Digging up your inner stuff

Digging up your inner stuff

In the very near future, my Reiki Master students will be graduating from the 5 month intensive training program with their Reiki Master certification. You might think that a Reiki Master program is all about learning the Reiki System of Natural Healing techniques and how to use them on others.

That doesn't really cover it though. Reiki Master training is so much more - it's an investment in yourself. Working with energy is working with emotions, mental habits and behavioral patterns, especially your own. If you aren't clear about your own inner stuff, you're not going to be able to facilitate healing on a Reiki Master level for someone else. Reiki Master training is truly mastery of yourself. (If you're interested in studying with me, look here.)

It's been amazing to watch these perservering students focus on self-care in the face of much homework practicing techniques on volunteers over the last five months. It's been empowering to witness them discover inside themselves the capacity to do things they had never considered before. Even more powerful than their courageous acts of facing their doubts and fears has been seeing them begin to manifest the dreams they've held quietly in their hearts for a long while.

I remember back to when I first graduated with my Masters Degree in Natural Health and then later with my Reiki Master certification. I was burning with passion and ready to launch myself out into the world as a wellness practitioner to help others on their healing journeys.

This was years ago before the wellness industry became a hot topic, and I had no idea how to start a practice. It was many years of attempts with other jobs to pay the bills in between before I finally figured out what it takes to be a successful self-employed service professional.

It's not what you might think.

It's not being the best in your field or even knowing all the special business systems that self-employed entrepreneurs use.

It's really all about your inner stuff.

Where you are emotionally, psychologically and spiritually affects your clarity of vision. You need a clear outer vision - how you feel called to be of service in the world - and clear inner vision - knowing and trusting yourself and being open to inspiration. That is what it takes to succeed as a service professional with dreams of healing and changing the world.

Without this clarity of vision, your inner fears, doubts and subconcious patterns are going to put up roadblocks and hold you back from living out your calling. They will trip you up and hold you back from being as successful as you desire.

And there is nothing better for getting really deep perspective on yourself than working with other like-minded individuals who are also pursuing their dreams. The inspiration of motivated, passionate, compassionate individuals who are clearing away the blocks in their path to success can create powerful healing and bigger dreams for all.

In the last year, I have been working with heart-centered practitioners and entrepreneurs, sometimes one-on-one, but often pulling them together into groups to collaborate and dig deep in working on their inner stuff. These individuals are moving forward with their dreams to be of service and change the world from a place of clarity and confidence. Over the summer, I will be sharing their success stories with you.

If you have a dream and a calling to be of service too, but you don't know quite how to work through your inner stuff, and if its keeping you from getting started or moving your dreams to the next level, one of my programs may be for you.

What if you are already good enough?

In preparation for the creative retreat I attended last weekend, my mentor had all of the participants read The Soul of Money: Reclaiming the Wealth of our Inner Resources by Lynne Twist.

Ms. Twist, a long time fundraiser and activist for The Hunger Project who has worked closely with some of the most resource rich and resource poor individuals and communities in the world, puts forth some revolutionary ideas about our capacity to experience abundance no matter where we are in the world and what our access to money is like.

She actually challenges us to let go of the money myths that have become the foundations of our Western capitalist culture ("there isn't enough to go around so stockpile as much as you can for you and yours") and replace them with a liberating, and ancient, myth of abundance ("there is enough for all of us").

At this creative retreat, we explored how to weave the myth of abundance into our businesses, lifestyle and even spirituality. As we explored how to integrate our passions and businesses with our chosen lifestyle, we were actually exploring how the paradigm of enough could liberate, not just our relationship with money, but our relationship with ourselves, our families, our clients, and all the other people in our communities.

A series of "what if" questions started popping into my mind as the ramifications of the myth of abundance began to sink into my consciousness.

• What if individuals started to realize that they are good enough just as they are?
• What if communities began to see that there are enough resources for everyone if they work together?
• What if there is always enough love and support to nourish me and everyone else?
• What if none of us has to earn dignity, worth, value, love, abundance, opportunities, appreciation, gifts, income and anything else our hearts desire?
• What if we are all inherently good enough to receive these gifts?
• What if it's just a matter of being open to revealing this abundance inside of ourselves and our communities?

Though my mentor has been trying to teach me this for a while, it wasn't until I came home from the retreat did I start to really understand how my entire life and my business could be different if I approached it from this lens of abundance.

