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Video Summary: The summer solstice, also known as the first day of summer, happens this Wednesday, June 21st. The summer solstice is a big deal in earth-based, aboriginal cultures. It marks the time that the dynamic energy of summertime and long days hits their peak. I like to talk about the summer solstice in terms of the Medicine Wheel from my tradition. In my earlier spirituality, I used to look to the Medicine Wheel to tune into the energy of nature and the earth. As I al

Video Summary: When we go through a significant change in our lives, our spiritual orientation changes. What I mean by spiritual orientation is where we see the world from and what part of our mind and being we are using to navigate the world. An example includes moving from an intellectual, perceptive, and upper chakra orientation, where you see things as they are. You see your truth, your connection to life, and the illusions of who you thought you were. You may realize, “O

Video Summary: There's this phase of creating something new in our lives when we are actually drawing from two intentions- an old intention with our old patterns and old way of being, and a new intention with our new way of being. Even though you may have worked hard to let go of the old patterns and old way of being, sometimes it takes a little while to shake it out of your system. So what happens is when you put out an intention, or in this case, two different intentions, t

Video Summary: When people interact with you, they offer you their gift. Granted, sometimes it may not feel like a gift. You could call it their offering if you prefer. It's what they offer you at that moment. My premise for this video is that the gift or offering people make is the best they can do at that moment. So you may say, “Well, geez, he said he was going to show up, and he didn't, so he certainly could have offered better. You're telling me that that was their best?

Video Summary: As we continue around the Medicine Wheel from spring into summer, it's a vitally important time in our cycle of creation. In the spring, we offered an intention for the new things we would like to create in our lives. Now, Life, Spirit, or the universe will begin to provide doorways, possibilities, and opportunities. So the trick of this phase of things is seeing the new doorways when they appear. It's really easy to miss or discount the new doorways because th

Video Summary: There's a tendency in relationships, especially close relationships, for us to insist that people be how we need them to be rather than how they are. We all have stories, scripts, and fantasies about how various relationships should be. We have stories about how our significant others' relationships should be. And we have expectations about how a relationship with our brother, sister, mother, father, best friend, and boss should be. A lot of times, we're expect

Video Summary: We've been trained and educated to prepare, study for tests, and know the right answer. The rather large assumption of this right-answer approach is that there is an objectively right answer for everything. For some things, such as math, grammar, or some sciences, there clearly is an objectively correct answer. However, for some more relational situations, it may be more of a relative answer. It's more like it's the right thing to do or say at this specific mom

Video Summary: I want to continue with the theme of creating a new life for yourself. At this time of the year in the Medicine Wheel, we've awakened a new aspect of ourselves. It has been conceived and awakened, but there's a good chance it hasn't taken form yet, so you may not see it in your life yet. At times, perhaps you can feel your new life or reality, get glimpses of it, and experience it in subtle ways. It may be on the edge or fringe of your consciousness. Things may

Video Summary: I want to continue with the theme of offering an intention for the things you'd like to awaken in yourself and create in your life during this coming year. Another way to think about intention is to let the universe or spirit know your preferences about what you would like to have in your life. The spiritual premise is that the universe is abundant and naturally wants to provide the things that we would like to awaken. So if we communicate and express our prefe

Video Summary: I suspect a lot of you watching this video have worked with being more authentic, true to yourself, and speaking your truth. When you're true to yourself and what you're feeling, you can act from that place. It takes a lot of courage to be yourself, especially in our culture, where it's not always honored. But here's the thing: when we are more honest and authentic, people are going to have issues with that. Why would that be? When you're more authentic, it may

There's a practice in my tradition of shamanism and spirituality that I refer to as “I am nothing. I know nothing.” It is a way to go beyond your preconceptions and intellectual knowledge about what's going to happen in the experience you are approaching. You may have heard the expression, "Check your ego at the door." This practice prompts you to “check your preconceptions at the door.” When we bring our preconceptions into an experience, ceremony, or relationship, it greatl

Video Summary: A couple of weeks ago, I talked about receiving your vision for the new cycle of your life, and last week about offering an intention to initiate it. When you offer your intention, it creates a partnership with life or Spirit, and then Spirit will open doorways for something new. But how can we work with that? One thing we can do is make room for something new in our lives. A great way to create space for the new thing is to suspend the old. We can suspend the