Sparks in Wisdom's Fire

Tuesday, September 13, 2022

I Got No Words

Someone experiences the death of a loved one. An unexpected illness. A disappointment. A perceived failure. What do you say? How do you respond in events like these? That is a tough question for which there are no easy answers.

Often I think to myself, “I just want to make this better. How can I do that?” Yet, I feel impotent as I admit to myself that I’ve got no idea how to put my empathy and compassion into words. I so want to alleviate their suffering, make their world a little less uneven. Even for this writer, words seem a paltry response.

I’ve come to realize that sometimes there is nothing I can do, nothing I can say, to make the situation better. Sometimes the only thing that I can do is to do nothing. Show up in wordless solidarity.

Okay, maybe this doing nothing sounds counterintuitive. This isn’t the nothing that ignores the pain and suffering of another. This is the nothing that asks us to surrender into the moment and open to our intuitive whispers. This surrender is found by resting in the silence, breathing into our core, and igniting the sparks of our empathy.

While this nothing has no words and, at times, no noticeable actions, it is filled with the energy of empathy. This energy is found within the silence at your core. Breathe into your core to get an inkling of the emotions — the despair, agony, suffering of another. You hear not words but feel the current of another’s energy.

Identifying this energy that is not yours is empathetic understanding. This understanding often has no words. It reaches out and tangles itself in us. Only in the tangling do we give it words. Those internal words bring us to wisdom. With this wisdom, we discern the best way to compassionately respond to another. Our tendrils of compassion reach out to the other in a variety of ways.

Maybe we find words. It may be gently saying, “I’ve got no words, but I am here for you.” It might be a gentling of your eyes as you look at them with unconditional love. It may be a non-contact embrace through body language. And, yes, it could be a physical hug. Your respond is gentle, unassuming, with no agenda. It is as varied as your compassionate response.

No agenda. That one is tough because we all want to do something to make the person feel better. Yet we might struggle to know what that it. We do not need to know. What we do need to do is to show up for other other person. Be present in ways that they need. That means listening with the whole of your body to their cues.

How do we we listen with the whole of our being? By listening with the ears of our heart, holding another in the palm of our soul. Offering them the unconditional love beating within our hearts. Showing up humble and vulnerable. Being a vessel through which compassion and empathy flows. Those are ways of showing up as you but not for you.

Maybe you believe that “I’ve got no words.” But, words are not always spoken. Sometimes words are best said through the unspoken compassion in our heart.

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 Van for life coaching, intuitive consultations, keynotes, and programs.

Van had certificates in Reiki, Quantum Healing, and medical intuitive training. She has a master’s degree in Natural Health and is a certified coach. She is currently being certified in spiritual direction.

Tuesday, September 6, 2022

Oh Those Scary Places!

The world is this magical, wondrous, uncertain place. Sometimes I grapple for the words that will make the world a little less uncertain, a bit more harmonious, somewhat more in alignment with who I am. Then I realize that this world is a magical, mysterious uncertain place that I am meant to navigate with fierce courage.

Yes, the world is devastatingly uncertain. That can be scary. Don’t we all want some certainty in our life? I know that I do. What’s that saying? Oh, yeah: the only things certain are death and taxes. True or not, we want so much more to be certain while never realizing that life is meant to be lived courageously within the cracks of uncertainty.

What are within those cracks of uncertainty? Drawer nearer. Listen closely. Seeping through those crevices are our hope, our dreams — the very essence of life.

It’s in the navigating of uncertainty, the rising to the inherent challenges, that is so fulfilling. We can dive fiercely into those cracks and discover what is hidden in the crevices OR we can timidly squeeze our eyes shut refusing to go into those places that scare us.

Oh these scary places! If you are like me, you’ve spent a lot of time with eyes scrunched tightly shut followed by moments of lamentation. “How much opportunity did I miss?” & “Could that opportunity have been the BIG one?” When we don’t glide through those cracks of uncertainty, we cannot know for certain those answers.

Because we did not take the leap into the chasm of uncertainty, we weren’t able to discover the shimmer of hope, the mystery of our potential, the magic of possibility. We could not follow the iridescent threads leading to dreams sparked by the essence of our life.

How do we meet challenges? By showing up fiercely, wildly courageous? Acknowledge the uncertainty. Own the fear. Actively question where the opportunity is. Even if you cannot identify the uncertainty, the fear, the possibility, know that they are present. Know that opportunity doesn’t always manifest on our timeline. It happens when we intentionally listen to our intuition and respond to what is said.

Be mindful. Possibility rises up in the most inopportune moments. Our intuition is a trickster. It wants to see if we are truly listening, paying attention. All we can do is trust that within us is the knowing to guide us through the magical wonder of uncertainty and into the possibility of living with purpose. And, that we are prepared to listen to its guidance.

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.

Tuesday, August 30, 2022

Day Comes with Fierce Opportunity

wonder slips across the horizon, hope streaks across the sky igniting the fierce courageous sparks slumbering in your core

Day comes

The sky streaks with color. Day comes with a fierce freshness. What will this day bring? Who knows? One thing is certain: there will be a surprise or two! Surprise…good, bad, indifferent. No matter how you define it, within each surprise is a time of celebration, a time to grow, a time to breathe in the essence of your soul.

