The soul is light, the mind is light and the body is light – light of different grades; it is this relation which connects man with the planets and stars.
            –Hazrat Inayat Khan
 
Our mind closes doors. Our heart opens doors.
–Amy Johnson
 
Think of the old axiom, “I think, therefor I am.” It’s not true. We existed before we thought…..It would be much more true to say that “I feel, therefor I am.”
            –Gabor Maté


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


I want to enjoy my life.  And I don’t want to wait until I get to the stuff my mind says are “the good parts.”  I want to enjoy all of it.  I want to enjoy this whole thing about being alive as a human. To somehow let in even the most excruciatingly uncomfortable times when my mind and body are squirming to try and make it all stop.  It’s a literally awesome thing to be able to feel the incredible range of experiences we get to have as humans.  It’s wild and unpredictable: the moods, energies, feelings, thoughts and sensations that flow through us in a single day. It’s an unstoppable river of being alive.

But we try to stop it all the time.  We try to shut it out. I just took a great little course with Amy Johnson about leaning into and saying yes to whatever shows up in that river of aliveness.  It was about opening up to the possibility that whatever is arising in any given moment is just energy. It’s not good or bad. It’s just various shades of energy rolling through.  We can lean into all of it and even consider that no feeling is ever a problem.  As Amy said, no one ever died from a feeling.  Her class explored and articulated really well and the whole idea is pretty much what the foundation of my work with people – and with myself.

I want to lean in to all of it.  To welcome, say yes, try to keep my heart open and curious to every drop of experience.  To every expression of energy.  Because leaning in to every moment that I can means that I am leaning into Life Itself. In a weird way, I think it’s possible to enjoy even those extremely uncomfortable moments.  And I want to enjoy every shade of every moment of that mysterious river of light, energy and LIFE!!!

It is a mystery that we can never know with our heads. But we can feel into it.

Hugging every moment in me, hugging every moment in you and hoping you are too.
So much love and enjoyment,
Christina

Winter Solstice

Stillness is necessary
while deep
invisible movements
prepare for the Spring.
Time to turn your vision inward
and let it drift
and rest
in the starry void of
Infinite Possibilities.

The image and writing is from my Comfort Coloring Book

Letter From Chris

Hi beautiful person. Thank you for reading this.

What I really want to say in this moment is that I love you.  It’s winter solstice and there are so many things I could write that I think might be beautiful or helpful.  But really, I just want to say I love you. 

I love you.  I really, really love you.  Each of you. And YOU, specifically, reading this.  You may have no idea how wonderful my life is because our hearts are connected.  I hope you do know, though. I hope you can feel how meaningful it is when you share with me.  You share your pain, confusion, grief and terrifying thoughts and feelings. Sometimes in the same breath you also share your moments of profound revelations. Or you share something about the strength you are finding in yourself or seeing in someone else. You share your triumphant, human experiences, your joys, how you were brought to your knees by beauty or love or understanding something new.  We laugh and we cry together because we are moved by what you are experiencing – the whole spectrum.  The whole spectrum of what it is like to be alive and human. 

We share our humanity – all of it.  I feel a lump in my throat and chest as I write this.  I am totally in awe of being alive with you and getting to see YOUR human journey. Every one of you is gorgeous to me in a way that is so much bigger than words can express.  My life is rich, connected and filled with possibilities because you share your perspectives.   Because you share your own, unique but universal wisdom with me.  I am so graced by this. Thank you. 

I wish I could hug you right now. I wish you could see my face and feel my heart.  I wish I could somehow express the enormity of this joy you bring me. I do this work because of you.  Well, I do the same work internally for me.  I do it because of our bravery, our willingness to look at things in a new way and because we are choosing to let ourselves out of boxes that we mistakenly put ourselves in. You help me get out of my own boxes. Because how could I not be helped when I hear your insights, feel your awe and love pouring out of you as you walk your life?  I do this work inside for me and with each of you in your journeys because to me it is maybe the most powerful, meaningful thing in life: to be able to share the human experience in an honest, heart connected way. I do this work for the sharing, for the heart connection. For being in life together.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.  My life is so tremendous, so soul-smilingly, radiantly gorgeous because you share with me.  Together we feel some kind of Larger Presence.  Love. Intelligence. And we have access to it so much more easily through our sharing of it. 
Thank you. That is what I want to say today. Thank you and I love you so much.  I would not be the same without you. My life would not be so alive, so sublime without you.  And it is sublime, awe-inspiring, graced, deeply pleasurable, even as it co-exists with my own challenges and mundane, day-to-day human stuff. But maybe that is my point. All of the rough stuff is exquisite too.  I see how beautiful it is in you, which helps me see it in me.

