 The sadness, grief and worry I hold today will be gone tomorrow or the next. Just like the flow of the river, everything is in perpetual movement. A slow dance that's not always fully seen or felt.
When difficult feelings settle in, I remind myself it's the uncomfortable part of life we try to avoid. If I’m honest with myself, I’ve struggled to rise above the pain before, and recognizing that pain has led me to where I am today. In the pain, we can get lost in the strong desire to push through, fearing we may get swallowed up in the heavy emotions. "What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us." — Henry S. Haskins Pain has a plan. It affects all of us in varying degrees and at different times in our lives. It wakes us up to what needs attention or what is no longer working for us. Pain teaches us who we are on a very deep level. It forces us to stand up and be warriors in our own lives. It reminds us we are human and it may be time to choose a new direction, change our ideas and expectations. To try again, maybe in a different way and with a different perspective. To challenge ourselves to dig deep, trust our own unique journey as we learn who we truly are on a very deep level. To find our inner strength, not compromise or compare ourselves to others as we work through the difficult parts of our lives. Look deeply at how we view our world and the people we share it with. To question it all and be brave enough to change course when things aren’t working. The courage to know and understand that all the answers to life’s big questions come from within. We’ve done this before in our lives. Is it time to do it again? Remember that time you loved someone so deeply that you thought your whole world would crumble or be less valuable without them? You found the strength to let go when it was time and you were able to move on. It hurt but you knew you were strong enough to put yourself first and move on. Look at you now – stronger, bolder and wiser. Willing to surrender and try love again. Remember that job that exhausted you and made you question your worth? You were so scared to leave the security of the work and paycheck but cared enough about your dreams to try something new and fulfilling. Somehow you knew it was important to take the risk, rise to a new challenge, and move ahead in faith that you would land in a better place. It wasn’t easy and you struggled at times with your decision. Look at you now, proud of yourself for tapping into your strength and thriving in your new role. When you lost your dad, you crumbled into sadness and grief for a time. You began to understand the loneliness of what it means to parent yourself. The pain and loss seemed overwhelming, as if it would swallow you whole. You were forced to look at how you were now, an adult child without either parent. You learned, you grew, and you healed. You now love harder and more openly, holding those precious to you even closer than before. You relished the photos, the memories, the advice only your parents could give you, and hold it even closer to your heart. Their advice seems priceless and you have a sense of pride. You pass it on in a loving tribute to the ones that have molded, shaped, and loved you in all the seasons of your life. Each one of us is a special work of art. We have gifts that make us unique but one common thread is the human condition. I have to remind myself that in this lifetime there will be seasons of joy filled with love, friendship, fulfillment and abundance. Other times it can feel lonely and isolating with many challenges, pain and grief. To truly live, to trust and lean into faith, is to fully experience all of it. Reminding ourselves that nothing lasts forever, even the pain. Finding my peace and strength is an ongoing process. There are days when it's simple, and easy, and life has a beautiful flow. Other days, it feels punishing, confusing and even insurmountable. The truth is, the only way out of the bad times, is to go through it. Avoidance and numbing the pain, staying chronically distracted or caught up in anger, only causes more pain down the road. Think back to all those times you’ve tackled other life challenges and you were able to find your way out of the darkness. You’re stronger for it and now is the time to acknowledge your bravery and keep going. I use the following technique to slow my mind and my nervous system when life feels too overwhelming and my emotions are scattered. Pain causes stress on the nervous system and places us in fight or flight mode, making it hard to think clearly and soothe ourselves. Deep breaths with repetitive phrases or mantras can help break the stress cycle and bring yourself back to calm. Try sitting in a quiet space and close your eyes. Place your right hand over your heart and take a few deep breaths – in through the nose, out through the mouth. Imagine your body melting into the earth. As you breathe in deeply, repeat a phrase that feels comfortable and affirming. Here are some phrases that may help:
If you have a favorite phrase that helps you calm yourself, share it below and help others! Join me over at PeaceandPear.com for more conversations.
0 Comments
 When is it time to hit the pause button? Set things down, stop carrying the heavy load when the old ways, thoughts, and beliefs don’t seem relevant or important anymore. Maybe they won’t be important in the future and for right now, maybe it’s time to focus on something that’s been hiding inside. Putting what I can on hold and walking away for a little while. Missing in action, even while I’m standing right here in front of you.
