SHIFTING INTO THE POWER AND VULNERABILITY OF "WE"

Happy 2015 and Happy Chinese New Year to you as well!

While I cannot claim to be an expert in Chinese traditions, I am always interested and excited to learn about the meaning of the Chinese new year.  Luckily, my amazing assistant is also a Feng Shui specialist and a Chinese astrologer. She's helped me to understand just how powerful of a year is in store for us if we allow ourselves to dissolve beyond the walls of individuality that we've cherished into a consciousness  of collective harmony. (Click HERE if you are curious about Feng Shui or Astrology.)

This year, the Year of the Sheep, serves as one of our teachers, bathing us in the essence of gentleness, peace and calm.  The sheep energy calls us into the grace of harmony that exists among the collective whole and invites us to consider how we might evolve beyond our individual truth into the power and potential of togetherness. 

Sheep travel in a herd.  Aside from the lone "black sheep", we tend to see sheep huddled together, working collectively to graze, move, live, etc.  Therefore, the sheep energy allows us to nurture one another and to tend to our home, family and community in a way we haven’t experienced in years.  The past three years we lived in horse, snake and dragon energy.  All of these signs are very individualistic, and were powerful, charged and growth oriented, catapulting us forward into the truth and expression of who we uniquely are.  They were rooted in the masculine, yang life force energy. 

This year, in contrast, brings with it a reminder that we need one other.  What good is our individual power and expression if we cannot balance it with our need for vulnerability, tenderness and quiet intimacy?  The sheep represents the profound, transformational power of the feminine, yin life force energy.  It is a time to practice being receptive, to nurture and be nurtured, to be inclusive and trust the greater power of the whole. 

This sounds quite kumbaya, doesn't it?  All of us getting along, loving one another... it's like a Woodstock hippie revival or something.  Well, let me tell it to you straight:  I'm a transformational coach.  EVERY single client and workshop participant that I've ever had was afraid of intimacy on some level.  ALL of us are.  Most people in our society shy away from the power of vulnerability, seeing it as something that needs to be protected, something that makes them susceptible to hurt or danger of some kind.  The sheep is here to guide us into the power of surrender and trust, teaching us that vulnerability is simply a way of being open to deeper connection. 

When was the last time you allowed your heart to break open and ask for support in front of someone else?  When was the last time you allowed your voice to quiver as you shared how you really feel with your closest loved ones or friends?  Have you allowed yourself to melt into the arms of another, not because you are wounded, but because you embody the capacity to receive the purity of their love?  What would it be like to dissolve the walls of facade that you've so carefully built around your precious self?  What would it be like to nurture the deepest parts of yourself in community with others?  What if you allowed your community into your personal experience so deeply that it allowed you all to deepen a bond that was previously superficial?  THIS is the power of the sheep.

Recently, I had an experience with my husband that allowed us to experience a deeper intimacy than we've possibly ever felt together before.  In the midst of a minor argument, where each of us was defending our positions, I allowed myself to be completely vulnerable and to share a substantial fear that I was facing in my life.  In naming my fear and my experience without blame or judgement, I opened to the depths of my vulnerability and asked my husband, who may have been surprised by my outburst of tears, simply to hold me.  In that moment, I chose to take the path of the sheep.  I could have stayed closed off and defended, even in my vulnerability, feeling too stupid or foolish to ask to be held.  I chose instead to drop into the power of "WE"; to lean on him and feel his partnership.  He rose to the occasion so gracefully and held me in such a quiet power.  A new, deeper trust emerged. 

We are being called to dissolve.  It is time to dissolve beyond the power of our individual truth and evolve into a new paradigm that is carried and supported by a larger whole.  We are being called to TRUST.  Trust, trust, trust.  Trust in our partners, trust in our friends, trust in our loved ones, trust in our community, trust in humanity once again.  The sheep invites us to fall back into the arms of the other and to watch in amazement as they actually catch us.  What a stunningly magnificent balance to the part of us who knows how to handle it, who knows how to make it happen and rise to the occasion.  In addition to our strength, we now get to experience our softness and our openness.  In doing so, our softness and openness becomes our new strength. 

