The Brave Woman

One Square Inch

2012-02-29T13:20:00.000-08:00

Many years ago while living in Japan, I learned this beautiful concept from a Japanese friend. My mini-balcony on my small apartment - overlooked a wood dump - a place where old wood from torn down houses and factories was dumped.

It was not the loveliest sight in the world. My friend said, "You must learn to look at 'one square inch'." Then he had me look to my right and down the street. In Japan there are little stone 'beings' called Jizu - they protect travelers and young children. It is the custom for people to pour water over the little statue and dress them in a red cape - they are lovely and delightful little beings to come across on many street corners. My friend had me put my attention on the small statue and ignore the ugly dump, the sounds of the street, and any other disruptive or unpleasant scenes.

I sometimes forget that wonderful lesson - when I do remember - it makes my line of sight so much more pleasant and beautiful.

Just another 'good idea'.

Mental Rehearsal

2012-02-28T09:41:00.000-08:00

Mental Rehearsal and Changing Your DNA

As a cognitive behavioral psychologist - mental and behavioral rehearsal was a staple of good therapy. I was always fascinated by the studies demonstrating how mental rehearsal works and I read many studies by psychologists, research scientists, Olympic trainers and athletes demonstrating how and why mental rehearsal works in our body-mind.

What is Mental Rehearsal?

Mental rehearsal is the process of imprinting images of your goals and expectations in your mind and DNA. You practice seeing and feeling the positive outcomes and achievements that you want to manifest in your conscious reality. Kinesthetic memory and visualization increase your likelihood of success. You can use mental rehearsal for any area of your life, health, wealth, happiness, relationships, sports, business, whatever you desire in your life.

While teaching psychology at the University of Hawaii - I worked with a local basketball team - they won their first ever championship that year.

The New Use for Mental Rehearsal - Change at the Spiritual Level

The simple 6-steps of The One Command is one highly successful approach to using mental rehearsal to change your DNA. Meditation is a wonderful method as well alone or better yet in partnership with The One Command, and I have learned some new meditations from one of my teachers, Dr. Joe Dispenza, from his terrific new book, Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself. Dr. Joe uses mental rehearsal as a core process in changing your DNA and I use it as a core process in my coaching sessions in partnership with The One Command.

Hugs, Katie

For a continuation and expansion of this discussion on the phenomenon and value of Mental Rehearsal - and just how you can use it - check out Dr. Katie on www.evolutionezine.com in March.

FLOURISH!!!

2011-12-30T09:08:00.001-08:00

I don't know about you, but for me 2011 has been an odd little year - lots of 'learning opportunities', lots of changes.

2012 holds such promise and excitement. I was just reading excerpts from a book that offered me a new word to language for myself in the new year. Up to this point I have been using Bruce Liptons word from his book Spontaneous Evolution - Thrival. Dr. Lipton talks about moving from survival to thrival and I am still holding that thought in my DNA.

The book I was reading this morning however offered me another word to add to my daily thoughts - and that word is Flourish!!!

I have set my intention to Flourish in 2012 - in my health, my 'wealth', and my happiness!

What is your intention for 2012 - and how will you live an expansive life?

Love and blessings to All, Katie

A New View of Life

2011-12-12T09:44:00.000-08:00

As we move into not just a new year, but also New Paradigm – there seems to be as much fear as anticipation – this needs to change.

There have been many misinterpretations of the 2012 predictions, what is important to know is that major change is in the air and has been for sometime. Just watching the news about our political, economic and social conditions worldwide confirms that. There are movements of major change everywhere.

And my clients have made that abundantly clear. They come to me because their inner-selves are in a state of discontent – a state of movement toward something they are not sure of yet, but which they know represents their True self – their greater Purpose. People are awakening in the most wonderful and also sometimes frustrating and even sometimes frightening or uncomfortable ways

Besides all the other ways we work together, I put great emphasis on placing fear where it belongs – behind us.

One of my favorite mantras is the litany against fear from the Bene Gesserit

"I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain."
--- Frank Herbert, Dune - Bene Gesserit Litany Against Fear

I used to keep this near my computer until it became a part of me. Our thoughts are things, our thoughts actually create and change our DNA – what ideas do you want to support in the New Year and in your new life? Your new way of being?

Mike Dooley says in his TUT messages – ‘Thoughts are things, choose the good ones.’

Love and Blessings, Katie

A New View of Life

2011-12-12T09:40:00.000-08:00

As we move into not just a new year, but also a New Paradigm – there seems to be as much fear as anticipation – this needs to change.

Besides all the other ways we work together, I put great emphasis on placing fear where it belongs – behind us.

One of my favorite mantras is the litany against fear from the Bene Gesserit

Mike Dooley says in his TUT messages – ‘Thoughts are things, choose the good ones.’

Love and Blessings, Katie

My Journey of Gratitude - Day 30

2011-12-01T06:26:00.000-08:00

I began these 30 days in gratitude as an experiment to see what would happen. It quickly became a journey that took me on a trip beyond what I could have ever imagined. I expected to be changed certainly, but something even more amazing happened that I did not foresee--I was revealed.

In this field of healing that I so dearly love, we talk about changing our minds, changing our lives, changing our beliefs. But what I've come to realize is that, in doing all that, we are not changing ourselves--we are simply revealing who we've always been, Changing your beliefs doesn't change you--it reveals you.

When who you are is revealed and you live from that revealed self, your life begins to reflect that--and we call that change.

It may seem like I'm playing at semantics when you read this, but I can tell you that the experience between changing myself and revealing my true self is very different.

It feels like being covered by so many layers of thick blankets, that my Self is hidden. Then, one by one, each blanket is removed until there is just me--my True Self--jumping up and saying with delight "Here I am!"

I am not changed; I am revealed.

While some of my outer circumstances still remain to be dealt with, I no longer look at them as challenges to be overcome. In this revelation of who I am, I see them as opportunities. Opportunities for growth; opportunities to spread my wings and try new things; opportunities to allow more magic and miracles into my life.

And this is where one leg of my journey ends and a new one begins. I am called to be open to and explore the magic and miracles that are present when I live in a state of gratitude.

So my Inner Chicken and I have new waves to surf and new adventures to take. Where we end up is beyond my ability to imagine, but I trust that magic and miracles will play a large role in wherever we go.

It is an exciting thought--magic and miracles abound, just waiting for me to recognize, allow and accept them.

Thank you for walking this journey with me. I am grateful for my life, for my new opportunities and for you.

I would love to hear your stories, your questions and your experiences. Please feel free to comment!

In gratitude,
Bonnie

My Journey of Gratitude - Day 29

2011-11-30T07:02:00.000-08:00

This morning's journey took me into a place of stillness and inner peace. I enjoyed the feeling of silence around me and the stillness within me, but that was just the beginning of my journey.

Gratitude led to peace which took me to a place of deepest love--love of life and love for life.

This is that place of every-thing and no-thing. The 'void' that I used to fear but now wrap around me like a warm blanket. It is always in this void, this place before creation, that I experience my deepest truths and my deepest understandings. It is not a place I get to often, but today I did.

Sitting in this energy of every-thing and no-thing, I am free to be re-created into a new thing.

Gratitude exists in this place as well. I'm finding that gratitude exists everywhere. It feels like the glue that holds the universe together and allows Love to enter in.

Love and fear are the only 2 real emotions. Everything else you experience are aspects of one or the other. It is impossible for them to exist in the same place at the time. You are either in a state of love or a state of fear in any given moment.

The state of gratitude opens the door for love to enter in and reside within you. Fear, then has no room and no reason to exist.

But we live in a world of duality--good/evil, right/wrong, gain/loss--with fear, chaos and conflict seemingly in charge. That is one aspect of reality, but it does not need to be the only aspect I experience.

With each day of this journey I understand on ever deepening levels not just the importance and benefits of living in gratitude, but the amazing tool for transformation that gratitude is.

No other tool is as easy to employ to change your experience of life. It costs nothing, needs no user manual to assemble and is available to you in every moment.

You simply close your eyes, take a deep breath and say 'thank you'. Your Spirit self can take it from there.

Gratitude can be the next great adventure of your life--if you allow it.

My eyes closed, a deep breath and thank you for being on this journey with me.

In gratitude,

Bonnie

My Journey of Gratitude - Day 28

2011-11-29T08:34:00.000-08:00

Some days I just have to laugh at what a slow learner I can be. Today is one of those days! I began my usual process of stepping into gratitude, especially giving thanks for these past 30 days, which are quickly coming to an end.

As I was expressing my gratitude for an experience yesterday that I would preferred to not have had, I realized that being in a state of gratitude does not keep me from feeling old worries and fears, nor does it protect me from the challenges in life. I find that I still worry and fret over what isn't going well in my life and at times old beliefs still pop up and get in my way. It's part of the human experience I suppose; just not the most pleasant part.

The state of gratitude does not guarantee me sunshine and rainbows every day.
What it does do is give me an essential tool to quickly shift my perspective and my experience.

Remember that gratitude is also a choice. I can take the time, even in the midst of anger or worry, to choose to feel gratitude for something. I may not enter the state of gratitude, but I can certainly shift my mood with the feeling of gratitude. To say to myself "I choose this instead of that."

With that understanding came an image of how I've been practicing gratitude up to this point. Practicing it--not being it. It is a journey after all, not a destination, so learning wisdom along the way is a good thing.

The image I saw was of me carrying a huge, heavy rock. This rock was so big that it blocked my view of where I was heading. I had to crane my neck to see around it, but right in front of me--just a big ole piece of impenetrable rock.

Now the interesting thing is that I've carried this 2 ton piece of earth with me for so long that it became part of me--who knew!

I saw that during this journey of stepping into gratitude, I would unconsciously put the rock down, step into gratitude and have my beautiful experience--and then pick up that darn rock again and continue on my not-so-merry way. No wonder I often feel exhausted and can't always 'see' where I'm headed!

Because change is a choice, gratitude is a choice--I made a choice to let go of the rock and try something new. I didn't need nor did I want that rock any longer, and I no longer wanted my journey of gratitude to be separate from who I am, what I do and where I'm headed.

At first the rock turned into a pile of gifts--gifts that I can offer to others, but they were still heavy and still blocked my vision. Not yet matching my vision.

