Podcast

Episode Four

Theme(s): Empowerment Techniques
Related Links:

lauriannefiorentino.com

taramandala.org

https://blog.chinmaya-dunster.com/

workplacebullying.org

Stop and Smell the Roses

Hello and thank you for joining me, Elizabeth Rose – your hostess of this whole brain podcast designed to assist you in your daily creations.

Ok here we go, folks. Episode number 4 ~ Stop and Smell the Roses. Remember Stop & Smell the Roses is designed to help you to raise your frequency; your vibe and to inspire you, to urge you to slow down. You heard my spiel about slowing down: it’s so you embrace the experience that comes with stillness and what comes from being still and being quiet. That’s one benefit you get from slowing down, plus you get to see what’s really going on around you. At least for me. I need to slow down more. And when I do, I benefit greatly from slowing down. I used to think, tt’s so crazy, but when I would see people meditating, I used to say to myself, “why are they doing that?” I know now more why, and I would encourage you as a youngster, say a 30 year old, to slow down a bit. And hopefully this podcast will assist you, and me, in the making of your daily creations. That is what Stop & Smell the Roses is about. Also, I call this a whole brain podcast; you’ve heard me talk about whole brain in the first episode. I’m noticing that the episodes build on each other. They do. If you haven’t listened to any other of my episodes, I encourage you to do that, when you have a chance.

With all of that said, in this segment, I want to add, a lot of what I’m noticing in my bodywork practice, which I refer to a lot because it’s one of the best mirrors in my world for me. I’m saying to people often and frequently, because I feel like their energy and their power is just floating out there; kind of like a miscarried or an aborted child…they don’t have anywhere to go. It’s the same with one’s energy and one’s power; I equate power to sovereignty by the way. So, I will talk a little bit more about taking your energy and power back; how to do that and why to do that. And I want to touch in a little more on the strength in numbers and lighting a candle that I brought up in some of my other episodes..That will be Episode, Segment one.

To conclude we will have the music of Laurianne Fiorentino also known as Lauria. She’s based out of Santa Fe, New Mexico. It’s so inspiring to reconnect with many individuals. Laurianne was a featured artist, more towards the end, on our radio show; couldn’t quite figure out how to fit her in, but her last album, “When I’m An Angel” definitely, maybe it was produced differently, offered us as radio show people, the opportunity to play her music. Her music is described as Indie, American Soul, Earthie Indie…but that’s later on. Gonna come back with some quotes, cause you know me, I love quotes.

First quote is from a woman who became a New York Times bestselling author and speaker, Mandy Hall. She was just a blogger to start. This quote really sunk in for me.
“Trust the Wait
Embrace the Uncertainty
Enjoy the Beauty of Becoming
When Nothing is Certain
Anything is Possible.”

That, I feel, is an awesome quote. I did pull a couple of cards (divination cards) for us, to start this show from the Medicine Cards deck, by Jamie Sams, longtime resident of Santa Fe, New Mexico. I believe she wrote this book with David Carson. I’m sorry, I don’t have the book in front of me. I do have the two cards that I picked. I picked the Lynx card, which is a form of a cat. Very appropriately it says, “Be still & silent. Become the one who watches. Honor the sacred wisdom you hold.” I love that. And I thought the second one was perfect to follow. The second one I chose for you and for me, is called the Antelope: Time to respond. Take action. No procrastinating. Decide and do it now.” That’s a good message for us too.

The other quote I have is from Masculine Wisdom book by Victor La Cerva, M.D. from the Grandmother card. I quoted from this book, not that long ago, I think in my last Episode. Yes. Water. I have pulled this card before, and it always makes me cry when I read this. It’s a beautiful picture too of Grandmother. It is a picture of an older, indigenous woman. This is from the card deck Masculine Wisdom by Victor La Cerva, M.D. I think I said Querva. I tried to find the proper pronunciation of his name, but I couldn’t find it. Anyway, you know, it’s a radio left over thing; we like to pronounce words correctly. Here’s the reading from the Grandmother card that I’d like you to hear…

“Many grandmothers know the wisdom of their heart. They understand deep in their bones, that talking with each other is a way of loving one another. Having had a lifetime of exploring what women share together in the kitchen, grandmothers are artists of relationship building, resolving conflicts, and fluent in the ways of social connection. They are like mirrors, reflecting light into the dark places of the world, continually wiping the dust away so that your reflection may be bright. They don’t have to impress anyone anymore, they have arrived at a place where there is time for contemplation and passion, where they can dare to live fully just for today. Their love is like misty rain, coming softly yet flooding rivers. There is a grandmother who lives within you, waiting to hold you in her lap and share her gifts.” I just love that. This book was written for men. There is a card for grandmother and mother and sister (and daughter). So you know this is already a whole brain book.

