The sixth of the 12 stepping stones I discovered on my healing path is a doozie, and a challenge that’s much easier suggested than accomplished.

You can’t understand the world, until you understand you.

This is an invitation to take a deep look inside to better understand the way you operate in the world outside.

So much of what we do every day is habitual, automatic and based on old routines. Is that the way you want to live?

Is it possible that you’re viewing and responding to your life through a filter of outdated beliefs and unhealed wounds? Is holding onto this excess baggage helping or hurting you?

It’s not easy to be the observer in your life and see your circumstances from an objective perspective. But try. It’s worth it. And it’s down right necessary if you plan to make even the slightest of shifts in your outcomes.

I skipped the traditional “couch therapy” routine and opted to believe that all the answers I was looking for were lurking deep inside me. I didn’t feel comfortable paying a stranger to dig in there and rummage around through my private stuff. Instead, I took an alternate path to my crazies. I used meditation (sitting in silence), asking a question or two before I’d begin each session.

You’d be amazed at the answers that float to the surface if you just allow them to. Who knew?

Don’t forget to have a heart during this examination of self. Lead with love both inside and out and you’ll begin to get a better understanding of YOU. Then, you’re in the perfect position to look at the world with fresh eyes and and open heart.

It may take a little work and time, but it’s worth the effort to get to know yourself again. Spend some time with yourself, ask a few questions. Listen. See if it changes the way you look at your world.

BTW, I’m still crazy. But, I think I finally understand why!

You can’t understand the world until you understand you.

The fifth of the 12 stepping stones I discovered on my healing path was one of the most important lessons I’ve ever understood.

Illness and imbalance are calls to the self. Answer the call!

After years of looking at crisis, illness, disease and imbalance in my life and others, I’m convinced that they are calls to the self that beg to be answered.

The problem is, that the noise, distraction and frantic pace of our lives prevents us from maintaining a clear connection to the body/mind and the source of our healing and wellness.

Sometimes, WE are the biggest obstacle standing in the way of our own balance, abundance (balabundance!) and happiness.

Answering the call means listening to the message that’s being delivered and acting on it. When illness and imbalance become a part of your experience,  you’re being asked to STOP and examine your choices – to reevaluate your world.

A wise woman named Liz Koch (The Psoas Book) said something yesterday on our call that rang true. She said, “Our culture is addicted to trauma, and it seems that it’s the only way we finally shift from our imbalance and are forced to evolve. When will we learn to evolve without crisis and trauma?”

Take a quick listen to this “1-Minute Shift” from one of my favorites, Bruce Lipton:“Healing Perceptions” with Bruce H. Lipton, Ph.D. -

http://oneminuteshift.com/videos/bruce_lipton/healing_perceptions

If we all begin to look at imbalance as a messenger, we’ll actually shift our perception of it and thank it for coming to help us move forward on our wellness journey. Illness and imbalance are calls to the self! Answer the call!

The forth of the 12 stepping stones I discovered on my healing path was a real gem, as it has to do with all the old “baggage” I continued to carry along with me on my journey.

Since I just returned from a flight to the mid-west, this idea is fresh in my mind.

Why don’t we take a tip from the airlines? It’s costing us a LOT to carry extra baggage with us (or any at all, for that matter). It behooves us to unpack a few of the things we always take along (and don’t need), and lighten our load.

Oh yes, on to the forth stepping stone . . .

Making Friends with your Past is the Key to Your Future.

Can you fathom how many decisions you make on a daily basis that are influenced by your past? Think about it.

I’ll bet there’s a substantial list of items that have been haunting you for more years than deserve to receive your attention.

Bad relationships with loved ones or lovers, big mistakes, bad choices and lapses in judgement. Situations that went sour, unresolved disputes and opportunities that went unattended. Each of these can lodge in our nervous systems and keep us stuck in our past.

When is it OK to say good-bye to these memories? What is the best way to do it?

The best way for me was through meditation. But every time I bring that up, people run away.

How about if we replace the word meditation with silence? There, does that feel better?

When you sit in silence and ponder a question, you can get an answer from a place that is deeper than the lodged memory. I don’t know exactly what to call that wise little voice inside, but I know that by creating enough silence in your life, you can hear it’s words of wisdom.

During some of my more challenging times, I’ve sat in my own silence and asked the question, “What is this “problem” here to tell me?” If I’m patient and I ask enough times, I’ll get the answers I’m looking for and they usually take on the face of a bad relationship, unhappy memory or any number of things I’ve stuffed away forever (which I thought was a good idea at the time).

Seeing the image from the past doesn’t mean you have to relive the past, if you can remain the observer. You are no longer that crazy teen-ager, that wild woman in her twenties, or that desperate housewife. You’ve grown. You’ve evolved. These memories may look familiar, but they’re not you anymore.

Let them go. Forgive and forget them. Wish them well. Tell them you’re going to unpack them from your baggage and begin to practice traveling light.

Making Friends with your Past is the Key to your Future.

The third of the 12 stepping stones I discovered on my healing journey is all about optimism, self forgiveness and a view of life that’s unlimited.

No matter what happened to you in your childhood, teens, twenties and beyond, last week or this morning . . .

Every Moment is a New Beginning.

The idea of a “fresh start” is so comforting when things haven’t gone in the direction you expected or planned.

Why can’t we give ourselves a clean slate in every moment and believe that we’re able to begin anew at any time we decide to? There’s no value in dwelling on the past and allowing it to taint the future.

When I learned to look at life from this perspective, I became empowered. Instead of feeling like time was my enemy, I began to view it as an unconditionally loving friend.

Give yourself a break. Create new opportunities when old ones have expired. Don’t give up on yourself, because you’re a work in progress. So let’s progress.

Every Moment is a New Beginning.