It's In Your Hands

2012-01-02T12:19:00.007-05:00

Life Purpose

Journey Group

January 24, February 7, 21, 28, 2012

Lead by Janet Savage, Master Hand Analyst

Do you want to be part of our collective search for meaning?

Do you want to open doorways to the life you came here to live - full on –

while you inspire others to do the same?

Are you committed to moving beyond what is not working in your life?

Is this right for you?

This would be right for you if:

· You are at a crossroads in your life and want more clarity, meaning and direction.

· You wonder why you feel out of your heart, out of your mind or out of your body at time and the pattern is clear – you just don't know what to do about it!

· You like working within a group and feel that you will benefit from the support and accountability that comes from it.

· You can commit to attending all of the meetings.

When?

Tuesday evenings between 6:30 – 8:30 pm, Jan. 24, Feb. 7, 21 & 28.

Where?

Spirit Dancer, 122 S. Winooski, Burlington.

What is the focus?

The core tool for you to discover and live your Life Purpose and face your Life Lesson – what's getting in your way – will be your hands. We will do a variety of activities, including visual and kinesthetic exercises to unlock what's waiting to emerge.

What can I expect?

The evenings will include identification and exploration related to our hands, sharing and interactive exercises – each gathering builds on the one before. In between you have a check in with me and special exercises (‘homework’) especially designed to open the doorways to the true treasure of your life – your Life Purpose. Come away with a greater sense of purpose and the practical tools to live IT ever day.

Who?

The group is limited to 8. The journey is designed for those with some exposure to Life Purpose consciousness based on their hands or have taken the Life Mission Class at the Jungian Center in Waterbury. If you have done neither, talk to me about how you can prepare with a short session with me, read one of our books, order a LifePrints Report.

Cost?

The cost is an incredibly affordable $175 which includes the 4 evenings; support and accountability contacts in between each evening and all materials for class and independent exercises. EARLY BIRD: Pay in full by January 3^rd and your investment is $160.

I want an application:

Contact me at Janet@HandTales.com to receive an application and to pay for the group.

2011-12-09T11:01:00.009-05:00

Message from Raven

I invite you to practice mindfulness as you face obstacles

on your quest to live your Life Purpose every day.

Can an event or a personal encounter be random – just a coincidence – and have meaning at the same time? The Universe is purpose driven and totally random. Richard Unger, my mentor of many years, stretched our brain with this one. He called it the rule of paradoxes.

An accident, a chance meeting, a bird’s appearance at the window. They can seem like random events. And they are. Or are they? It depends. Following is a recent personal encounter to explain what I mean.

Late last month I was struggling with something, stuck in my fog, frustrated that I could not get out of my own way. Over the course of the few days I was “in my stuff”, a single raven stopped by to perch on a tree near my window and then again on the deck railing on 2 other occasions and lingered there. I love visits from my friends in nature. These visits seemed different somehow, meaningful, since I noticed her (or him) just at the nadir of my frustration.

Was there a message here? Should I declare this was not a coincidence? I dug up my Medicine Card book by Sams and Carson and hopped onto Google to look up the Raven. Raven is:

the shape shifter, the trickster, the master of illusion, the keeper of ancient records, keeper and communicator of deep mysteries, a harbinger of change. What you see may be just an illusion. Raven helps to clarify the truth to allow transformation.

Ah, just what I needed. I have taken Raven’s energy in and am experiencing some lovely transformation and fresh perspective on how my inner voice has been “tricking” me. I decided that the Raven had medicine for my ailing soul and I am grateful.

Now how about practicing meaning mindfulness (I made that up!) as you face your own obstacles? Symbols and messengers abound. Can you be “in your stuff” – angry, stuck, afraid, sad – and mindful of your surroundings at the same time? Can you trust that the moment, this moment, holds possibilities if you are willing to notice?

You can try to rewrite your script and move forward. How? Notice, appreciate, investigate and most of all breathe quietly and deeply into the moment despite the pain you may be feeling. I believe that the Universe is always ready to speak to us. We have to trust that the message is for us. Why not?

So, yes, events and chance meetings can be completely random, just coincidence. What if that accident, that downsizing, that unexpected conversation you had with a stranger in the coffee shop, that new ache in your thumb*, that raven looking in your window, held a message for you and that message could unlock the door to your higher consciousness? You could leave the “old you behind” and find the “new you” you want to embrace. At least you will be more curious and open to your surroundings and to the events that happen every day. Happy Noticing!

* I am engaged in a new Hand Wisdom project. We are studying the metaphysical meaning in hand injuries and other challenges in the hand. Contact me if you want to know more and be part of the research.

2011-06-30T10:07:00.023-04:00

The Best Hand Analysis Training in the World

Janet Savage and Ronelle Coburn

offer the Best Hand Analysis Training in the World!

Decide for your self….

The Curriculum:

The Curriculum, developed by the Founder, Richard Unger and the Master Teachers of the International Institute of Hand Analysis (IIHA), is standardized and tested continually.

If you are interested solely in personal growth, the curriculum is designed to help you identify, track and live your Life Purpose and to understand what is getting in the way.

If you are interested in hand analysis as a profession, you receive INSTITUTE CERTIFICATION. Being associated with the IIHA (established in 1985), you benefit from over 40 years of research. This gives you credibility when you put yourself out in the world as a Hand Analyst. You can be confident that you are trained in a powerful new paradigm of consciousness that has been thoroughly researched and tested.

The method of teaching:

You can choose from:

The most advanced and personalized distance-based training in Hand Analysis with the most tutoring time than any other distance program, OR

The most interactive, full participation, hands on in person training in a retreat setting with visits from live volunteers throughout the weekend for you to practice.

The learning aides, essential to the learning process, have been tested and refined over many years.

Janet’s and Ronelle’s certification programs train you in a triad of skills – found no where else.

Data base, readership/counseling and business skills You can not have one without the other if you choose to make hands part of or solely your profession.

Your Teachers:

You will not find others who teach hand analysis with the breadth of credentials. We guarantee it!

Janet and Ronelle have been trained by the best – Richard Unger, the Founder and Director at the International Institute of Hand Analysis. We have attained Masters Level as hand analysts and as teachers. There are a handful of practitioners and teachers trained at the IIHA who can claim this – less than 10 Master Hand Analysts in the World who are active in their profession and fewer Master Teachers.

We have undergone extensive graduate training in both hand analysis AND in the best practices of teaching the art and science of this system. We are trained in coaching techniques to guide you on your own path of personal self-discovery and growth. We have undergone rigorous supervision and agree to uphold the highest standards—for ourselves and our students.

AND we don’t just teach, we are practicing hand analysts. We have 23 year of experience collectively and have read over 20 K pairs of hands and counting. We are master diagnosticians and personal growth specialists. And because we have made hand analysis our sole business, we offer business counseling to budding entrepreneurs.

Are you convinced? Contact us if you are ready to enter the powerful world of Hand Analysis.

2011-06-29T14:51:00.010-04:00

5 Signs that it is Time to
Hang Upside Down

When I drew the Hanged Man for the first time, my gut tightened and I said, “ this can’t be good". Doesn’t seem like a positive place to be – hanging. Doesn’t look like fun, especially if I get stuck there for too long. Have you ever tried hanging upside down for more than a few seconds?

Now I know what a powerful message this upside down man has for me. In order for you to Live Right Side Up, you have to hang upside down first. And how you get their can be arduous but worth it. In the world of hand analysis, we call this making an ally of your shadow or Life Lesson.

Here are 5 signs that it might be time to hang upside down – to ready yourself for a new day, a new perspective and a new attitude. Do you:

1. Feel Out of your Body? Too many injuries or accidents, sick too often, no time, always late, exhausted? Feel like you're behind all the time?

2. Feel Out of your Heart? Shut down or emotions out of control, broken hearted, relationship challenges?

3. Feel Out of your Mind? Indecisive, in doubt, confused, overwhelmed, overly critical of self or others?

4. Keep facing the same external road blocks and can’t seem to negotiate around them?

5. Wonder why you haven’t found work that gives you meaning and money? Have money challenges?

Or, are their people close to your in your life who are experiencing some of these things and your life has been impacted? If it is in your life it is in your hands. If it is in your hands it is in your life. Your hands hold the key to Living Right Side Up! To navigate those bumps in the road so that you can claim your right life – live your Life Purpose – imprinted in your fingerprints 5 months before you were born!

Now comes the upside down part. We all experience some version of these 5 signs one time or another in our lives. It’s part of being human. If one seems to follow you where ever you go, I will bet that you are living smack dab in the middle of your Life Lesson – also imprinted in your fingerprints 5 months before you were born. The Life Lesson is your least evolved skill, the Ick!! Factor, the shadow, what seems to get in your way. You attract circumstances and people in your life in order to test your willingness to face the Music – to face the Hanged Man. He’s asking you to risk a little discomfort so that you can gain greater clarity and change your perspective.

Hang Upside Down for Awhile

Notice the patterns from a new perspective.

If you can begin to recognize the road blocks and see how they operate in your life, you can begin to create a new relationship to them. Think about the image of the Hanged Man as someone who sees the world from a different perspective. It may seem an uncomfortable position to be in. Note the nimbus – halo – around his head, and he does not appear to be suffering. This can't be all bad! He has surrendered, succumbed to “hanging”, to hang in limbo until he receives wisdom and experiences an awakening.

What IF,,,,,,

What if you treated your Life Lesson as your ally, the key to getting where you want to go? What if you stayed with the discomfort long enough versus trying to sweep it under the rug, running away from it? What if you tried to look at these challenges upside down? The perspective gained might just offer you the tools to right your self.

My Life Lesson is about self worth, guilt and am I enough. This could be paralyzing. It has been during some parts of my life. When I treat it as if it were a positive factor in my life – a lesson to learn, then I can measure my worth by becoming a master of something, a standard bearer full of integrity, a teacher and a mentor. In Hand Analysis, this is the direct opposite of this Life Lesson. And sure enough, I have felt a great sense of worth when I can encourage someone to claim his or her worth and move through feelings of inadequacy. I have been some kind of mentor a good part of my adult life.

Here is a peek at a few more Up Side Down so you can live Right Side Up Life Lessons:

What is you Life Lesson? If you have worked with me already on your Soul Journey, try hanging upside down to gain a new perspective, to make an ally of this shadow of yours. Need a little help? Contact me.

I encourage you to read more about the symbolism of the Hanged Man. Start with Wikipedia. There are plenty of other sites that expand the rich mystery of this fellow. Enjoy the exploration.

2011-03-24T10:39:00.013-04:00

Unlock the secrets to your Love-ability!

Love makes the world go round! If it’s true, why does it seem that at times our relationship world spins out of control, feels all wobbly, or just plain stops and our heart gravity can’t hold us in place? I sure am bent on unlocking the secrets. I’m learning and I personally have a long way to go!

Is this you?

I am alone and I don’t know how to start in the relationship world
I can’t seem to find a healthy relationship
My marriage is stuck and we’ve lost the spark
I have lost myself in the relationship
My partner and I keep spinning our wheels and it’s no fun playing the blame game, the victim game

Are there keys in your hands that can help you get the love and connection you want (and deserve)? Yes! Before you find Mr or Ms Right, however, you have to master your own heart language first. Let's unlock the secrets to your love-ability, your special way of relating.