Thank you. I love you.  I hope you are celebrating this time of year, whatever it means to you. I hope you are celebrating your own sublime life, because it is so clear to me that it is. With all its struggles and triumphs, daily ordinary beauty and profound moments of earth shaking AHA’s!: your life is sublime.  It’s so clear to me that you are too.  I always, always hope you are coming to celebrate yourself and be in awe more.  I hope you can see some of what I see – that everything that you specifically experience is so wildly worthy, beautiful and rich, rich, rich.   

I’m celebrating today. I’m celebrating my divine, sublime life and I’m celebrating you. Thank you for all you bring to my life, for all you live and for all the ways your living and loving makes everyone’s lives better. I really, really mean that. I love you.

Heart connected and shining with you,
Chris

You are breaking new ground,

Softly,

Like a seed breaks its shell,

Like a tender shoot of green breaks through,

And crumbles, moves aside a bit of earth

Making its way up…

You are breaking new ground

Like winter breaks into spring –

Maybe imperceptibly but undeniably.

The mind plays tricks,

Says you’ll always be standing still.

Standing in the dark, it says everything’s the same

Because it forgets that stillness and darkness are part of the movement.

There is only ever change in the Eternal Rhythm.

There is only ever life.

You are breaking new ground

Like sunrise slowly breaks the horizon

And brings new light, new light to let us see clearly again.

To Have and To Hold

There you are, my sweet body!  Hello, my
Own. My cherished partner, my
Home. Hand in hand, we
Adventure.  Thank you, my
Vessel and vitality. I
Embrace you with all my heart.  I take you into my
Arms of Loving Awareness. I see you. I see us in all our innocent, powerful
Nature. Miraculous
DNA, this once-only creation. And
This too, this
Once-only
Human spirit that I am. Together,
Ours, this incomparable way of being in the world. Our
Life, to have and to hold, with so much love. Oh, my life, my love, let’s hold each other and
Dance at this Divine Celebration that we are

~~~~~~~~~

Loving and celebrating all of you and all your one-of-a-kind dances!
Chris

Cramming never gets me more.  For example, cramming more food never fills me up. It only makes me panicked.  Panicked for “the more.”  I’m not even aware of this bite, since I am so focused on “the more.” Focused on the next bite.  Cramming amps up and adds to my feeling of hunger on all levels – physical, mental, emotional…. Cramming seems to come from panic, perpetuates panic and keeps the feeling of emptiness going.

When I rush around in my days, fitting one more chore or one more errand into that five-minute gap, that feels like panic too. It’s really the same exact feeling as a binge, or that wild-eyed, on-line shopping spree. It feels like an out-of-control frenzy for….. For what?  For more, more….. more, something. It gives me the niggling, nervous feeling in my body of some vague pressure. The feeling maybe of not enough time, not enough accomplishment, not enough whatever.

What is it?  What is the desperate, wild need to get…. To fill up a sense of missing out? To sooth that vague, uncomfortable sense of lack. What have I lost? Lost touch with? Disconnected from?  What is it that is driving me?  What is that sense of not okay, not enough…?

The doing more, cramming more in, buying more, one more bite, one more YouTube video doesn’t fill it in but covers it up.  Covers me up. 

Sometimes I can remember to let there be space. To pause. To take a breath and actually question the weird pressure, panic and oh-my-god-make-it-stop discomfort and tension my body is screaming at me.  

When I do, it always amazes me that it actually doesn’t take long before I can feel myself again. I come back to my senses, come back to the moment, my mind and my body calm down. Noticeably, palpably.  There is a slower pace and room around me instead of the squeezing, vague anxiety and pressure.  Somehow, gently there it is: I feel the richness of this raw, sweet, wild and peaceful moment of being alive.  It is quietly waiting in the stillness, the open space of a pause.

Let there be space.

When I let there be space, my honest, simple connection to Life Itself is just, well, present. It’s just there, waiting in the wings for me.  Then it becomes obvious that all of the things I did to try to get connected to life aren’t necessary anymore.  All the things I did to try to connect to wellbeing are clearly seen as substitutes for the Wellbeing Itself. 

I don’t need to rush around in hyper-drive, bingeing on action or things, consuming anything and everything to try to get okay, doing crazy behaviors that never satisfy.  I don’t have to cram my mouth, my schedule, my moments, my mind with all kinds of food, noise, doing, information from one more book or podcast or…..  I can let there be space to see and feel.  The clarity and the connection show up. Suddenly I am aware of the true security and the contentment that this moment is.  This moment is the fullness. It is not an empty stepping stone to the next moment where my mind says everything is promised.

“You can never get enough of what you don’t need, because what you don’t need won’t satisfy you.” — Dallin H. Oaks

Most of the time, when it comes down to it, we really don’t need more.  It’s working for me to pause and let myself become aware again of the truth and wisdom and insight all around me, always. 

Let there be space, and let it fill us up with the beauty of what we already are, and the full, connected enoughness of what already is

Hello and Yay!  This class just popped into my head in the wee hours of the morning a couple days ago.  Seemed like a nudge from The Big Loving All.  So I’m following the energy and seeing if you would like to come look in a new way at food, your patterns and Who You Are

People are showing up lately who would really love some relief from their usual head trip about food.  Me too, for sure.  What I am finding absolutely most helpful is to look in a new direction. To look at who I am besides this food thing. To understand where this “food thing” comes from, to understand how to be with it and to start looking toward the Vaster, Deeper Christina.  We get used to staring at the same story so hard that nothing else seems to exist. But that doesn’t make it true.  It just makes it what we’re used to.

I am the whole FOREST of being, not only ever just one single blade of grass.  I’m exploring toward the power and being-ness of that forest, rather than mistake myself as only one tiny part of it. The Forest, in its loving entirety, holds all those elements within its spirit but is never only one element.  I hope you’ll come see how this gives me – gives us  – so much more freedom and relief than we may have been experiencing lately. Whether that be around food or anything else we’re struggling with.

I am smiling and quietly feeling how much I love and appreciate being in connection with you all. I hope you feel it too.  
Heart connected with you,
~~~~~~~
CB