Difficult feelings with a new perspective in the making. Just like all of nature, there is a season for believing and creating, and a season for letting go and accepting. A season to explore and discover, and a season to retreat and rest. Sometimes the sadness is waiting in the wings for the opportunity to be expressed. Allowing it to surface helped me heal after years of denying some painful feelings. To continue to suppress it takes tremendous energy and it often leads to more anger, resentment and despair. My season of exploring and accepting real change had to happen. A journey that has lasted for the past 3 years. Exploring my beliefs, questioning my motivations, the work I was doing, my relationship wounds, and looking deeply at the experiences that have made me who I am today. All leading me to this point in my life right now. Change is hard. Familiarity is easier. Even when there’s pain, it is simple and expected. The truth is, I would rather hurt than feel nothing at all. Through all the turbulence, allowing a different version of myself to emerge. One I can be proud of in this new chapter. I believe it’s good to take a pause and work on finding a braver, stronger version of ourselves. Hold steadfast in life’s chaos, and the seasons that whisper it’s time to take a deeper look inside at what’s been buried. No escaping. Just a decision to face it all with a sense of gratitude for the lessons for this is what it means to truly live. I've learned to be okay with being a work in progress. In these small breaks I gave myself, turning inward, I can see now the things I thought were important don’t seem to hold the same value. Situations I feared and ran from, don’t hold the same power because in reality, they weren’t as terrifying as I had made up in my mind. People I thought closest to me, we’re fighting their own battles. Many walked away without a goodbye. It’s in these moments, I took a good look and made different choices to help myself. The promise of hope, renewal, a different perspective, and a deeper understanding of what my world is filled with. It’s mine to explore in the best way I know how. The real work begins when we don't recognize ourselves anymore. It’s in those moments, I have to stop and ask myself some tough questions. What if this is all there is? Would that be enough? If I wasn’t scared, what would I do differently? If I was really honest with myself, what might make me happy? Would it be worth the price? Can I be fearless enough to make changes, knowing there are no guarantees but move forward anyways with a sense of hope and purpose? I fought it for a long time to ease the discomfort of fear of failure, but I kept hearing yes! To stay put felt like I was choking and missing out on my life. At my core, I needed to explore and make different choices or face sinking. That’s when I decided to make my big move. After a long pause, a lot of reflection and struggling with fear, I decided it was the right time to change my life. It wasn’t overnight, but eventually I made my move. I left my home, my sense of security and familiarity and moved to a new city I’ve never even visited before. To trust that I would find my way felt freeing and exciting. It also felt a little crazy but I was doing it. At my core I knew this was my calculated move. I would create a new life with new friends and memories that would be more aligned with my goals for a better life. It didn’t stop there. Months later, I left my job, seeking a new adventure that could fire up my soul. One that wouldn’t leave me feeling depleted, unappreciated, frustrated and worn out. I was no longer willing to abandon myself and run on autopilot. Life is not for the faint of heart if you really want to live. Courage, strength, and faith don’t always come easy, but not all good things in life are easy. It all starts in the quiet moments where you find patience and the belief that you are worthy to live the life you’ve always imagined. Don’t think you have to do it alone. Seek out the tools that can help you on your journey. Lean on that person who will support your dreams and lift you up in your darkest moments, when you think you just can’t do it. Sometimes we’re faced with choices that are uncomfortable, feel unforgiving and unfair. At those times, we’re faced with a choice - keep running or take a pause and change direction. If you gave yourself the gift of pausing, observing and listening to your intuition, what would you do differently in your life?  This is the first part in a free mini-retreat series based on my Wisdom of You workshops. What has life shown you so far? During this pandemic, we’ve had to cope with new ways of living, learning, working and communicating. Old establishments that were the bedrock of our society are breaking down and it can feel painful, scary and disorienting as we search for answers. If you settle into a quiet space you may feel a collective consciousness rising, begging us to ask some “big life” questions– “what in your life is no longer working,” and “what changes need to be made to help you?”
