Have you ever wondered how to end self-sabotage? 

I mean, how do you change those habits and behaviors 
that you know won’t support you and how do you move 
out of feeling stuck? 

Christian Pankhurst, the Heart Intelligence guy, has a 
pretty fascinating approach called “Expanding Your 
Emotional Range” where, through embodying and 
claiming your shadow, you can claim deeper authenticity 
and more fearless self-expression! 

Check it out: 

–> WATCH THE VIDEO NOW 

I like how he shares the myths of the personal development 
industry which turns conventional wisdom on it’s head. 

I guess this is the first time he’s broken down this method 
to the public outside of his sell-out retreats. 

It’s so clearly laid out and I think you’ll find it’s worth the sign up. 
Michael 

PS. Christian is everywhere right now. After demonstrating 
his approach, the viewing public from 91 different countries 
voted him ‘Britain’s Next Top Coach’. And that was back in 
2009. You should see what he’s doing now… We can all   
have the life we dream about. Christian proves it in 
this video: WATCH THE VIDEO! 

IF YOU MISSED THE FIRST VIDEO, YOU CAN WATCH IT HERE.

Heart Intelligence; What is it and why it is important to you? My personal definition definition of Heart Intelligence (HI) is the learned skill and practice of embodied awareness, for the purpose of increasing the amount of love and joy in your life. Simply put, this means being aware of what you are  feeling in any given moment, below the conditioning and numbness to know what you are actually feeling on the purest level; and from this space of heightened emotional awareness, discover what your are wanting, truly wanting at the core of your being. This is always an expression of love or joy and is actualized through: 1. A deeper heart connection with another or others and 2. An increased range of authentic self-expression.  

learning the basic skills and attitudes of Heart Intelligence will lead to Emotional freedom, mastering the law of attraction, emotional mastery,  emotional intelligence, spiritual awakening, oneness, emotional intimacy, embodied presence, transformation, heart centered community, authentic communication with others and a joyful connection to your unique life purpose.

Heart Intelligence & Soul-work are the two primary methods I use in my SOULutions Transformational Coaching practice to help people break free from the limiting beliefs and defense strategies that cause then to feel stuck, disconnected, unfulfilled and disconnected from their life purpose and deepest joy to find the deep joy they are missing and start living their most authentic, meaningful and juicy life of Radical Wholeness!   

I’ve had the pleasure of sharing some personal time with Christian Pankhurst over the last several months and am truly inspired by his maturity, wisdom and personal commitment to bringing heart intelligence to the world. The chief aim of Heart Intelligence is to accelerate the individual and global awakening to our next evolutionary leap in consciousness awareness.

To this end, Christian has created an extraordinarily enlightening  FREE VIDEO TRAINING SERIES ON HOW THE HEART INTELLIGENCE CAN INCREASE THE JOY WHILE DEEPENING THE  CONNECTION WITH EACH PERSON AND EVERY AREA OF YOUR LIFE. One of the things I especially like about the training are the down loadable worksheets with each video segment added to really help you ground what you are learning about heart intelligence so you can make it a practical part of enriching your daily life.

So get ready to have a blast learning about heart intelligence!

WATCH THE  FIRST VIDEO NOW: “EMBODIED AWARENESS” 

It will teach you: 

– How to balance feeling yourself and feeling others 
— How to consciously feel joy whenever you want to 
— How to discern your heart’s truth versus your conditioning 
— How to access your deepest longings and bring them into physical reality 
— How to communicate so that your message lands and others get you 
— How to increase your sensitivity to read others and the ‘room’ 
— How to feel into what you need, ask for what you want and LET IT IN! 

If you want to take your journey into greatness to a whole new level 
you’ll love it. Hope you like it. 

With kind & happy thoughts, 
Michael

P.S. Christian’s video — especially the bit about ‘Embodied Awareness’ 
is amazing. Watch, learn, share and  comment. No wonder this guy is showing up everywhere! He’s sure got some recognition: 

– Neale Donald Walsch, author of ‘Conversations with God’ 
said “Christian knows how to articulate these messages as well as, 
if not better than I do. He is a profound source of clarity and 
understanding of the richness and depth of this material” 

Look out for tomorrow’s video on Embracing Your Shadow to increase your emotional range.

Again, if  the way Heart Intelligence is presented here resonates with you, let your friends and colleagues  know by sharing this link:  http://www.mcsoulutions.com/blog/?p=1611.  

