Milisa Burns 11/28/23 Milisa Burns 11/28/23

Wish for Pockets of Silence

My current (and ongoing) wish for you and for me is to be able to pause and find some silence on a regular basis, amidst all the hustle bustle and noise (not to mention Black Friday sales). This morning, "silence" for me was walking to the ravine by myself. That's when this message to you bubbled up.

Milisa Burns 3/9/23 Milisa Burns 3/9/23

International Women’s Day - Empowering & Galvanizing

That we women need help gathering our strength again is an equity issue. That we are willing to ask for and co-create this support is a sign of our already existing strength. However, we are actually even stronger. And we need help gathering that strength back in. It's more than time.

We've been shamed, denied, gaslit, crushed by others, by society and most devastatingly, by our own selves. Why? Because we've absorbed the harmful myths of a society steeped in the toxicity of patriarchy. This has been going on for more than 2,000 years!

Milisa Burns 2/10/23 Milisa Burns 2/10/23

A Potent Practice

In this extra busy season, when we can veer in the direction of exhaustion and burnout, I'm practicing giving in a way that feeds me - to be giving of myself instead of giving up myself. (And for me, it's definitely a practice - messy and imperfect and growth-oriented!)

Milisa Burns 4/22/21 Milisa Burns 4/22/21

Do You Vacillate Between Two Ways of Experiencing Stress?

When you’re under stress, do you ever have the experience of vacillating back and forth between feeling really rigid, constricted or tight, and then at other times, feeling almost like you're in a flood, getting swept away by your emotions and all the messiness of your life?

Milisa Burns 3/8/21 Milisa Burns 3/8/21

Inspiration at the SheEO Summit #IWD2021

I spent the day being inspired by some amazing, courageous, visionary women at the SheEO Summit - a very satisfying way to spend #IWD2021! SheEO is a global community of radically generous women building a $1B perpetual fund to support women working on the World’s To-Do List.

Milisa Burns 11/13/20 Milisa Burns 11/13/20

Are You a Giver? What if...?

Let’s face it: many of us were feeling depleted before the pandemic even hit us. And now we’re looking at a long winter without many of our usual ways of coping, let alone thriving. To prepare for this time and even enjoy it, we may need some new tools or perspectives or to be reminded of some "oldies but goodies" we might've forgotten.

Milisa Burns 4/22/20 Milisa Burns 4/22/20

Small But Mighty Habits For More Flow (and Less Overwhelm)

Being in lack and overwhelm is an obstacle to flow. ("Flow" in this sense, is that experience of living life with more ease and less struggle... when you generally feel open to life and to others around you, working with your circumstances, growing with them, rather than being consistently weighed down, or even knocked down, by them.)

Milisa Burns 1/29/20 Milisa Burns 1/29/20

Do You Believe in Synchronicities?

Do you believe in synchronicities? (I do. I want to make empowered meaning wherever I can get it!) I want to share a very fresh synchronicity – it just happened a few minutes ago. So, as you may know, I am hosting the first ever Making Room For YOU Circle tomorrow night. And, I have been planning on using the brilliant Claire Zammit’s Feminine Power visioning circle outline as the main structure for the Circle. It’s what I have used for the last two years and it is hugely effective.

Milisa Burns 1/28/20 Milisa Burns 1/28/20

It’s Cold and I’m Tired… Why Would I Go Out to a Circle?

You might well ask: Why would I make the effort to brave a dark, cold January night, after a long day, to join a Visioning Circle? Well, to answer your question, the bottom line is, the effort will pay off for you in spades – you may arrive tired, and even overwhelmed, but you will leave with a level of energy and clarity about your intentions for the year (and beyond!) that will be galvanizing for you. You will have clear steps to implement right away and a feeling that you are well supported.

Milisa Burns 11/19/19 Milisa Burns 11/19/19

Pressing Pause

The beauty of pressing pause is that you make room for a meaningful and compassionate conversation with yourself - time for empowered reflection. You know how we tend to pass people and say, “How are you?” automatically then they say “Fine, thanks” automatically? It’s a friendly but relatively meaningless exchange. Rarely are people actually honest about what is really going on for them. True, it may not be the time or place for a meaningful conversation with that other person. But, for many of us, we repeatedly have this kind of automatic and relatively meaningless conversation with ourselves - or no conversation at all.

