Women & Self-Care Enchantments: “Being a Shakti Sage & Integrity”!

“Don’t compromise yourself. You are all you’ve got.” 
—Janis Joplin

We tend, through life, to be confronted with many ethical dilemmas where we need to draw on our personal codes and guiding principles. These dilemmas may feel small or large, depending on the circumstance. Part of “life coaching” is helping folks develop clarity about their personal guiding principles and values. I often suggest that clients ask themselves the following question; “can you live with yourself, with your integrity intact, if you make that decision”?

I found the following definitions of the word “integrity” to be very interesting (from: http://www.merriamwebster.com/dictionary/integrity)
1 : firm adherence to a code of especially moral or artistic values : incorruptibility 
2 : an unimpaired condition : soundness 
3 : the quality or state of being complete or undivided : completeness

Most folks I talk with are familiar with the first definition, however, it is the third definition that I find fascinating, especially if one applies this to people not cell membranes! In ancient traditions one often hears about each person’s aura or “egg” of energy. In psychological and mind/body terms, one talks about “containment” and the idea that the whole is greater than the sum of it’s parts.

What if we placed the emphasis on first “getting whole” and then making decisions; would that automatically mean we make integral decisions?

Now I know this discussion may seem airy fairy to some, yet, it is a serious question. If we design a practice and actions so that we have a “felt experience” of being whole, complete and contained, with all parts of us, mind, body, spirit and emotions connecting and integrated, then, I would say, we can’t help but function with integrity.

In our Western culture, we are encouraged to use primarily our mind in making decisions. What if we also asked “what would my heart say about this”, or ”how does gut feel” with that decision?

In previous postings about being a shakti sage, I have discussed a variety of qualities from wisdom to power, from courage to gentleness; with incorporating the word “integrity” we add in both meanings of the word and draw on the concept of wholeness or completeness as well as a personal code of ethics.

So, you see, being a Shakti Sage with integrity may encompass so much more than just being true to oneself. Janis Joplin has half the equation! Imagine a world where we all make decisions with both our head and our hearts for the purposes of deeper connection!

This week, luscious ladies, play around with the following questions

“Self-care Enchantments”:
1. When have you experienced a challenge to your personal code of ethics? How did you respond?

2. Do you or how do you experience a sense of wholeness or containment?

3. This week, when making a decision, run it through your head, your heart and your gut and see if the process feels different.

Please share your comments!

Namaste,

Zoey – founding hippy at hippy grandma

Zoey Ryan
life, business & leadership coach for women
inspiration * clarity * wisdom * enchantment
www.shaktisage.com
604-323-3700

“Coaching for your heart & soul and the heart & soul of your business”

Are you a heart-centered and “soulful shopper”? Know of a new baby arriving? Keep the heart, soul & hippy love flowing for generations with purchases from Hippy Grandma: an Eco-Boutique selling fair trade, earth friendly treasures.

Through your purchases, you help local artisans, hand-crafting grandmas on a pension, women’s fair trade co-ops and programs designed to support vulnerable mamas & babies. Please share Hippy Grandma widely and wildly with your soul sisters. www.hippygrandma.com

“Mothers, Grandmothers & Daughters”

The month of May contains some significant events, “Beltane” and “Mothers Day”, and so the theme for this month is celebrating and honouring the creative power of women and moms and daughters of all kinds. I intend to go deeper into the sage part of shakti sage and discuss sageness, wisdom, intuition and a women’s way of knowing within subsequent e-bulletins. Today though, I want to also write about being a “dog mom” and how animals can be a very significant part of our self-care and loving-kindness practice. Dogs practice amazing self-care!

We picked up a new addition to our family a few weeks ago, Teagan Olive (after Olive in “Little Miss Sunshine”) Luna (it was a full moon the day we picked her up) Ryan is now 13 weeks old and I think we miss-named her. She should have been named Teagan Marley Ryan! It is easy to forget how much work a new puppy is. I feel fortunate that there are five of us in the house to help care for her.

My heart is wide open and vulnerable this morning as we are also saying goodbye to Tasha Cubby Ryan, our 13 year old dog. Tasha has been very ill and as I write this, we are waiting for the vet’s office to open, as it seems that it is Tasha’s time to pass on. It strikes me as being very profound and full of awe that we as a family are participating in witnessing the beginning of a life and the ending of a life at a time that there are so many other family transitions. One daughter is leaving for New Zealand for a work exchange year, another daughter is courageously facing a big challenge, and then will join her sister in New Zealand. Our third daughter is almost finished high school and is excitedly looking forward to her future. It feels like a time of huge change and transition.

