self-help
Do It Anyway
No matter what we go through in life and with who, we always come back to the same place… a familiar place of being alone. The thought occurred to me the other day that we come into this world alone, and we go out alone.
Though we may be surrounded by others, at the end of the day, we are still alone when we go to sleep at night. Even if we are married, or in a relationship with someone who sleeps next to us, we still enter into the sleep state or dream state, alone.
Have you ever noticed that people who are comfortable being alone, have somehow mastered being alone without being lonely? There is a true comfort, freedom, and delight in being by oneself, alone. When we are alone, we can take an honest inventory of our life, who we choose to spend time with, and also decide how we wish to spend our time.
The relationship arena seems to be one of the most challenging areas of life. We all fall into traps and pitfalls that can steer us away from our natural state of happiness , which we come home to when we are alone. However, relationships also seem to provide a fast track for our own personal growth by revealing how we interact with other people.
Our relationships point out areas within ourselves that may require growth or increased self-love. Simply put, relationships show us exactly where we need to focus on to come back to a state of wholeness.
Living Life – A Message From My Guides
Are you living the life of your dreams? Are you happy or content most of the time? Do you face challenges with confidence, or perhaps dread? Do you compare yourself with others and feel sad, miserable, or even angry at their success? Regardless of whether you feel as though you are at the bottom of the barrel, or soaring among the clouds, there is always room for improvement, and it is never too late to get started.
One of the biggest errors in judgment is all-or-nothing thinking. You do not need to drop everything in your life and start with a blank slate. Not only would that be impossible, it would be totally impractical. Your life so far is a culmination of all your experiences, education, career opportunities and family interactions, and cannot be wiped away like a chalkboard. Instead, you can, and should, start by making course corrections and taking baby steps in the right direction.
Set your intention first. Visualize the end result. Begin the process of redesigning your life gently and allow the universe to conspire in your favor over time. Whether you choose to go back to school, read a book, take a course, attend a conference, learn online or join a group, do something that makes you feel happy and fulfilled. Do it because you want to, not because you have to.
Set realistic goals and deadlines. If you are juggling a family or career or both, be sensible in your expectations of yourself. Things take time and if it is worth doing, it is worth doing well. Do not expect overnight results. Life is not a success-only journey, however, each setback holds a series of invaluable lessons. Deal with each issue, learn from the experience and move on with confidence. Continue reading
Honor Your Most Magnificent Self This Summer
Taking time to experience the wonder of the summer season truly is medicine for the soul. My favorite summer activities include dipping my toes in a nearby lake or ocean, feeling the healing energy of the natural quartz sand against my skin, and finding renewal in the essence of the season.
Too often we move through our days and weeks completely engulfed in work, and the chatter of the bustling world. Our lives tend to be caught up in the motion of the world, with little time for self-care and centering.
Many of us awake in the mornings to the national news that often leaves us drained even before our day begins. We shower, have breakfast, down a cup of coffee, and anxiously show up for our families and our careers.
Many hours later, we return to our homes, where we are met with even more news via network and cable outlets, competing with their own spin on identical breaking stories. We reach for our smart phones or laptops and headlines scroll across our screens. When is enough truly enough?
In light of the endless social and environmental concerns permeating our planet, our species is globally experiencing stress like never before. But surely the Divine Presence within our amazing Universe would not leave us stranded on Planet Earth without the tools to transcend stress and what seems like utter chaos.
Your Inner Child
You are never too old, too wise, or too ‘spiritually advanced’ to improve upon your relationship with your beautiful and wise inner child. I teach my students how to go inside and connect, to Self, so they can be receptive to the teachings and healings of Spirit. If no one is home, in your body, in your emotions, in your current life, then there is no one home to receive guidance from Spirit.
Your Higher Self, unlike other spiritual guides that you may have (or think you have) has only one agenda: your highest good for the evolution of your Soul. It does not represent any other groups, opinions or agendas. Your Higher Self is concerned with your life lessons. It keeps you on your path, and keeps you connected to Source.
