Sparks in Wisdom's Fire: March 2022

Tuesday, March 29, 2022

Have you noticed? It’s coming alive.

Have you noticed? Everything is coming alive. Even the trees that haven’t leafed out feel more alive. The vibrancy of their bark speaks to me. Yeah, spring has sprung even if winter is still clinging on.

I admit to grumbling when I awoke to 28 degrees. I mean, end of March…brrrrrr much? But, hey! At least it is not the teens that I woke to several weeks ago. Yeah, the world is coming alive, and I can feel it invigorating me.

In early March it seemed that every time I walked outside a murder of crows squawked loudly. Now those big black birds (large crows or ravens, I am not quite sure) are less interested in gaining my attention than in building nets. I was amazed the first time I saw one carry a large strand in his month. Then he disappeared with it into the upper canopy of a tree to twine that strand among others.

Wait a minute? Do you think that the crows got tired of me not listening to their caws and decided to communicate in another way? I bet. Crows are sneaky like that!

I got the message: strand by strand build the nest. As I imagine the beauty of the nest Crow is building, I ask myself what vessel do I need to build or dust off to prepare for newness in my life? What will I give birth to maybe not today or tomorrow but soon? That is the question for me to discern and live into…and maybe it’s your question, too!

Crow reminds me that life, like the turning wheel of the seasons, is not static. It is about choosing the strands of new growth, creating a nest — a womb to nurture the new, and then giving birth. Knowing that giving birth is going to be the easy part. What follows is joyous, hard work!

Once our creation leaves the nest and takes flight, we fly with them. We ride the thermals, dodge raindrops, enjoy a different perspective. This is what the acceptance our newness offers us. When we accept the invitation, we live from the beauty of our spirit.

New always offers the opportunity to dust off the cobwebs of discouragement and peer into our shadows with more aware eyes. It requires that we pluck out the weeds that tangle our hopes and dreams. That we courageously nurture beginnings. That we live with a sense of curiosity and daring because who knows what is waiting on this flight into the new?

What is speaking to you this spring? What’s coming alive? What are you being called to nurture? What new will you sustain? It is probably you!

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? 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.

Tuesday, March 22, 2022

Don’t

Don’t feel resentment. Don’t be angry. Don’t be afraid. Don’t. Don’t. Don’t. Have you ever heard the don’ts? I have. In fact, earlier this week, I had someone tell be don’t be resentful…turn it into gratitude. Yeah, right. Like that has worked when you ignore resentment and instead force yourself to feel grateful?

I am the kind of person who follows the rules. It has taken me decades to give myself permission to follow my heart and not some arbitrary rules. This is why the word “don’t” impacts me so much. When someone who I admire talks about not being resentful, instead to find gratitude, I twine into despair. What is wrong with me if I cannot make that leap?

The pit of my stomach falls. Those sticky emotions — resentment, anger, and fear — have me feeling like I am doing something wrong again. Then I return to the comment about turning resentment into gratitude? Is that really true? Should we turn the those sticky feelings into gratitude? It feels like a couple of steps are missing in the process.

Let’s begin with the tendrils of resentment as they tangle around us. When ignored, they cut off our breath. How are we supposed to shift the energy of those feelings? I don’t know about you, but I don’t have a wand to wave to make them magically become gratitude.

What do we do? Wallow in what we feel? Of course not. That would be about as productive as shifting 180 into gratitude. How about if we name it, feel it, surrender into it, thank it, and let it go?

Name It

Life has a way of going sideways during time of high emotions. Sometimes we just can’t get paste the feeling into what is at its roots. In those moments, get quiet, breathe, listen to what the emotions is saying. Have a conversation with it. Then name it.

Feel It

We’ve named the emotion. Now feel it. Letting it settle into our being. Just notice without attachment or judgement. We become an objective observer or someone who is witnessing without getting caught in the unfolding emotion.

Surrender Into It

Just be with the emotion. Release any feelings that cling to the emotion. Maybe the feeling is self-righteousness or maybe shame. We don’t hold on to any of that. We acknowledge it, allow the root emotion and the emotion stems to flow over us without us getting caught in its tangle. The emotion runs through its life span. We gain a greater clarity about the root emotion and its tendrils.

