Posts Tagged ‘Sand Spirit Insight Cards’

Tools for Taking Back the Pilot’s Seat

Tuesday, January 24th, 2012

Sometimes I cringe when I meet someone who asks me what I do. Answering either “life coach” or certainly “energy medicine practitioner” or for sure, “shamanic practitioner” can lead to immediate Eyes Glazing Over Syndrome.

Sometimes I do better when I tell a client story, but the best approach is asking questions. Like, “Have you ever had the feeling that something is missing in your life, even if you’ve read a lot of books, had therapy or tried meditating?” (At this point, I am checking for “Woo Woo, Checking Out Now Syndrome.)

But I persist. “Do you ever feel confused about your purpose? Or feel that your passion for your life has gone flat?”

Even though such complaints are vague, most of us have experienced them. Someone who says “Absolutely not” would probably not want life coaching or any personal development enrichment.

In reality, we have all experienced feelings that some might call burnout, and others might describe as being out of balance. Even someone who has never quite found that path, that center, usually can recognize these symptoms. The vocabulary isn’t important. And so…what?

I would call the feeling of being in our center, on our path, feeling passion and purpose “the pilot’s seat.” And I would say that the one who has taken the pilot’s seat in such moments must be the essential self. The one who is all about our life force, or soul.

Sometimes the essential self manages to take the pilot’s seat “by accident,” or really without our effort. In those moments we might call grace, we simply know and we simply are.

When you’ve been there, it’s painful to be dislodged from the pilot’s seat, or to have it commandeered by sub-personalities, or by the ego, who is not well-connected to essence.

Sometimes just the awareness of being off-center is enough to correct the situation. Other times, we need help. We need tools. Here are some to consider:

  •   Deep talk, soul sharing with a friend or advisor who listens well
  •   Traveling into invisible realms for guidance, through meditation, prayer, dreams or shamanic journeying—or my Sand Spirits Insight Cards!
  •  Any breathwork or meditation system that leads you back into your heart
  •  Asking the Great Mystery for help
  • Work with changing old beliefs and releasing old patterns

If any of this resonates with you, I invite you to call me for a complementary phone consultation. Or if this has helped you remember your own tools, please add your comment!

The Story of the Sand Spirits

Wednesday, October 5th, 2011

I walk along the Pacific coast of the Baja peninsula. The stones at my feet are thrown across the sand like a random galaxy, and I connect their dots, picking out constellations. As the tide encroaches, waves wash up stones and other objects. Suddenly, I have company—a mystical sand woman! Her head is a glowing coral stone that seems to contain her facial features. Streaks of iron filings paint an aura around her head and give her a clear neck, shoulders and gown. She silently declares to me that she is a sand spirit, a form here for a fleeting moment.

I photograph these forms for four days, not touching anything. Back at home, I am delighted with the images, but still have no idea what I’m going to do with them. Two weeks later, I go in for a routine mammogram and am diagnosed with breast cancer. The rest of the story is about how the Sand Spirits become part of my healing journey and eventually part of others’ journeys as well.

I invite you to explore using the Sand Spirits in your own personal life, to activate the ocean of wisdom inside you! They will help you find your purpose and passion, help solve practical problems, facilitate deeper communication and bring out the healer within.

On Saturday, October 8, you can set aside 6 hours just for you and give yourself the gift of working with a tool that will show you how to move ahead in any area of your life and evolution. For information and to register, copy and paste this link into your browser:  http://tinyurl.com/sandspirits.

A Little Story of a Different Lens

Monday, September 26th, 2011

My friend and assistant Cynthia Wheeler was in Encinitas CA with me this week, enjoying a respite from the Tucson heat and enjoying the beach. The other morning she came back from a walk breathless with excitement.

“I met a young woman on the beach, “ she said, “who saw me taking pictures of the sand spirits I found in the sand, and offered to take a picture of me using my camera.  I thanked her and asked her if she had ever seen the sand spirits on the beach. She looked puzzled, and so I showed her one.

‘See this figure on the sand? ‘ I pointed. ‘If this stone were its head, see how the streaks in the sand look like a robe, and these streaks around the shoulders…’

‘Oh! It looks like an angel!’ She was excited. ‘I needed this today!’

‘And so I told her,’ Cynthia went on, ‘that if she asked her angel—her sand spirit—something, she would hear an answer.’

‘I will?’ Her eyes widened. And so I assured her that if she listened with her whole being, of course she would. And, I suggested she google Sand Spirits and find the Insight Cards and even join us on the free webinar. She said she was going to go right home and do that!’”

Cynthia is so generous by nature that I wasn’t surprised that she had struck up this touching conversation with a stranger. What did surprise me was the reminder that even people who walk on the beach all the time may never have seen the figures nature has created there. I often hear people say, “I’ll never see a beach the same way again.” And I think that is a lot.

If we begin to see even one thing in a new way, our whole life can change in that instant.

May something appear to you in a whole new way today!

