toxic environment
My Past Life Nightmare In Hexham, England
My friends have a running joke that no event with me can ever be just a normal, everyday experience. Such was my notorious visit to Hexham, England.
I used to have a friend for many years who I knew to be kind and generous. She is a talented singer and we met while performing in a musical together. We were never close friends. Instead, we kept in contact and exchanged birthday presents, but rarely talked or saw each other in person.
At one point she was going through a difficult time. She had ended several friendships, was feeling lonely, had financial problems, and desperately hoped to meet a special guy. Then she invited me to take a special trip with her to Hexham, England. She owned an international timeshare and offered to use it for the two of us for our holiday accommodation in Hexham. Although we shared the costs, she also insisted on handling all the flight bookings, transportation and other arrangements. We had a very good relationship, so it never occurred to me that all of this might later become a major issue between us.
It was a long, 13-hour flight. When we arrived at the airport, sniffer dogs held back by airport employees ran up to us with rabid looks in their eyes. They were barking loudly; it was really terrifying. Neither one of us drank, used drugs, or had ever committed any crime. In fact, she is a devote Seventh Day Adventist. So, being targeted by security dogs was an out of the norm experience for us. The customs officials took us into a backroom and thoroughly searched our baggage. I have also never experienced this before. Of course, they found nothing. I was later informed that do not often receive American visitors in Hexham, so they were therefore instantly suspicious about us.
We then found a taxi and transferred to our timeshare accommodation. To make matters worse, our visit was during an outbreak in the area of Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), also known as ‘mad cow disease.’ Everywhere we went our shoes and the wheels of the vehicles we travelled in had to be sanitized with some awful, toxic spray. Not a fun way to start a vacation.
Less Stress, More Meditation
We do our best to not be in a state of constant stress, toxic environments and unhealthy situations. We try so hard to keep our life in a state of contentment and happiness.
We intuitively know that if we keep our stress levels down, we sleep better and we think more clearly. Being in a state of zen is our original state.
When we are at peace, we are more able to hear that inner voice telling us what to do, and not do. It is what I call our inner GPS. We can hear it much more clearly when I we are centered and grounded, and not stressing.
I have found that only through meditation can I fully achieve this state of ‘less stress’ in my life. Of course, we can never eliminate stress completely, but meditation does empower me to achieve that state of contentment more easily.
After many years of practice, I can even achieve this within a few moments by simply focusing on my breath. But it is best when I take a good 30 minutes to go through my meditative steps. This includes breathwork and visualizing my body relaxing from my toes to top of my head.
During my destressing meditation I also take some time to send out love, light and peace to everyone that I know and love, including those who I don’t necessarily like very much. I also visualize the things I want to manifest in my life.
De-Cluttering For Body, Mind & Spirit
For me the average household chore is only temporarily rewarding, because before you know it, the serenity which comes from the cleanliness and order you’ve just created is short lived. Dust and chaos return in a flash!
On the other hand, I find ‘de-cluttering’ much more rewarding, and more so knowing that a lot of ‘stuff’ not used in a while is either going to someone who can use it, or to help in raising funds for one of the animal charities I support.
More frequently these days, people are adopting a minimalist feng shui approach to furnishing their homes – and also in other areas of their lives – because somewhere deep down we all long for the space and lack of gadgets and stuff that our forefathers managed quite happily without.
Much has been brought to our TV screens these days in the way of reality shows about compulsive hoarding, bringing awareness about how the obsession of accumulating a vast amount of things is actually an emotional issue, rather than one of material usefulness.
Advances of modern civilization are generally limited to the material. So, our spiritual and mental progress hasn’t kept up with the material, hence people’s anguished stories, which I feel is accentuated because their spiritual development hasn’t kept up with their worldly achievements.
The benefit of clearing out that which no longer serves us helps in two major ways:
Staying In The Light
More and more of my clients are telling me these days how they must deal with a lot of negative people and toxicity around them. Many of us are struggling to stay in the light in these dark times.
What does it mean to stay in the light? It is the metaphysical ability or spiritual power to be around energy vampires and greedy, cruel, toxic people, and still being able to stay sane, sober, happy and positive, despite all the negative vibes around you.
We are all sensitive to other people’s energy, but most people are not aware of this fact. Many people come home from work or school, drained, depressed, sad, or angry. They often do not realize that they have picked up other people’s negative energies and toxic vibes.
To protect our aura from toxic people and energy vampires, it is vital that we cultivate a regular spiritual practice and daily energy self-care habits that help shield us from negative influences and make us impervious to the unwelcome vibes around us.
Meditate. A daily meditation or visualization to expand your aura and increase the intensity of light in your personal energy field can make a world of difference in your general well-being and mental health. If you are inexperienced, simply start by listening to guided meditations. There are many easy-to-use streaming apps available for this purpose.
