personal growth
Who’s To Say If It’s Good, Or Bad?
Who’s to say if it’s good, or bad? There is a wise Buddhist children’s story I often read to my son that answers this question.
A young boy tells his father in a panicked, desperate tone, that his horse has gone missing. He is obviously very distraught and terrified he will never see his horse again.
The father says, “Who is to say that this situation is good, or bad?”
The son, of course, is confused. How could the loss of his horse not be a bad thing?
They go out into the woods to search for the horse. After many long days, they eventually find the horse. It has since made friends with a wild horse.
The father turns to the son and says, “See? Now you have two horses!”
But on the way back home the son stumbles and injures his leg. Again, he is miserable and terribly distraught. He tells his dad this is the worst possible thing that could happen. Now he will not be able to ride his horse.
His father says, “Who is to say that this situation is good, or bad?”
Of course, the son is perplexed and cannot figure out how injuring his leg could possibly be a good thing?
A week later, some of the son’s friends come to visit him. They tell him that they have been commanded to head out to war, along with all men over the age of 18. They tell the son he is lucky to have broken his leg, because now he would not be required to go to war with them.
Over the years, I have known many people, especially energy healing clients and Yoga students, who had suffered serious illness or injury…who later said it actually saved their lives, or brought them significant personal and spiritual growth, joy, fulfilment, and even bliss.
Two Pitfalls To Manifesting Healing
I have been doing energy healing work in many capacities for several years now. If you are reading this it is likely that you have manifested on this Earth to bring healing energy to many situations.
From what I have seen most people have a natural desire to bring healing and restoration though many different mediums. But there are two specific pitfalls that keep individuals from fully manifesting their healing gift. The first is a need for perfection before manifestation, and the second is elitism. My mentor once said that we are all wounded healers. I have yet to meet a master or student who has reached the pinnacle of intuitive insight and energy flow. This does not make us broken and should certainly not keep us from fulfilling our destinies as healers and intuitives.
If I met someone who claims to have achieved full enlightenment, I would steer clear of that person. When we are not living in a flow of personal insight and development we become stagnant. When water lacks movement or flow it loses its vital energy. Our vital energy or personal rei-ki comes from the ebbs and flows of our personal human experience.
Rei (divine love and wisdom) Ki (vital energy) comes from two sources. This flow can be attained through both attunements. The second source is the energy flow that is channeled through our journey and experience. It is important to remember that even Usui Reiki had a source and was channeled in a time and place of great need. This is also why Reiki cannot be contained in a single tradition. There is Vedic Karuna Reiki, Kagami Reiki, and Egyptian Seichim Reiki, as well as your reiki, my reiki, and on and on. It can be expressed and experienced in symbols, words, pictures, archetypes, and so forth. True mastery is achieved by understanding that Spirit is not limited, and by entering into the limitless possibilities of love.
Now Is The Time To Celebrate Life!
The time has come to recognize how far we have come and celebrate the sheer joy and privilege to be alive. Although Covid-19 is still around, and I personally know several people who are just now recovering from the illness, we are in a much better position now than a year or two ago. We have a lot to be grateful for as we start to work our way towards the future.
So, let’s celebrate! While still taking appropriate precautions, it is wonderful to be able to go out again, eat in restaurants and shop inside stores. A feeling of lightness is everywhere these days, with people really appreciating the ability to get back to some semblance of normal.
I see people smiling and laughing again while they are out and about, doing their daily errands, meeting friends, and attending functions and events. It seems even strangers are friendlier and more open to positive conversation and a more optimistic outlook nowadays. What a welcome change!
It is particularly satisfying to focus on and reconnect in person with the people who are important in our lives and make us feel happy. This year Mother’s Day was especially meaningful for many of us. It is always a beautiful opportunity to showcase the love for our mothers, both those who are still with us in this life, as well as those in spirit.
However, spirit impresses on me that honoring our mothers should happen more consistently than just one day per year. Each May, many of us resolve to show our love and respect all year through. So, how are we doing so far? Are we still honoring our mothers long after her special day is over?
A quick call, some surprise flowers, a little gift for ‘no reason’ are all lovely gestures that don’t take a lot of time or money, but can mean the world to mom, or stepmom, grandma or other maternal role-models who have touched our lives.
Moon Transits In Your Daily Spiritual Practice
There are many additional ways to apply Astrology in a spiritual lifestyle beyond the customary horoscopes and birth charts. For example, following the lunar transits is one of my favorite methods for working on my personal growth and spiritual development.
The Moon is the fastest transiting planet of the Zodiac, as it moves into a different sign every two and a half days. The Moon’s monthly journey through the constellations, enables us to reflect on the qualities and pertinence in our charts of each of the twelve zodiac signs.
How does one use the energies of lunar transits as a guide for personal and spiritual growth? In my work as a professional astrologer and psychic reader, I have found the following aspects useful:
Natal Chart
Do you have a strong natal Moon? How is it aspected? Have you struggled with any emotional issues in your lifetime? A Natal Moon with a lot of squares and oppositions can predict issues such as emotional lability and impulse control. Gaining insight into one’s struggles through astrological interpretation can help a person find spiritual healing.
