Electric-red in color, the Skyrocket flower is a Rocky Mountain wildflower that helps us set boundaries. If there is any situation that we've created in our lives that is unnecessarily or parasitically draining our time and energy, this flower elicits our fierce strength and beneficial lack of tolerance. It sharpens our tongues so that we don't allow situations to take advantage of us. We're able to reinforce and expand our own auras and bring more clarity and awareness into everyday life. Read more here!
coming soon - Katie's been super sick all week : (
By being intentional when taking our flower essences, we remind ourselves, our guides and the universe what it is we want to embody. Choose one of the phrases below that most resonates, or make up your own! Every time you take your elixir, close your eyes and set your intention:
To take it one step further, as you take your elixir and set your intention, visualize everyone else in this program, all around the world, accessing the healing power of their voice. By connecting with others in our group, we exponentially multiply the benefit + ripple effect!
When do I find myself not speaking up?
Who in my life drains me of energy?
When do I feel taken advantage of?
Are there any situations in which I feel undervalued?
Is there anyone who I’ve held my tongue around for fear of hurting their feelings?
Who comes to mind with the words: energetic parasite?
When do I engage in self-doubt?
Prefer to have a printed sheet with the writing prompts, exquisite practices + a calendar to track your month?
Download the Skyrocket Support Guide here.
Whenever someone asks for something from you (time, energy, money, effort, etc.) give yourself time before responding. Check in with yourself - Is this beneficial? Is this something I want to do? Will I resent or regret saying yes?
Stream of conscious write out every situation in which you’ve felt taken advantage of, undervalued or in which you feel you sacrificed some part of yourself. Is there a common thread in these situations?
Sit quietly with yourself when you find self-doubt or insecurities bubbling up. Let yourself lean into the feeling - where does it live within your body? What is the texture? Does it have a scent, a color, a shape? Breathe into it. Stay with it as long as you’re able. Envelope that part of yourself with love, compassion + warmth. No judgement. Just observation + gentleness.
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Laser in:
Use me when you feel:
So this month we're working with this Skyrocket flower. I love the name of the flower first off – Skyrocket - how cool is that? And this is one of those flowers that I collected on a wildflower trail as I was traveling through the middle of the country and walking, hiking in the Grand Tetons. We were taking a fair amount of flowers from this particular wilderness trail because there was such a tremendous variety and so many of those flowers seemed like what was needed at the time and also today.
And so I'm really excited to be working with this particular flower. In person, it's just physically the most arresting strikingly beautiful ... I mean the color is so bright and it just contrasts from the environment and it's really like just a shockingly beautiful flower. And I want to say that one of the first things to talk about with this particular flower essences the concept of boundaries. Which is a tricky one. I am going to warn you that when you're working with this particular flower essence you may find yourself putting a stop to certain things that maybe you put up with for a while and it could be something little, it could be something just sort of grading, slightly irritating, something that typically you've maintained your self-control or you've just kind of like, yeah I'll just let that go no big deal, yeah I'll just ignore that little thing.
Skyrocket comes in and rearranges something in there that when you reach that ... it's sort of like you reach the end of your rope if it's something that merits that. If it really is something minor you might very well ... it may not bother you. But if there's something really truly that's going against the grain of your essence and feels in some way out of alignment, you may notice that you put a stop to things or that you speak up or that you draw the line or that you create a boundary or that you say, "No more."
And if that is the case, it will be super easy and effortless. You'll wonder where it came from. You'll be surprised at yourself that it popped out the way that it did and you also won't feel any sort of remorse or guilt or like, “oh gosh did I hurt the other person’s feelings” or it will come out with such a veracity and or conviction and firmness and you know like standing both feet flat on the ground in your strength that ... it just takes out a lot of the story in mucky muck around all the reasons that we don't draw boundaries in our lives.
Feeling bad about this or making the other person feel bad or speaking up or guilt or all that weird mucky muck. Skyrocket just like cuts through that bullshit and it's like all right enough. Here's what's this and this is A, this is B, this is C. Everything becomes very clear in a very refreshing way. So just as a little warning you may notice that you feel ... if you're not use to it, if you're a person who's generally too soft, you may be a little surprised and at first feel like you are either intolerant or callus or unfeeling if that makes sense, because you're so used to feeling or so use to being soft.
