As an eclectically spiritual person, I draw inspiration from numerous traditions. Having grown up in a Christian household, I had Bible passages drilled into me for as long as I can remember, and when I was old enough to leave my parent's home, I began searching other spiritual paths for enlightenment. As synchronicity would have it, I was reading my Grandmother’s Bible last night when the pages flipped open to 1 Corinthians 13. What a stubborn fool I have been for letting my “spirituality” get in the way of this beautiful nugget of truth.

4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.~ I Corinthians 13

These are words I have read numerous times in my life, but never pondered the deeper significance or implications of what it means to actually LOVE.

For I have been impatient. I have been unkind. I have envied others, puffed up my ego with a false sense of self! I have been prideful of my pain, always blaming others for my hurts. How many times have I dishonored others (in speech, action and thought)?  I have put my needs above others, am easily angered and I tend to keep tally of who’s wronged me. I have hidden from the truth, afraid to face my own truth, afraid to face the authentic self—which is the highest "evil" of all, to entertain and entrain that which you know to be out of alignment with your CORE/COEUR! I have used others as shields to protect me and my selfish ways—I have been distrustful, insecure in my ability to recognize and honor the highest expression of truth within those by whom I am surrounded. I worry way too much and, sadly, when faced with challenges, I give up too easily.

And in my strange journey of failed relationships, and the desire to feel serious, deep love, I realize that if I want to be IN LOVE, I must learn to first BE LOVE. And here it was in front of me all this time—guidelines...no, simple instructions for how to BE LOVE!

If you are having difficulty staying focused on the "here and now", you have energy leaks. If you are constantly experiencing lower level vibrational frequencies, you have energy leaks. If you feel "stuck" without a vision, you have energy leaks.

Energy leaks cut off your natural flow and if not kept in check, the feelings of "dis-ease" associated with energy leaks will manifest in disease!  

Bringing them into your field of awareness will help you to begin repairing them.

Thank You For Your Concern
Overnight, my inbox was flooded with emails from concerned clients, friends and family and my phone has been blowing up with text messages all asking the same question, "Are you ok?" 

I adore each and every one of you! And I appreciate so much that so many of you have been checking in with me! I LOVE LOVE LOVE that modern technology allows for us to get a daily dose of our interconnectedness on a more "physical" level, if you will. And to answer your questions, I am 100% A-OKAY!

Because I have been a prolific user of Facebook since 2008, intending to step into the world of "relationship marketing" (lol), I can understand the concern when I suddenly and without warning deactivated my Facebook account. I have a few reasons for doing so.

First, I want to say that I really enjoy being connected to so many people from all over the globe--I'm an Aquarius, after all! I have been energized by your stories--the good ones, the bad ones and the disaffected ones. I love getting a daily dose of humor-- George Takei is hilarious! And nowhere have I ever been inundated with so many awesome motivational quotes in my entire life (and that's saying a lot because I am an affirmation junkie!) Humans, by nature, are social creatures, and connecting with other people makes us happy.

So, you may be asking why I am deactivating my Facebook account? Why would I leave social networking behind, if it has the potential to connect and inspire happiness? For as much as I really enjoy using Facebook, I do have a few concerns lately.

As Above, So Below
As an Energist, I believe we are all interconnected on both micro and macro levels. If you look at me, my physicality, you simply see my body. But if you drill down far enough and get to the cellular and sub-cellular level, you will find that every atom within my being is vibrating at a certain frequency. This is what makes up my own "energy field" and the frequency at which I am vibrating can be expressed in a number of ways, but most often through emotion.

And this is true of everything within the Universe. Everything vibrates at its own frequency, and when two "bodies" come into contact with other frequencies, subtle shifts begin to occur within each body's energy field. This is known as "entrainment" but more on that in a later post...

Facebook is a great example of how to describe this energetic web that threads us all together. To me, Facebook (and, indeed, the Internet itself) is a "physical manifestation" of this matrix, allowing us to see more clearly on a surface level how our each interaction impacts our very existence--and vice versa.

