inner strength
Cast Fear Aside And Embrace Courage!
I once read about a woman in a very unhappy relationship. She sought counsel from a highly-revered spiritual leader. In a calming tone, the spiritual guru cautioned that in order to gain marital happiness, the woman would need to let go of the partner she lacked happiness with.
The woman confusingly gazed upon the sage, with her hands tightly tucked under her chair. Again, the holy man repeated that in order for the right man to walk through the door, she would need to let go of the wrong man.
Even more puzzled, the woman confided that she was afraid of being alone. Her teacher, taken aback, turned to the woman and announced that fear was a disease of the mind and the heart – if allowed, fear would keep her in a state of perpetual unhappiness.
How many times have you missed out on life’s many blessings, because you were afraid of moving to a new place, changing career lanes, or ending a relationship with someone who did not honor your greatest dreams? Each of us has experienced these moments of stalemate consciousness in our lives, and each of us has become crippled by fear at some point.
Let me remind you that while a lack of confidence might only slow down your dreams, fear will completely get in the way of the manifestation of your greatest desires and goals. Without personal growth and courage, the formula will not change, and your life will remain the same.
Physical Activity And Energy Flow
The first month of every new year, I do a meditation to seek divine guidance and spiritual insight for the greater good of humanity and the world we live in. Our modern world has become a very complex place and there is more going on than we’ve ever experienced before in our lifetime. The message I received this year was loud and crystal clear, and I was a bit surprised.
This year’s message was all about physical activity, movement and the importance of energy activation in the human body. Spirit basically recommends we get our physical energy realigned and flowing freely for the purpose of love, service, joy, prosperity, creativity, and wellness. This is essential now, more than ever.
We must find enjoyable ways to move our bodies this year, so that anything externally or internally, that affects our physical and energetic body and heart, can be unblocked and unlocked. Our alignment with spirit depends not only on the mind or consciousness, but also on the physical body.
When we become physically more active on a consistent basis, things become easier in all other areas of our life, and we are able to serve in the ways we were called upon by Source.
Some ways to open your body to greater energy flow include therapeutic massage, Reiki, Yoga, Qigong, Tai Chi or any of the martial arts, energy attunements, sound baths, reflexology, aromatherapy, acupuncture and breathwork. Basically, anything that gets your chi moving, the circulating life energy that according to ancient Chinese philosophy is inherent in all things.
Dragging A ‘Knapsack Of Irrelevance’
Reading for a client recently revealed her toxic work environment, and how one co-worker in particular was making things very unpleasant for her at the office. It reminded me of a short-lived, but very unpleasant working situation I found myself in years ago.
I was scheduled to work with a woman for a couple of weeks who had an extremely negative attitude and was having a profound effect on me. I shared this unpleasant situation with my boyfriend at the time, and his view was that I was just carrying around a ‘knapsack of irrelevance.’
I was so upset! How could he even think that? However, he did give me some food for thought when he then also said, “Just consider how you will think about this situation in a few years from now. How much will it matter then?”
Well, that did help to put things into perspective. And guess what? Just as he predicted, I forgot all about it until this recent reading with my client! Yes, he was correct. After all the years, remembering that brief work situation made me realize that it never had any major relevance or importance to my life. Stressing and worrying about it was indeed just a waste of time and energy.
I met this particular ex-boyfriend in the fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA). He was very well-versed in the twelve steps and other tools helpful in achieving and maintaining sobriety. He also gave me an Alcoholics Anonymous pamphlet, which I have to this day, which reads:
Finding Your Inner Wisdom
How does one find inner wisdom? How does one accurately access your intuitions? How does one receive guidance from spirit? These are typical questions that can emerge when we begin to seek deeper answers in the quest for spiritual growth and soul knowledge.
Inner wisdom is a natural gift, given to us by God, in order to have the connection between our soul and our physical body while we are in this world. Our intuition is operating in our lives every day, with or without our knowledge or perception of it.
Meditation and prayer can help us achieve a more conscious connection with the spiritual realm and our inner wisdom. When we take a moment to become quiet and listen to the inner voice of spirit, we can receive profound messages and guidance.