We may not know exactly how the story will end but we know that our world will be very different moving forward. Is this a bad thing? Depends on how you internalize this powerful change. Some may view it as painful and sad as we leave the “old normal” behind. Others welcome it with the hope and belief broken systems will be redeveloped and offer new opportunities for all. Both viewpoints lead to the unknown but for certain there will be change. Change can be scary but some of the most profound moments of our lives come from change. Close your eyes and settle in for a moment. Find a comfortable position. Take a deep breath in through your nose and out through your mouth. Repeat this five times, deeply inhaling and exhaling. Ask yourself, what would it feel like if I let go of my old thought patterns that are keeping me stuck and unable to move forward. What if I gave up the negative, scary stories I’ve been telling myself. And replaced it with an inquisitive mind that fuels itself with gentleness, hope, ease, and the knowing I am not being punished, I am supported by life with new opportunities? How would it feel if I let go of the need to control and plan my every move and instead became an observer, seeing my life as a puzzle with each piece building upon another? How would my outlook on life change and what are the possibilities I might see for my life? Letting go of the outcome, having a new willingness to let life flow, breathing more into the spaces that are constricted and scared and asking to be supported and guided through these tough moments. Sometimes, the best thing we can do to support ourselves is to not overthink, but to let our heart, our intuition, that inner guidance we all have, lead us down the right path. Even with the hard lessons, there is a silver lining. These defining moments help us understand how those painful lessons were there to teach us and help us grow even stronger and more resilient. They may even put us on a whole new life path that otherwise we would have never discovered. Challenges teach us who we are. And if you aren’t changing and growing, you aren’t evolving and life becomes mundane and often times, meaningless. Retreat exercise: Open a journal or writing pad, sit comfortably in a chair with meditation music and soft lighting. Maybe light a candle, make yourself some tea or your favorite beverage. Let your answers and ideas flow and try not to censor yourself. Remember you are the only one reading this journal entry and it doesn’t have to be complete sentences or grammatically correct. The idea is to just start jotting down thoughts as they enter your mind. This exercise allows you to explore journaling as a means of creative expression, documenting your journey and alleviating stress as you express yourself. Get started with these questions and see where your journal entry takes you!
It is my hope that this little retreat exercise helps you focus on the present moment, keep your thoughts and feelings dialed in on what you want to experience, how you want to feel and what you want to accomplish as we move into a new and exciting transitional time. If you would like some support, please contact me at [email protected] and I will get back with you to set up a time for a complimentary transformational coaching session. Peace, love and pear! Christine P.S. These questions and more can be found in my Soulful Connections card deck and my new book, The Wisdom of You; A Transformational Journey to Creating an Extraordinary Life.  For most of us, we are creatures of habit and we see change as threatening and frightening. It can rock our foundation and feel as if we are losing control, begging the question; did we ever really have control? Change creates discomfort but how can we grow without change?
Change forces us to take a deeper look at ourselves, our decisions, and our world. It can be a spotlight illuminating areas that are no longer working or serving us or our global community well. At the time, it may feel powerfully overwhelming, as if we’ve lost something we have valued so deeply. It can be a situation that is thrust upon us and we must change our perspectives, our values, our friends or our home. The discomfort in the change holds so many messages for us if we choose to look at it deeply and with conscious awareness. Think about an event, an insight, an experience, a conversation that forever changed how you are or how you operate in the world. What did you learn about yourself? Did you recognize how resilient you are? Were you able to see another perspective? Did you become aware of how you were caught in a routine and the actual change you went through created new space in your life for new experiences, people and opportunities to show up? Change actually has a positive effect on us personally and professionally. It helps us become more flexible and open-minded to new possibilities. It also helps us become better communicators and creative problem-solvers. We begin to find strength in new beginnings. And new opportunities begin to manifest in our lives as a result. When I look back, I realize that all the good things in my life are the results of changes that occurred in the past. Even the bad times, where I fought against the changes, I learned valued lessons I wouldn’t trade the world for. I bet that if you reflect on your life, you could find the same. What one area of your life would a change serve you well? Can you get past your fear and trepidation, tune into your inner guidance, and examine what change is needed for your growth? What ways can you be the powerful change you wish to see in the world? Wishing you well on your journey. Peace, love and pear! Christine P.S. Share this with someone in your tribe that could use a little encouragement and strength as we move through a lot of global changes.  