So I sat there as gratitude came to me--that was a new experience. Gratitude stepping into me rather than vice versa. As I allowed myself to be bathed in and invigorated by this state of gratitude, the gifts disappeared completely and there was only me standing there with no obstacles to block my vision.

Me. My knowledge, skills, talents and personality are the gifts I bring to my life and to my clients. Who I am-exactly as I am--is the gift I bring.

Who you are, exactly as you are-that is the gift you bring to the world.

And that knowing my friends is worth this entire journey! For this I am most grateful.

What are your stories, your questions, your opinions? I am grateful for you in my life and would love to hear from you.

In gratitude,
Bonnie

My Journey of Gratitude - Day 27

2011-11-28T07:00:00.000-08:00

These past 27 days have been rich with learning, understanding and healing. The more I learn, the more I realize how much more there is to learn. I settled into my 10 minutes of gratitude this morning curious what I would experience. Expecting the usual learning and understanding, I felt a different energy begin to flow in.

Receiving--the energy of receiving began flowing strongly through me. Then I realized that my focus had been on what I could learn about myself on this journey, that it had not dawned on me that I could simply receive gratitude.

Gratitude is more than being thankful, more than expressing gratefulness; it is also receiving gratitude as well as expressing it.

So I relaxed even more into this state and felt myself being divinely loved. I felt for the very first time the Divine Intelligence expressing gratitude for my existence. I felt the gratitude of others grateful for me.

Talk about a big turn-around in understanding! I have been so busy practicing the state of gratitude that I had forgotten that others are grateful for my existence as much as I am grateful for theirs.

I sat with my heart melting open and tears of joy welling up in my eyes as I understood a simple yet profound truth--the divine creator of life cherishes my existence...is grateful for me being here now, being me.

This state of gratitude is a full body-mind-spirit experience of giving-receiving-blessings. Being in a state of gratitude allows my Soul to be a full participant in my life. Being in a state of gratitude allows YOUR Soul to be a full participant in your life--if you allow it.

"I am the master of my fate. I am the captain of my soul." And my existence is made sacred and holy through this state of gratitude.

When I am in gratitude I feel the entire universe open to me and for me. And that is a most delicious feeling.

I welcome your thoughts and your stories.

In gratitude,

Bonnie

My Journey of Gratitude - Day 26

2011-11-27T08:01:00.000-08:00

Through my experiences on this journey of gratitude I have learned that expressing thankfulness is one aspect of gratitude. Feeling gratitude is another aspect. Being in the state of gratitude amplifies both expression (thoughts) and feeling and creates a different energy--a new vibration that is more powerful than its separate parts. Being in the state of being called gratitude, this new energy moves from being in the mind only into the body and expands both. It truly becomes a body-mind-spirit experience of gratitude.

I felt the shift more deeply this morning. Instead of my awareness being experienced in my mind, my conscious awareness going up & out, the expansion of gratitude dropped down & in so that I experienced body-mind-spirit all in gratitude at once--as one being state.

This was an experience of deepening that opened greater understanding of who I am beyond this physical body. I feel a healing of separation happening, not yet complete, but spreading. A blending that is at once curious and exciting.

You know that experience where you reach a certain point and the experience takes on a life of its own and continues to grow and spread exponentially? It feels very much like the beginning of new life--three things (thoughts, feeling and state of being) coming together in creation. The big bang theory. The beginning of new life. An expansion in control of itself.

I feel it in my cells as well as my thoughts. Something new and different has been creating and is developing organically on its own.

Just as I was excited about meeting the new life that was growing within me each time I was pregnant, I feel new life growing within me now--body-mind-spirit and I am excited about the possibilities and the final outcome when what has been created is birthed into my life.

Today I feel a new state of gratitude growing within me and I am most thankful for the changes I feel. This journey is giving birth to a new me and I am excited about meeting her when she is ready to be born anew into this reality.

As always, your comments, questions and stories are most welcome.

In gratitude,
Bonnie

My Journey of Gratitude - Day 25

2011-11-26T07:58:00.000-08:00

The more time I spend in gratitude, the less I have to say. After a while it is the state of being in gratitude that becomes the norm and words seem to pale in comparison.

The holiday season is in full swing now and my journey with gratitude has changed how I feel about this time of year and how I plan to celebrate it. This year I hold a deeper send of joy and peace within myself than in years past. It is a peace and joy that no longer needs the frenzy of shopping or trying to find just the right gift for someone to make their Christmas special.

That is an old trap that keeps me focused on being perfect and feeds the erroneous belief that I am personally responsible for the joy of the season. And that is a path that robs me of the joy, peace and magic that is meant to be part of this year.

This year, using the state of gratitude, I am opening the doors to expect and experience magic and miracles to show up in my life in wonderful new ways. My focus for this season is different. I will be spending more time in joy-filled activities with those I love and very little time out in the crazy chaos of shopping.

Instead, I will take pleasure in making gifts for loved ones as I used to do many years ago. To create, bake, simmer, sew and knit for others has always brought me great pleasure. Thinking of the person as I create something just for them keeps me in that state of gratitude; I can pour my love and best wishes into everything I make.

This time in gratitude has rearranged my priorities and shown me what is truly important in my life--and 'things' aren't it. Spending time with those I love, creating new memories and new traditions and engaging in activities that make us laugh and appreciate life more--that is where the magic of the season is.

In each other.

As my 30 day journey of gratitude draws to a close this week, I feel the shift from "I" more and more into 'we' and 'us'. My sense of 'I' is so filled with gratitude as a way of living that it can't help but spill over to others. This journey really is not just about me; it is about 'all'.

As I prepare to re-enter my life differently, I am grateful for each new understanding and each new event that comes my way.

In gratitude for all,
Bonnie

2011-11-25T09:58:00.000-08:00

The remains of yesterday's turkey simmering on the stove on its way to becoming tomorrow's soup, I allowed that delicious aroma to take me deeper into my state of gratitude this morning. Thoughts of yesterday's time with family floated across my mind until I had given thanks for each person, each bite of food and each memory.

Then a deep sense of inner peace flowed through me, and there I stayed, floating in peace and feeling at one with the world.

When I finally opened my eyes, 20 minutes had flown by! I realized that while life has its ups and downs, it also has its times of peaceful plateaus.

Today I am grateful for my plateau where I can simply relax in peace and love for the day.

All is well--and for that I am most grateful.

Please feel free to share your experiences! I welcome knowing how you experience gratitude and all that you are grateful for in your life.

In gratitude,
Bonnie

My Journey of Gratitude - Day 23

2011-11-24T07:22:00.000-08:00

Today is Thanksgiving Day here in the U.S. and we are spending today with family. Any day I spend with my children and grandchildren is a day to be grateful, but this day most of all.

I began my meditation with an open heart filling with thoughts of each family member. There is a new grandbaby on her way, so extra special gratitude for a new life among us. One daughter has found 'the one' and he is being introduced to the whole clan today. I am grateful for her newfound happiness and also that this family so easily opens its arms and heart to embrace new life and new love as we continue to grow.

As I continued to sit in my state of gratitude, allowing my mind to take me to new places, my physical body responded to me. Not in the warm glow of gratitude way that I normally experience, but something different. It immediately got my attention.

There was a response to the gratitude--a living response as my body flowed it back to me. It was like standing at a top of a canyon yelling "Hello. I love you' and expecting those words to be echoed back. Instead I heard "I love you too." A surprise as I realized for the first time that gratitude is a 2-way communication!

All this time I've sent thanks and love to my body for all it does for me, yet had never considered the possibility that my body would respond in kind.

As a medical intuitive who works with the physical body and health all the time you'd think I wouldn't have been surprised, but there I sat in amazement as this deeper communication between us continued--as equals and co-creators of my life.

My body does more than just reflect my thoughts; it responds with its own as well. And isn't that really how it should be--my body as more than a reflection of me, but an active co-creator? Isn't that how it is supposed to be for each of us?

After all, doesn't my body house my Essence? Why wouldn't we consciously co-create not only my health, but my life? Why wouldn't we work in cooperation and harmony with each other?

This morning the meaning of being 'present in my body' took on a whole new depth of understanding and experience. Gratitude is not just a feeling, not just a state of being--it is also a 2-way communication. Whether that be between body-mind or two people, gratitude is a divine method of communication.

I am grateful today for the body I live in and it is grateful for my presence and my acknowledgement.

New doors have just opened.

I welcome your comments and experiences!

In gratitude,
Bonnie

My Journey of Gratitude - Day 22

2011-11-23T06:50:00.000-08:00

"Woman thou art loosed." That is the title of a movie that I have never seen, yet those were the first words I heard this morning as I slipped into gratitude.

Powerful words within this state of gratitude. An opening, a shift of something intangible but very real happened. A strong sense of personal power flowed through me, very different than the personal power I carried within me before. Something deeper, broader, higher.

And a new fire was born within me.

Not the 'fire in the belly' masculine power nor the gentle internal knowing of feminine power, but something very different. As if the two came together and created something new.

This experience did not flow from the feeling of gratitude; this new sense of personal power flowed into the space that being in a state of gratitude opened up.

I began this journey 22 days ago as an experiment to experience the feeling of gratitude and how that would change me. What I quickly realized is that while gratitude is a feeling--it is also so much more; it is a state of being as well.

In this state of being called gratitude doors open, healing takes place and your greater self steps in to play a much grander role than before.

And that is what I experienced this morning. My ego self felt loved enough to give way to my soul self. While my wonderful ego self has definite ideas about what I want and how I should have it, my soul self has even higher, grander ideas about what is possible for me. This morning that door opened and my conscious connection to my soul flowed through.

How do I describe the delicious feeling of my divine self stepping into my life and essentially saying "I'll take it from here" while my ego agrees?

The only words I have right now are "Woman--thou are loosed."

Today I am grateful for this feeling of wholeness and excited about the new beginnings this means for me.

In gratitude,

Bonnie

My Journey of Gratitude - Day 21

2011-11-22T06:45:00.000-08:00

This morning's journey began with frustration. Frustration because some things I'm working towards are not happening, or at least not happening at the speed I want. So my meditation began with a bit of cursing the challenges I face. Why me? Why not me? What good is it to be grateful for my troubles and challenges? That just smacks of my old religious upbringing to be grateful for what little God gives me!