I’ve had the honor of working with many of you over the years to uncover your particular formula for LOVE! Understanding your emotional style, found in your Heart Line, is the first step to help your relationship world go round. Here are the 4 emotional styles – the Heroic Stoic, the Nurturer, the Romantic Idealist, the Passionate. What is your style?

I can’t predict who’s going to be your partner and when you will find him or her or whether you are going to stay in your present relationship. What I can do is work with you on being true to your own heart while learning about what others need in the emotional realm. You are the one you are looking for first and foremost. Can you trust your own feeling, needs, wants and desires? Once you do, you will attract the right people into your life who you can trust and who trust you.

Be true to your own emotional needs; learn to integrate your opposite. This is key to deep connection and emotional mastery. The old adage is true, opposites attract. We all have different ways of relating. Sorry, but not everyone has the same heart needs as you do. So it makes sense that attracting and learning from your opposite makes you more empathetic to others while claiming your own unique heart expression.

Here we go... The following chart is a summary of the 4 common styles. Each subsequent blog post will focus on one style. It might be yours - on the one hand or another way of relating on the other!! Literally your left hand can have a different heart line from your right! Ah, the mysteries of life abound! Wait. There's more! You may be an "emotional explorer" not yet settled on your true heart expression. Intrigued yet? Look at the chart and then go in depth with each heart line:
The Heroic Stoic; the Nurturer, the Romantic Idealist; the Passionate.

Contact me if you want to work with me on your relationships needs. I work with people from all over the world.

2011-02-20T17:01:00.007-05:00

THE HEROIC STOIC _ Earth

Are you steady, reliable? Not very expressive emotionally – that is about your own feelings? Are you private by nature? Love to get tangible results at the end of the day? Perhaps show your love through good deeds but not processing emotions ad nauseum? How do you feel about clingy people?? Is the satisfaction of a good job done important to you? Are there people in your life that just want to drag those feeling out and you aren't on board?

You might just be the Heroic Stoic. Your heart line doesn't make it across the hand or up to any finger. It ends somewhere under your middle finger. If it ends right smack in the middle of your hand, you qualify for the HERMIT.

Caution? Do you give away your sanctuary too much? Or have you built such thick castle walls no one can get in? Are you staying in a job or relationship even if it is not serving anyone? Certainly be true to your need for privacy and Heroic Stoic work that the world so appreciates, but you have to learn to integrate your opposite just a little, now and then. Your natural opposite is the NURTURER. Take a little from his or her play book. And then you can go back to your workshop, studio or special sanctuary of your choice.

2011-02-20T16:40:00.010-05:00

The Nurturer ~ Water
Do you care so much it hurts some times? Do you love to nurture and nourish those you love? Are you the first to rescue hurt animals and sad children? Do you love nothing better than to put a smile on someones face because you listened and showed real empathy?

You might just be the nurturer or water heart? This is about being expressive in your concern for others. If your heart line moves from under your pinky up to your index finger, then you qualify for # 1 nurturer.

Beware. You may like to merge, or smother or mother too much at times or overly accommodate someone else's needs before your own. Caution! Water can be gentle and merging and flowing. It can also rage like flood waters or overtake like a tsunami. You have to be true to your type but learn to integrate your opposite - the HEROIC STOIC! Can you withdraw and find your own nurturing sanctuary so that you can go right back out and take care of those who need it (and who want it!).

