Uncaring Health Care

Uncaring Health Care

by FeaturedSocial Activism

I have never been a particularly political person. I vote in presidential elections, but am oblivious to local and state office holders. I survived the Nixon years, the Clinton years, and the Bush years with little involvement. Even the impeachment processes for Nixon and Clinton got little attention from me. I was deeply enmeshed in advancing my spirituality and developing skills to help others. But now I’m truly upset—over health care. I’m shocked at the cruelty of Congress in gutting Medicaid (and other provisions in the Better Care Reconciliation Act also known as Trumpcare) in order to finance major tax cuts for the wealthy.

Medicaid is the health insurance for the 74 million Americans who are disabled or lower income and 40 percent of those are children. They are being thrown under the bus in order to provide a tax break to those who earn more than $200,000 a year, to pharmaceutical companies, and to insurance companies.

Read entire article on The Huffington Post
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You’ve Got a Friend from Above

by Energy HealingFeaturedMeditation

As the song from the movie Ghostbusters goes: “When there’s something strange in your neighborhood, who ya gonna call?” Rather than summoning the ghostbusters, how about calling on the “ghosts” themselves.

What could I possibly mean by that?

Okay, let’s say you’re driving somewhere you’ve never been before. Of course, you didn’t write down any directions because you assumed your trusty GPS would get you there. If only you had charged your phone before leaving the house! Now what? When that happened to me, I pulled onto the shoulder of the road, sat in meditation for a few minutes, and called on my Grandfather Desmond. While a drinker and a screw-up during life, now on “the other side,” he had proven himself a whiz at navigation. Sure enough, I pretty soon I figured out which way to go. Des also comes in handy when hiking on mountain trails.

I have other helpers who are not in physical bodies. There are medical experts, (some of whom I brought home with me after working for some time at John of God’s in Brazil), who show up when I need guidance during a complex healing session. There are spiritual guides who impart their wisdom when I am teaching. And there are powerful angelic entities that arrive when I am shepherding a student to another spiritual level. My life is rich with these friends from above that cannot necessarily be seen.

My student Nina dreamt of a huge lion patrolling the outer perimeter of her daughter’s house. In the dream, it felt like there was a perilous situation and the lion was there as guardian and protector. Sure enough, the next day Nina learned that an escaped prisoner had been in her daughter’s neighborhood that night and had broken into a nearby home. Nina said that the lion is her spirit guide and always shows up when there is danger.

When you need help, who do you call?

Puzzling over a project at work? It’s not exactly a 911 situation, but you do need some expert advice without indicating to the boss that you can’t figure it out on your own. You can send a silent signal out to the universe, requesting assistance. And then open yourself up to hearing/feeling the response. You have to be open and available to receive the aid that is offered by “friends in high places.”

You can learn to connect with these invaluable guides when you have a strong foundation in meditation. When you can calm your mind and sit in the spaciousness of internal silence, you begin to honor your ability to link to your own intuitive powers and to recognize the messages that come from the vast network of beings who are an energetic heartbeat away on higher planes of consciousness. Don’t disregard any thoughts that seem to pop up in your mind, or a sudden feeling that a certain direction could be the right solution to your problem. It’s hard for these guides to come to your aid when you ignore the messages you receive. Meditation is the best way for contacting your spirit guides.

Of course, your most trusted guide is your own Higher Self—the part of you that is always identified with the higher spiritual energies of the universe. The more you heal your old wounds, release your trauma, and saturate your being with meditative peace, the more in tune you will be with your intuition, and the more you will be able to receive the messages your Higher Self is sending you. This is the guide that is always with you, always available for you to call upon.

How many times a day do you stand at the crossroads? You are always making decisions: to stick to your eating plan or belly up to the buffet; to diss your ex or find something pleasant to say; to twist the truth or give a real answer. Do you recognize the moment when you make these choices or are you living your life blindly, without considering the consequences of all those little decisions you make all day long?

When you start to call upon your Higher Self, or invoke the aid of the guides from above, you learn to live more consciously. You start to walk upon the path of the spiritual masters. And you find it’s good to have friends in high places.

All summer long, I’m sharing the very best ways you can connect with and learn from your guides by learning to heal, thrive and grow into the very best version of you.

Join the Summer Healing Series and save on all of my favorite products and online courses that will help you create the life you’ve always wanted.

Each week, more and more products will be added… so be sure to keep checking back to find the ones that are perfect for you!

Click here to explore the catalog now >>>

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Open the Treasure Chest of Your Spiritual Gifts

by Energy HealingFeaturedMeditation

You’re sitting outside, enjoying the cool morning breeze and the sun warming your skin as you sip your chai tea. You are content, basking in the lovely spring day before you have to head to work. Suddenly you feel anxious, unnerved, and a thought arises: something bad has happened. Moments later, your cell phone rings. Your mom says your dad is in an ambulance on the way to the hospital with a heart attack! As you throw a few things in a suitcase and head to the airport, you wonder: How did I know something was wrong with someone I love before the phone even rang?

Indeed, how did you know?

That feeling—the anxiety that flooded your body in seeming contradiction to the relaxed moment in the morning sun—came from somewhere beyond your five physical senses. There was nothing in your environment that created that anxiety; you had no previous knowledge that there was anything wrong with your dad’s health. But you have an energetic connection with your parents, even if you’re not thinking about them. In your mom’s worry about your dad, her panic as the ambulance doors closed to whisk him away, as she picked up the phone to call you, her energy reached out to you . . . and you felt it.

You’ve just had what is called a “paranormal” experience—beyond your five physical senses.

Of course, if you’d been in the office with a thousand things on your mind, you probably would have dismissed the feeling as just another indication that you really, really need a vacation. And that’s what happens all the time. You receive messages, but don’t listen to them or believe they are real. You doubt the reality of something that you can’t touch, taste, see, hear, or smell.

If only you realized how many other channels of communication with the universe are available to you! It’s like having a treasure chest that is buried beneath doubt and cynicism. And what a treasure chest it is!

The clairs are in that buried chest. The “clairs” are the senses beyond the five you know. Clairvoyance is seeing without the use of the eyes; clairaudience is hearing without the ears; clairalience is smelling without the nose; clairsentience is feeling without touch; and claircognizance, as you just experienced, is a knowing beyond the mind. “Clair” is French for clear. You were given a clear knowing that something was wrong before it was verified on the physical plane.

