Alysse Aallyn

Tag: #DreamTherapy

  • Purrsiflage – Daily Horoscope for Your Soul-Cat with Alysse Aallyn

    Jan 14

    Purr-a-dise! – Horoscope says today’s your day! We all know that suffering isn’t eternal, but did you know your your ultimate ecstasy is guaranteed?

     What’s your definition of paradise?  Some unfortunates only want to see their enemies suffer.  That’s what the view looks like – in hell. But if you wanted to find your own bliss, where would you look? 

    Is your definition of heaven raised consciousness or lack of consciousness? Would you want to know what is happening in the world or would you want to be removed from the world? Can you really be happy if you know there is suffering anywhere?

    If There Is a Hell, Multiverse Declares Its Opposite Must Exist – As we mature, we can choose to either elevate or denigrate our consciousness. We are creating “heaven”, or “hell” – our choice. Which direction are you tending? Which direction do you want to go?

    Are Purrsons Heaven Material? When we are young, we obsess about whether we are really liked or loved, whether we are really “popular.” As we get older we slowly realize that people like/love to the extent of their own spiritual and emotional ability/depth. Shallow people offer very shallow love – nothing can take root there. It can flip in an instant. They “forget” because there’s nothing there. If the whole purpose of life on this planet – a struggle by any standard –  is for humans being challenged to create the emotional and psychic depth that sees “inside” – understands and accepts everyone’s struggle, everyone’s challenge.

    Purrson Challenge – Bliss is a scientifically provable psychic state of timeless ecstasy mapped by “alpha waves” which can be seen in the brain. This state is called “flow”. We drift outside ourselves and belong to the universe. It is the condition called “mastery.” This is such a happy state we long to cultivate and re-experience it, which we can do from immersing ourselves in art, meditation, love, sexual/emotional union, or deep thought.

    Purrson Soul – Non-Purrsons bounce between a fussing self-obsession and living entirely in and through other people. The poor things. Neither condition is optimal, although there are times in our lives when these states are necessary or unavoidable. Why should we ever leave our paradise and re-enter their wretched world? 

    Because transforming suffering into knowledge is the Purrsons’ superpower. Balance – sometimes called moderation – becomes the Purrsons’ operative methodology. Cats walk by themselves. Purrsons learn to be IN the group, but we are not of “the group”. We do not subjugate our brain to the “group mind” but contribute our educated, enlightened brain-power to it. Purrsons elevate the group with the our Soul power even when others try to drag it down through thoughtless replication of idiotic non-ideas.

    Self-Lessness is A Terrible Fate – Some people choose to never develop an individuated self. They pass from group to group, trying to “fit in” and quell any inner voice that warns, “this isn’t right.”  Purrsons call attention to violations of the basic human mandate: developing a soul that is worthy of Paradise.

    Purrsons are Individuals Who Become More and More Unique – You are on a hero’s quest: you are the hero and the quest is for your Soul. This is both an inner and an outer quest. We have responsibilities from birth onwards; when we come to consciousness we can clearly see we are our brother’s/sister’s keeper. We are our own keeper, too. Mistakes – sometimes devastating ones – are expected. It’s a dangerous world and we will meet more than one predator looking to make a meal of us.

    Purrsons Know Where They are Going – Elevate, denigrate or disintegrate. Your choice: every minute of every day. consciousness. “Heaven”, or “hell” – your choice. Which direction are you tending? Which direction do you want to go?

    Purrsons Know Bliss – Bliss is the haze that comes after successful efforts. Bliss is the Purrsons’ prize. It comes not only from doing well, but from intending to do well and shaping your soul and purpose and ideation toward Wellness.

    Purrsons Choose Heaven -We are as wily as the snake and tender as the dove. Because in the end, it’s all about Love. The more you give, the more you feel. The more you give, the larger your capacity for ecstasy.

    Models & Mentors – “Follow your bliss and walls turn into doors”

    – Joseph Campbell

    “In a state of bliss – everything is love” – Deepak Chopra

    “Joy is a connection to what matters – a sustained sense of well-being and inner peace” – Oprah Winfrey

    “I need not sell my soul to buy bliss” – Charlotte Bronte

  • Purrsiflage – Daily Inner Kitty Horoscope with Alysse Aallyn

                           Jan 12

    The Universe Knows We Need Help. We need to forge alliances and so we often dream of that One Special Alliance, the person who will always have our back and whose back we want to have. The spiritual component is present; we will read their soul, they will read ours and we will exchange psychic power.

