personal mastery

On Becoming and Making it “Official”

Posted by Barbara Techel

On Becoming and Making it "Official"

While it’s been official for some time now, and while a certificate is simply a piece of paper which I received yesterday, this acknowledgement of the deep personal work I accomplished since Fall of 2017, ….well, I must say, it made my heart smile.

It’s not always an easy road to travel when looking at what causes us pain, for we don’t always remember that on the other side, what is waiting for us is a new and improved version of ourselves, not to mention a new found sense of peace!

Revisiting my journal entry from October 9th, 2017, the second week into Oracle School and the first phase being the foundation called Personal Mastery, we were asked to pick four cards from The Wisdom of the Oracle Deck and do a “Becoming” reading.

It began with what part of my becoming needed the most healing?I pulled Never-Ending Story. In order to become who I wanted to be, I would need to let go of past pain, transform it, and learn to see it as a gift of how it helped make me who I am. As so often happens, and we don’t often recognize it, but we do get stuck in our never-ending stories and thus find it difficult to move forward.

The next card representing what aspect of my healing needs the most encouragement I pulled Peace in protection (reversed). I was being called to trust that if I worked with what it was I felt wounded by, brought it into the light, and witnessed it without judgement, that I could find my way toward more peace for my life. I had to believe that if I walked through the pain, I’d find peace on the other side.

The third card was about what aspect of my healing needs the most effort. I pulled A Change in the Wind. I can still feel the resistance I felt when I pulled this card that day. We humans don’t always like change and oh, do we like to resist it. But I knew that if I wanted to achieve more lasting inner peace, I’d have to accept that change was needed and that indeed it would take effort on my part.

The last card pulled was about what aspect of my past story is the biggest obstacle to my becoming? I pulled Unfinished Symphony in protection (reversed). How often we get so close to the finish line of making a breakthrough, but then we quit out of fear or lack of confidence thus missing out on the big teaching and the thing that will catapult us forward and living from a new place of awareness.

I look at this reading today of what it would take to Become and clearly see I was being supported during the deep dive into my inner world this past year… and why receiving this certificate means so much to me…because I can say I busted through and had tremendous growth. I am not the same woman I was a year ago. And I’ve become the woman I knew I wanted to be. I’m dang proud of this.

It took tears, anger, stubbornness, believing, trusting, and faith…but I made it!

And while I’ll always be a work in progress, as we all are, it’s the new awareness I now carry with me that helps illuminate the way. And while I’ll still have challenges, it’s the remembering they are signposts to something greater to deepen my understanding about this journey I travel on planet earth.

It’s also been so rewarding to now encourage women through areas they feel stuck, gently invite them to open to change, and support them to become who they truly wish to be through my Oracle Guidance Sessions. If I can be of support to you, I’d be honored to do so.

XO,

Barb

Writing Cottage Anew. It’s a Jungle in Here.

Posted by Barbara Techel
Writing Cottage Anew. It's a Jungle in Here.
My writing desk and over-sized chair where I meditate and also like to read.

For about three weeks I kept pushing aside the yearning I had to re-arrange my writing and creative cottage. This 10 x 12 space that sits off the corner of my deck and feels like a giant hug each time I walk through the Victorian screen door.

Earlier this spring I purged what I no longer needed in this space as I believe when we discard what no longer serves us, it allows for new creativity to come into our lives.

But it had been awhile since I re-arranged the furniture. There are only so many ways in which I can position all the pieces, but this feeling of moving things around kept beckoning.

Sunday and in the wee early hours, lying awake in bed there was this voice again, Time to move things around in the cottage. And what followed next I struggled a few hours with (though in reality I’d been giving thought to this for a long time). I heard that it was time for me to also let go of some of my Frankie photos and memorabilia. I felt some resistance, but I promised myself I’d take it into consideration.

Later in the morning after procrastinating for a time, I answered that intuitive call and out to my cottage I went to begin the task of making it anew.

I have a tall free-standing bookshelf, my writing desk, what I call my analog desk (where I do my daily oracle readings for myself and where I create in my art journal), an over-sized wicker chair with matching ottoman, 3-drawer side table, and a chest on wheels. My petite gas stove stays permanently fixed in the northwest corner. It’s quite a few pieces to have contained in this small space, but somehow I manage to make it all work, even though it has its limits on what I can do.

My analog table where I work on art journaling plus each morning after meditation pull an oracle card (or two or three!) and journal.

I moved some pieces onto the deck so I could more easily move other’s around. Then I took down all the photos of Frankie and the memorabilia I had on two of the walls. From there I decided what would stay and what could go, but not before taking a photograph of what I was letting go. Two went into storage downstairs and one I put on the wall in the living room, while five other remain in my writing cottage. This feels right.