2011-02-20T16:01:00.006-05:00

The Romantic Rationalist
~~~Air~~~
Are you reserved by nature? Romantic at heart imagining long walks in the woods, all the wonderful memories of experiences past, the possibility of a fine relationship? Perhaps confrontation is not often on your menu?

Romantic Rationalists or sometimes we call them the Idealists are not in- your-face types. When you get mad, you might write a 4 page treatise proving your were right AND you might not share it. It's enough to be right, right? Why rock the boat?

If you relate to some of this, look closely at your palm. Does your heart line move across your hand from the pinky and end somewhere under your index finger?

Your opposite? Can you guess? The passion heart. You love the excitement but choose to stay aloof and just observe. Watch out! You may get caught up in the roaring fires. Be true to your type and find some of your own fire. Try being in the moment a little more just like that exciting fire heart person in your life. And your job is to teach him or her a little healthy caution and consideration.

Next I'll share 2 other pairings where opposites can learn from each other. Look for the Nurturer and a common mate the Heroic Stoic in subsequent entries.

2011-02-19T09:37:00.008-05:00

The Passion Heart – FIRE!

Are you spontaneous? Do you usually know what you want and expect others to know what they want? Are you all about fun, action, creative zeal? Love to live for the moment and people know it?

If you own a passion heart on either hand, it will move from under the pinky up towards or to your middle finger. You sizzle. When the fiery, passionate person gets mad, watch out! It's about getting even.

Your natural opposite is the considerate, ROMANTIC RATIONALIST- the AIR person. You are learning from each other. You teach them passion and spontaneity. They teach you to sometimes think before you leap. To practice consideration.

Tune in for next episode on the Romantic Idealist or Rationalist. And remember, be true to your type and learn from your opposite. Check out the movie: The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind – a perfect fire (Kate Winslet) /air (Jim Carey) match. Well maybe not so perfect. You decide.....

2010-12-29T09:38:00.006-05:00

I See You! Do You? Stand Out in 2011

I just received a business card from the “Healthy Hippie”. The front says “Your are Amazing. Pass it on”. I love it. And it got me thinking about what makes me stop in my tracks, makes me smile, makes me say “ah ha”!

My job is to help you identify what makes you the focus of that Ah Ha moment. To offer you the map for your quest to find meaning, passionate work, creative focus. To celebrate just what kind of contribution you are here to make. It is all in your hands!! I have two kinds of clients – those who have no clue about what they want and what they need to capture these things and those who have too many ideas and can not seem to clarify which path will bring the most satisfying return.

I see you! Do you? How about pledging to step up into your spotlight in 2011? I have 5 tips to help you along the way. AND I have featured 8 people or organizations. They are either my clients, organizations I support or just those I have met like the Healthy Hippie who inspired me in 2011. I am now their FAN.

Tips to help you to stand out and be listed on lot’s of folks WOW, take note lists.

v Set a 2 week time period (start today!) and notice what or who stands out to you. Something that makes you stop in your tracks or say I wish I had thought of that or WOW!

v Keep a list of your favorites. At the end of the 2 weeks, ask your self if there is a theme here? A pattern? How might these things/people be a mirror of your values? Your special way of seeing the world?

v Now add yourself to the list. How do you stand out? What would make people say, WOW. Need some help? Gather a trusted friend or two to celebrate you and to support you as you step up into your special spotlight.

v If you are feeling less bright, unique and clear, then declare what you are willing to do to stand out this year everyday. Yes, you will have to step out of your comfort zone and face your gremlins. They love the spotlight too! Write down your commitment to yourself.

v If you are feeling less bright, unique and clear, then give me a call. I am happy to help you see what I see in you! Contact me to explore the options.

Now for My “Stop in My Tracks” Favorites for 2010:

Business card that says “Your Are Amazing (pass it on)" on the front from the Healthy Hippy.Don’t know why…just loved the idea and felt good when I received it.Love the work they do too! Try connecting on Face Book. They are in transition to a blog plus vs a magazine.

Walking consultation with Allison Bliss….My favorite communications and marketing guru, Allison Bliss, always comes up with amazing ideas.To keep the creative juices going why not keep your body moving while you walk with her or adopt her idea for your business?

Mile of smiles -Hospital staff near Lebanon New Hampshire decided to measure how many smile it would take to span a mile. Then they created the challenge to go out and offer a smile to a stranger and to set a goal for the number of smiles they wanted to give and the number they wanted to receive. Talk about changing attitudes and hearts. Great way to do team building and/or raise money/awareness.

Vermont – I am so grateful I live in VT. One reason?The commitment to sustainable agriculture and access to good food.Two of my favorites (and there are so many to choose from) are The Farm to School Program started small and is expanding all over VT and Pete’s Greens.An incredible Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) – amazing what you can get even in the winter.

My creative collaboration with Ronelle Coburn.We have many Wow moments when we are developing our HandsTalk Master Mind episodes.I am continually amazed at her deep wisdom and creative eye.When one of us is in the creative zone, the other becomes the editor and cheerleader.The team effect is powerful.

Jungian Center ( http://jungiancenter.org/)in Waterbury VT.Sue Mehrtens the Founder and Director has literally dreamed this center and many of the courses into life.The courses reflect the work of Carl Jung, psychoanalyst.Always a surprise how his approach to what it means to be human is applied in practical, creative, amazing new ways..Sue never ceases to amaze me in her depth and width.

Ode Magazine: for Intelligent Optimists is always on my list. I am continually inspired by what individuals and organizations and socially responsible companies are doing around the world.

Mary Oliver's latest book of poems, Swan. Deep truth on every page with the sweetness and pain of being a human.

Ohhh there are soooooo….many more!

Enjoy the Journey! Stand Out!

2010-09-19T15:24:00.005-04:00

Four Seasons Hand Odysseys

The Fall Equinox approaches in the Northern Hemisphere and I am thrilled. A big reason that I moved back to Vermont 2 years ago was to really feel the changes – to notice my commitment to my own willingness to adjust my life. For years I have wanted to mark the change in each season with something special. Time went by and I gave lip service to creating special holidays for myself and others who felt enlivened by nature's gifts. Besides Thanksgiving, which is all about food and family and friends, there were few holidays that I enjoyed.

Slowly I have added more ritual and pause during these times. I did some guided imagery the other day and saw a way to invite you to celebrate the rhythms of nature and to commit to new beginnings through your hands with me or on your own.

First some ideas for working with your hands over the 4 seasons and then some general ideas.

4 Season Hand Odysseys

We'll break the year up into the 4 seasons. Each season you'll discover a new aspect of your hand journey and have the opportunity to go deeper with this new information.

An example of individual work:

Spring: Learn more about the potential to dance with your Life Lesson, Life Purpose and Life School. Commit to a goal and track how you are doing learning the steps
Summer: The Heart Line – Learn all about your heart's desires and how you relate to others and go out to practice emotional mastery
Autumn: The Head Line and other wisdom markers – How you process information and whether you are utilizing your thinking capacity enough. Commit to stimulating and focusing your thinking
Winter: Your Singular Strength and Personality Archetype. How are you using your most reliable resource and are you being true to your natural way of being?

Example of Group Immersion Work:

Spring: Join a Life Purpose Journey Group face to face or in tele-web format
Summer: Host a Hand Seminar and Hand Reading Circle
Autumn: Enroll in the Hand Analysis Intensive Weekend – immerse yourself in learning how to read hands and fingerprints while learning about your self
Winter: Attend the Life Purpose Immersion Retreat – 4 days of learning, reflection, practice, and group activities designed to go deeply into your soul journey

Contact me to find out more details and to design a program to fit you needs each season.

General ideas:

What do you do already? Invite friends to join you.
How do you feel when each equinox and solstice approaches? Keep a journal and make the seasonal change date a special entry - sort like making New Year's resolutions...but more often and as a check in and reflection
Take a day off from work - Treat like a special Holiday
Serve a seasonal meal to friends and family. Design it based on what is growing right then and there
Create a bouquet, altar or display that evokes the seasons
Write a poem about something you saw that typified the new season – geese flying over head, the special quality of the sun, a spot of color, a new flower in the woods
I am sure you have many more....START on this Equinox.

2010-08-31T18:31:00.007-04:00

Full Employment for Your Translators

Figures In Natural History Museum, London - Somatosensory and Motor Homunculus

Your Hands and your Mouth are the destinations for the majority of information coming from your brain. They translate the impulses coming from different parts of the brain to the outside world. Wish the ears had a "size matters" role here too. But, Oh Well!

When I ask people which part of the body receives the the dominant source of information from the brain, I get answers like the feet, the skin. Some get the idea about complicated translation and they name the hands.

So what kind of information makes this part of our body so dominant? Think about what you do every day - I am typing words coming from my brain right now. I gesticulate to make a point. I use my fine motor skills to create the crafts I love to do. I sense HOT, COLD, SMOOTH, ROUGH and decide if I like it, if it hurts, if it is ready....you get the idea.

The special area designated for sense and fine motor skills are the somato-sensory cortex and the motor cortex. This is our hands domain. They RULE.

I am going to stick my hand out a bit and propose that the disproportionate size of our hands as a well of information point to why they are such an essential extension of our brain and why they change over time. Yes, every aspect of you fingers, lines, palms can change over time; your fingerprints, on the other hand, do not. We'll save that story for another time.

They can change because of the neuroplasticity of the brain. We hit up against life and we change and our brain gets reconfigured. So too our hands.... We could leave the subject with confidence that hands rule in the fine motor and sensing arenas. I propose that they are like a unique super highway of information....back and forth back and forth from hand to brain and back. We have a base personality archetype, a unique way of relating to others and thinking etc. This means our hands reflect ways we might experience the world. It's a two way street or maybe it's just one street. Our hands being the mirror of our unique brain chemistry.

Something to ponder and translate. While you do it....sense the energy coursing through your hands. Move your hands and notice how relaxed, stiff, pain free, painful they are. All markers of who you are and how you experience the world.

2010-08-15T13:16:00.004-04:00

The Perfect Summer - A personal lesson on Abundance

I love Vermont in all of it's extremes. And we have been having the Perfect Summer gentle and, well, just perfect, unlike so much of the rest of the world. I am grateful and have lived in abundance these past months living as I lived as a kid in the summertime.

Abundance, thriving, ease, freedom, adventure .... All of these words are high on my list for the life I want. And this Summer surely captures most of this in ways that aren't monetary. So, true confessions. My business has been slow these past months - usual for the Summer anyway and maybe because of the "economy" - everyone's story line these days. I have worried a bit and gone back to my daily affirmations of an abundance of wealth, health, time, energy, spirit, laughter, joy and thus of giving. I think I have learned something about how financial abundance works tho'.

Bottom line? I may not be in full thrive mode for the generous free spirit I want to be. And I have often asked myself why? I love what I do; I am good at it; I get incredible kudos from my clients and I am fully committed. My theory? It is essential that I live each day as if you are financially free and thriving in order to create true financial freedom. And I have to unhook from the striving to "make a living" as often as it takes to go inside and find out what I really want and need.

I'm not spending a lot nor are my expenses high. Just spending rich time with my family and friends - in swimming holes, at picnics, riding, creating, laughing, eating. This Summer in it's slow business mode has also given me the opportunity to pause, reflect and thus build new dimensions and opportunities to create new financial abundance.

Has all of this abundance thinking, given me the gifts I am looking for? The evidence is there. I know what I need to be and do to meet my financial goals and it is not all about business planning and business doing.

Sending abundance blessings out to all who want more abundance in their life!

2010-06-16T09:25:00.007-04:00

Fingerprints, Your Cosmic Signature
I talked about our relationship to weather in an earlier post. The map to navigate the storms you face in life and to celebrate the smooth sailing when the weather is good is contained in your fingerprints. This is your Soul Map – what you need to do and to be to go from the unconscious to the conscious, to live a life of meaning and joy. Simply to live a purposeful life regardless of the weather. You can read more about the meaning of fingerprints and how they were deciphered, order a full report on what your unique map contains or schedule a Life Purpose session with me to get your weather gear in shape and to help you read the map by visiting my HandTales.com. There are many resources to learn more and ways you can benefit from hand and fingerprint analysis.

What I really wanted to share this time, however, is the mystery of those patterns at the end of your finger tips. Fingerprints are like weather patterns literally and match the patterns that occur naturally in the cosmos. Take a look at the image here – of a zebra, the effect of wind on the sand, a storm vortex, a spiral galaxy.

Yes, they may be a DNA imprint. How then can one family, however, have such different patterns. Even in identical twins can have different patterns? An identical twin whose fingerprints patterns were different than her sisters, said, "You can’t clone a soul, Janet"! They are a kind of wave energy, an electromagnetic force field, imprinted indelibly 5 months before you were born. Could they be your Soul Imprint, your Karmic Map or I like to call them your Cosmic Signature – just like the unique signature of a galaxy spiral or storm vortex? The Navajo Indians have a saying, “When the Great Spirit breathes the breath of Life, the tracks of that breath are our fingerprints”.

