Why You Shouldn't Forget The Past

Years ago, a shaman told me something that forever changed the way I looked at my past and really my whole life.

I had gone to an Amazonian plant medicine ceremony as a way of releasing and transforming trauma. 

After years of talk and other kinds of therapies, the painful past was still very much alive and well in me. 

In my discomfort and desperation, all I wanted was to be free, once and for all, of the burdens of the past that kept me chained in place, unable to move forward in my life. 

If I could have mercilessly cut the past off like an overgrown fungus that ruined the garden of my present day reality, that’s exactly what I would have done.

But then, a dark haired, brown-eyed medicine woman who had spent years deep in the jungle learning to listen to its wisdom shared with me something that still brings me chills whenever I think about it:

“Rather than wanting to cut the past off,” she suggested, “think of the past as your medicine. That it is the sacred medicine that you can offer to other living beings -  your precious and sacred gift, your unique contribution to the healing of yourself and the world. Turned outward, in the service of others, it is your gold.”

Listening to these words, I could feel every cell in my body light up, as if being charged with an electrical current that connected everything from the depth of my bellybutton to the outermost stars in the cosmos. I could see that I was part of what Buddhist’s call the web of kindness that connects all of life and that, rather than being something to be surgically removed with a sharp knife, my past was actually the most precious gift I had to offer the world. 

I thought of this story recently when a woman in my group coaching program mentioned how angry and frustrated she was with the uncaring response to the covid crisis among her friends and close family. How what was being revealed in this particular apocalypse (and remember the Greek word means “uncovering”) wasn’t love and light, but rather a marked difference in values that had long been papered over merely for the sake of getting along.

I could really relate to playing the role of the peacekeeper and not wanting to rock the boat lest other people be uncomfortable.

Like her I, too, have spent far too much of my life wanting other people and society to change, rather than risking the courage of offering my own medicine as a balm for the wounds of others. 

Today I can look back on the times I lacked the courage to challenge injustice and said nothing with deep compassion. It’s one of many ways I continue to mine the gold from the past, and encourage my psychedelic integration clients to do the same. 

I also know that the greatest medicine I can offer the world is that of my own past. 

I cannot cut it off, for that would be like a tree cutting itself off from its roots. 


But I can trust that, in the healing light of presence and compassion, it is the most sacred medicine that I, and perhaps any of us, have to offer for the healing of the world. 

July Community Support Call

Join me for a FREE Community Support Call on Friday, July 31st from 10 - 11:30 am.

This is for anyone who is looking for tools and practices to deal with stress, anxiety and trauma in these unprecedented times in a supportive community setting.

My intention is to support us in connecting with ourselves and others as we navigate the uncertainty of this moment.

There will be a community check in, practices that may include meditation, gentle chair-based yoga for all bodies, somatic ways of releasing stress, tension and anxiety in real time, plus sharing and Q and A.

The call is FREE to join, but you must REGISTER HERE to attend.

June Community Support Call

Join me for a FREE Community Support Call on Tuesday, June 30th from 10 - 11:30 am.

This is for anyone who is looking for tools and practices to deal with stress, anxiety and trauma in these unprecedented times in a supportive community setting.

My intention is to support us in connecting with ourselves and others as we navigate the uncertainty of this moment.

There will be a community check in, practices that may include meditation, gentle chair-based yoga for all bodies, somatic ways of releasing stress, tension and anxiety in real time, plus sharing and Q and A.

The call is free to join, but you must REGISTER HERE to reserve your spot.

3 Reasons Why Your Intentions Aren't Materializing (and What To Do Instead)

Setting intentions is a must for anyone wanting to create true and lasting change in their lives.

But how we set our intentions can make all the difference.

Here are three major reasons why perhaps your intentions aren’t materializing the way you’d like and what you might consider trying instead.

  1. Your intention is ego-based.

Ok. Listen up dear ones. I know the art of manifesting and The Secret are a deep part of our consciousness today. Because when we do get really clear on what we want, it oftentimes has a way of happening. 

