mindfulness
Inspire Your Journaling With The Runes
Journaling is a powerful practice for self-discovery and personal growth. It allows one to reflect on your thoughts and emotions, gain clarity, and connect with your inner wisdom. Sometimes finding the necessary inspiration for a journal entry can however be difficult. A wonderful way to enhance your journaling practice is by incorporating runes. The runes are an ancient Germanic alphabet used for writing, divination, and magic. Each rune features a unique symbol representing different aspects of life and the natural world.
The use of runes as a divination tool dates back to the Viking Age (793–1066 CE) and has been practiced by many cultures throughout history. Today, runes are often used as a tool for self-discovery, personal growth, and spiritual practice.
Using the runes to inspire journaling is a simple and effective way to take your spiritual practice to the next level. Here are some steps to get you started.
1. Choose a set of runes that resonates with you. You can order a rune set online, purchase it at your local metaphysical shop, or even make your own. Each set should include 24 runes, plus one blank rune that represents the unknown or unexpected.
2. Set an intention for your rune journaling practice. Before you begin, relax, take a few deep breaths, and then set a clear intention for what you wish to gain from today’s journaling session. It might be clarity, insight, healing, or guidance on a specific issue.
Painting As A Powerful Spiritual Practice
As a visual artist, I find painting to be a powerful tool for spiritual growth and manifestation. Art has been used as a medium for self-expression and energy channeling for centuries. Painting in particular is an enlightening way to tap into one’s innermost thoughts and feelings and connect with your higher self.
One of the ways that painting can be particularly helpful in growth and healing is that it offers a way for us to let go of what no longer serves us. We too often hold onto old traumas, fears, and limiting beliefs that keep us stuck in negative patterns. Channeling these toxic thought patterns and emotions into art can help us to release it and create space for new energy to flow in.
The act of painting itself can be deeply meditative and calming, allowing the artist to quiet the mind and tap into their intuition. When we allow ourselves to be mindful and entirely present in the moment and focus solely on the act of creating, we access a state of energetic flow that is incredibly soothing, healing, and transformative.
Additionally, painting can be used as a powerful tool for manifesting. When we create art with a specific intention in mind, we are essentially using our thoughts and imagination to give physical form to that intention. Making an original painting is much more powerful and intentional than creating a vision board, for example. By painting images and scenes of the things we desire, we are sending a clear message into the universe that we are ready to receive it.
Turn Up The Music Of Your Soul
As have been pondering the miracle of sound and music lately. During these times of uncertainty, I have a collection of songs in my memory bank that I can easily call upon for inspiration. I use many of these songs to jump start my days.
Long after a popular song has been sung, whether it is a familiar hymn, a spiritual mantra, a national anthem, or a Top 40 hit, there is often a residual hum that we hold on to. This constant reminder, time and time again, brings us back to the original song, striking a chord with those emotions that were first charged by the lyrics and the melody.
Music lodges itself in our memories and can be brought forth at any time without actually hearing the tune itself. Sound or hearing is also said to be the final sense to leave as we depart this life. Kahlil Gibran, the great Lebanese writer and author of The Prophet, wrote “music is the language of the spirit. It opens the secret of life bringing peace, abolishing strife.”
Growing up, I loved all types of music. My eclectic taste was universal and reflected artists from a broad spectrum of genres. I was also fortunate that my metropolitan city was host to artists from all over the world. And thanks to my older brother, whose work in entertainment law made him familiar amongst promoters and musicians alike, I was blessed to gain entre to many of these concerts, including backstage passes.
My favorite acts packed up their instruments from crowded cities and remote villages of the Far East and Africa, making many sacrifices to cross the Atlantic, and often shared between sets the perils of their journey. I likened their sound to ethereal gold, so precious that it would stay with me forever.
The Life-Long Journey Of Self-Love
Self-love is essential for mental, physical, and emotional well-being. It is vital to have a positive, loving attitude towards yourself and take care of your own needs. Not only is this essential for living a happy and healthy life, but it also empowers you to be more loving and caring towards others.
Self-love is often misunderstood. Many people think that self-love is only about pampering oneself, indulging in extravagance, or buying yourself expensive things. It is much more than that. It is not about being selfish, self-indulgent, or narcissistic. Instead, it is about accepting yourself, taking care of yourself and understanding your true worth.
Truly loving yourself is therefore about knowing your worth, appreciating your unique strengths and abilities, and treating yourself with compassion and kindness. It is also about taking personal responsibility for your life, making choices and decisions that serve your highest good, and letting go of negative thoughts and self-destructive behaviors.
It is also important to realize that self-love is a journey, not a destination. It is a life-long process that is part of our soul purpose in this lifetime. It is a state of being that requires patience, dedication, commitment and effort.
Cultivating self-love begins with understanding yourself, accepting your flaws, and learning to forgive yourself. It involves setting boundaries and taking responsibility for your own needs and happiness. It is also about cultivating positive relationships and learning to trust yourself.
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.
The Ancient Art Of Meditation In Motion
I recently attended a Tai Chi class for the first time and absolutely loved it. I have seen this ancient martial art being practiced on television and in films before, and always thought I would like to experience it myself someday.
Tai Chi is an ancient Chinese tradition involving slow movements and breathwork that is essentially meditation in graceful motion. At this recent event, I enjoyed it so much that I intend to continue pursuing this practice.
Our instructor at the event also explained the many health benefits of practicing Tai Chi, which further fueled my interest. This may include reduced stress, improved mood, mental health and cognitive function, enhanced immune function, increased cariovascular health, better sleep patterns, and even reduced risk of falling in mature adults.
One of the key advantages of Tai Chi is that it has no age limit. In fact, I was surprised at the various age groups in attendance that day. It is certainly a wonderful mind, body, and soul pursuit for everyone, because it is a gentle and slow-paced ‘internal’ martial art that does not involve any competition.
The exact history and origins of Tai Chi is unclear. Some scholars believe it originated from ancient Taoist and Buddhist monasteries, while others contend that Tai chi is a purely Chinese art that originates from the spiritual wisdom traditions of Daoism and Confucianism. There are many styles of Tai Chi that differ in execution and training methods.
The Ancient Magic Of The Runes
The casting of runes is a fascinating divination practice dating back to the ancient Germanic and Scandinavian peoples. The rune symbols originally served as an alphabet for written communication in various Germanic languages until the Latin alphabet was later adopted.
But the runes retained their archetypal symbolism and time evolved into a powerful tool for divination, magic, and meditation. The origin of word ‘rune’ actually stems from the old Germanic word for ‘secret’ or ‘mystery.’ The modern mystique of the runes lies in how it connects us to the wisdom of the ancients.
The runes are a set of 24 symbols, each with its own unique symbolic meaning and energy signature. Traditionally it is made of natural materials, such as stone, wood, or bone. The most common use of runes is for divination purposes, where the symbols are cast, or drawn, and then interpreted to gain insight into a particular situation or question.
Like other divination tools, the runes offer a gateway to tapping into the collective unconscious. These symbols have been used for centuries by countless people, each leaving their own energy imprint on the universal interpretation of each. When we work with the runes, we therefore tap into the collective wisdom it represents and gain access to a deeper understanding of ourselves and the world around us.
A charming aspect of the runes is their connection to nature. Many of these ancient symbols were derived from natural elements, such as trees, animals, and weather patterns. By engaging with the runes, we also connect with the natural world and its rhythms, which empowers us with greater balance and harmony in our lives and aligns us with the flow of the universe.