So hopefully, I leave you with a sense of wonder and awe. Could we be part of a grander design? Part of the collective with a unique soul imprint to contribute to making the Earth better place for all to live?

2010-06-16T08:24:00.009-04:00

The Weather is Like a Box of Chocolates
Remember when Forrest Gump said, "Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you are going to get"? I feel that way about the weather…you never know what you are going to get and that’s exciting. Or is it? What’s your relationship to the weather? I invite you to take the Weather Attitude Test at the end of this post.

Your attitude barometer and how you accept not knowing what’s in store that day when you open your eyes to the horizon may be how you weather the storms and claim the time to celebrate the good weather in your life. Even if you turn on the weather station to be more prepared, your response to the rain, the snow, the sun, the wind, the heat, the cold…. is your true weather pattern.

I’ve weathered some storms in the past 3 years – a divorce, an income adjustment, moving twice. The second time, the move took me 3000 miles away from a place I had called home for 20 years. This meant that I had to face a whole new weather pattern - that was having to rebuild my business in a different climate, literally and figuratively. These storms were not sudden tsunamis or tornadoes. They were a result of conscious choices. This didn’t mean that I sailed through my transition calmly and that it was easy. I had the gear and the map, though, to prepare me to navigate the winds of change.

That gear and that map are in my fingerprints ~ my Soul Map ~ what I need to do and be to go from the unconscious to the conscious, to live a life of meaning and joy. Simply to live a purposeful life regardless of the weather.

Fingerprints are like weather patterns – describable yet at times unpredictable, knowable and yet intangible, filled with promise but not guarantees. They are a map to help you navigate the winds of change to become more authentically YOU. And our fingerprints are a reflection of natural phenomena – we are part of a grander weather pattern (See the piece on Fingerprints, Your Cosmic Signature.)

I moved back to Vermont partly because of the extremes in weather. I agree with my friend Anne who says, "I like weather that talks back!" I had not lived in a cold winter clime for 20 years. How was I going to handle the winters? Barbara, another friend of mine, said, "Janet, no matter what the winter conditions bring, go out side everyday – walking, skiing, snowshoeing, shoveling, visiting"… This was really good advice. I love what every day brings – rain or shine. No, I must confess, I do grump a little when it is above 85 degrees and humid! I have come to realize that what people say about the weather reflects how they feel about their life. I remember this April as exciting going from a foot of snow to 80 degrees, from muddy roads to bursting buds. While I heard others remember it as cold and snowy and rainy impatient for the few days of warm late Spring/Summer weather.

Test your Weather Attitude:
I believe that how you handle the weather is how you feel about your life and the positive or negative rhythms of your daily existence. I welcome your comments – this might be a big leap!

• What is your ideal weather? (Describe it.)

• When it is this way, do you celebrate it with adventures, fun? Do you take the time to be in it?

• When it goes belly up for days at a time, how do you feel? Does your attitude about your life shift – less motivated, grumpier….or have you become more accepting of it?

• What do you say when the weather is not ideal? Pick a time when it is colder or rainier than you like, or hotter and more humid…..notice what you say to yourself and others.

• Are you fearful during certain weather patterns – approaching storms, torrential rain, high winds?

This is an exercise noticing your relationship to the weather and therefore your life. Just pondering these questions can help you observe your own weather patterns. So get your umbrella out and go sing’n in the rain.

2010-04-01T09:52:00.008-04:00

3 Keys

[See excerpts from the HandsTalk Master Mind Three Keys episode below and find out how to join our monthly adventures.]

Three Keys in your hands that can capture the essence of your story. Can it be that simple? Ronelle Coburn, my co-facilitator for our monthly HandsTalk Master Mind, and I covered this topic a few months back, one of our most popular topics to date. As we wove the main threads of the story line for each member, the light bulbs came on. It was as if they were given permission to focus and see their challenges and potential in a more manageable light.

So how can the 3 Keys help you? If you are a client of mine, I have mapped your soul contract using your fingerprints. This defines who you are meant to be, what you are meant to do and what you are here to work on at the soul level. This soul journey, however, can be elusive. It is about consciousness embodied vs a goal or career focus. By identifying some key tangibles in the hands, the theme in your finger prints is enhanced and woven securely from the threads identified. Ronelle and I might choose one slightly different thread to complement the other two. The theme comes to the same point. Mysterious, yet true! That's the beauty of hands!

Excerpts from the the HandsTalk Master Mind:

Life is Complicated and your hands can help you see the forest for the trees.

Data Data Data. I love it. When I started to read hands, I was enthralled by all of the incredible information in a person's hands. Trained as a scientist initially, this was my anchor, my comfort zone. And, my hands are very complex and confusing. So when I sat down with someone, I dumped all that I saw in their hands into their brains and hoped they were following the trail. I was trying to describe every tree vs creating an image of the beautiful forest they had chosen to inhabit. The old saying is true...missing the forest for the trees........

Stand back and you can see a pattern with flow and purpose.

When you look closely at Jackson Pollack's paintings, your head spins with the details. Step back a few paces and you can begin to notice a pattern. That's what we are going for here. Looking at the whole forest from a bird's eye perspective, looking for a pattern. Each tree in the forest - like each data point in your hands - has a unique identity and meaning. There a few trees, however, that define the forest......

A good hand analyst can capture the main theme in your hands in a matter of minutes. This comes from a tie of 3 interrelated elements or constellations of elements in your hands. The goal is to identify the key signposts (or trees) as you embark on the next level of your journey.....Over complicating things can be a major road block. Simplifying can offer a focus and clearer map as you move forward....

Sounds good? How can you simplify your story and savor the journey? What does your forest look like?

Consider joining our HandsTalk Master Mind(HTMM) . The download of this 3 Keys Episode and many more delicious subjects when you join. HTMM is designed for seekers of all kinds. Whether hyou are studying hands, a practicing hand analyst or palmist or client seeking more answers, this might just be the vehicle for finding the keys to the life you want to wake up to!

2010-04-01T09:41:00.002-04:00

How are you doing on your New Year's resolutions? I read that after 3 months, less than 50% of us are still on track. Forty percent don't even bother any more because of previous failure. First of all, don't give up. It's Spring (okay, Fall for some of my clients and colleagues!). Any time is a good time to recommit to yourself.

I have an idea tha thas worked well so far for me and some of my family members and friends. And it is SO SIMPLE! Try choosing ONE WORD instead of a list of: got to change this, got do more of this, less of that, etc. My Sister, Nieces, Nephews, Grand Nieces and Grand Nephews, my ex-Brother-in-Law and a few friends each chose one word to focus on for the year. Some of the words? Mindful, Rules, Balance, Joy, Listen, Walk, Stretch, Patience, Fun....

Mine was Listen. This word has many layers of meaning for me. Mostly it calls me back from the brink when I am feeling out of body, out of mind, out of heart. When I need it most, I remind myself to listen. What sounds do I hear? Tick Tock, Gurgle, Woosh, Breath in Breath out. And I have made more of a commitment to truly listen to my clients using all of my senses. In general, I am trying to ask better questions and actually listen to the answers!

What's your word? Try it. Can it bring you back from the brink? I'd love to hear what happens when you practice this for a while. Keeping it simple, that's the idea.

2010-03-24T11:42:00.006-04:00

Why Hands? Why Me? Why train with the Institute?

When I give presentations or go to expos and conferences, this is what I hear most often. "I have never heard of this Hand Analysis system." "Fascinating, how did you get into this?" "Do you do this full time?" "Can you learn how to do this?"

The first question is fading finally! More and more Hand Analysts are being trained by the International Institute of Hand Analysis and the word is spreading in the U.S. and globally. The Institute has been around for 25 years but the critical mass of true masters in this art and science has just reached the tipping point. Exciting time to be a part of this incredible system. Go to HandTales to learn more. Even better, get an up close and personal take from me on why I chose hands as my full time profession and why I think the IIHA is the best source for learning the power and magic of hands on the journey to Life Purpose. Enjoy these little clips. Why not join us on this fabulous journey?!

2010-02-25T14:32:00.005-05:00

Who is your ideal client?
A colleague asked me this the other day. She was trying to figure out what her niche was, who her target audience was. "Hmmmm", I said, "why, I serve anyone looking for more meaning in their life." Then I thought about it a little more. Who benefits most? Who do I want to work with? This was a great exercise. Tho' I've been in business now for almost 10 years, I realize that I did not want to limit myself - since all sorts of people come to me, right? This is not helpful in attracting the best fit. So I went to the drawing board and created my ideal client:

A woman on the move and on the brink!
Age: 35 to 90
Facing a major transition: divorced or widowed, facing the empty nest, an employee who can't stand it anymore and has a great idea for a small business but is scared to death and doesn't know where to start, retired and determined to do it differently in this phase of her life
And she is committed to unhook, step inside, step up and then step out.

The key word here is committed. Change is tough and resistance is inevitable. I don't give her answers; I help her uncover and claim what you already know to be true. So the Unhook part is first taking a look at how she has given herself away to others - thus perhaps a little clueless about what she really wants. The Step Inside part is the first phase of the project. Together we identify the main theme in her hands - her Soul Path and how she is doing on the journey. The Step Up phase is when the rubber really hits the road. How committed is she to tracking how her challenges are patterns, how her resistance is all connected to core issues, how she may have been shying away from her most meaningful path? Then how committed is she to consistently work on it from the outside in and inside out? The Step Out stage is when she tests her mettle. Dares to become who she is meant to be. Trial and error, experience all required. Can she do it? What adjustments need to be made? This is learning to live her Life Purpose in all aspects of her life.

And that's what gives my life meaning...to witness this happening. Who is your Ideal Client and how do you want to work with them? Good Luck!!

2010-02-24T15:01:00.009-05:00

Soul Contracts 101 (1D School of Peace):
Meaning at Your Fingertips
Fulfilling your Soul Contract - written in your fingerprints - frees you to identify, track and live your life authentically with joy and purpose.

Fingerprints, indelibly imprinted 5 months before you were born, are energy signatures (I like to call them your Cosmic Signature !) that are the tracks of your unique soul path. We're talking Contracts here...there are no guarantees that this higher consciousness will be expressed clearly in this lifetime unless the contract is honored. And, of course, this path is fraught with many tests and distractions...it takes commitment and belief in yourself at a the deepest level.

Let's explore the Life School of Peace. In earlier posts (look for Soul Contracts 101), I covered the three other majors at "Earth University", Service, Love and Wisdom. The 4th is Peace. Learning about the difference between struggle and ease, panic and peace - that's the bottom line. If you are majoring in Peace, you are learning to face your fears, to get to the source of your anxiety and worry, to be accurately tuned into your gut to learn the real signals - the old flight or fight deal. Learning how to stand fully in the present in still alertness, breathing will help you stay around long enough to see if there really IS going to be a fight.

I liken the attributes of someone in balance with the School of Peace to the Strength card in the Tarot deck. It's all about courage to face your fears - to tame the beast within. And the Arch pattern is the finger prints associated with this school. You need 2 or more to qualify.

Here are some signs that you are in the School of Peace

Out of your Body? Too many injuries, sick too often, accident prone, working too hard, playing too hard?
Out of Sync with the practical doings of life? No time, always late, crisis with finances?
Those around you may be experiencing this. If it is in your life it is in your hands.

Tips to connect to your body, the first requirement to master the School of Peace:
If you are injury prone or always running out of time, this is a classic out of body reality. A disconnection with your body from being too busy, too in your head.
1. Next time you are cutting vegetables in the kitchen, notice the knife and its relationship to the vegetable, your hand holding it, the board that stops the motion. This is mindfulness. Can you just be there, noticing and savoring the connections?
2. Walk around in a wide circle in your living room or outside and after each completion, slow your pace until you are barely moving. It gets harder doesn’t it? Where are you feeling unbalanced, unsure? Keep doing this and you will find ways to rebalance how you move through the world. Of course, an appointment with a yoga teacher, massage therapist, chiropractor, energy healer does not hurt!
3. Time is on your side – yes it is. Are you always out of time, late? Too much to do too little time. This is a myth – you have all the time and space that you need. You get to choose your relationship to time. On your calendar for 3 days in a row, write in 15 minute spaces between your chores, work duties next appointment. Claim them as you would an appointment entry. Savor them as if they are a gift of abundance.

Want to know more? Follow the posts on It's in Your Hands - the HandTales Blog
Want to know your School and receive a special gift? Order a Fingerprint Analysis. This will give you the full declaration of the 3 parts to your Soul Contract - Your Life School, Life Purpose and Life Lesson.
Want to learn how to decipher fingerprints? See the side bar of the blog. Lots of opportunities to get involved with this powerful tool - your hands!

