5 Reasons Why You Need and Deserve a Retreat....

I’m just back from a 4 day in-home spiritual retreat.  Phone and internet OFF.  No nasty political news.  None of the things we all react to.  No bills, no hassles, no external demands.  

For 4 days, I took guided hypnotherapy journeys with Belleruth Naperstek CDs, and my own specific journeys, and I posed issues to myself to resolve through insight-journaling – pages and pages of insight and solutions and pain and sunlight at the end of the battle.  Exercise taking care of ¾ of an acre on the weekend, when my usual gym classes don’t run; no diminution of my traditional good sweat every day.  Healthy eating. 5 hours of Reiki energy healing every day.  A long, detailed visit with angels, goddesses and the Runes. 

The results were as amazing as always: insights and ideas for action pouring from my pen; powerful journeys that left me lighter of the barriers and darkness that bedevil our lives.  Staring into the abyss, alone with myself, until the abyss started to yield answers.  Inviting levels of unexpressed pain, because it’s through pain getting out of our bodies that we become free.  Realizing how much there is yet to do. 

Engel’s book on traumatic shame is must reading for anyone who has experienced childhood abuse or neglect, especially, although it is also a factor in adult traumas as well.  The emphasis on being strong can be so cruel when circumstances are truthfully that no one could be physically strong enough, or emotionally strong enough (unless you’re a sociopath). 

My work involves powerful transformations through reaching skillfully into the deep unconscious to change, eliminate, add beliefs and conclusions that are absolutely not accessible through ordinary (surface) means like affirmations and “thinking positive.”  So the healer needs to take time to heal herself from time to time.

I recommend these concentrated retreats!  Find a friend or relative who needs a house-sitter for a few days and hole up.  Nix the social media.  Say sayonara to the news.  Turn it all OFF and listen to the sound of your heart and soul.  

After you stop screaming, the insights will come tripping lightly or exploding into existence; each breakthrough has its own sound and flavor.  But they will come.  Get Dr. Naperstek’s CDs or get a session with me.  Bring some creative exploration from my new book 101 Stress Busters for Energy, Joy and Healthy Longevity.

You’ll be glad you did!

Take a Spiritual Path to More Effective Weight Loss

There are about a million blog posts, videos and even books on how to lose weight and (presumably) keep it off.  

We all know that we need to eat fewer calories, burn up more calories and jigger our internal biochemistry so that we preferentially ditch fat not muscle mass.  How do you do that?  You eat abstemious amounts of healthy food.  No, pizza isn't on the list, except for my birthday and Christmas.  Had my Xmas cake and GOD WAS IT GOOD.  Ahem. I love veggies.  Yes, I do.  Or to be exact, I like the health that I get when I eat veggies and a lean vegetarian diet.  

We all know that we need to move our bodies, to build muscle mass [no, ladies, you will never look like AHnold, no matter how muscled you get; bulgy muscles come from testosterone and have nothing to do with actual strength] and to juice metabolism.  YOU NEED TO MOVE.  You need strength training with weights and with yoga. And you need aerobic activity that gets you to sweat.  You cannot, cannot, cannot get healthy without exercise.  I did an entire class on the mental blocks about exercise and how to overcome them.

And you need to jigger your metabolism.  If you have winter blues, you need to get that under control [Journey Out of SAD, 2nd Ed., at Amazon or your local bookseller].  If you aren't spending time every day in effective stress control, that will shift your hormones.  101 Stress Busters for Energy, Joy and Healthy Longevity is just out!  Amazon or your local bookseller.  You absolutely, positively cannot be healthy with cortisol, adrenalin and hormones that are screaming at your body to hold on to fat.  Can't be done.  You have to prioritize this and strategize to spring loose time for it.

But you know that - or some of it.

What you don't know is that relying on willpower will just get you through a few weeks at most.  Then you will start making an exception to your new regime.... just this once.  And then it will be every other day and then it will be gone entirely.

