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Browse every published article connected to Adele McDowell, with exact attribution and full-archive search.
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Browse every published article connected to Adele McDowell, or search within this exact expert archive.
Do you ever have one of those days, weeks, or, even, years when it feels nothing is going your way? There is no break from the gods. In a word, you would say that your life stinks, and it stinks out loud. I have recently had a number of conversations with folks who are finding themselves, metaphorically speaking, in the dark. And it’s no fun. In fact, it’s quite painful.
We would all agree that the world is fast, frenzied, and chock-a-block with sensory stimuli, challenges, and change. Where is terra firma, we might ask as we bend on our knees, take deep breaths, and straddle that big balancing board called life. We attempt to stay upright, but life does life. We can find ourselves crumbled on the floor looking up and wondering what just happened; or down a deep, dark rabbit hole unable to see anything clearly; or paralyzed with emotion and unable to make a move. What has happened? Say hello to your wake-up call.
“For Sale: Baby shoes, never worn.” That’s how it started. Those six words, we are told, are the shortest of Hemingway’s short stories. And those provocative words inspired Smith Magazine writer and editor, Larry Smith to challenge his Smith Magazine web readers to describe their lives in a mere six words. This was November, 2006, and the rest, as they say, is history.
The world is changing at break-neck speed as we inch ourselves closer and closer to the planetary shifts of consciousness and being. And, as with any new birth, there will be some pain, contractions, doubt, fear and maybe, even, a bit of panic as we work to bring forth a bouncing new world that operates from a place of co-operation versus competition, understands the interconnectedness of all and honors the earth and all sentient beings.
What happened to my epiphany? I just had it. I know it was here. It had lit up my mind and thumped my heart with excitement. It has been with me a mere few days, and, now, it is gone. It has vamoosed and high-tailed it out of my life. I am heart sick. I want my epiphany back. It felt so right. It fit so perfectly. I felt aligned, in tune and inspired. It was a wonderful thing while it lasted
I’m of the Viet Nam and Kent State generation and can remember the feel of singing “All we are saying is give peace a chance.” The swaying bodies, the deep resonance, the fervent belief that if peace were found – because, oh so, certainly, it had been lost – then the world would be right. I was ...I’m of the Viet Nam and Kent State generation and can remember the feel of singing “All we are saying is give peace a chance.” The swaying bodies, the deep resonance, the fervent belief that if peace were found – because, oh so, certainly, it had been lost – then the world would be right.
I was at a workshop recently where a spiritual teacher made a statement that has been rattling around my cranium for a number of days. Now, mind you, this is not the first time I have heard this statement, but, perhaps, I had reached the tipping point vis-à-vis this information and could no longer just puff up indignantly. I needed to give this some serious thought.
My dear pal, Debbie, passed along this birthday ritual. On your birthday, you choose one word to be your focus for the coming year. Once, I chose the word “sparkle” – just the thought of it made me happy. This year, my word arrived unbidden with cat-like stealth and sure-footed certainty. It pounced into my psyche and claimed its space. Immediately, I knew this was my word for my 60th year. This year, I have chosen “surrender.”
This piece was written with through the generosity of St. Germain. All of us would all agree that life is going faster and faster by the minute. We can’t stay on top of everything, much less get everything done. And there is change everywhere. Much of what we have been taught as real is being shown to be anything but real. And we have learned that when we disengage energetically – in other words, unplug from our connection with Spirit - we feel as if we are in free fall. And when in free fall, we get overwhelmed. We doubt. We wonder if we are doing the right thing.
OMG! The holidays are here. Are you ready? Good God, I’m not -- even though I swore up and down that I would be all wrapped and carded by Thanksgiving. Well, such is the way of my good intentions when life does life. I am guessing you can relate. It’s not too late to find help. Here are six good ideas to help you that find that channel of peace and good will. Hopefully, these will bring you comfort and joy -- and, hey, a little relief, too. Keep the lid on your box of expectations.
Ever have one of those weeks when there is palpable, anger-inciting tension between you and a family member? Or you have had a crushing misunderstanding with one of your dearest friends? Or there is an incident at work that has had you mumbling obscenities under your breath and double-checking your pension benefits? As a result of some emotionally incendiary experience where you feel wronged, not valued, misunderstood, or crossed, you can often find your self on one wild ride of emotions.
