How sacred is this life? 

How sacred do we treat this life? 

Are you living with a sense of sacred reverence or reacting to all life is tossing "at you." 

I don't know about you but I want to revel in the beauty of life, the magical encounters, the priceless depth of intimacy, the humility of forgiveness and the alchemy of love.  I have zero interest in small talk, surface skimming, negativity, and news headlines.  Settle in and listen with your heart.

Listen to Dana Damara talk about THE SACREDNESS OF LIFE - and what it can mean to you!  Find her on Youtube, Instagram at @danadamaraevolution and at her website www.danadamara.com

Thank you @officiallymcconaughey for giving me the words that could not come yesterday.

Enough is enough – not as if all the times before this mass shooting meant less, but everyone has a breaking point.  The breaking point, of all breaking points honestly.

Gun violence, racism, violence against LGBTQ+, education “reform”, pro-choice, women’s rights … it’s a bunch of political bullshit that I choose to stay out of and instead, live my life in connection and love for all.

But this mass shooting has hit me to my own core – Basta.  Enough. In this moment, I’m embarrassed of being American.  Appalled. And I know that the rage I feel inside now, is translated through this post so I am writing, deleting, editing, and rewriting multiple times … I can only do my best when 19 people are shot down in an elementary school.  When parents of these children must have a DNA test to properly identify their children … it’s horrific.

And I know that we are, as a society, pointing the finger at the gunman, and the laws for guns.  Those are easy targets to get angry about.   “This heinous crime.  That terrible person.  These ridiculous laws.”  All true to a point…

I’m tired of posting flags, blacking out my screen, hosting charity events … for what?  Nothing changes.  It’s like my friend @andresalvageassociates said to me years ago, (about George Floyd),

“This will all be forgotten in a week or so.”  We are a distracted society … like squirrels going for what is shiny and new.  It disgusts me, makes me cringe really, and pierces my heart.  But I’d like to elaborate after conversing with my daughter who is 17 years old and wise beyond her years …

This post is too long for your word count … more in the comments. If you care, listen with an open heart.

What are you saying YES to these days?  Let’s start there. And then notice where and why you are saying no to life.  Conversations I’m hearing lately include fear and discontent with how the world is “turning” again.  Um, hello … it never stopped turning.  We are only beginning to witness reverberations from the shift that awakened more people than ever before.  The trick is to stay ABOVE the noise and negativity and say YES anyway.  TUNE IN DEEPER to your heart … that’s the compass the points to the truth of your YES.

Find the balance between your fears and your ability to move forward with those things that are in alignment with your heart.  Fear, while it is false evidence appearing real, can also be a very powerful pivot point for you to drop in deeper and examine what's real. This world is shifting ... time to say YES to the things that soul powered.  

Listen to Dana Damara talk about SAYING YES - and what it can mean to you!  Find her on Youtube, Instagram at @danadamaraevolution and at her website www.danadamara.com

Devotion is defined as “love, loyalty, or enthusiasm for a person, activity, or cause”. I define it as something that takes your breath away.  That makes time stand still.  That fills your heart with expansion. It feels like an abundance in life; an overflowing of love and of all resources.

It’s not free from challenges, or pains, or uncomfortable-ness.  No, devotion holds everything.

Devotion gives you super-human powers to go beyond; to see clearly; to live in the realm of nothing that holds everything.  To live in the unknown because in that unknown, everything makes sense.  To live in the darkness knowing that the light will shine when it’s time.

Devotion breeds unconditional love, acceptance and integrity.  And, it’s fueled by an inner compass that is indeed, indescribable.  Our devotion defies gravity, logic, reasoning and sometimes Universal Laws.  It needn’t make sense, we can’t possibly understand the “logic” of the heart because it’s more intricate that our brain, so how could we understand it?

Sometimes we are told what to be devoted to.  You know, that can’t happen because no one lives in our own personal heart of hearts.  No one can hear the song of our heart except ourselves; only we know what we are devoted too.  We may try to be devoted to someone else’s path or idea but really, it is our own that will keep calling us back.

We may stray, when things are blurry or we are in a state of fear or confusion.  That’s okay.  Because in that straying we learn; we gather and we observe other ways of doing things or portals into something new that spark our heart and send it back to it’s path.  Sometimes we stray because we are so afraid of the transparent vulnerability that comes with devotion, that we must look away.  The light of devotion illuminates everything and until we are okay with this light and what shadows it creates, we will continue to live in mediocrity.

