Chart Your Course, Sail True North

Once you've discovered your North Star, you’re able to move toward that guiding light. Now, you’re ready to Chart Your Course. What will be the tools to keep you heading in the right direction and alert you if you're off course? The Chart Your Course category of the blog explores personal tools of refinement that emphasis body, mind and spirit practices in addition to my personal favorite--Meridian Tapping. 

If you go to my website and scroll down, you will see a beautiful tapping points guide that you can resource to learn Meridian Tapping as a self-administered technique. If you need the additional support of a trained and certified practitioner, please contact me to start solidifying your North Star and Charting Your Course by using your body as your guide and compass.

Ways to a Bright Inner Constellation

Today I had the entire day off with great intentions that quickly became sidetracked (Damn, that Wimbledon!). Finally, at 6:40 in the evening, I'm sitting down to do the much anticipated--write to you all. I know you can relate to becoming distracted and pulled in multiple directions. The day was not coincidental, however, and I find myself drawing on the framework of my Inner Constellation practice:

1) Find True North - in ancient days of star navigation sailors found their ways in uncharted territory by locating the North Star. What's your North Star, that which is most fundamental in life? If my North Star is becoming a professional tennis player (not!), watching six hours of Wimbledon might have been a great first step, in addition to getting off the couch and playing a few sets myself! This brings us to number 2....

2) Chart Your Course - what tools keep you headed in the direction of your North Star? For me, tools like EFT, hypnosis, exercise and writing keep me on track. For more on this step, consider reading the blog articles in the category entitled "Chart Your Course," which has lots of meaty information that might prove useful.

3) Arrival - similar to a sailor heading in the direction of the North Star, arrival occurs in each small step, not miles out in the future. I'll let you in on a secret, one of my North Stars is compassion. How did I practice compassion while watching Wimbledon? Hmm, let me stretch a bit....I made two collage cards, one for friends of mine and another for my sister and her new husband. Um, I cuddled with my cat and husband, made us a Lasagna (we worked up an appetite watching the tennis). I could keep stretching, but you get my point. Each moment holds potential.

I don't feel so bad sitting around watching Wimbledon all day! If you wish to dive deeper into the above three, my website goes into more detail (the green box entitled, "Meet Karla,"). Also, in the next few days I'll write articles highlighting each step: Find True North, Chart Your Course, and Arrival. This is my personal "Chart Your Course" promise to keep me from viewing too much Wimbledon! You might notice that the blog is set up with these three themes in mind. TTFN, Wimbledon is back on--JK.

Diligence Practiced Beautifully

It’s a miraculous process that when we place our attention on something (become mindful), the opportunities to practice present. January Inner Constellation theme is diligence, and yesterday I had the awesome experience of witnessing a student with a disability overcome a challenge in the class room, exhibiting determination that was heroic. The student is legally blind and we made adjustments such as his and my positioning, marker color, the size of my writing and a plan for how to convey visual communication among students. I was grateful for the lesson he modeled —how to set up conditions for success.

I left the classroom asking myself how I set up conditions for success, so I’m able to practice my North Star of compassion and keep love alive?  Self-care is a huge condition for success in addition to having time, not rushing so I can notice opportunities to practice my North Star.  I asked a question of a colleague yesterday that brought tears to his eyes, “How are you nourishing yourself?” He’s struggling to take care of two immediate family members suffering with terminal cancers. We take care of the InnerConstellation so we can generate the compassion it takes to notice the suffering in others and help alleviate and bring joy into their lives. Without a personal practice, it’s easy to be swept away by strong emotions, the to-do list, and general pace of life.

Diligence and setting up conditions for success translates into “Chart Your Course,” in Inner Constellation language. Every moment we have the opportunity to orient toward our North Stars or go in other directions. How will you “Chart Your Course,” in the direction you wish to go? A huge compass for me is my community of practice (Lake Tahoe Mindfulness Community), cherished friends who are dedicated to peace, understanding and love. Even just one solid person in your life can provide the support needed to move in a beautiful direction. I would love to hear about your practice of diligence this month of January, please feel free to contact me so we can build our community of practice. 

I want an Official Red Ryder, Carbine-Action, Two-Hundred-Shot Range Model Air Rifle!