So, as a mom of both human daughters and dog daughters, I am treasuring this snapshot in time. This little piece of time today, when we are all still together. We have the chance to hug Tasha and tell her good bye. We can giggle together when Teagan (aka Marley) pulls the toilet paper all over the house. We can be excited together about travel adventures and journalism school and bungy jumping in New Zealand. We can have a group hug and tell our daughters how much we love them and what cool kids we think they are. We can remember 13 years of Tasha and her little habits and the way she followed “her mom” every where. We can talk about our moms, who have passed on and describe memories from our childhoods. We can cherish each other and think of animal moms and people moms and single moms, mothers of the earth, and double moms and the love that a mother and child share.

Being a mom has brought me the greatest joy of my life, has cracked me wide open, taught me patience and humility and has forced me to experience a much wider range of emotions. As moms, we nurture, we love, we care for, we are wise and strong and soft and gentle.

Let’s celebrate moms of all kinds and ponder the following questions.

1. Write and/or think about your mom, what did you learn, what are you still learning from her? How has she influenced you?
2. Write and/or think about your grandma…, what has your grandma left you as a family legacy?
3. Honour the mother in you, honour that caring, nurturing, loving, feminine part of you, that “Great Mother” that is a part of us all.

P.S.
Just got back from the vet’s where we all shared in saying goodbye to our darling Tasha. Please forgive any typos or grammatical errors for this week, as I am proofing my writing with tears streaming down my cheeks.

Namaste,

Zoey

Zoey Ryan
founding hippy at hippy grandma

life & business coach for women

inspiration * clarity * wisdom * enchantment
www.zoeyryan.com
Coaching for your heart & soul and the heart & soul of your business!

604-323-3700


Keep the hippy love flowing with purchases from Hippy Grandma: an Eco-Boutique selling fair trade, earth friendly treasures.


Inrageous/Outrageous Self-Care Enchantments for This Week

With interesting synchronistic timing, just after sending out the last POW I received an email from a dear friend containing children’s messages to God.  I am including a sampling below as reminders to us all of the purity and simplicity of childlike sacredness:

~*~*~*~*

* Dear God,

I went to this wedding and they kissed right in church.  Is this OK?

Neil

* Dear God,

In bible times, did they really talk that fancy?

Jennifer

* Dear God,

I think about you sometimes, even when I’m not praying.

Elliot

* Dear God,

I bet it is very hard to you to love all of everybody in the whole world.  There are only 4 people in our family and I can never do it!

Nan

* Dear God,

Please put another holiday between Christmas and Easter – cause there is nothing good in there now.

Ginny

~*~*~*~*

Your self care enchantments for this week are about simplicity & sacredness, holidays and festivals.

Self Care Enchantments for the week:

1.  In this upcoming season of religious and spiritual festivals, how can you bring sacred simplicity into your life?

2.  Do one thing this week that scares you!

3.  Consider making a donation to your charity of choice this week.

“The Angels were all singing out of tune, and hoarse with having little else to do, excepting to wind up the sun and moon or curb a runaway young star or two.”  -  Lord Byron

We would love to hear about your experience with these enchantments.  Please share about your learning and exploration with these enchantments on www.thepowblog.com in the comments section!

namaste,

Zoey

Zoey Ryan
coach . catalyst . shakti sage
life & business coach for women
“Coaching for your heart & soul and the heart & soul of your business”
www.positivelyoutrageouswomen.com
www.entrepreneurialsuperstars.com
604-323-3700

Support fair trade gift giving at Hippy Grandma: hippy love for generations – an online eco-boutique selling fair trade & earth friendly treasures for your grandbabies, their mamas and you! www.hippygrandma.com

A few months ago, I wrote a blog about being a “hippy grandma in training” and being very excited to be welcoming a new generation of babies into the world.  Well, that excitement catalyzed a new “baby” of my own, a website – “Hippy Grandma: hippy love for generations” selling earth friendly treasures for your grandbabies, their mamas and you!  We sell fair trade and honest trade, exquisite and unique products, mostly “hand crafted” by real grandmas and “spirit grandmas”.

www.hippygrandma.com

Our “Grandmafesto”

Hippy Grandma: hip, happy, hippie women caring for Mother Earth and the next 7 generations!

