Category: Uplevel

You Are More Than A Label

It’s interesting how our whole world is into categorization. For example:

  • Man/Woman
  • Parent/Non-Parent
  • Expatriate/Local
  • Religious/Atheist
  • Job (and which job is huge)
  • Single/Taken
  • And the list can go on forever…

Hey, I get it, somewhere in our brains we need categorization so we can put this new data in the archives and go about our lives. But somewhere along the lines we got too involved in the story of all these labels – with others and ourselves.

We began to identify too closely with the so called meaning behind what it means to be X.

But who are you really and what does X matter?

Does X make you a better, happier person?

If being a doctor meant you would have success and happiness everyone would be a doctor. Unfortunately, that isn’t the case. It doesn’t mean there aren’t successful and happy doctors but the truth of the matter is, it’s what’s INSIDE that makes you who truly you are and everything else is subjective – it’s someone’s personal experience and opinion on X and IT’S ALL DIFFERENT depending on who you talk to.

Regardless of the label and it’s seemingly endless meanings given by any one person, only YOU control what you ultimately feel on the INSIDE. No one can go inside and make you feel or not feel anything.

So for a moment pause and reflect. Ask yourself this question, “Who am I without X label(s)?”.

Perhaps it’s the first time you seriously asked or contemplated this question. The answer may come right away or it may come over several days – the form doesn’t matter. What does matter is that you started to inquire within and are taking one step closer to understanding your deeper, truer self.

And trust me, even if you’re well seasoned in your awareness of labels it’s always a good opportunity to reflect on the question above. After all, we’re all human 🙂

In wellness,

Susan

Photo by Xan Griffin on Unsplash

Your True Light

“Only the light within us is real. We are not afraid of the dark without ourselves, so much as we are afraid of the light. The dark is familiar. It’s what we know. The light, the thought that we might indeed be good enough, is such a thread to the ego that it takes out its very big guns to defend against it. Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure…”

~Marianne Williamson

In wellness,

Susan

Photo by Rhett Wesley on Unsplash

Friday Focus – 12/29/18 {YOU Are Your Own Best Guide}

I had an idea of what I wanted to share today; it was going to be about the New Year, and I decided to scrap it at the last minute because something else was calling me to write about a very powerful message.

You see, sometimes we need to seek answers and that is completely OK. We need to go through different teachers whether it be yoga teachers, therapists, astrologers, psychics, chiropractors, life coaches, massage therapists, etc. to obtain the information we need at that time in order to grow and move on.

The beautiful thing is we begin to learn what works for us. Does touch work as a healing modality? Perhaps talking things out without the other person’s judgement is a form of release. Or maybe specific movement patterns such as Tai Chi, Qi Gong, or Yoga seems to alleviate emotional and physical pain vs. the typical bootcamp or hard core spin class. Maybe typical meditation doesn’t work for you right now. Or you discover that talking to your best friend is the best therapy, and it’s free!

As we learn to intuitively feel into what we need, we begin to learn what works for us (and mind you that always changes as well!).

However, almost always there comes a time when we reach a point of the constant search. Soon, we forget what we truly needed in the first place. Perhaps we got what we needed and quickly developed a new need. Or maybe you are searching for a specific answer but you haven’t received it just yet.

Regardless of the root cause, if you find yourself ridden with anxiety in a constant search for X, I’m here to tell you to take a deep breath and pause.

No matter what you hear out there or what you learn from your guru, we are all human at the end of the day. I mean, can we really know all the answers? Is there only one answer? Aren’t we changing all the time, in every moment as well? Plus, there are new discoveries made in the spiritual and scientific realms every. single. day! There’s no way anyone can come to learn everything in this moment – possibly ever!

So what can we do?

Listen to the small, still voice inside of YOU.

Remember, no one has every answer, and no one is YOU. Only you know for yourself what truly clicks and what doesn’t. You are designed as uniquely as a snowflake and so is everyone else. If discoveries are being made daily, who is to say this one way is the way? Or that it even exists?