Pam

P.S. Join us on our free webinar Thursday at 4PST! It will be recorded, so be sure to sign up even if you can’t attend.(Sorry–you’ll have to copy and paste this long url into your browser!  http://events.r20.constantcontact.com/register/event?oeidk=a07e4u7zku02c910453&llr=bvhm8ccab

P.P.S.  Go to Facebook.com/PamelaHale9 to see the photos of sand spirits I found this week in Encinitas!

Nature and your power of self-reflection

Thursday, September 22nd, 2011

I’m at the beach right now, so I am seeing scenes like this and reveling in being near the ocean, which I have loved deeply all my life.

When I was little, I “found God” at the ocean. When I looked out at the horizon, I thought it was so wide an infinite that God must live there. The ocean is still a wonderful place for self-reflection.

Have you noticed the dark streaks in the sand made from iron filings? I’ve always loved their patterns. Have you seen how these streaks are particularly strong above and below and around stones at the water’s edge? When the waves come in and then recede, they leave streaks in various shapes.

That’s what I noticed the day I discovered that the combination of stones, streaks and other natural objects created forms and figures! And even more amazing, they seemed to come alive and speak to me.

That was back in 2000, and since then the Sand Spirit images have spoken to people all over the world, revealing the power of their intuition in moments!

If you haven’t learned about these images, look for them at your local shoreline. Or, just join us for a free webinar where you can be introduced. (Email me at pam@ThroughADifferentLens.com)

You’ll love this magic tool that will help you gain insight on any issue in your work or life.

What do you see in the image below? What does this form or figure say to you?

I look forward to sharing the story and the images with you!

Sand Spirit image #28

Monday, March 14th, 2011

What form or figure do you see in this photograph? Yes, it’s just sand and pieces of seaweed. And no, I did not arrange them. Nature did!

Some people see a flower. Others see a pregnant woman. I always see an archer, whose bow is drawn, the arrow ready to fly. All the answers are RIGHT! What you see is the whole point of the Sand Spirits.

Today this image speaks to me of focused intention. The archer concentrates and narrows her view to the target, asking her body and mind to focus on directing her energy and her arrow in exactly that direction. We can do this.

I’ll give an example taken from a blog I just read by coach and author, Cheryl Richardson. She pointed out that we have a choice of how to react to the tragedy in Japan. She suggests that every time we think of the pain and suffering, we do the following: open your heart and imagine a stream of loving, healing energy flowing out of your heart, all the way to Japan. See the energy flowing all over the country, enveloping everyone and everything.

Now, remember that we are in the midst of great change on the planet, and so pain and suffering will probably persist and even intensify. How will we handle it over time? There are many ways, but the question is, how can we serve others?

We can serve best not by adding to the negative energy, but by forming a positive intention to pray or send love and healing to those who suffer. We can do this by contributing money, by volunteering and by being like the archer, focused on sending our best and highest energy right to the target.

We can continue to feel compassion for all who suffer without being overwhelmed so that our lights are dimmed. Instead we can be disciplined and while we feel compassion we can act as healers of the planet.

Thank you to Sand Spirit #6!

Humor and style

Monday, January 24th, 2011

This is one of my favorite Sand Spirit images!  I talked about this one at a recent presentation at the Escape! conference for cancer survivors and advocates. They were an inspiring and humbling group of people who have been through a daunting spectrum of challenges. Not only have they navigated these with incredible grace, but the participants all were accepted at the conference because they chose to give back by creating programs for their communities.

So back to the Sand Spirit. When I was diagnosed over 10 years ago, I could see that I’d need some humor and style to make it through surgeries, chemo and whatever treatment or possible complications might follow. This image helped me see how I might summon that humor and style. I see a woman who appears to be wearing a plumed hat, cape and scarves, and who is sauntering along the beach with grace and ease. I think this is partly because she doesn’t take herself too seriously and employs a healthy dose of humor to challenges big and small.

How could this image help you today with your own challenges? Could it be that having some humor and style could help you in practical ways? Just shifting our attitude can make all the difference.

Try writing down three ways that humor and style can help you right now with whatever is on your plate. I look forward to your ideas!

A Guardian Angel for 2011

Saturday, January 1st, 2011

Happy 2011!

How interesting this experiment is becoming. I’m taking the Sand Spirits images in order, putting one up each week and reflecting on how each one might give guidance to our lives. So here we are on the first day of 2011, and up comes Sand Spirit #4, one of my favorites.

For me, this one has always been a guardian angel. She was the first one who really taught me to communicate with these Sand Spirits–back in 2000 when I was newly diagnosed with breast cancer. Shocked by the news on a Friday that I would be having surgery on Monday, I was cleaning my house and getting ready. My new photographs of curious forms I had found on a Baja beach were spread out on the dining room table. Gathering them together to put them away, I stopped when I saw this guardian angel. Maybe I would put this photograph by my bed, I thought. Perhaps she could help me bring in spiritual guidance and give me peace, confidence and comfort.

She did. When I returned to my house the following Monday, my recovery was marred by the alarming news that the lumpectomy had not been enough. Now I would face the decision about further treatment. A single or perhaps a double mastectomy. Chemo. Would I survive it all? Now we had entered the land of mystery, where even the doctors could not give me an answer. I would need guidance now to help me recover and reclaim my best chance for health.

