April Showers - April 08 Newsletter

April Showers
We’ve had a lot of rainy weather here in the desert of late. As in the saying "April showers bring May flowers," Mother Nature is preparing itself for growth. In this phase, the ground is being made ready. In our own lives this is a very important phase that many of us often skip in favor of "doing" and trying to make things happen. The thing I have learned by watching nature is that it is always seeking balance and it never forces. I know that when I have skipped this preparation cycle I end up pushing and forcing things. When I pay attention and nurture the incubation process of the ideas that want to be birthed that they easily and naturally come to fruition. In this way I am a steward for what is coming through me as opposed to trying to make something happen. For me, this is the difference of being in flow and being in the struggle. When I notice myself struggling I can be sure that I have skipped the vital process of incubation. What this process of incubation looks like for me is noticing my thoughts, noticing what’s grabbing my attention and noticing what my natural impulses are. These things all give me clues as to what is wanting to come through me.

Reverend Deborah L. Johnson says in her book, The Sacred Yes, “What is being birthed has it’s own timing, it’s own gestation period, it’s own sense of when it is ready to spring forth. No amount of forcing, planning or setting of time lines and schedules will alter this one iota.”

So let it rain. Clear your mind so that the Divine ideas wanting to be birthed through you can take root.

Tips and Tools
If you want to know what it is that wants to come through you, try this on:

Take a small notebook with you for about a week. Write down the themes in your thinking and the things you are drawn to. Areas may include:

• Music
• Books
• Colors
• Movies
• Foods
• Places

What are your natural impulses? Do you want to:

• move
• rest
• dance
• simply be quiet?

Just notice the process that is happening through you. What is extraordinary to me is that this is all happening without our conscious effort or intent. Paying attention is a fabulous way to nurture the process unfolding within.

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Heart Matters

Today is my fathers 91st birthday, a young buck really when you consider my mother who turned 95 on January 1st. They are in the hospital together, my dad went in for a stroke and my mother, not to be outdone, came in a day later with pneumonia. My father has also been diagnosed with dementia. He sang songs that made no sense and he joined me in singing happy birthday to him. He came in and out of lucidity and yet this was one of my favorite conversations with him. During his life he was a brilliant man, a scholar, a bishop and father of 14. But since a heart attack and subsequent quadruple bi-pass about 15 years ago my father has come out of his head and into his heart.

As a little girl I always saw his big heart. I used to write him poetry. "Dear old Dad, only one I've ever had." (My poetry was quite profound even then.) I used to call him cuddly and he and the the rest of the family used to think that was the funniest thing they had ever heard, as he was quite a stern man. It wasn't until I became a teenager that I lost my ability to see who he really was.

I'm glad I'm back in my heart now so that I can enjoy this time of nonsense and tenderness. He told me today that he always knows it's me on the phone because I call him POP. I said, "Is that because I'm the only one that calls you that?" He said "Not only that but I can feel the tenderness of your heart beneath the word."

I'm hoping that I can keep cultivating conscious dementia so that I can continue to appreciate the important parts of life.
Happy Birthday Pop
I love you forever
Megan

The Body Knows

I feel happy today. It's the warmest day of the year so far. I love how the sun feeds me and nourishes me. I've felt for awhile that my body needs the sun and have thought that all of this stuff about fearing the sun is a bunch of bull crap. When I let myself soak in the rays I feel more alive and healthy. I was talking to the Doc at my office about this and he mentioned that most sunscreens cause more cancer than the sun because of all of the chemicals. Being a sun baby, that makes me happy and intuitively feels right to me. I just don't like stuff between me and my sun.

I think all of us instinctually know what is best for us. I believe my body holds a tremendous amount of untapped wisdom. I think my body has always talked to me and I'm now getting better at listening. I find that when I listen to my body, life is so much more ease full and fun. For much of my life I've depended on my mental intellect to survive. As I tap more in to my body's wisdom I'm finding more of a peace and an experience of being that I never got from thinking.

Lately I've been practicing simply noticing my breath. Feeling my chest expand and listening to my breath as it comes in and out. I notice that when I do that my thoughts stop and it gives me a few moments of simply being. I've felt more able to listen to what my body is telling me since starting this practice. I seem to know what I want and need more easily.

I find that if I ask a question while consciously breathing and moving that I discover ways of looking at and addressing things that would have never occurred from just trying to figure stuff out.

So what wisdom does your body have to share with you?
Tune in and see.
Peace Out
Megan

Spring Fever - March 08 Newsletter

Reaching Down, Reaching Up
My friend Auretha pointed out to me that at this time of year the plants in the ground are reaching their roots down into the earth to gather the nutrients they need to spring forth from the ground. So I’ve been practicing reaching down into myself to get the energy and focus I need for this year. I’ve been doing this by resting, allowing myself to take naps and sitting in the sun to write and read. I invite you to ask yourself the following questions:

• Where do you need to go to nourish yourself?
• What are you stretching into?

Check out the Tips and Tools section (below) for a great body centered activity that will get you fully in tune with this.

Death and Rebirth
It’s also Easter time, which for me I think of death and rebirth, a time of transition. I think at this time we are coming out of the death of winter and into creation of spring. I asked a question at the dinner table tonight that I want to share with you. What is dying in you and what are you giving birth to at this time? My answer to this question was that my will power is dying and I’m giving birth to my willingness. All of us at the table were able to bring to consciousness the vital process that was going on deep inside ourselves. Try it on for yourself.

