Farmers know the importance of letting fields rest. It is a restorative process in agriculture, one that allows soil to regenerate and so be ready to support the next crop. In our busy, twenty-first century lives, we often forget to permit ourselves to lie fallow, to die to the ego-driven energies that prevent wool gathering and dreaming into stories other than our own.
Category: Saying Yes to Life
EFT and Renewal
As we expand into the warmth and light of 2019’s Summer energies, I think of our human populations here in the northern hemisphere as Light Repositories. In our bones we know this Light is already on the wane, having reached its peak of brilliance on the Summer Solstice, this year marked on June 21st. Here in Northeastern Vermont, neighbours on farms and in villages and towns gather to honour this pinnacle of Light and the official beginning of Summer. In our human expressions of gratitude for this season, we light our bonfires at night, our answering Response to the Sun’s glorious Call . . . to grow . . . to shine.
The four seasons we experience in the northern hemisphere are all about Renewal, the energy fuel powering both self-regulation and resilience. Regular periods of conscious renewal can make the difference between creative, joyful living and that other, driven way that can creep into our days and rob us of peace, well being, and even sleep. Summer Solstice renewal is all about embracing our ability to take in and reflect Light, both metaphorical and actual. We need the Sun’s warmth as surely as all species do, to feel whole. Stepping out into the Light of this new season, our feet bare, our hearts open, can help us to weather those inevitable dark times to come.
EFT supports renewal. Each day, a morning gratitude meditation while tapping through the points brings us home to the emotions of sacredness and belonging. Whatever our experiences, including high ACES, the loss of a Beloved, or the wearing stresses of a toxic work place, we can settle into the home our bodies provide when we are well regulated and in touch with the supportive energies of the seasons. This season, Summer, is all about action, moving out into the world with our gifts, connecting in heart space, growing through the pain of the larger world’s back story. Here, beneath our feet, Life stirs. Our outer fields are green and growing. They call to our inner landscapes to do likewise.
Because I believe we are always influenced by the larger stories of the world whether we consciously attend to learning about these or not, I spend time judiciously reading about current events through a variety of sources I can count on for reliable information. This research about current world events is very much like entering the lion’s den. I go into these information pools with my tapping and writing skills at hand, employing these to return to safety whenever I find the news threatening.
Knowing we are attached to the larger stories whether we are aware of our attachment or not has been knowledge that has served me well over the decades of my life. Now books reflect the influence of family and cultural histories, giving us context for our challenges. The person struggling with alcohol learns this is a family pattern begun perhaps when a veteran returned from the first World War and had no place to explore his grief and terror, emotions prowling around in his body until the alcohol temporarily relieves him of these profoundly disturbing feelings. Daily focused use of EFT clears personal challenges regarding our individual histories and gives us perspective on those patterns that come down to us through our individual families and cultures. This is why EFT is so essential to our renewal.
Renewal is always about strengthening our ability to know and to grow through our discoveries, positive and challenging. EFT along with Summer energies support our human endeavours to renew, to continue to contribute to our families, our communities, and our workplaces in positive ways. Renewal informs our relationship to the sacred space of this season. It prompts us to sit in the Sun, to absorb the Light and the heat, and to feel the eons of joy this loving relationship between Sun and Earth has nurtured since the Time before time.
Taking time – for stillness, for beauty, for deep gratitude for the natural world – acts as a tonic for our bodies, minds, hearts, and spirits. Our connection to this universal wholeness, unbreakable even when we are busy with other thoughts and activities, is the source of true power to live well and love our place in the world, whatever form that may take. This is the experience of renewal, of Renewal.
Whatever our season . . . , may we all look up and out to rediscover the magnificence of which we are an essential and inseparable part.
Until next time,
Jane
Visit www.eftinternational.org to learn more about how the use of Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) supports the resolution of inner and outer conflicts, informs more loving and respectful relationships, and empowers its users to contribute to the changes we want to see in the world.
Jane is an EFT International Accredited Master Trainer, writer, coach, and educator specializing in neutralizing the long-term effects of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) as well as the cultural limitations that interfere with our ability to imagine, create, and live the lives we desire. To engage Jane for individual or group coaching services, EFT International(AAMET) Accredited, Certified Mentoring sessions, and EFT Level One and Two Training for your group, call Jane at (802) 533-9277 or email jane@winterblooms.net . Visit www.winterblooms.net to learn more about how Jane supports and inspires individuals, groups, and communities.
Please Note: This educational website cannot replace therapy with certified psychologists, family therapists, or psychiatrists. Before certifiying with EFT International, Jane taught at the elementary, secondary, and college levels, in Ontario, and at the Community College of Vermont. She is an early trauma survivor who works exclusively as a learning coach in the best practices of EFT. She created this website to support the most effective use of EFT to reduce general and specific stresses and to increase the joy of daily living through self regulation and pro-social experiences.
The Sacred Nature of Our Work
Please Note: Winter Blooms is an educational website in no way meant to replace building a relationship with a trained EFT practitioner, counselor, or therapist. To learn more about EFT, visit the NeftTI website at www.neftti.com, the AAMET website at www.aamet.org, or contact Jane for EFT coaching support.
As we witness increasing incoherence in the larger world, it helps to tune in to the resilience building processes we create to meet our personal, familial/social, and professional needs. Resilience is not simply a word we use to encourage our own or others’ flagging spirits but a noteworthy outcome, at least to those of us committed to mindful attention to personal and professional stress levels and recovery times. Belly breathing, walking in nature, body talking, finger tapping, and other in-the-moment self-regulation techniques allow us to be more present, no matter what might be happening in the moment. And being present invites Presence, that sense of belonging to something so much larger than a species increasingly known for its destructive choices and excessive habits.
The Ache of Cultural and Global Transformation
Each of us alive on the planet today is experiencing change brought on by events over which we have little or no control. One ongoing event we all share, we call climate change. At a recent gathering called to strengthen and nourish a diverse community of elders in these parts, participants spoke of the perilous state of bees everywhere and of the diminishing populations of bats in the northeastern states. Fewer butterflies, bees, and bats, interrupted growing seasons, and extreme weather in the form of drought or deluge here and elsewhere signal that our world is changing and that we must respond intelligently to these changes rather than react out of fear.
Continue reading The Ache of Cultural and Global Transformation
Saying Yes to Life with EFT
We usually get our wood for the winter in early summer. This timing creates the luxury of a long slow stacking process, something we enjoy because there is no rush in getting it accomplished. Sometimes we stack as little as a cord a week. Our young strong friends scoff at our slowness, telling us they can stack a cord of wood in an hour. We admire their strength and speed even as we luxuriate in living in life’s slow lane, at least some of the time. The slow and steady rhythm appeals to us because stacking wood comes with certain risks, pinched fingers, bruised arms, legs, and feet, and complaining backs included. And yet, all of these possible injuries are overshadowed by the wisdom of our relationship with wood. As the sages tell us, “Before enlightenment, chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment, chop wood, carry water.”