life challenges
Your Eternal, Beautiful Soul
We are not just a physical body. We are spiritual beings and our soul is ageless and eternal. It never comes to an end. The soul is energy and merely takes on different forms. For energy cannot be destroyed, only transformed.
Your soul is currently manifested in a physical body, but you are not your body. Your soul is who you really are, the very core of your existence.
It is my belief that the soul chooses many new and different experiences as a physical manifestation, each time it decides to incarnate. Some of these physical experiences are very joyful and fulfilling, while other can be very challenging and evolutionary.
Many of us consider ourselves to be ‘old souls.’ An old soul is basically a person that seems to have deep wisdom, unusual insight, or profound compassion from their early childhood. As children they are often said to be ‘wise beyond their years.’
Old souls are often what others may call ‘the voice of reason.’ They tend to see all sides of a situation, or know just the right thing to say to help others with guidance, without dictating to them which path to take.
Most people are conscious of taking care of their body and mind, but not so much about taking the time to nurture their soul. To this day many scientists and medical experts still do not associate physical health and well-being with the mind-body-soul connection. Adding the soul to the wellness equation creates the best medicine possible, in my opinion.
How To Make The Winter Season A Happy, Healthy Time
Just yesterday, my husband said to me that it was getting dark earlier and he already dreads the long, drawn-out winter months that we always have in this part of the world. My husband’s statement struck a chord with me. Yes, the winter is a challenging time for many people, especially those of us who live in very cold regions.
So, winter is indeed fast approaching, but like all seasons, it need not be just endured. It can actually be embraced with excited anticipation and add value to our quality of life. Below are some ways to make the most of the coming winter months.
Lifestyle Choices
I personally find it hard to even get out of bed during the cold winter months! To counteract this, I set my alarm clock earlier and pre-book an appointment at my local gym, as I know that exercise is vital for my health any time of the year. Exercising in winter has many benefits that include not only helping us to feel warmer and happier, but also enhances immunity and helps prevent dreaded weight gain, in what some people refer to as the ‘fat season.’
As vital as exercise is for both the body and mind, our diets cannot, and should not, be over-looked. Like physical activity, food also has a significant impact on our emotional well-being. Consuming mood-enhancing foods such as oily fish, bananas, chocolate (dark variety please and not too much), yoghurt and oats, could have you smiling again in next to no time!
Keeping Your Cool In These Stressful Times
This is a stressful time, but my feeling is the Covid-19 pandemic has happened in our world for a reason. It is has been making us take a real long look at what is most important in life. It has been teaching us to not take our daily lives and our loved ones for granted.
The situation has been causing tremendous stress for many of us and has been challenging many relationships. And some of us are dealing better with it than others. If you have been struggling too, then there are some simple self-care strategies that could be helpful if you are feeling overwhelmed by a situation at home.
Start by holding some space for yourself, by carving out some time to just be by yourself, even it is just an hour. Use this time to do whatever makes you happy. If it means doing absolutely nothing, that is fine too! Having some ‘alone time’ helps to declutter your mind, improve your mood and restore your sense of self. If you cannot find peace at home, then go for a walk, or just go get cup of coffee somewhere nearby.
Meditation or quiet contemplation is a wonderful tool to gain a sense of calm and clarity. Take a moment to reflect on whatever may be bothering you, and try to gain a new perspective on the situation. There are always more than one side to a situation, and many tensions and conflicts can be resolved with cool heads and calm discussions.
Open-Minded Curiosity Is The Key To A Happy, Healthy Life
A client asked the other day how I keep my immunity up during these challenging times, and if there is anything special one can do to stay mentally healthy. My answer was simple. You simply need to keep an open mind, and have passion for life.
Working with spirit has taught me over the years to live my life wholeheartedly, with daily gratitude, and with an open mind and a healthy curiosity. I am always eager to learn and experience new things. We are not meant to be constantly stuck in a rut, nor spend our lives in mediocre stagnation.
Just the other day, a friend told me that she thought I am the most imaginative and adventurous person she has ever met. I am always so optimistic and upbeat, she said, and she gets energy from me just by spending time with me.
