8 Beautiful Blessings of Highly Sensitive ‘Brokenness’.

Being a Highly Sensitive Person in today’s increasingly over-stimulating world can range from being daunting to downright despairing. Although the HSP community is growing, many people in the general public still do not know or understand exactly what being an HSP is or how we are effected. This sort of unknowing or worse, stigma, can lead many HSPs to be embarrassed, ashamed or anxious about their condition.

Highly Sensitive People are often prone to other conditions such as depression, anxiety, insomnia, reclusiveness and many other potentially debilitating experiences. Life sometimes deals us extremely stressful situations that cant be ignored. Common stressors such as job loss, break-up, divorce, a major move or transition and many others can lead an HSP into a mentally, emotionally and spiritually difficult season in life. Unhealed trauma that remains lurking in the darkness of our hearts can be covertly sabotaging our emotions, our frame of mind and our relationships. The intense response the nervous system of an HSP has in response to traumatic events can be devastating and long lasting.

A number of HSPs experience life changing difficulties that result in an existential or spiritual crisis. These times can be especially dark and dismal, leaving an HSP feeling as if there truly is no light called hope at the end of the tunnel. These seasons have been well documented in a litany of terminology such as rock bottom, the desert, the wilderness, dark night of the soul, nervous breakdown and many others.

The naming of these circumstances shows that all populations and cultures throughout time have had to learn with how to live in and recover from these destructive storms. Through sensitive thoughts, emotions and nervous systems, HSPs are prone to experience such times more than the average person.

Though understandable, HSPs need not be distraught over their sensitive that have led them down dark paths, but instead need to view them as strengths and powers that have been fortified in the fire.

With time, patience and soul work, an HSP can rise out of the ashes of their false defeat and emerge stronger, wiser and deeper than they were before. These qualities can then be used to bring the blessings of healing to others in a hurting world. We are at our very best when help one another. We help one another by healing one another and we heal one another by loving one another.

Here are 8 beautiful blessings that can come out of the darkest times of being highly sensitive.

Surrender - A term rarely smiled upon in today’s materialistic and war-driven world, surrender can actually be an amazing process of letting go and self discovery. Whether it is to a higher power, the natural flow of life or to the breaking and re-molding process itself, surrender allows you to let go, forgive and accept. Through acceptance of your lack of control on all things, you can finally relax enough to breathe, think contemplatively and get back to the part of your soul that has somehow become lost.

Self Reflection - The worst storms in life can lead a person to solitude. In the absence of distraction, if one focuses their attention on self reflection instead of regret and despair, many wounds from the past that have contributed to the darkness can be processed and healed. Here, the guidance from a spiritual director, counselor or therapist can be extremely beneficial.

Love - After working through the darkest parts of the heart and soul, one can shed the old skin within which they dealt with life and all of its complexities. In a new skin, one can have a clearer vision and see through the ‘glass less darkly’. Maturity and wisdom are grown and blossomed which leads to burgeoning affections and an overall increase in love. This new sense of love is for self, for others, for the world and for the ever evolving and self creating universe we live in.

Relatability - After having been at their own type of ‘rock bottom’, HSPs can glean an almost universal understanding of brokenness. Many, if not most, people go through at least one terribly dark period in life. HSPs re able to combine their sensitive traits with their time in the darkness to relate to anyone who has a shared experience regardless of class, race, gender, nationality or sexual orientation.

Vulnerability -- being able to relate to people in our darkest moments in turn opens us up and tears down walls we have erected in order to protect ourselves. A roof off, walls down vulnerability with another person or multiple people results in an honest, deep and freeing connection that far transcends those of our everyday acquaintances. HSPs can be notoriously reclusive, but vulnerability leads to an opens that is mentally, emotionally and spiritually healthy.

Empathy -- Many would agree that HSPs are naturally empathetic people. While this may be true in degrees, nothing makes one human more empathetic to another than being able to relate to them in their times of incredible vulnerability. Meeting someone in their vulnerability is perhaps the most endearing method of truly getting to know a soul behind the socially ‘acceptable’ constructs we manage everyday.

Action -- An overall increase in empathy for people in general can often produce the need in an HSP to take action. Once an HSP has tasted the fruits of the journey through darkness, they may feel compelled to reach out to others and help them through their difficult journey. Talking, listening, sharing wisdom and giving general guidance can do tremendous wonders for someone who is struggling.

Service -- When an HSP does give in to their call to action, they may develop a lifestyle of servicing their fellow humankind. Many programs exist and are always in need of light-workers to participate in the healing process. Whether it is a homeless shelter, a soup kitchen or some kind of recovery/survival program, there are countless ways to lend a hand and a heart to give back and serve those who are in need of love and care.

Of course, the are other blessings in broken as well, but here are 5 inherent qualities that a time spent in the wilderness can develop in an HSP if they are willing to have patience, work and trust in the process. When combined with the natural qualities of an HSP, the result can be a powerful instrument of good the can contribute healing to the world and to humankind.

Permission For Peace

A great many people I work with live with the subconscious belief that they do not have permission to be happy, to be loved, to be at peace.

The chains of trauma, shame, guilt and anger have laid tracks of negative thought patterns and beliefs so deep that people do not even realize that their prison door is locked from the inside.

The keys to the lock are acceptance and forgiveness. Truth and surrender.

But first, we have to remember that we have the permission for peace. The right of righteousness. The hope of happy.

And thus, the realization that we are our own prison guards and as those guards we hold the keys to the cell door.

You do not need anyone else’s permission to be happy. To be at peace. To love. To be loved. To be forgiving. To be free.

And when you realize that you are your own prison guard, the keys to your freedom will appear right where they have always been: within You.

That Good Good Fruit

Sometimes in life, We get so caught up in trying to act out or engage in the behavior of the qualities We consider to be positive ….that We forget that We must embody those qualities first.

In short….We need to mentally change the verb to a noun.

Love is the very fabric of existence woven into the cosmic tapestry called everyday Life.

At Your core, You are this Love. Any deviation from that is a by product of human egoic consciousness.

This is not inherently negative, but when We forget that We are Love and root Our identity in Our egoic consciousness, Our actions begin to bear undesirable fruit.

A faulty virus has slithered into our subconscious mind, like the serpent in the tree.

