I want to offer you a new perspective to bathe your holiday experience this year with a new sense of peace and connection.

Light.

Historically, we as a human family gathered to celebrate, in so many ways, to honor the natural cycle of light and dark. Winter Solstice is the turning point, when the light begins to return (in the Northern Hemisphere). Many of us still connect to this tradition, sometimes unknowingly, as we bring light into our home via Christmas trees and menorahs. It is all about the “return of the light.”

What are all the ways you could allow this waning light, leading up to 12.21, to support you in releasing that which no longer serves you? What makes you feel dark or heavy? Imagine it setting on the horizon of your life’s experience, preparing you for a new dawn.

Like the lights dimming at the end of a stage performance, allow Mother Earth’s dimming light to bring to a close heavy or dark experiences, relationships, beliefs, stories, or habits.

Then, starting 12.22, turn your attention towards that which you want to grow. Allow the waxing daylight to inspire your own sense of new beginnings and growth.

Light.

Science now promotes to us that everything is energy, vibration…light. You are energy. You are vibration. During the holidays, many of us experience the full spectrum of high vibration joy and low vibration sorrow. With all the expectations and holiday-inspired to-do’s, it can be hard to maintain a high vibration. The season of giving becomes a season of doing and we find ourselves heavy with fatigue and burdened by an impossible schedule.

Can you reconnect to your own inner lightness? Can you set aside the way you have “done” the holidays up until now and create your own new traditions or priorities that will help you to maintain a high vibration lightness? Stop to ask yourself, amidst the ho-ho-ho’ing, what can I do to maintain my own high vibration? Take a break. Go within. Go outside into nature. Meditate for even 3 minutes on gratitude, or on what brings you joy or peace.

Light a candle each day and allow the flickering flame to speak to you of warmth, inspiration, hope, peace, generosity…. The lit candle could be a new symbol of your commitment to honor what lights you up in life and to fanning the flame of your own sacred spark.

Light.

Be the light this season. Intend to radiate a lightness of being amidst the hub-bub and busyness. Imagine the candlelight reflected in your eyes as you gaze at the flame during your new ritual and share that sparkle with those around you.

The symbol I use to cultivate a lightness of being within and around me is the feather. Light as a feather. I use the symbol by bringing it to mind, or imagining it in my mind’s eye, using it as a yantra, a visual mantra. I picture the feather, often floating down from the sky, gently wafting through the breeze, and receive the energy of lightness that creates.

If the holidays have you stressed or feeling low, gift yourself opportunities to create new holiday experiences around the theme of light and enjoy feeling lighter and radiating more light as a result. Permission to create holidays your way is hereby granted! May your holidays be merry and light!

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As greater and greater demands are placed upon us by our modern world and highly competitive lifestyles, we are given every reason to worry and allow our minds to linger on fearful thoughts and visions. The question is, “Is this how you want to live?”

There is a channel of guidance, wisdom and information being offered to you every single day in the form of symbolic language. This level of communication is most interested in you living your Inspired Life, fearlessly pursuing what it is that lights you up!

Although we are the most visual of all animals on this planet, and we perceive much of our reality through this sense, we are just now re-learning this symbolic language. We can teach our children from a young age to be aware of and sensitive to the symbols that appear to follow us around.

In the spirit of Carl Jung, symbols hold powerful collective energy and information. They are a bridge from our conscious, thinking mind to our unconscious, intuitive mind. So when you are “seeing _____ everywhere,” or when you notice that the consumer realms are plastering retail shelves with certain symbols or images, there is a message, or guidance, that we are being offered.

This symbolic communication is not “logical,” the realm of the conscious, thinking, mind. This visual language is subtle and speaks to our unconscious, intuitive mind. Symbols need no translation and communicate to YOU exactly what you need in this given moment.

Let’s explore three symbols that are “popular” in the collective conscious these days because they want to inspire you.

1. The Owl. Owls are on t-shirts, coffee mugs, displayed in high-end interior design arrangements, and generally celebrated or collected by enough of the population that their “market value” is heavily exploited. This is not a bad thing. “Owl medicine” is such that owl wants to lend us her extraordinary vision. Owls can see things “in the dark” that no other creature on this planet can see.

“The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek.” ~Joseph Campbell

The symbol of the owl, or the owl “totem,” is encouraging us to be fearless, to free ourselves from limiting beliefs that keep us standing “outside the cave.”