GIGO 
I am a staunch believer in GIGO-- "garbage in, garbage out." I have set my own newsfeed to give me information that is uplifting and encouraging. I refuse to accept posts from organizations that spew messages based in fear and I will hide and/or delete anyone who lives in a state of low-level vibrations/uses Facebook as a platform to complain. Reading the replies under status posts is a good exercise in how two opposing frequencies can impact an entire group of people, for instance--and I rarely get involved with Facebook fights.

So, What's the Problem?
The problem is that despite all of my efforts at filtration, I have begun to notice subtle differences in my own energy field whenever I log on to Facebook.

Sure, I signed up because it was the latest fad in marketing and networking, but once I saw how it rewarded me with (what I am beginning to believe is "the illusion") of connectedness, I stuck around and accepted friend requests from a lifetime of colleagues, friends, family and associates.

And while inviting this circle into my life can feel good at times, I can't help but to wonder why my ego needs to "have followers" and collect "likes" on my status posts. Am I using Facebook because I want to feel that (very real) connection to others? And what of my off-line connections? I look around at my family and friends sitting right in front of me and notice that we are all staring into our own individual electronic devices seeking some kind of...connection...?

It makes me wonder if this surface level matrix we know as Facebook is changing the ways in which we connect to each other on this physical plane. Sure, feeling connected is important, but at the expense of real face-to-face connection? I wonder...is Facebook really harming our energetic connections on the molecular level?

Ok, and what is this "Positive Resonance" all about?
Barbara Fredrickson, a leading researcher of positive psychology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, argues that "love" is NOT that feeling of "a long-lasting, continually present emotion that sustains a marriage; it is not the yearning and passion that characterizes young love; and it is not the blood-tie of kinship."

Instead, she states that "love" is not so much "love" as it is a "feeling of connectedness." It is something that is felt between lovers and/or family members and/or--even between complete strangers. It is the result of a micro-moment of "positive resonance"--i.e. a flood of positive emotions shared with another person. But, because love has a biochemical and physiological component (specifically, there are three players in the biological love system—mirror neurons, oxytocin, and vagal tone), to really feel  this positive resonance two people sharing this micro-moment must be connected physically. Face-to-face. Not on Facebook.

When it was pointed out to me (half-jokingly--er, i hope) by a well-intentioned family member that she had to hide me in her news feed because I clog it up, I began to ponder the implications of my actions. If my family members are hiding my status posts, am I really connecting to them? And if my family members are doing this, are other people within my social network doing the same? I have to ask myself...am I defeating my own intent? And, just what is my purpose in all of this?

"How Do You Do?"
This is an awakening of sorts and I feel it is important for me to return to CENTER and seek answers from within. On the surface, I don't know what to make of all this and perhaps I am just over-thinking the entire issue, but to be sure, I must examine it a little more deeply. So, I have decided to go off the grid and deactivate my Facebook account. I may choose at a later time to return, but for now, I am content to explore more deeply the issues of "connectedness" that have surfaced. In the meantime, I'm taking Louis' lead...I will be out making some eye contact, shakin' some hands and askin' others, "How Do You Do?" I invite you to join me!

How about you? Are you feeling it, too? Share your experiences in the comments below. Maybe together we can let this bubble to the surface  together! If you desie to contact me, feel free to drop me a line via email dawn@msblisscoach.com or, again, leave your comments below!

***And by the way, I find it a tad ironic that at the bottom of this blog post there are *like* and *tweet* buttons. Use them if you wish and help spread the word on why I've gone off the grid!

The other night I dreamed  I was visited by someone with a very important message. Every time this messenger started *talking*--the messenger did not use its mouth to speak, but transmitted a frequency that I understood was mine to receive-- I only picked up static. The messenger changed frequencies and this time the language was a high pitched emission and I knew in my being that this was an important message, but I just was not tuning in and couldn’t process.

Sensing my frustration, the messenger *tuned down* and spoke in human (i.e. words from the mouth) clearly enough to say, "you are dehydrated. you will not be able to receive my message unless you re-hydrate."

I awoke from this dream so very thirsty! Over the past week I have been drinking so much water, tea, juice, and other re-hydrating beverages and still just can not get enough!