Take a deep breath and pause. Listen to your heart. Place one hand on your heart, and the other on the ground in front of you and listen for as long as you need to until you feel the strength and all knowing truth that is already within.

It’s ok to search. It’s ok to seek. We’re meant to grow, learn, and evolve. But if you’re beginning to feel anxious in hoping to discover THE answer, always remember this – the TRUTH is within.

In wellness,

Susan

Photo by Jimmy Chang on Unsplash

Your Brain = Your Thoughts = Your LIFE

“As soon as we believe in something, we search for ways to prove it’s true.”

~Richard Handler

What are you choosing to believe in? 🙏

PSA: If you’re in the Seattle or Greater Seattle area I’ve started a Sisterhood Collective where we’ll be diving deep into Sisterhood, communion, 1:1, and asking ourselves Powerful Questions so that we can finally understand the inner workings of ourselves. Come join us for our first gathering where we will be sealing in the energy of Sisterhood and diving deep into embodying our truest intention for 2018!

In wellness,

Susan

Photo by Julia Caesar on Unsplash

Using The Breath To Transform Difficult Emotions

In a previous post we talked about how to love every situation, even the bad ones. In this post I’ll dig into one important step we can take when our immediate, strong reaction is to turn away and ignore these tough situations.

For the times when we want to straight run away and ignore certain emotions such as anger, hurt, sadness, jealousy, etc., we need to deploy one thing – our breath.

Using our breath to “digest” these emotions will help us from turning away, to turning IN.

It’s said in indigenous Peruvian shamanic/spiritual culture that elders would guide people to push the emotion down to the stomach and breath through it in order to digest and work through tough emotions.

I discovered this Peruvian practice after implementing this breath work for myself and wasn’t surprised at all to find out! Especially with deeply similar practices from other traditions such as those from Yoga, Buddhism, and even the Whim Hoff method of breath work!

Clearly there’s a reason why breath is such a powerful tool to bringing us back to our essence. Our true “self” amidst the harshest of emotions.

The next time you find yourself wanting to turn away take a moment, wherever you are, to BREATHE.

Breathe as heavy, fast, and as loudly as you need to and focus on turning inward. Really look at what you are digesting and allow the breath to do the work. Be with every breath as you discover and unfold the workings of the emotion.

Toward the end of the session (anywhere from 5-15 minutes) you’ll discover that you allowed the emotion to pass, or at least lessen a significant degree, and likely have uncovered a new finding about yourself. Whether that’s more mindfulness, awareness of true self, a deeper capacity to forgive, more love, etc., there will be an empowering shift within you.

So here’s to the first thing we ever did as humans – breathe, and to give thanks toward this life giving practice of breath work.

In wellness,

Susan

Photo by Eli DeFaria on Unsplash

How To Love Every Situation (Even The Bad Ones)

There’s irony in tough situations. Why?

Well for one, when we are in some of the hardest times of our lives the easiest thing we most often choose to do is ignore, delay, bury, or distract ourselves from the very thing that causes us pain and suffering!

You’re probably wondering, “You’re mistaken because none of this feels easy!”, and you’re right. From the outside it’s tough. We muster up every ounce of our energy to get through the day and push through until one day we feel a bit better and can move onto something else… until it comes up again.

But what if I told you that the harder thing to do would be the fastest way to feeling better?

Not that feeling better should be the goal, nor should getting anywhere faster be the right way, but these are some of the benefits of going harder and faster. Let me tell you why…

When we ignore the situation we’re in, we are burying a part of ourselves that doesn’t want to face the music so to speak. There’s fear of the unknown, fear of more hurt, and our minds are so powerful it convinces us there’s no need to go there.

That’s where TRANSFORMATION comes into play.

When we learn to go in and face the demons we are telling a deeper part of ourselves that we are ready. We are ready to learn, dig deep, love every part of ourselves, and transform the situation and ultimately, ourselves.

We are pushed to our transformative edge so that we can actually get to where we want to be. The old adage is true, no pain, no gain. Sometimes we need to step through and into the unknown (perceived pain and fear) in order to come out the other end. Otherwise, we are metaphorically always on the other side of where we ultimately want to be!

