Prince

By now our world has been saturated with the tune Purple Rain. Everywhere we turn there is a clip or article about his artistry or life, but none of it can fill the void. The world still feels smaller without him among us. It made me pause and take time to think exactly why, besides his obvious talents, he touched so many among us in such a profound way.

My goal was to describe his impact in the simplest manner possible. What I found as I stood back, was the word authenticity. It sounds a bit bland to describe such a vibrant being with that word but allow me to elaborate.

Prince the performer was anything but ordinary. He sported the most flamboyant outfits, like bikini bottoms with thigh high boots. A deep royal purple became this petite man’s symbolic color and blurring the lines between male and female was a magic he pulled off with the greatest of ease. I’m not going to lie, some of his hairstyles were questionable, at least if I saw them on my own husband; but I always thought as I gazed at him, that looks good on you. But then everything always did because even though he was putting on a show, it never seemed to be an act.  

His performances were packed with deep passion and left us dripping with the emotions found in the lyrics. Whatever we felt when we listened to his songs, and there were a myriad of experiences, we were left charged with life, ‘electric’ as the song Let’s Go Crazy suggests. He poured his feelings into his craft and quenched the thirst within all of us to know that part of ourselves as well.

The public persona we were permitted to witness radiated extraordinary power and confidence, as well as humility. He seemed to know and own who he was, his grandeur, without intentionally making others feel smaller.

He stood in front of millions, scrutinized by some no doubt, and said through his actions, “This is who and what I am.” And he did it loud and he did it proud. He did what we all long to do, be our truest self.

Now you can see, the word authentic is anything but vanilla. It takes great courage and resilience to live and thrive in that space, something he appeared to pull off time and again. He was a role model for how to stand in your power. 

That is what I believe he touched in each of his fans, permission to be who we are as individuals. Permission to be grand and humble at the same time as we take a step away from the norm. To me, his legacy isn’t simply the notes and words he wrote, but the dynamic energy, conviction and passion he shared and dared us all to live.

I’ve no doubt, he would want us all to be well and happy.

Dot-to-Dot

I was involved in a conversation with an individual the other evening when suddenly I became aware that I was helping her to connect the dots. I used to love to those puzzles as a child, they gave me a real sense of completion as I saw the full picture come into focus. Apparently I'm not the only one that enjoys this activity because on the market today there are books with supremely challenging versions that have numbered points going into the 1,000's or, with complicated coordinates to follow. To take a jumbled mess and make order out of it fascinates me. That, I realized as I stood deep in conversation, is what I've done with my own life for over a quarter of a century and how I support others in my practice as an alternative healer.

When we sit down to complete a dot-to-dot we always start at the beginning in order that we might move forward in the creation of the picture. Without those first points the picture can not reach its full completion. The same is true for our lives. It is necessary to travel to different points of our past and follow their path into our present to see the picture they are helping us to currently manifest. The picture of your today is not random but instead has a path that has led you to where you're standing at this time.

There's no escaping that past for it has a direct impact, consciously or unconsciously, in the creation we live today. When we go back to those significant times in our life and identify their ramifications, we can clearly see how those that have been left unresolved are played out in our present lives. The same or similar thoughts, patterns, fears and energies play out again and again from those unhealed events, the dots always connecting back in time.

If we have the courage to visit those points of our past or wounded self, we will find that the power to create a new vision of our present moment emerges. By bringing awareness to those key events in our history we begin to discover a new expression of ourselves and our lives for the future; a new picture materializes. Our power lies not in denying or running from what came before but in revisiting it with the intentions to understand its purpose and lessons.

Just like the puzzles offered today, this can prove to be super challenging and daunting at times but never have I heard another bemoan their choice to more fully understand themselves. I have found that it is as we connect the dots that the full beauty of our being unfolds before our eyes, the picture of our true selves taking form with greater clarity. Out of chaos order appears.

Be well and happy.

Listening Ears

I used to use that phrase with my kids when they were young and I wanted their attention. “Do you have your listening ears on?” I would ask. It was actually quite an effective little technique and this past week or so I heard the universe asking me the same question. I was being called to listen and observe and this is what I discovered:

*There are times in our lives when we need to remain silent and allow the truths to speak to us instead of being intent on speaking the truth.

*None of us has all the answers but we each have some and that makes each one of us a valuable piece of life’s puzzle.

*It’s a relief to know that we are under no obligation to make sense to others. It’s annoying to realize they are also under no obligation to make sense to us.

*A befitting response to the sentence, “That’s the way people raised kids back then…” is: “Yes, but it still hurt.”