    Time to consider your ideal partnership contract.  What would it be like? Have you been dreaming lately about weddings? Love, proposals, marriage? About The One that got Away? About partnership enterprises in general – video gaming, tennis – where an Ideal Partner/Helper’s always there when you need them? 

    Purrsons can’t make it through life without a partner. We’ve got friends who come and go, sometimes special ones, but they’ve got obligations of their own. What if we had a Perfect Friend who made our Best Life their priority? What if we were not only willing to do the same for them but to promise this in public?

    Everybody Deserves Somebody – We come into adulthood with strong memories of familial dependence. We are all attracted to caretaking behaviors and easily seduced by promises to read our minds and give us what we really want, even if we haven’t figured that out for ourselves. Then hormones click in and we discover Desire. Not only for bodies, but for Persons, Lives, Individualities. Other people are a spice, other people are a medicine, other people are a distraction – everything our own inner, secret lives seem to be lacking. What if we could combine all these needs together in one appetizing human package?

    Purrson Challenge – We rarely ask our friends to change their lives for us. They are VERY rarely willing to do so. But a partner is someone to actively plan a future with. You get to talk through all the Wants, the Possibilities, the Fears. Heady stuff!  The challenge is to know yourself well enough to make any sort of honest statements about who you are, who you CAN be and who you want to be.

    Sometimes Allies Need a Long-Term Contract – Lives are uprooted. Possessions are shared. Long term strategy results in map-merging to create a new – but more exciting – map. If you’re a giver, now’s the time to learn your limits. Because takers don’t have any.

    Someone Needs to Take Your Back – As the great mystic Emmanuel Swedenborg pointed out, each one of us is only half an angel. You need someone to cover the things you can’t cover. And if you were planning to start a Purrson family, you need more than a partner, you need a spouse.

    Spouses Teach Honesty – The person who knows you best won’t put up with a false front. You literally force each other to get to the root of emotions and behaviors that will open up your psyches not just to each other, but to the world and to yourselves. The spouse who falls in love with you and forgives you finally allows you to fall in love with and forgive yourself.

    Staging, Experimental Life Lab and Boot Camp – we get to try out our ideas on each other. The Beloved Other is a Mirror and a Coach. The purpose of existence, the purpose of YOUR existence – suddenly becomes clear.

    Purrson Danger – A substantial number of partnership contracts fail ultimately. We all know this but we keep trying. That doesn’t mean that while they were good they weren’t wonderful! We’ll always have our memories.

    Some Partnerships Evolve into Something Else, a Financial, Real Estate or Caregiving unit that is very necessary but also pretty far from what we had in mind originally. Our challenge remains the same.  Is it possible to both know and be known? Can we find our Soulmate? Does such a creature exist? Is it possible to evolve with another soul to a higher plane of SuperSoul? Disappointment and betrayal are all too often the apparent outcomes.

    Purrson Opportunity – Soulmates DO exist! They DO evolve. We WILL change our life for another and they will change, blend, merge with us. Any interaction with another requires communication, boundaries, honesty, planning and “rules”. I put rules in quotes because a good partner keeps “transforming” the game and we keep transforming ourselves to meet it. The best way ever to honestly know yourself is to keep conscious, subconscious and unconscious in alignment. Purposeful dreaming, journaling and planning is the best way to achieve that goal! Get out your Training Journal and start with absolute honesty, realizing that tomorrow you may see things differently. Accept it!

    Models & Mentors –  “It’s not lack of love but lack of friendship that makes for unhappy marriages” – Friedrich Nietzsche

    “What counts in making a happy marriage is not compatibility but how you deal with incompatibility” – Leo Tolstoy

    “A happy marriage is a long conversation which always seems too short”

    – Andre Maurois

    “The secret of a happy marriage is finding the right person. You know they’re the right person if you want to be with them all the time” – Julia Child

  • Purrsiflage – Your Inner Kitty Horoscope with Alysse Aallyn

    Jan 9

    The Universe Supports You Because  Purrsons represent Truth – whatever that is. Yes, Truth is constantly shifting, which is why we need Art. We need to be, and to see, a thousand stories just to understand the complexity that is ourselves.  

    Dream of a fully lit landscape.  Do you bask in warm rays or feel trapped by skin-scorching light? As the Sun archetype in our Horoscope represents Truth it also sheds light on our efforts to locate, explain and exploit that mysterious force.

    Purrsons Are Bullshit Detectors – Throughout life you will encounter people searching for weapons and tools. They will try to make a weapon and a tool out of you. This is why understanding the back and forth nature of partnership is so key. When you are searching for a Teacher you are not searching for a Master. Use Truth to divine the difference.