Whenever I sense the presence of the Egyptian Goddess Isis, I always “smell” the woodsy, spicy smell of sandalwood. When I first meet someone, I just “know” the contents of their soul. When I “see” a flame above someone’s head, it’s telling me they are ready for initiation—the higher level energy is poised above them waiting for me to help download it into their consciousness. And when I’m working with an individual, I often  “hear” medical information they need in order to heal.

And those gifts are just some of the jewels in that treasure chest. There are gifts that manifest physically, like the ability to be in two places at once, called bilocation. Great saints, like Padre Pio, have been witnessed doing that. In levitation, you body actually is lifted into the air. In psychometry, you can gather information about someone simply by touching an object of theirs, like a hairbrush or bracelet.

In other cultures and at other times, these gifts of the spirit (and others I haven’t mentioned) were considered normal. Energy healing was an accepted way to work with physical, emotional, mental, or spiritual difficulties. Telepathic communication was accepted as valid.  Our culture tends to suppress them. You have some of these abilities, they just need to be acknowledged and they will open further.

On a recent student call, one of the guys mentioned that the day after his Dad died, his mother whispered to him: “I don’t want anyone else to hear this because they’ll think I’m crazy, but I heard Dad call my name today, loud and clear.” She was worried that she was losing her mind. It was the only opening to the realms beyond the physical that she had ever experienced, or at least that she could not deny. But like many so many, she thought discount the experience because she couldn’t fit it into her understanding of reality. With the help of her son, who’s an advanced student of mine, she was able to integrate this experience into her worldview and look forward to more messages from beyond.

If you knew there was a buried treasure, wouldn’t you want to dig it up? To open the lid and delight in the gifts it contained?

You can unearth the spiritual gifts that lie buried within you. And you can learn to be as comfortable with the reality of these spiritual powers as you are sitting in the sun and sipping a cup of tea.

This summer could be an exciting time for you to begin the exploration of your own spiritual gifts and abilities… but the first step to any progress will be building a powerful meditation practice for yourself. I teach a form of meditation that can help “get you there” faster and easier than you ever thought possible. Click here to get started today >>>

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Going Home: Moving Inward Through Meditation

by Energy HealingFeaturedMeditation

You know the saying “home is where the heart is.” It’s the feeling you get when you return from a long day at work and your dog is waiting at the front door, jumping up and down to greet you. Or your kids rush over to give you a hug. Or you open the front door and enter your peaceful solitary sanctuary. You kick off your shoes, turn on the TV, and relax. You’re home.

Well, I see it somewhat differently. For me, home is the heart space I return to each morning in meditation. Sitting still in the wee hours of the morning and sinking into the flow of subtle energies that naturally arise after decades of committed practice is my home base.

Have you ever visited a new place and suddenly felt like you knew it? You knew just where to turn, knew the smell of the air, and felt like you looked just like the people who lived there.

A friend of mine had that experience when she first went to the foothills of the Himalayas in India. Although she’d been born and raised in New York City, a far cry from the sacred hills of the sub-continent, she immediately identified a remote village as “home.” It was as if she’d landed back in a past life, a happy life, and was delighted to have finally found where she “belonged” on earth.

That’s how I felt when I landed in the space of meditation. I knew that place. I belonged there. And it brought me great comfort and a sense of security, just like the feeling of “home.”

As a spiritual teacher, I’m often asked by my students whether they are living in the “right” place. Some live in the same town, and possibly the same house, they grew up in, and where their parents, grandparents, and even great-grandparents lived. Others live in relative isolation from family, and have created their “home” space by relying on a circle of friends.

Some think moving here or there will change their lives for the better, and sometimes that is true—a better job, a larger social network with the potential for finding a mate, a healthier climate for your particular body can be beneficial. But before making any drastic changes in your life, think about reversing your thought process and instead of moving outward, first try moving inward.

Meditation can change everything in your life—your health, your stress and anxiety level, your love life. Even if you’re waking up in a different hotel room every day, even if there is no partner or dog to greet you when you get back, even if you rarely see your family or friends, you can carry your home around with you, like the turtle carrying its shell. And like the turtle, you can withdraw into your portable home at any time to recharge and revitalize your energy and reawaken your connection to the deepest feeling of home that exists—your connection to your own Higher Self, the sacred space of knowing you are part of the All. No matter how isolated you may be from others on the physical plane, you are held in the warm embrace of the interconnected web of energies that you access through meditation.

Ellen DeGeneres compares meditation to shutting down your computer when it goes crazy, and when you reboot, it’s all okay again. Paul McCartney calls it a “lifelong gift.” Nicole Kidman uses a meditation app on her phone to time her 20-30 minute session every day. Jerry Seinfeld says meditation is what got him through the intense nine years of writing, producing, and acting in his TV show. Jane Fonda calls it the secret to aging gracefully. George Lucas based Yoda, the sage of Star Wars, on the founder of a meditation practice. And the list goes on and on. These celebrities (and many, many more) have found they can carry “home” with them.

So if you find yourself longing for the comfort of “home,” learn to meditate. I provide a path to learning a special kind of mantra meditation designed to release stress and heighten your intuitive powers>>>

You’ll be able to go home, any time, anywhere.

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What To Do When The World Has You Down

by Energy HealingFeatured

Does the world have you down?

You’ve been watching/reading the news, probably online, checking out the unbelievable political and governmental dramas going on around the world, and wonder if it all hasn’t gone to that proverbial hell in a hand basket. You might as well binge watch “Big Little Lies” and wolf down a bag of chips, followed by a pint of chocolate chocolate chip, the full fat kind. The world sucks, your job sucks, your relationship—wait, you don’t have one—sucks, and now you’re facing some scary medical tests. Figures.

Do yourself a favor and stop hanging out in the land of fear and no hope. There is more to life, you just have to dig a little deeper inside to find it.