However, tapping into our inner wisdom is not always simple or easy. When life gets in the way, that is when you can get off track and people tend to be more scattered. We then tend to no longer listen to our inner guidance. Our spiritual guidance can also be thrown off course by distorted inner blockages or pain that we carry. It takes patience and courage to find healing and develop a greater capacity for clear intuition. Meditation and other forms of spiritual practice is the best way to achieve this.
One of my spiritual mentors used to say that inner wisdom and intuition speaks very quietly, with the voice of love and warmth. Inner guidance often comes with feelings of comfort and joy. We all contain the spark of God’s inner light and love in our heart.
Numerology, Tarot And Astrology For 2020
Are you ready for the coming year? According to the ancient art of Numerology, the year 2020 is a 4 Universal Year and energy. To calculate a Universal Year, we add the individual numbers: 2 + 0 + 2 + 0 = 4. The energy of 4 is grounded, practical and will build stable, solid foundations this year.
Although there will be ups and downs, focus, determination and patience will pay off this year. Whether it’s your business, relationship, finances or career… slow and steady will win the race.
The Japanese concept of Kaizen is an approach to creating continuous improvement based on the idea that small, ongoing positive changes can create major improvements. Small steps lead to substantial change over time. This is the easiest way to change habits and reach our goals. This is notion is very true for 2020, as it offers us the stage to take our plans and create success.
In Tarot, the number 4 is represented by the Emperor in the Major Arcana. He is ruled by Aries and his element is Fire. The energy is masculine, yang energy, the Great Father. He’s all about getting down to business; he’s on it. He also has vision, can see the big picture, and he is consistent and disciplined, even during the slower times or when there are delays. He has Divine reason and order, and sees things as they are realistically.
The Emperor knows how to use the yin energy from the Empress, the Great Mother, and her imagination, ability to go inward, and patience. He is in his higher polarity, he’s charge using mercy and justice. He rules with his inner power. However, on the lower end, he can be a bully, cruel and self-absorbed.
Spiritual Courage
When most of us hear the word courage, certain ideas come to mind of going beyond our normal range of responses to life, or beyond our perceived comfort zone. We may think of courage as standing up to a bully, or taking a risk in life, or leaping forward in blind faith.
Not only are we treading into new territory when we engage courage, but we are leaving behind an old pattern or belief system that has prevented us from stepping beyond what we have feared most. To be courageous and to step beyond our fears, we need to be willing to succeed, or fail.
Failure to most people means not meeting a goal. But what if failure also means to remain stagnant? When we look at courage to help us break free of limiting circumstances or beliefs, it becomes easier to be courageous, because we see that not being courageous has only kept us trapped in repeat cycles. Furthermore, to varying degrees, it often causes unhappiness in an area of our life.
I had a male friend who looked much younger than his age, and always looked happy. When I asked him what his secret was, he simply replied, “Courage.” He said he would do something to scare the pants off himself at least once a month! I laughed, but saw the point he was making.
He loved being in nature. He would ski off huge cliffs, go skydiving, and participated in many other activities that take guts to do. My friend is on the Other Side now, but he visits me often with his message of courage.
The Key Is In Your Hands
I received a lovely necklace as a gift recently, with a beautiful center stone and a small ‘skeleton key’ at the bottom. A skeleton key is a type of master key in which the serrated edge has been removed so that it can open numerous locks .I’ve seen these keys before, and remembered vaguely the symbolism, but I decided to refresh my knowledge by researching further the significance of this symbol.
Katie Pifer writes that keys have had a variety of spiritual symbolisms attached to it “for as long as man has had locks. They are connected with gateways and portals, doorways to the unknown, knowledge, mysteries, powers, initiations, new ways, forbidden things and answers to curious questions.”
Keys symbolize our ability to gain access to those things of either a material or spiritual nature that are of the greatest importance to us. The key is an object symbolic not only of opening doors to new paths that align with our desires, but also closing and locking doors to those things that we wish to leave behind.
Skeleton keys are considered to be a more powerful symbol, since they can open many different locks. Thus, they have been perceived to be the powerful ‘keys to the Kingdom,’ or the key to that someone special’s heart, and so on.
Skeleton Keys are traditionally also worn as powerful amulets. It is thought to be good luck to touch a key when you are entering a challenging or dangerous situation, because keys are believed to keep you safe. They are also symbolic of transformation, freedom and liberation.