In Like a Lion

In like a lion hoping the lamb shows up soon! Okay, I know that it usually used for January not March, but January seemed to come in like a lion. Not weatherize. No, it feels rather leonine from personal to professional to politics and beyond. There have been lots of opportunity to show up beaming our light from our core.

I know, I know….this is a tall, a huge order. What do we do? Sometimes all I want to do is hide under the covers and hope for calm. While that is sooooooo tempting, I cannot. What can we do? Well, I am a proponent in listening for the messages that show up around me. Lately a lot has been showing up in my inbox about being a prophet, a change agent, a shaker-upper. 

We are being called to step out into chaos, into uncertainty and use both as springboards into a new way of being. Sounds scary, right? How do we do this? As with all aspects of our life, living in these leonine times is an inside job…we’ve got to live from our core.

Living from the core is being comfortable with our core. It is about finding that space inside of us where we are aware of how the world impacts us. The core is not necessarily a place of peace and clam but a place where we can access peace and calm. 

Here are some suggestions: 

• Spend time — 90 seconds, five minutes, 20 minutes or more daily resting at your core. Breathe into the moment. Quiet your mind. Just be. Listen to the whispers in your core however you define their origin (your intuition, the sacred, a guide, etc.)
• Anchor yourself to the core. Become familiar with the cord that connects you to your center. Befriend it. Know that you can follow it back to the core whenever you need respite. 
• Create a stance of aware recall. This is a way of paying attention to what is happening to you. When the mental, physical, emotional, or spiritual alarms ring, you will be able to energetically back up and and follow the tether to the refuge in your core. 

We all get battered by the winds of change. That is inevitable. But, we can seek refuge in our core. Practice my suggestions, change them up, find some of your own. It doesn’t matter how you connect and live from aware recall, what matters is that you do connect at the core and live your truth.  

Van Hurst, ms, is an intuitive-coach-catalyst. She uses mindfulness practices and intuition tools to create strategies for navigating the mundane and extraordinary. The result of time with Van? An evolving blueprint for your life that sustains a deeper connection to your intuition and contemplative nature. 

Van is a professional speaker & author who weaves inner wisdom into all she touches. Her books are available @ www.wildefyrpress.com. Her most recent book, As Natural As Breathing: Being Intuitive, is available on Amazon. Contact Vanessa for life coaching, intuitive consultations, keynotes, and programs. 

Website / LinkedIn Profile / Facebook / ©2023

No time to sleep. This time is for you.

Darkness is encroaching into the day. The nights are growing for just a bit longer. Soon it will be the Winter Solstice, but the darkness won’t go poof! and suddenly be gone. The vibrancy, the light, of life is bookended by the lengthening shadows of dawn and dusk. 

Within the darkness from dusk to dawn is a chill that doesn’t quite leave even when the sun is high in the sky. Within that dark, I hear the chill whisper, “Listen. Pay attention. The time of harvest is through. No time to sleep. This time is for you.”

The trees are bare. I can hear without summer buffers or the crinkling of fall. Suddenly I see beyond the narrowness of a bountiful nature vision. Maybe you can, too. As the chill whispers through the skeleton trees, the sandman whispers, “Sleep.” We cannot give into this lullaby. We cannot sleep. Within the shortened days and the dark nights, the real work begins!

The coming winter is not a time of easy slumber. It is a time to blow upon the ember of our bravery. To light the dark and chase the chill. Time to dive deeply into the very center of our being. The chill and darkness are not something to escape. They are to be embraced as we waken our courage and resolve. 

It’s time to peer into the cracks and crevices of our soul to see what growth sprouts through. To gently take that growth into the palms of our soul. To speak to the growth and listen to what it shares. In the sharing we receive guidance of how to prune and tweak and shape the bonsai tree at our core. 

Like that tree, we grow slowly. We grow with a purpose. We are the master garden that looks beyond the now and envisions the dream of what we will be. This is not a time of only dreaming. We must act in ways that bring our dream closer and closer to being. 

The days are shorter, the dark is longer. Within the mystery of the coming winter, connect to the bonsai tree at your core and shape it into your dreams realized! 

Van Hurst, ms, is an intuitive-coach-catalyst. As a contemplative coach, she uses mindfulness practices and intuition tools to create strategies for navigating the mundane and extraordinary.The result of time with Van? Being the change you want to see in the world by creating a blueprint for your life through a deeper connection to your intuition and contemplative nature. 

Van is a professional speaker & author who weaves inner wisdom into all she touches. Her books are available @ www.wildefyrpress.com. Her most recent book, As Natural As Breathing: Being Intuitive, is available on Amazon. Contact Vanessa for life coaching, intuitive consultations, keynotes, and programs.

