Homebound No More

1. Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy: Cognitive refers to thoughts. For example, I think I may be going crazy. Contrast this with the idea, I’ve had thoughts about going crazy before and I’m still functioning.

Behavioral refers to how we act. Learning how to act in new ways produces new results.

2.Support Systems: Form a support system of encouraging and understanding persons. Sometimes this can come in the form of constructive confrontation–people gently letting me know how my behaviors adversely impacted others.

3. Medication: In a great film called Panic Prison, Dr. Jack Gorman talks about the irony of people who are afraid to take prescription medicine to allay anxiety symptoms, yet continue to use alcoholic beverages. Of all the anti-anxiety treatments, he notes, the one most likely to cause great harm in the long run is alcohol.

And there are more, including Education, Spirituality and Taking Risks.

If you have a loved one suffering from panic disorders, agoraphobia, or even Obsessive/Compulsive Disorder (OCD) –(Blaise said he made the sign of the cross so much while playing for his high school team that the coach asked him what was going on), this wonderful, heartfelt book may shed real sunshine into the black hole of self-doubt and help them reconnect with life.

Homebound No More

I personally have done a version of this for years, especially since I created the Path of Possibility and Power Circle in the Magical Healing Garden in my back yard, ten years ago. I’m so excited that stone masons are here today to “foof up” the Path!

The suggestions below are from my mentor Jennifer McLean www.mcleanmasterworks.com and I appreciate the thorough instructions.

Over the years I’ve found that setting intentions is as powerful (if not more) for me than setting specific goals. When I intend to live on a higher level of BEING, goals in the third dimension come to fruition more easily. Here are the tips: Read the rest of this entry »

(reprinted from IONS newsletter)

At this time of year, it’s especially clear that how and where we direct our intentions–and our dollars–has immediate impacts on ourselves and the causes we support.

Researchers in the field of consciousness studies have found that giving is good for you–for your health, your happiness, and your sense of purpose!

Consciousness research, which has been studying the science of giving for decades, has taught us that giving and receiving are among the most healing expressions that humans can make. They can help heal the separateness we often feel from ourselves, each other, and the environment. Read the rest of this entry »

To explain how our perspectives are formed and hardened over time, I describe to my classes a Nobel prize winning experiment involving kittens.

A group of kittens is raised in an environment that has only horizontal stripes. When they are released into a more open space which has curves or vertical lines, they bump into things–because they literally can’t see anything they weren’t raised to see.

Recently in my class Values, Vision & Good Vibrations, we talked about the absolute necessity of staying focused on what we DO choose to experience in life–especially if we’re stuck in the muck.

The more we focus on muck, the more muck exists. Being stuck in the muck is like being a kitten raised in horizontal lines and never seeing its way out of it.

One of our dear friends in the class is enduring a long stretch of muck– and, regrettably, seems unable to focus on anything other than an unending seeming series of misfortunes involving money, health, relationships, family, you name it.

So, when our assignment for the next session was to choose some ACTION STEP that would be personally uplifting, she mentioned a local pottery studio where she has a membership–but didn’t know how she’d raise the money to buy the clay.

Immediately the others in the group reached into their purses and handed her a wad of $5 and $10 bills — more than enough to buy plenty of clay–a true cause for celebration, one might think.

Instead, she was so overwhelmed by the generous gesture that she proclaimed herself too guilty to keep the money. Tears streamed down her face and all of our hearts opened to her to help her lift herself up.

Needless to say, we insisted that she keep the money and show us the results of her creative endeavors at the final session–and I believe it will be something quite beautiful.

My point is this: Even when she got exactly what she had asked for, she wanted to reject it. The old “I am not worthy” excuse.

I’ve done it before, I confess.

Is this one of the self-thwarting mechanisms you use to shoot your-own-self in the foot?

Here, I believe, is the true meaning of abundance–recognizing that providence and plenty come from every direction if only we are open and receptive to their many manifestations. Friendships, the surrounding beauty, opportunities that present themselves. It’s our choice which ones we take.

Checks appear from out of nowhere (that long-forgotten tax refund or the money owed for a loan); calls come from unexpected benefactors. Staying attuned to the perfect ebb and flow of the universe, and stepping out in faith like The Fool in the Tarot deck, never knowing what the next day will bring, but fully expecting our daily bread…. Read the rest of this entry »

In 2006 when my father was still ambulatory (barely, after hip replacement), I took him on a week-long trip to the Costa del Sol, Spain, where we enjoyed a series of day trips to the fabulous fortress in Granada, The Alhambra; the Rock of Gibraltar with its frisky Barbary Macaques; and The Marbella Club, one of the most fabulous spas I’ve ever experienced, built by a prince for exiled royalty & 1960s jet-setters.

Dad & I enjoyed an RCI timeshare condo populated by Brits on the sunny Mediterranean, and although my role was cook, nurse, maid, luggage wrangler and tour guide (at least to getting him on the bus), we still had a blast, because Spain is Spain, after all!

So for me there was no mistaking the message my father, Joe Dickey, was sending me when I got the sad, unexpected news of his passing, three days into my China trip. Read the rest of this entry »

Experiencing what you want in life is more about who you BE than what you DO.  

Hence my objective to do only the things I ENJOY doing– then I can BE IN JOY and ENJOY BEING.

Back on June 7th, I sat in Laura West’s Business Goddess Bigger Money Game workshop crying about how all I wanted to do was go to China in October but I didn’t want to be stressed about $$ when I got back, and so I needed to generate an additional (at least) $30K or more by September 15– with a fudge factor up to departure date of 10/4 good buddy.

Basically, I had no idea where it would come from except for $6K known income (PR client) and a few hundred from yoga teaching, since all of my coaching clients were midstream in their six month development programs with me, and already paid.

Here’s what I did to boost things along:

Read the rest of this entry »

Frequently during times of transition God will toss me a big beautiful bouquet, just to keep me focused on the world of wonders he reveals when we’re alert and open to guidance from beyond.

Although I don’t really gravitate to the word “obedient,” it really is a matter of recognizing that “where there’s no will, there’s a way.” Stop trying to force my will on the outcome that I believe is THE WAY.

This statement is really a corollary to holding a goal gently in your hands–because if you don’t grip that one specific goal so tightly, there’s room in your hands for the Universe to place far greater miracles than you could ever imagine.

It’s all a matter of knowing how and when to release willfulness and petty little demands, squawking for exactly what you think you want, exactly when you think you want it.

The gospel song tells us, “He’s an on-time God, yes He is!” God definitely shows up on his timetable, not ours.

Excerpted from “Beautiful Bouquet” in  BACK TO THE GARDEN: Getting from Shadow to Joy

Rocks are a key element of consciousness in any garden. They serve as power centers, holders of the forces from deep within earth’s core. Rocks not only hold energy, they also symbolize it. In the Japanese garden, stones and boulders are used to connote miniature mountain peaks and the hills where hope resides.

“I will lift up my eyes to the hills, where I find hope.” Read the rest of this entry »