Balancing Act

We live in a society that sees accomplishments as testimonies of worth. This is messed up. We have parents racing around getting kids to several different activities after school and on weekends, most often in different directions and opposite sides of the city, we have workaholics who pressure themselves to make just one more sale, and we have road rage increasing on a daily basis.

Isn't it nice to know that there are other options? We can choose to balance ourselves and stay balanced instead of having a hectic life that burns us out. This little goat is one that lives at the zoo. This little guy really has the right idea. It is all about balance. And when we achieve that balance, we are able to have our needs met. When our needs are met we are then able to have energy for the things that we enjoy in life. And when we have that energy we glow. It is not a baaaaaad thing!

Blessed Be

Trent

We Are One

When I was growing up, I used to absolutely love braiding my sisters' hair. I have three older sisters, and I am sure that I did this to each of them at one time or another, but to my youngest older sister the most. She had long beautiful hair and I would just love to run it through my fingers and braid it. I even did this for a few of her friends, or at least they sat through it for me. Later on in life, this got expressed when I was able to work at a friend's beauty parlor, washing clients' hair and preparing them for the cut and/or color and/or curl etc that my friend was about to do for them.

I never got to braid any clients' hair. That was okay with me, because by that time I had girlfriends who liked to have me do stuff to their hair for them. Now, I have two beautiful daughters who now and then let me braid their hair. Sometimes they ask me to do this for them, but most often I have to ask if they will let me. One of them really likes the variety of hair styles that I can create with braids.

So why the braids? I don't know. At least I didn't know back when my minor obsession first manifested in my life. The braiding process is something that I find to be meditative. It is something that makes me slow down. As I slow down, my heart rate slows and I feel calm and serene inside. But now I also understand the deeper meanings of braids. Besides the function of keeping the hair out of the eyes and face, braids are also expressions of who we are. When a woman wears a braid, the style of braid says something about her personality. I could go on for a while on this one, but I won't because there is one more thing about the braid that is even more important.

A braid is the living expression of the interwoven nature of the universe.

Hmmmm.....what the heck is this shaman dude getting at?

The braid, like us, depends on all the parts. First off, you need a clean parting of the hair. Then you need the style or pattern of the braid. Then you need to be able to weave it together so that it strengthens through the weave, and doesn't just wimp out and fall apart. You can work several braids into each other, so that it becomes like several different rivers flowing into one large river. Each strand of hair, each group, and each braid make a beautiful expression of the interdependent and interwoven nature of all things. We all rely upon other things in order to survive. When one thing collapses, it sends out a ripple effect and other things begin to collapse if we have not repaired the first thing. The next thing you know, there is a cascade effect and the entire thing comes undone and unravels everywhere. Life is like that. So these are some of the things that I think about as I braid hair. Not that deep at all, just different. And it is much better than having to count "knit one, purl one".

Blessed Be

Trent

www.deerhornshamanic.com

Life is Fragile

Some of the most beautiful things in life don't last. A flower, a sunset, a smile. I find that humans are the ones who tend to destroy beauty in nature. We plow down forests to make room for highways, level mountains to put up cities, and create noisy play toys to use in rivers and lakes that are otherwise peaceful. I remember being horrified at seeing the peacocks at the zoo being chased by kids who only wanted to pull their beautiful tail feathers out of them. Their parents didn't seem to think that there was anything wrong with their kids terrorizing these beautiful creatures. How would they like to be left bald because someone decided that it would be fun to collect their hair follicles? Try attracting a mate in that state!

Life itself can be quite fragile. Whether we are "losing our feathers" or just happen to be in the way of something or someone else at the wrong time, things can get broken. It is amazing how many broken people there are out there in the world. We don't always recognize them as being broken. Some are very good at masking how they feel. Some are very good at hiding what happens to them every day. You don't have to be a bald peacock to be broken and battered. Have you ever had one of those days where, for a variety of reasons, you are just more sensitive to stuff around you than usual? These are the days when meaningless off hand remarks can hurt us deeply. Nobody really means to cause us harm, they just do because we are more sensitive that day and they are not sensitive enough to know that what they are saying might sting.

