Wow. As I stood in front of the group, getting ready to introduce Gay and Katie Hendricks, I had a strong sense of “this is what it means when dreams come true.” From my fantasy over these many years of having the intention to “create conscious community,” to actually standing within a conscious community, I had the magnificent experience of being transported from seeing it all in my head to witnessing the much better version of “real life.” I feel... Read more

When I take the time to focus in on what my body is trying to communicate to me (sometimes at a VERY HIGH VOLUME), and then actually follow what it is asking for, I find that my life goes smoothly and easefully. When I let my mind direct me what I notice is hitting obstacles and roadblocks. It’s as if I’m assembling a whole gauntlet in front of me to get me to hear the message: WARNING: YOUR MIND IS... Read more

I first heard about the importance of agreements in 1995 and I’m still fine-tuning this ability. I sometimes revert to my old patterns of rushing through making an agreement, not checking in with myself to see if I’m agreeing to something I really want to do. Or I’ll push for my way without waiting for the other person’s clear “yes.” When I take the time to feel out what I really want while welcoming what the other person wants, I... Read more

If you walked into my office right now, you’d see: boxes of unassembled furniture; stacks of books all over the floor; business cards that have flowed beyond their boxes; an unhappy-looking plant; and a variety of pens, papers, notebooks and other assorted items perched dangerously close to the tops of cabinets that are now in the wrong place. Chaos. Gabrielle Roth developed a wonderful model about the Five Rhythms, describing the cycle of creation. These include Flow (being internal, connected... Read more

I’ve been playing with an idea I recently heard that nearly all neuroses and other types of emotional suffering are the result of our inability to simply face and accept what is.* Anxiety is fear about what might happen, with an irrational dose of hoping to keep that bad thing from occurring. Depression is our flattening out, or “depressing” our feelings instead of being able to face and then be with them. We let our minds loop obsessively instead of... Read more

Lately I’ve experienced a lot of material taught by wonderful folks. A few months ago, Gay Hendricks challenged a group of us to commit to living a majority of our time in our genius (I accepted). He later wondered with us, “If you were on your deathbed and someone asked you if you’d lived a successful life, what would you say?” Then our friends Gayle Colman and Chris Lucerne came to town with Imagination Made Real® and asked “What is... Read more

I’m in bliss from my third day of panchakarma treatments by a wonderful ayurvedic treatment practitioner, Paula Scarborough* As few people have heard of panchakarma, I want to extol its amazing effects. Panchakarma (the “five actions”) “is a cleansing and rejuvenating program for the body, mind and consciousness” that originated within the ayurvedic practices in India. (For a more thorough description of this, go to the Ayurvedic Institute’s site.) It is traditionally done at the change of seasons, to help... Read more

I’m writing my first blog entry on the plane home from Louisiana. I spent a magical week participating in Habitat for Humanity with beloved friends from the Hendricks’ conscious community—and in four days it is officially Thanksgiving. I believe that the magic of the week was the direct result of appreciation and gratitude. The first night, our roommate Audrey (one of the five of us sharing a room we started calling “the dormitory’) said, “I end every day with appreciation,”... Read more