Owl wants to illuminate your highest path, the one that is most in alignment with your authentic, liberated self, rather than follow the path prescribed by society or any roles or labels you might have been given up until now.

If Owl is catching your eye these days, simply ask it to illuminate what it wants you to see. Ask for it to lend you its fearless personality so you can “swoop in” on whatever it is your heart desires and claim it for your own!

2. The Mandala. Mandala designs have been found in every single society or culture since the beginning of time. The word comes from the Sanskrit word meaning center or circle. The circle is a sacred symbol for wholeness.

Traditional mandalas are geometric designs that start from a point in the center of a circle and radiate out from that point. If you love mandalas, or have been seeing them everywhere, ask yourself if you are feeling centered, grounded, or at peace with yourself these days.

If this prompt sparks any feelings to the contrary, never fear. This is why mandalas are here, there and everywhere. We are all being reminded to reconnect to our “center.”

This can mean your heart, your authentic self, your truth….

Try this simple meditation next time life feels hectic.

Close your eyes and breathe into your heart. Connect to how you feel—stressed? Worried? Anxious? Choose to perceive the elements of your life like shapes swirling around you. Do those elements feel disjointed, lacking in harmony, or jumbled? Now breathe into your heart again. Imagine all those tasks, relationships, responsibilities, bills, emails…begin to organize themselves in concentric circles with you at the center. The jumbled mess glides into a beautiful design, dancing, rotating around you.

Now breathe this sense of union, peace, and calm into your heart. Open your eyes.

This is the “medicine” of the mandala, bringing you back to your center, inspired and free.

3. The Lotus. Lotus blossoms are most widely recognized throughout history as a symbol of enlightenment, self-realization and pure joy. The message you are being offered from the Lotus, is that your most beautiful “bloom” can only grow to fruition because of your thick, long roots that are sunk into life’s muckiest muck.

Lotus flowers want to help us to transcend life’s challenges, pain and heartbreak into energy to help us to grow and bloom. Not only does Lotus help you to transcend these undesirable experiences, it wants you to be grateful for them. Why? It is only because of life’s “mucky” experiences that we are able to discover our greatest treasures.

Lotus wants to ask you to look down at what is bringing you down and allow it to inspire you? How is this situation teaching you about what you want? Historically, in your life, how have the doors that got slammed in your face ultimately led to greater adventures, love and opportunity? Allow Lotus to transmute the negative in your life into the positive.

Pick the symbol above that speaks to you the most. Allow it to speak to you over the next several days. Notice what shifts.

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Do you know the original meaning of this word? It means, “I create what I speak.”

What is the greatest lesson that the witches of our childhood stories have to teach us?

Be very, very intentional with your words.

Let’s get metaphorical for a moment.

You have heard the traditional Native American tale, The Story of Two Wolves? A Grandfather is speaking to his grandson, sharing that we each have a tug of war going on within us. It is a struggle between two wolves. One wolf is angry, bitter, greedy, and selfish. This wolf is full of pride, desperate to prove itself worthy, constantly worrying and in a state of scarcity. The other wolf is joyful, living from love, open, optimistic and happy. It looks for possibility and only sees opportunity.

The grandson asks, which wolf wins the struggle? “The one you feed,” answers the Grandfather.

Witches understood this. They knew that their words had power and when spoken with intention, their words, or spells, could transform lives. They thought before they spoke. They paused to allow the significance of the words they were about to speak to sink in so they could choose, with full awareness, what they were about to create. No word is taken lightly. They all have tremendous power. What is your relationship to your words, spoken aloud or silently within?

Are you a curator of your words, choosing with discernment which ones to use to yourself or others? Do you allow your words to paint pictures of your heart’s desires coming to fruition or do they conjure up scenes of failed dreams or hopelessness?

“Thoughts become things,” Bob Proctor.

“Words become things,” is another way you could say this.

“In the beginning was the Word….” Seems not just witches held this knowledge.

I bet you have the words that someone spoke to you long ago stuck in your memory, indelibly printed on your consciousness. Or perhaps a phrase you heard or received randomly comes to mind more often than you would expect, for such a off-handed or long ago comment.

Maybe the words are loving or not. Maybe the words inspired greatness within you, or insecurity or sadness. I remember Oprah sharing that someone long ago, when she was in her teens, shared with her that she was going to do great things. She never forgot those words. What if she had never heard them?

You can create miracles for yourself and others with your words. Or, you can condemn yourself or others to patterns of disappointment, cowardice or fear. You get to choose.