We need, on days like these, to be gentle with ourselves. We need to remind ourselves that we are capable of going with the flow and that not everything in the world is directed at ourselves. We need to understand that gentleness and fragility are two different things. We might be fragile, but if we can bring ourselves to be gentle with ourselves and with others, then we decrease the likelihood of hurting ourselves or anyone else. In fact, our gentleness can turn out to be our greatest strength. When we are gentle, fewer things actually intimidate or frighten us. And when something or someone tries to, then we gently pass it by and keep going on our way. We don't have to fight or even fight back, we simply move on and leave whatever the situation is to its own self-destruction. In the meantime, we continue to grow our feathers back so that, one day, some way, we can once again fly.

Blessed Be

Trent

www.deerhornshamanic.com

Making Favorites

A few years ago I was at a wake. I have been writing a lot about death lately, but please bear with me. So I was at this wake. This was a wake for a dear friend of mine. She unfortunately passed as a result of complications in her struggle to heal cancer. This woman was one of the most gracious people I have ever known.

Now, I have never been one who likes to make favorites. I think we get a lot of that when growing up and I don't think that it is fair. Yes, we can love people in completely different ways, but making someone your favorite child or friend or parent or grandparent etc sets everyone up for being hurt in the long run. Some people are very blatant about the fact that "He's my favorite son" or whatever the relationship might be. This hurts the others in their lives. Or so I thought, until this wake happened.

People got up to speak about my friend. They introduced themselves as her favorite nephew, 1st daughter, younger daughter, mailman, uncle and the list went on and on. I found myself getting up to the mic and saying that I was her favorite shaman, which brought a lot of laughter. But the thing is, it was true and I know in my heart that it is true of every person there.

This was a woman who, without "making favorites," made everyone in her life feel like they were literally her favorite. This was a huge gift that she gave everyone in her life and that will continue to flow and ripple throughout the world as a result of her sacred path. I feel so honored that I was able to feel that from her. I feel that everyone in that very packed hall at the wake must surely feel the same way as well.

For this I am grateful.

Blessed Be

Trent

www.deerhornshamanic.com

Butterflies and Unicorns

Some things need to be believed in order to be seen. We have such strong filter systems on our perceptions that something can be right there in front of us and we just won't see it. I have a syndrome that I call the Y Chromosome Deficiency Syndrome. Being a male person, as many male persons experience, I usually cannot see something that I am looking for in the cupboard, in the closet, on the computer desk, in the "drawer of all things," in the "box of all things", and the list will go on. It usually takes an X Chromosome person to be able to find it for me. And, voila!, there it was, exactly where she told me it would be. Sometimes (okay most often) it leaves me feeling like quite the fool. The thing is that I cannot be too hard on myself about this because it is a serious disorder. Really! It is!

In Brooks, Alberta, there is an O'Shea's restaurant and in this restaurant there is a display of beautiful stained glass, one of which is a unicorn. I looked up, saw it, and said to my Love,"Hey, check out that unicorn!" She actually saw it. That was the first time that I had ever said those words and had someone actually see what I was talking about! Fortunately for her, and for me, this one was in this dimension of reality and was right there for any mortal to see. You would not believe the looks I get when stained glass is not involved! The thing is, I believe in unicorns. No, I don't brake for unicorns and hobbits, but I will slow down and give them a chance to move on. Because I believe in unicorns I am able to see them. The filters that society tried to put on my mind got lost in the shuffle somewhere while I was struggling to escape.

So now there is a beautiful butterfly effect that takes place. I can flip in consciousness from one dimension to the other and stay grounded in this one at the same time. Very cool indeed. Perhaps being from the Butterfly clan helps me. We in the Butterfly Clan are very used to shifts and changes within ourselves and cope very well with shifts and changes in our world. What we have to do, though, is honour where we are developmentally in any given situation. Are we in the egg form? The larva stage? The caterpillar stage? The cocoon stage? The butterfly/moth stage? When we honour which stage of development we are in, we no longer force ourselves to try to be in a different stage and just flow with the stage that exists. That way, we get out of our own way as we develop on our earth walk now.

Blessed Be

Trent

www.deerhornshamanic.com

The Masks We Wear

We all wear different masks at different times of the day. We wear a mask at work, and one at home, and one with our families of origin, and one with our life partners and one with our children and the list goes on and on. These masks are not, however, necessarily a bad thing that keeps people from getting to know us, nor are they always used to keep bad things at bay.

I like to look at the different masks as expressions of a variety of things we can all be. They are descriptions of who we are and they are not all mutually exclusive. For example,parents sometimes neglect being physically demonstrative in front of their children because they think that they have to protect them from knowing about sex. Yet sex is a part of love and is a part of what actually brought these children into being. Those children whose parents were more demonstrative tend to be the ones who later in life have a much healthier sex life with their partners. We all need physical connection. It is only human and only natural.