CREDIT: GETTY IMAGES / D3SIGN

(CREDIT: GETTY IMAGES / D3SIGN)

Class: Waking UP From Your (Food) Patterns!
Sunday, October 16th, 10:00am – 12 Noon, $25.00. One week from today!
To register, go to my store page, choose donations and classes fees, enter $25.00 and I’ll send you a zoom link for the class.
https://christinabrittain.com/store/

Is your struggle with food driving you bananas?! So many of us have a story we feel caught up in. We may feel helpless to repetitive thoughts and behaviors. No matter how long you’ve felt stuck, it’s not permanent and there is relief! Join us to see it differently, find ease and a enjoy a much lighter, friendlier way to relate to food, your body and LIFE itself!

Whether you binge, starve, restrict, obsess, are afraid of food, can’t get enough of food, use food for comfort, use hunger for control, eat junk and want to eat healthy, aren’t listening to your body, eat what’s convenient instead of what you want, can’t find a rhythm…. Whatever it is, our patterns may look different, but there are universal reasons why we get confused about food.

This workshop will focus on food-related patterns, but will shed huge light on ALL the repetitive stories and struggles in your life. What we will cover will benefit ANYONE stuck in a loop! In this 2 hour workshop, we’ll explore:

1. Why you get stuck in your food pattern.
2. What is the essential misunderstanding that it stands on?
3. Why Willpower and Trying the same strategy HARDER doesn’t work.
4. How to wake up from your patterns.

There will also be:
5. Ample opportunity for individual coaching about your specific challenges.
6. Guided meditation at the end to help anchor and integrate the information and insights in this workshop.

If you can’t attend the zoom meeting live, no worries! Everyone who registers/pays for this course will be sent a private YouTube link so that you may watch the recording at any time! Access to the video will also let you use the meditation as many times as you like so that you can re-ground and stay connected to the relief and freedom of the class.

You are MORE than your obsessive focus and repetitive thoughts! We’ll help pop you out of that world for awhile so you can see SO much more option and freedom than you realized was there!

IMPORTANT:

To register: please navigate to my store, choose donations and class fees, then enter $25.00 for this class. One I receive your payment I will email you a zoom link to join us on October 16th at 10:00am! https://christinabrittain.com/store/

By signing up for this workshop you are granting permission to be recorded, you understand that this recording will be made available to you for future viewing via a private YouTube link and that Christina Brittain may use, distribute and sell this recording in part or in full to others who may find this recording helpful in their own lives.


It’s fall. You might be noticing some old things fall away.  That can be uncomfortable. Sometimes it feels excruciatingly uncomfortable!  CHANGE can be uncomfortable. There is, well, always, some uncomfortable change happening in the world. Right now seems extra. Some of the shift that we’re doing individually is pretty dang uncomfortable too. I feel it in my life, and I’m hearing about it from clients and friends. Sometimes that feels like nostalgia or wishing that things could go back to the way they were or just a general desire for comfort. For safety. For something ELSE to be happening besides what is actually happening right now!
 