Website / LinkedIn Profile / Facebook / Twitter: @fyrserpent / ©2022

It's Within You

Are you aware? Did you know? The world is a wild, wonderful, magical place. Sometimes I forget. Maybe you do, too. If you are like me, you get stuck in the chaos, the drudgery, the unexpected. You forget to see what is just beyond the surface. 

As the uncertainty angels into us, we become imprisoned in an illusion of futility. I know, you don’t want to hear that. Neither do I. But, within us is the power of awareness, the ability to meet the uncertainty. In the meeting we dissolve the tangles.

I am not saying calling upon our awareness and abilities is easy. What I am saying is that we need not stay in this place of despair. It may not even be as hard to climb out of it as we think. 

Like everything in our life, meeting this challenge is an inside job. Within each of us is a kernel of curious, of daring, that calls us into the wild, the wonder, the magic. But, how do we get there? We begin to nurture that kernel with our breath. 

Inhale. Exhale. Feel your breath flowing through your body. Ride the stream to your heart. Sync your breath with your heartbeat. Be in the rhythm. Feel the calm permeate your being. Feel the curiosity, the promise twining into your awareness. Ask, “What promise is resting in between the heart beats? How do I need the promise to manifest?” Hold the answers gently in the palm of your heart. 

With the promise tucked into the heart of your spirit, re-enter the stream of your breath. Ride the flow to your soul spark — that which connects you to all. If you dare, dive into the darkest depths, enter your place of wonder, of mystery, of magic. Listen to the mystery. Breath in the magic. Feel the wonder twine with the vibration of your promise. 

Connect to your internal GPS — that which can make your promise real. Ask yourself, “What one thing can I do to realize my promise?” Start small, go big, land someone in between. It doesn’t matter where you start…just begin the process of making your promise REAL. Connect to your Velveteen Rabbit power!

Maybe you know how to channel your inner Velveteen Rabbit. Maybe you are without a clue how to make the promise real. Breathe deep. Breathe wide. Travel to your core — that place that shines within you. Trust in your innate wisdom. Know that the way is forged step-by-step. Listen with all of your senses. They call you into an incredible lightness of being. 

It matters not how far we go on the journey. What matters is that we walk the path step-by-step and meet our challenges along the way. 

Van Hurst, ms, is an intuitive-coach-catalyst. As a contemplative coach, she uses mindfulness practices and intuition tools to create strategies for navigating the mundane and extraordinary. The result of time with Van? Being the change you want to see in the world by creating a blueprint for your life through a deeper connection to your intuition and contemplative nature. 

Van is a professional speaker & author who weaves inner wisdom into all she touches. Her books are available @ www.wildefyrpress.com. Her most recent book, As Natural As Breathing: Being Intuitive, is available on Amazon. Contact Vanessa for life coaching, intuitive consultations, keynotes, and programs.

Website / LinkedIn Profile / Facebook / Twitter: @fyrserpent / ©2022

Navigating Life’s Twists & Turns:

It seems that the uncertainty of 2020 has leached into 2021. Maybe you’re thinking, “If I can just get through these next weeks, life will even out.” But, what if you do not find balance? What if these twists and turns are the only certainty that we find in 2021?

Take a breath. It will be okay. This isn’t a doomsday scenario — this isn’t an all out despair message. No, this is about taking a long, loving look at your real. This is the time to acknowledge where you are. It is time to survey the lay of your land and decide where to go from here. 

Where to go from here. That is a biggie. Take another breath. Let it flow through your body. This survey of your land is not so onerous when you connect to your core. At your core is an internal GPS better known as your intuition. You are not expected to navigate the twists and turns alone. That voice within is your life guide.

We are all intuitive. Maybe you believe that. But, some — maybe you are in this group — have been conditioned to not listen to their intuition or to even deny its existence. Or maybe you fear that listening to your intuition will bring you three more steps into the mad uncertainty of life. 

Maybe you believe that being in a relatively uncertain yet stable life is better than taking the risk of acting upon your intuition. Maybe in the the short term it is. While the moment is all we have, listening to our intuition in the moment paves the path of blossoming hopes and dreams. Risks are to be taken. Life is to be lived. Intuition is to be listened to and responded with. 

Back to the long loving look — this look begins by intuitively listening to our body’s conversation. With the long look comes the understanding of the many ways our body helps fashion our responses. When we listen to our body, we actively engage in a dialogue with our intuition. 

Are you reading to take that long, loving look. Let’s return to the breath. As you inhale, follow your breath throughout your body. Visualize its course. Feel the breath as it encounters blocks, moves through them, and whispers into the nooks and crannies of your being. Taste and smell the aroma of your breath as it enlivens your being.