And this firmness and - the firmness may to you be surprising because it may feel like apathy or indifference. In which case it's not. It's just the newfound sense of drawing the line in a really crystal clear way. That doesn't have a lot of energetic or emotionality mucky muck around it.
So for this week one question we can ask ourselves is ... {birds loudly chirping} just like the birds started chirping really loudly. I hope you can hear those birds. Yeah, it's kind of ... and that's like listening to these birds this boundary setting is almost like a protective mother. You're getting too close to my nest. I'm not sure that's what these birds are saying but it made me think of that sort of protective quality. Whether it's protective of someone else or your own time or energy or body.
The question we can ask ourselves this week is:
What are those things that we would like to put a stop to? Where can we draw the line? And why don't we ... I mean you can think about as many options as you like but I would say for this first week, think about it in terms of relationships with others. Are there any relationships that are draining you - whether or not you're actually engaging with that person or whether you're say like spending a lot of time thinking about them and thinking about the situation, thinking about the relationship and thinking about the issues at hand?
So it could be drawing a boundary with an actual person or it could be drawing a boundary with your own self in your own mind about how much energy and time you direct toward a particular person.
We can think of boundaries as where are we leaking time, energy, could even include money? Where are we looking time, energy, money? Where are we being drained? And that's a good place to start.
Another element around boundaries, since we're working with this Skyrocket flower, is our own internal boundaries with our energy, and our time, and how we manage the moments of our day, and our food intake, and our rest, and the amount we sleep, the amount we nourish ourselves, self-care. This particular flower elixir comes at a really good timing for me personally because of this explosion of activity in my life with this new building. So one thing is running one business, another thing is running two businesses and construction happening.
It can very quickly spiral out of control, in terms of just having too much on the plate, and so that's been an interesting lesson for me to look at. Also, because I got sick for a week - I got a really, really bad cold and flu. And my guess is that because of the increase in output and in terms of just work, trying to maintain the normal running the business at Lotuswei, my team doing a fantastic job of running things without me present and pretty much absent 100% as I am working in the new building but then just having double the amount of things to do and a level of stress that was much higher than usual because of finances - just the output financially - it's like ten times greater than what we're used to.
And so I'm having to stretch and grow in every which way and it sort of doing it alone or created a situation in which I was doing it mostly alone without very much support. I got really sick for a week and then as soon as I was getting over my cold I threw my back out brushing my teeth nonetheless. It's a dangerous world out there folks - brushing your teeth!
But what that tells me is that even though I had committed to ... okay I'm gonna commit to going to acupuncture every week because I'm really trying to increase vitality and energy and really make health + wellness a focal point and self-care a focal point in my life as I'm going through all of these up levels and changes. Even though I had devoted that weekly time it still wasn't enough to compensate for the amount of activity I was engaging in.
So I only share this personal story because I think that sometimes we let things ... we like to have the experience of too much before we understand what too much is. And then we start making changes because we realize that if we don't set boundaries in terms of how we manage our lives we will get sick, die young. And could face harm, potentially. So that to me doesn't sound like thriving.
So this week I would say, if you haven't already reflected on it, this is a good week to reflect on: In what ways could you benefit by setting up or by being firmer about being more disciplined with or being more allowing for yourself in terms of the amount of time you require to be a flourishing, thriving, human being instead of push, push, push and skip meals. Really plan it out on the weekend. How am I gonna get my three really good meals in every day? What am I eating?
To take an inventory again because this kind of thing is constantly. We get on top of that and then we fall of the wagon and then we have to go back and do an inventory of what are the things I'm eating that maybe aren't ... that maybe aren't contributing to my wellness. Maybe they're making me weak or not at my full capacity. What's my activity level? What is the amount of rest that I'm allowing myself?
And like literally we can even write down on a ... actually I'm gonna do this, write down for a couple of weeks every hour what we're up to so that you know and you remember. A lot of times we get so busy we push, push, push and we have this sense that we didn't get anything done because there's so many more things to do. But being able to track your time and how you use it can be illuminating in the same way that it's illuminating to look at your finances and see where exactly your money is going. So that we can make different choices if we choose to.
So the question for this week and something to reflect about is:
Where in your life could it be beneficial for you to set down some boundaries with yourself in terms of how much you … and you can fill in the blank. For me it maybe for how much I work. I may need to become more disciplined and set boundaries with myself on, you know, gee you can't work this many hours because you are going to get sick. Or you need to get help and hire ... this is one conclusion I came to is I need to hire a personal assistant. I need, I just need more help. Like this is impossible for one person to do it.