How do we avoid the hiss of the serpent?
The seductive whisper of the egoic consciousness and the multitude of enemies it brings.

We remember. We choose again.
The tree slathered in serpents is not the only tree in the garden.

Mindfulness. Spiritual, mental and emotional discipline.

Every. Single. Day.
Moment. By. Moment.

When We remember Who We Are (Love) and become rooted in that Truth, then the Tree of Our Life begins to bear good fruit.

Or, as some would say…The Fruit of the Spirit…

Thoughts on Grief From the Pit of Hell Commonly Known as the DMV

I have been through many a hell in my day. Metaphorical flaming pits and symbolic rocky bottoms aside, there is one literal place that contains the stench of a thousand fiery furnaces: the DMV. In the San Fernando Valley. In mid-July. Moderately hung over.

Though it has been over a decade since last I donned the Valley DMV, I can still remember the overwhelming sense of dread that came over me. The line, hideously long as usual, snaked out of the front door, extending down the side all the way to the back. I was in for a long morning.

I tried to make the most of it. I brought a book I had been reading and was happy to spend that time climbing back into the words that overtook my mind. I was brought out of my little world by a large man in front of me talking rather loudly on his phone. I admit, this is a pet peeve of mine, but it was especially trying as he seemed to be the type to not only carry on such conversation in that public space, but he also wanted to do it ten decibels above adequate speaking frequency to ensure that everyone around him could hear and knew he was…whatever egoic identity he was trying to project that morning.

The cycle of death and rebirth is present throughout all of life. It reminds us that there truly is no definitive end, only a transitional phase to a new beginning.

As trying as these times can be, it is important to reframe them not as something to be feared, but as something to be embraced.

The embracing of the transition reframes our perspective so that we can accept what is happening, surrender to the process, trust the transition and have faith in the outcome….knowing that the morning is worth the night.

The world has never had a lack of grief. And never will. For grief is a natural expression of emotion in temporal existence.

What do we do with this?
Knowing that this seemingly overwhelming emotion will inevitably be part of our emotional experience.

Our spiritual landscape would be incomplete without it.

Therefore, a mental/emotional/spiritual reframe is necessary.

Instead of viewing the experience of grief through a negative lens, if we can see our grief as healthy spiritual lamentation of our experience of Love through the inevitable transition of death, then our Grief can be approached with Light and therefore become positively integrated into the Whole of Our Being.

Knowing that this present death is not a final word in the soul’s journey, but merely another turning of the page.

For in Our grief, we find Beauty
In Our Beauty, we find Truth

And Truth shall set Us Free….

Being Lost is Not the Same As Losing

Just because you were LOST doesn’t mean that you LOST something or someone.
That season. That Dark Night. That rock bottom. That broken heart. That bleeding soul.

When we endure a tragic season of despair so utterly disarming….when we walk through the blackest night, so dark that we absolutely cannot see the light ahead….

…it is natural for us to clamor to the known, rather than face the unknown…even if that known is killing us.

We have to let go of this notion that we are becoming a ‘better version of ourselves’ and embrace the truth which is that the word “transformation” means a thorough and dramatic change in form.

Consider instead, that the person you THOUGHT you were was not actually the person you ARE. If it were, why would you need to change?

Consider instead, that the previous ‘you’ you thought you were, was not the real “you” at all.

But the version of ‘you’ that you feel you are losing was never really “you” at all.

Consider instead, that all you perceive to be losing is everything that is not you…in order to become the real you.

A caterpillar does not go into a cocoon to become a better caterpillar. A butterfly commits to losing the illusion of its caterpillar-ness, in order to break free, fully become itself….and finally fly.

Ain't No Sucha Thang as Over

I’m not going to say “I don’t know who needs to hear this, but….”

I already know who needs to hear it. I do. You do. We all do.

Because at various times in life we shall pass through trials and tribulations.

And then there is THAT time. The Dark Night of the Soul.

The one that wrecks and threatens your very existence. The one that shakes you to your very foundations.

The one that marks your life as a dividing point: there was my life before this and there was my life after this.

In these times, it is of the utmost importance that you remember: it ain’t over. there ain’t no sucha thang as over.

And it too, shall pass, for this is not the end of your journey. You’re just in the PROCESS.

I’ll do a longer series on ‘Process’ at another time, but for now….

The definition of process is “a series of actions or steps taken to achieve a particular end”.

The process is just a detour, not a dead end.

But IN THE PROCESS, is where you will find the steps and actions needed to change YOU, so that you may in turn, change the destination of your journey.

A journey of strength, character, perseverance, truth, beauty and love.

If you are in the Process, don’t trip…it ain’t over. You ain’t through yet.

Your great life is in front of you, it’s not behind you.

….it’s only just the beginning…

When embarking on the transformational journey, do not be surprised if you find yourself alone.

When we get caught up in the business of life, we tend to neglect the wellness of our Souls. Our Spirit.

Our time and attention goes to endless work hours, kids and family obligations, extravagant socializing, incessant scrolling and bingeing.

The call to transformation is a call to solitude. Time to reflect. Time to spend with your Truest Self. Time to ask questions and do the hard work. Do the shadow work. Time to process, heal and let go.

The transformational journey is your own Soul’s call for the evolution to its True Nature.

Therefore, the journey is not so much about becoming a different person, but rather about letting go of all the things your True Self is not…so that your True Self….Your Soul….can come forth.

And breathe the breath of everlasting life.

3 Lesser Known Ways to Improve Your Mental Health Immediately

How 3 Little Life Hacks Can Change Your Mood, Your Day, Your Life.

Stress. Anxiety. Negative thought patterns. Social media envy. National catastrophe. Let’s face it, American living in the 21st century is fraught with daily supplies of people and circumstances that can be negative for our well being, to say the least.

As if it wasn’t already bad enough, fate felt like throwing in a global pandemic just to keep things interesting. Grief, loss, financial fears.. Social and political upheaval. The list of reasons to feel down is daunting to say the least.

As a licensed hypnotherapist, I am constantly working with my clients to help reduce stress, alleviate anxiety and meet depression head on. It seems as though we are all seemingly suffering in some type of way. I do have 5 pillars on which I build lasting transformation, but that’s an article for another time.

