self-actualization
Give Yourself Permission To Be Happy!
My life would be great if only… I had more money… he would come back to me.. I can find a better job… I can reach my goal weight.
How many times have you heard such statements? How many times have you told yourself something like this? Is it truly the answer to lasting happiness? What if there was a way to train your brain to accept life and live your best in the meantime?
As a hypnotherapist, my experience has been that when any suggestion is put into the mind, the subconscious will accept the information, whether it is true or false.
Whatever a person chooses to tell themselves enough times becomes their truth. The information becomes a habit to believe the suggestion. Some habits are good and some not so good. A bad habit needs to be replaced with a good one.
Why not take all the positive steps needed to live your best in the meantime… while waiting for the wishes to come true. There are many ways to retrain the brain, just as there are many ways to travel to a destination.
Some people like the fastest route, while other like the scenic route, in order to see the sights along the way. It doesn’t really matter what route you take. What does matter is that you truly have the belief that you can reach the destination, and allow yourself to enjoy the ride in the meantime.
The Hidden Blessing Of Dysfunctional Parents
For those of us who grew up with dysfunctional or abusive parents, the journey of healing is not a straight path. It twists and turns through shadows of anger, grief, and longing.
But, within this curse always lies a paradoxical hidden blessing or two. Even the most wounded parents can be our teachers and a source of inspiration, not because of what they gave us, but because of what they could not.
Yes, dysfunctional and abusive parents can be an inspiration. Not in the sentimental sense of gratitude for their suffering, but in the clear-eyed recognition that their brokenness became the rich soil in which your awareness grew.
A damaged parent can inspire you to live more consciously, to love with intention, and to stop the cycle of ancestral pain that shaped them and you.
They can inspire you to use their example as a guide for what not to do, what not to say, and who not to become.
Their absence of nurturing can ignite within you the sacred resolve to be present and compassionate. Their harshness can awaken your gentleness. Their coldness can teach you warmth. The rejection you endured can remind you daily to make every person you love feel safe, seen, and cherished!
Even if your parents were never healed, you can be. Even if they never awakened, you can awaken. Their story does not have to become your destiny. You can use their limitations as fuel to create something better, purer, and truer.
A Message To Those Who’ve Lost Their Light
The other night, before going to bed, I quietly spoke to my deceased grandfather. I asked him to help me find the right words. Something to bring hope and comfort to so many of my clients who’ve been feeling lost, weighed down, or tired of carrying their pain.
I asked him, “Please, Grandpa, show me what to say. Help me give them what their hearts need most.”
That night, I dreamed. But it wasn’t just a dream. It was a visitation. The air around me grew still and was filled with a golden glow that felt like peace and love. From that light, my grandfather appeared.
He didn’t look the way I remembered him from his later years, but he looked strong, bright, and full of calm energy. His eyes held the same gentle understanding he always had, but it was deeper, almost eternal.
He smiled and said softly, “I heard you. I’m here.”
Then he said, “If there’s a dream or passion that still burns inside you, don’t let it fade. That spark within you was placed there by something greater than yourself. Even when the world feels dark, your light hasn’t gone out. It’s only waiting for you to rise again.”
He looked at me, and I could feel the weight of his words, as if they were wrapped in love.
“Don’t let anyone steal your sparkle,” he said. “There will always be voices that doubt you or make you question your worth, but their disbelief can’t touch what’s divine within you. The light in your spirit is stronger than their shadows.”
Reclaiming The Voice Of Your Inner Child
I always sing with my yoga students at the end of class. I used to work in the entertainment industry as a singer, dancer, and actress. Because of that, I feel confident singing in front of people.
Growing up, I was always full of joy despite my dysfunctional and rather glum family. Of course, they didn’t appreciate my natural exuberance. They certainly didn’t like that I sang all the time because it represented a lightness of being they had long since given up on.
Like many dysfunctional families, they put me down all the time. They told me that I couldn’t sing and that I sounded awful. But, as with all the other negative, hurtful things they tried to convince me of, I did not believe them.