Wonder slips across the horizon

The day breaks with an acknowledgement of the wonder slipping across the horizon. In that moment between night and dawn pulses mystery, magic, momentum. The shadows elongate and then dissipate. Their waxing and waning is an invitation to become the brilliant light that peers into them discerning the wisdom within.

Hope streaks across the sky

Wisdom births hope. Our inner knowing expands within the dissipating shadows as hope streaks across the sky. Who could not be hopeful as the sky shifts from dark to a myriad of streaky colors? How could I/you/anyone not feel hope within the coming dawn?

But hope is fleeting. Within the impermanence is the power to trigger our courage — it propels us to try one more thing, to act in ways that manifest our dreams. Yeah, hope can raise us to heights we never knew we could soar to.

An ignition of fierce courageous spark

Fierce courageous spark…that is me, that is you! What does that look like? Feel like? Fierce courage invites us into objective observer mode. Fierce courage isn’t about rushing in. No, this is the courage that asks what we want and demands an answer. It encourages us to travel into the margins, to take that long contemplative look, to breath deeply, and to identify what leads us through hope into the realization of our dreams.

Sparks slumbering in your core

Day is coming. None of us need to slumber through it. It’s time to wake up, breathe deeply of the wonder, feel hope as it streaks across the sky. It’s time to wake up to the courage pulsing through you. This courage commands you to show up and be exactly who you are.

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.

Tuesday, August 23, 2022

I’ve got a secret

I’ve got a secret. Wanna know what it is? I’m scared. Yeah. I don’t like to admit it. Maybe you don’t either.

Just this week I admitted my fear to a friend. The world events — natural and human — are plain scary. I found myself saying, “If you aren’t scared, you are not paying attention.”

This is not the fear that paralyzes me. Although if I ignore it, I can get tripped up. No, this is the fear that like nails on a chalkboard, scratches into my consciousness. A reedy, strident voice grates, “Pay attention. Listen to me.” And, I do.

This fear splashes cold dread on my being. This dread not does trigger a frigid spiral into paralysis. No, this cold splash wakes my courage. In this awakening, I peer through the fear to discover what is hiding beyond the cloying tangle.

One thing that I have realized is that fear is seldom a simple emotion. It is this complex tangle of many elements. When it get caught in the tangle, I feel my anxiety grow, see the worst case scenario, and feel the mire of no-way-out. Maybe you’ve been there, too.

But, neither of us needs to be stuck in that messy tangle. That is where courage comes in. For courage says, “Yes, you might be caught in the tangle. You may feel that your breath is being strangled from your body. But you don’t need to remain in this stasis of fear. The way through the tangle is to focus on your breath. Breathe through your fear.”

So, I breathe first taking short, regular breaths to loosen the tangle. Then I elongate the breaths soon finding a calm within the rhythm of the inhale/exhale. As courageous calm builds, I focus on what I am feeling to discover the roots of my fear.

I begin by simple saying, “show me why I fear.” The untangling begins as I look into the face of the fear’s blossom, travel from the blossom to the stem, and then journey to where the stem of fear digs into the ground becoming roots. Those roots dig deep into the ground of my being. When I am unaware, those roots send tremors of fear throughout my body, mind, spirit, and heart.

The roots need not stay buried within my soul. Courage is a trowel that gently exposes the roots while listening for the tales of fear’s origin humming within the soil of my soul. Within this melody I recognize that fear is fed on the compost of shame, the not-so-good-enough, regrets, and other inadequacies that pulse through me.

Courage is fierce bravery fed by quiet understanding. Courage invites me to journey through the fear so that I can refresh, reimagine, and renew my spirit. I might not be totally able to silence the voice of fear, but I can meet it with the courage of compassion. I can alleviate some of the suffering that is seeded by fear.

I am scared, but I will not allow the fear to consume me. Instead I will meet it courageously and compassionately. I know that you can do the same.

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.

Tuesday, August 16, 2022

a time of wonder, a time of despair

As I look at the world around me, I am aware of life’s fragility. We live in a time of wonder, a time of despair. Personal loss. Community loss. National loss. Global loss. Within the loss I sense a void that is a vessel of opportunity.

That void? It won’t stay empty for long. When we are unaware all sorts of things sneak in to the empty! As individuals, we cannot choose how communal vessels will be filled — that takes a community of commitment. We can choose how we fill those empty spaces within our self.

How do we fill those spot? This is not a plea for shopping therapy. It is an invitation to fill those spaces from the depth of your being. This is not a task for the faint hearted! In order to fill those spaces we must decide how and even if they should be filled.

To decide to fill or not to fill, we become an explorer of places that unsettle us. We journey into the shadow spaces of our self to better understand the ghosts that linger in them. We discern how those shadows reflect our being.

Not all empty spaces need to be cleared or even filled. When we attend to them, we discovers that some are already brimming with that which we cannot quite identify — mystery, magic, the tendrils of connection to the sacred, the energy that powers us through the unknown into an understanding of who we are.

