Is there a hole in your sidewalk?

hole in sidewalkThere is a story that I feel is a metaphor for how we, as humans, typically deal with challenges in our lives. At least, it seems this is the way I have faced them thus far in my life. Being a former dancer, I see it as a series of dance steps.

You may know the story and if I don’t explain it as you remember it, please bear with me. It has my own twist with a bit of embellishment. It goes like this…

1…Late for her Monday morning meeting, a woman was mindlessly talking on her cell phone and checking her watch. As she walked down the sidewalk to the building where her office was, she fell into the hole. How did she not see it?…

2…The next Monday morning, she was rushing down the sidewalk, again on her cell phone and checking her watch for the time. This time, she saw the hole, but just as she approached it, she tripped and fell into it. What caused her to lose her footing?…

3…The next Monday morning, as she approached the hole, she put her phone away. She checked her watch to see that she was on time for her meeting. Walking around the hole, she continued her trek to the office. Looking ahead at the building she would be entering, her shoulders drooped and she sighed deeply. What made her heart heavy?

4…The next Monday morning, she decided to quit her job. No more phone calls. No more checking her watch. She took a longer route to her office, stopping by the corner bakery for a cup of tea and an almond croissant. Later that day, she exited the building carrying all her belongings. She looked in the direction of the hole and smiled. What made her smile?

5…The next Monday morning, she took a walk in the city park. Birds were chirping. The sun was shining brightly overhead. Children were playing, with their moms looking on. Joggers passed her by as she strolled along the sidewalk. An image filled her mind momentarily – the hole in the sidewalk – but then it faded, no longer part of her vision.

After I finished writing this, I did some research to find out the source of this story, and I found it – Portia Nelson’s book There’s a Hole in My Sidewalk: The Romance of Self Discovery. I bought the book and can’t wait to read it! Have you read it?

Are you in the intimate embrace of self discovery? Where are you in this dance?

1…Are you living a frenetic life, possibly unaware of how it may be affecting you or denying that it IS having an impact on you? Kind of like a hamster on a treadmill, mindlessly getting nowhere?

2…Are you living a frenetic life, knowing what it’s doing to you, but feeling that you have no other choice. You feel off kilter because you know you’re spinning your wheels.

3…Or do you realize in your heart that what you’re doing just isn’t what you want to do with your life, and you know you need to find another way, another path?

4…Or perhaps you have already begun to make a change. How exciting it must feel to be able to let go of something that just doesn’t serve you anymore, that just doesn’t have any meaning in your life anymore. This is where I am now, having “moved from my head to my heart”, so to speak, surrendering to my heart’s desire. Living consciously instead of in a fog, in the darkness of the hole.

What I aspire to is the last step of the dance…

5…Where the hole is a part of the past. It has served its purpose and is no longer on one’s radar. No longer does one live unconsciously, anesthetized to the goings-on of one’s life. It’s time for change, a metamorphosis…like the butterfly in its chrysalis.

So, I ask you again… where are you in this dance? Are you romancing yourself down the self discovery path?

If you are interested, please sign up for Sarah’s newsletter in the form to the right. I hope to bring you information that will be inspiring and enlightening to you.  Also, you can find my Sarah’s Gift series as well as my other books on Amazon.


Erica TucciERICA TUCCI had a full life as a corporate manager of a Fortune 500 company, a healing arts business owner and an author. It all came to a screeching halt in June 2011 when she had a stroke. During her recovery, she gained much wisdom about what’s really important in life. Although she was a Reiki master, massage therapist and life coach as well as a corporate cog for many years, she realized that her passion was her books. Her hope now is that the messages of her books will be an inspiration for others, young and old. Visit her websites at www.ericatucci.com, www.sarahsgiftseries.com and www.radiantsurvivor.com

Reflecting on the Full Moon

Full moon“I feel a release,” I said to my mother as we ate dinner Friday evening. I had just had a brain MRI to see what might be causing the incredible malaise I have been feeling for the past month or so. I thought I may have had another stroke. Later in the evening, shortly before going to bed, I remembered that it was a full moon that night, which meant it was the phase in the moon’s cycle when we are called upon to release anything in our life that isn’t serving us for our higher good.