You need to harness the deep parts of your mind, where you genuinely make your decisions, and where unresolved anger, resentment and childhood damage and adult trauma generate powerful pulls away from health and wellness, into passionate needs to assuage all those feelings through substitutes like cake... TV....video games.... you name it.

You don't really want those substitutes, at a deep level.  You want to be happy, at a deep level.  The only way to circumvent the sabotage that is running 24x7 in your deep levels, is to get down there with clinical hypnotherapy and turn it OFF.  And substitute a belief that you really can get what you really want.  And deep surgery to heal whatever needs healing, so it is gone forever.  Surface treatments like affirmations and coaching can never, ever have a lasting impact, because they can't get to the deep levels where the sabotage is happening.  Only hypnosis can do that - and you're only safe with an experienced, highly trained practitioner.  [I was in training and supervision for a year at my school. You want this level of training, not a grad of a quickie course, who doesn't know what they are doing with these major issues, this deep surgery.]

So think it over.  Do you want to have change that lasts?  Yes? Then sign up for a FREE transformation class.

For those with spirituality in their lives, many of these classes use spiritual tools.

And when you are ready to REALLY commit to change, find the package that is specially tuned to your specific problem, or a 30 day program just for you, at 

http://www.soaringdragon.biz/sessions-classes/

https://www.learnitlive.com/class/9897/FREE-Transforming-My-Beliefs-About-Myself-The-Creator

https://www.learnitlive.com/class/8842/Retrain-Your-Immune-System-Smarter-Cells-Healthier-Life

https://www.learnitlive.com/class/8844/The-Spiritual-Path-to-LOVING-Exercise-Veggies-Yes-you-will

https://www.learnitlive.com/class/8839/Harness-Your-Goddess-Energy-to-Stop-Self-Sabotage

https://www.learnitlive.com/class/8843/5-Magic-Components-of-Your-Successful-Self-Care-Program-Starting-with-Self-Love

Or explore the list of almost-free classes:

https://www.learnitlive.com/class/9895/Meet-Your-Biological-Ancestors

https://www.learnitlive.com/class/9896/30-Days-Create-Your-Way-to-Health-and-Joy

https://www.learnitlive.com/class/9873/6-Week-Stress-Busters-for-People-Who-Don-t-Have-Time-to-Waste

https://www.learnitlive.com/class/9879/Goddess-Connection-to-Drive-Weight-Loss-6-Weeks-to-Happy-and-Healthy

https://www.learnitlive.com/class/10091/Become-the-Shaman-of-Your-Own-Life

Holding on My Passionately-Felt Goals - Lightly. And a creative brainstorm for business lights gently on my shoulders

Over the past 24 hours, a foot of snow has fallen. There were three waves and I cleared the car and the driveway each time. But the last wave went on heavily for 12 hours at the end of which, I am snowed in. Too much snow for little me and my hand-shovel to clear for a car, down my healing center's long, long driveway. And the street was scraped clear of topsnow, leaving only the ice layer. Not a smart idea to traverse with an ordinary vehicle with normal winter traction, unstudded tires. And the next two nights will be 12 degrees.

In the past, I would have fumed. This time, I cancelled everything, knocked snow off as much of the trees as I could reach, solemnly vowed to buy a 2nd pair of snow boots as soon as the weather clears (my Alaska-capable pair are at a relative's home in another state; it happens), and I am taking the day off from everything but wonder. Photographs. Videos. Painting, drawing and coloring.

Today will be a renewal day, and a creation day. An idea for a new online class came to me as I knocked and shoveled. Just like I tell you - it works. Exercise and wonder, appreciation and exhilarated motion yields divine rewards for my body, my heart - and my business!

All I had to do was stop saying "Dammit" and start saying "Thank you."

