Spiritual Girls Trip!

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Spiritual Girl Trip

We all have that one friend who is either on a trip, planning a trip, thinking about a trip or just getting back from a trip. That friend for me is Laurel Geise.

Laurel and I met in the summer of 2005 while checking emails in the business center at an airport hotel in Bangkok. Laurel, a Florida business executive, was the perfect balance of business meets Zen; she looked as if she would be equally comfortable in a boardroom or on a hike in the Himalayas. But it wasn’t until I heard her infectious laugh that I knew we would be lifelong friends. Her laughter starts from within and then travels to her eyes, which are the color of hot cocoa, sprinkled with tiny flecks of gold like mini marshmallows. Just being around her snickers and giggles is enough to transport me far far away from any worries I might have.

Over the years we have made an effort to travel to spiritually-based places like Tibet, Peru, Sedona, Katmandu, and Naples. Every time Laurel calls about our next great adventure, I get that tingly feeling that spreads to my brain right down to my fingers and toes. I need the buzz of the new, the thrill of the unknown, the seeking of new answers that push my limits. Travel is about the gorgeous feeling of teetering in the mysterious.

Every spiritual trip we have taken has become a quest to discover who we truly are, what life is about, and why we are here. But nothing could have prepared me for our recent spiritual quest to Israel. “l’ai pas vu venir” – I didn’t see it coming. I was a religious study major in college yet I didn’t expect Israel to affect me so completely. So deeply. Even though so many have walked all the same steps in this Holy Land we made our own footprints. We entered paths where others have found meaning and even transcended; but in order to answer the question of our own lives, we had to show up and take our own steps. The only genuine safety in the world comes from risking oneself completely in order to become oneself more fully. Laurel and I did this.

I know I won’t ever be the same. This trip has cracked open something in me. I feel the opening up of an entire way of seeing and being present in the world. It’s not every day I get to slip behind temple doors, peek into ancient scenes, and see levels of the world that have timeless meanings and wild intelligence even amidst modern settings.

It’s good to be home, yet there is sadness and a longing I feel, having to wake up from the dream we shared. When I saw my lime green suitcase and Laurel’s black one coming out of the carousel at the end of our trip, I lost it. I sobbed and sobbed. And I cried on and off for days after. I know this was a physical release of a soul-filled experience.

Each journey we have shared has offered me a nugget of truth. In Israel, I discovered that the outward trips we have taken have lead me to an inward journey that has shown me how to bring more presence to my daily life, the ability to be more conscious, and permission to become uniquely and bizarrely myself.

I don’t know where our next girl’s trip will take us but I do know that I will always be ready for the next one with mi amiga del alma, a friend of my soul. Because in the end life is not about the destination or the journey, as so many have said. It’s about who walks with you and the friends you make along the way.

Have any questions? Feel free to contact me at michelle@michellecromer.com and sign up for your Power Color or visit me on Facebook at Michelle Cromer Creating a Meaningful Life.

Balancing your Backyard with the Five Elements

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balancing your backyard with the five elements
Since your garden and your backyard are an extension of your home it is also important to make sure to balance these areas with the five elements. Here’s how:

Earth Element1. Earth Element: We all have a lot of earth in our backyards and gardens due to the soil and the colors of the earth and the shape of a square. This area always reminds me of the energy of the goddess Gaia, Mother Earth which is life itself, the very soil that sustains us. Every culture has a version of this goddess. The Greeks call her Gaia from the Greek word “ga” which means land in the ancient Greek language and is sometimes spelled with a “ge” which is where we derive the word geology and geography. I learned in Peru that the Incas called her Pacha Mama. This goddess is so old she predates writing.

2. Fire element: This element can be brought in with a fireplace or fire pit or with the color red, orange, or pink in flowers or the shape of a triangle.

balancing your backyard with the five elements3. Water Element: many of us have pools that represent water or you can bring in the color blue in flowers or furniture or the shape of curves.

 

4. Wood element: Often times we have outdoor furniture made of wood or we all seem to have lots of trees. The shape of wood is the rectangle which might be shutters or perhaps you can bring in the colors of wood, browns, and greens.

5. Metal Element: Round is the shape of wood which can be in tables or planters. I have metal statues in my backyard representing the material itself and metal can also be in the color white.

When we balance the energy in our backyards we also balance the chi and the yin and yang within ourselves.

