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.

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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 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

You are not alone

We have gone through a rough patch. I find myself wondering how I can connect to the peace at my core despite all the uncertainty. Breathing through the chaos isn’t working as well as I like. But, there is solace in recognizing that I am not alone. I talk to people who feel frustrated and others who have just disconnected. 

WAIT! This isn’t the end of the story. Those feelings of despair need not swamp us miring us in inaction. This chaos is only an interlude that invites us to discern our next steps. I am here to affirm that you are not alone. We are #inthistogether. Together we will find the way through.

Thomas Merton was right that “we have forgotten an older unity.” But, I believe we are in a time that is more than forgetting how we are connecting with each other. We have also forgotten that each of us is multidimensional. We relate to others through the four aspects of self — body, mind, spirit, heart/emotions. When these aspects align, we join with others through our authentic self. 

To enter into intimate relationships, we must recognize the illusion of our aloneness. With every breath, we connect to others. Try this: Take a breath. Let it flow through your body. Exhale. Now ask yourself, who or what does that air touch? Where has it been before it entered me? When we listen, the breath tells us that we are connected to everything. 

We connect to others by consciously connecting to our self: 

Body— a study in the 1960s found that 7% of the meaning is derived from our interactions was based upon the words spoken. 93% of meaning is found in inflection, body language, and other nonverbal cues. Through our bodies we gain clues about how we connect to or disconnect from our self and others.

Mind — our internal monologue provides a running commentary on how we view the world. Empathy and compassion as well as judgments and defenses flow from it. When we connect mindfully with to our monologue, we listen to how we sabotage our interactions. Through this listening, we gain the power to reframe thoughts in ways that compassionately connect us with another. 

Heart/Emotions — with mindfulness we notice the play of emotions throughout our body and notice how emotions trigger our internal monologue. We use this information to defuse our illusions and strengthen our connection to our authentic core. As a natural outcome, our relationships with others deepen.

Spirit — our divine spark, that which connects us to all, is what powers our experience. It grounds us into our authentic self and connects us to the authentic in creation. We recognize that how we connect to others and all of creation has the potential to grow us spiritually or stagnate us. We recognize what barriers wall us into misunderstanding and ignorance.  We can choose to stay stuck or move into a more receptive way. 

Through relationship we recognize that we are all one. This unity is a place where we neutralize what prevents us from living in intimate, compassionate relationships. Within this unity we are no longer limited by our fears. Instead we live from our authentic core and encourage others to live from theirs.

 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.

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

sauntering with your body, mind, spirit, & heart

Let’s saunter — a slow meandering from here to wherever the paths calls. Who knows where a saunter might lead? You may be asking, what is a saunter? A saunter for Robert A. Johnson is “to walk on the earth with reverence for its holiness.”

As I read this quote, I smiled. To saunter is to live contemplatively. Being contemplative is living in alignment with the Spirit. Each moment is spent focusing our attention on however and wherever the sacred shines. Let’s see how we saunter through the four aspects of self: body, mind, heart, and spirit. 

Sauntering with the Body

To saunter physically is to walk loose limbed. Putting one foot in front of the other. Roll from heel to toe placing all our weight on our forward foot before lifting the one in the back. Ongoing sauntering returns our center of balance to our core. 

Walking like this raises awareness of where we hold tension and what is not in alignment in our physical body. Through sauntering we rediscover the rhythm of our connection to the sacred. This flowing movement reminds us that our body is a vessel of the sacred.

Sauntering with the Mind

Yes, we can saunter with your mind! Another word for this kind of sauntering is non-attachment. We attend to what is going on in our mind  —  words, images, noisiness — while not holding on to the dandelion fluff of reaction. 

Sauntering is an engaged state of mind. It’s about not pushing away or holding onto our monologue. We watch as the fluff floats in our mind’s current. It lazily spins higher and higher, further and further away from our core. Through mindful sauntering we see the real in our life and live within that real.

Sauntering with the Heart

Our heart beats with emotions. Sauntering with our heart, we feel emotions poignantly, honestly, raw. Slipping into an emotion we feel it percolating; we are aware without judgment of our feelings. 

Within the saunter, an emotion is what it is — no more, no less. We acknowledge, feel, and surrender into the emotion. This non-attachment is freeing. To saunter is to rest within the 90-seconds life span of emotion. Being with the emotion as it enters our body, travels through the nervous system, and exits. And, yes, that takes about 90-seconds when we don’t hold on to an emotion!

