Posts in Present
What's Your Jungle Story? (Part 1)

I received a call from an old friend this week, the first Peruvian shaman I ever worked with in my path of healing. Just hearing his voice brought back the taste of the thick-vined elixir into my mouth (iykyk). After our conversation, I began to hear some icaros, or traditional medicine songs, appear in my consciousness from the Shipibo tribe that had been a prior poignant soundtrack of my life…

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Who Are You Now?

I am birthing myself into a singer...of pop songs! I know, it is a wild plot twist in the story of my life yet it is such a natural form of expression for me that has been under wraps for far too long. I grew up singing solos in every school play, musical, and eventually choir from kindergarten into high school. I had a true leaning towards jazz and the blues, the kind where I felt it in my heart so deep. Later, when I got more involved in competitive sports, I moved that stamina and energy onto the slopes and onto the field. And, I forgot myself…

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What Is This New Moon Teaching You?

This new moon is teaching me to tell the people I love that I love them. To hold them near and to be generous with my heart. There are many unknowns in life, many more than there are givens somehow. I am writing with a tender heart, feeling grief and empathy for dear ones who are suffering deeply. I recognize the fierce impermanence of this life, remembering the paradox of our strength and simultaneous fragility…

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What Is Self-Observation?

Here is an example of what Self-Observation can look like: I am on retreat. I’ve just meditated, breathed, observed, and processed my dream from the night before. I stretch and make some tea. The whole day is ahead of me and I have a thought. Only five days left and what do you have to show for yourself? That thought is then proceeded by more commentary. You still have this chapter and this chapter and this chapter to write...

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What Is Your Insight?

Right now I feel a feverish high. So much is in the air. Like sparkles in a snow globe, my life is full of things to celebrate yet you can’t quite see what is happening, momentarily. My body is a vessel for process and goodness, a process I am in. Have you ever rebirthed yourself in every area of life all at once? I thought I did this already. 5 years ago I experienced such radical upheaval that it felt like a wildfire moved through my soul, but I missed some key pieces that were unconsciously lodged inside my mind…

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How Does It End?

I recently found out that my cousin lost her life to addiction. Lost her life. What is more precious than our very breath? Perhaps that which is beyond the breath, that which is greater than this physical existence...maybe, yet isn’t our life the most beautiful gift we could ever receive? And now she is gone and there are no more breaths. I am sitting here in deep reflection…

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Are You Enthusiastic?

Damn right I’m enthusiastic! Even, or especially, in the midst of great challenges, life is an adventure. I’ve been on a three-week road trip without my car and I’m surfing the synchronistic intraweb of life. Ok, well, maybe taking a few days off this past week has something to do with it. Amazing what some sunshine and R&R can do for you if you’ve been pushing the edge since pre-pandemic. I feel a rebirth coming on, can you feel it?

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Are Psychedelics Changing the Way We Think?

Soon, traditional therapy will have a slate of offerings including poison of toad, psilocybin, and synthetic constituents such as MDMA (created to mimic nature’s sassafras) to open the heart center. In fact, many clinics are already pioneering this work underground while legislation is catching up. In other words, modern-day accessible psychotherapy is about to get much more colorful and multi-dimensional which could literally change the collective mind forever…

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What Are You Releasing?

You may have heard of the total lunar eclipse portal that we have entered into as of this morning. This is not an ordinary moon cycle indeed. Nope, this one will rock you, us, and the world in some way if we dare to notice. This is not for the faint of heart, as this will grab us from the inside and force our inner vision into seeing what we may not want to see. Are you ready for this?

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How Are You?

After glancing from side to side, I rest my eyes on the first word of this question. What exactly do I mean when I ask this question of others? It is perhaps the number one greeting amongst friends, family members, and even at times amidst strangers. And yet, where are we going with this inquiry? Is there a true desire to know the “how” of the human being before us? What is “how” about anyway? It certainly isn’t why, what, when, or who…

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What Is Your Problem?

When you read this, what comes to mind? It is a strong question and when I ask myself this, I almost don’t know where to start. Are we talking about the subtle realms, irritations that weave like mycelium from the present moment all the way to a deeply ravined origin of the past? Or pointing to something on the macro scale such as climate change or the current mental health crisis that will become more and more apparent as time ticks on? Is there a difference?

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How Is Now Late?

May is Mental Health Awareness Month. I am deeply passionate about this subject, as everything that we do, who we’ve been before, who we are now, and who we are becoming originates in the fertile ground of our mental health. How is yours? Have you been nurturing this realm of your Being lately? Did you know we are in the midst of a global mental health crisis and that it does, and will continue to, impact your life?

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How Important Is Our Mental Health?

Spending a significant period of my life with Tibetan Monks taught me a lot about life, purpose, the efficiency of time, finances, illusions of spiritual grandeur, commitment, power, and simplicity to name a few. One thing they would often share is that to be able to live a strong spiritual path, one needs these three things: money (or resources to live), time (to practice), and most importantly our health…

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