courage
Coping With Anxiety In Times Of Uncertainty
There’s a lot of uncertainty in the world at the moment. The year 2020 is fast becoming a year of rapid and dramatic changes, like the world has not seen in a very long time. And we are only three months into it!
Some anxiety is a normal part of everyone’s life. Currently, the world news is full of reports producing fear and anxiety for many people. The key is how each individual will be handling the news.
Especially highly sensitive and empathic people, like myself, are having to deal with the intense daily energy of our current reality. As I’m writing this blog, I can feel my own anxious feelings surging about the current coronavirus pandemic.
There are many ways to relieve anxious feelings. Whatever produces the anxious feelings is either real, or imagined. Either way, it is each person’s reality that matters. If it is real to you, then that is your reality.
It is my belief we are all in this together, and we will get through it together. My own mind feels like it is on a roller coaster ride. My rational mind says we are doing all we can to control what’s going on, only to hear something an hour later that brings some new fear and anxiety.
Riding the wave of emotion, not denying our feelings, but also not wallowing in fear, helps us to have hope and find our inner strength. Having hope, and doing the best each of us possibly can to keep ourselves and our loved ones safe, is all we can do. Continue reading
How To Gain Confidence
Confidence isn’t about feeling superior to others. Confidence simply means feeling sure of yourself and your abilities, but not in an arrogant way. It’s the quiet, inner knowledge that you are capable. Confident people feel ready for everyday challenges.
For some of us it takes years of trial and error to gain self-confidence. Most people are their own worst critic. They judge themselves much harder than others would. And some will never feel good enough, or worthy of all the good things life has to offer.
Confidence really isn’t something that anyone else can give you. If you are not feeling confident, no matter how much praise and affirmation others may offer you, it will just fall on deaf ears. If you don’t believe it yourself, you simply will not hear it, or feel it.
As a psychic medium, it took me a few times of demonstrating for large groups to feel confident in myself and my mediumship. I have always trusted the spirit world to provide validation for the continuity of consciousness. The spirit world always brings forth messages and advice for clients without judgment. Spirit is consistently loving and kind, bringing forth messages for the highest good of my clients.
One of the biggest challenges for most, if not all psychic mediums, is the fear of ‘getting it wrong.’ Well, spirit never gives incorrect information. As humans we may interpret what we are seeing, hearing, and feeling incorrectly, but the original message is never inaccurate. The medium is just the messenger in the middle – and we are human and fallible. Therefore, in a mediumship session with me, I always try not to interpret too much of what I’m hearing, seeing and feeling. I just give the information with a basic sense of trust.
The True Meaning Of Surrender
When life becomes too challenging, and things begin to fall apart for us, we usually seek spiritual guidance and comfort. And in these circumstances we often tend to hear terms like surrender, release and acceptance. We are told to just let it go and simply be in the moment.
But what does it really mean to surrender? It’s a term often used in spiritual and metaphysical circles. Is there even such a thing? And if so, what does it entail? According to the dictionary, surrender means to stop fighting and admit defeat. It also conjures up the vision of waving a white flag. But is spiritual surrender truly nothing more than throwing in the towel, and graciously accepting our defeat?
I prefer to explore the meaning of spiritual ‘surrender’ through the metaphor of a painting I made, which is my way of meditating and reflecting on life. The painting is of an angel and I even named it Surrender. I chose this name, because it is the energy this angel emanates. His pose and posture also symbolizes the act of surrender.
At the time of working with the energy of this piece, I was in the process of leaving the security of a mainstream finance career, to establish myself as a full-time artist, energy healer and spiritual reader. Meanwhile, I was also very busy navigating a family separation and divorce. There were so many major changes in my life, and so much about my future and my life path that remained uncertain and unknown.
During my painting time, I felt connected to an energy that provide me with wise counsel. It was during a time in my life when I wasn’t feeling grounded in my own wisdom, and I needed a way to feel into it. This painting for me became the bridge in my understanding, as I navigated my new life changes.
How To Overcome Negative Thought Patterns
There are times when one may be feeling very serene, and completely at peace with ourselves and the world. One may even be feeling highly satisfied with the spiritual growth and personal healing you have accomplished thus far. Then, quite unexpectedly, you lose your sense of alignment. You suddenly feel ‘disconnected’ from the source of our being.
This feeling is especially triggered when one feels overwhelmed by life’s responsibilities, or the constant demands of others. And once we slip into this negative state of mind, many deeply buried, unpleasant memories tend to emerge in our consciousness in the form of haunting ‘flashbacks.’
