It’s All About Awareness

How can you make a change if you aren’t aware that an issue exists in the first place?

For example, you want to lose 10 pounds for an upcoming high school reunion. However, unless you change your diet or exercise routine, the scale isn’t going to budge.

One day you are talking to a friend and she mentions an easy-to-use app that you can download right onto your smartphone and will track your diet and exercise routine. Who knew that such a simple meal tracking app could reveal so much information?!

It’s now clear exactly why you haven’t been able to lose weight: you always thought nuts were a healthy option, but the half a cup of peanuts you eat every afternoon for a snack has 400 calories; your favorite restaurant salad—filled with vegetables!—has over 1,000 calories when you add the ranch dressing; even your daily smoothie that you make in morning before work has more sugar than a candy bar. But now you can see exactly what you’ve been doing, so now you know how to fix it. Pretty soon your jeans are zipping up again.

Now that you’re able to see exactly what you have been eating, you can take steps to fix it…and when that high school reunion rolls around next month, the dress you haven’t worn in years will fit perfectly.

It’s all about awareness.

What would you like to change about yourself?

Are you tired of how often you find yourself yelling at your partner? You don’t consider yourself an angry person, so why are you constantly acting like one?

Perhaps you find you are turning green with envy whenever you see your friend with her new boyfriend. You aren’t the jealous type, or are you?

Or maybe you are mired in credit card debt and have no idea how to pull yourself together financially. Well, there’s only one way to find out: focus your attention in that direction and then you’ll be able to see what you have to do to fix it.

For example, you’re in debt, but you’ve never really examined what you’re spending money on. If you don’t face reality, you’ll never realize that you’re over-indulging in shopping and using it as therapy. Don’t beat yourself up over what you’ve done in the past. Find a compassionate friend who’s good with numbers who can help you see what you’ve done and the best way to move forward.

What is it about your friend with the new boyfriend that turns you into the green-eyed monster of jealousy? Is it the fact she still wears a size 4 dress while you are struggling to lose the baby weight a year later? Or are you envious of the sparkle in her and her boyfriend’s eyes when they look at each other—and thinking about how that passion translates into their sex life?

Try writing down in a journal or jotting a note on your phone every time you find yourself getting jealous of her—or anyone else!

Acknowledge your jealousy. Once you “own” your jealousy, it will gradually loosen its hold on you. Go easy on yourself: you’re human and humans get jealous (it’s a natural emotion). However, once you understand what triggers your jealousy, it will start to change on its own.

You can also avoid situations that you know will trigger you; there’s a reason why alcoholics that join AA don’t hang out in bars anymore and, if they do, they tell the bartender they are “a friend of Bill”.

What about the anger at your partner? Is it really his or her fault? Or are you projecting your personal frustrations onto them? Part of focusing your attention on the aspect of yourself you’d like to change is taking responsibility. Yes, your partner may do some inconsiderate things that annoy you, but where is your response coming from?

You might ask a good friend who knows both of you to tell you honestly what they see in your relationship that you might not be seeing. You might go to a therapist or counselor to get some perspective on the situation. If you don’t pay attention and find out what inside you is causing that reaction, your relationship, and future ones, may implode.

Change is difficult. We all get stuck in the status quo—after all, it’s comfortable, it’s easy, a state that you understand. But when you are stagnant — yet, expecting change — you’ll only drive yourself insane. As a spiritual teacher, I see this all the time. A new student is seeking personal transformation and wants to learn to live in a higher state of consciousness, but can’t seem to find 20 minutes a day to meditate—every day. Consistency is the motor of change.

Attention puts your car on the right road, and consistency drives it to your destination. And laughter is the fuel. Don’t take yourself so seriously! You are perfect as you are, and the transformation you seek will simply give you better access to your indwelling spirit. So love yourself as you are right now, focus on the aspects of your lower self—your anger, jealousy, greed, whatever—that you want to transform, find the direction you need to pursue, do what you need to do on a regular basis, and laugh a lot along the way.

Remember, you are perfect as you are, and the transformation you seek will simply give you better access to your indwelling spirit. So, love yourself as you are right now and focus on the aspects of your lower self — anger, jealousy, greed, whatever — that you want to transform. Once you decide the road you want to take, you’ll soon find yourself shifting into the gear you want to be in naturally (without stalling your engine). And laughter along the way helps a lot.

It all comes down to awareness.

The Big-Hearted “Big Sick”

Turns out, real emotions are the real way to one’s heart — and romantic comedy “The Big Sick” captures this message perfectly.

It’s rare when a film isn’t about guns or apes or princesses. It’s even rarer when a film is about timely cultural issues and doesn’t shove its message down your throat, but makes you laugh…and empathize…and think about things. That’s one of the beauties of The Big Sick, a Judd Apatow romantic comedy that goes far beyond its genre and genuinely touches the heart. And its release at this point in our ongoing American drama is so relevant.