So there I sat with my questions and gave thanks for them. Even if I couldn't feel grateful for the challenges, I was at least grateful for the questions. It didn't take long for the answers to move through me.

Gratitude must come from the inside. When I look outside of myself to what I do or do not have, it is easy to lose that sense of gratitude because gratitude will never come from outside of myself. It is an 'inside job' and that's where the powerful of gratitude lies--within each of us. Not out in the world we experience, but within each one of us is the seed of gratitude.

'Challenges, problems, troubles, difficulties, not-enoughness'--are words we have assigned a negative meaning to and they come with energy that contracts us rather than expands us.

What if I shifted my perspective and thought of them as 'opportunities'? After all, isn't that what they really are--opportunities to take action, make a new decision, re-evaluate, let go, embrace, to say yes please or no thank you to situations in our lives. How would that change my feelings about what happens around me?

An instant internal shift happened and I again slipped into that gentle warmth of gratitude. Thankful for a new understanding; thankful that I asked a better question and received a better answer. Thankful that by simply changing my perception of words I shifted from contraction into the expansive energy of gratitude.

So now I understand that the situations I face are opportunities for me to re-think and re-choose the direction I want to move on this journey that is my life.

That is a powerful understanding to receive!

And it makes all the difference in the world to me. Instead of contracting into frustration and old patterns, gratitude expanded me into new ways of thinking about my reality. How 'real' do I want this situation to be--and what do I want to be real for me instead? Again--a better question yields a better answer.

I am grateful for the opportunities to succeed that are now open before me. I have some re-thinking and re-choosing to do today!

In gratitude,
Bonnie

My Journey of Gratitude - Day 20

2011-11-21T06:57:00.000-08:00

The joy of gratitude! Yesterday I experienced my body taking over and releasing past painful events. There was beauty and grace in that experience and I felt much lighter afterwards. Releasing old stuff is always a good thing.

This morning's journey took me on a very different path--the path of joy in living. Because my childhood was full of chaos and pain, my focus for years was healing and creating a fresh start, and so I did.

What I often forget along the way--I think we all often forget--is that joy, love and fun are also part of living.

Flashes of happy times flowed through me, increasing and deepening my sense of gratitude and unleashing the joy that had been forgotten. The years and events flew by like watching a movie in fast forward as I remembered the good times and the people who loved and supported me.

The memory of joy that stood out the brightest was holding my first born daughter in my arms. I was a teenage mom and there had been plenty of drama around that. But when I looked at her and she looked at me all that faded away. For the first time in my life I knew what it felt like to truly love another without reservation. Until that moment I had no idea that I was capable of such love.

My memories flowed to the birth of my 3 other babies and how each time I wasn't sure I could be any more open to love, blessings and joy--I did.

Life has a way of getting in the way of gratitude and love if we stop paying attention. To have this experience today--to feel joy released and to remember how truly blessed I am is wonderful. It is a good reminder that the good and the difficult all exist around me and it is my focus that determines my experience and my reality now.

Today I am grateful for the journey of my life. A corner has been turned on this 20th day of gratitude and a new adventure awaits.

So today my Inner Chicken and I will ride the waves of this new grand adventure, feeling blessed to be alive.

In gratitude,
Bonnie

My Journey of Gratitude - Day 19

2011-11-20T06:33:00.000-08:00

Gratitude leads to inner peace and that is how I awoke this morning, with this deepest sense of inner peace as my first awareness. So instead of getting up to do my 10 minutes of gratitude meditation in my usual spot, I allowed myself to shift into gratitude right there, lying in bed all snuggled under the blankets on a dark, cold morning and had a very different experience of gratitude.

Usually it is my mind that guides me through the meditation; my mind that consciously takes me into gratitude. This time, maybe because I was so relaxed, it was my physical body that took over the reins, guiding me ever deeper into what happens to me physically when I am in a state of gratitude. An odd experience certainly and I'm not quite sure if I can describe the difference.

Always before my mind told me what my body was feeling; whether it was about gratitude or anything else, the understanding came through my mind. This morning, however, the knowing came directly from my body--and I understood it. Instead of gratitude flowing from my thoughts down into my physical being, it was my body that flowed gratitude to my thoughts. My body was reflecting back to me its new state of being now--a state of physical being that carried, held and flowed gratitude. No longer was my body being fed gratitude, it had become the state of gratitude. Something had shifted within the physical and it all feels different.

Curious now to see what was next, I relaxed into this new experience and allowed it to unfold. At first I thought my mind was wandering and I'd try to bring it back to the present. But then I realized that my mind wasn't wandering because my mind was not controlling this experience--my body was. Old memories would pop up--what use to be very painful memories from childhood. Instead of the feeling of pain and woundedness that always accompanied these memories, a feeling of warmth--that new state of gratitude I have--flowed through each memory, dissolving it.

It took a few minutes to realize that the intelligence of my body--and make no mistake our bodies have an intelligence of their own--was using gratitude to heal the pain in my past. So I lay there, open and allowing this process to unfold as memory after memory was released from my cells and healed. Past memories and future worries, all healed in the same way--with gratitude.

As a medical intuitive I am use to entering the body and taking a look around, but that is my mind controlling the process. This experience was entirely different. I could actually feel my body healing itself and it was doing it consciously, wanting me to know and understand what was happening. Gratitude has become so much more than a feeling I flow through my body 10 minutes a day. It is now a state of being that I live in and that my body responds to.

As the body is a reflection of the mind, I saw a new reflection of myself this morning. And I am grateful for who I am and who I am becoming.

In gratitude,

Bonnie

TODAY IS THE DAY

2011-11-19T12:56:00.000-08:00

Today is the day that Bonnie and I offered our Brave Woman seminar #3 on The Freedom of Gratitude. We have spent this entire month on gratitude - giving talks, doing Bonnie's Gratitude Project (30 days of sitting in gratitude meditation for 10 min a day), and creating and re-creating our seminar.

We always start with an idea for our seminars, and then write them, and then live them, and then rewrite them, until they are organic and are in response to our own growth and in response to what we get from you all, through emails and from your energy in the Field.

We are both so grateful to you and to how you constantly change our lives by being in relationship with us.

We are so happy you are this journey with us and we love and appreciate you interaction with us through our seminars and through these blogs and through the Gratitude Yahoo Group that is growing worldwide.

This is a Movement - greater than we ever anticipated, thank you so much for being a major part of this global expansion.

Love and blessings, Katie

PS - join us on the Gratitude Yahoo Group by going to:

The link to check it out: http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/freedomofgratitude/

The email to subscribe is: freedomofgratitude-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

And if you want - the mp3 of BraveWoman--The Freedom of Gratitude is available by emailing Bonnie at bonnie@inner-resources.net

My Journey of Gratitude - Day 18

2011-11-19T07:50:00.000-08:00

The more time I spend in this state of gratitude, the more I learn about who I am and who I am becoming and that leads to feeling even more gratitude. And I continue to fall in love with myself more every day in new ways. What an incredible Being I really am--amazing how I never saw that before. Amazing how we forget to remember how amazing we each are.

As I keep my focus on gratitude, I notice subtle shifts within. Increasingly I am more open to seeing life as a journey and less needing to try to control my outcomes. What a relief that is! To begin giving up controlling my life and how it turns out and relax into the moment as it is--priceless.

I already know my eventual destination, so why not be open to the journey itself and enjoying the outcomes rather than fearing them. That is a huge shift for me. I've always been a destination kinda gal--focusing more on getting to the finish line and forgetting to notice the cool things along the way.

Other changes are beginning to show up in my life as well--physical changes. As I physically relax into this journey of gratitude I am sleeping more. Never realized how wound up and constricted I had become the past couple of years with trying to do things the 'right' way and control the outcomes. The more I relax, the slower my pace the more I actually accomplish. Seems counter-intuitive I know--but it's real.

And I am physically detoxing a bit as the energy of gratitude floods my body, flushing out the old 'not enoughness' that was trapped. A bit uncomfortable certainly, but also refreshing as my body continues to let go of what it no longer needs to hold.

My outlook on life is definitely brighter--this attitude of gratitude is becoming a constant presence in my life. More and more when an old habitual thought of worry or fear arises, I am flooded with feelings, images and thoughts of all I have to be grateful for. A new habit of gratitude as my natural state of being is arising.

I find that I'm walking around in love with people and with the world instead of shrinking away from the chaos and pain. All good and all bad still exist out there. We do live in a world of polarity, but the difference for me is where I now place my focus. Gratitude is not only a state of being, it is also a choice. A choice that I make every moment in my life. To choose gratitude over fear. To choose to focus on all that is good in life and allow my experience of life to be simpler, happier.

I no longer feel the need to save the world. Did I really believe that I could? Loving myself and my life one day at a time is enough. If we each do that, the world won't need saving.

In the meantime, life is meant to be an adventure and we are meant to enjoy the journey--living full out to the best we can.

Cue the Hawaii 5-0 theme song and my Inner Chicken riding the waves of life!

In gratitude, Bonnie

My Journey of Gratitude - Day 17

2011-11-18T06:47:00.000-08:00

It seems that the more time I spend in gratitude, the less I have to say. There comes this tipping point where the experience becomes so deep that words cannot capture the essence of what is felt. And I believe I may have reached that tipping point.

Normally it would take me a few minutes to settle my mind enough so that I could step into the state of gratitude. Today, however, I gently slipped into it and was feeling it before I was even aware of being there. That was an interesting experience in itself!

I sat in the new experience of thankfulness, a gentle warmth glowing through me and felt my outer world swirling around me-forming, dissolving and reforming itself over and over again. It was like sitting safely by a warm fire with a storm raging outside. My inner self is calm, peaceful and safe while my outer life is changing into something not yet seen.

When I look around my life everything looks the same, but my internal experience is so different that nothing feels the same. Normally that would make me nervous and scrambling for some stability, but instead today I am feeling calm, peaceful and trusting. There is deep within me a knowing that all is well.

Today I am grateful for what is and curious about what will be.

In gratitude,

Bonnie

My Journey of Gratitude - Day 16

2011-11-17T06:52:00.000-08:00

I want to first thank a good friend of mine for helping me yesterday to clear some of the old stuff that has arisen during this journey of mine. Whenever you make a shift of any kind your frequency changes and whatever you've been holding that no longer resonates with that new 'you' shakes loose and needs to be released. That is what healing is all about--letting go of what no longer fits. So yesterday my friend Sue helped me let go of all that had shaken loose and I feel so much more freedom. For that I am grateful.