So what was this release that I felt after having my MRI? I have been pondering this for the past couple of days and this is what has come to me…

Could it be as simple as feeling comfort that I would soon find out why I have been feeling so bad? Knowing what is wrong would allow me to take the steps necessary to face the challenge. For example, if it IS another stroke, perhaps that means returning to rehab, taking medication and/or having surgery. So perhaps the release I felt was just that – the knowing.

OR, was it something more profound? If you know anything about me, you know that I always look for the deeper meaning in everything. So what was this release telling me on a more esoteric level? And then I remembered the dream I had Thursday night before the full moon.

I dreamed about Bob, a man from my past whom I worked with in corporate America at IBM in the mid-1980’s. I feel that he was in my dream as the emissary of the same message that I have been struggling with since I had my stroke – “surrender, let go”. You see, Bob was a very laid back, go-with-the-flow sort of man, the complete opposite of the way I was back then – driven and controlling. He was a peacemaker; I was a warrior. He was the feminine; I was the masculine. As you might know, the stroke that I had in 2011 has been the catalyst for my journey in which my feminine essence has begun to emerge and integrate with my more dominant masculine essence. The final desired outcome is the union of the two.

In my dream, I felt myself being slightly resistant to Bob’s missive, as my warrior side was making one last attempt to have the upper hand. His unspoken message of surrender was bringing balance between the two opposing but complementary energies. On a profound level, that is what I feel the release was all about. 

On one hand, from the “mundane” view of my release, the MRI would give me the information I (and my doctors) need to determine the appropriate physical treatment to fully heal. On the other hand, I have the inner wisdom to know what I must do to fully heal. They will work in concert to propel me further forward down the path to my full recovery. But how will they work together?

First, I would like to tell you of a message I received during meditation about a week ago. It said “Don’t worry. A miracle will happen.” Needless to say, I had been anxious about my MRI and what it might reveal. Would it be another stroke? Or something of even greater magnitude since the pressure in my head has been incredibly intense? What was this relapse about? I had been doing great, going to the gym and building strength, stamina and stability. I thought I was finally on the road to full healing, ready to take on the world after so many fits and starts. And then I took a nosedive, spiraling out of control. My head was a pressure cooker. I couldn’t get up off the couch to go to the restroom. I didn’t want to get out of bed. My right side felt disconnected from my body. I didn’t feel human anymore. A psychic reading confirmed what I felt. I had truly spiraled downward one final time (at least for this phase of my spiritual journey, which is neverending so long as I am incarnated in a physical from).

What I needed to do was surrender to it, accepting what is, having the inner wisdom to know that all was divinely orchestrated as part of my journey and that if I tried to resist or control it, it would be to my detriment. Yet I still needed to do my part, and that also included surrendering and accepting what is, but also knowing that, on the physical level, I would need to do what it took to physically heal my body, whether that would be rehab, medication, surgery, etc. 

So…I look forward to seeing what happens from now until the New Moon on September 30, the time of new beginnings, and then the next Full Moon on October 15, the next time for release. And so on…the neverending story of life! What will the MRI reveal? What will be the treatment? What about the miracle? What it will entail? When will it happen? Oh dear, I am asking too many questions. I can hear Bob calling “surrender, let go!” I still struggle. I still want to command, to control.

Release, surrender, let go!

If you are interested, please sign up for Sarah’s newsletter in the form to the right. I hope to bring you information that will be inspiring and enlightening to you.  Also, you can find my Sarah’s Gift series as well as my other books on Amazon.


Erica TucciERICA TUCCI had a full life as a corporate manager of a Fortune 500 company, a healing arts business owner and an author. It all came to a screeching halt in June 2011 when she had a stroke. During her recovery, she gained much wisdom about what’s really important in life. Although she was a Reiki master, massage therapist and life coach as well as a corporate cog for many years, she realized that her passion was her books. Her hope now is that the messages of her books will be an inspiration for others, young and old. Visit her websites at www.ericatucci.com, www.sarahsgiftseries.com and www.radiantsurvivor.com

Writing a love letter to yourself!