Through my own personal journey, my education and my professional practice, I’ve discovered 3 simple methods to immediately calm the nerves, settle the emotions, clear the mind and leave you in an overall better state within minutes. Adopting these techniques into a daily practice can lead to a sense of calm, less anxiety, and more love in your overall life.

Breathwork

Everyone knows that taking a few deep breaths can be a fantastic way calm the nerves and lower the heart rate immediately. Three deep breaths is a method used by most of us at some point. What I am advocating is taking that concept to the next level. Make it a daily practice. Set aside a time somewhere in your day, preferably when you know your highest tension points could occur. This could be in your office on your lunch break, putting the kids down for a nap or maybe even after your evening workout. Whatever works best for your individual schedule and lifestyle. Set aside 10 minutes, sit comfortably, close your eyes and let your mind become quiet and go as clear as possible.

Place one hand over your heart and the other hand over your diaphragm. Begin by taking a big breath in, filling up your lungs entirely, then releasing it slowly until the lungs are completely depleted. Be sure to be mindful, consciously focusing on the movement and rhythm of the breath as it flows naturally in and out. Continue the practice for ten minutes, varying the depth and speed of your breaths when you notice your mind drifting.

Rapid Forgiveness

Yes forgiveness. Forgiveness may be the least discussed, yet most effective manner of healing, restoration and wholeness. It’s true that the deeper works of forgiveness require a much deeper dive and longer periods of work. However, you can cultivate the spiritual practice of forgiveness every single day. Simply take 5 minutes of your time. This can be done at an airport, the mall, sitting in traffic, the local coffee shop, or my personal favorite, the DMV (aka hell on Earth). It doesn’t matter. Somewhere public where you can take a few moments and see multiple people.

Take time looking at each person that crosses your field of vision. Look at them, without judgment, take them in and simply say ‘I forgive you’. Why would I extend forgiveness to a complete stranger, you may ask. There are a few reasons: First, forgiveness isn’t about the other person. It’s about you. Forgiveness is bringing yourself to a mental and emotional state where you can accept people and circumstances for what they are and extend grace. It opens you up to flow, clears blockages of resistance, anger and stress and releases the negative emotions of the heart and the negative thoughts of the mind.

We all make mistakes, we all struggle, we all need help. Looking at complete strangers through the lens of forgiveness puts you in the posture of grace, understanding and compassion. This, in turn, opens you up to being more loving, releasing higher levels of serotonin and oxytocin (feel good chemicals) in the brain.

This always leads back to ourselves. At the very end of the practice, we turn to ourselves, looking at our own guilt, our own negative feelings, our own levels of stress and anxiety. We then extend grace and compassion to ourselves, knowing that we are human beings trying to do the best we can. Self-love in the regard of self-forgiveness cannot be overrated.

Calm Surrender

This one can be done as an extension to rapid forgiveness or as a standalone. When life hands you stressful circumstances, when people act in ways that annoy, anger or hurt you, when you fee your inner resistance begin to rise up. In events such as these and others like them, developing a practice and lifestyle of surrender can be game changing.

How do we do this? You simply take a moment, go into yourself and make peace with the present moment and circumstance and allow it to unfold naturally, however they may be without infusing your desire to control the outcome. now, it must be said that i am not talking about times of abuse or personal/professional responsibility.

Obviously we have to be safe, caring responsible adults. But rather, i am talking about the everyday . Interactions with people, traffic, setbacks that arise. I am not talking about inaction here, nor am i talking about a general apathetic attitude. I’m talking about growing in faith and trust that we don’t need to be in control of everything and we never need to be attached to any one specific outcome. Stay open, live in the flow. Yes, work, play and live diligently and responsibly, but also know when to take the worried hands from the anxious reins and simply let go. Let go of the details. Let go of the outcome. Let go of what other people think or say about you. Work honestly about showing up as the highest version of yourself and letting life provide the details. You’ll be amazed at what can happen when you stop trying to live and start letting life live you.

Remember, take time. Breathe. Forgive. Surrender. Take the lighter way of life. Adopting these practices into my daily life has lead to more understanding, less stress, more acceptance and much more. These qualities bring an unbelievable amount of peace and joy to my overall life. I hope they do yours as well.

How Labels Are Inhibiting Your Spiritual Growth

Labels. Aspects of a functional society. A sometimes necessary evil in regards to how we see the world, experience life and communicate with one another. When these labels are used for their intended purposes, such as the external naming of places and things, it enables us to communicate effectively with one another. We rely on these labels to help us make sense of the world around us.

However, labels have a darker side that all too often goes unnoticed. The destructive nature of labels against one another is readily and quite dangerously apparent. We have undoubtedly seen the repercussions from premature and long-term labeling. Social catastrophes such as racism, sexism, misogyny, homo/transphobia, bigotry and many others, are intrinsically woven into the fabric of our existence so systematically that we often don’t even recognize when they’re at play. But, what happens when the labels turn from the outside world and burrow holes into us and begin living from the inside world?

There are at least three aspects at hand in regards to our tendency toward labels and the act of labeling with respect to healthy spiritual growth.

Ego.

Ah sweet, delicious ego. The devil we know. The spiritually fictitious construct that tries desperately and quite convincingly to tell us who we are, who we are not and exactly how and why all of it is so important. The me, my and mine way of life. Service to self is the name of the game here, except that the ego doesn’t actually have a self to serve, not a real self anyway. It’s just a construct that was made up, created, enforced and re-enforced. So, what is this ‘self’ that the ego seems insistent on serving?

Identity.

Another concept not entirely real, but useful nonetheless…until it is not. And by ‘is not’ I mean, one comes to the world crashing realization that everything they thought they knew and everyone they thought they were, is not true. A personal and social construct that we incorrectly believe is of our own making and design. We are far from aware of all of the importance we place on fictitiously constructed identities that we feel give us meaning, purpose and a sense of self or being. I AM…a lawyer, a teacher, a garbage collector, a mother, a son, a friend, a republican, a liberal, black, white, gay, trans, a hard worker, royalty, a loser, a screw-up, a drunk, a cripple….a nobody…that wants to be somebody. An everybody that wants to be nobody. The list is endless.