And nobody is gonna know. Like no one on my team is gonna know what I'm up to because I'm not even there. Only you know what you have to deal with every day, right. And so and if you have children even more added to the bucket there. Or aging parents that you're taking care of, or aging pets or other responsibilities. So really taking an inventory this week of where your time, energy are going. If you want to throw in money, you can.
And see if there are any imbalances that you could shift or adjust, realign. Do you need more rest time? Do you need more sleep time? Do you need more time to make better choices around what you're eating? What is your self-care detox routine? Are you going to sweat in the sauna? Are you working out? Dancing, what are you up to in that area in terms of your physical body? Are you getting down time? Are you getting time to just do nothing, to just sit and do nothing? Are you journaling? Are you getting creative visionary writing time?
Knowing yourself and knowing how much time you need for each little thing. For some of us, maybe 15 minutes every morning of creative writing time is just like the hugest game-changer. Whereas, for someone else it may be walking a dog or sitting down to meditate quietly or doing yoga.
So this has been kind of a long rambling one but I think it's really, really important and it’s something that we want to do over and over again and I think sometimes we might look at the issue of boundaries and think we're creating boundaries or walls between us and someone who is infringing on our energy when often times it's ourselves that we are making the choices.
We're making the choices of what to do with our time, energy, money. So let's look at how we're making our choices currently and see if they're any like super easy little tweaks or hacks that we can make to our schedules and our lives to create more ease and effortlessness and smooth sailing and time to listen to the birds and smell the roses because life is short.
Something to be aware about with the Skyrocket elixir and, actually, all flower elixirs - you've probably heard this before from us - but it's possible to feel the opposite of the benefits of the flower. How that would play out with Skyrocket is that, the brilliance and geniusness of Mother Nature and these flower essences, is that they amplify of magnify a particular imbalance or behavior or pattern, so that we can really clearly feel it, sense the kind of gravity of it. And be able to elect to make a change from the inside out. From the inside out, that it comes from within us. Oftentimes, it can come because there is such a seemingly added pressure or weight to things.
How that could play out with Skyrocket is that you may be taking this elixir and then suddenly feel like everything is so urgent and overwhelming, like putting out fires. You have five people calling you at once and 10 people texting you and emails to answer and bills that need to be paid yesterday and emergencies popping up all over the place at home and at work. You then may have these interspersed with moments of like, "Okay, I am not going to answer that phone call. I can't right now. I am going to let that text go for 12 hours because I don't have the capacity to answer right now. I'm busy."
In ordinary circumstances, you may feel totally perfectly fine with the amount of activity that's happening in your life. But with Skyrocket, there's a chance that you may start to feel slightly overwhelmed and like you're running around like a chicken with no head and that everything feels a little overwhelming because it's pointing out those areas in your life where you may need to set boundaries with yourself or others.
A good indicator for that is to look at the areas where you feel stressed or urgent or panicky or frantic or impatient. Or like a weight or like people are waiting for you or there's a heavy weight on you. Look at those particular areas.
Or you could just create a list of the things that you're going to say no to. What are the things that you are no longer going to do? Because you can, from the get-go right now, identify that they drain you.
And what would be your plan to not do them, right? You can't just say, "I don't want to take out the trash," and that's the end of the story. But are there ways that you can say, for example, oh my gosh, you just got your period, and you ran out of stuff, and now you got to go somewhere, but you don't have time. You know, those kinds of little jams. Can you automate? Is there something that you can order and set it up regularly so that it comes when you need it? Whether it's those kinds of things or food items or pet stuff, what are the ways that you can create more ease in your life? And observing where there's irritation or rub or frantic and then finding a solution to that, so that it's easier and more effortless going forward in the future.
So, question for this week is: What are the things that I'm going to say no to? What are the things that I am no longer going to do? And what's my plan to replace them? Is it automation? Is it delegation? Is it backing out of a contract? Is it someone else is going to help you do this?
You're going to get support in some way to lighten the load. What are the things you are going to say no to, and what is the plan for inviting in more ease and effortlessness?
I'm going to circle back to this concept of what we say no to, because I think it's helpful and I think we typically think of it ... we think of everything as external before we think of the internal.
