Taking the time to LISTEN

I've received comments from may people about the fact that I have been out of touch with the cyber world for far too long now. I live in the Amazon jungle, surrounded by amazing shamanic teachers and healers of the Shipibo community who have given me so many tremendous life lessons on how to heal and reconnect to our true selves. Every day offers me a new opportunity to learn from these amazing beings, from the plants and animals of the jungle, and from myself.
Working as a life coach, a mediator, and a facilitator of healing workshops, I had always thought of myself as a "good listener". However this time that I am spending in the jungle, living removed from the input (and often distractions) of the modern world and all of its chaos,has been a whole new level, a doctorate course in the art of listening. My job is about listening, to the stories of those who come seeking transformation, healing and growth, and to these healers, and the wisdom that they have to share from living in deep connection to the plants and the earth the likes of which many of us have never known. This lifestyle of listening has taught me infinitely on how to listen to my own guidance as well, to go inward and connect with my intuition. I still have many questions, the difference is that I used to always seek the answers outside of myself. I find that when I give myself the time and space to listen, that all sorts of insights and awareness will naturally arise. When I sit with a question, the answer always arises in the most interesting and unexpected ways. I find this to be true with most people that I meet and work with. So often we are desperately searching for the answer, for something that we are seeking in our lives and look around in the world, everywhere we can possibly find, for a solution that we already KNOW inside of ourselves. Often, I find, an answer may be so obvious that we can tend to overlook it, like the scenery that we pass by every day and fail to notice that it's there.

I have been living in this way of listening and reflecting for a while now, and I feel strongly that these lessons I am learning need to be shared with the world. There are many people who do not have the opportunity that I have been given to spend time in deep relationship to nature, surrounded by these powerful teachers who offer wisdom and profound "knowingness" in the most simple ways of their being. In this moment, when the world seems to be taking on a more and more frenetic pace every day, we find less and less time to do exactly what is most needed. Giving yourself the gift of learning how to slow down precisely when it feels that you need to speed up, can offer invaluable rewards.

I will be taking the time over these next several weeks to share in my blog some of the insights that I have come upon in the time that I am spending in the jungle with these shamans. I will also share some photos and hilarious stories of life in the jungle. I hope that these stories and insights are of use to you or someone that you know.