Thanks a bunch for watching the video and spreading the message of Heart Intelligence!

E-motions are gifts that allow us to be fully alive and engaged with our lives. The healthy use of E-motions can give us valuable messages, keep us safe, help us connect to others and experience great joy. However, when we allow our ego to repress or suppress our emotional state, we separate from our essence and lose our connection to wholeness.

When we suppress our E-motions, they become lodged in the cells of our body causing tension and stress reactions.  If the E-motion is not released and forced to remain trapped in our body, physical pain and illness result as well as emotional pain. The unconscious mind will continue to create self sabotaging circumstances that reinforce our emotional pain. It is as if the stuck energy has a gravitational pull that attracts people and circumstances into our lives for the purpose of the hurt being experienced and finally released.

So, why do people suppress their E-motions? Why be afraid to experience these contracted states?

1. The mistaken belief that the pain connected to the E-motion will be greater than is actually so.

2. Fear that the E-motion will overtake them and they may not be able to recover, remaining stuck in the discomfort.

3. Fear of being or appearing week, causing damage to their self image.

What’s to do?

No worries, help has arrived!

I created the Just FEEL It process for the healthy release of E-motions.  Whatever we resist persists. Whatever we have the courage to fully face, feel and embrace heals and becomes grace.  The healthy way to move the E-motions through your body is to allow yourself to be fully present with them, experience them, hear the messages they are sending you, and then releasing the energy.  What remains is your Essence.

Step One- Face It

Notice what is actually happening with you, in your physical body right now.

When you are either feeling stuck or experiencing an uncomfortable emotion the first step is to Face the the E-motion with compassionate awareness. The best way to do this is to stop the internal dialogue about what is happening and why it’s happening and see if you can discover where you are most experiencing the sensation of this E-motion in your body. Then, bring awareness to that area without judging, analyzing, blaming or trying to fix the cause.

Here’s how? Ask yourself this the question: What is actually happening with me in this moment? You may or may not know what to name what you are feeling and this is okay. Bring your attention to the actual physical sensations of the E-motion in your body. For example, If you are feeling sad, notice the physical expression of this sadness. Notice where in the body this E-motion seems to be most present.

Step Two- Embrace It

Embrace this feeling as fully as you are able with compassionate attention.

Breathe into the E-motion and visualize your breath going to that area of your body. Imagine becoming the most loving and nurturing parent that you can imagine to this innocent E-motion. Continue to provide compassionate attention by sensing as much as you can about this feeling.

* If this E-motion had a shape, sense what it might be.

* If it had a size, sense what it might be.

* If it had a color, sense what it might be.

* If it had texture, sense what it might be.

* If it had another mood, sense what might it be.

* If I recall an earlier time that this feeling was around,  about how old was I?

*  imagine this younger version of you either in your heat or in front of you. Now, ask: What did you most need in this situation?

*  Become aware of all of those that you know and don’t know who have this desire.

Step Three- Express It

*Sense for a moment, If what you’re feeling right now could make a sound, what might the sound be?

* Be honest, curious and playful.

* Now,  make the sound that you have discovered, with no attention on getting it right, on your next three exhales; either out load or silently.

Step Four -Listen

*  Take at least one full minute to witness and deeply listen to what you are most needing and wanting  now. Do this by asking the following , silently or out loud:

” What is my body most needing/wanting right now…..”  “What  need or want was not met around around this upset?”

” What are some creative ways can I get these needs/wants met , if I choose to?”

Return to wholeness.

Take a moment to honor yourself for being a good steward of the energy that’s nature was to be in motion and simply required your attention . You Faced, Embraced, Expressed and Listened. Notice that you have returned to the expanded state of wholeness.

So, to summarize the process, here are the steps:

1. FACE it by noticing what is actually going on in your body.
2. EMBRACE it by holding the E-motion in your awareness with compassionate attention.
3. EXPRESS it with a sound
4. LISTEN for the unmet needs that were the source of the upset. See the energy associated with the upset as a basic form of pure energy, returning to wholeness

Whatever we resist persists. Yet whatever we have the courage to fully face, feel and embrace heals and becomes grace.

Manifesting your greatest life; Here are the secrets! They are powerful, practical and achievable.

Pretty bold claim I know, yet I’m sticking by it!