So, for example, the last recording I was talking about - in what ways will you streamline your life or what will you say no to so that things are less draining, in a more, sort of, external perspective. And so, this week I'd like to think about what are those things that we want to say no to or that we are becoming more comfortable saying no to. Or noticing ourselves putting down firmer boundaries with ourselves, in terms of our mental energy and where our thoughts are spent.
There is a saying that Shakyamuni, who became the enlightened one or the Buddha, said, and you may have heard me say this before that, he became fully enlightened and he said afterwards, "If we could become aware of every breath in and every breath out from the moment we woke up in the morning until the moment we went to sleep at night, we would be fully enlightened." Such a simple and brilliant method, but so hard to practice ... because we're always getting caught up in mental traps.
It's so easy to employ the mind. And the mind is a good thing, and thoughts are good thing if they are figuring something out, like, "Who's going to pick the kid up at school?" And, "How do I get from point A to point B? Do I want to make this choice or make that choice?" Those kinds of thoughts are really beneficial and the mind is really helpful for that.
But there's a whole lot of activity that our mind engages in that's totally useless, it drains our energy. It's the same ole, same ole, same ole thing we thought yesterday and the day before, the day before, the day before, and the day before, how many months and how many years and how many decades. That just makes us exhausted and tired and sick, ultimately, and age faster.
So, where are you spending your mental energy? That's the question of this week. You may find that you are becoming more disciplined in little ways or that your psyche is really trying to break out. And you may find yourself mindlessly scrolling on Instagram and then just like, "Stop. There's nothing in here right now, that I need to see or want to see. There's something else I want to do."
Or, you may find your mind circling back to thinking about such and such person and memories past or worrying about what's happening in the future or thinking about this person. That is consuming your energy. It's consuming your sense of awareness and it's consuming your ability to be fully present and awake and aware to what's actually real and happening around you in your life.
You could be ... We could be, right? We have these moments where it's like, we could be, I could be - I could be sitting here listening to the birds, feeling the ground underneath me. Feeling the sunshine. Feeling connected and inseparable with everything around me and like my life is full of blessings. I could be obtaining some sort of clarity or awakening in that very moment.
Or, I could be thinking about this situation and running those scenarios and remembering this time and thinking about when that happened. And wondering about what if this happens? And thinking if that's somehow connected to this other ... I mean, I'm human so I understand, and we do this. We spend vast amounts of mental energy on rumination and pretty much just the same ole, same ole garbage that we thought about yesterday and the day before. Maybe it's in a different form or a different person or a different style, but, it's the same crap.
So, unless you're trying to figure something out, in which case the mind is really helpful, this week, notice where you put your mental energy and what on earth you are thinking about. As many times as possible during the day, come back and remember this, "What am I thinking about? What am I thinking about? What am I spending my mental energy on?"
Because, we only have a certain amount of energy ... I mean, Ayurvedic and Chinese traditions have said this, and Tibetan traditions have said this for thousands of years, that not only do we have a certain amount of energy that is predetermined, when we are born we will have this amount of energy, period, end, stop. When it's up, it's up, time's up. Tibetans will say that it is also predetermined the amount of breathes that you take and, so, one of the benefits of doing mindfulness practice is, is that by noticing your breath you actually slow it down which extends your lifespan. Because instead of using them all up really quickly, you're kind of dragging it out a little.
So - if indeed that this is true, which I have no doubt, because of the ancient traditions it is coming from, that we have a predetermined amount of energy - life is short and let's look at where we are putting that energy. Because likely, if we could get an eagle-eye view, and we knew that how much energy we were putting into overthinking things or fantasizing or ruminating. If we knew how much that was draining our energy, making us unaware, taking us further away from enlightenment or awakening. And/or aging us, speeding up aging, or clouding our minds so that we make not as clear decisions, if we knew all the effects we would probably want to have more awareness.
This is not a lecture, it's just simply something that I am doing this week as I'm taking the Skyrocket Flower Elixir and that is to just keep noticing, just keep coming back and reminding yourself, "What am I thinking about? What am I thinking about? Do I need to be thinking about ... Is this garbage rumination or is something really important that I am needing to use my mental capacities to figure out? Or is it something to do with emotions and relationships and other issues and memories and fantasizing and questioning and wondering and ruminating?"
So, let's do an inventory of where our mental activity is and where our mental energy is going because, gosh, if we can free some of that up, life just already got better.