Consciousness & Spirituality

Where Has Carol Been? In Reality…

July 27, 2013 by Carol 10 Comments

Now there’s a complex question! The Universe has taken me on my own personal Magical Mystery Tour these past two years, complete with hurricanes and floods and other acts of the Goddess, death and more death, broken bones, amazing love and support and surprising moments of joy.

I haven’t written much because the more that happened, the harder it was to know where to begin. Some of you have known me for a long time, some are new to this blog and only know me through my guided imagery CDs and mp3s or my teleseminar. Either way you know that I choose to focus on energetic patterns, on looking at life from a larger perspective, and on finding peace in challenging circumstances. This has been a time that has challenged all my beliefs. It has been a great relief and comfort to know that they are as solid as I thought.

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Tapping World Summit

May 7, 2012 by Carol Leave a Comment

The world of Meridian Tapping has grown these past several years, and I am continually finding new and exciting ways to incorporate it into my work with my clients. Balancing and releasing stress, trauma, health issues, emotional issues, limiting belief systems, fears and phobias are all possible with this powerful process of tapping on acupuncture meridian points and creatively exploring our stuff.

For an amazing taste of tapping with 20 masterful practitioners, check out the 2012 Tapping World Summit which starts tonight, May 7th. It’s a free online event and each presentation is available to hear for no cost for 24 hours, or you can purchase the recordings. Some of my favorite teachers – Carol Look, Donna Eden, Bruce Lipton, Jack Canfield and Margaret Lynch are presenting.

Give a Gift that Decreases Your Stress…

February 10, 2012 by Carol Leave a Comment

My partner and I are celebrating Valentine’s Day this weekend, so I am still figuring out the best gift. Arielle Ford, author of “Wabi Sabi Love” came up with a fantastic idea; give your partner amnesty for the thing that you most complain, argue or harass them about, and gift them with your vow to let it go. Pick one infuriating thing they do that you are chronically annoyed or crazed by – leaving every cabinet door and drawer open in the kitchen, dirty dishes in the sink, interrupting you when you are on the phone…

The gift of letting go of annoyance and irritation is indeed a gift you give yourself. We cannot control other people’s behavior – though it is oh, so tempting to try! What we can control is our own responses, and how we create our own stress as we struggle against reality. How stressful is it to be constantly annoyed by someone’s habits that may or may not ever change? How peaceful would it be to just accept that that’s the way it is and look for the gift in it.

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A New Year and a New Bridge…

January 11, 2012 by Carol Leave a Comment

I am so pleased and relieved to be beginning the new year with a new bridge connecting my home and office to the outside world. Enjoying the simple pleasures of pulling into my driveway to unload groceries instead of carting them over the footbridge and though the mud in a wheelbarrow, the security of getting a fuel delivery at last, and being able to turn on the heat…

Since Hurricane Irene destroyed our bridge, I have been pondering the metaphoric significance of bridges in my life. Bridges as connection, as links, as the pathway from one place or state to another… What does it mean when connections are suddenly severed? How do we adapt to unexpected events that change how we live our lives? How we feel safe when the structures that we rely upon are taken away?

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Water, Change and Hurricane Irene

November 13, 2011 by Carol 2 Comments

It’s been months since I sent out a newsletter, months since I felt like life was sort of normal. When Hurricane Irene blew through the Northeast it changed my life. In a matter of hours, the rising, chaotic waters washed out the bridge that connects my home and office to the rest of civilization.

Living near a creek has always felt like a blessing. I wake up and fall asleep to the ever present sounds of water, flowing, tumbling, rushing, murmuring. In warm weather I work with the sliding glass doors open in my office and the sounds of water add another level of healing to my work.

But in the hurricane, the water became frightening. Rising higher than I had ever seen it, it rushed by at 40 miles an hour – whole up-rooted trees flying by like twigs. And when the rain stopped, where our sturdy steel and concrete bridge had connected us to the main road, there was only swirling white water and a rising helplessness in the face of that much power.

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Giving It Over – Do I Really Have To Do It All Myself?

