SHED OR PERISH

"He's lower than a snake's belly in a wagon rut."
"He's a snake in the grass."



I don't know if it's the Garden of Eden allegory or the slithery aspect of movement, but snakes have become the personification of evil for many of us.  Even the Harry Potter books advance the notion of snakes as being, well, snakes!


    Slytherin is one of the four Houses at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and is traditionally home to students who exhibit such traits as cunning, resourcefulness and ambition. Its emblematic animal is the snake.


In dream analysis through the world of animal spirit guides, snakes take on a surprisingly different meaning.  To dream of a snake can mean "You're about to go through some significant personal changes, so intense and dramatic that an old self will metaphorically die as a new self emerges."  Or "You'll experience a dramatic and unexpected physical or emotional healing very soon, coming from an unexpected source."  That doesn't sound so bad!  The book Animal Spirit Guides (the source of the above quotes) says to call on Snake when "You're going through a major life or developmental transition, one so powerful that it requires you to shed a lot of attachments, especially to your old identity."



Why Snakes Shed Their Skin

Basically, a snake will shed its skin to allow for continued growth. The skin of a snake is different from the skin of a mammal (including us) in that it does not grow as the animal grows. When we get bigger with age, our skin grows right along with us. But snake skin has a limited capacity for growth and enlargement. Thus, when a snake outgrows the skin it's in, it simply sheds the outer layer and starts fresh.

Read more: http://www.reptileknowledge.com/articles/article8.php#ixzz212HXIPEy



So if a snake couldn't shed it's skin, it would not have the normal capacity to grow and flourish.  It might die, just as a hermit crab will die, as it outgrows its shell, if it can't find a new, bigger, more suitable home for itself.  Interesting in the light of the symbolic meaning of Snake.




In an email I received last week, '...just watched a documentary called "Finding Joe" about Joseph Campbell's Hero's Journey and Follow Your Bliss. One quote I remember: "A snake who does not shed its skin has to perish." So what old stories are you holding onto that need to die so that you can start Living?'


What if we were to die if we continued to hold on to 'our story' as Bryon Katie calls our life details?  It is hard for many of us to imagine who we would be if we let go of some of the emotionally charged events of our life.  If you have lived as a victim,  do you know how to live without being one?  If you have based your relationships on the belief that you are unloveable, how do you relate to people if you jettison that thought pattern?  It can be terrifying to let go of the masks and personae we have created in order to survive our life details.  Who are we without them?


In many ways, when we hang onto an old belief system, a thought about ourselves and our place in the world, an idea that constricts our ability to live freely, in joy, with love, and peacefully within our own skin, we are like the snake that cannot shed its skin and perishes because it cannot.  


A little bit of us dies if we cannot shed "the old stories".
Isn't it better the "story" die so that we may live?

...WHEN IT'S ME

 Toxic relationships not only make us unhappy; they corrupt our attitudes and dispositions in ways that undermine healthier relationships and prevent us from realizing how much better things can be. — Michael Josephson

Several years ago, while I was still married, I made the decision that I could no longer go to my in-laws' home because being with my mother-in-law was a very poisonous experience for me.  This toxic relationship with her began even before I married her son.  I had no skills at twenty-one to deal with many of the issues that arose in that relationship, in my marriage.  I know that the resentment I grew to carry about this woman colored so many things in my life...mostly it created a toxic level in me that shaped a kind of person I didn't recognize as me anymore.

As I have studied with wise men and women in the past six years, I have learned many ways in which to deal with those I deem to be toxic in my life...surrounding myself with 'white light', using an affirmation of protection for my spiritual person when in their presence, 'blessing the divine' in them and in myself for harboring a distaste for that person, avoiding altogether.  Being able to protect myself from the toxic energy in others is a responsibility I shoulder as I strive to be healthy in mind, body and spirit.

But what to do when you realize/allow yourself to acknowledge that YOU are toxic to someone?

What are your responsibilities then?  How do you deal with the sadness this brings?

1.  Be honest with yourself:  do not deny that this is the truth for that person.  Let the other person know you hear them...really hear what they had the courage to tell you.

2.  If there are specific behaviors that create this, and you wish the relationship to continue in a healthier form, put all your energy into changing what can be changed.

3.  Often it is more complicated than that.  Allow them the same privilege that you would demand for yourself when dealing with the toxic person in your life.  They have a responsibility to protect themselves from you and should not feel guilt about doing what needs to be done to create health in their mind, body and spirit.

4.  Hold them in your heart with love and bless the divine in both of you.

5.  Let them let you go if they must.

Remember that you always have the power to choose and the person who is going to help you the most is………..you.
-David Dich

Guns and Performance and Wellness?

Many of you may have asked that question when Legacy posted an invitation to join our group for a day Immersion with Scott Phillips, former Navy SEAL, who teaches seminars in Hand Gun safety and shooting technique...the Navy SEAL way!

It may not seem to fit a business model dedicated to facilitating change in our clients who come for nutritional counseling, performance training, strength and conditioning, lifestyle modification...

...but it does make sense if you think of this outing in terms of one of our mottos:  Eat Clean.  Play Hard.  Live Fully!

Just as a proper exercise program with a progression of work load to time frame increases fitness by intelligent stressing of the muscles, so does embarking on something outside one's comfort zone strengthen one's mental and emotional systems through perturbation of those systems.  Mental toughness and agility are critical to living a healthy life, especially in our stressful environment and as one ages.

And how many chances are we given to do something that scares us, makes us uncomfortable, but in a safe way, with a group of people you trust and with whom you are developing 'tribe'.

Even though I grew up in an extended family of mountain men, living in the Colorado Rockies and hunting and fishing, I had never touched a gun and didn't think I ever wanted to do so!  I called deer hunting 'killing Bambi'.  I couldn't imagine having a loaded gun in the house for fending off an intruder unless I planned on killing myself before he could make it back to my bedroom!  So imagine my surprise when I was actually looking forward to the Hand Gun Immersion.

It is easy to remove any intellectual sticking points from the exercise if you view the experience of shooting a gun as a life metaphor:  you set a goal...you have a plan to accomplish that goal...there are steps in the plan that need to be learned and mastered in order to attain the goal...thought and mental focus are needed every time you practice this new step toward mastery...practice, practice, practice creates fluidity and strength...repetition equals success.

Doing something that scares the bejeezus out of you is a powerful experience.  This builds confidence as you eye the next challenge, whatever it may be.  And it is fun!