Let It Go

Unlike surrender, letting go has an active component. We consciously and intentionally release the emotion. In this stage we discover what the tangle of emotions need to teach us. We may even feel gratitude for the lessons, the challenges that it presents.

Being able to move from resentment or anger or fear is a process. At the end, we may feel gratitude or we may just feel the relief of understanding. It may take moments or days to move through this process. Our emotions are our emotions…they are what the are. As long as we do not use their force to hurt our self or another, then they are ours to engage and release in our own time.

Tuesday, March 15, 2022

Wanna have magic? Mystery?

Wanna be intuitive? Wanna have magic? Mystery? Enjoy this excerpt from my book: As Natural As Breathing: Being Intuitive.

Mystical. Magical. Mysterious. Intuition is viewed with a bit of awe and a dash of fear. Does an intuitive have the ability to peer deeply into our soul, uncovering our deepest secrets? Perhaps. Do they have a special connection to the beyond, the other? Yes, but we all have this connection.

What stops us from being intuitive? Our fear prevents us from recognizing our connection to intuition. With this book, I provide resources to strengthen your connection to inner wisdom. By creating a bridge from your logical/analytical being and your creative/intuitive one, you learn to identify, decipher, understand, and respond to your intuition.

As many masters have suggested, begin where you are. Do not be overwhelmed by identifying or processing intuition. You are already, to some degree, identifying, deciphering, understanding, and responding to your intuition. This book is an access point to deepening your understanding of how intuition speaks to you while gaining a new understanding of the role of intuition in your life.

I cannot say this enough: Everyone is intuitive. Begin with this premise. Say it over and over again until you believe it. With your belief comes a perception shift. As you gain a better intuitive understanding about how and why events unfold as they do, you recognize ongoing opportunities to meet life challenges and live with soul purpose.

We all possess, to differing degrees, intuitive awareness. Where you are at this moment is your intuitive awareness baseline. This baseline is not meant for comparison to anyone else’s. It gives you an idea of where you are, in this moment, on the intuitive awareness continuum. It provides information about how you currently access and process inner wisdom. As you explore the ways you perceive and process intuition, you grow along the continuum.

The floodgate of inner wisdom does not always open when we accept that we are intuitive. In fact, once we acknowledge our intuitive nature, we may despair that we cannot easily access our intuition or decipher the messages we receive. Deepening our connection takes awareness of both our intuition and what prevents us from connecting to it. Through practice, we are better able to access our intuition.

Where do we connect to our intuition? Through our intuitive sense. Not an independent sixth sense, It has nineteen facets: our five primary senses and fourteen secondary senses. You do have the magic, the mystery, the mysticism to connect to you intuition. Let’s connect our intuition together.

Tuesday, March 8, 2022

Name It. Don't Blame It.

The world is frenetic, zinging from here to everywhere. So much uncertainty and angst that the empath in me is tugged all over the place. Are you like me? Do you feel like your emotions are paper thin? Do you feel them throbbing deep inside, see the emotions rip the veneer, see the paper become soggy with emotion?

An empath overwhelmed is a person untethered. They sail go down a rabbit hole of emotions until a voice shouts, “Enough! You are getting too twisted. Breathe into the moment. Settle into your being.”

Calmed it is easier to decide what to do. Recognize that there is always a choice — we can swim in the current of emotions until, energy depleted, we sink to the bottom exhausted. Or, we can choose another way. We can be in the flow but not of it. We can feel the onslaught of emotions while not being so invested that its tsunami washes away our calm.

How do we do this? Through anchoring, awareness, and action.

Anchor

Awareness and conscious action are only possible when we are anchored in the moment. An easy way to anchor is to visualize that you are a tree with roots growing deeply into the ground and that your canopy of leaves and limbs are reaching to the sky. Breathe into the connection to the earth and sky. With this connection you consciously become part of the cycle of life.