Ego Identity Attachment

That imagined ‘somebody’ is whatever identity the ego strives to construct. Once it does, or even in the process of creating, the ego begins forming attachments to the identities it creates. It does this in attempt to draw meaning, purpose and value from personal, interpersonal and social constructs. The obvious problem here is…what happens when you try to draw meaning, value and purpose from constructed fabrications that don’t actually exist?

These ‘false identities’ are not your True Identity, spiritually speaking. They are just roles that you play. Like an actor stepping onto the stage, your True Identity (Self) is One, the Actor who steps in to play the different parts they have chosen to play. All throughout a day, we knowingly and willingly step into these different roles: parent, spouse, child, sibling, friend, student, lover, POTUS, etc.

The ego, having no actual sense of identity because it isn’t authentically real, desperately tries to attach meaning to these constructs in order to have its ‘needs met’. Its needs being validation, acceptance, promotion, success, value, worth, etc. This would be like an actor in a play or a film mistaking their real Self for the character they are portraying in that play or film. What happens when the curtain closes or the filming comes to an end?

In life, if we attach our identity to the roles we play, what happens when those roles end? If your entire identity is wrapped up in being a parent, what happens when that child moves out and begins their own life away from home or (God forbid) something happens to that child and they pass? If you are a doctor, accountant, teacher or any other number of occupations, what happens when you retire? Or if you were to get fired?

When we hang our egoic hats on the attachment to the identity of being that egoic structure, we build the very structure of who we are in temporal castles made of sand. It is only temporary and all that is temporary shall pass away. Not just in physical death, but in life.

When ego attaches itself to an identity, it is an attachment rooted in fear. Spirit is not of the realm of fear. Spirit operates in the realm of Love. Therefore, authentic development of spiritual growth needs to, at least in great part, happen within the realm of Love.

Spirit

The spiritual path is the walk through life where we realize that we are not are egoic structures, we are not the roles that we create and play. We are something much much more. Stronger, complete, more alive, eternal and everlasting. There is a difference between Real Us and the roles that we play. There is a difference between Ultimate Reality and the current play or movie that we are in. The Spirit grows when we abide in, nourish and develop our True Essence: our Soul and the expression of our Soul through Spirit.

Spirituality is often about the contrast between two different worlds: the egoic world and the spirit world. This dualistic framework is often referred to in a number of ways: love/fear, light/dark, heaven/hell, good/evil, Jesus/satan and on and on.

Many aspects of spirituality boil down to this issue of duality. This OR that. This AND that…instead of just ‘this’. Perhaps better stated as ‘just being-ness or just is-ness. Have you ever noticed that the root of ‘business’ is technically ‘busy’? As in the state of being ‘busy’, instead of just the state of ‘being’. Busy doing what exactly, instead of Being? As the great Buddhist teacher Jack Kornfield has stated: “When we get too caught up in the busyness of the world, we lose connection with one another - and ourselves.”

When did we graduate from our nature of Human Beings to Human Doings? When we allow our business to become only the is-ness of our being, we allow the potential for all of the preconceived notions outside of the is-ness to reveal themselves for what they truly are: a fabrication of our own egoic making.

Of course, I am not slighting productivity, action and progression. These are wonderful (in most cases) and necessary aspects of our collective human experience. I am merely pointing to the nature with which we engage these aspects. From what mental/emotional/spiritual plane are we creating these life experiences? A place of doing or a place of being?

So, how do all of these ideas effect spiritual growth with regard to labeling? As previously stated, when we come from the egoic plane, we are building fictitious identities and attaching false meaning to those identities. When we build our life castles on the sands of lies and untruth, we are not able to withstand the waves of life when the storms are overbearing. We can’t allow Spirit to grow and thrive when we clutch the egoic framework for dear life.

Attaching our identities to labels closes us off and shuts us down, living from a place of fear, when what we need to be open and thriving, living from a place of Love. For example, if you place your identity in being strictly liberal or conservative, you potentially cut yourself off from discovering and growing in other ways of approaching public and social policy. If you identify as strictly this religion or that religion, you potentially cut yourself off from reveling in other ways of hearing, seeing and believing.

If you place your existence squarely in the realm of the egoic worldview, you run the risk of denying all the ways that Spirit wants to flow to you and through you. Stretching you, showing you, challenging you, growing you.

Instead, simply let go. Let Spirit cultivate in you a deep desire for the peace that surpasses all understanding. To abide in the place of Oneness and Unconditional Love that some refer to as Heaven. Commit to a daily practice of mindfulness seeing yourself as the Source behind the label and not the label itself. Know yourself as the BEing behind the DOing. How do we do these things? Well, that’s an article for another time, dear friends.

Until then….let go.

When you let go, Spirit can flow. Where Spirit can flow, Spirit can grow.

Peace and Love to you always.

3 Beautiful Ways Hypnotherapy Can Transform Your Entire Life

What hypnotherapy is and how you can utilize it to change your life.

The practice of hypnotherapy has transformed my life so drastically that I have now dedicated this leg of my career to learning it, honing it and ultimately utilizing it to enable and influence immense change in others. 

But, what does that actually mean? It means I am licensed and highly trained (well over 500 hours) to help people along their journey through the modalities of hypnotherapeutic practices. So, what exactly is hypnotherapy?

To look at this question, we first need to address the questions of what is hypnosis and what is the function of the subconscious mind. 

Simply put, hypnosis is a completely natural, yet altered state of mind and being where the mind and body are in such a deep state of relaxation that the conscious mind steps out of the way long enough for the subconscious mind to be fully present. Think of it along the lines of a highly desired state of meditation. 

Within the subconscious mind is a conglomeration of activity that houses many of the aspects of ourselves that control our daily behavior. Emotions, beliefs, memories, imagination, perception and habit control are just a few of the complex programs that operate out of the subconscious.

Since all of these programs are the exact facets that lead to 90% of our thoughts and behavior, their care and well-being are of the utmost importance.

This means, in order to care for and heal the subconscious, you have to operate within the subconscious level. Enter hypnotherapy.

During the process of inducing one to a relaxed hypnotic state, the hypnotherapist bypasses the analytical conscious mind and speaks directly to the subconscious mind. Then, they use a variety of different modalities to address the specific issues and bring resolution and transformation to the heart and mind.

