Body Presencing™ - Healing the Root of the Matter

"Let us be grateful to the people who make us happy; they are the  charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.”                                                                                          - Marcel Proust Come November, we often think of Thanksgiving and what we are grateful for. It is alright not to be grateful for all the things we think we should be. It is even better to let us feel our gratefulness in all the places that it naturally rises. As I am going through my BodyPresencing hologram, November and December of this year focuses on being able to move gracefully into the future. Time is fluid and as we affect our past, we influence our present and our future. So, as we work to heal aspects of our past and our ancestors unresolved secrets, we also heal through time. At this time, my older dog is asking for help to end her pain. This means putting her to sleep as gracefully as possible. We have a young dog who loves her deeply as well as two humans

 “ Maybe the only thing each of us can see is our shadow. ”                                                                                                            Carl Jung October is a time in the year with a big seasonal shift. We are shifting from the heat and sun of summer to the cold and darker hibernation of winter. Even though this shift happens as part of our natural rhythm in life, it sometimes is hard to accept.   There are many things in life which are hard to accept. Who doesn ’ t wish that we had a great childhood, great parents, and a happy life? Events in life happen. Patterns get repeated. We all know the saying, “ s … happens. ” A friend of mine likes to say, “ Shift happens ” . I also like to say, “ shift your story, and shift your life ” . It is bad enough that bad things happen to us. It is even worse that we keep repeating them in our lives. We keep repeating sayings and beliefs, we keep repeating words, and we keep repeating our family and life sto

“ I have a little shadow that goes in and out with me; and what can be the use of him is more than I can see. ”                                                                                   - Robert Louis Stevenson We all want to create a future for ourselves and our families and our communities where we can live fulfilled lives with happiness and prosperity. We want to live connected to others and yet independent. This is our true inheritance. So often this is not the future we do create.   We often live in the shadow of our unconscious and compelled to make similar mistakes as our parents, and their parents, and so the patterns we see that keep repeating, keep repeating. Our shadow side controls us until we can make conscious what has been hidden from us. As October rolls around each year, I am so much more aware of the colder, darker sides of us as the shorter and cooler days make their appearance. Even so, there is so much beauty in the month of October, just

“Beware lest you lose the substance by grasping at the shadow.”                                                                                                     -Aesop As the month of October unfolds, the leaves turn bright colors, the sun casts shadows at a different angle, and the weather cools. I see oranges, and reds and yellows everywhere. People get very creative in carving their pumpkins. There is a kind of excitement in the air; of change. As I watch the changes unfolding from my morning window, I think of us as people, and what we want for our future and our children ’ s future.  As I am sitting and contemplating, a client I recently worked with comes to mind because she too was concerned about her future and her son ’ s future. She came in “ worked up ” about a recent incident. She was parked outside a client ’ s house while she spent an hour with her. She came back to her car and found a parking ticket on her windshield, and so went immediately to pay for it b

“ How can I be substantial if I do not cast a shadow? I must have a dark  side if I am to be whole. ”                                                                                                     -Carl Jung Halloween has become a big celebration here in America. When I was small, it was a little fun celebration mostly for kids. We would go out in our costumes; angels, princesses, princes, hobos, etc. and play a game called, “ trick or treat ” . We would knock on doors in our neighborhood, say “ trick or treat ” , and they would ask for a trick or a joke, and then give out home made treats or candy. It was fun, and not really so scary. These days, adults celebrate as much or more than the children. The children wear many scary costumes in addition to the fairy princesses, etc. Among other Halloween differences, people don ’ t have a joke or trick ready, and they love to scare each other. They even carve very intricate, scary faces on their pumpkins.  We all have an inner

“Everyone things of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.” Leo Tolstoy Here we are in the dog days of summer, September. We are thinking and planning ahead to the coming fall and winter. We may prefer warm weather, but we live in a temperate climate. We dream of where we want to live, what we want to happen, etc.  We dream and life happens. We would love to control our lives and be in control and yet there is a bigger picture. So often what we think we want and what we really want, underneath, aren’t the same things. We live our lives as if we are in control and as if we really know what is best for us, and we complain when things don’t go our way. There are days and times when we get behind every slow going car, we catch every red light, we drop things, we trip and fall and hurt ourselves, we get way laid by things we don’t want to do and we have to do, etc. It is so easy to just get upset when things don’t go the way we would like them to go. We can l

“The world as we have created it is a process of our thinking. It cannot be  changed without changing our thinking.”                                                                                                           - Einstein This September time of year can be hot, and can be cool as a harbinger of the fall nipping on its heels. It is a time of the New Year in the Jewish calendar, and a time of “at one ment”, atonement, for the Jewish Yom Kippur. It is a time when we go apple picking and blackberry picking at the local orchards, and enjoy fresh apple pies and apple cider. And it is a time of year which starts to bring out our cool, shadow sides. I never thought I had much anger left in my cool side, but I am discovering there is still some lingering. With the swings of temperature and bridge to a new season of the year, and the intent and preparation for the Jewish holidays, it makes me draw inward a bit in readiness and in pursuit of self growth. As I do so, I th