Here are some words I have found helpful and shared with many to support desired change in your life. For example, perhaps you want to learn a new skill or hobby. And (not but) you do not have any experience in this new foray, nor do you feel particularly confident in your ability to learn this new skill or hobby.

What are your words around this desire of yours? Or what are the words you speak in regards to a job you dislike, a family member causing drama, or a current event that has you saddened? What you can say to create an opportunity for personal success and well being is, “Up until now…”

“Up until now, I have not believed I have what it takes to do xyz, and starting today I am more and more open to the possibility that I will succeed.”

“Up until now, I have found xyz family member to be incredibly disrespectful, and starting today I will imagine them turning over a new leaf.”

Another favorite will help you to replace the words “I am afraid” or “I am worried.” Is there a tropical destination calling to you and you “know” that you don’t have the time or the money? Instead of uttering the words “I can’t,” you can get curious.

“I am curious how I will find the time and money to go to xyz, and all I know is I want to go!”

Allow yourself to get curious before you write off your chances all together. Has anything ever come together unexpectedly in a way that delighted you? That can happen more and more, the more fluent you become in aligning your words with your desires.

What I know for sure, is that the more you speak to your desired future, the quicker, sooner, faster it can happen. You create miracles with your words. And so it is. Abracadabra!

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I had seen this word for years and been so attracted to it while also feeling that this had nothing to do with me. Shapeshifting was for werewolves and vampires, right? Shapeshifting happened in fairy tales and movies.

And then I got it.

Anyone can shapeshift. The werewolves and fairy tale characters were just mirroring an ability we each have in a dramatic, make-believe way.

Now, you are ready to receive the process symbolized in the lands of make-believe and projected onto the silver screens.

You can shapeshift.

Don’t worry; it’s nothing like in a sci-fi flick. It will give you a way to navigate uncertain, shaky times, and to detach from old ways of doing and being so that you can move into your Unstoppable Self.

Think of a time when your mood switched instantly.

Maybe you got excellent news or terrible news.

Maybe an old song from your tumultuous high school years came on, and you were immediately transported back in time.

Maybe a friend called feeling upset, and you were able to conjure, at that moment, your wisest, most reassuring self to support her.

That is shapeshifting.

You have probably been doing it without awareness for a long time.

Now, we will learn to do it with awareness.

You will learn to shapeshift from your stoppable, stuck, overwhelmed, fearful self to your Unstoppable Self.

Imagine this journey is like entering a magical container that will attune and activate you to a new paradigm. You will shapeshift out of old patterns of thinking and processing and into new ways of understanding life on an energetic and quantum level. On this level, you become highly creative, creating into reality whatever is calling to you.

There are 4 steps to this process:

1. The greater the intention and resolve that you bring into this experience, the more ease you will experience in your shift.
2. You will realign your entire life’s perspective from one that is predominantly focused “out” to one that is focused “”
3. You will learn to live and create your life from energy rather than matter. Since energy precedes matter, this is the best way to manifest the changes and opportunities that you desire in your life.
4. As you immerse yourself and say YES to these first three steps, you will begin to shed the skin that is no longer comfortable and shapeshift into your new skin, more authentic and powerful than before.

Shapeshifting Practice

I invite you now to think of something that you COULD do today. And it is something that you probably wouldn’t do if you didn’t have to choose it now.

It may be something you have been meaning to do or wanting to do for a long time. It could be taking time out for yourself in a bubble bath. It could be organizing a bedroom drawer. It could be calling a friend, starting to write your book, mending a hole in a sock, painting a painting, signing up for a class, having a conversation with your child.

Pick one thing that is totally accessible to you. You can easily do this thing today that you have, up until now, allowed yourself to procrastinate or avoid or deny yourself. If you can think of nothing else, turn on the hot water and dig out the bubble bath!

Now, close your eyes and imagine yourself doing it. 

Where are you?

What are you wearing? Or not wearing?

How do you feel?

What is around you?

Who is with you?

What is it going to feel like to complete it?

What are you going to get to do now as a result?

How are you celebrating?

Imagine yourself sitting right where you are now REMEMBERING this experience.

Done! Complete! You “shapeshifted” into the you that had this experience, that overcame inertia to be the you that experienced it. You are a shapeshifter.

Now, instead of following up your ah-ha’s and visions with all the reasons why you can’t do it, you will shapeshift into the YOU that already has.

From this state of BEing, you will take new actions, one step at a time, until your dream has been made visible.

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What if it was the opposite?