Over the years I’ve been making shifts away from my identity solely being about my life and my work I’d done with Frankie and disabled dogs. It hasn’t always been easy, but I remind myself it’s because of Frankie and then Joie, and now Gidget, that I am who I am today.

I have no doubt Frankie and Joie are happy, and blessing me from the other side, that I continue to spread my wings and learn to fly in new ways. As for Gidget, well, she was another pivotal marker in guiding me to this new space of acceptance. That story is yet to come and what I am in the throws of with writing a new book.

Part of my letting go of some of the Frankie items was that over three years ago I set the intention to open to the wisdom of all animals, which I owe to the dogs in my life for all they taught to me. And so one-by-one (unlike two-by-two with Noah’s Ark!) I’ve been bringing other animal totems, photos and images into this place I hold so sacred. Animals that have come into my life via guided meditations, in the wild, through animal readings, and those I just feel drawn to for some reason or another.

Looking around my room as I write this now I realize all the different critters that surround me! There is, dragonfly, wolf, mouse, owl, ladybug, birds, horse, musk ox, butterfly, donkey, dolphin, pig, whale, turtle, salamander, deer, lion, tiger, leopard, flamingo, frog, giraffe, squirrel, snake, cat and dragon. They are now, along with my dog friends present and past, with me as I write and create. 

A cozy spot for a guest to sit or a place to collect magazines and books to read.

The past, and those items attached with it, I know, not always easy to let go of physically and emotionally. But when we lovingly and gently let go, while blessing all of it for helping shape us into who we are, not only is that a gift that stays with us always, but it then opens a new channel of opportunity for more gifts to find us.

After everything was neatly in their new places, I burned some sage as a special ritual to clean out of the old energy so new energy can take hold. And I must say, I do feel a refreshing new energy today as I write this post. Ahhhh, yes!

My symbolic corner of courage and strength.

And so this lovely jungle it is in my writing and creative cottage anew, I find myself quite content, and ready to continue to walk this journey that I alone can only walk.

XO,

Barbara

Navigating the Space In-Between

Posted by Barbara Techel
Navigating the Space In-Between
Pausing, Contemplating, Capturing

March… the month of transition…that in-between space. Winter still shows itself at times, but it doesn’t linger as long.  As the sun moves closer to the earth it helps usher in a tease of warmth of the promise of what is on the way.

A space of in-between is where I find myself also. Are you feeling this too? During my yoga practice Friday morning I held boat pose with a new resolved strength of determination.

As I gazed at the gully of naked trees outside my window, a Robin landed on a Sumac bush. Pecking at the dried seed, I thought how even though the bush was dormant all these months it was still providing nourishment, thus life, to the Robin.

I’ve been in this deep-seated space of inward contemplation again, peeling back layers I never thought would be part of my unfolding. At times, it’s been emotionally painful with a new recognition of how it affected my body with a deep ache.

The good news is that my willingness to look inward I was able to make the connection between my thoughts and my body. Once I did, the pain I was experiencing faded away within a few days. I’m grateful for the new awareness of how our emotions truly can affect our bodies.

The other good news is that while I’m not ready to share fully what my contemplation has been about, as I’m still navigating and integrating it all, I’ve had this tickling in my heart.

A tickling that what I’m going through may be leading to another book I will write. While I can’t say for sure at this point, I’m gathering thoughts and insights that are currently flowing through me.

There is a stirring of wanting a change in my life and this recognition of a need to honor the truth of where I am and the feelings I’m having, and how it continues to reveal itself to me. While watching the Robin fill himself with nourishment, I recognized myself in the reflection.

A moment of reflective understanding from Robin

In order to be at peace and in this space of the unknown and what lies ahead, it’s important to nourish and care for myself.  It’s something I guide my clients to do when they come to me needing help when feeling stuck as it’s vital in order to be able to move outwardly when the time is right.

Nurturing our inner world is the first step before we can take steps toward what is next for our lives. It will never come from external forces, and if it does, they are only temporary.

Feeling more empowered as I continued to hold boat pose, enveloping it as fully as possible so I could carry it with me, I came to understand something. 

As I visualize the distance along the shoreline of where I wish to head and am already on my way, I must also remain flexible, and gently tend to a space of inner calm so the flow of my life can unfold as it’s meant to.

While I trust I will reach my destination, I’ve also come to understand that I’m already there in many ways. There is no need to rock the boat.

Instead, be with the flow of the ride, stay open for signposts, and appreciate the larger waves that may try to engulf me as all part of the process.

I’m also reminded once again that within transition lie blessings waiting to be revealed. Writing another book was not on my conscious radar until now and I’m beginning to see this as an unexpected gift.

And the more I open to the idea, the more I see an authentic opportunity. And so this boat becomes my vessel to a revelation that calm waters are here now and more are on the horizon as well.

XO,

Barbara