grounding
Simple Ways To Reduce Your Stress Levels
We all feel the effects of stress in our lives at the moment. This is an especially difficult time in the world, and it is challenging us in ways that we did not expect.
Stress is a feeling of being under way too much pressure. This pressure can come from different aspects of your daily life, such as career challenges, life transitions, relationship conflict, health problems, family issues and financial worries. Whatever the stressors in your life are, they can affect your well-being very negatively.
We all experience stress, but how we handle it affects our lives to various degrees. You might have tried different approaches, but not much has worked. Sometimes the solution is much simpler than one might realize. Here are some positive lifestyle tips to manage your stress levels. Even if you just apply a couple a day, these basic strategies can make a real difference in cultivating a calmer state and greater peace of mind.
Get Enough Sleep
Sleep is so important in so many ways, and so often neglected in our busy lives. Adequate sleep helps us to stay focused, heal is from within, and manage our days so much better.
If you are not sleeping well, or not getting enough sleep, make every effort to resolve this. It is probably the most important thing you can do to reduce your stress levels. I find meditation music or white noise very helpful, and taking short naps during the day are an excellent means to get extra rest.
Isolation Is An Opportunity For Deeper Practice
In the challenging circumstances we are now facing all over the world, many people are facing a period of self-isolation, social distancing, and even quarantine, in the interest of public health. Despite its impact on our lives and economy, a lot of good can also come from this, as it can be approached as an opportunity for spiritual retreat and inner growth.
In many spiritual traditions, solitude and isolation is actually considered essential. And it is not a spiritual practice reserved only for gurus, monks or initiates. It is in fact recommended for everyone to spend some alone time with their thoughts, and their spiritual practice.
Now, I am not talking about a luxury weekend retreat somewhere, on a sunny coast, in the mountains, or in a quaint monastery with beautiful gardens and amazing food. That sort of thing you can do any time of the year, and simply call it vacation!
Isolation is the doorway to an internal practice that leads to a more stable, fulfilled life, among other things. Why more stable? Because everything that we do in isolation, even if we are living with someone else, resonates in our mind in a much deeper sense than usual. Of course, if you do live with a partner or family, there is also the option of doing these practices together, but solitary is usually best.
If you regularly meditate, or pray, or repeat mantras, alone and without distractions, you will feel the powerful ‘echoes’ of those practices energetically. This is true and easy to see, as long as you do not turn on the TV immediately afterwards. I call this a deeper practice.
How To Find Your Inner Peace
Around the world we are being faced with a crisis situation that is bringing many negative feelings to the surface. Fear, anxiety, sadness, confusion, mistrust, frustration, anger. How you are faring during this time? What emotional responses are coming to the surface for you?
I have been following the news around the world. I have seen some leaders scoff at and make light of the situation, while others take it extremely seriously. There seems to be no unanimity or consistency in the messages we receive, and there appears to be a lack of consensus among the leadership and experts.
How then can we as individuals find inner peace and unity in all this chaos? The following guidelines may be helpful to you in the days ahead.
Turn Off The News
First things first: reduce your daily exposure to the news, and fact check everything you do choose to pay attention to. Most of all, do not believe everything you see on social media! Many of the stories going around are false reports, conspiracy theories and fake news. Some media outlets are also creating more fear and drama than we should have to deal with. Remember that in many cases sensationalism often equals sales. Choose your sources carefully and listen to your inner guidance and follow your intuition.
How To Remain Grateful
In our daily life, it is all too easy to lose sight of the good things. We tend to get lost in negativity and stress, and we are also affected by the opinions and drama of those around us. At times it can be overwhelming.
In these moments we lose our sense of spiritual awareness and connection. I often speak with clients who experience exactly this. Indeed, it takes practice and re-commitment on a daily basis, in order to maintain our balance and inner peace, and remain true to our beliefs and mantras.
One of our own worst enemies is actually our false beliefs about ourselves. It is so easy to allow self-doubt to take over and let the negative thoughts creep in. Self-worth is a daily challenge for most, if not all of us.
To remain grounded and positive, I find that doing my daily gratitude list really helps get me back to that spiritual place within. When you are feeling low, or have had a stressful day, try keeping the following set of reminders posted as a list on your fridge, or somewhere you can see it daily. It will help change your focus.