It’s a state of mind
It’s a movement
It’s a radical BE-INg.

Please come and visit!

Namaste,

Zoey

I think that in North America, we have been taught to believe in the dream, you know the one about “life being happy, easy and if you just work hard enough, you can have everything you want”?  I haven’t lived in the East, however I have travelled to underdeveloped areas and from what I understand, in less developed areas, where people still live “closer to the land”, a deep understanding about the ups and downs of life is present in the cultural psyche.

 

Both my parents grew up on farms and during summer holidays I often spent time with my cousins and the farm animals.  I saw “farm life” in clear definition and remember in particular seeing how our food that is milk, beef and chicken got from the natural state to the plate.  On a farm, things are messy, smelly and real.  It is accepted that there is joy and suffering, good smells and bad smells, planting and harvesting.

 

We have been talking about a deeper exploration of one’s habitual patterns and default programs and playing out the concept of paradox.  As a continuation of this, how influenced do you feel you are or have been by your dominant socio cultural belief systems?  What do you believe about life?  Should you always be happy and life be easy?  What if all of us “made room” for or “created space” for,  the notion that pain and suffering are the natural counterpoints to joy and happiness.  When I start to explore this with coaching clients, what they often express is that welcoming pain and suffering creates a sense of melting and relaxation.  In fact, although it seems counterintuitive, they often say “ahhhh, I don’t have to try so hard to be happy.”

 

Your enchantments for this week continue in this theme and include some further questions and a fun art exercise.

 

Self Care Enchantments for the week:

 

1.  What is the “dream” that you are trying to live up to?  If you find this difficult to answer, try to gain a different perspective, perhaps imagine that you are a visitor from another culture and then ask the question again from an observer point of view.

 

2.  How much energy do you devote to “being happy” and living the dream.  How can you create more “spaciousness” in your life?

 

3.  Create an art doll that represents your “harvest” this fall.  Did you ever do this when you were a kid?  Maybe make a doll out of a pine cone or grass or old fabric?  You can add in glitter or crystals or other items to represent your life and its ups and downs this year.

 

“The true harvest of my life is intangible – a little star dust caught, a portion of the rainbow I have clutched” – Henry David Thoreau

 

We would love to hear about your experience with these enchantments.  Please share about your learning and exploration with these enchantments in the comments section!

 

namaste,

 

Zoey

 

Zoey Ryan

coach . catalyst . shakti sage

life & business coach for women

“Coaching for your heart & soul and the heart & soul of your business”

www.positivelyoutrageouswomen.com

www.entrepreneurialsuperstars.com

Support fair trade, earth friendly gift giving at Hippy Grandma: hippy love for generations – earth friendly treasures for your grandbabies, their mamas and you!

www.hippygrandma.com

604-323-3700

 

I connected with two remarkable women yesterday.  No, I can not make the claim to a personal relationship, yet I feel I know them well, through their actions and their words.
Gloria Steinem: Gloria appeared on Oprah yesterday and I was reminded of how she influenced my early twenties, when I subscribed to Ms. and engaged in lively discussions (sometimes debates) about women’s rights with my mostly male friends.  I was idealistic, hopeful and absolutely convinced that women would change the world.  I remain absolutely convinced that women will change the world, yet am puzzled by the timeline.  Seeing Gloria and listening to her words, reconnected me with my passion, committment and intention to participate with so many other women around the planet who are acting for social change.
Severn Cullis-Suzuki: I loved reading the article about Severn in our local paper this morning.  Living in Metro Vancouver, it feels like I watched Severn grow up and I like to think that I may have seen her in person many times over the years at Capers or Granville Island or the Folk Festival.  Severn jumped onto the world stage in 1992 when she and a group of Vancouver kids traveled to Brazil to attend the UN Earth Summit and she presented her plea to the delegates for them to “save the world”.  The video of this speech is still being widely circulated via “youtube”. Now grown and recently married, she is staying true to her roots through developing “roots” and community in Haida Gwaii.

