Tapping Into The Mother Root

i found god in myself/and i loved her/i loved her fiercely -ntozake shange


 
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   And it would seem equally logical that the fact that both human and animal life is generated from the female body and that, like the seasons and the moon, woman's body also goes through cycles led our ancestors to see the life-giving and sustaining powers of the world in female, rather than male, form.  -Riane Eisler, The Chalice And The Blade

Breasts, belly, buttocks.  The beautifully crafted sculptures such as the figurine above from Dolni Vestonice, Moravia , c. 24,000 BC, were some of  the first representations of the Divine Feminine. Their purpose was not as representational art, but was to invite fecundity and nurturing, growth of plant and animals for sustenance, mother's milk to ensure life was nourished.  Thousands and thousands of these possibly hand-held, stuck-in -the-ground around a fire, figurines have been unearthed, recently reinterpretated as "goddess/mother" figurines departing from the original patriarchal interpretation as "Venus" figurines (sex objects).

You are a descendant from this ancient line of Divine Feminine wisdom.  Are you aware and/or aligned with the power of your feminine being?  Do you know there is documented knowledge through archaeology, anthropology, lingusitics, art and mythology that the Mother Root reaches back at least 200,000 years? She was revered for her ability to reproduce, witnessed in all of life.  Are you in touch with the collective unconsciousness of  your grandmothers, grandmothers, grandmothers, grandmother, hundreds of generations back? Are you Tapping Into Your Mother Root? Yes, readers, this ancient wisdom is in your DNA waiting  for you to awaken it.  I feel that until we incorporate the divine feminine with the divine masculine, until She is given FULL recognition, our path of powering over life and the earth will continue.  We must bring forward that which worked milleniums ago, when we lived and worked in harmony with our Great Mother, Gaia, planet Earth.  Patriarchy has only been the definition of culture for about 4000 years. You do the math. 

                Elizabeth Cady Stanton:  1868, Suffragrette, organized first Women's Rights Movement, Seneca Falls, N.Y. 1848

"As long as we have all male Gods in heaven, we shall have all male rulers on the earth.  But when the Heavenly Mother (my caps) is revealed, and is sought unto as free and confidingly as the Heavenly Father, then will woman find her proper sphere of action." stated by Antoinette Doolittle, 1872. 

My journey to authenticity began when I realized that the beliefs I was choosing, shoved down upon me by a society that placed less value on me than on he--after all, who was I, a female, designed after if god was a man?--was snuffing out my life force.  It no longer worked to define myself by a system that excluded one-half the population, women.  The Chalice And The Blade, gave me permission to think beyond the box I'd been encultured into.  'twas a holy day for me in 1989 when I opened the pages, eyes growing saucer like, when Riane Eisler's words jumped into my consciousness, "For here the supreme power governing the universe is a divine Mother who gives her people life, provides them with material and spiritual nurturance, and who even in death can be counted on to take her children back into her cosmic womb." I was born again, born back into the holiness of my ancient feminine lineage. 

Book after book, women's studies classes, meditation, questioning, journaling, delving into my shadows, therapy and a host of other modalities affirmed to me over and over that I was and am of value, equal value.  Merlin Stone wrote, "In the beginning people prayed to the Creatress of Life, the Mistress of Heaven.  At the dawn of religion, God was a woman.  Do you remember?"  Such eloquence became the mantra I needed to rewire my scewed brain, and gave me the passion to guide others into their holy feminine powers. I knew that if I, a girl-child born stradling the fence of feminism--1942, when women dipped their big toes into independency taking over "male" defined jobs as the boys went off to war, then relinquishing their positions when the boys came home (my mother was a "Rosie the Riveter," during WWII, but became a house-keeper/janitor because they didn't hire women for good paying welding jobs after the war), that all women can do the deep work to raise their self-esteem; that all women can pull that leg into the new world which harkens back to the feminine-based values of antiquity.

Self-esteem. I had this vision  while engaging with a couple of women friends as we talked about the subject, especially that of "low" self-esteem. Thoughts create energy, and I believe that as we do our healing work, it is paramount that we pay attention to our talk.  Go deep, honor a thought, especially one of feelings, but don't let negative talk become your mantra.   My vision: an energetic geiser letting loose its powers.  When the geiser is in remission we wouldn't call it less-than, which "low" in self-esteem means, it is simply gathering its wit and wisdom to repeat its serging cycle, it is all part of the natural "esteaming" process. Our sub-conscious works with picture images, therefore, I believe that pictorial metaphors dig deep into our psyches, talking a language that bypasses our intellect, arousing and awakening the Mother Tap Root.