By the way, the real message was not lost on me…I understand this dream very clearly, and my Guides were telling me that I need to attune myself to the energies of water!

In metaphysical teachings, water is associated with intuition, healing and emotion. I find it no coincidence –and extremely telling of our *soul* purpose--that as spiritual creatures having a physical experience, our bodies are made mostly of water! Indeed, water is the physical manifestation of these spiritual qualities!

Our very ancient, primal *ancestors* originated in the sea, and even in utero, our bodies develop in fluid—and that fluid carries us into this physical realm. The human body is approximately 70% water, and requires proper hydration for optimal functioning—and that’s just for the basic human survival functions such as organs, metabolism, regeneration, etc... So you can imagine if you are dehydrated, your spirit leeches any water it can in order to continue its physical existence. Your SOUL needs a BODY in order to live out its purpose on this plane!  Once you have awakened to your soul’s purpose, you may find yourself also craving water and other beverages that help you maintain proper hydration levels! Here are a few I have enjoyed, that you may also want to try!

Water: goes without saying! H2O is the number one beverage for boosting your intuition! Health experts recommend drinking half your body weight in ounces per day, but I find I need more than that to maintain my intuitive channels—especially if I am channeling!

Tea: I have been enjoying a blend called Northern Blue Star from a local tea house, The Divine Lotus Tea Company. This blend is a mix of hibiscus, blueberry, blue malva, orange peel, lemon verbena, rose hips and rooibos—and it is delicious! Hibiscus is very sensual, and because I often receive intuitive hits through bodily sensations, I enjoy its ability to bring me back into my body.

Pomegranate Juice: I don’t normally drink juice in quantities—just never appealed to me—but lately I am loving the taste of pomegranate juice! It is said pomegranate juice contains 3x more antioxidants than a glass of red wine or green tea, and the fact that it is caffeine and alcohol free means it does not contribute to dehydration, like those two substances are known to do. I used to drink a glass of red wine every night for its antioxidant benefits (among others..*wink*) but have found it just does not appeal to me like it used to. Pomegranate is the perfect replacement!

Oh, and I also want to mention that drinking hydrating beverages is not the only way to attune yourself to the energies of water…there are many other ways, including water meditations, swimming and bathing. If you have a particular recommendation or question about attuning yourself to good old H2O, please share in the comments below! I look forward to reading what you have to share!

I started the morning with the question, “how do you handle betrayal? What do you do to get over the fact that someone you dearly love has betrayed you? How do you carry on when this has happened…?”

And my answer came through a series of white-rabbit-following incidents…my Guides left a sparkly trail of crystal crumbs for me to follow and I knew that if I did follow the clues, they’d lead me to the answer, which, in that cosmic "ha-ha" way, is posed in the form of another question, “Can you trust yourself to love yourself if-- and when-- you are betrayed again?”

I am seeing a therapist to help me to unravel the knots I've gotten myself tied up in over the past year, and this week, she gave me an assignment to try and BE more VULNERABLE. The knots? How to deal with betrayal of a loved one. I have not shared with many people, but in an effort to release this knot and carry out my assignment, I am going to share here, now...

I had dedicated this morning to catching up on missed episodes of Oprah's Super Soul Sunday (synchronicity=following the trail of cosmic crystal crumbs...!) and as fate would have it, the guest was Dr. Brene Brown, a woman who has devoted much of her career to the study of vulnerability.

So, I just spent the last two hours listening intently to everything she had to say...finding myself in a very awkward position of examining my own fears... and I FEEL these truths resonating at the very core of my being, helping to shake and sift the stories I have been hanging onto so very tightly.

See, over the past year, especially in the past six months, I've been faced with working through some of my worst FEARS. For one, I lost my father to cancer. This has been one of the most difficult things I have gone through in my life and in dealing with the loss, I find myself ---well, lost.

The other event that has shaken my cozy little reality, causing me to sift through my personal TRUTH is the fact that my 16-year-old daughter moved out of my home under very disagreeable circumstances. In an act of betrayal, she left my home and has not spoken to me since just after my father's funeral.