In my opinion, these two women represent courage; integrity and transparency and stand as gently powerful and remarkable role models for women.

namaste,

Zoey

life & business coach for women

“coaching for your heart & soul”

www.positivelyoutrageouswomen.com

www.entrepreneurialsuperstars.com

Inrageous/Outrageous Self-Care Enchantments for This Week

Can’t you just feel the changing of the seasons? At least we can here in the Northern Hemisphere. It is starting to feel cooler in the evenings and the evenings are coming sooner. Summer annuals are fading, and the hearty fall perennials are becoming more visible.

For women, the shifts and changes into fall can have many meanings. If one is a mom, with kids still in school, September can feel very much like the beginning of a new year. For other women, fall is truly a time of harvesting. We will be talking more of the changing seasons in September.

The Tao Te Ching speaks a lot to seasons and nature. This morning in my meditation, I read a couple of translations of verse 67 as follows: “Compassionate towards yourself, you reconcile all beings in the world” (“A Thousand Names For Joy: Living in Harmony With The Way Things Are” by Byron Katie) .and the last verse of the second translation “Venture with love and you win the battle. Defend with love and you are invulnerable. Heaven’s secret is motherly love” (“The Tao Te Ching of Lao Tzu” translated by Brian Browne Walker)

I think that the phrases “motherly love” and “compassion towards yourself” are saying the same thing and capture the essence of self-care!

In life coaching, I suggest that women spend time regularly going inward, going inrageous to root out those thoughts, self-limiting beliefs and old stuff that might prevent you from “giving yourself love and compassion”. It is kind of like pulling the weeds out of a garden or pulling out old plants that no longer fit in a garden transformation.

So, this week, your self care enchantments are about “pulling some weeds” and mainly about being loving and compassionate towards yourself.

Self Care Enchantments for the week:

1. Make a list of 7 old thoughts or beliefs that no longer serve you and create some type of “ritual” to let them all go. Some pretty standard ones are “I’m not good enough”; “I’m too fat”; “I don’t deserve that” etc. One ritual that other women have enjoyed is to write the seven “weedy” thoughts down on the left side of a sheet of paper with the opposite statement on the right ie “I am good enough and I know this because…. And then give examples of how you have been “good enough”. The final piece of this ritual could be tearing the left weedy side off and burning it, or adding it to the compost while saying “I freely and fully release these old thought patterns as they no longer serve me and I let them go, allowing for fresh new compassionate thoughts to come in”.

2. Write about self love and compassion in your journal. Go inside and ask how you are doing in this area. Ask yourself “what does ‘compassion towards myself’ mean to me.

3. Create three new ways you can give yourself “motherly love and compassion” and weave these into your life.

“May your life be like a wildflower, growing freely in beauty and joy each day.”

- Native American Proverb

Please share about your learning and exploration with these enchantments in the comments section of these enchantments!

namaste,

Zoey

Zoey Ryan

coach . catalyst . shakti sage

life & business coach for women

“Coaching for your heart & soul and the heart & soul of your business”

www.positivelyoutrageouswomen.com

www.entrepreneurialsuperstars.com

604-323-3700

Blogging as Spiritual Growth

by Aley Martin

In 1970 the search for my spiritual self took hold. I was 15 years old and interested in astrology! There was little in the way of books on the subject and it was more of a pop culture interest than a true field of study for me.

As time would provide me with more and more experiences, my spiritual self actively sought out information on different religions, philosophies and subjects with the intention to expand my heart and mind.

Over the course of the next 37 years I spent time reading, journaling reflecting, rejecting, accepting and integrating spiritual ideas in my life. Each new thing held me in rapturous attention! And then….there was a new window that opened in March 2007. Blogging.

I have been actively blogging now for over 15 months and it has literally changed my life. Having been a writer for many years, there was no place to put the thoughts I held dear until I found a new way of entertaining them, in a blog.

For one to watch the growth of their blog posts and the subsequent comments made by others that take those thoughts and move them in a new direction, is an epiphany for the spirit!

There is nothing one cannot ask of ones self or another that does not provide information or insight into the state of mind one is currently experiencing. And the most fascinating aspect of blogging in community is the synchronistic similarities others reading the blogs state in their comments and responses. It is as if we are all walking down the same street at the same time viewing the world with the same eyes, but differing lenses!