Did you take that risk you’ve been dreaming of? Did you climb your mountain and take a peek at the other side? Did you go after that job promotion with honor and integrity? Did you start a new career or learn a new skill? Did you create a new program, platform, opportunity for yourself and others? Did you make good on the promise to yourself to get more sleep and relax more? Did you spend more time with your family and friends and learn the benefits of quality downtime? Did you learn how to set boundaries and be clear on your intentions with yourself and others? Did you spend a few minutes each day in quiet, self-reflection? Did you cultivate a deeper sense of gratitude for your life? Did you explore practicing more compassion and less judgement of yourself and others? Did you help your neighbor out? Did you practice accepting other opinions and beliefs and not creating more conflict? Did you practice the golden rule? Did you commit to being more mindful at work and at home and not be so reactive? Did you learn how to stress less and appreciate more? Did you learn that there is no such thing as perfectionism and doing your best was always good enough? Did you give yourself permission to laugh, play and enjoy the simple things with a sense of curiosity and wonder? Did you learn more about your kids and partner and what motivates them? Did you limit your electronics usage and practice being more present in the company of others? Did you read a good book? Did you explore more time in nature? Did you move your body more? Did you make a commitment to your body to nourish it more with good, healthy, energetically charged foods? Did you limit your time spent on violent, disturbing, fear inducing television? Did you spend more time with things that fill your mind with good thoughts? Did you show gratitude for all the little things in your daily life? Did you reflect on all the things you had taken for granted? Did you step outside your comfort zone this year and take a chance at truly living life? For many of us, 2020 has been a year of great challenges. Some of us were forced to make big changes while others had the opportunity to identify and change what isn’t working in our lives. When we see that life isn’t happening to us but rather it’s happening for us, we can begin to grow and create on a higher level. You may only be taking baby steps at first but there is a growing momentum that if you catch the wave, it will take you on the ride you have been waiting for all this time. Don’t waste it. Take this time to awaken to the deeper part of your compassionate, loving, creative self that is waiting to be explored! Peace, love and pear! Christine Porter  I’ve heard more and more people toss around the phrase “conspiracy theories” but aren’t they just different viewpoints? When did we learn that was unacceptable or bad for our society? Why is there so much anger towards people who disagree with our views?
We all have free will to explore what moves us. We are unique and come from different backgrounds with different life circumstances that mold us into who we are today. The only thing I hope for now, in this time of Great Awakening - our new world where everything’s turned upside down so we can expose what is no longer working for humanity- is not to contribute to the divisiveness and fight to try and change someone else's mind into believing what I believe. I am learning to find the patience, compassion and understanding to accept, not be afraid or demonize someone for thinking differently. Different viewpoints, religious affiliations, cultural and political beliefs, these are what makes us unique as individuals. It fosters an open society. You don’t have to agree with people at all times, but to embrace this belief of individual diversity is to show compassion, respect and love for all of mankind. When we rush to judgement and become highly reactive, whether in the boardroom at work, social media or at the family dinner table, our ego is taking over. The ego is that part inside of us that likes to keep us in fear and doubt, keep us small and unworthy and when things are going right, tries to creep in with stories of fear and failure. As a student and a teacher in the practice of Mindfulness and Being Present, I've explored the art of learning to slow down my reactivity, take a pause, witness what is rising within myself. The stronger the reaction, the bigger the wound. Ask yourself, if in this moment you are trying to make others wrong in an effort to make yourself feel safe and right? Is this person or group threatening my belief systems? What is causing this reaction? Am I bringing a past story or trauma into this moment? It is at this point you can begin to become more conscious and aware of your own motivations and trigger points and make better decisions as to how to proceed. The first step is awareness and acceptance for what is. People and circumstances challenge us. You don’t need to, nor will you always agree. It’s a part of life and the human experience. To try and avoid this or fight to change it, is futile and frustrating. The most complicated, frustrating, sad and disappointing experiences don’t happen to us, they happen for us. It’s the way we learn about ourselves and the world around us. Share your opinions without aggression. Share your facts and see if that person is open to exploring. Try not to go to battle. Make the assumption that we are all doing the best we can and look at this time as an experiment in a deeper consciousness rising. Share this post if you agree with What We Hold True. Peace, love and pear! Christine Porter  Every minute of every day we tell ourselves a story. Those stories can be uplifting and affirming or they can be self-defeating and negative. Are you even aware of your stories? When you realize that your life is the outer reflection of those little stories, you will begin to choose your stories wisely. The first step is to become aware.