I mentioned to a close friend that these two events happening so close together were like my book ends falling off of either side of me. These words just came out without any thought, but the metaphor stirs me...my life, a story book that is no longer supported and suddenly--has fallen wide open.

It leaves me--vulnerable.

It's some scary, scary shit to realize you are in this position, knowing that people can read your whole life story and that the story itself is not the most amazing or spectacular thing--especially when you are a life coach whose business name is "Follow Your Bliss."

It's true. I'm afraid. I am afraid to admit that my daughter could have intentionally hurt me. I am afraid to face the fact that I may have been the one to cause her pain in the first place. I am afraid to address these hurts without my father, who admittedly didn’t always have the wisest of council, but who was always a source of comfort.

I have to admit that I live in shame. I live in fear. I am afraid to let anyone else know about my vulnerabilities because it makes me look like….what? Weak? Bad? Like I don't have it together? Less than….enough?

After this mornings trek down the rabbit hole, I find myself at the crossroads of "Realizing that you DON'T have all the answers" and "Believing it is okay to NOT know the answers."

I will chew on this for a bit. And this quote from Brene Brown: "I used to ask myself, 'What would I do if I knew I could not fail?' and now, knowing what I know about vulnerability, I ask myself, 'What is worth doing even if I DO fail?'" 

To pretend is to play. Children pretend all the time, and can create fantastical worlds of castles and pirate ships out to sea out of boring cardboard boxes. They can take a helmet and goggles and suddenly find themselves on the moon! Children are experts at visualization and can teach us a thing or two about the power of pretend!
I pretend when I craft my workshops, playshops and laughter sessions. I pretend when I create a vision board. When I dream about the future...Let’s extract the energy from the word pretend. We hear it broken out as “pre” and “tend.” Pre means “before.” To “tend”: to care for, to manage, to behave in a certain manner.

Today’s cosmic energetic is all about pretending, as Neptune is king of illusions and the 12th house has us feeling a little more “dreamy” than usual. We are in a space of possibility, of fertility! We open to the unusual and unlikely—where we get to see our big plan before it becomes a physical reality!

 Today is the day of pretending, the day we get to act as if our dreams are real, to try them on for size and see if they suit us before making a solid commitment. Today is a day of real magick!  

For this new moon report, let’s pretend, shall we?

Today's cosmic energy reminds me of one of my favorite intuition workshops that I created in which participants plan a pretend dinner party with their heroes! The exercise has us all dreaming about the personalities of each person and perhaps how they’d interact with each other. Today, there are seven planets in the house of Pisces (12th House), and with all this dreaminess in the air, I decided to present the astrology report in the form of the intuition exercise!

Pisces decided to have a dinner party and invited Chiron, Neptune, Mercury, Mars, Venus and the always dynamic duo, Sun and Moon! Fresh seafood, lots of twinkle lights and endless pours of champagne abound! It’s a relaxed, dreamy, escapist vibe going on, and yet, there is some really deep conversations going on in the background.

Venus arrived barefoot, to show off her gorgeous pedicure! It’s her unique way of reminding us to pay attention to the often forgotten parts of ourselves and to shower them with the utmost love. She says, “consider what areas of your life are feeling a little less than loved,” and then—and then, we mingle and move on and we interrupt Chiron and Mercury, involved in a heated tête-à-tête in the corner. We ask them what kind of tips they may have to heal our neglected parts that Venus so patiently reminded us of. We listen intently as each gives his best advice. Chiron, the Wounded Healer, says we can really work on your emotional states, while Mercury nods his head in agreement, but adds, “this is a good time to relinquish your feelings of insecurity! You’ve done this before, and the difference is that this time you are definitely ready to let it go!”  As we receive this information, we get the sense they are absolutely correct—we just know it is just right.

Suddenly, Neptune erupts in a loud roar of laughter. We see he is lounging poolside with a drink in hand, coaxing the unusually shy Mars out of the house and into the party. Meanwhile, Sun and Moon dance their delicate tango, entertaining all!  
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For today, my advice is to relax and dream and play a little bit--"pre-tending" your intentions into reality!