The romantic leading man is a Pakistani-born Muslim, Kumail Nanjiani, who wrote the screenplay with his wife, Emily V. Gordon, based on their own story of how they got together (they have now been married for ten years). You may recognize Kumail from his role on the TV show Silicon Valley. In the movie, he is also named Kumail, and Zoe Kazan stars as his love interest.

Read Article on Psychology Today
Seven Chakras

Improve Your Mood Instantly with Chakra Cleansing

Taking time to recharge and reset your body, mind, and Spirit is essential to overall health and wellness. Everyone has different methods for releasing the negative energy that naturally accumulates throughout the day: some enjoy taking a hot bath with lavender salts before bedtime while others detail their hopes and aspirations in a journal so they can stay on-track to reach their healing goals.

If you find that your healing rituals are becoming less effective, you may need to spend some time cleansing your chakras so you can get your entire being back on track.

We have seven primary energy centers in our bodies called chakras. Since each chakra correlates to a body part, there are specific ailments and dysfunctions that result if it is blocked. Any time that we have a physical issue, it weakens us emotionally. By cleansing your chakras and releasing stale energy from the body, you breathe new energy into the area of your body that is struggling for air.

And just as each chakra corresponds to a physical body part, they also have a powerful influence over our mental and emotional well-being. The clearing of energies past their prime will help you work through fears and emotions that can safely be freed.

Cleanse your chakras and improve your mood

You can learn to cleanse your own chakras in a quick and effective chakra cleansing meditation.

A grounding meditation practice

Focus on your root chakra and planting it firmly in the ground. Feel the energy of the Earth as your physical body and Spirit connect to Mother Earth. Suddenly, you’ll feel energy radiate up through your body and your mind.

Focus on opening your chakras

After completing your grounding meditation, you can begin opening each of your chakras, one by one. You’ll want to start with the root chakra.

To do this, visualize each one opening. Since each of the seven chakras has a specific color associated with it, a calming way to focus on each opening think about each as your favorite flower in one of the seven colors.

As you focus your energy on a particular chakra, imagine that flower — in its corresponding color — blooming.

Beginning with the root chakra, think about a red infant flower bud that is tightly bound, protecting its delicate petals from the harsh world on the outside. As you look at the young flower, you can tell that there are hundreds of petals on the inside that are ready to break free from the confines of the shell. Suddenly, you notice movement and the flower opens up into full bloom, radiating beauty and life into everything surrounding it.

Once your root chakra has opened, you can move onto the next. As you work through each chakra up to the crown, imagine each one blooming in their corresponding color.

Root chakra (red)

Sacral chakra (orange)

Solar plexus chakra (yellow)

Heart chakra (green)

Throat chakra (blue)

Third eye chakra (violet)

Crown chakra (gold)

If you aren’t a flower or plant enthusiast, you can visualize doors opening or clouds parting. This entire opening meditation should take you approximately 28-42 minutes, spending 4-6 minutes to open each chakra.

Breathe energy into each chakra

Going back to the start of your grounding meditation, refocus on the energy that you pulled from Mother Earth. It is now time to use this energy to flood each of your chakras with life, like water racing downstream in a river. As you visualize the water running through your root chakra, observe how it flushes away impurities and stale energies.

Move onto your sacral chakra after you feel your root chakra has been cleansed. At the end, you will have seven streams of energy flowing through each of your seven chakras.

Return the energy source to Mother Earth

When you feel that your chakras as cleansed and feel it is time to turn off the energy flow, start to pull back on the energy streams. Just like you would turn off a running faucet or unplug a lamp, the energy will fall back into the Earth quickly.

Return each of your chakras to their resting state

After the flow of energy has been returned to Earth, it’s time to close each of your chakras. While we aren’t closing chakras entirely — completely closed chakras are not healthy or sustainable for anyone and completely open chakras will drain your own energy — it is important to dial down the energy on each.

Just like you would turn down the volume on a radio or adjust the thermostat in your home, adjust the energy level on each chakra. You will start with at the crown chakra and move your way down to the root. Adjust the level until you feel comfortable: too low and you may feel a sensation of heaviness; too high and you may feel nervous or anxious suddenly.

This process of adjusting your chakras is unique to each individual. There is no wrong or right way to cleanse your chakras. What feels right to you may feel wrong to someone else. Each person is different.

To find out what feels “right,” pay close attention to your emotions, feelings, and physical state as you move through the cleansing process. Over time, you will observe things that repeat and sense subtle energies. There’s a reason why it’s called “meditation practice” — practice makes perfect.

