gratitude
Grief Is A Sacred Gift Of Soul Experience
Long ago, I yearned for a deeper life, a full life, a sane life. And the door opened. It led me within.
Now, I long for a deep wound to be healed, and again I feel the door opening. I am prepared for the changes that come each time the door opens, and welcome them with profound gratitude.
I’ve come to understand that these “doors” don’t always show up looking bright and shiny and obviously spiritual. Sometimes they arrive disguised as heartbreak, loss, and the kind of grief that knocks the breath right out of your body. It doesn’t feel like a doorway then. It feels like a wall. A dead end. A great, echoing “Why?”
Last year had been a particularly difficult time for me. So much grief! Layers of it. Old grief that I thought I had already handled. New grief that came out of nowhere. Grief that didn’t even seem to have a clear name or story attached to it. I just had waves of sadness and loneliness that would rise up and spill over when I least expected it.
All part of the process, of course. But when you’re actually in it, that is not always comforting. I remember wondering, sometimes out loud:
When will I get back into the universal flow again?
When will the spiritual things I need for my Journey manifest?
When will this heaviness lift?
I wasn’t asking in a demanding way, more like a child pressing her face against the window, looking out at life, feeling like everyone else was moving forward while I was sitting in slow motion. My faith never left, but it got very, very quiet.
Rediscovering Prayer As A Personal Practice
“Prayer” can be a complicated concept for some people, especially when it carries associations with dogma or specific religious traditions.
On a spiritual path, not everyone relates to a higher power in the same way, and we all experience the sacred or the divine through diverse and deeply personal lenses.
However, no matter how we personally view it, prayer can hold a very meaningful place in any spiritual practice.
As my own spiritual awareness deepened, I came to see God not as a distant figure watching over the world, but as a vast creative presence, an energy that flows through all life. Some connect with this presence as “the universe,” others as their higher self, their guides, or a field of eternal love and light.
I have moved through many of these perspectives myself, and each has offered me unique insights. Over time, returning to the broader concept of God reopened a space of comfort and peace within me, especially through the practice of prayer.
When I was a child, prayer felt natural. It brought reassurance and warmth. Reconnecting with it later in life has brought that same sense of grounding and clarity.
Prayer can be understood as a conversation with God, Source, Spirit, the Divine, with one’s soul, or with the deeper wisdom that resides within and around us. Continue reading
Embracing The Spirit Of Thanksgiving
The spirit of thanksgiving invites us today to pause, reflect, and embrace the blessings in our lives, both the visible and the invisible. It calls us to appreciate not only life’s big moments, but also its simple, everyday miracles.
Gratitude is much more than a fleeting emotion or a polite “thank you.” It is a transformative energy, a wondrous frequency that opens pathways to abundance, prosperity, well-being, and fulfillment.
Thanksgiving offers us the perfect opportunity to align with this sacred vibration, blessing our daily lives and deepening our spiritual journey.
In today’s world, even the smallest gestures, a smile, a kind word, or the warmth of a loved one’s embrace can lift our spirits and shift our perspective. Shifting our focus to appreciate life’s simplest gifts enriches us spiritually and helps us face life’s challenges with grace and resilience.
It is natural to celebrate life’s great achievements and monumental blessings, yet the most profound moments are often found in the ordinary: a breathtaking sunrise, a shared laugh, or the quiet comfort of companionship.
How often do we stop to truly savor these moments? Thanksgiving reminds us to appreciate the beauty, joy, and abundance that surround us every day.
When we live with gratitude, we connect more deeply with Spirit and the divine flow of the universe. Gratitude becomes a bridge to positivity, aligning us with higher frequencies that revitalize our energy and attract harmonious connections. A grateful heart radiates light, transforming our aura into an inviting beacon for blessings and manifestations.
Ask Spirit For Patience This Holiday Season
The holidays are supposed to be a time of joy, togetherness, and celebration. But for some of us, it can also be a time of tension, distress, and intense emotions.
Instead of being a time of gratitude, love, and connection, for some of us the holidays mark the resurfacing of old family conflicts, unresolved tensions, and the weight of others’ overwhelming expectations or criticisms.
These challenges often lead to frustration, sadness, anger, or feelings of being overwhelmed, turning what should be a time of love and belonging into one that underscores where our relationships with loved ones are most strained.