These secrets are not just concepts to me, they have both saved my life and are at the foundation of the emotional healing and life transforming work I get to do with people today and have proven to be  effective for so many.

These secrets to manifesting are embedded both the Finding Radical Purpose private session program and  the transformational process that the current  FIRE Of Wholeness participants will be experiencing next mont. I thought by breaking them down and making them simple like this, it would both be helpful to both current clients and potential future ones.

So here they are;  the most fundamental principles that I’ve discovered for permanently letting go of limiting fears and negative beliefs that prevent you from manifesting your greatest life. If this interests you, read on!

First, check out the underlying premises to manifesting your greatest life:  See if If you agree with them or they are at least plausible to you. If not, thanks for reading this far but no need to read any further.

1. The life that you’ve lived so far, has given you a core wound (emotional scare and/or limiting belief)  to be healed and a core purpose longing to be fulfilled.

2. This is the soul-work that you are meant to do in order to manifest your greatest life. In doing so you both make your greatest contribution to LIFE  and find the deep joy and meaning you seek.

3. Each of us has an essence, soul or authentic self that is connected to spirit. Whether you call it spirit, god, life, love or simply the evolutionary impulse, it’s an undeniable part of each of us and the source of lasting happiness. It is also where we can discover the unique gifts and talent’s we were born to contribute to life – the ONE true gift that you were born to live and give.

Here are some of the transformational secrets to manifesting your greatest life vision and what makes the Finding Radical Wholeness program and FIRE Of Wholeness Breakthrough Experience so effective:

1. What keeps us stuck in the fear, doubt, struggle and limitations of our ego is resistance, the tension between attempting to suppress feelings of being “less than-not good enough” and attempting to impress others by attempting to prove that we are “more than, extra- special or better than them.”

2. Joke is on use when we engaging in inflating-proving behaviors; the more we attempt to impress, inflate or prove our importance, surly, the more we fail and thus reinforce the core wound or limiting belief we were attempting to hide, run-away from or over compensate. We can run but not hide, for long.

3. Any emotional wound or limiting belief that IS fully experienced on all four levels of consciousness: mentally, emotionally, physically and spiritually (energetically) is healed and released. We can then permanently let them go.

4. We can most directly accesses our authentic compassion through our personal vulnerability. Making friends with our Core Wound rather than avoiding, attempting to overcome it or trying to overcompensate for it, paradoxically, both leads raises consciousness and deepens compassion while leading us to our core purpose. Trouble is our ego is designed to do just the opposite, protect us from vulnerability.  To be clear, the ego is not bad, just limited. A strong ego is a necessary part of our development into healthy adults and has created the greatest evolutionary leap thus far.

The ego is kind of like a parent to the soul. And as with our parents, we  can appreciate all they have done for us thus far yet we must leave home at some point if we are to fulfill your greatest life vision. So it is with our ego, be thankful for it’s gifts and now grow beyond it.

5. When you can fully experience on all four levels of consciousness both your ego’s deflated fear of not be enough and your ego’s compensatory desire to more than enough and superior to others, you can be free to live from a deeper place of essence that is neither inflated or deflated but connected to the core purpose. When you are living your core purpose, there is joy, ease and what I’ve come to call the 5P’s of Radical Wholeness: peace, passion, purpose, power and presence.

Most of my early life has been dominated by fear, doubt, repressed anger and inner conflict.  This led me on a transformational quest to do whatever it took to finally feel whole and be free. My journey led me to many wise teachers and teachings. Through the many lessons learned combined with the intuition, creative insight and strategic thinking that life has gifted me, I offer you the real secrets to manifesting your greatest life vision.

To Your  Deep Joy, Freedom and Wholeness!

Being at peace, having a quiet, tranquil, still mind with little or no mental chatter or inner criticism and free of inner and outer conflicts; isn’t this what we all want? (FYI, Don’t miss the free Deep Relaxation download at the bottom of the page) CLICK HERE FOR A VIDEO PRESENTATION OF THIS BLOG.

We all experience these peaceful moments occasionally. The question that we’re going to explore here is how to cultivate a permanently peaceful mind so the above description is our normal state rather than an occasional experience we have on vacation.

