Category: Mindsets

Destiny Leads The Willing And Drags The Unwilling: Identifying Our Resistance To Greatness

I heard a famous quote by Seneca earlier. “Fate leads the willing; the Unwilling it drags.”

Recently, I’ve been exploring “counter-manifesting.” We hear a lot about having faith, thinking positive, and manifesting our dreams. That is all great. These tools (faith, positivity, and confidence in our creating) are absolutely wonderful and more of us need to operate in these things more consistently. However, if you hold defeating visions or limiting beliefs in your subconscious you will manifest more slowly and with much resistance.

Here’s what I mean. Say you have a really big goal and you’re studying about the law of attraction, you’re exercising your faith and you’re thinking positive thoughts and really leaning into what emotions you will feel once you achieve that goal BUT deep down you don’t believe yourself worthy of receiving those things…then you’re likely going to experience a slowness of getting to your goal. You will probably have lots of ups and down in your emotions where you have to “try” to believe and “try” to push off “negative” emotions…and drive yourself crazy in the process trying to get to what you want.

When we are born we come into this world with no sense of identity. We arrive as pure consciousness. Once we are born then layers are added on top of our consciousness by people outside ourselves and the circumstances into which we are born. We are pure potential. But, maybe you have or had parents with fears of success. Maybe you were born into severe poverty. Or, perhaps you were born in a country that restricts your freedoms based on your gender or religion. Many many layers outside of our control are heaped on top of us and those layers are internalized. Those layers are what I call, “psychic substrates.” A fascia of sorts for the psyche. And, if we are to reach our goals and see ourselves as we truly are we have to be WILLING to sift through and work with the shadow of our subconscious. Many people refuse to get still or meditate because being still means their conscious mind will be met with the issues that aren’t comfortable to acknowledge or address. We may feel overwhelmed by what we perceive would take a lot of time to work through. And, time is scarce. Especially if you live in a culture that glorifies work over mental health. Time is the first thing we need to reclaim to truly take our power back. On that note, I encourage you to inventory areas of your life where if you need to assert a boundary to free up more time, then please do it. Don’t fall into the trap of workaholism or screen time trying to escape the things you really need to know about yourself if you’re going to create the ultimate reality for yourself and those you care about.

In another article I will talk about “how” to explore your subconscious successfully without feeling afraid or overwhelmed. But, for now I just need you to become willing. That’s all the focus is for this article. So, let’s dive into the implications of this famous saying of Seneca. Clearly, you probably first understand this is an issue of mindset. Remember earlier I said you can do all the right things (aka work on your mindsets) and still not hasten or reach your goals? It is this thing, your natural response to your future that determines whether or not you feel led or like you’re being dragged. If deep down you truly don’t believe you are destined for greatness or to have great things then all the work you do will be like laying silk on top of sewage hoping for a smooth and clean path to walk. Sewage stinks. Who knows exactly what is in there. If you touch it could spread disease. If not controlled it creates disruption. See where I’m going with this? The limiting beliefs we hold are like sewage. We may feel afraid to even touch it because of how much it stinks, how disruptive it will be, and put off because we don’t know exactly what’s in it.

Now, here’s where we alchemize this “septic psychic substrate.” What if, as you began to approach this sewage, you noticed that it didn’t quite smell as strong as you thought it might? So, you get a bit closer while grasping your silk. Then as you get closer you begin to notice it’s not as murky but has an opaque quality to it. So, relaxing a bit, you walk up to the very edge of it, and to your surprise you discover it is in fact a sparkling, crystal clear pool of life-giving water. One of the first emotions you might feel is, “ahh! I wish I had come to this sooner! This water could have been nourishing me and refreshing me along this path!” You then decide to scoop your hands into it and it feels so perfect. So cool and refreshing but not too cold. And, you notice it’s deep. Quite deep. So instead of using your silk to cover it all over, you wrap it around your body like a swim suit and SPLASH! You go all in and dive into the deep pool of healing and refreshment. You float and enjoy the clear sky above you. You notice the droplets of water beaded up on your skin. And, you feel….AMAZING. And, from this surprise refreshment you are able to proceed on your path with a skip in your step because the discovery of it changed your mind about it. You saw it clearly for yourself without putting off exploring it because you originally believed it to be too dirty to deal with it.

So, at what point DID the sewage alchemize? When you started off you held a belief it was too much. But, as you approached you noticed it didn’t quite carry the scary and gross characteristics you truly believed it did. At what point did it actually change into life-giving water? It happened in increments. It happened in the emotion of WILLINGNESS to approach IT that IT became clear and refreshing. This is how we transform things. We musn’t be afraid to touch them.

Now, that your underlying belief has changed you won’t have any subconscious resistance to the positive mindsets you are implementing! You can now fully enjoy believing that you are in fact great and destined for greatness and when you receive promptings from Spirit, from God, from the Universe, your natural response will be to feel curious and adventurous and you will find yourself going after your wildest dreams! You will find yourself being led…not being dragged. So, if you’re looking for a sign to believe in yourself with radical, outrageous, and cocky confidence…this is it!! Permission granted.

With love,

Cozett Dunn

Cozett Contemplates

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She Brought Us All Together Again: Love Is Greater Than Faith

Cozett Contemplates how she brought us all together again…

This morning my meditation released a lot of stored emotion I have about the division we’ve faced collectively over the last several years.

I don’t think I realized how deeply it has affected me.

All my life I have been a peace keeper of sorts. Human suffering has always bothered me. Always. And, I’ve always had this drive to help everyone I can to avoid suffering, consequence, and repercussion.

When I was in 1st grade, I was in a shared classroom with kindergartners. Our teacher is to this day still the favorite teacher I ever had. I remember her that clearly. Originally, Miss Gregory, then she got married and became Mrs. Aldridge. I loved her. She had one big rule for our classroom. And that rule was, “NO MORE THAN ONE ON THE FLOOR.”

She knew how frenetic young children can be and this was one way to keep order, peace, flow in our classroom.

One day while doing a writing lesson, I noticed two kindergartners at the sink. One had gone up to wash his hands from some finger painting they were doing. Then his friend got up and walked to the sink as well and was whispering in his ear. I remember feeling fear, feeling frantic, because I didn’t want them to get in trouble.

So, while they were talking at the sink, I decided to “risk it all” as much as a first grader can! ha ha. I thought, “if I can get to them before she does and get them to sit back down then it will be worth the risk of becoming the 3RD person on the floor!”

So, I quickly got up and walked up to the two boys and said quietly, “you all aren’t supposed to be up here. No more than one on the floor. You’re going to get in trouble.”

Suddenly, from out of nowhere came a whack across my bottom followed by 2 other whacks on theirs.

I felt so defeated. Embarrassed. Like I had lost an epic battle trying to do something good. Trying to do something that would “save” them. How could my pure motives bring me this? Punishment?? Of all the things.

That was the first of many lessons to come. That lesson that is now finding its articulation in this post, at the age of 43, is that “you can’t save everyone. And, as hard as it is to watch sometimes you have to allow others paths to unfold without interruption. While you think you are interrupting pain, it is more likely that you will be interrupting valuable lessons that will keep that person from pain in the future, when you aren’t around to save them or look out for them.”

As an adult I’ve not really departed from this inclination. I’ve refined it though through my own lessons of pain that weren’t interrupted.