Every have one of those seemingly endless stretches of time, when it feels as if all your get-up-and-go has got-up-and-went? You are not sick, per se. You just don’t give a damn anymore. Nothing matters much.
The holidays have passed and we have settled into the new year. Might I suggest a focal point for your intentions and energies?
Rob Brezny's book Pronia is the Paranoia: How the Whole World is Conspiring to Shower You with Blessings "an extensive array of experiments, games, rituals, and meditations you can use to boost your levels of ingenious happiness." His work is fun, outrageous, provocative, earthy, and will up your serotonin levels in mere seconds.
In my gym, there are promo pieces that are played over the loud speaker. One such tag line is, “What gets measured gets improved.” The message is designed to encourage the clientele to get body fat levels measured and, ultimately, be inspired – or, more likely, shocked – and, as a result, hire a personal trainer. Actually, I like that tag line, but not for the reason intended. I think where we place our attention is a matter of serious consideration. Attention can be positive or negative. Like the old saying about children, any attention is better than no attention.
Can you feel the energies bumping up against you? One minute, you feel pushed; the next minute, pulled. One minute, you’re ok, and the next minute, you’re not. It’s chaotic out there. Our world is in flux; nothing feels normal anymore. Disasters are becoming way too familiar, and terra firma is not feeling so firm anymore. We have become unwitting surfers of ever-surprising shock waves of turmoil and disorder.
It’s late at night. All around me is quiet and dark. I strike a match; the friction is amplified by the stillness. The match sparks with the wick in a bubble of flame, and shadows dance on the ceiling. The room fills with soft, yellow light. My eyes adjust, and I can make out the edges and contours before me.
That’s right. It’s time. This is the moment we have been waiting for; there are no more warm-ups. Practice is over. It is time to suit up and get in the game. Our souls have been preparing for this moment for lifetimes. We have arrived at the tipping point of evolutionary consciousness. We have ...That’s right. It’s time. This is the moment we have been waiting for; there are no more warm-ups. Practice is over. It is time to suit up and get in the game. Our souls have been preparing for this moment for lifetimes. We have arrived at the tipping point of evolutionary consciousness.
Are you a curious type? Do you ever wonder how someone becomes an intuitive, and what their life has been like? Allow me to introduce you to Joan Pancoe, a psychic, trance channel, and karmic astrologer in New York City since 1976. Recently, Joan gifted me a good portion of her afte oon to quiz her about her life, times, and spiritual jou ey. After walking through her apartment where her original works of art ado the walls, we settled ourselves amidst the surprising greenery and playful statuary of her secret garden, deep within the heart of NYC’s East Village.
Heretofore, suicide has been a taboo topic. Now, it is so headline-making and societally embarrassing that clinicians and researchers are madly looking for answers and trying to quantify criteria. Why has suicide become so rampant? There are those that end their life by suicide from hearing voices. Or they become imprisoned by despair, shame, and worthlessness. They are feeling depressed and hopeless; and their actions can be be reckless, impulsive, and, frequently, under the influence of a mind-altering substance. They feel disenfranchised and disconnected from others.
Women of certain generations were brought up to please, aid, assist, and make life easier for everyone. They were trained to be the most excellent of handmaidens and helpmates. It was their raison d’être. They were not to stand out, stand above, or be noticed. They were to be the silent and ever-present servers and supporters of the alpha male or reigning matriarch of their family or social grouping.
Suicide is a global epidemic. We are all connected. What can we do to make a difference? Here are 10 ways to tip the scales in a more favorable direction. Our every action, intention, and belief counts. 1. Be neighborly and reach out to decrease loneliness and isolation. 2. Become the anti-bully. Become tolerant of others. Don’t punish differences. 3. Seek help for your depression, addiction, run-away anxiety, PTSD, and other mental health conce s. You don’t have to do it alone. Ever.
Ever felt like you were falling through space? Everything that held you and tethered you has disappeared and evaporated. You are simply bobbing in the cosmos awaiting your next signal. You look to the right; you look to the left. Up, down, over and around, yet, there is no sign indicating your new direction. You are all dressed up and with no place to go. Your foot tap, tap, taps restlessly on the edge of the galaxy. Is anybody home?