2009-12-23T11:07:00.006-05:00

Surrender Ain't for Sissies......
We tackled these topics, Surrender, Vulnerability and Trust in our December HandsTalk Master Mind. Yikes, this is hard stuff. Ronelle Coburn, my co-creator of HandsTalk, and I knew it and tackled it anyway.

According to their hands and fingerprints, many of our Master Mind members and our clients have trust and appropriate surrender as a major life theme. So it made sense to capture some of the basics to help them to navigate the challenges and to become masters in this arena.

Here are the 6 principles we came up with to help you learn the art of appropriate surrender and control.

Trust Yourself = Get Your Purpose: You cannot live your Life Purpose unless you trust that your creative core, your ability to connect deeply and authentically with another and your clarity of passion for meaningful work are all waiting to find expression.
Betrayal and Loss can be Cruel Teachers on our path to appropriate surrender and trust. How we respond is the key.
Identify what you feel and what you need: Self-acceptance and trust in yourself must come first before you can have love, closeness and understanding.
Express appropriately in the moment at the right temperature: You have to be willing to express your true feelings in the moment without accusation, playing the victim or blaming.
Listen Openly: Be willing to be vulnerable with no hidden agenda. This is about holding a space for another - not necessarily to come to agreement but to UNDERSTANDING. Are you willing to try to understand where the other person is coming from without judgment and with compassion?
Receive feedback to gain insight: Be open to receiving feedback from someone - assuming you have given them permission and you trust them to share their observations. And notice how you respond when what you hear is not what you wanted to hear.

As a member you can receive the practices and resources that accompany the principles we create each month. Join our monthly Master Mind. We'd love to have you as part of our community devoted to Waking Up to the Life You Want to Live.

2009-12-23T10:22:00.008-05:00

Celebrate the Return of the Light

Reflections on Surrender and Vulnerability

There can be no vulnerability without risk; there can be no community without vulnerability; there can be no peace, and ultimately no life, without community.

~ M. Scott Peck

Surrender to the Season

The days are short and it is cold outside. A perfect time to surrender to the dark - an opportunity for solitude and reflection. And as I enter Winter 2 in Vermont I am learning to honor the quiet and inner journey. At the same time I am growing to appreciate the hardy souls who make up my Winter Community. Whether cross country skiing, sledding, spending cozy nights sharing warming meals, playing games or engaged in heated discussions, I know that the next 4 months will be shared with those I trust. After all, they all stay because, like me, “I like weather that talks back” (Coined by a dear friend.)

So no matter if you are experiencing HOT HOT weather or frigid COLD COLD weather, blizzards and ice, how are you experiencing it? Celebrating what is? Complaining and wishing it was different? Trying on new ways of seeing your relationship to it? The extremes of the Seasons offer us an excellent lesson in Surrender.

One Smile at a Time

My Winter reflections have taken me to my childhood. I scowled and pouted a lot when I was young. I hear my Mother’s voice to this day: “Take your hair out of your face.” “Smile.” Can you guess my reaction? I frowned and pouted and hid out behind my hair even more. Probably why I have scowl lines between my eyes to this day. Would I have felt differently if I surrendered to my Mother’s wishes? Would my relationship with her have been different? Could an occasional smile in response to her request have made me feel just too vulnerable and out of control?

Yes to all. Absolutely. So with out going into the reasons why I was a sullen child, I take this and fast forward to what I can do today to make a difference. First have fun:

Sledding with my Grand Nephew, Cole.

Then Practice Vulnerability with a Stranger

Trust – hmmmm! A big one. To trust is to be vulnerable. What do we really think we are going to lose? I do a presentation called : “You are the One You are Looking For”. One of the key strategies is to practice vulnerability with a stranger. This is scary stuff for some who fear those who they do not know. For others, it may be just what they need, since vulnerability with loved ones is the scarier choice.

Here is my premise: We can change the world and create trust in intimate relationships by practicing vulnerability with a stranger.

Our world and the powerful people who run it want us to be afraid of others, especially if they do not look like us or are of a different religion or political persuasion. From fear and chaos comes opportunity. It is up to us to create the opportunity for relationship with a stranger…to heal and to increase trust. And, yes, this will aid in creating community and deep trust in partnership! You can shift how you feel about yourself (and change the world in the process), I promise.

TRY THIS: Walk down a busy street and notice the number of people who look down or away; the number who look troubled or angry. You might be one of them at times!! Now, risk a smile or a friendly greeting, and note how powerful you are in transforming this stranger. You be the source for heart. You will feel better about yourself, break through indifference and fear and will have touched another’s life.

Don’t Pass By by Shirl Gow, Alameda, CA

Touching is important

Much more than just a glance

Whether it’s intended

Or purely happen-stance.

Touching one another

Requires some response;

Subtle though it may be

To other’s needs or wants.

Touching fuels our systems

With quick intensity.

When we meet, remember,

Don’t pass by, touch me!

Go forth and create a "Mile of Smiles".

2009-12-02T08:38:00.007-05:00

On The Art of Receiving

Most religious traditions emphasize the selfless act of giving. Around the holidays, we often give more than we can afford. Our parents instilled the spirit of giving early on. Even scientists have studied the positive effects on the brain when we give.

Shall we reverse the thinking for a moment? What if your greatest gift was your willingness to receive fully and freely?

Many of us can receive only when there is no other choice. In 1976, I had an assignment to the Philippines as a health and nutrition consultant. Various mishaps landed me in the Manila airport in the middle of the night with little money and no place to go. My seatmates, a Pilipino man and his daughter, offered me a bed that I shared with his sister-in-law in a tiny hovel of a home and a ride to the airport the next day as I was traveling south to my assignment. Just last winter I was very sick and living alone. Not used to asking for help, days passed before I reached out. My friends were mad at me, but came forth with generosity I felt I did not deserve.

These personal stories hold some key lessons in our reluctance to receive. Not surprisingly, learning to receive unconditionally is a major challenge for many of my clients. I have their stories to back up my theory that we HAVE ISSUES WITH RECEIVING FULLY AND FREELY. There is a power dynamic and the pressure of cultural expectation in the act of giving. Feelings of shame and guilt are evident in our reluctance to receive. This piece I am writing is a tribute to my clients (and me) who have made progress in the ability to receive and is inspired by an article about receiving ~ Open Hands, Open Heart ~ in the December 2008 Issue of Ode Magazine (see resources), one of my favorite publications.

Take your receiving temperature. Spend a few moments answering these few questions and try these tips on for size during this Holiday Season.

Gauging your ability to receive:

1. Premise: Receiving empowers the giver

How does it feel to do something for someone, to give something special to someone? Pretty good, right?

How easily and gracefully do you accept a compliment?

How good are you at asking for help?

How open are you to allowing someone to do for or give to you even if it is not exactly the way you would do it or what you wanted?

Tips:

Next time someone gives you a compliment. Simply say thank you.

Next time someone offers you help, let them know it's appreciated and say yes, only if you really need it. Saying no sometimes works just fine. But you have to know the difference between feelings of not deserving the help and feelings of gratitude for the generous offer when the timing is right.

Encourage your children to give to you and to others. This is not an expensive proposition. A homemade gift or discarded toy is the best. At the same time, teach them how to receive unconditionally.

2. Premise: Receiving is an intimate act

Can you imagine perfect reciprocity?

Do you dream of the day when you will find the perfect partner who can give you everything you secretly desire?

Is this picture your silver screen version of life ~ as long as it is removed enough you have permission to imagine?

Tip:

Trust is the second most common issue I encounter with my clients. Saying yes to a partner, surrendering our control can be a frightening proposition, especially if our relationship track record is not all that rosy. This is a chicken or egg deal. You know that.

We give and give and give which often translates to control, control, control in order to avoid risking rejection and naked vulnerability. And the opposite is true. There are those of us who take and take and take to fill the void and to control control control. The reasons and the results are about the same. Not the best formulas for a healthy give and receive relationship.

You are not going to get anywhere until you intimately engage in receiving and surrendering. This takes practice and willingness to feel the fear of rejection and just keep on asking, saying yes. Pretend you are in school and these are your required courses for a more meaningful connection to partner, life and spirit.

3. Premise: The Winter Season is a perfect time to learn about receiving

You give every day by doing. How good are you at being?
How easy is it to surrender to the dark, the silence, the not-knowing what is going to happen when you stop?

I live in Vermont now. For the first time in 20 years, I am experiencing the endless nights, adjusting to the struggle between the daylight of doing and the void of darkness and cold. Do I turn on the TV, read and read, and find other distractions or can I write poetry, face my shadow, face my fears, remain in silent isolation for a short time? Can I surrender to the smallness of me? In inching toward this, I find a bigger spirit and grander meaning. Now it is your turn. Ask yourself these same questions.

In Winter ~ a time of hibernation ~ we need to honor and value our receptivity to the dark, the unknown and the unexplored parts of us in relationship to something greater than us. Starting on December 22nd, the light begins to return. So be grateful for this short time and practice being, just a little!

Sobonfu Some, a teacher from the Dagara Tribe of Burkina Faso , believes that we receive from an abundant source that can offer us whatever we need. To repeat her wisdom, ~ when we receive deeply we are receiving not just from an individual but from spirit ~.

Paying it forward and random acts of kindness are essential in our quest to be human and connected. The value of giving is taught to many of us early on and infused in who we are as humans when we are at our best. The art of receiving may be the hardest class here at Earth University, but perhaps the most important one.

May this season offer you many lessons in giving and receiving.

2009-09-23T14:09:00.006-04:00

Chop Wood Carry Water
Acts of Mindfulness on your path to purpose

"On the way to Enlightenment chop wood carry water.
After Enlightenment chop wood carry water." ~ Zen saying

I cannot drive through a tunnel without losing the present moment. Upon entering, a sign says “Turn on your lights”. O.K. This time I am going to stay so in the moment, experiencing my ride through the tunnel that 2 minutes on the other side, I will remember to turn off my lights! What happens? My mind goes to my next chore or flashes on a new idea for a presentation or is worrying about what I said in that meeting …you name it my chatter box of a mind takes over and the lights remain on until I turn off my car.

Chop wood carry water. I am looking for tunnels to go through these days to prove that I can be mindful, in the moment, experiencing the present. And, I am getting good at it.

I use the image of chopping wood and carrying water with many of my clients who are struggling to be in the present, to celebrate the good stuff in the moment, to be aware of what they need right then so that they can be in their body, in their mind and in their heart fully and in balance.

When we open awareness to the tasks in our lives they become lighter. When we are able to be in the moment, we have a greater opportunity to discover the tools for living a life of meaning and abundance.

Everywhere I drive these days, I see piles of chopped wood ready to offer warmth on those long frigid nights of Winter ahead. In the past 2 weeks, I have seen full- cheeked chipmunks scurrying into their burrows, stocking up. I imagine the wood chopper as a Zen practitioner where the chore is not about worrying about what is coming but savoring the solid, steady motion of the ax, mindfully creating a perfect pile of wood. And the chipmunk is not conscious of her long months of hibernation to survive, she just acts in the moment, with focus and determination.

What is your bugaboo, your challenge to stay in the moment?
• Out of your Body?
Too many injuries, sick too often, no time, always late?
• Out of your Heart?
Shut down or emotions out of control, broken hearted?
• Out of your Mind?
Indecisive, in doubt, confused, in analysis paralysis or
too critical of self or others?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
• Out of your Body? Too many injuries, sick too often, no time, always late?
Tips to connect to your body:
If you are injury prone or always running out of time, this is a classic out of body reality. A disconnection with your body from being too busy, too in your head.
1. Next time you are cutting vegetables in the kitchen, notice the knife and its relationship to the vegetable, your hand holding it, the board that stops the motion. This is mindfulness. Can you just be there, noticing and savoring the connections?
2. Walk around in a wide circle in your living room or outside and after each completion, slow your pace until you are barely moving. It gets harder doesn’t it? Where are you feeling unbalanced, unsure? Keep doing this and you will find ways to rebalance how you move through the world. Of course, an appointment with a yoga teacher, massage therapist, chiropractor, energy healer does not hurt!
3. Time is on your side – yes it is. Are you always out of time, late? Too much to do too little time. This is a myth – you have all the time and space that you need. You get to choose your relationship to time. On your calendar for 3 days in a row, write in 15 minute spaces between your chores, work duties next appointment. Claim them as you would an appointment entry. Savor them as if they are a gift of abundance.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
• Out of your Heart? Shut down or emotions out of control, broken hearted?
Tips to connect to your heart. The heart line is often the most damaged line on the hand. Not surprising given how hard it is to have healthy, authentic, trusting relationships.
