Delight for the Soul
  • Welcome
  • Book
    • Knowing Beautiful Retreats
  • About Amy
  • Programs
    • Corporate Programs
    • Custom Events
    • Retreats >
      • Retreat Themes
      • Frequently Asked Questions
      • Knowing Beautiful Retreats
      • Empty Nest Retreat: for Mothers of Seniors
      • Couples Retreat >
        • Couple's Retreat F.A.Q.
    • Schedule, Cost, Location
  • Speaking
  • Blog
  • What Participants Say
  • Contact

Peace Chasers

11/19/2013

0 Comments

 
Picture
It was a rare peaceful moment.  All the day’s work was neatly stacked on my desk and in my mind.  The driving was over. Although dinner was in front of me and my daughter and a friend were madly baking in the kitchen, I found myself sitting on my bed, chatting with a friend behind a closed door.

Our conversation veered from decisions and stresses to emotions and desires. Then Jenna said, “I just want to live a life with peace for my family and for me.”  

Yes.  The sentence sunk in and settled deep.

There is so much buzz about happiness right now: choosing it, raising it, hardwiring it; but I’m voting for peace. Peace has a different quality about it.  It’s a bit more weighty.  I imagine grounding in peace, like lying on the expanse of sand at Ocean Beach.  

We continued to toss around the complexity of our lives and it became apparent to both of us that you cannot chase peace.  The very act of pushing your way towards it removes the prize.

The times when we most intensely seek peace is often when there is an underlying change that needs to happen.  The focus of my decade of corporate change management work was always to move people and organizations through a change as fast as possible with minimal disruption.

But the more I focus on personal change, I understand that sitting in the space of disruption is meaningful time spent, as unpeaceful as it feels.  

This week I spoke with author Dr. Susan Plummer about her new book Deep Change.  She outlines a fascinating seven-stage process on the journey of deep personal change. Right smack in the middle of the journey is the shift of The Stilling:

“Where we arrive at the threshold between our known selves and world and what can feel like nothingness, with no new horizon in sight, suspended between two ways of being. In this state we wait, with our imaginations stilled, open to the unknown yet unaware of what is to come in the future.”

I breathed a sigh of relief while reading these words that put shape to a nebulous unsettling space.  Peace percolates from within our place of deep knowing. You can’t race to or push through or chase after it. Connecting to your powerful inner rudder requires stillness.

And then with your compass in hand, peace can mean action: big, bold, uncomfortable, risky action . . . that embraces the change that's been brewing and brings you that freedom known as peace.

0 Comments

Seeking Versus Shedding

5/5/2013

0 Comments

 
Picture
Picture
Have you ever had an intense seeking inside of you that you can’t put into words?  A restlessness that makes your mind grasp for answers? Even your body holds anticipation?  Sometimes we know exactly what we are seeking in life . . . a new this or a change in that. However,  I’m talking about a deeper query, one without a clear and focused path.  It feels like more of a wave that you just have to ride.

Last month I found myself "surfing the Mavericks".  It’s been an intense journey of seeking that came unexpectedly and was hard to navigate.  It’s over now.  I am catching my breath and seeing my ride with clarity that wasn’t there for me when just my nose was above the water.

I wonder if you might be riding the same wave.  Are you seeking answers that aren’t ready to take shape?

I asked for help to calm the swell within my mind, body and spirit, calling on my beautiful circle of wisdom.  You know the combination:  doctors, healers, coaches, friends, family, teachers, mentors.  Ultimately the greatest clarity came from the Universe delivering two blessings.

The first blessing came to me while driving to the airport.  I love the belief of animal totems. They bring us messages of what we need and help us connect with our innate beings.   I have always felt a connection to hawks and have many stories of hawks visiting me.  While I was driving, a hawk flew up out of the field carrying a large two-foot snake in its talons. I knew this was a powerful message I needed to receive but I didn’t understand its meaning until I returned from my trip.

I had received an invitation to take the last seat on a plane and fly down to San Diego to hear and meet Ekhart Tolle, Deepak Chopra and Wayne Dyer.  It felt like a high end pilgrimage to hear three modern day Western disciples.  

Ekhart’s words pierced through my seeking, “The need to understand your life is a mental construct. If you are looking for enlightenment like something that will arrive, you will never receive it, because it cannot be grasped. Let go and find a sense of not knowing.  This is your awakening . . .”

I realized my deep seeking has actually been a shedding.  Instead of grasping for something in front of me  I was actually letting go of a part of myself that no longer served a purpose.   And what has emerged is still taking shape. It feels wonderful.

Shedding may feel like a combination of yearning, heaviness, agitation, overwhelm, inspiration, or confusion.  It may be an unexplained push towards change. It may have an undertow of a lack of trust or intuition.  Shedding can penetrate your thoughts, emotions, spirit and physical condition.