So when we wear our masks, we need to look at them as expressions, not as methods of hiding who we really are. The ones that are designed to hide who we are eventually get pulled right off our faces anyway. But when we allow people to see us change our masks and express ourselves in a variety of ways, we then give them permission to be a variety of things themselves, which frees them from social bindings that imprison them. So go ahead...express yourself!

Blessings

Trent

www.deerhornshamanic.com

Only Natural

Animals know what they need and they tend to know when they need it. Once they know, they do whatever is necessary to achieve the goal. Humans can learn a lot from animals when it comes to responding to basic needs. I know someone who is continually not going to the washroom because she is too busy to take the time. The amount of damage that she is doing to her body over time is unthinkable. Thank heavens they have come out with Depends because, if she doesn't curb her behaviour and start responding to her body's needs, she will need them.

Ah, the life of a cat. Our cat inspires me. Who doesn't want to lay in the spot of sunlight and have a cat nap in the middle of the afternoon? Now that is responding to the basic needs of the body. Like our cat, I tend to have a siesta in the middle of the afternoon. After lunch, I take a 10-20 minute nap. It doesn't have to be in the sun, but it does have to be uninterrupted. That way I am able to recharge my batteries. I am the type who can be asleep as soon as the eyes close. In fact, I have to be careful how long a blink lasts! So I go very deep very quickly and then come out of sleep just as quickly. My thoughts are clearer and my energies are higher. This allows me to be on top of things and function much better. My mother made sure that I napped every day when I was young. Sometimes she regretted the decision because she wanted me to be doing something else. But I am so glad that she gave me that gift. With so many people who struggle to sleep, I feel blessed that not only am I able to but that I can do so in the middle of the afternoon and not have it disrupt my night time sleep.

Sometimes I am dreaming within seconds of closing my eyes. Dreams are an important part of my reality. They help me to process events in my life and they give me guidance on pressing issues in my life. I think that because I am an avid dreamer, I am able to see things with more clarity than perhaps someone who does not remember their dreams might. Dreams give us insights and with those insights we are able to respond to our lives and the people in them with greater ease.

Blessed Be

Trent

www.deerhornshamanic.com

Living by Example

Lao-tzu said,"The wise man governs by non-doing. He teaches by non-saying." Ancient teachings such as these really inspire me. I remember someone saying to me that everyone should lead their lives in such a way that if someone were watching, even if we didn't know that they were watching, they would be inspired. Granted, when I am sitting watching TV or some other mundane activity like that where I am not just entertained, but allowed a moment of mind numbness so that I can decompress from a long day at work, I don't think that I would be very inspirational. I do, however, have a number of things that I do on a daily basis that could possibly inspire anyone who might be accidentally watching me.

And when we think about it, we are actually constantly being watched. Our spirit guides, our power animals, our angels and Deity itself watches every move we make every day. It is not like a voyeuristic thing. It is genuine concern and a desire to guide and assist us whenever we allow the flow to occur. When I first realized this little piece of information, I got a wee bit paranoid, not being sure if they were watching when I was in the shower (Psycho revisited), on the potty, or even making love (Hey! Psst...Is my technique okay?). But then I got okay with the idea because there were a few times when it literally saved my butt.

I am also quite fascinated when someone thanks me for something that they observed me saying or doing when I didn't even know that they were watching. The first time this happened was in University, when the president of a club for which I was the director of public relations took it upon herself to yell at me about something in the middle of a cafeteria. When she stopped talking I looked at her and said, in a very calm voice,"Now that you are done demonstrating to everyone in the cafeteria that you are really not a very nice person, I will let you know that nobody speaks to me that way and especially in the environment in which you chose to do it. I am completely willing to take guidance from someone, but criticism and abuse will only be tolerated in the form of opinion and only if I choose to beat it out of you. Since this is something that you have obviously not yet learned in the 24 years that you have so far been on this earth, I think that it is only appropriate to let you know that there are repercussions to your actions. You see, I do not and will not ever work with anyone who is like you. So you can now focus your attention on finding a replacement and no, I will not be training whomever the poor sod is that you find. That is now up to you.." She then turned and walked away, completely dumbfounded by my lack of fear.