I remember feeling that way when facing a diagnosis of cervical cancer. The doctor had just told me that I’d need invasive surgery unless something drastic changed in the next few months. It seemed like an overwhelming task. How was I going to heal without going through that awful sounding surgery? Would I be able to keep up my courtroom appearances? And what about my athletic endeavors? I was in my mid-twenties and was used to living my life at top speed, barreling along without stopping for a moment to reflect on what was churning inside me—the residue of a traumatic childhood filled with sexual and emotional abuse. I needed a drink, pronto, to toss down the pills.

That feeling lasted as I walked out of the doctor’s office and onto the street. As I stood there wondering how I was ever going to make my life livable again, an ad about meditation on the back of a bench at a bus stop caught my eye. I thought, wow, that’s what I need.

With just that thought, my fear and hopelessness were gone, replaced by a fierce determination to take my life in hand and transform into what I just knew was going to be better, even great.

You never know where the next message you need to hear will appear.

If you’re suffering from a present or past trauma, like I was, you need to know that there are both ancient and modern methods of releasing the emotional distress that’s associated with those traumas.

One of the first things I did was to make sure that I recognized what I was actually feeling. It’s amazing how we can deny our emotions. So I started writing down (in the margins of my legal briefs!) whatever I was feeling. It turned out I was jealous, jealous, jealous of everyone who looked and sounded better than I did in court. And it seemed I was a lot angrier than I thought. If you’re not sure what you’re feeling, google “lists of emotions” for a comprehensive overview of both positive and negative emotions.

Then I started to journal. I emptied out my vault of memories and, as the years of abuse filled the pages, I started to feel lighter and lighter. I was finally speaking my truth. It wasn’t pretty, but it was real, and I was able to start processing those experiences instead of burying them where they could do more hidden damage to my body and mind.

Then I learned to meditate, and I felt like I had found my long-lost best friend. I knew we’d never be separated again, and we haven’t. I have sat in meditation every day since then, and can’t even begin to list the benefits I have reaped from the practice. And it was from the community of meditators that I learned about the secret practice of sutras.

Sutras are aphorisms, short sayings that come from the ancient Vedas. It was through learning and practicing the sutras that the screaming I heard inside myself—the unheard cries of my childhood—eventually vanished and I finally felt whole, and wholly healed. (The cancer, by the way, went into remission about the same time; the doctors were dumbfounded.)

You, too, can heal your emotional wounds and the physical manifestations of that wounding. Turn your attention inward and listen to what you need to do. A path will open up that you can follow, with diligence and intention, to being the highest version of yourself and living your true destiny.

If you’re ready to reclaim your power, rediscover your voice and stand up for what you believe in… you have to try new things, take risks, and remember that the most powerful force in the universe is love.

Join my best-selling course, Master the Secrets of the Sutras. In it you’ll find the very best teachings I’ve collected after 40 years of practicing the art of energy healing and I’m sharing it all with you.

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If Only, If Only…

by Energy HealingFeatured

Marlon Brando in the classic movie On The Waterfront says, “I coulda been a contender. I coulda been somebody…” Do you, too, have regrets about not living the best of all possible lives? What would that look like for you? And what’s keeping you from living it?

Maybe you see yourself as a great inventor; if only someone would come along and fund your ideas, you could be a multi-millionaire. Or maybe you’d be the world’s best TV personality, if only you could get a break.  And you could really rock the latest fashion, if only you could lose those pesky extra 20 pounds.

If only, if only . . . the two saddest words in the English language. The regrets of people at the end of their lives include: I wish I had lived my dream. I wish I had taken more risks. I wish I’d taken better care of myself. And high on the list is: I wish I’d been more loving.

You don’t have to be filled with regrets. You might not want to celebrate your 90th birthday by jumping out of a plane, like ex-president George H.W. Bush did, but you can live up to your own highest potential. Read my HuffPost blog “5 Steps to a More Perfect Life” and share your dream there; talking about it helps make it come true.

Three Ways to Become the Healer You are Destined to Be

How to Become an Energy Healer: 3 Essential Steps

by Divine FeminineFeaturedMeditationWomen

As you look around our world today, what are the greatest needs you see? People are fleeing from conflict, seeking safety, shelter, food, and medical care. Others are seeking employment, care and education for their children, and most of all hope. At the same time, the natural world shows signs of incredible stress. Worrisome changes in terrain, weather, plant and animal populations remind us that human stewardship of the earth is a sacred bond that must be honored. There is no denying the work that needs to be done. Do you feel in your heart that you have a role to play in meeting these needs, in helping, nurturing, and healing the world? You know you have gifts, you know you can help, but how exactly do you begin?

In fact, you are the starting point.

As Louise Hay reminds us, “the power is within you!” When you ask what you can do to create a life filled with love and a world filled with joy and peace, consider this. You have the right stuff, you have the connection, you have the gifts and talents to turn everything around. You have the power just because of who you are—a child of the Divine, a being of light here to heal, thrive, grow, and to make your own unique and amazing contribution.

If fear tries to tell you the world doesn’t need you, that you can’t make a difference, that no one can see your light, remember who you are. You have the power to clear the fear, heal the hurt, open the doors and windows of your soul to a bright new day. And what a blessing that will be for a troubled world depending on you to step forth into the light and join a healing community powered by love.

Never doubt the power of Source to help you along the path you were meant to follow.

Years ago as a twenty-something lawyer, I never would have guessed that I would end up as an energy healer and spiritual teacher, but here I am. My relationship with energy healing developed from my soul’s cry for wellness, knowledge, and purpose. First, I struggled to be healed. As I climbed the spiritual ladder, I discovered more and more wonders of the Source of All Being that were available to any heart filled with forgiveness, gratitude, and love. As I benefited from energy healing, so I began using the same modality to help others. Today, as a teacher of energy medicine, I pass on the gift and work to grow the network of healing ever wider.

Could this be your path as well?

When you look at the needs of the world and yearn to be a force filled with healing love, you may have your answer. The first step on the path towards your calling as a healer begins with consciously deciding that you wish to devote your life to the healing of yourself and others. This basic generosity and nurturing nature are what brought you here. You are drawn to expand your spirit and tap in to the healing power of unconditional love.

Here are three ways you can shift into a higher spiritual gear and accelerate your movement toward greater spiritual growth and the gift of healing that you are destined to share:

1. Explore and bring forth your higher self.

The great philosophers of the ancient world advised students to “know thyself.” To know yourself, you must dwell in a mind-set of self-reflection and self-understanding. Use your spiritual practices of meditation, prayer, and journaling to discover how you feel about everything that has occurred to you in the past and is happening to you right now.