Your Higher Self is that energetic part of you that is in constant contact with the Divine Source. It is this divine relationship to Source which functions as the central coordinator of your life’s plan – the one you created when you were Soul working with Source, the life you are currently living.
However, if you are emotionally wounded, be it from childhood abuse or neglect, or life circumstances, such as trauma, war, assault, racism, rape, extreme poverty, and so on, you will have emotional blocks and your energy pathways will be corrupted or twisted. You will be unable to be in a deep, loving and respectful relationship with Self. Your Higher Self’s connection to Source is then corrupted and weakened, like hearing static on your phone line.
The Universe Provides The Help We Need
Recently, a very dear friend discovered that her partner, who she had been living with for the past three years, was secretly battling an addiction to narcotics. She discovered this in a very hurtful way.
They were getting ready to go out for the evening and she was looking for a specific item of jewelry. When she could not find what she was looking for, she asked him if he had seen it anywhere. He tried to downplay the situation and persuaded her to pick another piece of jewelry to wear. He was sure it would soon turn up.
But my friend was on a mission. That piece of jewelry was her grandmother’s. She would have never misplaced it. After more searching, she eventually discovered that almost all of her jewelry was missing! Thinking they had been robbed by a visitor, she was naturally upset. For weeks my friend was obsessing over what had happened to her jewelry.
Finally she asked for help from her guides, that the truth be shown to her, and sure enough about a month after the first discovery of missing items, she was sorting laundry and checking pockets when, to her surprise, in one of her partner’s pockets she found her grandmother’s diamond earrings!
Shocked, she began to question him about why her earrings were in his pocket. Did he find them somewhere and put them in his pocket, then forgot about them? She was sure there had to be a legitimate reason for this discovery. After all, this is the man who she has lived with, loved, and trusted, for several years. The thought of him actually being the thief never came to mind. Continue reading
Learning To Love Yourself
Sadly, my inner-critic began speaking to me at a relatively young age and continued to do so well into my 20s and beyond. Personally, I feel this played a large part in me losing my job at the age of 24, during the 1980s recession. It was a time in which work was so hard to find, and when I finally did, even more negative self-talk began to have an effect on my life.
With no job and no money, I felt worthless, stupid, disliked, and that I had no potential whatsoever. Most fortunately, however, I proved myself to be wrong and later found, from experience, that the way to a happier, more confident and fulfilled life was by learning to slay that inner critic and start loving myself. Furthermore, you can too! Here’s how.
Firstly, remember that you do have a choice. Which one will you listen to: your inner critic or your inner guide? I remember the time when I told my family I was going to start working in the spiritual field. Yes, they laughed and said to me that it would never work out for me, and I that I could not do it.
Sadly, this boosted my inner critic once again, but at this particular time in my life, circumstances and the need for a more fulfilling job made me look at things from a different perspective.
Are We There Yet?
Are we there yet? It’s okay to ask. The answer, however, should always be no. If we become preoccupied with destination, we lose sight of the purpose of the journey in the first place. When we honor the journey, we are able to keep on the path of forward motion.
Life itself is the journey. We learn the hard lessons, and finally understand that it’s a never-ending process. Often things occur in the guise of mistakes, failures, misunderstandings, hurts. But in truth, not learning from these events is the only failure. And if you don’t learn it the first time, it is highly likely the lesson will repeat itself, over and over again, until you actually do learn it.
When our behavior and actions change, we convert what we have learned into wisdom. For some people the process is a lifelong quest, while others utilize what they have learned and it moves them along quickly. Some people need to go deeper within themselves to make progress.
It is always good to ask if we are there yet. Especially at the beginning of every journey, or when the learned lessons tell us there is more work to be done – inner work to get to the very core of our being. For some people inner work can be very frightening, as many of us deeply suppress the things that we don’t want to deal with. But to complete the journey we must peel away the layers, like peeling an onion.