attitude
The Many Deaths And Rebirths In Your Lifetime
You have already died many deaths. Many versions of you will ‘die’ in this lifetime. And, many versions of you will be reborn.
Of course, you have also passed through the veil between this life and the next for many past lives. But in this case, I am referring to ‘deaths’ we suffer in this lifetime.
We can identify these dramatic changes, transitions, shifts, or ‘deaths’ in our astrological chart. Your Saturn Return, for example, occurs around the time of our 30th birthday. Our Saturn Return forces us to take an honest look at everything we may have been avoiding until now. It forces us to make much needed changes and improvements. It is the ending of our youth and the birth of our new adult self.
We do not remain the same person throughout our lifetime. Our goals, ideas, and life lessons all serve their purpose until they are phased out to let in new information, new ideas, and new opportunities for growth. If we do this right, life keeps changing us. We continue to grow and expand.
For this purpose, it is wise to interact with people who have different beliefs, practice other religions, and have other political affiliations compared to our own. And more importantly, to really listen to them. We must allow all the information in and trust our intuition to let our beliefs and understanding of life continuously evolve.
Our life experiences constantly challenge and change our ideas, goals, and views. We are constantly shedding our old skin. Just as our body changes every day we are alive, so does our soul. We take in every experience, whether we know it or not. It’s like adding ingredients to a recipe.
Embrace these deaths and births along your life path. They are needed for your soul growth and spiritual expansion. I’ve witnessed over the years some people really fighting change and resisting growth…and it always makes them miserable. Fluidity and acceptance are spiritually essential. Simplicity will bring you inner peace.
Conscious Conflict Resolution
Dealing with tension and conflict is one of the most challenging dynamics in friendships and relationships. We have all found ourselves in a shouting match with someone we love, or concluding an argument feeling awful and unresolved.
Getting to the root of an issue without all the drama sometimes feels impossible. But conflict resolution is a skill, and one that can be honed with practice and patience.
The following strategies are helpful in shifting from overreaction to consciously seeking resolution when faced with difficult conversations or conflict scenarios.
Pause For Self-Awareness
Pause and identify what you are feeling. Step back from the feeling and merely observe it, as well as any thoughts that come along with the feeling.
Recognize that ‘you’ are not the feeling; it is a simply a sensation you are experiencing. Often people will say they are ‘angry,’ but words are powerful and this indicates that you have identified with the anger. You are actually saying: ‘I am anger.’
Do not choose to ‘be anger.’ You are merely experiencing anger. Shifting this mindset can help to separate your rational mind, from the emotional sensation of anger (or hurt, or whatever feeling you may be experiencing).
Once you are able to observe your emotions and thoughts in this way, it becomes much easier to avoid reacting from them. By not reacting, you give yourself the opportunity to think about your response first, and consciously choose your course of action.
Take Some Time Out To Embrace The Silence
I see now, more than ever before, parents busying their children with this and that sport, and this and that activity. I sometimes wonder if they ever have time to just be children.
I see how fast time flies these days and I think we actually make it go by even faster by overloading our lives with so much activity. We over commit ourselves way too much. I have been carefully watching my world lately, and I have seen the busy lifestyles of my friends and family. I see how frantic everyone has become. Such a commotion!
I find it disturbing how we over-busy ourselves and our children, and our lives. We really miss out on what I deem as the ‘finer things’. We need to get that connection back. It’s never too late.
We need to take it down a notch. I understand there are things we have to do – go to work, pay the bills, chores to do, people to see. Sure, I get it! But there are those additional things that we sign on to do when we really shouldn’t, or don’t have the time for, and when we do it has a domino effect. Chaos. Anxiety. Stress.
We need time to unwind more, and not just when we give ourselves six or less hours of sleep. We carve time out for our kids and for our friends and family, and often there is really no time left for a few blissful moments of silence. It’s in the silence that we can know ourselves and truly learn to live with a glass half full mentality.
We are filling our days with so much unnecessary activity these days just to keep up with the Joneses. What is wrong with staying home once in a while? I think staying at home is underrated. I don’t know about you, but home is where my yoga mat has its place and I don’t have to pay a gym membership to be active in my own home. It’s also where my library is, and my family, and most of the things I love and enjoy.
It’s Always Darkest Before The Dawn
Concepts of the Divine, with an ever-changing definition, have been part of the human experience since the beginning of time. Most of the world’s people throughout history continue to recognize a place for divinity in life.
Our spiritual journey, throughout the ages, has been steeped in mystery and often, superstition and dogma. Organized religions have historically attempted to answer deep questions, and have sometimes provided comfort and solace to people during times of upheaval.
However, the most important questions have been left unanswered. For example, we know precious little about ancient, prehistoric cultures that worshiped the Sacred Feminine. Earliest recorded myths and legends have been lost or destroyed, and most stories that remain portray not only a divine battle of the sexes, but a difficult, contentious relationship between the divine and human beings.