There is nothing to criticize or judge; you simply want to know and understand your inner world. As you explore your beliefs and values, admit your mistakes and accept yourself with love, you free yourself from fear and negativity. You open the door to expressing your higher self and become the powerful being you were meant to be.

2. Forgive yourself and grow in compassion.

Self-forgiveness plays a key role in your spiritual evolution and the ability to help others. The number one issue blocking your free access to the light of spirit is blaming yourself. It’s the biggest problem I find in working with others—human beings are just too hard on themselves! Therefore, in addition to recognizing and expressing your feelings honestly, the most powerful action you can take to grow in spirit is to accept and forgive your frailties. Accepting your humanness sets you free to give yourself the healing gift of compassion and unconditional love. As you grow in self-compassion so you free yourself to feel compassion for others and open your heart to the gifts of healing within.

3. Build your connection to Source.

Source is the wellspring of all the unconditional love, compassion, and healing light you are seeking. With a regular practice of connecting to Source, whatever that may mean for you—and without fear and negativity—you’ll find a sudden expansion of space for more light to come into your life. There’s enough room in you energetically for your higher-self qualities to be downloaded from the chakras above your head and come right into your energy field. The powerful gifts you always knew you had but couldn’t quite access will begin to manifest. Your strong connection to Source can help you become a vehicle for the higher qualities you need to follow your calling and become the powerful healer you are meant to be.

Getting in touch with your inner light will open the door to your higher self. Dedicated inner work is one of the primary ways you obtain your divine gifts. Your strong connection to Source helps you grow your intuition, knowledge, and understanding, and you start to experience the loving qualities of your true essence. Spiritual growth leads to inner peace and from inner peace comes the power to create peace in the world along with the healing gifts you are here to share.

If you’re attracted to this kind of learning, your’e curious discover more, and are even looking to tap into your gifts and get certified as an energy healer…join me here and begin the spiritual adventure of a lifetime. Click here >>>

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Unfriending Over Politics

by FeaturedRelationships

Has this happened to you? You’ve been friends with Lindsay for years. She’s part of your spiritual community. You’ve laughed together, enjoyed meals together, and have the same taste in movies. Then politics entered the picture: she voted for the other guy, the one you believe is a serious threat to everything you hold dear. How could she do that?

At first, you listen to her arguments, but they don’t make sense to you. And is she really hearing what you have to say? Finally you agree not to discuss politics, but where does that leave your friendship? On a perilous footing, since now you have to watch everything you say. The open communication you believe is a vital part of a real friendship has narrowed considerably.

What do you do?

As a spiritual teacher, I’ve encountered this dilemma many times recently with my students. I’ve heard stories of siblings who aren’t talking to each other, families who can’t sit down to a meal together, about long-time friends who no longer speak to each other. They wonder if their friendship can survive a four-year hold. They are upset by friends or relatives posting political “news” on social media and can’t decide whether or not to “unfriend” these people.

I understand their problem. As an ardent advocate for women facing aggression and abuse, I posted a blog on HuffPo when I saw Trump stalking Hillary around the town hall stage during the presidential campaign debate. I lost over 4,000 followers in less than hour after the blog posted. You could say I was heavily “unfriended” for my position.

My students ask me how to approach the divisive politics we are experiencing full blast these days in relation to their spiritual beliefs. Should they turn the other cheek? Should they love the sinner, but not the sin? Can they find it in their heart to still hold the friendship dear, while rejecting what this person believes are the facts?

What is friendship? It’s a relationship that is based on mutual understanding, common interests, honesty, and trust. Even though you and Lindsay may come from similar backgrounds, even though you sat together at concerts and ate together afterwards, even though you feel she would most probably come to your aid if you should need it and you would do the same for her, there’s no longer a deep level of trust between you. And if you and Lindsay don’t understand each other, and you can no longer express your true feelings without fearing her judgment, where does that leave your friendship? Do you stop talking to each other? Do you have compassion for her beliefs, misguided though you think they might be, but don’t want to engage with her any more?

As you travel the spiritual path, trying your best to keep your heart open and not be stuck in your ego, you will undoubtedly encounter many obstacles, tests of your desire to be a more compassionate person. One of those tests is how your relationships may suffer as you pursue the awakening of consciousness.

Think of how many friends you have left behind over the years. When you went off to college, you lost contact with childhood friends. When you stopped drinking, your “drinking buddies” got left behind (mine certainly did). When you got divorced, the couples you knew when you were a couple stopped inviting you to social gatherings; you were now a threat to their relationships. When you said you would rather go on a meditation retreat than spend the weekend skiing, you lost those friends who couldn’t understand why you’d ever want to spend your time sitting in silence and doing some ridiculous mantra.

As I’ve experienced with my husband’s European family, friendships there tend to be more solid than they are here. They may have fewer friends, but they tend to have life-long friendships. The thousands of “friends” one gathers on social media and online chat rooms aren’t considered official friendships. And being someone’s “best friend” is thought of as an honor and a privilege. They forgive each other’s mistakes and loyalty is highly valued.

Part of the reason that European friendships are more enduring is that they aren’t as mobile a culture as we are here in America, and childhood friendships have the chance to grow as you age. I had an interesting experience at my mother’s funeral, held in the same small town I grew up in. I was approached by three women my age whom I didn’t recognize until they told me their names; they were all friends of mine from our days in grammar school!

Our friendships usually revolve around common interests. When I rode horses, my friends were part of the horse community. The same for mountain climbing and skiing. The friendships ended when I stopped engaging in those pursuits.

But back to the question of political divergence. Should you “unfriend” a friend who you think has gone sideways and is diametrically opposed to what you believe is common sense and compassion?

What I tell my students is to wait a little longer; hold back the impulse to cut the friendship off. Maybe Lindsay will finally “see the light” as you do. Maybe you will listen deeply and be able to hear her side, and politely agree to disagree. Maybe the political situation will devolve into something both of you can actually agree upon.