Unless we focus our awareness, we cannot sense what is pulsing within. The mystery, the magic only makes itself known when we calm and center our self.

Other shadow places are filled with dust bunnies of the past and shards of things we cling. While these spaces may appear empty, they need a good cleaning — a feng shui of our soul. In this clearing we make room for what gives our life meaning.

That clearing happens by surrendering into those spaces that scare us. We recognize the ghosts that we have fed for so long and make peace with their angst. We gently yet firmly bid farewell to what we cling to. Space empty, we decide what we place within. That decision is a great challenge.

Whatever we place inside those empty spaces is what we reflect into the world. What do I place within? I want to reflect empathy, compassion, fortitude, courage, gentle listening, a desire to be heard and to listen.

I think that maybe that if I can show up shining my truth, I will be better able to live in this uncertainty and serve as a guiding light that brings others home to themselves. Maybe if you can show up as genuine you, you will do the same.

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.

Tuesday, August 9, 2022

Who Are You?

Have you ever asked yourself, “Who am I? If you are like me, you’ve asked yourself this question a time or a thousand. This is not a one and done kind of question. No, it is meant to be reflected upon over and over again as you discover yourself anew. It’s the curiosity of how my perception has shifted that has me answering this question over and over again.

The answers are found not in the roles we play, but in the roots growing deeply into our core. That which twines throughout our being and manifests in how we act. It’s from our roots that the evolution of our answer flows!

How do we discover the me in the moment?

Breath Deep of Your Essence

This is more than a physical breath. It is moving past the barriers, the illusions, the stuff of who you are not into seeing who you are — the bright and the shadows. You do not have to like what is exposed. It is in the owning of who you are that opens you to growth.

Breathe deep of this essence. Notice the fear and the joy that rides on the breath of this acknowledgement. Awaken the courage to be the you that grows from the roots twining into your core.

Awaken the Courage at Your Core

Life is filled with this incredible kaleidoscope of emotions. Some uplift; others have you running for the nearest refuge. All these emotions are unapologetically you. You can bask in the joy, the happy, the wonder. You can run from that which scares us. What I have realized is that no matter how long, no matter how fast I run, I cannot give my shadow the slip. It paces me.

In time, you either meet your shadow with courage or it wears your down. I, for one, would like to meet my shadow with courage because far too many times it has worn me into fatigue. Take a deep breath of courage, enter the shadow, and look into the eyes of fear. This is the way of through. On this journey you discover the wonder of who you are.

Share Your Wonder with the World

Fears confronted, name one thing that is your wonder. It can be anything about you — small, huge, somewhere in-between. Decide how you will share this wonder with the world. Don’t discount any action, word, or thought that changes you for the better — they are all part of the sharing. For those things light your courage and gainssss the potential to transform both you and the world as you know it.

Breathe deep of your essence, awaken the courage at your core, share you wonder with the world. That is all. That is your enough.

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.

Tuesday, August 2, 2022

A Whisper of Wisdom: Do You Hear?

Within you is a whisper of knowing that gets louder when you listen to its voice. What is that whisper? You choose. You can call is god’s whisper, internal guidance, inner wisdom, the voice of a guide. Me? I call it intuition.

How do you connect with your intuition? Let’s focus on how we ignore it first. I’ve been there. Maybe you have, too. I can remember that friendship I so wanted, that job I took despite reservations, that relationship I engaged in even though I felt unease. I can be a slow learner…the list is long. But, it is hopefully getting shorter with listening to my intuition!

Those situations occurred because I put what I wanted before how my intuition was guiding me. How do we get past our wants into the ways that our intuition is calling us to be? Before I answer that question, I want to be clear: I do not see any path taken as “wrong” or a “failure.” Those paths taken are opportunities. Challenges to meet and lessons to learn. We figure out the lessons and challenges by listening to our intuition. Full circle. So, listening or not listening we grow either way!

Here are three ways to listen to your intuition. Breathe into your intuition or use your breath to get calm and centered.

Ask a question. Then listen to the pings in your body, mind, emotions, and spirit. Take a piece of paper and separate it into four quadrants. Set a timer for 5-10 minutes. Jot down what you are picking up. Use descriptors, images…don’t second guess what comes to you. Just jot it down.
Ask a nonspecific, “What would you tell me?” This is a great way to check-in throughout the day. Then listen to the pings of your body, mind, emotions, and spirit. Take a piece of paper and separate it into four quadrants. Set a timer for 5 minutes. Jot down what you are picking up. Use descriptors, images…don’t second guess what you pick up. Just jot it down.
Listen to the external world. What grabs your attention? What says, “Hey, look at me! I am important.” Keep a small notebook to write down what caught your attention (or use your phone to make a note.) I recommend writing because it connects your body, mind, and emotions in a different way than using your phone. When you have time, return to those cues jotting down what comes to you.

The more that you connect to your intuition, the more you will spontaneously notice it.

Intuition is a playful trickster that shows up in the moment. The more you play with it, they more you will be aware of how it speaks. Sometimes intuition speaks to me and I totally don’t hear it only to have something happen later that triggers inner knowing.

Intuition is speaking to you. How are you listening?

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.