Alysse Aallyn

Category: #Beauty

  • #DreamTherapy – Dream Journaling with Alysse Aallyn

    Aspiration – The Future – Do you dream about the future? Outcomes desired or feared? People changing or evolving? A more orderly or chaotic world? We know the future is real – it keeps arriving every second! How often does it match our aspirations? How often does that matter?

    You Are a Planner – Nothing comes to reality without a Plan. This seems a main reason for the existence of God – the Planner of bluebells and quasars seems so real to us and the scope of the universe, its chemistry, math & physics, so interesting. Even the people who insist “chaos” is everywhere don’t actually want chaos in their own lives.

    Is your mind greater than the universe? Clearly not. God is a thought-problem of Universal Capability. No single brain has been able to encompass the universal design – not even Einstein’s. Wishing is helpless and invites one to selfdom which leaves the wisher worse off. But plans evolve, along with us, and even when they fail, WE succeed. Edison said he hadn’t failed at anything, he simply found “ten thousand ways things don’t work.” That’s called knowledge!

    Challenge – Open your Dream Journal. What dreams would you LIKE to have? You are talking to your subconscious which in turn invites your unconscious which learns from the collective. Take an active role in your future, in making wishes and dreams come “true”. Don’t bother investing pride and honor in being “right” – with a universe this complex, NOBODY’S right. Invest instead in having a good, flexible map that evolves along with you. Plans are adaptable – they must borrow from all disciplines. Plans can be Art – Art is what this universe IS – and so are the people in it. Give it room to grow.

    Danger – Don’t forget the people who choose evil. They’re out there and we won’t play into their games. Don’t dismiss Fundamental Attribution Error; many systems are set up to send you down. There’s also coincidence and happenstance, which is what the phrase “Being in the wrong place at the wrong time” expresses. So our map must be modified to deal with tragedy –the ongoing and universal tragedy of illness, war and disaster. We try to avert these things, are learning how best to avert them but everything isn’t up to us. There are dark forces at work that enjoy harm and destruction so we can’t become over invested in “winning” because we can’t see or know everything.

    Opportunity – This is where Faith comes in. Jesus said evil will not win, that your joy can never b taken away, and that’s good enough for me. Find your own mantra to stay strong and keep working on a healthy you designing a healthy plan and promoting people around you who can make your plan better. You will also be contributing to their plans – and that’s gratitude. And love. Win-win!

    Models & Mentors – “The future is completely open and we are writing it moment to moment” – Pema Chodron

    “The future starts today, not tomorrow” – Pope John Paul II

    “A good education is the foundation of a better tomorrow” – Elizabeth Warren

    “An uncertain future is not oppressive when Hope guides us”

    – Charlotte Bronte

    Mantra – “I can”

    Meditation –

    #Haiku: Destiny

    This day’s good
    Because yesterday
    I thought about today:
    Momentum

  • #DreamTherapy – Dream Journaling with Alysse Aallyn

    Persistence – Commitment – Are you dreaming of rings? Tokens? Trophies? Collecting and collectibles? Antiques, graduations, pawn shops, art museums? You are longing for a “commitment ceremony” or some tangible symbol to articulate and consolidate an inchoate desire. Desire is nothing without will. You are a creature of Now, a chip on the whirlwind, but you desire power over yourself and the future.

    You Were Formed to be An Athlete – Naturally your skills aren’t very good at first. But one thing we do scientifically know is that there’s nothing magical about becoming a pro! Who said it takes 10,000 hours of practice to be good at something? Isn’t that, like 27 years? In other words, when you really want anything, you’re going to have to make a major life commitment to make this possibility a part of yourself.

    Challenge – Are you up for the sacrifice? Not many people are! You’re going to have to skip the easy, tempting treats – physical, spiritual, emotional – to satisfy the demands of your training. There’s really only one way to do this. You’re going to have to change into a person who LIKES and PREFERS this lifestyle. It’s easier if the lifestyle’s not TOO restrictive. By that logic, you can see that it makes sense to start off slow and build – just like you do in the gym. No sense overwhelming muscles with weight they can’t handle!