In the meantime, keep your heart as open as possible and stand in your own truth. Take action that resonates with your beliefs. If you get teary-eyed seeing pictures of refugees, find out what you can do to alleviate their suffering. If you are aghast at what may happen to gays, Muslims, Mexicans, or any people who are marginalized in some way, support them with your time or money or friendship.

And as the old song goes, “make new friends” with people who stand with you, “but keep the old.” If possible. If your friendship with Lindsay can’t stand the test of you doing what you feel is right, so be it. But remember what Martin Luther King, Jr. said: “Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into a friend.”

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Five Ways to Know If Love Is Real

by FeaturedRelationships

“Where’s that higher love I keep thinking of?” –Steve Winwood

“What is love?” the poets and songwriters ask. Is it all about chocolate hearts, flowers, and diamonds-are-forever? Maybe you picture yourself walking hand-in-hand with your sweetheart along the riverbanks of Paris, sharing stories on the beach, or gazing soulfully at one another by candlelight. With a mega-million-dollar romance industry working hard to color your imagination, how do you know what real love looks like? And how is an intimate, stable love relationship supposed to feel?

Maybe you have a love relationship in your life right now or maybe you are looking for one.  The search for love and for an understanding of how best to establish and nurture a relationship is one of life’s central and most challenging quests. It’s also a powerful source of self-understanding, growth, and spiritual development.

Before I could experience the real love relationship that I have with my husband Eric, I had to make sure that my heart chakra was truly open to giving and receiving love and that I was sufficiently healed from my painful upbringing. Real love is an emotion of truth and has the power to heal all of the wounds you may have suffered in the past—if you allow it to flow.

While books, movies, and TV commercials can supply you with plenty of creative dialogues and scenarios about love, it really comes down to you. Your efforts to know yourself deeply and find your own authentic way of being in the world will shape your experience of love. “To thine own self be true, and it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man [or woman],” says Shakespeare. Consult your inner wisdom when it comes to discovering your power to love and be loved.

Here are five ways your open mind and open heart can help you decide if you are in the presence of real love:

1. No Fear Here—Energy medicine teaches that love removes fear. Think of all the ways fear can get in the way of a healthy, happy love. “Did I say the wrong thing?” “What if she doesn’t agree with me?” “What if he doesn’t call me?” “Does she really love me?”  There’s nothing like fear to destroy the good feelings of harmony, peace, and well-being in your love relationship or your attempts to form a relationship in the first place. The absence of fear gives you a sense of blissful potential and optimism. Consult your deepest feelings and decide if you and your loved one live in a happily, fear-free zone.

2. Actions Speak Louder— People have different ways of expressing their love. Would you rather have your loved one walk over and hug you or profess undying love while hurrying out the door? Helping prepare dinner, cleaning the bathroom, and putting gas in your car are actions that say, “I share the work of life with you.” Maybe he forgot the anniversary of the day you met, but he did walk the dog when you were sick. Are the actions you witness each day a source of joy in your relationship?

3. No Strings Attached—Do you feel completely accepted for who you are? Is your relationship free of judgment and troubling efforts to change you in ways that hurt your feelings? If you are respected and trusted and given room to breathe, you know how it feels to be loved unconditionally.  If there are ways you need to improve, you’re free to decide them for yourself. Someone who really loves you does so for who you are, the essential and immutable you.

4. My Needs Are Met [and so are yours]—Do you receive the support and attention you hoped a relationship would provide? The human need for connection, communication, and companionship is served well in a real loving relationship. When you think about the things you need from a partnership, do you feel you are getting a generous helping? Does your partner express satisfaction, too? When both partners have their needs for acceptance, self-expression and shared experience met, they feel peaceful, hopeful, and productive.

5. Comfortable, Grateful, Free—Do you look forward to spending time with your loved one? When you are apart, do you feel confident and comfortable? Do you each feel free to do what you love even if you are pursuing different interests? Can you say that you have room to grow, change, and learn? Is there a feeling of soul-satisfaction and gratitude in your togetherness? Is your partnership clearly a gift for your spiritual well-being, happiness, and self-discovery? Are there plenty of laughs in your life together?

Finally, you will know when love is real by how it makes you feel over time. While you may feel over the moon with excitement in the early stages of a new relationship, unless there is true connection you won’t feel a deeper sense of comfort and unity for long.

Remember that your inner vibration, your personal energy field, will need to be healthy and whole and balanced for you to attract a compatible being to your side. It’s true that there is a higher love and you must first send it forth in order to bring it back home.

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Three Ways to Find (and Keep) Your Soulmate

by ChakrasFeatured

They say love makes the world go round, and there’s no time like February to bring that loving feeling into sharp focus. From love songs and love poems to romantic books and movies, tales of true love are bound to color your world this month and bring up some soul-searching questions.  Have you been seeking love without success? Do you worry that love is all about luck?  Do you believe a soulmate is waiting for you? And if so, how do you go about finding that elusive person? It may be time to re-examine your beliefs about love.

Does it fall like rain from heaven into your waiting arms as the songs suggest? Or is there some work you can do to bring love home and keep it burning bright?

Most people admit that finding and maintaining a healthy and lasting love relationship is their most difficult task in life. I believe that finding a loving life partner becomes easier when you know something about energy healing. In my work as a spiritual teacher and energy healer, I’ve helped many people with the healing they needed to accomplish before the love they hoped for could enter their lives. Whenever two people interact on any level, whether they are having a friendly chat or communicating with glances and body language, there is an exchange of energy between them. Learning how this energy works can help you attract more loving and positive relationships.

Your healthy love life begins with a balanced second chakra energy center. A healthy second chakra is a fertile place—an engine of creative possibility that allows inspiration to flow through the body. As the seat of the inner child and emotions, this center also hosts your creative and generative impulse. These aspects of the second chakra reflect the wholeness of the individual, which is why they are so important to forming happy relationships with others. Energy healing can make sure your second chakra is clear and balanced and thus the energy you bring to any relationship is positive.