So this morning, feeling more freedom within and without, I sat down to practice my 10 minutes of gratitude. It was easier to get into that state of gratitude this morning because most of the chatter that I normally have to move through was gone. A big WooHoo! on that score!

What is left behind is a deeper warmth, like glowing embers after the logs have burned themselves down. A calm, steady warmth that spread through me, deep into my bones.

Not the high that I've always felt before; you know that mountain top experience we often get. But with every high must come a leveling out because we are not called to live at the top of the mountain all the time--or at least I'm not. I am called to live amongst people and be of service from within the community, not separate from them.

And so a new sense of gratitude was born within me today. It feels like I found myself again and, even better, I fell in love with myself all over again.

Today I am grateful for the slow, steady glow of gratitude that warms me and tells me that I am 'home' at last.

In gratitude,

Bonnie

My Journey of Gratitude - Day 15

2011-11-16T06:43:00.000-08:00

Before I begin talking about my experience this morning with gratitude I'd like to answer a couple of questions that I've received from people following my journey.

How do I get started and what do I do once I've started?

I always start my 10 minute mediation by closing my eyes and taking a few deep breaths. Then I begin with my gratitude prayers--thank you for my life, thank you for my ability to breathe, and then I move through gratefulness for my husband, children, grandchildren, friends and opportunities. After that I take another deep breath and quiet my mind and allow myself to feel the gratitude for all those things. Some days it flows smoothly and other days it's more challenging.

Just like today--I had a few false starts and had to start over again. It's a journey, not a destination I have to remind myself. Simply a journey.

OK. On to my experience this morning. And an interesting one it was as I mark the mid-way point of this 30 day journey. A bit of a challenge to settle down into gratitude. My conscious mind was running wild with thoughts of today's 'to do' list and I even found myself worrying about getting my Christmas shopping done. Lots of resistance for some reason.

At first I tried reining the thoughts in, which of course did not work. So I allowed them to scurry across my inner vision unhindered, like clouds being blown across the sky by a strong wind.

Then it happened--I felt a sudden, subtle shift and my mind went completely still and time seemed to stop. All sounds silenced and my outer world ceased to exist.

I sat in this profound silence and felt myself floating in what felt like a primordial soup of everything and nothing. Of course, the moment I was aware I popped out of it, but then would fall right back into it again. So there I sate, blinking in and out from what felt like existence to non-existence, from particle to wave to particle again. Back and forth, in and out, feeling gratitude in both states of being. But gratitude in a very different way that is difficult to describe.

I've had this experience before when in deep meditation, but this was the first time I blinked back and forth, bringing gratitude with me.

Instead of experiencing the feeling of gratitude, I believe I experienced the knowing of it--the true state of it. I believe I tapped into that place where all things manifest--the unified field that exists all around us and I felt a presence of something very wonderful.

And for that I am most grateful today.

In gratitude,

Bonnie

My Journey of Gratitude - Day 14

2011-11-15T06:44:00.000-08:00

"People are about as happy as they make up their minds to be." Abraham Lincoln

That quotes floats through my mind as I begin my time with gratitude. How happy am I allowing myself to be and what stops me from being happy all the time? Interesting thought to ponder and it opens many doors hidden away in my mind.

As I continue spending time in the state of gratitude I find that all that is not gratitude--all that cannot exist in this energy--is free to roll on up and out of me. My initial reaction is to stop and ponder each thought and each feeling; wanting to understand and solve. That's part of our human nature and the function of our conscious mind, that desire to know the 'why' of every situation.

But asking 'why' will only give you the story surrounding the situation; it will never give you the truth that lies within. For that you must sit within the middle of it all, giving thanks for whatever is. As a teacher of mine often says "Understanding is just the booby prize." Consciously choosing what you want instead of what you currently have--there is the power and the freedom to create change.

To be stand in the middle of your life situation and say "No matter what has happened to me in the past--this is what I choose today. This is how I choose to live today." That is true self-empowerment.

Gratitude comes in many forms and some days are easier than others to feel thankful. Today gratitude showed up as patience and trust.

Patience that saying 'thank you' in the face of doubt is enough, and trust that all is well regardless of what I see happening--or not happening--around me.

So today I am grateful for my doubts, my faith and my journey, bumps and all.

In gratitude,

Bonnie

My Journey of Gratitude - Day 13

2011-11-14T06:50:00.000-08:00

A funny thing about opening to feelings--you can't just pick and choose which feelings you allow. It's not possible to say "I will only feel the 'good' feelings today." That's because feelings are neither good nor bad, right nor wrong. They are just feelings brought on by your thoughts.

So the other day when the dam burst open and everything that was backed up came pouring forth, I understood that would mean that all my feelings were free to express themselves. And they certainly have!

Yesterday was my impatience and today my sadness made its appearance. Not the profound sadness of years past, but the sadness of unanswered prayers, missed opportunities and things I have done or left undone.

Earlier this morning I read a passage that fit perfectly for this moment. "Bask in the luxury of feeling fully understood and unconditionally loved." So I did. As I stepped more fully into that state of gratitude feeling fully understood and unconditionally loved, I allowed the sadness to flow through me, freeing it from the prison of my body. A sweet gentleness flowed in to fill the empty spaces where sadness had previously lived.

The more I let go of what no longer serves me and what I have imprisoned in my body, the more free I am to fully live the life I love. I begin my day in a place of serenity and knowingness.

Today I am grateful for my ability to fully experience all my emotions and to bask in the luxury of being fully understood and unconditionally loved.

In gratitude,
Bonnie

My Journey of Gratitude - Day 12

2011-11-13T12:36:00.000-08:00

Gratitude was a bit harder to come by this morning. Lack of patience though showed up in abundance. That great yummy feeling that I normally slip into, that fullness of the heart, was a no show today. I stuck with it though because this is, after all, a journey not a destination. Just because I'm not feeling the gratitude in any given moment doesn't mean that I'm not grateful, just that I'm not in the feeling of it.

I'm imperfect. Oh no--was that my outdoor voice!? Parts of me were horrified at that admission while other parts relieved that I finally got it. It really shouldn't have been such a big surprise--because we all know that no one is perfect. But it was that sudden 'knowing' that took me by surprise. You know that moment when you really get it--and once you truly know something you can never again unknow it. Obviously some part of me thought my imperfections were a well kept secret, though I'm sure if you ask my husband or my kids they'd just roll their eyes and snort.

So I sat in gratitude with my imperfect self. I sat with the shame that came bursting forth from that admission and continued to give thanks for this journey of getting to know myself in deeper ways. I was really clueless that parts of me were still trying to be perfect--and successfully failing. Trying to be perfect is just an old survival strategy from childhood that was waiting for an opportunity to be healed.

And like a dam bursting as the seams, the shame, blame and guilt bottled up inside came flooding out in a torrent. Instead of being met with resistance or denial though, I allowed those feelings to flow up and out in a state of gratitude. Because, really--who needs to keep those 3 feelings as a constant companion?

To be honest--today was really uncomfortable for me; not the happy love-fest I experienced at the beginning. But it was real, it was honest and it quickly passed, because I stayed in gratitude for the experience.

Every journey has its wonders and its trials. There are days of ease and days of effort. Yet with each step on this journey I move forward and each day holds something to be grateful for. That is what I hold on to when gratitude is not so easy to find.

I am grateful for the gift of my imperfections for they remind me to love myself even more and they remind me that we are all just doing the best we can with what we've got. Embracing my imperfections allows me to let go of who I think I'm suppose to be and appreciate the fullness of who I actually am.

And that, my friends, was worth the 10 minutes of uncomfortable gratitude this morning.

In gratitude,
Bonnie

My Journey of Gratitude - Day 11

2011-11-12T06:42:00.000-08:00

I am so grateful for early mornings! My husband is still asleep, the house is quiet and it feels like I have the world all to myself. It's my favorite time of day because every morning I get to choose anew who I am and how I want to live my life. Every morning is a 'do over' when, no matter what happened the day before, THIS day I get to be grateful for once again.

This morning my time in gratitude was met with a fair amount of fear at first. Fear that I was expanding and changing too fast. Like instead of driving my nice, dependable sedan, I had suddenly jumped behind the wheel of an expensive race car and took off at the speed of light.

"Who will you be if you keep going at this pace? What will become of me?" I heard in my mind. My inner child was worried that trouble lay ahead, because as a child whenever I spoke up, asked for what I wanted or did anything 'different', trouble ensured for someone. So early on I learned to keep a low profile, to stay contracted and off the radar.

But here I am now--on everybody's radar! Stepping up and stepping out in gratitude--and telling people about it.

So I took a deep breath and sat with my inner child and her fears, thanking them for being there, feeling gratitude for their presence. And there we sat, the 3 of us in a state of gratitude until the fear dissolved and love flowed in.

An old Billy Joel song began drifting through my mind--just parts of it. "Don't go changing to try and please me. I love you just the way you are." And I drifted deeper into the meaning of those words. I don't have to change anything about myself in order to be loved or in order to have what I want in life. Living in a state of gratitude changes everything without me having to force a change or trying to be perfect, whatever 'perfect' means.

Transformation is a natural outcome from gratitude and a spirit of thankfulness. With a deep sigh my body relaxed into a gentle easiness and lightness.

Today is a play date with 2 of my grandkids, ages 7 and almost 4. We're making pumpkin pies from real pumpkins. As a child I learned to bake from my grandmother. She wanted me to know that not everything comes from a can, and that's a tradition I carry on with my own grandkids. So today we will cut up the pumpkins, bake them and the seeds, then turn them into delicious pies.

Afterwards is our special movie night complete with pizza and root beer floats before being tucked into bed with kisses from their Mimi (that's me!)

My inner child is invited to join the fun.

I am grateful for this day and for my life. Every day is a gift that I treasure.

In gratitude,
Bonnie

My Journey of Gratitude - Day 10

2011-11-11T07:08:00.000-08:00

Ten days into my 10 minutes of gratitude and my mind is telling me how bored it is already. Because of my commitment to these 30 days, I decide to sit in gratitude for the boredom--and so I do. I'm just so grateful to be alive that 10 minutes of boredom doesn't seem so bad. And I was curious as to why today my mind was bored. Why not yesterday or why not next week. What was it about today in particular that I was bored.

