awareness
Two Easy Ways To Start Meditating!
Meditation is the go-to spiritual practice for millions of people all over the world. Not only does it offer incredible benefits for clarity of mind and overall well-being, it is also a powerful self-care tool to help us navigate our lives for our highest good.
But, for newbies getting started with a meditation practice can be challenging at first. I often hear people say, “I can’t meditate, I fall asleep every time,” or “Oh, I tried meditating, but I got too distracted, because I can’t properly clear my mind.”
If this sounds like you, please know that many beginners struggle with the notion that in order to ‘properly’ meditate, one must sit motionless, eyes closed, and clear your mind of all thoughts, and that an inability to do so means that they’ve failed to meditate, or that meditation is ‘not for them.’
The truth is meditation is called a ‘practice’ because it really does take practice to develop and master. But that does not mean it has to be complicated or difficult. Anyone can learn to meditate. To develop your meditation skills more easily, I suggest you begin with a meditation routine in one of two ways: guided meditation, or nature meditation.
Guided Meditation
We have ease of access to guided meditations these days due to convenient advances in digital technology. Gone are the days of having to attend a meditation class in person, or struggling with audio cassette tapes! These days high quality guided meditations can be instantly downloaded or streamed from various websites, apps, and social media platforms. All you need is your smartphone, and a pair of earphones or a headset.
If Bumble Bees Can Fly, So Can We!
When my teenage son was only two years old, he was in the living room one day, jumping from the chair to the couch with a towel wrapped across his shoulders like a cape. He was joyfully singing that he was a superhero and that he could fly. His father looked at him sternly and told him humans cannot fly. I nudged his father, “Don’t tell him that!”
To salvage the situation, I then proceeded to tell my son about bumble bees. I explained that it is aerodynamically impossible for a bumble bee to fly. Their bodies are way too big, and their wings are way too small to carry their little bodies through the air. Yet, they still do manage to fly. This was probably so because their bumble bee ‘mommies and daddies’ never told them they couldn’t! So, bumble bees fly through the air, never knowing that it is by scientific standards technically impossible.
My husband was not impressed. He looked at me and said, ”If next time he jumps off the roof, thinking he can fly, and lands on his head and breaks his neck, I’m holding you personally responsible.” “Point taken,” I said. But it was too late to redact my ‘bumble bee life lesson,’ so I then had to make very sure my son understood that he was never to attempt any flying from high places!
But, it did get me to thinking: how often do we hinder and limit our children? Some of us have psychic children. How many parents are even interested in helping them to develop their abilities? A large part of society is not so open to this.
I wonder what would happen, for example, if I were to tell a psychiatrist that I talk to spirit? He would probably say something like, “It is my observation that you are deluded to the extent that your believe you see and communicate with ghosts. My diagnosis is psychotic disorder.” Then he is likely to put me on some sort of psychiatric medication, or worse have me admitted to a mental health care facility! If I further told the same hypothetical psychiatrist that I entertained the idea of my children also having psychic abilities, he might call child protection services, to have them removed from my care for their own protection. Continue reading
Navigating Energy Challenges – Manual Versus Automatic
I had always been fascinated with driving a stick shift car, as my dad drove several such vehicles in my childhood years. On our third date, my ex-husband took me to an empty parking lot and showed me the ropes on how to drive a stick shift. However, despite his valiant attempt to teach me, I failed miserably.
I reflected on this experience recently, synthesizing an analogy to what I had experienced twenty-five years ago, and found an interesting correlation with my chakra recovery journey.
Also known as Kundalini awakening, the chakra recovery process has not been an easy one for me. I literally felt like I was going to die on many occasions. Six years into this journey, I still incorporate daily energy self-care in the form of meditation, visualization, Epsom salt baths, aromatherapy, and other spiritual practices.
But I have noticed progress! My mind is so much clearer these days, and my sleep more efficient. Most of all, I radiate more kindness, truth, and an open mind of late. And I do believe the best is yet to come!
This reminded me of the ease with which one usually drives an automatic transmission vehicle. To me this is analogous to the ultimate goal of spiritual self-care: to be able to harness the energy of a fully-tuned, balanced chakra system and apply it to everyday life. A person naturally flowing with energy is able to handle more challenging situations with greater ease. Once the crown chakra starts to open, this is when innovative, eternal wisdom flows through. Then we can begin to grasp the rhythm and precision necessary to operate our energy more fluidly and automatically, instead of like a ‘stick shift.’
How My Psychic Ability Developed
I have been asked many times over the years how my psychic ability developed. I can’t speak for anyone else, but this is how it happened for me.
As a young child, I had an imaginary friend, her name was Dee-Dee. My mother said I played with her often. She also said, I blamed Dee-Dee for almost everything. Saying things like, “I didn’t do it, Dee-Dee did!” My mother said when I was four years old, after my brother was born, Dee-Dee just went away. The rest of my childhood was pretty much uneventful, with the exception of a few prophetic dreams.
As a teenager, I had an uncanny ability to narrowly escape trouble. I probably should have been dead ten times over. Always, at the last second, I would always change my mind – decisions that ultimately saved my life.
