I am like you.

Like you, I get caught up in familiar patterns and dynamics. Like you, I feel pain at times that feels unsurmountable. Like you, I resist the pain and wish it to go away. Like you, I sometimes become immersed in the frailties and illusions of being a human being on this Earth.

The past few days have been difficult for me. I am hoping that yours have been better — because, truly, what I have felt these past few days is a disintegration of Self and that always makes me feel off balance and insecure — but I have to believe I'm not the only one. I know I'm not the only one with these feelings. That is not to say I wish discomfort and pain upon anyone or wish to belittle my experience by forcing a joining upon anyone else, but I know that my feelings are universal.

We all feel.

In the past few days, I've been exploring a number of concepts.

These past few weeks have been amazing, haven't they? I've ridden the heights and plumbed the depths in that time. I felt a bit of the Dark Night of the Soul concept but then moved into expansive energy that provided me with insight into the exciting new directions I am headed personally and professionally. (More about that to come!)

Last weekend Matthew and I drove down to Portland and had an amazing time doing a group channeling and some powerful personal sessions. A theme emerged, and I'll be talking about it tonight on the radio — I'm a guest again tonight at 9pm PDT at Abstract Illusions Radio at BBSRadio with Jennifer Hillman. Matthew will be joining me this time as well to talk about the importance of humor, a subject very close to his heart. I'll write more about this soon but it became very clear to me that the way I approach what I do and how I live my life is very connected to the direction we are headed socially and culturally. I am calling it "Do What You Are vs. You Are What You Do," and I'm excited to see how quickly people intrinsically understand this concept. If you can join us tonight, wonderful! The show will be archived for later listening and download and I'll post a link when it becomes available if you can't listen in tonight.

All those thoughts about doing what you ARE, and the sense of community that arises when you realize that all that you do is an extension of you, led me to embracing this weekend's global Conscious Convergence collaboration. It's focusing on events taking place around the world this weekend, July 17-18 2010, but I think this speaks to something we all are craving and needing in our lives — true connection.

I've been meaning to write about my tai chi discovery for a while, but this week turned into summer here (read: above 60 degrees) and I've been distracted by 10pm sunsets and the sunny bench across the street that beckons to me from my window.

I've always been right-handed and right-footed, as far as I know. Left-right dominance is an interesting thing to see develop in a person. I know we equate "handedness" with brain hemisphere dominance, but I have to think it's more complicated than that. After all, we are more than just "analytical" (left-brained) or "creative" (right-brained).

For fun, have a look at this video and see which direction the dancer spins. I figured out how to make her change direction; can you?

For an even more interesting exploration of the brain and how it behaves, take a look at Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor's TED Talk from a few years ago. She describes what happened to her awareness when she experienced a stroke.