selflessness
Energy Awareness Is The Foundation Of Self-Care
As sentient spirit beings in human form we are constantly interacting with the energies of other people. This energy exchange can be a very positive, uplifting experience, or very toxic and draining.
Those of us who are empowered empaths or highly intuitive can typically discern if someone’s vibes are one way, or the other. Healthy or unhealthy. We usually know what kind of incoming energy we are dealing with.
But if this energy awareness does not come naturally to you, it is vital you develop your ability to discern the difference, because there is always an energy exchange whenever we interact with others. For this reason, I often encourage my clients, who are struggling with their energy balance and maintaining boundaries, to practice meditation and do related energy healing and protection work.
An unhealthy type of energy exchange that I frequently assist people with is when they have someone in their life who is narcissistic, entitled, toxic, or has a victim mentality. For example, just this week I helped someone who has been entangled in a deeply stressful, draining connection with a friend who was constantly placing her in the uncomfortable position of having to play therapist, counselor, and nursemaid.
It’s one thing to sometimes be there for a partner, friend or relative when they are going through a difficult time and need some support. But it is quite another when it becomes a constant, on a daily basis, with no apparent end in sight! Enough already. It is also pointless to try and support someone else with their mental health challenges when your own well-being begins to suffer because of it.
Judgment Limits Your Soul Growth
So, let’s try a different attitude just for today – just so we can experience what it’s like to exist on a higher spiritual frequency and how good it feels to be connected to God, Source, Spirit, Higher Intelligence, the Divine.
To help bring yourself into spiritual alignment and to be a healthier, happier human being, mentally, psychically and spiritually, simply let go of analyzing and evaluating others. The only reason we do this is usually because we are trying to cover up the misalignments in our own life.
When we constantly criticize and judge ourselves and others, we are essentially keeping ourselves trapped in a life on low, shallow energy altitudes. Hence we hinder our soul from achieving wonderful growth.
Some of the unhealthiest, most miserable people I know tend to always judge. They constantly feel the need to analyze and pass judgment on others, and what is worse they often judge themselves much more severely! I mean, if you can’t see it in their aura, you can definitely see it in their face. The eyes are indeed the windows to the soul.
When we have sincere faith in a higher power we simply do not feel the need to constantly judge ourselves and others. When we judge others we only hurt and limit ourselves. Judgment, intolerance and fear hinder our soul growth. So, just for today try a less judgmental attitude. You just might like it! You may even find it’s better to live this way every single day for the rest of your lifetime.
Life is simply too short and precious to spend it indulging in so much judgment and negativity. So, stop blocking yourself from being the best version of you. Do not analyze and evaluate yourself and leave others in peace to deal with their own karma.
The Universal Power Of Prayer
Prayer has become a loaded, even triggering concept in spirituality. The modern notion of this practice has become religified and somewhat sanctimonious. It has mostly been appropriated by dogmatic, organized religion and too often assumed to only belong to the chosen, privileged few.
In my experience, prayer is in fact both a divine gift and universal law that belongs to us all, no matter what our particular spiritual or metaphysical beliefs may be. We all receive what we pray for, both spiritually and on a secular basis. And we all pray in different ways.
Prayer follows the path of least resistance, and the Universe abhors a vacuum. If our heart and mind are in the right place, prayer always works. We get what we pray for. The downside of getting what we pray for requires carefully choosing what we pray for. Time and time again, throughout history, this choosing has caused generations of clean-up. The karmic cleanup is not often successful, because we have not been willing to understand the hindrance of ulterior motives and hidden agendas. Spirit knows all, and there is nothing truly hidden or secret.
So, yes, we do get what we pray for, but we need to also be careful when we pray, because karma is also a Universal Law. We must always pray bearing in mind the Universal Law of Cause and Effect, the Golden Rule: as we give, so we receive.
One does not need to be a scientific genius to understand the basic concept of vibratory energy frequency and how it determines what we attract and impacts the quality of our life. A ‘vibe’ is either low or high. This does not only apply to us as individuals, but also to the collective vibrations of our families, communities, nations, as well as the collective frequency of the entire planet, which has been changing significantly in recent times.
Using The Mandala In Your Spiritual Practice
Years ago, I taught a class on sacred geometry. My favorite section of the class was related to using mandalas as a tool for the inward journey and I would like to share this practice with you.
When using a mandala as a form of meditation you begin by creating a large circle. I have always found it easier to start with a graph based on concentric circles, but others start with just a circle and their imagination or intuition. Start at the outer edge of the circle to begin your session and work your way around the outer edge. Gradually work your way to the center of the mandala – this represents the inward journey.