Love letterWe have had a shaman visiting us for the past week doing healing sessions on our entire family. It has been an experience to say the least…a wonderful experience! After one of my sessions, my homework was to write a love letter to myself to honor those beliefs from the past that have held me hostage for so long and then release them by burning the letter. I finished writing it and was pleased with what I wrote, but then in a meditation afterward, I got a message that said that I needed to change it a bit.

You see, in writing all the things I wanted to release, I used the words “I am this” or “I am that”. For example, I am not worthy, I am unloved, I am undeserving, etc. (Have you ever found yourself using these kind of statements?) These statements were saying that I AM these things, that this is the state I am in. But this isn’t true.

Instead, I FEEL these things deep in my heart. The inner message was telling me that there was an emotion that underlies these feelings, causing them to surface…the emotion of FEAR. And what I needed to do is to get to the root of these feelings, get to the fear. And what would be the best way to do that but to replace that fear with LOVE?

So, here goes…

Dearest Erica,

First I want to tell you that I love you. I hope you know that. I know I don’t always act like I do, but that is because of old beliefs that I have had, and that is why I have written this letter to you.

There are many fears and thoughts and beliefs that have clouded my mind for so long that have prevented me from opening my heart to love, and thus, you have not felt loved like you deserve.

So be with me as I hold everything that I need to let go of, in love’s embrace before I release them…

I don’t feel deserving!…I hold you in love’s embrace
I don’t feel worthy!…I hold you in love’s embrace
I feel abandoned!…I hold you in love’s embrace
I feel unloved!…I hold you in love’s embrace
I feel unable to love!…I hold you in love’s embrace
I feel frightened! Life scares me!…I hold you in love’s embrace
I feel shy!…I hold you in love’s embrace
I feel incapable!…I hold you in love’s embrace
I feel imperfect!…I hold you in love’s embrace
I feel stupid!…I hold you in love’s embrace
I feel like I can’t do anything right!…I hold you in love’s embrace
I feel ugly!…I hold you in love’s embrace
I feel jealous and envious!…I hold you in love’s embrace
I feel mean and angry!…I hold you in love’s embrace
I feel impatient!…I hold you in love’s embrace
I feel controlling! I feel like I am not able to let go!…I hold you in love’s embrace
I feel selfish and ego-centric!…I hold you in love’s embrace

I want things my way!…I hold you in love’s embrace

All of you have been with me for a very long time and I honor your presence, but it is now time to release you into the ether to be transmuted into light. You have served your purpose and I bid you farewell.

Now dear Erica, my heart is pure and free from the weight of the past. I embrace you with loving arms. I am you and you are me! We are one!

Much love,
Yourself

Misa Hopkins, bestselling author, healer, speaker and teacher, who healed herself of MS, introduced the Holding Meditation, an ancient meditation where one is held with compassion in the womb of the loving Sacred Feminine essence. When the shaman asked me to write the love letter, embracing myself in love, I thought of the meditation, which you can download for free here.

Yesterday, I took my letter and put it in a despacho, which was burned. A despacho is a shamanic offering to the Universe, in my case, a ritual of energetic exchange for healing. You may be familiar with burning as a technique of getting rid of the baggage of the past. I look forward to seeing what the impact of the burning will have on my healing. Of course, I also have a tremendous amount of “homework” given to me by the shaman to continue my healing and become the “new me”…rituals, creating an altar, flower and salt baths, body movement and reciting a new mantra that is positive and replaces the negative beliefs of the “old me”.

Or any letter, for that matter, that helps you release the beliefs from the past that have held you back from really being who you are, from expressing the genuine YOU? If so, what did you do? Did you burn it or cut it up or bury it or release it to the wind? Did it have an impact on your life? I would love to hear your story and its outcome!

If you are interested, please sign up for Sarah’s newsletter in the form to the right. I hope to bring you information that will be inspiring and enlightening to you.  Also, the second book of Sarah’s Gift Believing in the Magic has been released on Amazon.