Tips and Tools
I believe that learning isn’t complete until we get it in the body, so here is a whole body activity to assist you in birthing your new creations this year. Do this activity on your hands and knees if your health and flexibility allow. You can also do this activity sitting. It would be great if you could actually do this outside for full effect, but indoors will do if your ego or the weather doesn't allow it.

Activity:
Feel all of the parts of you that are touching the ground. Now imagine you could grow roots from your feet, knees and hands down into the earth. When you sense the roots are in deep, begin to feel them sucking up nutrients and imagine this energy coming up and filling your whole body with life and energy. Take some full belly breaths in as you do this. Breathing up the nourishment and breathing out back into the earth. Do this for a few minuets until you feel a flow of energy. When you feel this flow, begin to stand upright stretching your limbs in as many directions as you can. Stand on your tippy toes and stretch your fingers way out. Imagine as you do this that you are stretching into life and your dreams. Notice how you feel in your body. Make sure and generate some clear pictures of what you want to create as you do this. Remember your mind creates with thoughts and images; your body creates through feeling and movement. This activity engages your whole body in the cycle of creation. I recommend that you do this practice every day for a week, and longer if you like.

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An Once of Prevention

I'm feeling so much better. Thanks to all who sent me positive intentions for my healing. I've been getting feedback from my body caregivers that I'm making an incredible recovery. I believe that when you directly address the emotional issues of any physical problem that recovery is sped up considerably.

A friend of mine, Julianna, who is in a graduate program with my mentor Kathlyn Hendricks, called me up during my recovery process to share with me something that she had learned in one of her classes. She told me that she had learned that body pains were an indication of withholding. So she asked me if I had any withholds. By the way withholds are when you have feelings /thoughts/ judgments that you haven't acknowledged to yourself or others. This holding "back" (get it) puts a tremendous amount of pressure on our bodies. I most often think of it as something I haven't spoken to someone that is putting a wedge in my relationship. In the case of my back injury I realized that I was withholding from myself, including sadness that I had held back for over 23 years.

I wanted to share this with you to give you the opportunity to breath into any aches and pains you might have and ask yourself "Is there anything I am withholding from myself or others? Is there anything that I'm resisting feeling?" What I know is that if I'm not proactively cleaning house then I usually create some cosmic 2x4 to remind me of what I haven't been willing to look at. I hope you can let yourself learn form me and don't "hold back."

And, once of prevention is worth a pound of cure... An apple a day keeps the doctor away. Ok, I'll stop. You get the point.
Later
Megan

Body Talk

Friday I was playing tennis and pulled my lower back. Luckily I had a massage already scheduled for that day. On the table Margaret (my massage therapist) said this feels really emotional and asked what was happening right before this happened? I told her that I had lost 8 games in a row to someone I felt I should be beating. The point I hurt myself on, I missed and was very angry. I realized that even though I've been practicing self love now for several years that I still am very hard on myself in sports.

I took this back even further to coming down to the US from Canada at 15 years old, a little greenie ready to take on the basketball world and become an Olympian. I ran into coach Freestone whose style was to tear you down so you would prove her wrong. Sadly, I believed her and took myself out of the game and my dreams. Later I found out that she was telling her first string varsity team that I would take one of their positions on the team before years end. I felt huge waves of grief and sadness at not having gone all the way with that dream. I had known this but never felt it all the way through it.

I realized that I've been internally coaching myself from this place ever since. That even though I'm a Genius coach and see the potential of others and cheer them on, I don't do the same for myself. I'm often critical and expect perfection from myself.

I'm also in the middle of another transition where I am moving into being an international speaker and I have not been my own best activist. This weekend I have had some time to think, since I have been confined to sitting until I can get into my chiropractor on Monday. I see this injury as a gift. To remind me to love myself and to learn to coach myself in an entirely new way. I wonder if I might have been taking myself out of yet another dream. As much as I use all the skills and tools I teach, I realize that I haven't been holding myself as whole which is the most essential thing a coach can do for their clients. I feel like I have created a tremendous amount of success for myself even with this old coaching style, so I'm excited to see what I can create from using my own inner genius coach to champion me both on and off the court. I recommit to see myself as whole.

I have already made the Varsity Speaking team and I am playing first string. As a starting player I commit play full out.

So, dear reader what "Varsity Team" have you already made that in your mind you are still trying out for? Would you be willing to congratulate yourself and start playing?

Peace Out
Megan

Massacre Update

Hey Fellow Valentine's Fans,

Well, I've always said whatever you focus on expands. So, on Valentine's Day, minutes after this post, I co-created a fight with my beloved. Funny!!! or NOT? My own little massacre, which, thank heavens for our commitment to skills, only lasted about 20 minutes. It actually created an opening for an amazing flow of love and appreciation later on that evening. So, if you read this too late or just couldn't help yourself, remember that you can still learn and grow a lot in the aftermath. In the meantime I would like to add 2 more items to my Massacre List:

1. Focus on what creates relationship upsets and then write about it on your blog.
   
2. Make sure that by writing your blog on Valentine's Day right before you are supposed to leave for your romantic get away, that you run a 1/2 hour late of when agreed to leave.

We have lots of time to prepare for next year!
Laughing and slightly blushing...
Megan