Recently, life has been busy, alive, and in some ways, quite settled. I write best when turmoil stirs in my heart, sometimes for myself, others times for others. This week has been such a week of celebration full of activity and people that I haven’t had time for much reflection. When I have, my mood and thoughts have been high and clear. There have been never-ending raining. Maybe that will be when the dark-side will bring us some new light. I suppose some might wonder what that means. The dark side, we all have one. Think about it, all those things we don’t like about ourselves. Bad habits, behaviors, attitudes we’ve been told are not nice; many things make up our dark side. Too often it is suppressed, not to be recognized or embraced. Rather than admit it is there, we would prefer to say we don’t suffer from any of these afflictions and suppress the negative aspect. Here’s the rub: What you deny owns you, what you accept gives you back your power. Deny it and what you resist will persist. The irony is that the Whole consists of both dark and light. We have night and day, hot and cold, good and evil, love and hate, and every duality that exists under the sun. All are there to serve a purpose. Knowing this, you have the opportunity to integrate your yin and yang, male and female, dark and light, and experience the fullness, the wholeness of who you are! You’ll thank yourself. Being yourself is such an empowering experience. Working with clients, I am astonished at the trap of self-consciousness that we all create for ourselves. I’ve been there and it has kept some of the best experiences in my life from happening. You might ask, “Well, if it didn’t happen, how do you know it’s going to be one of the best experiences?” Fair question! If the experience doesn’t happen then I am haunted by what might have been. I know many of you know this experience. There probably isn’t a human-being alive that has not experienced this at least once in their life. When our moods are down we’re more likely to experience this hesitation more often. Ups and downs are a part of life and in gaining perspective that this is true, we can call upon all of who we are by being present in the moment and still live each experience with a sense of brand new wonder and discovery. Get out of the mood and into the moment. Let the mood be, just don’t be controlled by it; just be with it. Now the opportunity to live the fullest experience in the moment is available. Seize the opportunity, the possibility, the beautiful person standing in front of you, and find out more of who are you. The fullness, the wholeness, the entirety of your true being. It’s that blend of being and doing. I’m being me, in the moment, with my mood for company, and living still for now, this moment and encounter. My feelings just are and accepting them I also open myself to new emotional energy to move in. Life is a wonder, our bodies are a wonder, and the experiences are rich. Go for it! We’ve all seen those people who are so free, able to dance in the supermarket aisle, to close their eyes on a sunny street in the middle of the day, arms outspread embracing the sun. What self-conscious trap holds you back from being, being all that you are? I admire those people that do, don’t you? To be free is to be free with yourself. Are you ready to set yourself free? It is your choice.