An important part of anchoring is your shield…encircle yourself with loving energy. Intend that it serves as an early warning system. It lets you know when an emotion is incoming or outgoing. This is about recognition and release. When a high emotion like anger or grief enters your energy field, you can name it and release it with compassion.

Awareness

Be in the moment. Regularly check in with yourself. Ask how your body feels, what is going on in your mind, what emotions are percolating in you. Name it. Don’t blame it. Be with how you are feeling and how it is impacting your internal and external life.

Aware you discover how those feelings prevent you from being your best. You learn about what triggers or fuels your actions. Once you name what is happening inside of you, focus on your breath for a few moments. Allow the rhythm of your breath to flow over you. Intentionally release the emotion. Feel the calm flow over you. No matter how small the calm you feel, name it a win.

Action

We hold memories, emotions, stuff in our bodies, minds, and hearts. Overtime we get really good at ignoring what we are holding. We justify or befriend the gunk that upset our equilibrium. We normalize the noise. When we act, we to recognize what is disrupting us and name its impact.

For me, daily action is physical — I walk each morning. Those movements help me to clear any residual gunk. When I start work, I am more relaxed and better able to see, feel, hear, sense what disruptions are coming. Aware, I am better able to return to peace.

In the evening I journal visualizing the day is leeching from me and staining the paper as the ink flows from the pen. In this way I gain perspective about what is happening in my life. With perspective, I surrender into the moment eventually letting go.

These days are topsy turvy. No matter what waves crash into us, we are called to be in the moment. To show up as our best self. To share that self with the world. This is made possible when we are aware, act from our heart, and anchor in to the moment.

Tuesday, March 1, 2022

Moving From No Need To Yes Please!

I don’t know about you, but sometimes I am overwhelmed by the shoulda-coulda-wouldas. I look at the past, at my perceived non-action. Then, I get stuck in needing to do SOMETHING! I want to change the world for better. Yeah, that is a tall order.

A little voice rises through the chaos of my mind. It twines around my spirit leeching out the chaos until I can hear a whisper — no need. What does that mean? Do I have no need? Do I need to do nothing? What a quagmire!

Of course, my mind lasers in upon something I consider to be a great need: to find balance and peace in an increasingly uncertain world. Then I scoff: that whisper is telling me that there is no need to make the world a better place? C’mon! There is always a need to smooth the angst, heal the woundedness, make the world a better place! How can that voice say, “no need,” and have me believe it?

After this angst ridden moment, I remind myself that I don’t need to understand those words of my intuition on the first pass. Gathering silence into my spirit, I return to the message “no need.” As I settle into the phrase, I listen without judgment or attachment. Instead of searching, I allow the meaning to ribbon through my being. In the flow, I discover the meaning.

Shoulda-Coulda-Woulda

Maybe that voice is telling me not to focus so much on the past and my perceived mistakes. No need is a reminder to be here now. I only have this moment and that is where I need to live from. Being mindful is where I can make the most impact.

Breathing into the moment I listen to my intuition. I use my critical thinking. Grieve my missteps. Forgive myself. Focus on the me who is a change agent. Find joy in each act of transformation.

Called-By-Others-To-Be

We’ve all found our self in situations, in relationships, where we are called to be something that we are not. We desperately try to live in that skin that just doesn’t fit. It gets harder and harder to meet expectations of our self and others. To be the leader. The listener. To put the needs of another over ours.

Breathing into the moment, I can finally acknowledge that there really is no need. I look in the mirror no longer seeing the me that the illusions of others have created or I have created based upon perceived expectations. I stand in the reflection of my power and vow to be the best me. That is what I need.

Moving from no need to yes please!

This place of no need is where I can be unapologetically me. That is the only thing that I need to be-do. And, so do you. Be true to you. Reflect upon your thoughts, words, and actions. Let go of what is not you. Decide how to turn your shadows into opportunities. Live within your discovery.

This life is about growing into your best, most authentic self. That is hard work! It calls us to be in a state of ongoing discernment in each moment. That discernment is the power behind sloughing off the skin, recognizing and removing the illusion of need. That is the way to being exactly who you are.