Musings Archives · Ashley Castle Barnes

Boldly Going into 2021!

Where no (wo)man has gone before…

Welcome to 2021! It’s been a wild ride already, right? And it’s only February!

But putting politics and pandemics aside for a moment, it’s been a while and I’d to share with you a bit about what’s going on in my world.

Over the past year, I’ve used my pandemic downtime to do a lot of deep exploration around my business. Did you know that I’ve been coaching and/or healing for over 8 years now??

I first started as a health coach, then a writer, then a healer, and now find myself as a more integrated version of all that – and more.

You see, as it turns out, there are 2 things I find that I’m really, really passionate about:

Energy & how working with the energy body to clear and heal and applying energetic tools can help you align more fully with who you really and who came here to be, and help you change your life for the better
The impact the world of work (especially corporate environments) has on many women, especially heart-centered, empathic women. And especially women in healthcare, who likely went into that field because of their empathic, heart-centered nature. How difficult it can be to be thoughtful and kind and compassionate AND to also get ahead while being fully yourself.

And most especially, how these two seemingly disparate passions align to inform the work I do.

After all, I’ve worked in the corporate world for over 20 years. I AM that empathic woman impacted by the soul-sucking nature of some corporate environments – and I’m also that woman who has spent years cultivating energetic tools, coaching, healing, writing as a way to shift and transform my experiences into a strong sense of purpose and alignment with my inner wisdom.

All of this self-exploration has culminated in my theme for this year: Boldly Going. Though this came to me based on my dreams and goals for myself and my business, it seems appropriate on a larger scale too, considering what’s going on around us.

The work I do with women like you and me is transformational – deep shifts and healing, stepping into our power and purpose, finding the places in our work and lives where we’re truly meant to be.

In a world that seeks to keep us feeling stuck and powerless…to keep us searching…to put and keep us in neat and quiet little boxes, what could be bolder than having the courage to transform and show up exactly as we are?

To kick off this bold new year, I’m forming a bold NEW group!

Feminine Leaders Rising – An intimate, committed circle + mastermind program for women professionals (and others) who want to explore energetic tools and processes to reach the goals and dreams they’ve been putting off using the Divine Feminine energy of connection, healing, intuition, and compassion, instead of powering through and forcing things to happen. We will support each other to be vulnerable, to identify our soul’s wisdom and take steps toward our purpose, to heal the old wounds that hold us back, and reach our personal and professional goals encircled by the safety and sacred space of other heart-centered women. If this sounds like what you need right now, I invite you to reach out!

What this also means is that, after nearly four years, the time has come to wind down the Awakening Angels Circle so I can focus on different goals.

My vision for the Circle has always been to inspire other women to step into their power and (self) leadership, whatever that looks like for them, encouraging them to be their true selves, to find what makes them come alive and go do it, to be the change they want to see – and it would be inauthentic of me not to do the same.

What I know is that when something ends, it opens up space for something new. New space is opening for me, and also for you.

And I’m so very excited to see what this year has in store for both of us.

All my best,

The Future Is Female

Musings

Ladies, we experienced history over the last week.

Glass has been shattered.

Poetry recited.

Hope embraced.

Tears wept.

This big dream now become reality serves as a reminder to us that our individual goals are vitally important. Our dreams our meaningful. Our visions for ourselves have power beyond what we can possibly imagine in this moment.

Let’s not stop here with someone else’s dream realized. Let’s bring it home for our own big dreams as well.

The ones we’ve been putting off, or not feeling worthy to pursue, or we’ve simply been too tired to explore. The ones that have been overshadowed by the day-to-day minutia of life and work.

Let’s take a step back from the stress-inducing how – the planning, the thinking, the goal-setting, the relentless pursuit of DOING – and give ourselves the opportunity to BE.

To be our divine, inspired selves. To explore how vulnerability opens us to possibility. To find support for simply showing up as we are. To willingly peel back the layers of old patterns that keep us stuck and let that sh*t go to make space for something new and better to arise.

In the iconic words of our youth poet laureate, Amanda Gorman:

“For there is always light,
If only we’re brave enough to see it
If only we’re brave enough to be it”

Who’s with me?

Let me know in the comments!

Are you tired? Or are you TIRED?

Musings

I’m a doer by nature. I go, go, go.

But I’ve learned to slow down. I’ve learned when I’m close to doing too much.

Except apparently when I’m doing something I enjoy.

I work a lot because I love what I do. It feeds my soul.

Which can make it hard to know when I’ve crossed the line from soul nourishing to soul sucking.

This week I hit that wall. It still didn’t feel like normal stress or burn out.

It felt like mild anxiety. Scattered and uneasy. Analysis paralysis. Like I was out of my body. And tired, despite good sleep.

And it wasn’t until I said it out loud that I really heard it. I’m tired. Not sleepy, my soul is tired. It needs rest.

I planned to use the space opened up this week from canceling Thanksgiving plans to catch up on some things, but I think instead I’ll read.

