Deep living is dirty, sweaty, gorgeous work. We will accumulate things. But your Soul wants to be mobile, unencumbered — in touch with all the parts of your life.
Self Help Post
A slight twist on reviewing your year (or life) that could be very, very…illuminating
We’re cozied in the corner booth of the pub with tacos and no one else around. It’s been a doozer of a business week and I have some Very Big Decisions to make. Wait. In case you’re not the story-type, I’ll give you the quick take-away: A short how-to on doing a yearly retrospective.
Self Love and why we’re all effed up about it.
Celebrate yourself no matter what — even if they think you’re tacky, terrible, too much of this, too little of that. Make how you move through the world an homage to your beautiful, luminous, powerful, magnificent, righteous, sacred…self.
That same self who may fuck up tomorrow, but will still be made of LOVE. THAT Self. Love.
Thoroughness (a poem for devotion)
I have expressed from my longing and obstacles
the balm of thoroughness,
rare as rose oil,
nothing cures like devotion.
I stroke it on wounds and desires
Easing someone’s suffering…without suffering. Is it possible?
Do I have to feel your pain in order to help ease your pain?
And, if I guard myself against your suffering, am I less useful? If I want to detach from your pain, am I less loving? If I think, “I’m glad I’m not going through that”, am I cold hearted? If I’m grateful for my strength or good fortune in comparison to your so-called weakness or misfortune, does that make me…just secretly horrible?
You girlfriend, YOU. The things women friends do.
I can be my most very very softest self with you. There isn’t a word in the English language that can convey my gratitude for that.
You have never once made me feel wrong, or wicked, or insane, or not hot — even when I felt all of those things. You always make me feel righteous, and loving, and strong, and totally hot.
How to be generous.
Let go of things you think you cherish. A waitress at dinner complimented my friend on her earrings. My very cool friend left the earrings with the tab. I bet that small act rocked the waitress’ world. How much do you really need your stuff? Sometimes we hold onto things for the “principle”. Like say, your bestie loves all things owls but you’re holding on to that owl-embroidered smock that you never wear because your aunt made it. Give it.
Online etiquette, the Golden Rule, and calling bullshit when you need to.
The internet is a democratic space. (For most of us. Not all of us. Hello, China.) So rock your Instagram however you want. Here in, I’m stating how I personally prefer to operate on the interwebs.
Manners matter. More than clicks and endorsements and being all fucking boss about your positioning.
Your Inner Child. (I know, I know. GROAN. But hear me out…)
I’m hanging with my shrink and he brings up some inner child stuff. My general response: “Really? Come on. You’re gonna pull the Inner Child card on me? That is SO 1994.” And then we laugh, hard, like we do, and he gives his best exaggerated Jew-Bu shrug, “Well, that’s when the wound happens, so it’s like, hard to get around.”
The password for Beloved
There is that place you cannot reach within your singular self on your very own body inside your human person. No matter how you bend or try to scratch it, there is That Place you cannot reach alone.
The light choice is the right choice. Don’t say yes until it feels … light.
Does it feel light, or does it feel heavy? An idea surfaces. An opportunity. A fork in the road. A big decision. Little decisions that make up your life. And maybe it sounds right or looks good at first. It could make you money. It's there for the taking. It'd be easy...
Soul Truth Declarations — yours for the declaring.
Take what you want. Leave the rest. Stretch to believe if it feels good to do so. My true nature is luminous. I have everything that I need in this moment to move to the the next moment. Absolutely everything is progress. My time and energy are very valuable...
How to start your day. Mantras, oracles, coconut oil, and desire. (+ 20 product and resources recommendations.)
Good habits feel good. So if it doesn’t feel good, I don’t do it, ‘cause the whole point is to feel good. Right? Right. Here's a list of morning rituals that I mix and match. This happens in between getting my boy off to school (I love making his lunch, cranking the...
How do you set your standards and ethics? With one simple question.
The style of delivery was wildly different for each person. Some of us were very matter of fact and detailed. Some of us were more big picture about it. When we each shared our statements, it gave everyone else on the team an opportunity to fill in some gaps of perception, like…
The inevitable panic that sets in when you let go of expectations. (And why it’s good.)
Absolutely everything is a divine message because life is always calling you. I’m leaning against the fridge in a soul sister’s Brooklyn kitchen. “So Megg, Crocodiles are showing up EVERYWHERE for me lately. Like, everywhere. I’ve got to figure out what the Crocodile totem means. Do you know?” And Meggan gives me her classic eye twinkle and says, “Turn around.” Taped to the fridge door is her boy’s drawing of the day… “Shai’s Crocodile Shadow.” Alright cosmos, you have my attention…
Swallowing your words, paying rent in hell, and maintaining appearances. Why we make (unhealthy) compromises.
