Spirituality
Everyone Is An Artist
Art is a powerful form of self-expression. It allows us to communicate complex emotions and spiritual concepts through various mediums such as the visual and fine arts, music, dance, acting, creative writing, and so on.
When we are being creative we connect with the subconscious part of ourselves. This can be a powerfully healing experience to help us process and integrate our thoughts, feelings, beliefs and life experiences on a deep level.
When we are children, we don’t have any preconceived ideas about art. If you observe young children, you’ll see this very clearly. They don’t worry about how ‘good’ an artist they are. Most kids just see art as a form of play. They love to draw, or paint, or color, and are typically pretty thrilled with their creations.
So, what happens along the way that we become so self-conscious about our artistic endeavors? It seems to me that at some point most people have had ‘the artist’ within subtly discouraged or silenced. Whatever the case may be,suffice it to say that life takes over at some point and being creative artistically takes a back seat.
“I was never very good at it anyway,” or “I just did it for fun,” are common remarks I’ve heard from people. But what’s wrong with not being very good at something? Especially if it’s fun? Moreover, the benefits of spending time being creative are vast! Art Therapy is growing in popularity and more studies are being done around this modality.
One particular study focused on people with chronic illness or cancer. The researchers looked at the impact visual art activities such as painting, drawing, and pottery had on patients and found that art helped to distract them from thoughts of illness.
Art therapy improved their well-being by decreasing negative emotions and improving positive ones. Depression levels were also reduced, and medical outcomes improved overall. There were also reductions in stress, anxiety, and distress. Further there were improvements in the patients’s spontaneity, expression of their grief, positive identity and social interactions.
The Cosmic Dance Of Life’s Challenges
No matter where in the world you live, the seasons always change, albeit some may present with changes that are more subtle than in other places. While there may be an unexplained blizzard in Florida in March, the windswept islands of the Greater Antilles may be balmy year-round with few dramatic changes in weather.
Wherever we live in the world, nature is a force all unto itself. It is sometimes predictable, while at other times intensely climatic, with extreme highs and lows.
As we all live on this big, green planet we call Earth, our human species is also subject to changes in our natural environment. We are all impacted by the seasons in some way, as well as climate unpredictability. It is an eternal cycle that impacts our crops, livestock and food supplies.
With nearly every turn we make, there is always an interconnectedness that is ever present – a reminder that our vast world is host to a greater macrocosm that supports each and every microcosm. In other words, Spirit, God, the Universe has our back!
The microcosm-macrocosm analogy is a reminder that there is a fundamental similarity that can be seen between the expression of life as we perceive it on this glorious planet, and the wider, infinite cosmos. Some philosophers have posited that a higher understanding of the cosmos may even be more closely inferred from the lessons of human nature, and vice versa.
Without expounding further on these mysteries, I believe we are bound on this plane by a natural ebb and flow that ushers in various degrees of change during many of life’s intervals. One lesson taught by life is that there is no growth without change. We see this in the natural world, as well as our personal lives. To move through various life stages requires fluid thinking, adaptability and purposeful actions.
How To Practice The Art Of Gratitude
My life has not been without its challenges. Nevertheless, I love my job, have a beautiful son, an adorable husband and supportive friends and family. Therefore, irrespective of current world events, I genuinely have a lot to be grateful for!
Gratitude is beneficial for all of us, including physically, emotionally and spiritually. For one, appreciating the good things in our lives helps us to be more tolerant and forgiving, with a higher sense of life satisfaction. Grateful people also tend to have more hope and inner peace and feel less anxious and alone.
God, Spirit, the Universe loves gratitude! Those who are sincerely grateful are blessed with even more to be grateful for. Like attracts like.
How does one ensure that you practice the art of gratitude ever day? The following guidelines should help:
Seek Out The Positive
In my own personal research into positive psychology, I became aware of something referred to as negativity bias. In case you have not heard of this, it means that our negative thoughts tend to be more dominant than the positive ones.
An excellent way of counteracting this negative way of thinking is to seek out at least three things in your life every day that you are well and truly grateful for. Try to make this a daily habit. By doing so, it should have you smiling in next to no time!
I remember when I was about 26 years old and in a particularly challenging place in my life. I was advised by a psychic, whom I reached out to with my troubles, to watch the film or read the book, The Color Purple by Alice Walker. It is some of the best advice I have every received. Once I had read the last chapter, I felt so grateful for whatever I had in my life.
Miracles Happen Every Day
A miracle is described in the dictionary as “an event attributed to divine intervention”, and also referred to as “a phenomenon that defies the laws of nature”. The online Encyclopedia Britannica defines a miracle as “an extraordinary and astonishing happening that is attributed to the presence and action of an ultimate or divine power”. In certain translations of the Bible the terms “wonder,” “mighty work” and “sign” are also used to describe miracles.
Most people would say that a miracle has occurred when the medical profession says there is no hope for a particular patient, and then, miraculously, the patient recovers fully, and without the complications which would have been expected connected to their condition.