1. Do you dare to take enough time and/or to find the support to really claim how you are feeling and what you need at the core of your heart and soul? Name the feeling. Spend 5 minutes declaring simply how you feel about someone in your life that is causing you heart ache or an event that was challenging. Are you angry, sad, fearful, glad? Keep it simple and definable.
2. There are lots of books on emotional healing – get some recommendations from someone you trust.
3. Read A Good Relationship is Hard to Find! True or False? for more tips.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
• Out of your Mind? Indecisive, in doubt, confused, in analysis paralysis or too critical of self or others?
Tips to rewire your thinking. Too much thinking can get you in trouble…heart and body trouble as noted above.
1. First of all, my prescription for analysis paralysis and doubt is to go have fun, unhook, play laugh. This can clear up a lot. Just stop thinking for awhile. Not possible?
2. Keep a diary of what you say to yourself. Negative, critical, defeating? For each entry, try to reframe your self-talk. "I can’t do this, I do not know how?" Instead put it this way, "I want to try, I am curious about what I need to succeed". The same goes for your judgment of others. Are you actually judging yourself? Good judgment is a gift, so becoming a discerning, objective observer of others is the goal.
3. Can’t make a decision…take one small action in any direction. Clean out a cluttered drawer (may be symbolic of a cluttered mind), rearrange some files so that they work better; make one call you have been putting off, just one.

~ ~ ~ ~~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Autumn is the time when the dark overtakes the light. Turn your lights on and go find your tunnel to practice mindfulness. Savor every movement, every feeling and every thought right now. No backward, No forward. Autumn is the time for harvesting the gifts of Summer. Mindfulness will help you reap soul food for more meaning and abundance.

Happy Autumn!

2009-09-21T13:37:00.009-04:00

The Fool

Soul Contracts 101 (1C School of Wisdom):
Meaning at Your Fingertips
Fulfilling your Soul Contract - written in your fingerprints - frees you to identify, track and live your life authentically with joy and purpose.

Are you a perfectionist, procrastinator, commitment phobic, the Know-It-All or "Don't Know-It-All" and need just one more course or to read one more book and THEN you'll be ready? It all comes down to the same thing, You are anxious about putting yourself at stake, exposing what you know to the world. This is the underbelly of the School of Wisdom. The good news is that you are on the path to Joy. Yes, you heard it, J.O. Y.! Joy in knowledge. Joy in understanding and being understood. Joy when you step out and put all of your evaluation into action. This is one of the Schools of Courage - the courage of your convictions. If you have 2 fingerprints - on any finger - that look something like this, then you are in the School of Wisdom.

If you identify with the above - here are three ways to get you to the pot of gold - Joy.

Make the "2 foot drop" - from your head - serious business, thinking, thinking, thinking; analysis paralysis - to the heart. What do you want? What makes you excited. What opens your heart to find the courage to stay true to what you know and what you feel.
Track how you make excuses for not taking action - be curious. What am I afraid of? What's the worst thing that could happen. And then reframe it to get you moving in the direction you want.
Laugh at yourself today. You may take life entirely too seriously - after all wisdom is serious business, right? Not so, making mistakes, willingness to risk looking foolish at times begins the journey to a courageous life of wise knowing. Read up on the Fool Archetype. I think his image and meaning capture some of the essence of the School of Wisdom. What do you think?

What school are you in? What skill set is required of your Soul Journey so that your Life Purpose can take flight? To find out more, contact me, order a LifePrints Report or go for the whole Soul Mapping experience, an Initial Life Purpose Consultation.

2009-09-12T08:47:00.007-04:00

Soul Contracts 101 (1B School of Love):
Meaning at Your Fingertips
Fulfilling your Soul Contract - written in your fingerprints - frees you to identify, track and live your life authentically with joy and purpose.

I am frequently asked to do a presentation called "You Are The One You Are Looking For" - all about finding healthy relationships and repairing holes in exisiting ones. Relationship questions are at the top of the list for most of my clients - women and men! Not surprising when you think about it...we are social, procreative and at times lusty creatures. More importantly though many of us look for filling the holes with in ourselves with another. "If I could just find the love of my life, everything will be O.K." I think not. I encourage you to read
a 2007 blog entry I wrote, A Good Relationship is Hard to Find. True or False? You might be surprised about my premise and recommendations.

So on to the School of Love:

The last entry we explored the School of Service - the path to Freedom, free of burdensome obigation so that you serve in the way your darn well please! Self care and helping others in balance.

The School of Love is the path to Trust. This is about learning the art of appropriate surrender and appropriate control in relationships. It is the journey of the heart to know what you want/desire/need while being empathetic to others; to express your feelings with the right intensity in the moment vs stuffing them so that you feel you will explode unless you go numb or spewing them like a fire hose out of
control. And finally the mastery of releasing old emotions so that you can make room for healthy, supportive relationships.

Hold onto your heart! The path of the emotional master is to experience heart challenges so that you become so internally heart strong (not heart hardened) you become a model of self love, trust and compassion.

“Someday, after mastering winds, waves, tides and gravity, we shall harness the energy of love, and for the second time in the history of the world, man will have discovered fire.”
~ Teilhard de Chardin

2009-09-01T08:23:00.009-04:00

Soul Contracts 101 (1A School of Service):
Meaning at Your Fingertips
Fulfilling your Soul Contract - written in your fingerprints - frees you to identify, track and live your life authentically with joy and purpose.

Fingerprints, indelibly imprinted 5 months before you were born, are energy signatures (I like to call them your Cosmic Signature !) that outline your unique soul path. We're talking Contracts here...there are no guarantees that this higher consciousness will be expressed clearly in this lifetime unless the contract is honored. And, of course, this path is frought with many tests and distractions...it takes commitment and belief in yourself at a the deepest level.

Contracts 101 (1A) - Let's start with our Life School - Service, Love, Wisdom or Peace. Which is yours? In my blog post last June - Just Say No!,I was outlining the main skill set required of the School of Service. You are here to learn the difference between a life of burdensome obligation/servitude vs the ability to say no enough, ask for help enough so that you are free to make a difference in your unique calling.

The Three Legged Stool:
This is about self care (one leg) and other care (second leg) in balance. This is about Service to the greater environment (third leg) with fine tuned sensitivity to the impact of your actions and the actions of others. Are your legs of equal length? Or are you giving yourself away too much or being too selfish/self-indulgent or ignoring the impact of your actions on the environment - family, work, the earth?

Want to know more? The next 3 posts will be about The Schools in our Soul Contract - School of Love, School of Wisdom and School of Peace. So stay tuned.
Want to know your School and receive a special gift? Order a Fingerprint Analysis. This will give you the full declaration of the 3 parts to your Soul Contract - Your Life School, Life Purpose and Life Lesson.
Want to learn how to decipher fingerprints? Apply to take the Fall Hand Analysis Intensive. Your path to purpose.

2009-06-25T07:42:00.008-04:00

Just Say NO!

What if I told you that your Life Purpose - your highest meaning point, the area of greatest success - was to learn to say NO with grace, kindness and ease?

[For those who wonder where we as Hand Analysts find Life Purpose possibilities - you can pinpoint your Life Purpose in your Finger Prints.]

Really? One Life Purpose possibility is to Just Say No enough? Yes, so that you can be free to joyfully and selflessly serve yourself and others equally. Wait a minute. Serve yourself selflessly. This doesn't make sense does it? If your Soul Agenda is to learn to serve without resentment, obligation, guilt, burnout, anger, codependence .... you get the idea .... then serving yourself/selfcare is a healthy, giving and essential act. Otherwise, you will being saying NO in black letters on an angry hand!

Client story: I have a client whose Life Purpose is to say NO and a subcategory of this is to say no so she can be free to serve and make a difference as a communicator in the spotlight. After 3 sessions with me, she was blocked about "just what is Life Purpose; it seems so foggy to me. I am writer and have some reknown, I know that, but it seems as if something is missing". She admits she if burned out and over obligated and can't say NO enough. (If you look at the list above, she was feeling ALL of it! )
We focused the whole session on how it feels to say no to loved ones and family members especially. She gave me a fabulous story: While on vacation, she was in her doing too much - no time for selfcare and rest dance. Finally, she said no to a close family member who really wanted her to go to an event she had been in charge of organizing. My client said no and stayed in bed with a book. She admitted that she leaped up 2 or 3 times (out of guilt) to dress to go anyway. But she resisted and said it was the best thing she had done for herself in a long time. When the relative returned, the evening was filled excitement; she was thrilled to regale my client with all the stories and my client received them with pleasure vs resentment and obligation.

I said that it is easy as that. If you say NO enough, the rest of your journey will be paved with possibilities and with clarity.

Life Purpose is a conscious awareness. A journey from the unconscious to the conscious. Noticing, asking why and how, wondering, being curious. This is the only way to feed your higher path. If you would like to move to the next level, a good start is knowing what you fingerprints tell you. Visit my website for more on the story.
Consider ordering a LifePrints Report - a 15 - 20 page report on your Soul Agenda including your Life Purpose.

2009-05-22T13:09:00.003-04:00

You say you want to know the future? Tell me more......

To know whether you should by a lottery ticket? To prepare for your perfect mate? To grieve and worry now? To sell or buy a stock? To make the most out your now confirmed short life? What would be your reason?

As a Hand Analyst, I do not predict your future. Disappointed? Read on. Although there are past event markers in your hands, I do not need to know your history. As to the future, I help you grow possibilities by planting you firmly in the present in YOU, in self acceptance, in the best soil for your soul and your nature.

As a diagnostician and storyteller, it is my job to help you access what is already inside you. Using your fingerprints and your hands, I give you an accurate map to discover your Life Purpose at the soul level along with key factors that keep you from living it. There is no specific goal other than a life lived more authentically. This involves preliminary identification, tracking to increase awareness and consistent support/guidance as needed to assist you to live a more conscious and fulfilling life through your unique soul’s expression.

Predictive Palmists and Psychics CAN tell your future. Our investigation shows that accuracy stands at about 40%. Do you want those odds? These intuitive practitioners use hands as well as etheric elements to see into the future and if they are right, then enjoy the ride to this future.

Are you giving your power away by asking for a peek into the future? Why not take the reins and do what it takes to identify, track and live YOU fully in the present - you will be prepared for anything in the future.

2009-04-22T09:26:00.003-04:00

The Child Will Be Great ......

This is the title of the recent memoir by Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, President of Liberia.

After I heard her interviewed, I was reminded of the old debate about nature vs nuture, about Free Will (the power of acting without the constraint of necessity or fate; the ability act at one's own discretion) vs Fate (the development of events beyond a person's control, regarded as determined by a supernatural power). President Johnson-Sirleaf claims that as a child a visitor came to her family's village and said that she was born to be great. [Of course, they did not mention the difficult path she would inevitably walk down.]

Does this mean that if someone came to your village and told you that you were born to be average and boring that that is it? No options? Your Fate is sealed?

As a Hand Analyst, I run into this fate thing - "that's the way my story has gone, no changing it" often enough. When you understand Life Purpose as a soul imprint from your fingerprints, you can begin to understand that it is a kind of conciousness and awareness learned and developed. You are not born an "Artist" or a "Patriarch" - 2 examples of Life Purpose according to the fingerprints - and live it from day one. You are born to learn about the higher consciousness of this path through trial and error. You can be it, live it or live in the absolute opposite all of your life. This is YOUR CHOICE.

So - your choice means you have free will. If a soothsayer comes to your village and says you are to be an ordinary laborer, this does not seal the deal. You get to choose your life in accordance with your soul imprint or contract and by strengthening the true nature of your personality which is reflected in the rest of your hands. Be true to your self and believe that you have a choice. Make the most of your natural potential while learning life's lessons from the nurture (or lack thereof!) experience.

All comments are welcome. This is a juicy topic.

2009-03-17T15:26:00.002-04:00

Hands are Your Business

Let your hands remind you of what you need to thrive in business in these uncertain times.

For the past 3 years, Isabelle Choiniere-Correa, Intuitive Coach and a colleague of mine, have run workshops for small business owners who are body, mind and soul practitioners. The feedback was so good that we decided (now that I am on the East Coast and she on the West) to develop a guidebook and accompanying CD's that will contain the strategies, tools and exercises that were used in this training.

We will be offering a FREE Teleseminar in the late Spring to introduce you to the benefits of this journey. Stay tuned for: Create Success From the Inside Out: An eight-week journey to propel your business to the next level.

Are you an entrepreneur? Do you want to know if you are being true to your personality strengths and finding ways to support those areas that are not so strong right now? Can't wait for our guidebook to be produced? I have a teaser for you. It's an exercise best designed to do in partnership - an easy and fun way to self determine your strongest and weakest zones. See the previous two blog entries for more information on the Zones. And here is the practical application of the "Spiritual Warrior" concepts.