    Danger – The danger’s all around us and it’s called Addiction. Somebody gets obsessed with a pattern that started off healthy. Suddenly you’re in an obsessive spiral you can’t get out of. Admit it when you need help. Is this destructive pattern interfering with work? Relationships? Health? Are friends and family intervening, grumbling or starting to talk? When a commitment turns deadly – and we know even romantic relationships can do so – reach out to someone you trust for a balanced perspective. Likely there’s a plan already developed to get you back on track without losing the gains you’ve already made.

    Opportunity – Persistence in a healthy commitment is the best path to transformation there is. You truly can become a different person, the person you always wanted to be, over time and in tiny steps. When I wanted to give up sugar, I consumed a lot of fake sugar at first, then less and less over time, until now I can’t believe I ever liked or was satisfied by that stuff. My palate has changed, so has my health and so have I. That doesn’t mean I don’t eat wedding cake! I enjoy my newfound self, and you can have that self-rewarding pleasure too. Find a buddy on the journey – a tried and true pathway. Open your Dream Journal. Use mindfulness to examine cravings, release them and calmly set yourself free.

    Models & Mentors – “Thankfully, persistence is a great substitute for talent”
    – Steve Martin

    “Failure is a requisite for success. If you want to succeed, double your rate of failure” – Brian Tracey

    “Success is the willingness to work hard for twenty-two minutes on something others would give up on after thirty seconds” – Malcolm Gladwell

    “Success comes from curiosity, concentration, perseverance and self-criticism” – Albert Einstein

    Mantra – “I can”

    Meditation –

    #Haiku: The Danger of Cellular Negativity

    Death is a
    Choice.
    Creation’s fierce template
    Commits to life:
    Shared,
    Grown
    Spread.

  • #DreamTherapy – Dream Journaling with Alysse Aallyn

    Passion – Courage – Do you dream of fantastic feats? Circuses? Meritocratic competitions? Sports? Standing up in front of the class? Your psyche is expressing passion, the fuel for courage. Passion propels us forward when it would be safer to hang back. Why? Sometimes we want something concrete, but most of the time it is the adventure itself that we seek, we are longing to be transformed into athletes of endurance who can farther faster, learn more better and imagine deeper and more vibrantly.

    You Are a Warrior – Even if you don’t like to fight with your fists you have learned to fight with your mind, with your longing, with your desire. So much is impossible, yet humanity attempts the impossible every day, and a surprising extent of the time, we succeed. Our well-being, our future, depend upon this passion and this courage. Be as wily as a serpent and as gentle as a dove so that your power morphs to encompass the problem. Open your Dream Journal.

    Challenge – Will your heart and your courage be broken? Many times, says the fable. But light comes in through the broken places. You will flex and bend. You will evolve and grow. Your passions will change. You will rise above your passions. Your courage will evolve. YOU WILL FLOURISH and the beauty of your effort, of you dream, joins together with all the other glorious human resolutions and accomplishments to power the planet.

    Danger – Derailment is common. It is endemic. It is not the end. We live in a capitalistic society where some deliberately harness the passion, the courage, the imaginations of others to benefit only themselves. It is heartbreaking to put all your keenest insight into discoveries and achievements that only serve to buy baubles for a billionaire. Soldiers can find themselves giving everything for Very Bad Ideas. Artists watch their best installments torched and trashed. All of us face the shock of old age – if we are lucky. You need a shock absorber to upgrade your courage.

    Opportunity – The hum of the universe provides the refreshment we need. There is still much peace and beauty in the green places, and the eyes of children provide all the light we need. To be strong requires exercise – Push-relax, push-relax. Nutrition is the same. There’s a time to eat and a time to fast and each space is holy. The less we take, the less we require, the finer tuned becomes our mechanism. The more there is to share. Share with holy people who recognize and honor the gifts of God, not those who try to inspire hate, divisiveness and violence. Naturally we have sore places – we are warriors! We all need to give and receive the magical healing of a loving touch. Let that courage be your passion.