Then, ask yourself, “What is my body saying?” Perhaps it is something mundane — you may be thirsty. Or, it may be a tingling or another way that your intuition is attempting to get your attention. 

Have that drink. Hydrate yourself so that you can better hear the voice of your intuition. Then, say to your body, “What do you have to tell me? I am listening.” Notice from where your body is speaking. 

Let’s move into the tangible with an example. When I did this exercise, I felt my shoulders pushing down and a heaviness in my solar plexus. So, what was my body saying to me? 

• The shoulders pushing down were a reminder to get back into my body, to pay attention to what was happening to me physically. The movement cautioned me to be more aware of me. I need to stop ignoring physical issues. And, of course, it was a gentle reminder to practice more Tai Chi.
• The heaviness in my solar plexus came with a series of queries: Am I standing in my own power? What can I do today to recommit to myself? How am I taking care of myself? How am I practicing self compassion?

So, I listened. Now it is time to respond. To take care of me. To be and act in ways that my spirit shines forth into the world as a beacon of peace. 

This simple activity reconnects you to your intuition. Taking that long, loving look by listening to your body provides you with knowledge and the ability to take steps in the moment that make all the difference in your future. 

We are intuitive beings. The next blog will take a long loving look at intuition and our heart or emotions aspect. 

Because being intuitive really is as natural as breathing, Vanessa

 Vanessa F. Hurst, ms, is an Intuitive-Coach-Catalyst, who uses mindfulness practices and intuition tools to create strategies for personal and relationship transformation. She is a professional speaker & author who weaves inner wisdom into all she touches. Her books are available @ www.wildefyrpress.com. Her most recent book, As Natural As Breathing: Being Intuitive, is available on Amazon. Contact Vanessa for life coaching, intuitive consultations, keynotes, and programs. 

Website / LinkedIn Profile / Facebook 

Twitter: @fyrserpent / ©2021  

The Storm is Fierce, Breathe Deeply

You never know when the unexpected with shower you with whatever you need. Life is about listening to the shadowy storms and responding in the bright sunshine.

The world is this scary, uncertain place that shines so brightly with the power of possibility. But, life is hard and sometimes we edge so deeply into the shadows, we forget who we are and the power that simmer deep inside of us. Instead of facing the storm, we wait for it to abate never realizing that the storms are always present.

We can grope in the shadows shrinking from any thunder while hoping to find the latch that releases us from our dark or we can breath deeply into the storm’s fierceness. With our breath we connect to our fears that form a seemingly insurmountable barrier to igniting the power of possibility. When we move between the barrier and those possibilities; sometimes we realize the possible, other times we retreat further into the shadows. 

So, what can we do? I propose turning that little spaces of darkness into a places of learning, places of respite, places of coming home to the real inside our self no matter how messy, how imperfectly perfect we find our self in those moments. Within that space we can be who we are. We can separate the authentic from the illusion. In doing so, we live in the freshness present after the storm.

How do you do this? Begin by acknowledging where you find yourself in the moment. Recognize that there can be no shame in the darkness when there is most surely no shame in the light. Both the dark and the light are needed to grow — each provides sustenance for the evolution into your truth. If you believe nothing else, believe that. 

Next, use your greatest life tool — your breath — to anchor and center yourself. Breathe deeply into those part of yourself that seem to be hopelessly frozen by some nameless emotion. Even if you believe that nothing will release them begin a wordless conversation with your fear, your angst, whatever you find hiding in the shadows. Listen to the reason, the root, that birthed the emotion. Respond to what you find at the root.

The next part is scary. Okay, maybe scarier then what you’ve just done. Befriend the fear, the angst. Ask yourself what small act you can do to turn the force of your feelings into the power of transformative action. Remember, a journey begins with a single step, so does your movement from the shadows into the light. 

Then act. Just do it without judgments or defenses. In your action you ignite the spark of your light. Listen to its guidance for your spark illuminates the message from all your senses. As your spark burns brightly, you gain a clear picture of where you find yourself.

In time, the dark you find yourself in comes less scary. It becomes a place to face your fears, gain respite, and rejoin the world with actions that a echo the power of your authentic being.  

Vanessa F. Hurst, ms, is an Intuitive, Coach, Catalyst, who uses mindfulness practices and intuition tools to create strategies for personal and relationship transformation. She is a professional speaker & author who weaves inner wisdom into all she touches. Her books are available @ www.wildefyrpress.com. Contact Vanessa  (vanessa@intentandaction.com) for life coaching, intuitive consultations, keynotes, and programs.

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Twitter: @fyrserpent / ©2020