spiritual practice
Open-Minded Curiosity Is The Key To A Happy, Healthy Life
A client asked the other day how I keep my immunity up during these challenging times, and if there is anything special one can do to stay mentally healthy. My answer was simple. You simply need to keep an open mind, and have passion for life.
Working with spirit has taught me over the years to live my life wholeheartedly, with daily gratitude, and with an open mind and a healthy curiosity. I am always eager to learn and experience new things. We are not meant to be constantly stuck in a rut, nor spend our lives in mediocre stagnation.
Just the other day, a friend told me that she thought I am the most imaginative and adventurous person she has ever met. I am always so optimistic and upbeat, she said, and she gets energy from me just by spending time with me.
She has also witnessed how positive things happen in my life through my spiritual practices. For example, I use certain crystals, visualizations and affirmations to bring about real change in my life – not only for myself, but also for others.
The more we are open-minded to explore new horizons, and learn new things, the more we allow positive, creative new energies to enter our reality, empowering us to achieve things that we otherwise wouldn’t – especially when we just sit around doing nothing.
Finding Your Spiritual Center In A Chaotic World
If you were to ask me how I see the world we currently live in, my honest response would be that we seem to be in a state of mass confusion. There is much misinformation, upheaval, conflicting reports, fake news and conspiracy theories these days. And most of us seem to be struggling trying to find our balance amid all this chaos.
Herein lies the problem: how do we reconcile what we are being told by so many contradictory sources, when it conflicts with our own personal beliefs, thoughts and feelings? Do we trust ourselves enough from our inner guidance system, to assess what is right and true for us, even if it does not match the opinions of others?
Are you the type of individual that will always follow the agenda set out before you, even though at times it leaves you with feelings of doubt? Or perhaps you are a person who makes your choices strictly led by your own beliefs, intuition and spiritual awareness?
The only reasonable approach to any threatening situation at hand is to pay more attention to what you are honestly thinking, and how you are feeling, and how you choose to deal with trying events, rather than obsessing about what may, or may not happen.
It would make things much simpler if we could simply hide away in some cave for a while, or live on a desert island, until all the turmoil blows over. However, here is the catch, if these troublesome circumstances and events in current affairs finally find a way to resolve themselves, how do we prepare for the next time?
Meditation Is For Everyone
Meditation can easily be a part of your daily life. It is a simple spiritual practice. What is difficult is to change one’s habits.
There are many variants of meditation, some of which you probably know and may have tried. If so, you may have discovered that the difficulties many of us face, when attempting to adopt meditation as a spiritual practice, are usually not related to the meditation itself. More often we are ‘fighting’ with our own minds. We are competing within, for the control, or the freedom of our mind.
Our enemies in this context are short-term rewards: leisure activities, such as watching TV, browsing social media, snacking, or anything that helps our neurons remain lazy. In these activities, attention is scattered and unfocused.
The mind thus learns to be ‘random.’ One could compare this state of mind to the behavior of a wild monkey. This restlessness has no practical purpose – it is just ‘noise.’ And it is happening all the time. We may feel we are actually doing something, but we are just passing the time.
Meditation puts a stop to this unnecessary mental activity. Although in meditation, one does not actively seek to stop thinking, one tries to generate the conditions in which thought is reduced, and the mind now merely observes whatever is happening: an idea, a feeling, a sensation. It is all just observed.
Harmonizing The Energy Flow Of Money
When I was younger, I never thought of money as being spiritual or metaphysical in any way. I never considered the possibility that our financial prosperity, or lack thereof, may be somehow connected to our thoughts, feelings and beliefs about it. Even after studying business, and working as an accountant for many years, I never saw the correlation. It wasn’t until I began to explore the spiritual aspect of my life, that I became aware of this link.
I became the sole income provider in my home, after my divorce. At this time, I began to look more deeply into my beliefs and associations with money. If you personally relate to my experience during those difficult days, you will also understand what it feels like to be totally overwhelmed when you are experiencing many new obstacles in your life to financial security and cash flow.
Fortunately, there has always been a logical and practical part of myself that kicks in when I’m faced with big challenges and difficult choices, especially around financial decisions. This instinctive part of me is a natural default from my years as an accountant and mortgage finance consultant.