    Models & Mentors – “Courage starts with showing up and letting ourselves be seen.” – Brene Brown

    “Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage” – Anais Nin

    “Be brave. Take risks. Nothing can substitute for experience.” – Paulo Coelho

    “It takes courage to become who you really are.”
    – e.e. cummings

    “Courage is contagious” – Billy Graham

    “Mantra – I flourish”

    Meditation –

    #Haiku: Devourer of Hearts

    Scaling hearts
    For final judgment:
    Soured hearts
    Desiccate;
    Passion hearts
    Burgeon

  • #DreamTherapy – Dream Journaling with Alysse Aallyn

    Nurturing – Stewardship – Dreaming about pets? Comforting little wild animals? Gardening? These are Nurturing dreams. Like a child with a doll you long to care to another being and help it achieve its fullest potential. You long to protect it and succor it and at the same time, protect, succor and nourish the lost, frightened, wild, shy, needy parts of yourself.

    You Are A Steward – Dreaming about climate change? Overwhelmed by horrendous weather conditions such as tornados and hurricanes? Are you vegetarian or vegan? Enraged by animal abuse, factory farming and climate denial? Do you fear tsunamis and volcanoes? Do you see the whole of Mother Earth in your care?

    Challenge – You can stand up for your beliefs and test them. You will make a difference. Remember the legend of the one starfish the little girl saved? She couldn’t save all the starfish, but that one she saved was grateful. Remember karma? Karma is your universal bank account. When that little girl gets to heaven and it turns out the starfish are in charge, she is Good to Go.

    Danger – The only danger here is that you will forget to apply your own oxygen mask BEFORE you find oxygen for everyone else! Rookie mistake! Also a signal to predators everywhere that you will neglect your own needs to give to others. A moment’s thought tells you this is a zero sum game where everyone, ultimately loses. Replenishment is key. Give a man a fish and you have one less fish. Teach a man to fish and you’ve upgraded a human. Develop a method of fish replenishment and you’ve got a sustainable economy.

    Opportunity – As with the fishing analogy, this offers an endless chance for Learning, Invention and Creativity. You are lighting one candle after another in a very dark world, and benefiting everyone who come into contact with you. Open your Dream Journal. Dream.

    Models & Mentors – “The only limitation to our realization of tomorrow are the doubts of today” – Franklin Delano Roosevelt

    “A tiny change today brings a dramatically different tomorrow” – Richard Bach

    “Nothing is impossible. The word itself says, “I’m Possible.” – Audrey Hepburn

    “If a problem is fixable, there is no point in worrying. If a problem is not fixable, there is no point in worrying.” – The Dalai Lama

    Mantra – “I give”

    Meditation –

    #Haiku: Secret Garden

    Empiricism
    Riots;
    Growth
    Overmasters
    Lucky
    Curator

  • #DreamTherapy – Dream Journaling with Alysse Aallyn

    Meditation – Mindfulness – Are you wakened by nightmare? Lie quietly in the dark, anchoring yourself with your own breath. Your soul is free, your brain is rampaging, but your body is centered Here. Feel it. This is called Mindfulness. If you are sleeping with a Dream Buddy, touch them. Use their body as your anchor.

    We can only live in the Now, but it is our greatest good fortune as a species that we can enrich the present with powerful visions of past and future. In our dreams we expand this to universal pasts and futures. But the Now is the lens where our Body is focused. To be absent from the Now is to miss the ecstasy that is our birthright.

    Patience Multiplies Wealth – Wealth that is psychic, emotional, spiritual as well as physical, financial and actual. Eating unripe fruit robs us of our harvest. Therefore we must learn to settle into the Now, learn to line up Past, Present, Future with Conscious, Subconscious, & Unconscious. Open your Dream Journal and make Six Categories: Now, Past, Future, Conscious, Subconscious & Unconscious.