    You Are a Truth Diviner – Truth is complex. Truth evolves to match our understanding. Dreams are incontestably “real” but do they represent “Truth”?  Can something be true one day and untrue the next? (see Ambivalence.) Is the storytelling child narrating “the truth”? Are myths true? Is the Bible true? Yes to all these questions. But No, also. Because the most important fact about truth is that, like us, it’s either progressive or regressive. You easily recognize this in your own life. Something that was true of you twenty years ago is no longer true. You have changed. Understandably, in a climate like this, people thirst for Unchanging Truth, and there are a few examples. Benjamin Franklin offered Death and Taxes, Jesus said evil can’t win, and Buddha said life itself is an illusion.

    It is enough to make us think that language is a poor descriptor of experience. The important variable in all this is we, ourselves – humanity. We are the eyes that think, the brain that evaluates, the mind that remembers. You are constantly developing Purrson Skills – Truth Seeking, Truth Telling and Truth divining – and you are developing definitions. Congratulate yourself. Support yourself and others on this noblest of enterprises. Because to die in the Truth is to pass into the Light.

    The Truth Matters –  Lying is the biggest red flag, and the question always is, why? Can your interlocutor not bear the truth or do they not know the truth? Do they attempt to fool others to take advantage? Law asks the question: who benefits? How would they take control if you accepted their falsity?

    Accept the Physics of Reality – Does the Liar promote growth and health, or suffering and squalor? Followers may be sickening and dying slowly, but you can quickly see that in the Liar’s universe, the benefit of others is never as important as leader gratification.

    Understanding Emotional Health – Challenge is necessary for growth. The fact that subjects are uncomfortable is usually a good reason to take a long look. Effort is important but not to the point of depletion. Who maintains the resources that refresh the spirit?

    The Purrson Is Always Worthy of Support – Rest, health, nourishment, fellowship and learning are the riches of the universe that should be available to all.

    Purrson Challenge – It’s so relaxing when you finally see the Truth. Suddenly you’re in the gulf stream, swimming WITH the tide! This is why fans love mystery stories  – they explain what was REALLY going on and you see all past events in a new light with a new meaning. Our daily life seems to request of us one hideous compromise after another until we wake up one morning feeling that we are lying to everybody – ourselves included.  The Purrson’s Challenge – should you accept it – is to bring your life more in harmony with what you currently know to be true, all the while seeking a higher elevation of The Truth.

    Purrson Danger – Nobody likes a hard-ass. Is your quest for truth turning you into a rigid, mean-spirited drill sergeant? I used to be authoritatively told that the mysteries I loved weren’t any good, that no way was Raymond Chandler as good as John Steinbeck. Worse, Emily Bronte wasn’t as good as Philip Roth! Ugh! I did appreciate that what was “true” for others was NOT true for me but unfortunately for me, THEY did not appreciate that. So, be humble. You can never see (or reveal) all the Truth. It will evolve as you will. You are “perfected” when you are received into Bliss. You’re not required to believe in Bliss, by the way. Bliss believes in you.

    Purrson Opportunity –Truth, like everything interesting, meaningful and worth doing, is a PROCESS. Welcome aboard! We’re all passengers on this exciting thrill-ride! So buckle up! Assemble a team! Get out your Training Journal!  Let’s begin!

    Models & Mentors – “The truth will set you free. But not until it is finished with you.” – David Foster Wallace

    “In a time of deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act” – George Orwell

    “Speaking your truth is the most powerful tool you have” – Oprah Winfrey

    “Truth is like the Sun. You can shut it out for a while, but it ain’t going away”

    – Elvis Presley

  • Purrsiflage – Today’s Horoscope for Your Inner Kitty with Alysse Aallyn

    Jan 7

    The Universe Invites You – Focus Your Desires.  Time to make a plan. How much do you dream about the future? We all know the future is real – it keeps arriving every second! But how often does it match our aspirations? And does that ever matter?

    Purrsons Aspire – To aspire means to yearn for something better, to be able to imagine something better and to begin to mentally create a pathway to improvement. To eternally yearn for improvement means the ultimate can never be reached, and it is the process itself – the devotion to that process – that becomes the religion of the Purrson.

    Purrsons Plan – Today’s horoscope declares: nothing comes to reality without a Plan.  This is a main argument for the existence of God – a Planner of bluebells and quasars seems so real to us and the scope of the universe, its chemistry, math & physics, so orderly. Even the people who see only “chaos” outside don’t actually want chaos in their own lives. Is our mind greater than the universe? Clearly not. No single brain has been able to encompass the universal design – not even Einstein’s.  Wishing is helpless and works out so seldom it leaves us worse off. But plans evolve, along with us, and even when plans fail, WE succeed. Edison said he hadn’t failed at anything, he simply found “ten thousand ways things don’t work.” That’s the “empiric method.” It’s called knowledge!

