The Energy Healing Blog

Why And How To Cultivate The Indispensable Power Of Hope

--by Nancy Hausauer

Hope is essential.

Without hope, our energy starts shutting down, and we close our energetic access to the realm of potential.

On a practical level, we stop trying. We stop looking for solutions. We sit and wait for "the inevitable." Whether we're talking about a personal problem or a global one, that's deadly.

Rethinking Hope

"…hope is not about what we expect. It is an embrace of the essential unknowability of the world, of the breaks with the present, the surprises. Or perhaps studying the record more carefully leads us to expect miracles - not when and where we expect them, but to expect to be astonished, to expect that we don't know. And this is grounds to act."

― Rebecca Solnit, Hope In The Dark

"We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope."

-- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"Hope begins in the dark, the stubborn hope that if you just show up and try to do the right thing, the dawn will come. You wait and watch and work: you don't give up."

--Anne Lamott

"When it is raining, we think that there is no sunshine. But if we fly high in an airplane and go through the clouds, we rediscover the sunshine again. We see that the sunshine is always there."

--Thich Nhat Hanh

Nurturing The Flame Of Hope

So, nurturing and cultivating hope is vitally important. I encourage you and me and all of us to make keeping hope alive an every-day practice. Here are a few ideas:

• Seek out hopeful people, books and movies.
• Develop a daily ritual to nourish hope.
• Every time you light a candle, dedicate the act to kindling hope in yourself and in the world.
• Create an altar as a visual prayer for and a nourisher of hope.
• Think of and share examples from your life or from history when discouraging situations turned around.
• Create something--anything--and allow it to remind you of the boundless creative potential of the universe.
• Make a point of doing things that lift your spirits and avoiding things that don't.
• Cultivate a habit of looking for things that are going right. You can do this without blinding yourself to the challenges.
• Don't allow your energy to get depleted. Take good care of yourself, spiritually and physically.
• Take some time every day to visualize the world or your life the way you want it to be.
• Make the world better for someone, anyone. Even just refrain from being crabby for a day.

Wishing you hope, Nancy

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Use the Season of Summer to Feed Your Energy Field

--by Nancy Hausauer

Summer officially starts June 21.* Like every season, Summer has its particular wisdom to impart about living in harmony with our energies. One of its important lessons is about absorbing, savoring and appreciating:

• absorbing light
• savoring sweetness
• appreciating beauty.

It's easy to get caught up in life's hustle and bustle, marching through the wonders of our world unconsciously,so busy or so lost in thought that we forget how quickly summers fly by, flowers fade, children grow up.

Some moments are perfect: sweet, warm and beautiful, like a lazy, rose-scented afternoon. Summer reminds us to be fully present for these moments. They feed our energy fields, making them strong and vibrant and helping to keep them from becoming depleted during leaner and more challenging times.

Feed Your Field

This summer (and all year long), be an apprentice to the wisdom of the season. Drink deeply of the things that feed your soul. Whenever you encounter light, beauty, sweetness and joy, bring them fully into your body and your energy field.

Here are a few ideas for doing that:

• Take a single ripe berry and really enjoy all its sensory qualities.

• Devote a whole day to enjoying a particular sense.

• Meditate on a flower, noticing as many things about it as you can.

• Watch a whole sunset or sunrise.

• Lie down on a blanket and marvel at the starry sky.

• Take a morning or afternoon off and do nothing. (No TV or electronics.)

• Cook a meal that epitomizes summer. Share it to multiply the enjoyment.

• Enjoy just breathing.

A Poem That Says It All

This excerpt from Mary Oliver's poem "A Summer's Day" captures the kind of radical presence and savoring I'm talking about:

Have a beautiful, nourishing summer.

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*(Of course, it's Winter Solstice for those in the Southern hemisphere.)

You Are Magic

--by Nancy Hausauer

As an energy healer, as in any area of your life, you are so much more than the sum of your techniques.

Tapping Into The Evolutionary Principle In Our Stuck And Challenging Places

--by Nancy Hausauer

There is an evolutionary principle in everything. This is true of living beings; it's also true of all situations, good and bad. It's one of the ways energy or life force manifests itself.

We can transform our lives by tapping into this evolutionary force in anything, including our challenges and problems.

Challenges and problems are tip-offs to transformation and growth just waiting to happen. So are blocks and obstacles; feeling stuck; or feeling that our life (or a part of it) is boring or stale.

