You've Got to Be Kidding

OMG.  There has to be a mistake somewhere.  It absolutely cannot be the next to the last day of June!  No.  Simply no way.  It's June 29th???  That is just crazy.  I feel like time is racing by.  And then, on the other hand, with the sameness of each social distancing day, it sometimes seems like time is standing still.  Maybe that's why I haven't written one blog entry this whole month.  Yikes!  So glad I got my act together before July hit.

Ok, got it together.  Now, what to write about?  What is there to say about our world today?  Not much going on, right?  OK, so I'm a joker.  We are living in epic times.  We are on the brink of great potential.  That, at least, is how I choose to see it.  Yes, so much has broken wide open, so much has fallen apart, and so much is changing.  But, when we look deeply, we see that things have been rotten, deeply rotten, for a very long time.  We, dear friends, have been living a bit of a lie.

I am reading this impossible book by one of my mentors, Stephen Jenkinson.  It's called Come of Age and it's a doozy.  Stephen is one of those writers that intrigues the imagination and calls the reader to dig deep.  I'm sure there are those who try to read his work and throw the book down, say a few choice words, and get on with their day.  Yes, he's that challenging.  But he has captured my heart and I am continuing to work to learn from him.  And he has a lot to say about the times we live in.  Here's a review.

One of the outcomes of reading this has been to change Integrative Wisdom Elder Care Coaching & Consulting to "Elders Who Care".  I am realizing I hope to be an elder when I grow old, not just grow old.  If you are interested in following along, you can join in the conversation on the FB page.  In times of great social upheaval, having wise leaders goes a long way in riding the waves of fear and emotional distress.  We seem to be in short supply of wise leaders these days.  Maybe you will want to work to be one.  Maybe you will want to be a voice to help as we navigate these rough waters, helping us get to the other side.

In my personal corner of the world, changes are coming to my neighborhood.  We live in a rural area and we have been spoiled by view like the one in the photo.  While I am aware we don't own the land that is currently being developed, I am also aware that I have an opinion about what is being torn down and what will be built up.  It's out of my hands to change what is happening.  What is in my power is how I will greet the change.  Of course the wisdom comes from knowing what we do have power over and then having the courage to act.  Yep, just like the Serenity Prayer! It is my humble opinion that these times are giving us lots of opportunities to flex our Wisdom Wings.

Ooh, Wisdom Wings.  I like it.  Never wrote those two words together before.  But I am running with it.  Dear Reader, let's try on a pair.  Let's take the wise road.  Let's soar together as we find ways to rebuild a nation that really lives its motto...cause we haven't yet.  But I have hope that we can.  With a new cadre of Elders Who Care, with the rising of our young who call us to be honest, to remove the blinders we've been wearing for hundreds of years, and by beating our Wisdom Wings, we got this!  Our future is bright.  And honest.  And it is time to come of age.  

In Service, 

Your Soul Catalyst Verna

Life's Magical Moments

What Magic is Brewing in Your Life?

Happy Brand New Month!  OMG a few of us might exclaim.  How in the world did we get here already?  Where did this year go?  I'm not ready... (Just a few other exclamations we might be making!)

And yet, we are here.  Right here at the end of a whole year.  AND to make it even more surreal, we have arrived at the end of a decade and are facing a brand spanking new one.   Usually just the coming of a new year sends out the call to make those resolutions but the coming of a new decade?  What might that milestone trigger within us?

Maybe you have been so busy you haven't even thought about the new decade.  Maybe you are so busy with the Christmas season, you haven't even thought about the New Year.  If not, I'm here to put a bee in your bonnet and set your mind to conjuring.

What better time than the magical season of Christmas to envision our future?  One question I have been pondering for a few years now is this:  As an adult, what would I ask Santa for?  For some reason this question has not been easy for me to answer.  I think back to my childhood and the joy I felt when I realized that Santa had listened to me and thought enough of me to fulfill my heart's desire.  I truly loved the gift, whatever it was, and skipped and jumped around for days, while reveling in my prize.

But, now as an adult, the magic has shifted slightly.  Now I am more inclined to believe the gift will come due to my actions, not Santa's.  But...if I returned to those days of blind faith in a bringer of my deepest held desire, what would I ask for?

I have considered those beauty contest answers like "world peace" and "justice for all".  Maybe I don't even think those are possible and I don't want to waste a wish. Or maybe I'm just selfish and want the gift to only benefit me and my life.  As I have said, I am still in the middle of discernment.

I will pause here and let you ponder what you might ask Santa for...

Dear Santa,

So, what is your wish to Santa?  Was it easier for you than it has been for me?  I hope so.  Here's to that magical moment when Santa grants your deepest desire.