Wasn't very long before I had the answer. My mind began running funny images through my mind to distract me from thinking. Images of the Stay Puff marshmallow man from the movie Ghostbuster, images from other funny movies that I love, and then drifting into childhood memories of fun and playfulness. Playing 'kick the can' with all the neighborhood kids in the summer just as the sun was going down. Softball in our backyard, catching minnows in the creek that ran behind our property--many times of laughter and fun.

I realized my mind was showing me that there is more to Life than just sitting in my head--that living in gratitude means LIVING--as in being outside of myself and actually living in the world, not just my head. So as each image, each memory flashed through my vision I felt something heal within me and replaced with something new and fresh within. It was like each happy thought opened a door to more freedom and my desire to allow my inner life and outer life to be the same increased.

For those of you who know me, you know that I tend to be on the serious side and don't 'let my hair down' very often. Not that I'm a stick-in-the-mud or anything, but I guess I had separated parts of my life from other parts and kept the playfulness and fun for only certain times. That all changed as I saw the dam that separated my inner and outer worlds burst open and, once again, my Inner Chicken surfed the waves with the theme song to Hawaii 5-0 blaring in my head.

The only appropriate response was to laugh out loud and be thankful for my life because--really--how many of you have an Inner Chicken?

So today my Inner Chicken and I are grateful for Life. And I think we just might spend the day surfing the waves of gratitude and seeing where it takes us.

In gratitude, Bonnie

My Journey of Gratitude - Day 9

2011-11-10T07:52:00.000-08:00

My vulnerability is my strength and I am grateful for that realization.

A couple of things I want to talk about today. For years I've been meditating and all those years I always needed to hold a pillow or cover my solar plexus up in someway. Couldn't meditate without that. This morning during my 10 minutes of gratitude I noticed that I was not covering myself up and hadn't for the past couple of days. That is a huge shift for me. To be open and vulnerable with no need to protect parts of me. It became so natural to not put a pillow or blanket in front of me that I didn't notice it for 3 days. For this new openness I am grateful.

Until yesterday I didn't realize how vulnerable being in gratitude makes you. In fact I hadn't even thought of myself as being more vulnerable until an experience yesterday with a person who made a few mean-spirited remarks to me for reasons of her own. My first reaction was to feel hurt and shut down, but that is now such a foreign feeling that I was immediately aware of the shift from open gratitude to fear.

You see to me being vulnerable use to mean being weak, helpless and open for hurt. It meant that I was allowing anyone to come along and behave badly towards me, so no way was I going to be vulnerable!

My experience with gratitude this morning showed me the true meaning of vulnerability--being fully present in my life, in my body and in the moment. Fully present with myself and for others. My vulnerability is my strength, my gift to myself and to others. For only in the present and in my presence do I allow myself to be known.

Being vulnerable is my strength. It is what makes me the healer and teacher that I am. This journey of gratitude has shown me how I have closed myself off in the past and how much more Life and Light I have when I am open, vulnerable and present.

There will certainly be times when I run into people who behave in unkind ways; we are all doing the best we can with what we have and so many people still live from their pain rather than their true nature. And I accept that people just do what people do and it is never personal really. There will be those times, but the difference today is that I know and understand that in any moment that I lose my presence, I will remember that I now have a higher value on living from a state of gratitude and can return to being present with a simple decision.

So to the person who was so unkind--I am grateful for your presence in my life and the gift of understanding that I received through your action. And to my friends that I turned to when I felt misunderstood, I am most grateful for the mirror you always hold up so that I can see my true reflection of who I am as a woman, a friend, a healer, a teacher.

My vulnerability is my strength and for that I am grateful today.

In gratitude,
Bonnie

My Journey of Gratitude - Day 8

2011-11-09T08:27:00.000-08:00

My mind gets so impatient when it feels I'm not moving forward fast enough. It is always wanting more, more, more and faster. This impatience stems from an old belief that there is not enough, so better get it right now. And that was my experience this morning.

Impatience when nothing 'grand' seemed to be happening. I love those mountain top experiences. You know the ones where you feel on top of the world and everything is laid at your feet. Your energy is high and you are in the zone. I love that and truth is that there are many other ways to experience transformation as well.

Those gentle moments of gratitude are just as powerful--when I am open to noticing them. Like a warm gentle breeze blowing freshness into my home, so is that gentle, easy flow of gratitude bringing freshness into my life--and I am transforming.

This journey with gratitude is building a new foundation from which to live my life. My old foundation which was based on past pain was like a huge dam filled with thousands of leaks and threatening to overwhelm me should I not contain it all. What an exhausting way to live!

Today I have a new image. The dam has broken and I'm riding the waves using the energy released to fuel my new foundation, my new way of living in this world.

No longer afraid of being overwhelmed, I am now free to build anew. And I hear myself on that surfboard yelling "Ride the waves baby. Ride the waves."

My Journey of Gratitude - Day 7

2011-11-08T08:13:00.000-08:00

Wow--a week has gone by already? I guess that's what happens when you can step outside of time for a while. In some ways it feels like just yesterday I began this journey and in other ways--by the changes I'm experiencing--it feels like ages ago. When you step outside of time and into that state of Gratitude, you open to so much more than your conscious mind can imagine.

And speaking of conscious mind--that is what came up for me this morning in my gratitude time. I slipped into gratitude gentle and easy this morning. No resistance, just thankfulness. Yet as I sat there breathing in, breathing out and focusing on all that I'm grateful for, I felt something missing. A part of me not there. So I waited--in gratitude.

And who shows up but my ego mind. Also known as beta mind, conscious mind, personality self and a myriad of other names. Letting me know that I have left this very important part of who I am out of the equation of my life way too long.

You see, as a medical intuitive and teacher I work with the subconscious mind because that's where the belief systems are held. But I have ignored a part of me that also plays an essential role in who I am and what I do. My ego.

Ego has been given a bad rap for a long time, being treated like an unwanted, troublesome, and annoying child. And it is anything but. While the ego/conscious mind is only 15% of our reality, 15% is a very big deal and I have spent years pushing it aside, even trying to defeat it as if it was bad.

So we sat together, my ego and I, as I listened to what it needed from me. Acknowledgement, acceptance, love and...wait for it....gratitude. It is that part of me that discerns, makes quick decisions, makes sure I pay my bills on time and even gets me out of bed every morning. And she is the 'gatekeeper' to my subconscious mind. Everything that comes my way that doesn't already fit with my subconsciously held belief systems gets deleted or blocked. The positive intention--and our ego/conscious mind always works from a positive intention, no matter how weird that might seem.

So why is this important? Because the changes I've made internally--in my subconscious belief patterns no longer match what my ego/conscious mind believes. For decades I have believed that struggle, strain, suffering and lack was the only way to live--that's neither good nor bad, that's just what I was trained as a child to believe about life. My life reflected that core belief and I can look back at every situation in my life and see how it played out exactly that way.

Now here I go changing everything subconsciously, but not updating my conscious mind. It's like changing someone's job description after years of doing the same tasks every day, then being being angry because they aren't doing their job!

No wonder I have been experiencing conflict in both my inner and outer world. I now believe something new, but my ego mind is still functioning from old programming. That explains why when I get close to a goal, something happens and it falls short of my desired outcome. Not because anything is wrong with me or not because I can't get what I want. But because I have not let my ego mind in on this new gratitude 'thing' where everything is ease and flow.

I sat there listening to this conversation in my head and my only response finally was....oh...duh.

So I sat in gratitude of my ego/conscious mind, thanking her for all the wonderful, amazing things she has done for me over my lifetime. And I brought her up to speed with my new belief systems. She's on board now--in fact she's REALLY on board. The vision I received was a baby chick riding the waves on a surf board yelling "Ride the waves baby. Ride the waves."

In gratitude,

Bonnie

My Journey of Gratitude - Day 6

2011-11-07T09:04:00.000-08:00

What started out as an Experiment has now become a Journey. My experience so far in 6 days of spending 10 minutes a day in Gratitude has taken on a life of its own and I'm now on a Journey of Gratitude, curious to see where this particular journey takes me.

Gratitude shows up in a myriad of forms-words of thankfulness, music that soothes the soul, visions and symbols, dreams, feelings, new rhythms and beats. There is no one way to be in the state of gratitude--only your way of being there. That may remain the same for you or, like me, change and move differently day to day.

Some days it is easy to feel the flow of gratitude coursing through my being and other days, not so much. This morning is one of those 'not so much' days. At first I was worried that I couldn't feel that 'mountain top' experience of gratefulness and then I spent precious moment trying to make it happen.
"What a stupid experiment I'm doing! I MUST be grateful! Let me just change that ingratitude to gratitude right now."

Then I heard my inner voice tell me 'Relax into this moment and allow it to be whatever it is.' So I did. I took a deep breath and made the choice (and ALL change begins with a choice) and let go of my preconceived ideas of what I thought being in gratitude should be and allowed myself to just be in the flow of 'what is.'

That doesn't mean that I'm not grateful. I am. I still said my gratitude prayers, thanking & blessing all that I have in my life. I just wasn't 'feeling' it if you know what I mean.

Life has an ebb and a flow--like the tide. So I sat and focused on the ebb and flow of my breathing. In and out. Breathing in and bringing in. Breathing out and letting go. In and out.

Meister Eckhart said "If all you ever say in your whole life is 'thank you' that will suffice.'

So for today I just said 'thank you that I am alive' and I trust that is enough.

In gratitude,
Bonnie

What is Your 'I Am'

2011-11-06T06:48:00.000-08:00

Bonnie and I are active in several Yahoo groups, including the Gratitude yahoo group.* In our Yahoo groups we often offer challenges for a better life and one of them is the monthly I Am challenge. It means, what is the aspect of your life that you want to emphasize most during each month? What aspect of your behavior do you want to support and expand?

For the month of November:

My I Am is clearly Gratitude - and it is a part of my entire psyche that I want to keep next to my heart and embrace for all the years I have left in this particular existence.

I am so grateful for the family I had, and for the family I have - my friends - the ones who are new and wonderful and the ones who have had my back for a major part of my lifetime.

I am grateful to be here on the planet as there we some 'iffy' moments that made that questionable - major illnesses, a sky-diving accident, moments in time that I gratefully transitioned through to stay here.