I recently heard a friend referring to this experience as cognitive distortion. We can so easily begin to catastrophize, and expect the ‘other shoe to drop,’ once our anxiety level becomes this amplified. The mind is powerful and under these circumstances we tend to indulge in a lot of ‘what if’ thinking. The mind races, imagining all the worst case scenarios as potential outcomes.
This kind of catastrophic thinking typically takes our mind into two directions. Firstly, it puts a truly negative spin on the current situation. And secondly, it causes us to anticipate all the many, many things that could possibly go wrong in the future.
Polarized thinking is another problem for some of us. This thought pattern is when we only see things in terms of right or wrong, and this can lead to setting unachievable standards for ourselves and others, as well as send our stress levels through the roof! Polarized thinking crops up when we find ourselves basing our hopes and expectations on, for example, getting that dream job, impressing other people, finding our soulmate, becoming famous, and so on.
My Catalyst Moment
Over thirty years ago, I faced a major crossroads in my life, and it became a monumental turning point. It was the catalyst moment that ultimately led me into full-time service as a psychic oracle and healer. I did not choose this path – it chose me. And today, I am beyond grateful for this calling.
In those days I had just about everything you can imagine to make me ‘happy.’ I was a highly successful, special risk broker for a prominent insurance company in London. I was one of only two women at the time to hold that distinction. I also attracted and owned all of the opulent trappings of success that came with such a distinguished position – the material things and luxuries our culture teaches us is supposed to make us happy and fulfilled.
I was proud of my work and had plenty of interesting things to do every day, both socially and professionally. But there remained persistent doubts and questions. Is there something more? Why wasn’t I satisfied? Why did I feel so restless and discontent?
You see, I knew, deep in my heart, I was not living the life that was calling me. And, boy, was it calling! It woke me up in the middle of the night. It created a lot of agitation and self-doubt. Why was I feeling this way? Is there something wrong with me? I even started questioning my sanity. I had everything I thought would make me happy. So, what was lacking? Why did I keep feeling that there was something missing? And, where would I find it?
Showing Up When Spirit Calls
Many years ago, while working in a clinical practice, I was called to lead a group of women who were survivors of domestic abuse. At that time, my role within the organization was strictly administrative. I had no clinical experience and quite frankly had serious misgivings about how well these women would be served through our agency’s poorly-funded, piecemeal program with severe limitations.
As we were on the verge of losing our contract altogether, the executive director burst into my office one morning and announced that I would be the interim director of the domestic violence program, in order to save the contract. I sat motionless, with a look of deep concern on my face.
Before I could respond verbally, my executive director began reviewing a county contract that outlined the qualifications of the new program director. As she flipped through the pages of the lengthy contract, my hope was that somewhere in bold writing there might be a job description that required a clinical background in Psychology or Social Work, but this was not the case.
I recall that same day reaching out to my dear friend and confidant, a fellow psychic and spiritual counselor who always helped me find clarity, especially when I felt completely lost in a situation. While my friend’s words were comforting and reassuring, she also shocked me out of my comfort zone. I wanted to hear from her an easy way to get out of my new job assignment, but she announced that I had a calling to help a group of women whose lives desperately needed to be changed.
Gauchito Gil – The Cowboy Saint
There are many saints not officially recognized by the Roman Catholic Church, or by any other religion for that matter. One of the most popular among them is Antonion Gil, better known as the Gauchito Gil (Little Gaucho Gil). His popularity rose exponentially in the last few decades and he is considered miraculous by many people who venerate him. He might not be properly canonized, but he is informally considered to be a saint in Argentina. His cult is so widespread that everyone in the country at least knows of his existence.
When traveling from one town to another in the Argentine provinces, it is very common to see a tree with many red ribbons blowing in the wind, and underneath it a small wooden case that holds an image of Gauchito Gil. In some places there are even a small temple, or even a church dedicated to this saintly figure. None of them are recognized officially by the Catholic Church, but the service of a priest is not uncommon.
Gauchito Gil’s life came to a tragic end 142 years ago, on January 8, 1878, near Mercedes, Corrientes, in Argentina. His executioners were a group of policemen who had to transfer him to the courts of Goya, but who decided instead to execute him on the way there.
Gil was accused of being a deserter and a matrero (someone who lives in isolation to be out of reach from the law). But the laborers and peasants in the area knew him instead as a warrior for justice, who protected the weak, relieved the sick and avenged the humiliated. His enemies considered him a fearsome expropriator, as well as a healer capable of making people fall in love with him, or paralyzing them with his powerful eyes.