During meditation I was asking myself, “what is next for me?” I’ve created 3 additional businesses that will serve as platforms for my own personal expression, healing messages, joy for myself and others, and another means of ensuring my own stability, as a single woman, one income household. But, they are not ends in and of themselves. They are my children. And, I want to watch after them dutifully, and support them by being their biggest cheerleader. But, that isn’t the end of my journey. It is a hugely satisfying accomplishment, yes. But, obviously that isn’t where my story ends.

This is when I began to cry. I actually cried so hard I began to shake. I began having flash images of memories over the last several years of social media posts, and news headlines, and news stories of our how country and world has erupted into sickness, war, racism, and near elimination of the middle-class.

Between religion, politics, poverty, and humanity’s inability to hold space for others who are different we have created a very sick atmosphere to live in. And, if you are an empath, you like me, probably feel all of this in your body and it is like a personal version of hell.

I’ve felt so trapped. Having a higher perspective and wanting to run to everyone and “get them away from the sink so they wouldn’t experience pain for their choices.”

So, this morning after I asked the question to myself, and to God, “what is next for me?” I heard these words, “She brought us all together again.”

That will be my legacy. These social media posts I do, my YouTube videos, my businesses, my voice are all channels to the goal that I wish to meet and enjoy as I lie on my death bed. And, that is world peace. I don’t care how lofty that sounds. And, I don’t care what any religion, psychologist, sociologist or other teacher says about how that’s not going to happen, or how it can’t happen, or how it has been predicted that we will only ever unwind into an apocalyptic extinction.

While I am here and while I have breath in my body I will strive to help people who are vastly different from each other, join hands and hearts.

There is truly more that unites us than divides us. I want to be intentional about loving my neighbor. And, I want you to be as well.

When we are falling out with each other due to different religions, skin color, economic philosophies, parenting, body image, etc. And, when our planet becomes inundated with a virus that is global. These are symptoms of what is happening in the collective unconscious. There are some bad programs running beneath the conscious awareness of our thought life that is pulling us into a chasm.

I’ve always been naturally ecumenical in nature. Here’s what I mean. I grew up to about the age of 12 or 13 as a Jehovah’s witness. Then around the age of 14 I had the opportunity to attend a Pentecostal church. It was in this setting that I found a place where I could enjoy self-expression in light of my feelings about God. The ecstatic worship services gave me a break from my crisis filled childhood. I got to see other examples than just my own family of origin in how differently people see God and respond to God and live out their beliefs. It was absolutely beautiful to my innocent mind. And, to this day I wish I could go back and experience these types of services. Unfortunately, I cannot and for reasons that would require another long post. For all of its faults, and frailties it gave me something beautiful to take away once I diverged. I gained a lot of confidence to approach and to continue learning about, God. As an adult woman, who was a preacher within a Pentecostal tradition I constantly strove to bring together Catholics, and other protestant denominations. I incorporated their theology into my own and tried my best to preach from that space.

Because I desperately wanted to be a responsible teacher who created and perpetuated unity and because I felt a duty to make sure that everyone who came under the sound of my voice wouldn’t receive only the fundamentals of the faith. They had plenty of that. We are still to this day harped on and harping at each other and everyone else the 10 commandments. What a shame. Even Paul, an Apostle, said we should leave the elementary teachings of the faith behind and go on to greater things. The mysteries of the Christ. Not cause and effect. Not good and bad. Not right and wrong. If your heart is renewed and you’re an ethical person at all you don’t need to be told any of this in order to follow it. There is a lot of wasted breath that could be used to teach people….how not to feel disdain for other religions but rather curiosity. The world’s religions are characterized by what I call, “the big 3.” Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. We are ALL Abrahamic. And, it is a disservice to the messengers of our faith contexts to somehow in our imaginations pit them against each other in a make believe fight for supremacy. How egoic is that? Yuck. God has nothing to do with that in reality. At all.

But, it’s not enough to be religiously or spiritually ecumenical, is it? No. Why? Because even that, as well-rounded as it can seem, STILL disenfranchises humanity. Yes, there is an entire world outside the confines of any religion or spirituality. And, I also want to find myself there. And, you should too. We weren’t created FOR religion. It is not my life purpose, nor is it yours, to die championing the supremacy of your religion. We are here for the purpose of life. LIFE is the purpose of all of us. I’ve discovered this because of death. When you are one breath away from homelessness, when you are sick in your body, mind and relationships….you understand acutely, how pointless religion and its supremacy really is. The only thing that matters is life and love.

There is a famous bible verse, penned by Paul an apostle to a church in Corinth. In 1 Cor. 13:13 he exhorted the congregation by saying, “And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.”

Let me say this in a way that I hope you will understand:

1. Love is greater than faith.

That’s it. The end.

Love is greater than your faith context. In other words, your faith isn’t nearly as important as your capacity to hold space for people unlike yourself.

As an adult woman I still feel the nature of my girlhood within me. I am still wanting to rescue people and steer them away from all that harms. Even if, AND ESPECIALLY if, that is our own behaviors, and attitudes.

And, that’s what this post is. Me, an as of yet, not college educated, single, white woman in the southeastern United States, whose appearance fits my stereotype. I mean my accent alone sends the message about my stereotype. My accent is…mamaw’s cornbread, with sorghum and grits.

But, I’m here. I’m showing up. In spite of my physical appearance, my accent, my heavily religious background. I’m here. And, I’m pointing to behaviors that will bring us all pain.

I’m urging you…to sit back down. No more than one on the floor. Sit, think and allow curiosity and compassion and consideration and commonalities to saturate your conscience. Allow these things to point you away from divisive behaviors and philosophies.

We really are better together. ALL of us. And, I am joining hands with everyone. Especially people who don’t share anything in common with me other than the fact that we need clean air, clean food, safe neighborhoods, and schools for our children. If that’s it (which it isn’t) that is enough. Love can grow from just those things.

I love you….do you love me?

Yours truly,

Cozett Dunn

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I Have To Move Forward

I’m lying in bed in my dimly lit room from the light of my Himalayan salt lamp.  It’s dark and quiet in my apartment.  I can hear the low hum of my ceiling fan.  Tamber is curled into my chest and arm.  I feel the soft vibrations of her purr.  I’m alone with my cat. No one can see me.  This is a mental snapshot I’m taking because I want to remember the peace and the visual.  The sounds and the feelings.  I need many more moments like this.

I love the obscurity of this picture.   It represents more than just this moment.  It represents where I am at in my life at this point.

Everything is so obscure right now.  I don’t know what the future holds and I kind of feel in the dark.  I’m about to make some major changes and while I don’t quite know what they will look like….I can say this:

Just like in this dark obscure picture where you can make out the soft form of my sweet cat and just like you can feel the peace and calm energy of this post (hopefully) there is something taking shape.

Something soft and comforting after a lifetime of hardness, and fear, and anxiety and disappointment.  I can’t fully see it.  But, I can feel it.  I sense it taking shape.  Some kinder and gentler time on the horizon (I hope).

I hear the low hum of its build and I feel the soft purr of it coming alive.  I await eagerly but patiently.  Please God.. please let 2023 be my year.  The year that I move forward in every imaginable way in every arena I wish to find myself.  The year that I have my very own song of freedom and never look back.

I promise to go forth with full throated and robust courage.  I promise that once opportunity finds my preparation that I will leap with every fiber of my being even if I don’t know where I will land.  I swear I will.

