Another new year is upon us, bringing plenty of opportunity to grow, transform, and bring your heart's desires forward. As I've heard so many wishes for "Happy New Year!", I often wonder why we celebrate the change of calendar year and not really any other time, except perhaps birthdays. I guess it serves as a good marker of time, like how old your kids were when certain events happened in your life. I know I use Connor as a time gauge for many of my life's events. Wouldn't it benefit us greatly if we also saw each day, or each moment, as a time to celebrate, as an opportunity to set the stage for a purposeful life ahead? Well, guess what! We can!! Right now is the perfect moment to let go of the old and to open to the many fresh possibilities of what's next. As we focus on our goals, what we do in this moment will determine our level of success.
     Speaking of goals, we seem to have many; improved fitness, weight loss, new / better job, more time with family, completing a course or degree, etc. Goals are great and an important piece of the puzzle for fulfilled life. Without goals to help drive our energy and attention, we easily become aimless. Making sure our goals are written down and SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Timely) are also important in determining their success.
     Another key aspect of success is embodiment. In order to drive efficient change, we must connect to the feeling sense of our desired outcome. For instance, what will we look and feel like when we release those extra 15 pounds? How will our body move differently? What emotions will dominate our state of being? What clothes will we wear and how will they feel against our skin? How high will our energy be and what will be our outlook on life? All of these questions bring us to an embodied state of being where we resonate fully now with a future state. We activate all the senses to bring us to a state of completion even before we've begun. In our mind and feeling sense we are already 15 pounds lighter. When we live from this place, of embodying our success in this present moment, success show up with greater ease, joy, and love.
     As you seek to create lasting change this year, keep stopping along the way to ask yourself if your change actions are self-proclaimed to-do's or reflect an authentic and desired way of being. Do you feel obligated and restricted by your program / action steps or excited and energized? If it's the former, return back to the feeling sense and essence of why you desire this change. Reconnect with the energies of your heart's calling and why you are on this journey to begin with. Get back to the root of desired change so that you live your change with heart-felt purpose.
     Sometimes we get so driven to task our life, to have it show up in a certain way in a certain amount of time, that we forget our humanity and what that means. Living a human life is not a linear process. We are complicated, multi-dimensional beings with many different streams of consciousness. Be patient, kind, loving, and diligent in your change process. It is a process and success comes when we can celebrate ourselves and our new beginning in every moment. So Happy New Moment!! Enjoy them all.

Peace,
Shanti

Shanti Douglas
Mindfulness & Stress Management Coach
Eden Energy Medicine Certified Practitioner
8 limbs Holistic Health, LLC

     If you're already challenged by your busy calendar, the holiday season probably won't have it feel any easier. I know for me, even though there's still two more months until year end, I'm already busy fine-tuning things so that it ends successfully. Updating my website, new marketing material, interesting event offerings, as well as my personal calendar are all on my radar.
     Even though I’ve narrowed my work scope over the past eight years, there are always so many new and exciting things to offer that I can become a little scattered at times, like Suki when I throw her two balls at once. Each ball is great and fun but which one to pick up and play with? Whenever I do this to her, I can see the confused and anxious state in her eyes, her decision-making process taking shape in front of me. I wish I could understand how she makes her choice but ultimately, after sniffing and chewing on each, even trying to put both in her mouth at the same time, she somehow decides which one we’ll play with for the next fifteen minutes. I really appreciate her commitment to her decision, too, since she won’t switch balls halfway into our play game, no matter if I start throwing a different ball. She’s dedicated, highly focused, and committed. Once again, I could learn a lot from Suki.
     While I think I’m fairly good at blocking my time to attend to specific activities or subject matters, I often notice a frenetic quality to my attention. Settling into a creative space between scheduled events isn’t always easy, resulting in a sense of disconnect between what I need to be doing and what I’m capable of doing. There’s real training in coming back to knowing what you can and can’t do, letting go of the frustration of what won’t work even though you want it to, and then moving forward with what’s possible.
     So how do we approach all the things we want to accomplish in the time and energy frame we have?
     I find it’s more challenging in this over-stimulated age of electronics and social media to steer clear of the shiny object syndrome. Our attention is constantly being diverted (yes, we do need to train ourselves to stick to task). Combined with less available time due to extended work weeks or family responsibilities, a life that is gravitating towards peace may be the opposite of what we are feeling.
     Take a look at how many things you have on your calendar right now. I’m sure they’re all good and serve a healthy purpose. The question to ask is if they create a sense of balance and joy or has our initial excitement turned to dread or obligation. Book clubs, PTO meetings, photography class,... add in the myriad of work, home, and family stuff... where is the room to breathe, enjoy, and self-nurture?
     None of this is to say not to be involved or to expand your connections. Quite the opposite. Creating depth of attention and truly experiencing our experience so that we don’t surface-skim our showing up is important. Let’s develop our skill of discernment, though, and commit like Suki to that one ball we are playing with so that we can enjoy it fully and not feel the pressure and added weight of everything else that is calling our attention. On a different day when it’s right to play with a different ball, we can do that, but for now let’s hone to come home.
     Need some quick tips on how to do that? Check out these 5 Super Honing Supports