Contact me and I will send you the exercise for FREE. If you need further guidance, we can discuss what works best for you. This is a great way to see if you are on track and tending to business using all of your talents.

2009-02-09T13:03:00.001-05:00

Hands and the Spiritual Warrior
The Power and Magic of our Hands-Part III, B

You can not be a spirit without a body. You can not lead a life full of soul consciousness without concrete personality expression.

In part A of Hands and the Spiritual Warrior, I summarized the 4 distinct ways that a person must build strength to become a Spiritual Warrior. The Spiritual Warrior is Matthew Fox's term. I want to add another concept to this: these steps help us to master Spiritual Intelligence. Both are about an advanced courage. Fingerprint Analysts might argue that spiritual intelligence is gleaned and grown through your Soul Journey as revealed in your fingerprints not in our hands. I too am a Fingerprint Analyst and agree. Your hands (shape, lines, finger length) are your personality palette, however, and are the vehicle for this soul expression. Being true to your personality type and understanding what it takes to stay in balance are essential to living a fulfilled life and to embody your unique soul consciousness.

Let's expand on Matthew Fox's earlier entry - the 4 steps to strengthen your journey using the 4 regions of the hand as shown in the 4 colored ovals.

A colleague and I have developed an easy and fun way to self determine your strongest and weakest zones. In the next blog entry, I'll offer this exercise for free. If you want more of an interpretation, I can do this for you at a small cost.

1. The Via Positiva (VENUS)
This is the zone of the body, of family and friends, of sensuality and beauty - the active femine. "This is the way of celebrating life, of seeing the world with its beauty and goodness, its grace and generosity—and being open to seeing more. This is the way of reverence, respect and gratitude. It’s the way of original blessing, whereby we live out the truth that the universe and life itself, for all the struggle and pain they dispense, have birthed us as individuals and communities with what we need for happiness and for sharing joy."

Questions: How often do you laugh? How easily can you stay in your body in the present? Are you aware of your breath right now? (These are just a few of the questions I ask clients when I see a deplted Venus zone)

2. The Via Negativa (the MOON)
The Moon is the passive feminine- the vessel of intuition,deep feelings, imagination, the zone of deep meaning.
"The Via Negativa goes into the darkness, the wounds, the pain and silence and solitude of existence to find what we have to learn there. It’s a way of letting go and letting be, of emptying and being emptied, of moving beyond judgment and beyond control, and learning to breathe, to sit, to be still, to dwell in silence, to taste nothingness without flinching and, ultimately, to focus. It’s the way of grieving. Without grief we can’t move on to the next stage, one of giving birth. The warrior faces death and, because he or she has, loves life more passionately", that is can move to Venus more easily and more fully.

Questions: How often can you stop to listen to your still silent voice? Are you afraid of the dark literally and figuratively? Are you stuck creatively? Do you turn to unhealthy outlets to avoid your deep pain?

3. The Via Creativa. (APOLLO and MERCURY)

"Having fallen in love with life often (Via Positiva) and having been emptied and learned to let go and let be numerous times (Via Negativa), the spiritual warrior is ready to give birth. Creativity is the weapon, the sword, of the spiritual warrior—who is mother as well as father, and who digs deep into a wellspring of wildness that provides the energy for new life, connections, images and moral imagination by which to change things in a deep, not superficial, way. The true warrior is a co-creator, a worker with Spirit, a worker for Spirit. The warrior’s hands are the hands of Spirit at work; the warrior’s mind is seized by Spirit precisely in the work of creativity. As 13th century Catholic philosopher and theologian St. Thomas Aquinas put it, “The same Spirit that hovered over the waters at the beginning of creation hovers over the mind of the artist at work.” Every warrior is an artist at work for the people that they might live."
This is the zone of creative communication - Apollo and Mercury joined. When strong they enable us to communicate passion and deep meaning with clarity and joy. This requires vulnerability and willingness to expose our truth - both intimate acts. If the zones are challenged, the fear of these things may be so strong that healthy relationships and true, authentic expression are strangled and weakened.

Questions: Do you shy away from the spotlight for fear of being burned? Do you tend to isolate and withdraw instead of asking for support and understanding? Do you have challenges in the relationship realm? Do you feel that you are not heard - no one is listening?

4. The Via Transformativa (SATURN and JUPITER)
"Claims to artistry and to creativity and to co-creation need to be tested. The Spirit requires discernment and evaluation. The primary test for claims of spirit work is that of justice and compassion. Does the work I’m doing pass the justice test? Does it fill gaps between haves and have-nots or make the chasm deeper? Does it contribute to healing and empowerment of the powerless or re-establish the privileges of the few at the expense of the many?" These are all questions and values embodied by Saturn and Jupiter, including discernment, evaluation, fairness, judgment. Jupiter is about taking action from a place of empowerment vs entitlement so that others may be empowered. Saturn is the great judge, the moral compass of balance and fairness, of appropriate action. Many who have challenges in these areas have issues of I am not enough or power struggles or poor relationships to money and influence.

Questions: Do you ever find your self saying "I can't and I won't" because of self doubt? Do you over accommodate or rearrange your desires out of guilt? Are you constantly struggling with money? Do you find that promises are broken either yours or those around you?

Stay tuned for the self assessment that can help you balance your personal and work life so that your Soul Consciousness can lead you to a more fulfilling life full of joy, health and intimacy.

2009-01-12T16:13:00.001-05:00

Hands and the Spiritual Warrior
The Power and Magic of our Hands-Part III, A

I recently read an article by Matthew Fox in Ode Magazine about the hidden spirituality of men. Fox talks about the distinct ways a noble (or spiritual) warrior develops his or her strength based on the creation spirituality tradition.

The four steps he describes seemed very familiar. They have a striking parallel to the four main regions of the hand. As a Hand Analyst, I frequently talk about balancing imbalances that appear in the hand. A necessary starting point is to spend time exploring the meaning of these four regions. As I describe the Fours Steps in brief, I will indicate the corresponding region in the hand. In Part III B (my next post), I will expand on the meaning of these regions of the hand as represented by the 4 colored ovals in the hand below.

1. The Via Positiva (VENUS) This is the way of celebrating life, of seeing the world with its beauty and goodness, its grace and generosity—and being open to seeing more. This is the way of reverence, respect and gratitude. It’s the way of original blessing, whereby we live out the truth that the universe and life itself, for all the struggle and pain they dispense, have birthed us as individuals and communities with what we need for happiness and for sharing joy.

2. The Via Negativa (the MOON) The Via Negativa goes into the darkness, the wounds, the pain and silence and solitude of existence to find what we have to learn there. It’s a way of letting go and letting be, of emptying and being emptied, of moving beyond judgment and beyond control, and learning to breathe, to sit, to be still, to dwell in silence, to taste nothingness without flinching and, ultimately, to focus. It’s the way of grieving. Without grief we can’t move on to the next stage, one of giving birth. The ancient German theologian, Meister Eckhart von Hochheim, calls the process of letting go “eternal.” The warrior faces death and, because he or she has, loves life more passionately.

3. The Via Creativa. (APOLLO and MERCURY) Having fallen in love with life often (Via Positiva) and having been emptied and learned to let go and let be numerous times (Via Negativa), the spiritual warrior is ready to give birth. Creativity is the weapon, the sword, of the spiritual warrior—who is mother as well as father, and who digs deep into a wellspring of wildness that provides the energy for new life, connections, images and moral imagination by which to change things in a deep, not superficial, way. The true warrior is a co-creator, a worker with Spirit, a worker for Spirit. The warrior’s hands are the hands of Spirit at work; the warrior’s mind is seized by Spirit precisely in the work of creativity. As 13th century Catholic philosopher and theologian St. Thomas Aquinas put it, “The same Spirit that hovered over the waters at the beginning of creation hovers over the mind of the artist at work.” Every warrior is an artist at work for the people that they might live.

4. The Via Transformativa (SATURN and JUPITER) Claims to artistry and to creativity and to co-creation need to be tested. The Spirit requires discernment and evaluation. The primary test for claims of spirit work is that of justice and compassion. Does the work I’m doing pass the justice test? Does it fill gaps between haves and have-nots or make the chasm deeper? Does it contribute to healing and empowerment of the powerless or re-establish the privileges of the few at the expense of the many?

2008-12-22T08:33:00.001-05:00

Why all these lines in my palm? What about the color? My fingers bend. Why?
The Power and Magic of our Hands-Part II
Take a look at your palms and fingers right now. Compare them to another family member, friend and neighbor. Are you beginning to notice differences. I guarantee it or" your money back".

Take a look at the creature depicted above. Note that the hands and mouth dominate. These proportions tell us how much information is coming from the brain to different parts of the body. As you bump up against life, change, have new experiences, your brain changes. The term is neuroplasticity. So it is a no brainer to make the connection - lots of information is coming from your brain into your hands. So, the color (emotional state at a point in time), the bend in your fingers (how you have responded to bumps in the road), your lines (how you emote, how you think, your drive and direction over time) and the list goes on.....are simply reflecting your brain's natural or immediate response to life.

As I have noted in an earlier entry, your fingerprints never change. They are indelibly imprinted 5 months before your were born. Everything else in your hands, on the other hand, can change over time.

This makes for a rich story as your Soul Map (in the fingerprints) is attempting to find the right path for expression on a terrain that is often shifting (your hands).

Share your observations with me. Do you have a special bend in your fingers,red sections of your palm or are they over all a little yellow? Start noticing and comparing. You'll be amazed. Amaze us with some of your findings!

2008-12-17T08:56:00.002-05:00

The Mystery of Fingerprints
These wave patterns mirror nature
The Power and Magic of our Hands-Part I

The first in a series of awe and wonder exploration of our hands and fingerprints. I have posed a question at the end. Please share your wisdom and intuition.

When I was introduced to Hand Analysis in the the late 1990's, I was skeptical. After all, I was trained as a scientist. As any real scientist will tell you, however, there are mysteries that can not be measured. There are phenomena in nature that inspire awe and wonder. When I learned that our fingerprints - the map of our soul - mirror the unique patterns on a zebra and the subpatterns made on the sand by the wind and the surf, I was sold.

My cautious nature was ignored. I jumped in, perhaps at first to disprove the years of research my mentor and the founder of the International Institute of Hand Analysis, Richard Unger, had done on the meaning behind our unique fingerprints. My clients often say, "I just don't understand how our hands can tell us so much. This is powerful stuff."

The unique wave patterns of your fingerprints are indelibly imprinted 5 months before you were born. They are your window (or mirror) to your soul consciousness. Within this combination of patterns lies your Life Purpose (the illumination of your highest calling) and your Life Lesson (the Shadow). To learn more about fingerprints and hands, visit HandTales.
There you will discover the Story of Hands and how you can get more information about your personal story.

Q 1: Why are our fingerprints unique to us and never change? So the police can track us? Please respond with your wisdom.

2008-10-14T12:52:00.000-04:00

Tuesday morning and my Fall Newsletter about Change of all kinds and how we manage it has been created and sent. How do you manage change? Do you think you are a change agent or perhaps a change junky? These are such tumultous times. To take an active role in claiming our highest path and embracing and initiating change with grace and clarity, is all that we have consistently at our disposal. And....Your hands are your most concrete and personal tool to guide you.

Take a look. Have you every wondered about why your fingerprints are unique to you? Take a magnifying glass and note the beauty of the wave patterns - yours for a life time.

Can't help it. I love hands and the mystery they hold. If you get anything from this exercise, let me know.

Peace,

Janet

2008-10-06T10:59:00.000-04:00

Monday Morning my 2nd month in Vermont. Having returned with my business and my wonderful dog, Nouki, to my original home after 40 years, I am witnessing my soul revival. Don't get me wrong, my 20 years in CA has given me so many gifts - the gift of flight into a new more authentic me, a gift of life long friendships, a gift of courage to follow my dreams and so much more. The landscape of Vermont and the miracle of the seasons, however, feed my soul.

The loon departs and winter approaches. To end, I thought I would share an ode to Summer (I am a little apprehensive about 6 plus months of Winter..so I must hang on to this memory. Enjoy. And what will feed you this Winter?)

Subtle Sisters of Midsummer Lush

Subtle sisters of midsummer lush
The hills dressed up in blue
Hazy, faded shades of denim
Resting reminders of what it means
To be, not to do
The corn and the grasses teem
with sweet life
Seeking nourishment to grow and to become
Their gentler siblings whisper with soft breath
Beckoning us to succumb
~ J Savage, 2007

I invite you to read my Fall Musings about Being and Change. Coming this week.

2008-01-20T23:23:00.000-05:00

Articles, Classes and Workshops
Winter and Spring, 2008

Article: Sweet Darkness (Yin Tips at the end of Article)
Workshops: The Business of Metaphysics
and the Healing Arts (Visit link for full details)
Training: Hand Analysis Intensive, Alameda, March 7-9
(See description below)

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Sweet Darkness
(See Yin Tips at the end of article)
When your eyes are tired
the world is tired also.
When your vision is gone
no part of the world can find you.
Time to go into the dark
where the night has eyes
to recognize its own.
~~~~~~~~
Give up all the other worlds
except the one to which you belong.
Sometimes it takes darkness and the sweet
confinement of our aloneness to learn
Anything or anyone
that does not bring you alive
Is too small for you.