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The Skin Of The Shaman

Listening has always been an intellectual and spiritual practice of mine. Whether it’s small talk, big talk, a ten seconds video clip I’ve always had a gift for reading between the lines and understanding intention. I am the nod and smile type so this likely doesn’t convey. But, then there is absolutely NOTHING about my outward appearance or mannerisms that remotely match my inner world. I’ll go in to that some other time. But, as a middle-aged, overweight, American white woman with a thick southern accent there is unfortunately no chance of anyone seeing me as I really am. I’m relegated to the circle of stereotypes like Honey Boo-Boo’s mom, or the Nanny Maw character on Tiktok. I ADORE Nanny Maw! She is epically hilarious and does a great job at poking fun at all of us southerners. You don’t really look at characters like this and think: “sage, deep wisdom, pointed, discerning, wisdom teacher, guru, intellectual, etc.” I do not look the part that I play in my current cosmic dance. And, it’s frustrating for me. Internet banter does nothing to alleviate the stereotype of my body type, race and nationality.

So, in getting out my message to the world I understand that from the jump I am disadvantaged in being heard the way I deserve to be heard. I will never walk on to a stage and have the immediate reaction from my audience that say a male Indian guru would have. The audience will always and forever be surprised that what comes out of me, from my mouth, my words is of the same essence and deep wisdom as say Sadhguru. Who is currently my favorite wisdom teacher. I encourage everyone to hear what he has to say. His wisdom is broadly applicable to all religious contexts as well as to those who are atheist. He’s a good thinker. Truly. My task is that first I have to clear my own path before I can even get my voice heard. That path is filled with the preconceived ideas of others about my disposition. My disposition. My appearance. My context. It all makes my thoughts more questionable than if they came from Sadhguru or some other well known guru.

A few years ago I became acquainted with an amazing yoga teacher. One of the biggest hearts I’ve ever known. So wise and kind and insightful. A trauma specialist. White and very much like me in the context of our nationality and skin color. She practices as a shaman. It never occurred to me to question what she called herself or knew herself as. She touched my life in a profound way and still does. She is without a doubt a shaman. In my current friend circle I am thankful to be surrounded by progressive thinkers, fiery activists who put everything they have in to defending and supporting and promoting the disenfranchised of my area. They open their mouths and succinctly hand racists and hypocrites their a** on a daily basis. They’re smart. They are educated. They are passionate. And they have seemingly endless energy to argue. Words matter. Am I right? This is one reason I write the way I do is because to me words are everything. Especially in the absence of forethought and consideration. In spite of my admiration and generally on-board nature with the message of their activism I felt a bit disappointed and disillusioned by a recent post one made about shamanism. Basically he said, “unless your skin is brown or black it is an insult to call yourself a shaman and if you are white and calling yourself a shaman then you are actively participating in cultural appropriation.” That is a huge and entirely faulty blanket statement. Here’s why.

Many shamanic cultures believe in reincarnation. There are two schools of understanding on reincarnation. One is that once a body dies and the soul is disconnected from its bodily form then the entirety of that soul gets recycled and put into another container whether it’s a human body or animal body. The other (which is the one that I subscribe to) holds that since soul has no shape then when it is detached from the solid energetic form that we know as body, the energy is no longer bound to a singular body. It disburses and spreads out and degrades. It is made up of ribbons or strings of energy. Once those ribbons of energy are loosed from the body many of them will join themselves to other stronger energy forms. In other words the spirit when disbursed it expands until it breaks off into pieces. These then find their way into other bodily forms. So, if you believe that an ancestor reincarnated into your new baby it’s more likely that part of that ancestor did but not the entirety of their previous energetic soul form. For those unfamiliar with the science of energy it may be good to state here that the first law of thermodynamics is that “energy cannot be created or destroyed it can only be changed from one form into another.” Yes, you can be a Christian and believe in reincarnation. The early church never had a qualm with the concept of reincarnation but due to power dynamics and edits to the Bible to force it to fit into Roman thought we lost the richness of that mystic component of our faith. At any rate, the point that was lost upon my friends is that if shamans believe in reincarnation and that concept is a major part of the society that they operate in then it follows that those shamans understood that once they left their own bodies they very well could come back in another human body that may or may not have resemblance or relativity to the culture that they were healing. Words matter because they shape how we are seen and understood and how our gifts are received. So, in my opinion this did a horrible disservice to any seekers who saw that post. Plus, the shamans of 2022, regardless of their cultural context cannot look like the shamans of earlier centuries. Why should they? Why should we? If the modern age brings us anything it is the understanding that modernity and mysticism can coexist. It’s about the message. It’s about the medicine. Not the body that it comes from.

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Authentic…Unto Death

Sitting here in the dark, dimly lit bedroom I’ll soon never sleep in again. I’ve spent the last 20 minutes sitting with my chunky headphones on listening to, “Return to Innocence” by Enigma on repeat and watching Talia sleep.  I’m still processing the last 24 hours when she became suddenly blind.  If the past 3 years have taught me anything it is to slow down and spend prolonged time taking in the people, animals, and good memories made.

I stink, I’m sweaty and not even gonna shower before I fall asleep.  But, my Talia…she’s blind.  And, now I finally realize and regret my own blindness.  I’ve allowed everything and everyone to get in the way of me living my life in a more rooted way.  A more earthy way.  That’s all we really have you know?

A few years ago I read a web article about pet euthanasia.  The majority of pets who experience euthanasia do so in the company of the techs and vet and staff because it’s so hurtful to see your fur baby/child to transition in front of you.  And, that was absolutely my mindset.  But, a few techs and vets weighed in and offered an alternative perspective on pet euthanasia.   They all stated that while they completely understand why pet owners don’t want to be there to witness the event and that they will always respect people’s grief process,  they long to see more pet owners be present.  Pets have a very small circle of family and friends.  In the short span of their lives they will live in a home with family and friends who come and go.  So they may only know maybe 10 people give or take for their entire lives.  They never get a break from us, haha.  But, the thing is they never feel smothered and if it was possible they would stay within our shadow and by our sides every single second for a millenia.  Their love and devotion is bottomless, untiring, ever cheerful, ever patient, ever thrilled to hear our voice, see our face, smell our scent.  Whether it’s the first time they sniff you or the millionth time their enthusiasm never diminishes or fades, it only brings their hearts that much closer to ours.   They only ever love us more every day they’re alive.

When I read this a light went off.  Talia loves me with everything in her.  You can literally feel her love energy.  And while I am her #1 favorite human she’s like this about any human she’s ever met.  Instantly warm, curious, and gentle hoping for some affection and a new friendship.  She has never been scared of anything.  Loud sounds, thunder storms, shrieks of little ones playing or crying.

In fact when it thunderstorms sometimes she and I go out on the porch and I sit her in my lap and we watch the lightning and feel the rain spray in gently and coolly upon our bodies and faces.  When it lightnings I can see the spray on her fur and it looks like dew.

She intently looked up at the sky and followed the lightning streaks with her eyes.  Sniffing the wind occasionally for some wild scents.  Never flinching, squirming, or tense.  Relaxed, intrigued, longing to see what it would feel like up in the sky above her.  She is such a brave old girl.  Car rides?  She loves them.  Going for a walk on a leash?  Yes, please.

My constant companion whom has shown me much greater and deeper love than the majority of humans who have been in my life. 