And do some yoga.

And get outside.

And rest.

Pigtails & Smiles

Musings

I forgot to post these earlier in the week.

Our granddaughter Millie turned 4 on November 16th!

This year has been a doozy but time keeps on moving forward.

And it’s moments like these that I’m reminded that even without a family Thanksgiving, all is well.

Even if we can’t have Christmas, all is well.

Jeff Goldblum famously said in Jurassic Park, “Life finds a way.”

It does, and it’s full of pigtails and 4-year old smiles.

Why Love Is More Important Now Than Ever

Musings

The world is shifting in front of us. We’re watching history unfold on a daily basis, in real time. It’s quite possible that nothing will ever be the same again.

Many of us are feeling ALL the unrest. And all the fear and the anger and the sadness. This is an extremely tough time for energetically sensitive, empathic people.

And many are having to go through it all alone, wishing they had someone with which to share this crazy time.

Admittedly, I’m glad I have a partner right now. We talk through the news stories every day. We share ideas about what’s happening and we lovingly keep each other in check. Sometimes we agree, and sometimes we challenge each other.

But we don’t have to do it alone.

There was a time when this wasn’t the case. Not only did I not have the kind of relationship strong enough to feel safe sharing my fears and beliefs and hopes, but I honestly wasn’t even sure enough about my feelings to access them, much less share them.

It took lots of healing work and the love and support of a strong partner for me to get to this place and to feel safe. Which has made a huge difference in how I’m handling the energy of the current events.

And this why NOW, even with everything else going on in the world, is the time to talk about attracting a healthy, loving relationship for YOU.

Being in a loving and supportive partnership allows us to balance the feminine and masculine energies within ourselves, and with our partner.

When we have balance, we can heal and grow.

When we are loved and heard, we continue to heal.

And when we heal, we can be our truest, deepest selves possible.

And that’s what the world needs right now, and into the future – women who are awake, healed, and true to themselves.

These times are certainly tough, and there will more challenges ahead for all of us, both individually and collectively. Wouldn’t you like to walk into the future – whatever it may hold – hand in hand with a partner who will love, adore, and support you in all your endeavors?

If so, I invite you to reach out to me to schedule a complementary Heart Center Check-In today!

Photo by Roman Kraft on Unsplash

Healing the Heart Wound

Musings

I see posts from so many women that are alone during this pandemic. They feel sad, overwhelmed, and lonely.

Not only that, they were alone before the current physical distancing rules, which adds salt to a heart wound that was perhaps already gaping.

It reminds me of a time, before I met my current husband, when I was struggling through my own deep heart wound.

The heart is an amazing organ. It’s both tender and tough, keeping us physically alive and also allowing us to give and receive love. It gives us the strength we need to get up and face each day, it allows us empathy and compassion for others, and it breaks when we have painful experiences.

When we’ve been through traumas, bad relationships, heartaches, and loss the heart can get wary. It can become too tough, isolating itself in a protective armor to keep us from more pain. Or become so tender that it breaks at the slightest transgression. Or a mixture of both – armored up one minute and broken the next.

Of course, the heart doesn’t isolate, armor up, or become painfully tender on its own. We experience external circumstances, like a painful breakup, and we respond with our ingrained reactions, which signal what happens next. The process is largely unconscious.

Sometime long ago, when our first middle school romance broke up with us and it hurt (like really hurt), we responded by closing ourselves off for a while. And we felt better. So the next time something similar happened, we did it again. And again, until it became our go-to response.

When we experience bad relationships and don’t fully process and heal, those unhealed feelings get stuck and we experience symptoms like chronic sadness, overwhelm, and shame.

These are normal human emotions, designed to give us messages about the world and pass through us. When they linger, we benefit from clearing our heart energy and empowering our heart to do for us what it’s made to do – allow us to experience both strength and softness, security and hope, pain and pleasure.

In energy medicine, the lower energy centers help us with feeling safe, secure, creative, and connected to being human, while the upper centers help us use our voice, tap into our innate knowing, and connect to something larger than us. As the heart center is between the lower and upper energy centers, it helps connect the two parts of us with its healing, compassionate energy. Energetic heart clearing sessions helps keep everything aligned.

We can experience this healing even if we’re alone. It’s not the aloneness that created this situation, it’s the repeated bad relationships, traumas, and other unprocessed experiences. Empowering the heart gives us the strength to be alone and allows our life energy to flow, easing those painful symptoms that keep us stuck.

When we become unstuck and empower the heart, we glow with life force, attracting the real love we deserve. The right partner. The ONE.

I’m putting together a new program just for women like you, who are alone and don’t want to be. Who are ready and willing to shift how they show up the world, even if they feel they are too broken or too hurt to love again. I can help you heal your broken heart and call in the love you crave and deserve.

Want to heal?

I invite you to consider scheduling a complementary Heart Center Check-In call with me today. You can reach me at ashley@ashleybarnescoaching.com.