Hypnotherapy then, is the process of using therapeutic modalities to help one through the utilization of meditative trance-like states that enable direct access to the subconscious mind. So then, how do we utilize these hypnotherapeutic processes to change our behavior? 

1. TRANSFORMING SUBCONSCIOUS BELIEFS

If you were to think of your mind as a computer, which would be somewhat appropriate, your conscious mind would serve as the monitor while the actual hard drive of the computer would be your subconscious. 

With beliefs, the subconscious mind behaves similarly to the way the hard drive of a computer acts in regard to a virus. Once a negative belief (virus) goes into the subconscious mind (hard drive) it goes into a loop and remains, repeating the loop over and over until a different belief takes it place. It doesn’t die or tire out, it simply keeps repeating. 

Therefore, the only way to eliminate a negative belief is to replace it with a positive one. This is done in the same way as the input of the negative belief…by introducing the new positive belief directly to the subconscious mind and putting it through repetition. 

With hypnotherapy, you can directly access the subconscious mind with regard to a great number of issues. In this contact, the old negative beliefs can then be replaced with new, healthy, positive beliefs through a process of implementation and repetition. 

2. ELIMINATING NEGATIVE THOUGHT AND BEHAVIORAL PATTERNS 

When an event happens to you, your subconscious mind form a belief around that event. Beliefs then lead to thoughts, which lead to emotions, which lead to behaviors. 

Events happen to us that jar us, scar us and often times traumatize us. More often than not, these events happen to us at a very young age before we are old enough to process them in a healthy way. 

These events traumatize us to the point where we subconsciously develop negative beliefs from this event. As we get older, these beliefs constantly lead to emotions, which consistently lead to behavior. When this happens over and over again, negative thought and behavior patterns emerge, often in very unhealthy and even destructive ways. 

How many of us have had negative thoughts, hurtful emotions and bad habits that we wish we could do something about, but don’t really know where to even begin to tackle the issue? Hypnotherapists know where to begin. You begin with the beginning. 

3. HEALING OLD WOUNDS 

It all begins somewhere. Every thought, every word, every feeling, every action, every behavior. The subconscious mind is the home of two of the most powerful cognitive abilities we have as human beings: memory and imagination. 

 The subconscious mind is the storehouse of all the events that have happened to us. Also there, are the actions, words, behaviors that we have made up in regards to that memory according to our own personalized perception of what happened. 

The reality of the events that happened are not exactly the way they happened. It’s only ever how you remember they happened according to your own perception which was colored by a variety of different factors such as age, gender, experience to that point and so on. 

The beauty of this is that it doesn’t matter. It doesn’t actually matter what technically happened to you that has caused these wounds because in the present day, the happening of those events doesn’t authentically exist. The only thing that remains is the issues caused by that event that only exist in your current day mind. 

That’s the beauty of a hypnotherapeutic process like age regression, which allows you to revisit the event, people, thoughts, feelings and beliefs in order to make the necessary repairs to facilitate healing. 

Instead of just treating the symptoms (behaviors and emotions) hypnotherapy gets to the root of the problems by addressing the event and the people involved at the level where the problems actually began. 

This is one of the many reasons hypnotherapy has been shown to be more effective than psychotherapy and talk therapy, which certainly have their place. Hypnotherapy doesn’t just address the symptoms, it goes to the very root of the problem. 

Life can be difficult. Unfavorable situations, specifically with the people in our lives, happen. These events create beliefs buried deep within our minds and continuously come up through our thoughts, emotions and behaviors. 

But, it doesn’t have to be this way. We are powerful beings. We can master our minds. We can master our emotions. We can master our lives. Hypnotherapy is an amazing tool that I have personally developed as a spiritual and self-development practice that, heals my mind, enriches my life and develops my future. 

Eliminating negative thought patterns, behavioral patterns and healing old wounds can lead to a life of joy, happiness, fulfillment and peace. When you are thriving in your thoughts and feelings, you begin thriving in life. Then, entirely new worlds of possibilities open for you. 

Transform Your Heart. Transform Your Mind. Transform Your Life. 

For Always Roaming...

“For always roaming with a hungry heart

Much have I seen and known…

How dull it is to pause, to make an end”

~ Alfred Lord Tennyson

For what is the notion of this end?

Does not the heart whisper echos of eternity?

The mind, with its petty contrivances

carry off in winded the flight

the noble means of a new day?

Roaming….always

Along with this hungry heart

Far gone from the dream of home

and the hope of a place

where the porch never dims

Oh this hungry heart

This restless mind

wretched fool of a thing

how long shall you toil this

plentiful ground

by the sweat of your brow?

Like lockdown at last call.

Churning gears of the Wonderland Express

reminding you that dreams

were meant to be lived

and these shadows

are but ghosts of a life

You forgot to forget.

Oh hungry heart

For if you only knew

The pause is no end

And what seems like the end of day

is merely a respite

For all that is to come

For Always Roaming

Eyes wide and hungry hearts

Noonday thirsts

For the Bread of Life

Why must it be

Insatiable this lust

Like tableside scrap falls

of morning manna?

Does it not know

the utter sweetness

of a gas tank full?

Let now it rest

Take the pause

Feel the flow

Let all that is

Seep in

Plant roots

Sing forth in joy

Your birthright respite

And let All That Is

Flow You

Know You

Show You

Grow.. You.

Paradigm: Shift

And then I found Oneself
Floating down
Through
In
Lazy Limb free fall
Deep blues
To golden hues
That sweet dream theta state

In those healing depths
Soft breeze for tranquil seas
A pondering. A question
“Where o where are We going?”

And then
As if by gentle whisper
Out of seas of Living Waters

P ost
A wakening
R eality
A llows
D ivinely
I nspired
G lobal
M iracles

S alvation
H onors
I ts
F ull
T ruth

Nation upon nation
Ripple out from dark waters
Bloody
Bare-knuckled and brutal
Like the cold
In a cast iron nightfall

Even in the collective
All the billions
Come home to One
The miraculous
merely perceived
from the cornerstone of Love
A choice. A decision.

You are but a thought
away from a miracle

You are but a single step
away from a shift

A choice
A decision
A shift
A miracle

We enter Heaven two by two

Let’s go Home…

Beach Day Drive with the Gas Tank Empty

“God. Imagine that. For things. To just be. Good.