What if living as a happy, fulfilled, healthy and inspired individual was our center point, and the loving relationship came as a result, an offshoot, of this state of being?

Let’s explore some other common misconceptions that can unknowingly keep us in a state of wanting, needing, searching….

1: I need a partner to be happy.

We know that blissful state at the beginning of a loving relationship, where you are bursting with energy and relishing the feeling of unconditional love. That is why it is so easy to believe that you can’t possibly be any happier than when you are with a love.

The longer lasting truth is that if you are not happy from the inside out, your relationships will inevitably mirror your inner disharmony.

The quickest way to falling in love with YOU, therefore attracting another who will fall in love with you, is to take responsibility for making YOU happy. Don’t wait to take the trip, learn the new hobby, or express yourself creatively until you have the perfect partner. Do it now. Be it now. Create a life that you love, just you and you.

From this high vibration state of being, happy and lit up from the inside, your light will attract another who is also happiness personified. Together, you can now celebrate an inspired life together!

2: My ‘True Love’ will complete me.

It is tempting to identify with your partner to the extent that their accomplishments or talents make you feel that much more accomplished or talented. You feel like a better person because they are “yours.”

In reality, what you are doing is giving away your own precious self to a place outside of yourself.

Whatever you desire or admire in a lover is what you desire for yourself. Lets get you into your own center, free to be your most authentic self, liberated from others’ expectations, and fearlessly pursuing those things that bring you joy.

Are you attracted to the outdoorsy type? Create opportunities to get outside and into some wild adventures now!

Are you attracted to the cultured, well-read type? Buy the tickets, take the class, travel to the sacred site to fill YOU up with what you love.

What fills you up? Do more of that and along the way you may just find yourself AND your true love!

3: I won’t feel alone if I am in love.

It is easy to feel separate and alone in the world.

Your ego, the aspect of you that is responsible for keeping you fed, sheltered, bills paid, etc. sees the world as a place separate from yourself. This aspect of you is logical, linear, performance driven, and fear-based. It is the part of you that gets the promotion, the gold star, the approving nods or reviews.

So we think that a romantic relationship will eliminate our loneliness. And you probably have felt more alone than ever while IN a relationship, right? The secret is to shift your awareness to a state of oneness, of intimate connection with YOU.

To balance your ego, your individual sense, you have its perfect dance partner, your spirit, your “Big Self” that knows only oneness and that is fearless. It can’t see you as separate; it knows only connection. The key to feeling connected, even when you are “single,” is to focus your attention on what inspires (inspire means “spirit within”) you.

You can free yourself from perceptions of aloneness, and liberate yourself from the belief that you are separate from the whole, and center your awareness in the states of being that light you up from the inside out.

Choose activities that tap your sense of being into the bigger world around and within you. Connect to a cause, create a home that is sacred to you, immerse your imagination in those visions that make your heart sing. Be fearless. Create new opportunities to stretch yourself.

You are a Life Artist. The art that you are creating is your life. No one else can create it for you. Live inspired and, like moths to a flame, your inspired love match will find you!

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Without this awareness, our thinking, our reactions to life events, and our internal dialogue can become habitual, with routine responses to external stimuli that are triggered automatically, without our conscious awareness. In fact, just as when you are on a hike, you can choose familiar pathways or to blaze new “trails” in your internal, mental landscape. To do this, you simply need to nurture your own inner witness.

Your inner witness is an aspect of your awareness or consciousness that can take a step back, survey a situation, and make an intentional choice on which (neural) pathway to follow. In my experience, over the last 25 years, helping myself and others to develop this inner witness, the personal transformation and renewed enthusiasm for all the possibilities life offers are a natural result of this process.

Here are three easy and fun ways to begin this journey yourself right now.

1. Catch yourself doing things right. This one can be simple, and is often not easy because we have wide, super highways, or neural pathways, when it comes to being critical of ourselves, to beating ourselves up over “mistakes” made or opportunities missed. The easiest way to start bushwhacking new pathways is to approach this with a sense of humor. “Wow, I rock at making a cup of coffee!” or “Look at me sweeping up this mess on the floor!” And seriously, one of my personal favorites, “Dang, I’m great at opening the fridge door!”

These are always followed by a deep inner chuckle from your Inner Witness and a high five for giving this part of you a voice! As you develop this pattern of catching yourself doing things right, it will gradually replace the old, familiar pathway of your inner critic. Then, your inner critic is transformed into wise discernment and fulfill its intended role.

