Archive for December, 2009

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Mind Map Your 2010: See the Big Picture for the New Year

Wednesday, December 30th, 2009

With the New Year soon upon us, its tempting to start making those resolutions. But really, those things never last.

What is important, however, is to create a road map for the new year.  And mind mapping is a fun and insightful way to lay out those deeper intentions you may have for 2010.

A mind map is a diagram with words and pictures to represent an idea. It’s a great way to tap into your creative brain as you begin to lay out thoughts associated with a certain topic.

It’s a bit like brainstorming, starting out with an idea and clarifying as you move out from the center to fine-tune, describe or explain in more and more detail.

Creating a mind map for 2010 can help you delve into those deeper intentions that you hold for your life. Sure you can add in that new car or job…but those specific “things” get placed on the page after the bigger picture ideas.

When you lay out all that you want to create for yourself in the New Year, you will begin to get a feel for your life. It really is a road map to what is important, and…what may need some healing attention along the way.

And, when you focus on this big picture, all the little things begin to fall into place.

Here’s how it works:

  1. Get a big sheet of paper or poster board. Keep it small enough that you can hang it up where you will see it.
  2. Have some colored pens or pencils to work with.
  3. Sit for a moment and tune in…your focus will be on what you intend for 2010. What do you want to create?
  4. Now, start in the middle. It’s great if you can start with a colorful image representing what this mind map is all about.
  5. Then, use words, pictures, thoughts throughout the map. Each area of the map is a theme. So start with one area in your life and move outward as you expand on more and more detail.
  6. Use key words and lines to make the association between ideas.
  7. Have fun, there really are no real rules. If you do want some rules, check out this page on mind maps.
  8. OK I lied, here is one “rule” I have:  highlight the important things. Where your eye is drawn to later is where your attention will be as you focus on this throughout the year.

Now…go for it!

When you are done, check out what you created. See where there may be areas on the map that are hard to read, feel crowded or feel incomplete. These are areas in your life that most likely need a bit of healing attention. (Funny how we do that huh?!)

Mind mapping is a great tool to use for personal growth…and fun to do. Give it a whirl!

Here’s to an amazing 2010…your vision counts!

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A Magical Winter Solstice

Tuesday, December 22nd, 2009

Well, we have crossed that threshold of the longest night. Slowly the light will once again begin to grow stronger, not only bringing more sunlight our way here in the northern hemisphere, but shifting the vibrational energy we experience as it does.

This morning as I sat listening, it was still dark. I drifted into an awareness of the Earth…Gaia’s inner landscape and the deep winter stillness which is with us.

Throughout the day yesterday, the Winter Solstice, I had a sense of this stillness.

I kept envisioning the foggy, cold landscape where life was pulled deep inside to stay warm. And, I had a sense of a deep carving out, as a way to make room for something new.

My day yesterday was quite magical. I walked the labyrinth near my home with a group of women. There was this wonderful coming together and moving apart which so sums up the labyrinth experience.

The funny thing about walking a labyrinth is that, at times, it may seem that in the walking in toward the center, there is a building of energy; and with the moving out, there is a letting go.

And at other times, just the opposite.

Yesterday was one of those days, where for me, I felt the energy gathering up even before we fully arrived at the labyrinth. And as I stepped onto (or into) the pathway, there was a gentle letting go as I moved toward the center.

And there, standing with these amazing women, there was a release. It came with sound…a very soft, quiet chanting that at times felt like whispering —so gentle.

And just as gently, I moved back out through the winding twists and turns, gathering up an energy to take with me as I move forward.

The whole gathering felt like this to me. It was this coming together or collecting up of energy as we walked along in the fog and drizzly rain…then this wonderful little experience in the middle walking the labyrinth and singing softly…and then a dispersing of energy — with a nod to our collective experience — as we each then moved back out into the world.

And as I sat with the experience again today, I realized there was a true gift in this co-creative energy.

I have been thinking of this part of Kahlil Gibran’s words in Joy and Sorrow, “The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain.”

I still feel the winter darkness, and can sense that stillness which the Earth is holding right now. It does feel, to me, as if there is this “carving out.”  I am also aware that we are co-creating what we will fill that with.

I also know that I can tap into that wonderful gentle energy to help in this process as I, and we, begin to move back out from the stillness, the center.

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The Winter Solstice: a time to recognize transformation

Sunday, December 20th, 2009

I can’t quite imagine what things were like way back when…you know before we engineered our way out of the dark. Now don’t get me wrong. I love the fact that I have lights and all, but we do have to recognize that we have altered our perception of this winter season.

We don’t have that deep fear that the sun may not, once again, begin to shine upon us in all it’s glory. We know it will. And in the meantime, we’ll flick on the lights and viola, we feel a little bit better.

But even with our ability to turn on the lights (and TV’s and computers), or go hang out at the mall or coffee houses, we are being called into the darkness in the winter months. And as the sun shines at us just above the horizon and then heads south for the winter…we are left with a journey through less and less actual light that reaches us each day.

Luckily Nature, and our magnificent energetic know-how, has given us the ability to connect with an inner light which guides us through these short days and dark nights. Vibrationally we click this inner light on and it acts as a beacon for us as we maneuver our way through the darkness within.

This process, or maneuvering, is innate. We do it without really even thinking about it. We instinctively go “within” during the winter. Despite all he holiday hubba-baloo, things slow down…we slow down.

Slowly we edge toward this as the days grow shorter and the light dims. Many don’t even notice it. But for those of us who do, we inevitably arrive at a place where we must recognize an unfolding  transformative process.

The Winter Solstice marks this transformation. With the shifting from less and less light to more and more, we honor and mark a turning point.

We recognize that with the coming light we regenerate ourselves, our community and planet. We recognize that with our own ability to withstand the inner dark, and all the fears that may be hiding there, we can heal. And we take this healing into the light with us.

So I encourage you to honor the darkness and deeply connect to your inner light that is guiding you. Recognize what in you is in the process of transforming. And, just as Nature has her turning point from darkness to light, so too do you. Embrace this.

In shifting out of the dark and trusting the ever-growing light, we connect to that evolutionary energy that propels us ever forward.

The Winter Solstice for those of us in the north is Monday, December 21st-  9:47 p.m., pacific standard time. (December 21, 17:47 UT.)

For more on the Winter Solstice, check out my examiner.com article The Winter Solstice: honoring the dark and celebrating the light.

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