Abundance
Stop Surviving And Start Living
The past three years, I have heard many people say they’re living in ‘survival mode.’ For some it has been about health and personal safety, for others it was isolation and loneliness, or bereavement and grief, or loss of employment and financial security.
It has certainly been an unprecedented, challenging time for our generation. And at times it has indeed been an actual fight for survival, which many tragically did not survive. Many families are still grieving the loss of their loved ones.
Sadly, for some it has also been a time of fearing many things that never happened. It has also been a time that revealed how some folks may be in need of a major ‘privilege check.’ For example, I personally know people who were excessively anxious during the quarantine lockdowns because they were eating too much and gaining weight, or were upset because they could not go to the salon or spa, while there are people in the world who were not even able to feed their families, or worse, had nowhere safe to take shelter.
The global pandemic has indeed been a unique opportunity to reflect on our beliefs, values, and what truly matters to us. Not everyone made the most of this prospect. It seems for some it is still difficult to move beyond the self-defeating mindset of ‘it’s a struggle to survive.’
Yes, life is sometimes definitely hard for all of us. The past three years proved that once again on a global scale. Life can throw major curve balls our way and we all handle things through our personal lens on the world. Some of us are more resilient than others; and some of us more privileged than others. Being in ‘survival mode’ is therefore relative to the individual.
The Ancient Magic Of The Runes
The casting of runes is a fascinating divination practice dating back to the ancient Germanic and Scandinavian peoples. The rune symbols originally served as an alphabet for written communication in various Germanic languages until the Latin alphabet was later adopted.
But the runes retained their archetypal symbolism and time evolved into a powerful tool for divination, magic, and meditation. The origin of word ‘rune’ actually stems from the old Germanic word for ‘secret’ or ‘mystery.’ The modern mystique of the runes lies in how it connects us to the wisdom of the ancients.
The runes are a set of 24 symbols, each with its own unique symbolic meaning and energy signature. Traditionally it is made of natural materials, such as stone, wood, or bone. The most common use of runes is for divination purposes, where the symbols are cast, or drawn, and then interpreted to gain insight into a particular situation or question.
Like other divination tools, the runes offer a gateway to tapping into the collective unconscious. These symbols have been used for centuries by countless people, each leaving their own energy imprint on the universal interpretation of each. When we work with the runes, we therefore tap into the collective wisdom it represents and gain access to a deeper understanding of ourselves and the world around us.
A charming aspect of the runes is their connection to nature. Many of these ancient symbols were derived from natural elements, such as trees, animals, and weather patterns. By engaging with the runes, we also connect with the natural world and its rhythms, which empowers us with greater balance and harmony in our lives and aligns us with the flow of the universe.
How To Start Living The Life Of Your Dreams
When I was 21 years old, I had many dreams and ideals, but not much direction in life. At the time I remember feeling very motivated listening to the song Hold On Tight To Your Dreams by The Electric Light Orchestra. To this day, it still inspires me.
What life has however taught me since those starry-eyed days is that holding onto our dreams is indeed very important, but what is more crucial is taking the necessary action to make it happen. Spirit has shown me that the only way to truly manifest the life of our dreams is to go for it with everything we have: mind, body and soul. To actualize our dreams sooner rather than later, we must approach it with a determined, proactive combination of spirituality and practicality.
Find Your Faith
The first and most important step is to rally the support of spirit. Attempting to achieve our goals without the inspiration, protection and guidance of God, Source, Spirit, the Divine, is an arduous, and often treacherous undertaking. Only fools rush in where angels fear to tread.
Manifesting our dreams in ways we never before deemed possible requires spiritual alignment with our higher self, as well as faith in our ability as children of the Universe to create our best life. Holding on to big dreams without believing in a higher power or something greater than ourselves is a meaningless exercise and a mission impossible.
A Quantum Leap Into Powerful Manifestation
I have been experiencing profound manifestations in recent times. It all began with an unusual spiritual encounter that led to a heightened connection with my higher self and the spirit realm. It inspired a personal quantum leap that profoundly transformed my life and especially empowered me to achieve greater levels of successful manifestation.
For example, I struggled with limited physical mobility for over two decades due to peripheral neuropathy. It is a nerve condition that causes weakness, numbness and discomfort in my feet and toes that has made normal walking a painful challenge for many years.