At this point, asking spirit or your higher power to help you cultivate the virtue of patience becomes a powerful way to stay grounded and centered.
Patience isn’t just about enduring difficult moments; it’s about being aware of those moments and choosing to respond with grace and dignity rather than impulsively. When tensions rise — perhaps during a family dinner where conversations may become heated or awkward — it is easy to fall back on old patterns and habitual responses. Asking for spiritual support and protection in these moments, however, can provide a higher perspective and an empowered response.
Whether it’s through a silent prayer, a few deep breaths, whispering your favorite mantra, or simply making a conscious call for help in your mind, spiritual presence can help you pause, step back, ground and center, and approach the situation calmly and with more compassion — for yourself and others.
Remember Your Spirit Companions These Holidays
The coming holiday season will bring moments of love, belonging, joy for many of us, but for some also quiet sadness, a sense of longing, or the weight of hope and expectation.
For many of us, the presence of loved ones, friendships and traditions makes the season a blessing. For others, absence, change or inner unrest may be circling beneath the surface of all the celebration.
In these times, remember this one truth: you are never truly alone.
Our spiritual allies, the loving ancestors, guides and angels who walk beside us, draw closer during the holidays.
If you’re reading this and feeling the silent burden of absence, of someone who has passed away, or a chapter in your life has come to an end, know this: your emotions are more intense during this time of heartache. Spirits of loved ones often visit. Moments that evoke a sense of familiarity, like the scent of a familiar song from a particular era or the flicker of a light.
They are not here to judge our shadows or fix our lives. They come as compassionate companions, holding space for our full experience: the laughter, the tears, the memory, the longing. They appear in silence, in stillness, in the quiet corners of the heart.
These allies, our spirit guides, understand the human journey deeply. They remember our past, sense our present and orient toward our soul’s purpose. Continue reading
The Hidden Blessing Of Dysfunctional Parents
For those of us who grew up with dysfunctional or abusive parents, the journey of healing is not a straight path. It twists and turns through shadows of anger, grief, and longing.
But, within this curse always lies a paradoxical hidden blessing or two. Even the most wounded parents can be our teachers and a source of inspiration, not because of what they gave us, but because of what they could not.
Yes, dysfunctional and abusive parents can be an inspiration. Not in the sentimental sense of gratitude for their suffering, but in the clear-eyed recognition that their brokenness became the rich soil in which your awareness grew.
A damaged parent can inspire you to live more consciously, to love with intention, and to stop the cycle of ancestral pain that shaped them and you.
They can inspire you to use their example as a guide for what not to do, what not to say, and who not to become.
Their absence of nurturing can ignite within you the sacred resolve to be present and compassionate. Their harshness can awaken your gentleness. Their coldness can teach you warmth. The rejection you endured can remind you daily to make every person you love feel safe, seen, and cherished!
Even if your parents were never healed, you can be. Even if they never awakened, you can awaken. Their story does not have to become your destiny. You can use their limitations as fuel to create something better, purer, and truer.
Heal Your Life With The Great Law
Do you have a lot of recurring drama in your life and the same negative situations repeating again and again? Do you keep attracting the same kind of toxic people and energy thieves into your life?
If so, you may benefit from learning more about the laws of karma and how to apply them in your everyday life, as these universal laws can transform your life for the better if we honor them in our spiritual practice and daily life.
Hindu and Buddhist spirituality recognizes 12 Laws of Karma. The first and most important of these is The Great Law, also known as the Law of Cause and Effect. This fundamental karmic law has helped me a lot to uncomplicate my own life since my spiritual awakening.
The Great Law teaches that whatever we sow, we shall reap. Every cause has an effect. Whatever put out into the world will eventually come back to us. Even the good and bad things we wish upon others will return to bless, or curse us.
Once we understand the role of The Great Law in our life, we become more aware of how we can eliminate negative patterns in our life and begin to attract more positive, new things.
The energy we emanate each day in the form of thoughts, wishes, fears, desires, attitudes, and beliefs will determine what will return to us as manifested experiences, events and circumstances.
Intention is everything in karmic law. For example, you start dating someone, but you live in fear of that person leaving you, or betraying you, so you are emanating an energy frequency of fear. In the end, it is very likely that you will lose that person. Fear attracts fear, love attracts love, and gratitude attracts gratitude. It’s that simple.