Can you remember a time in your life where you faced the situation and/or your demons and came out completely different? Revived even?

Every time I do the work to face inward I come back again and again to a wider more expansive heart. The true self, and therefore realize the truth in each situation.

Every situation only brings you closer to YOUR TRUTH, and that’s how we come to love every situation – yes, even the “bad” ones. When we meet our transformative edge we are always growing to become the person we always wanted to be.

In wellness,

Susan

Photo by Alphacolor 13 on Unsplash

Impeccability

“Impeccability is living with integrity from the still point inside us that is Authentic Being. It means being in charge in the swirl of events. It is manifesting Authentic Being through our personal ego, our impermanent self, without care for achievement, recognition, or gain.”

~Claude Poncelet, PhD

In wellness,

Susan

Photo by elora manzo on Unsplash

A Seattle Community of Sisterhood

For the past 6 months I have felt a deep calling to create community, a sisterhood, here in Seattle.

This deep desire would grow then fade depending on how many projects I had going on as well as managing my travel schedule. One big deterrent from starting this community was location; I had no idea what 2018 would look like and would ask myself questions such as, “Would it even be worth it to me or others not knowing whether Life would take me outside of Seattle in 2018?”.

Until earlier this month (December), I knew deep down that this desire was calling and it wouldn’t stop.

The need to guide, connect, and be the Seer for anyone who needed it was a strong enough risk for me to take.

And I know deep down I would be the one who’s heart is filled and brimming with gratitude and love at everyone’s willingness, honesty, and own respect for their journey and desire for connection.

So with that said, be on the look out for more details! I’ll be creating an official channel via MeetUp where I will post 1:1 coaching session dates, Moon Circles, community gatherings, and much more.

I can’t wait to connect.

In community,

Susan

Photo by Cristina Cerda on Unsplash

The Seer

“The Seer holds a mirror so that you can see your true self, the soul who only knows Love.”

In wellness,

Susan

Photo by Nine Köpfer on Unsplash

Friday Focus – 12/22/17 {Thoughts As Creation & Being Guided}

It’s about that time…. I can just feel the energy in the air as people are busily getting ready for Christmas. The last minute gift shopping, picking up dessert for Eve’s dinner, and so much laughter everywhere!

This week’s Friday Focus is going to be a bit random, but oh so important. There are two ideas that stood out for me over the course of this past week and I’ll dive right into them:

  1. Your thoughts as creation. According to the first Law of Thermodynamics, the energy of our Universe can neither be created or destroyed, but can manipulate its form (i.e., water to ice, fire as heat, etc.). So how does this relate to our thoughts? If even our thoughts are considered as energy then we have a direct correlation to patterns and behaviors (manipulated energy form) that have culminated in the past few years to lead us to where we are today. Pretty powerful isn’t it? Our thoughts have brought us to exactly where we are today! Whether that is good or bad is beyond the point, the point is we have the power of today to direct our thoughts toward a future we want. So tell me, what is it that you want?
  2. Being guided. Have you ever felt a nudge, an inquiry even, about a particular “thing” but never followed through on it until a later time only to realize it was exactly what you needed? Whether it was to apply to that company, pick up that book, call that acupuncturist, etc.? I call that guidance. Whether it’s from outside influences, your subconscious, your higher self, God, you name it… your guidance system is showing you the way at all times, and how wonderfully comforting is that? Now if only we can get quiet enough to hear the call… 🙂

Pretty epic am I right? Now to flip the switch – what recurring themes or ideas stood out for you this week? I’ve found that since starting Friday Focus it’s been a wonderful way to recap big themes and close out the week. I’d love to hear if there’s been anything on your mind in particular!

With that said, have a wonderful, long, joyous weekend leading up to Christmas. May you be filled with immense joy, peace, and love no matter who you are with and where you are in the world.

In cheer,

Susan

Photo by Robert Lukeman on Unsplash