By the way, new Moon in Pisces, in gardening lore, is a great time to plant seeds for a healthy growth cycle and abundant harvest! With the seven celestial bodies hanging out in Pisces’ house, each supporting and/or balancing the other, it is a great day to plant your seeds of intention—and know a great harvest will come of it!

The planetary alignments are making for a very interesting esbat. The cosmic energetic has us pondering the mind-body-soul connection over the next 48 hours. Virgo connects us to our Inner Goddess and with both Saturn and Mercury in retrograde in water signs(!) during this full moon, you may find yourself feeling a bit overly emotional or even critical of even the minor details. It's as if the world will fall apart now because you noticed a chin hair sprouting...but intellectually, you know it is just silly to react like this! I would love to share a few tips to help you diff-USE THIS ENERGY to your advantage!

• Go swimming! Jump into the pool and spend as long as you can in the water, direct the emotions into active energy to transform your body, and know that you are healthy, vibrant and strong!
  
• HYDRATE! Drink plenty of water and decaffeinated drinks over the next day or two. The cosmic energetic alignments support psychic hits during this time. If you are not hydrated, you may miss these important messages!
  
• JOURNAL! Dump all of your emotions into your private journal and let them go! The full moon is a time of heightened emotions naturally-- and is also a great time of release! A journal is a safe dumping ground for all that you need to get out!
  
• DECLUTTER! As you focus on dumping your emotions, you may also consider focus your attention on your home, too! Create a sacred space! Virgo is a sign of discernment and what better time than now to get rid of things you don’t really need?

As a Holistic Life Coach, the recommendations I share with you are solutions to situations that I have experienced in my own life! These suggestions are simply that...suggestions. By all means, do not feel as if I am telling you what to do...I merely offer recommendations because I know the struggles many of us face can be seemingly intense at times. I wish to share a personal ANECDOTE here, on how I arrived at this Full Moon report:

What an interesting weekend it has been. I do pay attention to the cosmic energies present at any given time---for the most part, that is! Sometimes I just live my life without putting much thought into it and then reflect on the energies after the fact and go, "hmmmm....now, that's interesting!"

I find it a tad humorous (in that *cosmic wink* way, not that *funny jokey* way) that all the activities in which I've participated over the previous weekend are so telling of the full moon frequencies, which have been in effect since Friday and will continue to be through the next 48 hours. For instance, on Friday I conducted one of my Intuition Workout Playshops--and we had some amazing psychic hits within the group!

Saturday was a somewhat emotional day for me, as I was really missing my father (whom we recently lost to cancer.) I spent the day in an emotional rut, and was able to climb out of it later in the afternoon when I called in for the radio show i co-host with my friend Jen! Interestingly, the focus of our show is gardening as a metaphor for the magical life: we interviewed a very magical person, master herbalist Dee Chapman, who is better known as Tiptoe Chick, "Your Favorite Witch" on Youtube!

Yesterday I spent three hours in the pool, swimming and playing with the little ones, and also getting in a good water aerobics workout. It was the perfect antidote for what I had been doing earlier in the day, which was feeling sorry for myself. I felt a bit melancholy and knew that if I did not get off of my ass and get *moving* my emotional state would have become more stinky than it already was! No good! So, my partner and I took the kids to the rec center where we were able to play in the water for hours on end without a care! *PERFECT*

Finally, I awoke in the middle of the night crying because I am missing my father and my children so much. (My son and daughter both live with their father, about eight hours away.) My dreams have been rather, er, fluid, lately and mostly my father has been making me laugh in them, so I was really disturbed by the tears that bubbled up from that deep, deep well within...

It wasn't until this morning that I sat down to write the Full Moon report that I realized what was happening. All is well in the Universe! All is as it should be! Quite frankly, I am responding to the cosmic energetic frequencies present, as is normal! Phew....so, how are you? How are you holding up during this time? What things are you doing to diff-USE THE ENERGY to your advantage? I'd love to read your comments below! 

I love that my family indulges my need to do crazy stuff! Yay!