So, how do we cultivate a quiet mind of radical peace? The answer, I believe, is found within the quote: ” Whatever we resist persists. Yet whatever we have the courage to fully face, feel and embrace, becomes grace.” If there is a formula it might be:Total Self responsibility + Total Acceptance + Embrace your shadow parts + A dash of Meditation = Unshakable Inner Peace, Radical Peace. Let’s take a quick look at all four steps.

Total self responsibility is knowing and acting from the awareness that ALL inner disturbances point to unresolved issues inside us. This is true independent of the outside circumstance that may have stimulated the disturbance. Accepting this spiritual truth prevents your mind from being hijacked by the illusuion of “because.” and robbing you of your peace. When we say, “I’m upset because…” we are immediately giving our power away by looking for a cause to blame outside ourselves.

When we feel disturbed, our focus of attention immediately looks for the cause of the disturbance, but we usually are looking in the wrong direction. Here’s an example: Let’s say you and I are walking down the hall in opposite directions. I’m distracted, talking on my cell phone and bump into your right arm. I immediately apologize and you accept. No big disturbance, no big deal. Next day, same thing happens except we’re passing each other in the opposite direction and I bump into your left arm that just happens to be bruised from a bike fall. It’s black and blue and sore to the touch. How do you react this time? Are you disturbed, assume I’m a being an unconscious jerk and tell me to watch where the heck I’m going. Yet, am I any more of a jerk than the day before when you smiled and said no worries? I just bumped into your bruise. Our emotional life is no different. When you find yourself reacting, blaming, brewing over what someone did or didn’t do, you’re emotional bruise just got bumped into. Rather than being the victim ofbecause(looking outside yourself….) instead, Be-Cause- be the cause of your liberation by asking, “what unresolved issue inside me caused this reaction?” The more you do this, the more you heal your unresolved issues and thereby become closer to the liberated wholeness you seek. So, let go of all your little because’s that keep you stuck in victimhood. Instead, choose to Be-Cause- be the cause of your healing and liberation!

Total Acceptance is the spiritual awareness that everything, on the deepest level, IS as it should be. It’s knowing that every action you or others take is designed to meet a need or desire and those needs and desires are valid. Rather than waisting mental energy beating ourselves up or judging others, ask, “What need is attempting to be met and how can it creatively get met?” Can you see how accepting what IS while focussing on a solution for getting what we want and need creates more peace than all that complaining? If you argue with reality, reality always wins! And, if you use your energy complaining, you may feel justified but that usually doesn’t bring you any closer to getting your need or desire met.

Learning to embrace your shadow is about reclaiming the disowned parts of your personality that you keep hidden from the world. One of the simplest ways to spot your shadow is to notice when you notice yourself feeling an emotional charge towards another person, group or thing. Here’s the rub, the emotional charge ALWAYS points to a disowned and unaccepted aspect of yourself. “Ouch!” Yep, may be hard to believe but it’s true.

According to research conducted by Ken Wilbur’s Integral Institute, “Shadow Work provides the most advances in emotional intelligence and spiritual development, compared to other forms of psychological and spiritual practices. The combination of facilitated shadow work with meditation produces the best results for relationship, career, financial success and spiritual development.

Shadow Work is one of the most effective ways to ground yourself in the first two principles of “Radical Peace.”

A dash of meditation: The main purpose of having a meditation practice is:
1. To increase activity in the temporal lobes. This improves the quality of brain function in a number of beneficial ways that we’ll touch on in a moment and
2. To learn to observe having thoughts and letting them go instead of the thoughts having you and not letting you go, which is too often the case.

One simple practice that has that been the subject of several recent studies is a simple 12 minute a day adaptation of Kirtan Kriya called Sat Nam, from the Kundalini Yoga tradition. Sat Nam is Sanskrit and means “to honor truth and know you are truth.”

New studies have revealed that this simple yet powerful practice that was first introduced in India back in the 16th century, generates both physical improvement in brain function and states of well-being among practitioners new to meditation. What’s more, these measurable benefits occurred with a practice of just 12 minutes a day for eight weeks. The study comes from an exciting new field of research called Neurotheology and is written about in the book, How God Changes Your Brain.

This practice is particularly valuable for the busiest among us, as well as those who understand the benefits of meditation but find maintaining a regular practice difficult. Imagine, with just 12 minutes of daily practice, you can increase your memory, cognition, overall sense of well-being and activity in the right temporal lobe, an area that has been associated with spirituality, while decreasing stress, anxiety, anger, depression and even aging. Not bad for 12 minutes per day is it?

