ideas
Let’s Make The Most Of This Gift Of Time
There is a cheesy saying, “when life gives you lemons, make lemonade.” It may be somewhat cheesy, but it is a brilliant metaphor. You still have those lemons. They are still terribly sour and inedible. But now you’ve added your own sweetness to them.
In recent months we have all suddenly been presented with a sometimes overwhelming new paradigm. Many of us are spending more time at home. Before the pandemic, many of us often wondered where our time went? If we only had more time!
This is especially true for those of us with young children. I have often said I feel like I only have 10-hour-days to fit everything into, including sleep, since my children were born.
It’s interesting to talk to my clients who are currently still going in to work, and often stressed for time, as compared to those clients who are fortunate to work from home, or have a reduced work schedule, or are currently unemployed. They are like parallel universes.
If you currently have the gift of time on your hands, make good use of it. It will lessen your depression and anxiety, and it will help you to think of this unusual time in our lives, which is only temporary, with more fondness and sentimentality. With the internet, so many options are open to us, and the possibilities are endless. Before all of this, I even learned how to crochet and knit online! I am now a very proud intermediate crocheter… and novice knitter.
Change Your Life With Mantras And Affirmations
We live in difficult and uncertain times, and happiness often seems elusive. It is possible, however, through training your mind, to ‘flip a switch’ to activate feelings of joy and happiness with just a few words. This is known as affirmations and mantras.
The two concepts are somewhat similar or related. Mantras are short words or phrases used in meditation in order to create focus, peace and calm, as in the practice of Zen. Affirmations are positive statements of intention that are repeated frequently to create new neural pathways, thought patterns and energy frequencies.
It’s easy to incorporate these two techniques into your daily spiritual practice.
Mantras
If you already meditate, you may choose a traditional mantra, such as Ananda (the Sanskrit word for bliss) or Ohm (the primordial, sacred sound of all creation). You could also choose another mantra that has special meaning for you, or even create your own.
As you engage in meditation, pay special attention to your breath as you focus on you mantra, either spoken aloud, or silently in your mind. Let all negativity go as you exhale. Repeat this process for 10 to 20 minutes each day, preferably in the same place, without any outside distractions. This way your mind begins to associate your mantra with feelings of calm and serenity.
Easy Ways To Manifest What You Need
The belief some people have that manifesting is difficult and complex, or requiring much effort and resources, may stop them from taking action with something they truly need in their life. If you urgently need something special, or just a bit of good luck in your life, there are a few things you can do right now to make that happen.
Visualization
The first method is visualization, which is simple enough. Just relax, close your eyes and imagine how you want a particular situation to go. For instance, you can imagine having a positive conversation with your boss that ends with him realizing you really deserve that vacation right now, or that raise, or even that promotion. Okay, maybe you deserve all of that, but let´s start with just one of those outcomes for now!
The important thing with visualization is to feel as if you already received what you desire – to feel how your body and mind accepts the new reality. If it seems too difficult to accept, this might be part of the reason why you do not have it yet. Therefore, it is important to start practicing deliberate manifesting with those things that you honestly want, and feel are not too difficult for you to accept.
Finish your visualization with a positive statement of intent, such as, “May it be so, or something better for all.” Then open your eyes. This could be done in just a couple of minutes, with some practice.
How To Attract Abundance And Prosperity
In today’s economic climate many hard-working people are constantly worrying about making ends meet. Sadly, this can lead to a sense of desperation, and when we are in such a place it becomes even more challenging to attract prosperity and abundance. Indeed, financial distress can result in a spiraling negative mindset, which in turn creates further negative energy, resistance and blockages.
Fortunately, there are certain things we can do, on both a practical and spiritual level, to alleviate financial stress. In turn, this raises our energy vibration to a more positive frequency, where we can begin to attract a much healthier bank balance!
Get Practical
The first step is to get practical. We live in a practical world and therefore we need to take a pragmatic approach when and where necessary. Spirit can only begin to assist and support us once we take some action and accept personal responsibility.
