'All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost.

From the ashes a fire shall be woken,
A light from the shadows shall spring;
Renewed shall be blade that was broken,
The crownless again shall be king.'

— J.R.R. Tolkien, The Riddle of Strider, The Lord of the Rings:  The Fellowship of the Ring

Our perception of ourselves and our unique identity starts to form from a very young age but according to psychologists is fully structured during adolescence.  Our identity is a collage of beliefs, values, behaviors and energy patterns that we absorbed from our family system, our cultural ties, and early experiences.  This identity helps us to negotiate how we live our life, make decisions with ease and have  confidence or not!

However, as we integrate life experiences and add to our life story our identity can be challenged and change.  In the process, we may become confused as to who we really are.  This is often the experience of young adults going away to college and absorbing new ideas very different from their family and culture. But adults of any age or stage of life may also find their identity uprooted and suddenly feel lost for any number of reasons....

• Perhaps you are conflicted between what you now want for your life and what your family expects of you
• You find that your values are now quite different from your family or close circle of friends
• With the pandemic experience many many people have spent considerable time evaluating how they are living their life and make new decisions about what really matters.
• Maybe you have started evolving your spiritual self and have a new way of seeing your spiritual side that does not always meet with your group’s approval.
• Milestone birthdays can also trigger an identity crisis as we tend to evaluate life goals and check off our accomplishments.

All of these circumstances and no doubt more, can cause us to either lose our sense of self-identity or feel a little lost. Our confidence can be rattled.

Consciously updating our self-identity gives us the opportunity to integrate our life experiences, acknowledge our new wisdom, our new world views, and set a new course for what we want next in our life that is enriching, uplifting and fulfilling.

Get to know your new you!  Here are some suggested strategies ...

1. Meditation and reflection or contemplation of the daily stream of events in our lives can help with this process.   Recording your thoughts in a journal can also help.

2. Name 3 things... A great exercise to end each day and integrate the the new things emerging for you is to list your regrets for the day and the things you appreciated that happened for you.  Name at least 3 things for each.

3.  Create a MY ACCOMPLISMENTS album - use your smart phone to make a quick snap of something you have accomplished, created etc and store it in an album private to you. This could contain pictures of your last diploma, certificate of achievement, drivers license, creative project, that lovely dinner party you hosted, etc.  Flick through your album from time to time to remind yourself "I DID THAT!"

Repatterning can also help by tapping into our unconscious mind to identify the new patterns of being that we need to resonate with to enjoy. 

Have you noticed your own self-identity change?   Noticing the noticing can help anchor the new you! 

With love and light 

Carolyn Winter, Holographic Coach 

Navigating a Personal Holographic Universe! 

For added support access this topic as a webinar at the PHD (Personal Holographic Discoveries) Archive Page.  Access over 12 repatterning sessions with a variety of topics including IDENTITY.   Join as a premium member for $99/year to access.  

I hear my future whispering... "hang in there, its almost over.   Start planning that celebration.  Don't waste another minute of 'me' time.  Get ready! Did you ever sew up those matching napkins? "

So looking forward to having the company of friends around the table for tea once again in the not too distance future.   

What is your future whispering to you? 

Love and light 
Carolyn 

PS -click the 3 dots beside the title for the comments button 

What is the higher purpose of the Pandemic (in your opinion) for the world at large or mother earth? How will humanity's responses to the pandemic serve the world in a positive way?  

To share your insights in the comments section, press the 3 dots in the  dark gray box beside the title and select "Add Comment".  

With love and light 

Carolyn 

PS - I will publish a roundup of comments in an upcoming newsletter. 

What is the higher purpose of the Pandemic for you you personally? What silver lining, learning, insight or positive experiences has it brought to you?  To share your insights in the comments section, press the 3 dots in the  dark gray box beside the title and select "Add Comment".  

with love and  light 

Carolyn 

PS - I will publish a roundup of comments in an upcoming newsletter. 

It is a key question asked in many of the Repatternings I have facilitated in the last 20 years. "What is the higher purpose of your (name the experience)". The question implies that every experience no matter how challenging has been orchestrated by the universe at some level and provides us with a silver lining, a learning, a new strength, life resolve, or perhaps an opportunity we would not have acted on other-wise. It helps us to gain perspective and find meaning in our lives.

In my holographic coaching sessions, many of you visibly dislike being asked that question especially if the experience was painful or indeed undeserved. I usually persevere in the asking because of the value it brings to your session. It is a great question to ponder to make sense of any life situation and also to energize our other goals and intentions.