Milisa Burns 6/10/19 Milisa Burns 6/10/19

Seize the Summer!

Seizing the Summer may not be about the hammock for you. And Seizing the Summer is not necessarily about planning a big exciting trip, or some other splashy event, either, though those can be very fun. Seizing the Summer is about what would be really meaningful for you.

Milisa Burns 5/12/19 Milisa Burns 5/12/19

A Broader View of Mother's Day

I’m celebrating the beautiful, loving, nurturing energy that we all have inside of us - whether we have children we are responsible for in our nuclear family or not.

Milisa Burns 4/13/19 Milisa Burns 4/13/19

Waves That Can Overwhelm Us and Knock Us Down

That wave slap experience has stayed with me over the years in a visceral way. Lately, I have been noticing that my experience feels akin to what can happen to us when life comes at us in a wave - of emotions or thoughts or circumstances - and hits us unexpectedly. It's that same terrible feeling of overwhelm and of powerlessness.

Milisa Burns 10/5/18 Milisa Burns 10/5/18

Unexpected Gratitude

The other day I was working at a café here in Toronto, with a view through the window into the climbing gym where my youngest was in an after-school program. This has been our weekly routine for some months now and it is working beautifully. As I sat there, feeling stressed by what was on my plate, I felt a huge wave of gratitude come over me.

Milisa Burns 4/17/18 Milisa Burns 4/17/18

Are You Choosing to be a Victim or a Creator in Your Life?

Are you choosing to be a victim or a creator in your life? This is a moment to moment, day to day choice. One of the most influential things I have learned in the last few years is the sense that life is happening through me, not to me… and through you too… through us all. I knew this at one level before – I knew that I had many choices as to how I could behave and that those choices impacted my life and the lives of those around me.

Milisa Burns 2/14/18 Milisa Burns 2/14/18

Connect With Yourself First

Happy Valentine’s Day! I know this day can bring up a lot of emotions, positive and negative, whether you are single or in a relationship. I also know that the most effective way to be able to relate well with others - our loved ones and otherwise - is to connect to ourselves first. What do I mean by this exactly? I mean being able to turn toward yourself at least once a day and have the kind of conversation that you would have with someone you love - like a dear friend, your partner, or a child in your life.

Milisa Burns 4/6/17 Milisa Burns 4/6/17

What Are You Proud Of?

What are you proud of? Tap into your pride and have more energy to contribute in a socially valuable way! Over and over again, women tell me that they want to feel proud of their life and work. And yet, so many women are hesitant to share what they are proud of for fear of looking like they are bragging or showing hubris (excessive pride).

Milisa Burns 1/20/17 Milisa Burns 1/20/17

Feeling the Pull Toward Something Greater in a Mystical Landscape

I went with my family to see Mystical Landscapes: Masterpieces from Monet, Van Gogh & More at the AGO this past Sunday. The exhibition explores the mystical experiences in nature of 37 different artists. It was a gorgeous (if crowded!) experience. I was so inspired. At one point we were encouraged to focus on one of Charles-Marie Dulac’s works and just sit and be mindful, noticing what we saw.

Milisa Burns 7/8/16 Milisa Burns 7/8/16

A Grounded Loving Tornado

I have been playing around with naming a very powerful source of energy that I have been able to tap into at times in the last couple of years. I am calling it being a “grounded loving tornado”. My sense is that this energy is a type of human spirit energy – connecting to something larger than ourselves and also acting in alignment with our deepest values.

Milisa Burns 4/29/16 Milisa Burns 4/29/16

Why I Love Our Street Party

We heard about the party because neighbours were selling tickets to a raffle to be held at the party. We were curious, so on the day of, walked up and checked it out. We loved the community feel to it.

Free Grounding, Centering, Empowering Practices