    Consider the Moment – you are in the Now but what are you thinking? What does it remind you of? What are you fearing? Have you ever experienced anything like this before? Does this experience make you feel attached to any other human, living or dead? When you have considered this, it is time to meditate.

    Master through practice. The first step is Emptying. Push your thoughts, memories, worries away. Concentrate on your breath. If this is too hard, choose a mantra (such as “Thank You” or “Namaste”) or a piece of music without lyrics (Marconi Union’s Weightless is fabulous for this.) Just celebrate the emptiness, the Nothingness. As thoughts come to you, release them like balloons. You are the world’s anchor. Celebrate You.

    Challenge – In the control of your own mind lies all freedom. Without it you are a slave, whatever the world may think. Buddhists call you mind a “wild horse” that must be tamed. Learn to greet the Now as an old friend who knits everything that is “you” – all the scattered psychic pieces – back together. You can FEEL the healing.

    Danger – In our new digital world it’s very difficult to claim Time for yourself. Can you turn off all the flashing lights, the signals, the seductions, the threats? You absolutely must not only learn to do that, you must feel important enough to do it. Turns out, that’s the most difficult task. Tell others, “This is my recharge time. It’s absolutely critical.” Twenty silent minutes per day. Alone. You. Finding Eternity – and the Eternal You – through the Now. It doesn’t come easily. It comes through your infinite willingness, your scrupulous patience, your holy dedication. Don’t give up on You.

    Opportunity – Nothing happens. Nothing happens. Nothing happens. You must give up on your competitiveness. Surrender your expectations. Push away the past, the fears, sadness, the depression, the loss, the anxiety, the rage, the worry. All can be released into the universe, floating away from you to pop harmlessly in the stratosphere. You are alone now with the infinite. Slowly you begin to feel the pleasure, an indescribable ecstasy in which your ordinary human body becomes incandescent. Suddenly you want better things for yourself. More sleep. Better dreams. Healthier food. A world of love and joyous possibility. Dip your toe in that completeness, twenty minutes per day. (Or more, if you can.) Treasure this glimpse of Heaven.

    Models & Mentors – “The first thing to learn is the breath.” – Confucius

    ‘Breathe In. Let Go. And remind yourself that this very moment is the only one you know you have for sure, and give thanks for that.”
    – Oprah Winfrey

    ‘Feelings come and go like clouds in a windy sky. Conscious breathing is my anchor” –
    Thich Nhat Hanh

    “While we breathe, we hope” – Barack Obama

    MANTRA – “I am”

    Meditation –

    #Haiku: Meditation – Mindfulness

    Joyous
    Breath
    Supports
    Eternal now:
    Blossoms spirit;
    Sparks
    Thoughts,
    Shared
    Dance

  • #DreamTherapy – Dream Journaling with Alysse Aallyn

    Chrysalis – Potential – Dreams tell us what COULD be. In the multiverse, physicists assure, everything is happening somewhere. Potential alerts us to the possibilities. The stick-colored, dead-seeming chrysalis contains nature’s most beautiful sprite, the butterfly. The invisibility of potential may discourage by daylight, but at night, the chrysalis opens and we are free.

    You Contain Multitudes – Whitman describes us, as well as himself. Be aware of the “restrictions” others eagerly place on you. Question them. Be the first in your family to — do something. Because you ARE the first in your family to be you. You are unique. In day dreams and night dreams, on conscious and unconscious levels, you explore all the odds and contingencies. Open your Dream Journal. Contact your Dream Buddies. Tell the ways.