But things get tricky when the ego is running the show. 

This is when you have an intention of winning an Academy Award so you can prove to all the kids who made fun of you in high school how cool you are now. Or when you want to write a screenplay or a novel so you can get invited onto Super Soul Sunday. Or when you want to do a TEDTalk to prove to your ex what a mistake he made.

Now there’s nothing wrong with wanting to win an Oscar per se. 

The problem is that if you’re looking to get it to prop up your ego —  the fear-based, scarcity-driven, attention-seeking part we all have —  even if your intentions do start to manifest, they most likely aren’t going to give you wanted (or not for very long anyway). 

I mean, think about how many times you have gone on a diet thinking, “If only I could only lose 5 pounds” and then you did it and still had to face dirty laundry, a challenging relationship with your teenager and headlines proclaiming unprecedented levels of inequality and the climate crisis?

A better way to set intentions is a two-part process that you can try on for size:

  1. What do I really want to create in my life and how it will benefit me?

  2. What do I really want to create in my life and how it will benefit others?

Did you get that? 

If you are looking to master resilience to stress, anxiety and trauma and have a more meaningful impact in the world, you must bring that world into each of your intentions. Otherwise even if you get what you intended, you still won’t feel connected, inspired and be on a sustainable trajectory. 

It’s lonely having a big ego, to be honest. 

Sure you might dream of your TED Talk, but maybe what you really want is to know you matter on a deeper level. 

To know that your presence, exactly as you are in this moment, is important.
To know that you are seen.

To know that your life has value and worth even if you do absolutely nothing. Because you have worth exactly as you are.

So you still might want to lose 5 pounds or get out of a highly lucrative but toxic work environment or feel more confident when you’re asked to be interviewed for one of your favorite magazines, but you do it by reflecting on how you might have more energy to play with your kids, spend more time with your aging parents or how you can be a role model and pave the way for other women in your highly-male dominated field. 

That energy changes everything.

So give adding others to your intentions a shot and see what happens. 

2. You aren’t in proximity to resources. 


At the outset, let me say straight up that I believe all human beings are naturally creative, resourceful and whole. We have infinite creativity and can manifest the most incredible things. 

There is no limit to the expansion of the human soul. 

And we also need to talk straight up about resources.

So often I see folks on a spiritual or personal development path being told that they can manifest anything they put their minds to. 

I’m calling bullshit. 

This is not only untrue. It’s harmful.

As someone raised in a working poor family who has experienced homelessness, I can tell you I had plenty of hopes, dreams and intentions as a kid. My folks just didn’t have the resources for me to do many of the things other kids did and took for granted.

I was deeply grateful when Hala Khouri, one of the founders of the global non-profit Off the Mat, Into the World, a friend and mentor shared some thoughts with me on this.

If you’re a single mother with a hundred of thousands of dollars of unpaid student loans and someone is telling you that if you just use the right mantra, chant the right number of oms or do 108 sun salutations every day, you’ll have financial abundance and all your dreams will come true, run don’t walk to the nearest exit. 

This kind of spiritual bypass is toxic, harmful and, unfortunately, extremely common. 


The solution, as I see it, especially if you are in a position of authority - like teachers, doctors, coaches, counselors, therapists, etc - is to be extremely mindful of vague platitudes about intention setting. 

As income inequality in the US skyrockets, issues related to the fair and equitable access to resources of all human beings are entering more and more conversations. If you’re in any kind of leadership role in particular, it’s especially important to be mindful that we can’t all manifest our intentions, not because we as individuals are flawed, less than or not trying hard enough, but simply because we don’t all have the same access to emotional, physical, financial and spiritual resources in the systems we are in.

This should seem obvious, but it’s often not.

In other words, if your intentions aren’t manifesting as quickly as you’d like, perhaps you need to cut yourself some slack, take a look at the resources you do have, and see how you might leverage those more skillfully. Maybe that means setting up a mutually beneficial and equitable barter exchange with another creative, exchanging dog-walking with your tech savvy neighbor or reaching out to family and friends with specific, clear and actionable ways they can support you. 

