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Video Summary: I want to continue with setting an intention and then letting go of controlling the outcome. Specifically, I want to look deeper into control because I think it's really misunderstood. When I talked about the downside of control last week, I was very specific. We want to let go of controlling the outcome. But that's only part of what we’re doing when we create things. We are setting an intention, and then we're letting go of controlling the outcome. We do need

Video Summary: This is a continuation of the last blog about offering an intention and then surrendering the form of that intention to the universe. If I want to be a part of a community, I might say, “Hey, I want a community with these qualities.” Then it's allowing the universe and its infinite wisdom and abundance to supply the form. This all sounds great until you try to do it. It can be challenging because you have to give up control of the outcome. We often manage our f

ideo Summary: Have you ever noticed how some of the coolest things in our lives just come out of nowhere? It was like the universe just said, “Here you go.” We weren't looking for it, and then there it was. If we walked it back, we probably had an intention of "I'd like to have something like that in my life." One way we create things has been called co-creation, and I’ve also called it collaborative creation. It means we're co-creating with the universe. Another way is to cr

Video Summary: Many of the Aboriginal and Native American cultures have some concept of a spiritual gift that you offer your people. It might be called your medicine in Native American cultures or your dreaming in the Aboriginal people of Australia. Your medicine is your spiritual gift that makes the people stronger. What is sometimes missed in the various pursuits of finding your medicine or purpose is that the context for this in aboriginal cultures has always revolved arou

Video Summary: Social arenas are a way to become part of a community, find friends, or find a relationship. A social arena is a gathering of people that ideally meets on a regular basis. Social arenas might include a yoga class, church, meet-up group, meditation class, wine bar, or coffee shop. There are two ideal qualities of social arenas. The first is that it has people there that we can connect with and have things in common. And the second thing is that the activity we a

Video Summary: What are your standards of interaction? One of my standards of interaction is treating other people with respect. I've done a lot of work on myself to truly respect myself and other people. I have a standard that we respect each other in the interactions that I am in. The second part of having a standard for your interactions is being willing to take action to preserve that standard. A standard is essentially establishing an agreement with yourself. You could s

Video Summary: Summertime on the Medicine Wheel is a time that we try new things in our new way of being and a new way of navigating through life. We use trial and error to find out what works and what doesn't work. We discover whether the things presenting themselves to us are new doorways or repeats of old patterns. So we're learning, sorting, and noticing things. And we need a way of becoming aware and noticing what's going on. Say, I notice myself in the old pattern. If I

Video Summary: I want to contrast true compassion with what I call misguided compassion. Misguided compassion has been called other things, including codependency, caretaking, and enabling. But I'm going to use the term misguided compassion because it's specific and contrasts nicely with true compassion. So let's start with true compassion. True compassion occurs when we empathetically sense and feel what another human being is experiencing and offer acceptance, support, and

Video Summary: When we're not consciously choosing what we do and how we move through life, we act from our old patterns, belief systems, and conditioning. So if we're not conscious and aware of something, chances are we're on automatic pilot and being governed by our old belief system. And even when we are aware of something, but not making a conscious choice to act on that awareness, we're going to be controlled by that old belief system to some extent. So there's huge valu

Video Summary: I encourage people to walk with their hearts open. It's a big ask as it can be emotionally painful. We’re living in a world that can break your heart. Just following the news and working in a hospital, my heart gets broken on a daily basis. So how do you walk with your heart open in a world that breaks your heart? When we stop intellectualizing, medicating, and distracting ourselves from feeling, we begin to feel things at a deep level. The upside is we get to

Video Summary: I did a video blog four weeks ago that I called Two Intentions. The idea of the two intentions is that even though we're in a new space and have a new intention for our lives, we may still have a residual old intention as well. We may have an old and a new intention, both creating doorways. Our old intention is sometimes generated unconsciously by our old patterns and issues. And so, even though we're in a new space, we could be experiencing old doorways. And y

Video Summary: When I speak about intention, I like to refer to it as a partnership with life. In other words, I offer this intention and then life, and I am collaborating to unfold that intention into my life. I used the word life when I wrote my book, but it can be Spirit, the universe, God, Jesus, your Buddha nature, or your higher self. This relationship with spirit is perhaps one of the most fundamental relationships that we have. When we go to risk or step out of our co