So what does it look like for YOU to embrace the power of the sheep this year?  How might you lean on your loved ones more to ask for help?  What does it look like to open yourself to a new level of receiving - receiving love, kindness, abundance, blessings?  How can you open your heart into vulnerability just a little more? 

As we open to consider and trust the needs of the whole, we ironically nourish ourselves.  Our interconnectedness will be our source of power, so it is a good time for partnering up with your cheerleaders - those people who hold you up and believe in you.  If you are someone who likes to control everything and do everything yourself, or if you are a perfectionist, this year will serve as a huge growing edge and opportunity for you.  It's your chance to learn to let go a little bit more, to allow others to participate and to surrender into being instead of doing. 

I invite you to realize just how much actually has your back.  Feel into your back right now as you allow yourself to rest on all that holds you and supports you in this life.  All those people, the earth's gravity, the power of the Divine.  It's all here holding you so you can relax back into it.  Allow yourself to rest on the intervonnectivity that binds us together, the unified whole, a humanity based on love and light. 

Here's to your open heart, your nourished self and the joy of feeling your abundant community.  May you receive and receive and receive. 

Shine On!
Rony

PS - I want to hear from you!  How are you going to soften and open a bit more this year?  What will be powerful for you in that?  Please comment below and I'll respond!  Happy new year!

        HOW GRIEF SILENTLY OPENS THE COLLECTIVE HEART

Last Wednesday started off as a normal morning - I turned the tea kettle on, rubbed my eyes and pet my anxious puppy as he nipped at my toes for attention.  I was gearing up for a full day of coaching sessions when I got the call that a dear family friend had very suddenly passed away.  He was the younger brother of one of my best friends.  He was someone I had grown up with, an extension of my family.  He was a light in our world, gone too soon at the ripe age of 35.  I dropped the phone and fell to the floor sobbing.  Total shock.  
As the week progressed, this shocking tragedy brought together my expansive "chosen" family from adolescence - an entire multi-generational community of friends and families who have known one another for over 25 years.  We hugged, we wept, we remembered, we honored, we ate, we laughed and more than anything we grieved as we said goodbye to our beloved loved one together.  

Many of us have experienced the death of a loved one, or perhaps felt the impact of loosing someone we may not have even known that well at all.  The death of my friend fell during the same week as the death of Robin Williams which devastated people all over the world.  Around the globe, hearts were ripped open as people mourned this unexpected loss.  Death seems to give us pause.  Somehow it softens us.  It puts things in perspective and startles us into remembering how precious life can be.  It seems to say to us: "Wake Up!"

As we search for meaning during the time of tragedy and grief, I cannot help but be struck by a sense of healing that has the potential to emerge in these heart-open moments.  As much as I cannot fully digest what has happened to my friend, his family and our community, I somehow also cannot shake a simultaneous sense of profound peace that feels present to me at this time.  How is it that something so terrible can give us access to something so reassuring?  
The answer is simple:  LOVE.

Despite the struggle in the Middle East, random shootings in the Midwest and the heart-wrenching depression that swallowed the life of a comedic icon, I still believe that in our truest state we are made of love.  I trust fully that we are actively evolving our human consciousness and that on a soul level, we are more familiar with the light than the dark.  

Could it be that grief opens our hearts just enough to remember LOVE as our truth?  Could it be that grief is clearing out Humanity's old story of separation, judgment, danger and lack as it silently softens the Collective Heart?  

Grief is a profound teacher if we let it be.  If we let the title waves of sadness pour through us, then they can awaken and cleanse our hearts.  Death is a reminder of impermanence and is one doorway to re-awaken our ability to BE with what is in this moment.  Death is here to remind us about LOVE.  It invites us to connect to our soul's path and to one another right now, in this life.  It disintegrates our walls of judgement, story and constriction that have kept us small and cocooned away from the authentic connection we so deeply desire.  How come it takes the shattering of life for us to remember how precious and vulnerable we truly are?  It's as though the grief over my friend's death has on some level cleared some out-dated residue of isolation, contraction and smallness in my heart.  While I feel immense sadness, I can tell that I am more open.  I am somehow more loving today.  I am seeing through a renewed pair of eyes that offer compassion, tenderness, trust and peace towards myself and those around me.  This is the gift of those who have left us.  They afford us the blessing of loving more in this life, allowing our collective consciousness to evolve.  Their departure opens the door for our healing.  