But...if you were more like me and found it hard to know what to ask for, why do you think that is?  I'm really curious.  I think part of it for me is the understanding I now have about the fragility of life and the knowledge that, all too soon, life comes to an end.  I find there isn't any one thing I can ask for that will live up to the enormity of this fact.

Instead, I find myself simply wanting to show up to each day.  I find I want to show up, more to the process of asking rather than the end result of receiving.  I revel in the magic that I am here at all and in the magic that one day, a day I have no knowledge of, that it will all be over.  I want to revel in this moment, this magic that is simply being able to ask the question.

So, back to this, end of the year-last month of 2019, moment.  Back to this end of a decade moment.  I am choosing to be held in this magic by consciously marking my days, by listening with my inner ear and discerning what to do, not what to get.  I find have goals, milestones I want to achieve that stand for the idea I was given a responsibility in this being born, a mandate to listen to an inner call and somehow manifest this out into the world. 

I am excited that I am achieving all three of the goals I set for myself back in May.  These will be the gifts I give to myself I suppose.  These coming to fruition is the magic I will cherish.  And, as I finish out these last 30 days of this decade I will give thanks for the gift of life, for the gift of magic, and for the gift of believing.  And I extend my belief that you, too, will be able to discern your end of the year, end of the decade magical moments and revel in them.


Lastly, Integrative Wisdom will be offering an envisionment gathering in January 2020.  Yep, I just made up that word.  It works for what I am envisioning... If you have any desire to partake in the magic, stay tuned.  The date will be set one day soon.  I hope to see you here.

Your Soul Catalyst,
Verna

The Story of the Snake

This is a story about a snake.  Now, I am very aware that there are many people who do not like snakes and are horrified by all things snake.  I am very aware that many people seem to have an irrational fear of snakes, as made apparent by people shuddering at just hearing the word.  Snake...

I for one, am not afraid of snakes.  Now, I have a healthy respect for snakes, that is for sure.  But it's the same respect I have for dogs...I don't just reach out to touch them before I am sure it is safe to do so.  But I will admire from a distance and appreciate them, dogs and snakes.

I also appreciate when I have the opportunity to see a snake in its natural habitat.  It seems we are usually so disconnected from nature that we never really get an opportunity to experience the real deal.  Here, at our home in Escondido, Ca. we are sometimes fortunate enough to meet the wilderness eye to eye.  And that's what this story is all about.

It began one weekend with my husband coming to find me.  We were both outside in our yard, but given that we have almost an acre of space, it took us a minute to meet up.  He told me he had just been scared almost to death by a snake!  And, good husband that he is, he knew I would love to experience Snake for myself.

I was so excited.  I hurried over to the area where Snake was when my husband found him.  Sure enough, there she was!

Snake

Now Snake really wanted nothing to do with me or my husband.  But she kindly allowed me to photograph her as she slithered away.

The next day my husband had another encounter with Snake, but I wasn't able to participate this time.  But he told me the tale.  As he was walking the yard, he just, once again, noticed Snake.  This time Snake was approaching one of the many gopher holes that populate our rural garden.  As my husband observed, Snake picked a hole and went in head first.  As he watched, the snake disappeared completely into the earth.  Makes you appreciate there is truly an underground world of which we know little about.

Given that we are not fond of the damage gophers can do to a yard, we were somewhat pleased that this snake was most likely a gopher snake.  Perhaps he might do what we could not, kill a gopher.  It is a fact that we can't make ourselves kill gophers.  We just can't, even when the opportunity presents itself.  We have sat and observed the little buggers come up out of their underground caves, snatch a flower and pull it back down into the tunnel.  Notice I said "observe".  Bye flower.

Anyway, I didn't get to see Snake go undercover.  But my husband still shivers when he recalls the snake disappearing before his eyes.  Did I mention he is not fond of snakes?   He's not.

At any rate, we were both pleased that maybe the natural cycle of life might assist us with our gopher population.  You know, a natural way to keep the numbers down since we weren't going to be doing it.  However, the story of Snake took another turn a few days later.  One that makes me sad still.  

A few days after Snake made her appearance into our lives, as I walked to the street to get the mail, I found Snake lying by the side of the road.  She didn't show any obvious signs of trauma as far as I could tell.  Over five feet of gopher snake lying there.  Just like that, she would no longer be able to assist us with the gophers.  Just like that she had completed her work in the world.

I couldn't bear just leaving her there even though I knew the turkey vultures would likely find her before too long.  I decided to get a stick, gather her up and bring her back onto our property.  I laid her down under one of our trees and vowed to get back to the body as soon as possible and bury her in our garden somewhere.  