Lost in the ever-increasing rotation of my own thoughts, the sun finally began its silky melt into the calming extent of the horizon.

I loved that sight, soothing and satisfying always. The post-dusk glow illuminated the beach and my respectful sand neighbors began making their way back into the world. I was tempted to join them, but I continued to sit, staring at the wondrous wet night before me.

I just sat there, lost in a land constructed of the desires of my unmet longing. New thoughts, new longings, I stored in that place called California, not wanting to return to the scattered shower monstrosity that I usually referred to as my life.

As that familiar twilight faded into the emptiness of night, I sat. Listening to the sound of that soothing sea, letting it wash over the frayed nerve endings in that vessel. I closed my eyes and drifted back to my California daydream, lost in lust and longing, just where I wanted to be.

And for that briefest of reprieves, the world of attachments out there would cease to be. There, alone, on my beach. Just me, my imagination and the inexplicable beauty of the natural wonderments.

It was good because it just was. Freedom, momentary thought with no attachments. Alone lost love. With no worries, no fears. Just being. Soaked up to drip dry in the ever reaching golden fantasy of a realm I could only sense and feel from the depths of somewhere untouched. Sense and feel. Freedom. Alone lost love. No fears. Just being good. Being. Good.”

I See Stars...

‘People will do anything, no matter how absurd, in order to avoid facing their own souls. One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious. If you comprehend the darkness, it seizes you. It comes over you like the night with black shadows and countless shimmering stars’

Carl Gustav Jung

And as I knelt, at once You came
Black and white bristle face
Shadow shell ghost of a thing
Silent sound devil
with an outstretched hand.

Your bleak day prophecies
Lip drip down
down
Drown out Divine echoes
Like winter was just outside

A shutter stock memory
of that day, so long ago now
That I asked You to decimate Me
Ruin
Slaughter
Bury
Me, in that anxiety shook
pulse pound nightmare
Turning corners in
panic room mansions
with blood beat bath mats

What hour was it
that I first knew
that idle hands were not
Your playground, but the darkest recesses of this heart
You called home

But ceaseless and calm sea rage
into that Dark Night, I did not go
Your shrill shriek collapsing
they will never understand
never understand

For the Darkness that began
as Our Night
became
the Power that birthed Our Light

I know You now
from the day I died
You looked on
Smirked up and eyes wide

For in My Light
You see Scars

But in Your Dark

I see stars ✨

This Desert Path

Great Spiritual Paths are many, none meant to be traversed entirely alone. We are, by Source nature, interdependent Beings.

Though new Families are formed in Divinity, there are certain areas of the trail the sojourner must travel without human company.

This Desert Path, lonesome and blistering, can appear as though paralyzing.

The space between Shadow and Divinity is a dark valley where your personal demons come out to play. In the valley, it is important to remember, you are not Alone.

With Spirit as your Guide, the demons that plague your inner Being will hush and fade, drawing back into the shadows from whence they came.

And in the respite of the Breath of Life you realize...they were never really there at all...

And Here's to You, Mrs. Thompson

It was Halloween, as I recall. Senior year of high school. The last Halloween of my diminishing adolescence. Every year, the Thompson’s threw a blowout bash to celebrate the occasion.

The matriarch, Marjorie Thompson, always dressed as the ‘beer wench’, a costume comprised of low cut Octoberfest garb, pigtails and ruby red lipstick. She had a thirst for flirtation and the reputation of a vixen.

My buddies and I congregated in the backyard where most of the teens and college-aged kids partied underneath the faint glow of overhead string lights. Iced tubs of beer, kegs and even a small fire surrounded a magnificent swimming pool that had its own illustrious history of flesh and bone.

Around beer number four, my bladder painfully reminded me of its existence and insisted on attention. Making my way into the house, I noticed the ‘adult side’ of the party had gotten quite a bit dimmer lighting-wise. The already scant costumes were fitting a bit more loosely, hanging a bit lower or in some cases not at all.

I shuffled through the crowd, sipping my beer and greeting a couple of the people from the community I knew. One would think it would have been strange or perhaps even momentarily awkward to suddenly walk past a sixty-eight-year-old man whose lawn you used to mow grinding on a former middle school social studies teacher. But, in the moment, alcohol makes everyone good friends and in that moment I was proud of old Mr. Wilkerson. So much so that I gave him a high five over Ms. Donahue’s head.

Finally making my way into a half bathroom, I set my beer on the counter and commenced my business. Halfway through, the bathroom door that I had apparently forgotten to lock swung open. A fairly drunk Mrs. Thompson plowed in with her pigtails and beer-wench ordeal.

“Oh! I’m so sorry. I didn’t realize anyone was in here,” she said not turning to leave, but making herself comfortable against the counter.

“Um…yeah. It’s me. Here I am,” I replied, still in mid-flow. She stood there for a moment while I wondered if I should finish and wrap up or try to cut it short. A beer flow does not like to be cut off prematurely, so I just finished my business while Mrs. Thompson stood by the sink.

“So, are you having fun at the party?” She asked.

“Uh…yes mam. Sure am.”

“You boys being safe out there, right?”

“Oh yes, no doubt about that. Just some young teenage fun,” I replied trying not to let my eyes wander down to the excessive cleavage tumbling my direction. After finishing, I wrapped myself up and flushed. I needed to move by her to wash my hands in the sink. She didn’t budge at my advance, so I stood next to her nearly skin to skin as I dipped my hands under the faucet.

“It’s a good night. Beautiful outside, too. I always look forward to these parties every year. Everyone is always just so more laid back and open.”

“Yeah, a good time, for sure.” My hands trembled a bit, soap and water dripping down the sink drain.

“Is this your beer?” she asked holding the bottle up in front of her.

“Yes, mam.”

“Oh, for heaven’s sake. Don’t call me mam. You make me feel so ancient.”

“Um… yes ma — I mean, yeah sure thing…girl.”

She laughed tilting her head back. “You’re funny,” she said softly resting her hand on my shoulder. “You know, you really have turned into quite a handsome young man.”

“Oh, thanks. Yeah, you know…I’ve been working out and stuff.”

She laughed again as she handed my beer back to me, then proceeded to put the toilet seat down. She ran her hands up her costume skirt and pulled down her underwear. As she sat down on the toilet she looked up at me and smiled.