Have any Feng Shui questions? Feel free to contact me at michelle@michellecromer.com and sign up for your Power Color or visit me on Facebook at Michelle Cromer Creating a Meaningful Life.

Living a Radically Balanced and Congruent Life

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Living a Radically Balanced and Congruent Life

At my first real job, there was a partner in the firm who was having an affair way before there was the Internet. The mistress would mail him letters and our receptionist would carefully open each letter, make copies for everyone in the office, distribute them in our mailboxes, put the letter back in the envelope, and deliver it to the cheating partner.
Should I have?

  1. Told the receptionist to stop this immediately.
  2. Tell the wife of the partner
  3. Make popcorn because this was a great novella!

Yes, stopping the behavior would have been the proper thing to do, but I chose “c” because why the hell not? I didn’t like the man. However, if this happened today, I would respond differently because living a balanced life means there are no lines separating your beliefs, your integrity, and your character.

For most of my life, I lived highly compartmentalized. I was one person when I was with my friends, a different person at work, and yet another person with my family. I didn’t even realize I was at least three different people on any given day, and none of them was me. They all contained fragments of me, hidden beneath my attempts to be something I was not. It’s this kind of fragmentation that chokes the spirit. It took me a long time to realize that even though a lot of people choose to live this way, I don’t have to.

When I wrote my first book, Exit Strategy; Thinking Outside the Box that was the only thing I did. I didn’t volunteer at the homeless shelter, I didn’t have dinner parties, or participate in social media. I wrote and edited and wrote and edited until it was done. My life was highly unbalanced, and it was extremely effective. However, during this highly unbalanced success, I continued to attempt to accomplish inner balance, meaning every thought, action, project, and dream, everything flowed together and in the same direction. All aspects of my life were in sync. The sense of purpose was startlingly clear. I realized then that when I’m living in complete congruence, complete alignment, and complete balance, no part of me is conflicting with any other part of me. There is no disagreement. No disturbance. No imitation.

Being Balanced is godly
Photo by cottonbro from Pexels

Being Balanced is godly.

Although simple to articulate, there is nothing simple or easy about becoming a balanced human being. Yet, accomplishing inner balance is the foundation of why we pursue a spiritual path. We cannot be truly healthy if we are out of alignment. We cannot be truly honest with others or ourselves if our head and heart exist as two separate forces within us. We cannot ever know what a fulfilled life is about if we are always compromising our intuition and inner guidance for fear of the consequences. We can never consider ourselves truly honest people if we live a life of continual compromise and self-betrayal.

What would it mean to live an inner-balanced life? Self-esteem would be rooted in personal integrity. Intuitive guidance would work in harmony with our intellectual and emotional resources. The field of life would be engaged on multiple levels, acknowledging the continual operation between the physical and mystical realms. Physical laws govern the physical life and mystical laws govern the soul’s journey. The connecting bridge is inner balance.

Of course, we’re not the same person in every situation all the time. We’re not binary, single-function amoebas. We manifest and express ourselves differently according to what is appropriate to the events surrounding us. That’s pretty natural. What is not natural is to change who we are; manipulating ourselves in order to fit some kind of mold of what is or isn’t right.

I strive every day for there to be no discernible difference between the person I am when I am working and when I am playing. Everything ideally is completely integrated between my heart, mind, body, and soul. No division between my purpose and my life path. My desires and dreams and my contribution to the world are one and the same. This is what it means to me to be completely and radically balanced.

Have any Feng Shui questions? Feel free to contact me at michelle@michellecromer.com and sign up for your Power Color or visit me on Facebook at Michelle Cromer Creating a Meaningful Life.

9 Ways to Move the Chi In an Office Cubicle

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How to Move the Chi an Office Cubicle

Balance, focus, and productivity are important in any office. Moving the chi in a cubicle can make you feel balanced and harmonious with your surroundings.