Even when we blog and no one comments or responds, we still leave a trail of where we are our spiritual progress. There are certain feelings we express and ideas we let germinate that we come back to later with surprise and great relish!

To see how you can assess your spiritual temperature, try blogging for a month on a series of questions about your feelings on subjects you may not have considered before. How did you come up with your value system? What does the word intention mean to you? Are you reactive or do you find yourself a more passive interaction person? What is your idea of God? Who are you when you are alone? With others? Do you find discomfort in solitude? What makes you sad? Happy? Have you ever thought about death with respect to how you live your life with meaning?

The key is to remain ever open minded and clear in your musings. When you blog do not fear reproach. This is the toughest thing to do when offering your words to the world. Not everyone is going to agree with you, but who cares? If we all agreed, it would be a pretty boring world, and no growth would be possible if we were all in agreement about everything….

Challenge yourself to use this opportunity to reach beyond the normal limits of everyday journaling. Growing means stretching yourself in new ways…beyond the clouds if need be!

And remember, your growth can only be measured by you yourself. No gurus are needed to find you way to the source!

Blessings,

Aley Martin

enlightened.thinker@gmail.com

Since reading the book, “The Cultural Creatives: How 50 Million People Are Changing the World” by Paul H. Ray and Sherry Ruth Anderson, I have been fascinated by the potential for this socio-eco-cultural group to change the world.

Superimpose what I see as my personal “life mission” to support women to lead meaningful, rich, deep and fulfilling lives and you get:

Positively Outrageous Women (www.positivelyoutrageouswomen.com: an oasis for culturally creative women. It’s about nourishment, connection, community, co-creation and transformation)

I am in the midst of redesigning the above site as a community/social networking site for culturally creative women and I need your help!

I will be posing a series of questions and starting the discussion on a series of topics and I would love your input.  I will be doing this on a wiki site, so it truly will be a co-creative effort!

I wish to acknowledge the authors of the book, “The Cultural Creatives” (www.culturalcreatives.org ) as well as Jim Garrison from “Wisdom University” (www.wisdomuniversity.org) and it is my intention to link in and co-create in alignment with their work.

Please join in!

Zoey Ryan
coach . catalyst . shakti sage
life & business coach for women
www.positivelyoutrageouswomen.com
www.zoeyryan.com
zoey@telus.net
604-323-3700

“Coaching for your heart & soul and the heart & soul of your business”! 

Inrageous/Outrageous Self-Care Enchantments for This Week

This month, the theme is “mothers”, in honour of Mothers Day and women everywhere, who may or may not be birth mothers of children, but are birth mothers of ideas, creativity, businesses, beautiful homes, love and peace.
So, the enchantments this month are about honouring you as a woman, about honouring mothers, about honouring the Divine Feminine in all of us and about honouring Mother Earth.

I was out for my walk yesterday, thinking and reflecting on my mothers.  I lost my mom to breast cancer when she was 74 and I was 39 and I lost my mother-in-law to lung cancer even earlier.  I treasure my memories of both these dear women and know that with their passing I feel very much that the role of “matriarch” has passed on to me, as the mom of three daughters.  It feels like a significant role.

The mother-daughter dynamic is said to be one of the most powerful in nature and I add that, the mother-daughter relationship (both in the material world and metaphorically) would then be one of the most “pregnant with potential” for personal growth and transformation as well.

The self-care enchantments for this week are about you and your mom!

Self Care Enchantments for the week:

1.    Ponder your relationship with your mom and write down 3 wonderful things about it and share this with your mom.  Even if she has passed on, you can send her a verbal letter and talk to her.  If this is difficult for you, ask yourself what is getting in the way?
2.    Honour yourself as a woman, as a creator, as a spark of the Divine Feminine.
3.    On Mother’s Day, Sunday, May 11th, pick an action that feels representative to you of total honouring  and self-care and “give it to yourself”.  You may choose to take the whole day off from any kind of domestic duties, spend the day in nature, make a vision board, or schedule a spa day.  The wonderful part is, you get to choose.

namaste,

Zoey

Zoey Ryan
coach . catalyst . shakti sage
life & business coach for women
“Coaching for your heart & soul”
www.positivelyoutrageouswomen.com
www.entrepreneurialsuperstars.com
604-323-3700

“Freedom is a bigger game than power.  Power is about what you can control.  Freedom is about what you can unleash” – Harriet Rubin