As I process the meaning of these events, I begin to wonder how we might all soften ourselves to love a little bit more.  What would it take to pick up the phone instead of feed our isolation?  What would it do if we practiced receiving love in moments of tender vulnerability?  What does it take for us to truly surrender?

I am reminded that each of us is whole.  Each of our souls has an innate wisdom and is on the perfect path.  Each of us is invited by forces greater than we can ever imagine to return to our natural state of love.  To SHOW UP and nourish our sacred connections to ourselves and each other.  Each of us is OK.  We can handle our pain, we can lean into our fear a little more today than yesterday, we can stretch ourselves out of the darkness of comfort back into the light of love in some way today.  

Personally, I feel changed, and in this change I have recommitted myself to live vulnerably, lovingly and in connection even more.  We are made of love.  We are here to love ourselves and each other.  We are asked to do it now.  And to ask for help doing it.  

My invitation to you is that you courageously honor your soul's longing for connection, peace, joy, purity, liberation and love.  It's safe to do so.  It's time to do so.  It's our responsibility to do so.  You are fully blessed and always supported by the Great Mystery that seems to somehow always bring us back to love.

May you Shine On.
Love,
Rony

MY NEW INSPIRATIONAL BOOK ANTHOLOGY BECOMES AVAILABLE ON AMAZON THIS FRIDAY, JUNE 6TH!

In just 3 days, the book anthology that I co-authored, In Pursuit of the Divine, will be released on Amazon.  I was invited to participate in this incredible, inspiring and impactful collaboration by my friend and the book's compiler, Krista Gustavson who asked that each of the book's 30 co-authors share our stories of empowerment and transformation more  truthfully, vulnerably and courageously than ever before.  The result is a collection of stories that is incredibly real, totally inspirational and packed with tools to empower women around the globe.  This is our time. This is YOUR time.  To be utterly and gloriously YOU and to shine your light fully for your sake, the sake of your loved ones and the sake of our world.  This book will empower you to do so.  Stay tuned for the Amazon link which will become available on Friday so that you can purchase the book for yourself and all the other women who are important to you!

The purpose of this book is to inspire and empower Women all over the world to reclaim their Feminine Power and align with who they are so they can fully express their deepest truth.  Each co-author invites you to witness their own Transformational Journey, one that empowered them to be who they are today as the Feminine Rising.  Each chapter reveals the truth, what they discovered on their path to cultivate healing within themselves. Each story reveals the beauty already inherent in each one of us, a unique journey where a time of darkness initiated deep feminine wisdom of spectacular threads woven together in a tapestry of courage, bravery, trust and triumph In Pursuit of the Divine.

MEET THE CO-AUTHORS!
I joined forces with 29 other healers, coaches, visionaries and thought leaders from around North America and the U.K.  

Each co-author will touch your heart and speak to your soul, giving you greater awareness, clarity and inspiration. You will learn that losing yourself in the midst of pain, grief and loss can be a portal to strengthen and empower ourselves. I invite you to step into your own story so that your true purpose can be revealed. When we are completely aligned with our Purpose, we are the greatest contribution to the world.

Our Purpose is to inspire and empower Women all over the globe with our transformational stories. Every Woman has experienced some form of disempowerment in her life leaving behind traces of her pure essence; she then becomes hidden from the world. Our purpose is to expand your awareness, acknowledge you and provide a sanctuary to reclaim your own Feminine Power. Women now more than ever are being called upon to come together as a collective entity. With our unique offerings, we have a desire to support you and guide you in activating your own inner wisdom so you can align yourself with the greatest expression of who you are and know your purpose in the world.