1. Say “No, not now” to say “Yes!”
You aren’t very good when you’re over-extended or exhausted so kindly say “No, Not Now” to the next request that comes your way. Doing this will help you to say “Yes!” to yourself. And not to worry as someone else will pick up the piece you were about to carry.

2. Focus on only one activity per month
Instead of scattering your attention over numerous activities, pick one and delve into that. By engaging in just this, your enjoyment for this activity will grow and you’ll learn more about it that you would have thought possible. Leave the others to have their turn over the coming months.

3. Create daily time just for you
20 minutes minimum is my recommendation; meditation, bath, yoga, walk, napping, knitting… whatever keeps a connection to yourself alive!

4. Plan ahead and prepare meals
Save time, calories, and health. Don’t be caught off-guard with last minute kitchen and nutrition messes. Decide dinner in the morning, double-cook soups and stews for future-freeze, and prepare snacks and salads by cutting 3X the amount of veggies.

5. Purposeful Pauses
Break the flow of constantness with 10+ second breaks throughout the day. Stop, breathe, feel your feet, and notice the physical and mental sensations. By tuning in to the present moment, we can decide more clearly what is needed next.

Love and peace,
Shanti

Shanti Douglas
Mindfulness & Stress Management Coach
Eden Energy Medicine Certified Practitioner
8 limbs Holistic Health, LLC

     Deep, slow breaths... purposefully trying to relax my body... bringing my mind to a neutral, even happy, place. Tapping my Triple Warmer 3 (TW3) point, breathing for 10, then tapping some more. Ahhh...and finally, for the first time in a long time, no tears running down my face and no death-grip on the leather arm rest. Phew and yeah!
     These are some of the calming tools I brought into my dental session the other week when I had to have both a crown and a filling replaced. Not anyone's idea of fun but, for me with an extensive dental history and a deep visceral reaction (no need to go into unpleasant details), a more disruptive experience.
     What was different time? Arriving with my mindfulness and meditation practice in hand, I also now invoke some Eden Energy Medicine. The TW3 "Fear Point" shown above is an acupressure point that runs along the Triple Warmer meridian. this meridian is, among other things, responsible for our fight/flight/freeze. Tapping here helps to relieve that stress / fear and, along with the breath, can bring a greater sense of calm to an otherwise high-tension moment. Simply tap that point 10 times with your other pointer and middle finger, pause for a few breaths, then tap it another 30 times. If fear is still prominent, try the same sequence on the other hand. For me, it worked like a charm. (Insert big smile.) I'm very grateful for this energy support and also grateful for my dentist and staff. Life would not be so pretty without them. And while I still dislike being in that office (and luckily it's much less), it's now much more comfortable.
     So try TW3 tapping the next time you are in a fearful / anxious mind place and see how your energies change. I'd love to hear your story so please share with comments below!

Love and peace to you!
Shanti

Shanti Douglas
Mindfulness & Stress Management Coach
Eden Energy Medicine Certified Practitioner
8 limbs Holistic Health, LLC