Often we, as women, feel "low" because we do not measure-up to the one-sided (masculine) definition of  what success looks like.  Thus, I feel it is imperative that we study women who have created feminine definitions, who have esteemed themselves by a new-old code of values.  In Women's Mysteries: Ancient & Modern, the work of M. Ester Harding, she writes, "The woman's relation to her own feminine principle is something which controls her from deep within her own nature but she is often supremely unaware of what it is that holds her.  She has no conscious understanding of herself, and is for that reason totally unable to explain herself to a man..."  (in place of "man," insert White Male Based System--see following definition.) There is a new paradigm that is emerging, one with whole-person based values, not from one lens of the glasses.  I often find women, myself included, defining my esteem by a set of values that is White Male Based, a system, according to Anne Wilson Schaef , "controls almost every aspect of our culture.  It makes our laws, runs our economy, sets our salaries, and decides when and if we will go to war or remain at home.  It decides what is knowledge and how it is to be taught. Like any other system, it has both positive and negative qualitites.  But because it is only a system, it can be clarified, examined, and changed, both from within and without," stated in Women's Reality: How You Can Realize Your Full Potential.  Stepping out of the box is a necessity, stepping beyond "...innately inferior, damaged, that there is something innately "wrong" with us." (Schaef) are key ingredients to a self-defining woman, a changing from "within," which precedes the changing "without." Critical thinking is imperative!

Language.  I didn't have the consciousness to realize it, but throughout my formative year as  a voracious reader, my soul felt the sense of disenfranachisement when the masculine pronouns were the norm.  Who was I, a female--she/her-amidst the barrage of he/him/his?  Carroll Saussy writes in God Images and Self Esteem: Empowering Women in a Patriarchal Society, "...to assume that "man" includes "woman" is to support patrirchy's subsuming of and thereby discounting of women.  Feminists and womanists, as well as a growing number of others seeking liberating language, are convinced, that language shapes the way the world is perceived and that to assume that "man" includes "woman" is to agree that male is the norm."  I began to "liberate" my language internally; I began to edit as I read the masculine pronouns; I began to use inclusive language, especially that of Goddess--a form of spirit that I could identify with. Embracing feminine pronouns, embracing Goddess symbology, knowing deeply that there was a divine role model that I was patterened after, awakened the dormant power of my feminine being; consequently, raising my self-esteem.

Starhawk, a feminist thealogian writes,  "The importance of the Goddess symbol for women cannot be overstressed.  The image of the Goddess inspires women to see ourselves as divine, our bodies as sacred, the changing phases of our lives as holy, our aggression as healthy, our anger as purifying, and our power to nurture and create, but also to limit and destroy when necessary, as the very force that sustains all of life.  Through the Goddess, we can discover our strength, enlighten our minds, own our bodies, and celebrate our emotions.  We can move beyond narrow, constricting roles and become whole."

So I say, " here-she, here-she, here-she" to tapping the ancient Mother Root that continues to be explored and defined; to the many books written by brave, intelligent, wise women shinning light on our esteem path.  Blow and vent, let it rise to the surface, shouting hallelulia. Raise your feminine consciousness by digging deep toward the Mother Root.   "Liberation of the spirit and liberation of women are one and the same part of the struggle for a free society and world,"  Nelle Morton, The Journey is Home, writes.  When any faction of society is repressed, everyone is repressed.  People, we have a responsibility, each and every one of us, female and male, to liberate ourselves.    Morton continues in the same paragraph, "...the liberation of women, and the liberation of the oppressed of the earth will come at one and the same time and be the same radical movement that will make a universal visible reality and unify the spiritual and the political."

Set your intention to "vent your steam/steem,"  be aware with the usage of pronouns, consider "Goddess" in your prayers, it is a beginning.  Once on the road, there is no turning back, after all, "At the very dawn of religion, God was a woman.  Do you remember?"

Believing that Strength/Hope/Experience: SHE, can shine a light on your parade.  Until next time.


Glori Jarvi
Inspirational Coaching for Women Entrepreneurs
co-creating a panorama of possibilities for clients

Photographs:  http://www.everystockphoto.com/
                          http://www.wikipedia.org/ 





The Stuff & Story of Heroines & Heros

....losing one's way innumberable times, refusing the first call, thinking it is only one thing when it really is, in fact, quite another--as well as entanglements and confrontations with something of great and often frightening magnitude." writes Clarissa P. Estes in the introduction to Joseph Campbell's seminole work, The Hero With A Thousand Faces.  What am I afraid of? Why do I keep throwing boulders upon my life's path to climb over again and again and again on my heroines' journey?  Why do I refuse what is in front of me, that which is asking me to step out of my comfort zone?  Am I afraid of success?  Is my calling of  "great and often frightening magnitude" paralyzing me?"  Am I afraid of failure?  Or, all of the above?

For me, the questions are probably 'all of the above'.  Soul and purpose have been nudging me for ten years to stand up and sing my metaphoric music.  I've grabbed the microphone, dipped my toes into the pool frequently, but always scurried back to shore as quickly as possible.  I am a pensive heroine for sure.  (Of all of Webster's definitions for pensive, I just focused on: dreaminess or wistfulness, may involve little or no thought to any purpose. Pensive is also defined as: reflective, has a strong implication of orderly, perhaps analytic, processes of thought, ususally with a definite goal of understanding.) The proverbial angel and devil are camped one upon each shoulder as I re-read the conflict of the two definitions. Quickly my imagination wanders to the Linda Blair character in the movie, The Exorcist, head spinning like a dervish in an ecstatic dance!