One morning I woke up and decided to give myself a 30-day meditation challenge. I wasn’t exactly sure how I would begin my meditation practice or how I would sit still for even five minutes every day but I was very determined to try. I was so sick and tired of feeling bad and not having a deep understanding of why. The same stories kept playing over and over again in my head. I felt stressed and anxious much of the time and wasn’t even sure why. I started waking up a little earlier than usual and went and sat in my cozy chair and closed my eyes. I tried silent, deep breathing meditation one day. Another day, I tried a guided meditation. I fell in love with listening to high frequency music (528 Hz) on YouTube and felt myself drifting into a deeper place. For those of you who may not be familiar with this high frequency music, it is “healing” type of music that soothes and can bring about positive transformation. Once I faced my fear, sat quietly on a regular basis and began listening to my intuition, that little voice inside me that was begging to be heard, I found the right path I needed to follow at this point in my life. It helped me discover a deeper part of myself that had been hiding in all the chaos of my life. When I learned there is no right or wrong way to meditate, a whole new world opened up. The most important thing to do is get still. That’s it. Simply get still. Finding the way to quieting your mind comes with time. The notion of erasing all thoughts and clearing your mind is not really achievable for many of us – unless of course you are a Tibetan monk living in a monastery. As thoughts enter your mind while meditating, you will begin to see what is pressing on your mind and what might need attention in your life. Even the most painful ones hold so much important information for us. It helps to acknowledge, reflect and recognize the feelings and thoughts so we can make better, more informed decisions on what is best for healing ourselves. They are the road maps for our lives. Ignoring or denying them usually leads to suffering in the long term. There are so many expectations for us first-time meditators and it rarely goes the way we had planned or hoped for. Try not to be discouraged or frustrated but find the beauty and excitement in the thoughts, feelings, memories and fantasy’s that are jumping around your mind, wanting attention. All are a part of who you are and they hold great importance, no judgement here. To be present or mindful is to bear witness to your thoughts and emotions and not cover them up or ignore them with frenetic activity. Do you know what motivates you now? What you crave and need to feel more settled in life? What makes you smile and feel like you’re creating something special for yourself and others? What’s your true purpose or that special gift you have? Where do you want to be a year from now or even five years from now? What’s the next step? Do you know? That’s what meditation offers you on a deep conscious level; insight into your soul, your life, your purpose, your hopes and dreams. What if you just sat in a quiet space for a few minutes and began to take notice of your thoughts as they enter your mind? What if you became the silent observer and notice what arises with each deep breath you inhale? Acknowledge, review, accept and bless it. Releasing the ego side of ourselves that judges and criticizes. Release the urge to be the perfect meditator, to do it right. Calming the “monkey mind,” that incessant chatter we all hear and starting to focus on the breath and asking life’s big questions; Who am I? Why am I here? What is it I’m being called to do with my life? How may I give back? Asking these questions of myself helped me get a clearer picture of my life and how I viewed the world. It doesn’t always happen overnight and in the beginning, it can feel really uncomfortable to be alone with that deeper part of ourselves. Turn off your computer and smart phone. Just sit quietly. Don’t worry about the outcome. Let go of the attachment of how it will get done and just set your intention to try. And try again. We all deserve to be heard and seen. It only can happen when we are ready to show up for our lives. How to do this? Stop and sit in the stillness. Ask the big questions. Listen for the answers and be witness to what comes up. The Wisdom of You, that power place that is deep inside is begging to be heard. Go and follow those big dreams that lie inside of you. I will be by your side cheering you on! My 30-Day Awareness Meditation Challenge: One of the most gentle and approachable forms for a beginner is mindfulness meditation. The object is to observe the wandering thoughts as they drift through your mind. The intention is not to get too involved with the thoughts or judge them but simply be aware of them, let them pass and return to your breath. You can also practice a mantra you say each time your thoughts come up in an effort to refocus your mind. A mantra may be as simple as repeating; all is well or so it is. Set a timer for 5 minutes. 1. Sit comfortably in a chair, on the floor or a cushion. Try not to lay down, chances are you will fall asleep. 2. Close your eyes gently. Soften your mouth and make sure not to clench your teeth. 3. Make no effort to control your breath, just breathe naturally and fully, expanding your stomach with each inhale. Exhale fully through your nose. 4. Focus your attention on your breath, observe how your body feels. Breath into the tight areas and sink deeper into letting go of any areas that feel restricted. 5. If your mind wanders, observe your thoughts and release them by returning your focus back on your breath. Repeat this meditation each morning before you start your day or in the evening before bed for a full 15 minutes. Increase your meditation time as you become more comfortable with your practice. Peace, love and pear! Christine Porter * These and many other "big life" questions come from my Soulful Connections card deck. All 120 questions are designed to help you explore and discover your power and purpose.  Back in 1984, I was in journalism school. I remember each professor made it a point to remind us during every class, that you never print a story without multiple sources being fact checked and verified. It was the tenet of every good journalist and their editors to follow this principle. We were taught only editorials should be opinion and all news stories should be objective and factual.