Energetically our intentions all have a inner blueprint for their manifestation stored in our depths and connected to the non-local field of intelligence - held in a unified field of awareness which we all share. The 'field' of energy which would like nothing more than to manifest our intentions for us, is constantly whispering to us, giving us hints, trying to get our attention for actions to take toward our goals etc. For most of us the busy-ness of our day makes it difficult to pause, tune in, and hear those messages. So we ignore them and grumble that intentions don't work.

Recently, I was pondering that question for myself, wondering what the higher purpose was of my miserable last year of high-school. I had applied to the University of Guelph for a new program - one of the first in its time, called Child Studies. The entrance requirements were high including 2 maths - not my strong point. I was not doing well in one of the maths and it looked like I would not be accepted to the program. One thing led to another and I was resigned to take a gap year in an attempt to improve my grades and meet requirements for this specialized university program.

During the gap year, it did not take long to realize the benefits - having lucked into a well paying gap year job, and meeting a student from the same university who knew her way around the college and coached me on next steps. She had suggestions that I would never have found on my own. While it took one year and one semester longer than my peers to get there... I ultimately got into my ideal course of study. I felt lucky.

However, reflecting again all these decades later about the higher purpose of that disappointing high school experience, I am profoundly struck on how it shaped my thinking and life direction and ulitmately how it is focusing the development of my work now. In hindsight, my late start in that course of study coincided with a profound shift in mandate at the university. During my gap year, the university over-hauled their 1920's agricultural college roots philosophy with an expansive, inclusive, wholistic mission, vision and core values statement that each college from Arts college to Veterinarians implemented in their course requirements and curriculum. The university adopted the view that they were an integral part of a community, country and the world and that a graduate need to be educated on all of those views.

As a result, my first full year, was greeted with newly recruited professors from prestigious USA universities with cutting edge knowledge of the new field of early childhood education. Had I started the year before, I would not have had the benefit of their worldly instruction. What I did not realize at the time was how unique our curriculum was in training us to hold multiple perspectives and world views different from our own background. In many ways it prepared me for the repatterning work I do today and where I plan to take it in the next chapter of my career.

The higher purpose of my imposed gap year as it turns out, was not only to get me there, but to also support me in having a more integral understanding of the world and to bring that understanding to any work I do - for the benefit of everyone.

Now I look at that question "What is the higher purpose of your experience?" with awe and can't ask it enough!

Take the challenge! - I invite you to play with this notion as you navigate your personal holographic universe. Looking at our present moment experiences of the Pandemic and all that it is doing to our lives on so many levels, I ask you to ponder the higher purpose and share your reflections at the respective blog post links below. For the next 10 days, you won't have to login to reply. Just click the link and then the reply button to share. Answer either one or both.

1. What is the higher purpose of the Pandemic for you you personally? What silver lining, learning, insight or positive experiences has it brought to you? Click here to REPLY

2. What is the higher purpose of the Pandemic (in your opinion) for the world at large or mother earth? How will humanity's responses to the pandemic serve the world in a positive way? Click here to REPLY

I am looking forward to hearing your insights!

With love and light

Carolyn

PS - I will publish a round-up of replies in an upcoming newsletter. 

Our resonance with non-coherent patterns of distress can get a whole lot worse during the holiday season, either because of the acceleration of commitments and things to do leaves us on a short fuse  or because the usual work commitments slow down and suddenly we have time on our hands.  Either scenario may find us invoking and  encountering the ghosts from Christmas past that inspired Charles Dickens.   If we are overly busy we can react to the slightest thing that reminds us of unresolved hurts.  In reaction our angry responses can flow like volcanic ash stopping anyone in our path by yelling, insulting, criticizing, judging others etc. On the other hand with time on our hands, especially during a pandemic lock down, we may have more time to reflect and go to the places in our psyche that need healing.  We may feel mildly depress, sad for no reason or notice that any number of Christmas movie specials can bring on tears that go way beyond the movie.   Some time ago, at a social gathering someone was asked what their favorite Christmas carol was as a child.  There was an awkward pause and then the realization and explanation that there were no songs of joy in the past for this person to access.   In that moment of answering an innocent question she went directly to the ghosts who had never been forgiven.

In Charles Dickens’ tale of the Christmas Carol, Scrooge albeit reluctantly, takes the opportunity to meet with his ghosts of Christmas past and in a sense repatterns his resonance with these experiences.  The experiences themselves really happened and can’t be changed.  What is in our control is our responses and emotional well-being.   By looking at the turning point events of his life, and taking in the wisdom of the ghosts, he gains a new perspective that makes it easier for him to understand himself, forgive and be forgiven.  His energy no longer goes to the place of anger, revenge, greed etc. .  Instead it goes wholeheartedly towards keeping the season in the present. The past remains in the past.

