A few weeks ago, during my Gene Key retreat, I did a meditation (more like a Shamanic Journey, really) embodying the Pathway of Breakthrough.
During the meditation, we received a gift. The gift I received, to my surprise, was a rune. I felt some disappointment, even irritation, because I hadn’t used runes since my college days. The first thought that came to me was “another system/lineage/tradition... as if I needed that.”
But I saw the rune very distinctly, and after that thought came and went, I heard a voice saying “this is Odin’s rune.” I decided I would look up the meaning of the rune, that clearly appeared on a polished emerald, so I could not ignore the message.
The rune I received is called Ansuz. It is a rune of communication, of air, of the power of the word. Maggie Cunnigham, of Magin Rose, even compared it to the the Japanese Kotodama, which I was introduced to in 2016, as part of my Reiki master training. With Kotodama, Reiki, or life force energy, is transmitted through voice and sound.
Traditions throughout the world point to the power of the spoken word. It is said that fools blabber on mindlessly, but that keepers of wisdom use their words very sparingly.
“Be impeccable with your word” is the first agreement in Don Miguel Ruiz’s classic book, “the Four Agreements.”
If each word you spoke were a spell, how would you communicate differently?
When I was in high school, I was highly competitive academically and was either in school or studying. At one point I felt so exhausted that I thought I had Lupus, and subjected myself to a battery of tests, where nothing was found.
Later, in my thirties, I was working an office job in NYC and started having excruciating stomach pains. I was convinced it was a tumor. This time I had an endoscopy, and all they found was a sensitivity to gluten.
What I didn’t know back then, was that it was my own thoughts and lifestyle that were creating the unease.
It wasn’t until I started working with energy that I was able to manage my own health and bring vitality and ease into both my physical and mental bodies.
When two individuals are subject to the same outside attack from a foreign body, the determining factor will be the environment it is placed in. Thoughts and managing emotions play a big role in this environment through the chemicals our bodies release.
Starting a daily meditation practice or learning an energy healing modality such as Reiki are two ways to create an inner environment that will not allow harmful foreign bodies to thrive. The best thing is that these are both all natural tools with no undesirable side effects, and which can be practiced anywhere, at any time.
DM to start one of these practices today. I have both short and long term programs depending on your needs and readiness, as well as many free resources available.
Your health is in your hands.
... I was sharing about an incident that occurred when I was working in Human Resources at the United Nations Headquarters in New York City. My kid was in the first grade, so this was about twelve years ago.
I had to deal with a lot of very demanding staff members, some of which were kind and polite, and others not so much. One day I had one of the latter on the phone, and I was so overwhelmed that I hung up on him. This was the only time I ever hung up on someone in my professional career. Of course, a few minutes later, I got a call from my supervisor, who asked me to come to her office, where this towering, very intimidating African gentleman was waiting, fuming. He had every right to be upset – I had acted very unprofessionally and immediately admitted my mistake.
Back then I would get so flustered when people were aggressive towards me or raised their voices at me. I had no clue how to handle it. To note: I had been practicing meditation on and off for almost twenty years by that time. I had also worked with a life coach on setting healthy boundaries for myself. And yet I still found myself in this situation.
In spite of all the inner work I had already done, I still had a very shaky sense of self-esteem and an undeniable need for approval and love. I took this gentlemen’s plight very personally and lost my cool.
After dinner, one of my friends told me that her thirteen-year old daughter, with whom I had spent quality time together at that point, really liked me and said she wanted to be like me when she grew up. Just writing this makes my heart really swell, that I could be a role model for a teenager I just met…
It really hit me - not giving up on yourself, in spite of failures and setbacks, focusing on growth and being a better person, and now, helping others on the same journey. It’s exhilarating and dizzying and just so inspiring.
For all of you who have worked with me, held me in friendship or love, and those of you to come… Thank you, and I love you.