Erica TucciERICA TUCCI had a full life as a corporate manager of a Fortune 500 company, a healing arts business owner and an author. It all came to a screeching halt in June 2011 when she had a stroke. During her recovery, she gained much wisdom about what’s really important in life. Although she was a Reiki master, massage therapist and life coach as well as a corporate cog for many years, she realized that her passion was her books. Her hope now is that the messages of her books will be an inspiration for others, young and old. Visit her websites at www.ericatucci.com, www.sarahsgiftseries.com and www.radiantsurvivor.com

Seeing through your divine lens

Your divine lens“We each come here with a great soul intention to live up to our greatest potential, line our lives up with our highest self, and do great work that helps others. We hit bumps in the road; loss, illness, financial challenges, childhood pain and relationship turmoil. When we align our ego mind with the wisdom of the soul – we step into our power. We see the hidden beauty of each painful moment; we understand the purpose of each perfectly designed challenge. We know exactly who we are and how to move forward to our great potential. This is the beauty of your Divine Lens. You can access your Divine Lens at any moment. It’s a simple shift of perception: Here’s how…”

That’s how Sue Frederick summarizes her book Your Divine Lens. I had the pleasure of reading it and all I can say is WOW! What a book! I felt like I was reading my own story. As you may know, I am a stroke survivor and my stroke was Spirit’s way of getting me back on track and seeing life through my “divine lens”. It was about complete surrender from my “egoic” way of being to following the path of Spirit. My mantra since has been “I’m on a magic carpet ride with Spirit at the helm”. Isn’t that what Your Divine Lens is saying? To follow the natural flow of life, and get out of your own way?

We are our own worst enemy. We often try to control every aspect of our lives and then we wonder why things don’t seem to go the way we want them to. At least that’s how my life was pre-stroke. In fact, that’s why I had my stroke. Funny that my right side (my masculine side) was stroked. The masculine energy (we all have it!) is not only the practical, logical and analytical side of us, but it’s also the energy within us that wants to control and dominate. But that needs to be balanced by the feminine energy that nurtures, that’s compassionate, that operates from the heart instead of the mind. Unfortunately, I was askew, I was lopsided. 🙂 So, Spirit bonked me on the head and decommissioned my right side (my masculine side) so that my feminine side could emerge. “Your health challenges are rich with soul lessons and perfectly designed to help you evolve in just the way you need to.” Exactly!! Perfectly put, Sue!

It’s funny how reading Sue’s book cracked my heart wide open. I have always been one to see through my divine lens, to the extent of finding it difficult sometimes to be grounded. I find myself out in “woo woo” land a bit too often. 🙂 This may contradict what I just said about myself, since being in woo woo land is a trait of the intuitive feminine side, and that part of me had fallen into the shadows behind my masculine side. So let me explain…

The way I used to see through my divine lens was more of an intellectual exercise where I would feel or see something at the soul level, but then it would be filtered through my mind’s eye to the detriment of what my heart was trying to express. That was my masculine side taking control, trying to disable my feminine intuitive side. Reading Sue’s book helped me reach deep in my heart without the voice of my mind interfering. I was finding the balance between my masculine and feminine energies, between my ego and my intuition. It’s this unifying of the two that makes you wholesome. It’s like Sue said…”when you align your ego with the wisdom of your soul – you step into you power”. And what great place to be! Don’t you think?

All I can say is “Sue, thank you for your wonderful gift!”

If you are interested, please sign up for Sarah’s newsletter in the form to the right. I hope to bring you information that will be inspiring and enlightening to you.  Also, I would love if you would support me in my campaign to “help kids with special gifts build confidence”. It costs nothing, is completely safe and takes five seconds. Finally, the second book of Sarah’s Gift Believing in the Magic will be available for pre-order on June 30 on Amazon with a release date of July 18. My virtual book tour to celebrate its launch will be July 18-29 at bewitchingbooktours.com. I will keep you posted.


Erica TucciERICA TUCCI had a full life as a corporate manager of a Fortune 500 company, a healing arts business owner and an author. It all came to a screeching halt in June 2011 when she had a stroke. During her recovery, she gained much wisdom about what’s really important in life. Although she was a Reiki master, massage therapist and life coach as well as a corporate cog for many years, she realized that her passion was her books. Her hope now is that the messages of her books will be an inspiration for others, young and old. Visit her websites at www.ericatucci.com, www.sarahsgiftseries.com and www.radiantsurvivor.com