I wanna say something about taking your energy and your power back. Often, I feel this energy is somewhat adrift and I’m aware that not everybody thinks about it for one thing, and not everyone wants their energy and their power back, because usually we give our power away when we are feeling vulnerable, when we’re feeling weakened, when we are not so aware. Could be that we experience this when we are in some sort of trauma, or in some situation in which the power differential in which we knowingly or unknowingly give our power away. As I said, power to me is the same as sovereignty or your energy. Like I said, you may not want that energy back..but don’t poo poo it. It is your energy, it only belongs to you. It doesn’t do anyone else any good. You can in one statement say, “I call all of the energy, all of my power, all of my sovereignty back to myself, that I ever gave to anybody in my whole, entire lifetime.” And see how much more creative, and how much more energy, literally, you have, to be creative; how much more power you have, how much more sovereign you are ~ that you engage the free will universe. Fate. Constellation way. Interesting word. I’m discovering a lot about words, labels and language in general. Language can be very limiting, and labels especially; they can really pull us down and keep us down, until we are ready to break free’ but they are also very useful too ~ labels are labels. Overall, we’re not going to get too hung up on the words, but don’t allow anybody to take your sovereignty or any of your power away! As I mentioned before…don’t want to poo poo… “I don’t want to go there, I don’t want to access those memories, I don’t want to…” Whether it was a surgery you had, or childbirth or an accident ~ you probably don’t want to go back and live that scenario and yet that’s probably the scenario in which you have most of your energy or sovereignty/power away. Call it back. Know that you can transmute that power or alchemize it. You can change it. You can create that energy to be your ally. There is a process. It’s very formal I want to say. It is taught by Lama Tsultrim Allione. She’s written a book about it in 2008, Feeding Your Demons. Process is called Chod from an 11th Century Tibetan Nun, named Machig Labdron (see taramandala.org) A demon says Machig “is anything that obstructs the achievement of freedom.” For example, demons can be fears and addictions like alcoholism.

Machig was an incredible person; “how do I transmute the enemy into something that works for me?” Feeding your demons is a process of turning your enemy into an ally; an energy that works for you not against you. It’s befriending that energy. Overall, it’s not good to push energy away. It’s better to absorb it and take it on. If you ever need any help or assistance, there’s a lot of methods. Feeding Your Demons (Chod) is one, your local Shaman and soul retrieval is another way you can retrieve back your energy and your power. They call it soul loss. Part of your soul does get lost. That’s why its hovering around, “hey remember me?” Could also be that you gave your energy and your power away during a very euphoric moment too; it doesn’t have to be a shadowy, dark moment..it can be very euphoric.

The other thing I wanted to mention first (cause who knows, I might do a whole show on Strength in Numbers). Why are you lighting a candle? Why? At least for me, it’s like a trigger for me ~ it helps me to remember to listen, to be still. I will usually light my candle in the morning, when I am doing my morning prayers and meditation. It will also trigger for me, ignite for me to pay attention throughout the day, it illuminates my path and it often helps to heal and strengthen not only myself, but others and to reduce their trauma; for a loved one who is going through a hard time or having an upcoming surgery or whatever. It can offer you an opportunity to call in you personal form of protection and it allows you the opportunity to pray for direction. By direction, here’s another one of those play on words, my friend, here in Santa Fe, I’m not going to say his name, he came up with the languaging, he’s such a wordsmith, I just love it..an “inner compass.” We all have an inner compass ~ that which gives us direction…it kind of ties into the intuition ~ whatever we lean into; the north, the south, the east or west, or the center ~ that gives us direction, purpose and motivation.

I do want to jump into Laurianne’s music… She’s really blossomed. She’s awesome.
I like this song, because I like the beat. It talks about the moon, and the stars, and the heart, and the sun. If you go to her website, which is lauriamusic.com will get you to lauriannefiorentino.com where she has all of her concert updates. Preface this by saying, she has begun her Elemental Concert Series ~ the next one is September 1st, which by the way is my daughter’s birthday; I’m sure I’ll be going to her performance. I’m so glad she’s picking that back up ~ she and Michael Kott. They are both local musicians. We are so fortunate, in New Mexico in Santa Fe, to have local musicians who are just awesome at what they do. So enjoy the song “Simple As the Sun.” You can hear more of her music and purchase it at her website lauriamusic.com. You can also listen to her music on Soundcloud, Spotify and other places too.

Laurianne Fiorentino / Simple as the Sun / When I’m An Angel / lauriamusic.com

Jump into me swim to the back of my heart,
Where the beat drills deeper and the blood is red hot
Where the sound of the moon is the sound of the stars,
And everything is simple as the sun, as the sun
Everything is Simple As The Sun

If to you I seem distant I am not the only one,
Sometimes I feel like I am coming undone
But I don’t want you to worry, I love you too much,
All I need is something simple
Like the warmth of your touch, So won’t you jump into me….

Heaven is the place where the color of fear
Is the color of me wanting you to be near
If I opened up my heart enough to let you inside,
Would it feel like something in me had just folded up and died?
I’d have to jump into me….