See my weight loss classes....

https://www.learnitlive.com/class/9879/Goddess-Connection-to-Drive-Weight-Loss-6-Weeks-to-Happy-and-Healthy

10 Keys to Transform Your Life Right Now!

Some great webinars to start your year off well – the inexpensive 4-6 week very powerful programs:

https://www.learnitlive.com/class/9895/Meet-Your-Biological-Ancestors

https://www.learnitlive.com/class/9896/30-Days-Create-Your-Way-to-Health-and-Joy

https://www.learnitlive.com/class/9873/6-Week-Stress-Busters-for-People-Who-Don-t-Have-Time-to-Waste

https://www.learnitlive.com/class/9879/Goddess-Connection-to-Drive-Weight-Loss-6-Weeks-to-Happy-and-Healthy

https://www.learnitlive.com/class/10091/Become-the-Shaman-of-Your-Own-Life

Free:

https://www.learnitlive.com/class/9897/FREE-Transforming-My-Beliefs-About-Myself-The-Creator

https://www.learnitlive.com/class/8842/Retrain-Your-Immune-System-Smarter-Cells-Healthier-Life

https://www.learnitlive.com/class/8844/The-Spiritual-Path-to-LOVING-Exercise-Veggies-Yes-you-will

https://www.learnitlive.com/class/8839/Harness-Your-Goddess-Energy-to-Stop-Self-Sabotage

https://www.learnitlive.com/class/8843/5-Magic-Components-of-Your-Successful-Self-Care-Program-Starting-with-Self-Love

Want Intense Joy, even Bliss? You don't need drugs... or even other people....

One of the broadest roads to mental, emotional, physical and spiritual strength is the creative arts, and I just came across a wonderful quote.....

Vincent Van Gogh: "If you hear a voice within you saying "You can't paint!", then by all means, paint - and that voice will be silenced."

Amen, brother. If I had a dollar for every client who has shied away from creativity because of the fear of criticism/perceived failure, I would be sitting on a beach in Tahiti for two months every year.....

When I tell people I paint, they assume that I am beloved by hundreds of fans, who eagerly buy my stuff. Nope. I create stuff that I either love and hang up or decide "Nah, that doesn't warm my heart" and throw it out or paint over it. Who cares? It's the process of doing art that is the fun, that processes all the frustrations or joys of the day, week, life, into - something that has never existed before.

You will never be so close to utter bliss in any other context, as when you are overcome by transcendence - that out-of-yourself feeling you get when you are the presence of beauty so intense it makes your teeth ache and tears form, or when you behold your newborn child, or when you hold another form of creation in your hands. Sometimes what comes out of me and onto the page poleaxes me to the point where I can hardly breathe. *I* created that. And it is a Something that has never existed before. It came out of my consciousness and took form on the written page,or the collection of paints or the juxtaposition of images torn from magazines and added to by ink and colored pencil,

Until you do this, and do it regularly enough that you can get past your fears and start to feel transcendence, you will never really understand what the Biblical authors (and the original Babylonian authors) meant when they imagined the Creator looking on its handiwork and proclaiming it Good. Not an artistic judgment, that. No, Good meant that undefinable feeling you get when you look on something and it is just 100% just-the-way-it-is harmonious and Right, in an ineffable way that only your soul and the soul of the universe understands.

Get some cheap watercolors ($3.99, I swear to you) and play. Buy craft-quality acrylics for $1.50 each. Create. You deserve to feel so good you cry. Then make another appointment with yourself and do it again.

It's a good year. No, it's a bad year. No, it's.....

We so blithely talk about having a “good” or “bad” year.  What we mean is a time in which we got what we wanted out of life - we had health, a good marriage, a nice income, low stress – or we had a time that presented many challenges, sometimes intense challenge on one front – exceptional health challenges or frustrating unemployment .  My “bad” years frequently feature being nibbled to death by ducks – dozens of mild to moderate problems, but constant and relentless  - that lead your psyche to believe that the Lords of Creation have it in for you (as a Christian client referred to it) or that life is just a constant struggle with one stumbling block after another.

2015 was a difficult year for me.  2016 is shaping up to have lots of challenges as well.  I lost 5 weeks of my life to a serious bronchitis attack and now my beloved sister is riddled with cancer and breathing through her last weeks, the latter hitting with almost no warning.   Why did my goddess, angel and animal spirit cards, not to mention my Akashic consults, all tell me that this was going to be a “good” year?  Are they wrong – or nuts?