So, if you want more peace? Learn the skills and adopt the attitude of total self responsibility, total acceptance, embracing your shadow parts and a simple practice of 12- 20 minutes of daily meditation.

I’ve observed that a peaceful mind allows for a greater connection with spirit and a deeper connection to our life purpose. To find out how cultivate greater purpose in your life, stay tuned for my next blog in this series, coming your way next Tuesday.

Wishing you more peace, purpose, passion, power and presence in your daily life!

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO A BEAUTIFUL 30 MINUTE DEEP RELAXATION RECORDING I CREATED. CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD IT.

Demo Of Sa-Ta-Na-Ma Kirtan Kriya Meditation

Guided Sa-Ta-Na-Ma 12 Minute Meditation.
Click HERE to Download it.

Want to determine how close you are to living the 5 P’s of Radical Wholeness? Take five minutes to take the new YOUR BEST LIFE Assessment. It’s free and you’ll get instant feedback!

• Spring… I just LOVE Spring! It’s all about new birth … brings out a playful innocence and a renewed sense of possibilities for just about everyone.

• I wonder if everyone connects springtime with happiness, like I and most people close to me do? 

• Then it hit me.…If I’m honest with myself about my own idea of what happiness is to me…., all I really want in life are two things: Purpose and Play…..that’s it! 

My inner child just wants to play, explore, discover, have exciting adventures, to be awed and feel the wonder that is all around me. Simply thinking of this feels my heart with joy!  

My inner adult wants to know that connected to and I’m following my life purpose…. sharing my gifts for a purpose I feel passionate about, in service to life. This provides me with a sense of meaning and warms my soul.

Play and  purpose…joy and meaning….is it that simple?   

While I want my play to be enjoyed with others and my purposeful activities be a collaboration with those I love and respect and hope contributes to others….it’s really all about purpose and play!  I think this is what I would want on my grave stone,  “ He played well and lived purposefully.”  

These were a few of my tranquil thoughts before sharply noticing the current of the Chattahoochee taking me past the point of no return. “Forget tranquility!” Only one thought now…”PADDLE HARD!”      

 UPCOMING EVENTS TO CHECK OUT!

• New Strengths Builder Circle forming now, starting April 9th. Four spots left. 
• FIRE Of Wholeness 60 Day Breakthrough Experience starts May 4th.
• Spring Equinox BREATH OF LIFE coming up on the 2oth.  
• Nourished Soul Symposium - Seventeen Soul-Centered Presenters, Including Your Truly on April 21 & 22 at the World Congress Center. 

Last week’s article revealed the hidden secret to the law of attraction: Expressing Aware Longing. May sound a bit confusing if you missed the last post so check it now! (last post)  

The X FACTOR in the Law Of Attraction is raising our emotional energy, our congruent feeling state, in the directions of both depth and joy…finally finding deep-joy!

Here’s the rub: If we block the natural flow of e-motion, even the unpleasant emotions, we block our ability to attract what we want. The now suppressed unpleasant emotion goes into the subconscious and attracts more of what we don’t want. YIKES!  

Hidden Secret to the Law Of Attraction

I want to set the record straight about a controversial topic that I feel really passionate about. I love the wisdom contained within the Law Of Attraction. Yet, a common misunderstanding I’ve noticed is regarding the importance of NOT putting energy into what you don’t want. While I actually agree, I passionately disagree with the notion of denying any painful, unpleasant and unwanted feeling in any form. One hidden secret of the Law Of Attraction is…

The act of denying unpleasant feelings makes them stronger! AND, the denial of lower emotions like anger, fear, sadness, loneliness, boredom and shame may be the primary source of what we call evil…or, not Love.

More about this in a future post.  

Why is this? Simply put, Resistance!

“Whatever we resist persists. Yet, whatever we have the courage to fully face, feel and embrace becomes grace.” –Michael

So, how do we honer all our feelings and emotions without giving energy to what we don’t want?

Here’s how: Place your conscious accepting attention on your hurt (just as the most loving parent would their crying baby; holding her with loving presence) while offering your presence without fighting with the emotion (making it wrong or blaming), fleeing from it (through distractions, addictions, reframing or even affirmations) or denying it (suppressing, pretending it’s not there)

Action Steps to Activating the Hidden Secret to the Law Of Attraction:

Practice R.E.A.L.