Like Scrooge are you allowing yourself to meet your ghosts and get a new perspective?   For many the holiday season presents an opportunity to get to the source of a core issue in their lives and do healing work that clears away the invisible blocks causing limitation or pain.   Take the time this holiday season to meet your ghosts, journal about their stories, and perspectives.  What new insights do you have of these past events?  What action did you want to take but could not? Or what action would you like to take back? What are your regrets? If your insights feel over-whelming, consider enrolling the help of a professional counselor, therapist, spiritual mentor or coach.   It is an opportunity to clear away inner burdens that have been holding you back in ways you barely recognize.  Dealing with the ghosts will help you to enjoy the season and start the new year with coherent energy  to move towards  your very best.

Of course be sure to join the Repatterning for the Earth Element (In between season) , where I will be uncovering all non-coherent patterns related to our having “The best holiday season ever.”

With love and light 

Carolyn Winter, Holographic Coach

When the holiday rush turns everything upside down!

This is the week I usually feel the pressure of the season the most though not so much this year due to the Covid Lockdown.  The realization that I will never get the 100 ‘good things’ ideas from Martha Stewart magazine done is finally dawning on me, the fabulous presents that I am hand-making are looking for a team of elves to help out for completion on time, and there is the balancing needed for all of the social events.  Everything seems to get slower because guess what? Everyone is doing about the same thing.  Buying up the same ingredients at the grocery store, going to the liquor store (yes – we have that in Canada) and dashing for presents.    It seems you can’t count on anything being in supply only a lot more traffic than usual.  However, being the cookie-baking oracle that I am, I have a few tips that I share with you if only as a reminder for myself….

1.  Envision the road ahead.  It works for performance athletes and it can work for you too.  Envision traffic flowing, parking spots showing up and weary sales staff still offering help and a smile.  Imagine all of your tasks, and lists easily coming together.   I did this myself a year or two ago on a  Saturday close to Christmas– apparently one of the year’s busiest shopping days and waltzed through Canadian Tire, Source City, The Liquor Store and the No Frill grocery store in just under 2.5 hours! I got everything on my list AND not only that, got a perfect parking spot the first time at each of my stops.  Also found a great gift idea for a hard to buy person on my list (shhh don’t tell – hope you aren’t reading this blog) serendipitously.

2.  Use your gut sense intuition. There is a part of us that already knows, that has a calling card to the near future and that can inform us with information we need for good decisions in the moment.  To access it, we need to let go of our ego need for looking good, being right and perhaps being perfect.   Your gut sense is there to let you know things like, take a ten minute nap and you will be able to enjoy all the company arriving, or that a large empty box for a child with a few small stuffed toys is probably going to bring more delight and smiles than the expensive toy that leaves little to the imagination.  If you are feeling confused about some choices in the mad holiday rush, remember to ask “What is my gut telling me? How does my body feel about the options?”

3.  Invoke the Angels. Call it the power of prayer or belief in the great beyond, but I have always found that angels are here to help.  I also don’t ask enough. But if you do, you will notice little miracles showing up that collectively at the end of the day will make you feel like you are being helped by invisible forces.  I invoke the help of angels for others all the time – the news stories that tug at my heart, the homeless that I feel helpless to help but do my best, I invoke angels to help me – find addresses, deal with computer ghosts and gremlins, – all kinds of things.  Whenever I do, the path seems to light up. Things get easier. I hear bells ringing like in the movie – It’s a Wonderful Life.  They are standing by right now waiting for your requests.   What do you need?

4.  Let it Go – Where can you let go of a position, a have to have, a preconceived idea of what would make the holidays the best ever for you ? Just let it go. Focus on what you can do, but most of all the people in your life.   The confluence of family gatherings ( or in this covid year the angst of having no gathering), can bring out unresolved tensions or grievances from Christmas’s past.  Where can you exercise forgiveness and just let a position go?  Hanging on just to be right will drain your energy and throw up road blocks in other areas.

5. Send Your Love – The heart chakra energy of love can melt all negativity.  Sure you may be the one who was wronged, who deserves more etc.  However, when you send your hearts love you help others become coherent and heal. It comes back as love for you too.  Strengthen your heart during the holiday season by circulating your love to others if only in your thoughts.  This does not necessarily mean a shopping trip.  To send your love imagine a stream of pink light radiating from your heart. Create a trail of light from your heart to another and send your light and love.  Keep it to yourself for good measure and notice how people around you start to change. It will add to your mix of a rewarding holiday season.

