There is so much power in vulnerability. I'm not talking about the erratic and intrusive kind where you pour yourself onto a stranger's lap. I'm talking about the real type of vulnerable. The gut strangling, soul-quaking, knee-shaking kind that risks sharing your voice, your ideas, and your compassion without the promise of gratification.

A person who is powerfully vulnerable can fully empathize with another's pain but walk away without wearing their burden. They can observe the world through their heart centers and see the good inside someone even if that person is not living in a good way. They can be strong through bites and barks and scratches and snarls and still continue to care with sincerity.

Those who are powerfully vulnerable are often quiet by choice. They don't saturate others with their problems and will find creative ways to transmute their experiences, inspiring and uplifting their communities in a positive way.
They know how to say goodbye when it's called for, even if it hurts, especially if it hurts, only to turn around and welcome in another with an unreserved tenderness.

When powerfully vulnerable people help another, they won't linger for you to attach to but breeze into your life like a warm chinook on a frigid day, reviving your spirit with encouragement to hang on, that spring is near.

Vulnerability is an integral part of our soul's expression. It is our common power. I imagine it to be like a golden thread strung through the blueprint of every soul, connecting us to one another like a chain of paper dolls—fragile, but infinitely capable canvases. We are all the same on the inside, seeking a community where we can be accepted and show our true selves. We turn to our neighbors for acceptance while our neighbors look to us for theirs. Each of us bound and unmoving, afraid to be the one to show our humanness first.

This is especially true for those of us who were raised in the West. We no longer have the teachings or ceremonies in place that helps us mature from being passionately vulnerable to becoming powerfully vulnerable. We're not told there's a difference between the two. I have spent most my life in a state of passion. Fueled by my desire to serve, I let it get me to where I thought I needed to be, but passion has a way of taking over, spreading like a wildfire over discernment. It would engulf my intuition and my experiences; inviting anything in, good or bad, just as long as I had something to feel.

I was that person without social boundaries.
I wore other people's pain like a sweater.
I listened, I understood, then I judged.
I recoiled.
I clung.
I held back.
I made excuses for people who really didn't deserve them, all while giving myself none.
I didn't mean to do any of these things, of course, because my heart just wanted to do good things and my intent was just to be a good person, but passion is blinding. A thoughtless heart-rush. My passion to be vulnerable kept me locked in a pattern of over-giving and over-sharing for over thirty years and I cannot recall one friendship or lesson that didn't leave a mark on my heart because of it. At my core, I was honoring one of the most intrinsic parts of my being, only I was doing it in a very uncontrolled way. I was being vulnerable from a vulnerable place instead of offering my vulnerability from a powerful one.

A beautiful string of paper dolls are we,
held together in a line.
Our colors faded,
our paper, old
our arms are crossed
but hearts strung with gold.

-Jamie Homeister

We all wish for Power.
The Power of voice,
to express
to love fully and live freely.

We wish for Power to engage,
to inspire
to say yes or no;
to persevere.

We ask for the Power to dream,
to sustain
to conquer.
To lead ourselves to victory.

We are all born in our Power. It's the flame in our lantern that houses our soul, lighting the way for us to live in our most true expression— the reason why we’re here, helping us do what we came here to do.

A flame that burns too strong will overpower and overrule. Like a wildfire raging in the strength of summer, a hunger for Power will engulf everything in its path without concern and without remorse. Yet a flame that burns too low tricks us into submission in life's challenges. The further we cater to our indecision the more we become blind to the light of choice. 

I lived in this shadow for a very long time. I tried to stay warm in the glow of everyone else's light thinking that I had none of my own. The Universe, she may be fierce, but she is an ally. She saw through my struggle and give me the opportunities to correct this false story I was living. I had to learn what Power was by first experiencing all the things it wasn't.

Our families, our communities, and our circumstances may influence the strength of the glass that houses our Power's flame, but we are its fire keepers. Getting serious about my Power meant becoming responsible for everything that I was allowing to happen and everything that I wasn't. It meant redefining outdated concepts and taking action to make the changes I needed to live in a new way. I had to stop being afraid to challenge what my real opponent was here—myself. How was I getting in the way of my new story?
 