About a week later, someone who became, over time, a fairly good friend introduced herself to me and told me that she was incredibly impressed with how I had handled this person who, over the last three years, had bullied her way around everyone. I think that it was not necessarily one of my finer moments in life because although I was direct, I was also brutal. Nonetheless, it helped inspire someone to know that it is okay to declare boundaries immediately upon the crossing of them. No matter when or where, someone is watching and will either be inspired or deeply disappointed. Their response is up to them. Our actions are up to ourselves.

Blessed Be

Trent

www.deerhornshamanic.com

When the News is Not Good

A number of years ago my oldest sister went into the hospital in with heart issues and ended up having a five bypass surgery. About a month or so afterward during her recovery, she was informed that, according to the tests that were done during surgery, she also had lung cancer. She was told that it was bad enough that she should get her affairs in order. She dealt with this information quite stoically, but I knew that inside she was terrified. Her main thing was that she did not ever want to come back to this earth because it was just too difficult a journey. I told her that when the time comes, she might actually have a different opinion on that. In the meantime, we were doing healing work with her and helping her to, at the very least, keep some of the pain under control. She made some dramatic emotional breakthroughs during that time.

I find that this sort of situation is difficult at best, especially when the person is already getting ready to leave. It is important to know when the agenda needs to shift from surviving into transitioning. I think that my main purpose in this situation was to help her to transition into the Light, which I did, as difficult as it was to see her go.

The thing is that there is a concept of the World Tree involved in all of this. The World Tree is the connection of all the conscious realms as one. When someone crosses over, there is a journey that they take. Although we are not meant to cross over as well, some of us are able to witness what is on the other side during the crossing over process. I was able to see her soul go towards the Light and I saw our grandmother welcome her and then, with a burst of radiance, the portal to the Otherworld was gone. Since then, I have still been able to talk with her now and then, as I do with my mother and my grandmother. This brings great comfort to me as I know that it is only a shift in the temple that we experience. We leave the physical temples of our bodies and enter a different temple where we are able to process the events of our lives. Having done that several times myself, I know that once that processing is complete, we can also come back into this world and reside in a new temple and have new experiences from which to learn and grow. This makes the whole death thing a lot less scary.

Blessed Be

Trent

www.deerhornshamanic.com

The Trekkie

This is something about me that most people don't know. I love Star Trek. I especially enjoyed Star Trek The Next Generation. So when my Love and I were travelling home through Alberta this fall, we stopped in at a Star Trek museum at....you guessed it....Vulcan, Alberta!!

The museum itself is shaped like a space ship, with a shuttle craft just outside the back door. When we decided to stop, I was not expecting the museum to be much, being in a small town and all. When we pulled up and the thing was shaped like a space ship, I began to get quite interested.

As we walked through the museum, there were photos and artifacts and a huge amount of stuff that was donated by a guy who was obviously obsessive about it (thank God someone in the world is!) and so I began talking to my Love about each character and some of the story line, and found myself talking faster, and faster, and faster....until I saw the expression of "Oh, my GOD! I've become involved with a TREKKIE!!???" look on her face. Then I smiled and said, "Oh, never mind." So we continued to explore and, low and behold, they had life size cardboard cutouts of many of the characters. She asked the woman at the front if she would mind taking our picture with the characters. I overheard the woman say, "No problem. But would you like to be in costume?"

"Costumes?! There are costumes?!" Suddenly I was searching for something, anything, that would fit a man of my stature like a kid ripping through Mr. Dressup's tickle trunk! We found costumes and had lots of pictures taken. I always liked the visual enhancement visor, so that is the photo I chose to share with you today.

The reason I like Star Trek? Well, I found that a lot of my personal mystical experiences were reflected in many of the story lines of the episodes. And I also found that it was a great commentary on the social structures, good or bad, that we have in our current society. Much of what one finds in science fiction also eventually becomes science fact. Take the old communication devices of the original series, for example. Somehow these look extremely similar to the cell phones of current times. And the badge communication devices of the Next Generation look a lot like what people are hanging from their ears these days as well. So yes, I am a Trekkie, and proud to be!

Blessed Be

Trent

www.deerhornshamanic.com

The Importance of Ceremony

I hear from a lot of people about how they are not sure about ceremony and what positive effects, if any, that it has. These folks usually view ceremony as purely religious in nature and they don't connect with religion, so they have difficulty with ceremony in general.

Ceremony does not have to be "religious" as such. It can be simple and sweet, or as elaborate as one desires. As long as the basic work that is required is accomplished, it does not have to be fancy. I am one who is quite eclectic in my ceremonies. No two ceremonies that I lead will be identical because each one requires its own unique energy imprint on the Universe and on the participants.