But miracles are not necessarily always larger than life or dramatic. Miracles can happen for anyone at any time. And don’t expect an earthly explanation, or even to be taken seriously by everyone when the miracle has happened to you.
People have often told me of little miracles that have happened to them. For example, they don’t know how their bills will be paid, and out of the blue they receive a check in the post, or money is given to them, or they would win the exact amount needed to lift them out of their financial dilemma. Although I can’t prove it scientifically, I also know for sure that miracles have happened to me.
Two separate miracles I recall very vividly are both connected to my pets. A dog, and a cat named Miracle!
When my 5 year old Rottweiler, Sophia, was rushed to the vet with what we thought was an upset stomach, a burst duodenal ulcer and peritonitis were diagnosed instead. The vets had little hope, because even for strong humans this ailment can be life threatening.
Following the diagnosis, the vet phoned me and said they had to operate immediately. I asked if I could phone my husband and get back to them. I was informed with a sense of urgency that there was no time to do that, and even if they did operate on Sophia immediately there was very little hope.
Trusting The Truth Beneath The Surface
Spring is around the corner where I live, unfolding before my very eyes. But it has long been in the making, beneath the surface of Winter.
Similarly, rebirth or renewal is always on the spiritual horizon of our lives. Transformational energy is evolving and gaining momentum beneath the surface constantly – just waiting for the perfect moment to emerge and burst into bloom.
A psychic reading can see, hear, and feel into that energy to help connect your awareness with it. This is the most valuable way to approach any reading and ensure you receive the most from it.
Faith serves an integral role in mining the value of this energy from within. Our everyday physical senses are not equipped to hold the finer subtle matter, never mind the mystical or transcendental. But these senses are not the be-all and end-all in perceivers of truth.
Common constructs of society in the physical world put the burden of proof upon the eyes, ears, nose, mouth, and skin to see, hear, smell, taste, and feel. Ancient seers, knowers, and teachers, however, have long understood and communicated that more exists than the imperfect instruments of the senses can measure. They have cited faith as evidence and have highlighted a higher dimensional reality reached by it.
The Bhagavad Gita, an ancient Hindu sacred text, is one such recorded source of Divine vision and knowledge of all that is. In this epic verse, Lord Krishna describes a world where the roots are upward and the branches down, like a tree reflected upon a lake.
We Can Co-Create A More Caring World
Each part of our body has many functions, many parts. Some we can see and some, of course, we cannot. Each has a very important function and serves a role that helps our body to work and operate well.
For our body to continue to run well, we have to take care of all the parts. We must ensure, for example, that we don’t drink too much alcohol, or eat too many processed foods, because if we do it could ruin our health. But healthy living goes beyond our physical lifestyle. If we think negative thoughts, or are emotionally bitter or cynical, then we also promote disease in the human body.
It also goes beyond our own life and body. Our planet is also a living, breathing body and all the smaller parts of our wonderful world must also run smoothly, in order for nations and countries to survive and grow, and for all to live in peace and harmony.
If we all do our job, and we are all on the same team with the same values, such as harmony, love and peace, we could have a gloriously peaceful, harmonious world. We are aware of things like corruption, greed and dysfunctional politics. These evil practices go on and make for ripples of constant negativity. Sometimes we see it in horrible ways, where lives are ruined and destroyed.
We all have different talents and gifts. If we all listened to the messages from our higher consciousness, and acted on them, we could co-create a meaningful change in the world. If we all did our part, and maybe weren’t so complacent, and really listened and heeded our true calling, we may be able to work together – just like our body uses all of its parts to function. We are all one in spirit and we are all connected. We must all contribute.
Energy Protection For Children
I just did a phone reading for client who said she was feeling as if “the life force has been sucked” from her, after she received an unexpected call from a former work associate.
In hindsight, she says, this individual had always had this effect on her when they used to work together in the corporate field many years ago. She didn’t actually put two and two together at the time, but now she realizes that it was him who used to constantly drain her energy at work. At the time, she simply put it down to work stress and exhaustion.
She was surprised to realize that, even over the phone, certain individuals have that ability to drain us! We then discussed how she could even better protect herself psychically and shield her energy field from this former colleague and other energy thieves she may encounter in life.
An interesting aspect of energy protection and psychic shielding that is seldom considered is how children are affected by the people they connect with in life. Children are exposed to various social settings and energy environments that could be toxic and negatively affect their energetic well-being.
The veterinarian I rely on for my pets told me last week that he finds his work overwhelming at times. He feels it is due to the human owners of the pets, rather than the animals themselves.
At times, he says, he finds some pet owners really exhausting, as they bring both their anxieties about their pets, plus their own personal concerns with them. I could sense what kind of clients he had been dealing with to make him feel this way and believe me it was not a pretty sight!
He then asked me about his own two sons who are growing up now and how he could advise them to shield themselves in the future from the energy drain of people, and even social media. This made me think of the increasing number of clients who have been asking me the same question. How can I protect my child from people their energy, should they find themselves in a toxic environment?