What am I grateful for today? Who or what made my life easier or better today?
Did I allow negativity to affect me today? How can I remain grounded and avoid that next time?
Is there a better way I can deal with that difficult person or situation?
Meditation Made Easy
No doubt you’ve heard of the many physical, mental and spiritual benefits of meditation. And like many people, you are keen to give it a go, but still don’t know where to start? Well, it doesn’t have to be complicated or intimidating. According to Shunryu Suzuki, the Sōtō Zen master who helped popularize Zen Buddhism in the United States, approaching meditation with a beginner’s mind is actually ideal.
The most common misconception it that meditation is a state of “thinking of nothing” or “clearing your mind.” It is simply impossible to not think at all. One would basically have to be totally unconscious to achieve that. Instead, meditation is a spiritual practice in which we learn to be more mindful – to center, breathe, and achieve greater calm, inner peace and clarity.
Meditation is about embracing whatever is happening in the present moment, but without getting caught up in any of it. Meditation is about going with the flow, instead of resisting or suppressing your thoughts and feelings.
Meditation in its various forms has been practiced by cultures all over the world for millennia. The oldest documented evidence of the practice of meditation has been found in ancient Indian wall art that dates back to approximately 5,000 to 3,500 BC.
Meditation is an awareness practice, or an enhanced state of consciousness. It does not have to be associated with a specific religion or spiritual tradition. Anyone can meditate, no matter what their belief system. It also does not have to involve sitting or lying passively. It can be anything from coloring mandalas, to taking a walk in nature.
The Year Of The Emperor
During my psychic Tarot readings, I often ask my clients for the month, day, and year of their birth, so that I can equate their Tarot lifetime archetype and current year cards. Tarot numerology has always been spot on in my readings, and it has also been accurate on a grander level, when looking at the current year in general.
The year 2019, when added across calculates as 2 + 0 + 1 + 9 = 12, which reduced equates to 1 + 2 = 3. These numerological calculations of 12 and 3 correspond to two cards in the Tarot.
The first is The Hanged Man (12), that often shows up in s spread when there is a sacrifice to be made, hold-ups, the need to let go of hang-ups, seeing life from a different perspective, or an overall feeling of waiting in general. This state of limbo is often seen as a voluntary sacrifice for a greater cause on a more macrocosmic level.
The Empress card (3), represents fertility, pregnancy, motherhood, female entrepreneurship, or mother to the son in the Hanged Man card.
What could these two cards be saying on a numerological level about 2019? I thought about this on New Year’s eve, as we were crossing into 2020. What sacrifices did we make on a personal level in 2019, as well as on a worldly level?
It appears there was a division of opinions on a mass scale, about many different topics, as well as a need for us to look at the ‘hang-ups’ that we were holding onto, and to see them from an outside perspective. Humanity, as a whole was in a way, on hold and pregnant with what we will give birth to this year, in 2020.
Death Is Never Final
Most of us have lost someone dear to us, whether it be a grandparent, parent, child, friend or co-worker. And when this happens, many of us wonder why, and what happens next? Know this: death is never final.
Death is simply the spiritual essence leaving the physical body. Each one of us is born with this spiritual nature, our soul energy or spiritual essence. We are given a physical body to carry us through this journey on Earth, and throughout this life journey our physical bodies change. However, our spiritual essence remains constant from before our birth, and carries us forward to many other realms and new incarnations, beyond the physical death at the end of this lifetime.
My clients are often concerned about their departed loved ones. Is my mother in pain? Is my family okay? Is my child still suffering? Is my husband safe? Is my friend stuck in between worlds because she took her own life?
The simple answer to all these questions is: yes. When we pass, our physical body is no longer needed and our spirit simply returns to the Highest, or Heaven, or Universal Love, or Source. There is no ‘hell’ or ‘bad place’ after this life. It is all good for all of us. It is a place of peace and simplicity. A plane of existence or realm of the utmost, purest, highest state of unconditional love.
When we lose someone close to us, the essence of their spirit returns to us at different times after their passing. You may see, hear, sense, or even smell them, and sometimes even feel them touch you. All these experiences are real. If you feel them around you, they are there. If you feel a feather like touch on your cheek, they are there. If a scent reminds you of someone, they are there. If you swear someone just sat on your bed, but no one is in your room, they are there.