    Challenge – Other people – often loved, needed and admired – keep trying to pin us down. They want to get to “know” us so they can “rely” on our sameness. They want us to stay where they left us, like a coat or umbrella. We will often place limits on ourselves, just to be accepted. But you are unrestrained in your dreaming imagination. Think of Max, who voyaged overnight to play with the Wild Things until he finally decided he wanted to return to his safe, warm, familiar bed. Every action you perform, every thought you think, suggests and then creates its opposite or “shadow” as Jung would say. Free yourself to consider all the alternatives. Then fly above them.

    Danger – Can we get lost? Will we become Peter Pan who was replaced and now can never come home? Fear is a valid reaction when danger is about. But danger is triggered by lack of escape. You are learning to deliberately keep all your psychic escape hatches open.

    Opportunity – Is there a fantasy that you cherish? Harry Potter, Narnia or Marvel? Expand it outwards. Insert yourself. So many discoveries have been made from and through fantasy fan fiction they are too numerous to mention here. But allowing yourself to dream is key. Imagine you are outfitting your inner butterfly. What colors? How about all colors, constantly changing?

    Models & Mentors – “The only person you are destined to be is the person you decide to become” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

    “Consult not your fears but your hopes and dreams. Think not about your frustrations but your potential. Concern yourself not with what you tried and failed but with what it is still possible for you to do.” – Pope John XXIII

    “Our essential nature is one of pure potentiality”
    – Deepak Chopra

    “Accept whatever comes and meet it with the best you have to give”

    – Eleanor Roosevelt

    Mantra – “I am many”

    Meditation –

    #Haiku: Chrysalis – Potential

    Unrecognizable:
    Disguised –
    Prototype
    Unbeing
    Becomes
    You

  • #DreamTherapy – Dream Journaling with Alysse Aallyn

    The Waterfall – Change – Do you dream of water? Ocean travel? When was the last time you had a falling dream? Or a drowning dream? “Dropping stomach” dreams that make us gasp signal a desire for (and fear of) change.

      You Resist Stagnancy – As your conscious mind seeks stasis, which it interprets as “security”, your subconscious rebels. It demands change! In the meanwhile, your subconscious IS changing, evolving fiercely along with the drama playing out in the entropical human race. Tune in!

      Behind the Wish Lies the Fear – Do you know how to swim? Take swimming classes – many adults do if only to brush up on their skills. Swimming is an essential pre-birth memory from safety inside the mother. Floating is an excellent way to release trapped memories and confront fears. Your mantra: “I am brave.”

      Challenge – Always shape your change towards growth by asking, is this making me a better person, or a more fearful person? More competent, less dependent, more unique, less compliant, more imaginative, less angry, more joyous, less envious. Evolve with me! Streamline! Let’s surf! Surfers celebrate every different wave.

      Danger – Fundamental attribution error says we blame ourselves for cultural systems and world conditions over which we have no control. Check your guilt/anxiety levels. If they are raging, is there anything you can do to ameliorate the causative circumstances? Open your Dream Journal. Being without guilt or anxiety is NOT the goal – that would describe a sociopath! But being crippled by guilt OR anxiety when there’s nothing you can do about it is disabling. And we’re in the empowerment department here.

      Opportunity – Change is scary but it is inevitable. If you’re not managing your own evolution, you’re headed downhill. What are the attributes you admire? Spoiler alert – not complaining and helplessness! Develop a picture of yourself as a wise being emitting light. Nurture calm, contentment, gratitude – in the midst of a thirst for new ideas and experiences to add to your expanding galaxy of knowledge.

      Models & Mentors – “Progress is impossible without change”
      – George Bernard Shaw

      “Change is the law of life. Those who look only to past and present are certain to miss the future.” – John F. Kennedy

      “Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability but comes after continuous struggle.” – Martin Luther King

      “It is not the strongest of our species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the ones most responsive to change” – Charles Darwin

      Mantra – “I surf”

      Meditation –

      #Haiku: Unwanting

      Curbing desire
      Won’t work;
      Evolving desire will.
      Admit it:
      We’ve changed

    1. #DreamTherapy – Dream Journaling with Alysse Aallyn

      The Bridge – Discipline – Is “discipline” cruel? Is it one of your fears? Or is an orderly life what you long for but you’ve been told, because of your personality it’s completely out of reach? Do you have dreams of endless punishments at some infernal school?


