The Indigo Connection

 ”As you walk and eat and travel, be where you are.  Otherwise you will miss most of your life.”

   Buddha

I am here.  Today is my birthday and I am feeling grateful for this new day.   My body is feeling well in spite of the new number that labels my age.   I didn’t set the alarm last night.  One of the gifts I needed most was sleep.   It felt wonderful waking up when my body naturally felt ready.  The universe cut me another break by canceling school due to snow.  The house is quite and still.    The deep layers of snow insulate us inside from sound.  It seems everyone else is enjoying the extra sleep as well.

The gift I appreciate today is presence.  Eckhart Tolle in the book A New Earth suggests spending time quietly with something you consider beautiful - a flower, a crystal or an object.    He challenges us to see and experience this thing of beauty without giving it a name.  Simply be present with it and see what happens. 

I tried this experiment looking at my dog Gracie as she slept quietly by my desk.  She is a beautiful golden retriever and I figured she qualified for this experiment.  As I gazed at her and put my focus on being fully present with her, I soon began to feel a sensation in my heart.  It is as though I was able to feel her separate energetic vibration within my own center.  There was a pleasant response from my own soul as this occurred and our two separate identities greet each other energetically, even as she slept.  Suddenly we were no longer separate beings.  This connection is a mystical yet subtle experience.  I urge everyone to give it a try.  This experiment works with anything you consider to be beautiful.

As I look at my own life and the gift of today, I feel grateful.  It has been a year filled with a satisfying marriage, a happy family, true friendships, health, a profitable business, work I enjoy, and new friends I didn’t even know a year ago.  I am evolving (sometimes painfully!) as a writer, teacher and leader.  I have dreams and goals for the year ahead and know things will keep changing.  It is my plan to be present as life unfolds.

Wake up to presence, the true gift of life.  We are all given this gift of life for a reason.   Notice and feel more of that in your world.  There is feedback to guide you when you pay attention.    The spark of energy that set cells to divide and life to form is part of you and the bigger plan.  Each soul is significant and worthy of notice too.  Are you noticing?  As we all do, peace prevails.   

I just read a great book by Life Coach Cheryl Richardson titled The Unmistakable Touch of Grace.  This excellent book emphasizes how our lives are always being touched by unseen, benevolent and active forces.   I am aware of the power of Grace in daily life and seek to share that in all that I do and teach.

Several years ago I was struggling with direction in my own life.  I was working long hours and felt like there was no clear parth for my career.  I was physically tired and mentally burned out.  I reached out at that time to the pastor at the church in my hometown.  I shared with her some of the unusual and intense spiritual experiences and coincidences that were going on in my life.  I also told her of the intense energy I experienced when I tapped on EFT meridian points.  I admitted that I felt alone and very different from other people.   I didn’t really know what to do with all this energetic input I was recieving but felt I needed to do something about it.  Our conversation eventually moved to the strong and unwaivering relationship I experienced with God.  Although I felt different,  I felt connected and secure in God’s love and never worried about death or the fate of my soul. 

This wise pastor looked me in the eyes and said, “Betsy, many others have experienced God the way you do.  Historians of many faiths refer to them as mystics.  You are a mystic.”  

This was something new.  I had no idea what a mystic was.  I wondered if this was a new label for “crazy”.   Fortunately, my dear pastor sent a book home with me that day to help me understand:  Why Mystics Matter Now, by Frederick Bauerschmidt.   It was through this book that I finally found peace and got to know my favorite historical mystic, Hildegard Von Bingen.

Mystics are people who have direct experiences of the Divine and who use these experience in the service of others.    My experience with Divine energy is very direct and intense.   I am growing more comfortable with the term now.  It certainly has nothing to do with being crazy.

My conclusion - EFT and energy work is a mystical experience.   For me, it comes in the form of the kinesthetic waves which run through me and open my own energy system to intersect and connect with the energies of other people and creatures.  This flow of energy transcends space and time.  I have been granted access to work and play with this energy.  I have accepted this gift with positive intent.   It may be mysterious, but that is okay.  

Teaching EFT and energy self-care to others reminds me that all of us can be mystics in the true sense of the word.   EFT self-care allows individuals to invoke their own deliberate encounters with Grace.   People who apply EFT and other energy balancing routines regularly learn to accept themselves, experience joy and feel more confident.  When that happens, there is peace.  It is through this Grace that the real healing takes place.    

Depression is like a fast moving river that leads to a treacherous waterfall.  Many of us stand on the banks of this river getting pushed closer and closer to the edge.  Proactive ones recognize the danger early, catch their balance and back away to higher ground.  Others are pushed closer and closer to the edge without realizing it as they get lost in daily pressures.  The unlucky ones lose their balance, fall in and get swept away.

An astounding statistic appeared in the Feb. 12 issues of Women’s Day.   In a survey of over 6500 women, 24% of respondents indicated that their biggest health concern was DEPRESSION.  That came second to Cancer at 28%, and ahead of diabetes and heart disease!  

Of course depression is a problem.  I have worked with dozens of clients with a history of depression or who struggle on the edge.  I have found myself on the edge of depression many times, plus my family history alerts me that I may be vulnerable for life. The real issue this survey pointed out is that so many women FEAR depression.

Why does depression fears rank so high?  Is it because our society finally talks about it publicly?  Is it because so many people’s lives, including celebraties, are touched by it in today’s complex and stressful world?  Is it because depression is so mysterious in the way it attacks and subsides?  Is it because those who finally get their lives back after an episode of depression forever fear they will slip back into the darkness?

How can we remove the fear when depression is winning?  It is robbing women of the energy and motivation they need to seek help and recover peaceful lives.    Women admit they are exhausted.  In that same Women’s Day survey nearly 1/3 of the respondents wished they had more energy.   

When I learned about Energy Psychology in 2001, I immediately saw a great potential for helping people use self-care interventions like EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques) to prevent depression, support those who struggle with it, and to keep the vulnerable ones balanced and away from the edge.  I saw the value of early intervention to teach children and teens how to be resilient.  I recognized how every person could benefit from coaching support and survival tools for those difficult days when life gets rough.  Life balance and self-care are practical common sense, but the formula for each person must be individually tailored. 

As a coach, I am not in a positition to diagnose or treat severe depression.   However, I must become part of the solution.   The long term life-balance solutions offered through coaching that integrate energy modalities offers so many practical methods for self-care.  Energy Coaching can keep people away from the treacherous edge and connected to a long and resilient lifeline for help.   I have seen lives change, exhaustion subside and joy return.   When fear can be replaced by hope, joyful living prevails.