             RADIO SHOW WITH CAROLYN CJ JONES
Yesterday I had the privilege of being interviewed by Carolyn CJ Jones, a "Forgiveness Coach", Best Selling Author and radio show host.  She has a weekly radio show and asked me to come be a part of it!

I LOVE the topic of forgiveness.  It shifts us from anger into acceptance, from illness into healing and from a closed heart to an open, connected life filled with possibility.  

During this 50 minute show, I speak with CJ about how practicing forgiveness is a critical part of being able to live our truth.  I touched on my own healing journey and the role that practicing forgiveness towards myself and others played in opening me up to live the life of my dreams.  We spoke about anger, love, being the curious "Observer" of your emotional experience and so much more.  It was a fun, rich and authentic discussion!  I invite you to check it out and to get interested in what opening the gates of your heart can do for the rest of your life.  It may just lead you to bliss!

Shine On!
Love, Rony

Happy 2013!!

I am a big fan of clarifying one's vision at the start of any new cycle and the new year is a powerful time to get clear, intentional and empowered.  In doing so, most people make a list of New Year's resolutions, focusing predominantly on what they want to accomplish during the year.  While this is helpful towards achieving one's goals, most often New Year's resolutions loose their relevance and excitement by March, falling flat.  In this video, learn why New Year's resolutions don't work and learn how to engage in a beautiful, invigorating, meaningful and powerful intention setting ritual that will connect you to your purpose, power and joy as you manifest easily in 2013!  I welcome your comments below - feel free to share your intentions for the year!

Shine On!
Rony

SEEING LIFE THROUGH THE EYES OF 'THANKS'

And so again, Thanksgiving is upon us.  The holiday in which we are reminded to give thanks as we celebrate time with family and the abundance of the fall harvest.  Honestly though, gratitude becomes so cliche around Thanksgiving that it is almost easy to breeze right over it.  We focus on having a big meal, on travel and on holiday shopping.  Or, we are grateful for a day or two and then go back to normal.  What would it be like to always see life through the lens of 'thanks'?

In my personal world, I have an enormous amount to be grateful for at this time.  I just got married 10 days ago!  Woo hoo!!  It was the most thrilling, authentic and celebratory experience I've ever had and I can honestly say that I am over the moon happy.  It's easy for me to look at life with grateful eyes right now.  But what about those times when it's not easy?  What about when life gives us lemons?  What does it mean to possess an "Attitude of Gratitude" and how do we cultivate that?

THE HOBBLING BRIDE
Two weeks before my wedding I sprained my ankle.  In a clumsy, frenetic moment in which I was running around scattered, I tripped and injured myself.  I couldn't believe it.  A sprained ankle before the wedding?!  How was I going to dance or to walk down the aisle?  What about the fabulous heels that I bought for the occasion?  After a short lived solitary pity party in which I came to terms with the disappointment of adjusting to unexpected circumstances, I realized that a gift had been placed in my lap.  Ironically, the thing I wanted most was to be well rested and grounded before my wedding weekend.  The Universe delivered.  Despite the pain and the frustration of hobbling around during one of the most important weeks of my life, I was given the chance to slow down.  I slept a ton, caught up on my emails and actually enjoyed reading a book before my wedding.  And thanks to my sprained ankle, I ended up wearing cowboy boots under my wedding dress, which is the most fun thing I've done in a while!  It put me in the most festive mood!  Most importantly, I truly began to see everything through a lens of gratitude.  I leaned on gratitude and it came through for me, shifting my focus to the truly important things, showing me how much love exists around me whether I'm in heels or in my pajamas.  I became grateful for my body that has the power to heal itself.  I became grateful for my legs, my arms, my breath, my toes and for the strength and generosity of the people around me.  It connected me to grace and spirit during a very special time in my life.  That is the power of gratitude.

Possessing an Attitude of Gratitude means looking at the glass half full and focusing on all that is going well for you regardless of the current circumstances.  It means seeing the gift in everything.  During the week of my honeymoon, my extended family members in Israel experienced the frightening reality of being surrounded by political unrest - literally running into bomb shelters to protect themselves and their children.  Who am I to complain?  There is way too much to be grateful for.  We take the basics for granted.