When my inner accountant comes out, I look at the logical side of things and rationally reason my decisions. Then, on other occasions, the spiritually aware, intuitive part of me knows that if I am overly stressed and worried about money, I block my own energy flow from the Source of all things abundant. I have often also seen that my creative process and artwork doesn’t flow freely when I become too worried about finances – I just paint ‘mud.’
So, how do we find balance between our logical, human need for material security, and the intuitive, spiritual aspect of our soul that finds it easy to trust the unknown? How do we find that balance?
Our Healing Circle Of Cats
I belong to a healing meditation group for women. We gather in a circle and discuss the past week’s goings on, and also direct healing energy to anyone who needs it. Many of the members in the group are lightworkers. Some of them may not have been aware of the true extent of their spiritual abilities, when they first joined the group, but as they continued attending they learned many things to open up, expand, and develop their spiritual gifts and talents.
Our most recent gathering was especially interesting to me. As usual, we were passing the ‘talking stick’ around. This custom comes from an ancient Native-American tradition of tribal democracy. The talking stick is passed around in the group, enabling the group members to speak in turn.
The first lady to share was a very wise women, and of the kindest people I have ever met. She talked about rude one of her family members were to her recently, for no reason at all. She also shared how she “about had it” with her brother. He is constantly criticizing her, and looking down his nose at her. Apparently, he feels she doesn’t live a ‘normal life’ and he does not appreciate, among other things, her work as a Reiki practitioner and an energy healer.
A few other women then also shared stories of their unfortunate dealings with family and friends, who were very judgmental and condescending about their spiritual interests and practices.
When it came to be my turn to share, I was very open about how I had decided I was not going to attend an upcoming family wedding, because the father of the relative getting married is a very bigoted and unpleasant man,. He is racist, has no respect for anyone, and is very controlling. Simply put – he is a hater.
Reconnecting With Source In Uncertain Times
In uncertain times, it sometimes feels as though it is difficult simply to put one foot in front of the other, in order to get through each day. With so many stressors and concerns on the horizon, the hours can be consumed with worry and fear.
Although it is absolutely necessary for our survival to think ahead, plan and develop contingencies where necessary, it is also equally as important to carve out some time to meditate, dream or create, even if it is only for just a few minutes each day.
It can be truly rejuvenating to withdraw for a few moments into a serene state, where anything is possible and order prevails. If you can get out into nature to do this, all the better! If not, then use the mind’s beautiful power of visualization to surround yourself with the idyllic scenery of your choosing.
To get started, practice deep breathing to calm your thinking and relax your body. Do not worry if your mind becomes distracted. Just bring your focus back to your breathing, and enjoy the environment that you have created. If you are not in the habit of daily meditation, it might seem as though your mind never remains still, but the ability to stay focused for a little longer during each session will come in time.
When you have achieved a sense of relative peace and tranquility, call on your healing Angels and Guides. Ask them to quiet your mind and heal your body. Ask them to show you the full scope of your issues and help you find the answers that will work best for you, and everyone else concerned. Ask them to guide, guard and protect your friends, family members, neighbors and co-workers, to reduce their worry and help them to make wise decisions.
Yesterday, Today And Tomorrow
A loyal client recently asked me to send her one of the guided meditations in my collection. I have collected many over the years, and she experienced several of them in a meditation class I used to offer. She said she was planning to start a small meditation group of her own, and would be happy with whichever meditation I chose to share with her.
I sincerely wished to help her, and therefore wanted to choose carefully. So, on my walk this morning, along a path lined with olive trees, I asked my guides for a sign or symbol of what script would best help her get going with her guided meditation venture.
Well, Spirit never ceases to surprise me. The ‘sign’ was almost instant, and prominent. Out of nowhere, I suddenly smelled the exquisite scent of the ‘Yesterday Today and Tomorrow’ plant (Brunfelsia). I immediately knew exactly which meditation to send my client.
Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow Meditation
Sit in a comfortable chair and close your eyes. With your eyelids closed, glance upwards for a few moments, directing your eyes towards the heavens. This is helpful in relaxing your eyes and also symbolic in connecting with Spirit.
Now, take several deep breaths and, as you do so, relax your head in a downward position. Allow your eyeballs to relax downwards too, whilst still keeping your eyelids gently closed.