However, before I was able to do so, my husband informed me Snake was gone.  The cycle continued with another wild species finding her and doing what comes naturally.  It ate her.  A day later I found what was left: a one foot long piece of Snake left on the ground in the same area where she had gone underground to find her prey.

Now, you may wonder why I felt it important enough to write about this sad tale.  Sad to me anyway.  First, I guess I wanted to memorialize Snake a little bit.  She really allowed us to see the cycle of life and vicariously participate in it.  I also think I wanted to see if those people who had seen my FB post about Snake and had responded negatively, I wondered if they would be sad to hear of her demise.  But, there's one more thing my mind ponders.  And it's this:

What if we equate her journey with ours?  We are here for a short time.  We do our thing.  Then, just like that, we are gone.  The cycle of birth, life, death.  Of course, I really don't imagine that Snake was conscious of her place in the universe.  I don't imagine she wondered if she had made a difference in her short time on earth.  I would be surprised to find out she suffered at all.  And yet...

What do I know?  After starting to write this story I decided to research a bit.  And imagine my surprise to find that more is known about snakes' inner lives than I was aware of.  Here's an amazing story to read:

Snakes Have Friends Too

Drats.  Well, I am glad that we didn't do anything to harm Snake.  I have to come to terms with the fact that in this case the cycle of life played out.  While I am sad, I am glad to have been able to see the cycle and been a small part of it.  I guess I also hope that, after reading this story, you might think differently about snakes and about the treatment of them.  Of course, that could lead to treating other animals better and maybe even other humans.

I hope so.

Here's to Snake, and to snakes everywhere.  And, here's to your life's journey.  Be sure you are doing your thing, living your life, and appreciating your place in the universe.  Wake up each day and vow to marvel at the world and your place in it.  Trust in the goodness of life.  Don't despair, and never give up.We don't know when the end of our cycle here on earth will come.  It will come.  Until it does, here's to you and to me.  

Hugs and love,

Verna, your soul catalyst

Listen to Your Soul Talk

Are You Ready?

Ready for what?  Why, to listen to your soul talk.

Stop living from your head all the time.

Let that deep inner wisdom minister to you.

We are SO used to thinking, thinking, thinking.  Our minds are a great asset, don't get me wrong.  To lose one's mind is NOT a desired goal.  However, we must train our minds to work with the rest of us, not always lead us around like a trained monkey.

Research has shown that our bodies talk to us all the time.  We just ignore them.  Pain is one language our bodies use to speak.  Stop what you are doing.  Listen to me.  Wisdom is there.  We choose not to pay attention.  Our minds reason out why it's OK to keep doing what we are doing.  It's my life...

Spiritually even, we often allow our minds to run the show.  We decide with our minds what we will believe in, what is acceptable, how God works.  It is rare that we sense that Spirit within us.  It is rare to live our lives knowing that Spirit will guide us in our actions and our thoughts--if we take a minute to drop down into our hearts and get out of our heads.

That is a big IF.

Which brings us to the biggest challenge of all.

The Soul.

The deepest well of wisdom of all.

Yet, a well we seldom drink from.

Want proof?

Try to define soul for yourself.

I'm waiting.

I'm imagining it's a bit difficult for you.

And even if you define it to your satisfaction,

Now tell me how often you go there to that inner place to ask advice or to be consoled or to rest.

I'm writing today to encourage you to go there.

It's time.

Our world needs us to live from our Souls.

Now.

Are you ready to listen to your soul talk?

If so, take some time to Go SLO=W™

Stop.

Listen.

Observe.

Wisdom from your Soul appears.

Yes, it takes practice.  Your mind has run this show for so long.  It really is not ready to relinquish control.  But it will, in the long run, be SO happy with things once you do.

Maybe these questions will get you started with the whole "listen to your soul talk" thing.

Use them if they work, toss them out if they don't.

Easy peasy.

And, if you're looking for support or ideas on how to start listening to your soul talk, Integrative Wisdom is always here to help and guide.

Along with retreats and soul coaching there is a new offering in the works.

I couldn't be prouder of this card deck and guide book.

It's concrete proof of me walking my talk.

Only because I kept listening and kept taking steps,

even if they were baby ones...

I followed my heart,

listened to my soul,

and succeeded in birthing a tool that I believe can help so many people with their Soul Talk.

I am sending you love and light as you read this.

I am so excited for you.

Listen to your soul talk.

Live completely and with great joy.

Any you will make such a difference in this world.

Signing out for today,

Your Soul Catalyst, Verna