~ David Whyte, 1996

In Winter we experience the longest nights and shortest days. It is the most Yin time of the year. Yin is the receptive, feminine principle calling us to learn more about receiving, resting, imagining, going inward….

In hands I look at the fleshy Moon section of the palms to discover how the Yin aspects of your life are doing. This area is the one place the Thumb, the chief of doing and results, can’t get to. How do you think you are doing? Read on.

Ironic that at the darkest, most Yin time of the year, most of us are out crazed by Yang activity, especially around the holidays. Yang energy includes the doing, giving, checking off lists, budgeting for the new year, traveling, you name it. Wonder why many of us get sick this time of year? It is not just the change in temperature. So light a candle to celebrate the darkness. You get to choose some receiving time.

Many of my clients are driven by doing and giving. Sound familiar? Working with you to balance the doing with some more being can be the key in helping you recalibrate your life ~ as David Whyte says, to bring you alive.

Here are just a few ideas to ponder as you learn to embrace your Yin side. Only a few, because I need more quiet time. The lesson I learned during this season is not to be so obsessed about getting my newsletter out on the Solstice, thus the month delay. I had to do a lot of surrendering, another winner Yin word!

TIPS FROM THE YIN SIDE:

Spend more time in the dark – nap, go to bed at least an hour before 11 (most quality Yin sleep time), ponder your dreams, allow your brain to wonder from your lists to your imagining.
Cry a little, laugh a little, dance a little, sing a little…this is good Yin Therapy.
Accept a compliment with grace and pleasure.
Ask for some help…and really allow it.
Go for a wander and note every sense. What do you smell, hear, see, feel, taste ~ the breeze, the stillness? Can your doingness and brain shut off just for a minute?
Spend time envisioning what you want and believe that you will have help in realizing it. Celebrate the principles of the Law of Attraction in operation. Name it, pay attention to it and allow it. All so very Yin and receiving!

I hope you view the long nights and snowy/rainy days a little differently now. They beckon you to just be with yourself, quietly and consciously.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Hand Analysis
Intensive Course
With Janet Savage, Master Hand Analyst
Alameda, CA March 7-9, 2008

This Intensive introduces you to the groundbreaking Fingerprint Analysis system researched and developed at the International Institute of Hand Analysis in Tiburon, CA.

Following this weekend you can:

Interpret anyone’s “reason for being”
Know your own Life Purpose/Life Lesson map
and the vehicle for learning to live it
Immediately apply the information to do
practical and meaningful readings for others

The tuition includes: 19 hours of instruction; an extensive workbook with extra information not covered during class, and private tutoring.

Tuition: $575
(financing available)
MFT, LCSW CE Units,
20 hours

Comments from Grads:

“This weekend was an extra ordinary experience for me. It helped me tap into some areas of my life in ways that I had not discovered and I learned from each one of the participants.”
G.Z., Massage Therapist. Bay Area, CA

"This information is so powerful. It was fun to read all of my family's hands. Now I am ready to bring it into my practice. Thanks, Janet."
J.S., Occupational
Therapist/Hand
Specialist, Vermont

2007-09-23T20:48:00.002-04:00

A Good Relationship is hard to find!
True or False?

What do you see in my hands about relationships? This is the most common question I get from my clients – health and money are a close second – as if they expect me to have a crystal ball. If I cannot tell their future, what do I say on the subject of healthy relationships and love? Here goes.

Let’s explore 3 ways to assure healthier relationships. Try the exercises that accompany each one. Before you seek love and closeness with someone else:
1. Fall in Love with yourself first
2. Practice vulnerability with a stranger
3. Learn about relationships from nature and celebrate the rhythm of the seasons.

~ Fall in Love with Yourself First ~
Self-acceptance and knowing what you really need/desire comes first. “Love for others without the foundation of love for ourselves becomes a loss of boundaries, codependency, and a painful and fruitless search for intimacy. But when we contact our true nature, we can also allow others to find theirs.” Loving Kindness, the Revolutionary Art of Happiness, Sharon Salzberg, Shambala Press.

Your Hands are a powerful tool to grow your Life Purpose or highest potential and to establish a healthy relationship with your Life Lesson or shadow. Your vessel must be full before you can find intimacy with another. A client and colleague of mine is living on her own after a long, difficult, codependent marriage. She said: “I feel more sexy now, not in relationship to other men, just to me!” I say to my clients seeking a partner, be more of who you are meant to be, accept yourself warts and all and you will attract healthy people who love you for this.

TRY THIS: Pretend you have signed up for the “ILoveMyself” dating service. You are listing your inner qualities (o.k., and inner challenges) to be matched with your outer actions. Now date yourself for a while. Meet yourself at a coffee shop and live that inner self outwardly and boldly. Hone it, forgive the silly negative voices that come up, laugh…whatever it takes to accept yourself and love yourself. Instead of thinking when no one is looking, I can fly, how would it feel to soar like the birds in the beautiful water color in this Issue? Imagine other birds soaring with you, all doing what they do best, taking up just enough space and allowing others to claim theirs.

~ Practice Vulnerability with a Stranger ~
Our world and the powerful people who run it want us to be afraid of others, especially if they do not look like us or are of a different religion or political persuasion. From fear and chaos comes opportunity. It is up to us to create the opportunity for relationship with a stranger…to heal and to increase trust. And, yes, this will aid in finding a partner! You can shift how you feel about yourself (and change the world in the process), I promise.

TRY THIS: Walk down a busy street and notice the number of people who look down or away; the number who look troubled or angry. Now, risk a smile or a friendly greeting, and note how powerful you are in transforming this stranger. You be the source for heart and you will feel better about yourself and will have touched another’s life.

Don’t Pass By by Shirl Gow, Alameda, CA
Touching is important
Much more than just a glance
Whether it’s intended
Or purely happen-stance.
Touching one another
Requires some response;
Subtle though it may be
To other’s needs or wants.
Touching fuels our systems
With quick intensity.
When we meet, remember,
Don’t pass by, touch me!

~ Learn about Relationships from Nature;
Celebrate the Rhythm of the Seasons ~
The Fall Equinox symbolizes when the dark wins out over the light; when Persephone goes to Hades to minister to lost souls for six months (or Kore goes to the dark to learn from the Crone depending on your mythological perspective). Take this opportunity to pause; to explore the meaning and memories of this season for you; to seek a deeper understanding of human triumph and tribulation in relationships, especially your own.

Fall is my favorite time of year. Growing up in Vermont, I have fond memories of stacking wood and putting food by for the winter with family and neighbors. Although not a farmer, I felt the importance of relationships in Autumn celebrations – a time for neighbors, family and friends to join together in thanks for the abundance (and sometimes not so much!) of the harvest with an accompanying trust that you could rely on them in the dark days of winter ahead. For some of us, Autumn is our least favorite season and our memories about those closest to us are NOT so sweet. Perhaps this is a time of forgiveness and for going inside, literally and figuratively, to clear some emotional wounds.

Do you remember how we danced that night away
Two lovers playing scenes from some romantic play
A September morning still can make me feel this way
~ September Morn, Neil Diamond

TRY THIS: Adorn your altar, if you have one, your hearth or your table with natural symbols of this season. Celebrate the meaning of the season with a harvest meal. Using these reminders, make yourself a promise to heal some wounds and shine some of your own light discovered in the dark on someone close to you.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
But what about relationships? What does my hand say? Despite all of my wise sharing about filling yourself and trusting the world and learning from nature, I still get these questions at the end of a session. We all want to be loved and adored. I will stick by my premise, that we cannot fill the hole with another unless we love ourselves first, our neighbors no matter what they look like or believe in and nature whose lessons are all about relationships. I do tell my clients, if you are out there looking for Mr or Ms Right, then just have fun and enjoy the journey, but don’t give yourself away until the package is whole.

posted by Janet at 6:49 PM 0 comments

2007-04-17T21:31:00.000-04:00

Articles:

It’s in Your Hands
by Janet Savage
(published in Ever Changing Magazine, Vermont, March/April, 2007)

"A person’s life purpose is nothing more than to rediscover,
through the detours of art, or love, or passionate work, those
one or two images in the presence of which his heart first opened.”

Albert Camus

Do you believe that you are on a life journey? Bumpy or Smooth? Do you believe that you have a special calling – a purpose?

I asked these questions of a group of mostly 50-70 year olds who are part of a community services group. Most said yes to the first and an emphatic yes to “bumpy” with added emphasis of a sigh or a snicker. I had the answer to my last question with a few half-raised, hesitant hands. Perhaps they were simply confused by my question.

I have discovered through my years as a hand analyst that many of us spend our lives weathering the bumps and celebrating the smooth sections when we are able. But few of us embrace the concept of Life Purpose. The sense of a special calling might be there for some, but fewer have found the vehicle to do the inner training required to live a conscious, purpose-driven life. Maybe life gets in the way; you haven’t had good role models; or this is the luxury liner only for the well off. To be truthful, any excuse will do when you are not ready. When you are, I believe that any vehicle will do, because you already have all the answers inside.

I have chosen hands as the vehicle – the most concrete and personal tool you have to guide you on your path to a more fulfilling life. I work with individuals and groups to illuminate their life purpose possibilities; to help them claim their unique talents and potential for creating personal passion and focus and to assure healthier relationships.

What’s in a hand? Your fingerprints – imprinted five months before birth – are the blueprint or soul map of your highest potential – Life Purpose – and the challenge you face in getting there – your Life Lesson. They never change. What can change as you change is the rest of your hand. The lines, size and color of you palm, the bend and length of your fingers all provide a snapshot of where you are on your journey, and how you are likely to respond to bumps in the road.

Have you every really looked at your hands- palm side up? Take a few moments now. Are they smallish, firm or pudgy with lots of lines? Maybe you are from the “Worker Bee” tribe…right livelihood, honor, high standards, zeal to create the best, to be the best. Or are they soft with a long palm and fingers with lacy lines? You might be in the “Naïf” family. This is someone deeply empathetic, sensitive, here to reclaim the wonders and awe in a world of cynics. Beware of the wolves. Now tell the world how wonderful wolves really are! How about your major lines: are they straight or curvy – that is analytical/objective vs. feeling/intuitive? These are examples of personality expression - the vehicle for your soul’s agenda found in your fingerprints. You might want to get a magnifying glass and glance at the beautiful patterns etched at the end of your fingers.

Now let’s say your Life Purpose according to your fingerprints is to be the Big Shot – getting results as a sphere of influence, a galvanizer. How might this play out with the two personality examples I gave above? Very differently, n’est pas?

I was reading for a mother, in her 60’s, and daughter, in her 40’s. One was the Worker Bee type and the other the Naif. The daughter spent much of the reading crying. Remember, someone built for feelings. After the readings, the mother said “now I understand so much more…all of these years of miscommunication and I realize that we are just wired differently.” One of the “rules of thumb” is to be true to your type, learn to integrate your opposite (just a little) and strive to understand those who embody a different way of being. Hands offer such a safe, tangible way of talking about this, especially in close relationships. I just read what I see and talk about the possibilities.

Now, look at the hands of your friends, family….starting to see differences? It is a wonder why we are so different according to our hands. Your lines are like neuro-pathways from the brain. If I drew a creature based on the amount of information coming from the brain, the hands would be 7 times bigger than the rest of the body. Perhaps we can imagine that your fingerprints are the imprint from the “cosmic winds” which left behind these unique patterns – like a snow flake, no two are alike.

Life Purpose Hand Analysis is an innovative system that combines the ancient art of palmistry and the science of contemporary fingerprint research. Developed by Richard Unger, founder of the International Institute of Hand Analysis (IIHA), www.handanalysis.net, to explain a person’s Soul Psychology through the marriage of life purpose expression and unique personality style.

Hand analysis helps redirect your energies and affirm your place on the planet. An intimate and dynamic relationship with your own sense of purpose is a true treasure – a renewable and constant source of energy. Your life purpose once embraced becomes infused in everything you do; it is who you are.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A native of Vermont, Janet lives in Alameda, California, has been reading hands fulltime for 7 years and is on the faculty of the IIHA. She travels to Burlington and Stowe for private readings, Hand Reading Circles, free presentations and the Hand Analysis Intensive Course in October. Contact her at www.handtales.com or call 510-865-8551.