attitude
How To Be A Good Friend
I just read a blog written by a spiritual person feeling angry and lonely. She had reached out to a trusted friend, but the friend only wanted to talk about her own problems. And when she did pay some attention to her plight, the best the friend could offer was to be judgmental and unsympathetic. The author then also reached out for support on a social media group for spiritually aware people. Again, all of the members did the same thing her friend did: they judged!
The woman was having problems with her abusive neighbor and many people on the forum were giving advice for her to leave. They told her to move, find a better place to live, relocate. “Moving is 100% your choice,” one person commented. The first thing I thought was no, it isn’t. This particular woman, for example, had bought the house and had put a lot of money into renovating the house. She would need to sell, at a time when not many things are selling, and possibly suffer a significant financial loss.
Some even told her to get more exercise, so that she can relax and focus on other things. They told her she was responsible for her own choice of reactions and feelings in the situation. The only insensitive, stereotypical thing they didn’t say was to take a breath and calm down. Don’t you just hate it when someone says that? It does everything, but calm you down!
The people responding, in their judgment, needed to feel superior. It was about them, not her. Her responses were defensive, understandably. I felt by her response, they made her feel more lonely. Poor woman.
A Sweetening Ritual To Rekindle Your Love
The traditional love spell is a metaphysical practice that is ill-advised and extremely selfish, because it aims to influence and interfere with someone else´s free will. This is never a good idea. The endulzamiento or ‘sweetening’ ritual, also known as a ‘honey jar spell,’ is a better and safer alternative.
A sweetening has similar aims as a love spell, but its mechanism is very different. It is a simple act that seeks to attract higher, more positive energy to your relationship. It´s about finding a better way for both you and your partner. It aims to improve communication and find the best in each-other. In essence one can describe it as ‘kindness magic.’
A sweetening not only enhances positive feelings and attitudes in the relationship, but also seeks to remove all negative feelings and attitudes. For this reason, a sweetening is always considered to be a good metaphysical strategy when difficulties and conflicts are causing damage in your relationship.
Execute a sweetening when you feel you need to save your relationship, or when you want to reawaken the feelings and get the renewed attention of that someone special in your life.
Many people forget what a passionate, intimate, warm and satisfying relationship is like. I have seen many couples wear themselves out with routine, complacency, getting stuck in a rut and taking each other for granted. In time it leads to boredom, emotional exhaustion, unwanted tension, and conflict at every turn.
As it happens gradually, we typically do not notice the decline of passion in our relationships, and we get used to living with a second-rate version of our original love. That initial loving feeling tends to grow cold with the passing of the months and years. A sweetening ritual is the perfect recipe to recover the nature and quality of that original relationship.
Home Is Still Where The Heart Is
This is a traumatic, stressful time in history for many of us, especially since there is so much confusing news and information to process and assimilate. We can, however, do a number of things during this extremely stressful period to make our lives easier, instead of cowering under the bed until it all blows over. Most importantly, we can choose to face reality with gratitude, courage and fortitude.
There should be precautions put into place certainly, but also there should be some joy and happiness, as well as planning for the future. We should be taking advantage of this blissful and happy downtime inside the place where we usually love, hope and live – inside our personal domicile, our home.
Never before have we had such ample opportunity to get to know our loved ones in a more intimate and connected way. Never before have we been reminded so deeply of the many reasons we have to be thankful for. This is a unique time in our lives, during which we can teach our children, as well as each other, that what appears to be a bleak and dire moment can certainly be turned around and changed into one of joy, appreciation and merriment.
Instead of sitting around feeling miserable, many parents have, for example, been contriving makeshift toys, contraptions and activities to help children continue to be happy and carefree, as they should be, whether it be indoors, or in their own backyard.
There are also many adults who are taking advantage of this ‘alone time’ to reconnect, not only with others whom they may have been unintentionally neglecting, but also getting to know and understand themselves on a deeper level.
Take This Time To Find The Future Inside
The last couple of months have brought out a variety of emotions for all of us. They reach from anger, fear, frustration and anxiety, to kindness, compassion and love. People never see things in the same way, and differing views and opinions about the Covid-19 pandemic are causing confusion, noise and heated arguments on social media, in the news, in politics and in our streets.
One cannot help but be left to wonder, who is actually telling the truth? Whose facts are the most reliable? Is certain news fake? Are some of the things we hear or see just rumors, or weird conspiracy theories? Are some purposely spreading misinformation, or exaggerating what is going on? Is the situation possibly more serious than most of us realize, or less severe than we may believe? There are so many questions right now, not many clear answers, and a lot of uncertainty.