3. You aren’t taking action.

By now you’ve heard the story of how Jim Carrey once wrote a check for a million dollars when he was just starting out, put it into his wallet and then ended up becoming a millionaire many times over. 

Yes, he had an intention.

Yes, he wrote it down (a good thing).

Yes, he looked at it frequently (an even better thing).

But you know what else Jim did?

He took action! Massive, aligned action.

That’s right. He got out there, went on gazillions of auditions, showed up for gigs that others might have shunned and got busy. 

So often I see folks get into intention setting, create gorgeous vision boards, and then completely avoid or be paralyzed by taking action. 

(And I know this because I’ve done it, too!)

Now from the perspective of the chakras this makes sense. 

If you aren’t aware of what the chakras really are (and are frankly weirded out by them like I was for years) stay with me here. 

In very simple terms, the chakras are simply energy centers throughout the body. They are like the software programming that affects our bodies, emotions, self-esteem, relationships, creativity, intuition and spirituality. 

Most systems speak of 7 chakras that are each associated with physical organs and our emotional, physical and spiritual development. The lower chakras have to do with safety and security, the body, our sexuality, money and sense of self, while the upper chakras are more related to our sense of conscious connection, love, spirituality and union. 

(For more on this, see the fantastic book Seane Corn suggested to me called Eastern Body, Western Mind by Anodea Judith.)

Someone who loves to create intentions and vision boards but who doesn’t take any action may be someone who is highly intuitive and deeply spiritual (with developed 6th and 7th chakras) but may not have a strong enough ego-identity or sense of self in the 3rd chakra to make and keep her word to herself. 

If this is you, don’t freak out. 

It was me, too. And when I’m not fully practicing all of my practices, it’s a pattern I can still sometimes slip into. 

The solution though isn’t to give up on setting intentions, it’s on healing the 3rd chakra and cultivating the self-esteem necessary to be able to make and keep your commitments to yourself. 

The key to strengthening self-esteem is by taking risks and rising to the challenge. The single most effective way I’ve found this to happen? By keeping your word to yourself. 

For one person, it might be having a talk with your alcoholic husband about what you will no longer tolerate. For another, it might be taking a leap of faith and signing a lease for your own office after spending years at the kitchen table. For another, it might be simply admitting you need some help to get stuff done and have a life.

(Read this blog post if that’s you).

Whatever it is, we must take radical, consistent, aligned action to bring our intentions into fruition. This isn’t a one-and-done thing. It’s a way of being in the world that helps you create the life you were meant to in this life-time.

Moral of the story? 

If your intentions aren’t manifesting, it may be time to tweak them a little bit. Try these three tips and see what you can create.


Let us know in the comments below: Have you struggled with manifesting your intentions? Which of these 3 tips can you try to make your dreams come true?





LIVE EVENT: Tea with the Princess, a bomb and a change of heart.

The Storytellers Series, sponsored by the USA Today Network, is dedicated to the idea that oral storytelling and journalism have the same goals: serving, reflecting and connecting a community while fostering empathy among those people. These nights blend the authenticity and hype-free discipline of storytelling as an art form with the truthfulness, community-building and empowerment that's at the heart of great journalism.

I was deeply honored and delighted when The Desert Sun newspaper recently asked me to tell the backstory of why I am so passionate about helping women master resilience to stress, anxiety and trauma.

Highlights of the story filmed in the Coachella Valley that you won’t want to miss include:

  • How I ended up having tea with the Crown Princess (and the embarrassing thing I did afterwards).

  • The one thing I tell women who want to change the world they must change first.

  • Why I intentionally failed to walk in the shoes of the first female Secretary of State Madeline Albright.

  • How ignoring the advice of a highly successful man 30 years my senior was a game-changer.

  • Why being tough isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.

Click here to read the full story of the SOLD OUT event at The Desert Sun newspaper.