<\/p>\n
Years ago when I was living alone and doing hospice work in New Mexico, I went to my meditation room to do a shamanic journey.\u00a0 <\/span>For those unfamiliar with the term, one listens to a monotonous drumbeat (or other sound) which then sends one into a mild trance during which one can \u201ctravel to other worlds.\u201d\u00a0 <\/span>Traditional shamans all over the world have this ability, but folks like Michael Harner and Sandra Ingerman have brought this tool to the modern masses.\u00a0 <\/span>Each of us has the ability to do this \u2013 to travel to other realms to gain insight.<\/p>\n Anyway, I was alone, so I used a CD of the drumming to help me along.\u00a0 <\/span>I traveled to the Upper World, to see if I could make contact with some guides.\u00a0 <\/span>I found there a circle of elders, of grandmothers, and they invited me to come into the center of the circle.\u00a0 <\/span>They had me lie down there in the midst of them and then they ministered to me.\u00a0 <\/span>They laid loving hands upon me and sent me healing energy.<\/p>\n There, alone in my room, alone in my home, I cried and cried and cried.\u00a0 <\/span>I hadn\u2019t realized how badly I needed to be cared for.\u00a0 <\/span>I had been spending a large portion of every day attending to the needs of others and I had allowed myself to become depleted.\u00a0 <\/span>But here in this sacred circle of loving grandmothers, I was the recipient of all the love and nurturing I could want.<\/p>\n It was a profound and deeply moving experience.<\/p>\n Are you being taken care of?\u00a0 <\/span>Or are you constantly taking care of the needs of others?\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>Or maybe you just work really, really hard.\u00a0 <\/span>Please, please remember to take care of yourself.\u00a0 <\/span>Not many of us are blessed with a circle of grandmothers to attend to us, but perhaps you could let yourself receive a massage.\u00a0 <\/span>Being touched by someone with skilled and caring hands is an incredible gift.\u00a0 <\/span>Or find friends or a therapist to talk with.\u00a0 <\/span>Or take a day off and go to a beautiful park.\u00a0 <\/span>It is so essential that we find ways to nurture ourselves.<\/p>\n It is not<\/i> being selfish to do this.\u00a0 <\/span>It is what enables us to fully function in this world.\u00a0 <\/span>If we do not allow ourselves adequate self-care, we cannot do well the work we are meant to be doing in the world.\u00a0 <\/span>It not only serves us, it serves the people around us when we remember to be good to ourselves.\u00a0 <\/span>If we do not care for ourselves, our well becomes empty, and when we give from a place of emptiness, we become ill.\u00a0 <\/span>It is absolutely necessary to fill the well.\u00a0 <\/span>Often and regularly.<\/p>\n May you be infinitely blessed and exquisitely loved.<\/p>\n So be it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Years ago when I was living alone and doing hospice work in New Mexico, I went to my meditation room to do a shamanic journey.\u00a0 For those unfamiliar with the term, one listens to a monotonous drumbeat (or other sound) which then sends one into a mild trance during which one can \u201ctravel to other…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":553,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,405,406,341,94,329,404,95,96,309,310,22,141,408,411,413,409,410,407,42,215],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-420","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blessings","category-circle-of-elders","category-circle-of-grandmothers","category-divine-assistance","category-divine-guidance","category-elders","category-grandmothers","category-guidance","category-healing","category-healing-hands","category-hospice","category-love","category-metaphysical-messages","category-michael-harner","category-nurturing","category-sacred-circle","category-sandra-ingerman","category-self-care","category-shamanic-journey","category-spiritual-tools","category-wise-ones"],"yoast_head":"\n