Also, consider the transiting Moon’s current aspects with your natal chart. Is the Moon, for example, in a conjunction with your natal Mars? This aspect may create an emotional need to connect with your inner warrior on that particular day. Or perhaps the Moon is transiting your midheaven sign today, which is the highest point at the top of your chart that says, “I’m here!” to the world.
Ritual In A Modern Spiritual Lifestyle
Rituals, rites and ceremonies are the oldest forms of spiritual practice and essential aspects of all religions and belief systems. A ritual is a meaningful or symbolic action or series of actions that has a standardized format or sequence and can therefore be repeated in exactly the same way by individuals, groups or even communities.
The metaphysical energy generated when we focus our intent using symbols, tokens and metaphoric activities during a ritual that has special meaning for us personally can be highly transformative! Whether you practice ritual in a group or solo, it can supercharge your manifesting ability and aid in any mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual healing processes you may be going through.
When some people hear the word ‘ritual,’ they tend to imagine darkened, smoke-filled rooms with mysterious people in long robes, chanting strange refrains perhaps, all choreographed with everyone knowing their roles. I’m sure there are people who practice rituals in this way and elements like incense and chanting can indeed be party of a rite or ceremony. But a ritual can also be more simply crafted in a way to fit into a modern lifestyle and everyday spiritual practice.
In my own practice, I created a little ‘altar’ for myself. A small sacred space where I have placed a few candles, some incense, crystals, feathers and a few other symbolic tokens which hold special meaning for me. I also added a picture of my mother and a statue of an angel given to me when my grandpa passed away. In this way I created a sacred space that has deep meaning for me personally and brings me into a spiritual mindset.
You don’t need to have a lot of room for this in your home. So, you can even create a small sacred space for yourself on the corner of a dresser or table top. As my practice has evolved, I now find that any spare surface or quiet corner in the places where I have lived can become a nook for little spiritual treasures that I find during my adventures. Once you start creating a sacred space, the Universe will send you little gifts to help you along.
The Secret To Attracting A Magical Relationship
Prior to calling a psychic, you may have a certain level of worry or anxiety around a particular topic, or you might be given a nudge by your spirit guides to get insight and clarity to help you move forward toward our goal. Many people ask me in readings if I see something manifesting in their life they have wanted for a long time, or the successful outcome of something they are currently hoping to achieve.
A psychic advisor can confirm if you are on track and anchored in our power. When I do a reading, I can see a person’s soul purpose and where they currently are on their spiritual path. I can also see the likelihood of an event happening or not, based on previous events they’ve been through, or perhaps a current spiritual lesson they are undergoing. However, what I find callers don’t always realize is that for some of the questions they ask in readings they already hold the key to not only the answers, but also how to make things happen that they may be leaving up to fate.
Whether something is going to happen in your life, or not, is mostly determined by your own thoughts and actions. For instance, if someone calls me for a reading and wants to know if things will move forward with a particular person they are romantically interested in, there are many ways the situation can potentially play out. And the outcome will depend mostly on the caller’s own thoughts, ideas, beliefs, fears, energy frequency, and behavior patterns.
The early stages of a relationship and dynamics of love can be a funny thing. I liken it to ‘reverse psychology’ in the etheric world. I say this because what I find works most often in attracting the love of our potential partner and get their attention is somewhat counter-intuitive to what we might assume.
For example, the old saying it is best to ‘play hard to get,’ holds far more value than we may think. Granted, it does take a lot of self-discipline to pretend we’re not as interested in someone as we really are, but I can guarantee you that energetically it will pay off.
Eye Gazing As A Spiritual Practice
Eye gazing is a powerful, ancient practice in which two people engage in a shared meditation practice during which eye contact is maintained for an extended period of time. Eye gazing is usually done for about ten minutes at a time, although it can certainly be any duration preferred.
Eye gazing can be used to access past life information, promote healing, connect to your higher self, guides, or angels, and almost anything else you can imagine. The eyes are the windows to our soul, and our soul is the singularity that connects us to everything else: the Universe, Source, God, the Divine. Eye gazing is also a profound manifesting tool we can use to further develop our ‘spiritual muscles,’ so to speak.
Before you include eye gazing in your spiritual practice, I recommend you read my previous blog on the essentials of eye gazing. Once you are more familiar with the basics, you can also apply the following guidelines to your eye gazing practice.
To use eye gazing for a specific purpose, you must set a clear intention beforehand, and then hold that intention throughout the gaze. You hold an intention by simply keeping a gentle awareness in the back of your mind that what you are seeing during the gaze is relevant to your intention, and trusting that whatever comes forward is always relevant.
It’s important not to simultaneously hold any expectations about what you’re going to see, or to resist anything that comes up spontaneously, just because you don’t immediately see its relevance or connection to your intention. Keep an open mind and be flexible and accepting in the flow of your gazing experience.
If you’re gazing alone, sit comfortably in front of a mirror, take a few centering breaths, and then state your intention out loud. I prefer to speak aloud in my spiritual practice whenever possible, as words are energy forms and therefore add a ‘weight’ to our prayer requests, intentions, and affirmations. State your intention out loud and ask Spirit to provide insight around this intention. Use language that feels right for you.