Day of the Dead

Today is November 2, The Day of the Dead. My father passed away, unexpectedly, 6 years ago yesterday on November 1, All Saints Day. One of his favorite songs was the jazzy, "When the Saints Go Marching In." We played it at his funeral. He would have wanted us to. I feel he was watching over his friends surprise at the upbeat tune--smiling. He was a rule-breaker.

My dad was, on earth, a feisty Italian who loved to cook huge feasts for family and friends. He always said he felt like a failure if he couldn't get his guests to eat something, even if they stopped by for only a short visit. "Mangia! Mangia!" He would command, and place an array of treats before them.

My dad was the largest sceptic in my life. He thought that auras and chakras were ridiculous. He was a scientist. A biochemist. He was a genius at what he did. When other scientist have told me about his work they are usually in awe...unsure of how he could have achieved what he did in his field. He was a true entrepreneur and risk-taker. He choose to "Follow His Bliss" and created his own business that allowed him to stay home and be with his family as much as possible. He was proud of this. He should be.

My dad has visited me since his crossing, as a spirit. I am writing about my experiences with his spirit in my book currently, so I will not go into detail here. But I do want to say that on this day, I honor you dad. I acknowledge how you have been my biggest teacher. You have helped me to understand what I truly am, here and now. Your skepticism helped me to know my strength and your love helped me to have endurance for the journey.

For today, November 2, The Day of the Dead, this quote is fitting:

"Time is an enormous, long river, and I’m standing in it, just as you’re standing in it. My elders are the tributaries, and everything they thought and every struggle they went through and everything they gave their lives to, and every song they created, and every poem that they laid down flows down to me – and if I take the time to ask, and if I take the time to see, and if I take the time to reach out, I can build that bridge between my world and theirs. I can reach down into that river and take out what I need to get through this world."
~ Utah Phillips

"Live your life fearlessly."

Months ago, I was reading through a website where individuals who have experienced near death experiences (NDE's) can post about their own crossing over experiences. As I was skimming through different stories, one in particular stood out. The detail in the story mirrored much of what I have personally experienced when I have left my body in deep meditative trances. I had the same experience of total love and remembering as well as the freedom to be anywhere and with anyone only through intention that Anita experienced.

Anita Moorjani was diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma in April 2002. After 4 years of fighting the disease, she was taken to intensive care and told she had less than 26 hours to live. After her remarkable NDE she had a miraculous physical healing where now she is completely cancer free. She discusses how our thoughts create disease or health and the importance of choosing Love over Fear.

Here is a recent interview with Anita that I highly recommend. She is helping all of us to remember.

"I understood that I had a purpose. I understood that I wouldn't have to work hard at figuring out my purpose, I just had to be myself and allow and the purpose would unfold before me...I just had to go and be myself and live life with abandon and my purpose would unfold before me.

...My real message to people, is that at your core--at our core, mine yours everybodys; all of us at our core, it's who we are. We ARE love--we really are; and so when you are being yourself-- all you can be IS love because that is all you are at your core. So don't be afraid to be who you are."

Radio Interview is up

If you missed my radio interview last Friday with Kris Steinnes from Women of Wisdom it is not archived and online to hear.

Here is the link:

Elisa's Radio Interview

I really should meditate.

During my sessions with clients, it is usually with some sense of guilt that they tell me "I really should be meditating more." To which I reply, "Why?" This usually throws them off as they assume that I would be pushing meditation as an important spiritual practice and discipline. But I seriously want to know...Why do you think you should be meditating?

First of all, if you are going into meditation with the intent and belief that you 'should' be doing it, it will probably be a miserable experience. And I don't think miserable experiences 'should' be on the top of our "to do" lists. Meditating to appease a sense of persona and ego identification (i.e. "I was spiritual today, I spent half an hour meditating.") is similar to the hamsters on the wheels I watch with my son at the pet store: Lots of effort, and not really getting anywhere. And if it is not enjoyable (I think the hamsters are at least having some fun), then, why do it?

So, why do we meditate? And as long as we are asking questions; what is meditation? Every person who meditates might give you a different answer to these questions, but here are my answers: We meditate to remember who we are. We meditate to feel what we are behind the idea of who we think we are. We meditate to sit and practice tolerating the Love that we truly are. We meditate to go home. We meditate to connect and to enjoy. We meditate to throw some Love into the cosmic pot of the universe (to balance out all that fear we throw in the rest of the day). We meditate to hit the reset button. We meditate to remember that the invisibles are real. We meditate to get clarity on the Dream. We meditate to feel the Truth that we are the Dreamer and not the Dream itself.

Who do you think you are?

