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5 Intention-setting Ideas to Embrace the Shakti Energy Within

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“Forget conventionalisms; forget what the world thinks of you stepping out of your place; think your best thoughts, speak your best words, work your best works, looking to your own conscience for approval.” – Susan B. Anthony

Since 1995, March has been designated as Women’s History Month in the United States and International Women’s Day has been celebrated around the world on March 8th since 1914.  I can’t think of a better time to embrace and celebrate the Shakti within regardless of your gender identify!

The word Shakti in Sanskrit might be translated in several ways yet it is most frequently applied to the divine feminine. The word “Shakti” comes from the root “shak” meaning “to be able to” or “the potential to produce”.  Sometimes Shakti is spelled “Shakthi” which means “power” or “empowerment”, so the term has been utilized to represent the power, force, and feminine energy within all.  In Hinduism, Shakti represents the underlying creative force of all divinity, providing the energy to everything without which the world would not exist.

When we try to deny or ignore some aspect or part of ourselves, we begin to feel disconnected from our authentic self and our other tribe members. So, if you are looking to feel more comfortable in your own skin and embrace life more fully, it is important to acknowledge all parts, accept them, and welcome them to the table to celebrate your wholeness and well-being.  When some aspect of ourselves feels stifled, ignored, oppressed, or dismissed, it tends to get loud and protest.  Sound familiar?  Just what the women in the world continue to protest against to this day.  So, if you want them to quiet down, you MUST create equal time for their expression, treat them with honor and respect, and demonstrate their value!

So, how can we all honor and embrace that Shakti part of ourselves?  Below are 5 suggestions for your consideration. And, if you should be so bold to support change in the world, I would love to hear about your experience!

  1. Reflect.  In our multi-tasking culture, we rarely find time to take a moment and reflect. Yet, it is through reflection that we become more aware of what it is we need – body, mind, spirit – to grow and transform.  When we create time and space to reflect, we go deeper within ourselves and begin to commune with our true essence, our Source, our inner truth and strength, realizing the authority of our lives does not come from the outside. Exploring our inner landscape through reflection opens the door to the deep inner stillness and peace within.  From this deep inner point, we touch the power and wisdom of the feminine that originates from simply “being” and not “doing”.  Don’t be afraid – dive deep into the reflective pool of Shakti energy and emerge refreshed from connecting to your soul’s yearnings.
  2. Listen to Your Gut.  More and more research is revealing how intelligent our guts are, even beginning to refer to our bellies as our second brain. It is no surprise when you understand that both the brain and the gut develop from the same embryonic tissue. So if you are interested in expanding your ability to make wise decisions for yourself, begin to pay more attention to your belly.  As you set an intention to listen more deeply to your gut, not only will you notice it guiding your food choices (based upon how your body processes different foods), but you may also notice it guiding your activity choices, helping you to say “No” when asked to do something that doesn’t make your heart and soul sing.
  3. Go into Nature.  As we approach the Vernal Equinox, where Mother Earth experiences equal amounts of light and dark, and begin to see the natural world coming out of hibernation, it is a great reminder of the natural flow, and cycles of life. When we are able to observe and connect with the rhythms of nature, feel the flow of the tides, and understand the interconnectivity of it all, we plug into an eternal energy source that fuels our own natural tendency towards creativity and joy. Go outside, tune into the sounds of the birds singing or the waves of the ocean and give yourself permission to lose yourself for a few moments while you join the river of life flowing through you!
  4. Create Connections. In addition to reconnecting to Mother Nature, maybe consider expanding your connections with others, yet taking a page from Mother Nature’s book in your approach.  Our current culture directly and indirectly encourages and supports competition, which creates winners and losers, which emanates more from the masculine energy.  Therefore, to ensure balance, approach your relationships with an attitude of collaboration instead of competition.  I was once asked, would you prefer being right and risk being alone or would you prefer being connected and risk being happy?  When we release our need to be right and perfect, our energy becomes available to work together to elevate the collective consciousness of the world, transforming ourselves and others!
  5. Smile More.  Smiling is contagious! A genuine smile can diffuse a tense situation and infuse some light into dark, heavy energy.  So when you smile, your energy can bring about positive change, facilitate movement, and open a door for dialogue which may not have been possible otherwise. So remember to smile and remind yourself through your smile you are inviting joy into your own life while also naturally bringing joy into the world!

