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A solution to transcend worry.

A solution to transcend worry.

A solution to transcend worry.

I’m sitting in a room full of unopened packing boxes in my new home.

It’s been a time of rapid upheaval and change in my family’s life. My back aches from lifting and my mind is cluttered (just like my new dining room).

Yesterday I opened a box labeled “AM Desk” and put those contents into grateful drawers. Ah, that’s better. Now where were we? Oh, yes, creating a sacred life!

Duh!

Amidst the outer clutter, I recognize something important: chaos in the form of unpacked boxes is nothing compared to the chaos of the mind when it has succumbed to fear.

Because in time, the stuff in the boxes will be put away. I will find the perfect bookshelf. I will replace the broken lamp. I will receive my new recycling bin. I will weed the garden. I will organize the knife drawer.

There is a solution to every lingering question. 

I am not afraid. I am not worried. A little ungrounded? Sure. But unpacking is definitely an unfolding process. I can roll with that. 

But what about those bigger questions? What about something that is less tangible? Or more important? Or less clear? Or more pressing?

You know… life questions, art questions, work questions, people questions.

Not Knowing the solution to a problem can carry a great existential weight. It drives us to distraction, and is deeply uncomfortable.

I have a workaround. Let me introduce you to one of my favorite practices: asking a Sacred Question. 

A Sacred Question differs from a regular question in that you believe and trustthat there is a Sacred Solution.

I believe and trust that my recycling bin will arrive on my doorstep.

Do I believe and trust that I will fulfill my purpose? Or create something new? Or clarify the details of my new program? Or choose the perfect songs for my performance? Or meet the right person to help me with a task? Or live a prosperous life? Or find the right community?

Or know what I want to know instead of living in this state of Not Knowing which is causing me to suffer, worry, and procrastinate?

When you do not know the answer, ask a Sacred Question. Write it down. And let it be. Do not force the solution, nor demand that the Universe supply it instantly for you. 

The Sacred Solution is literally one moment away. But you must practice:

1) having faith that there is an aligned answer.
2) trusting the process that will yield that answer.

If you are grasping for a solution with your mind, you will not get the answer you need.

If you allow the question to percolate in a space of divine co-creation, it will appear with ease.

If you want this Really Important Thing to work out, you gotta practice Not Knowing the Answers.

Ask a Sacred Question instead. The solution is already on its way.

Prompts for Not Knowing

Take a moment to breathe, center awareness within the heart space, and enter into a state of stillness.  Allow these questions to guide your higher mind into clarity.

What is weighing on you right now in your life, art, or work?

Why is this important to you?

What do you fear about not having this figured out? (Name that fear!!)

Do you believe that there is a solution to your problem?

Can you write down a Sacred Question and see how this will play out?

 

A Prayer for Sacred Solutions

Dear God,
Thank you for the unfolding mysteries of my life.
Thank you for the experiences I have had which have granted me wisdom.
Help me to accept that which I do not yet know.
I pray that I may see past the barriers of my mind.

I pray that I may believe and trust in the infinite possibilities that are available to me when I lay down my worries and choose to co-create with You.
Give me strength and courage to acknowledge my grasping fears.
Give me grace to accept what I do not know.
Give me the will to let go of control.
Illuminate my inner knowing, that I may recognize the Sacred Solution when it is placed right before me.
Help me to enjoy and revel in the mysteries of my life and relieve all worry and suffering.
And so it is. Amen.
 

Love,

Allison

About Allison Mondel
Transformational Voice Coach, Singer, Teaching Artist, Director, Mentor, Speaker

I am a visionary artist, educator, and voice coach whose work stands at the intersection of vocal wellness, spiritual wisdom, and personal empowerment. With 25+ years of professional experience as a performer, teacher, and mentor, I empower others to access their innate vocal gifts through a holistic process, and ascend into their personal greatness. I have helped hundreds of students access their voice and step beyond their doubts into joyful, courageous, and purposeful self-expression. 