What would I do with an open heart?
How would I pretend to falter
How could I pretend to fall apart?
When everything I thought I knew
Fell right through
And left us wide open, all alone – with the truth
Absolutely
End Part I
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Wake Up and Smell the Coffee

Okay, here we go, Podcast Episode 4, Segment 2, Wake up and smell the coffee. We are going to take it up a notch, and I kinda looked over things, and decided it’s not good to let people wait for too long ~ I’m not going to let you wait about Strength in Numbers, because I really want to impart that principal to you as soon as possible, and so I’m going to talk about that in this segment, Wake Up & Smell the Coffee, but I did want to go back a little more and talk about Jamie Sams. She did cross over in 2020. She was half French and half American Indian. Her ancestors were of Cherokee, Seneca, Iroquois, Choctaw & Mohawk descent. She was a key member and retreat leader of the Wolf Clan Teaching Lodge and she co-authored along with David Carson, who is also of Choctaw descent, The Medicine Cards. I drew the two cards for you today; the lynx and the antelope cards; very powerful message with both of those. They are described in Segment 1. Jamie has quite a legacy; she is the author of many other books on indigenous wisdom.

Now, I’m going to introduce you to Chinmaya Dunster who does the sound bed for strength in numbers principle teaching. Chinmaya Dunster is a communicator, a film maker, and an extraordinary musician. He plays Irish, Celtic ragas and Hindu, East Indian classical world music ragas. He’s a sarod player. You can go to New Earth Records and click on the artist’s link for more information about Chinmaya Dunster and this is his song Elephant Spawn from the 2019 album called Mindfulness. You can listen to more of Chinmaya Dunster’s music on Soundcloud and yea he plays beautiful, amazing music.

Chinmaya Dunster / Elephant Spawn / Mindfulness / New Earth Records / 2019

Here’s the strength in numbers principle teaching. So I had this experience, an epiphany. I had this experience, back in the day, when I had really come to the end of my line, of seven years of working with and struggling with an individual in this community in the field I was in. It was very heart-wrenching and difficult for me; as I imagine it was probably very difficult for her too. After 7 years and many, many steps with this individual, I could not clear the path. I could not clear the path. I wanted the hospital site to be safe for everyone involved in doula~ing: especially for the new babies and new families!

One thing I did get to understand during that time, was that bullying in the workplace was and is a very real thing. I was very happy to find a website, bullyingintheworkplace.com. I was very happy to find that because it described so much of what I was experiencing, even down to the symptoms. This whole ordeal took up a lot of my time, energy and effort; finally, I just need to walk away entirely; by entirely I mean I could no longer do my practice; I felt like I was compromising my clients, as a doula in the hospital. I just couldn’t do anything related to my practice that I had poured my heart and energy into, for so many years, as a childbearing year person. I walked entirely away.

It did open up new doors; allowing for more time with my family, plus it opened up the constellation way & radio full time ~ both of which really helped.

After letting go, and several month, I received a phone call from a person, saying that they knew I had experienced challenges with this person, and would I consider coming to a group and share. I really hesitated. I really didn’t know if I wanted to step into that realm again and activate that which had been so difficult for me and the painful memories it brought up. It was very painful. I said, “I’ll think about it.” I went to sleep that night and I asked for a dream ~ and sure enough, I was given a dream in which I followed through on ~ because the instructions were, that in the real 3D world, I was to follow through on that dream. And so, in “real” life, I was led to a person’s house, far far away from my house. We were mutual friends of this person I was having troubles with; this herd of wild mustangs, filled up on this mesa, they came to the edge of this mesa, and these words pounded in my head, “strength in numbers, strength in numbers.” Sometimes we need other people around us to embark on a very difficult and challenging path, hence the principle of Strength in Numbers proceeded to come to life.

If you haven’t seen the animated movie, Antz, I would really encourage you to see that. It really talks about strength in numbers; so do protests and marches.

And dreaming can be the perfect solution ~ I’m sure you know the difference between a dream and the dream. My dream was very clear and succinct. It was obvious it was the dream.

I do also want to say there is another website: workplacebullying.org. The workplace bullying institute has been active for 26 years now. Definitely listen to the YouTube by Dr. Gary Namie…I think it will enlighten you. This whole experience taught me a lot about fear and judgement as well as kindness, empathy and compassion. And in this example of strength in numbers, we all worked very well together because we had shared a very similar experience together. Even though our goal was very much the same (not only did they listen to my story, but the group encouraged me to get involved again…which again, I had to sit back and think about). Anyhow, as we went forward, myself included, we brainstormed about how we would shift this situation; and yet, it’s not at all what was presented to us. You can have a goal, but let the details be worked out by God (if you believe in God) or the Universe or something greater; because that is what is going to be required. The Universe’s plan, as it turned out, was so much greater than ours!

Finally, you know the old saying, “whenever two or more are gathered;” that’s another strength in numbers principle. Just image moving a heavy kitchen table by yourself. It’s so much easier to have even just one other person.

Be open hearted. Love you all. Bye.

 

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