The photo here is of me performing a Handfasting ceremony this last summer. The participants varied from the common "Joe" to the accomplished practicing pagan. The couple and myself were in ceremonial robes, but it was set, as you can see, outdoors. The simplicity of nature was important as we all connect with nature. As I perform ceremonies such as these, I often get asked by observers and participants if I can perform that exact ceremony for them when their time comes to have it done. My answer is always "no". But I can perform one that is unique to them.

Ceremony allows us to acknowledge in a ritualistic way important events. We have all blown candles out on a birthday cake. This is a ceremony that honours that we have lived for another year. Simple, but ceremonial nonetheless. When loved ones have crossed the Veil to the Otherworld, we have have a Crossing Ceremony, a Memorial Ceremony, a Funeral Ceremony, a Wake etc. to honour their life. This is not so much for the one who has passed, as it is for the participants to acknowledge their loss of the loved one and that, although it will be difficult at times, life goes on and we will all be okay. I find that those who insist that they don't want a ceremony when they die are being quite dishonouring of those left behind. Yes, they may be thinking that they don't want those left behind to have to be put out by having a ceremony, but what they are actually doing is depriving their survivors the opportunity to grieve in a way that helps them to move on.

No matter what the ceremony, the purpose is to in some way honour a Rite of Passage. These Rites of Passage help us to adjust to the changes that we experience through our lives. They prepare us for the fact that now nothing will be as it once was, and they help us to look forward to the new changes and responsibilities that are coming our way. In these days where our Rites of Passage are either belittled or commercialized (yes, I am speaking of Christmas music in the malls already....again!) many become lost in what meaning there is to life, and what meaning their own lives have. This puts people into a constant state of undercurrent depression and low self-worth. It is always good to celebrate. Celebrate Life and all its changes and the deeper meanings. As we do we then become more joyous, balanced, healthy and harmonious with one another.

Blessed Be

Trent

www.deerhornshamanic.com

Nam Myoho Renge Kyo

This chant, loosely translated into English, means,"From within the mud, the lotus will bloom". At times when life gets very rough, it is a nice reminder that from within all the chaos we can actually find some beauty.

I remember going through the event of my mother's death and knowing that I was not going to be able to be with her right up to the end. At the time my wife was 8 1/2 months pregnant with our second child, and she and the first born were at home with the flu. Needless to say, they took priority when I had plenty of siblings who could be with my mother. As I said my final goodbye to her, tears streaming down my face, I knew that I was doing the right thing by going home, but who really wants to say a final goodbye to a loving mother? My three hour journey home was filled with sorrow and tears. I was not even sure I should be driving because it was getting difficult to see past the watery eyes.

Then it happened. The most beautiful sunset I had ever seen unfolded before my eyes. At the same time, a hawk flew alongside my vehicle. I did not know that hawks could fly that fast! As it was, I was speeding to get home. The hawk, flying like a bat out of, well, you know where, turned its head and looked me right in the eye and then flew off to the right. To me, this was a beautiful message from my mother that she was going to be alright. "Look at that, Mom! Is that not the most beautiful sunset?"

In a faint whisper she said, "Yes, my dear. Enjoy this one and many more to come."

Blessed Be

Trent

www.deerhorhshamanic.com

Suffering

A good friend asked me today why it is that some souls come here to suffer? That is an extremely good question. Here are my musings on the subject:

Sometimes people get into a negative pattern within themselves that creat ecycles of suffering to occur over and over again. When in the midst of the cycles, it is sometimes difficult to see what we ourselves are doing to promote the negative pattern. But once we do, then we can make clear choices to correct the pattern of behaviour and achieve a more positive pattern, thus a more positive outcome.

The same can be said for karmic patterns. Sometimes we come into this life with huge challenges to overcome. These can be conditions of karma. Something we are here to do this life can be to make up for poor choices in another life. On the other side of the coin, sometimes our suffering in this life is also to help those around us to learn about things like compassion and understanding.

Suffering that happens to someone at the hands of another, however, is often the event of one person's free will (I'm gonna kill you!) broadsiding our own free will (I was just standing here minding my own business and then, BAM!, he tried to kill me!). That sort of event only serves to set up negative karma for the offender. We cannot blame the victim with this sort of thing, karma or no karma, because that only serves to traumatize the victim even further, thus preventing them from surviving the event, and eventually becoming a thriver once again.