    Purrsons Take an Active Role – 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 plan that evolves along with you. Plans are adaptable – they must borrow from all disciplines.  Plans can be Art – art is what this universe IS – including the people in it. Give your Future Map room to grow.

    Purrsons Create a Future Worth Having – Without this effort all our futures would fade into entropy, a constant winding down into muck, inertia and dissolution. Understanding the Purrson’s commitment to betterment means accepting our obligation to advance the lives not only of ourselves and our loved ones, but unmet and even unborn others.

    Purrson Danger –  Never forget Fundamental Attribution Error. There’s a lot of coincidence and happenstance, which is what the phrase “Being in the wrong place at the wrong time” expresses. Therefore, our plan must always be modified to deal with tragedy –the ongoing and universal tragedy of illness, war and disaster. Purrsons try to avert these things, will continue learning how better to avert them – but everything isn’t up to us. There are perverse, dark forces at work that enjoy harm and destruction.  We can’t become over invested in “winning” because we can’t see or know everything.

    Purrson Faith – This is where Faith comes in. Jesus said evil will not win, and that’s good enough for me. Find your own mantra to help you stay strong and to keep working on a healthier you by 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!

    Self-Definition is a Joy – Even though the Ultimate can never be reached by in this lifetime and is always just ahead, it gives us a concept of Paradise we can work for. This work provides the deepest pleasure and connection between persons that is achievable on this planet.

    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

  • Purrsiflage – Your Inner Cat Horoscope with Alysse Aallyn

    Jan 5

    Today the Universe Warns – Time to re-calibrate your influences. To influence others, we must decide what’s influencing us. What’s forming you? Many influences are subconscious, even unconscious, so Purrsons must dig deep to bring them to the surface.  Sometimes you can’t “know” an influence, you can only feel it. Something is pressing on you, like gravity, the way the moon’s pressure rolls and presses on our tidal waters.

    Your Subconscious Knows – You are a secret to yourself but your subconscious has the answers. Yet she only reveals herself covertly. Time for some dream interpretation. Object dreams are fear dreams, people dreams are love dreams, motion dreams are future dreams. Don’t look for rigid accuracy – we seek connections, not edges, interpretations, not walls and blocks. The purpose of dreaming is to splinter blocks. If you are a writer, automatic writing reveals what you think about. Collect pictures that speak to you and collage them from insight. Try to name the figures. What is their connection to others? To you?

    Purrsons Are in Tune with the Universe – The opposite of fear, remember, is attraction, the opposite of love is hate and the opposite of yearning for the future is stasis. Each forward pulse contains its opposite. Purrsons must learn many languages, of which the most important are non-verbal. The sky, the moon, the stars, the animals, history, the past, the plants, the dead, the future – all are reaching out to you. Be unafraid to listen and interpret.

    Purrsons Are Aware of the Unseen – We are all under influences of forces we have never even heard of, yet the Purrson’s Quest is to own their Self and present it in its most beautiful incarnation, to the world, to history and ultimately, to God. To understand who we are at our core is to perfect our obligation of thriving and giving.

    Purrson Danger – Seek to heighten, not damage, your self-will. Others in your life – relative, friends, advertisers, politicians – are trying to take control of you. Don’t let them. The way to stop that is to take control of your fears yourself, so that you will never be ruled by fear. Remember, the opposite of fear is attraction. We always seek a way upward. The direction of the spiral must always be UP.

    Some influences are demonic and purely destructive. We stand up to them, we name them, we reject them. We learn their weaknesses and their targets. If necessary, we will battle them.

    Purrson Challenge – Recognize Health, in yourself and others. Promote growth in yourself and others. Take time for retreat, to build yourself and your powers and to recognize and name where you have come from and what you have battled. Treasure your Training Journal, share it, learn to profit from the trainings and maps of others. Build partnerships. Work on your Gratitude Practice – this is a glorious universe the Power deigns to share with us; from Love alone.

