Deb Bilbao Opened up and Shared Her Journey to Find Peace After Her Father's Suicide.

"All spirituality is about relieving suffering."  – Buddha  

This months Womens Circle was a wonderful journey to healing the heart. Deb Bilbao shared some of the tools she has used on her journey of healing.  Deb started out showing us a clip from Jim Carrey that was very powerful, check it out here, one of my favorite things he said was "Negative experiences will continue to repeat as long as they remain useful to you," it was at about 2:41 into the video, the whole thing was wonderful and I highly recommend a view.  

Among the tools Deb has used and continues to use on her journey called life, is music, some of her favorite songs include “I didn’t know my own strength” from Whitney Houston, “Love is behind all of my favorite scars” by Cher and “Heartof a Woman” from Melissa Etheridge (a wonderful line that stood out to me in this song is, “power ends where fear begins.”)

Another tool Deb uses to center herself and find balance is tapping.  Deb gave us a wonderful run down of the different meridians and techniques used in the Emotional Freedom Technique she uses. 

What I loved most about the evening was Debs willingness to open up and share her raw feelings about the struggles she has had over her dad’s suicide and other tough situations she has had to face.  She opened up about the different masks she would put on to hide the fear and pretend she was strong.  She was candid about her weight gain she unconsciously used to protect herself when she shut down her connection with her source as well as the deliberate walking away from relationships as sabotage to her happiness when she would lose her way. 

Debs biggest advice of the night, in my opinion, was to acknowledge what you are experiencing and get honest with yourself.  Then through tapping techniques, tell yourself that even though you are experiencing this, you love and accept yourself.  Acknowledging of fear, doubt, anger or any other emotion opens us to releasing that emotion. 

Deb has been able to change the tough experiences she has in her life and shift them, she told us, “What I’m experiencing now are gifts from the decisions I’ve made.” (I can conclude from this that if I’m not liking the “gifts” I’m experiencing then I better change my decisions.  It’s up to me!!!!)  If you ask me, THAT is the stuff that great leaders are made of and I certainly loved spending the evening with a woman of great strength.   Thank you Deb, for an evening of excellence.

As a sneak peak ….. and a save the date….. our next Women’s Spiritual Circle will be on May 20^th at 6:30 PM, the location is to be determined.  I’m so excited about our next guest, Angela Peterson is a Reiki Master and Spiritual Life Coach.  I have heard countless compliments about Angela’s presentation about the Chakra Centers and how her work with these energy centers has transformed her life and those that work with her.  You will want to join us and bring a friend.  More details to come.

Regardless of your religious affiliation, we can all reflect on the symbolism of Easter, The Crucifixion and The Resurrection.  Years ago I found a powerful thought from one of my favorite authors.  When I am going through a tough time in my life when I start feeling overwhelmed and out of control with my feelings, I pull out this thought and see how I can apply it to the situation.  Sometimes I am able to use this wisdom and sometimes I have to set it on the shelf until I can find a small sense of peace within to be able to put this powerful thought into play.  Either way, I hope you will contemplate the possibilities of using the symbolism of Easter in difficult situations.  Enjoi!!   ..... and Happy Spring!!!

“The symbolism of the three days between the crucifixion and the resurrection is very important.  This is what it means: When you are in the midst of a "crucifixion condition" a situation in which "ego" or fear based thinking seems to be transgressing against and canceling out the consciousness and the consequences of love, if during this situation you refuse to blame, you refuse to attack, you refuse to defend, you refuse to leave the zone of your own love then you are guaranteeing that the crucifixion condition will transform into resurrection.  What is resurrection?  Resurrection is the energy by which the light ultimately ascends, casting out all darkness.  If in the midst of your crucifixion, you go into blame, you go into attack, you go into victim consciousness, you go into anger, what you will do is continue the cycle of violence but if you move into the space of your own love, if you allow yourself to feel the pain but not lash out; if you will allow yourself to feel the pain but continually put it in the hands of God; asking God for a different way of looking at this situation; asking God to show you how you can take responsibility for your part of this.  Asking God to remove the part of you that in some way conspired to bring this situation about and in some way is now conspiring to keep you in pain.  Move into the sacred space, even while on the cross...as it were....move into the sacred space.  Then what will happen for you, this apparent death will turn into life.  This fear based situation will be miraculously transformed by love.  It might be three minutes, it might be three days....and so on but if you choose the power of the light and love the change occurs in an instant!  - Marianne Williamson ….Miracle Thought for the Day”

Jan Donchess Rocked our Women's Circle this month.