Fast forward to today and those sacred journalism rules are out the window. News programming is anything but objective and more importantly it’s called programming for a reason. Pundits sit around a table and convince you their analysis is fact. Pick any news station and you will find all day programming, bias towards one side or the other. Public relations groups are in high gear to create popular news “personalities” with a cult like status. Many of these personalities don’t even have a journalism degree but have the look and the character to help manipulate the masses and fit the agenda of the day. Fear is the big seller here and the scarier the better. Fear and violence keep TVs turned on and sponsors paying a large premium for ad space, knowing they have a captive audience. Is it an industry out of control? I would say yes. Just look around. Flip the channels, read the online papers and scroll social media sites. If you begin to look objectively, can you see how the same programming keeps running? The real tragedy is that most people have become so numbed to this form of journalism, they have very little expectations or desire to seek out the truth. They take it at face value, often assuming what they read, see or hear in the papers, television and social media is accurate. Investigative journalism seems to have died years ago. Today, we have a bad reality TV show playing out all over the airwaves. And we just accept it, keeping the channel turned on. It’s addictive. It gets our adrenaline pumping and releases other chemicals that keep us addicted to watching more and more. Imagine what would happen if people started exploring and researching alternative non-mainstream platforms with “boots on the ground” journalists offering objective, just-the-facts reporting? What if we became interested and educated in other viewpoints. What would happen if we all slowed down, practiced being more present in the moment, and asked ourselves; does something feel off? Am I being fed the same narrative over and over again? Am I being programmed to live in fear and despair? Have I lost my connection to myself and others, getting caught up in the anxiety, stress and frenetic energy swirling around me? Are stories that don’t fit the mainstream narrative being censored? Maybe, just maybe, more people will begin to awaken, take a mindful pause and be open to the idea that maybe not everything is as it seems.  What if we see this time as a great awakening. A time of great slowing down like we may never have before and an opportunity for us to look at areas of our lives where we might be stuck. What if we breathe deeply into the space where most of our resistance resides, try and release that tension with a deep exhale and become the silent “observer” of our own lives.
What if you begin to ask yourself; What is it I’ve been wanting to do but haven’t been able to find the time for? Could the time be now? What is it that I am unhappy with? What has become unfulfilling; where you live, your job, your career or your relationship? What areas of your life are unbalanced and need more attention? What if you let go of self-judgement and gave yourself some much-needed permission to begin exploring new hobbies, new books, a spiritual class or a new way of living? Could you go deeper in a practice that you know would bring you joy, peace and comfort? Have you developed an appreciation for the quiet and the simplicity that this time has brought? Have you gained more clarity and found your inner strength? Are you more aware of your core values and developed a curiosity about spirituality? Do you notice you may have some resistance to making any changes, trying new things or exploring new ideas? Do you know where this resistance is coming from? Maybe now is the time to take that leap of faith and discover a deeper sense of who you are, what you believe and what you're longing for in life. "Awareness is the greatest agent for change." - Eckhart Tolle Think of this moment as a time windfall. So many of us have had limited time in the past for ourselves, our family, partner and friends. We’ve become so accustomed to being over scheduled and rushing through our days with too many demands and deadlines that we hardly notice what we are doing, thinking or feeling. On one hand, it can feel uncomfortable with so much time on our hands that we struggle to fill the hours and days on our calendar. On the other, it can be a blessing in disguise if we sit with the discomfort and ask ourselves; what is it I truly need or want to feel secure, happy and fulfilled? You may not have a full understanding at first, but the more time you spend in quiet reflection and meditation, the closer you become to that consciousness. Embrace all the change that is occurring right now as much as you can. We are so used to our routines and we can find comfort in the familiarity, especially in times of crisis or pain. But there is also a time to let go of the controls and just allow life to unfold and be present in the moment. As Eckhart Tolle explains in The Power of Now, there is a time for doing and a time for being. When we stop the resistance, the expectations and the fighting against what is, in this present moment, we can find more peace and happiness within ourselves. To become more present, is to sit, reflect and enjoy the moment that is happening right here and now. It is also about bearing witness to what needs to change, what you hold of value and what you can do to work towards creating more of it. Try not to judge but become the observer of your life. Witness the struggles, the joy, the happiness and the pain, remembering that individual moments don’t define you, they make you human. One action item you can do right now is to spend time in meditation and notice what arises. Take a few minutes and write down what it feels like to focus your attention on these important things. What is working and what isn’t working for you right now? What is keeping you stuck? What would life feel like if you started to move in the direction of your hopes and dreams? Becoming more still and allowing your conscious awareness to unfold, opens the doors to peace and unlimited possibilities. Peace, love and pear! Christine Porter * These and many other "big life" questions can be found in my Soulful Connections card deck. All 120 questions are designed to help you explore and discover your passion, power and purpose. 