2. Practice self-compassion. Do you ever berate yourself for not having exercised in a long time or beat yourself up for saying the “wrong” thing? “Geez, I was supposed to do yoga/ to meditate every morning and I only made it once! I stink at following through.” Right?

Are you a human? Do humans “make mistakes”? Do you have a learning curve in just about everything? Of course you do. There’s a story of when Edison was experimenting with the light bulb and had tried close to 10,000 different materials without success. One of his assistants expressed a negative judgment around their progress, to which Edison replied, “What do you mean? We have successfully found 10,000 things that don’t work!”

Allow yourself to be human. Ask your Inner Witness to illuminate how you can be compassionate to yourself. “Congratulations for trying something new!” “Way to explore as many possibilities as possible. Now we know this doesn’t work.”

Remember how you would talk to a young child, or a puppy. Encourage yourself. Pick yourself up and dust yourself up and believe that you’ll get “there.” Instead of, “I haven’t _______ in so long!” you can say to yourself compassionately, “Hmmm… I must be coming up on an exercise/ meditating / painting… cycle!” Allow yourself to be perfectly imperfect.

3. Ask yourself, “What do I desire most right now?” as much as possible. For most of us, our habitual thinking focuses more on what we “should” do or “have” to do rather than on what we desire. That can feel, or rather we’ve been conditioned to think that focusing on your wants is selfish or self-centered.

The truth is that you are being guided by your feelings of desire. Your life’s purpose or your soul’s calling reveals itself though it’s desires, what is attracting you or lighting you up. By asking yourself this question as much as possible you engage your Inner Witness who can then help you to choose that which will serve your highest path and most authentic expression.

I “have to” clean the house can also be transformed into, “I desire my home space to be more organized, clean, or welcoming.” Allow your Inner Witness to show you how you can still get life’s tasks completed from a place of desire rather than obligation.

Life is an inside out job. Getting to know and giving voice to your Inner Witness in these ways, will allow you to make more choices on a daily basis that will lead to greater personal fulfillment and overall well being. Without this awareness we are at the mercy of our habitual thinking— most of which you did not choose in the first place.

What thoughts are coming to mind right now? Witness them. Do you want to choose those thoughts or create new ones? It’s all up to you! Enjoy.

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In fact, the secret is to turn a full 180 away from the problem, or feeling out of alignment, to focus on all the ways you can get into your own personal flow. Here are four steps you can take to create a greater sense of alignment in your life.

Step ONE: Let go of feeling responsible for others.

Time is precious in your life and take note of how much of it you can spend talking about others’ problems, trying to help others, or putting yourself in the backseat because someone else “needs” you.

We are often recognized for being of service to others, for being a good friend, or helping out with a community project, etc. We are often not recognized for taking care of ourselves, slowing down, spending time doing what we love, filling ourselves up first. At some point many of us absorbed a story that people were selfish or self-centered if they weren’t busy enough engaged in the lives of others.

Here’s the secret that we now know: you have to fill yourself up first and serve others from your overflow. If you are saying “no” to what you want to do, what lights you up or makes your heart sing because you are too busy caring for others, than you are going to end up feeling depleted, stressed and even resentful.

There are two significant facts at play here: 1. You are not going to get into your own flow, your own personal alignment, trying to help others to get in flow. You can’t BE for someone else, only you. 2. If everyone in the world took care of themselves first, and others second, we would be a world full of fulfilled people. right?

So I give you permission to be self-centered. Center your life in you. Stay centered by honoring who you are and what you desire. This leads to Step TWO.

Step TWO: Create as many experiences as possible that make you happy. 

What lights you up from the inside out? Where do you want to dissolve into the present moment, never to return? Do more of that! Only when you tune into and experience these elevated emotions can you allow them to guide you into alignment. If you do not know joy (have you experienced that energy lately?), you can hardly be a healthy, vibrant vibrational being.

It is not possible to follow the energy of apathy, obligation, boredom, or frustration into alignment.

Joy was given to you to signal your life’s purpose and to encourage you to continue along the path that inspires joy within you. It’s a signal that you receive in your vibrational field when you are engaged in a way that is resonant with your highest good.

The message that you are being offered in the throes of joy is, “Yes! More of this, please!” What have you always LOVED to do? And what are all the ways you can do more of that now? Climbing trees, swimming, painting, exploring, acting, building, taking things apart? It can be a simple as sitting in your favorite chair to enjoy a cup of tea, breathing deeply, thinking about those things you are grateful for, or listening to music.

