Scorpio Blog (10/5/11): The Forest for the Trees

Seeing the Forest for the Trees...despite blizzard conditions...is not easy task!!!

I spent much of my life seeking approval and trying to avoid disapproval. I was so busy measuring myself against the appreciation, admiration or esteem of everyone else; I lost sight of the (good) opinion of myself.

I think back and it was like my soul was walking in a blizzard of judgments. We (my BODY & MIND) were walking against the wind, the snowflakes hitting the face of my SOUL.

And the crazy thing was that... we didn’t even realize it was cold out. We had become so numb that the snowflakes hitting our skin no longer stung. We were used to it.

My soul was lost in a blizzard of pleasing everyone else. I could no longer see my soul, much less my connection to the Divine. It’s a long way back to the HEARTcar when you don’t know where you parked your HEARTcar (soul), or what your HEART-car looks like for that matter. (For more on the HEARTcar, see last week's blog!).

Once I got back to dry land, removed myself from the elements of life and found shelter from the cold…feeling started to return. I could feel the tips of my fingers, and my toes… As I began to thaw from the chilling winds and bitter conditions, the numbness subsided and I realized how I was chaffed and frostbitten….I realized just how DETACHED I was from the elements of my life, in general.

In a strange way, it felt good to feel again. Even though the de-thawing process was painful, I felt gratitude for feeling again.

It was NOW that I could begin to explore my passions, my bliss, and my calling. As I found myself following the call of my heart, opening up to the sources of pleasure, feelings of joy, contentment and peace… I discovered there is less space for concern about pleasing all the people all the time.

As I discussed in my last blog, I went back home to my “roots” last week. While I was anxious and experienced feelings of fear leading up to the trip, I received the confirmation I needed from that visit…validation that the source of my contentment and peace was inside and within. I was reminded that the peace I have found is because if me, not the external.

This was a positive reminder that my growth is real and true… and can’t be stripped away with travels, regardless of the conditions or situation I am faced.

During my visit, I developed a deeper awareness of the culture of “my town”, and how much of it was centered on “Keeping up with the Joneses”....and "Chasing the Pelaton", if you will. 

An environment where we cared about our standard of living compared to our peers….the desire to increase one’s social position…living in accordance with definitions, labels and forms. Amidst the constant pursuit to keep up, this only bred more dissatisfaction, and searching for more.

It was a life of the external… Here begins in-filling. I was living my life… outside of my life.

And subconsciously, I had grown tired of riding in the pelaton.

Leaving behind a life of “keeping up with the Joneses” and an opinion of ME based on living up to my perception of someone else’s expectations…. It’s freedom!!! No longer swimming upstream, no longer walking against the wind in a snowstorm, no longer trying to stay in the pack….Ahhh, bliss.

I chose early on in the ME-journey, in the search for my soul, that I was going to dance to the music I hear from my heart and honor the Divine within. I made a choice to seek presence, clear enough space for my life to be a quiet place… so I could be tuned in to the blessed melodic voice of my heart soul.

And so because I returned home with space and presence, tuned-in, if you will…here’s what I learned:

1. The space I created WITHIN actually changed my perception of my EXTERIOR. I realized that it was ME who labeled my town as the place where everyone was “Keeping up with the Joneses”. I was busy searching for happiness outside of myself. It had NOTHING to do with my city. It had EVERYTHING to do with ME…my self worth, my sense of security and the love for ME.

2. To keep up or NOT keep up….that is MY choice!!!  Returning “more en-lightened”, I really noticed how much my vibration had changed with some of the closest relationships that I have in my life. I was now more concerned with vibrational alignment with me and my heart, and less concerned with keeping up with the frequency of others and what’s going on outside of me….

3. It is truly freeing to release expectations of who is going to or will show up for you…it creates open space for the frequencies to “vibrate”… to feel if there is alignment or a match.  How I defined these close relationships and the way they fit into my life changed, as well.  I was really looking forward to reconnecting with several of my friends and family, only to realize that those you mesh with (and those you don't) changes with the frequency at which we vibrate.


I always remember my father telling me the first words of advice he received as a young man entering the business world. His boss told him to “See the Forest for the Trees”… not to get so lost in the details (trees) that you forget the larger picture or vision (forest).

Some people get so stuck in the details that the details become the overwhelming focus that sometimes leads towards a different solution… such that you forget the original vision.

The big picture goal (the forest) in this life is more happiness, peace, joy, health, love, and abundance in our lives… yet we are lost in the details (the trees). The details of life have become that which is outside of us… KEEPING UP with labels, judgments and thoughts, reputations, forms, material worth, etc.

The FOREST is simply the basics of life…forgiveness, courage, gratitude, love, and humor.


If we affirm these principles in our daily life, we re-program our thoughts, transform our life. We CHANGE our town, our city… and even our world. If the reflection we see when we look at ourselves is love and gratitude…it is this infinite love from within that we can use to heal our lives and help others to do the same.

We can all achieve a happy experience in this Universe by simply giving back, moving ahead, loving life, learning, and growing.

So, I leave you this week to ponder the following:

Are you “keeping up” with the exterior…something, someone outside of YOU?

Are you living life in perspective of the big pictuire or are you stuck in the arbitrary details? Do you see the Forest or just a bunch of Trees?