Have you ever wondered, how some people get sick very often and are more prone to catching colds and flus while others are rarely sick? It’s all about the body’s immune system. The immune system is the first line of defense against an alien microorganism entering the body. A healthy immune system reduces your chance of developing viral infections, the flu or colds and helps fight seasonal allergies. The benefits of boosting your immune system go beyond just warding off illness, it will increase your energy, productivity and enhance your mood and build resiliency in times of physical or emotional stress. In my Immune Boosting workshop, I share several ways to improve your immune system, increase energy and help with productivity and weight loss. I’d like to share one of those ways. One of the best foods to eat that is packed with nutrition, vitamins and minerals, is bone broth soup. Bone broth is simple to make, it’s timeless, and it’s where we can go when we want to get back to the basics. Bone broth soup is loaded with amino acids like arginine, glutamine, and cysteine, have been shown to boost immunity in humans and animals (the soup is very healing for your dog or cat but please omit the onion which is toxic for animals). It helps fight inflammation, improve joint mobility and even help with weight loss. Bone broth soup improves the gut bacteria and that impacts all facets of your health. Why is this so? Because up to 80% of our immune system is located in our intestinal tract. Here is a simple and easy recipe you can make and enjoy as a warm and hearty soup or use as a healthy culinary stock for your other recipes. The key to this recipe is the length of cooking time. Use a slow cooker/crock pot, set on low and allow this soup to cook for 24 hours. _____________________________________ RECIPE _____________________________________ Ingredients: 1 organic-free range chicken. Choose organic / free range when you can. The quality of organic is important as the animal has been raised with no added hormones or antibiotics and is raised in better quality living conditions, its more humane and provides more nutrition as nature intended. 1 large onion, sliced in quarters 2-3 celery stalks, chopped in 2 parts 2-3 carrots, peel on and chopped in 2 parts 2 garlic cloves 2 bay leaves 2 TBSP Braggs Raw Apple Cider Vinegar 3 TBSP Italian Seasoning Blend or other preferred spices and seasoning 1 TBSP Salt and Pepper each or to taste 12 cups water Preparation: Cook a roasting chicken in oven for 2-3 hours at 350 degrees, depending on size. Cut away the breast and thigh meat and set aside, covered in fridge overnight. Place the roasted chicken, carcass and all in the slow cooker/crock pot with all the ingredients. Cover with water and set on low. Cook for 24 hours. Strain the broth using a colander to collect all the vegetables, spices and bones. Store the broth in glass bowls or mason jars. Enjoy the soup as a warmed broth or make a hearty chicken vegetable soup with the following preparation: Place the broth in a large pot and place on low heat on stovetop. Add the roasted chicken meat you have reserved in fridge (roughly chopped into small chunks) and add any veggies or noodles you enjoy in your soup and cook until tender. Makes 4 servings __________________________________________________________________________________ *Please note: you can follow this recipe using beef bones as well. For larger quantities, double up on the recipe. Enjoy! Peace, love and pear! Christine Porter |
RSS Feed
Let's get social!