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April/May 2005 Volume 32Welcome to this bi-monthly edition of our newsletter! You will find these columns contained in our April/May issue:
Metaphors for Life
Carla Woody, Founder Metaphors for Life
GrowthWorks Systems by Carla Woody It’s important to realize that we all exist in systems. Mind, body and spirit are a system. If your mind is troubled, your body experiences physical symptoms of dis-ease and your spirit is disconnected. If your body is having pain, then it’s hard for your mind to be clear and your spirit to be present. By working in one area of your make-up you can’t help but affect the other parts of your system. You will see changes in the dynamic interactions between all. The same is true in the other systems in your life. You come from a family system, may work in an organizational system and engage in various sorts of community systems. In all systems in your life - including within your own person - there are certain rules of engagement that all concerned have developed and depend upon if you have any history together at all. You get used to what you consider to be normal. This is true whether it’s in your own thoughts, behaviors and physical functioning; or typical exchanges between family members or co-workers and yourself. Unfortunately, most everyone looks to the past to create the present and future. Be forewarned that as you step onto this evolutionary path, you are upsetting the balance in the system. You are seeking to be different than who you were before. Systems do not respond so easily to change, although they can. More often than not, there is resistance. The system seeks homeostasis in order to ensure continued existence. Even if it’s uncomfortable, it’s at least familiar. People inhabiting your systems may initially experience confusion, as you no longer respond the way you did before. Some will be glad for your change and support you. Others won’t know what to do with their own bewilderment in that you are no longer playing the same game, and become angry. There will be a range of reactions. Also know that as you continue to grow or heal, you will affect others around you. Often, they will begin their own shifting by virtue of your new interactions with them. You will become a role model for what is possible. Merely through leading an authentic life yourself, you are able to assist others in their own process - if they choose - through your example. Many of us are socialized to think of others before ourselves. You can’t truly give to others until you have first honored yourself. To do otherwise, creates a deficit and ultimately no one wins. Consider how your growth will affect those around you. While you can’t always correctly predict others’ behaviors, it’s useful to anticipate what changes may bring in your historical systems, so that you can respond from a place of understanding and compassion. (Excerpted from “Navigating Your Lifepath”) © 2005 Carla Woody. All rights reserved. Carla Woody is the author of the book Standing Stark: The Willingness to Engage and Calling Our Spirits Home: Gateways to Full Consciousness and founder of Kenosis, an organization supporting personal transformation. Carla has long been leading people toward mind/body/spirit wholeness using integrative healing methods blended with world spiritual traditions. She may be reached by e-mail at info@kenosis.net or by telephone (928) 778-1058.Special Events
Review More often than not, the books, films and music you will find here will not be new or "bestsellers," but those I consider classics. They are classics in the sense that I experienced an impact in reading them that positively flavored my own journey.
Mother, Heal My Self JoEllen Koerner has written a deeply personal story that is complex in its elements, and yet the message is one of simplicity. Seek that for which you heart longs. Go where it takes you. Different themes are woven throughout making it, not only interesting, but inspiring. She tells of being raised in a Mennonite community in South Dakota, but with yearnings for a career that would take her well beyond the small conclave with which she was familiar. With a foot in two worlds (or more) she traveled between her original home and various places inside and outside the United States as a nurse executive; and then as a mother in search of healing for her gravely ill adult child. JoEllen relates the heart-wrenching anxiety and undying hope with a poignancy that will grab the reader. When doctors could do little, or made the situation worse, a Lakota Sioux medicine man engaged his community and traditional rituals to bring relief to his friend JoEllen’s daughter. A true insight occurred when she took a figurative trip back in time through the generations of women in her family to discover a similar pattern of illness and ways toward recovery in order to break the cycle. This book is also an illustration of cultures; religious and spiritual, indigenous healing and medical technology, and the generational legacy of family systems. Ultimately this is a story for all of us. It’s about where we start, where we end up, and the quality of the journey we take. - Carla Woody | |||||||||||||||
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Kenosis LLC - PO Box 10441 - Prescott, AZ 86304 - 928.778.1058 - www.kenosis.net info@kenosis.net | ||||||||||||||||