You cannot escape relationships. They are everywhere. They are the connective tissue of life. Be it friend, spouse, child, sibling, coworker, or neighbor, life is filled with relationships of varying dimensions, connections, and intensities. Each of us is a product of some kind of connection. In fact, we are born into Relationship 101, a.k.a. our family, which serves as our first social unit and school for our first lessons in interpersonal dynamics. This is where personality styles are formed, and family roles are acquired.
Do you know those moments when you are driving in the car and you find yourself knee-deep in reverie? These are moments when, out of nowhere, you find yourself long in thought; it’s as if you have made a U-tu into the underground waters of your psyche. Maybe it’s the constancy of the rhythmic motion that lulls you into a semi-trance state or, perhaps, it’s the sound of wheels in a circular song that rests your overactive mind.
A practical article connected into the broader SelfGrowth topic graph.
I’m in a strange place these days, nothing feels right. My skin is itchy; my allergies have run amok. On top of that, I am irritable and sensitive and there is not enough chocolate in the contiguous united of states to keep me satisfied. I am cranky. And why, you might ask? I have no real clue save I am walking through another psychic swamp and, boy, howdy, the ‘gators sure are big this season.
A face reader once told me that I had kind eyes, a strong jaw, a good forehead, in fact, an excellent forehead, an emotional nose, and, more pointedly, that I absolutely could not handle betrayal.
Can you remember when you last felt happy, really happy? Would you like to feel steadier in a healthy, mind-body way that does not involve pharmaceuticals? Is straddling a teeter-totter the last time you consciously considered balance in your life?
We are rapidly moving forward with ping-ponging planetary activity. Our world course is hurtling towards a new consciousness. These shifts, changes, and transformations on both the micro and macro levels have not always come easily. Change can sometimes feel counter-intuitive, wrongly timed, unasked for, and just plain bothersome. “Really, me, you want me to do this now?” Or “You want me to deal with this, again?” Or “Come on, God, how much can one person handle?”
It started simply enough, a run of the mill typo. Instead of signing off with my usual “Take good care,” I had missed an “o” and written “Take god care.” I noticed right away, but opted not to correct my mistake. This was fun and, besides, I look for messages and meanings in almost everything and this was too good, or, maybe too God, to pass up. I told my friend, the recipient of the e-mail, that I was leaving my error as a more fitting closing.
Hope … it’s a wonderful four-letter word. Hope offers possibilities; hope suggests that the good will prevail. It makes us happy. It fills us with expansiveness and can make our tight, constricted worlds crack open with a little wiggle room for the good stuff to find its way. Hope has us looking up. Hope, especially the big-picture variety, inspires and motivates. We want to do better, be better. Hope is potent medicine.
Generally speaking, I am grateful type. I say, "Thank you, God" with regular frequency. I acknowledge drivers when they let me merge into traffic from an uphill entry ramp and am appreciative of any and all assistance, information, and service. Unexpected beauty in nature can stop me in my tracks with awe and gratitude. Hopefully, my loved ones hear often enough the reasons they fill my heart and make my life go 'round.
It sounds like the beginning of one of those three person jokes, i.e., the shaman, the mystic and the psychotic walked into a bar. But this isn’t a joke; this is more of a pondering aloud on the line between sanity and insanity, delusion and reason. What prompted these ponderings was that I had to hospitalize someone this week. As a psychologist with a high functioning caseload, hospitalizations happen infrequently. They are not the norm for me. I always feel like a little part of me has died when the deed is done, and the patient has been admitted into the local psychiatric hospital.
Have you ever felt that you are simply hanging in the middle of the time and space continuum? You have plans, an agenda, goals, deadlines, places to go, and people to see, but you find yourself stuck in an energetic void where nothing -- as in zippidy-do-dah -- is happening. You want it to happen; you are trying to make it happen; you have been working, creating, pursuing, planning, following up, following through, taking notes, taking names, making calls, making contacts, making lists, making time, and, yet, you are going nowhere fast.
This piece was written with through the generosity of St. Germain. All of us would all agree that life is going faster and faster by the minute. We can’t stay on top of everything, much less get everything done. And there is change everywhere. Much of what we have been taught as real is being shown to be anything but real. And we have learned that when we disengage energetically – in other words, unplug from our connection with Spirit - we feel as if we are in free fall. And when in free fall, we get overwhelmed. We doubt. We wonder if we are doing the right thing.
