Our Cup Of Wine

Our Cup of Wine

If you live in California, I am sure you have been wine tasting. I have been wine tasting many times in my life, and when I experienced it, I always wanted to learn from the “experts”. I was lucky on many of my wine tasting experiences, the owners and creators of the wine would take the time to explain to me all about the grapes, how they were grown, the different types that were blended, the storage, the aging process, the bottling and many more intriguing facts about the end product of the wine. Although I loved learning about the many qualities of the wine, in the end, the wine I enjoyed the most was the wine that, quite simply, tasted the best to me.

Wine experts can tell you what types of wine are superior, smoother or lighter, and you can listen and agree to all of the amazing attributes of a particular wine, but you may or may not choose the wine that the expert says is “the best”. An expert cannot tell you how the wine tastes in your mouth, to your body and to your soul. Every wine mixes with your tongue, taste buds and your energy to make it appealing to you or not. The wine expert may be correct in his or her facts based on their learned knowledge and life experiences and you can receive that wisdom from them, but how you process that information and what choices you make are truly decided on your personal taste. “Personal Taste” is a wonderful metaphor for how we create our journey. It explains our learning path and how we move towards our unique direction. It is the reason we may like one wine over another, we are individual souls with unique experiences, relationships and passions…we have our own footprint on this earth and it expresses itself in beautiful and creative form.

We need experts; people who have experienced and learned about their particular interest, passion or work in order to share their knowledge with us. This sharing gives us the opportunity to make choices according to our personal tastes. Every person receives and gives information and is an expert in their own way. It is a blessing to be able to share our greatest gifts of knowledge, experience and creativity with one another.

I know when you read the paper and watch the news that the world seems to be in constant struggle, but I am hopeful that, through this struggle, we are moving towards a greater time, in which more peace will fill the planet. We can call it “The Age of Aquarius”….like the musical “Hair”, only now we are not in the 60’s, but nearing the much talked about time of 2012 in which a strong transformation seems to be happening around us and within us. We can choose to lift our spirits individually and as a community and create positive change. I pray that these shifts will lead us to our true destination of greater love, compassion and connection. The opportunities to learn from each other are becoming more available and I would feel immense gratitude to be able to share my knowledge with others in order to continue this movement in the world. I will continue on my path, day by day, moment by moment, to listen, learn and love the best that I know how to and hopefully make a difference in the world..

For those who will participate in a Passover Seder with your family and/or friends this lovely evening, I say l’chaim (to Life!) And for those who are celebrating Easter this Sunday, “to Life” too!!! And I end this blog with this thought…

May you drink from your cup of wine and celebrate all that is divine!

My Own Liberation

My Own Liberation

It’s March…the beginning of spring. The flowers are blooming, the trees are growing, and the animals are mating. It is a time for Renewal and transformation…I am stuck.

I am sitting at my computer on the morning of a deadline trying to write an article on the theme of Liberation. I was asked to use a personal experience and anecdote to illustrate the steps people need to liberate their lives... to move on to the next career, next love or next adventure. I have done everything to procrastinate writing this article. I have read a book, worked in my office, met with friends and completely put off what I knew would be best for me to do… write! This minute, I am actually in a place of transformation myself.

This situation is an ongoing process for me.” Renewal” work is what I do; I channel the information and tools that individuals need to become more empowered and therefore receive what they want in their lives. I have been blessed with the opportunities to delve into my self through active learning, life experiences and guidance. I have transformed from a young woman who was filled with tremendous anxiety and who suffered extreme insomnia, to a person who has let go of many of my anxieties and fears and now feels more connected to the Universe and myself.

But that doesn’t mean that because I feel more “enlightened” that my journey is over. I get stuck and I am always on a continuous path of learning. This week I have been stuck in the fear of writing this article. So, I will take you through my own process and maybe you will learn something from my personal transformation.

First of all, I am assuming that you, the reader, can admit to feeling stuck many times in your life. For an example, we all have a hard time feeling complete joy and fulfillment in our relationships. We can get stuck in anger, frustration and fear and many times we are afraid to take the risks that lead us to success with our children, spouses, siblings, parents and friends. All we want to be is free from these blocked places and in a place of love and acceptance. Feeling free from our stuck place and moving forward is what Liberation is all about.

That being said, I will return to my own challenges and explain to you how I am going to transform myself out of this writing block.

Here are the Four Steps I will take today:

First step: I ask myself… why am I blocked?
The first thing that comes to mind is fear of failure. I have always wanted to write for the Jewish Journal…you can say it has been dream of mine. So maybe I am afraid my writing will not be accepted, my ideas will be ridiculed or I feel unworthy to write an article for a prestigious publication. Yes, I am afraid of failure!!! That’s it!!!

Second Step… I look at the opposite of what I believed was my fear. (Sometimes, what we believe the fear to be is the easy road for us to take. Our “blind spot” is the place that is the hardest to see, but is usually the truth about ourselves). Ok, I do think I am afraid of failure on some level, but right now I have to ask myself the question “Is my fear of failure keeping me stuck or is it really my fear of "success”?! I realize that I feel stuck because I never believed that I deserved true success for myself. Then I ask myself again…. Why?

Third Step: I go deeper into my inner core or self. This step is difficult to do without guidance…but I have practiced quite a bit, so here goes….. Through time, I internalized the feeling that if I was truly successful, others may become jealous or envious of me and use their power against me or turn away from me. I have created a pattern of not being as successful as I can be, so I stay protected in my “non-success”, therefore, it is difficult for me to completely flow when I write.

Fourth Step…Go into the fear. I will do the one thing I am afraid to do. In this case, I am writing this article, sending it the Editor of the Jewish Journal for his approval, and taking the risk of sharing my step by step process with others. When I press the send key on my e-mail, my hand will be shaking, but I will move forward and hopefully feel liberated from my old ways.

Whether this article is published or not, my thoughts and actions will hopefully create a “shift” in my inner being. I will have moved one step closer to peace within myself and I will have moved away from being stuck in my inability to write freely. I hope I will become an individual who is able to write more easily and share with others without the anxiety and fear of my success. This new freedom is what I believe Liberation to be.

* Note

This article was NOT published in the Tribe magazine of the Jewish Journal as I had hoped for. This situation presents itself as another learning process for me; to accept that not everything goes the way I believe it should go and I do not know the reasons why, but sometimes I have to let go and trust that I will understand the reasons later. I have to move forward to the next article, next blog and/or the next project. If I touch or inspire one person by sharing my own experiences, than I have reached my goal and that is all I can hope for. So I publish this blog for you to read and I thank you for taking your precious time to read it.