*The best return you, and our world, will ever receive on an investment is the one you’ve made on striving to love, honor, respect and nurture your children.

*Children grow older and become the adults you admire most in this world.

*Not all children grow older so be sure to take more time to admire them rather than correct them.

*When we are alive others are focused on what’s wrong with us. When we die people only speak of our glory. Neither is an accurate portrait.

*The things that need to be said most are the ones people are afraid to talk about.

*Your story is important to someone somewhere. Tell it, even if it’s not important to everyone.

*When your body says, “Stop,” it is wise to listen for it is far more intelligent than your mind.

*The medical profession and those in it are profound gifts to our lives; it is also a source of limited knowledge and misinformation. Remember that when you are making health care decisions for yourself and your loved ones. Ask. Research. Learn. And do it all again so that you might make an informed decision, not an unconscious one.

*If you are willing to offer a complaint about service be sure that you are just as willing to share a compliment.

*Sometimes your opinion is invaluable and other times it means nothing at all. It’s best to know the difference between the two and act accordingly.

*A lot of people want to know how to do it but very few are willing to take the time and make the commitment to do it.

*Silence is healing.

*So is being alone.

*Children pretend in order to expand their world and the magic in it. Adults pretend in order to deny their problems and issues until their world becomes a shrunken and isolating place lacking any magic.

*There’s no way that I can share all that my listening ears have captured. Some things are meant to be learned on your own.

*Everything I’ve just shared is nothing new. You and I have heard it all before and we’ll hear it a thousand times more and in a thousand different ways until we get it, or we don’t…

No doubt the universe is calling to you too. Do you have your listening ears on?

Be well and happy.

Hopeless Case

There’s really no hope for you. Whatever it is you might be struggling with will haunt you the rest of your life. You are destined to repeat your life of pain again and again, simply passing it on to the next generation so that they too might live a life of despondency. Your suffering will be most especially amplified if another has hurt you and through their death they have left you with no apology for their wrongs.

Oh, you’re still reading? I thought I might have created such a bleak picture above that you have since slipped into the putrid bowels of depression and despair, or that a sense of self-preservation caused you to avert your eyes from the page. It’s a hellish rendition of how life might be lived, one that I stumbled across and read, that only left me bewildered and shocked.

When I read the passage posted by this other individual I gasped. Out loud. And then I cringed as the echoes of ‘No, don’t tell people that!’ rang through my head. Obviously it was an authentic account of that person’s experience but one that I long to shine some light upon so that they, and those that might take it as gospel, can potentially see matters from a fresher, more inspiring and less somber perspective.

What I wanted to say to the other writer is, “Please don’t ever take away peoples’ hope. Often times it is the one and only thing that can keep us going.”  In my own life I have known this to be true as I sought healing from childhood abuses and the absence of apologies for those actions. Hope gave me the courage to move on, however slow and painful it might have been.

Hope was a whisper of insight, inspiration and possibliites. Hope was the gentle guiding hands of an angel that said, “Come this way.” Hope made me open my eyes, lift my head that had been hung in defeat and see the promise of a new day, a new dawn within me. Hope said don’t give up because I haven’t given up on you. Hope carried me when the agony left me weak. Hope was my life-line.

So, to suggest that the circumstances of our torment are meant only to be a festering mess strips away our power and purpose for life. It says that we are to live only from a place of victimhood and that our happiness relies solely on what it is we receive or suffer from another. It implies that our life is pointless, a virtual Groundhog’s Day of anguish that bleeds into eternity.

I cannot say it strongly enough, it doesn’t have to be this way. There is another choice, and it is hope that can take us there.

You will be asked to be the master of your life, not a puppet. You will be called to comfort, soothe and validate all that seeks healing within. You, not someone else.

No longer will you naively imagine that an apology will vanquish all the misery. You will cease to long for the apology that never was, knowing that even if it were to present itself there are still emotions and thoughts anchored to the hurtful events that call your attention. You will come to stand in your power and not hand it over to the people around you.

And it is hope that can take us there.

Will it be pleasant stroll in the park? Probably not. But the places you will come to know within yourself will only become more magical as hope casts a dusting of glimmer on your personal landscape. You will know your purpose, and it will be to love yourself, the wounds that were your teachers, and the stumbling blocks that took you down a path you couldn’t have foreseen- but hope did. 

I beg of you, don’t release your grip on hope. I offer it to you so that you too might find your way out of the darkness. I promise you, hope will take you there because that is what it has done for me.

Be well and happy.

My Book: http://tinyurl.com/Relentlessbyspringer