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 ...

"If we want to be compassionate we must be conscious of the words we use. We must both speak and listen from the heart." -- Marshall B. Rosenberg Conscious communication requires us to be truly present to what is occurring. When we are unconscious, we both speak to and react to others out of habit. And in the face of what we perceive as someone's judgment and criticism, we automatically (and unconsciously) defend, withdraw or attack. To communicate consciously requires attention to two areas:     You speak from awareness of what you are observing, feeling and needing, and     Through watching and listening, you are aware of those same needs in others I learned about conscious communication through NVC (Non Violent Communication.) It is a process of learning to communicate compassionately and authentically. NVC was created by Marhall B. Rosenberg who wrote "Nonviolent Communication: A Language of Life" (available through major bookstores and a...

from "Woman As Healer" by Jeanne Achterberg Healing is a lifelong journey towards wholeness Healing is remembering what has been forgotten about connection, unity and interdepence among all things living and non-living Healing is embracing what is most feared Healing is opening what has been closed, softening what has hardened into obstruction Healing is entering into the transcendent, timeless moment when one experiences the divine Healing is creativity and passion and love Healing is seeking and expressing self in its fullness, its light and shadow, its male and female Healing is learning to trust life

(This article was first published in November 2008 Metta Center email newsletter.) I was asking Spirit about what to write for this newsletter that would be most beneficial for my readers. Spirit answered, "Remind them of their Truth." Hmmm, I didn't know what that meant, to tell you the truth. (No pun intended.) So, I asked for more guidance on it. Spirit showed me that deep inside ourselves, we already know that all is well -- that all has always been well, will always be well and can only be well. Often, however, we don't remember this Truth. Like many of you, I don't always feel that all is well nor do I think that everything is well all the time. Again, I asked for more guidance. And, this time, Spirit asked me a question: "Have you ever seen your daughter having a tantrum and feeling anxious about something and you know it was not as big a problem as she thought it was, and that all is well, because you have the advantage of having a broa...

(This article was first published in May 2006 Metta Center email newsletter.) Joy, I think, comes in two flavors: the euphoric feeling (Hurray! Amazing! Yes! Hallelujah!) and the easy-and-happy feeling (Ain’t life good? Ahh, bliss, life is sweet!) Both flavors are delicious. How do you get to joy, and how do you maintain it? There are many paths to joy, as many as the grains of sand. Recall the various times you felt happy, and at ease. Was there any one formula for your happiness? Or were they varied, and in that variation, you felt alive and happy? What is “joy” to you? Perhaps your joys come in predictable patterns: you love nature, flowers, clouds, winds, water, music, birds, etc. So, by allowing yourself to experience and notice these wonders as much as possible, you feel joyous. Some of your joys may not be so predictable. They might come from your allowing your self to grow in your awareness, to bring healing to yourself, to explore life, to have adventures, to rest, to listen...

(This article was first published in May 2007 Metta Center email newsletter.) Our thoughts are something we can control. At some deep level, we choose our thoughts. What we choose, we focus on and it grows! Be willing to be aware of every thought you have without fear or judgment. This is how we can be "in control" of our lives. Not through controlling others, but by being aware of our thoughts and knowing we have the freedom to choose a new way of thinking when we realize the old thoughts don't serve us. This is a process of self-realization. Every thought we think is an affirmation. To borrow a computer acronym, what you think is what you get (WYTIWYG) in your life. Your thoughts create your life experiences. Negative thoughts are negative affirmations and create life-alienating experiences. Positive thoughts are positive affirmations that support the creation of a life that you prefer. Positive affirmations can really help shift your energy vibration to be more align...

(This article was first published in the July 2007 Metta Center email newsletter.) When we embrace the soul's prompting to follow our inner desires and timing, the deeper wisdom of the soul is expressed. Here is an example from a Reiki/EFT session where I had the joy to witness the soul at work. This is why I love my work: when we trust our inner guidance, everyone involved is uplifted --  it is pure magic in action! This client had been a shy person for most of his life.  He came to our session without really knowing what to work on next. So, we decided to leave it to his Higher Self to guide us. As we did our Reiki session, I felt his inner yearning to become more of the person he is capable of being, and yet there was a voice that indicated how shy and fearful he was feeling about becoming who he really is. Here was an inner conflict about moving forward. I mentioned this inner conflict to the client, and we agreed to use EFT to peel the onion and go to the next...