This 'pensive' contradiciton currently occupies my mind as I two-step with the angel and the devil. It's an age-old portion of my story; a stuck place where I dance around in the same ole circle, yet I also see the progress I'm making. I want to get off this merry-go-round, it's rather boring.  I want the merry-go-round over there, you know the bus that is passing by which appears to be full of happy, successful people, unlike the one I'm on.  But maybe, it's not the bus, but the bus driver.  Early in recovery an imposing man, with a James Earl Jones vocal range, related voraciously at an AA meeting that until he discovered who he was allowing to drive his bus, he was always getting into trouble. I ask, who's driving my bus, who's driving yours?

I like to think that it is good for us to tell, write, yell, paint, dance, whisper, scratch and scamper for our stories.  If we don't, they twist our guts and psyches into knots that soon impair our ability to live authentically.  Oh, I don't mean whine every chance we get about our drama, but find a venue to let it leak out drip by drip.  After the whinning is done--whinning simply keeps us treading water--when we're ready, willing and able to become responsible for everything in our lives; when we're ready to release others with forgiveness, we begin our heroines'/hero's journey.  Note that I said "willing," which comes just after awareness, and is followed by action.  As a child, I recall wanting my mom to listen to my anguish, not tell me not to cry.  She told me not to cry because she didn't know how to fix me and she believed it was her job to fix everything, she didn't realize that I simply needed to be heard.  So, I learned to bottle-up my story--no one cared anyway--and soon the bottle became the listener.

How do we tell our story?  If you've read any of my previous blogs you may have gleaned that most of my story-telling is done in my journal, and now this venue.  I've also done it in therapy, in group settings and in bits and pieces with friends, but I relish in the quiet listener that my journal is.  It doesn't take anything personally, never refutes me nor does a transference of its stuff onto me.  I can trust it as an extension of my soul, in fact, it's my soul's voice; it's a soft place to fall when life seems full of sharp objects aimed directly at me. "There is a "hearing capacity" in the psyche." writes Dr. Estes, "It loves to listen to all manner of nourishing, startling, and challenging dramatic patterns...whether they take shape in day-time reveries, night-time dreams, or through the inspired arts...They are meant to be conveyed in blood-red wholeness and authentic depth."  Yes, we bleed as if cut open.  To be authentic, one must muster courage.  "The heart that breaks open can contain the whole universe," wrote Joanna Macy in World As Lover, World As Self.

My experience in attending Alcoholics Anonymous meetings is that wounded souls get a chance to tell their stories: a snippet here, a snivel there; wounded souls who have finally found a place where "intimate strangers" have gathered to bear witness.  There are some amazing heroines and heros at 12-step meetings.  There are also some whinners, who can be extremely tedious as they become that ole broken phonograph record.  The heroines/heros touched my soul with their deep sharing, their authenticity and courage to share their experience, strength and hope.  Often their honesty, their grasp of wording, the depth of their unwitted message, called forth in me a story that I hadn't discovered the verbage for, a story that had been rattling my psyche, but had no platform of expression.  For a dollar an hour, it is the best therapy that I've ever received.

Our stories are about more than us--get out of your limited thinking.  Each of us is a resident in the web-of-life; strum the web in this corner, it reverberates in another.  Doing our personal work, telling our stories--even though all of the 7 billions sets of earth ears cannot hear them--they are felt!  We each have a responsibility to the whole to not live in our hole: isolated, arrogant, self-absorbed, because all stories vibrate the web.  Yes, the untold stories create energy and maybe not the kind that we want to continue to circulate, and until we tell it, release it, give it its due, it has a low-vibrational energy chokehold on us, and consequently, everything in the universe.  In AA parlance, "We're only as sick as our secrets."

Myth is the secret opening through which the inexhaustible energies of the cosmos pour into human cultural manifestations.     Joseph Campbell

Make space for your story.  By this I mean slowing down long enough to go into the crevices and corners, the convave and the convex of your being to discover who you truly are; not some manifestation that someone, somewhere, somehow has told you you are, but who you decide you are and have always been.  This means there might be stories that once told  need to be flushed away, scattered to the wind,  sold for pennies to the pound.  These are probably the whiny stories, the ones that silent groans and pitiful glances are cast at.  Then there are the meaty stories that bear repeating whenever it's appropriate to help someone else's story,to add to the "cultural manifestations"; the experience/strength/hope stories.  (I've rearranged the letters of Experience/Strength/Hope into the acronymn S.H.E. Strength/Hope/Experience.  Appropriate because it comes from the feminine side of our psyche to dig deep, to feel our feelings and talk about them.)

And it's not just the good stories, the happily-ever-after type that are meaty, though there can be merit in them.  For me the best stories are the ones where someone has an obstacle on their path and finds a solution to push that boulder down the hill, not Sysyphus-like where he kept pushing the same boulder over and over. These are the metaphors and myths that help us understand our lives; these are the heroine/hero nuggets where alchemy happens.  Mythology is a grand place to discover ourselves and understand our stories; to find our depth, our breath, our height, our wisdom and a damn good light to show the way.