“I bet you’re beating all of the young ladies off with a stick.”

“Yep. That’s me,” I uttered in a nervous tone trying to keep my teenage eyes where they should have been. “Beating them off with a stick alright.”

She finished her business and put herself back together as I took a drink of my beer. Standing, she moved in closer to me, then turned and looked into the mirror hanging above the vanity counter.

“I hope you enjoy this time.”

Turning, I faced the mirror as well, our eyes connecting, reflecting in the pale bathroom light.

“I’m sorry?”

“I want you to enjoy this time. It doesn’t come around again. This age I mean. Being a teenager. Being young. At least not in this lifetime.”

She looked me over in the mirror. “Handsome. Vibrant. I’m sure you hear stuff like this all the time. I know I used to. And, like most kids, I ignored it as something all adults say. Until I started saying it myself.”

“I guess it’s like that old ‘youth is wasted on the young’ cliche.”

“I suppose,” she replied thoughtfully, eyes drifting down. “It’s more than that, though. When you’re young, you have so much going for you that you take for granted. Always impatient for the next thing. That thing that will make you happy. It’s only when you get older you realize that thing you couldn’t wait for doesn’t really exist. All the time you wasted on trivial things could have been spent doing so much more. When you’re young. And you can. Even if some of those things are just having fun. Laughter without responsibility. You’d be amazed at how much you’ll miss just going to sleep at night not feeling like you’re responsible for the whole world.”

“But, I already feel like that. Sometimes I can hardly get to sleep at all.”

“I know, darling,” she said grabbing my cheek softly. “I can see it in your eyes.” Her hands, soft and moist, seemed to etch crevices down my jawline.

“Go enjoy your life,” she whispered into my ear just before lightly grazing my lips with hers.

“Yes, mam. I mean…thanks…girl.” She smiled slightly, then left just as suddenly as she came in. I stood in silence for a moment, then took another sip of the beer that had gotten a bit too warm.

To this day, I can’t recall ever having seen Mrs. Thompson again in person. Later in life, I’d heard she had gotten breast cancer. Though she fought it courageously, eventually it got the better of her.

I always wondered if I should have visited her during that time, but I never did. I suppose part of me wanted to remember her that way, in the bathroom, in the night. A beer wench costume that hung loosely among those funny, faded string lights. Already reminiscing on a life once lived.

We Can't Breathe

Facedown at the end of another’s hand

iPhone video, who ya gonna call

When it’s divided we stand

And united we fall

It’s not enough to lie dreaming

Two Parties got blurred lines scheming

When the shots ring out in the cool of the day

Chain gang demons gonna come out to play

Bright Blue shackles of this systemic knee

Take it to the streets, son, won’t know until we see

Glowing embers of oppression giving way

Out here shootin’ and lootin’ you think they care what we say?

The fractured allies become all lies

When they tell us we are untied

Divided and separate, all from one another

The color of your skin is just the blood of your brother

What’s the word gonna be?

Keep on saying ‘Ah-ha, hush that fuss’

Forget it, boy, you best bend that knee

In the back of this bus

She knew why the Caged Bird Sang

Why the unheard cry through generations rang

When the I Have a Dreams all seem to shatter

Dirty done deals cuz the White Lies Matter

How does one win in this finish line Race?

Never gonna happen, boy, stay in your place

Media playin’ hard, no mask on this face

Selling fear cheap, oh look, now they in space!

Liked choked leash dogs

Who is that ready, set, attack

Girl, what were you gonna tell’em

‘Birdwatching While Black’??

To protect and serve with fierce dedication

The blemish of an honor, to be called a cop

We gotta open up the churches, we selling salvation

Get it while it’s hot, only ten percent off the top

Get’em in quick now

Gotta make’em pay

Tell’em pretty boy Floyd sent ya

Lawd have mercy, He know the way!

We got a twenty-dollar bill

What’s the price for one’s life?

We got EIGHT WHOLE MINUTES

What’d you tell your own wife?

Old hearts die hard

Have you seen the news lately?

Time to pick up this cross

Start dying on the daily

Where can I go without a plank in my eye?

Tryin to get it out, but ain’t no good in the try

Where is the fault, who is to blame?

I am

It’s me

Just say my name

We can’t breathe

From Bay Street to Bay Area

We can’t breathe

From sea to shining sea

We can’t breathe

From the projects to the rejects

We can’t breathe

From last day death row to newborn Jim Crow

We can’t breathe

From Brown vs. Board to Glory of the Lord

We can’t breathe

In the chains of these blood-soaked Roots

We can’t breathe

On a wild wild west Georgia jog

We can’t breathe

In the brambles of Central Park

We can’t breathe

When a (hu)man can’t go for a walk

We can’t breathe

We can’t breathe

He said it hurts everywhere

We can’t breathe

It hurts in the rivers and streams we call freedom

It hurts in the cities we built to burn

It hurts in the souls that live by fear and know no peace

It hurts in the fractured rearview of a nation’s history

It hurts in the streets where Justice has no name

Where once school kids were taught that She has no eyes

That She blind

But no eyes are just more lies

She sees

And She sees through glasses…Darkly

How long will this lack of Empathy

Reveal this lack of Humanity?

We can’t breathe here anymore

We can’t breathe here

We can’t breathe

We can’t

We

Spirit Son Rise

Wide the way
Narrow the gate
Messy hair morning after
Late-night wonders

Let this filth of flesh fall
Down down
Muddy mountain waters
This stream shall remain

Clean
Clear
Cut

Out from the rock
Of this hill we must climb
Down down tumble once more
Sense perception of lack
Four steps forward
Three steps back

Steady on now
Thy Good and Faithful
Servant

Spirit Son rise
Lovelight climb
Hear not the faint echos
Of all your lesser life dreamed

Rocky road terrain
only few dare tremble
This path, not for the faint
This Way, bled dry from the saint

Night cool
Heart open
Wild rustle leaves blow
Past
The time you thought was everything

This hill shall not sleep tonight…

Chain Link Lifestyle

The locks we live
A chain-link lifestyle
A binding tie
Refusing to die

The misaligned hustle
The head-down shuffle
The fearing of dark
And the look from a mirror

Head up, now child
Flow from within
Breathe
Remember always

The day that hell
Was an imaginary realm
Behind a nonexistent door
That all along…

…was locked from the inside.