Because of this I resolved that when the day comes if I am able to have any forewarning of her passing I will hold her in my arms and sing her her favorite lullabys.  I’ve reworded I don’t know how many songs to include her name and take her beautiful gentle life into adventure stories, sleepy time songs, and of course my doting love songs over my precious cat.  I will stay by her side just like she has mine.  My arms, hands, scent and voice, touch, body warmth and love….as much love as any human could ever possibly hold…my love for her will be the last experience she has here.  She never left my side and I’ll never leave hers either.  Ever.  I’ll be holding her and kissing her little knobby head and singing to her until she’s in the arms of the angels. 

Her gentleness is like her own cottony fur.  So tender and soft you can hardly even feel it touching your skin.  She’s so tiny.  At the time of this writing she weighs about 6 lbs.  She’s a bit underweight even though she’s small.   I’m not entirely sure what breeds she’s made from but she has a tortoise siamese colored coat and deep, dark blue eyes (that now look a bit purple in her blindness).  And she’s very short, low to the ground, haha.  And her little tail is short.  She’s built like a munchkin but has the coat and eyes of a Siamese.

Her little multi-colored paws look like they are ringed in caramel.  And she loves belly rubs.  And 99% of the time doesn’t attack my hand.  That 1% though….she’s got a streak.  I guess if she didn’t she wouldn’t have been able to put up with mine and Margo Holder s crap all these years, hahaha.  Margo often says that Talia is her spirit animal and believe me when I say, she is not wrong.

At any rate, beyond all of this the last 24 hours of her going suddenly completely blind has opened my eyes to something I’ve decided I want to do that will likely seem odd to more people than not.  But, that’s how I roll anyway.

I have deep regrets about not spending as much time with my family and friends as I’d like to.  I’ve allowed life to get in the way.  And if I allow life to be a stumbling block…what will that mean at death?

For many years now I’ve casually researched death doulas.  Most people don’t even know what a doula is much less a death doula.  Now, I’m not saying I want to be or am going to be a death doula by profession.  But, there are some facets of their work that I am going to implement where it’s appropriate and of course permissible.

I have decided that I want my heart to break wide open and hold my family and friends in my arms as they transition so that it is my hands, my arms, my energy, my truest and deepest love for them to be what they are enveloped in as they transition.

I’ve always been a lover.  A hugger…to the point of extreme and strange awkwardness. 

But,  how can I apologize for that?  And, for what reason should I reign it in?  Covid-19 wiped millions of people off this planet in the blink of an eye comparatively speaking.  And, not just Covid, but wars, disasters, political rhetoric that has risen to the point that brother is against brother.  I long for the day to see field upon field joined to pastures and woodlands filled with a great many more plowshares.  As it is, sheaths clamor and tremble longing for the bloodied blades to return again for fear of being found guilty before God as being accomplices.

Blood is crying out from the ground but we can’t hear it because the main stream has become the main scream and their volume has driven us to deafness.  Our ears dull and listening unskilled.  Our mouths boastful, arrogant and insisting on our own rights, or beliefs to be looked at as the pinnacle of truth even if it means the death of another human who doesn’t agree.

No.  This world isn’t for me.  So, from this point forward I’m going my own way.  I’m about to do everything in my life the weirdest and most unconventional way as possible. 

Life is valuable.  It is precious.  Sacred. Holy in its own right.  How could I betray it by living anything less than 1000% authentically to who I am, to what my level and intensity of love is like, to cleave to my own philosophies formed circumspectly and carefully?  How could I ever be ok with exchanging even the weirdest things about me in lieu of making myself more acceptable?   Life is too short for that.  It’s too brilliantly faceted for that.  I am committed to being my different self no matter what that looks like or who it may trouble.   Doing death differently…addressing the deeper, intangible components of dying and watching life transform as its vehicle weakens…is when you know you’re a catalyst and have just changed your own trajectory.  Forever.  I will never be the same after these last 3 years and it took my dear Talia’s blindness to open my eyes to the truth that it is in fact how life should be lived so that when we settle into the arms of death we will embrace it regretless and with the sense of an old dear friend who has come to pay a visit. 

I am different.  Unto death.

My desire is to be the most open, accepting, loving, heart-centered person you know.   And, if I can be that then don’t thank me or give me any accolades.  Thank Margo Holder, my mamaw, my nieces and nephews, my parents, my brothers, and my intimate friends.  Because it is them who have shaped me and shown me how weird love is, how unconditional it can feel, and the powerful relief it offers when you’re in the worst pain of your life.  We aren’t perfect.  None of us are.  And far be it from me to close my mind and heart to this human experience.

We are all walking miracles. Our pets included.

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Cozett’s Crossroads

I have come to a major crossroads in my life. Typically my writing is a bit more metaphoric and maybe verbose. But, this. This is a thought dump.

I’m to a place where I need to discover what can make my life enjoyable outside of spirituality and sexuality. Those two things have been basically who I am my entire life. I’ve always loved, eat, slept, breathed, drank and spent thousands upon thousands of dollars into learning more about both. These two facets of most people’s lives even though so common are so much more energetically complex than the majority of people care to think about.

But, it’s these two things that have caused me the most pain, confusion, division, and mental health issues for me. I’m not going to go into the reasons why as the explanations are lengthy. But, will touch on them lightly as necessary to make this entry as coherent and cohesive as possible.

An admittance of one of my major flaws is that unless a subject, experience, encounter, or conversation is “deep” then it leaves me feeling empty and disconnected. Obviously, it’s too intense to be that way all the time for most people and maybe that’s why fatigue is an issue for me.

At any rate, I am here trying to reimagine my life sans spirituality and sans romantic/sexual interactions. I really don’t know who I am apart from these two things. So, I guess that means I’m getting ready to mourn the parts of myself that I always hoped would be the parts to experience the depth and breadth and richness this planet can offer the most.

I’ve never been a parent so I don’t have kids that I have to live for. That’s a big thing for most people. I have two cats that are the best pets ever so that brings me a great deal of comfort and joy. The type of work that I love to do I can’t do due to lack of education and competition. So, I don’t love my job.

Travel. I guess maybe that’s the next big thing for me? We shall see. But, even that has always held a spiritual quality for me. I suppose I could shift it to where I could feel it more poetically than spiritually.

More later.