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Create a Sacred Space for Meditation and Healing

One of the most important parts of meditation is having a space that is sacred. A spiritual sanctuary where you can leave it all behind – email, cell phones, and other outside distractions – is crucial when you are meditating and working to strengthen your connection with the Divine.

Everyone’s sacred spaces are unique and you may find that your preferences change over time. Many of my students enjoy meditating outdoors, retreating to a particularly green area on grassy knoll in the park or a deserted spot at the beach when the sun is shining; others prefer to be indoors, perhaps surrounded by others, and some find tranquility in complete solitude, basking in the silence and security that only one’s true home can provide.

Whether indoors or outdoors, you will find your healing journey is much more meaningful if you have a sacred spot where you can connect with the Divine. Using your sacred space for meditation and yoga, and find the clarity and tranquility you need for your path forward. In my 30+ years of practicing and teaching, I’ve learned that creating a sacred space for meditation doesn’t involve a lot of time or money; in fact, usually the opposite is true: sacred spaces that have minimal distractions will allow you to refocus and realign your energies so that a deeper level of healing can begin.

Designate space for practice

When you are searching for a sacred space for meditation and healing, you should explore a few different places before settling on one. Many of my students find that spare rooms or a nook of a bedroom can easily be transformed into the perfect meditation area with minimal efforts.

Keep in mind that the place you initially choose might change – and that’s okay! As you learn more about what your practice needs (and doesn’t need), you may outgrow your first sacred space. Alternatively, you may discover that your new-found space isn’t giving you the serenity you thought it would.

For example, your daughter is now grown and doesn’t use her childhood room in your house anymore. Since this is the only room in your house that isn’t used regularly, you decide to try it out for your sacred meditation space, despite the fact that it still has many of her childhood toys on the shelves and teenage-angst music posters plastered on the wall. However, even after removing the posters and relocating the My Little Pony collection to the closet, you still find you are unable to focus on your meditation practice: every time you try to connect with Spirit, you are interrupted by a memory that happened in the room.

Your sacred space sets the tone for your entire meditation practice and should encourage you to be fully present in the moment, breathing deeply, loving yourself, and leaning into your faith. If the space you choose doesn’t support you in the ways you need, it’s okay to let it fall away and look for a different area.

Once find a space and designate it as your sacred place, avoid bringing outside distractions near it and you’ll find that your relationship with this wonderful area blossoms and grows.

Make the space yours

When adding features to your sacred space, focus on practicality and comfort. You want to give yourself enough comfort so that you are able mentally to focus on your practice, transcending your physical being. Items such as a yoga mat, meditation cushion, or a blanket are all things you should keep nearby so you don’t have to interrupt or pause your practice to find them. A small clock can also be useful, so you don’t have to get up and check how much time you have left.

While it is important to provide yourself with practical basics needed for comfort, you should be mindful not to go overboard with physical items that may “bring you happiness.” This happiness is earthly and short-term; your meditation practice should be focused on elevating your Spirit in the long-term. Let me explain what I mean.

When pricy yoga pants came into the yoga scene many years ago, many lifelong yogis recoiled at the fact that their practice was being used sell $100 status-symbol pants. Practicing yoga is something that is open to anyone: children to elderly, have to have-nots, physically fit to disabled, and everyone in between. To have a meaningful practice, all you need is your body – you don’t even need shoes (and certainly not status-symbol pants). My point is this: to have a sacred space where you are able to retreat and meditate, you don’t need many physical items around you. After all, they won’t be useful to you in the spiritual realms.

Your sacred space should be minimalist. However, using tools that help you tune into your body via your five senses will help you refine your meditation techniques.

1. Sound

There was a reason you couldn’t focus in your daughter’s room: those Led Zeppelin posters from her high school years still conjure up memories Robert Plant’s voice belting down your hallway when she was supposed to be doing geometry homework. Nobody will deny Plant can sing, but the sounds his music evokes in you are likely very different from that of your daughter (she said it was “peaceful” and “helped her concentrate on studying”).

Save your music for when you are not meditating, as even the most relaxing music, even a wind chime, can inadvertently pull you from the depths of your meditation. Instead, luxuriate in the silence. If there are voices nearby that could interfere, simply turn on the white noise on your phone when you put it on “airplane.”

2. Smell

Aromatherapy and essential oils have many different types of healing properties, both from a physical and spiritual perspective. For example, lavender usually has a calming effect, while lemon energizes.

If you don’t have an oil diffuser, don’t run out and buy one. To get the same effect, simply boil a cup of water and place a few drops of essential oil inside. Bring it with you into your sacred space and you’ll immediately notice the effect it has on your practice.