I am grateful for the joyful 'work' I get to do, helping others find the meaning and purpose in their lives, which they already know, and just need to uncover, My first area of study was cultural anthropology and it helps me remember that communities create together and we all make life choices within what we know from others but also from our deepest spirit.

So what is your I Am this month - what part of who you are will you acknowledge and love this month in particular?

Love and blessings, Katie

*contact Bonnie to join the Gratitude Yahoo Group

Gratitude Experiment--Day 5

2011-11-06T06:34:00.000-08:00

Resistance--what a great teacher! It was inevitable this resistance. The conscious mind doesn't think much of change after all and loves the status quo. To spend time in the state of gratitude--and gratitude IS a state of being--opens you up to change. And resistance arises, like an old pair of slippers.

I embraced my resistance and expressed gratitude for it. 'Thank you resistance! How wonderful to see you again old friend. I acknowledge and honor you as being part of who I am. Welcome.' It seemed insane at first to embrace my resistance because, after all, we resist feeling it don't we? But what we resist persists. And so we sat together--my resistance and me. Just sat in gratitude that I actually had resistance--realizing that resistance has a positive intention, which is to keep my safe.

And in that moment of safety I felt the shift. How precious is life! My life, regardless of what I do or don't have, despite the situations I find myself in--my life IS precious. Your life is precious. The very act of living is precious.

Last night my husband & I attended a charity gala. I got all 'gussied up' as my mother called it and Jim wore his tux. We've always had a great time before at this annual gala, but this year was a very different experience. The room was noisy & chaotic and several of the people at our table spent the evening drinking and texting rather than talking.

So we left early and came home. I quickly shed the fancy clothes and slipped into my favorite pair of flannel pajamas. Just the man I love and myself--together and grateful.

That experience last night showed me what I value most--a life of simplicity with people I love and who love me right back. Being myself in every moment. Being grateful for all my experiences--whether I like them or not.

So there I sat in my flannel pajamas filled with happy smiling frogs. Nothing to prove, nothing to do, nothing to be--just me in the moment. Content, happy and grateful for everything.

Enjoying the essence of my life now.

In gratitude,
Bonnie

Gratitude Experiment--Day 4

2011-11-05T08:27:00.000-07:00

Here's what I experienced from my 10 minutes in gratitude this morning.

Being grateful for your life in this moment, no matter what your current circumstances, does not mean that you are content or ok with where you are. By saying thank you for what is now is not the same as being satisfied for what is. You are not saying "I'm grateful for this debt. I'm grateful for this illness." Or whatever is happening in your life now. That is a common misunderstanding--or fear we often have about saying thank you for what is.

By saying thank you for the money that I DO have expands you beyond the fear of not enough. Thank you for the love I DO have in my life opens you to even more.

Everything is energy. What you think, feel and do is energy. And energy either expands or contracts. Gratitude is an expansive energy and when you take the time to be grateful for even one thing in your life--your energy expands and flows in ways you may not notice. But it does.

Gratitude is more than a feeling. It is a state of being. The more time you spend in this state of being, the more it becomes part of your true nature.
Gratitude is the energy of 'even more'. And you can certainly add that in your thank yous.

Thank you for the business I DO have. I am so grateful. And I open to having even more. Thank you.

Gratitude Experiment--Day 3

2011-11-04T10:01:00.000-07:00

My 10 minutes of gratitude was very different this morning. After my mind blowing experiences of Day 1 & 2, I met the resistance to change that seems to be pop up when change is threatening to occur. While we often say we want change and even work towards change, when it comes right down to it there is a part that resists the change out of fear.

And that's what I met this morning--my fear of changing! I sat with the fear and listened to its message. What if you get what you want? What will happen to 'me'? ME? Who is the 'me' that was speaking and what is the fear?

Sitting in the energy of gratitude is so powerful because I didn't have to do anything about the fear but witness it. Being in the freedom of gratitude opens me up to more Light and with more Light comes understanding. No judging, no arguing, no wishing anything away. Just more Light.

So in this expansion of gratitude what I realized was that a part of me has been so identified with scarcity, lack and struggle that the very thought of living differently meant annihilation of self. Powerful understanding!

In gratitude I looked at my patterns of struggle and lack--beginning with my parents and how they lived. Reviewing my childhood programming growing up very poor and how I lived what I believed to be real in my first marriage and even now in my relationship with my husband. My unconscious EXPECTATION was that life & marriage IS about struggle, lack and scarcity. What else would I expect because that was what I was trained to believe and trained to do--always worry about money, regardless of how much or little I had.

It explained that no matter how wonderful my life was going I had an unconscious limit to how amazing I could let it be. When I tapped the 'fun meter' as my husband puts it, then my old anxiety and fears were triggered. Once triggered I made decisions and took actions that brought me back to my
old expectations of what was real for me.

Fascinating experience! As I witnessed this all playing out in the Light of gratitude, the old patterns dissolved on their own. And in their place was born something new and fresh and without words--feelings of being more than just OK. An openness to experience a new reality.

That's my thought for today! I would love to hear about your experiences with the Freedom of Gratitude.

In gratitude and thankfullness,

Bonnie

We Stand Sister to Sister in Our Divinity

2011-11-03T16:48:00.000-07:00

A beautiful video that speaks to the Brave Woman message. We are all One. We are all Divine. We are all Love. We can all stand sister to sister-shoulder to shoulder in our Greatness.

The Freedom of Gratitude--the 30 day experiment

2011-11-03T14:55:00.000-07:00

Gratitude is a powerful tool for change and it is available to you in every moment of your life.

Last night I spoke to about 40 women at a networking group. My topic was the Attitude of Gratitude. Katie & I are teaching a teleseminar this month on the Freedom of Gratitude. It seems that the topic of Gratitude is in the air this month—and much needed at this time too.

Yesterday morning while preparing for my talk, I was guided to spend minutes sitting in gratitude. No asking for anything, no writing in a journal, no ‘doing’. Just 10 minutes of being grateful for what I already have. What an experience!

Now 90% of my life is amazing and running smoothly. That leaves 10% just not where I want to be. What I didn't realize until I sat in gratitude for 10 minutes that the past several months I was so focused on the 10% that wasn't working that I forgot about being thankful for the 90% that IS wonderful! Worry & fear wil do that to you--make you forget everything but the loss, the disappointment, the lack!

Within just a few minutes I felt such incredible warmth spread through my body & my heart opening in ways it never did before. As I became aware of my old negative thinking, it began shifting and changing—remember no ‘doing’ just ‘being’.

Suddenly I was shown every situation, time, event in my life where I had ALWAYS gotten what I needed and asked for. I mean EVERY time. I also realized that the limitations and trials that came with each opportunity were of my own making.

Even when I was receiving everything that I asked for—my negativity was limiting my experience. Everything showed up according to what I expected and what I allowed.

Wow! Talk about a total shift in consciousness and emotional healing! I view my past completely differently now. My whole life has opened up in new ways---just using the power of gratitude.

SO—I have committed to spending 10 minutes in gratitude for the next 30 days. I’m doing this because the past 2 days have opened me to so much more than I imagined existed.

The experiment is simple—10 minutes a day sitting in gratitude. Doing nothing—no journaling, no commanding—just being present to the presence of gratefulness in your life. That’s it. 10 minutes a day for 30 days. Come join me!

Every day I will share with you my experiences from my 10 minutes of gratitude. Ii'm excited to discover what lies on the other side of 30 days!

In gratitude,

Bonnie

Pushing the River - or Not!

2011-10-30T13:32:00.000-07:00

How many times have your caught yourself trying to make things work rather than allowing them to work in your own divine order. After you read this, we would love to hear your responses - thank you, Katie and Bonnie

Resistance is Futile! What we resist persists! Whatever we remember to say to ourselves can make all the difference. I think we can all see when we review our own lives, that those times where we tried to push the river, resist change, or make things work out exactly as we wanted - were not our best or most productive times. At least I can speak for myself, the times when I was 'efforting' to make things work the way I thought they 'should', I often missed terrific opportunities that were right there waiting for me. And when I relaxed into my life and paid attention to what was coming my way, life was much more agreeable.

Katie

There is a huge difference in results between trying and allowing. Trying is what we have been taught in our culture is the right thing to do. Try and try again. What if allowing actually gave us the outcomes we were seeking--without all the spinning of the wheels, worry and beating our heads against the wall?

Something as simple as allowing is a concept many of us have trouble with because it seems like we aren't 'doing' anything.

Trying is the energy of searching but never finding. It is the realm of the conscious mind and contributes to stress, unhappiness, even ill health. As long as you focus your efforts on trying, you prevent yourself from having.

Allowing, on the other hand, is the realm of Source mind, our greater capacity. It is the energy of having, of achieving, of succeeding. It is not a passive state--but actually quite active. When you are in allowing, you are open to receive inspiration and inspired action.

Very different attitudes, different outcomes and different energies used.
Plus allowing is just more fun once you get the hang of it!

Bonnie

I Claim My Value

2011-10-18T13:01:00.000-07:00

It seems as if I have been listening to a lot of clients, and reading a lot of blogs and articles about women not recognizing their value. Just this morning on the news there was a special discussion on how women are still making 67 cents on the dollar that men make.

And part of the reason is that women rarely negotiate a starting salary, and are very uncomfortable asking for a raise. Men don't seem to have those same filters as a whole. According to the discussion group (that was made up of both men and women) the average man doesn't even think about his right to negotiate his value to a company, it is a part of his standard DNA programming. Obviously this is an average, not every man feels his full value, all the time. What is important for us as women, is to know that our standard DNA programming often includes deep questions about our personal value and a deep-seated imperative to compare ourselves with others, often to our detriment.

How are you addressing this in yourself? What are you doing to release those old DNA programs and replace them with new beliefs? How are you creating new DNA with beliefs that make your life new in the sense of stepping out in your courage and your acceptance and belief in your own true value?

Love and blessings, Katie

Break your trance of scarcity and breathe again

2011-10-16T08:20:00.000-07:00

Break Your Trance of Scarcity

First in a series of Brave Woman teleseminars

October 22nd

9:00 am PDT

$29

“If struggling was the way to get there, we'd be there by now."