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Navigating the Messy Middle.

Navigating the Messy Middle.

Navigating the Messy Middle.

There is a place between your desire and its culmination. I call it the Middle.

Otherwise known as in progress, in process, undergoing, unfolding, happening, rolling out, you get the idea.

Years ago when I was a student, I was impatient for my voice to hurry up and get better. I had a big recital to sing! I had a career to get going! I had to figure this out, and quick!

My dear, wise friend Robert saw my struggle, looked at me, and said, “Alls, it’s a process.

Well, process-schmocess was my response at the time. No one has the time to just sit around and WAIT for mastery. (Ah, the folly of youth!)

Of course, what I know now (and sometimes still don’t accept!) is that the Middle is a place that we live in all the time. Here how it works.

You have a desire. You dare to state that to the Universe.
{ MIDDLE STARTS }
You remain open to the process.
You receive guidance on how to proceed.
You respond by taking the actions necessary to see your desire fulfilled.
{ MIDDLE ENDS }
Your desire is fulfilled.
Repeat.

It’s a process. Like something else I know really well, the creative process.

Your life is a creation

However, what gets really sticky is the in-between bits. The waiting. The unfolding. The crafting. The pivoting. The excitement. The mistrust. The crazy thoughts. The revelations. The frustration. The fear. The guilt. 

Depending on your personality or the context, that Middle part might be deeply rewarding, or positively excruciating.

But let me cut to the chase: the Middle becomes Messy when we meet the places in which we are challenged to outgrow.

I’m not gonna lie: meeting your fears, de-conditioning your fear-based programming, and living into a new life usually falls into the Messy category.

It’s new. It’s hard. it’s strange. It’s real. It’s life.

But here is the medicine: the process of actualizing your desires does not have to be some form of torture. When you understand that the pathway to seeing your desire manifest in your life is, in fact, a spiritual creative process, you know that all is actually unfolding perfectly.

I don’t mean that it is easy all the time. We are constantly invited to grow. Which means we are going to meet an edge if you ask for something new in your life.

But we spend most of our time in the Middle. It’s the creative unfolding of your amazing life, work, and art. We are invited and called to trust the process.

 

Guided Prompts for Acceptance of the Creative Journey

Take a moment to breathe, center awareness within the heart space, and enter into a state of stillness.  Allow these questions to guide your higher mind into clarity.

What is the most urgent desire you have in your life right now?

How are you currently responding to that desire? 

Take a moment to step back and ask: am I responding with my ego, or my spirit?

What are you resisting in this process of unfolding?

Can you radically accept where you are at this very moment?

Prayer for Being in the Process

Dear Creator,
I pray for support in the unfolding process of my life. 
May I be open to guidance.
May I be clearly guided.
May my response to life be wholehearted and courageous.
May I grow in trust, courage, and steadfastness as I walk the pathway of my desire.
Help me to accept the place that I am in at this moment, with the knowledge that all will change, grow, and evolve according to divine plan.
Help me to move through the places in which I am most bound by fear, so that I may be more alive with every passing day.
May my work and life be in honor to you, and in honor of my own miraculous life. 
Thank you for all that I have, and all that I have learned. 
Help me create the life of my dreams, so that the world may be blessed by my works which flow from love.
And so it is. Amen.

Love,

Allison

Allison Mondel
Allison Mondel is a musician, teacher, and mystic. Her greatest delight is to understand how things work, and share her wisdom with others. She writes about the higher nature of the voice, transcending personal roadblocks, and realizing your creative vocation as a Highly-Sensitive Person.

Five Ways to Improve Your Relationship with your Voice

Five Ways to Improve Your Relationship with your Voice

Five Ways to Improve Your Relationship with your Voice

How do you conceive of your voice?

For most of us, we tend to think about one thing: how it sounds.

“This is my voice! This is how it sounds. I will assess my voice on the quality of its sound.”

