A number of years ago I was out for lunch with my sister and brother-in-law. They were telling me about how his brief case was stolen from the back of his vehicle. It was an elaborate and fascinating story. Working for who he worked for at the time, this was a BIG deal. It wasn’t like someone just had their lunch money and one file in it. This was serious. Yet the information in the files, although sensitive, could not really be read by anyone who was not a part of what they were about. They would not make sense at all. So really, if they ended up in a garbage bin somewhere it would not be that tragic. But, you know how security is treated these days.
Anyway, the thought of someone going through a briefcase was a little unnerving. Then I said to them, “Well, I think it would by highly entertaining if someone went through my briefcase. They would find stuff like a bird wing fan, a turtle rattle, sage, sea salt, graveyard dirt…” As I was saying this my brother-in-law was almost killing himself laughing. Not because he thought I was joking, but because he knew I wasn’t.
Remembering this got me to thinking about the things that we all do in order to go to work every day. Some folks do makeup, some shower and brush their teeth, some wear uniforms, some wear work boots, and so on. Because I have a job that involves out of the ordinary things, I thought it would be hilarious to share with people some of the things that I do to get my shaman ON. So here goes…and it is not necessarily in any particular order.
- COFFEE.
- Breakfast.
- Shave…including the globe because stray hairs on one’s scalp are annoying, both for me and for anyone who sees my unintentional Gerber Baby impersonation.
- Shower.
- Brush teeth.
- Apply Crystal Deodorant.
- Apply facial cream.
- Apply Body Lotion.
- Choose which outfit. I have several selections that are in black. Which one is always the question.
- Colourful accessories. Now this could mean anything from a head rag to a poncho or shawl, or even wild coloured socks.
- Power Jewelry. Here is the thing. I have made most of them. But they are each for a different purpose. It is not like I wear anything like that just for decorational purposes. They have energetic and spiritual purposes. So I have to be very selective about what it is going to be. The fortunate part is that, working out of my home, I can easily zip upstairs to change something at lunch time or supper time before I go on with the rest of my clients.
- Smudge my work space and charge up the healing matrix that I have set up in my work space.
- Meditation Time. I don’t care if someone arrives a half hour early. They are welcome to sit in the reception room and relax until their appointment time. But I will not be missing my meditation time. It is essential to my doing my best job for the people with whom I am working each and every day. And sometimes I do that again at lunch time or at supper time after eating so that I can settle myself into my zen state before working on the next crew that arrives.
- Smile and greet my wonderful people and enjoy the day helping them on their healing journey.
So there you have it. That is how I get my shaman ON. And when I get home from work at the end of the day I will change my attire completely to my “street clothes” or my “house clothes”, depending upon what I am doing for the rest of my day or evening. Even if I am sitting here at my computer working on my blogs or my newsletter or checking emails, I will have my shaman ON. Although one never does completely let go of being a shaman (because once you are there really is no turning back) I find that the changing of clothes helps me to completely get out of “work mode”. This allows me the space I need to decompress and just be with my family. I am pretty sure that as much as they appreciate the work that I do, they also appreciate having me in “home mode” just as much.