6. Remember Your Connection to the World – think of the world as a person and ask yourself how they are doing?  Remember that we are in an official world wide pandemic and that even with the vaccine miracle, the worst is likely not over for many parts of the world.  Many are suffering and not coping as well as you are.   Kindness and compassion are the watchwords of this season. Use these qualities liberally and every chance you get.  Send blessings to the front line workers making deliveries including the mail. Appreciate the health care workers who are emotionally stressed and going the distance to save loved ones.  Forgive the non coherent acts of others that seem selfish and unkind… they are likely barely coping.  You can be a beacon of light for the world and create positive change with the power of your thoughts and your kindness.     All we can do is our part to socially distance, wear a mask and stay safe as much as possible.

Hope these tips help you to enjoy the holiday season.   

With love and light,

Carolyn

Ps - join me at the (free) winter solstice group session on Mon Dec 21St for added support .  Register here

Forgive, Let Go, Acknowledge -  - take a last look at Metal Element Seasonal qualities to support your energy field

When we are in synch with seasonal energies we have the wind at our back, helping us to move forward with ease and grace. In the northern hemisphere we are coming to the final weeks of the the fall season and the metal element time of year.

There are a number of qualities associated with metal element including forgiveness in the sense of letting go, acknowledgement and appreciation. Many popular movie scripts run on these two plot lines! Invoke the energy of the season by playing with these qualities within yourself. By playing, I mean noticing how they show up in your thoughts and actions and try something new.  Navigate your personal holographic universe with these suggestions and questions for reflection:

Who do you need to forgive? - unresolved hurts   tend to show up for us during the holidays when having to deal with social invitations and situations. Who or what are you avoiding because of an unresolved situation or who do you need to forgive? End the year with a fresh start by clearing the air where you can. It will be a courageous action on your part.  That alone generates enormous energy. 

What do you need to forgive yourself for? - we all make mistakes but when you can't let go that kind of self-criticism, it festers and can render debilitating energy for anything else you would like to create in your life. Admit your mistakes and look for the lessons that they taught you. Add those learnings to your daily positive update on your life story!   

What do you most regret this past year? - this question will give you an energetic heads up on New Years resolutions. Naming our regrets and letting them go, similar to forgiveness, clears space in our brain, as we let out all those old sinking feelings of things that did not work out for us. The "letting go" quality of metal element will help you with this activity. Make a list of your regrets and take some deep healing breathes and then throw that piece of paper away.

When you reflect or journal on any of the above questions notice your feeling state and body tension. Chances are you already feel better.

What is good about you? Too many of us have spent too much time beating ourselves up over our imperfections.   Acknowledging what is good takes more of a conscious effort. Make self acknowledgement a new thinking habit. For example, end your work day with a quick run through in your mind of what you accomplished and what went well and reward all your listening brain cells with a heart felt positive "YES!!! I did that!" or "What a great job!" "Today I outdid myself!". Initially your brain may be a little confused to hear your frequent positive acknowledgements, but if you stick with it you will rarely dial yourself down with negative thoughts again.

What do you need to open the space for in your life? - Qualities of Forgiveness, Letting Go and Appreciation/Acknowledgement tends to create new space for us energetically. What new thing in your life will you fill it with? Dust off your Life Vision Intention and update your next steps, next project, next move.

Energize your reflections for a final metal element boost with this Lung Meridian (part of metal element) exercise:

1. Breath out your regrets and past hurts from others
2. breath in forgiveness for yourself and others
3. Breath in acknowledge for all the good things about yourself and feel the expanded space for what is most important to you going forward.

Forgive - Let Go - Acknowledge - Expand Your Thoughts.

For an added boost to your metal element use the group session recording for The Fall Equinox Repatterning (free)

Enjoy navigating your personal holographic universe!

With light and love

Carolyn Winter
Holographic Coach

Perhaps one of the strongest human life needs for survival is a sense of belonging particularly to our family or group. Many cultures have traditionally had strict rules for the behavior and loyalties of family members that  govern the life we live.  In fact according to Family Constellation author, the late Bert Hellinger, every family system is ruled by its collective consciousness of unspoken rules.  Most  of us are unaware the rules exist but we obey them just the same. 