Maybe the latter is closest to the truth.

I think the disconnect can be explained by a story from one of the Buddhist scriptures, which I will paraphrase and shorten.  A farmer had a young son who was an excellent helper.  That’s good, his neighbors told him.  Then the boy broke his leg and it set poorly; he would always have a limp.  That’s bad, his neighbors said.  Years pass and the nation is at war.  All the young men are conscripted for military service.  All the fathers lose their young male labor and have to work hard in the fields.  Except our farmer.  Because the boy limps, he is excused from military service.  That’s good, the neighbors say. The young man does not die in the war and remains to help work on the farm, albeit at a reduced capacity.

This constant mental categorizing event outcome as “good” or “bad” is the major cause of our life’s dissatisfaction.  If things aren’t good or bad, but just are, we can move on to maximizing the value of what we have, like the farmer.  His emotions weren’t up and down, fluctuating with the “story” that his mind created about reality, like his neighbors were doing.  Some people read the story and think that the moral is that you have to wait to decide if something is good or bad, because of course the story ends up “good” – the young man does not die.  But the real meaning is much more profound.

So what about me?  Maybe I can be very sad, weep and journal and be hugged, but my sister’s untimely death isn’t “bad,” per se, just very, very sad.  Maybe it just is.  Maybe the bronchitis just is.  [Compare this with “the bronchitis is actually good because it got me to cut back on the number of overseas trips I was planning for 2016, which were exhausting to think about, much less do” which is the psych cognitive-behavioral approach, and a very good one it is, too, in getting us to see another possibe interpretation of the available facts.  But with all its virtues, it is only turning bad into good, not walking away from bad and good as categories, period.]

So I don’t think all those cards and Akashic messages were wrong.  It was my interpretation of them that was off-base.  They didn’t say I would have a “good” year.  They said that many blessings were coming to me.  It was I who mistranslated that into “nothing sad is going to happen.”   When I take a more balanced look at the year, the blessings – so many more than in 2015 – stand out in stark relief.   My gosh, what a shower of blessings, in business, in health and in new friendships and spiritual relationships.   Not nothing but blessings of course.  But blessings there are.  And all of it – without being labeled good, bad or both/neither – just is.

If you ask me how the year is going, I may make you comfortable by saying, “Many blessings,” because small-talk doesn’t require philosophy or truth.  But know that I know what kind of year I’m having.  I’m having a year in which I am alive, and all of it just is.

The Nurturing of Life

Classes for May - Transform Your Life

The Spiritual Path to Loving Exercise and Veggies [Yes, you will!]

4/30 10 AM;  5/21 2 PM

So many Americans hate exercise and won't do it. Not MY clients! They have learned the spiritual path to genuinely (no gimmicks) loving to feel their bodies move, and loving how they feel with veggies. We never have trouble making time for the things we love to do, and the things we love to eat. No willpower needed for me to spend an hour creating things with crochet, or photographing distant planets and galaxies. I love it! 

You love things, too. And you don't have to use any willpower to get yourself to do these things, do you?

In this one hour class, I will start you on the road to LOVING your body, moving, and loving the taste of really good, healthy food. The spiritual path is unrelated to any religion or faith. Your spirit core is where your deepest desires live. Not the substitutes that you crave, because your life is too stressful and too filled with have-to, and not enough true joy. Not that. Your spirit core will lead you to the vision of yourself, and the decisions about your life that will transform your life - and your surface desires that now are driving your life in unhealthy directions.

You can love exercise as I've learned to love it - because it is a time of loving myself and my family, preparing to do my very best as a healer, and having fun. In a typical week, I joyfully splash and play in water, deep-end in wonderfully creative dreams of crochet and acrylic artwork, and touch the deepest core of my soul. It's a wonderful life! 

No matter how many hats you are currently juggling and how many years it's been since you had anything other than popcorn and TV for yourself, if you take this class, you will be setting forth on the Hero's Journey to Health.