Check out these 3 ways I suggest to make sure you are ready to begin or to nurture a healthy and happy love relationship:

1. If You Want to Attract Love, Be More Loving

In energy medicine you learn that what you put out into the world will be reflected back to you. Light attracts light, so if you want more love, or stronger love, you need to love more. This doesn’t mean being more needy or clingy. True love is never restrictive, but allows for change and growth. To be more loving means to be more accepting and open, loving your partner, your friend, your mother, for who they are, rather than who you think they should be.  Being more loving can also include opening yourself up more. Allow your fourth chakra, your heart center, to open a little wider and let your love shine forth. While it’s true that opening yourself up to love does make you more vulnerable, the rewards are worth any risks. Being more loving and open with other people also paves the way for you to be able to experience Divine love, which is the purest love in the universe.

2. Build a Strong Foundation, Learn to Love Yourself First

You’ve heard this truth many times before, which is why you might be overlooking the most obvious factor in bringing new love into your life. Loving yourself is a precursor to being able to love or be loved by someone else. Forgive yourself for your mistakes, know that you are worthy of love, and that you are indeed enough with or without a romantic partner. In order to believe that someone else will love you, you must first love the magnificent human being that you are. No matter what self-doubt, low self-esteem or insecurity you may have suffered from in the past, the time has come to make a fresh start. Being open to love begins with a firm base of self-awareness and self-knowledge. Know, accept, and love who you are so that you can offer the same welcoming acceptance to others. It’s the secret to all good relationships. If you love yourself and feel worthy of being loved, you will break down the walls to your heart.

3. Step Out into the World with Love

What would your soulmate be doing right now? How would that person be interacting with the world? Would they be volunteering at the animal shelter? Would they be coaching kids’ basketball at the community center? Would they be driving seniors to the neighborhood health clinic? Is that your way of being in the world, too? Giving back and serving others is the way to be a loving person yourself and to meet people who have the love quotient you are seeking. Be the love you want to find. To attract love you will need to project love into the world. Because creating relationships takes energy and work, you can turn the focus of your love outward into the world by taking action and doing things you love. These activities will fuel you with positive energy and help you shine as you use your unique gifts. This radiant new you will begin attracting all kinds of new loving relationships.

“How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.” –Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Have you moved closer to becoming the most loving, accepting, and giving person you can be? Is your energy positive and focused now that you know you are ready to experience love on every level? The more love you can give, the more you can receive, and the more enjoyment you will experience.

Finding and keeping a soulmate depends on being the very kind of open-hearted, loving person you are seeking.  Be a beacon of love for yourself and others and you’ll soon find the joy those love songs are talking about!

If you’re ready to open and expand your chakras and finally receive the love and wisdom you deserve, my Secrets of Chakra Wisdom Course could be just what you need. Click here to discover more >>>

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How You Can Take the First Step Toward Healing

by Featured

“Let’s begin right now in this moment to choose love. It’s the most powerful healing force there is.” –Louise Hay

One thing you can’t fail to notice when February arrives—it’s all about love! From the giant heart-shaped boxes of candy to the racks of “Will you be mine?” valentine cards, the message is clear. It’s time to think about love, to celebrate that so-desirable feeling of deep appreciation, strong attraction, and blissful happiness.

This February, when you think about love, don’t just go through the motions. Ask yourself if you are making the most of this precious, healing, uplifting feeling. Are you practicing the love that changes everything? Do you truly love and accept yourself, the YOU that is your inner flame?

Are you familiar with self-love, with the importance of truly accepting yourself for who you are? Even if you acknowledge that you need to love yourself before you can love anything or anyone else, why is it often so challenging to find the self-love needed for wellbeing and true happiness? As a spiritual teacher and energy healer, I see many people who are their own harshest critics, their own self-saboteurs. Have you ever labeled yourself a “failure” in various aspects of your life such as romance, parenting, career, friendship? Maybe you blame yourself for things you perceive as shortcomings: being unhealthy, overweight, unmotivated, unintelligent, even unworthy of love.

Instead of nurturing yourself with love and self-care, do you berate yourself for not measuring up to impossible standards? A lack of self-esteem comes from the mistaken belief of “I’m not enough.” It’s a common misperception that so many of my students hold at some point in their lives, often for many years at a time. It takes a lot of work to break out of the stranglehold this hurtful belief can have on your life and heart.

The better you know yourself the easier it will be to strengthen your self-love and to move closer to peace, happiness, and all the healing you hope to accomplish. Self-knowledge leads to self-love, self-acceptance, and the healing power to feel gratitude and forgiveness.

Here are some steps you can take to learn more about yourself and come to appreciate and love yourself more fully:

1. Peel Back the Past – Have you looked closely into your past to see if you picked up any false notions of just how lovable you are? Did any family problems or early experiences teach you to distrust yourself or undervalue your thoughts and feelings? Was there a father who was never satisfied with your achievements or a coach who mocked your efforts to play baseball or a distant mother who never had time to listen? You may have quietly accepted ideas about yourself that still cause you to hold back the love and acceptance you need to believe in your goals and dreams. Uncover these ideas using your journaling and meditation Ask, “Do I love and trust myself enough to move forward in life?”

2. Know What You Believe – Along with seeds of self-doubt and fear, you may also have unconscious beliefs buried inside that block your spiritual healing and growth. If you thought clearly and truly loved yourself, would you believe that people of “your” height, weight, race, gender, religion, education level, or shoe size never get ahead in life? Explore your beliefs and free yourself of any hidden ideas that don’t reflect love and acceptance. Decide what you do believe about yourself, what you value, and what you hope for. Set yourself free of unloving beliefs that aren’t in keeping with your true values of healing and harmony.

3. See With Eyes of Love – Look at yourself with new eyes that are intent on finding all the good, all the beauty, and all the promise they possibly can. Is that you in the mirror smiling back? Make a list of your strengths and talents—including everything you can think of from growing the most delicious tomatoes in the neighborhood to recruiting the most volunteer workers for the local soup kitchen. You probably have talents only you know of including kindness, compassion, courage, patience, perseverance, roller skating, and cake baking. Do for yourself what you would do for your dearest love with gifts of time, fun, praise, and encouragement.

Learning to love yourself is the first step to healing your life and removing any barriers to your happiness and wellbeing. Love has the power to heal all the wounds you may ever have suffered—if it is allowed to flow within as well as without. As Louise Hay says, “There is only one thing that heals every problem, and that is:  to know how to love yourself.”

Wake up the self-love in your heart and move ahead with your February plans for loving and healing your world!

