Do you ever wonder who you are or what you need to unearth about yourself? Do you find yourself doing things, repeating the same pattern, but you don’t know the reason why? Do you ever question why you believe the things you do or why your life is the way it is?
The answers to these questions require understanding your archetypal patterns. Once you recognize the behavior pattern, you can understand yourself, and others, better. An archetype is a universal, mythical pattern of power, that you, and everyone in the world, are born knowing.
Struck by Lightning: My Journey from the Shadow to the Light is a spiritual autobiography that illustrates my endeavor, from the time of my birth until the present, to uncover the answer to these inspiring questions. My archetypes and their respective patterns of behavior emerge on many occasions and are sprinkled throughout the book, giving rise to opportunities to identify them. Only when you take the steps as I have, are you able to start your journey, learning the specifics of what makes you tick.
It’s often at a turning point where you are challenged to make a decision that either helps you grow or prevents you from having authority over your life. At times, one or more of the four Survival archetypes present you with opportunities to develop or increase your self-esteem. These archetypes reside in the Survival family: the Child, the Victim, the Prostitute, and the Saboteur; they are universal to every human being and are accompanied by eight additional archetypes that surface at some point. The Addict, the Athlete, the Student, and the Femme Fatale are a few of the eight presented in this book.
All archetypes have aspects of shadow and light. The shadow is not dark or evil but the part of yourself that lies beneath the one you know, your consciousness. These patterns of behavior are often ignored or denied when residing in the shadow and can cause you unnecessary pain and suffering. Remaining in the shadow blocks the path to your empowerment. Once you recognize and face these patterns in the shadow, they become your friends, allowing you to step into the light and integrate them into your spirit or inner self. When you begin to know yourself, you start the journey of moving from the shadow to the light.
Struck by Lightning was written at a time when a cloud of darkness is shrouding the world. This shadow is gripping humanity – from the countless confrontations polarizing social and cultural groups to the addiction to power, money, and sex – and is causing the decline of tolerance, compassion, and most of all, love.
Mahatma Gandhi
“You must be the change you wish to see in the world.” (Mahatma Gandhi)
For the world to shift direction, first there must be a shift in you. I desperately wanted to change but didn’t know how. This book is written in chronological order and portrays the trials and tribulations I overcame to be the change. It examines the emotional conflicts and patterns of behavior I experienced throughout life and the consequences that were the result of my choices.
I was born under a veil of darkness that held me in its clutches for years. One by one, the looming shadows of my archetypes surfaced, taking charge of me, leading me down a dark path. At times, they went to war with each other, fighting for control, while on different occasions, the battle waged between the shadow and the light. Unaware of how to escape from these restraints and be the change, I frequently fell into despair, ensuring my worthlessness.
Every single decision I made in my history, from the onset of the wounded child, was instrumental and necessary for me on the journey of my life. It was long and arduous, and when I found myself alone, which was more often than not, I questioned God searching for the way to be the change.
The answer, hidden by my shadows, remained elusive, as I fell into a murky abyss until my final descent into the dark night of the soul. During the dark night, I reached a crisis of faith in myself. When everything I believed in collapsed around me, I stood at a turning point, alone and with nowhere to go. I had to make the most crucial decision in my life: surrender and ask God for help, or die. With this spiritual awakening, the rebirth of my authentic soul, I realized I was walking the healing path of the Wounded Healer.
I was facing the journey of life, which took me from the outside world to the journey behind my eye, not only bringing light to the shadow, but being the change.
My purpose has been revealed: to be the change and be of service to others. In Struck by Lightning, I share that no matter where you come from, how severe your circumstances may be, or what you think, it is possible to change, I hope that after reading this book, if there is a familiarity with any thoughts or emotions presented here, a spark is ignited that starts your search to unearth the truth that lies within you.
When you do the work, you gain a greater awareness of the person you are today, as well as an appreciation of where you came from. You need this. Your friends and family need this. The world needs this.
What I know for sure is that it’s possible for you to become the divine person you were born to be. However, it not only takes strength and courage to delve beneath your surface, unmasking the profound truth that lies within you; it also requires a willingness to heal. You should not take it lightly or casually, and it is best to have someone you trust hold space for you throughout your healing process. We all have wounds, but we don’t have to live in them. May the Grace of God be with you and in you.
One final note: To further understand your archetypes and how they affect you, read Sacred Contracts by Caroline Myss; the book describes an Archetypal Wheel, where all twelve of your archetypes reside, similar to the twelve houses of the zodiac. In creating your Chart of Origin, each of your archetypes is placed into the house of service it most influences. The Archetypal wheel is an intuitive tool where you receive symbolic information. To learn more about this medium, there is additional information provided in the Author’s Note. Please know it is not necessary to understand this information to follow the story of the book.
To order a copy of STRUCK BY LIGHTNING: My Journey from the Shadow to the Light, click here.