Sending your attention towards anything that you love, that lights you up, is only going to create more of the same. Focusing on the “problem,” what is wrong, or not in alignment in your life will also create more of the same.

Step THREE: Make your inner child super happy.

In many traditions there is an understanding of the three selves: the higher self, the child self, and the adult self. These three selves have a line of communication. The higher self can communicate with the child self and the child self with the adult self. The adult self can ONLY reach the higher self via the child self. This is why there is so much guidance encouraging us to nurture our inner child.

Want to find your purpose? To feel in greater alignment? Play (your way.) Have fun (your way.) Do more of what makes your happy.

In those moments, you will experience alignment. The more present you become, the more you will feel in flow. In the present moment,  you aren’t trying to impress anyone or avoid disappointing anyone. You are authentically you.

Here’s more good news. Say you don’t love your job. Or maybe your current relationship is less than satisfactory. You don’t have to do anything about the job or the relationship to get back into alignment. Take your focus off the source of discontent and send it towards what does feel right and inspiring in your life. The job, the relationship, will fall away, transform, or otherwise shift accordingly. Here’s to your ever-expanding feeling of being in the right place, right time, right you!

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I didn’t feel like I was here to shape, mold or control her. I felt like a guide who was blessed with this wise soul who chose me as her Mom. The word “Mom” didn’t ever really resonate. Instead, I felt like I was learning along with them and they were and are as much my teacher as I am theirs.

I now have three children, ages 22, 20, and 18. I am beyond grateful for the wisdom I have picked up along the way and the opportunity I have now to witness each of them evolve into authentic, self-expressive and courageous young people.

I have taught personal creativity and spiritual growth through a sacred painting practice since 1996, and much of what I teach to adults online has been reinforced or even gathered from my journey as a Mom to my two daughters and my son. I wanted to share these with you now.

#1 Your Child is Born with Deep Inner Creative Wisdom

Creativity is as much a part of your child from day one on as is their eye color or their smile. It is as basic as breathing and just as necessary.

Creativity doesn’t have to be “taught” to your child, it just needs to be given space to express itself.

I always had crayons, watercolors, lots of paper, glue sticks… (nothing fancy) available for my kids in the kitchen at all times. I also encouraged them to express their creativity in subtler ways, whether it was choosing their clothes or weighing in on what to have for dinner.

As soon as they could talk, I was asking them about their thoughts and their opinions. I considered their own deep, inner, creative wisdom to be purer than my own, somehow closer to their awareness. “Out of the mouths of babes…”

Know that your child is not so much a “blank slate” as a masterpiece being uncovered, one day at a time. They are on a creative journey in this lifetime, one that will be guided by their own inner wisdom. Their ability to thrive along the path and create a life that lights them up is relative to how much they know and access their own brilliance. When you honor this from the very beginning, they will grow up connected to this invaluable inner guidance and inspiration.

#2 Create Non-Structured Space for Your Child to Explore Their Own Knowing

How do you do this? You create space for them to be and create however they like!

For example, a coloring book would be more structured space than a blank piece of paper. A free afternoon after school where they get to choose how to entertain themselves is more non-structured than an after school dance class.

I always made sure my kids had plenty of time that was open and free from any other agenda. Whether it is playing outside, peeling the wrappers off the crayons, playing dress-up or painting / scribbling / doodling, I let them be the creators of their own experience as much as possible.

A cardboard box can transform into a castle, a fire engine or a rocket ship when their imagination is given room to roam.

Along the way, they also learn how to entertain themselves and trust their own inner knowing. And you get to know them, who they are at their core, more and more each time you get curious about what they are thinking and imagining and allow their inner musings to be expressed.

#3 Look for What Lights Them Up

At some point early on I read that we are our most authentic self at age 8.

Even though I grew up a total wanna-be artist (after an art teacher when I was 9 said “drawing isn’t her thing.”), at age 8 I had an “art center” under our basement steps, complete with the words ART CENTER stenciled in white on the red walls.

When my kids were little, I was always paying close attention to where they got lit up! When they got really excited about something, or something seemed to come naturally to them, I made a mental note.

Your child has her/his own inner sacred spark, their unique gift only they can share with the world. It is in them, just waiting to emerge, much like a seed has within it the blueprint to grow into a flower or tree—they both simply need the right conditions to grow.

What gets them excited, what holds their attention, is a clue to the special light only they can shine. Pay attention and encourage them to explore and expand whatever is lighting them up!