FOUR EASY TIPS
Cultivating gratitude is actually quite easy.  It can be done within a matter of seconds, any time, any place.  All it requires is having your focus on it.  Like with anything in life, what we focus on becomes our reality.  Here are a few of my favorite ways to open to gratitude and look at life through the eyes of 'thanks':

1.  Wake Up Grateful.  Before getting out of bed, mentally list 5-10 things you are grateful for.  I recommend starting small and taking nothing for granted - be grateful that you have a bed, be grateful for your cozy comforter, be grateful to your body that breaths on it's own while you sleep, be grateful for the morning sun, etc. 

2.  Start A Gratitude Journal.  At the end of each day list 10 things that you are grateful for in your life.  Simply by taking note of this, actually writing it down every day, your whole life can change.  Be grateful for the person who held the door open for you, be grateful for the smile from the stranger, be grateful that your pen still has ink in it, be grateful for your children's curiosity.

3.  Be Grateful For What Is To Come.  It is incredibly rewarding and uplifting to be grateful for all that is coming our way.  Yes, having gratitude for those things that haven't happened yet!  This is especially powerful when we are feeling down or sorry for ourselves with regard to a certain situation.  For example, being grateful for your soul mate who is making their way towards you at this very moment can turn loneliness into excited anticipation and hope.  Being grateful for the unknown possibilities and surprises of the coming year can turn year-end gloom into wonderment, spontaneity and possibility.  All that is coming our way is a gift.  It's easy to forget this.  Think of how grateful you are for the friends you have in your life now whom you didn't yet know ten years ago.  Imagine all of the wonderful people you will know and love in a few years from now!

4.  See The Gift In Everything.  Yes, everything.  See the gift in your health crisis.  See the gift in your relationship crisis.  What are these things awakening you to?  What blessings and opportunities are being divinely handed to you?  Sometimes it is our most challenging interpersonal relationships that establish the playing field for personal growth by teaching us surrender, forgiveness, authenticity, compassion and empowerment.  Aren't you a better, more grounded and loving person because of this?  Haven't these dynamics helped you in other areas of your life?  See the gift in your loss.  Even grief can present the opportunity to relish in the precious moments that were had with another.  There is always opportunity to see the blessing and to be grateful for what you've had and currently have.  Magic is all around.

ONE MORE TIME
I was recently exposed to a very simple gospel song titled "One More Time".  The lyrics are "One more time. One more time. He's allowed us to come together one more time".  Regardless of whether you believe in God or if God is male, female, etc., the message within these lyrics is clear:  be grateful that we've been given yet another opportunity to come together again at this time.  It's miraculous and special and beautiful that life has worked out such that we can share in this experience together right now.  Be grateful.  

So I invite you to be grateful this holiday season.  Be grateful for the people around you at the table.  Be grateful for the food that nourishes your body and brings you together.  Be grateful that you have a home and a table to sit at.  Be grateful that you have money to spend while you are amongst the overwhelming holiday crowds.  Be grateful that you have legs to carry you through the stores.  Be grateful that you have people to give gifts to and people to receive love from.  Be grateful that you can breath in the fresh holiday air one more time.  Practice looking at life through the lens of "Thanks".  I'll bet you'll be thankful you did.

I'd like to extend a huge THANK YOU to my amazing coaching clients, group and workshop participants, my readers and Facebook followers.  I am in awe of your willingness to show up and evolve yourselves daily.  It is a true honor and joy to be on the path with you.  Thank you to my phenomenal community of friends and colleagues who provide connection, inspiration, laughs, support and truth as I express myself and my purpose fully in this life.  Thank you to my beautifully loving family and to my newly extended family who cheer me on and provide a sense of home, foundation and love.  And most of all, thank you, thank you, thank you to my most special husband, who is the rest bed to my heart, the perfect companion to my soul and the most illuminated mirror of love in my life.  It is a blessing to walk the path in partnership with you.

Wishing all of you and your loved ones a most joyous, illuminated and nourishing holiday season!
Happy, happy Thanksgiving!

