intention
Empower Your Life With Affirmations
Affirmation is a great self-empowerment tool for deliberate manifesting, personal transformation and self-healing. It is a simple, yet powerful spiritual practice to focus on what we wish to create and attract, and make the changes we wish for in ourselves and our life.
An affirmation is an affirmative, positive statement or mantra that you repeatedly speak, preferably daily. Words or language have metaphysical power. By thinking, speaking, and writing affirmative mantras, slogans, chants, spells, invocations, or prayers we set powerful intentions for transformation and manifestation. Here are some examples:
I lоvе and ассерt myself.
I fully believe in myself.
My potential is limitless.
I am achieving greatness.
My body is healthy and strong.
My mind is powerful.
I have control over my thoughts and feelings.
I am happy and fulfilled.
Affirmations reframe and improve our thinking. It reconstructs our negative thought patterns and rewires our mind to become more positively focused. The more we repeat it, the more it creates neural pathways for positive thought. These empowering new pathways gradually replace our old, negative thoughts habits.
Empower Yourself With Astrological Intention
Astrology is to me like a metaphysical best friend. It is a way to reflect in the mirror and expand my personal growth. By applying it daily over the past decade my life has become more mindful, and miraculous. I’ve also noticed that challenging astrological aspects, such as squares and oppositions, have become easier for me to deal with.
An astrological square is considered one of the more adverse aspects in a chart. This placement is when two planets are separated by three zodiac signs and therefore positioned at a 90-degree angle in the chart at the time of birth. This creates competing tension between the energies of these two planets which neither can win, forcing them to compromise and somehow meet each other halfway.
An astrological opposition is another extremely challenging aspect in a chart. This placement happens when two planets are exactly opposite each other in the zodiac at 180 degrees apart. This means these two planets are in opposing signs and as far apart as they can possibly be on the astrological wheel. Their unique energies are therefore polar opposite, causing conflict, drama, and power clashes.
I keep track of these events in my chart because I incorporate daily astrological intentions in my life as part of my spiritual routine. My practice is to map out each day’s relevant transits and to then meditate on the significant aspects. I also pray for assistance where needed, such as with the significant squares and oppositions in my daily chart. Then, I go about my day.
Spring Is A Time For Personal Renewal
With the recent equinox in the Northern Hemisphere, the spring season is returning once again, bringing with it a renewed sense of energy and optimism. The longer days, warmer weather, chirping robins, and budding blossoms beckon us to start afresh and make some positive life changes.
As the seasons merge from cold to warm, it’s the perfect time to let go of some unwanted ‘winter habits’ and embrace some healthier lifestyle practices in the coming weeks.
One of the most uplifting ways to embrace the spirit of spring is to let go of things that no longer serve and support the best version of you. It’s a time to clear out the mental, emotional and physical ‘clutter’ and make space for new blessings to come our way.
Whether it’s a bad habit, a toxic relationship, or simply old possessions no longer needed, getting rid of what no longer serves us is always a liberating, empowering experience.
Releasing old energy and letting go of attachments can be challenging and complicated, but it is essential for our personal growth and well-being. We often hold onto things way too long out of fear, insecurity, or simply habit. It limits us from experiencing new and exciting opportunities. Life begins outside our comfort zone.
Think of it like cleaning out your closet. We all have clothes that no longer fit, are out of style, or we simply don’t wear anymore. Removing these items makes room for fashionable new items that better reflect who we are today that we will love to wear.
The Sacred Tradition Of Smoke Cleansing
Smoke cleansing is an ancient spiritual practice found in many faiths, cultures, and wisdom traditions all over the world. These age-old rituals, ceremonies and healing practices involve the burning of various aromatic plants, resins, and woods and have been practiced since humans first discovered fire. Traditionally ceremonies and rituals involving smoke are mostly used for energy cleansings and spiritual blessings, but the purposes, techniques and materials used vary widely among belief systems, tribes, nations, and cultures.
The burning of incense, for example, was a revered practice in ancient Egypt as part of religious ceremonies. This practice continues today in the Roman Catholic church, with the burning of incense to amplify prayers and intentions.
In both Hinduism and Buddhism, incense is burnt for ritual offerings and rites, while in ancient China incense was burned during festivals and processions to honor ancestors and household gods, and in Japan it is part of the Shintō purification ritual.