How To Free The Evolutionary Force Within Problems And Challenges

When you encounter a problem or are feeling stuck or stale, stop and ask yourself:

What is the evolutionary force here?

Sincerely ask to tap into it. Then wait patiently, clearing your mind as much as you can.

Free-writing in your journal can also be helpful. Free-writing is just writing about a topic as fast as you can without stopping for a set time (at least 5 minutes). It bypasses the conscious mind and often yields valuable, fresh information about what's going on inside you or outside you.

Once you've found the evolutionary power in your problem, you can apply it. Sometimes it may be something you can act on, immediately using it in your life. Other times it may be an insight that allows you to shift your perspective on a challenge, a light showing you the path forward, a message of hope, a principle to follow, a next step, an illumination about your life in general, or something that seems indirect but will subtly influence your life for years to come.

In any case, the wisdom and power living within your problems are treasures worth seeking.

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Comparing Ourselves to Others: A No-Win Trap (And a Self-Healing for It)

--by Nancy Hausauer

Seems to me one of the worst traps we can fall into is comparing ourselves negatively to others. I'm speaking as a healer here, but it applies to any aspect of life.

Comparing ourselves unfavorably to others is common, human, and hard not to do sometimes. But it's discouraging, limiting, and downright destructive.

"Why should I even bother, (you might think) when X is so talented? S/he is able to [fill in the blank]. I'll never be that good, why should I even try? With X out there, why is my work even needed?"

I don't know anyone who doesn't do this sometimes, myself included. We see others' gifts and talents, ignoring their challenges and weaknesses -- while doing just the opposite for ourselves.

Arggghhh! Why do we treat ourselves like that?!

The truth is, when we compare ourselves to another, it's never "apples to apples." Everyone's life circumstances are just too different to make comparisons. You could never have all the information needed to make a valid comparison.

You're unique. Your life path is unique. Your gifts and contributions are unique. Your challenges are unique.

It makes no sense to compare, when there can be no validity in those comparisons. It's almost like we're TRYING to make ourselves feel bad!

A Self-Healing for Negative Comparisons

• Stop yourself in your tracks. Just don't do it.

• Instead, write down approximately ten self-appreciations: things you do well (as a healer or otherwise), positive traits, strengths, people you've helped, etc.

• If you're having trouble thinking of strengths, call up someone who thinks highly of you and ask for help.

• Give thanks for the gifts that are flowing through you, being aware that, whatever they are, they were not given to you to keep to yourself -- they were given to you to share.
• Next, give thanks for the gifts flowing through the person to whom you were comparing yourself. Aim for being truly glad these gifts are available to the world. This sometimes difficult but very powerful practice really shifts the energy, helping to pop us out of the ego and into a more universal perspective.

• Sit and meditate for a few minutes.

Know that you are unique and beautiful. The world needs your gifts, your essence. Don't compare yourself to others, and don't create false reasons to withhold your precious gifts from the world.

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Share Your Light

Spiritual light isn't diminished by sharing. Give it away. It'll only grow brighter.

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Happiness Hacks

--by Nancy Hausauer

Energetically, happiness is a very light, buoyant manifestation of energy. Think of a helium balloon.

As the saying goes, happiness is an inside job. It's generated from within, not triggered by external events that we deem favorable. Still, there are some things we can do to get the happiness-energy going when it's lagging. Here are three extremely accessible and reliable ways to kickstart your internal happiness engine.

1. Be genuinely happy about other people's happiness and good fortune. The nice thing about this way of generating happiness for yourself is that, even though it's technically an external trigger, it's an inexhaustible resource. Even if it's not your nearest and dearest, there's always going to be someone, somewhere, who is experiencing joy and positive things. You can join them in the privacy of your own heart or even let them know that you're glad for them. You'll never run out of opportunities to feel happy for others.

2. Make someone else happy. Pick people who are pretty easy to make happy. Read to a little kid, take them to the zoo or get down on the floor and play with them. Walk your dog, or borrow one if you're without. Visit your great-aunt. Volunteering for a charity is good too, especially if you're doing concrete, directly helpful work. Happiness seems to be contagious, so in the process of lifting someone else's spirits, it's almost inevitable that you'll feel happier, too.

3. Make something. A cake, a picture, a poem, a bouquet, new shelves for your garage. It doesn't matter what you make; there's just something about "making" that's mood-lifting.

