fulfillment
Dream Big This Summer!
Summer is a perfect season for welcoming happiness. It brings out a spirit of joy in everyone. Invitations arrive in the mail for outdoor parties with friends, beaches officially open, and outdoor markets beckon with fresh produce, conversations, laughter, and music. Summer is also the culmination of the seeds planted during the early spring. It is the season when connections are made with friends and loved ones and a time for renewal and self-love.
As we witness certain events unfold these days in our cities and towns, some positive, some troublesome, and some with more profound lessons that stir our souls, we must hold fast to the joy that summer promises. We must not be discouraged. The world’s weight can be a heavy load to carry, but the burden does not belong to us as individuals. It is time to change the station on your internal radio, and replace the gloom and doom with a deep resonance of peace.
In choosing light over darkness, we signal to the universe that a shift has occurred in our minds and spirits. The universe will respond with similar energy and usher in our lives more love, joy, forgiveness, peace, solitude, and all we desire.
Each of us can live a life free of heavy anchors that only serve to weigh us down. Each of us can soar high above the mundane world that challenges our hopes and dreams and sometimes sends a message that our most important goals do not matter. Do not allow anyone or anything to stand in the way of manifesting your heart’s desires!
This summer, I invite you to create a vision board with your most precious dreams, boldly outlined from border to border. Place a photograph of yourself in the middle of your vision board and connect your desired outcomes to your photo, like tree branches.
Finding The Light Within
When we rely on codependent, toxic relationships, materialism and possessions, and other superficial sources of ‘fulfillment,’ it creates a weariness within us. It weighs down the soul. It drowns out the inner light.
Material things and human beings by nature cannot be perfectly reliable all of the time. Material items deteriorate and lose their luster. Friendships and relationships come and go. All that ever truly remains is spirit, and what we do to take care of ourselves. As the world is in dismay in the wake of a pandemic, we can choose to turn to spirit and to take better care of ourselves instead.
While others may choose to descend into lack consciousness, greed or an attitude of entitlement, we can choose an attitude of gratitude, inner peace and joyful living instead.
We have a tremendous opportunity right now to expand our spiritual growth and to empower ourselves with self-care. Many folks don’t realize how useful taking just a few minutes out of their busy day can be!
Adopting a new daily spiritual practice, or simply reading an inspiring book, taking a soothing bath, or buying an aromatherapy diffuser can be uplift the spirit and heal the soul.
There is also crystal energy work, nature walks, prayer, and meditation by a body of water to enhance our joy and connect with the Creator who envisioned all this and brought it all into being.
What we can’t control, we can simply turn over to a Higher Power of our understanding. We can surrender to hope and joy, and let go of our fears. We can say, “This does not have to happen on my timeline, let Your will be done in my life.”
Neglecting Your Own Needs Will Destroy Your Relationship
Some people are in really toxic relationships without realizing it. How do you know for sure if you are in a bad relationship? Well, often it is as simple as asking yourself a few basic questions.
Am I safe? Am I truly happy? Do I feel loved and supported? Are my most important needs being met? If you answer no to any of these, you may need to reassess your relationship.
Some people get caught in a dead-end relationship trap. They feel trapped and do not know how to get out of a bad situation. It can be very hard to leave someone you love. But sometimes that is what me must do in order to love ourselves.
A leading cause of failing relationships is often a lack of open, honest communication about our hopes, dreams, fears, and needs. It is very hard sometimes to bring up a subject that is uncomfortable, but remember that you deserve to be happy. It does not serve anyone to put your own needs last.
Self-worth also plays a major role. Do not put your own needs aside because you fear you cannot do better. Stay true to what is most important to you and ask for what you want!
If your current partner cannot meet your needs or refuses to respect your wishes, maybe your future does not align with theirs. Finding the right person is really what you need to do to be true to you and who you are.
Keeping Score In A Relationship
I believe the habit of keeping a ‘score card’ might start in someone’s childhood. It is based on developing a certain sense of duty and responsibility early on. For example, as kids I remember my sister and I had to take turns doing the dishes. My sister would always keep tabs on that chore. She always knew whose turn it was next. My sister is four years older than me, and to this day she still keeps score on almost everything in her life.
This also set the precedent for me with friends and other family members. Others keeping score just seems natural to me, so I never feel the need to do so myself.
This did not server me well in all aspects of my young adult life. For example, in relationships it always felt like I was the one trying to make things work. It did not make any difference to me who called who last. Therefore, I ended up doing most of the calling. But does it truly matter that much?