Devotion is the only way to live fully.  Being devoted to a moment.  To a breath.  To presence.  To your partner, to your children, to evolving, to expanding, to learning, to loving unconditionally.  To loving it all, without putting anything outside of that ring of love. To holding space for it all and allowing yourself to fall into everything that has brought you to this moment.  Listen to Dana Damara talk DEVOTION - and what it can mean to you!  Find her on Youtube, Instagram at @danadamaraevolution and at her website www.danadamara.com

Courage is the highest connection you have with the Divine.  Courage is the bridge from sky to Earth.  It's the moment you go beyond the "should" in life, and get to the yes.  It doesn't always show up as an act of "doing" something - it can be in the nothing that courage comes into play.  Example:  a momma bear, like myself, stepping back and allowing their child to go through whatever it is they need to go through, knowing that all is well and in Divine timing.  (gulp)  It's in the letting go, and the stepping forward.  

Courage is sometimes portrayed as an agni thing .. but honestly it's all in the heart, the air, the breath.  Courage is love.  So many stories about courage.  I've taken many leaps of faith in my life, always from a place of "ticking off" the boxes, writing out the lists, and then finally --- in the end, following my heart with courage.  

Listen to Dana Damara talk COURAGE - and what it can mean to you!  Find her on Youtube, Instagram at @danadamaraevolution and at her website www.danadamara.com

Authenticity:  the act of being genuine.  It can be tough - people may judge you.  You may not get those likes.  You may not gain the popular vote if you're authentic.  No one may agree with you.  This is one issue with being authentic.  Another factor may be fear.  Fear of being "called out" - or rubbing others the wrong way.  All of these things affect your ability to be authentic.  

Now factor in times in your life when you are in the midst of transformation.  Stepping into that new way of being.  Leaving that relationship.  Dropping into a new way of being in your life.  It can be scary - you'll lose friends, maybe money, respect ... but .. if you move from your heart, and only your heart - you can't help but be authentic in all your relations.  Not always easy but the best if you believe that this life is about magnetizing what is true, right and real for you.  And ... by the way .. the times "before" you were being authentic, yeah ... you were authentic then too.  You've just evolved, so cut yourself some slack.  

Listen to Dana Damara talk AUTHENTICITY - and what it can mean to you!  Find her on Youtube, Instagram at @danadamaraevolution and at her website www.danadamara.com

The idea of surrender is a slippery slope.  It's defined as letting go of control, but the truth is, we never had control anyway.  So how could that be the definition?  When you let go and surrender to the gifts already inherent within yourself, your life shines brightly. You radiate love and abundance.  But because the undertone of surrender is one of “giving up”, you become fearful.  Which is obviously false evidence appearing real.

I revisit this word every year around this time.  Just after July 4th and before the New Moon, mid year.  It's just unavoidable.  And every time the word means more to me.  As we are all awakened to this "New Earth" that has been brewing beneath the surface of our lives, we are offered a opportunity to liberate ourselves from so much.  

Liberation begins with recognizing what is holding you back, and accountability for letting go.  As humans, we hold on to things, sometimes much longer than is necessary:  tangible items that live in bins in our garage, jobs, cars, relationships, grudges, trauma and beliefs.  Just a few examples but I'm sure, there's more.  

Listen to Dana Damara talk LIBERATION - and what it can mean to you!  Find me on Youtube, Instagram at @danadamaraevolution and at my website www.danadamara.com

"Initiation:  The action of beginning something."  Although I think it is more than that.  It's those moments in your life when you are not only "beginning" something, but when you are moving beyond something.  Sometimes those moments show up as a challenging interaction with someone else.  Or a pivotal decision in your life.  Most often, it's in those moments where you hear yourself saying, "Why does this always happen to me?" and in that moment you realize you are being initiated.  

Our intention, in this life, is to allow our soul to evolve. And in order to do that, we are offered numerous opportunities to be initiated to the next level of our existence. In this podcast I talk about the process of initiation and how to find gratitude and grace while moving through hard things.  Find me on Youtube, Instagram at @danadamaraevolution and at my website www.danadamara.com

Excerpt from my book Oms from the Mat 

Patience, when we really breathe into it, reveals the truth. 

You feel me on this one?

I remember, when I was younger saying, out loud (this is no joke), “I wish I could wiggle my nose and get to where I am supposed to be next.”  When I got older and I was going through a tough time, instead of dropping into the struggle, I would run away and move onto something else.  So instead of having patience with the process and learning from the journey, I just wanted the destination or the end result.

We don’t know it all.

There are infinite opportunities and an abundance of resources.

The depth of our journey reveals our connection to the Divine.

We sit and we wait;  we wait for the breath of the Divine to guide us into our truth, and our purpose and we have patience as we observe our life and all the amazingness that happens as we move through each connection, each struggle, each embrace and each disappointment.  We have patience and when it’s right and it’s time .. we know.  That’s all … we just know.  Find me on Youtube, Instagram at @danadamaraevolution, Facebook @danadamaraevolution, and at my website www.danadamara.com