Today–11 years later–I am so grateful to have excellent health and also a strong relationship with the world of spirit. Trying to thrive while being a spiritual being in a body remains a constant adventure. I need daily doses of grounding to stay in my body and respond to its needs, and also inspiration from the spiritual realm. This Sand Spirit guardian angel helps me do both.

So what does the guardian angel say to you today? As you begin whatever challenges, adventures and blessings 2011 will present, what guidance and blessings to you seek? What does the angel say to you about how to maintain contact this year with the realms we cannot see? Is the spiritual realm real to you even though it is invisible? How do you “see in the dark” and experience the invisible? What is its guidance today?

I wish you countless blessings, health, abundance and the fulfillment of your dreams in 2011. May we all experience the kind of peace in the inner world that will create peace in the outer one.

Pam

Use your intuition to expand your brain power

Monday, December 20th, 2010

Sand Spirit Insight Card #3

I look at this Sand Spirit and see a woman with a brilliant head, with energy emanating from it, and a left breast, arm and side that are much more prominent than the right. She tells me she is “leading with her left side.” This would mean she is right-brained and intuitive.

I ask her what message she has for me about myself and my life. (I am thinking, “I’m already right-brained enough!  Sometimes I’m not practical enough–so what is it you are advising?”

She responds, “Well, in some sense you’re right brained–when you are deep in the creative process. But when you’re figuring something out, you go right ‘into your head’ and get strategic and logical. That’s fine up to a point, but right now in this changing world, the old strategies aren’t working so well. So you need to pay more attention to what your body feels about various issues, and trust your intuition.”

This kind of shuts me up, since I keep getting this same guidance about these times. It seems to be about expanding our brain power by using more of it. We think our logic “makes sense,” but logic fails to explain much of what is happening in the world. In times of crisis, we use our gut and respond intuitively. That’s what’s called for now, my Sand Spirit says.

What do you think? How could your intuition expand your options and clarify what is going on and show you better options for yourself. And what do you see in this card? I love reading your comments!

Advice for Week #2

Monday, December 6th, 2010

I’m going to go through the Sand Spirits Insight Cards in order, so you’ll get one per week to think about. This is week #2 and card #2. See how this relates to what’s up for you and add your comment!

First of all, the number 2 is all about relationships. How are your personal and professional partnerships? This number speaks about communication, interdependence and right relationships.

Now, what do you see in this image? I see a figure who looks androgynous, and who is dressed in a robe. S/he has her hands in prayer and light around her head. If I look closely, I see her left eye open and her right eye closed. It appears that she’s standing in water.

I ask her who she is. She says she is a spiritual energy, an archetype who could help me this week.

Tell me what message you have for me about myself and my life, I say. She says I am to keep my left eye open–that is, be sure my right brain is activated. That means using my intuition more than my logic. She says I could find myself “in hot water” in some way, and if that happens, her advice is to focus on what is right, and on my gratitude for all I have and for all that is going well. That will keep me “en-lightened.”

How do I translate this into actions and attitudes I can start right now? Well, technological things are driving me a bit crazy at the moment, so I guess I’m to bypass logic and use my intuition about what to tackle and how. I don’t see any “hot water” yet, but I’ll be on the lookout and be ready to focus on the positive. And I’ll pay special attention to nourishing and strengthening partnerships on every level.

How about for you? What does this Sand Spirit say to you about yourself and your life? How does that advice pertain to this week, and particularly to partnership and relationship?

Sand Spirit #1 speaks about procrastination

Friday, December 3rd, 2010

I haven’t blogged in a long time. Not sure what the block has been about it, but these things happen. So in order to take action, I drew a Sand Spirit Card. Let’s see what it has to say about procrastination and blocks:

What I see in this photograph is a holy-looking figure wearing a robe and holding its hands in prayer. (Is that what you see?) Below it is a smaller figure. I’ll talk to the larger one.  Who are you? I ask it.

I am a representation of your higher self, talking to your ‘lower’ or more materially-oriented self.”

And what do you have to say to my smaller or lower self about procrastination? I ask.

“First, it’s normal. We all are changing all the time, and sometimes during periods of transition we cannot stick to our old routines. So, just forgive yourself and move on when this happens.

Second, when you realize that you’re motivated to begin, or at least dissatisfied with your waiting, just dive in. Beginning is at least half the battle.

Thirdly, have faith that all the prayers you offer about being able to be more of your real self, about contributing to the world and about manifesting more wisdom…all these prayers are heard, and their answers have perhaps been percolating during your hiatus. So consider the possibility that even your procrastination has served a purpose.”

Wow. OK, I answer. I feel relieved, and grateful for this wisdom. Thank you, Sand Spirit.

Now it’s your turn. What do you think about these three comments about procrastination and blocks? Are they true for you? If so, how will you apply them?

And what do you see in this Sand Spirit image? I look forward to a dialogue with you!