The Clear Your Beliefs program includes a 7-part audio series using the Clear Beliefs® techniques, plus eight personal coaching sessions tailored specifically for your needs. As a Certified Clear Beliefs Coach, I will guide you through the series and help you to eliminate a limiting belief in these areas:
What you believe about yourself
What you believe about your abilities
What you believe about love and relationships
What you believe about your financial situation and work
What you believe about your body and health
In our first session, we’ll discuss the issues and problems you’re facing in life, which will be our main focus moving through the program. The recordings will guide you through the most fundamental beliefs held in the psyche. After listening to a recorded session,
we’ll dive deeply into that topic and see how it impacts you in your life and your problem areas. The work we do together will result in healing your old would and freeing you from what has held you back. Nothing can stop you now!
Are you ready?
You can finally clear the negative and limiting beliefs that have prevented you from success, love, and full self-expression. I will guide you on a tour of your subconscious mind, where beliefs are stored. Together, we will examine your belief system, find the old programs that are interfering in your life, and delete them one by one. Then you can choose new empowering beliefs that will generate new feelings, thoughts, and attitudes—immediately! Using this method, you can manifest anything you want in life!
Here’s what one person said about Go Within Spiritual Coaching and The Clear Your Beliefs 8-Week Coaching Program:
Working with Debbie was one of the most exciting and life-transforming journeys I’ve ever embarked on in my entire life. I learned so much about myself, my beliefs, and my reality, and I was able to release blocks that have held me back for years. By asking the right questions and gently picking up on my excuses, Debbie opened my eyes to an entirely new world. She is one of the most loving, heart-driven, and inspiring people I’ve ever met, and I can’t thank her enough for what she did for me.
Let’s face it; times are dark. You can sense the weight of the shadow hovering over you, doing its best to seduce you. The shadow has a power you can feel; it’s mysterious and alluring, and it reins you in as it softly calls you by name. It has millions of answers from which to choose.
And the light, well, you don’t feel the power of it as much. But light has only one answer, and that is the TRUTH.
As a seeker of truth, I know how challenging it can be to stand in the light when all you want to do is run and hide underneath that cloak of darkness. It is so much easier to say, “I’ve had it. I can’t do this anymore.” I know. I’ve done it. I’ve said those very words.
But I keep returning to my inner GPS, my soul, that tells me I cannot give in or give up and that I’ve worked too hard to get where I am to throw it all away. The world needs lightkeepers to lead the way out of this dark abyss into which we’ve fallen. And to be a lightkeeper, I need to embrace and love my shadow, expressly, my anger before it turns to rage.
As a Caroline Myss’s Sacred Contracts Online Course student, where you determine your archetypes and their light and shadow aspects, I have a foothold on what work is necessary. As I revisited the Wounded Child, I was asked to list three ways I expressed anger.
They were:
I stuffed it, pushing it down and internalizing it. My first memory of doing this was when my younger brother died. I was six years old, and not only did I experience a great deal of grief, but I was also angry. My parents never showed this emotion, and I didn’t know what to do with it, thinking I’d be punished if I said something. Loud voices scared me.
I would start to cry because I didn’t know what to do with the feeling. I didn’t grow up in an environment where there was arguing or anger, so I believed it would be wrong. My parents never yelled or argued; I was never privy to it if they did. I saw my mother cry – a lot. I was able to copy this behavior.
From young adulthood on, I would explode like a ticking time bomb. I never knew where this came from because my parents never modeled the behavior. It was when I heard Caroline at a seminar say, “The shadow of the Wounded Child comes out when they don’t get their way. They have temper tantrums. It’s not personal, but outbursts will always occur until they realize and accept this. Embracing this part of the archetype allows you to make the shadow your ally.”
I am identifying the areas where my anger arises. It is not hard to do considering the environment we live in today. Once I’ve finished with that, I will allow the areas to be just as they are and hold space to be experienced safely – no road rage here! And finally, I will take that fire and use it to fuel my coaching business so I can be a conduit for healing.
In what ways do you express anger? Have you identified triggers that set your anger off in an unhealthy way? If you are a woman, do you want to embrace that society says we shouldn’t show that part of you?
Do you remember a time in your life when everything was sailing smoothly along, and suddenly you ran into a wind gust that toppled your sails? It’s like life threw you a curveball from out of nowhere. Starting in March, when it was apparent that COVID-19 was not going away, I sense that most people in the world felt this way.
In the blink of an eye, everything can change. And it did.
All areas of life seemed to crumble before my eyes; my business and finances; my health and wellness; my community and social life. Here are a few of the ways I dealt with these curveballs:
Learn to adapt—part 1. As a spiritual coach and yoga instructor, I usually see clients on a one-on-one basis. That ended mid-March and left me with nowhere to go. I continued to practice Coach/Client roles on Zoom with my partners from my enrollment in CBCT (Clear Beliefs Coach Training). I upgraded to a professional account so that I could record and have unlimited time for a session. I also learned how to operate all of Zoom’s features from breakout rooms to transferring a file.