Cheers,

Cozett Dunn

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Serpentine Shadows: The Cunningness of Healing

Snakes. They’re following me around everywhere. It’s uncomfortable. They’re in my dreams. They’re in my visions. A huge one was in my yard near the path to get into my house. And now wondering around through some of my old blog posts I came across a journal entry where I was firmly met and firmly decided to sit with the imagery of the serpent. Why are snakes so ubiquitous for me? I get the sense that serpent is an important part of my journey. I’m gonna ramble a bit here and then below I’ve included that journal entry for your reading pleasure 🙂

I’ve had an uptick in snake dreams lately. And a few visions of snakes. It still doesn’t fail that my initial emotion upon seeing a serpent is one of discomfort. I’ve found that the first thing I wonder about when I see a snake is question if I’m healthy. It’s like a default emotion. I’m as determined as ever to work through this because I feel there are major implications for my perception of this ancient symbol. This archetype. Yesterday morning I had a vivid dream. In this dream I was interacting with my family in my energetic form. I had passed on. I saw the potential scenario of my death and my instructions and impressions to my cousin about how I wanted things handled after my death. It wasn’t until I woke up that I realized that in my dream I was in fact in spirit form and not earthly form. As I rolled over in the warm softness of my blanket I went into a vision. I was sitting on my porch and a snake had crawled up my chair and bit me on my left wrist. It latched hard. I’m telling you its gums were pressed onto my skin. It had gone deep. Of course I jerked my arm and was startled but perhaps not as much as I would have been in real life. The expression on my face conveyed I experienced more of a playful “ouch” than a potentially life-threatening venom injection. The vision was brief as they usually are. It bothered me. I had the nagging question, “why do I keep dreaming about and seeing snakes??” in the back of my mind all day long. It colored everything I did. Why do I keep being brought back to this specific symbol? I finally decided to get still and allow my subconscious to project what it wanted to into my stream of active thoughts. The word, “healer” came into my thoughts. After this, a cascade of new understanding began to inundate me. I could feel these thoughts in different parts of my own body. Those sensations were further confirmation to me of the message of the snake. Shall we go back to Moses? Yes. And since I am the one taking you back to him I’m going to introduce you to some new titles for him that you may not have thought of or be comfortable with. Especially if you share my context as a person in the Bible belt of the United States.

Moses. Shaman to the Hebrews. Medicine man of mysterium. Desert father. Seer. Alchemist. Social justice warrior. Progressive. Empath. Mystic. Oracle. Nomad. I’m going to dive into all of these titles at some point. But for now I want to explore Moses the Shaman to the Hebrews.

In the Bible, Numbers 21:6-9, “Then YHWH sent fiery (burning) serpents among the people; and they bit the people, and many Israelites died. So the people came to Moses, and said, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against YHWH and against you; pray to YHWH, so that He will remove the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people. Then YHWH said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent [of bronze] and set it on a pole; and everyone who is bitten will live when he looks at it.” So Moses made a serpent of bronze and put it on the pole, and it happened that if a serpent had bitten any man, when looked to the bronze serpent, he lived.”

Here are my takeaways from this passage. Moses’ method of healing was very much shamanistic in that he interacted with YHWH (essentially Spirit) and brought back information from that realm in to the physical in order to heal people. And, in true shaman form, Moses’ presented a method of healing that would force anyone who wanted to survive to look upon the very thing that had made them sick and threatened their lives. Talk about shadow work!!

My call is to look upon the threats and alchemize them to the healing opportunity they offer. To behold them and not to look away or be subject to knee-jerk reactions or act as though I have some obligation to fear them by virtue of what they are.

Here is my journal entry from January 6th 2020: (I have made much progress and that feels so good right now).

This evening in my meditation I found myself gently rolling my head.  Clockwise, then counter clockwise.  My mind was clear.  The movement felt good for my tense neck and shoulders.  There were a few moments that as I moved, my movements reminded me of a snake.  In fact, when it first occurred to me, the word, “serpent” popped into my head.  Creepy right??  But, what if it’s not creepy at all?

I began to journal.  Honestly, I wanted to push the notion of identification with a serpent out of my head and focus on other things.  I’ve been thinking lately about the concept of dualistic thinking.  This box so many of us operate in.  It’s a framework that says life is “us vs them” with comfort coming from feeling like one is a part of an inner circle.  Once that is sensed their is a deceptive reassurance that one’s thoughts are all correct and that person feels justified and vindicated in thinking those outside are wrong.

My context: I am a white, middle-aged, southeastern American woman born in a small town and into a southern American Christian world.  So, the value I ascribe to certain symbols are different than say a middle-eastern man or south African woman.  If you share my context you will likely have already picked up on and experienced a sense of discomfort or unease or morbid curiosity when you saw the title of this blog and the reference of identifying with a serpent.  Why?  Because in my culture that is colored by the Christian Bible and the fact that we claim a savior who was Jewish our minds immediately refer to the negative connotations of the serpent in the Bible.  From Genesis to Revelation the snake is given a bad rap.  Really bad.  In fact its image often represents Satan.  The ultimate adversary of God and tormentor of humankind.   In Genesis there is a prophecy that the offspring of Eve will bruise or crush the head of the serpent.  We understand that offspring to be Jesus Christ and the serpent the devil.  Only twice in scripture is the serpent presented in positive light.  In Genesis the serpent is called, “more crafty, intelligent, cunning than any beast” and again while the children of Israel were wandering in the desert looking for the promised land there is an instance where “fiery serpents” entered the camps and killed and made sick many people.  In order for them to be healed from this attack they were instructed to look upon the image of a serpent that had been crafted from brass.  Needless to say I grabbed onto the positive symbology.  More importantly…I allowed my mind to explore the biological characteristics of snakes.  I’m very blessed to have done so and here’s why:

Growth-when it comes to growth in humans or animals the visual of that is so subtle you really can’t see it happening.  Except when it comes snakes.  The growth of a snake involves shedding it’s skin and that is something everyone can see.  Can you imagine your skin coming off every time you have a revelation, make a good choice, learn something new or celebrate another birthday?  Awkward.  Scary looking. Startling.  Right?  Additionally, it puts the snake in a very vulnerable position.  But growth spurts do that to us too right?  It usually isn’t pretty when we shed old ideals, behaviors, patterns, etc.

Right before the serpent enters it’s first scene in the Bible where it is cursed for cajoling the woman into eating forbidden fruit that her eyes may be opened to the reality of evil as well as good, it receives a rave review.  It is said to be the most crafty and intelligent and cunning animal elevating it’s intelligence above all other beasts.  To me this is very moving.  My childhood and adolescence held a running theme where my intelligence was constantly questioned.  When I got in trouble the first words I heard from my grandfather was, “stupid, silly damn thing.”  My grandmother’s words were a little less harsh.  She would immediately say something to the effect of, “well you should have KNOWN better.”  Because all kids come automatically knowing right?  And finally during the times when my mother orbited my life and we fought she would always say, “you’re not even old enough to have an opinion.  You have no idea.”  Now as an adult I find myself in a pursuit to be one of the greatest minds in history.  Yeah, I know.  My ability to “correctly” perceive and righteously act has hijacked the relaxation and fun and ignorant bliss I could have experienced thus far.  I developed this obsessive umpire in my mind.  Every moment of everyday I have discovered that I am judging each moment as either good or bad and I’ve robbed myself of simply being.

Had I never known this context I have found myself in, a white, southern Christian woman, I may have been conditioned and introduced to the imagery of the snake as the epitome of wisdom, a master of growth, a symbol of success, a representation of healthy sexuality, an expert hunter.

As I allowed my mind to open to these truths and additional meanings I began to feel a sense of pride rather than unease.  I am…wise.  I am one who is always growing and requiring more of myself and determined to stretch.  I aspire to be a symbol of success, one with healthy sexuality and an expert hunter or provider for myself.  I am serpent-like.  My nimble movement inspires.

As a psychology student, an empathic person and aspiring professional counselor it is important to me to be relatable.  I want people to feel open to me.  And, I feel like one of the greatest medicines or gifts I can offer to myself…is healing my symbology.  I want to take all the disowned and shamed symbols and revive them.  I want to give them new meaning and the place of honor they deserve.  On a practical level I want to not immediately have a negative connotation of someone who perhaps loves snakes or brings up dreams about morphing into a snake in their dreams during a counseling session.  Healing my “seeing” better ensures my ability to be an agent of healing in the lives of others.