    Models & Mentors – “Moonlight drowns out all but the brightest stars” – J. R. R Tolkien

    “Like the Moon, come out from behind the clouds. Shine!”– Buddha

    “Everyone is a Moon, and has a dark side he never shows to anybody”- Mark Twain

    “The moon gives pure solitude and tranquility”

    – Haruki Murakami

  • Purrsiflage – Horoscope for Your Inner Kitty with Alysse Aallyn

    Jan 3

    The Universe Reminds You to Evolve – You are never static. Your caterpillar is bursting its cocoon. Have you been dreaming about pets? Little wild animals? Gardening? Shepherding projects through to completion? These are Nurturing dreams. Just like a child with totemic objects you long to care for another entity and encourage it to flourish to its fullest potential. You long to protect and succor and at the same time, protect, succor and nourish the lost, frightened, wild, shy, needy parts of yourself.

    Purrsons are Anointed to protect the growth pattern of the universe. Through our bravery, intelligence and commitment we nurture the world and make the world safe for the magic of growth.

    Purrsons Are Stewards – Anxious about climate change? Are you vegetarian or vegan? Find yourself enraged by animal abuse, factory farming and climate denial? Having nightmares about tsunamis and volcanoes? Do you see the whole of Mother Earth in your care?

    Purrson 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 freed made all the difference. Think about karma.  Karma is your cosmic bank account. When that little girl gets to heaven and that starfish testifies, she is Good to Go.

    Purrson Danger – The only danger here is that you will forget to apply your own oxygen mask BEFORE you go seeking oxygen for everyone else! Rookie mistake!  Also, a “gathering” 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 someone to fish and you’ve upgraded a human. Develop a method of fish replenishment and you’ve got a sustainable economy.

    Purrson Opportunity – As in the fishing analogy, you are being offered endless chances for Learning, Invention and Creativity. You are lighting one candle after another in a very dark world, to the benefit of everyone who comes into contact with you.

    Purrsons are Entitled – To be effective, Purrsons must learn the paths of growth. Purrsons become expert at detecting causes of destruction and disability. To see this, Purrsons must acquire the Wisdom of the Ages, thus giving themselves the greatest benefit the universe can confer: becoming Visionaries and Old Souls who are the keepers of universal order.

    Purrsons are Humble – The temptations of power are the number one cause of degradation, destruction and disablement. Purrsons are constantly offered opportunities to interrupt the growth cycle and harm others. Humility keeps us sane, modesty keeps us honest and fellowship keeps us free.

    Receiving in Love, Purrsons Will Be Received – Purrsons are certain of their reward. When Love is the light you live by, you become a conduit for intergenerational, even interplanetary Love. Your faith ennobles you.  The love of a child for trustworthy parents is the model Jesus set forth for our relationship to God.

    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

  • Purrsiflage – Your Inner Kitty Horoscope with Alysse Aallyn

    Jan 1

    Today’s Horoscope Emphasizes Youth – It’s still there, bubbling away inside you. You’re always ready to bounce back. Have you been dreaming or thinking about your childhood? Your conscious mind is always “mining” your subconscious for guides to the way you feel now. Did you pick the wrong path, and if so, why? Can you summon the effort to go back and fix it?

    “You’re as Young as You Feel” is a true saying! Ever met a “young” seeming old person? They are interested in everything. They are not frightened by new ideas. They don’t talk endlessly about their illnesses, complaints, how the world has gone to hell.  

    They look forward to the future. The nature of “resilience” is that you “spring up”. Launch yourself! You can actually use mistakes as energy, to improve your future planning. Surely you’re familiar with the principle behind “resistance training.” You get better muscles that way!

    Purrsons Are Battle-Tested – How does the kitten inside you feel eternally “young” when life keeps beating you down? The way to improve your resilience is to improve your philosophy. Do you believe people get old, they can no longer participate in the rat race, are shoveled under and it’s over? Now there’s an inspiring pep talk for the locker room!

    Purrsons are Resilient – Purrsons are young forever because they never give up. Resignation is never in their vocabulary. Combine that with the far-seeing wisdom that accelerates planning through experience and you have a Superpower.

    Love and Intelligence REQUIRE Wisdom – Adopt a philosophy that gives you hope. This is easier to do around young people. Grandparents identify with grandchildren. It’s good for both of them.

    Don’t Get Stuck in a “Feedback Loop.” Don’t hang around depressing, toxic people who mouth depressing, toxic notions. In our society, old people are shunted off onto sidings, gathered together in communities that focus on “nursing”. Depressed yet? Re-orient your mind to focus on “health.” Resilience is a requirement to embrace healing for wounds of all types.

    Purrsons Preserve the Hope of Youth – Hope is the Purrson’s religion. Life will always win out, will grow even against despair.

    Purrsons Preserve the Joy of Youth – Fighting difficult battles (even with oneself) means the relaxation afterwards feels extra delicious. Purrsons can play with anyone because they are still their child-like selves. That is part of what we are fighting for.