But all that has been rapidly changing, due to my enhanced manifesting ability. I have recently begun to walk more frequently without a cane, and I fully expect to soon be able to permanently kick the old crutch to the curb!
One of my friends was so impressed by all the positive outcomes she has lately been witnessing in my life, that she also began making more of an effort with her own spiritual practice.
She used to labor with feelings of insecurity, sadness, and cynicism due to many disappointments in her life. As much as she had dreamed of becoming a wife and mother someday, it never materialized for her. The men that crossed her path never fully appreciated all her beautiful qualities.
Lessons From Nature Bring Light To The Soul
I recently had the privilege to attend a virtual seminar on a sublime spiritual book titled Light of the Bhāgavata. The experience powerfully reminded me of the incredible wonder of nature’s divine design, and how it relates to our spiritual purpose in this lifetime. With its beautiful metaphors from nature, Light of the Bhāgavata brings light to the soul in the darkness of this age of strife and quarrel.
The book is a unique spiritual text written in 1961 for a presentation at a world conference of the Congress of Cultivating the Human Spirit, held in Japan. At the time, the author, A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, was living in a small, sparsely furnished room in the humble village of Vrindavan, India, where Lord Krishna had appeared 5,000 years ago.
The swami received an invitation to participate as a speaker at the conference and thus conceived Light of the Bhagavata for this purpose. Within just a few months, he wrote an inspired manuscript based on the timeless teachings of the Srimad Bhagawatam. Written over 5,000 years ago, the original Bhagavatam is a voluminous book composed of 18,000 verses.
The swami realized that it would not be practical for him to try and share all of its teachings with the conference attendees in one presentation. He therefore decided to only focus on the tenth canto, twentieth chapter of Srimad-Bhagavatam for his presentation, drawing spiritual lessons of life from nature. The twentieth chapter is a description of the autumn season in Vrindavan, the place of Lord Krishna’s appearance. He composed 48 commentaries to accompany each of the verses of that chapter.
The Spiritual Practice Of Flower Power
Every now and again, I purchase a bouquet of flowers as a gift to myself. Placing a vase of flowers on your home altar or sacred space adds nature-inspired ambiance, brightness, and sensuality to one’s spiritual self-care.
I also love to diffuse the essential oils of flowers, especially when I meditate, but they don’t have the tangibility and energetic beauty of a stunning array of fresh blooms. Analogous to eating whole food versus taking a supplement, fresh flowers represent the wholeness, divine design, and awe-inspiring beauty of Gaia, Mother Nature, our Earth Mother, the Divine Feminine.
Unadulterated, the ‘flower power’ of a beautiful bouquet commands marvelous healing energies, blesses the giver, and inspires bountiful gratitude in the recipient.
The most powerful spiritual practice involving flowers is to plant your own flower garden with perennial varieties, such as tulips, black-eyed susans, and chrysanthemums. With careful planning around the seasonal calendar one can also have different species in bloom at different times throughout the entire year.
Cultivating a thriving garden of flowers is a magnificent form of energy work. It attracts and manifests emotional healing, abundance, and the fulfillment of wishes, especially in aspects of romance, marriage, fertility, and parenthood. By lovingly nurturing and caring for the delicate beauty of living flowers, we invite much love, beauty and abundance into our lives.
Respect Is A Blessed Spiritual Practice
Nothing disturbs the existence of the person who is spiritually conscious and respectful. For the believer her faith is the rock that nothing shakes. The worst storms can come, yet she’s still there, firm in her belief.
A faithless, disrespectful life without higher consciousness is perilous at best, and rife with fears, and many tears. The days tend to get darker, and the future more and more uncertain. There is little to offer hope, and life seems meaningless and transient.
But faith makes life full, smooth, and blessed. Surrendering our fears and worries to God, Source, Spirit, the Divine is liberating and transcendental.
Of course, a fulfilled, spiritually aware life is not without challenges, problems, responsibilities, and effort. Idleness and laziness will delay our soul evolution. Spiritual growth and enlightenment require effort, dedication, passion, and commitment.
For all worthwhile achievements, victories, and successes in life, we must have faith, courage, and respect; be ethical in all our choices and actions; and clearly decide what we want to achieve.
Everything that unfolds in our life begins with our own attitude and our level of respect. Those who do not respect themselves, others, and nature, cannot demand any respect in turn. Respect must guide us every day in everything we think, say, and do. It is the most important moral value and duty of every soul in human form.