A poignant question is usually how a journey begins, how a story starts, how a myth or a legend engages, even though it might be alluded to.  "Nothing contributes so much to tranquilizing the mind as a steady purpose--a point on which the soul may fix its intellectual eye," wrote Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, author of Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus. Line up your pencils, straighten your paper, grab your compass and set sight on the land of story--your stuff and story of the heroine/hero you truly are. Do not avoid the bumps, be willing to free-fall, take all dark, scary paths, listen deeply to your guides, ask the right questions, do the unthinkable, get our of your comfort zone, and most of all: BE WILLING TO KNOW THYSELF...................................  Ready..... set..... go!

Believing that my S.H.E. (Strength/Hope/Experience) may shine a light on your parade.  Until next time.

Glori Jarvi
Inspirational Coaching for Entrepreneurs
Co-creating a panorama of possibilities for clients

To Be or Not to Be--Is This The Question?

Who am I?  What matters?  What is my gift? What do I need to hear? What on Earth am I doing? --Gregg Levoy

This week-end I had the priviledge of attending a workshop presented by Gregg Levoy, author of "Callings: Finding and Following an Authentic Life," who posed at least 80 questions to us; questions that allowed each participant to dig deep into their soul-well to listen to the haunting call of what they're passionate about, what they're REALLY passionate about.  I continue to take this type of workshop to glean tidbits,chunks and mountains of information, nuances of presentation and to allow my soul a place to re-sing my passions. 

"Questioning is at the heart of spiritual journeying, of leaving home for a time to go on a retreat, pilgrimage, or vision quest, of removing ourselves from the duties and dramas, the relationships and roles that bombard us with messsages that may be distracting or irrelevant or even destructive to our emerging sense of self and that interfere with our asking for responses to our burning questions," Gregg writes.

Though answers to questions help us, the very fact that we're asking questions is the key ingredient to this recipe.  As I stir this pot of soup--reminds me of alphabet letters swirling around as I heated some Campbell's Alphabet Soup for my kids--I envision questions in an upheaval as I pour the soup into the bowl, letting it settle--pausing--creating a space for the questions to appear, and later for the answers to float to the surface. If I force an answer--from my egoic control place--I'm stirring the pot more; if I quiet my being, an authentic and empowering answer fills my spoon and I become nourished. This might take minutes, hours, days, possibly years.

You must slow down to speed up your spiritual energy.   --Wayne W. Dyer

Maybe a good practice is to begin each day with a question.  If you journal, I suggest you put a question at the top of each page as a prompt.  It might be a different question each day, or the same question for several days or weeks.  I find that I am prone to find different answers depending on my mood and what's occcuring in my life and one answer leads me up the spiral where I have a new view. Lately I've been asking Archangel Michael, "What do I need to know today?"  then I draw an Angel Card (sometimes I draw two or three and pick the one that resonates with my inner, intuitive being).  Uncannily, over the last two months the same cards are turning up:  Change Directions, Go For It and Entrepreneur.

Speaking of big questions, how does one recognize the difference between ego questions and answers and soul ones?  Although the energetic frequency of soul and spirit are faster moving than those of ego, writes Wayne Dyer,  the feeling that comes to me is more like molasses; thick and juicy. In There's A Spiritual Solution To Every Problem, Mr. Dyer tells us, "By slowing your mind and freeing it from the endless chatter of thoughts competing against other thoughts, you allow the fastest vibrations of spirit to enter." 

The year, 1987, me, new in recovery from drug and alcohol addiction looking for additional support to the Traditions and Principles of Alcoholics Anonymous, perusing books in a book store when the obvious happens, Gary Zukav's The Seat of the Soul,  falls off the shelf into my hands.  Gary's work became a companion to The Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous, both of them within eye and arm distance at all times.  Gary launched my journey, my pilgrimage to soul with:

Your soul is that part of you that is immortal.....In time, it learns to value and to identify with those currents that generate creativity, healing and love, and to challenge and release those currents that create negativity, disharmony and violence. In this way a personality comes to experience the energy of its soul... It is a positive, purposeful force at the core of your being.  It is that part of you that understands the impersonal nature of the energy dynamics in which you are involved, that loves without restirction and accepts without judgment.

Soul came in, baby-step by baby-step, as I unwound my fractured being through the preeminent question, Who am I? It took giving her a lot of attention, allowing time and space.  Another tome about the search for soul that stirred me was Care of The Soul by Thomas Moore, where he writes,

Care of the soul sees another reality altogether.  It appreciates the mystery of human suffering and does not offer the illusion of a problem-free life....The uniqueness of a person is made up of the insane and the twisted as much as it is of the rational and normal.

Such comforting words to someone who thought they were the only one with the kinds of problems I experienced; such comfort to find out that I didn't need to be perfect, that I could accept all my parts: the insane, the twisted, the rational and the normal.  A breaking open was necessary, with the first step being acceptance; acceptance of ALL the nuances of my personality, a fairly simple command, not always easy to embrace. Acceptance became the key to the portal of soul.