This year I have plans of shedding life-long patterns.  And, I’m going to be honest and warn you.  If you know me well, if you follow me on social media there are going to be times my shedding is visible.  And, that may look weird or make you uncomfortable.  But, I am determined to stretch.  I am determined to enjoy the feel of a new skin.  One that is more pliable and more suited to the joys of experiencing growth.

So, starting off 2020 I’ve healed at least one symbol and made new room in my mind and heart to better understand the world around me.

I am serpent.  And, I’m healing my symbology.

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King Mentality

These are truly the days of dreams and visions for me.  This is yet another middle of the night post.  Creativity seems to have saturated every cell of my body.  When I’m awake I’m stewing on manifesting my wildest dreams.  When I’m asleep I have vivid and highly metaphorical dreams.

And in the liminality of the 3 to 6 am time period I am inundated with vision.

So…what is Cozett contemplating at 4:19 am on a Tuesday morning?  The power and beauty of healthy masculinity. And how we can heal our world through the vehicle of it.

The words, “king mentality” kept rolling around in my thoughts so I began to ponder on what it could mean.  What the implications are of such a mentality, what it looks like, and how it can be extracted from centuries of toxic masculinity and off the rails patriarchy.  Naturally, “queen mentality” is the balancer of these mindsets and I will get to that soon.

But right now I have a grand idea.  There are so many books in me.   This concept is one of them.  I feel it’s crucial for our forward movement as a global society.  So with that said please pray that I will have the energy, patience and commitment to see this project through to publishing?  It’s important.  I promise.

All of humanity looks to its past examples of heralded leaders to influence its future course.  It had occurred to me that men who are alive in 2021 and reading this are in a unique and exceptional position at this point in the human race.  There are golden opportunities for men in 2021 that’s never been available to them until now.  Believe it or not if you are a masculine…I truly believe you are alive and reading this for a very special reason and purpose.  You were meant to see this post.  Your inner battle cry has been heard.  Your dreams are important.  Your positive impact can be immeasurable.  You are so needed. Needed but also free.  Free to reign like the king you are IF you recognize what’s being drawn out of the depths of who you are.  You’re being summoned to greatness.  Not like the greatness of the past.  Not like the greatness of Nebuchadnezzar, or Tutankhamun,  or King James, or John Wayne, etc.

No. 2020 served us all up something that will have lasting implications for many lifetimes after this blog is posted and my book is (hopefully) published.

There is not one human life on the earth that hasn’t been touched by the Covid-19 pandemic.  Whether you got sick, know someone who did, mourned someone who died from it…or never got sick, never knew anyone who did and never knew of anyone who died from it and was just irritated by the inconvenience and media coverage of it.  It has affected us all at some level. This should be a common ground for us all.  So don’t lose sight of the value of other humans who wave to you from the other end of the spectrum.

So where am I going with all of this?  This post is a kick-off of sorts for some research I’m going to undertake to interview men from every country of the world.  I am blessed to have an international readership and YouTube community.  I’m so grateful that nearly every single day I am having interesting, if brief, interactions with people from dozens of different countries, religions, and socio-economic contexts.  I talk with people who belong to tribes, live in villages, live in remote places, and have wildly different opinions and world views from my own.

And, I LOVE the tension that is held between my own values and opinions and those of the people who have such different views.  You really can enjoy the company and pressure that sometimes comes from such diversity.  The secret to the thrill and enjoyment of such company is that you each share 2 core values.  #1. Love of humanity.  #2. An open mind that isn’t hostile to being challenged.  In other words an ego that is in check.   If you share just these 2 things…you can enjoy the company of any human regardless of differences.  Talk about opening up new worlds right??  An incredibly rich opportunity to see the world through someone else’s eyes and hear the heartbeat of the earth with someone else’s ears.  To feel perceive and sense with a skin other than your own.  Is that not exciting??

On July 27th 2021 I am eager to discover who the kings of the 3rd millenium are.  They do not rule like their forefathers did.

If you’re familiar with the term, “divine feminine” you probably understand that after thousands of years of masculine rule we have and are shifting into the era of the divine feminine.  The pendulum has swung and the future is female.  It’s not just a nifty feminist soundbite.  It’s the natural progression of the course of humanity. I am stoked to be a woman pioneering in this age.  And because I recognize it I want to make sure I do it right so I can be the trailblazer that this wild and wonderful Universe has called me to be.

I want to be a divine feminine who helps set the stage for a better society for women and girls.  But in wisdom I perceive this can’t be done by “stripping men of their power and puking in the face of patriarchy.”  (As much as I have wanted to at times, admittedly.)  No.  The wise woman is a healer.  And healers are seers of sorts.  They can perceive wounds that others can’t.   They can see the wounds of people who don’t even know they carry them.  That is one thing that the masculine era taught us.  To disconnect from our pain.  Because pain is weakness and weakness is vulnerability and vulnerability does not perpetuate the human race. 

So how can I best serve women and girls and the feminine collective? I can do this by reaching out to the masculine collective and encourage them to come up higher.  I mean that’s one of the largest roots of societal problems around the world right?  The majority of ALL violence is committed by men.  Rapes, wars, murders, oppression, religious domination, originated and have been perpetuated largely by men.  All of those things are symptoms.   Not that men are bad.  Not that patriarchy is by nature toxic.  No.  Patriarchy is fatherhood.  Good fathers are indeed like shepherds.  Protectors.  Nurturers.  We’ve been given a bad example.  We have been living for thousands of centuries with toxic masculinity.  But it only exists because of wounds and to some degree the early drives to survive and escape dinosaurs and such.

So this is one of my plans to make the world a better place.  I want to hear from YOU. 

What in your mind is a king? 

What in your mind defines healthy masculinity?

Who have been positive masculine examples in your life?  Whether personally or perhaps some public figure.

As we dance into the feminine era and tap in to all the mysterious and esoteric wisdom, and healing it offers…I still wanna hear it…for the boy…(Song: Let’s hear it for the boy by Deniece Williams.)

#divinemasculine #divinefeminine #cozettcontemplates #divinefemininerising #patriarchy #toxicmasculinity #inspiration #blogger #writer #international #King #KingMentality #Queen #queenmentality

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Who..Are You Made Of?

For years I have heard the famous saying, “you are the average of the five people you spend the most time with” by motivational speaker, Jim Rohn. Also, “show me your friends and I’ll show you your future.” This concept has never sat well with me. When I first heard it my immediate instinct was that it is yet another shame tactic wielded at us by toxic positivity culture. It literally felt like a blow to the gut. I got the gist of it. I knew the person quoting it was well intentioned and has a heart the size of Texas. But, still it felt like a bit of a blow. The psychology nerd in me began analyzing the essence of the statement and trying to discern if there was perhaps a bit of an egoic angle that this phrase was birthed in. I also felt it was a very unfair and uninformed statement. What about someone who is part of a dysfunctional family and they live in poverty? Maybe they don’t have access to higher education. Maybe they don’t have a vehicle and so they are at home most of the time with the dysfunctional. And, where they live is a high crime rate but they can’t get out because they have no car and no money. Naturally, they’re going to spend the most time with these people. And, if you’ve ever been poor you know you don’t have the privilege to just up and switch the company you keep. You can’t go from living in the projects to rubbing shoulders with Harvard graduates all because you decide to. It’s not that simple. There is no straight path for this societal transition typically. So, you can see why I felt this statement was a slight moreso than motivational. It takes time, effort, money, opportunity, preparation, and so much more to bridge the contrast between these two worlds.