After the class, you'll have the option of discounts on the entire transformation program. www.soaringdragon.biz

https://www.learnitlive.com/class/8844/The-Spiritual-Path-to-LOVING-Exercise-Veggies-Yes-you-will#

Meet Your Biological Ancestors

5/3 6PM;  6/3  10 AM

Within Homo sapiens itself, you have over 10,000 generations of ancestors! Your people domesticated plants and animals, migrated across continents and created gorgeous works of art. Moving back farther in time, there are thousands more - the people who first tamed fire, developed language and created home bases to nurture babies and elders.

Getting in energetic connection to all these generations, connects you to their characters, their struggles, their triumphs and their tragedies. Connecting empathetically to these DNA contributors to who YOU are, allows you to question your own deeply-held beliefs about your life, deepen your empathy for yourself and others, increase your pride in your own courage and virtues.

Clients have reported everything from better sleep to losing unwanted weight after completing the day-long class that includes both biological and past life ancestors. The clients who beta-tested this shorter version reported significant shifts in their inner landscape. You will too! Join us live for interaction and join us via recording if you can't.

Pre-requisites

A sincere desire to understand yourself, and a willingness to be transformed, in mind, body, spirit and soul.

https://www.learnitlive.com/class/8591/Meet-Your-Biological-Ancestors#

The 5 Magic Components of Your Successful Self-Care Program (Starting with Self-Love)5/10 6PM;  5/21 3:30PM

How many times have you tried and failed to launch a permanent self-care program?  The fault is not in you or in your stars.  All you need is the RIGHT tools and the RIGHT incentives.  You are guaranteed success!

This class will introduce you to the 5 must-have components of your successful self-care program, and help you in putting your personalized plan together - something flexible enough to get you through "bad days" and powerful enough to generate serious change in your health and wellbeing.  You CAN transform your life, no matter how many barriers you see on the road to self-care.

You owe it your yourself - and your family and your business/career - to invest an hour in learning these 5 components, so transformative, they feel truly magical!     www.soaringdragon.biz

https://www.learnitlive.com/class/8843/5-Magic-Components-of-Your-Successful-Self-Care-Program-Starting-with-Self-Love

Harness Your Goddess Energy To Stop Self-Sabotage

5/11 5:30PM; 5/12 6PM

Have you been trying to stop your self-sabotage and generate more confidence for your life, your business or your family? Not working, huh? STOP beating yourself up! You are using the wrong tools, that's all.

In this workshop, you will connect with your inner goddess energy (not associated with any religion or faith!), and watch the real barriers to your successful completion of your goals start to crumble before your eyes. Take effective action against the barriers that are holding you back.

Enrollment is limited for the highest-quality experience.

https://www.learnitlive.com/class/8839/Harness-Your-Goddess-Energy-to-Stop-Self-Sabotage

The Secret Ingredient of All Successful Transformations

5/16 6PM

We all have barriers that we would like to blast away.  Why is it that some of us succeed and most don't?  What do those "lucky" winners have that YOU don't?  It's simple!  No matter whether it is a new career or a healthier, slimmer body, a new love life or freedom from addictions and habits, a better handle on adult ADHD or a new freedom from the effects of past trauma, all successful transformations rely on one special ingredient - that coaching can't give you and therapy doesn't want to.  Come explore the Secret Ingredient and discover how to use it to blast through the barriers keeping you from your heart's desire in 2016!

https://www.learnitlive.com/class/7551/The-Secret-Ingredient-of-All-Successful-Transformation

Claim Your Power, Claim Happiness

5/19  6PM

It looks like you have multiple goals, but you don't really. All of them - money, family, business- are about happiness that comes from getting What You Want. So first we will explore how to remove external barriers to happiness.

Then we put power back into your hands. All these years, you thought that power to be happy was "out there." It's not. 

Sure, it makes sense to remove as much of the external barriers to happiness as possible (see Magic Ingredient and other classes that spend an hour on just that). But what do you do about the situations that just stubbornly refuse to change? Do you have to be unhappy because your mate doesn't materialize and wealth doesn't manifest? 

