mental health
Finding The Light Within
When we rely on codependent, toxic relationships, materialism and possessions, and other superficial sources of ‘fulfillment,’ it creates a weariness within us. It weighs down the soul. It drowns out the inner light.
Material things and human beings by nature cannot be perfectly reliable all of the time. Material items deteriorate and lose their luster. Friendships and relationships come and go. All that ever truly remains is spirit, and what we do to take care of ourselves. As the world is in dismay in the wake of a pandemic, we can choose to turn to spirit and to take better care of ourselves instead.
While others may choose to descend into lack consciousness, greed or an attitude of entitlement, we can choose an attitude of gratitude, inner peace and joyful living instead.
We have a tremendous opportunity right now to expand our spiritual growth and to empower ourselves with self-care. Many folks don’t realize how useful taking just a few minutes out of their busy day can be!
Adopting a new daily spiritual practice, or simply reading an inspiring book, taking a soothing bath, or buying an aromatherapy diffuser can be uplift the spirit and heal the soul.
There is also crystal energy work, nature walks, prayer, and meditation by a body of water to enhance our joy and connect with the Creator who envisioned all this and brought it all into being.
What we can’t control, we can simply turn over to a Higher Power of our understanding. We can surrender to hope and joy, and let go of our fears. We can say, “This does not have to happen on my timeline, let Your will be done in my life.”
The Healing Power Of Movement
In my earliest years of life, I was severely shy, fearful of anyone I didn’t know, and acutely anxious of being separated from my mother. Any time we were out, or in the presence of others, I clung to her tightly and hid in silence behind her.
My mom soon received many recommendations to enroll me in dance lessons, to help me come out of my shell. She did, and I emerged. That was my first experience of the healing power of movement.
It continued into my ‘terribly turbulent’ teens, during which ballet became my only safe haven and sanctuary.
In the ballet studio I could pour out every feeling. From the barre to the stage, every move was an opportunity to express what I needed to release, and to find the solace I needed.
A decade later, I found myself bedridden with chronic fatigue. Yet, visions of ballet spontaneously continued to dance across the screen of my mind’s eye – almost every moment of every day. I could feel the movement in my body, even though my body was unable to move.
I know now it was a premonition of a life-changing return to dance, that ultimately remedied my illness and opened the way to reveal my gift of intuitive healing dance.
The power of movement is a beautiful thing. It can literally shift, shape, and reform energy. Energy itself comes in many forms and functions. Emotion, if you think about it, is energy in motion: e-motion. Everything, including you and I, are an emanation of energy from the Absolute Truth and Personality of Godhead.
Spiritual Self-Care: How To Overcome Energetic Depletion
Do you constantly feel tired, depressed, or simply lacking in energy?
If you often feel drained or exhausted, even after a good night’s sleep, and a medical professional has already ruled out any underlying physical causes, you may be experiencing energetic depletion.
Physical tiredness and energetic depletion are very different, requiring different approaches to correct them.
For empaths, sensitives, and intuitives in particular, constantly absorbing the energies around you and the noise of the modern world can be draining in subtle ways you may not even be aware of.
Essentially, it means you are expending and also “leaking” energy more than you are replenishing.
It can be caused by many things, such as overstimulation, emotional burdens, failing to set boundaries, consuming too much media, toxic people and places, or simply not being present in your daily life.
On a deeper level, energetic depletion can also reflect what is happening within your spiritual life and energy field. When you are disconnected from your intuition, carrying unresolved emotional or karmic burdens, or spending too much time in draining environments, your spirit can begin to feel heavy and dimmed.
Navigating Grief Without Losing Yourself
In my work as a psychic reader, I have worked with many people navigating grief. Over the years, I have witnessed how people process loss and transition differently.
I have often had to guide clients toward grounding, self-trust, and setting compassionate boundaries. And, as life would have it, I recently had to draw on that wisdom and apply it to my own family.
My father was recently admitted to hospice care at his local nursing home after spending a week in the hospital. His prognosis was poor.
As our family transitioned to this new phase of care, I stayed in touch with loved ones and made decisions centered on his comfort and dignity.
At the same time, I made a conscious effort to protect my emotional energy and maintain healthy boundaries so that I could stay grounded.
In these circumstances I’ve been grappling with a kind of grief that isn’t often acknowledged: the grief of realizing someone you love is no longer the person they once were.
Even when they are physically present, the relationship shifts. There can be a quiet heartbreak in adjusting to the present while remembering the past.
There is also grief in watching a family reorganize itself. During times of transition, long-standing dynamics often change. Some family connections deepen and some relationships no longer operate as they once did. This can also feel like a loss in terms of shared understanding and how things “used to be.” Sudden changes in family circumstances tend to reveal where everyone actually stands.
Take Out The Toxic Trash With A Self-Love Meditation
I’ve been teaching meditation for over 30 years now, and it is something that has been widely misunderstood. It has also been hijacked by people with nefarious, materialistic agendas.
Meditation is not about emptying the mind or having no thoughts. Rather, it is about removing and replacing negative thoughts, repetitive patterns, abusive programming from childhood, and conditioning imposed by sadistic or wounded individuals.
Meditation is about inviting God, Spirit, Source, the Divine back into the heart, soul, and mind.
When we are children, everything begins with love. Children are eternal optimists, even when they have been traumatized.
But almost every child encounters at least one parent, relative, teacher, classmate, or authority figure who is abusive. These individuals attempt to rid themselves of their own overflowing toxicity by dumping it onto others: verbally, emotionally, or physically. Their words become programming, much like a computer virus.
Meditation is designed to replace that negative programming. Instead of hearing “you are worthless” looping in your mind, meditation allows you to consciously replace that tape with “I am loved.”
Think about the hurtful words that were spoken or screamed at you as a child. Then, during meditation, repeat the opposite.
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.
Tune Into The Guidance Of Your Emotions
I believe our emotions are an additional ‘sense’ we use as a means of interpreting our life experiences, in the same way the normal five senses enable us to perceive and understand the world around us. Our ‘emotional sense’ help us make decisions about our preferences all the time.
For example, I love chocolate. My sense of taste tells me that chocolate is for me! It’s a very clear and obvious signal from my taste buds to my brain. We receive and process stimuli all the time and our senses help us to ‘make sense’ of that input.
Your emotions are also giving you information about your preferences and if we listen and pay attention, we can gain a lot of guidance from it. Our emotions don’t just come from nowhere. They arise in direct response to stimuli or input, just like our senses do.
I have also heard emotions described as an internal guidance system, or our inner compass, which helps us decide what we want to create more of, and less of, in our life. We sometimes get confused though, because just like the other senses, we have different preferences.
For example, some people love coconut desserts, but I detest then. Not thanks, keep your coconut out of my chocolate! The thing is, I’m not confused about the fact that I don’t like coconut. I also don’t feel I have to change my preference because other people love coconut. And I also don’t force myself to eat it, just to make other people happy.
When one of our five physical senses tells us something we tend to listen, because it’s visceral. We feel it undeniably in the body. Emotions are no different!