Sauntering with the Spirit

Our spirit saunter-twines through the other aspects of our being — body, mind, and heart. This twining of spirit makes us whole. Our spirit, our sacred spark, touches all four aspects making us aware of our wounds. It ignites our core fire sealing the cracks of our woundedness. 

To spirit saunter is to connect our sacred spark to the All Spark. This connection threads through our being and then crosses our aura and saunter-twines with the energy of others and that of creation. In the spirit saunter, we recognize the sacred spark inherent in all. 

This saunter with the spirit (small s and capital S) brings us to wholeness — body, mind, spirit, and heart. The cool part? The more we saunter, the more healing we bring to our self and the world. 

Won’t you join me in the saunter? Be contemplative as you engage the whole of your life. You don’t have to accomplish all in this moment. To saunter, to live contemplative, happens one step at a time. 

 

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.

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

A Heart So Big

Being Courageous, Confident, & Compassionate

Within me is a heart so big it cannot be contained. It shines upon the world clearing the way through this moment and each moment. In this shining, I become whole. 

So, what is it within my heart — and within yours, too — that is so brilliant that it chases away the shadows and brings hope to us? The light is lit by courage, confidence, and compassion.

Courage. 

The world is filled with so many opportunities that we may become overwhelmed. Our mind fogs up with fear until we are unsure what to do. We may hide in the shadow afraid to confront what scares us. Or, we gather our courage, pick the sure thing, go out on a limb, or decide upon something in between. That decision making takes courage no matter what we choose. 

If you are like me, your mind darts in a circle from what might be to what might be until you are not sure the next sept. Courage slows the course of the what-might-be dash. It is the calming agent that says, “we can never be 100% sure, but we’ve got to try.” Courage empowers us to slip through the what might be’s into the action of what is. Courage doesn’t clear the path; it powers our clearing of the path. It is the voice that assures us “you got this.” 

Confidence. 

With courage we gain the strength to meet any given situation. Confidence goes hand-in-hand with that strength. For, confidence is knowing who you are — your talents and limitations. It is the conviction in your ability to choose the right course. It is the foundation of your resilience; your ability  to meet risk. Confidence reminds us that while we cannot plan for everything, we can approach any risk in a flexible, measured way.

Risk. Now that is a charged word. With risk there is always the possibility that things won’t work out the way you want. With confidence you use your skills and talents in a given situation no matter how difficult. It weighs the pros and cons with its can-do attitude and makes objective decisions. 

Confidence brings you brings you to the brink of a new horizon. Courage has you leaping into the new. Sometimes things don’t go as planned. Compassion eases the suffering when things don’t go as planned.

Compassion.

Of course, we’ve all had those moments when things don’t go as planned. It is hard not to get mired in the what ifs that causes suffering. Courage and confidence call for compassion. No matter how courageous, no matter how confident, we all suffer. Being able to identify and alleviate that suffering is what makes us whole.

So, what do we do when we suffer? We practice self compassion. Self compassion, for me, begins with self forgiveness and releasing any shaming or blaming. It’s telling myself that maybe I didn’t get it right, but that is okay. What happened hurt, but I can learn from the suffering. That learning often comes when the fog of suffering clears. 

What is this thing called self compassion? It is an action directed toward our self. There is no one-size-fits-all approach to it. Self compassion takes many forms. The great thing? You get to choose how to alleviate your own suffering. For me, it might be a reset nap, journaling, exercising, contemplative practice, self care — the list is as endless as our potential.

The only objective of self compassion is that you suffer less. And, that is enough. The more you gift yourself with self compassion, the greater your courage and confidence to be that shining light emanating from a heart that cannot be contained.  

Vanessa F. Hurst, ms, is a a courageous, confident compassionista. As a contemplative coach, an intuitive-coach-catalyst, she uses mindfulness practices and intuition tools to create strategies for navigating those scary places. The result? Reframing imperfections into personal 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 /

  

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  

Shake It Up: Living An Adventuresome Life

When I walk, I take the same the same route. That is, until about two weeks ago. My inner voice grew increasingly more vocal about taking a different path. I argued, “it is easy and predictable." I continued taking the same path until one morning when I woke up and thought, “this is it! I am going to take a different route.” That morning, my trek was spontaneous as my intuition guided me. 

Since that time my walk has become anything but rote. I have shaken it up. I have walked through uniques neighborhoods that I didn’t know existed. I’ve seen a fence created entirely by live trees, hoofed up and down hills, and peered into wetlands from a raised walkway. Shaking up my walk opens new vistas to me. I wondered, “What would happen if you shook up other parts of your life?”

