Sparks in Wisdom's Fire: May 2020

Tuesday, May 26, 2020

Writing Your Story: The Power of The Reframe

Have you ever found yourself midway through a book and the temptation was so great you flipped to those last pages to discover the ending? I have.

I don’t know about you, but sometimes I find myself wishing I could scurry ahead a chapter or two in my life to discover how this subplot I am living is resolved. But, then, I have to remind myself, there is to skipping ahead. Life is to be lived moment by moment.

No matter how uncertain our circumstances, no matter how glaring the imperfections we discover, somehow we must call upon the courage and the strength to live in each moment. In the moment, we commit to carefully wading our way through the challenges. In doing so, we learn our life lessons and live our soul purpose.

The power of the reframe — to see our challenges and life lessons as opportunities for growth — cannot be emphasized enough. Through the reframe, we choose to live in the moment no matter how gritty and pain-filled. Within this reframe life becomes less a minefield of uncertainty waiting to explode by a seeming misstep and all about opportunity for growth and transformation.

We accept that while we may not be able to change the externals, we are not living a preordained life plot. With curiosity and daring we choose the next arc in our story. Choice is the power that resonates behind the plot we find our self living. With awareness we see how our thoughts, words, and actions have brought us to this moment. We recognize the skills we have gained along the way. We use those skills to resolve our imperfections and live fully amid the uncertainty.

By seeing the world differently, and noticing the shift in our reactions and responses to it, our paradigm shifts. We are no longer a passive reader who wants to skip ahead to the end. No, we are the writer of our own story. We choose how we respond amid the constraints within our life. In a sense, we accept that we cannot control anything but our response to the externals. Our story truly becomes an inside job.

This willingness to navigate the wonderful uncertainty with joy and compassion is our power. Our end goal does not happen some where in the murky future but in every moment that we act with courage by sharing the message of our life.

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.

Tuesday, May 19, 2020

The Light at the End of the Tunnel

Peering down a darkened tunnel, a pinprick of light shines. Step by step I edge closer until it becomes a light so bright that I am temporarily blinded. Eventually my sight returns; my vision shifts. With new eyes, I recognize that light at the end of the tunnel. It isn’t out there; it emanates from the core of my being.

Imagine that. The light that teases us, beckons us forward is us. Its rays are intuitive messages that whisper, “Be yourself.” And, then it provides hints how to reconnect to who we truly are. Within the light is the power to be our self; the power to transform; the power to shed the darkness of doubt and illusion.

Perhaps you are doubting that you have that light of potential within you. Trust me. It is present within each of us. It ignites with each formed thought, each uttered word, and each relayed action. It can also be tamped by a thought, a word, or an action. Mindfulness is key. Transformation comes as we foster our connection to the light though our awareness. We listen to its message and respond.

But, first, we accept that we are the light. How does your life change when you know that you have the capacity to shed light on difficulties, obstacles, barriers — those things that prevent you from realizing you soul purpose? Through this light opportunities are revealed. Your life shifts when you realize that this brilliant light reflects your truth.

Accepting this premise, that we are the change in our life, is not for the faint hearted. In fact, it isn’t even the end of the tunnel. We don’t suddenly realize this and transform. Within this acceptance we gain the courage to take the next step and the next and the next. With each step, we become more curious about what that journey offers and more daring in how we respond to those offerings.

You may be asking, “How do I begin?” Feel, with all your senses, your inherent goodness. Remind yourself that you are enough. Name what ignites your light. Identify what tamps it down. Open yourself to the message that flickers in the light. Act with courage, curiosity, and daring. Know that no matter the outcome each step is a success. Bathe in the light that makes you whole. Own who you are.

Tuesday, May 12, 2020

Recognizing What is Not Working

How can you change if you don’t recognize what isn’t working? This not working might be actions, words, or thought patterns. We see the destination we crave but are stumped how to get there. No matter where we turn, the destination seems far away.

I grow increasingly more disturbed by the violence in the world. So focused on what we as individuals want, we lose sight of what the community desperately needs. That need? To care for the most fragile among us. This compassion is for more than the most obvious — each of us is fragile in ways we do not comprehend.