3. Taste

Your sense of taste is one of your most powerful senses. Moreover, food and drink – the methods by which we stimulate the sense – is closely synced up with our state of mind.

A warm cup of tea will help clear your mind and put you at peace as you begin your practice, while a cool cup of water recharges and resets as you conclude your meditation.

4. Sight

Stones and raw crystals are one way to bring the beauty of the earth into your sacred meditation space. Choose a healing crystal that resonates with you and your intention for your practice. For example, pink tourmaline will bring joy, positivity, and love to your healing ritual. In contrast, black tourmaline will clear your mind of clutter and negativity.

5. Touch

When you are contemplating and setting your intention for your practice, hold the raw crystals or stones you have chosen in the palm of your hand. Observe the texture, weight, size, as you decide the goals you would like to achieve in this session. Then place the stone several feet away from you so that its energy field doesn’t interfere with the expansion of yours.

If you don’t use crystals, you can stimulate your sense of touch in many other ways. Try writing down your intentions for your session on a piece of paper and placing it in front of you. The act of writing down your intention will support you as you move into the meditative quiet.

Creating a sacred space for meditation and healing will keep you centered and on-track to achieve your own goals. Healing is not an easy or quick process, but if you look forward to reconnecting with your Spirit in your sacred space, you are that much closer to moving forward and discovering your true destiny.

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The Power of Discernment [Guest Post]

This is a guest post by Cathy Gabrielsen, one of Deborah King’s Master-in-Training students in the LifeForce Energy Healing® program.

I often feel like a new parent in the weeks or months after giving birth: filled with uncertainties, believing I should know but don’t know. But what I have learned studying Deborah King’s LifeForce Energy Healing is that you must take the time to discern—to distinguish between this and that, to identify what is needed. In the moments of discernment, you will find knowledge, peace, and power.

 

Trial and error works when dealing with a newborn. As a new parent, you learn to detect the difference between a cry for food and a cry for comfort, to recognize a smile full of joy from a smile full of gas. Discernment brings awareness not only to a new parent or a new healer, but also to everyone: you have within yourself the powerful ability to perceive what you need to know, what direction you need to take.

 

What can bring immense joy in life is the pause—the moments you take to simply observe, to admire beauty in nature or in the arts, to revel in the presence of love. Discerning is just that: knowing exactly what it is that brings you joy and peace, like a sleeping baby or a healed soul. Discernment is peaceful because discernment is knowing what brings you peace.

 

Uncertainty, inability, and confusion can deplete all that is good in your body, while pausing to feel the answers can bring power to the mind, body, and soul. Discernment conserves, preserves, and provides power. Energy is powerful and power is in the knowing.

Like you, I am clairsentient; I can feel into people and situations, just by using my body. I recently opened an energy practice. I know how you feel when I am with you. Discernment tells me. I can feel the ache in your joints or the pain in your head. I know I can feel you, and I know that I cannot heal you. But what I can do is empathize, acknowledge, and understand. I can be there to help you heal through discernment and celebrate your joy in knowing peace through the power of pausing.

 

I know what I am not; I am not special, gifted, or different. I am just like you. What makes us unique are simply the choices we make. I choose to discern, and have felt all the knowledge and clarity it brings. I am a LifeForce Energy Medicine Practitioner and Coach. I know I can feel, and I am there with you as a guide, divinely inspired in directing you to heal yourself. I know you will.

 

For those who need some help with discernment, I find the following steps helpful:

  1. Pause. (What is a pause? Simply quieting your mind and silencing your space.)
  2. Ask yourself the question.
  3. Pause. (Not for just a second! If you really want answers, you will take your time.)
  4. Listen. What do you hear in your mind, heart, and soul?
  5. Feel. What do you feel in your mind, heart, and soul?
  6. Know. Believe that what you hear, feel, and know is your truth.
  7. If you didn’t hear the voice of your soul, pause again.
  8. If you did not feel the truth in your body, pause again.
  9. If you heard, felt, and knew, but still didn’t believe, then pause again.
  10. If you heard, felt, and knew but still didn’t acknowledge your power, then Google the word “denial” and pause again.
  11. The answers, the knowing, the peace, and the power are in the pause.
  12. Like a crying baby, you may not know you need help. You may need a guide, a coach, or support. Get what is needed, and be sure to take the time to heal.

About the Author

Cathy Gabrielsen is one of Deborah King’s Master-in-Training students in the LifeForce Energy Healing® program. As a 32-year-old mother of two toddler boys, she had to battle breast cancer. Not being able to lift or cuddle her boys during her treatment, Cathy realized that the health care system didn’t support young women with cancer by providing in-home care for their children. She began a non-profit, called Cuddle My Kids.

You can learn more about Cuddle My Kids at cuddlemykids.org.