July 4, 2011 by Carol Leave a Comment

I just found a computer program that creates a fancy To Do list for me and I felt an immediate sense of relief. How much mental energy do we use just trying to remember all the myriad details of life? And how relaxing it is to stop keeping track and give it over to someone or something else?

Giving it over is a powerful concept; acknowledging that we can’t and don’t have to do it all, that something else is there to the burden off of our shoulders. Any process of connecting to our higher self, to spirit, God, a higher power – whether in meditation, contemplation, prayer, dance, chanting, Yoga, or your favorite mode is a way of giving over, and letting go of the illusion that we are in this alone and have to do everything ourselves.

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Imagery, Visualization and Kindness…

June 8, 2011 by Carol Leave a Comment

Often clients have told me that they can’t do guided imagery because they “can’t visualize.” I find it ironic, because the truth is, we are all absolutely expert at what I call ‘negative imagery.’ Sending our bodies messages that they obediently respond to; “I’m clumsy, I’m fat (and I’ll always be fat!), I have a bad back, a sensitive stomach, that medicine will make me nauseous, I’ll never heal…” the litany of negative thoughts and negative imagery goes on all day.

So what if we could harness this ability we all seem to have and creatively use it for health and healing? What if the messages were positive and health-promoting, instead of critical and judgmental? What if we were actually kind to ourselves? Somewhere, most of us got the message that criticizing and judging ourselves would somehow make us better. It’s worth asking yourself these very important questions: What aspects of yourself do you judge most harshly? Who else in your life (parents, teachers, etc.) judged you for these things in your past? Do you really think they were right? Has the judgement and criticism ever helped you?

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How Do I Fit Meditation Into My Busy Life?

May 31, 2011 by Carol 1 Comment

The question I hear most frequently is “how do I find time to meditate? I’m stressed enough already, trying to find time to meditate is even more stressful!” Life seems busier, more rushed, more full of stuff to do every year. So how do we find extra time to do the things that will, theoretically, make us feel calmer, more relaxed, more centered?

It used to be with meditation, the longer the better. Now, in the age of tweeting, texting and shortening attention spans, people want something short and sweet. And actually, I think that’s just fine…

We are no longer in the days of retiring to a mountaintop to contemplate the Universe.

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Transforming surgery – close to home…

May 11, 2011 by Carol 2 Comments

I haven’t written for a while, I’ve been helping my mother prepare for and recover from triple bypass surgery. Helping people prepare for surgery, using guided imagery and energy work or my CDs/mp3s Transforming Surgery and Transforming Cancer Surgery has been one of my sidelines for many years, but this was a little too close to home.

What did I learn from the experience? I learned the sweetness of sitting by her bed all night in the Intensive Care unit and holding her hand, tapping on her when she was scared and disoriented, holding an energetic space of love and safety around the person who did that for me when I was young. That the human body, even at her age, is still capable of miraculous healing. And that our hearts are so much bigger and stronger and more resilient than we think.

What does it mean to prepare for surgery?

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Loving what is – or how I learned to love and accept snow days

February 18, 2011 by Carol 2 Comments

One of my favorite teachers, Byron Katie, talks about ‘loving what is’ – letting go of our innate, knee-jerk reactions of “I don’t like this, this is not what I want, this situation, this person, life should be different,” and just being present and accepting what is. Living in the Northeast this winter has been an interesting exercise in acceptance, in learning to be with what is, in this case snow, snow and more snow!

In my EFT work, a common tapping phrase that I use is “even though I have (this problem,) I can accept myself, my life just as it is.” Even though it is not what I might have consciously chosen, I can accept it anyway, and accept myself and my skillful and not so skillful responses to life, just as they are.

I have always loved the seasons, the shifting changing colors and temperatures. While the transformative energies of spring and fall are my slight favorites, I do love them all. Winter to me, has always been a time to slow down, enjoy the warmth of a fire, and move a little more inward. This year, though, it has been week after week of storms and frigid temperatures, housebound by icy roads, canceling clients and activities.

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