Shedding is the work of change. It’s hard work work but holds a different energy. It’s an energy of letting go of a part of yourself versus trying to effort through “self develop”.  If I would have recognized my seeking as shedding from the start,   it would have lightened my journey.

My daughter just came home from school this week with a gift for me she made in ceramics.  “I don’t really like it Mom but you can have it if you want it.”  How did she know?

Are you seeking clarity using your old lens?  Maybe it’s time to shed some of your beliefs or thought patterns.  Maybe it’s time to shed the need for clarity. The skin I shed may not be yours.  The next time you feel uncomfortable in your own skin, try letting it go.

0 Comments

Untethered

10/26/2012

1 Comment

 
Picture
She is 97.  With a beautiful heart, failing legs, and a mind that some would say is failing too.

I see it a little differently.  I see a mind that has loosened its grip in a way we all desire.  Letting go of anxiety, to do lists, the need for comparison, planning for the future, regret.

She’s my grandmother and she has dementia.  It’s a condition caused by the gradual death of brain cells.

The space that has emerged is filled with humor, freedom, candidness, peace, pointed wisdom at times and an innate ability to be in the present.

There is also confusion, the sense of something not being quite right, and a loss of memories.  For those who love her, there's a sadness when they aren't recognized. Yet we always have an intimate visit with my grandmother’s inner soul.

And in her moments of clarity, her most authentic self steps forward loving and appreciating this world.   She now relaxes into daily gratitude. She trusts.  She feels.  She sleeps soundly.  She accepts.

At this point, dementia has removed layers of the mind in my grandmother that bury the soul in all of us.  Layers of thought, personality, memories that become our story, fear of the future.

It’s too early to say it’s a gift, but for sure it’s a lesson in what is pure . . . how beautiful an untethered heart and soul can be.  And, no matter the age, when a soul bares itself, we must hold and love it with the same compassion we hold a child.

Today, maybe we try loosening the grip of our own mind. Let’s relax into the present, allow our emotions to surface freely, let go of self judgement, and rest in a space of trust.
1 Comment

Don't Rush the Sky

6/22/2012

0 Comments

 
Picture
Last night I stayed up until one a.m. figuring out a problem.  At first, I forced a quick answer and moved on.  But I had been carrying a heavy uncomfortable feeling inside.  I knew I needed to go back and try again.  I needed to take the time to get it right.

When I eventually crawled into bed, feeling lighter . . . aligned, I remembered the advice from one of my most respected guides. 

It was the morning of her fifth birthday party.  The backyard was set up for a day of play and the sky was set up for a day of rain. I said to my daughter, “Oh I hope the rain comes soon so it’s nice for your party.”

Aria replied, “Mommy, don’t rush the sky! How would you feel if all the grass died, if all the leaves on the trees were crunchy, if all the flower petals fell off?"

It can be so hard to let life unfold at its natural pace.  Our current societal race invites us to push through decisions, emotions, moments of not knowing, so we don’t fall further behind. But often life’s unfolding takes sitting with it, circling back, waiting for the clouds to pass.

When we try to “Rush the Sky”, we often ~

~ miss cues
~ misinterpret barriers as something to push harder against
~ live with an incessant circle of mental analysis
~ feel off balance or ungrounded
~ use up our energy faster than we can restore it

There is a sense of stillness in a clear sky, even though we know it’s in constant motion. When life feels clear and sunny, there is greater opportunity to focus on your pace and create space for your inner compass.

When life rains upon you, it’s a bit more unnatural to slow down and be in it. The first reaction is to run for cover.  But, I invite you to try mindfully getting wet.  Know that your roots are growing stronger and that by drinking it in drop by drop, you will blossom.


My Teacher ~  A Lesson in Mindfully Getting Wet:
0 Comments

Finding Your Voice

2/7/2012

0 Comments

 
Picture
How comfortable are you using your voice? Speaking up.  Articulating your gifts, your value, your needs, your opinion, your fullest, wisest self?

Today I was asked to articulate my expertise, along with twenty other women.  We each tried it.  We stumbled, mumbled, and tried again. 

The most amazing part of this exercise was the gift we gave each other . . . one by one, the group was able to reflect back, with beautiful clarity, the fullness of each of our gifts which we were uncomfortable to claim ourselves.

What greatness inside of you do you need help embracing?   Try this: 

    I want . . .

            I know . . .

                    I am  . . .

                            I can . . .

Let your thoughts unfold.  Let your words flow.  Do it with a smile.  Feel a little uncomfortable.  Then read it.  And re-read it.  Maybe put it in a stamped envelope addressed to yourself, mail it, and open it again in three days.  Be that someone else who believes in your full beauty, strengths, and gifts.  As this part of you unfolds, know that the world is waiting to receive You.