      Discipline only means conforming to a plan – our map, remember? Get out your Dream Journal and study your plan, your list of wants and fears. Are you a harsh taskmaster to yourself? Why?


      Plans can be flexible – maps less so – but they are subject to change. By us. Because we’re in control.


      Nothing is achieved without discipline, which only means conforming your behavior to a previously conceived pattern but what does it mean to you? Your dreams will tell you.


      You Are Your Best Friend and Best Parent – No plan “works” in your life until you learn to practice delayed gratification and stick-to-itiveness. But first you need to feel your way through other patterns – bubbling up from the collective unconscious – some of which so hellish so you have to struggle with the source of those memories. You will need to disown them to give birth to your true self, whom you can lovingly mother. Harness your dream power to get yourself over the finish line.

        Challenge – do you treat others differently from the way you treat yourself? More or less generously? Why? We need to adapt our discipline constantly to enhance our thriving. But who’s doing the adapting – the Cruel Taskmaster, the Disgusted Lover or the Adoring, Generous Parent or the Permissive Saint? You contain all these (and they live in your dreams) , but who are you going to listen to? Who will you feed? Who has more power? Your choice controls your future. Consult appealing patterns that have worked for others and blend to taste. Develop a loving faith, and a sophisticated taste you can trust to guide you.

        Danger – Uh oh! You’ve fatally confused “discipline” with “punishment” and now are too debilitated to escape. Who said growth has to hurt?

        Opportunity – From our dreams we must summon a rescuer. Naturally that rescuer is OUR OWN TRUE SELF. In dreams sometimes it’s a hero, a fictional or historic figure or a spirit animal. Do you have a hero myth? Jack and the Beanstalk? Frozen? Joan of Arc? Read especially potent folk tales right before bed. Fall asleep imagining strengthened muscles – physical, spiritual, emotional – growing inside you. You are Jack AND the beanstalk! No giant can stand against you. Even the laziest, cruelest corner of the ego collapses to reveal itself as a Tiny Child yearning for effective mothering. We get to be the loving mother to ourselves.

        Models & Mentors – “Through self-discipline comes freedom” – Aristotle

        “Motivation gets you going, but discipline keeps you going” – John C. Maxwell

        “All success begins with self-discipline. It starts with you.” – Dwayne Johnson

        ‘Day by day – what you choose, what you think, what you do, is who you become” – Heraclitus

        Mantra – “I grow”

        Meditation –

        #Haiku: The Bridge

        Stuck:
        I’m here and you’re there.
        I’ll meet you
        Across an
        Ocean’s loneliness.

      1. #DreamTherapy – Dream Journaling with Alysse Aallyn

        Flight – Ingenuity – Everyone has flying dreams! In those moments, we experience absolute power and potential, which is exactly what these dreams are about. We often wake from them with a feeling of disappointed sadness: “You mean I’m earth-bound? I want to go back!’

          You are a Transformer – Your mind is a potent tool that not only solves “problems”, it transfigures them. The problem dissolves as the potential for revolution becomes clear. DreamTherapy asks us to “rise above” the problem and survey it from another angle. We soar over the difficulty! Our most powerful tool is the question: “What if?”

          Challenge – Ingenuity sees connections where others see difficulties. Ingenuity relaxes with “tinkering.” Let’s become expert at cultivating the alpha brain waves to achieve “flow” – a condition of subconscious harmony where ideas spring up and potentialities thrive. “Flow” is where true freedom resides.

          Danger – Can you “waste” your life daydreaming? I’m one of those people who says “No”! But the mind is full of traps – cultural, educational and emotional – to keep us on a sabotaging treadmill of circular reasoning that gets us nowhere. Usually you can tell this is happening when you hear a carping, intrusive “voice”: “You shouldn’t be doing this” “You’re an idiot” “That won’t work.” That’s not you talking, it’s the “Hidden Enemy” out to undermine your efforts to focus and connect. Without the confidence to dream, think and experiment you can’t become your best self.