Now, I am not talking about a shake up for the sake of shaking. I am talking about letting go of the stale and old. This shaking up occurs through discernment or objectively listening to the voice of your intuition, creating a plan, and then acting upon it. For me, this means paying attention to what is no longer working in my life. I full-body listen to gain clues what is outdated and needs to be shaken up. 

Notice that I say shaken up not thrown out. Often our life doesn’t need to be radically changed. It just needs to be tweaked. Discernment through full-body listening helps us decide what we can keep, what needs to be let go of, and what needs to be shaken up.

Let’s return to full-body listening. (Find out more about it here) When we listen with our senses to the four aspects of our being — body, mind, spirit, and heart, we gain critical information. How do we do this? Let’s practice:

• Choose something in your life — it could be big: your job, a relationship — or something small: your hair style, your interaction on social media. 
• Objectively reflect upon this piece of your life. Don’t make judgments or defend what you discover. Just gather facts. 
• Ask yourself how you are impacted by this piece of your life. (For example: you may feel fluttering in your stomach, have a thought that repeats over and over again, or an emotion may surface.) Use your five senses to formulate your answer.
• Create a multi-dimensional image of what you are sensing. The image takes form as you discover what the piece of your life looks like, sounds like, feels like, smells like, and tastes like. Shake up how you are experiencing this life piece.
• Note how this life piece is impacting your body, mind, spirit, and heart separately and collectively. 
• Ask yourself what needs to be shaken up and to what degree the shake needs to happen. Sometimes a shake is slight; other times it creates a seismic shift in your life. There is no wrong answer. You choose how the change will manifest.

Now an example: my hair and I have had an uneasy relationship for quite some time. Added to this uneasiness is the temperature at my workplace. The heat, humidity, and subsequent sweat result in my hair becoming what I refer to as “old lady frizz.” This description was only the beginning of what my internal monologue said about me (mind). It triggered emotions (heart). I wanted to make a change but feared how I would look in shorter hair. The voice of my intuition (spirit) grew louder and louder, until I could not longer ignore the stale in my life. I got my hair cut (body).

That haircut was the shake up that I needed. I feel more powerful; more of who I am. In fact, I tell people that I am rocking my Jaime Lee Curtis who I view as a short haired, incredibly powerful, together woman. As a result of that haircut, I have begun to shake up other aspects of my life. This includes a new website and painting aura portraits. I in this shaking up, I am becoming exactly who I am. 

So, how are you shaking up your life? How are you rocking your Jamie Lee Curtis? How are you becoming exactly who you are? I’d like to know.   

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.

Website / LinkedIn Profile / Facebook / 

Twitter: @fyrserpent / ©2020   

Consensus on the Bridge Between Head & Heart

The longest night of the year wrapped me in her warm embrace whispering, “it is time.” And, I wonder, “for what?”

As we near the end of the second decade of the twenty-first century of the common era, how would you to “it’s time” as an individual and as part of community? The answer is fashioned by how we are living in the moment. 

I believe that we can all agree deciphering the meaning of “it’s time” is tough. The first step in forming an answer is to navigate the longest distance we will ever walk — that between our heart and our head. What we want logically is not always met with enthusiasm in our heart. We cannot always figure out why our emotions pull us in a particular direction. 

Through discernment, conscious reflection and introspection, we shift through the debris littering the between of our head and our heart. Crossing the bridge, we reach internal consensus. Now, I bet you are thinking, I didn’t know I could reach consensus with myself. Well, you can. When head and heart collaborate, we change our consciousness. The magic of the seemingly impossible manifests. 

We create a bridge between head and heart. On this bridge we create strategies that encourage us to be our best self without extravagance of too many wants. We are gentle and compassionate to our self as we create a space of joy and gratitude by exploring “it’s time” with our four aspects:

• Physical/body aspect: ask yourself: do I really need another sweater, that piece of chocolate, or some other material thing?
• Emotional/heart aspect: ask how you are getting caught in drama be it yours or someone else’s.
• Mental aspect: what thought(s) fling(s) you onto the hamster wheel of judgments, assumptions and mindlessness drawing you away from this moment?
• Spiritual aspect: where is your connection to the sacred manifest in your life? Or, how do you live with compassion, joy, and gratitude? 

So, it is time — not to create another movement of resolutions that may bring about change in the new year. No, it is time to create a way of life in which you listen body, mind, spirit, and heart to the  wisdom that speaks on the bridge connecting head to heart.

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.

Website / LinkedIn Profile / Facebook / 

Twitter: @fyrserpent / ©2019