Victoria Castle

There is no question that scarcity exists. It is also true that abundance exists as a reality as well. So the question is – which reality are you currently living? Are you satisfied with your life or is there something greater that you want to experience?

Living in scarcity is living in a trance that squeezes the joy of life right out of you. It eclipses your greatness and stops you short of achieving your heart’s desire. It is a very real experience—and it is easily broken! Like any trance state you can wake up from it.

All you need are a few simple tools -- which you get in this teleseminar.

When you hold a belief in ‘not-enoughness’ you are stuck in patterns of thoughts, feelings and behaviors that run counter to what you really want in life.

We all live in a trance of our own creation. Old habits and automatic reactions become hard-wired into your neurology and then you find yourself caught in a web of what you don’t want but not sure how to break free.

There IS Life on the other side of the trance. A life filled with love, abundance, great health, fulfillment, joy and success. But first you must wake up from your current trance.

This teleseminar show you exactly HOW to wake up and stay awake!

Sign me up!

Your Trance of Scarcity is a story you learned to tell yourself at a young age about the reality of life. “I’m not enough. There is never enough. It’s too hard. Nobody cares. Settle for less. I’m not worthy, deserving, valuable.”

It becomes your way of living, your day-to-day reality, directing your actions according to unconscious programming. What you expect to show up in your life—does. Beliefs of lack, struggle, and separation begin to define your reality and you forget to question what is true.

But—and here is the key to waking from your trance—when you feel stuck in a never ending cycle of lack or trapped with nowhere to turn questioning your personal reality is a good thing!

Being fully present in your life breaks the trance and opens you to new choices and new experiences. Breaking the trance of scarcity wakes you up—and keeps you awake.

In this teleseminar you learn to:

Break your trance of scarcity
Be fully present in your life
Clear blocks that keep you trapped
Quickly transform your life with simple tools
Embody a state of abundance

To embody abundance means to live in a state of fullness and flow, being

open to receiving and having different than you have now.

You do all that and much more in this Brave Woman teleseminar:

Break Your Trance of Scarcity

Break free of the fears, dead-ends and frustrations of your life now!

October 22nd

9:00 am PDT

$29

Register Now!

Take this Journey of Courage with other women wanting what you want—to

live an Authentic Life as the Brave Woman that you are.

As always, this teleseminar includes intensive belief work along with a

special meditation to enhance and integrate your healing.

Upon registration you will receive a handout with a brief exercise. Completing

this exercise before the teleseminar will greatly enhance your healing experience.

Can’t attend live? No worries! This teleseminar will be recorded and the

free replay made available to you the next day.

We are excited to see you there!

Bonnie & Katie

Can You Believe.....

2011-10-13T12:06:00.000-07:00

Can you believe we are in the holiday season - AGAIN! It seems hard to believe that spring and summer are far behind and it is almost Halloween in the U.S. Talk about being a Brave Woman - who in most cultures carries the holidays? In my family of origin and the communities that I grew up in, it is us - the women of the family. We tend to carry the traditions and responsibilites (and the blessings), of the holidays.

If that is true for you please add your comments and suggestions to this conversation. Those of you who have known Bonnie and I for a long time know that we focus parts of what we teach to moving from survival to thrival in all that we do. We recognize your issues, but we put the power of solutions first in our own lives and in how we teach and coach.

In my own life, I 'lost' both parents on holidays - I mean the actual days! My dad passed on Easter Day and my mom on Christmas Day. They are certainly not 'lost' at all, I know exactly where they are, and it is good. So how do I keep the holidays good for me? I embrace time with my dearest friends. I serve meals at Shelters, I call my elderly cousin in Assisted living back east, I serve myself by loving time with others.

Helen Keller said, Life is a great adventure, or it is nothing at all. And I add to that Life is fulfilling and joyful, or it is nothing at all - and I am the one who decides how that happens. I make the choice to be happy or not. And by the way, Abraham Lincoln said, People are just about as happy as they make up their minds to be. So, I make up my mind to be happy.

Use the tools you have to keep yourself in joy, I use The One Command and Ho'oponopono and certain things I read everyday, like my own journal and TUT online, and other things that joyfully show up in my inbox.

The sun is out in WA state today - as much as I love the rain - the sun makes it a happy day.

Love and blessings, Katie

We did it! WooHoo!

2011-10-08T12:30:00.000-07:00

We did it! Today our Brave Woman vision was successfully launched with our free teleseminar Command Your Courage-Unlock Your Greatness. The vision that we have held so dearly and worked so diligently to bring into being is here and we are so very grateful for the hundreds of women (and men!) who registered to help us launch our dream.

And a special thank you to our Angels of Support--women we love dearly who helped spread the word about this new global community for women supporting women in living their greatness, their power and their courage. We could not have done it without your encouragement and support.

Not only do you have this blog as a resource for support, we have created a yahoo group called The Brave Woman where you can connect directly with other women to discuss topics of interest, ask questions and share stories about living The Brave Woman Within.

To join the Brave Woman yahoo group visit http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/thebravewoman

Next step in the vision is the series of teleseminars we are offering design to
help you throw open the curtains and step into the Light of your greatness.

Set your calendar for October 22nd at 9:00 pacific time for
The Brave Woman: Breaking Your Trance of Scarcity!

We are interested in what you have to say about being the Brave Woman in your life. Where are you struggling and what do you need? Where are you succeeding and how can we support you in even greater success?

Let's hear from you! This group is for every Brave Woman.

We witness your greatness,

Bonnie and Katie

2011-10-03T06:25:00.000-07:00

Hi - just in case you haven't heard - we have a terrific free seminar coming up for you on October 8th. It is a teleseminar so it is easy to attend either by phone or as a webcast, and if you can't attend - then sign up anyway and listen to the free replay after the seminar.

Most of you know that our free seminars are fully functional seminars - meaning - you learn real stuff AND you get into thrival mode with The One Command process and with one of Bonnie's brilliant meditations. All our classes are designed to be transformational on all levels of your life.

Email bonnie@inner-resources.net or katie@commandingwealth.com if you have more questions.

“Knowing others is intelligence; knowing yourself is true wisdom.

Mastering others is strength; mastering yourself is true power.”

Tao Te Ching

We believe that every woman carries the seeds within her of true wisdom and true power. But the question is—Do you believe it of yourself?

Have you been sensing a:

Restlessness that won’t go away no matter how much you ignore it
Destiny calling you to something greater—but are afraid to answer
Desire to share your values and vision with others—but don’t know how
Need to step out now and just do it—whatever your “It” may be

Or are you tired of constantly Performing, Pleasing, Perfecting and Proving

to others that you are worthy and deserving?

This really is an exciting time to be a woman right now. Things are changing

and possibilities abound for you as a woman. You feel it, but you may not believe it yet.

Begin your transformation process of greater self-love, self-acceptance and coming ‘home’ to your body in new ways right now.

Using the simple, yet powerful 6-step process of The One Command, you let go
of who you think you’re supposed to be and embrace, honor and respect your

Brave Woman.

In this teleseminar you:

Remember how good it feels to be a woman
Find the courage to live as a Brave Woman
Feel the connectedness with all women and the earth that nourishes you
Experience the power of change with The One Command

Awaken the Brave Woman in you now.

Take this Journey of Courage with other women wanting what you want—to live an Authentic Life as the Brave Woman that you are.

Take the first step on your Journey of Courage now in this Free Teleseminar—Command Your Courage—Unlock Your Greatness.

Register Now for this free teleseminar

Invite your women friends to join you on this Free Teleseminar. We have built a support system for all women to gather together for encouragement, support, love and acceptance. And we’ll talk more about the many ways you can participate on October 8th.

As always, this teleseminar includes intensive belief work using The One Command along with a special meditation to enhance and integrate your healing.

Upon registration you will receive a handout with a brief exercise. Completing

this exercise before the teleseminar will greatly enhance your healing experience.

Can’t attend live? No worries! This teleseminar will be recorded and the

free replay made available to you the next day.

We are excited to see you there!

Bonnie & Katie

My mother, my Self

2011-10-02T13:22:00.000-07:00

I was watching a tv show earlier today and heard something that struck me as really profound—at least for me and my relationship with my mother.

Mothers are responsible for us being here. Like a bus they get us here. The problem we run into is that we often spend our life trying to get back on the bus rather than living our own lives.

Now this comment was made talking about all of us—men & women alike. But it got me to thinking about women and the relationship we’ve had with our mothers. How in my life was I trying to ‘get back on the bus’, meaning living either my mother’s life or the life my mother trained me to have?

It didn’t take long to uncover that parts of me were still trying to live my mother’s expectations of what a ‘good’ wife, mother and woman is. Growing up in the 50s & 60s with a mother who gave up all of who she was & was seriously depressed most of my life and a father who took a dim view on any female being an independent thinker, I learned that to be considered

‘good & proper’ as my mother put it, I must always put myself last no matter what I had to give up or how miserable I was.

I learned that ‘good’ women didn’t work, stayed emotionally & financially dependent upon the man, and that doing anything else was ‘bad’ and bad things happened to ‘bad’ women. Because I grew up with an Italian father it was called the Madonna/Whore thing. If you conformed to what a good woman was then you were a Madonna—pure, but helpless with no thought for yourself. Anything else left you with just being the Whore…and we all know what society thinks of whores. To this day I still cringe when I see or hear that word, but words have no more power to harm than we give them. So I take back the power to live my own life on my own terms--and still be loved, accepted and successful as my Self.

Interesting dilemma that has put me in over my adult years. And I was surprised to find that still part of my core identity even with all the healing work I’ve done over the years. Yet, there it was—staring me right in the face and asking me what I was going to do about it. Keep it and continue on the path I’m on or stand up as the Brave Woman that I know I am and say

No Way! That is NOT me!

So I took some time to figure out what I wanted to believe about myself as a woman and about my life and commanded the changes. That old feeling of conflict within no longer holds the power over my life. Yes, I still feel some charge around that—and why wouldn’t I? It was my early training and became an unconscious part of my identity as a woman. So, yes, there is still

more healing work to do around it. But the important part is that—now I see it and have looked that lie straight in the face and said—THIS is who I really am and THIS is how I live my life now. I again awaken the Brave Woman that lies within and invite her to step forth and be engaged in my life.

So—how are you still trying to get back on that ‘bus’?