Some questions I asked myself:
Is this perception keeping me small or making my voice too loud?
Am I overextending myself or belittling others to compensate for an insecurity?
Am I feeling disapproved of or empowered by my reaction?
How do I wish I could handle this? With added grace or ferocity?
What would I need to change next time so I can (re)act in the way I think would be better serving for all?

May your own inner guidance shine the way.
-Jamie Homeister

You are the result of the love of thousands who came before you. A beautiful thread, woven into a tapestry of ancestry rich with experience. The names of our great grandmothers and grandfathers may have been forgotten long ago, but their successes and trials are awakened within us, reborn in our hearts and carried upon the ripples of our first roar.

Our talents are not random—they are inherited. We are offered a tremendous privilege to choose which of these to foster and which to blanket. Some consider it to be one of the greatest atrocities to humanity when we decide to contribute nothing at all. But just as these talents enrich our cells, so do the remembrance of centuries spent in poverty, in sickness, and in war. Knowing what lessons are ours to live and what energies we may be just living through can create a vast difference in our quality of life. Each of us carries the opportunity to expand upon the lessons of our ancestors that walked before us.

It might be helpful to compare our ancestry to the growth rings of an old Oak tree. Starting at its core would be the record of our very first ancestor, the Cro-Magnon, and each subsequent ring thereafter would be representative of another life lived. Rings spaced far apart would indicate a soul who experienced tremendous spiritual growth, whereas lines placed close together would denote a life with very little evolution. Even though these growth cycles are considered separate, how each life is rendered affects the health of the tree overall. It is in this way we can see that our actions do not affect just us, but all the descendants that are yet to come.

Ancestry healing can be very complex. It takes a lot of faith in Spirit and in the Shamanic practitioner to trace current energies back into centuries of unresolved, and often undocumented, struggles that continue to manifest in present day lives. Addictions, abuse, abandonment and dis-ease, many of these are cruxes we come into this life already pinned to our bodies. While at times this may seem unfair, this is just part of the responsibility of the spiritual adult: to address and correct the energetic triggers and patterns that cause conflict, resistance, and disharmony.

This is the energy we can expect not only in this week but the next three to come. If you find yourself speaking or being asked these words, "Why is this happening again?" consider it a cue from Spirit that you might be living a ripple effect of the growth ring. You can begin to work on healing these instances yourself by acknowledging that a pattern is happening. Next, consider the source of the ripple. Is this something you began in your life, or can you trace it to a parent or a grandparent? There may not always be an obvious answer to this, so you might have to trust your gut.

Ask yourself, what it would require of you to get different results?
This is where we shift out of the blame game and take responsibility for our futures. Sometimes taking different actions requires extraordinary amounts of courage, but in many instances, it is this type of courage that is required to change the way you live. What type of imprint do you want to leave on your ancestral tree? A big ring or little ring? The choice is yours.

-Jamie Homeister

The most difficult part of navigating through human nature is that we live with no promises, not even the assurance of time. The gift of life can quickly ebb way to the continuing challenges that arise and can feel especially caustic with those who already struggle with identity and purpose.

Choices made are what is. It does us no good to ruminate on the past or wish these moments away. For in all the positive and negative that we manifest in our lives, the only true power we hold is the power that exists at this moment. How will you choose to harness it? Through the wistful tears of what could have been, or by listening for our whispers to inspire discovery of what can be?

Sometimes the only thing that holds us back is our unwillingness to acknowledge that we choose to live our unhealed wounds over and over again. When a no should have been a yes, a walk was meant to be ran, or our silence broken with strength.

Every day is a new opportunity for redemption, earned not only through bravery in action and thoughtful reaction but by taking advantage of these vintage-inspired circumstances that arise to help us set our records straight.

We can find ourselves spinning out of control on emotions running wild, Still your heart, body, and mind, even if it's just for a moment. As the hamster wheel stops, the wind breaks and the light can shine bright enough to allow your helpers to find their way in. We're quick to forget that the light isn't brought in from the outside, but rather, we light the outside world from within.

Jamie Homeister