My journey of voice discovery has led me to develop quite a different understanding. I had to learn – the hard way – that assessing my sound, and certainly worrying over-muchly about what Others thought of my sound, was creating a very toxic situation.

And yet, our voice is so much more than sound.

The difference is the conception of our voice as the manifestation of our sacredness and whole being, rather than the relative quality of the sound that emanates through our mouths.

But we all know that there are inherent challenges in using our voices, and singing as we we would wish, and making the easeful, lovely sounds that we all long for, and communicating the very best things through music and language.

The challenges or frustrations we may face in using our voice will naturally lead to a sense of separation with, or objectification of our voice. Which then leads to a relationship with our voice that becomes out of balance, overly critical, less integrated, and more mechanical. Indeed, it may separate us from the very content of what we wish to express when we sing, and ultimately, ourselves.

Let us consider, then, how to reframe our conception of our voice. We can expand its capacity, and release the limiting belief that our voice is only equal to its relative quality of its sound.

Here are five ways in which you can cultivate a more loving, healthy, and joyful connection with relationship with your voice.

1) Acknowledge that your voice is not separate from you.

You are not a sound-making robot, and your voice is not a separate computer program running independently from the rest of you. Invite your voice to integrate with your whole being. I use this invocation: I call forth my Sacred Voice. Use your own words, as you feel inspired. Notice how this shift makes you feel and how it affects the way you produce sound.

2) Make a pledge to cease all negative critique.

I’m dead serious here. Throw down the gauntlet for yourself. Removing negativity is an instant way to clear the debris that is cluttering up your pathway to using your voice. I suggest making a pledge that goes something like: “I pledge that I will no longer abuse my voice or myself when I sing.” Words are powerful, Dear One. Especially yours.

3) Connect with your voice.

Easily one of the most powerful methods to grow the health and wellness of your voice is to communicate with your voice on a deeper level. I have a regular journaling practice that keeps me in touch with my higher self. Whenever I run into any trouble or doubt, or am unclear about a way forward, I pick up a pen and journal (or honestly any piece of printer paper lying around) and ask my voice for what it needs, what is blocking me, or whatever is coming up in the moment that I would like to shift.

4) Shift from the assessing the quality of sound to the quality of production.

My friend, you would be the most normal person ever if you are listening to yourself as you sing. I have very bad news for you: this is not beneficial for healthy, well, connected, free singing. What it will do is further separate you from your voice and add a great deal of mental noise and tension. Rather, practice allowing your focus to be on the heart-centered awareness of your Self, and then the breath. This will allow you to gain a clearer vision of what you hope to express, tap into your intuition, make adjustments in the moment, and ultimately give you the freedom to choose and create whatever sound you desire. The practice is to return to the heart center over and over and over again. Notice the way you feel about your voice as a result.

5) Assume that your voice has the capacity to work just fine.

When we do not trust our voice, or doubt our sound, we tend to jump to the conclusion that our voice is broken/ weird/ bad/ or faulty. A recipe for a toxic relationship! Please hear me: your factory settings are enough. Most likely, like any computer you have ever had, your mind has become overrun with too many files and outdated programs that affect its capacity to operate effectively. So rather than jump to the conclusion that your voice is (insert some judgment here), consider that your voice is just fine, and perhaps something is obscuring its natural light. That something is probably your greatest insight on how to move forward on your voice journey.

I invite you to consider your relationship with your voice. How could you improve the way you relate to your sound? Could any one of these points help you create a more positive impact on how you use your voice?

Your voice has so much capacity, so much depth, so much beauty to bring forth. I believe it starts with a healthy, whole relationship.

Hugs,

allison

Allison Mondel
Allison Mondel is a musician, teacher, and mystic. Her greatest delight is to understand how things work, and share her wisdom with others. She writes about the higher nature of the voice, transcending personal roadblocks, and realizing your creative vocation as a Highly-Sensitive Person.

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