Happy Hanukkah, Merry Christmas and Season’s Greetings to everyone. I hope you all get exactly what your heart most desires and Santa doesn't say --“No way, kid, you’ll shoot your eye out!” May you freely plunge beneath the tree, into the cornucopia quivering with desire and the ecstasy of unbridled avarice and find your prize. As you close your eyes Christmas night, I hope next to you lay your oiled blue steel beauty (in whatever form it may take)—the greatest Christmas gift you have ever received, or would ever receive. May you gradually drift off to sleep, pranging (and missing:) ducks on the wing and getting off spectacular hip shots!

OK, maybe that’s going a bit too far…but, I hope all your dreams are sweet and in them you feel like da bomb!  And may it have nothing to do with what you received outside, but rather what you received inside, yep—your Inner Constellation. If you allow, I wish the honor of playing Santa Claus and offering you a sweet little package for your Inner Constellation that you can open every day of the year. But before I get into the details I want to introduce a practice called reciting the gathas. This is a Sanskrit word meaning to speak, sing, recite or extol, a perfect concept for over the holidays, eeh, especially if you’re like me and enjoy belting out Christmas chorals. Basically a gatha is a verse said in rhythm with the breath while bringing complete awareness to the present moment. So, here might be Ralphie’s gatha (character from A Christmas Story):

“I’m firing my official Red Ryder Carbine-Action, (in breath)
Two-Hundred Shot Range Model Air Rifle! (out breath)
I will be extra careful. (in breath)
so as not to shoot my eye out. (out breath)

You might recoil here, not because of the kick-back on the Red-C BB gun as it’s aimed at the paper target, but because you think perhaps I’m committing blasphemy with the gathas. No way! Gathas come from the Zen tradition and are created to reflect the practical aspects of life. There are ones for waking, eating, dressing, walking even defecating. Had Ralphie recited the above gatha he might have prevented a, um…near major catastrophe. So, now, my Christmas gift to you—since August of this year, I’ve been sending out Inner Constellation blessings, Monday through Friday, to folk’s email inboxes (your year-round Christmas tree). The IC blessings, or gathas, are very short little blips, usually just a few lines, designed to inspire and orient you toward wellness. In short, they help Chart Your Course. Here’s an example of the IC Blessing set to go out tomorrow and what it would look like in your inbox:

IC Blessing: Winter Solstice
© 2013 Karla Johnston, InnerConstellation.com

You are light scattered golden.

Unwrap each daily gift for your Inner Constellation and simply enjoy while being reminded of the real gift of you. In the tradition of the gathas, you can breathe the blessings in and out through the day—“I am light” (in breath)/”scattered golden” (out breath). And indeed you are. If you would like to accept my invitation to receive the email send Monday-Friday, please contact me. I triple dog dare you (gasp!) Happiest holidays to you and a new year filled with blessing after blessing after blessing. 

Olympians' North Stars

This summer's Olympics are in full swing and whenever I listen to athletes' interviews, I hear "North Stars" abound, the first step in my Inner Constellation work with people. The idea of North Star is a metaphor I've coined to represent that which is one's fundamental priority or supreme motivator in life above all else. The Olympians give supreme examples of North Stars:

• "I always do my best."
• "No matter how bad it may look, I never give up."
• "I want to have fun in everything I do." (Dana Vollmer, a swimmer who won her first gold metal in the 100 meter Fly and broke a world record!)
• "It's important that I always challenge myself."
• "I appreciate everything I've ever earned or been given."

North Stars help us know where we're going before we push off to sea, keeping us on track, and here's the most important thing--North Stars are immovable, unlike goals, which are often confused with the North Star metaphor. Goals are often set and exceeded, or sometimes, unattainable, such as: I want to win gold in the 100 meter Fly, or, I want to be strong and resilient. If you sink like a brick when you jump in the pool (like me:) or you're suffering from an autoimmune disease, these goals may not be reachable. North Stars, on the other hand, are always attainable, "I do my personal best....I never give up....fun is my top priority....I appreciate and give thanks. The immovable and often universal North Stars, when held in sight, have incredible power to direct and focus our lives, so we always know what's most important during the crazy distractions of life. Goals support our North Stars and are the action steps that make up "Chart Your Course", the second step in my Inner Constellation work with people. If the idea of North Star is appealing to you, consider checking out my Inner Constellation Compendium which gives more detail about this beautiful metaphor. 