If you’re ready to heal, explore this beautiful program and learn all about the power of loving yourself. Click here to discover more >>>

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Three Things I Wish I Never Learned

by Featured

When’s the last time you heard someone say, “Live and learn”? Chances are good they were talking about a negative experience they had that taught them to be a little sadder, a little more discouraged, and a little less open-minded.

Learning can be a double-edged sword if you let it. Life is filled with learning, it’s true, but so much depends on what you do with the knowledge and experience you’re given.

Do you have things in your life that you wish you’d never learned? I know I do, but part of the soul’s journey is figuring out how to embrace your life lessons and sometimes revise what you thought you knew to let your spirit heal and grow.

Here are three areas of life learning and experience that I have needed to discover, uncover, explore, and unlearn in my life. Look within and decide if you could use some unlearning, too:

1. Pain of Past Trauma –Have you been burying the truth of your past instead of facing it? Anything negative you hold onto from your past keeps you from living freely and open heartedly in the present. Too often children are taught by parents or society that feelings are bad and shouldn’t be felt, let alone expressed. Yet in order to have a fulfilling life, complete with healthy relationships, you have to have your feelings, experience them and then let them go. When you experience an emotional or physical trauma of some kind, you may feel you “can’t handle the truth.” You send the truth – the facts about what is happening, as well as what you think and feel about it – underground, burying it deep inside. This “out of sight, out of mind,” deny-and-dissociate strategy doesn’t work for long. That’s because the truth is a powerful energy that can’t be wished away, any more than gravity can. Dealing with the truth in a healthy way requires processing it. The energy needs to be moved out of the body and released or it will eventually pop back up. Emotional pain, abusive relationships, financial problems, accidents, health scares and conditions, stress symptoms of all kinds are realities, “truths,” waiting to be set free so you can heal.

2. Limiting Beliefs – If you are like almost everyone else in the world, over the years, you have accepted ideas and beliefs from others that can limit your life in unexpected ways. In childhood, did someone tell you that you were no good at math or music or sports? If you accepted that verdict, chances are you still believe that of yourself today and steer clear of those areas where you have been called “no good.” You may have absorbed prejudices against people of another race or religion. You may have decided you were a failure when something in life didn’t work out and no one came forth to contradict that self-imposed label. Often, your most important beliefs are unconscious. Over 90 percent of those that you currently hold you took on as a child from your parents, school, and culture. If you think about this for a moment, it’s positively frightening. You inherit what you believe, most of which is unconscious, and all of it dramatically influences your life! Questioning your beliefs is an exercise well worth engaging in. It will free you from all kinds of limitations in life, including fear and living according to what’s right for someone else but not for you. Ask yourself, “Where did this belief come from?” and “Does it still work for me, or is it limiting me in any way?” Most of your preconceived beliefs are unconscious unless you make the effort to bring them into your awareness and examine them.

3. Common Energetic Blocks – The principles of physics tell us that energy is the driving force of the universe. From your root chakra at the base of your spine to your crown chakra at the top of your head—you consist of a complex system that receives energy from the world and sends out energy in what is intended to be a healthy in-and-out cycle. You want free-flowing energy throughout your body. Negative life experiences, emotional upsets, accumulations of negative emotions (fear, shame, guilt), accidents, and traumas of any kind can block and impair your energy system. If these experiences are not processed and released over time, a lack of energy flow in some area of your body may manifest as illness or other problems. When your chakras are blocked, your energy flow is also blocked, and that clog will eventually cause physical symptoms that can be anything from headaches to cancer. Keeping your chakras clear and your energy flowing is the best way to keep your body from experiencing injury or illness. Energy healing courses can help remove these blocks and pave the way to better physical function and a happier, healthier life.

“When any real progress is made, we unlearn and learn anew what we thought we knew before.”

— Henry David Thoreau

Is there something you need to unlearn? Suppressing true feelings and denying the pain and trauma of the past can wreak havoc on the life you are living today. Limiting beliefs can limit your potential. By acknowledging and accepting your true feelings you can loosen the grip the past has on your mind, body, and spirit and get un-stuck.

Use your spiritual practices of meditation, prayer, journaling, and more to help clear past trauma from your energy field, connect with your emotions, and clear, charge and balance your chakras. Get ready to live the life of your dreams!

If you feel like this is an area you need to explore, I just know you’ll find exactly what you’re looking for in my healing energy shop. Click here to start exploring now >>>

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Three Tips for Awakening Your Inner Healer

by Featured

One of the great miracles of the human body, and the human spirit, is the ability to heal. You can heal from a broken arm as well as a broken heart. Whatever you’ve encountered in your human journey, at some point you’ve experienced healing—the power to make better, make well, restore, and make whole.  Think about the self-healing you may have achieved in your life. Have you ever wondered how it would feel to facilitate that kind of healing for others? Could you do it? Do you feel called to it?

Whatever your particular journey has been, you can trust that nothing happens in your life that isn’t part of your Divine plan. Everything serves your higher purpose in some way. Take a moment to re-imagine your story, to see if the obstacles and traumas and disciplines of your life may be the necessary foundation for your development as a healer. Ask yourself what may have prepared you to develop the gift of being able to heal yourself and possibly others.

A healer is someone who expands their consciousness and conducts healing energy to help others resolve whatever is ailing them on the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual planes. From ancient times, healers or shamans worked to secure the help of the spirit world for the benefit of the entire community. Sometimes the help they provided would heal disease, heal the psyche, or bring greater harmony between human groups or between humans and nature. They also served as intermediaries or messengers between the human world and the spirit worlds. Present-day energy healers contribute the same value. They are naturally gifted and usually called to this area of study by a profound life event. Many seek further training through energy healing courses, so they can help their friends and family or help thousands find relief from emotional and physical pain.

Does the world of healing match your purpose? You’ll know you’re living your life purpose when you’re fully engaged—mind, heart, body, and soul—and doing whatever you feel you were born to do. Are you focused, sensitive, compassionate, hardworking? Do you frequently spend time in nature, meditation, or prayer? Have you begun to work through the wounds and emotional issues from your childhood? The list of possible experiences, qualities, and skills you already possess to help in this endeavor is endless. Real healing power is inside you; it just needs to be awakened, nurtured, and practiced.

