Urban Alchemy

Every week or so I get “tuned in” to the various different collective energies going on, and lately the topic of self care keeps coming up…in fact, my intuition has been nagging at me for days to sit and write about this so here it is.

There’s a LOT happening energetically lately. Again. It’s pretty palpable all around us. Are you feeling overwhelmed lately? I am. Like there’s so much to do, but you don’t know where to start? Or are you feeling like suddenly there’s a crapload of stuff happening that is demanding your attention, causing you to feel on edge? Are you snapping at your loved ones or noticing you’re more short with them than usual? Maybe you’re feeling almost like you’re in an energetic pressure cooker and being squeezed and pushed to make changes but you feel too overwhelmed at the thought of doing anything about it, or don’t know what to do about it? Others are experiencing crises in various areas, whether job, health, relationship, or money, all coming up big time for people right now. For some people, it’s all of the above at once.

The current collective energy is that of extreme pressure to change something about our life and situation. We are being pushed out of our comfort zone. It’s so uncomfortable, and there’s so much fear and doubt about what to do or how to do it or even whether it’s safe to make a change. Our minds are constantly trying to keep us “safe” and so it’s like we are in a battle between what our soul is trying to push us to do and our mind trying to keep us from doing it. The result is that we feel on edge and so we distract ourselves with “busy-ness” and chores, food, tv or errands, and things that we say are the highest “priority.” But don’t fall for it, it’s a trap! We rationalize doing anything to avoid addressing what’s going on underneath because there’s such an inner conflict and we are on edge and don’t know what to do about it. Or do we? It can feel like there are literally two completely separate factions at war with each other inside of us…and that’s because that’s exactly what’s going on. And so we ignore the easiest thing to ignore…ourselves.

Why is it that we are always the last ones to get our care and attention?

Well that’s a huge topic that we could go on about at length and is something that we tackle in Shadow Work classes. But rather than dive crazy deep into that (and most of us already know the reason why anyway) let’s just focus on some practical steps for what to do about it and how to course correct.

Study after study proves that self care is EXTREMELY important. Your health can suffer, your relationships can suffer, your business success and abundance can suffer and the ability to be fully present with your loved ones can suffer too. We all know that when we are taxed, exhausted and at our limit, we really aren’t able to help or provide support to our family, loved ones, and friends, but for some reason we still put ourselves as a last priority anyway. We feel like there’s so much to do, that we just don’t have the time to take care of ourselves the way we know we should. Well, that’s actually not true.

Sure, some people have more time to devote to this than others, but let’s be real brutally honest with ourselves…we ALL have 1 hour per week or even just twice a month to schedule in some “me” time. All we have to do is be willing to schedule it in and be SUPER strict with that time. No making excuses, put it on the calendar. It’s too easy to just keep pushing it aside in your mind, so we have to take physical action steps to help us actually complete it. No different than your 8-5 job really. Think of it that way. Because it IS that important.

If you’re constantly pushing yourself on the “shoulds” of what you need to be doing but not making time for your mental, emotional or spiritual health, than all the chores in the world aren’t going to make you feel better for doing them, relieve the pressure or make your process as efficient as it could be. And let’s be real, many of us know the consequences of continuing to ignore what our soul is pushing us to do. Shit just gets harder and harder, until you give in anyway 😉

So stop making excuses, schedule it in! One hour per week or every other week for YOU. Have a Reiki session, Massage, energy clearing session, manicure, pedicure, meditation day, drumming, spiritual counseling session, solo movie date, hike or even just an hour at the park in nature, but just DO it. Energy sessions can even be done remotely so you don’t have to leave your house! Sometimes meditation and solitude is enough and sometimes you just need to lay on a table and have someone else work on you. Believe me, as a practitioner I especially know the value of this and have my own go-to self care helpers on emergency speed dial when I need it 😉

Whatever you feel is needed for you right now, honor it, and make it a part of your schedule and watch how much more energy you have to do the rest of life’s daily requirements. Watch how much lighter, clearer, less stressed and more balanced you feel. You’ll have much better clarity about what action steps you REALLY need to take to tackle the inner conflict and squeeze you’re currently feeling. We all need help from time to time to help facilitate our inner and personal changes, so don’t feel obliged to struggle by yourself if you’re overwhelmed. Ease the pressure cooker, feel into what is calling to you for your specific self care needs right now and help relieve what’s currently squeezing you!!

Love to you all, you’re not alone in this process, so hang in there my friends, we can do this!

XOXO
Janine

“Dreaming isn’t just what happens during sleep; dreaming is waking up to sources of guidance, healing and creativity beyond the reach of the every day mind.” – Robert Moss

Ever since I was a little kid, my dreams have been different than other peoples’ dreams. I certainly have normal dreams too, the mish mash of random things showing up based on what movie I watch, flying dreams, falling dreams, teeth falling out dreams, etc etc. But I also have other kinds of dreams that until age 12, I thought everyone else had too.

In this post, I am only going to refer to two specific kinds of dreams. Metaphor dreams, which everyone experiences, and then the not so common memories-of-other-lives-I-lived dreams. Yes as in I can access memories of being other people. However, I didn’t realize for a long time that they were other timelines/aspects of me that I was accessing.

Now to clarify, these dreams aren’t the fun “ooh I dreamed I was a vampire badass” or “I was a superhero and I could fly” dreams, no. These have a distinctly different feeling and knowing to them. These dreams would wake me up in the middle of the night sobbing with the intensity of the emotions that I was re-living in the dream, emotions that I was feeling because I had experienced the situation in the dream, not emotions felt from empathizing with a sad movie for instance. It’s the difference between feeling sadness from watching somebody you know lose a loved one, and actually going through the painful experience of losing someone you love. Continue reading “How Your Dreams Are Trying To Heal You” →

Alpha Lipoic Acid –

Did you know that an estimated 85% of the oxygen you breathe in is consumed by the mitochondria in your cells? Studies show that the decay of these tiny little energy producing powerhouses are at the core of  many aging and age related pathologies, as well as reduced and impaired metabolic function.

Continue reading “Could Missing This Vital Nutrient Be Inhibiting Your Weight Loss?” →

If you’re like me, nobody spoke to you about nutrition growing up. It wasn’t taught in school, your cafeteria served things like pizza, nachos and tater tots and there were soda machines everywhere peddling you sugar sweetened and toxic treats. So what happens when like me, you reach a point where you are suddenly 40 or more pounds overweight and your doctor is now talking to you about things like high cholesterol, diabetic medication or high blood pressure? Are you doomed to be unhealthy for life? Is this really a “normal” part of aging?

The answer is absolutely not.

Continue reading “The Challenges of Making Changes” →