In ancient days of star navigation, a person found his or her way in uncharted territory by first locating the North Star. Find your North Star and you will always have an internal compass. From North Star, the course can be mapped and arrival certainly promised--as long as True North is kept in sight. 

A Daughter Gives Thanks

I lost my father yesterday, November 21, 2012. As I write this, I’m sitting on a plane, flying from West to East to comfort and be comforted by family. I had plans this week, to write a blog article on one of my favorite “Chart Your Course,” practices that always manages to get me moving in the right direction—practicing gratitude. “In any and all situations, give thanks” is my motto. I had imagined such an article timed to the Thanksgiving holiday.

Yesterday  was one of my greatest gratitude tests. As I lay in bed last night, I could not stop crying, tears flowed, non-stop. The closest words to describe the feelings were, “heart-break.” Interestingly, this description was signed to me by a Deaf client only a few days prior as tears streamed down his face uncontrollably. He had received a similar blow, having heard of a friend’s passing. Yes, the evening of November 21, my heart physically hurt. I apologized to my husband as it approached 1:00am and still I wept, “I’m sorry, I don’t know what’s wrong with me!”

“Nothing’s wrong with you,” he said, gathering my wet self in his arms. Then he asked, “What are you thinking about?”

My answers were telling: a sense of heavy regret, that perhaps my pop is struggling somehow, and lastly, that I love him. My husband paused then and ever so gently asked, “Not baseball, or bowling?” My mirror, my Love, steered me back to one of my North Stars: be grateful. Within minutes the tears stopped, and I was sound asleep, lulled by what a sucker my pop was for animals and little kids, as evidenced the day we were shooting hoops, and I convinced him to buy me a parakeet if I made some crazy back-bend basket move that I had never before made in my life—until that day. When we arrived home with the bird, he took the heat for me, explaining to my mother that he had promised--and a promise made, is a promise kept. I called the parakeet, “Pretty Boy."

Whenever my heart begins aching on this Thanksgiving Day, I do my very best to think of the blessings of my father’s life. May your Thanksgiving be filled with promises kept and gratitude for family, friends and loved ones.

Tattoos Will Save Us!

I’m slowly coming back into the blog scene, my loves, and it feels good. I have a loved one who is in recovery and my writings since March 2019 have been generating love poems for him. My personal North Star as many may know is—Compassion as the number #1 condition. A motto that helps me practice to this capacity and Chart My Course is—pay attention to what is needed and offer something useful.

Recovery is a messy, muddy road and what I can offer is a perspective of gratitude along the way—a lotus in the mud, so to speak. Here is a latest offering for my loved one who personifies Inner Constellation Truth #3– Everything, no matter how challenging, has the ability to be transformed.

Body the Canvas

©2020 Karla Johnston, InnerConstellation.com

“Guess what?” 

I breath, smile and type, “What?”

while practicing relaxing my body and mind,

thinking positive when a potential loaded text comes through.

In the moments it takes to receive an answer,

I look out the window

on a cold and brisk afternoon.

Sun low, rides gold across pine boughs.

A few lines from an India Arie song filter in,

stuck in my head almost nonstop these days,

I begin to hum, “I am Light…I am Light…um hmm.” 

Picture of a tattoo on your thigh comes through:

triangle, eye in the middle, pupil open like a deep pool,

all around the peripheral, sun rays emanate.

Skin’s a little irritated, red and glossy so it looks somewhat alive,

shimmering,

nice effect.

“So, I’ve always been interested in tattooing, 

bought a tattoo gun and kit on Amazon for 38 bucks,

watched a YouTube video

and did my first tattoo on myself.”

What?!? No way!

I try imagining sitting still through that kind of pain. 

“Awesome! Takes trust to tattoo yourself!”

I feel you smile.

“Well I figured thighs good practice skin,

till I get good enough to do it somewhere visible. 

I really like it and expected my first to turn out horrible.”

“Looks professional! What’s it represent?”