But, it’s in the liminal space of those two worlds where I find the most motivation, true progress, and the magic of alchemy. For me it’s neither the projects nor the prestige that hold my attention. It’s the thresh hold moments. The crossing. The journey. It’s not the 1st step or the thousandth mile that impress me. It’s the 500th mile. That place where you’ve exhausted all your anticipation energy. The place where you realize you’re a long way from home but still have a brutally long way to go and you’re running on fumes much earlier than you thought you might. It’s where you simultaneously experience the fear of being finally and fully outside your comfort zone but your destination is no where in sight and you’re not sure if you will ever feel safety again. Where you question your resilience and your resolve. Where your self-defeating thoughts bite into your skin because you’re forcing them out of your mind but your heart feels alive with fervored and fevered hope. Where adrenaline wraps around every cell in your body urging you to either fight, flee or freeze. That is the place I am most impressed with. Not the summit. Not the valley. The slopes. The narrow windy paths where you trudge past the bodies of those who didn’t make it. Sounds intense doesn’t it? That’s because the journey of life is intense and because the degree of rewards it offers to those who dare to journey far surpass the degree of the depths suffered. It’s the risk/reward factor. Some of us play not to lose. And some of us play to win. This was a huge mindset shift for me. Super recent so it’s still very fresh in the energy of the motivation it carries.

Now, back to the statement we are unpacking. Recently, I traveled to Turkey. Solo. Me! A person with a history of prolonged and frequent trauma. A person with a history of panic disorder and generalized anxiety. At this moment a middle-aged woman who is overweight. A woman with sleep apnea and hypothyroidism. A woman with Epstein-Barr. A divorced, child-free woman. A former evangelist who became disillusioned and burned out from the pressure of full-time ministry and a full-time sales job that is commission only. A woman with a wild life experience and even wilder dreams and desires. Me.

If you’ve ever traveled through the Atlanta airport you have probably heard it is the largest airport in the world. However, Istanbul airport has expanded and is now larger than Atlanta. This is where my breakthrough came. In Istanbul. Alone. Surrounded by people who couldn’t understand me. Surrounded by signs in a language I didn’t understand. On my way to a paradise called, Antalya. My belief was that what awaited me in Antalya was going to more than make up for enduring my 11 hour flight, 36 hours of no sleep, little to no food, slight dehydration, anxiety, confusion and my F3 responses. I could have never known that it was in Istanbul airport that I would not only conquer those obstacles that existed in the moment but all the fears that had defeated me and stood in my way for a span of 42 years. All of them.

As I landed in Istanbul I fully expected to hop off the plane and experience the relief of a simple journey to my connecting flight. Wow was I seriously uninformed. I come from a family of engineers, addicts, and chaos. When I tell you that I am a planner when it comes to disaster planning…know that I am the epitome of that. I have always been forced to figure out how I’m going to survive. So, I research. I look at all angles and scenarios that could possibly happen that I might need to guard against. Because of this those closest to me feel I am a bit of a pessimist. But, I’ve lived worst case scenarios so often that that thought process had formed a well-worn groove in my brain. For some people missing a flight isn’t a near insurmountable pressure unless of course there is a serious emergency. But, for me to stand in the massive space of Istanbul airport, fighting anxiety, not understanding the language, switching a 20 lbs duffle bag (that had no wheels, ugh) from one shoulder to the next and the strap chaffing my skin, not being understood by anyone I asked for help, knowing that if I missed a flight and had to sleep in the airport with hardly any money to change my flight, not having my cpap machine and a history of sleeplessness….it was a big freaking deal.

So how did I get through this? It certainly wasn’t my planning skills. They were totally out the window upon stepping foot into that airport. The sense of doom I felt was palpable. A man who pretended to be a good Samaritan but ultimately pressured me to give him my money or else was the icing on the cake. I literally stopped in the middle of the airport and doubled over crying. What I didn’t find out until later was that in Turkish culture they believe it is bad luck to panic or express duress. Much like the law of attraction they feel it only draws more duress and effects everyone around who is witnessing it. So, I must have appeared like a walking bad luck charm, ha ha.

So many moments I had to stop walking and drop my duffle bag (which I ditched before I came back home. I would have burned the damn thing if I could have.) I would do breathing exercises and just allow myself to cry and not think about what the masses of people around me thought about my breakdown. I would fix my mind on my future. I would have moments of veil-piercing clarity where I could hear the voice of the Holy Spirit, of God, and Jesus. I could feel the promptings of angelic presence pushing me to keep pressing and getting me unstuck from my freeze response. I began to dig down deep and all that I had learned in my life and believed about myself, whether positive or negative fully surfaced into my conscious mind. All of it. All at once. I was having a life-shattering awakening in the middle of hundreds of people who had no idea who I was or where I came from or where I was going. Nor did they care. My support team of friends and family and ANY person I could have summoned as a safe space or protector was approximately 6,000 miles away. And it was in the ice cold shock of that full realization that my mind began to sift through all of the progress I’ve made concerning healing from trauma and anxiety over the last 3 years…and those who were largely responsible for my enormous growth and healing. The people I had surrounded myself with.

I began to inventory all those I had spent the most time with over the previous 3 years. Before this I had spent several years in isolation from friends and family because I was reeling from the reality of leaving my husband, hating my job, resenting religion and suffering tremendous mental, physical, emotional and financial hardship. I’m like the dog or cat who when they get sick they wander off to die alone. Where no one can find them or see their pain. After facing a life-threatening cancer scare with the brother I grew up with (and whom I loved like a mother because I had to protect him as best I could from our mother) I had exhausted every single tool I had. I was on Paxil and a beta blocker to help me fight anxiety and depression and keep my heart rate under control because the stress had gotten to me so much I was tachycardic. Especially in my sleep. Intuitively I understood that my uncontrollable adrenaline, and inability to socialize was a result of a burned out nervous system. But, as someone with no college degree and no medical training I had NO idea how to understand what my nervous system was doing, how to help it, or if recovering my mental and physical faculties was even a possibility. ALL of what I was learning was initiated by my intuition alone. I began Google researching the nervous system. And by some miracle (or because Google collects our searches and then presents us with content they think we might utilize) I came across an ad on Facebook for some new vitalistic chiropractors in my city. They were advertising an event that was donation only (thank God because I was broke) called, “Dinner with the Docs.” And get this…the event was all about learning about the nervous system and a promise of the ability of the body to heal itself once the nervous system is unblocked and its bandwidth increased. Wow!! What an opportunity! What timing! At this point I had been housebound for almost 30 days waiting on the Paxil to kick in so I could fake normalcy when I finally did have to leave my house. The fatigue from stress had my entire body hurting. My eyes hurt and burned and were super dry all the time from stress. Weird I know. But, it was a symptom for me. So, venturing out to this event was something I perceived as a risk. It could be catastrophic. I could get there and have to walk further than my pounding heart was comfortable with. I could get there and have a panic attack in front of a crowd of strangers. I could get there and they could turn out to be all talk and unimpressive and be peddling a bunch of bunk. And then all that precious hard fought for energy would be wasted. But, the nervous system. If I could learn even a basic function of it I felt confident that I could lean on my intuition to help me gain the knowledge and education to see if there was hope for recovering and feeling even an ounce better than I did. So. I went.