Shine On,
Rony

                                   
 AWAKEN TO YOUR TRUTH

On August 13th, I was interviewed by spiritual friend and radio host Jeff Daugherty of NC Kaballah radio.  Hundreds of people tuned in to join the conversation and learn how simply BEING YOURSELF is one of the most potent doorways to accessing the divine.  




In this juicy hour long show I share the following:
* How to identify what has meaning to you
* How to get in touch with and realize your dreams.
* Tips and small steps to easily bring spirituality into your daily life.
* How the right brain can be used to bring your dreams alive.
* The critical connection between nutrition and spirituality.  


Here's what people have said about the show:

"Folks, this is one lady that GETS IT.  She is the one you have been looking for to help you get to the next level." - Jeff Daughterty

"Amazing talk last night.  It's insane how many of your messages have been completely in line with has been going on in my life.  Thank you for the reminders.  Look forward to reading/listening to more." - N.M. 

"That was great! I listened to the whole thing and it really touched me because I have been feeling out of alignment lately.  Thanks so much!" - M.P.

To listen to the FREE Replay, visit here:  http://www.blogtalkradio.com/nckabbalah/2012/08/14/nckfriends

I'd love to hear your comments and questions after you've heard the show!  Feel free to share below.  For more information on Jeff Daughterty visit his website HERE.  To read my personal story of awakening and how the Embodied Truth Coaching Program can change your life click HERE.

Thanks for tuning in!
Shine On,
Rony

WE ARE THE ONLY ONES WHO CAN SAVE OURSELVES.

Inevitably on the path of transformation and self-actualization, there comes a moment when we feel as though we are totally alone.  We long for someone to fix us, to tell us what we need to do, to share "the" secret with us and yet somehow that doesn't seem to fix things.  

While this may feel like an excruciatingly lonely or frustrating time, it is actually one of the most magical, special moments on the path to awakening to your true self.  For this is the moment when you get to be completely and utterly with yourself.  You have the gift, the opportunity and the choice as to whether or not you will keep walking forward with yourself and ultimately develop a deeper relationship with your true self.  It is critical to have support on the path - from community, teachers, healers, coaches, friends and family (biological or otherwise).  And yet, none of those people can save us.  We are the only ones who can truly save ourselves.  We are the ones who get to choose if we will love ourselves and practice self compassion as we let ourselves emerge or if we will reside in a mindset of despair, frustration and defeat.  We are the ones who decide if we will rise up from the ashes and ask for help and if we will keep moving towards our dreams when help does not arrive.  

I invite you to see this moment as the biggest gift the Universe has ever given you.  Seize it as your opportunity to take a stand for yourself and to commit to doing what ever it takes to actualize who you truly are in this life.  I promise you that as soon as you accept that you are on this journey by yourself and for yourself, that things will shift.  The right support systems and cheer leaders will emerge.  The fog will begin to clear and your path to deep fulfillment, purpose, joy and authentic self expression will become illuminated step by step.  

You are a perfect human being who is creative, resourceful and whole in your most natural state and at this very moment.  Trust the whisper inside you.  Trust your abilities.  Trust that as you keep evolving you will experience the great abundance, love and magic of this world more and more.  Below is one of my favorite poems by the great poet Mary Oliver.  I am inspired to share it with you so that it may support you in moving forward on YOUR path no matter what. 

Shine On,
Rony

The Journey 

One day you finally knew
what you had to do, and began,
though the voices around you
kept shouting
their bad advice --
though the whole house
began to tremble
and you felt the old tug
at your ankles.
"Mend my life!"
each voice cried.
But you didn't stop.
You knew what you had to do,
though the wind pried
with its stiff fingers
at the very foundations,
though their melancholy
was terrible.
It was already late
enough, and a wild night,
and the road full of fallen
branches and stones.
But little by little,
as you left their voices behind,
the stars began to burn
through the sheets of clouds,
and there was a new voice
which you slowly
recognized as your own,
that kept you company
as you strode deeper and deeper
into the world,
determined to do
the only thing you could do --
determined to save
the only life you could save. 

 ~ Mary Oliver ~