Being an Artisan of Joy: Laughter

Growing the Real You...With Compost

Deep within us beats a heart yearning to grow our best self. With just the right amount of fertilizer, sunlight, and water, our stem explodes from the ground of our soul into the world. Even if we do not have the exact right ratio of nutrients, through the resilience of these plants called you and me a way is found to grow strong and true.. 

Our resilience is sustained through self compassion. This is not self-indulgence; rather, it is doing good for our self. Self compassion begins by noting where you suffer and how is has depleted your. Note where are you fatigued and what triggers your suffering. Your awareness provides clues to the roots of your suffering. 

Now, I am a big believer in using the compost of suffering to grow our best self. All can be used to help us grow stronger, more resilient. Suffering is a variety of life compost. Turning a smelly heap of suffering into usable compost requires reflection and introspection. Through discernment, we uncover the lesson-gifts within the suffering. 

You may be thinking, “No good has ever come of my suffering. I see no gift in my suffering.” 

I would say, “Look deeper. Let go of the grief. Open your eyes to what suffering is saying.”

Because, really, suffering always has a message. To say that it is there to teach us, to make us stronger is really too simplistic. We have to dig into the smelliness searching for message clues while being open to hearing the truth. Are you thinking this might be too much work? When you change your frame of reference and engage suffering mindfully, its message become clearer. This discovery is worthy time spent.

How do you dig through the compost of suffering? Here’s an example: I have been underemployed for seven years. I did not receive job offers for positions that I believed perfectly aligned with my skill set and life goals. I did receive a job offer for a position that I was not really qualified for and one at which I was not making a living wage. I took that job because it was my only option. 

There were parts of the job I loved and much that triggered suffering in me. I engaged in ongoing discernment about my suffering throughout my tenure at that job. What did I discover? From the compost my self worth has grown. I see the positives in my self and my limiting beliefs. I know that no matter where I am, I can have positive, measurable outcomes. 

I also learned more about social justice through this lived experience. I understand in a very different way the direct impact of economic injustice. This knowing has made me a better writer, program presenter, and advocate. Being underemployed could have created a spiral into deep despair. Instead of allowing despair to overwhelm me, I grew a stronger me. 

So, I ask you, “What have you learned from your suffering? How has it made you a better, more resilient person?” Share your answers in the comment section. Thank you!

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 / ©2019

Illusion vs. Reality: Creating The Life You Want

Have you ever been so fatigued that you were  stuck in stasis? The changes you wanted to make seemed so out of reach that you shelved them for another day? Maybe you just needed a booster shot of hope and belief in yourself to move from fatigue into a festival of hope.

2020 — a new decade filled with new possibilities. For several weeks emails have dropped in my inbox that highlight the potential in this new decade. All signs point to the 2020s being a time to step out of illusion of who you believe yourself to be and into the reality of who you truly are. The next step is to join your light with others to illuminate hope in the world. 

I know that you are tired. So am I. Sometimes it seems impossible to shuffle out of the shadows and relight our spark. We may not like where we are, but it is familiar. We are stuck in the illusion of it might not be what we want, but it is okay until something happens. That happening makes it more difficult to remain in stasis. It becomes easier to change. We find the energy to take one tiny step into our truth.

How can we let go of our illusions and take that step? Start small. Acknowledge one belief that limits you. It doesn’t matter how inconsequential it may seem, name it. Own it. Ask yourself, if it were not true, what would you do differently?

For one day, live as if the illusion is a lie. Then live your differently. At the end of the day, reflect on the illusion and any light that was shed on its fallacy. As the days turn to weeks, continue to dig into the illusion and live with the gusto of differently until the illusion no longer has a hold on you. 

Dispelling illusions seldom happen overnight. It takes time to change beliefs into a system that best reflects who you are. With each illusions banished, we place another tile on the bridge to living our truest self. Creating this way of life offers us not a quick fix solution, but opportunity upon opportunity to fulfill our soul purpose. 

Ready to live your soul purpose? Contact me for a catalyst coaching session.  

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 / ©2019 

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.

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Twitter: @fyrserpent / ©2019 

Compassion: Igniter of Fires

Last weekend I facilitated a discussion focusing on current events and and what Thomas Merton would say about them. By the fourth session, the participants warmed to the idea and brainstormed some creative ways of living.

One theme of the day was that we need to stop living on moral outrage and stand in our own power. We need to act. And, while it is fine to take personal responsibility, we are not responsible for the actions of others. One important realization is that we may be unable to change the behavior of others or even mitigate the outcomes of their actions. We are only in control of our actions.

We can look at the external works and say that what is occurring is a reflection of our internal turmoil, and it may be. But, sometimes what is happening has nothing to do with us. Sometimes the uncertainty in the world reflects in us glinting off kindling in our soul creating a fire in our heart. 

