METTA CENTER

 "The foundations of a person are not in matter but in spirit." -- Ralph Waldo Emerson The leaves are beginning to turn colors. I feel that suddenly fall has begun in earnest with the first rain of the season. The air smells different and feels crisper. As mother nature slows down in preparation for winter, you might want to check in with yourself to see if there is a need for you to turn inward as well. As the trees change and drop the leaves in autumn, and then grow more roots in winter, you might be going through similar changes internally. Perhaps there is an internal urge to drop old ways of being and to change something in your life. Perhaps there is the call to nurture your spiritual self, the root of you. Perhaps this is the time to ask yourself, how are you nurturing yourself? We nurture ourselves when we connect with and meet our soul's needs. Our soul's needs are always spiritual, expressed as qualities or virtues like acceptance, freedom, peace, respect ...

In recognition of the many forms of Light that walk with me on Earth, I am holding this Lakota Sioux Prayer close in my heart. Aho Mitakuye Oyasin All my relations.  I honor you in this circle of life with me today.  I am grateful for this opportunity to acknowledge you in this prayer... To the Creator, for the ultimate gift of life, I thank you. To the mineral nation that has built and maintained my bones and all foundations of life experience, I thank you. To the plant nation that sustains my organs and body and gives me healing herbs for sickness, I thank you. To the animal nation that feeds me from your own flesh and offers your loyal companionship in this walk of life, I thank you. To the human nation that shares my path as a soul upon the sacred wheel of Earthly life, I thank you. To the Spirit nation that guides me invisibly through the ups and downs of life and for carrying the torch of light through the Ages, I thank you....

May you easily find yourself surrounded by and recall the feeling of fresh beginnings, a sense of new and wonderful possibilities coming your way, the spirit of joy, and the expectations of hopes fulfilled all year round! A dear friend has forwarded this beautiful music to me as a New Year's gift. Listening to Eric Whitacre's angelic Virtual Choir, "Lux Arumque," transported me to a heavenly realm. May this beautiful and magnificent expression of the spirit of humanity be a gift to you as well. To find out more about this amazing story of how people from all over the world has come together and made this sublime choir: http://ericwhitacre.com/the-virtual-choir . With love and blessings now and throughout the year, Christine

I have my daughter to thank for my spiritual awakening. Prior to her arrival on Earth, I knew very little about myself. (Although I didn't know it at the time!) Recently, a client shared with me that she believes when a woman becomes a mother, she has to give up her freedom to make choices. This is probably a perspective that many modern women hold. I certainly remember thinking that way myself. I was afraid of children. Yet, I have one of my own despite the fears of being a mother. After all the trials and tribulations of motherhood, I have grown so much emotionally and spiritually that I do not wish to trade the experience for anything else. My daughter is one of the most important teachers in my life. Because of my desire to connect deeply with my daughter, I have learned how to honor who I really am so that I can honor who she really is. I learned how important it is to communicate clearly and listen deeply. I learned how to set clear intention and create from my inner wo...

"You, yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection." ~ Buddha The practice of metta , or loving kindness, cultivates unconditional friendliness toward the self and others. It raises the vibration of the person practicing it as well as the people receiving the energy of loving kindness itself. In this simplified version of the traditional form of metta meditation, send metta to yourself by inwardly repeating the following verses: "May I be happy. May I be healthy. May I be at ease. May I live in peace." Repeat the phrases several times, noticing and accepting any feeling that arise from deep within your heart chakra. Then, bring others to your mind and silently direct those wishes to them, replacing the "I" with "you". If you like, as you go about with your day, direct these thoughts and metta to everyone you meet.

It is winter here in the Bay Area. The temperature has plummeted, the rain has visited, the sunlight is paler, and many of  the trees have dropped their leaves. Mother Earth is making space for a new beginning. Winter inspires gentle stillness within me. In that stillness, I can feel the acknowledgment of what has been and the quiet excitement of what is to come. Winter teaches how we can hold a graceful balance between the old and the new. It teaches how we can honor the process of transformation. Take a moment to be still and go inward. Honor that place, where what has been and what is coming can come together in peace.

I feel so very blessed indeed. Today, I saw the harvest moon rise over the hills on my right side as the sun set over the San Francisco Bay on my left side! I was witnessing a perfectly balanced moment in life. Later, my husband told me that on his flight out to Denver early this morning, he saw the moon set and the sun rose. What an amazing synchronicity! He, too, witnessed a perfectly balanced cosmos in motion. Wow. Yin and Yang, the sun and the moon, night and day, dancing in perfect harmony. I sighed in great awe and love for this great gift of an amazingly balanced universe. My heart is still singing with pure gladness! It feels so brilliant and expansive with joy! I simply LOVE this feeling!

In my last newsletter, I wrote about my personal experience with the fear of feeling happier than I was already feeling. (Click here to read that article.) Here's what unfolded today, about a month since I wrote the article. The timing couldn't have been more perfect! As I was enjoying my day, adoring my dog and contemplating the meaning of life, feeling free and peaceful, I heard myself thinking, "This is the free-est I can be. I will never be free-er than this." I was keenly aware of a sudden sadness within. I sat with that information for a bit, choosing to just "be" with that part of me that spoke up. Curious, I did a TAT (Tapas Acupressure Technique) on that thought as I sat with it. I also allowed myself to think that the opposite is possible, "This is not the free-est I can be, and I can be free-er than this." Immediately, I encountered a confused part of myself, "Who will I be if I am freer? I will lose myself. I will not know what to...

I love going to the meadow up the hill from my house. It's on a hilltop with clusters of monterey pine trees. It slopes down to a small lush forest in the valley and looks out to the green hills yonder. I was sitting on a fallen tree branch and looking out at the vista when the trees spoke to me and told me that they love me. I told them I love them, too. I told the wind that blew gently on my hair and face, "I love you!" I said the same to the sun that warmed and soothed me. I could feel love in the air. The grass shone brilliantly and I let them know how I enjoyed their fresh scent. The sky was blue with little puffy clouds, so serene. The birds sang happily as if joining in my delight. I saw a red-tailed hawk, nary 50 feet from me. First, it flew to rest on a 20-foot tall tree stump. (I wonder if it can still be called a stump being that tall?) Then, it flew down to the grassy area to eat something on the ground. This majestic bird stayed there and looked my way for a ...

I was using TAT (Tapas Acupressure Technique) to help myself soothe this anxious feeling in my chest this morning. (If you haven't checked out TAT yet, I recommend that you visit www.tatlife.com .) This anxious feeling was definitely all inside-driven. I am truly blessed with many good things in my outer life: beauty, harmony, love, peace, joy, abundance, and grace. So, the anxious feeling stuck out like a sore thumb. I was guessing that it was the "old shoe gonna drop" syndrome that I sometimes feel when things are going really well in my life. So, I proceeded to do Step 1 of TAT: "Everything that resulting in me resonating, identifying and connecting with this feeling happened." And I sat with that statement for a minute or two, just being with it. I was making space for energies, impressions, sensations, thoughts and feelings to move through me. I moved on to Step 2: "Everything that resulting in me resonating, identifying and connecting with this feelin...