Here is just a little snipet from an amazing spiritual teacher, Adyashanti. I love Adya for being so grounded and present while also being extremely connected. I have been thinking about all of my clients recently. My clients are nurses, stay-at-home moms, businessmen, therapists, authors, screenwriters and artists. What they all have in common is they want to know the Truth. I know that is a loaded word, because it implies that there is only one truth with a capital "T". And as much as I believe not one truth is right for everyone, there is one truth that is right for you. Your individual Soul truth that is trying to reach out and grab you at every moment in the day. It is speaking to us through our headaches, ulcers, premonitions, insomnia, accidents, synchronicity and dreams. You do not need to be "special" or "evolved" to hear your Truth. You just need to have the courage and make the choice that you want to hear it more than you want to hear anything else. Divine prioritizing.



Here is a video of Adyashanti speaking on how to be spiritual you do not need to be special.

I'm Still Here

Last night I watched the movie, "I'm Still Here" starring Joaquin Phoenix. There is still some debate apparently if it is truly a documentary or an Andy Kaufman-style performance art piece. Either way, it really got this point across to me: If you attach to Ego you are gonna get destroyed. And if you have nothing but Ego you will be on a mission of self-destruction until you discover that you are wrong. Because frankly, your soul loves you that much. It loves you enough to be unable to bear losing you to the illusory belief that you are in separation from it.

So to translate into English: If you are attached to the belief that who you are is dependent on your bank account, on your ability to find sexual partners, or on your dependancy of other's beliefs about you...then prepare to be destroyed. Because the PART of you that believes that, is not real. It THINKS it is. But it is dead wrong. Our freewill is in the power to choose who we are going to listen to: Ego or Self? Fear or Love? Your Story or Mine (and by mine, I don't mean the Ego's story).

This is no easy task when you are really trying to do it thouroughly. It's like when you are really trying to weed a garden. It's pretty easy to cut the weeds down, but if you are weeding from the roots? Well...you might just have a sore back by the time you get all those suckers out.

And this is what I do with people on the phone. I help them weed. You can call me a master gardener. Because for some reason I really enjoy when other people are locating their false selves and seeing them for what they are. And in the light of day they start to disappear, because illusion shrinks into nothingness when we stare at it with the fierce eyes of grace and love. And I feel so grateful to be able to do this type of weeding with people. I guess I'm a weeding addict. It's different than being a weed addict. Just sayin'.

The movie is so intense and haunting that I felt naseus the next morning. And if this is a fauxumentary? Joaquin, you are truly the best actor I have ever seen. (I could look at it intuitively to find out, but I'm kind of enjoying sitting with the question.)

My favorite quote from the movie from Edward James Olmos:

"That's you, drops of water and you're on top of the mountain of success. But one day you start sliding down the mountain and you think wait a minute; I'm a mountain top water drop. I don't belong in this valley, this river, this low dark ocean with all these drops of water. Then one day it gets hot and you slowly evaporate into air, way up, higher than any mountain top, all the way to the heavens. Then you understand that it was at your lowest that you were closest to God. Life's a journey that goes round and round and the end is closest to the beginning. So if it's change you need, relish the journey."

He then says something to Joaquin about how when the spotlights are on him, the inner light can’t be seen. The Inner light can only be illuminated during the dark times. This part I would disagree with. The inner light is always illuminated, but if the outer audience is shining a spotlight on you (projection) they will not be able to truly see your light. It doesn't mean it's not there. I guess you could say "It's Still There", too.

Energetic Codependency Teleclass Coming Soon

I will be doing a weekly teleclass coming up focusing on Energetic Codependency. Energetic Codependency is not the same as Codependency, although we can act in classically Codependent ways when we are not maintaining and connecting to our own energetic truth. There is lots of information on Codependency and Energetic Work but I have not found much written on the marriage on the two. When we are freed from Energetic Codependency we are clear in our truth, discerning in the view of other's energetic reality and connected to our internal Beloved who guides us along our own soulful path. This class will be an intensive investigation and course in learning how to energetically recognize it, how to work with it on an energetic level and the soul's (or Higher Self's) lessons in relation to this issue. I will be taking a very limited number of clients for the class to keep the group level intimate. Due to the personal nature of the call, participants are invited to use their real names or imagine an alias to use with the group. This is to ensure everyone feels free to be truly unrestrained in speaking about these issues.

I am hoping to schedule the sessions on a weekday evening and they will be an hour in length. Shoot me an email if you are interested so I can begin to gather optimal times for the class. I am so excited and passionate on this topic. I feel incredibly grateful to work with such amazing clients doing such intense and powerful Soul-Work on a committed basis. I am so inspired by the idea of bringing these powerful souls together to share on this essential and often unrecognized topic.