The Magic Formula Of Self-Care And Gratitude
Where am I going next? What’s in my future? This is a question we all ask ourselves from time to time. This is especially true at the moment, during these stressful times.
When our world is going through changes, it can be difficult to stay centered and remain confident about the future. It can also affect how we feel, and reduce our motivation.
The first thing you can do to change this downward spiral in your thought process and emotional well-being, is to remind yourself that you are the master of your own destiny. What you choose to think and do today, creates your future self – both in your internal and external world. Just knowing this already gives one a greater a sense of direction and inner peace.
The next step is to make more of an effort with your self-care and daily gratitude. Self-care is a kindness we give to ourselves, and only when we are nourished we can also give to others. It is so easy to do, but we often forget.
There are many helpful self-care practices to center, ground and cleanse your energy. Just pick one and get started. How about a lovely scented bath, with Himalayan sea salt? Let it wash away some of your cares. The salt has a cleansing and restorative effect on our energy. Continue reading
Keeping Your Cool In These Stressful Times
This is a stressful time, but my feeling is the Covid-19 pandemic has happened in our world for a reason. It is has been making us take a real long look at what is most important in life. It has been teaching us to not take our daily lives and our loved ones for granted.
The situation has been causing tremendous stress for many of us and has been challenging many relationships. And some of us are dealing better with it than others. If you have been struggling too, then there are some simple self-care strategies that could be helpful if you are feeling overwhelmed by a situation at home.
Start by holding some space for yourself, by carving out some time to just be by yourself, even it is just an hour. Use this time to do whatever makes you happy. If it means doing absolutely nothing, that is fine too! Having some ‘alone time’ helps to declutter your mind, improve your mood and restore your sense of self. If you cannot find peace at home, then go for a walk, or just go get cup of coffee somewhere nearby.
Meditation or quiet contemplation is a wonderful tool to gain a sense of calm and clarity. Take a moment to reflect on whatever may be bothering you, and try to gain a new perspective on the situation. There are always more than one side to a situation, and many tensions and conflicts can be resolved with cool heads and calm discussions.
Open-Minded Curiosity Is The Key To A Happy, Healthy Life
A client asked the other day how I keep my immunity up during these challenging times, and if there is anything special one can do to stay mentally healthy. My answer was simple. You simply need to keep an open mind, and have passion for life.
Working with spirit has taught me over the years to live my life wholeheartedly, with daily gratitude, and with an open mind and a healthy curiosity. I am always eager to learn and experience new things. We are not meant to be constantly stuck in a rut, nor spend our lives in mediocre stagnation.
Just the other day, a friend told me that she thought I am the most imaginative and adventurous person she has ever met. I am always so optimistic and upbeat, she said, and she gets energy from me just by spending time with me.
She has also witnessed how positive things happen in my life through my spiritual practices. For example, I use certain crystals, visualizations and affirmations to bring about real change in my life – not only for myself, but also for others.
The more we are open-minded to explore new horizons, and learn new things, the more we allow positive, creative new energies to enter our reality, empowering us to achieve things that we otherwise wouldn’t – especially when we just sit around doing nothing.
Astrological Forecast October 5 – 11, 2020
An easy-going week awaits us, with no major astrological shifts or surprises, but do keep in mind that Mercury will be going retrograde next week, and could create a few electronic and technical glitches, as it slows down. This is a great week to back up your computer, iPhone and any device that stores lots of your personal information.
Monday will turn out to be our most productive day of the week as the Moon travels through Taurus, so get important work out of the way as best you can. Tuesday and Wednesday are ideal for socializing, information gathering and learning new things, as the Moon dances through curious Gemini. The Moon will enter Cancer on Thursday and have us turning inward through Saturday, attending our emotional, home and personal needs. A bit of over-sensitivity could loom on Friday, so be careful not to take things too personally, or fall under an illusion. The Leo Moon will brighten our Sunday as it encourages self-care and generosity with others.
Forgiveness Brings Lightness To The Heart
Forgiveness can be one of the most difficult challenges we face in life, especially for those of us who have been horribly wronged. But the angels say that we cannot move forward with anger or hatred in our heart. Only when we can truly forgive and let go of our past, will we reap the rewards of the future. Blessings come once we let go of the things that are holding us back.
When you struggle with forgiveness, it helps to remind yourself that God, the Divine, Source, Spirit, the Universe, always forgives us, no matter what we do. And our angels never leave our side. They do shake their heads at times, but they are right there through each life choice and every step we take, no matter what.
When we are in a place of unforgiveness, we must choose to look at life in a different way. What good is it to hold onto anger and resentment towards someone who has wronged you? It is usually not affecting them in any way, and it is also not serving you. All it really does is hold you back from moving forward and living your best life.
Your past, both the good and bad, provided you with life lessons, and if you truly consider what you have been through, and the growth and wisdom gained from those experiences, you will appreciate the lessons learned, and never repeat them. Life lessons empower us to move forward in a healthy way and not repeat the mistakes of the past.
Finding Your Spiritual Center In A Chaotic World
If you were to ask me how I see the world we currently live in, my honest response would be that we seem to be in a state of mass confusion. There is much misinformation, upheaval, conflicting reports, fake news and conspiracy theories these days. And most of us seem to be struggling trying to find our balance amid all this chaos.
Herein lies the problem: how do we reconcile what we are being told by so many contradictory sources, when it conflicts with our own personal beliefs, thoughts and feelings? Do we trust ourselves enough from our inner guidance system, to assess what is right and true for us, even if it does not match the opinions of others?
Are you the type of individual that will always follow the agenda set out before you, even though at times it leaves you with feelings of doubt? Or perhaps you are a person who makes your choices strictly led by your own beliefs, intuition and spiritual awareness?
The only reasonable approach to any threatening situation at hand is to pay more attention to what you are honestly thinking, and how you are feeling, and how you choose to deal with trying events, rather than obsessing about what may, or may not happen.
It would make things much simpler if we could simply hide away in some cave for a while, or live on a desert island, until all the turmoil blows over. However, here is the catch, if these troublesome circumstances and events in current affairs finally find a way to resolve themselves, how do we prepare for the next time?
Meditation Is For Everyone
Meditation can easily be a part of your daily life. It is a simple spiritual practice. What is difficult is to change one’s habits.
There are many variants of meditation, some of which you probably know and may have tried. If so, you may have discovered that the difficulties many of us face, when attempting to adopt meditation as a spiritual practice, are usually not related to the meditation itself. More often we are ‘fighting’ with our own minds. We are competing within, for the control, or the freedom of our mind.
Our enemies in this context are short-term rewards: leisure activities, such as watching TV, browsing social media, snacking, or anything that helps our neurons remain lazy. In these activities, attention is scattered and unfocused.
The mind thus learns to be ‘random.’ One could compare this state of mind to the behavior of a wild monkey. This restlessness has no practical purpose – it is just ‘noise.’ And it is happening all the time. We may feel we are actually doing something, but we are just passing the time.
Meditation puts a stop to this unnecessary mental activity. Although in meditation, one does not actively seek to stop thinking, one tries to generate the conditions in which thought is reduced, and the mind now merely observes whatever is happening: an idea, a feeling, a sensation. It is all just observed.