There are two kinds of compromise: the kind that heals you by expanding you — it’s the healthy kind that stems from real love and grace. And because it usually brings some delight with it, then doesn’t feel much like a compromise after all. And then there’s the kind of compromise that bruises your soul…
Destroy before you create. So scary. Sooo effective.
Half truths piled on top of half truths do not add up to the whole truth. It’s a just a heap of “not-quite-there-ness.” Grey. Cluttery. If you want satisfaction you have to do the good, hard work of burning down the little lies and resistances. Tear it DOWN.
Here’s scientific proof that we need each other to shine.
CREATIVITY. CADENCE. CORE DESIRED FEELINGS. What it takes to make good stuff in the world. Notice when your dream has come true. If you’re addicted to accomplishing things, you might miss the fact that you’ve actually accomplished something pretty awesome.
You probably have notebooks of ideas. You may have ideas you haven’t told anyone about. There are ideas that the cosmos is waiting to tell YOU about it. Stop. Shhh. Did you hear that? It’s your next big idea. Stay still long enough and you’ll hear how to make it happen.
I implore you: Do not dumb down.
You have a gift. It’s your truth. Honour it and it will honour you — with every kind of fulfillment.
I’ve been asked to dumb down. More than once. By bosses. By advisors. By magazine editors. And I have one line for that…
Just Love. (My most epic declaration of desires and demands, inspired by Eve Ensler.)
You know what I want? I want JUST LOVE. Something so pure it transmutes my terror of not getting what I want into what I want the most: JUST LOVE…
Unconscious acceptance. Which is to say, What shit are you putting up with?
We do it for “love,” we do it for spirituality, we do it to polish our halos. We do it because some relationship books tell us to. We do it to look good…
focus (a poem for sacred prioritizing)
We dance ’round fires
to pray for others to change,
and we change our names
so that a reality we don’t truly want
will let us in the door…
Write this sentence down where you can see it: I am devoted to dreaming about my ideal life.
Dreaming is a solution, a soul elixir for so many emotional ailments. The mere act of dreaming is a life-affirming endeavour. Dream. Envision. Fantasize. Imagine…
A testimony to the future
I bless the path that showed itself to me
astute, blind, courageous, clever, faithfully
I forged and floated
to now.
Coming out of the closet about following your intuition
We work so courageously to hear and heed our intuition, and yet sometimes we lie about following it. We make up “reasons” for our choice that sound more logical and acceptable.
A hunch can be hard to justify to others when the hunch is telling you to choose something other than them.
Here’s what to do when you’re feeling small. Reframe your power.
What I love the most is truth, and if I’m going to be of service — and I’m devoted to being of service, then I have to tell you: I feel so small today. I see the pain. I see the joy. I see the beauty. I feel the global scope of what’s happening, and… I feel really, really… small…
Do you believe that life wants you to have what you truly want? Your relationship to prayer, to God, to desire.
I used to pray to sweat blood as a little girl. Dramatic, I know. I was a Catholic schoolgirl, an only child. We rented a small house in a small town, and my parents were young and hip and generally let me do anything I wanted to. The liberal headspace at home, acres of wheat fields to explore alone, and daily Jesus, Mary, ‘n’ Joseph at school made for the perfect environment for me to become the quietly intense mini holy roller that I was. At one point, I used the nooks of my bookcase to create a home for Barbie, and for the Virgin Mary. A leopard-print chaise and a rosary. Heavenly, really.
Females trash-talking males (and why it’s holding us all back)
“Successful” Female is at the podium. She’s giving a talk on how to be “successful” as a woman in business.
I’ve been to a goodly amount of women’s conferences. So much life and power at those events — and sometimes, unfortunately, a big dose of density. It goes like this…
8 questions to ask yourself before committing to a goal (or a person, or anything for that matter).
Think about something you really want. A desired thing, experience, person or place. A goal. Hold that longing in your mind and run through these questions…
Dream death and the real reason you’re in pain
Dreams that don’t come true need to be grieved. The dream itself needs to be honoured and buried and mourned. It’s not just about dealing with the pain of not getting what you wanted, it’s about going deeper to look closely at what the dream was actually for. This is a subtle concept we often miss in the healing process when something ends. You see, we’re not always sad for the reasons we think we are…