I think what eases me is the knowing that change has to happen. Life Itself keeps growing, expanding and moving. That’s the natural, dependable way of it. Water finds a way.  Love finds a way. Beauty finds a way. Growth finds a way. To us, from our limited perspective, sometimes that growth feels like things are off-kilter. Like things are bad, wrong, shouldn’t be happening. But to Life, it’s necessary shift.  It’s natural.
 
WE are life.  YOU are life.  What is happening is for you. As Byron Katie says: Life is happening for you, not to you.  Could we see everything that is happening as a gift from Life?  What if we could embrace and welcome it? For me, even considering that changes my experience of it. 
 
It makes sense to me that I am part of life, not separate. And it makes sense that LIFE is going to change in ways that are necessary even though I might not understand it.
 
So would it help us to maybe relax into the river of shift?  Maybe relax and let the timing take care of itself?  Maybe we can stay open and wonder about what this thought, event, feeling or circumstance might be paving the way for. 

Maybe we can be tender, loving and even appreciative with ourselves as we walk through change.  We’ve been through a lot. And we’re doing incredibly well as we experience those sometimes sudden and other times slow fires of transformation.
 
Take a minute.  This is extraordinary. All the newness that has arrived from previous change is extraordinary. WE are extraordinary.
 
Want to celebrate with me? We can celebrate even as we might be crying.  We can celebrate the fullness together even as things fall away.  And what about even celebrating the falling away itself?
 
I’m sending some gentle love and blessings to you all this fall. In this time of change, our hearts are connected and I really feel that we are always held by Whatever It Is that changes everything.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
So much love,
CB

Straight to The Aha! Feeling!
 
The part that matters about any Aha! moment is the FEELING of it. That feeling of bursting through, of breaking out of some box, of suddenly coming up to the surface and having so much more air and light and freedom! We see it differently and it becomes clear how we’ve been holding ourselves in, constraining ourselves unnecessarily. Things make more sense and everything seems more possible. The world – and LIFE! – opens up. We breathe. We relax. We laugh! Such joy, surprise and YES in those moments!
 
When it comes down to it, the specific realizations and insights don’t matter at all. They are just the current doorway through which our expansion came. Expansion, or reconnection, with what is always here around us – the vast field of everything that is Aha!
 
Usually we can’t even remember the specifics of our insights.  They get integrated into who we are and they aren’t important.  But the feeling – THAT we definitely remember.
 
Don’t worry about cataloging your insights.  Let that doorway idea go. The FEELING of Aha! is always there.  Maybe we can just slip on in, anytime we want, without needing any kind of insight at all. 
 
I’m smiling as I type this. I’m feeling the big YES of Aha! right now!
 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Here with you in the Aha! of Life and loving you!
CB

No one thing is going to be “THE” thing you’ve been looking for.  YOU are a process.  So what you are looking for, needing, resonating with and what is actually helpful to you in this moment will always be different.  You are changing, so what resonates will change too. 

No book, guru, podcast, way of eating, philosophy can ever encapsulate the whole “Truth.”  It can only be one LENSE on the infinite, unknowable Truth. 

BUT we can feel the Truth.  Our beautiful, reverberating bodies can tell us what direction feels open, non-resistant and in general seems to move with a naturalness.  And our bodies can tell us what makes us feel like we want to contract, draw back or what feels forced and just not like something that fits or feels right. 

We are equipped with this amazing resonance system.  It tells us when we are moving with the way things naturally move, and when we aren’t.

If you are looking for the one thing that will finally give you the answer so you can relax and live your life, you’re it.  YOU’RE the “it.” Inside you, that inner navigation system will answer every moment with an accurate resonance. Your mind is busy assessing and gets confused. But your body tells you what is right for you in that moment. 

As I heard a dear person say recently, “It’s not about what’s right. It’s about what’s right for me right now.”

Let all the options be available to nourish the process of you in this moment, rather than trying to make the ever-evolving YOU fit into one tiny perspective of The Infinite Creative Flow of Everything.

You’re it! So what’s right for your “IT” right now?

Amy Johnson and I had a great conversation about energy!  I’d love to share it with you!  Listen on Amy’s website, where you can sign up to listen on Stitcher, GooglePlay, iTunes, ApplePodcast, etc:

Listen on Amy’s Website

Or go directly to the applepodcast link here:

Changeable on Apple Podcast

Since the day I met Amy I came across Amy and her work I’ve been so moved, impressed and helped by how she IS in the world.  

Amy is so devoted to being curious, to continuously looking and expanding her own world.  But she also shares what she discovers in such a friendly, generous and accessible way.  I think her own growth and her sharing are just naturally who she is. 

I think she’s special and I hope you’ll check out the podcast and her work in general. 

And lots of love and appreciation to YOU all.  For allowing me to share with you and for the fact of our togetherness in Life.

Big breath in and out, 
Chris