The Greek gods, for example, were capricious and mean-spirited. They plotted all sorts of obstacles that humans either did, or did not overcome in order to survive. Guile and trickery also set the stage for many myths from various indigenous cultures, in early human-god myth making.
With the rise of monotheistic religions, mankind was taught to blindly accept whatever lot the almighty doled out, fairly or unfairly. Emphasis was placed on omnipotent power, absolute authority and greatness, beyond any human capacity to comprehend, much less participate in.
These attitudes toward humans’ relationship with God have been echoed in authoritarian family and community practices, and even the military forces of nations. God became the ‘Almighty Father in the Sky’ issuing strict orders. There was no room for questioning in an authoritarian family or society. “Because I said so,” was reason enough to blindly obey. Punishment for infractions or disobedience was swift and sure.
What Are Your Snapshots For The Year Ahead?
What does the future have in store for me? It’s a valid question after all the upheaval of life during the past two years. In fact this question is on so many minds at present, including my own.
The last two years have been difficult for most, if not all of us. We have all suffered loss, grief, stress, frustration, and anxiety. Regardless of what your personal views and beliefs may be regarding this difficult time in the world, what does matter is where you are mentally and spiritually at this moment.
This weekend may be a good time to recenter, align and ground your energy. Take some time out from all the mayhem today and do some meditation, prayer, visualization, or breath-work. Allow God, Source, Spirit, the Universe to fill you with positive energy, light and blessings, and release the negative thoughts and anxieties you may be holding on to.
Also, take some time to calmly contemplate and make a list of your goals, wishes, desires and dreams for the year ahead. Or better yet, create a vision board, manifesting box, or journal. Cut out pictures from old magazines, copy positive affirmations, and collect some trinkets to place on a board, in a box, or in a scrapbook.
Once it is complete, place your board, box or book somewhere in your home or office where you can look at it often. Take a little time every day to focus on it and ask yourself what each goal, wish or intention you have added to it truly means to you.
I have a brochure of new camera with a special lens on my vision board for this year. When I ask myself what it represents to me, I remind myself that my new dream camera sees the beauty in our world through a magical lens. It will bring out the brightest of colors. and the most beautiful scenery. It will also capture the vitality and magnificence of all my spirit totems (mostly eagles, red tail hawk, owls, sand hill cranes).
Your Thoughts Will Transform Your Life!
I have some fantastic news for you today! You can have a magical year if you choose it! The magic is within you. If you truly believe you are going to have a fantastic year ahead, you indeed will. What we think and choose to believe becomes our reality.
You don’t believe me? Well, think about this for a moment: I am sure you know a few fairly negative people whose lives are always in chaotic upheaval or consumed with toxic drama. You probably also know some amazingly optimistic, positive folks whose lives always seem blessed, happy and full of joy… even when things are not necessarily always going well for them. Their good karma inevitably comes to the rescue to bless them!
We create our destiny, and we do it with our thoughts. Let your thoughts direct your path to happiness, health, abundance, and good, positive people around you! You are more powerful than you may know, and it starts with your thoughts and how you choose to perceive things. Tuning into that higher frequency is where it is at!
If you want things to change for the better in your life you need to switch from being negative to thinking positive. The power is in your thoughts. What you choose to think is what you put out into the universe and what you will in return attract.
I have known many folks indulge in constant self-pity and blame others for where they are in life. No one else is responsible for where we are in life. We are in control of our lives and our own karma We are the ones who can make or break our own day, week, month, and year. It all starts with what we choose to focus on and what we chose to spend our time and energy on.
It’s time to take responsibility for where we are in life and to start making it happen. The time is now. Anything is possible. You just have to believe and take some action.
Reclaim Your Dreams In 2022
As we welcome 2022 today, let us cast off the heavy cloud of doubt and hopelessness of recent times and rise to reclaim a life of peace, health and happiness.
No matter where you are in the world, we have each experienced much uncertainty and trauma over the last two years. The global biological crisis that continues to plague public health everywhere has proven to be difficult and even devastating for all of us in various ways. For some oof us there has been intense loss, sorrow, and grief. Some of us have merely felt stuck or trapped, others emotionally drained and world-weary.
Some of us have utilized this period of uncertainty to forge a stronger relationship with Spirit and have found a more meaningful, mindful approach to life. My personal circumstances led me to embrace gratitude at every level of my life. I have become deeply thankful for everything in my life.
Metaphysically this challenging period in world history is symbolic of the great change that each of us is called to make in our lifetime. In believe the fact that our glorious planet has become environmentally polluted and desecrated by humanity set the tone for the present pandemic to emerge. Our species now reflects the state of planet upon which we exist. Indeed, both our species and the place we collectively call home are now in dire need of healing.
Many spiritual traditions teach that each of us has the innate power to transform our world through our dynamic personal energy that springs forth from a greater universal presence that is known to many by different names. For some this profound source of energy may manifest as an increase in purposeful prayer or meditation. For others this stream is a continuous movement of spiritual light that transmits to every corner of the world, a bold gleaming light that knows no boundaries.