Bringing our attention back to the difference between soul-filled and ego-filled, David Hawkins,
explains in Power Versus Force,
      
"Power is always associated with that which supports the significance of life itself.  It appeals to that in human nature which we call noble, in contrast to force, which appeals to that which we call crass.  Power appeals to that which uplifts and dignifies--enobles.  Force must always be justified, whereas power requires no justification. Force is associated with the partial, power with the whole."

I interpret this to mean that power is of the soul, force of the ego.  The feeling is often indescribable, yet through my paying attention to it, allowing the answer to "float to the surface," not force it, I frequently and instantly feel when soul is anwering.  Other ways soul appears is in my dreams, journaling, music lyrics that grip me, or maybe a word, a poem, phrase or passage in a book that hits me viscerally--again, a feeling. She has often nudged me while I'm taking a shower.  As the water flows from the shower spout, my attention is lackadaisical, allowing an opening for her to swim by.  Water is a meaty place for soul to braise you, after all, it represents birth, emotions, and cleansing.

It is a journey, a pilgrimage, to discover how your soul calls you. Pay attention, nurture your quiet, shy soul and she'll pop her head out to engage with you. Once she feels safe, she'll come to visit frequently.  If your life has any similarities to mine--that of not giving soul much heed--she may need an invitation, request a practice to allow trust. I've done this and now she engages me of her own volition.  I've named her Blackbird after one hovered outside my bedroom window as if introducing herself to me several years ago.  I've collaged this Soulbird as an act of homage, to welcome her and burn her into my consciousness. We're quite good friends now having built a foundation of understanding, with all questions allowed.

Questions are big hits with meditation.  Ask a question, sit quietly, focusing on your breathing, and see where you are lead.  You might be led in many directions, there may be many detours--you can take them all, but take ONE AT A TIME like a snail crawling a single path. Keep a notepad and pencil handy, or a recording device, and capture these elusive butterflies.

What are your questions?  Ask and you shall receive.  Until next time.

Believing my experience, strength and hope may shine a light on your parade.

Glori Jarvi
Inspirational Coaching for Entrepreneurs
"co-creating a panorama of possibilities for clients"






Photos courtesy of:  http://www.dreamstime.com/
                               http://www.everystockphoto.com/

Minding and Mine-ing Your OWN Business

This morning in a conversation with my daughter, Cindy, I was describing Inspirational Coaching, explaining to her that I coach the nuts and bolts under the nuts and bolts of business: the metaphysical meanderings of the soul desiring to manifest itself creatively.  I said, "It's the business of you!"  I realized with this statement that we all are entrepreneurs; entrepreneurs of our own lives: the writer, the director, the producer and the star of the "me" show.  I believe as adults we all create our own story, our personal scenario, but usually unconsciously, driven by thoughts and perceptions, beliefs and values that may have been given or pushed on us by culture, parents, peers, teachers and people of authority, not chosen by us. Becoming conscious of the process, mine-ing our own business is a movement, a journey within, that allows us authentic, empowered success of minding the store (the outer manifestation).


According to Webster: entrepreneur. n., a person who organizes, manages, and assumes responsibility for a business or other enterprise, one who undertakes.  How well are you "organizing, managing and assuming responsibility" and "undertaking" the "enterprise" of you? How conscious are you of the minding or mine-ing of your business and your life? 

Believing that the macrocosm is a reflection of the microcosm--and vice-versa--it's difficult to separate the two.  If we're not "minding" our business, we're not mine-ing who we're authentically meant to be.  How many stories do we hear of what appears to be an outwardly successful person who has wreckage in their personal lives? Someone who wasn't "mine-ing" their business.  Or someone like me who mines the inner life, constantly reading/researching/re-inventing, but doesn't "mind" the store. (My work in this incarnation is to get the show on the road, of which I can now announce is occuring. It takes what it takes; my soul-finger beckoning over and over again as I dart and bob, weave and serpentine, go out, come in--ever so patient as I've moved like a turtle toward the finish line.)

We can please some of the people all of the time, all the people some of the time, but we can't please all the people all the time.   -anonymous



Years ago I read a book entitled, What You Think of Me is None of My Business, by Terry Cole Whittaker, which gave me insight and permission to step out of my co-dependency of concern about what other people thought of me.  After all, I didn't have any control of what others thought; if I did, what could I do about it? and, how many times had I not been true to myself because I was worried what others might think? "What you think of me is none of my business" became a mantra so that each and every time I ran the gamut of  worrying what the proverial "you" was thinking of me-- you probably weren't giving me a piddle of a thought anyway--I'd see those words flashing in front of me as if they were a neon sign blaring a warning of caution and consciousness as to where my mind was meandering. Ms. Whittaker asks us, "...are your afraid that if you express yourself FULLY (capital letters, mine), you will be rejected?" No one wants to feel the pain of rejection, I know I certainly didn't.  But self-rejection was the biggest pain, and I learned I could take charge of this by writing and living my own life script, and that excluded concern and time wasted worrying about what you thought.

