Michelle Emery Professional Coaching and Counseling

Beauty

its not the antelope's
golden leaps across the grasslands
but how she stops
drops to her knees at the barbed-wire fence
and crawls under
then springs when she's on her feet again
So too with you. The beauty's in
your fall, your startled
grace
everything
turning on
the hinges of your neck, waist, and knees
how you bend-

from BlueHour of the Day, McClelland & Steward, Toronto, 2007p.227

"The spirit, it might fly to Heaven, but the Soul, it must go to its depths, to the soil of itself. Soul to soil." ---Rhoda Lerman

In order to become something new we must be something different. How I have understood this intellectually, but ask me to do something "i don't want to" and well its at the point I have shut off the faucet of change.

We know that change comes from doing something different, that doing the same thing over and over expecting something different is insanity.

But how many of us actually are willing to do something truly outside our comfort zone.

What does it mean to go to the depths of yourself, to go into your own bones for nourishment.

Inner work is not easy, it is not for the feint of heart. Deep work requires vulnerability, like Inanna being stripped bare at every gate.

The humiliation of the ego, letting go of the layers and masks that guard and protect. Letting go of our illusions, our attachments. We begin again brand new, raw renewed



Image Credit: via Unsplash

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Prepping for some holiday Astro charts starting with my little gnome friend but unfortunately he doesn’t know his birth time so we have wing it 😂

He said, “The sun shines not on us but in us. The rivers flow not past, but through us. Thrilling, tingling, vibrating every fiber and cell of the substance of our bodies, making them glide and sing. The trees wave and flowers bloom in our bodies as well as our souls. And every bird song, wind song, and tremendous storm song of the the rocks in the heart of the mountains is our song, our very own, and it sings our love.” ~ John Muir

What do you see when you look at this image?
Wait before you keep scrolling... pause... reflect allow yourself time to really notice somethings.

What draws you towards it first?
What is your souls longing? For the light? for the dark quiet spaces?

What? For the clouds that floating feeling? Really pause just a couple minutes more. This is just for you to get to know you my deal one!

https://www.michelleemery.com/blog/2022/4/9/transforming-worry

Transforming Worry — Michelle Emery When we can learn to interact with the part of us that worries with love and compassion, that part of us that leans towards fear will lesson.

https://www.michelleemery.com/blog/2022/4/4/seeing-the-world-differentlymaybe

Seeing the World Differently...maybe — Michelle Emery Perhaps just for today consider that everything you think you know could be known a different way…

A little break from working... a view from my desk. *
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So what does it mean to be present?

I was recently watching a video blog by a motivational speaker about what six things highly successful people know and/or do. One of the main things he discussed was being present. This made me think about what it means to be present and what prevents us from being present moment to moment.

First, what does it mean to be present? In doing research for this blog, I looked up Webster’s definition as well as reading a few other blogs that discussed the importance of being present, but none of them made it clear to me what this idea or concept of being present really meant.

I have studied mindfulness practices for many years and have a clear understanding that my meditation practice is a tool to help me improve on being present. I have had moments, albeit brief, when I felt that the moment was eternal. However, this actually scared me as the moment felt very big and vast and I likened it to falling in a dream, so much so that I quickly brought myself back to a finite sense of the moment.

So let’s get practical. How do we actualize presence in every moment of our lives? I have heard individuals complain that “life it too busy” or they don’t have time for themselves or cannot even think straight. I am well-acquainted with internal dialogue as I have had it myself for many years.

What I know:

When we fight with what is we will never find peace or presence.

What to do?

Get really acquainted with your life. I mean fully acquainted – study it – the ins and outs of what you do and why you do it and be curious. Notice the moments when you slip into wanting something different or arguing internally with what is.

Byron Katie says, “If you want stress, get a future”. My understanding of this is that when we are constantly living in a state of conflict and desiring something different we feel stressed. That doesn’t mean don’t have a plan or a vision, but be willing and able to create a vision and work toward that vision without negating the present.

Learn to ask yourself moment to moment, “How present am I and at what level am I present?”.

-Michelle Emery