I also suggest you visit the website "Happify," which gives us science-backed information and skills to increase our proficiency. For starters, check out this article, The Five Skills That Will Increase Your Happiness.

The five skills are:

• savor
• thank
• aspire
• give
• empathize

Cheers! --Nancy

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The Healing Power of Joy: What Early Summer Has to Teach Us

--by Nancy Hausauer

Western culture is, for the most part, waaaaaaay too joy-deprived. I don't mean thrill-deprived. Cheap thrills are a dime a dozen. I mean genuine, deep-seated, heart-centered joy.

To me, this is a culture-wide second chakra deficiency. We tend to work too hard, minimize the need for pleasure and fun, and trivialize or even demonize what I would call simple, animal joy -- the joy of being alive, the joy of just being.

That's why I love the Celtic holiday of Beltane. Coming on May 1, it marks the beginning of the beginning of summer. A fertility holiday, it was traditionally celebrated with bonfires. Farm animals were decorated and blessed. Rituals to promote fertility (life force and creativity) were observed.

In the Pacific Northwest where I live, this season is glorious. The leaves on the trees have come back all fresh and green, the rhododendrons and azaleas are ablaze with color, the air is sweet with perfume from all the "green people."

For me, it's a yearly call to be joyful, a reminder that joy is more than a luxury. For those of us who tend to be over-serious and fun-challenged, it's a medicine. For energy healers, it's especially important to cultivate joy. We need to feed and balance our energy so we can keep doing the work we do without depleting ourselves.

How about you? Are you fun-deprived? Has it been too long since you felt joyful just to be alive?

Here are some ideas for "joy medicine":

• Make a list of things that give you joy, and DO THEM! (Here are more detailed instructions for making your personal "Joyful Life Map.")
• Learn more about your second chakra and how to support and nourish it.
• Taking a cue from the Beltane bonfires, ask yourself, "What 'lights my fire'?" Journal about it. Pick one or two things that stand out and do them.
• Take a break from your responsibilities and do something purely for pleasure and fun.
• Stop and breathe in the energy of the season.
• Celebrate your own beauty.
• Feed all five senses with beauty and pleasure.
• If you have small children or an animal companion, let them show you how to find joy in simple things.
• Create something. Creation is an expression of life force, and it feeds both the second chakra and our joy in being alive.

Have fun! -- Nancy

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Subtle Results Can Be More Far-Reaching
Than Dramatic Ones

Energy healing can happen on any level – body, mind, emotions or spirit. While we all love dramatic results, more subtle energetic shifts such as new insights or greater clarity can be more far-reaching than immediate physical outcomes.

Why Relaxation Is A Meaningful Goal For Energy Healing

--by Nancy Hausauer

Ours is a driven society. We idealize hard work and demonize "laziness." As a culture, we're not big on relaxing.

But relaxation is powerful medicine. It's the state in which our bodies take care of business, including the business of healing. On a physical level, it feels great and allows our bodies' natural self-healing and restoration processes to work like they're supposed to. On an energetic level, being relaxed allows our energy fields to shift more easily to a state of healthy balance and flow. 

Stress

Good stress like this is temporary and manageable.

The bad kind of stress feels overwhelming and/or doesn't let up for days, weeks, months, even years. This ongoing, heavy tension is a contributor to many kinds of illness and disease, not to mention mental suffering. Prolonged stress makes you vulnerable to illness and accelerates aging. Over time the stress response can contribute to high blood pressure, heart disease, ulcers, autoimmune diseases, cancer, anxiety, insomnia and depression.

The Relaxation Response: A Prescription for Health And Wellness

• Slows heart rate
• Normalizes blood pressure
• Slows breathing rate
• Allows oxygen to be used more efficiently
• Decreases adrenal gland production of stress hormones
• Increases production of growth and sex hormones
• Improves immune system health
• Increases blood flow to major muscles
• Reduces muscle tension
• Helps relieve aches and pains
• Helps you handle negative emotions such as anger and frustration
• Promotes energy
• Improves concentration and creativity
• Improves ability to handle problems.

Energy Healing Promotes Relaxation

Sessions in which dramatic insights or shifts happen are exciting and rewarding. But if relaxation is "all" that obviously happens in a session, believe me, you've done good work.

It means you've helped your client's energy field become more fluid, smoother, more harmonious, more flowing. It means you've helped them get into a state where they can heal themselves. And that is ultimately what we are trying to do.

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