No simplistic "don't worry; be happy" jive here! This is the real road to taking back the power that you always had, Dorothy. You don't even need ruby slippers to wield THIS power. This is the infinite power within you.

All you need to tap all that power is courage to confront what you have been doing to sabotage yourself, to prevent yourself from taking this power. Do you have the courage? 

On the other side of the river is a power no one can take away from you! 

https://www.learnitlive.com/class/8840/Claim-Your-Power-Claim-Happiness

Retrain Your Immune System: Smarter Cells, Healthier Life

5/16  12 noon; 5/21 10 AM

Your immune system is a complex of different cells and messenger molecules that try to identify both external invaders and internal malfunctions (proto-cancer), coordinating with each other for your best health. The stem cells that trained in your babyhood start to malfunction over time, leading to both an upsurge in invaders getting through and also mistakes leading to auto-immune diseases.

The bad news: medications and herbals can only boost or suppress the whole system. To get an auto-immune disease to calm down, you suppress the whole immune response and you get sick more often. What do you do??

You CAN teach your immune cells to be more discerning! Through the power of advanced hypnotherapy and specific imagery, you can calm a cytokine storm without coming down with the flu. You can boost your NK cells in their cancer-killing work without stimulating other T and B cells to the point where they start looking for enemies that don't exist (and make you ill).

Come get a sample of the process before you sign up for a complete program. You CAN have more power over your immune response!

You will have an opportunity for discounts on the complete Retrain Your Immune System (www.soaringdragon.biz) as well as an 18-hour MP3 on How Your Body Really Works, explaining all these immune system components and interactions in detail.

https://www.learnitlive.com/class/8842/Retrain-Your-Immune-System-Smarter-Cells-Healthier-Life

The Spiritual Path to Permanent Weight Control: Blasting Through the Barriers

5/19 6:15 PM

Have you been struggling with your weight? Does it seem impossible to get results that last? Are you TIRED of counting calories and constantly telling yourself NO? Do you feel like a failure? [You're not. Your strategies are ineffective, that's all.]

Trying to change your life with only willpower and "inspiration" is a losing strategy. It will work for a while, but it can't transform your life. The complete Spiritual Path program WILL! The key to success is using the right tools, in the right way, consistently and with intentionality. Once you have your first experience of blasting through the barriers that are keeping you from success, you will never look back - never return to the old, ineffective strategies. 

Spiritual means a connection to the transcendent, which has an infinite number of forms. Religious means adherence to practices, rituals and dogmas. This class harnesses spirituality to unlock the door to PERMANENT weight control.

If you have been able to achieve permanent weight control, great; keep doing what you're doing. If you haven't, it's time to admit that what you're doing isn't working for you, long-term, and commit to a new program that really works.

Join a group of dedicated seekers who are tired of the old shame and blame game and are ready to combine effective action with joy. You can do it! This is the road to success.

https://www.learnitlive.com/class/8440/The-Spiritual-Path-to-Permanent-Weight-Control-Blasting-Through-the-Barriers#

The Road to Joy: Writing Your Soul (not just for seniors!)

Are you too scheduled?

Some of us are so busy that we “have no time” for self-care (exercise, healthy cooking, meditation, yoga, reiki and similar), for adequate rest (defined according to normal medically-recognized standards) and – perhaps most important of all – for journaling, introspection and other wisdom-building time.  When we are younger, we can forgive ourselves for falling into the trap of running around from place to place, over-scheduled and over-stressed.  We could point to jobs and kids as reasons/excuses.  At this stage of life, we are the custodians of the wisdom of our community.  If we don’t spend any time bringing this wisdom to the surface and then immortalizing it in some way, then I suggest that we are missing out on a great opportunity, not only for our own benefit but more especially for the benefit of our families, for others who love us, and for the benefit of writers everywhere.

You need more time to spend consolidating and spreading your wisdom.