We start by creating patterns and designs on the outside of the circle. This is the largest part of the circle and represents the universe. Understanding the expansiveness of the universe we can feel very small and insignificant, so it is important to move inward to find our grounding within the cosmos.
As we move inward in our mandala we contemplate our planet, then our country or large group of people we identify with the most. For many people this can be a religious tradition. We then move to contemplating our acquaintances, family, and friends.
Towards the center many mandala meditators will create four sides, or a square that leads to the center of his or her mandala. These four sides represent the four cardinal points, South, West, North, and East.
The Key To Happiness Is Self-Care
The most important thing we can do in life is to take good care of ourselves, because this is the only way we can truly be of service to others. Although this may seem counterintuitive, to be most effective we must take some time to put ourselves first and treat ourselves with more love and kindness. The demands of family, friends, career, business and our community are absolutely necessary to attend to, but the gift of self-care must also be given to ourselves.
People tend to believe they have no time for proper self-care. This is often because they have too many unnecessary, self-assigned duties on their plate. There is no point in worrying about all the things that one cannot effectively change. Some issues should be left to sort themselves out over time. Others are not worth the effort or stress in the greater scheme of things.
The trick is to tell the difference between what is within our control and truly our responsibility, and what can be disregarded or delayed. We must prioritize the issues that matter most, and focus our energy on what we can solve or change. This frees up time for taking better care of yourself.
Regardless of how simple or extravagant our self-care activities might be, it is vital to feel that there is a mini-escape from the pressure-ridden demands of our life. For example, whether it is a quick stretch, or a solid workout, keep your body moving to the best of your ability. It doesn’t take long to feel revitalized, so make the most of whatever time you have.
To Lie, To Live, To Believe
Our brains are naturally wired to recognize patterns, find connections between seemingly unrelated things, and draw analytical conclusions from our observations. We all use this ability every day without even knowing it.
It is a talent we inherited from our ancient ancestors. Professor Robert C. Barkman explains that “pattern recognition was key to the survival of our Neanderthal ancestors, allowing them to identify poisonous plants, distinguish predator from prey, and interpret celestial events. Today, pattern recognition plays new, but just as important roles in diagnosing diseases, inspiring new ways to safeguard data, and discovering new planets.”
This amazing ability is however seldom mentioned or considered in spiritual and metaphysical circles. But Spirit has over the years guided me towards greater spiritual insight and metaphysical understanding by taking me on interesting journeys of analysis and pattern recognition towards profound insights and relevations.
For example, while meditating during Easter a few weeks ago, my guides took me ‘down a rabbit hole’ on the decisive word believe. The first insight I discovered was that right in the middle of the word ‘believe’ there hides another, more disheartening little word: lie.
Of course, ‘believe’ is a good word. It is the cornerstone to faith and living a spiritually empowered life. But the hidden word ‘lie’ inside it reminds us that we must also have a living faith for it to be authentic and powerful. And, if you drop the letter ‘v’ into ‘lie,’ it becomes the word ‘live.’
The Mystical Tale Of The Lovers Card
I have made an illuminating discovery regarding the Lovers card in the Tarot. In all the years I have been practicing cartomancy, I never realized certain aspects of this card’s mytsical symbolism and its portrayal of the healing power of divine love.
In the classic Rider-Waite rendition, it is commonly accepted the card merely depicts an archetypal Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, with a scheming serpent lurking behind Eve and the majestic figure of an angel looming overhead. Recently, I learned from a psychic colleague’s podcast that the angelic figure portrayed in the in card in fact represents the Archangel Raphael. I’ve always been fascinated by Raphael, the angelic healer of minds, bodies and souls.
Raphael is first mentioned the ancient Hebrew apocalyptic book of Enoch, as well as the deuterocanonical book of Tobit. Also known as the apocrypha, the deuterocanonical books are not traditionally included in Protestant and Jewish canonical texts, but it is recognized in the Roman Catholic and Orthodox traditions.
The book of Tobit relays the story of a blind man named Tobit and his son Tobias, whom he sends to retrieve an investment of silver he had deposited in a town in Media in north-western Iran. With the protection and guidance of the angel Raphael, Tobias arrives along his journey in Ecbatana, the capitol of Media, where he meets a young woman named Sarah.
Sarah is in utter despair and praying for death, as she has already lost seven husbands. Each of her lovers had been murdered on their wedding night by the demon Asmodeus, who is obsessively in love with her. Angel Raphael encourages Tobias to marry Sarah and then helps him to defeat the homicidal demon.