Blessings

Trent

www.deerhornshamanic.com

Punctuality

I don't like being late for things. When I became a father, I realized that I was going to have to ease up on that rule because, frankly, getting one or more kids out the door to go somewhere can take anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour and a half. Sometimes it is just not worth it, so the solution was to stay home.

When it comes to appointments, I like to arrive a little early. This gives me time to decompress from dealing with traffic before the appointment, and it also allows whomever I am meeting with to relax and know that I am not going to stand them up.

Today I had a "no show". This is what I lovingly refer to folks who just don't show up to their appointments and don't give you any notice whatsoever. I don't mind if it is an emergency, but when it is disorganization, then I mind. I find it to be rude and disrespectful of my time. I think I forgot an appointment once in my life. It doesn't take much to keep an appointment in mind. Sometimes it takes more organization that other times to get there on time or slightly beforehand, but it can be done. So when I have a "no show" I get really perturbed. I don't do that to others and I certainly don't expect anyone to do that to me without very good reason. Not only does this affect me, but it also ripples an effect to those who were on my waiting list and were thus unable to take advantage of an opportunity to see me because some dolt didn't bother to let me know that they were not coming to the appointment that they set up.

This is why I had to set in place a policy that, without 24 hour notice of cancellation (unless emergency related - and no, sleeping in because I was out partying the night before does constitute an emergency!) there is a negotiated fee. This at least compensates me for having to wait for them when they were not coming in and gives incentive for them to haul their sorry butts in here. I actually am a very compassionate man, but when I am being treated badly I get angry. Really, does anyone in their right mind want to piss off their shaman????!!!

Blessings

Trent

www.deerhornshamanic.com

A Star! A Star!

As I am sitting in front of my balcony window, writing this, I see the beautiful sunrise on the horizon. It is only -5 degrees and really doesn't seem to be that cold out. It is, however, just cold enough to keep our food preserved out on the balcony while we await the delivery of our new fridge as the old one died on us the other day. But it is not cold enough to have me in the mood for Christmas!

I say this because while shopping through a department store the other day there was Christmas Music Playing!!!! It is the beginning of NOVEMBER, people! We have just barely finished with Hallow e'en and are not even up to Remembrance Day and they are commercially pushing Christmas on us! That is obscene! It is SICK! It is brilliant when it comes to marketing.

I encourage everyone to hold back on their Christmas shopping and make these mind bending freaks who come up with these silly ideas sweat it out a bit longer. They really have no right to be programming us into when we should be buying and when it is time to bring out that credit card and let it go "cha-ching!". Honestly, I don't like the materialism of all of this. Having said that, I do tend to do Christmas shopping in July. That way, when the urge to succumb to these subliminal messages from the department stores starts, I can just remind myself that I am organized enough that I already have that cased and I don't need to do any spontaneous shopping at all.

Now, I wonder how long it will take me to get that stupid Christmas song out of my head! Probably not as long as it will take those poor sots who work there! Ha!

Blessed Be

Trent

www.deerhornshamanic.com

Who's Gonna Catch Ya?

I was driving in the car today, having just picked up groceries, and a song came on the radio. I don't know who's song it was or the title, but the words in the song went something like, "Who's gonna catch ya? I'm willing to betcha, it will be me." I am sure we have that song on a CD somewhere in the car, but for now I will just say I don't know who sings it etc. I found it fascinating that that was the question in the song. Here is why.

We are so often told by those who love us that they will always be there for us. But life isn't always so perfect that when we need someone they are actually there. We get covert messages from friends and family that we actually can't make it in the world on our own because "No man is an island." I don't think that the island thing had to do with security or independence. I think that it had to do with understanding our connection with everything else and that we are not able to exist without having some effect on everything and everyone around us. And nothing and no one around us can have absolutely no effect on us. I remember hearing my mother's friend say to her that, "I am not going to let him hurt me." The thing is, he already had hurt her. The fact that she was trying not to show it only meant that she was disconnecting from her emotions. We are going to get hurt sometimes. That is a natural fact. How we deal with it is completely up to the individual. The thing is that we always have a choice. Not everyone gets it that there is choice involved.

We can choose to be codependent and think that we are always going to need someone to catch us if we fall, or we can choose to stand on our own two feet and take off running! Just remember that when you decide to take off running, it is much more fun when you include with it a "Wheeeeeeee!"

Blessed Be

Trent

www.deerhornshamanic.com