Be True to Yourself

April 12, 2014 Nicole Hemmer

“The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself.” -Friedrich Nietzsche

Transformation and Breaking Open

April 11, 2014 Nicole Hemmer

I’m tired of playing small.
I’m tired of being afraid to speak my truth.
I’m tired of playing it safe to remain ‘normal’ to others as opposed to being the extraordinary young woman I know myself to be who is anything but ‘normal’.
Last, I feel worn-out from constantly censoring my words to what is acceptable and approvable by the majority, instead of fully expressing my truth.

It’s really incredible the amount of energy it takes to shrink yourself, fit in, and dim your own light.

How many times do we betray our true self in favor for the approval of the world?

How many times do we try to fit the cookie cutter mold?

Why does it take so much courage to be authentic?

What I've found is that it’s exhausting to conform and fit the status quo when you feel this superabundance of energy bursting from within yourself driving you to express your fullest capacity of what you fully are. To become fully what you are, and to let go of what your not.

Then one day you reach the point where it becomes more painful to remain in the safe comfort zone of ‘normal’, where you no longer have a choice but to break and expand.

Eventually, it takes more energy to suppress yourself then it does to break open.

Here’s to the breaking open…when the time is right…and allowing for what is emerging to come to life. Goodbye mediocrity, approval, and conformity…you served a purpose, and I have realized I've outgrown the need to feel safe at the expense of denying my truth.

Life Force [Élan vital]

April 10, 2014 Nicole Hemmer

Shakti the Goddess is: Inner Life Force

...alive, nature, creative force, power, energy, active, dynamic, feminine, sacred, protector, creation, source, universal, divine, desire, kundalini, complete, embodiment, manifest, unmanifest, daughter, transcendent, cosmic, life giving, awakener, light, expression, vital, pure, primordial, the transformer, real wisdom, queen...Shakti is ALL.

Open to Life

February 7, 2014 Nicole Hemmer

Be completely open. And keep opening...
Life is so much sweeter when you're open to ALL of life.
Open to the beauty. Open to the pain.
Embracing it all. Living it all.
Everything is meant to be experienced.
You can shrink, or you can expand.
Allow the world to open you.

Dissolving Hurt the Zen Way

January 14, 2014 Nicole Hemmer

A Korean monk I talked with told me that whenever you feel hurt by something someone said or did, you can say to your hurt:
You are important.
You are kind.
You are happy.

Dissolve the hurt you feel with loving kindness.
Allow for the hurt you experience to melt away.

Simplicity + Beauty + Zen

January 9, 2014 Nicole Hemmer

I just got back from another weekend staying at a Zen Temple here in Korea. It was a beautiful, peaceful and quiet weekend. Some of the highlights: waking up at 4am both days and meditating with the monks, hiking, wandering in nature, eating healthy temple meals, having tea every night with a young monk, lying on the Earth and soaking up the sun, going to sleep every night hearing only the crickets, and hearing the birds singing in the morning...an authentic Zen experience.

There’s something so refreshing about the SIMPLE life. Simplicity is beautiful in its pureness.

How much do we really need to live?

Sunlight is beautiful. Clean air is beautiful. Stillness is beautiful. Silence is beautiful.

Some of the most beautiful things in life are intrinsic to the Earth.

I’m feeling rejuvenated, peaceful and clear. Before I left the temple today, I found out that the head monk of the temple along with two of the youngest monks will be travelling to Japan at the end of the month to meet the Dalai Lama.

"We can make this a more peaceful century if we cherish non-violence and concern for others’ well-being. It is possible. If the individual is happier, his or her family is happier; if families are happy, neighbourhoods and nations will be happy. By transforming ourselves we can change our human way of life and make this a century of compassion." -Dalai Lama