It's the season of guilty pleasures: the Golden Globes, the DGA awards, the SAG awards and the mothership of all award shows -- the Oscars. It gives us all something to watch and read about aside from the news of Charlie Sheen and porn stars. Do you imagine wearing fabulous gowns by Carolina Herrera, Azzaro, Alexander McQueen, Oscar de la Renta, Alberta Ferretti -- the names alone trip off the tongue glamorously -- dripping in millions of dollars worth of Tiffany diamonds, standing before the cheering crowd thanking everyone you've ever known who made you what you are today?
Instead, how about picturing yourself receiving an award for Best Supporting Partner, or Best Multi-Tasker? How about a hearty round of applause for Best Effort or Being the Best You? It's really time to give yourself a solid pat on the back (although a solid gold statuette would look great on the mantelpiece) for doing the hard inner work of personal transformation. But isn't that what we all really want: not diamonds, but diamond-like clarity. Not Herrera, but health. Not Colin Firth in a tux, but a loving relationship.
Even Charlie Sheen is just trying to heal himself on some level.
And you can heal and transform yourself too. You're a natural born healer, even if you've temporarily lost connection with those talents. You can reawaken those innate abilities and heal whatever ails you on the physical, mental, emotional, or spiritual planes. Pretty soon, you'll be able to help others too.
The tools that get you started on the journey to becoming your own shaman may seem simple, but they are very effective for expanding your consciousness and developing self-knowledge--all of which lead to the ultimate goal of self-mastery. These include practices like meditation, journaling, and reconciliation exercises that free you of guilt and self-blame and release the need for revenge.
As I say in my new book, Be Your Own Shaman, "Most of all, shamans are people from any background who have done the requisite work to heal themselves -- clearing away blocked and stagnant energy, releasing past traumas, connecting with guides in the spiritual realms, and listening deep within so that they are aligned to fulfill their potential and pursue their highest life purpose."
In my mid-twenties, before I received the diagnosis of cancer that changed my life and put me on the path of becoming a healer, I was a hard-charging lawyer, a pill-popping alcoholic, chain smoker, extreme dieter and sexually promiscuous. I changed all that and you can too.
Charlie, are you listening? I'd love to see you get an award for Best Personal Transformation!