Then, when I turned 19, about a year or two after I had my first son, things began to change. It began with a visitation from a girl who looked exactly like me, except, she had darker features. My hair was blonde, hers was brown…that sort of thing. She terrified me, but by being aware of her presence my awareness was heightened all together.
I started off going to parties and after a couple of drinks, I found myself going around the room, from person to person, connecting them with deceased relatives and friends. Mostly, giving brief messages. This became almost expected entertainment once I arrived. Doing these readings was not only mind-blowing for those receiving them, but for me as well. They caused me mind-shattering headaches.
Make Time To Listen To Your Heart
The heart is a wondrous place, the keeper of all your dreams, desires, hopes, and wishes. The heart is your protector and guide and the holder of your very own sacred flame.
No matter where we are in this life, or what role we have embraced as our life’s mission, we must always honor the calling of our heart. It’s built-in GPS will never lead us astray. The heart’s invitation is always one that guides us to our greatest purpose through the love of the Divine, love of life, love of self, love of others, and love of service.
There are times in life when the heart calls for us to make a sacrifice to bring to fruition a special dream or mission. But the fast-paced world we live in provides little time or space for the calmness necessary to hear the sometimes faint calling of the heart. This is why we must take time away from others to honor the commitment of the soul. It is as necessary as the medical student in the preparation for becoming a great surgeon.
For a tree to grow, a seed must first be planted, which requires retreating into the stillness of the forest or the garden, breaking the soil, and carefully nesting a seedling into the heart of mother earth. Similarly, to overcome the many distractions of our worlds, we must create the time and space to tune in to the song of our heart.
In doing so, we are honoring our heart, which requires consistent practice, beginning with baby steps. Over time, we can cultivate a spiritual practice of listening to the heart in much larger steps, and then bold, giant steps.
Mahatma Gandhi, the great activist, and humanitarian, once said that prayer, regardless of one’s religion or spiritual path, purifies the heart. Gandhi cultivated a deep stillness in his own life by making time to listen to his heart through the daily practice of meditation.
Life Is In The Eyes Of The Beholder
What is the lens through which you view the world? When I close my eyes I see waterfalls, flowing streams, and flowers. This is the scenery surrounding me with my eyes open too. It tells me a story of life, of inner perception, and beauty.
The experience of life is what we make it, not because we are independently powerful controllers or causes of physical outcomes, but because we are eternally sentient beings with the gift of free will.
The spirit soul is a spark of consciousness, and we can express that consciousness through a variety of qualities. It is that inner flavor of our quality that then colors our experience and lens.
So, for example, when I see the water in the stream rolling around rocks and carving a curvy path through the land in front of me, I am reminded of a world that is gentle with feminine energy. She flows and nourishes and moves with consistent but soft determination.
I know that elsewhere there is also hard, jagged terrain and a state of mind that matches it. I can choose to match my mind to the beauty, diversity, and gentleness of spirit, or to the rigid harshness of a cold, hard, inert world of matter and might.
This choice presents itself at every step. Two people may suffer a similar loss in their lives, but process it completely differently. One might see it as an opportunity to grow and become more resilient, while the other might choose to feel angry and unfortunate. It depends on the lens through which we choose to view the world and our interactions with it.
Our circumstances also do not have to change for consciousness to change. When we change our inner consciousness and the lens through which we choose to view life, we change the experience.
The Universe Knows If You Just Need Your Hair Brushed
A spiritual teacher and metaphysical writer was waiting to board a plane. She had a spiritual book in her lap and was very intent upon what she was reading, until she felt summoned by Spirit to look up. When she did, she saw such a strange sight she had to try to keep from staring.
Humped over in a wheelchair she saw an elderly man. He was skin and bones, dressed in clothes that obviously fit when he was at least twenty pounds heavier. His knees protruded from his trousers, and his shoulders looked like the coat hanger was still in his shirt. His hands looked like tangled masses of veins and bones.
The strangest part of him was his hair and nails. Stringy, gray hair hung well over his shoulders and down part of his back. His fingernails were long and clean, but strangely out of place on an old man.
Beth looked down at her book as fast as she could, discomfort burning in her face, and tried to imagine what his story might be. She found herself wondering if she had just had a Howard Hughes sighting, but then she remembered that he is dead.
So, who was this man in the airport…an impersonator maybe? Was a camera on them somewhere, she wondered. There she sat; trying to concentrate on her book, to keep from being concerned about a thin slice of humanity served on a wheelchair only a few seats from her. All the while, her heart was growing more and more overwhelmed with a feeling of concern for him. Curiosity is a heap more comfortable than true concern, but suddenly Beth was awash with aching emotion for this bizarre looking man.
She had worked with Spirit long enough to see the handwriting on the wall. Beth had learned that when she began to feel what the universe feels, something contrary to her natural feelings, something dramatic is bound to happen…and it may be embarrassing. She immediately began to resist and started arguing with Spirit in her mind. “Oh, no, Spirit, please no,” she thought, but asked, “What are you calling me to do?”