How are you living from an old, out-dated belief system that has never really been you?

And what do you want instead?

I witness your courage and your Brave Woman Within,

Bonnie

Breathing into your Brave Woman soul

2011-10-02T10:15:00.000-07:00

To awaken and nurture that Brave Woman that lies within you, spend a few moments every day just being with her as you would your best friend.

As you invite her to be more active in your life, you will be amazed at the changes you notice within yourself and within others around you.

So your Brave Woman mantra for today is:

Breathe and be Whole in the joy of being You.

Remember Everyone - We Have a Great Free Seminar for You!

2011-10-01T09:16:00.000-07:00

“Knowing others is intelligence; knowing yourself is true wisdom.

Mastering others is strength; mastering yourself is true power.”

Tao Te Ching

We believe that every woman carries the seeds within her of true wisdom and true power. But the question is—Do you believe it of yourself?

Have you been sensing a:

Restlessness that won’t go away no matter how much you ignore it
Destiny calling you to something greater—but are afraid to answer
Desire to share your values and vision with others—but don’t know how
Need to step out now and just do it—whatever your “It” may be

Or are you tired of constantly Performing, Pleasing, Perfecting and Proving

to others that you are worthy and deserving?

This really is an exciting time to be a woman right now. Things are changing

and possibilities abound for you as a woman. You feel it, but you may not believe

it yet.

Begin your transformation process of greater self-love, self-acceptance and coming ‘home’ to your body in new ways right now.

Using the simple, yet powerful 6-step process of The One Command, you let go

of who you think you’re supposed to be and embrace, honor and respect your

Brave Woman.

In this teleseminar you:

Remember how good it feels to be a woman
Find the courage to live as a Brave Woman
Feel the connectedness with all women and the earth that nourishes you
Experience the power of change with The One Command

Awaken the Brave Woman in you now.

Take this Journey of Courage with other women wanting what you want—to live an Authentic Life as the Brave Woman that you are.

Take the first step on your Journey of Courage now in this Free Teleseminar—Command Your Courage—Unlock Your Greatness.

Register Now for this free teleseminar

Invite your women friends to join you on this Free Teleseminar. We have built a support system for all women to gather together for encouragement, support, love and acceptance. And we’ll talk more about the many ways you can participate on October 8th.

As always, this teleseminar includes intensive belief work using The One Command along with a special meditation to enhance and integrate your healing.

Upon registration you will receive a handout with a brief exercise. Completing

this exercise before the teleseminar will greatly enhance your healing experience.

Can’t attend live? No worries! This teleseminar will be recorded and the

free replay made available to you the next day.

We are excited to see you there!

Bonnie & Katie

Great Expectations!

2011-09-21T06:33:00.000-07:00

I am so thrilled - one of my articles was accepted for publication in the most wonderful New Spirit Magazine! This is one of those things where for years I thought...Gee, I'd really like to submit an article for New Spirit Magazine...but I just didn't. When we get clear on our intentions, magic happens.

I have also been asked to write for several online magazines and even though my first book was published years ago, when asked on surveys if I was a writer, I never felt comfortable saying yes, because my book didn't make the NY Times Best Seller List!

How many ways can we find to limit ourselves? It is almost unlimited - and the good news is that when we finally get clear on who we are and what we truly want - that's when the magic happens!

Where is the magic happening in your life?

Hugs, Katie

Five minutes to relax into your Brave Woman self

2011-09-19T14:28:00.000-07:00

Take 5 minutes to sit back, leave the outer world behind and step into the
sacred space of your inner self. Getting out of your ordinary reality and your
conscious mind for even a few minutes allows that Brave Woman who lives
within you to come forth and move you through the day.

Enjoy, relax and walk softly upon the earth today.

Beautiful Earth

www.youtube.com

Reversing the Flow

2011-09-19T12:13:00.000-07:00

When you are stepping into your own courage – you’ll find sometimes that all the junk – all that isn’t your courage, will pop-up and get in your face. I suppose that this doesn’t happen to everyone – but it has certainly happened to me, it has happened to my best friends and colleagues – and it has happened to almost everyone I know.

But wait – there is good news, it’s not a bad idea to let stuff come up, look at it, learn to laugh at it, and let it go for good. You may know that besides Ho’ponopono and all the other skills and disciplines I have learned around the world over the decades, what I use as my Core skill is The One Command.

So my words (after going to the theta brainwave) I don’t know how I release all emotionally fearful thoughts, I only know I do now and I am fulfilled. Or, I don’t know how I embrace my courageous self, I only know I do now and I am fulfilled, are what help me more than anything to change my DNA.

Because I love the study of quantum physics I have finally reached a point in life where all I have learned has gone from a huge portfolio of great techniques and ideas, to being able to make the stuff work and reverse the flow!

So what works for you? What have you learned (at whatever point you are in your life), that finally makes it all work and finally helps you Witness your own Master?

Hugs, Katie

The Race

2011-09-16T13:23:00.000-07:00

It's not that you fall, because you will. It is that you get up again and keep on going.

A true story about a Brave Woman--her fall, her striving and her triumph.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cM5A1K6TxxM&feature=youtu.be

It's not your beginnings that matter most!

2011-09-15T17:01:00.000-07:00

I was drawn to see the movie Kung Fu Panda 2 today and I was curious what message it might have for me. Anytime I’m drawn to a movie it’s because there is something for me to pay attention to in it. And there was!

The movie was fun to watch, but here is the ‘gem’ I walked away with—and in a kid’s movie too.

Even though your beginnings weren’t happy, it doesn’t matter. It isn’t your beginnings that make you who you are. What matters is who you choose to be now. And it is who you choose to be that makes you who you are now.

I felt much of what has been bothering me recently dissolve and resolve itself. TODAY is what matters. Who I choose to be TODAY is what’s important. How I choose to feel TODAY; how I choose to behave TODAY—that is what makes me who I am.

Regardless of your beginnings, you have a choice to be or not to be, to change or stay the same, to heal or not, to use your voice or to remain silent, to stand in your courage or continue to be afraid. There is great power in that message—It is who you choose to be that makes you who you are.

Today I choose to be a Brave Woman walking my Journey of Courage, using my voice for

healing and standing in my own truth.

Who do you choose to be today?

Today is 9/11

2011-09-10T10:52:00.000-07:00

Over the years of doing my heart-work from psychology to coaching to seminars - I am often prompted in what I offer from the experiences of my own life and challenges or joys - and I also watch for what is showing up for those in my tribe (my friends, family, colleague, clients) - and focus on what is coming up for them.

I am watching the 9/11 tribute in Shanksville right now and thinking about the heroism of 'just people', people rising to an unprecedented situation - who found out what was happening on other planes and acted without question - out of the fullness of their hearts.

We all have that brave selves inside, the one that jumps to do what is needed in the moment. If we are looking for a way to change our world - jumping in to help build a school somewhere (by contribution or participation), to participate in Random Acts of Kindness like the ones going on in Seattle today, to deciding to elect people who actually care at least as much about all the people of our country as they do about their own ambitions, to being our own hero and the hero of our children.

This cannot help but be a day of reflection no matter where we live, and when we live from our spirit - we can't go wrong.

Love and Blessings, Katie

Falling Out of Love with My Drama

2011-09-01T16:24:00.000-07:00

Falling Out of Love with My Drama

I have been fortunate to study with some of the most amazing teachers over the decades, and all of them have talked about letting go of the drama in your life.

It took me awhile to truly let go of it all and learn to live in the present, to be present with my own life and with everyone in it.

I found that I took myself through several steps to get to the Freedom I desired:

Step 1- Forgiveness

In order to start the clearing out process I realized that forgiveness was the key that would open the lock to all else that was within. Even though I knew better, it was still easy to get caught up in the idea that by forgiving the person, I was approving the act. And also that forgiveness was for the other person when it is really always for us and our own inner peace. Once I got myself past those old mind-sets, it was all downhill from there – simply a process of letting go.

Step 2 – My History

How many of us are ‘married’ to our stories. It is easy to believe that if we give up our ‘story’ we will no longer be ourselves and we will never be able to rectify what has happened and create something new. The truth is, it is your stories that keep you stuck and interfere with your capacity to create the new life you want. Once you choose to create what you want instead of what you have, you have no need for what was.

Step 3 – My Future

Finally I got to the point of looking ‘forward’ even though I am aware from quantum physics that there is no time – just ask Einstein. For me this was sort of a way station. It was a place I lived for a while until I really understood that my future is right now. It was useful in the sense that at least I had separated out from my past.

Step 4 – My Now

This is where I want to live for the duration. Staying in the present is so much more interesting than you might ever imagine. This is where your greater capacity lives and this is where your joy resides

In the present you are always fresh, new and available to every idea, opportunity and resource that your world is offering to you.

I wouldn’t choose to live anywhere else.

Love and blessings, Katie

The Brave Woman and The One Command

2011-08-12T12:53:00.000-07:00

The Brave Woman -
Women Stepping Into Their Courage

Our tribe – those woman that have taken our workshops and seminars, have told us that a Big thing in their lives is finding the courage to be all that they know they are meant to be.

Every woman knows that there is a Brave Woman within her, and You know that you have always known she is within you as well. From our own experiences and from everything we have heard from friends, relatives, clients and colleagues, this is the time of the woman, of the feminine spirit, of grace and ease and peace in our lives.

When you are in your personal Alignment to Your Own Greatness, that does not mean it is exclusive of men, but rather it is inclusive of men and honoring the different spirits of us all. We can know how to be in integrity with who we are without a power struggle, we can be in integrity with who we are and live a life of love, caring, expansion and abundance.

It is important to know that you have the capacity to reshape your life, to be that person who has literally been struggling to get out since you can remember. You can reignite your dreams, or if they have been buried or barren, give them life!

You can bring forth your Brave Woman - the Woman in you that Walks in Strength, Self-love, Strong-Relationships and Grace.

As a Brave Woman you have Your Voice, you can say 'no' with confidence, you are able to Set boundaries and stand your ground with ease and grace, you can says 'yes' to yourself, be in Alignment with your own Greatness, and know how to reshape your Life in the ways that mean the most to you.

If you don’t know how – Bonnie and I are teaching woman how to be a Brave Woman in September 2011.

We love you and we Witness Your Mastery.

Love, Dr. Katie and Bonnie, M.I.