The Emotional Body

2016 was a doozy. Grandly disappointing, and for some, crushing—leaving many to wonder, what good thing could 2017 possibly bring? Well, one positive aspect is that 2016 was a 9 (2 + 0 + 1 + 6 = 9) and the 9 in numerology is the completion of things, the end of an era. 2017 is a 1 (2 + 0 + 1 + 7 = 10. 1 + 0 = 1) and the 1 is all about new beginnings. Creation. Launching into new ventures. A fresh start. This means we get to leave all the old, stale ways behind and…

This 2016 election has been the most contentious in a long time—maybe ever in our history. Many psychologists and therapists across the country have reported a sharp rise in client stress over relationships with loved ones and the potential outcome in November. According to recent reports, between 50–90% of therapists say their patients brought up the election as a major stressor in their lives. So how can we maintain our sanity for the next weeks as the election comes to a close? 1. Stop watching. No, I don’t mean bury your head in the sand. Stop engaging people on social media. Stop…

Years ago, I discovered a little secret that changed the way in which I interact with people. I don’t remember how I discovered this secret, exactly—maybe it was that childhood event at our county fair. I was about three, and my mother, father and I were at a bluegrass concert at the fair, and I wanted to request a song. ‘You Are My Sunshine’—it was my favorite—my mother and I would sing it in the car on the way to preschool. On that summer day at the fair, my father carried me down to the stage, where I told the fiddle…

In my last article, I spoke about the importance of boundaries and their effect on our peace of mind. What exactly are boundaries? Setting a boundary is the ability to preserve space around yourself and your life. It’s the ability to put your own needs above the need to please others, or the need to conform to another’s expectations. At its core, boundary-setting is self love and self respect. The ability to differentiate ourselves from others means to set boundaries. I first started doing real work around boundaries in 2003 when my daughter was born—my mother and I started to…

Have you ever had a frenetic, unproductive, energy-leaking-all-over-the-place kind of day? Yesterday was that day for me. I woke up late (eh-hem, actually, I woke up early—I got out of bed late), rushed my kids out the door for school and arrived at my office with a laundry list of things to get done. Unfortunately, a few of the things on my list were the result of my lack of boundary-setting with friends and they consumed most of my afternoon. This was the energy-leaking-all-over-the-place part. I suddenly realized I was rushing around because of my perception of other people’s expectations, my lack…

We’re living in some tumultuous, terrifying and wondrous times. Each of us deals with the craziness uniquely—some more successfully, others less so. Most of us have heard of ‘the Law of Attraction’, and how we manifest in our own lives and in the world. We’re creating all the time, whether we believe it or not. We came to this super-dense planet specifically for creative purposes. The problem is, that most of us don’t know it. Most of us don’t realize our own power, and that with every thought, word or belief, we wield magic. How we handle people, events and difficulty…

I was just reading an article from Katie & Gay Hendricks on lack of self-love and how our outer world is a direct reflection of our inner world. Specifically, it spoke of being secretly (or overtly) critical of others, and how that very criticism mirrors a quality in ourselves that we don’t like or can’t accept. I’m sure we can all relate to looking across the room at someone in judgment. “Who does she think she is?” “Why can’t he ever do things right?” “Why are they always late—I’m never making plans with them again!” Often, it’s those very annoyances that…

Wow, how did it get to be ‘that’ time of year already? These days, when time is flying so fast, the world in such turmoil, and elections coming up, the holidays can be trying even in the most graceful of families. Like the saying goes, we can choose our friends, but we can’t choose our family. And yet these are people with whom we’re often (seemingly) forced into spending time with—especially at holiday-time. How can we come to peace with that one brother, aunt, parent, that always seems to grate on our nerves? The one who calls us out on our…

What we focus on perpetuates. It seems simple enough—think about positive stuff and not negative stuff, right? Well, it becomes a bit of a slippery slope when we’re passionately AGAINST something—so passionately against, that we feel the need to take up arms to defend our position. But what does that really accomplish? Can we really FIGHT for a cure for cancer? No. The more we use that word—‘cancer’—the more we promote it, lift it up, exclaim it! I’ve lost several very special people to the scourge of this disease, so I’m not minimizing the effect the loss has on our lives,…

Today is my 44th birthday, and as I reflect on this year so far, I’m pretty blown away. Despite all the numerology involved (I’m an 8, this year is an 8, I’m turning 44 = 8), 2015 has been a huge turning point for me on many levels, and has provided many opportunities for growth. I launched my Bliss web site, my design business has been full with fun and rewarding work and I got engaged to a pretty incredible guy, and will be married later in the year. This is my second marriage, the first ended in waves of infidelity…