It is not easy being a lightworker and healer in today's world. Challenges have been plentiful and hard-hitting and there have been portals of initiation that have moved you to a new platform, a new way of being. It's as if you have stepped up and into an expanded perspective. You are operating from a higher vibratory position. You are stronger, more resilient, and deeply rooted. You are also wiser and more compassionate. You have walked through your challenges and portals; you have learned well the big lessons of gratitude, forgiveness, and acceptance.
It’s too much. It’s way too much. You just can’t take one more something to remedy, re-organize, or create anew. You have been chugging right along, working to keep pace with everything that has come your way.
The majority of mental health practices are deeply rooted in the medical model, knee-deep in the latest edition of the DSM to provide diagnostic labels and entrenched with pharmaceutical solutions. And much of this is aided and abetted by the insurance companies who look to quantify and contain mental health treatment within boxed minimums.
This piece was written with through the generosity of St. Germain. All of us would all agree that life is going faster and faster by the minute. We can’t stay on top of everything, much less get everything done. And there is change everywhere. Much of what we have been taught as real is being shown to be anything but real. And we have learned that when we disengage energetically – in other words, unplug from our connection with Spirit - we feel as if we are in free fall. And when in free fall, we get overwhelmed. We doubt. We wonder if we are doing the right thing.
Are you too tired… too stressed …too everything? Are you filipendulous (hanging by a thread)? Do you frequently want to curl into a fetal position from overwhelm? Welcome to 2015, where the pace will be quicker. Y-e-s, quicker, so, hold on, lovies. Here are a few tips to help you through the quickening: 1. BE FLEXIBLE
My inner child has run amok. She wants nothing to do with restriction, rules and can’t-have’s. She wants chocolate and French fries and a loaf of toast. She is acting out big-time.
This week, the economists agreed we are headed for a long-term recession. No kidding, I think we are all up to speed on that. In other words, this global, economic melt-down is a marathon and not a sprint. As Bette Davis once intoned in some fabulous classic movie whose name I cannot remember, ...This week, the economists agreed we are headed for a long-term recession. No kidding, I think we are all up to speed on that. In other words, this global, economic melt-down is a marathon and not a sprint.
This piece was written with through the generosity of St. Germain. All of us would all agree that life is going faster and faster by the minute. We can’t stay on top of everything, much less get everything done. And there is change everywhere. Much of what we have been taught as real is being shown to be anything but real. And we have learned that when we disengage energetically – in other words, unplug from our connection with Spirit - we feel as if we are in free fall. And when in free fall, we get overwhelmed. We doubt. We wonder if we are doing the right thing.
The new A&E/Biography channel documentary series, The UneXplained is taking a look at past-life regression therapy. New York City psychic, Joan Pancoe is featured this Saturday, September 15 at 10 p.m. EDT in an episode entitled “The Weight of My Past.” You will watch Joan doing past-life regression therapy over the course of ten months with a 380-pound man struggling with a chronic weight problem. He is able to reconnect with his inner warrior and release his karmic attachment to a larger body-type than what is needed for this lifetime.
Do you have a monkey mind that has run amok? Is there lots of chatter ricocheting around your cranium? Is there so much clamor and inte al conversation that it’s standing room only in your head? Like the deli counter, do you need to take a number to disce which inner voice has taken over ...
Parents, by definition, have three primary roles. Their first duty is to cover the physical basics for their children. Food, a roof over their heads, shoes on their feet -- the rudimentary physical necessities of shelter, sustenance, and clothing. And under this rubric, there would also be the notion of safety and protection -- keeping their child safe and secure and protected from reasonable harm. (Clearly and alas, sudden violent attacks are not an anticipated or rationale event for which parents can protect their children 24/7.)
According to Brian Wansink, Ph.D.’s research, we typically make 200+ food choices a day. Wansink, a professor of marketing at Cornell University and author of Why We Eat More Than We Think: Mindless Eating, has devoted his career to researching why we eat and make the food choices we do. He is all about food psychology and what influences our choices.
This world of ours is fast-paced and challenging. Time is elusive; personal energies fluctuate, and a healthy sense of self can get battered in the mix. Needless to say, we want to be happy, feel less stressed, have more satisfying relationships, get in better shape, have more adventures, feel better about ourselves, and not be so overwhelmed with all the incoming. It’s exhausting keeping it all together.