Thunder and lightning

"Thunder is good, thunder is impressive," wrote Mark Twain. "But it is the lightning that does the work." According to my analysis of the omens, Cancerian, your job right now is to be like the lightning, even if other people's thunder is temporarily hogging the credit and the attention. It may take a while, but your bolts of pure energy, not their noisy hype, will ultimately be appreciated as the most important factor in the group success." -From Free Will Astrology

I joined a women's networking group yesterday and had to give a 5-min speech about myself. I felt a little out of place with all of these high-powered business women from Bellevue. And I was so nervous, I could feel my voice shaking during my "speech."

When I read my horoscope this morning, it gave me words for how I felt. I don't have the energy of thunder, hardly. It's important for me to remember that just being myself is enough. I don't have to sell myself. I just need to show my warmth and personality. That's enough. And I believe that if I can relax into that space, bring my full self forward, then others will feel my energy and my passion for what I do.

The networking group is hosting a new member orientation this afternoon. I'm going to try to just be myself and let the universe take care of the rest.

Law of attraction

Hi all
I've been away for a while and have been meaning to write. I've been immersing myself in scheduling appointments with doctors and networking. Today I'm going to a women's networking meeting for small businesses. I need to give a short 5 min speech on what I do (aggghhhh).I can't say that I like these things, (actually, they are about my least favorite things in the world), but I'm trying to approach it from a different perspective. I am doing all I can on my part and am looking forward to the universe meeting me in unknown ways. Lately, I have been reading a lot about the law of attraction. I've been interested in this for a while, but now the desire to integrate the intellectual ideas into my life is very strong. There are some resources that I've found very helpful: choosingprosperity.com, http://www.emofree.com/, and http://www.hayhouseradio.com/. And the best part: they are free!

I'll post some pictures from Mexico soon with some highlights from our trip.

Playa Del Carmen

I am so excited about Mexico. It will be so much fun. So today, I'm packing, looking for my sunglasses and sunscreen, and thinking about visiting Mayan ruins.

It feels great

Last night I went to a workshop on conscious language. In the beginning, I wanted to attend the event, because I thought it would be a good place to network and get my name out. The teachings of conscious language are (for the most part) in line with my beliefs, so I thought I would find like-minded people. When I got there, it didn't really seem appropriate to introduce myself, much less to tell people about my practice.

The evening turned out to be informative and interesting. The last time I went to a conscious language meeting was almost two years ago, when I first started school. I could see how much I have grown, and how the ideas of universal energy, connectedness, and deliberate creation are much more present in my mind. I could also see many of the tools we learned in school through conversations with others.

Because it has been such a long time, what stood out the most was my increased ability to access and act upon my intuition. One of the participants was asking the facilitator and the group for help with a problem. I could so clearly hear where to go. It was as if I could fast forward through where he was stuck and see the resolution he was searching for. I didn't want to intrude on the facilitator, but asked if it was o.k. to respond to him.

By this time, luckily, I had all but given up on the idea of networking and was just myself--talking about books and ideas and what my intuition was telling me. I cam from a humble place and said that sometimes I just hear things. Was it o.k. to share? Yes.

It felt great to be a part of something. Honestly, I started to question myself and whether I said too much. (I guess I'm still fighting that demon).

The meeting went on and was ending more than an hour late. I finally had to excuse myself to leave when it got close to 10:30. When I did, the man I was 'helping' followed me. He said he wanted to tell me that I had wonderful, peaceful, healing energy. This was a relative stranger!

I told him about my practice and how much it meant to me that he said something. He said that he could feel it from across the room and wanted to let me know how it had affected him. That I radiated warmth, caring, and understanding. My eyes began to water at this point. I so needed to hear that. After not seeing clients for a while and worrying about the practice, it was so affirming for a stranger to be so moved simply by my presence, by me just being myself. It gave me encouragement.

Once I meet people I know the practice will take off. I don't know if this man will ever contact me himself. Maybe he will. Maybe he won't. I am positive, however, that if anyone tells him they are looking for a therapist, he will say that he knows one.

What's more important than the possibility of a referral is how wonderful it felt to be of service again. I'm still high from it. I love this work!

2008

Lately so much has transpired. I've been doing a great deal of reflection, trying to sort through the emotions of graduating, starting the practice, setting goals for what I would like to Manifest in 2008.

I had an interesting experience. I gave my best friend the exact book that she gave me--The Astonishing Power of Emotions by Jerry and Esther Hicks. It was a little like the Gift of the Magi (one of my all-time favorite books). I really wanted the book, which came with an accompanying CD, but I thought it would be extravagant to get for myself. Apparently, my friend felt the same way. We laughed pretty hard that first of all we got it for each other and then we chose to not buy it for ourselves even though we really wanted to read it. The irony!

I have been enjoying reading it as well as other books (my favorite gifts this year) from my father and B. I just have to say that one of them, Being a Wealthy Therapist--How to Make a Living Making a Difference (which ironically has an excerpt from Jerry and Esther Hicks) has really helped me think about my business in a new way. It has helped me begin to change my feelings of worry/doubt to abundance and gratitude.

Where was I going? Oh yes, I remember. My first client contacted me to postpone our session due to financial constraints. Instead of letting it spin me out of control, I took a deep breath.

I realized that if I come from a place of abundance and believe that I have many, many clients coming my way, then I do not need to let myself become overwhelmed. My client will come back when she is able. I just need to concentrate on the things I can do and allow myself to relax.

I am going on vacation in a couple of weeks, which will really help (B. and I both have free tickets to Mexico from FF miles). When I come back, I truly believe my clients will be waiting for me.

I was grateful for my horoscope this morning, because it reinforced this message.

You may want to pull back behind your wall of protection so you don't get washed away by the tides of change that are again breaking onto the shores of your awareness. You might think that you've lost your chance to take action, but this isn't true. You are not defeated. You are simply being given time to tie up loose emotional ends before launching into the next cycle in a few weeks.
By Rick Levine