When I arrived they had some great food set out. I remember the pasta salad was on point! ha ha. There was a good crowd of people and I shared a table with several strangers. I sat uncomfortably and on edge praying I wouldn’t panic and that I could stay through the entire presentation. Suddenly some high energy music came on and I knew it was leading to a likely intro to the doctors. I felt immediate skepticism and the high energy music filled me with dread. It was almost triggering for me. Dr. Matt Smith ran out onto the stage high-fiving people with a huge smile on his face. My first thought was, “must be nice to have all that energy.” He spoke only a few moments and then requested that we all stand and lift our hands in the air. He told us to smile the cheesiest smile we could. He told us to lightly march in place. I was like, “c’mon man, really? It’s all I can do to appear sane and now I have to smile and exert myself??” After we did this he instructed us to scan our bodies and see if we didn’t feel at least a measure of more energy. I reluctantly admitted to myself that I did, ha ha. He started out with the first law of thermodynamics that states that “energy cannot be created or destroyed. Only transformed from one form to another.” I was now on the hook. He spent the next 45 minutes explaining in simple terms how the nervous system works and…how we can harness its power. I will never forget one of the lessons I learned about my amazing body that day. He explained that within each human nervous system there is enough electricity to power the city of Chattanooga for 30 days. I knew in that moment that I must have untapped resources within myself in spite of the burnout. My life trajectory changed that day.

The next 3 years I spent the most time going to see him and his amazing wife, Dr. Monica Smith. I also had connected with an amazing counselor that my cousin and best friend recommended. And, she also moved in with me during that time. Later on I met the family members of Dr. Matt and Dr. Monica who are also vitalistic doctors and a functional nutritionist. Every week I was learning something new about the resilience of the body. Every month I attended some extra function or class they offered about neural integration, manifesting your dreams, neuroscience, meditation and breath work classes. I began exploring yoga at a local studio, also at the recommendation of my cousin and connected with more heart-centered and wise healers.

As I stood in Istanbul airport I thought back to every word that Dr. Matt, Dr. Monica, Dr. Loren, Dr. Erica, Dr. Bryan and his wife Stephani had ever said to me or that I heard them teach. I thought on all the times my cousin prodded me into optimism by saying, “anything can happen.” Instead of reflecting on the toxic traits of my family of origin I began to think about their remarkable survival and adaptation skills. My great grandmothers who were pioneer women. My mamaw who raised me and has suffered at least as much trauma as I have if not more because of her age and exposure and how she has lived 86 years and only been to the doctor maybe 3 or 4 times and has never taken medication of any kind to help her cope with the catastrophes that seemed to constantly abound. Miraculously she is a kind and mentally and emotionally stable person. Her fortitude is awe-inspiring. I thought about my mother who in spite of all the pain she caused us and herself probably has the strongest will to live and physical bounce back of any person I’ve ever known. She has overdosed and died at least a half dozen times. She hasn’t taken care of her body. She’s been on ventilators and in ICUs her entire life. She stands at about 5 feet tall and is no bigger than a minute. Yet she has fought off men twice her size and been beat till she bled out into shock. I come from a line of women who seem to defy the laws of nature when it comes to survival. This is my DNA. And, even if those things couldn’t be said of my lineage I am a part of the human race!! There is nothing that has come at us that we have not only survived but thrived in the face of. Blights, wars, famines, plagues, pandemics, astronomical events…and we march right on.

This is where preparation met opportunity for me. My preparation was a combination of my heritage and the people I had surrounded myself with 3 years before I stood in Istanbul airport. And the opportunity that laid before me was to conquer every fear I had ever had. This was about so much more than taking a much needed vacation in an exotic country. I had a dawning realization that I had surrounded myself with the best, brightest, most intelligent and loving doctors and healthcare professionals this world has to offer and they had become friends to me. Confidantes. Allies for my health goals. Allies for my cautious optimism. All I had learned from them was being put into action. Their wisdom, their education, their training, their own intuitive insights, their friendship and support.

In spite of my initial discomfort with that famous statement coined by Jim Rohn I realized in the airport it had become an auspicious truth for me. My gratitude soared in spite of my hampered steps. I looked back and realized that I had gone from being house bound to traveling solo to one of the most wildly interesting countries on the planet. Where east meets west. Where European style is customized by Middle Eastern influence. Me. Little ole stressed out me from Tennessee.

I will never be the same woman I was before I landed in Istanbul. I will never be the same concoction that I was before I met the amazing team at Rev Centre for Optimal Living. I am now enjoying my discovery of not just what I am made of…but who I am made of. And, I pray that you get to experience the same cataylistic power.

Love,

Cozett

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Don’t Suffer The Pain Of Inaction: One Percent More

Today you have an opportunity.  Today you have the ability to do 1% more than you did yesterday to achieve your goals and live out your wildest dreams.

For me I’ve always feared the regret of inaction more than the fear of taking the wrong action.

I’ve seen first hand how analysis paralysis and indecision can negatively impact the future of a person. Analysis paralysis is cousin to fear. And, I hate that whole family 

Today I’m issuing you another call to courage.  To believe in yourself and your massive intuitive abilities.   You CAN trust yourself.   YOU are your greatest resource.  But, how can you discover the gold mine that is you if you refuse to explore and tap into who you suspect yourself to be.

Are you really that great??  Yes.  Yes, you are.

You see it is the core of who you are that is a gift to the world. Unfortunately, from the day we are born until the day we die that core us covered over every day with layers of obligations that are NOT in alignment with our ultimate purpose or deepest desires.

Is it not a gift to be a good son, daughter, wife, husband, aunt, sibling, community organizer activist, etc?  Of course it is!  But, the secret to a fulfilled life and achieved destiny is not to be these things to the detriment of your soul’s calling.

None of the roles that you operate in should eclipse the expression of your most authentic self.  They can be beautiful vehicles for that expression to be sure.  But, if you ever find yourself feeling lost to motherhood, fatherhood, being a boss, being a religious leader or whatever then that is a key indicator that your role has eclipsed your soul.

Maybe you’ve been wading around in indecision for a long time.  Years perhaps.  Maybe you’ve been saying to yourself that if you just had a sign then that would be your permission to set yourself free of all that holds you back.  With that said…here’s your sign.

I love you.  And I don’t want to see you sacrifice the great adventure that is wrapped up and encoded in your DNA.  I don’t want to see you suffer and come to me in counseling one day for the, “I wish I would have…”

My message to you is, “just do it already!”  Dive!  Take that break.   Take that vacation. Open your mind to the things that intrigue you but scare you at the same time because you’re afraid of what people would think…if they knew you…thought.

This is YOUR life and you don’t owe it to anyone.  Your life is your own.  It’s your puzzle, your mystery, your source of delight, your source of endless curiosity, your compass, your vehicle for radically experiencing planet Earth.  The planet is a beautiful and wild place.   There are people just waiting for you to cross their path and set them free.  To show them the lessons you’ve learned.   To offer your depth of insight from the life you’ve learned.

But how will you ever experience that.  That satisfaction.  If you won’t allow yourself to move forward?

I’m gonna keep issuing this call until there is an entire global revolution at my feet. I can promise you that. It is part of my destiny and wildest dreams to help you achieve yours.

Love,
Cozett

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