The rules govern how we show loyalty in our work, career, relationships, enjoyment of life, our health and more. They are also unconscious or invisible but like a computer virus, they run our brain and make autonomic decisions for us and creating feelings of shame, guilt or embarrassment if we break them. 

Originally all rules were set to keep family members safe, reinforce their group identity and create a sense of personal power. You see this strongly displayed when there is a world cup soccer tournament and everyone is cheering for their group's team.

However, when we outgrow our groups rules we may find it difficult to pursue our dreams and goals if they now exceed the limits of our group. We can find ourselves hanging onto negative patterns or ways of being that demonstrates our love and loyalty to the group at the price of de-energizing our own life circumstances.

In order to grow, an individual is often faced with the prospect of breaking the rules of the family or group. Its a wretched state where we can feel very very guilty. The guilt can be so prohibitive that we may give up on our own goals in order to remain an approved member. Our growth stops.  If we do pursue our goals and dreams our sense of guilt will eventually sabotage our efforts. 

What can we do????  Spend time in reflection where you review the recent decisions you have made and become aware of how your groups rules helped you make a decision.  Notice if you made the decision willingly or out of a sense of obligation or to not let your family down.  Particularly if you made a decision you where you said 'yes' to something when you would rather have said 'no'... did you say yes to keep your family system happy?   Resolve to make a better choice to support yourself in the future. 

I also offer specific Family Constellation repatternings where these issues are specifically addressed.  We'll identify the non-coherent family patterns that you are ready to let go of and demonstrate your love and loyalty to your family with new more positive ways of being. When you resonate with healthier ways of belonging and being loyal, your family system will receive the energy of your new vibratory state, and the new way of being. Over time, the rules for belonging are updated and expanded. Your personal growth and love for family then helps everyone grow. Over time, the sense of guilt will also fade away.  

What goal or intention do you have that you feel is blocked by your family ties and unconscious group rules?

In what ways do you feel held back by your family?

with love and light 

Carolyn 

PS - For added support access this topic as a webinar at the PHD (Personal Holographic Discoveries) Archive Page.  Access over 12 repatterning sessions with a variety of topics.   Join as a premium member for $99/year to access.  

Are you experiencing covid fatigue? Many are and I must admit there have been a few days where my own energy sent me straight back to repatternings. I contemplated the session notes with interest and in an delightful afternoon turned things around for myself. Here's how in case you would like to try it for yourself.

Imagine we are down the road a bit, say 2-3 years from now. Life is back to normal or a 'new normal'. Ask yourself a couple of questions from that point in time:

What did I do with my time during the lock-downs? Was it productive or did I waste it? Did i succumb to being a victim or look for new opportunities?

What goals did i set and meet or exceed past my wildest dreams?

What do I regret about the use of my time back then?

Your future may well be whispering to you today about the inherent opportunities that accompany any problem including the covid lock down. Perhaps its time for a career change? Can you take online courses, contact people, or do a job search. If your work has been face to face maybe your future is giving you hints about taking at least part of your work online? With so many free or low cost platforms its possible for just about anyone to start selling anything online. In what ways could you re-invent your work?

Your future may be whispering other ideas for coping with covid in terms of using your time...

What new thing can you start for yourself - writing a book? screen play? cookbook? family history? take up a hobby?

What new habits can you start?  Better home keeping? less screen time?new exercise regime?  listening more talking less? 

How can you keep up with family or friends or work colleagues?   

What difference can you make to your community with the resources you have at hand?

For myself I decided that i would use this time to get to the bottom of my sewing inventory ( a combination of clothes, quilting and crafts) with the intention of becoming a couturier sewer. Those that know me well, know how challenging (or hilarious) that goal is. LOL.... but I have to say that so far, I have at least created one perfectly fitted t-shirt pattern that I can now sew up in a few hours. I was so happy that day I could not sleep!

I also remind myself of how lucky I am to be safe especially when i read about those are are suffering in the hospital or have died or those dedicated individuals working on the front line. Staying home, staying safe and making sacrifices now are important. This meme /winning haiku poem from Facebook says it all for me:

Try it for yourself - cope with covid fatigue by listening to your future or have an entire conversation with it. Start with some meditation and then ask your future for its advice.  Embrace all the big ideas you may hear!  You never know what big thing this could lead to for your you. 

With love and light 

Carolyn 

PS - if you are a member here at www.LightTravels.com login and update your profile with your life vision intention.  Your future may have lots to say about it! 

Also if you missed the recent PHD: Career Leaps to Greatness repatterning it is available at the STORE as a webinar and may also help you with your present moment goals.