation only with the memory of the failures. Our memories of the failures appear to have more buoyancy and stay on the top of the well, so when we dip the bucket in, they are the first ones to fill the bucket and the first ones to be swallowed.

Failure is important to success.  There is nothing in this world today that did not take a lot of trial and error to achieve the conveniences we experience today.  In the book Half the Sky the author explores women from all around the world, in some place’s women are considered less than the dirt under their feet.  The stories were about women that had survived great abuse. Some left their villages, homes and spouses and started their own village or raised their children as a community.  The men they left in the village would sometimes attack and burn their thatched structures and leave them in ruin.  Nevertheless, these women cleaned up the destruction and together they rebuilt their community.  Failure is necessary to reinforce the knowledge that we hold, and it gives us the strength to continue, which is essential for learning to happen and for self-confidence to grow.

“The women of today are the thoughts of their mothers and grandmothers, embodied, and made alive.  They are active, capable, determined and bound to win. . .. Millions of women, dead and gone, are speaking through us today.”  – Matilda Joslyn Gage, 1880

Today I challenge you to stir the well and allow your successes to come to the surface. Dip your bucket in and gather all of them.  Drink them in, bath in them and allow them to run through and over you.  Own them, hear them, feel them and see them.

 Prompt:
  • Begin by making a list of all your Glories – your success and achievements. Allow your pen to keep moving as the well water flows.
  • Choose one Glory at a time and write it on a page. Underneath it write all the Gifts – the things you did to achieve that Glory.
  • Then create a list of all the Graces – the happy accidents and synchronicities that attributed to your Glory.
  • Repeat this for each and every Glory.
  • You can also write your failures as these have also aided you in success and added another connection of courage and confidence in your body and brain.
Alternative:  Susan Witting Albert in Writing from Life suggests the “Seed”
  • In the center of the page write a Glory and circle it
  • Coming out of that seed draw a stem, from that stem draw branches for each gift that brought you to the Glory
  • Out from the bottom of the seed draw the roots. On each root write your Graces – the synchronicities and luck that enhanced your Glory.
  • Once you have your list, choose one Glory, along with all the Gifts and Graces, and write your story. Write it honoring yourself, acknowledging all that you did to accomplish this Glory.

If it is difficult for you to write this in first person then begin by writing it in second person. You can always edit later and change all the “you,” “they,” and “she” to “I” and “me.”  Then read it out loud to yourself and again drink in all the flavors of you.

 
Example
Glory: Shamrock Reins – equine psychotherapist
Gifts: experienced rider, knowledge of horses, master’s in counseling psychology, great love for horses, experience with the healing ability of horses, and strongly motivated.
Graces: happened to hear about this facility and their focus on treating veterans and first-responders, trusted my gut and reached out to the owner, on FMLA so I had the time to explore this possibility, my son was in the Army and I felt the need to help other veterans and active military.
Birthings

Birthings

by | Jun 10, 2020 | Art, Covid-19 Support, Happiness, Inspiration, Mindfulness, Wellness, Women

Birthing’s are almost always associated with having a child, but they are not always defined by the generative process

There are thousands of ways we “give birth” in our lives, such as birthing an idea, new artwork or plans for something novel in our lives.   I have experienced many different birthing’s of myself over my lifetime.  Some more painful than others.  Some bearing more fruit or a fuller and much healthier result. Other birthing’s were wrought with much loss like divorce and the death of family and friends.  Some were lower on the pain scale like when changing jobs or schools. Many others were very simple, quick and over without a pause between the before and after. Several birthing’s took a lot of planning, editing out some fluff and whittling down the initial expansive idea to a more workable and achievable reality.

We are constantly birthing and re-birthing ourselves throughout our lives as we learn new perspectives, travel and our experiences increase.  In Composing a Life, by Mary Catherine Bateson, she explores the lives of several woman who were very successful in their careers’ but later in life they changed their professional direction.  All of these women gave birth to completely new careers’ requiring them to re-define themselves as women, mothers and partners.

After several years of growing and nurturing the concept of Airmid, the labor ended, and she was birthed.  Airmid is now in the world, conceived of all the dreams, ideas and hopes for her presence in the world.  My partners’ and I held hands as we stood on the precipice of change.  We each left full-time jobs with paid vacation and health plans, to bring forth this labor of love and passion.  As we stood there, silent, hands clasped together, and our eyes speaking a mutual fear and joy, we jumped off the cliff and into a new unknown.

We birthed and rebirthed Airmid daily, nurturing her to her full potential as a mother does her child.  Those daily birthing’s, although, laborious, almost go unnoticed as do many of the smaller birthing’s everyone experiences from day to day. Today I invite you to remember, and in remembering, to honor, all the birthing’s you have had in your life. There are the birthing’s after a loss and the ones meticulously planned for, but none the less they are birthing’s.

 

Writing Prompt #1

  • Make a list of all your birthing’s, in chronological order or in thematic order (i.e. family, work, relationships) or in the order in which they occur to you now.
  • Choose one of the items identified on your list and write about that.
  • Continue to move through your list and write about each of the birthing’s you identified,
  • Write about birthing your dreams, a new business or relationship.
  • Think about times in your life that you may have changed directions professionally, academically, socially or creatively. Often one birthing can lead to many others like where you go to college could lead to where you work and start a family.
  • Write about leaving an old identity and venturing into a new one.
As always please feel free to deviate from my prompts and write about anything that emerges as you read through the above prompts. Keep your hand moving, even when the internal critic tells you that you are wasting your time or that what you are writing is meaningless – keep writing through that and into a deeper relationship with yourself.

Birth your story and have fun with it,

Dottie