Here are some easy suggestions to incorporate into any space:

  1. No Clutter: Energy must flow easily through any space so making any workspace free of clutter is important for focus and to clear out any unnecessary stress.
  2. Color: Bring in some color to the space to promote the energy you wish to accomplish. Green improves health and balance; Blue is calming; Yellow is grounding; Red is action.
  3. Bring in Nature: Especially if there isn’t a window, bringing in plants can help you feel grounded.
  4. Support Your Body: When you are comfortable in your body, you are comfortable in any space. Make sure your chair supports your back and your desk suits your height. When your mind isn’t focused on pain, your brain can focus on work.
  5. Desk Position: If you can, move your desk to a commanding position so you can clearly see anyone who enters your space. This gives you the advantage of controlling your space.
  6. Clean Desk: Set the chi for the next day by cleaning off your desk and emptying the trash before you leave.
  7. Inspirational Quotes: Raise the inspiration chi by printing out your favorite quotes and placing them in your view.
  8. Travel Photos: Bring in the chi of joy with photos from past trips. Feel inspired as you recall the sights and feelings you had on these special adventures.
  9. Your Personal Chi: Check your personal chi every day to see what you are bringing into your space. If you are feeling stressed reset your chi by taking a break and walking around.

When your space is designed to support your needs, you in turn will thrive in that space. Moving your chi will set you up for a day filled with happiness and success.

Have any Feng Shui questions? Feel free to contact me at michelle@michellecromer.com and sign up for your Power Color or visit me on Facebook at Michelle Cromer–Creating a Meaningful Life.

How to Build a Sacred Site in Your Bedroom

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How to Build a Sacred Site in Your Bedroom

For centuries, mystics have advocated that sex, can be a powerful tool for spiritual growth. The act of lovemaking can be a viable path to higher states of consciousness and just as effective as meditation, prayer and other traditional religious or spiritual rituals.

From the beginning of humans, sexuality and spirituality have always been linked. The Babylonian goddess Ishtar seduced a mortal man. In Egyptian religions, the god Osiris has sex with this sister the great goddess Isis. The Hindu god Krishna has sex with countless women, often at the same time.  Annual pre-Christian rituals in Europe often involved sexual rites among the peasants that promoted the fertility of the land and celebrated the sacred marriage between God and goddess.

Only in the last 2000 years of Western civilization have sexuality and spirituality been forcibly separated and made to appear as enemies. Most scholars believe the separation was solidified with the rise of monotheistic, male-dominated traditions (Judaism, Christianity, Islam). Religious leaders taught that sex should be reserved for marriage, and, even then, only for procreation.

The West is not the only part of this crazy world with far too many sexual-spiritual hang-ups. Many Hindu and Buddhist traditions believe the body and physical desire are roadblocks to enlightenment and therefore need to be transcended.

Perhaps the most famous ancient example of sexual consciousness is the Kama Sutra, which I studied one on of my trips to Tibet. This intensely detailed, carefully diagrammed erotic love guide originated in India around the third century, B.C.E, well over 2000 years ago and then spread to China. Although Western versions of the Kama Sutra have been diluted (pop culture has reduced this complex, exquisite sutra to a simplistic book of sexual positions), the original is far more elaborate than you might imagine. The original Kama Sutra not only includes tantalizing descriptions of the sixty-four sexual positions but offers advice such as how to handle yourself in a relationship.

These poignant works, many based in Taoism, not only prescribe having sex as much as possible but also advocating prolonging the sex act as long as possible. Both men and women must achieve and orgasm so that the dual energies of yin-yang (yin is the feminine, yang is the masculine) can be brought into harmony.

Sexuality is an organic, natural part of being human, of being alive.Sexuality is an organic, natural part of being human, of being alive. And when we aren’t conscious about it, or when we deny it, or when we are ashamed of it or unhealthy with it, we miss out on an incredibly viable piece of life, an intimate experience and expression of who we are, and a powerful way to experience divinity.

Here are some things you can do to cultivate an empowering sexual consciousness and build a sacred site in your bedroom.

  1. Start by setting your intention. Try holding your present moment and awareness.
  2. Clear and purify the space – no clutter – open a window or even sage.
  3. Balance the Yin and Yang Energies by using dim lighting and soft fabrics– yin with bold colors.
  4. Artwork – make sure the artwork in your bedroom evokes relaxation and romance.
  5. Treat your body as divine. Treat your lover as divine. Be aware of the divine energy swirling around you as you have sex.

Sexuality is not just the act of sex; it’s a passionate attitude, an exchange of living energy, and a way of engaging the world on a fully appreciative, deeply sensual level.

Have any Feng Shui questions? Feel free to contact me at michelle@michellecromer.com and sign up for your Power Color or visit me on Facebook at Michelle Cromer–Creating a Meaningful Life.

Michelle Cromer