Avoid. It is essential to avoid negativity and toxicity by not engaging in gossip, negative conversations, fearmongering, and the spreading of rumors. Engaging in such negativity, that can potentially harm others energetically, often has a boomerang effect that will come back to haunt you. Our words have power and they carry their own energy vibrations. Instead, be kind, compassionate and tolerant, watch what you say, stay positive, and mind your own business.
Sanitize. Staying in the light means not only keeping your tongue clean, but also your mind. Carefully choose what you read, watch and listen to, and be selective about who you hang out with and what you choose to focus your attention on.
Cleanse Your Chakras With The Water Wheel
The chakras are the energy centers of the body and they sometimes become imbalanced or blocked due to toxic energy influences and negative emotions like fear, envy, anger or lust. When this blockage occurs we tend to feel ‘bogged down with no energy to get to where we want to be, be it mentally, physically or emotionally. A chakra cleansing helps to open the door for that built up energy in the affected chakra areas to dissipate.
Working with clients who request chakra readings I like to use an energy cleansing technique I invented that I call ‘The Water Wheel.’ Water is a great cleanser. Its fluidity and continuity makes it one of humanity’s most formidable allies or our worst enemy, depending on how Mother Nature chooses to express herself. Our bodies consist of 98% water and similar to the cycle of the ocean’s tides we are subconsciously also very ‘moved’ by the power of water.
The Water Wheel exercise signifies motion. It goes in a circle, but it also goes forward within that circle. The Water Wheel cleanses the chakras with the motion of water and the movement of the wheel. The Water Wheel is a visualization exercise in which you go from one chakra to the next and mentally see the colors of each as colored water. The key is create vivid visualizations and to practice, practice, practice!
The base or root chakra is associated with the color red, the sacral or naval chakra with orange, the solar plexus with yellow, the heart with green, the throat with blue, the third eye or brow chakra with indigo, and the crown chakra with violet. It is these colors one has to focus on during the Water Wheel chakra cleansing.
The colored water that you see at each chakra point should reflect the color that corresponds to that chakra. For example, when you start at the root chakra you would visualize bright red water and as you move to the sacral chakra the water would turn to a brilliant orange.
Energy Protection For Children
I just did a phone reading for client who said she was feeling as if “the life force has been sucked” from her, after she received an unexpected call from a former work associate.
In hindsight, she says, this individual had always had this effect on her when they used to work together in the corporate field many years ago. She didn’t actually put two and two together at the time, but now she realizes that it was him who used to constantly drain her energy at work. At the time, she simply put it down to work stress and exhaustion.
She was surprised to realize that, even over the phone, certain individuals have that ability to drain us! We then discussed how she could even better protect herself psychically and shield her energy field from this former colleague and other energy thieves she may encounter in life.
An interesting aspect of energy protection and psychic shielding that is seldom considered is how children are affected by the people they connect with in life. Children are exposed to various social settings and energy environments that could be toxic and negatively affect their energetic well-being.
The veterinarian I rely on for my pets told me last week that he finds his work overwhelming at times. He feels it is due to the human owners of the pets, rather than the animals themselves.
At times, he says, he finds some pet owners really exhausting, as they bring both their anxieties about their pets, plus their own personal concerns with them. I could sense what kind of clients he had been dealing with to make him feel this way and believe me it was not a pretty sight!
He then asked me about his own two sons who are growing up now and how he could advise them to shield themselves in the future from the energy drain of people, and even social media. This made me think of the increasing number of clients who have been asking me the same question. How can I protect my child from people their energy, should they find themselves in a toxic environment?
The Healing Embrace Of Mother Nature
Throughout my life, especially during the most difficult times, the one thing I have always been able to count on is Mother Nature. Gaia, the Great Mother, has always served me well.
I grew up in California, where there is an abundance of water: water falls, creeks, rivers, lakes and the spectacular Pacific Ocean. I had quick and easy access to hiking paths, and other adventures and recreational activities in the great outdoors. In fact, next to dance, hiking was my favorite form of exercise in my teenage years.
When times are difficult, I have always sought out nature. It is so much easier to block out other people’s negativity when all you can see is God’s magnificent creation. It’s divine intent, joy, beauty, harmony, balance, and timelessness.
In the arms of Mother Nature, there is the freedom to tune out all the noise and toxic energy of others…and just hear the voice of Go. It helps you to center yourself, and clear out the negative energy and drama other people sometimes bring into your life.
I find that those of us who live in large cities and urban areas are more likely to get swallowed up by the negative energy of others. We can simply not get away from it in our daily lives. Going back to a home every day, where there is still a lot of radiation and traffic noise, will not let you heal or reenergize.
We all need to take the time to hear our inner voice. No cars, no talking, no noise. Just our own thoughts and inner guidance. We must make time to just hear the voice of spirit within. Otherwise, the voice of the ego that we hear in our head becomes toxic with negative self-talk.
God’s natural world is a temple of healing, a shrine of grace, a sanctuary for the burdened soul. This is why nature must also be protected. By protecting nature, we are protecting God. Mature is a gift to us from Source. It belongs to all of us, including future generations.