1. REALITY - Simply acknowledge the reality of what is actually going on inside you, the feelings that are present. This will usually be no more than two or three words. It’s your time to practice presence by holing the emotion in your awareness, just as the most loving parent would hold their crying baby.

2. EXPRESSING – Journal or share with a trusted friend what you are actually feeling without fighting, fleeing or denying your actual experience of this e-motion.

3. AWARE – When you maintain awareness of the feeling for just a little while (10 minutes max) without trying to change it in any way, you will notice a shift towards it relaxing and letting go on it’s own, just like the crying baby who now feels safe because of your loving presence. Then ask yourself, “WHAT DO I WANT IN THIS SITUATION THAT WILL BRING ME CLOSER TO JOY AND EASE?”  

4. LONGING – When you are clear about what you want in the situation, ask, “IF I GET WHAT I WANT, WHAT EXPERIENCE/FEELING WOULD THIS PROVIDE ME?”

This is your longing!  Finally, ask, “WHAT INSPIRED ACTION CAN I TAKE NOW TO BRING ME CLOSER TO WHAT I REALLY DESIRE….MY HEARTS LONGING?”

To see this simple yet powerful process in action, join us in November’s free Essence Circle, held on Monday the 7th at 7:pm. We’ll be diving into the REAL Process in a way that you will experience first hand the power of this hidden secret to the law of attraction!

So, what’s the hidden secret to the law of attraction?

You advanced souls may be aware of the emotional energy or vibrational frequency at the heart of the law of attraction. The essence of  the R.E.A.L. technology is aimed at  raising your vibrational frequency in a REAL and authentic way towards having more joy in your life without suppressing any emotion.

R.E.A.L. is the acronym for this amazing new communication model that honors the evolutionary impulse (love) inside you!  Reality – Expressing-Aware-Longing.  Click HERE to read the last blog post that introduced this new technology of REAL.

Everything material in the universe is governed by the law of entropy and will one day cease to exist, including earth and our solar system as we know it. Consciousness, on the other hand continues to evolve to higher levels of organization, endurance, flexibility and will never cease to continue spiraling upwards. And, this ever evolving consciousness informs all new life entering the world of form.  What is the force behind this evolutionary impulse? God…? Spirit…? Eros..? Love…?

The Hidden SECRET to the Law Of Attraction

By whatever name you call the mysterious and miraculous evolutionary impulse (I call it love), it seems to chiefly concerned with creativity, adaptation (cooperation for we humans) and growth. How do you best recognize and honor this miraculious force of love inside you?  Answer is, I believe, by becoming more aware of your authentic longing to have more joy in your life and, by taking inspired action in the direction of your joy.

Reality: The feelings and emotions inside you observable and present in the now moment. In other words, what is happening now inside you.

Expressing: Usually spoken words, yet journaling, movement, sound and art are all options for expressing the reality or feeling iside you.

Aware:  Maintaining your aware connection to the feeling that is observable and present inside you while expressing the it.  This takes some practice. It’s easy to lose contact with the REAL feeling when we express it. When speaking, we go into our “story” or begin to conceptualize it. When expressing the essence of a feeling in an artistic way, it can easily get lost in the performance. Expressing the essence of a feeling while remaining in contact with the feeling state may be the X FACTOR in art, dance and music.

Also, choosing Awareness over distraction when an unpleasant emotion shows up in your life is the invitation of REAL living. When you choose to stay aware and connected to an unpleasant emotion until it begins to open and release and then ask “what do I need, want or desire” leads to deeper connection with the heart and/or soul’s longing AND the evolutionary impulse of love in you.

The Hidden SECRET to the Law Of Attraction

The hidden secret to the law of attraction is Expressing Aware Longing.  Whatever you choose to name it, the  X FACTOR in the Law Of Attraction is raising our emotional energy, our feeling state in the direction of what we want to attract that will bring us more joy. If we block the natural flow of e-motion, even the unpleasant emotions, we block our ability to attract what we want. The now suppressed unpleasant emotion goes into the subconscious and attracts more of what we don’t want.  More about this in the next post.

Longing: The authentic heartsoul-based desire, grounded in Love that you most deeply want and sometimes are afraid of claiming. THIS IS THE JUICE & EVOLUTIONARY IMPULSE OF LOVE PULSATING INSIDE YOU AND LONGS TO BE EXPRESSED THROUGH YOU! 