But instead of focusing on all the chaos and drama around you, it may be wise to instead shift your attention to something more important. Especially if you are currently still quarantined at home, this is the perfect time to evaluate what is going on deep inside your soul. It is the perfect time to spend in solitude and silence, go within, and allow your soul, your inner guidance, to speak to you. And if you are sheltering with family or friends, try to find a quiet place or secret corner where you can hide away for a while every day.
Maybe there are many voices out in the world today that we cannot trust. But there is one voice we can always trust – the voice within. Each one of us has a deep consciousness that holds the answers to our fears and life questions. Each one of us has a direct connection with spirit, and this is the best time to truly allow spirit to talk to us. Are you truly listening? Or are you merely flapping your mouth, and creating more fear or anger for yourself and others?
How To Thrive In Challenging Times
The world can be a challenging place, especially nowadays. However, not only can we cope more easily with any personal, national, or global crisis, we can thrive at the same time. Yes, it can be done, and the following spiritual and conscious living suggestions may help you restore balance and personal bliss in these times.
Choose Your Company Carefully
It is essential that, while going through any type of life challenge, you wisely choose whom you interact with. If you were to allow it, certain people will only serve to increase your stress and anxiety, while others might be supportive in a positive way and make you feel uplifted and empowered. So be careful about who you spend your time with, and avoid the energy thieves on social media.
A great way of connecting with the right kind of folk would be to join a support group or like-minded ‘tribe’ consisting of people whose collective objective is to help one another remain positive and maintain a sense of sanity – no matter what might be going on in their personal lives, or in the rest of the world.
Make Time For Daily Meditation
Anyone can meditate, and that includes you! Therefore, if you would like to reduce the harmful effects that stress can bring to bear on your body and mind, particularly during a challenging time, a simple daily meditation practice can be immensely helpful.
On The Positive Side Of A Pandemic
These are painful, difficult times. There is a lot of uncertainty in our world and it is so hard to see so many people suffering. However, there are also many beautiful, magical, heroic moments happening everywhere on the planet.
These moments of unity and love, occurring at the same time as so much hardship and pain is occurring, is what will matter most in the end. It is important during times like this to balance the darkness with the light. In today’s post, I wish to therefore focus on some of these more uplifting, inspirational trends of recent weeks.
There is a man in Spain whose upstairs neighbor was in the hospital due to a Covid-19 infection. The man reached up high every night and fed the hospitalized man’s dog on the balcony of his apartment, thus keeping the dog alive throughout the owner’s hospitalization. Sometimes the smallest act of kindness can have the most lasting impact.
In some places, pet shelters have been emptying with more people recently adopting cats and dogs as companions. In the process more animals are being spared euthanasia and given good homes. Many people are now being comforted and loved by their new fur babies during a difficult time.
Nurses, doctors, truck drivers, janitors, grocery store workers and many other service workers are now being praised as heroes. There is a new appreciation for the important work they do. Some wealthy people have donating money, time and energy to feed people and support the unemployed.
From Separation Comes Unity
During my morning meditation, I became very aware of the isolation many people are currently experiencing, from having to self-quarantine or shelter in place.
Some are trapped in close quarters with family members, whom they don’t get along with, while others are solitary and feeling very alone. Whatever the circumstances, this is not easy for any of us, day after day, while grim news keeps coming in from the outside world.
In the Tarot there is a card, The Hermit, depicting an old, wise man who has chosen to retreat and isolate himself from the rest of the world. The card symbolizes spiritual isolation and social distancing, in order to seek wisdom and understanding within; to confront one’s inner demons, such as addictions, dependencies, habits or patterns; as well as learning to not rely on others, but to form one’s own opinions.
The Hermit card teaches us to find an inner solace and strength, a light within. There is much that we can learn from his wisdom. In normal life, we get so caught up in the mundane routines of everyday life, that we seldom pay attention to our inner being. We also spend so much time texting and scrolling through social media, that we get caught up in other’s opinions, attitudes and experiences, that we lose touch with our inner compass.
One of my Tarot mentors described The Hermit card as, “Stop the world, I want to get off.” It certainly seems in many ways that our world has been stopped in its tracks (but the planet itself has not stopped spinning). Many have nowhere to turn at this point, but inward. This may be a blessing in disguise in many ways.