Environment

How To Begin Healing & Milk The Past Year For All It’s Worth

The pandemic is not over yet, and we have so much loss to grieve- lost lives, lost jobs, lost financial security, lost belief systems, lost school days, lost friends, lost feelings of safety, and lost social contact, in addition to things we needed to lose- like losing some of our racial, gender, socioeconomic, or sexual preference privileges or losing political leaders who do not wish our countries well or losing online influencers who do not respect science or truth or losing some of the mobility that is causing the climate crisis.

Apr 29, 2021 | 0

Who Is The “You” That Will Come Out Of Quarantine?

While making the final edits to my Sacred Medicine book, I asked one healer if she had a point of view in response to the question, "Why do horrific things happen to seemingly innocent people?" I explained to her that the question is relevant to the book because those who chronically suffer from physical or mental illness often seek answers to the question, "Why me" or "Why not her?" I told her that every answer I had heard thus far in my research fell flat from a post-2020 lens, and because I had a lot of respect for her, I was curious about her point of view at this point in our understanding (and lack thereof) of human suffering.

Apr 14, 2021 | 0

Why Reflexive Rebellion Or Blind Compliance In The Face of Authority Figures May Be The Result Of Unhealed Bullying Trauma

My cousin Rebecca Bass Ching, an incredible Internal Family Systems (IFS) therapist who is responsible for turning me on to IFS and introducing it to me as "game changer," just wrote a beautiful piece about being bullied- by someone else or by yourself- and how today's trying times can bring up emotions from past bullying encounters.

Feb 22, 2021 | 0

It Is Okay To Not Be Okay

In the Healing With the Muse community, our intention is to alchemize uncertain times into creative gold for the purposes of healing and being “makerly,” leveraging both the joyful and painful experiences of our lives (the last year has been chock full of them!) into opportunities to write and make art straight from the raw, cracked open heart.

Feb 19, 2021 | 0

*The photo is my friend’s farm in Santa Rosa at midday.

We Need To Feel To Heal

As I’m trapped in my house because the air quality where I live in the Bay Area is incompatible with life, as I’m sheltered in place for six months and gave up all summer travel because I want to be a responsible community member and don’t want to hurt anyone who...

Sep 11, 2020 | 5

The Viral Wake Up Call: An IFS Perspective By Dick Schwartz

The Viral Wake Up Call: An IFS Perspective By Dick Schwartz Very rarely do I post guest blogs on this blog, but my mentor and founder of Internal Family Systems (IFS) Richard Schwartz, PhD just wrote this post about IFS in the times of a pandemic, and my...

May 11, 2020 | 0

Sacred Reciprocity: How To Give Thanks To Mother Earth This Thanksgiving

We just survived the worst season of California wildfires I can remember after living here over half of my life. While our lives and homes were not in immediate danger as so many others were, we did have to flee the San Francisco Bay Area as smoke evacuees because...

Nov 21, 2018 | 0

Safari as a Spiritual Experience: 6 Spiritual Practices to Radically Deepen Your Experience in Nature

After five days on safari in South Africa with my mother on her “bucket list” trip, I felt inspired to write about my practice of interfacing with nature as an oracle, using my safari experience as an example. I shared my practice with several of the safari guides...

May 8, 2017 | 7

Nature as an Oracle: How to Avoid Being Preyed Upon

For thousands of years, the indigenous people all over the world have used various forms of oracular knowing in order to seek guidance when they’re feeling lost, confused, stuck or off track. What is an oracle? Merriam-Webster defines “oracle” as “a priest or...

May 4, 2017 | 18

12 Tips to Help Navigate Life’s Curveballs

As I shared with you yesterday, my beloved mother was just diagnosed with a rare and aggressive kind of leukemia. (If you missed it, you can read about our shock and our magic stories here.) When life throws you a curveball, advice is often the last thing you need....

Mar 9, 2017 | 6

We the People: A Call to Action

Our beloved Statue of Liberty, a beacon of hope for refugees, freedom from religious oppression, and terror, announces to the world: Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these,...

Jan 30, 2017 | 5

How to Perform a “Despacho” Ceremony

Photo Credit: Hannah Rae Porst When I stayed in a Q’eros village at 16,000 feet in the Andes last year, I was blessed to participate in several “despacho” blessings performed by the Q’eros shamans. To the Q’eros, the primary spiritual principle is one of “ayni,”...

Apr 22, 2016 | 7

The Most Important Book I Read In 2014

I alluded to the most important book I read in 2014 in last week’s blog about ending the Story of Separation, the cultural story that has us believing that we are discrete blobs of carbon matter that need to fight for our own self interest in order to survive and...

Jan 7, 2015 | 2

The Dark Side Of “Perfect”

Although I adore my family and it's beautiful up here on Lake Erie in Ohio, the place I’m spending my summer vacation with my mother, daughter, nieces, and nephews isn’t the kind of place I’d choose to hang out left to my own devices. We’re vacationing at a...

Aug 2, 2012 | 57

The $100 Investment: How One Person Really Can Change The World

Oh my goodness! When I wrote this post about how to change the world with the $100 I was given at Chris Guillebeau’s World Domination Summit, I couldn’t have anticipated your beautiful visions and generosity! Countless people shared their visions for how they...

Jul 19, 2012 | 12

How To Change The World

I'd love to hear your thoughts, stories, and feedback on my "How to Change the World" manifesto. Feel free to share in the comments section...

Jan 1, 2008 | 7