Your Transformational Homework this week:

Listen to my lecture & guided meditation about how to open the flow of abundance in your life. Click here to listen.

Reflect on these questions, write in your journal and talk about them with others.

What if you are already good enough? How would that change your life and work?

What if your gifts are enough? What if following your bliss is enough?

Put my manifesto up somewhere you can read it every day:

I AM ENOUGH
by Joanna Scaparotti

"By virtue of being conceived, I have inherent dignity, value and worth. I am loved unconditionally, and I am provided for completely. Abundance, love, appreciation and opportunities are my birthright. It is my duty to open my heart and receive. I am receptive and joyfully receiving the gifts, opportunities, appreciation and love the Universe provides me.

I work to be of Service and fully express my joy, love and appreciation of the gifts given to me. I do not work to prove my worth, earn my keep, or to provide the means to live my life. I express my gifts by surrendering fear, control, doubt, self-criticism, and guilt. Instead I open to unconditional love and blessings.

And I ask today and every day - how can I serve? How can I express my gifts? How can I receive? How can I give?"

Still stuck?

Listen to Joanna's guided meditation for dreaming without limitations from her Lulu store here, or schedule a private breakthrough session with Joanna on the phone or in person.

Are you getting in your own way?

The truth is that sometimes you get in your own way.

When this happens, you're not always aware of it at first, and it usually has more to do with your emotional state than anything else. These roadblocks that you create for yourself come from fears and limiting beliefs. We make decisions about what is and isn't possible in our lives (and careers) based on these subconscious factors that play out without our awareness at times.

It often takes hitting a pretty hard block in the road and deep frustration and disappointment before you can start to realize that you are getting in your own way, blocking the success you really want to manifest in your life.

Getting really clear about your heart's desire can be a challenge if there are roadblocks in the way. Roadblocks can include conscious or subconscious fears, limiting beliefs, self-sabotaging habits, procrastination, your own doubts, and the doubts of people in your life.

What you may not know is that roadblocks - those subconscious fears, habits or patterns - are there to protect you, even if they aren't really helping you attain your goals at the moment. So it can be very helpful to approach them from a gentle place of compassion in order to best learn what you need to move forward from that stuck place.

Often these fears and beliefs about who we are and how we are supposed to act are put into place by our minds while we are still children. We make up rules about what we're supposed to do based on our limited understanding of what's happening in our environment. These assumptions continue to play out in adulthood until we challenge and unravel them so that we can move forward in our lives.

So how do you get out of your own way?

Trust yourself and your inner guidance. I think this is the hardest part. Often, on some level, I know what I need to do to overcome or remove the roadblocks in my way. Yet, what I need to do is often something I don't like or don't believe. I think this is true for most of us.

And yet accessing your inner guidance is not something most of us are good at. We look to others to figure out what's right or wrong, instead of looking inside our hearts to find out what's exactly what we need and desire.

Developing the skill of listening to your inner wisdom is crucial to quickly and gently overcoming the emotional roadblocks that get in the way.

Even if you don't like or don't believe the inner wisdom you receive when you listen to your heart for guidance, I want you to take that step anyways. Suspend disbelief, and just try it and see what happens before you judge it. Even if you don't like it.

Developing the confidence to trust your inner guidance and take those steps to move forward takes practice, and it's what sets you up to be successful in creating the life you desire.

Your Transformational Homework this week:

Sit or recline comfortably somewhere you won't be disturbed for about 30 minutes. Have your journal with you. Relax.

Ask yourself this question: "What's holding me back from achieving this practice?" and just wait with an open mind for an answer to float into your mind.

Once you have an idea in mind about your biggest or most urgent roadblock, bring it to mind. Reflect on it, but don't give up.

Ask yourself these questions: "How does this roadblock serve me? How is it protecting me or what is it giving me?"

Once you have clarity about your most pressing roadblock, it's now time to find out how to get around it. Ask yourself: "What step can I take right now to get around or remove this road block and move closer to achieving my vision?"

Write down all your observations, thoughts and feelings in your journal. Also write down the step that came to you for getting around or removing the roadblock that's challenging you right now.

Not great at listening to your inner guidance on your own?

Download Joanna's guided meditation for overcoming roadblocks from her Lulu store here, or schedule a private breakthrough session with Joanna on the phone or in person.