I learned to quit shoulding/woulding/coulding all over my shoes.  As I loosened the grip of co-dependency, FREEDOM TO BE ME became the new neon sign, the new mantra. Carl Jung named the process of moving beyond what others think, individuation.  This is the process, the digging and delving into the soul, which is the work of becoming ourselves which is distinct from the "others" around us.  Yes, metaphysically, we are all one, but in the human experience, we are each a personality.  And we want to be an original and authentic personality, not a conglomeration of what the outside world is.  We want to live our gifts and talents that emanate from our souls, not what the outside might be luring us to be.

        
            The value I place on myself and my business is the same value the world returns to me.

78 cents to the dollar; this is the recent statistic of what women are paid to what men earn.  Shocked!  After all these years of women's emancipation, my feminist butt almost fell off the chair.  After I'd gathered my witts, I said, "Oh, yes, it's still a patriarchal, hierarchal system."  In the past two days I've heard two women relate stories to me, where I read between the lines, of them giving their services away.  Now, women, take notice: YOU'RE NOT HELPING THE CAUSE OF EQUALITY!  Each of us has a responsibility to value ourselves so we add to the dynamic of equalness (I might add that many men undervalue themselves also because the 1% ers want you for their slaves).  Early in my entrepreneur endeavor, a Harvard business graduate friend told me that I was sitting on a gold mine and only mining ore.  I took notice and I guarantee you the $200,000.00 I earned in 1982 was a result of his observation.  Thank you, Jay, where ever you are!

Ask yourself: am I mine-ing gold or ore, or is my mine (mind) closed? Ask yourself, then ponder it deeply, maybe in your journal: What value do I place on my gifts and talents?  Am I brave enough to ask for what I think I'm worth?  You do need to step beyond your ego, get into your emotions, to truthfully answer these questions. After all, if your don't value yourself, who will? Pay attention to Mnding and Mine-ing Your OWN Business!

Believing that my experience, strength and hope can shine a light on your parade. Until next time.

                                                                                                       Glori Jarvi
                                                                               Inspirational Coaching for Entrepreneurs

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WHERE'S THE ZEST?

Do you remember several years ago the  little ole lady, who's chin barely cleared the fastfood counter at the burger joint, voraciously asking, "WHERE'S THE BEEF?"  When I typed the title for this blog, her demanding demeanor, her no-nonesense request, immediately came to the forefront of my mind.  Having seen the advertisement hundreds of time, years later, I am still able to conjur up the ad in precise detail, hearing and seeing her--the image is seared into my consciousness. And the "zest" of that cranky lady remains a vivid reminder to me of asking the simple questions.

So, how does this relate to you?  How can you, an entrepeneurial wannabe, someone wanting to make a transition in their life, apply the tactics of Madison Avenue to your journey? Answer: simply ask: What do I love? and say or do your intent over and over and over again; simple, but not always easy. As the ad execs in New York have been doing to us, as replicated in the current TV series,
"Mad Men," for several generations, its repetition!  Nature abhors a vacuum, so we need new material, new input before our psyches are ready to release the comfortable, old mantras, the same old record that has been spinning in our minds for who knows how long.  It can be done!  You are a pliable being, with an elastic brain as Dr. Joe Dispenza, of "What The Bleep...." scientifically informs us. The simple part is embracing this, the not-so-easy part is doing something about it.

                                   "How does one become a butterfly?" she asked pensively. 
                       "You must want to fly so much that you are willing to give up being a caterpillar."   
                                                                                -Trina Paulus

Hey, it's your life. Are you willing to do what it takes to step up and create your own show; to be the writer, director, producer and star?  Nothing changes, if nothing changes!  Having this awareness can be the first step in your metamorphosis.   No one ever said that it is easy for a caterpillar to become a butterfly, and nothing can rush that process by interceding with the time-line. Reading in Gregg Levoy 's book, "Callings: Finding and Following an Authentic Life,"  he writes about the author of  "Zorba the Greek," Nikos Kazantzakis, who's greatest regret was to hasten the butterfly process by blowing hot air into the opening of a cocoon when he was a child, I felt his right-now-on-my-time attititude. His impatience resulted in the butterfly's demise because its wings did not unfold naturally.  He held the struggling life form in his hand as it died.  "That little body is the greatest weight I have on my conscience," he wrote as an adult. (Gregg Levoy will be leading a seminar at Unity Church of Portland October 30, 2011)

Though the topic is "zest," I am not writing about zest-in-a-hurry, a not too unfamiliar scenario in a culture that wants instant gratification, or the zest-high, where we seek to have a manic zest. One of Webster's definitions of zest is, "an agreeable or piquant flavor imparted to something."  My mind wanders to the planning and preparing of a delectable dinner party. It is not something that is done in 10 minutes or sometimes even 10 days.  It takes time to plan the menu, shop for the groceries, who shall I invite?, send the invitations, design the table and place settings, grind, chop, puree and peel, slather the meat, boil and braise, set the table,  hang up your apron and dust some powder on your nose, then welcome the guests.  It's a process! One might not especially like the shopping part or the writing of invitations and place cards, but if the hostess was to leave out these specifics, what kind of dinner party would it be?  Simply because she isn't enthralled with one aspect doesn't mean she has lost her "agreeableness," her zest to the big picture.  Her zest remains the "piquant flavor," the ingredient that remains constant so when the doorbell chimes, she looks as cool and refreshed as if 1000 tiny fairies had done all the work.