     How much of YOU do you think is destined or predetermined to be a certain way, that certain traits or attributes are just who you are and that's that? Do you believe you have limited control over what happens in your life; the experiences you have, the people that surround you, an illness or disease that is part of your inherited makeup?
     I've always thought that, while there may be a propensity towards an expression of an attribute (as some are deeply set biologically or environmentally), it's really how we "feed" an attribute that determines how it manifests. If I grew up in an angry atmosphere where people were in constant disagreement, for instance, I will more easily attach to that type of environment. It is a seed that has been highlighted in my life and one that I may have a propensity to express, more than the child who conversely experienced constant love and peaceful community. Nurture versus nature, you could say.
     But just because the seed (of anger, for instance) has been highlighted, it doesn't mean that it has to come to fruition. What we do with those root experiences, environmental atmospheres, and even our body's biology is up to us. With awareness and diligence to switch from feeding the unskillful and non-beneficial seeds to skillful and beneficial ones, we can change our set of circumstances and ultimate expression. We don't have to manifest an angry life just because we were surrounded by that. We can create the environment we seek (and we do it all the time). This ability to change is actually a big part of what I support others with, to give them the tools and confidence to approach and see life from a more empowered and enlightened perspective.
     Looking at disease and cellular creation of illness within the body can be a bit different, however. Cells have structure and roles which, in my non-scientific mind, can't be changed... or can they?? Again, this isn't to say that I don't have influence. I truly believe that I have a huge amount with how I take care of myself - physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. This holistic approach also includes re-balancing my personal energy field inside and outside of my body, thus influencing the environment in which my cells are housed. Obviously a strong, vibrant, and balanced one is preferred - thus my work with Eden Energy Medicine.
     But to go beyond and look deeper into changing the cell structure itself... is it possible? Well, according to Bruce Lipton, PhD, it is. He's a stem cell biologist from the Wisconsin School of Medicine who's focus has been studying the molecular mechanisms that control cell behavior. I've been following his work off and on for years with my initial read of his book The Biology of Belief.  Bruce has been taking his scientific findings regarding cell behavior and expression to the public sector, sharing his knowledge so that we can be empowered in the knowledge that we do have much more control over our destiny than we think, even regarding our genetic make-up. I won't go into all the science and details - he does a fantastic job of explaining it in this video - so I would encourage you to investigate for yourself.
     Watch, listen, learn, and begin to ponder the miracle of your physical and emotional expression in this life. Become even more empowered to create healthy change for yourself and know that you CAN have your life as you'd like it. It's all a matter of perception - that one special aspect that creates it all.

Peace and LOTS of joy in Being.
Shanti

Shanti Douglas
Mindfulness & Stress Management Coach
Eden Energy Medicine Certified Practitioner
8 limbs Holistic Health, LLC

     This past weekend I spent Saturday a most wonderful Day of Mindfulness at Rose Apple in VT and, as it always seems to be, the Dharma talk was perfect and felt like it was directed right at me. Brother Zohar shared insights about time... actual time and storyline time.
     Actual time is a fact. It's contained fully in the present moment. It doesn't direct us in any way and, with its simplified self, moves along at a consistent and measurable pace. Storyline time, on the other hand, is directly connected to the story of us and the forward motion that most of us have in our approach to life. It's the back story of why we rush through things, task master the objects in front of us, and seek to gain control of our experience. We're moving forward out of this ever-present moment into anticipation of the next moment, spending little time here and now.
     Storyline time prevails when we are searching for joy and happiness outside of this moment. We think that it is somewhere else. There may be an uncomfortableness here and now, an aspect of grief or sadness, an emotion of dissatisfaction that is searching for harmony. Instead of residing in the Now to reconcile that, we unconsciously search for this freedom in the next moment, feeding a habit of striving that leaves us even more unfulfilled.
     Take a look at how you receive each moment of the day. From observation of my own experience, I feel like I'm under an invisible time pressure much of the day. Even though I'm great at calendaring and leaving space, there's still an essence of this push to get things done and onto the next. As a business owner, there are many details that I need to attend to and that involve planning future events in order to maintain a consistent level of business activity.
     The continual calendaring of my day, however, brings about a momentum of moving from one activity to the other that can be challenging to stop. The dribble of  "after I get these things done..." is a common quote I can replay over and over in my mind when it's time to settle down and really take a break, to stop the locomotion of doing and let go into pure being, a being that goes well beyond the body stopping. The result is a relationship to time that can be scattered, shattered, and multidirectional with an element of dissatisfaction to what is right now. And underneath this striving can be a level of fear, unworthiness, agitation, and a general sense of joylessness.
     This isn't to say that planning and taking care of things isn't important but it begs me to notice how much time and mental effort is spent in the subtle search for happiness. Even with an active mindfulness practice, staying here and not escaping into Doing can be challenging. Fortunately my teacher Thich Nhat Hanh so eloquently reminds me with this quote above which is so true. Stopping to be right here, it is possible to live happily in each moment and still get things done. It all rests on the attention and intention I am placing in the moment, reverting from getting caught up in my own story and the master manipulation of my experience.
     Time is as it is. All the rest is just a mental construct. Time is something that we can't get back, no matter how much we try. As I continue to age, this becomes more prevalent in my consciousness. Perhaps this has added to my sense of rushing. I seek to have so much peace, love, and harmony in my life and, instead of seeing that it's right here right now, I am being pulled by my habit energies to seek it out. Look, look, though! In the mirror resides all that I need and, when this is my footing, I can walk safely into whatever arrives next.
     Yup, and that's why we call it  "practice". Simple but certainly not easy!

Peace,
Shanti

Shanti Douglas
Mindfulness & Stress Management Coach
Eden Energy Medicine Certified Practitioner
8 limbs Holistic Health, LLC