There are two ways to look at the idea of routines.

On the one hand, we can make a lot of progress on something: a yoga practice, learning a skill, our spiritual work, if we commit to a consistent practice over time.

On the other hand, anything that we do that is too regimented, too strict, or too narrow, doesn’t allow us the space we need to hear the Universe talking to us, nudging us, moving us forward.
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If you’ve had a routine, a practice, or a regimen for a long time, it’s good to think about letting it go for a while. Even if it’s some- thing “good” such as meditation, or journaling, or yoga, or fitness. What happens if you don’t fill your time and space with that ac- tivity? What happens when you feel untethered, ungrounded, not sure of who you are, when you let that practice go?

What normally happens is that there is a little panic, a little discomfort, and then suddenly a great big breath of “ahhhhh” when you realize that you are okay without your practice.

That your practice, even though it grounded and helped and comforted you, did not make you okay. You were and are okay, even without it.

And this realization opens up the possibility for something new. It opens up the possibility for the Universe to whisper to you of your next step, and for you to hear it.

Try stopping your practice for a few days. See what happens.

When our goal is to live in Flow, it is very hard to stay on the straight and narrow path.

We tend to change direction a lot, not being able to hold to a system, because the information that arrives to us from the Universe whispers so insistently: do it this way. Now, do it this way.

It reminds me of sailing a little Sunfish, one of those tiny, little sailboats that one person can sail by his or herself. A gust of wind will come up, and we’ll sense that energy, and let our sail out to catch it.

Then suddenly another kind of wind will come up, and we’ll tighten our sail against that one. We are always adjusting to the currents and the direction and the strength of the wind.

This is what we do in Flow: we are the sail, and the Universe is the wind, and we are always listening and feeling and adjusting to what to do and how to respond next.

Don’t worry too much if you have trouble following a “system” or a “program.” If you’re intuitive, creative, emotional, it’s going to be hard to put yourself into a system.

Keep following Flow. You’ll get to the same place. And you will enjoy the journey so very much more.

Have you ever wanted something so much, that it was the most important thing to you? And then, you didn’t get it?

Many years ago, I applied to a graduate writer’s program that only took a handful of people. It was at a university, and there was a grueling interview and application process.

When I got there, and met with the interviewer, I knew I wasn’t going to get in: I wasn’t academic enough, I wasn’t literary enough. And still, when the rejection letter came, I was crushed. My entire future possibility as a writer seemed to swirl down the drain.

As it turned out, of course, not getting into this writer’s pro- gram was the best thing that ever happened to me. It forced me to discover what I really wanted to write. Not what a writer’s program deemed as appropriate or “good.”

But what I was here to create.

For example, was I only a writer if I had an academic writing path I could follow blindly? Or would I still be a writer, with no landmarks, no support, doing it anyway?

Flash forward many years: and I have written quite a few books. If I’d gotten into that program, I doubt I’d have written anything, ever. I wouldn’t have needed to push myself in the same way. I wouldn’t have taken the risk to expose myself in that way.

In not getting into the writing program, the Universe didn’t give me what I thought I wanted. Instead, the Universe gave me what I needed, so that I could take the next step in my soul growth.

Next time you think the gates have been slammed shut, look again. 

​When we  are  in a  place where we are struggling with eating junk food or food that isn’t healthy, it’s a great idea to look at why.

Almost always, junk food is tied to sugar, fat, or salt. Almost always, junk food is highly processed and packaged.

When you see the nature of junk food as artificial, or with ad- ditives that act on the human body like drugs, it is easier to see why junk food has such power over us.

When food contains drugs, or substances that act on the body like drugs, it is very easy to want to self-medicate. It’s very easy to get addicted to the rush or high or numbing that comes when we eat this way.
When food is highly packaged, even if the packaging is beautiful and lovely, we are adding a new vibration or projection or trigger beyond just the food. We’re eating the idea of the food; the brand. We’re eating the advertising: the aspirational feeling or long- ing of “I will become this if I eat this.”

Sometimes it’s as simple as, we want to have the simpler state of childhood, so we eat foods that are packaged that remind us of our child state.

Don’t be hard on yourself if you succumb to junk food. It is the most tantalizing drug out there, and because it is not called “drug” it is even more difficult to recognize.

Just notice. What am I eating? How does it make my body feel? How does it make my emotions feel? No shame, no guilt. Just notice.

Being in water changes us.

We know that we can hydrate from the inside, such as by drinking glasses of water or tea during the day. This refreshes us, and gives our cells the hydration they need to do their work.

But we also can hydrate and heal by immersing our bodies in water: in a long shower or bath. By soaking or standing in a hot tub or warm springs. Or by swimming or floating in a pool, river, lake, or ocean.

There is something that happens to the skin in water, and to the body in water, that causes us to revert to a state of joy almost instantaneously.

Our skin feels different: instead of air on our skin, we feel the denser, soothing aspect of water. We are immersed once again in the floating Universe of our mother’s womb.

Our bodies feel different; instead of fighting the pull of gravity, they are free to move and stretch much further than we are on land. For those who have pain, this gift is a freedom indeed!

We move differently too: not quick and hard and forced, but fluid and slow and with the water. We move in Flow.

The next time you are in water, consider this baptism. Consider how you are not just washing or submerging your body, but you are washing and hydrating and immersing your aura, your energy body.

It’s not politically correct in the spiritual world to talk about having enemies.

And yet, most of us do.

Maybe they’re not actual enemies, but they fulfill the enemy archetype: the person we most disagree with, have the most conflict with, get along with the least.

Your enemy might be a competitor, or a nemesis, or it might even be a family member you have issues with.
You’ve heard the saying, “keep your friends close, but keep your enemies closer.” This is a wise saying, not because we need to be suspicious or untrustworthy of our enemies. It is wise, because our enemies are always, without doubt, our highest teachers.

Our enemies show us the sides of ourselves that we don’t like to look at, that we resist most about ourselves that we don’t want to admit. Our enemies show us where we are at war with ourselves.

Take a look at your enemy now: is he or she bossy, scattered, inconsistent, rude, undependable, mean, violent?

It’s 100% likely, that these same qualities or traits are what you, as a soul, are struggling with in this body/mind/personality that you’ve been given.

When you have an encounter with your enemy, look at the trigger. And thank the Universe, for bringing you such a powerful teacher.

When you no longer have the trigger, you will no longer have the enemy.