My suggestion is to spend some time, maybe journaling or meditating, to discover your zest.  Ask yourself:  What is the ingredient that seems constant in keeping my dream alive? What does it look or feel like?  Maybe a collage, a vision board, is a good idea for you.  Place words and pictures on your vision board that seem zestful to you and place it where you can look at it several times a day, a month and possibly years.  Remember: like coming out of a cocoon, don't rush the natural process: there may be detours on your path, follow them, there are bogs of peat with lots of nutrients for your soul in unexpected places.  You may need some deepening that only out-of-the-way places can feed you. 

Or, you might choose the way that chose me.  A dream-finger beckoned me to stand in the power of a mantra for my zest.  It was one of those flying dreams.  I was working diligently, attempting to fly, with no success.  A being--not sure if it was human--came up to me and said, "The way to fly is to simply say, 'I can fly!"  It was a direction of brevity, so I said the obvious, lifting off the ground like nobody's business, flying as if it were in my DNA.  When I awoke, I knew the metaphoric meaning of the dream, and I morphed "I can fly," into "I can write, I can teach, I can do a blog, I can.........(you fill in the blank).  As I type this, there is my mantra, my zest, to the left of my computer screen, "I CAN FLY!" And you know what, I'm in the magic of flight everytime I embrace those three little words.

What is the "piquant flavor of your dream? It takes action and repetition, just like Madison Avenue does to us hundreds of times a day; this is what it might take for you to find our WHERE'S THE ZEST?

Believing that my experience, strength, and hope may shine a light on your parade, until next time,

                                                                                     Glori Jarvi
                                                                Inspirational Coaching for Entrepeneurs
                                                        "creating a panorama of possibilities for clients"

WHEN I GROW UP, I WANNA BE...................

                   You must let go of where you are to get to where you want to go.--B. Stanny

Fill in the blank, when I grow up, I wanna be.....................................Has a desire been stirring in your loins for a very long time:  a song waiting to be written, a clever gadget to market, a new eating regime, maybe a trip to an exotic island?  What is holding you back from giving your gift to the world, for giving yourself an experience of pleasure?

Possibly your intellect has hummed the tune, pulled out pencil and paper and sketched that clever gadget, you've bought the new diet book or you've got the brochures for Tahiti on your desk.  What is holding you back?  I hear it now, your unhealthy ego shouting you into your proper place with tidbits like:  Who do you think you are? Music, the arts, you better stay at your nine-to-fiver.  This
idea is stupid!  You've always been a loser.  There's too much competition for anyone to buy your products/services.  Exotic island, it'll probably sink while you're there, better stay home.  Or, here's the big-eee, you don't have any money for this daydream.

INSPIRATIONAL COACHING is about discovering why, what, where and when you sabotage your heart's desire. It's the nuts and bolts under the nuts and bolts--a metaphysical journey into the land of awe, mystery, miracles and mindlessness. Yes, I typed "mindlessness," because it's your "nindfullness" that keeps you in the intellect and the undesirable ego.  Get mindless!  Bypass this ever-thinking, conditional head-echo that is old business and move into your daydreams, your heart, your soul. 

Let's begin with this form of dream-shattering ego chatter that is a perpetual spinning wheel, a rat with a megaphone, that nit-picks at you until your dream lies in a heap in the corner of your consciousness. As Dr. Phil would say, "how's that working for you?"   I venture to say,"not too well."  Time for addressing this gremlin of your inner workings and kill it, or at least anesthetize it.

Example:  my gremlin is a big ole sluggish looking ole harpy that lies on a big sofa, a cigarette dangling from her buldging lips, which match her buldging, slimy green eyes, hair the color of puce, clownish make-up--get it, she looks like she's been whooped with an ugly stick--shouting out anti epitaphs to demean and demoralize me.  She's a professional gremlin and takes her job seriously, which is to keep me in my "little" place. There's no room for daydreaming about achievement in her vocabulary.  How do I make her disappear, or at least shut the f. up?  Answer:  I sprinkle salt on her, non-iodized works best. What better way to get rid of a metaphoric slug than a sprinkle of metaphoric salt?

Here's your assignment:  get as comfy as you can in your uncomfortable skin and call forth your gremlin, she wants conscious acknowledgment--the shadow gremlin will haunt you until you acknowledge her. Lure her in with a thank you for all she's accomplished, after all, your unhealthy ego has an ego too!  And, she's a sucker for a compliment. Draw at least a mental picture of her, but you can do a drawing or cut a picture out of a magazine as a representation. If you concretize her with a physical manifestation, be sure to put a big red X across the picture, burn it or flush it down the toilet. You don't want her to be in full glory wandering around your home and psyche.  You are arming yourself with a tool so that whenever this bitch shows up, you'll be ready to put her down. Once you create your counter-attack tactics, her chances of disabling you when you're vulnerable are minimized, all you have to do is re-enact, recall, the scene of slaying her.