New Sun Coffee

Through a haze of smoke, the morning sun cascades through the trees illuminating the dew on the grass like tiny, twinkling stars. Somehow it reminds me of her. That sparkle she had in her eyes when she casually tossed her long black hair and glanced at me through conversations.

How I knew she was thinking of me even while talking to others. I'm consumed with wonder about what might have been if I had just stayed one time. If I had not been my usual self. I remember late-night conversations and sneaky smiles between flirty words. She tried to pierce through heavily guarded walls searching for that connection through sparkling eyes.

My mind fumbles through old memories like text messages that should have been deleted long ago. I shouldn't be able to recall your dimples squinting through the steam of our midnight dinner plates. But I do. I have no right to remember the sweetness in your gestures and the kindness of your words. But, I'll take it selfishly. I wish I didn't have to remember that longing look of confusion as I walked away. But I can't forget. I wish you could know how I thought of you as I drove away and how scared I was that you had seen even the slightest bit of this broken me.

As I lay awake in bed, I dreamt of you and how I wish that I knew myself so that you could know me too. Now I'll never know the true beauty of your heart or the light of your soul. All I can do is sit here and stare at the morning dew, drinking my overpriced coffee and wonder what it might have been like to laugh with you in remote locations. I know you're off somewhere, traipsing through those locales with somebody who is worthy of you. I know you're better off.

I suppose today, I'll just refill this coffee and try to be a better man.

Sometimes that's all we can do.

East on Hollywood

 "And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?"

                                          Matthew 7:3 KJV

Minimalist cabins in remote areas of the woods are incredible places to sip bourbon and reconnect with the beautiful, natural world around you. However, that is certainly not where I was. 

I was in a dive bar called the woods, decorated to resemble a cabin. I wasn't in the remote part of the woods, but rather in a shitty area of Hollywood off La Brea in an even shittier strip mall. But, I did have bourbon, so I had that going for me.  

The last drops were especially warm going down and tempted me to have another. I thought about it, but it was getting late, which meant the place was starting to become crowded. It's a small place, so it gets very crowded, very quickly. This means that drunk people would be talking obnoxiously loud in my ear and I was certainly in no mood for that.

I walked out and lit up a cigarette, catching an evil, bloodshot eye from the bouncer. I headed out to the street and began to turn toward Sunset, but instead turned north and began walking while enjoying my cigarette. It had been a while since I had been on Hollywood, an area I typically avoid due to its proximity in bombastic obscenity to Times Square.
 

I walked east on Hollywood Boulevard. It's hard to believe that one of the glitziest events of the year, the world over takes place right here. I suppose it's because of that and other lies furthered by the media, that people unfamiliar with the neighborhood consider it glamorous when the truth is it is anything but. Far from it. 

Smart phone toting tourists clamor off of sight buses and traipse the neon glowing streets, eyes enamored at the brilliance of sparkling lights and some over-sized white letters on a hillside. Superficial stars cementing some dreamer's ego into the sidewalk. So focused their eyes are on the spectacular facade of it all that they fail to see the reality that lies right in front of them. In hopes of glimpsing a celebrity, they don't see the desperation, the suffering the absolute need and the absence of love permeating from their fellow brothers and sisters.  

They'll walk past the homeless man on the sidewalk with his hand outstretched asking for spare change on their way into Hard Rock Cafe to pay fifty dollars for a disgusting hamburger and a t-shirt they can show their friends back home in order to prove to them that they were THERE.

They'll take photographs with spider-man and laugh and high five one another not giving a thought to the person under the mask. That it's a real person, that once had a dream and a vision so bright with greatness that it once shined all up and down this boulevard, until the light began to dim, more and more each year until the darkness of a costume mask extinguished its final flicker. 

Young girls flutter and flock about, giggling and taking selfies just ten feet down the sidewalk from a scantily clad little daydream starlet who never stood a chance at getting to laugh so innocently.  

They weave in and out of stores and shops, buying worthless trinkets and memorabilia from immigrants who risked life and limb to to escape injustice and brutality, all for the sake of coming to a nation that does not want them, in the hopes that their children can have running water and watch Marvel movies in large air conditioned rooms. 

They're too focused on those bright, blinding lights showing in from up above that they don't notice the needles underneath their feet.

As I walked home, I knew in my gut that they don't see us...us transient wanders dwelling down here in the gutters. Wally says I am to take a moment when negative thoughts such as these begin to trickle in. I try. I literally stopped on Hollywood Boulevard and look around me, trying to spin something positive into my mindset. The only thought that came to my mind was:

I. Am. No. Better. 

None of us are. I'm down here, with you. Among you. One of you. Yet, here I stand. Here, I walk...through the gutter, separated. 

In this situation, these tourists and other temporaries are not a problem. They're just people. They come from somewhere. They have a home and jobs and friends and families. They have ups and downs, problems and situations. They have tragedies and heartaches. They're just simply here, trying to escape it all for a few days by taking in a spectacle of something brand new that they've only ever heard about and seen on television. They have sympathies and loves, they're just not tuned in this general direction.

I can see the reality of these sidewalks because I am here. I am apart of them, but that doesn't mean I would be able to step into their shoes and walk their sidewalks. I wouldn't know the world from their perspective, their love, their loss, their empathy, their humanity. Besides, what good is all this vision without action. When was the last time I ever did anything to help my brothers and sisters down in these gutters? How often do I lend a hand, my time, my love, my compassion? What did I do yesterday? What happiness did I contribute to the neighborhood? Who am I to look down upon these people in judgement? Who am I to deem the sidewalks as gutters and the people who inhabit them as sullen? Who am I to walk in anger, in sadness, in wonder? Who am I to have anything to say at all? Who am I? Who am I... 

I kept walking east with my head down until the shimmering lights faded into the still night sky behind. I kept walking east with my head down, battling between guilt and shame. I kept walking east, fighting the urge to pop into a bar stool and forget all of these feelings of guilt and shame. I kept walking east, with my head down, trying relentlessly to remove the enormous beam from my own eye. I kept walking east, pulling on it, struggling with it, hitting it, clawing it, spitting on it. Man...it's wedged in there tight.

I kept walking east...