            I’m overwhelmed by the amazing energy created by our Women’s Spiritual Circle.  Once again I was honored by having some of my best friends join me in my home to expand our divinity by learning about “The Beginner’s Mind.”  Our beautiful teacher, whom I am honored to call my sacred friend, had us laughing, deeply meditating and brilliantly creating a path to our own personal spiritual journey.  Jan Donchess is a master of inspiration through her own example to walk her spiritual talk.  She has created for herself a personal journey each moment filled with intention and grace.  We were honored to hear intimate details of her earlier life that set this journey in motion and the continued seeker within her that persists in her quest for spiritual evolution and expansion.  Jan also told the story of the Zen master and the Scholar  <-- a="" all="" always="" am="" amazing="" an="" and="" as="" awe="" be="" beautiful.="" brief="" click="" continue="" empty="" expand="" filled="" first="" for="" good="" great="" grow="" hat="" hear="" here="" i="" if="" in="" is="" learn="" life="" magic="" may="" me.="" me="" miracles="" myself="" nbsp="" of="" p="" reminder="" see="" so="" story="" surround="" that="" the="" this="" time="" to="" true="" visual="" want="" was="" with="" wonderful="">

            Jan suggested that along with our own guided meditation ceremony that we also incorporate sillness meditation.  Emptying our minds and taking control over the thoughts that sometimes can overwhelm us is a “practice” I am challenging myself with, how about you?  Jan suggested doing this by making “appointments” with ourselves in our schedule.  Set reminders on your phone and really “show up” for these appointments, they might be only 5-10 minutes but setting up this practice will make a huge difference in how you do life.  A beautiful quote from Jan is, “This is my life!  I take it with me.  I have fun with it!”  She told us that we take who we are with us everywhere we go.  Her suggestion is to take the Spirit within you, into the world.  Such a yummy night!!!!

            I loved that Jan admitted she still has that ego reaction from time to time (which was nice to hear since I have it as well…haha) she had us all laughing about her “smoothie girl” story but she assured us that as she spends more time in her spirit awareness it is easier to step back from this ego reaction and take the split second required to CHOOSE to respond to any situation from the perspective of love. 

            She told us about real life circumstances that she has had to truly practice what she was teaching us.  Sometimes her work (as well as our own) can be the greatest playing field, so to speak.  We might be anticipating a meeting with anxiety because we don’t know what the outcome will be or we may not know what others will think of us because of the stance we take on an issue.  Jan assured us that the best way to handle these real life situations is to choose how to be in the situation, set your intention with gratitude and set yourself up for success.  She also encouraged us to know that it doesn’t matter that “they” know who you are…. It only matters that I know who I am. 

            Jan’s reoccurring thought was to create practices for ourselves that are personal and really work for us uniquely.  She suggested practices for our spiritual growth, a practice for our food, exercise and health in our life.  She talked about even having a practice for sleep.  These practices will feed your heart and soul.

            Of course we were joined by one of Jan’s favorite men, Deepak Chopra.  We enjoyed several mediations from his CD, The Soul of Healing Affirmations, A-Z    (You can click on that link to find it on Amazon.  We ended with a wonderful “rap” from Deepak and a beautiful reminder from Jan that “My body is the garden of my soul.”   ß (give it a listen!) I want to thank Jan for such a wonderful evening and thank all of the dear women that cozied up in my living room once again where we all expanded our Divinity. 

            I’m excited to announce I have found a bigger space for us so that we no longer have to cozy up or sit on the floor (unless of course you want to).  Our next Circle will be held at the Murray Library on April 15^th at 6:30 PM.  Address is 166 East and 5300 South.  I’m thrilled to have Deb Bilbao share with us.  Deb has been on her own spiritual journey to a passionate soul since she was very young.  She learned many of her lessons in what she describes as “the church of softball.”   She will be teaching us how to use tools like music and tapping to reshape your life, her topic is Healing of a heart.  What a delicious topic to have Deb share with us. I don’t know Deb as well as I would like to but I can tell you that I really FEEL her spirit and I know she has something beautiful and powerful to bring to this world.  I am looking forward to getting to know her better and  I’m honored she has agreed to open up herself to us.   Save the date and tell a friend.  See you there??