Song gets cranking in my head, can’t keep it in,
I’m singing out loud, “I am light…I am light…um hmm,”

and looking at your shiny, radiating tattoo.

“Clarity, I guess,

Seeing things on a deeper level.

Higher power.”

Over the next few days

pics of more self-ink:
ankle tattoo, more triangles,

a sweet skull on the back of your calf—
my personal favorite so far, for as I took it in

I realized beneath our face skin 

our skulls are always grinning, always.

Maybe it’s a constant reminder to smile, 

everything is OK,

and our nose bones are upside down hearts,

how about that.

I text you back, “Guess what?”

“What?” comes the reply.

“I think you found your calling.”

You’re so in the moment, “With what?” 

I laugh out loud, “Doing what you enjoy that makes bodies beautiful.”

Courage grows and by the weekend,

You inked a dog, wine glass, baby Yoda reaching for a nipple squeeze

and…your best so far, but it gave me pause…

Is it what I think it is? How did you catch the angle, just right?

I pass the pic to my husband, who laughs,

“Oh geez, consult the sign language interpreters in the family!”

I text you back,

“Whose thigh did you tattoo the sign ‘ass-hole?’”

It looks like the leg of my nephew-in-law.

I see you both, laughing and having a good time.

“Yes, it’s his thigh.         

It’s the sign you make, and if somebody looks, you get to punch them.” 

Earlier, you had text me a picture from instagram or someplace,

it’s in the middle of a conversation about hygiene (it’s the auntie in me),

and learning how to grow your obvious skill.

I type, “Well you’ve got your connections and you could do it.”

Before I hit send, another pic comes through, 

“I think I found my next one.”

When I see it, I know tattooing is your body poetry,
your story’s canvas… 

The Dreaming

Inner Constellation theme for the month of May is Dreamtime--one of my favorite topics. I've studied the role of dreams in many ancient cultures and most recently, the Aboriginal people of Australia, whose perspective on dreaming interests me because it closely aligns with my Native American roots. Aboriginal people believe that the dreaming is a place where past, present and future come together as one reality and which houses all the knowledge of a person's spiritual and blood ancestors. Such a realm lines up perfectly with my dreamtime experiences. Imagine a place you can enter to align with every moment up until the present and then, go beyond, to access the wisdom of everyone who has ever lived. Mind-blowing, yes, and that's why for me the process of consciously dreaming is not a matter of mind alone. How can we enter the dreaming with open and fluid receptivity? Here are a few of my favorite ways to involve my senses in the process of dreaming. I would love to here your tips, please add a comment or contact me for conversation:

• sitting or lying down beneath the stars before bedtime
• spending the last waking hour in candlelight or low lighting
• resting all technology in the last waking hours
• reading some wildly fantastic story or book of poetry before turning out the light
• listening to: Loreena McKennit, Cocteau Twins, or Delerium   
• keeping a dream journal by the bed with a pencil for easy access 
• heightening my sense of smell with the use of herbs, essential oils and scented candles
• defining an intention prior to bed to ground my dreaming practice, while using my breath as an anchor, breathing in and out evenly
• mentally recognizing all the things I'm grateful for in the course of the last 24 hours (puts my mind at ease, and I'm usually asleep by the time I finish:) 
• cultivating a sleeping sanctuary with meaningful decor, feather down comforter, a dream altar and lanterns outside my bedroom windows

Dreams are the wisdom portal inside one's Inner Constellation--the comings and goings, ways to mend and heal, predictions and foretellings. A vast Eternal reality awaits, receives and wraps us in metaphor for eight luxurious hours a day.  May your dreaming be lucid and sweet, a chart on the course to your North Star.  

In the Bed of Creation

Hopefully this title was provocative enough to get your full attention! I just went for a run after a day of rain, sleet and snow, and the beauty of the last remnants of storm clearing off the Sierra mountains was breath-taking. It was a much needed dose of glistening, sun-soaked glory after a weekend of sifting through emails and my “to-do” list. As I stood, immersed in the landscape and the much bigger expression of life, a simple phrase came to mind—quality of attention. 