What has the other person done for me? After all I have done and given so much! What do I get out of this relationship? These are the questions score keepers are always asking themselves.
But in my view, a relationship is never 50/50, even if both people are truly happy and fulfilled. One will always be doing less or more. But it does not matter, as true love is supposed to be unconditional.
So, if you are keeping a score card things will never balance and the emotion that will come up is anger, rebellion, defensiveness, or a complete shut-down. That does not serve any relationship in the long run.
How To Set Intentions That Manifest
Not long ago, I was going through some storage boxes and out fell a little scrap of paper. Curious, I picked it up, unfolded it and read the words I had written over a year earlier.
Now, I do not remember writing this little note, or saving it for that matter. But what I found grabbed my attention and pulled me immediately into the present moment.
It was a wish list. I had written things like, “do fulfilling work that feeds my soul,” and “a home with by the ocean, mountains and forest.” As I read through the items on this list, I realized that all of them had meanwhile become a reality in my life. I was amazed, and filled with gratitude!
Like most people, I also too often forget to take stock and honor moments of gratitude for the many blessings in my life.
While this wish list shook me back into gratitude, it also got me thinking about something else. The power of intention.
I always say that life is like driving – you need to look where you want your car to go. With the general busy-ness of life getting in the way, it can be challenging to stay focused on where we want to be versus where we are now.
I have found the following three strategies help to bring me back into full presence and awareness in the current moment, as well as setting intentions like a ‘map’ of where I want to be headed.
Envision The Broad Strokes
It is vital to understand that universal energies seek to help us manifest that which is our highest and best good. With this concept as our framework, we allow these energies to work within our lives in ways we may never have expected.
A Hopeful Spring Of New Beginnings
Spring is around the corner here in the Northern Hemisphere. Not only is the snow melting gradually, but Covid-19 is also slowly subsiding. Restaurants, gyms and theatres have finally reopened at full capacity, and it won’t be long now before mask mandates are at least partially lifted.
After two years of being ultra-cautious in one of the hardest hit pandemic hot-spots in Canada, this Spring will truly feel like a re-awakening into a brand new world for me!
It’s impossible not to feel a sense of joy and gratitude every year, as the days get longer and the weather loses its frigid edge, but this year’s season of reawakening seems especially blessed and hopeful.
However, against the backdrop of the horrors of war, adversity, and suffering experienced by people in other parts of the world, one must be particularly grateful. We are privileged to live in a place where we are safe, healthy, and comfortable.
Instead of complaining about trivial things, we must look around and count our blessings in our cozy corner of the world. We should choose to be happy for what we have, and appreciate the good things in our lives, no matter how small or simple they may seem.
Now is also an opportune time to regroup and reset our personal priorities, goals, and aspirations. For the first time in a long time we can now confidently begin to visualize our ideal future and take ambitious steps in the right direction. The Universe can only put it all together for us, once we set a clear intention for it.
It’s important to remember that visions boards, affirmations, prayer or visualizing are powerful tools in the manifesting process, but it takes a little more than to do the trick. We must also take some concrete steps and make some practical inroads, so that the Universe can conspire on our behalf to facilitate our success. Even the smallest of efforts will set things in motion.
Visualizing Your Soul’s Path
If you are currently struggling with feelings of emptiness, loneliness, boredom or a lack of meaning and purpose in your life, it may be that you are not connected to your soul purpose.
We are so much more than just our careers, business pursuits, relationships, family, or home. We are spiritual beings in human form, each with a unique soul path and personal destiny.
To become more aware of our innate spiritual purpose we must pay attention to our inner voice and listen carefully to our heart’s desire. We must find what truly resonates with our soul.
A fun visualization exercise I recommend to anyone looking for clues to their true soul’s path is to imagine the ideal color of your home’s front door.
Imagine coming home on any average day. Were you driving home in a car that needs to be parked in the driveway? Or maybe you took the bus, or were you walking or biking? Visualize the details your arrival.
Next, see yourself coming up your walkway or entrance facing the front door of your abode. Now, instead of its current actual color, imagine the ideal new color for your door. What color do you see? The color your spontaneously imagined reflects the interest of your soul.
For example, if you imagine your door to be painted red it may indicate that you operate with a lot of passion and excitement. A light shade of blue may be reflective of freedom of expression, or you are a soul who thinks, feels, and operates outside the box. A darker navy tone might indicate a more serious nature and a strong sense of commitment to the community. My preferred door color is a bright yellow, which is a sign of my interest in the intuitive and metaphysical realm.