    Purrson Opportunity – In a famous letter to Ann Landers, someone who wanted to go to medical school bewailed that they would forty years old when they got out!  Forty! Landers asked, “How old will you be if you DON’T go?” “Wise” people are those who realize HOW YOUNG THE REST OF YOU really are, many of whom complain vigorously about being “too old” to do whatever they dream of. 

    You have plenty of time, because ALL time is NOW. Your new mantra? “Spring back.”

    Purrsons Never Give Up – Surrendering can be a strategy. It is not giving up. There may be snow on the roof but there is plenty of fire in the fireplace. Sometimes, however, it is good to keep our fires to ourselves. Timing is critical. We know how to bide our time.

    Models & Mentors – “Reasons for hope – our clever brains, the indomitable human spirit and above all, the commitment of young people when they’re empowered to take action” – Jane Goodall

    “We don’t even know how strong we are until we are forced to bring that hidden strength forward” – Isabel Allende

    “Success is not final, failure is not fatal, it is the courage to continue that counts’ – Winston Churchill

    “Hardships often prepare ordinary people for an extraordinary destiny”

    – C. S. Lewis

  • Purrsiflage – Your Daily Inner Cat Horoscope with Alysse Aallyn

    Dec 31

    This Morning the Universe offers the warning: consider the unseen. Are you dreaming of reversals?  Sudden surprises or a creeping sense of unease? Upsets? Do you wake with a sense of having forgotten something important you almost understood?

    Something’s Not Quite Right – Ever have that sneaking sense you’ve wandered into a masquerade? We are trying to learn the rules, but the rules keep changing. Someone’s moving the goalposts. By the time you’ve arrived, the “promise” has “expired.”

    Impostor Syndrome – Are we the fake, or is it everyone around us who’s faking it? “Fake it till you make it” is definitely a rule. But is the game worth playing? Your Training Journal reflects the Purrson Reality. Meditation will reveal your wholeness to you.

    Activate Your Spidey Senses – First, have a self. This ought to be the easy part! Everyone has a self – right? If only! From our earliest memory not only was “love” conditional but ALL rewards were. We wanted to find out who we really were and what we were capable of but it never seemed the right time. Let’s start by taking our suspicions seriously – you’re not paranoid if they’re REALLY out to get you.

    Purrsons Are Sensitive Instruments registering seismic shifts and deep tectonic disturbances below the threshold of consciousness. Something always IS “going on” and you have studied long enough to be alert to the many warning signals! This can be exhausting. We long for relaxation, peace and quiet, a clear blue sky without a single cloud.

    Purrson Challenge –The key to intelligent management of dissonance is to think of the world as an orchestra playing a symphony. The more able we become to distinguish the varied instruments and musical lines the more we will appreciate and enjoy the experience. Balance is key. We schedule regular periods of rest and renewal.

    Purrson Danger – Avoid a “bunker mentality.” The universe has many bunkers, but it is bigger than any single one. We must cultivate a hierarchy of response. We get out of bed in the middle of the night for a fire alarm, not a phone notification. Don’t allow yourself to become dismissive and numb but seek out advice and encouragement from others who understand a healthy growth process. All of us live in groups, curate your group to promote intelligent awareness in an atmosphere of hope. Dissonance and dormancy are not doom.

    Resistance Is Never Futile – We each will be given a chance to spend our night on the watchtower, but you don’t need to spend every night there. Consider dissonance and discord invitations to accept maturity. We are putting away childish things. The sky is NOT falling, but the climate is under legitimate scientific threat. Strategize ways to band together with like-minded members of your community to take useful action. This is an opportunity to show self-love, as well as love for the group, the environment, the world and the future. The attitude, “I care about you so I’m going to take care of you”, keeps us sensitive to the message of Universal Love that is always waiting breathlessly to embrace us.

    Suit Up for the Long Haul – There’s a reason you are alerted to the ‘dissonance” archetype. You can sense something moving just out of your peripheral vision. Someone in your closest circle is lying to you. Do you know how to check for honesty? Test for reality? Check their pasts. Interview their friends AND their enemies. Are they pushing too hard? Trying to “sign you up?” How do they treat wait-staff? Do they speak disrespectfully of others? What’s their philosophy of life?

    When It’s Too Good to Be True – That often means the trap is just about to be sprung. Purrsons must learn to think for themselves.