You also need more joy.  Consider taking a The Road to Joy: Writing Your Soul class with me.  You’ll explore and then heal your life, your deep soul and everything in between, through the medium of the written word.  This is NOT A WRITING CLASS.  You won’t be evaluated for anything, much less grammar, punctuation or style.  This is a self-growth class, who purpose is to bring you to joy!  If you are in Ashland, Oregon, you can do part of this class for free through OLLI.  It’s called Writing for Non-Publication.  

Psst: it's not on the website.  This is one of my "stealth" classes that I only put on for my existing clients and newsletter subscribers - and now you.  

Dates: June-August 2016.
Cost:  As an experiment, I'm accepting donations in place of the usual tuition of $250. No excuse not to commit the time to letting your inner Goddess out! 

Enrollment: email me at victoria.leo.reiki@gmail.com.

www.soaringdragon.biz

Soar With Dragons to Genuine Joy (part 1)

  What do you think is the most popular category for re-pins on Pinterest and for responses and shares on Facebook?  Inspirational sayings, right?  As a culture, we are starving for uplift.  How did we end up in this place?
Part of it is a reflection of economic realities.  Prior to the Reagan years, labor and management had a more equal balance of power.  With the near-demise of labor unions, the real wages of most Americans have dropped sharply, more and more of us have only part-time or contingent work with no benefits, we are working longer and have very little realistic hope of a dignified and comfortable retirement.  Having economic fears and anxieties simply means that you’re aware and paying attention.
Our health is a legitimate concern as well.  For the first time in history, life expectancy and overall health measures of adult Americans are declining.  Our young adult offspring have less hope and opportunities.  [If none of these categories apply to you, have compassion and generosity for the rest of us.]
In a reality where glib “don’t worry; be happy” platitudes are lacking in wisdom as well as empathy, how can someone like me insist that Happiness is the goal of ALL of my programs?  My answer to you:  Blast away all the external Barriers to joy that you possibly can and then learn the Secret Sauce that allows you generate joy internally.
So why am I such a joy advocate?
The first reason is physical health.  Anxiety and worry depresses your immune system, raises your blood pressure (which damages kidneys and arteries and leads to premature death and an end to sexual function), and wrecks your skin.  If you want to live longer, stop wasting money on supplements and potions and practice Reiki, EFT (tapping), meditation and daily movement.
The second is that joy is infectious.  All your other problems start easing, when you approach other people with a glow.  You can talk your bankers into outrageous rule-changes, you can encourage discounts and more-time-to-pay from nearly everyone, you can blind hiring managers to your flaws and weaknesses, and you can convince everyone else to have hope for their future as well.  You can even have the faith to commit to healing of long-festering problems (with me) if your expectation for your future changes.
How do you shift yourself away from dwelling on all your legitimate sources of dismay?
Well, you don’t want to ignore reality.  That is one beef I have with some less-than-wise proponents of Positive Thinking.  Did you know that in the 1950’s, the early advocates of civil rights for women and minorities were accused of fostering disloyalty and even treason because they were bringing up “negative” views of American society?  Don’t ever, ever allow a preference for a positive twist on your situation to morph into suppressing your first duty to tell yourself and others the truth about your life.  Black Lives Matter.  Women’s lives matter.  If this is “negativity,” then thank god for it.  Walk away from anyone who tries to suppress or muzzle your grasp on Truth.
But joy can be part of Truth, too.
Carve out time in your day, every day, for joy.  Joy is your natural state when you are fully present in your body, in your reality.  Stress comes from moment-by-moment time travel to the past and the future.  So -
Ø  Stop rushing from place to place, so you have time to breathe deeply and look up at the clear blue sky or the new daffodils or the cute dog walking your neighbor.
Ø  Have less things on your to-do list, if you have to, but make time for Reiki, tapping (EFT), yoga and meditation.
Ø  Give yourself time to breathe and be still, accomplishing nothing tangible, unless you count better physical health, sharper thinking and – joy.
 As one of my inspirational pins reminds me, “It’s just a bad day, not a bad life.” [On Pinterest – SoaringDragon]
And make time, at least once a week, to be creative.
Ø  Get some inexpensive ($5) watercolors or acrylic craft paints from the craft store, some painting paper or cheap canvases and swirl some colors around.  It’s called abstract art.  Don’t show it to anyone or ask anyone for an opinion.  If you get a negative remark, tell the person to shut up.  When you let go of the desire to “do a good job,” and get others’ approval, not only do you create great art – because “great art” is anything that is an authentic reflection of your feelings and your vision - but you will feel such an intense upwelling of pure joy, it will take your breath away.
Ø  Build something.  Get craft supplies or a kit and make something.  It doesn’t even matter what.  It is the PROCESS of the creation that reduces stress, gives you new insights into your life and makes you bubble with joy.  I used to build furniture.  I still build and create useful objects every week.  You can get addicted to stained glass and mosaic kits.  That is my fun time, and if you try it, you, too, can contemplate giving up your TV.  Go to Michael’s or Joann [never Hobby Lobby], just walk around and when something catches your heart, don’t talk yourself out of it, second-guess or shame yourself.  Buy it. Take it home.  Try it out.  Keep going into mindfulness, to keep the critical voices at bay.
 Ø  Embrace colors.  Color has amazing impacts on your brain.  Painting the prison walls calming colors really does reduce conflict.