#4 Understand that Your Child’s Creative Spirit is Her/His Greatest Ally

If there is one thing I could give my children, it would be creativity.

Our world is so clearly in a constant state of change. And our world is crying out for change in almost every area. Preparing our kids for their future with current facts and figures is not going to be nearly as empowering or relevant and prepaying our kids to be able to create the change they desire.

What do they have available to them? What do they want to create, to experience? What are all the ways they can do this?

Creativity ONLY knows possibility. It can ONLY look for new steps to take, solutions, visions of a brighter future, ways to heal, ways to expand….

There is no arguing how overwhelming and complicated life can be. Their is such a breadth of choices career-wise, lifestyle-wise, etc. that it can feel too big, too powerful to manage. Your child’s creative self celebrates the breadth of the “palette” they have to work with. Overwhelm is transformed into freedom. Complications become opportunities to learn, grow and expand. When she/he are tapped into their creative awareness, there is no end, no failure, no mistakes, just an exciting, hair-raising, inspiring journey!

My last bit of encouragement is for you, Zen Mama. Nurture and celebrate your own Creative Spirit. Especially if you don’t consider yourself “creative,” I want you to challenge that belief. Creativity is your chi, your prana, your life force. You are creating your own life, your family’s life, in each and every moment—you are simply either doing it with or without awareness.

Let’s create the art that is our life, and that of our child’s, with inspired awareness!

P.S. My oldest is inspired to save our oceans and encourage sustainable lifestyles. Follow her on Instagram @deepblueworld1

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The choice right now is between living a life based in matter or living a life based in energy? Is your life about stuff or feelings? Do you value owning more of what you want or feeling more of what you want?

Let’s say you got to pick between door #1 or door #2. Behind each door is a potential future reality that, when chosen, becomes your truth. Behind door #1 is the you who has everything, emphasis on thing, that you’ve ever desired: the toys, cars, homes, shoes, travel, jewelry… Behind door #2 is the you that feels constant joy, peace, gratitude, wellness, appreciation, compassion, happiness….

Which would you choose?

If you knew that for sure you would always be living in a state of pure joy and gratitude, would you care what “stuff” you had around you? Probably not.

The liberation comes when you embrace the truth that you can create from within whatever energy, feeling or emotion, that you desire, in any moment, no matter the state of your external circumstance.

The liberation comes when you realize that life is an inside out job. Otherwise, you allow your external state to determine your internal state, and you are out of alignment with the flow of how life works.

Here are three different perspectives to help you embody and integrate this truth:

1. Emotions are energy, and energy becomes matter.

You feel emotions, correct? Bring into your awareness now a feeling you had when you were scared, or startled. Remember that jolt of electricity kind of feeling that surges through you when watching the horror movie or hearing an unexpected, sudden siren or crash? That feeling is energy.

Likewise, you can probably remember a time when you were super relaxed and chill and it almost felt like you were floating or glowing? That feeling is energy.

Those feelings are not things. While you may not have everything you need in this exact moment to build a car or prepare a soufflé, you do have everything you need right now to create worry, stress, gratitude, joy or peace.

Where we can get stuck is in the thinking that the things outside of us will create the feeling, or energy, that we desire. “If I have this, or him or her, or that, I will be happy.”

The truth is we are only free when we remember that our life experience is a reflection of the feeling or energy we are choosing to create from the inside.

The “simple, but not easy” truth is that you can choose the energy you create from within and allow that energy to manifest into your life experience. Focus on what you are grateful for and the more opportunities for you to feel grateful will appear into your external reality. What are all the things right now that make you happy? Ask yourself that to distract your mind from what is worrying you.

“Thoughts become things. Choose the good ones.” ~ Mike Dooley

2. Like attracts like.

What I have witnessed over and over in my 23 years of coaching others on how to live as Life Artists, is that we most often follow up our feeling of desire with feelings of unworthiness, disbelief, self-doubt or worry.

When you worry, you are generating from within feelings that don’t feel good and painting pictures in your mind of potential future realities that are not what you really want.

Like energy attracts like energy. When you worry, you attract worry.

Or you could choose, again simple but not easy, to follow up your desire with feelings of gratitude, accomplishment, freedom, peace, joy or happiness. You can imagine you experiencing the fruition of your desire and feeling the feeling that you would be experiencing.

Do you want to take a trip this winter? How would it feel to be lying in the sun, looking out a crystalline, blue waters? Feel that. Resist following up your desire to take a vacation with feelings of worry about not having enough money or time or… Like attracts like. Feel into more of what you like.

