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Let Beauty Interrupt Your Day

This summer my kids and I rented a cottage near Lake Michigan. The location was a beauty, but the interior was barren and plain. Never mind the mattresses on the floor, the leaky shower, the empty cupboards, or the dirty, crooked window blinds. As we told each other, it was a step up from camping, and we could make the best of it. We had fun playing badminton, walking to the cafe for coffee, and swimming at the beach.

So I wasn’t sure why, the next morning, I felt unusually uneasy and unsettled. As I stood in the tiny living room and looked around, it hit me: there wasn’t a single moment of beauty within those four walls. As a Taurus, I know I like pretty things. I’m drawn to order, symmetry, and good design. But I’d never realized before that beauty is more than a preference. It’s a need. I felt the lack of it on a physical and energetic level.

When Your Belongings Don’t Belong

Paul is a 45-year-old former professional football player who has been divorced for 6 years. He was still living in the house he shared with his wife and children. The day he invited me over, I found him standing next to his china hutch looking frustrated.

“What’s wrong with this picture?” he asked. “I’m a 45-year-old single man with a china cabinet!”

His frustration had been building for months. He wanted to sell his house and create a new life for himself, but wasn’t sure how to start. Fortunately his inner wisdom spoke loudly in that first sentence.

No Place Like Home

It’s hard to believe we’re nearly a week into 2015! Though I’m not one for resolutions, I did have every intention of writing this on January 1st. But I’ve been busy coming home–both to my apartment and to myself.

As you may know, 2014 presented me with the opportunity and the necessity of renting out my place for income. I certainly enjoyed the hospitality aspect of having guests. My family name is “Inman” so I suppose inn keeping is in my blood! But the nomadic nature of life became more than a little tiring.

Three kids and a dog sharing airbeds and basement floors can go from adventurous to harrowing faster than you’d think.

The Story of the Burglar and the Bread

Several years ago I lived next to a woman who was rather eccentric. She lived alone, and had an elaborate web of chains and padlocks rigged from her porch posts to her front door. One day, as I was getting into my car with my daughter, the woman approached us and, unprompted, launched into a story.

“Someone broke into my house,” she said.

My daughter leaned forward, listening intently, and I cringed. She was only 3 years old at the time and I didn’t want her to have nightmares.

Giving Broccoli the Finger!

If you had told me 15 years ago, before I had kids, that feeding them a balanced diet would be my biggest challenge, I would not have believed it. Sibling rivalry? Too much TV? Bad grades? I was prepared for all of that. But seeing a lone stalk of broccoli or stray leaf of spinach with the power to send kids screaming, nearly igniting World War 3, has had me waving the white flag. I finally realized that the focus had to be on empowering my kids; it was time for the command to change hands.

In my house we talk often about the power of our hands. As an energy medicine practitioner, I encourage my kids to tune into the energy of their food, their thoughts, and their bodies. I want them to experience the subtle shifts that can be detected by the palms as a result of simply “activating” them through intention.

We Are All Children Here

Recently I went to hear Don Jose Ruiz, the author of The Fifth Agreement, speak to a group of teens. He told stories about his own troubled adolescence and what it was like growing up as the son of best-selling spiritual author, Don Miguel Ruiz. He talked about his father making him stay home one night when his friends when out, and what it felt like to hear that their car had crashed and his best friend was killed. He talked about trying to take his own life with a knife.

What touched your heart today?

My friend Rex got this sweet little puppy for his 10th birthday. His reaction? He put one hand on his heart, one hand on his solar plexus, and exclaimed in delight. This speaks so powerfully to the source of our joy, and I love that children instinctively honor this in their bodies and their energy. In December I will be focusing on children — what we can teach them about intuition, self-esteem, self-care, and loving kindness, and, maybe more importantly, what they can teach us!

Pass the Salt and Pepper; A Look at Energy Leaks

Have you ever felt emotions so uncomfortable that you wished you could hand them off to the person next to you, like a runner passing a baton? You’re in good company. Even Jesus prayed to his Father to “let this cup pass from me.” It’s only natural to want to escape painful emotions. But what about the feelings you don’t know you’re having? The ones that bubble beneath the surface, just below consciousness? What happens to those?

Are your words telling the truth about you?

In a recent session, Danny told me about an exchange with his doctor. They were reviewing the results of some routine tests when his doctor said, “Everything looks good, for now.”

Danny immediately stopped the doctor and asked her to say that sentence without the pessimistic qualifier. “Let’s say everything looks good. Period.”

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