She has also witnessed how positive things happen in my life through my spiritual practices. For example, I use certain crystals, visualizations and affirmations to bring about real change in my life – not only for myself, but also for others.
The more we are open-minded to explore new horizons, and learn new things, the more we allow positive, creative new energies to enter our reality, empowering us to achieve things that we otherwise wouldn’t – especially when we just sit around doing nothing.
Forgiveness Brings Lightness To The Heart
Forgiveness can be one of the most difficult challenges we face in life, especially for those of us who have been horribly wronged. But the angels say that we cannot move forward with anger or hatred in our heart. Only when we can truly forgive and let go of our past, will we reap the rewards of the future. Blessings come once we let go of the things that are holding us back.
When you struggle with forgiveness, it helps to remind yourself that God, the Divine, Source, Spirit, the Universe, always forgives us, no matter what we do. And our angels never leave our side. They do shake their heads at times, but they are right there through each life choice and every step we take, no matter what.
When we are in a place of unforgiveness, we must choose to look at life in a different way. What good is it to hold onto anger and resentment towards someone who has wronged you? It is usually not affecting them in any way, and it is also not serving you. All it really does is hold you back from moving forward and living your best life.
Your past, both the good and bad, provided you with life lessons, and if you truly consider what you have been through, and the growth and wisdom gained from those experiences, you will appreciate the lessons learned, and never repeat them. Life lessons empower us to move forward in a healthy way and not repeat the mistakes of the past.
Harmonizing The Energy Flow Of Money
When I was younger, I never thought of money as being spiritual or metaphysical in any way. I never considered the possibility that our financial prosperity, or lack thereof, may be somehow connected to our thoughts, feelings and beliefs about it. Even after studying business, and working as an accountant for many years, I never saw the correlation. It wasn’t until I began to explore the spiritual aspect of my life, that I became aware of this link.
I became the sole income provider in my home, after my divorce. At this time, I began to look more deeply into my beliefs and associations with money. If you personally relate to my experience during those difficult days, you will also understand what it feels like to be totally overwhelmed when you are experiencing many new obstacles in your life to financial security and cash flow.
Fortunately, there has always been a logical and practical part of myself that kicks in when I’m faced with big challenges and difficult choices, especially around financial decisions. This instinctive part of me is a natural default from my years as an accountant and mortgage finance consultant.
When my inner accountant comes out, I look at the logical side of things and rationally reason my decisions. Then, on other occasions, the spiritually aware, intuitive part of me knows that if I am overly stressed and worried about money, I block my own energy flow from the Source of all things abundant. I have often also seen that my creative process and artwork doesn’t flow freely when I become too worried about finances – I just paint ‘mud.’
So, how do we find balance between our logical, human need for material security, and the intuitive, spiritual aspect of our soul that finds it easy to trust the unknown? How do we find that balance?
It Just Happened
Too often people justify their poor judgment and bad choices with feeble excuses like, “It just happened.” But we all know that this is seldom the truth. The reality is that every step in our life is a choice. Whether we step forward, sideways, backwards, or stand still, it is a choice. And we should take personal responsibility for our life choices.
In everyday life we do not think much about where our steps may be leading us. We are typically just walking automatically in some direction. Many people simply live by trial and error.
However, when things go bad for us, it is usually because we have subconsciously, or even consciously, made the choice to move in a certain direction – a direction that we intuitively knew was not serving our highest good. And sadly, many times these bad choices also severely affect others.
For example, a friend of mine, who has only been married for one year, currently remains geographically separated from her husband, until she gets her immigration paperwork to be able to join him legally in his country. They had a beautiful wedding, and made the usual promises: to love and cherish, be faithful, in sickness and health, until death do them part.
Despite their long-distance marriage, they were doing everything right during the waiting period – or so it seemed. They called each other daily on the phone, and also talked on video chat. They constantly texted loving messages. He was originally also able to come and visit her here in Canada, but she could not cross the border to see him. However, when the Covid-19 pandemic hit, he was also denied entry. They had no further choice but to wait it out.