Scavenge + Starlight

Danielle LaPorte has this great system where she gets you to identify how you want to FEEL in your life. Like right now, and on most days, how do you feel in your life to you? Busy? Stressed? Anxious? Irritated? Her whole philosophy is for you to name how you really want to feel in your life rather than accidentally/mindlessly feeling things you don't want to feel (e.g. me I want to feel active, invigorated, connected, joyful and vibrant not irritated, annoyed, lazy, stagnant). And then she's all like "when you are not feeling your choice core desired feelings, do something that makes you feel that way". This is a great tool that takes the current unwanted feeling of your life and switches it up. Over the years, some clients of mine think that in order to feel great (or active or in love), you need some great (or active or in love) things to come along and happen to you. What I love about DL's approach is that it's all CHOICE. You are choos...

It's come to my attention that people don't know that anxiety is a naturally occurring state of being. It's emergent from cells and if you are made of cells, you have anxiety. This isn't to get non-anxious people freaking out but rather to get anxious people knowing anxiety isn't a rare and special and deforming thing -- if you have cells, you have anxiety. Early Buddhist texts link anxiety with the attachment reflex in cells -- cells are made to hold onto life, until life is no longer possible for the benefit of all (and "all" for a cell is not anything we can imagine). With this attachment comes clinging, clinging brings fears of loss, fear of loss brings concerns, concerns brings anxiety. If you look at anything you are bigly attached to (e.g. for me, sometimes it's my surfboard coffee mug, other times my peaceful morning alone time) the thought of it makes me greedy. This greediness reminds me I could lose my cup or my morning t...