5 Intention-setting Ideas to Expand Our Human Capacity for Empathy

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“Could a greater miracle take place than for us to look through each other’s eyes for an instant?” ― Henry David Thoreau
There is a growing body of research evidence to support the benefits of empathy, including a reduction in bullying in schools, better health outcomes and fewer medical errors in health care, and improved quality of intimate, family, and work relationships.  So exactly what is empathy and how might we go about expanding this critical core component of emotional intelligence if it can change the world in such profound ways?

Empathy is our ability to sense the emotional experience of another person, our wish to understand another person’s perspective, which may be difficult when it is different from our own, and be open to allowing the understanding to guide our actions.  Thanks to the discovery of mirror neurons in our brains, neuroscientists have opened the door to viewing the human capacity for empathy as an attribute that can be exercised and strengthened just like our muscles in our body.

And with much of the efforts in the world focused on creating revolutionary change at this time, it’s not surprising that the experience may be felt as polarizing, asking each of us to deeply sense and feel our own emotions, possibly beyond our own emotionally intelligent skill set.  So setting an intention to try one of the five ideas (listed below) to expand our individual capacity for empathy for our fellow human beings around the globe may just be the spark that lights the flame that draws others to the light, where we can see more clearly that we all simply desire to be accepted as we are, appreciated for our unique gifts, and loved unconditionally as we grow:

  1. Make (and maintain) eye contact and smile.  We are social beings, yet in this ‘social media’ era, we find ourselves more connected to an electronic device than to other living, breathing beings.  It feels good to be seen and greeted with a warm smile.  Simply smiling can calm fear and anxiety not only in you, but within the people you share your smile with.  Might I suggest a simply practice that takes less than a minute and let me know what the experience is like:  Close your eyes.  Inhale deeply.  As you exhale, drop your chin to your chest.  Curl the corners of your lips into a smile, inhale your head back up and then exhale.  Before opening your eyes, check in with yourself.  Do you feel a bit lighter?
  2. Listen deeply to another without interrupting.  Everyone has a story. As I read a long time ago in The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covery, “Seek to understand before seeking to be understood.” Challenge yourself the next time you are having a conversation with someone to notice how many times you are formulating a response before the person has finished speaking, which means you are not really listening at all.  Then, consider trying to briefly summarize what you think you heard the person say before offering your response. Recently, I asked a friend if she would be willing to answer a question that might be politically charged if I promised to not respond with my opinion at all – I just wanted to hear and understand her perspective.  She agreed and I learned a lot!
  3. Identify and challenge your own prejudices. Whether we want to admit it or not, we all harbor prejudices, even if they are not our own.  We most likely inherited them from our family or the larger societal culture we grew up in. But until we can own them and then begin to reflect on the roots of such assumptions, we block our own growth and the potential growth of the collective consciousness.  Once we own them, we can begin to challenge them by looking for what all humans have in common instead of focusing on what makes us different.
  4. Be curious. When judgment comes up, take a breath and invite in curiosity.  The more curious we are, the more we open the door to our own happiness (as research is starting to show).  Curiosity about others, particularly people we don’t know well or maybe not at all, creates a tremendous learning opportunity, one in which we might just learn something new that makes our own lives easier.  Curiosity also expands understanding and understanding expands our empathy and connection to others.
  5. Practice Ahimsa. Ahimsa is a Sanskrit term that is typically translated to ‘non-violence’.  During my journey to becoming a yoga teacher, I was challenged to step back and observe my self-talk and notice how violent it could get.  If we were to record our thoughts about ourselves and play it out loud, you would probably be a bit shocked at how harsh we can be towards ourselves – and certainly would think we would never speak to another person that way.  So practicing Ahimsa starts with each one of us individually, checking our own unkind self-talk and actively showing ourselves more loving kindness and understanding that we too are simply a human being doing what we can to survive.  When we can demonstrate to ourselves that we are worth such kindness, hostility disappears, both within ourselves and towards others!