solara silver

The desire to understand how you think, what you know, and how you know you know , is a simple way to describe metacognition. Another way to say is this: “the awareness of your own thought processes, including its evaluation.” Relative to culture, the simplest application of metacognition is to ask yourself: “how’s that working out for you?” This kind of question ushers us into a tender investigation of our beautiful selves as the living, fluid, and creative forms we each are. As a former educator, project manager, and life-long student, I’ve always valued the process of self-inquiry, dot-connecting, and evaluating outcomes. That’s why for anyone who's analytical in nature or enjoys using their mind to solve puzzles, I encourage the use of journals and contemplations on gratitude and self-awareness.  But...there are other ways to know that don't require any analysis; only your presence, awareness and love.   Recommended journals: Grateful – 30-day self-care journal ...

All human beings have (are) a soul. Not when you die, but right now.  You're allowed to talk to your soul, ask it/yourself questions and learn how to listen. Your soul is connected to other souls, and to God-- our common Source.  You/your body is already equipped with soul senses. They are "factory equipped" (lol) and just waiting for you to activate them. I had no idea I had access to these until life/God helped me activate them one by one.  Some people believe that these senses are anti-progress and anti-American, but I don't see it that way at all. T hese behaviors actually make us stronger and fortify us from the inside-out-- they naturally evolve the goodness within each of us. There's way more, but here's my list:  Awareness Acceptance Balance Compassion Contentment Creativity Empathy Equanimity Faith Forgiveness Generosity Graciousness Gratitude Humility Humor Inclusion Integrity Kindne...

Though my writing often points out the mysterious and wondrous complexity of being a human being, the point of it is this: you don’t have to understand any of it to appreciate and accept yourself and embrace what you love. Love is its own language and intelligence. It transforms matter, distance, and illusion. It needs no conditions, only your allowance. By Mayra Porrata | comments: mayra@solarapublishing.com ©2026 Solara Publishing, LLC

My dad was a book person. He and we had books all over our home-- including a full set of encyclopedias.  For me, looking up stuff was a hobby and repeating facts a strange form of spoken art (lol). It took me a super long time to realize that facts and data are snapshots of yesterday-- artifacts of the past. They are useful. They matter. But they are not the whole picture of anything-- ever.   What's actual intelligence? Life. You. Your loved ones. Your children. Your pets. Nature. Our planet. How you connect to all the living things that matter to you. Sharing what you love.   The answers and wisdom are all in you-- in each of us. By Mayra Porrata comments:  mayra@solarapublishing.com ©2026 Solara Publishing, LLC

Your level of self-awareness (consciousness) and self-understanding determines how much you see and understand about yourself and the world around you. Knowing where we're coming from is essential for helping us understand that when someone is arguing a side with only two options, they are operating from an ego-centric, conventional, or exclusionary world view. And that is a stage of human development, but there are more.  By Mayra Porrata comments:  mayra@solarapublishing.com ©2026 Solara Publishing, LLC

When I was in graduate school I took a course titled Counseling the Culturally Different. Among countless technical considerations this class illuminated the power differentials inherent in the counseling relationship. But most importantly, the hidden culture and world view underneath it all. Despite my heritage and culture, as a white woman I had never before considered diversity as something that applied to me. However, I also understood that my obvious ignorance was not just mine—it was in the water we collectively drank and the politics and policies we created and upheld.   Discrimination (othering) is embedded in human history and still is a deeply polarizing topic. I know. I’ve lived it—but so have you—so have all of us. We all have a side, or were put on a side, or we picked a side in order to survive. We are all complicit. Accordingly, we can all be complicit in our collective healing. By Mayra Porrata comments:  mayra@solarapublishing.com ©2026 Solara Publishi...

After my daughter's passing in 2018 life as I knew it ended. Period. And yet, as the days and weeks moved through me, new life, insights, and remembrances became a daily occurrence.  My body, nervous system, and brain were completely rewired-- updated somehow. Though I've always journaled, I had never written poems or even thought in poetic ways. My thinking and writing were normally mechanical, procedural, perhaps lifeless. And yet I suddenly found myself thinking and speaking in poetic ways. As a former academic and critical and 'serious thinker', the notion of writing soulful things felt ridiculous, even embarrassing. When I sent my draft of Until it happens to you to some of my colleagues, I was prepared for my fears to be validated. Instead, I was encouraged to publish it-- to share it.   Ordinary (below) was one of those fully-formed, downloads-- its punchline is not just mine, but yours too.  When the time comes when your beautiful body and mind are ...

Like many from my generation (GenXers), I’ve long understood that inner peace and outer justice are a single energetic thread. True peace is not derived from a strategic war plan, a fancy marketing campaign, or proclamations from outsiders who are not at peace with themselves—it is sourced from a powerful place within each of us.   If peace has to be kept by intimidation, coercion, or force it is not peace. These tactics are the classic hallmarks of obsolete and toxic programming designed to keep us docile and compliant. But consider for a moment all the ways you and I routinely apply these same conditional tactics to our lives: — “I’ll start “that” when “this” happens” — “I’ll treat myself to “that” after I suffer “this” long” --- “I can’t do “that” because that would be selfish”   Doing an ‘ in-turn’ is a radical act. It helps us to stop self-abandoning and outsourcing our safety and intelligence to external influences. Coming into a relationship with ourselves c...

Depending on your elemental nature (ei: your natal chart aspects/human design), you may or may not have good soft-skills. In particular, those of us with strong air or earth aspects are not as attuned to emotional intelligence -- the “feeling” stuff.   And so, I had to learn it and then teach it, and then re-learn it deeper and then teach it again….and now I’m writing about it, so that I can learn some more.  It took me about 30 years to realize that what we used to consider soft-skills  is simply social-emotional intelligence.   I’ve come to understand this too: emotional literacy and self-awareness  are not trivial or unimportant— they are self-mastery skills. Your mind is energy. Your body is energy. Your nervous system and its ability to pick up and decipher social-emotional information from self and others? Energetic self-mastery my friend. I’m still learning and re-learning how to use my own superpowers and integrate my soul senses. How about you? ...