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Being Laid Off Can Spark Spiritual Growth
Being laid off from a job can be a profoundly challenging and disorienting experience. The experience tends to stir up a myriad of feelings, worries, and questions about one’s purpose, value, security, and direction in life.
But while job loss can be very unsettling and stressful, it also offers unexpected opportunities for personal and spiritual growth.
At its core, the spiritual journey invites us to explore the depths of our being and to seek meaning beyond the material realm. A layoff can serve as a catalyst for this exploration, prompting us to reevaluate our priorities, values, and relationship to work.
In many spiritual traditions, adversity is seen as an opportunity for growth and transformation, a chance to deepen our connection to the divine and uncover hidden aspects of ourselves.
Being fired is an invitation to surrender to the flow of life. In our modern society, we often cling to our plans and expectations, believing that we are in control of our destiny. However, a layoff can shatter this illusion of control and force us to confront the uncertainty and impermanence inherent in existence.
In the face of this new uncertainty, we have the opportunity to surrender our ego and trust in a higher power or cosmic intelligence to guide us on our path. This surrender is not an act of resignation, but rather an act of faith, a willingness to let go and allow life to unfold as it will.
Don’t Panic, It May Just Be A Divine Intervention!
From the beginning of my spiritual career, my guides taught me that we are given three things in life: opportunity, choice, and free will. Simply put, when we choose from the options that are presented to us, we exercise our right to free will and largely determine our own future.
While this is quite an empowering thought for most of us, there are times in our lives when Spirit feels that we are very much on the wrong track and will actually change our circumstances for us. While this does not happen very often, I will use my own situation as an example of why they do sometimes interfere with our free will.
Back in 1984, when I was 24 years old, all I wanted to be was a stenotypist. I was so determined to get what was then considered a very prestigious job that I went to college, worked hard, passed my exams, was proactive, and finally got a job with the local government.
I could not believe my luck, as the salary was about £5,000 per year, which is about $6,300 – certainly not bad almost 32 years ago! I thought I had struck gold, but things got even better when I started dating the man who worked in the office next door. Life could not be better (or so I thought) as I had the man, the career, the money – everything! Unfortunately, disaster soon struck.
My boyfriend left me, the girls in the office made fun of me, my boss and his secretary bullied me, and finally I lost my job. Suddenly I found myself in the middle of a recession, with no relationship, no job, no money, no prospects, and I couldn’t even get a reference!
Why, oh why, did this happen to me? I didn’t deserve this! I had worked so hard. I am a good person. I always strive to be a decent friend and colleague. Yet, I was being treated so unfairly.
Just Let The Universe Work Its Magic
As spirit beings in human form, we tend to be subject to our willful ego. Many of us can be particularly stubborn when there is something (or someone) that we desperately want, causing us to lazily focus on that thing or person and nothing else.
Even when Spirit gently nudges us in another direction and the Universe patiently whispers, “No, that is not what is meant for you,” we stubbornly cling to our obsessions.
God, Source, Spirit, the Divine wants only the best for us and the Universe will never deny us those things that serve our highest good. In the readings, the messages from our guides, angels and ancestors always come from a place of love and never from a place of withholding, exclusion, punishment, revenge, fear or neglect. Spirit wants us to live our best lives, to experience lots of love, and to grow both personally and spiritually.
Psychic advisors like myself are sometimes “the messengers who get shot.” We sometimes read for people who get very upset with us when the guidance we receive from Spirit is not what they had hoped to hear. Continue reading
Finding Your Silent Space Within
Finding our silent space within is the essential spiritual practice. Cultivating a sense of inner stillness, mindfulness, and presence is crucial to any spiritual, metaphysical, or esoteric practice, as it allows for a deeper connection to your higher self, the universe, and the divine.
The silent space within is the inner connection point to our spirit or soul — the part of our being that is eternal and transcendent. This relationship is fundamental to most spiritual, religious, and esoteric traditions, which often describe the silent space within as a portal or bridge to a deeper understanding and connection with the soul, the divine, or the universal consciousness.
In many traditions, cultivating the silent space within is considered essential to achieving enlightenment or spiritual liberation — the realization of one’s true nature as soul or spirit, beyond physical and mental limitations. This realization of inner silence is our awakening to the eternal aspect of our being.
A concept used in various spiritual, meditative, and mindfulness practices, the notion of a silent space within symbolizes the inner sanctuary where one can retreat to find inner peace and strength, clarity, and a sense of centeredness, regardless of external circumstances. It is where we feel a deeper connection to something greater than ourselves, which is central to any spiritual path.
A Christian Mystic’s Guide To Dealing With Pain
Our search for the meaning of pain, hardship, and suffering is a profound and enduring human endeavor.
Throughout history, our spiritual beliefs and religious teachings have helped us understand and find meaning in life’s challenges and painful experiences.
These interpretations provide comfort, guidance, and a sense of peace in the face of adversity as we learn that suffering has a purpose or can lead to spiritual growth, enlightenment, or a deeper connection with the divine.
Our spiritual quest to better understand pain is driven by a deep desire to make sense of life’s challenges and to discover how these difficult experiences fit into the larger tapestry of our existence.
Religions and spiritual wisdom traditions around the world offer different perspectives on pain and suffering, each with its own explanation for why these experiences occur and how they should be approached or understood.
These diverse perspectives all share certain common threads: that the origins of pain and suffering lie in the concept of duality; that there is meaning to be found in suffering; and that through faith, reflection, and spiritual practice we can transcend the pain caused by duality and connect with something greater than ourselves.
Your Divine Duty To Not Be A Goofus!
Why are some people so rude, unkind, emotionally immature, foolish? Are we not all spirit beings in human form who should know better? I recently asked my wise grandmother in spirit this question. As one of my ancestral guides, I always turn to her for help in dealing with complex life issues.
The person who inspired my recent spiritual inquiry is a very problematic, mean-spirited neighbor who I have seen and heard verbally abuse people, as well as his own dog, in ways that would infuriate anyone.
This man seems to enjoy verbal abuse as a means of self-aggrandizement and is very immature and unkind. I have also seen him damage a security camera after being asked to stop his dog from relieving himself on the steps of the building where we live.
I connected with my grandmother during my morning meditation and asked her why some people are so disrespectful and unkind. Her answer seemed strange at first because she showed me a mental image of Highlights, the children’s magazine she used to subscribe to for me when I was a child. It is a well-known kids’ magazine full of fun, educational stories, games, puzzles, and crafts that has been around for decades.
The Ancient Wisdom Of The Two Wolves
The story of the Two Wolves holds a special place among my childhood favorites. The moral of this Native American wisdom tale, thought to have originated with the Cherokee tribe, serves as a daily guiding light in my life.
I must confess, there is some sentimental bias on my part, as this story also brings back lovely memories of my remarkable grandfather, Sequoia, a former medicine man and chief of the Cherokee Nation.
Variations of the story exist in various Native American cultures, and it typically goes like this:
One evening, an old Cherokee is teaching his granddaughter about life and says, “My daughter, a fight is going on inside all of us each day. It is the battle between the two wolves.”
“One wolf is evil — anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego. The other wolf is good — joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith.”
The granddaughter thinks about it for a minute and then asks her grandfather, “Which wolf will win?”