What captures one hundred percent of my attention, like the stunning display before my eyes? Session time with clients, teaching, loving my husband (blush), loving yogini (um, if you wonder who this is, check out her splendor), physical exercise, writing, singing on the drum….You know what I’m talking about—times in life when you’re caught up in the flow of effortless action, lose track of time and are captivated; in other words, giving 100% quality of attention. 

Is it unrealistic to aspire to such awareness 24-7, even with email, to-do lists and the unpleasantries of life? As I pondered such thoughts, clouds cleared to reveal the robin-egg blue sky for which Tahoe is known, and I saw clearly the Charted Course to the North Star of giving everything 100% quality of attention:

1) Simplify unnecessary distractions (those things that drain energy)

2) Remember always what is loved and spend time doing it 

Did I run home and close down the email accounts (so tempting), huck my “to-do” pile to the four winds (even more tempting:), grab my writing pad and sequester away with my husband and my yogini? Heck no! But, I did unsubscribe to a few email lists, move the dwindling “to-do” pile from the center of my writing desk to the corner and then promptly fell into the bed of creation and produced this blog article. Ah, I’m so grateful clouds never stick around but eventually pass through to reveal yet another personal North Star—quality of attention. Tomorrow’s the start of a brand new week, with gobs of information and choices jockeying for my awareness. On what will I chose to invest my energy? Stay tuned, as I Chart the Course this week through the great experimental sea of life. As I push off the safe weekend shore, I feel a part two article hailing me. It has my attention....TTFN (Ta Ta For Now)

Happiest Spring Equinox...EveeER!

I bow my head and kiss the ground---it's spring!

My spring equinox morning started with a blessing, a little blip that entered my mind after smiling at the picture on the left:

"I bow my head and kiss the ground---it's spring!"

This is my mantra as I go about this Spring Equinox day with so much gratitude. I love this time of year. Best of all, I love seeing the earth's little seedlings come alive again. I was reminded today of the importance of ground- actual physical earth-in nourishing and sustaining me. Spring time is a wonderful time of year to recognize and generate the earth's stability. Such nourishment is available for us to resource all year long, but it seems especially to draw our attention in the spring. I got to thinking about my own grounding practices and how I might be able to "step it up," as one of my IC clients put it. Here are grounding practices I do to give me solidity:

• 10 minutes of Stillness Practice every morning - this is my self-care as soon as I wake, focusing simply on breathing evenly and giving my body what it needs (ie meridian tapping, etc.) The simple act of breathing evenly balances the nervous system and brings blood flow to my entire body, my root system so to speak :)
• morning gratitude prayers - I give thanks for all the conditions of my happiness right now: my breath, my family, health, the beauty of the rising sun, the birds waking up, my natural world...the list goes on
• journal and write - after my cerebral prayers I nurture the goodness by giving it form (see my Poetry section of the blog)
• exercise/outside time - I'm a freak, I must get out each day, sweat and feel the elements. It keeps me grounded and flowing.
• drink Ginger Tea (made from the fresh root (ie grounding food), peeled and cut up with a cinnamon stick and simmered in pot of water for about 40 minutes. Lemon juice and honey are added to taste.) I drink this most mornings. Other root grounding foods are potatoes, beets, turnips, carrots and other rhizomes or tuber vegetables.
• 1 hour of afternoon chores - taking care of my nest gives me a solid place to come home to and land. Also, having daily routine is grounding. 
• afternoon stillness or walking meditation - feet on the ground, my only intention is to feel the earth. When my mind wonders, I slip in my little created blips like the above, "I bow my head and kiss the ground--it's spring!"
• evening gratitude prayers - what about this day am I thankful for? How have I arrived at my North Star today? It's a beautiful review of my day and its blessings.

You might look at the above and wonder, "How does she get anything done?" It's like magic, actually. When I Chart my Course from solid ground I'm able to push off shore, keep my North Star in sight and Arrive where I wish to go. From a solid and balanced place, I can manage the storms and clouds that arise, as they are prone to do when it's spring time and the showers come. What's your grounding practice? How can you step it up? 

I'm stepping it up by going to a week long Mindfulness Retreat at the end of March.You all might remember last year's retreat. If not, check out: Become a Chinese Finger Trap for a mind-bending read. Love to you all, and I'll report in after the retreat. Happiest Spring Equinox...EveeER! 

TTFN (Ta Ta For Now)