A Story of Empowerment

As CBS News corespondent Steve Hartman once said, "Everybody has a story." Each story is as unique as the individual. Some stories have mysterious twists and turns to the plot while some have tragedy, romance or wonder. They all have one thing in common. Nobody has to be defined by their story.

In the shamanic practice story is a powerful tool. The shaman, often referred to as the Master Storyteller, will work with a client to help them see that while the events and relationships that have occurred within their story are undeniable and very real, the amount of power we give to them is always within our control.

So many times this depends upon our perspective, our willingness to let go what is no longer or has never served us and to embrace any gifts or lessons that have come our way from the unfolding story and its energies. We can use these events and relationships to propel us forward, to grow and expand and learn more about ourselves, or we can use them to keep us stuck and in a victim role. Authoring our story and choosing what to emphasize, to serve as fodder to our life's journey and to what we want to call our truth is where the power lies.

When we reflect on our life story we can find the places that serve as traps for us. Think back to your past, note the memories that come up, feel the emotions that are attached to them, pay attention to the energy of your body, and note how your soul feels? Your body, mind and soul can help you to discern if your story is empowering for you or not. Anger, guilt, blame, sadness, fear and bitterness will weigh us down and our story is not serving us as an effective tool. But if we find in these reflections peace, fondness, honoring of life lessons and trust of the future then we know we have done the work to move forward in a healthy relationship with our story.

How do we step away from the negative emotions and energies of our life story? There are many answers to that question, but the first step that will lead in the right direction is learning how to create a new version of the story. We have the ability to choose how we will continue to react to what others have done to us or what they have not given us. We have the choice of whether to stay stuck festering about a life event that was not fair, tragic or life changing or not. We can look to these places for insight and lessons, learn to walk away with this and apply it to our current moment and take it along with us. All the while, we then leave behind all the negative energies, the wounded ego, the guilt or shame that does not encourage our soul's growth.

Learning to find a life story that is empowering, supportive and has possibilities give us a chance to step out of our past and be fully alive in the moment. It gives us the ability to be open to all the options and opportunities that life will offer. It affords us to embrace the energies of forgiveness. When we become engaged in the role of author of our life story, we no longer leave it up to others belief, actions or energies to dictate what our future holds. Instead we are in charge and we can bring all our creative energies and dreams to the story of today.

Blessings, Lisa

You Are Conditioned

Every relationship, every event, every thought has the power to impact our life in profound ways. The blank page of the moment picks up the hues and colors of the experience. They begin to create the story that we believe of our life. Eventually, these events have an influence on how we react and respond to our present day happenings, relationships and thoughts.

There is no room for judgment here. There is no positive or negative, no right and no wrong. We become conditioned, over time, by these experiences and our reaction to them. The ways in which we decide to choose to move through them, to curtail them, to alter them or to embrace them creates a touchstone for us to reflect on again, when a similar situation occurs.

But this is not to say that if we are unhappy with the patterns that repeat within our life, we can't choose to make a change. Making a change can and often does result in different unfoldings. We have to be aware and ready to catch the moment when we can pause and not automatically react, but instead consider. In that consideration we find we have choices. We recognize that we are conditioned, over time, to react or respond in a certain way, even when we have a deep knowing that it may not result in the way we want it to.

Often our conditioned response comes from a place of unawareness. We are not being fully present and in the moment. We may be going through the motions. We may be revisiting the past and feel rooted in old emotions or fears. Sometimes we are overcome by panic or anger and that fogs our thinking and keeps us distant from our inner truth and knowing.

To break the pattern of our conditioning we need to capture that fleeting moment between repeated experience and repeated response. It is within that in between moment that we can find a new light to bring to the experience. Perhaps a shift in perspective is all we need. Perhaps a leap of faith into an unfamiliar reaction. Perhaps a longer pause, to wait and see how things can unfold differently with a bit more time. In this moment of transition we can find a new way to empower ourself, a new way to heal or a new lesson to embrace. Choosing to break the conditioned response with a response of awareness keeps us present and allows us the opportunity to rewrite a portion of our story.

Blessings, Lisa

Within the Deep

There is a remembrance that my soul holds onto with a fierceness unlike any I have known before. It grasps the essence tightly in a hold that is made of steel and forged with my passion's fire. It is a memory that lives deep within me. It resides so deep that the everyday forces of living this human life cannot even reach it. My ego knows not the map to find it. It has safely found the cave of my authenticity and truth.

This deep soul memory was born in the life time of my ancestors. It was carved from the lava that flows through my veins and down into the roots of the Mother. This deep authentic tale is woven in the strands of my DNA and also courses through the scattered stardust of the galaxies.

This river of remembrance cascades through me and carries with it the energies that have been passed on to my soul by the guides, the angels, the spirits of my story. My mythic heroine stands at the shore calling me onward.

My soul whispers in my dreams these memories and the images come to life for me to engage with in the realms of my strengths and the worlds of my powers. The beauty of their magic unfurls in the wind of my soul and releases the perfumed essence of the deep unforgotten scent of my life force; the very breath of my dragons and the smokey ash of my fires.

Within the deep recesses of who I am lives the call of who I am and I steep myself within its juices daily. I take long languid sips and fill my soul's belly with its nourishing tonic. It is here in the deep that I find all that I truly need and I bring it up to the surface, into the light of this lifetime and live it to fullness, with abandon and great acceptance of all the potential it offers.

Blessings, Lisa