Learn to adapt—part 2. Due to the fact I now needed to depend on the internet to acquire clients, I needed to be able to have a way for them to pay. Another upgrade: Calendly to professional, where I learned to integrate PayPaloom, as well as and Notification emails and texts. I am adapting to a world I have very little knowledge or experience with, but know it is necessary.
Create something new. I knew I needed to do something that would allow me to earn money even during a pandemic (and who knows how long this will go on). I enrolled in teach-able.com to create an online course. There are many tasks I have no clue how to do; I am learning as I go. I am very excited about the new venture.
Acceptance. Since May, I learned I have a few health issues that challenge my mobility and quality of life. I am an avid gardener, and it’s where I ground myself and meditate. I am not able to do what I want to do at this time. Although part of it is temporary, one thing I know for sure: I am exactly where I am supposed to be in my life right now. I don’t like it, but I do accept it, and that does make it a little easier.
Gratitude. I am grateful for all the blessings in my life, from my home to my dogs, and my small circle of friends here and abroad, and for life itself. I am truly blessed. Little things are important to me today. I’m grateful I don’t have a hangnail today.
When life throws you a curveball, what do you do? Do you stand on the sidelines of life and worry? Do you hang in the outfield and pretend nothing’s going to happen, or it doesn’t exist? Do you stand in the batter’s box and watch it whizz by? Or do you swing and hit the ball so hard, it goes out of the park?
My hope for you is that your answer is the last question.
Many Blessings for a happy, healthy, and prosperous life!
JOURNALING: How It Can Increase Your Intuition And Creativity
Have you ever thought about journaling, but don’t know where to start?
Journaling can be as simple as recording your gut feelings, instincts, hunches, or impressions about experiences in your life in a notebook. You can also make it a daily practice to write in your journal for as little as 10 minutes. Or you can spend more time reflecting on questions or prompts given to you.
Journaling is for anyone who wants to discover their inner wisdom, the all-knowing soul source directing you in life. Even if you have no experience writing, you can journal. It is a creative and therapeutic source of self-expression.
There are numerous journaling techniques you can try, and while they all have benefits, some have greater success activating your intuition and increasing your creativity. The journaling techniques I feel help you gain insight and awareness are:
Morning Pages: The book “The Artist’s Way” by Julia Cameron explains this concept. When you wake up in the morning, you grab a journal and write for three pages straight. There is no holding back. You write without caring about mistakes or grammar, just write until you hit your three-page mark. This type of writing is called stream of consciousness writing, where you just let all your thoughts flow out, much as they run through your head.
Stream of Consciousness Writing: This technique is similar to Morning Pages, but you don’t have to do it in the morning or for three pages straight. It may be done anytime, anywhere, and for any length of time. It is the one I practice.
Daily Life and Experiences: This is the type of journaling that most people associate with diaries and journals. People automatically assume that if you journal, you have to write about what you did that day, which turns many people off from journaling because they believe it would be boring to write about daily life. Even though that is the stigma, this is what my journal consists of, and I enjoy writing about hanging out with friends, school, work, and small everyday memories.
Reflective Journal: A reflective journal (aka a reflective diary) is the perfect place to write down some of life’s most significant thoughts. In a reflective journal, you can write about a positive or negative event that you experienced, what it means, or meant to you, and what you may have learned from the experience.
A well-written journal can be an essential tool. As with any technique to get the most benefits, you need practice. It could mean forcing yourself to write, at first, but after a while, it will become like second nature.
Write down your entry as soon as possible after the event. This way, the details will still be fresh in your mind, which will help later in your analyses.
Why Journaling Improves Clarity, Creativity, and Inner Connection
Journaling slows the mind down, so you see how you think.
Journaling quickly captures our flighty thoughts on paper, enabling us to see what we think so we can learn how we think. Slowing down creates space for more in-depth and higher thoughts to emerge. A new level of awareness awakens, which supports a more focused and creative thought process.
Create a bigger picture.
When the whole becomes greater than the sum of its parts, synergy is created. When you write down numerous ideas, you begin to see the relationships and trends they have. When events can be connected, we can draw on our intuition to discover additional meaning.
Change your perspective.
New clarity and understanding are the results of seeing things in a different light. From a multitude of facts or concepts, you’re able to synthesize by reducing them to a few main points. Your change in perspective draws the most important details out.
Journal Writing Prompts
How can I get more solitude, stillness, and peace in my life?
How do I control rather than trust?
I can experience a greater sense of meaning and love in life by …
What tensions are stressing me now?
What major block needs to be resolved?
In what areas do I need more imagination?
My deepest heartfelt desires, dreams, and visions are …
What can I do to increase balance in my life?
What excuses keep me stuck?
How can I increase my overall abundance?
Journaling allows
your subconscious mind to solve problems while gaining insights about the things you are writing and learning. You also get a deeper sense of yourself, even unlocking hidden aspects and identifying beliefs that hold you back. If you haven’t yet begun to journal, I encourage you to start now. Just pick up a pen and a piece of paper or notebook and start writing. You’ll be glad you did because your entire life will change.
at the most inopportune times.