In ancient Rome cinnamon was burnt during funerals. The Assyrians burned various aromatic woods in their homes, temples, and places of healing. In traditional Chinese medicine, the burning of agarwood and sandalwood is done to promote emotional wellness and physical healing.
One of the most well-known smoke cleansing traditions, especially in the United States, is known as smudging. To ‘smudge’ means ‘to make a smoky fire’ or ‘to emit a dense smoke.’ Smudging involves various purification and healing ceremonies originally practiced by the indigenous peoples of the Americas. Certain sacred herbs are traditionally used in smudging to purify and bless people and places, of which the most commonly used today is white sage or salvia apiana, also known as bee sage or sacred sage. It is an evergreen perennial shrub native to the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico.
How To Remember Your Dreams
Many people assume they cannot remember much of their dreams, while some even believe they never dream at all. The truth is that dreams are a vital part of our spiritual awareness and inner guidance system. Everyone dreams. In fact, we dream every night and we are able to remember more of our dreams. Dreaming is a natural, automatic part of our sleep cycle as spirit beings in human form.
Dreams are a wellspring of spiritual information, support and guidance. If we were truly unable to recall our dreams, then we could never benefit from the divine guidance and spirit messages they convey. But to interpret and understand the deeper meaning of our dreams, we must consciously remember them.
Fortunately, if you seldom remember your dreams, or feel like you never dream at all, it is possible for you to train yourself to start remembering more of your dreams! Below are three strategies you can implement in your lifestyle and daily spiritual to start improving your dream recall. The key to success here is in combining these strategies in a consistent practice.
Dream Routine
Create a bedtime routine that helps to calm you mind, body and soul and increase the quality of your sleep and dream recall. Avoid the blue light from electronic devices, as it disturbs our circadian rhythm and sleep cycle. Do not consume caffeine and other stimulants. Do not eat for at least two hourse before your bedtime. Alos, avoid unnecessary stressors or stimulation, such as reading the news or watching a horror movie.
You Don’t Have To Be Perfect
Whenever we are focused on a task at hand, whether it is career, business or personal, we tend to focus on our mistakes and worry about what we may be doing wrong. Will it meet expectations? Are we good enough? The loud voice of perfectionism in our ego mind is often saying, “You did not do it right, you did not do enough…you are not enough.”
But constantly striving for perfection and beating ourselves up when we cannot meet those impossible expectations, sabotages the very thing we are trying to achieve. It impacts every part of our lives and also affects people around us, including our friends, coworkers, family and life partners.
Setting unrealistic standards for ourselves and others leaves us constantly feeling disappointed in ourselves and let down by others, over and over again. The perfectionism we are striving for becomes front and center in our in relationships, our careers, our health and our overall well-being. The result is anxiety, low self-esteem, fear of failure, depression, and broken relationships.
Failed perfectionism leads us to constantly measuring our worth against others, and vulnerable to the opinions, criticisms, and judgments of others. Perfectionists are very concerned about what others will think or say.
Striving for perfection is also about a need for control, so that our lives and those we care about will work out perfectly as we had planned. But contrary to popular belief, perfectionism does not lead to lasting success and fulfillment.
Waiting On The World To Change
Waiting On The World To Change is not just a great John Mayer song, it is also a devastating pattern in many people’s lives. Too often people are waiting for some outside force to come along and bring them the happiness and fulfillment they want. Living one’s life ‘on hold’ in this way can become a incapacitating habit that will only serve to make us eternally stuck and unhappy.
When we are waiting for a change from someone or something other than ourselves, we are not taking control of our own power. More importantly, we are also not taking personal responsibility for our God-given free will choices, nor are we holding ourselves accountable for our own actions (or inaction).
We all have that friend who is always saying how great her relationship would be ‘if only’ her partner would change a certain habit, or do something differently. Or that colleague who never gets the promotion, while she keeps blaming others as to why she is constantly overlooked. Or the diseased relative who ‘cannot’ improve her health and wellness, because making better lifestyle choices just doesn’t fit into her busy work schedule and social life.
The worst one for me is people waiting for that amazing soulmate relationship to finally materialize, when they are not making even the least bit of effort to put themselves out there and meet new people.
Some people spend a lot of time constantly setting new goals or intentions, making wish lists, creating vision boards, or doing visualizations or rituals, to manifest the changes they want to see in their lives. But what if the thing they need to change is actually themselves?