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Your Body’s Story

Walking through art booths at a street fair, I was drawn into a booth of paintings. This booth was different than all others for several reasons. The paintings were of clothed women (unique) engaged in life activities. Each stroked detail of these women’s bodies told their own Soul story. My daughter and I stopped and turned toward the artist, then in her thirties, a beautiful petite radiant gal, who was robust in content. We became supportive allies with our lives interweaving every four or five years. Then, she came out with a beautiful book … loaded with her beloved paintings along with information on how to identify stories you’ve lived out through your body. Entitled Stretch Your Brave, Hack Your Story, it is a more-than-book that assists me and you in breaking through chronic disease/conditions through story telling. Since Melanie and I saw each other last, she went to school to become degreed in assisting individuals in becoming free from their own health limitations through gaining insight and shifting lifestyle. The book begins with Melanie’s own story...

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Three Arizona Writers Speak; I Listen

Yesterday I went to the heart of downtown, for my first time since moving to Phoenix.  Invited to hear three women speak as part of Arizona’s Centennial Celebration, I donned my tennis shoes and walking clothes and headed toward town.  Driving and parking became an emergent issue as I reached Jefferson and First Avenue.  A bike race was underway with speeding cyclists swooshing through the streets forcing me to park seventeen blocks from my destination.  Grateful for my choice in clothing and shoes, I began my walk toward the big event arriving fifteen minutes late. Martha Beck, known as “Oprah’s coach” had already begun her story telling.  I arrived to hear her recount dreams she had of Africa when she was pregnant with her son, Adam.  “Remember your dreams, if only a little part of them,” she encourages us.  Dreams led her to finding her Soul, finding her work, and finding herself.  Hundreds of Arizonans sat on the edge of their seats. She spoke of times when she felt...

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Let’s Create Our Story

Have you had the experience of several streams of thought coming together into one?  I did tonight. I attended a story telling class geared toward healers. Our instructor recounted a story which shared the same bones as The Ugly Duckling.  Only the family was a group of chickens and the duckling/swan was an eagle.  It is said the eagle fell from his nest as a young one to live amongst the chickens.  He learned how to “be chicken.”  He pecked his food from the ground, and spent most of his days there, with the exception of occasionally sitting on a low farm fence. One day a naturalist drove by and was taken by this sight.  Determined to assist the eagle in finding his authentic self, the naturalist went about slowly but surely encouraging the eagle to return to his native state.  He began by making a connection with the bird  until he was comfortable enough to perch about his arm.  Then, he reminded him who he really is, “You...

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