Unless you are in a practical, active mindset, any spiritual or metaphysical attempts at working with the Law of Attraction to change your financial situation would be a complete waste of time. Hence the practical advice first!
Ask yourself, for example, whether you can save any money by reconsidering your monthly expenses and revising your spending habits. look at ways and means of cutting any unnecessary excess expenditures. Consider selling items that you no longer need, to generate some immediate funds.
Letting Go Of Those Old Branches
As winter arrives, it is always a time of reflection for me. Winter storms are so bittersweet. They are beautiful, but they also can be very destructive. In a winter storm last year, I have observed some of the strongest, oldest trees losing their branches. Those large branches were the first to snap. They looked so strong and have weathered so many storms, yet they could not withstand the wind.
As I analyzed the results of that winter storm, the realization came to me that the smaller, more supple branches had the ability to bend with the strong winds. The large, majestic branches, however, had become rigid over the years and broke easily in the powerful, icy wind.
The same principle could apply in our lives. How well we handle a challenging situation will depend on our ability to remain flexible and adapt. A very strong, experienced person may appear on the surface to be able to move mountains and handle most situations with ease. But if that same person is unwilling to listen, refuses to compromise with others and cannot remain open-minded, they will most likely be doing a lot of ‘snapping’ when facing adversity.
If we can ‘bend’ to at least agree to disagree with others, and keep a more flexible, adaptive attitude in difficult times, it makes life a lot easier to maintain harmony with the world. If tunnel vision is how we choose to see life, it is impossible to see that others may also be right sometimes, or have a better solution. When we become rigid, stiff, closed and inflexible, it becomes harder to see the bigger picture and to have a more peaceful approach to life.
When we are rigid and think our way is the only way, it is also hard to make and keep lasting relationships. In a group situation there are always people that see the opposite side any situation for a problem. Sometime these people may play devil’s advocate. They listen to each point of view to arrive at a compromise.
Spiritual Healing
Healing from a serious or chronic illness may happen under different circumstances, and it some cases it can appear fully spontaneous. Behind every healing option there is a complex process which we never fully understand.
Our mindset is however an important player in how things unfold. But it is more than just having a positive attitude—it has many facets. And since the term ‘mind’ is a more modern concept, I prefer to refer to ‘spirit,’ which encompasses the mind in all its complex depth, along with emotions and sensations.
Spiritual healing can be defined in many ways, through many traditions. It seems to me useful to talk about the effect on the person, and understand it from that point of view. An experience of any kind may be a spiritual healing process, whenever a breakthrough takes place, or a release of inner pain occurs to make room for acceptance.
This might not be a painless process, otherwise it would happen much more easily, but it is a necessary step, because it allows us to abandon a repeating loop focused on pain. As an example, I can think of someone in a dysfunctional marriage, into which much work has been invested, including some counseling or therapy, but the only thing still keeping it together is the desire to ‘not fail.’
Active Listening – A Message From My Guides
Your ears are working all day long. They hear thousands and thousands of sounds. Most sounds are routine, so many are dismissed as the normal cacophony of a busy life.
Without particularly focusing, you can easily differentiate between outdoor construction work, the squeal of tires on pavement, and the subtle dripping of a faucet indoors. You can also be awakened by an unusual sound while you are sound asleep.
With all this hearing going on 24/7, how often do you really make time to truly listen? Not just to miscellaneous, irrelevant sounds, or humdrum activity, but to the voices of loved ones and your own inner voice?
The key here is time. Everyone is so busy these days, that we are often thinking of something in the past, or planning hours, days or weeks in advance. Meanwhile, golden opportunities to learn more about each other can easily slip by.
People often hide their fears behind words of bravado or arrogance. When strangled by ego, they can overcompensate by sounding obnoxious or condescending. When they are feeling small or insignificant, people can try too hard to impress. Each of these attitudes can be annoying to the listener.