    Models & Mentors – “When you light a candle, you cast a shadow.” – Ursula K. LeGuin

    Great things are not accomplished by those who yield to fads, trends and popular opinion”

    – Jack Kerouac

    “Better to fail in originality than succeed in imitation”

    – Herman Melville

    “If you don’t fit in, you’re probably doing the right thing” – Henry David Thoreau

    “Conformity is the jailer of freedom and the enemy of growth” – John F. Kennedy

  • Purrsiflage – Today’s Horoscope for Your Inner Kitty with Alysse Aallyn

    Dec 30

    The Universe is Telling You It’s Time to Make Friends with Yourself. To become self-sufficient. Are you good company? Have you been fearing time alone? It is vital that we carve out time to reflect on all that is happening to us and the part we play and want to play. Our dreams alone could fill a shelf of books – plus we have to cultivate, curate and care for our daytime Purrson. Sometimes we have other people to care for and relationships to manage. We need to learn how to be our own best friend.

    Your Mind Is Your Most Important Tool – Sun Tzu reminds us that all battles are won and lost in the brain. Your mind determines your experience which controls your mind which develops your experience in a perfect feedback loop. In a culture based on “likes” from strangers we are all too ready to hand the reins of our brain over to some algorithm. Advertisers, influencers and partisans do NOT have your best interests at heart. We must learn how to turn that feedback loop into an upward trending spiral.

    After the Party Comes Cleanup – We have been taking control of our routine, our trajectory, our dreams and our thoughts. Now we need to develop self-confidence. Frustrated Purrsons devour themselves. We need to trust, not fear, our responsive reactions. This takes practice – “reps” in the words of the physical trainers. There is no need for two weeks alone on the Appalachian Trail (nice as that would be) because we are already alone inside our heads. Check your voices: what are you saying to yourself? “Good effort” or “Idiot”? It matters! Many of us treat ourselves worse than we would treat any other human (or pet.) That must change today.

    Purrson Danger – We are not proposing a life without feedback or a divorce from reality. If you really were your own best friend, you would protect, not exalt yourself. You would strategize towards health and having something worthwhile to share, not secrecy and isolation.

    Do You Hate Your Thoughts? – A recent poll discovered that most people would rather experience electric shocks than spend time alone with their thoughts, doing nothing but thinking. Just as mapping your future is a Purrson’s job, so is mapping your brain.  Make yourself a person it’s a pleasure to spend time with. You are not lonely when you enjoy your own company.

    Your Training Journal Is Your Mirror – It anchors you with its reflection. It is not necessary to write long pieces – lists or single words are adequate. Visual thinkers may want to sketch out or paste in pictures. Your Training Journal answers the following questions: Where Have I Been? Where Am I Going? Who Am I? Meditate 20 minutes a day on these issues.

    Purrson Opportunity – find a voice you respect and admire on which to model your new internal voice. Can you check with this person that you are on the right path? We all need a life coach or a cheerleader in our corner. Learn to enjoy time alone by building in rewards – indulging in nourishing hobbies as simple as walking and reading. You don’t need rocket science, you need a healthful day to day peaceful retreat inside your own head.

    Ask Yourself What You Take For Granted – This is the part of the picture that’s hardest to see. Because we take it for granted! Here is where your study of models can be helpful because you will be surprised by other people’s automatic assumptions.  For example, some people assume being a Purrson means putting yourself at the mercy of fickle public taste, whipsawing between hedonism and rejection in an atmosphere of deprivation and hardship, but to me, Purrpersonhood  is the peace of totally owning oneself, exploring one’s ideas and being responsible for oneself.  It is serfdom to the malignant or shallow minds of others that spells suffering and hardship.

    Gratitude Practice – Gratitude must be part of your everyday practice. Give thanks for this wonderful body, with its aches and cuts and bruises, as it eagerly shapes itself according to your efforts.  Give thanks for the freedom of your mind. Give daily thanks for the honor of being a Purrson.

    Models & Mentors – “Loneliness is the poverty of self – Solitude is the richness of self.” – May Sarton

    “The happiest of all lives is a busy solitude”  – Voltaire

    “Solitude is necessary for creativity” – Picasso

    “The best thinking is done in solitude” – Thomas Edison

  • Purrsiflage – Your Inner Kitty’s Daily Horoscope with Alysse Aallyn

    Dec 29

    Today the Universe Grants You the Ability to Remake Yourself – Let’s re-imagine your history. What do you most dislike about the reality?  What have you been longing to change?  Have you been dreaming of “second chances?” Starting over? Do you wake up in the middle of the night screaming, “Mulligan!” What if you could make that dream come true?