Action steps for embodying  R.E.A.L.

1. Pay a little more attention to what is actually happening inside you that is REAL, the actual feeling that is present in the  inside you that you can observe. Then ask three questions: 1. “What do I want?”  2. “If I got what I wanted, what would that provide me?” 3. How could I have more of that right now; how can I bring more of what I truly desire into my life on a regular basis?”

2. Attend November’s free Essence Circle on Monday, November 7th. ( Click here for all the details) We’ll be diving into the R.E.A.L. Process in a way that you will experience first hand for yourself the power of  this hidden secret to the law of attraction.

Moving From Ego to Essence - Finding and Feeling Presence

Essence is a beautiful and simple word I use to refer to a mysterious something that is hard to define, but we all know it when we experience it. Essence is the physical sensation of feeling a Divine Presence.

Leslie performing a spontaneous dance in 2008.

The source of this Essence is God, Spirit, The Divine or simply the great “I AM.” Whatever name you choose,  you  or I choose, we are referring to the same universal source of creative intelligence, which is Love.Essence comes through when we are swept away by listening to beautiful music, moved deeply through witnessing great art, dance or feel expanded through well- crafted writing. We sometimes feel it from the teachers who touch our lives the most profoundly. Yet, we are just as likely to be touched by it when witnessing a simple act of kindness, an amazing athletic feat or when receiving a child’s dandelion bouquet. It is the overwhelming emotion of love we experience when we share a hug with our beloved.

The name I choose to use is simply Presence, because in my work, there are moments when I experience a sensation of having a Divine Presence working with me and through me as I guide people to heal their deepest wounds. I call this experience Embodied Presence. It is the reason I get so much joy out of my work and why I refer to it as “soulwork.”

Moving From Ego to Essence - Finding and Feeling Presence

Whatever your word is, we all yearn to connect with this Presence, and to breathe it in as deeply and fully  as we can when those moments come. Essence is the part of us that allows this connection, craves it and seeks it out. You might say it is the X Factor in a  piece of music, art, dance performance or what makes a gifted master so effective at what they do.  I am reminded of one of my favorite quotes by Emerson from The Oversoul:

“Within us is the soul of the whole; the wise silence; the universal beauty, to which every part and particle is equally related; the eternal one. When it breaks through our intellect, it is genius; When it breathes through our will, it is virtue; When it flows through our affections, it is love.” 

Embodied Presence is found when we live in the moment and not the past or the future. It’s when we allow the Divine Presence to come through us and express itself. To live as fully, and deeply as is possible, we must move beyond the limits of our Ego to find the limitlessness of our Essence.

How do we know we have moved beyond our Ego and are living in our Essence? Here are a few observations I have about Ego and Essence from my own learning and life and experience:

Moving From Ego to Essence

• The source of Ego is fear. The source of Essence Is Love, or you could say  God, Presence, Oneness, Wholeness,  Spirit or Creator.
• Ego protects against vulnerability to cover shame and gain power through control. Essence expresses Love and Presence.
• Ego reacts from past hurts. Essence responds freely from the present moment.
• Ego seeks pleasure and avoids pain. Essence responds to the moment and welcomes all the experiences of life.
• Ego separates and isolates. Essence connects.
• Ego inflates or deflates. Essence remains centered in Presence.
• Ego want to be right. Essence wants to be connected .
• Ego grasps for certainty. Essence embodies truth.
• Ego is jealous. Essence loves without expectations.
• Ego seeks to suppress or impress. Essence seeks to connect with and express love and life.
• Ego seeks to compete and/or dominate. Essence seeks to create, cooperate or collaborate.
• Ego seeks certainty through beliefs. Essence seeks direct experience of Spirit.
• Ego engages in protecting and getting behaviors in relationship. Essence seeks to see and and  be seen and  felt  by another.
• Ego seeks out spiritual experiences. Essence realizes s/he is a spiritual being having a human experience.

Of course, many more distinctions that could be made about Ego and Essence. I invite you to use this as a partial guide to help you clarify when you are acting out of Essence or  Ego.  Add to the list with your own experience. Be aware of the physical reactions of your body and simply ask yourself, “Does this feel more like Ego or Essence?”

What are some of your Ego and Essence distinctions!   Got any…..?   If  so please share!