How can the world change unless we as individuals change? That change happens when we look through the illusions and truly see our self while admitting our imperfections — the ways we hurt others, and, how in hurting others, we harm our self. This paradigm shift takes courage and fortitude.

Maybe this journey to recognition of our imperfections is about caring less about the actions of others and about focusing more on our self — how we respond and react to the world. I recognize that while this concept is nothing new, our ability to consistently live this way is difficult. When we focus on our self, we answer the call — we return to our true self by becoming the light that shining through the pandemic guiding us to a new way of being.

I, like others, have a lot of hurt and anguish that simmers in the chasm that divides. I agonize over the question: “How can I communicate with someone when we speak two very different languages?” We may both speak English but our words are based upon different value system. I would like to believe that more often than not, mine is the language of compassion.

To create an equitable world, we must bridge individual and collective chasms by identifying our fears. When fear is a nameless, faceless companion, we get stuck in our differences and illusions. We believe in the possibility of change without understanding of what stops transformation. Unless we understand even a part of what is stopping us, we lack the power to confront what simmers in the chasm. With understanding we gain the courage to build the bridge across it.

The knowledge that invites us into an understanding in not one of tacit agreement. It is the understanding that breeds a recognition of why we do what we do; why others do what they do. In this realization are the seeds of our change. When we nurture them, we take that step-by-step journey of transformation.

For me, the answer to what is not working is not found out there. It is found within. For, it is in the core of our being that we have the strength, the courage, the fortitude, to peel back the layers of hurt and finally own who we are. This powers the way we respond to the world. No longer do we focus on the behavior of another. We focus on how the behavior impacts us and how we will respond with compassion.

Wishing you the strength, the courage, the grace, to recognize what is not working and make the change.

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Tuesday, May 5, 2020

Through the Rabbit Hole into the New Normal

I used to wish that I was normal even in those moments when I wasn’t quite sure what being normal meant. Normal, for me, seemed to be stability, a respite from uncertainty, unconditional belonging. This normal seemed elusive.

But, I never stayed fixated on this “normal,” for long. Little successes and big dreams jolted me from the desire of that perceived normal and into a comfortableness with my own skin. I saw the ways that normal didn’t fit into my lifestyle. I liked the ways that I wasn’t quite normal.

Then Covid-19 happened. In an instant the door to the old normal slammed shut. The world changed in ways that I never would have imagined. There are some stressors for sure. But, there is a wide openness, a flexibility, an opportunity to draw from the center of our being. To be the person we were meant to be all along. To discover what normal means for each of us.

Now, I am not saying that these aren’t scary times. They are. Unless you are fortunate to have transitioned into a work-for-home situation, times are financially scary. If you have a pre-existing condition, times are medically scary. If you work in an essential job, each moment at that job brings the fear of uncertainty. But, then a voice says: Stop. These not-so-normal times are times of opportunity. Each of us is called us to gather our courage and face our fears.

Maybe, just maybe, that is what this new normal is about. Not spending our day yearning for what was, or in my case, what never was, but being courageous and curious in the midst of our fears. It is abut naming our fears and then discerning what is working. It is about being daring as we try new things. It is about responding with curious daring to the question, “This is the real and how am I going to live in it?”

For me, this new normal invites me to live in the real while being very aware of how illusion’s siren call attempts to seduce me into believing that things, at some point, will return to the way they were before. We don’t have the luxury of believing this. The only luxury we have is believing in ourself.

So, ask yourself, what are the little ways that you can find peace in these trying times? How does courage call you? How will you connect in ways that create a new normal? It can be as simple as asking for help or responding to a request for help. That help doesn’t mean you need to drain your bank account or do something that just isn’t you. For example,

I asked a friend for a mask. She sent one.
I sent a donation to a local animal shelter in response to their bid to receive a matching gift. (My gift was small, but it helped them secure the $35,000 matching gift.)
I made some simple masks, had some extra hand sanitizer at home. I’ve given them to people who have asked for them.
I have discovered my inner artist and expanded my business painting aura portraits.

None of these would have happened without the courage, the daring, to live within the new normal. And, each simple response to the uncertainty has increased my ability to live in this new normal.

So, no matter how much your new normal differs from your old, I wish you the courage, the curiosity, the daring to live with joy in each moment.