Receiving the joy of the Holiday Season

The Holiday season is here!give-receivelocket In this delightful, celebratory time, it can sometimes be easy to forget the loving spirit of the season.  In the flurry, many of us may feel moments of dread or distress over all of the gift giving, socializing, eating, drinking and “being merry”.   How can we stay connected to the  joy, love, togetherness and giving energy that this season has to offer?  We can start by receiving it.  In this time of “giving” we often forget that the act of receiving is just as important.  In fact, graciously and lovingly receiving is a gift, for both giver and receiver.

“If everyone were busy giving, then who’d be available to receive all that good stuff?  By receiving with a tender self-compassion, we’re allowing ourselves to be touched by life’s gifts.”  John Amodeo, PhD, MFT

We know it feels […]

10 Tips for Embracing Change

Change is inevitable.  Nature flows beautifully with its change of seasons. A tree does not try to stop its leaves from falling, clinging to each one in hopes that it won’t fall to the ground, nor does the flower struggle against the opening of its petals to the sun as it blooms –  it is the cycle of life.  However, we humans often have a hard time adjusting to this truth and try to resist the natural process of change within and around us.  

For instance, we try to slow the physical aging process with creams, dyes and surgical procedures, or we hold onto the idea of our sons and daughters as helpless children even as they grow into young adults and cultivate independent minds of their […]

Managing Energy for Personal and Professional Success

The 4 Elements of Energy Tips for Managing your Energy

Watch a herd of horses for any period of time and you’ll be amazed at how well they manage their energy and how effectively they go about their “business”.  In contrast, we humans frequently find ourselves overwhelmed, stressed, and exhausted. We tend to believe that we need to work harder and are trained early on to ignore our instinctual rhythms in the name of achievement and productivity. As a result, most of us end up chasing the wrong resource: hours in the day. Instead, we should focus on something entirely different: our energy.

Rather than treating life and/or business as a marathon, treat them as sprints and recovery (recovery being key here!). Read More

True Confidence comes from the Core

What is Confidence?  For many people, their level of confidence shifts depending on what’s going on around them.  In certain conditions there is a feeling of confidence but in others they feel discomfort – shyness, self-judgment, fear, unworthiness, or uselessness.  This type of confidence is what we call “External Confidence” or “Situational Confidence” – it does or doesn’t exist depending on influences from the outside world – the general circumstances of our lives and circumstances in each individual moment.

In contrast, CORE CONFIDENCE comes from within and is not reliant upon outside sources.

When we are confident from our core, we are not paralyzed in the face of new, uncomfortable,  or unusual circumstances, and we don’t base our actions on our fears of what others will think. Regardless of the situation, we know that we have something to offer, that we are worthy, and that we have been and are able to […]

Cultivating Creativity through your 5 senses

The key to Creativity lies in our ability to gain from experience and build connections to generate new energy & ideas.  If we are mindful of all of our five senses – sight, sound, touch, scent and taste – we can use them to our advantage to stimulate our minds and spark more creativity.  Horses are masters of the senses and they have a lot to teach us about how we can be more attuned to ourselves and the environment around us.  For instance, by learning how to have the “soft eye” of a horse, we gain a wider perspective and can see and experience our environs in new ways.  Successful interaction with horses depends on our ability to slow down and connect with awareness — awareness of them, ourselves, our surroundings, and the nature of our relationship.  Through participating in activities with equines, we can expand our experience, heighten our senses, and Harness […]