Ø  Learn a new skill.  I keep telling people that crochet is so simple, children learn it easily.  I can crochet in the dark, with my eyes closed, while watching scenery go by on a tour bus, because it’s a simple tactile task.  With crochet, you can create stuffed animals, a nifty protector/carrier for your smart phone, purses, clothing, housewares galore.  My smart phone carrier has compartments for phone, charger, USB, earbuds, a credit card and ID.  I can use it as a purse for short trips where I don’t need a gazillion ID cards.  Knitting is fun and leads to the same bumper crop of clothing, gifts and beauty.

There are literally thousands of cool things to learn – and learning something new brings joy.   Sign up for something on Coursera, The Great Courses, Udemy or another learning site.  When you are learning, your pre-frontal cortex lights up, and when it lights up, so do your joy circuits.  And your Pride in Yourself circuits.  You deserve to feel that good.  Learn something.  Konnichi-wa!
 People like the Dalai Lama, who encourage you to seek joy in the midst of your troubles (while also having compassion for your legitimate pain and difficulty), are your true North Star if you want a life that soars.  You deserve to soar with dragons.  Take action today!
 Who Am I?I’ve been where you are, thinking that I could only truly harbor joy in my heart when every desire of my life was being fulfilled.  I learned better, and so can you.  We’ll start by clearing away the fixable external problems. Victoria Leo offers programs guaranteed to blast through your barriers to bring you physical health, peace of mind and soaring goddess energy!  Is your career or dreams of entrepreneurship keeping you up at night?  Do you need freedom from worry and lack of faith in yourself?  Do you need physical health?  Every program also teaches you how to generate joy from within.  There IS a secret, magic formula and I will teach it to you!

Victoria offers both science-based and spiritual solutions that really work! Visit www.soaringdragon.biz and choose the program that will transform your life.  You deserve to soar with dragons! Victoria’s Facebook group Healing Minds, Healing Bodies welcomes you, as does her blog SoaringDragoninJapan. You can find her books on Amazon, Nook, Kobo or at your local bookseller.
   

Can Auroral Energies Really Be Channeled?

I just spent a week in Fairbanks, Alaska, with a spiritual healer who is positive that our healing work is stronger there because we channel the energy of the auroras. I'm thinking perhaps it's just because the natural beauty makes us so filled with happiness - and that's what is making the distance healing I do so much more powerful.

There's some support for the latter hypothesis: happiness makes us healthier, so it's plausible that it would make a healer more effective. But what about the auroral energy? Any ideas?

Perhaps it's both factors at work.....  It's only Western philosophy - the Cartesian duality belief - that says there is only one answer to all of life's questions.