3. What emotions do I want to reinforce with my thoughts?

We get to experience emotions in two different ways. Some are received in the present moment. The emotion is an instantaneous reaction to an idea, a song, a person, etc. Other emotions are experienced because we reinforce them with our thoughts.

A person may experience a wave of loneliness when they see a couple holding hands or they see a movie on tv they would like to be watching snuggled up to a partner. The emotion is completely valid and true to that moment. And, if you take a moment to reflect, you can understand that you don’t have to be stuck in that emotion unless you choose to be so.

This is where you are liberated. You feel loneliness, worry, fear, anger…and then you remember you are free to choose to reinforce that feeling with thoughts that support all the reasons you are lonely, afraid, etc., or to reinforce that feeling with thoughts that are in alignment with how you want to feel: grateful, happy, safe, compassion, etc.

What emotions are you reinforcing with your thoughts? Your inner dialogue can either offer “loneliness” a chair and pour it a cup of red wine, or it can choose to focus on what is loving, supporting, inspiring or nurturing you right now.

When you reinforce the emotions you desire to feel with resonant ideas and visions, you are attracting more of what you want to experience in your life, inside and out. Energy becomes matter. You are free to generate more of what you want.

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The more often you can connect to the present moment, the easier it becomes to detach from past / future thinking that can keep you stuck or create obstacles on your path forward.

1. Yantra

A Yantra is a visual mantra. You can use symbols, images, or animals as a yantra by bringing them to mind and allowing that picture to create focus for you.

The animal totem I use to guide me into the present moment is the hummingbird. Imagine a hummingbird darting into your vision, its wings flickering and the light dancing off its feathers. Then, read these words:

As a hummingbird miraculously appears, as if from no-where, your mind is guided instantly towards the object of your soul’s desire. It’s iridescent wisdom becomes your muse. The hummingbird was created…… to drink sweet nectar from the ripest blossoms. You are created…… perfectly to have everything you need to follow your bliss and, therefore, offer your gifts to the world. Harmony in motion. When a hummingbird catches your eye, she commands all of your attention. When a person in flow, flying on the wings of their passion, crosses your path, you are likewise transfixed. Right NOW…What is your desire? BE that. Now,FLY!

2. Witnessing Your Feelings

Choose to look at yourself, your emotions from a place of objectivity. To do this, take a deep breath and ask yourself, “What do I feel right now?”

Then take a step back and observe your present moment. Are you feeling tired, happy, hopeful, frustrated, stressed, or excited?

Now, ask yourself, “Am I this feeling? Is this who I am?”

The answer would be NO. You are the you that is experiencing that feeling—you are not your feeling. In fact, at any given point in time, your focus, and the feeling being generated, is either on, or stemming from, the past, the future, or the present.

From the past, we can learn from our mistakes, recall valuable information, memories, or facts that we have learned or experienced and access our own personal set of baggage. From the future, we get the opportunity to plan ahead, envision the future we desire, or worry about what might, possibly, maybe happen if this situation, desire, or goal of ours does not work out. I have found, personally, that it is my default, after imagining something that I want, to almost immediately start imagining all the worst case, rather than the best case, scenario’s.

That awareness struck me back in January 2014. It was the launch of my new website. It had been a full year’s worth of planning and expectation and thousands of dollars invested. It felt like all my high hopes and dreams were launched alongside that site. I found myself thinking about what I wanted my biz to look like a year down the road. But then I realized that I was following that desire with all my back-up plans in case it didn’t work out! Why would I spend my time, my powerful imagination, painting the picture of what I DIDN’T want!? I decided to change that pattern. With awareness it IS possible.

3. Distract Your Thinking Mind

I coach people how to create the energy, the emotion, they desire to feel more often at the canvas, in a painting meditation process. The painting process distracts the logical, linear, go-go-go mind that is always tapped into the past or the future.

To cultivate the energy of presence, I guide my clients into the process of painting a mandala. First, we simply cover the canvas with multicolored brushstrokes. We don’t paint any THING, we simply play with color. Next, starting at the center of the canvas, we create a circular design known as a mandala. This is an ancient and sacred symbol that has been used by every culture to center oneself, connect to higher levels of awareness and to serve as a portal to the present moment. Distracted by color and form, your awareness focuses on the present moment and everything else falls away.

Regardless of the change you desire to experience in your life, cultivating presence in your life will inevitably guide you in the right direction.

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