          Opportunity – We need a supportive environment where voices saying, “You can’t do it” are drowned out by empowering affirmations. Some people use music to achieve this state, others use meditation. If the voices persist, you will have to focus on THAT as the problem and tackle them directly with a conscious daily practice of studying where they came from. Open your Dream Journal. Who are “they”? What happened to those people? Why did they attack you? Now that you are no longer a child you can usually see them for the tiny, disappointed, bitter little minds they were. These are not forces to emulate. Deliberately let them go. “I am sorry for you, but you have no power over me”.

          Models & Mentors – “No problem of human making is too great to be overcome by human ingenuity, human energy and the untiring hope of the human spirit”
          – Bill Clinton

          “Mathematical reasoning is the exercise of inspiration and ingenuity”

          – Alan Turing

          “You cannot solve a problem with the same mind that created it”

          – Albert Einstein

          “Those who do not think outside the box are easily contained”

          – Nicolas Manetta

          Mantra – “I can fly”

          Meditation –

          #Haiku: Flight

          Doubt molts aloft
          Fresh freedoms
          Foreseen; fear
          Energized –
          Wings flexed
          Jump off

        1. #DreamTherapy – Dream Journaling with Alysse Aallyn

          Memory – the Past – Do you dream frequently of past events? Are they different – worse or better – than what you remember actually happening? Do you feel nostalgia for a past that never was? Do you have a favorite period in history or fantasy universe that you wish you lived in, instead of this one?

            You are the Hero of Your Saga – Open your Dream Journal and start writing. Accept your centrality in your own myth. It doesn’t matter what other people think – they are the bit players. Think of your past as a Quest Saga. What did you want? How did it change? What blocked you? What tools have you got at your command? Where do you go from here?

            Challenge – You absolutely CAN rewrite the past, but first you first must face its full horror. Generally, because we were children, we didn’t know what was going on, were co-opted by our persecutors and prevented from fighting back. Things are different now! The hardest thing to accept is that beloved caregivers didn’t want the best for us – they wanted us to be just like them.

            Danger – “I don’t believe in ghosts but I never met a person who wasn’t haunted” is a very wise saying. What haunts you? Or who? Ghosts are malignant – if they weren’t they would be power spirits, fairy godmothers or guardian angels. What malignancies from your past are out to get you and how do they make themselves known? One of Freud’s contributions was to point out that people prefer their neurosis – ie imprisonment – to liberation. Why? What’s in it for you?

            Opportunity – You became YOU. Yes, you have scars – these are bragging rights! You have been through the wars! ‘Rewriting” the past means understanding what really happened, the limitations of those who surrounded you, and exploring your chances and choices today. Just because parents, teachers or “society” sentenced you to play a role, you can step out of it at any time. Buddhist thought is very helpful here. Buddha teaches that life itself is an illusion – a dream. It changes depending on how we think about it. In the present, inside your mind, you hold all the keys to your own liberation. Re-visit Pema Chodron’s Noble Heart and Eckhart Tolle’s Power of Now to explore how you can assume immediate control of your life and your mind and turn your past into fuel to power your growth.

            Models & Mentors – “You never know the value of a moment until it becomes a memory” – Dr Seuss

            “Nothing has happened until it’s written down” – Virginia Woolf

            “Memory is the treasury and guardian of all things” – Cicero

            “In the end, we’ll all become stories.” – Margaret Atwood

            “Your brain forms the same neural connections and muscle memory whether you are imagining a task or actually doing it”- Yo Yo Ma

            Mantra – “I remember”

            Meditation –

            #Haiku: Memory – Your Past Is Never Where You Left It

            Block Past subsuming
            Present – overwhelming
            Future
            Short circuit
            Change