In the combustion of our sacred spark we are startled from our blindness and wake to the world’s uncertainty. Unable to return to inertia, we ask, what can we do? How can we make a difference? Those answers are found on the path of compassion. As we trod upon this path, we lno longer judging, ignoring injustices, or get stuck in the quagmire of “I cannot do anything to impact change.” We are compassion’s presence.

Compassion, at times, is not always easy, but it is most definitely necessary. With it, we root out the malignancy of the world and create a safe space for all to thrive. We begin by acknowledging our own imperfections. Through learning from them, we connect to our true self. Authentic, we do what we can to alleviate suffering. This means loving no matter what; loving enough to walk through suffering as difficult lessons are learned. 

When is the world reflecting our imperfections and when is it igniting a fire inside of us? That is for each of us to discern as we navigate through the quagmire to recognize the difference. Once we know how the world is reflecting itself we are able to ignite flames of transformation of our self and others. 

Perhaps that is what Merton would say, and what I would encourage each of you to do. Don’t take on the uncertainty of the world. Own your imperfections. Leave the imperfections of others to them. Learn to recognize the difference. Share your message with the world through each compassionate  act. Be the light in a darkened world. 

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 / ©2019

Nonattachment: The Art of Free Falling into Me (or You)

Last night as I journaled, the words “free fall into me” etched onto the page. Instead of feelings of danger, the words resonated with fierce courage and lightness. With this epiphany a voice whispered, “How do you free fall into yourself?”

This question has been nudging me ever since I left a Tai Chi class a couple of weeks ago. I saw a maple leaf floating in the air coming to rest on the roof of my car. In my mind, I heard the lyrics of Carrie Newcomer: “leaves don’t drop they just let go and make space for seeds to grow.” The why of the free fall was answered in that moment. 

Free falling into our self is about letting go by living the art of nonattachment. While I have given presentations and written about nonattachment, a whisper suggests, “Maybe you didn’t quite get it. Maybe you haven’t been so nonattached after all.” 

The definition of nonattachment is simple: not clinging or casting away while being objective about what is happening. Being nonattached is being aware of what catches us in the moment. We discern how we get caught and create living strategies that untwine us from our attachments. 

How do you get to the place of nonattachment:

• Begin with recognizing what catches you. Think about that — how can you be nonattached if you don’t recognize the depth of your attachment? 
• Dive deep by asking yourself the whys of nonattachment — dig into your thoughts, emotions, and physical reactions to what what you cling to or shove away. Remember that clinging or shoving away are both signs of attachment. 
• Forgive yourself, in the moment, for the times you are unable to let go. Find joy in the moments of free fall for they happen more than you realize.
• Ask yourself what can I do to cling less, to have less aversion, to objectively be in the moment? Create strategies, little and big, so that letting go happens with greater awareness and becomes a simpler endeavor.
• Rejoice in the moments of letting go. Create mental, emotional, and somatic memories of these experiences. Recall these memories when you get tangled in attachment.
• Celebrate each moment of free fall knowing that you are not hitting rock bottom. Nonattached, you are falling into the loving arms of yourself.

Experiencing free fall during the art of non attachment is making space for seeds to grow. And, this transformation is the change that you share with the world. 

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 / ©2019

On Being an Artisan of Joy

I have a part time retail gig. I am a people watcher. During this season that can be a potent combination that triggers both reflection and introspection as I look at faces and engage guests in conversation. I listen, I watch, but mostly I reflect upon what I see and hear — who brings a joyful spirit to the experience and whose face is lined with shopping stress.

We can live with joy or subsist on stress in our approach to life. Some people are cheerful and optimistic. Others are methodically realistic while weighing the odds. I think most of us ping between these two poles. Most often we find our self somewhere in the middle.

How can we be artisans of joy this season and beyond? The answer is simple — by being mindfully real about the day. When I am in the moment, I am more likely to identify the little joys and recognize life’s bumps and boulders. I can choose to carefully navigate those bumps and borders instead of getting stuck in them.

When I am mindful, I feel the inflammation of aggravation edging me closer to the trigger. When this happens, I focus on my breath. With each breath, I acknowledge the underlying irritation. I breathe into the rising reaction to discover what hides within it. Each breath rubs away the rough edges until all that remains in its core of fear. With compassion I befriend this fear, loving it into peace.

While I may not be able to resolve the issue, I can find peace within myself. Within my sacred calm, the exterior world no longer triggers internal upheaval. I am twined by peace. Along this ribbon of peace slides joy.  I am more creative, more compassionate in my responses.

We can paint with bold strokes of joy regardless of where we find our self or we can choose spindly spikes of aggravation in this moments of reaction. Mindfully we choose. This season I hope you find your self painting the world with the bold vivid strokes of joy. 

 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