As with all things, new behaviors may take some practice until they become automatic. My personal witnessing is:  when we become conscious of something, especially something as deeply rooted in our psyches as the gremlin, it's a process to annihilate it.  Like the massive roots of a plant, she's spread her talons throughout your inner being.  But then again, let's hope for the best, believing that we can slay her with one arrow. Happy gremlin hunting!

Believing that my experience, strength and hope may shine a light on your parade.

                                                                                         Until next time,
                                                                                            Glori Jarvi
                                                                     Inspirational Coaching for Entrepeneurs
                                                             "creating a panorama of possibilities for clients"

SHIFT HAPPENS!

              We can unlock a door for someone who appears to be locked in.  --Julia Ormond

At times, like most of the time, I go about my merry way thinking (key word) that I know what is best for me--not!  It is when I allow a flow to happen, when I get out of my way and let the essence shine through. Entering the "field" is an amazing, enlightening experience, I simply have to give it space to enter.

Case in point:  For three months I've been researching, studying and writing a workbook for engaging the energies of the Moon Soul, the 29.5 day repetitive phases. (The Moon, probably the oldest metaphoric symbol that homo sapiens have used to answer the philosophical questions of what is life all about; aligning the movement of our closest celestial orb with the life, death, regeneration of themselves and life around them.) On the agenda, I had also reserved space to present some workshops on this theme.

A few weeks ago my friend, Cheri, did an Angel Card reading for me, and a whooping wind of change came blowing down my neck--makes me think of the movie, Chocolate.  Cheri gave an insightful, psychic reading allowing me to have a clearer understanding of my path, awakening me to the power of the hidden realm of energy called angels, especially Archangel Michael.  She told me this energy wants me to call on Him, and wants me to do so frequently. 

With the reading complete, I applauded Cheri for her innate psychic abilities, her gift that she had so eloquently shared.  We began to discuss the business side of her abilities when an opening happened in me that allowed for essence to flow into my consciousness and I was tossing out business possiblities like Santa throwing out candy in a parade.  I knew it wasn't my "thinking" alone, but a connection to the field, a panorama of possibilities, with me simply being a vehicle. My mind/thinking was being bypassed by a profound energy, greater than little ole me. I call it a magic place, a place where miracles occur.

After Cheri left, especially that night as I was in the quietude of my bed, the panorama expanded for her business.  I called her the next morning to set up a time when I could share this fresh layer of paint I was laying on the canvas.  While this was entry was occuring I recalled several times over the last 30 or so years that I had done the same with other entrepeneurs. Though I had contemplated being a business consultant, I never pursued it.

Having an entrepeneurial spirit has always been part of my who I am.  In the 1970-80's I owned a successful business called Mother Nature Plant Service in Portland, Oregon. Prior to that as a child of five I had two business ideas:  one, I wanted to drive the Moon across the sky like my father drove us from one destination to the next; two, I wanted to operate a mini-popcorn wagon (dates me to a time when such things existed at venues such as baseball games).  Over the years I've also designed and presented workshops and programs relating to the Divine Feminine and metaphysical practices.

I'm more than etching the surface of what is going on when Cheri arrives for the appointment, I'm feeling a hotter breath on my neck.  Let me back track a little:  in 2010 I studied Life Coaching but never found my niche to do it professionally--thought I'd gambled $7000.00 and lost, but believing all knowledge enhances who we are, I didn't wield the berating board over my head too much.  Now, the wind is whipping up a storm inside me, through me, as suggestions and ideas unfold for her business. Like a whooping crane dropping out of the sky, the Eureka! moment:  Creating a panorama of possibilities for clients, utilizing my coaching skills for Inspirational Coaching for Entrepeneurs.  The nail was hit squarely on my head! (Do you know nails use to be square? I found some on the site of a 150 years old house that was being remodeled).  I know I'm on purpose because I'm on passion. 

Gaining knowledge of the Moon and Her powers has enhanced my life and was part of the organic process, the flow that was necessary, to get me to my passion & purpose point.  Knowing and engaging with the cyclical energies of the Moon allows me to understand my own waxing and waning times; to work with them to the best of my advange. The Moon and I share a big commonality: we are both in the sign of Cancer.  I might double this because my rising sign is also Cancer, with my Moon in Pisces.  Oh, my, goddess--I'm a triple water sign.

Shift happens!  I'm glad I've allowed it.  I'm thrilled that I've gleaned how incredibly important being in an organic process is; to get my head out of the way of my heart and my soul, which is a simple process, but not always easy.  And I am communicating with Archangel Michael several times a day getting Good Orderly Directions--G.O.D.  New business cards are designed and on their way.  It's official!

Believing that my experience, strength and hope may shine a light on your parade, I sign off for today.

Glori Jarvi,
Inspirational Coaching for Entrepeneurs
Creating a panomrama of possibilities for clients,