Body Presencing™ - Healing the Root of the Matter

“They always say that time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself.”                                                                                      - Andy Warhol Here we are in the dog days of summer. The children are back to school, the days are getting shorter, the warmth is still with us, and we are happily watching the squirrels run around beginning their journey towards fall and harvesting. These are thoughts and feelings that come to me as September comes around. How about you? I also love this time of year because summer still lingers and I have the beautiful fall to look forward to. I am reminded of the song, “Happiness Runs in a Circular Motion.” Happiness begets happiness, creating a loop of positivity and continued belief in what is possible. We get in the circular motion of happiness, and our thoughts and feelings keep creating that feeling.  The opposite also occurs where we get in a loop of negative or fearful feelings, and th

"People are asking about the good old days. I say, why don ’ t you say the good now days? ”                                                                           - Robert M. Young We could say the four letter word we are dealing with right now is “ heat ” . We have already forgotten how much we couldn ’ t wait for our cold winter to be over. We might even have a little anxiety of another cold winter coming. But right now, we are in the heat of the summer. It is time to go out early in the morning, and to walk later at night. It is time to ride our bikes and go out for ice cream if we are so inclined. The fear of winter is far from our minds right now. How quickly we forget what we want to. On the other hand, how quickly that four letter word, “ fear ” , creeps up on us when something triggers it and it is tied to the past. We are living in the present now, as fully as we are able. Yet, something happens and we immediately get transported to an earlier time and pl

“Education is the most powerful weapon you can use it change the world.”                                                                                             - Nelson Mandela It is September and the older I get, the more I appreciate this month. As I am an empty nester, I find that September is a good time to go on vacation. I don’t have to be concerned about anyone’s school schedule, temperatures are still moderate, and I don’t have to brave the crowds. This is a prelude to say that I don’t like crowds. The more I learn, the more I know that there are certain things in all of us that are difficult to change. The more we work on ourselves, the more there is to work on. Isn’t that the way it is? Much of what gets in our way is not really who we are, but how we have defended ourselves to survive when we were younger.  One of these things that I constantly work on is my tendency to distance myself from others. On the surface it doesn’t look like I do. I have friends,

“If you want to conquer the anxieties of life, live in the moment; live in the breath.” -Amit Ray There are many phases in life. There are phases to the seasons and in nature. And, in every aspect of our lives there are phases. Right now we are in the middle to late phase of summer. The Crepe Myrtle are blooming, and if you haven’t seen crepe myrtle, you are missing something. Take a look at them at your local nursery or look them up on the internet. They are absolutely gorgeous. If we saw them bloom every day, we might begin to take them for granted. Having them take full bloom once a year makes them nearer and dearer to our hearts. Writing about this even reminds me of a friend, who uses words differently than I. In missing her, I am bringing her closer to me by using the word “gorgeous” instead of beautiful; a word I would have used to describe the crepe myrtle. She loves to use the word gorgeous, and I am feeling good using it also. This is one way which helps us to b

 “I don’t know who my grandfather was, I am much more concerned to know what his grandson will be.”                                                                      - Abraham Lincoln Have you ever noticed that we can see things more clearly when we look into the distance than we can when we are right in front of something? It is like, when we are looking right at something up close and personal, the larger details get lost and we can only see very small details. As we look too closely at the blooms of our summer flowers we miss the bee buzzing right next to it, or we miss seeing the cute caterpillar walking beside us.  This is true throughout every aspect of our lives. It is summer and we have already forgotten how we couldn’t wait until the warmer weather came as we had a very cold and long winter. From this distance, we can see more clearly our winter in context of the whole year. And, as we are right in the middle of the heat of summer, we can only see and feel the

“ Happiness is not something you postpone for the future; it is something   you design for the present. ”                                                                           - Jim Rohn         I was taking a walk today, on this beautiful, sunny morning, and I noticed something that I know I am guilty of doing also. Everyone I saw was so into their heads or their music or walking their dog, that I don ’ t think I saw one person looking around and aware of their environment. Has this ever happened with you? Have you been preoccupied with your fitness routine, or your music, or your ipod, or your phone, and so on, that you haven ’ t been aware of what is going on around you? This month, as with the summer months, my blog is dedicated to being aware and living in the present. So far, I have talked about someone that I am working with, and so this week, as I was walking I realized how persistent and present this is for us to be not in the present. Being aware and

“ Your present circumstances don ’ t determine where you can go; they m erely determine where you start. ” -Nido Qubein We are in the heat of the summer in August. For many of us, our children or grandchildren are getting ready to go back to school, and the days are still hot and long. We can feel the warmth in the wind and air around our skin. There is a summer haziness to the horizon, making our visual perception not so clear. Does that not happen to us in life also? Sometimes we just don ’ t see things so clearly. As we are moving together on a journey from the past to the present and into the future, all interwoven, we have taken a look at what holds us back and also what helps us move into the present. I also find that certain emotions hold us back, protect us and keep us from feeling more primal feelings. Guilt is one of those emotions, and anger is another. Without realizing it, we sometimes hide behind anger and/or guilt so we don ’ t have to feel things like sadn