    “The Bad News is Time Flies – the Good news is, You’re the Pilot.“ Recovery is what happens we repel a demonic force that kept us in thrall – could be addiction, illusion, corruption, compulsive behavior; even a poisonous culture.   Were we hostage to another human being who didn’t want the best for us?  This requires deep thought about our best interests. As our brains clear we get ideas. Ernest Hemingway used to say we are “stronger at the broken places”; Nietzsche expressed it as “what doesn’t kill me makes me stronger”. Healing provides peace as well as joy.  We give thanks that we have begun the journey.

    Second Chances are About Expecting to Stumble.  Watching toddlers try to “rise and walk” we consider it lucky that they don’t mind being laughed at. (In fact, they love it.)  It takes them time to figure out this new challenge.  Like beginning skiers, they cling to objects, sway exaggeratedly back and forth, slam into things, and plop down SPLAT; not just once or twice but over and over.  The toddler hasn’t been born who suddenly vaults up suavely and starts swanning around in a sophisticated manner. Embrace the first step of Recovery: “Expect to go splat.”  Of course we don’t WANT to – fingers crossed –  it’s dangerous and bruising.  We’d better arrange to have someone around – just in case.

    You Don’t Fail Unless You Refuse to Rise Again. Don’t even bother counting the times you were “brave”.  It’s only the “getting back up” that counts. As long as you’re doing that, you’re a true winner.

    Purrson Danger – Life never goes the way we planned.  There’s the excitement of finding a plan, investigating goals, making them ours, and committing to the plan – and then there’s living the plan. Suddenly we don’t know how to get through the next ten minutes – worse, we make a “big mistakes” unconsciously. The rational self we’ve planned for fails to show up and instead we turn into some irrational monster who threatens murder when momentarily frustrated. This is like sport-learning. Allow each new behavior to penetrate every fiber of your whole body. Rehearse over and over. (10,000 times?)  It’s ALL mistakes at first.

    Concepts of “Perfection” and “Purity” Require Re-thinking and Re-framing. This exercise is more like forming calluses over tender new skin. It feels funny at first, sore. It might actually “hurt.” We’re on the early steps of a long journey to a wonderful place; and we won’t get there unless we forgive ourselves, pick ourselves up and keep going.

    Purrson Opportunity –

    Ever heard of a “dry drunk”?  The phrase refers to being in the state of envying those who “indulge” and feeling that we are somehow lesser, damaged beings because we “can’t.” How does this regret pertain to the Purrson’s pledge of mindful living? We are devoted to contrasting our planned empowerment with others’ benumbed abandon. Think about what this means. Who envies loss of consciousness?  Wouldn’t it be better to remove the source of the pain, the shame we are escaping from? Is this nostalgic fantasy of mental sleep really some faint memory of union, with the lost, beloved Other? What would it mean to give up these blind yearnings, this cultivated pain and these unbearable memories to lead a fresh, released and intentional life? It means accepting and becoming a new self in all our exquisitely uniqueness, exploring everything that implies. Recovery is “self-forgiveness”; going forward with a clear-eyed, honest appraisal of ourselves, resources and desires. “I am free”

    Purrsons Crest the Wave – Most people have too narrow a self-definition to dare to try new things, but daring and courage are essential features of being a Purrson. Just because something sounds uncomfortable doesn’t mean we won’t someday like it so much we make it part of ourselves. If you’re used to sleeping on the floor, going without breakfast and struggling with a new language, you’ve learned to be unafraid of those things.

    Purrsons Are Cagey – We don’t expose ourselves to unnecessary danger. We are constantly developing our safety instincts to recognize insecure situations before they get out of control. A main reason for frugality is that situations can become “too comfortable” – your senses are being dulled! Sharpening senses is what Purrsons are all about!

    Purrsons Are Reborn Many Times – Creating our own maps means we go many wrong ways before we find the right one! It’s the process. Throughout our quest we transform ourselves many times to incorporate our new knowledge.

    Self-Definition Is Key – Should you be ashamed of taking a wrong turn? Or confident because you figured it out, and proud that you were able to change?

    You Chose the Recovery-Rebirth Archetype – Your body is completely new every seven years. You welcome every new day. You are eager to meet new people and find out what makes them tick. You like putting yourself in new situations and figuring out how to cope. Read “Survival” manuals and try out escape rooms with your friends. Explore the sport of orienteering.

    Models & Mentors – “Rock bottom became the solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life” – J.K. Rowling

    “The airplane takes off against the wind, not with it” – Henry Ford

    “Believe you can and you’re halfway there” – Theodore Roosevelt

    “The best way to predict your future is to create it” – Abraham Lincoln