And then do it for a friend.  Let her know what you see in her.  Give her the nudge to embrace her fullest self.

Sometimes our greatest truths are the most vulnerable parts of us.  This truth wants to be heard.  It needs a voice.  And it needs to know that the universe is waiting with compassionate ears. 

What would you like to claim with joy and sureness? 

0 Comments

Getting There

7/22/2011

0 Comments

 
Picture

Do you always pick the most direct path?

I just came back from a family vacation that required navigation.  We toggled between GPS and traffic status applications to weave our way in the most direct path possible, choosing between the shortest distance and shortest time.

But is the best path always the shortest? 

Sometimes in our deadline driven lives, we don't have the luxury of a scenic route.  However, once in a while we can choose how to get from point A to point B.  

I have personally been playing around with the scenic route.  It can feel counter-intuitive not to actively push towards an important decision or goal.  Yet there is a navigation system within us that requires us to stay open, in tune, patient, and comfortable with the unknown.  How comfortable are you with your unknowns? 
Some call it being "in flow" or operating from our gut.  In this mode, you drive slowly enough to read life's signs and are nimble enough to turn when you arrive at a path of possibility.   And when you get ‘lost’, there is no need to panic.  You are able to trust your internal compass to steer you straight.

In what area of your life are you seeking direction?  Do you turn inward our outward for this direction?

What personal goal might benefit from slowing down and tuning in to your own GPS system? I'd love to know.

Life is a balance of charting our course and being content while ‘getting there’.  Instead of mapping out your whole trip....  I invite you to be fully present with each mile, trusting it’s where you are supposed to be and knowing you will recognize your next turn.  It may be closer than you think.

0 Comments

Wisdom of the Ages

1/31/2011

0 Comments

 
Picture

Wisdom has many messengers.  Last Sunday it was my seven year old.  I don't plan to use this blog to talk about my kids, but these lessons are worth sharing.  


Upon asking her to eat a red pepper while she was drawing, 
"No Mommy. I don't have a lot of time for that these days."

Be Mindful.
 
Upon asking her to get dressed, 
"No Mommy.  I am not a supermodel.  Pajamas are just fine for me."

Stop focusing on the External.

 Upon asking her to stop her project so we could read, 
"No Mommy.  I will live till I'm ninety.  I have plenty of time."

Time is Abundant.
 
Upon asking her to get in the car to go out and about,
"No Mommy.  We bought this house, now let's use it!"

Be Still.

0 Comments

    Subscribe to Blog

    Enter your email address:

    Delivered by FeedBurner

    RSS Feed

    Picture

    Amy Tirion
    About Me
    Advocate for Stillness, Seeker of Inspiration, Playful Mom, Lover of Creativity, Still Learning, Believer in Women,  Founder of Delight for the Soul

    Check Out My New Book Knowing Beautiful:
    A New Bedtime Story for Women

    Picture
    Becoming
    This blog is an invitation to stop.  Breathe.  And tap into the part of you that craves more space, inspiration, and nurturing.  It captures the writings from my Delight for the Soul Newsletter.  They are personal moments of reflection, inspiration, and questioning that focus on Being rather than Doing.  It's a direction we are all invited to go in, as we live deeply and do less.  The more we focus on being, the more delighted we become . . . and the more becoming we are.


    Categories

    All
    Abundance
    Admiration
    Aging
    Balance
    Beauty
    Becoming
    Buoyancy
    Calling
    Chakra
    Change
    Childhood
    Children
    Compassion
    Consciousness
    Courage
    Dance
    David Whyte
    Desire
    Disappointment
    Discomfort
    Dreaming
    Emotion
    Energy
    Enthusiasm
    Fear
    Flash Mob
    Friendship
    Full Moon
    Gender
    Girlfriends
    Giving
    Goal Setting
    Goal Setting
    Grace
    Graduation
    Gratitude
    Growing
    Harmony
    Heart
    Heart Opening
    Hope
    Indulgence
    Inspiration
    Intuition
    Jealousy
    Joy
    Kelly Mcgonigal
    Loss
    Love
    Magic
    Mary Oliver
    Mindfulness
    One Billion Rising
    Oneness
    Overwhelm
    Pace
    Parenting
    Peace
    Perimenopause
    Play
    Receiving
    Resilience
    School
    Self Care
    Self Perception
    Shasta Nelson
    Slowing Down
    Soul
    Support
    Time
    Travel
    Trust
    Truth
    Visioning
    Voice
    Vulnerability
    Wisdom
    Work
    World

 © 2017  Amy Tirion