I kept singing anyway, which irked them. I continued to sing and dance, and I even wrote, produced, directed, and starred in my own musical when I was eleven.
Now I’m not saying I had a good voice as a kid. I really don’t know if I did. But, loving to sing, some voice lessons and lots of joy certainly helped me become a relatively good singer.
One day, after my yoga class, a student came up to me and told me I had a beautiful voice. I thanked her. I often have people compliment my singing voice after class.
The student then told me her family told her she had a bad singing voice when she was a child so she stopped singing. She then mentioned other abuses she received by her cruel family.
Tarot Forecast October 2025: The Chariot
As October sweeps in, the energy of The Chariot rises to meet us, urging each of us to take the reins of our personal journey with confidence and clarity.
This is not a month for hesitation or self-doubt. Instead, it is a time to summon your inner strength, align with your highest goals, and move forward with steady intention. The Chariot’s energy is bold and determined. It tells us that while the road ahead may present obstacles, we are more than capable of overcoming them if we stay focused, balanced, and true to our course.
The Chariot speaks of momentum. It asks us to step into the driver’s seat of our lives and actively steer toward our desired destination. This isn’t about bulldozing our way forward; rather, it’s about controlled, conscious progress.
Challenges may arise this month that test our will, trigger emotional pulls in opposite directions, or demand tough decisions. Yet within these trials lies an opportunity: to deepen our self-mastery, strengthen our resolve, and refine our alignment with our personal truth.
Spiritually, The Chariot reminds us that true power comes from within. The balance between instinct and logic, emotion and thought, is crucial now. This month, we are invited to integrate these dual forces rather than be ruled by one or the other.
Think of The Chariot not as a call to charge ahead blindly, but as a sacred reminder that our journey is just as important as our destination. Progress is possible, and with conscious effort, it is inevitable.
The Simple Secret To Building Real Confidence
Building your confidence can feel vague or out of reach, like something you’re supposed to just know how to do, but often we don’t.
The typical advice is to do affirmations, spoken aloud or posted around your home, along with journaling and gratitude practices.
While these practices can help us cultivate things like intuitive awareness, inner peace or emotional balance, they aren’t always the most effective confidence builders.
There is one essential step we must take if we want to build genuine, lasting confidence. That step is action.
It’s easy to wait for confidence to arrive like a bolt of lightning, expecting it to empower us and prepare us to finally walk the empowered path of our dreams.
But the reality is that confidence doesn’t simply appear before the journey begins. It actually grows as we move forward.
Taking action can feel intimidating. You may not feel ready. You might believe you need more time, more clarity, or more skills. But readiness doesn’t magically arrive.
Change begins when we choose to take action, even if it’s imperfect. Manifestation requires more than thought and feeling. It calls for aligned, inspired action.
False Education Appearing Real (F.E.A.R)
I love the acronym F.E.A.R. (False Education Appearing Real) since we all have people, circumstances, phobias and so forth, that can put us into that space.
Fear is an instance of emotion that is triggered by the awareness, or anticipation of danger. It can also become a state of being. Excluding clinical fears, needing professional help, there are many fears we simply impose upon ourselves as a result of life experiences.
One of my fears is acrophobia, the fear of heights. When I get within five feet from the edge of a rooftop, I begin to shake.
Climbing 30 foot ladders has me nervous and when I hiked to the pinnacle of the mountain of Macchu Picchu in 2004, I could not take those last six nervous steps onto the plateau pinnacle rock. This was partly being due to a few other tourists already sharing the rock… and I am a little “accident prone.”
Although I was invited by my partner and the guide, I leaned against the rock debating my fear, shaking a little at the prospect and wishing that I could take those final steps, as I might regret it after I hiked down. Part of me did regret not taking those last steps when we got back to the base.
Yet, a bigger part of me knew I had to acknowledge the feelings in the moment, and since I am not a regular exerciser, I already had accomplished something tremendous by taking the hike to the top and back down the back side of the mountain. On the way I enjoyed the magnificent views and spiritual energy for several hours. Continue reading