 

Are you ready to explore the healing possibilities? Here are three tips to begin awakening your inner healer:

1. Expand your consciousness –Can you perceive beyond the limitations of your body and mind and feel that you are part of the vast universe around you, connected to All That Is? You may have had such experiences while hiking in the woods or watching the sunset over the ocean—nature can ease you into an expanded state of awareness. Maybe you’ve reached it through yoga, prayer, music or being present at an event where you feel deeply connected to another person—birth, death. The surest route to heightened consciousness is meditation. A state of expanded consciousness is the best state from which to get guidance and direction for your life, to have your energy field recharged, and to get the information and instructions you need for healing. Being in an expanded state allows you to connect to your own higher qualities and the field of all possibilities. All the knowledge and power you need to effect change in yourself and others is right out there, right beyond your everyday senses. When you are able to access the unified field intentionally, you have the ability to discover anything in the universe—past, present, and future. And this information can be the basis of your helping others achieve transformation in their lives, which is the very foundation of energy healing.

2. Examine Your Beliefs —Your daily journaling practice is an excellent way to explore your values and beliefs, to know yourself, and to develop an open mind. Why is it so important to examine your beliefs? Because some of them may be limiting you, may be holding you back—especially those that stem from fear-based thinking. Fear is always limiting, as opposed to expanding. Often, our most important beliefs are unconscious. Over 90 percent of those that we currently hold we took on as kids from our parents, school, and culture, and these views run the greater part of our lives. Your unconscious beliefs may inhibit you from becoming all that you are meant to be. It’s nearly impossible to expand and grow, to take in new information and make new choices, when you are confined to operating solely according to preexisting ideas.  Part of your task in life is to reach beyond the bounds of your conditioning and live true to who you want to be. Once you are clear within yourself, you can be a clear channel for others.

3. Extend Your Hand, Extend the Light – It’s important to balance your inner practices like meditation, journaling, and prayer with out-in-the-world service to others. There has to be an inner and outer harmony in your life for healing to take place.  Connection is one of the most powerful forces for healing. You constantly have the opportunity to be of service to every single person you meet throughout the course of your day. Smile at the harried checkout clerk in the supermarket; don’t be pushy or rude to the people standing in line with you at the bank; and be generous and let that other car into the lane ahead of you! You are being of service each time you send out a current of caring for others, which clears a space for you to receive more of the expanded energy of higher consciousness that you seek.  Becoming more loving in your moment-to-moment interactions is how you heal yourself and others on their journey. It doesn’t matter how many people you touch through your service, just spread your light in whatever arena you are called to serve.

 

“There is a force in the universe, which, if we permit it, will flow through us and produce miraculous results.” –Mahatma Gandhi

 

The power to heal is very real and has been observed by many cultures over thousands of years. Today, it is an exciting field of study allowing people to expand their awareness, to access the powerful invisible life force, and to serve as an energy healer. An energy healer or healing practitioner reminds us that we are not powerless victims, but are fully able to create the lives we want to live.

If you’re attracted to this kind of learning, or you’re curious about exploring your potential as an energy healer, join me for my popular mini video course, Awaken the Healer Within. Click here to discover more >>>

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Three Ways to Make Things Happen This Year

by Featured

“Go confidently in the direction of your dreams! Live the life you’ve imagined.” –Henry David Thoreau

As a child, you probably had a powerful sense of possibility. Did you dream of being an astronaut, a rock star, an Olympic athlete or a Nobel Prize winner? Big dreams feel wonderful, and the sense that anything is possible can make your spirit soar. Your dreams may have changed over the years, but your longing to make them real probably hasn’t. Take a moment to gauge where you stand. How is your dream quotient these days? How is your faith in the possible doing right now?

Whether you are ten or seventy, you need that faith to make good things happen in your life. To experience extraordinary things, you need a firm and powerful belief that those things can and will happen. When you believe that you are worthy of what you truly want, you can bring amazing occurrences into your life. Louise Hay advises having faith in the “totality of possibilities,” saying not so much that the sky’s the limit but that there is no limit! All of those good possibilities are within you to be realized. So what can you do today to begin making them real?

Here are three ways to get started:

1. Know Your Intention — The Universe will respond to your request for help in manifesting your dreams once your intent is crystal clear. So the first step is to decide what you want. One way to search your soul for your deepest yearnings is to meditate. Meditation brings you closer to your higher self, which can offer helpful guidance from a point of greater spiritual awareness and understanding. Meditation can help you let go of distractions getting in the way of your dreams and set the tone for new productive, meaningful experiences. As you meditate, you’ll start to see the connections between the tone of your thoughts and the way your life feels.  Once you have determined your intention, you can send it out to the Universe. As a spiritual teacher, I can assure you, if your intent is strong and you remain positive, the universe will answer you. Having set your intention and sent it out, then it’s time for faith. Trust that Source has heard you and will respond at the right time. Continue to live a positive life full of purpose and good will. Keep the faith that your good is out there and on its way to you. You’ll start to notice substantial changes in your life, in all areas of your experience, including finding the vision to forge a new future.

2. Visualize What You Want to See — Great scientist, Albert Einstein, believed that the single most vital quality for human beings to develop is imagination. He said, “Imagination is greater than knowledge.” Without imagination and intuition as its guiding force, life would become stagnant and inert. Visualizing goals, dreams, and outcomes is a wonderful self-healing technique. Regularly spend time resting with your eyes closed, picturing the exact outcome you desire. Open yourself to the wisdom of your higher self and to your more refined inner guidance system. I often guide workshop participants to ask their own higher wisdom for guidance and signs that they are on the right path. I encourage them to listen for internal messages regarding purpose and direction and to visualize positive or peaceful outcomes. Also, do you believe that a picture is worth a thousand words? You’ve no doubt heard stories of the power of vision boarding—the gathering of physical images that portray your goals and dreams. Creating a vision board can help concentrate and focus your thoughts on the things you want to manifest in your life. Keep images that reflect your dreams “right before your eyes” and help bring good things and experiences into your life.

3. Affirm Your Dream Here and Now — You’re probably familiar with affirmations, but have you ever considered them as a form of prayer? Most simply, affirmations are anything you say or think. The goal is to focus on making positive statements that describe the state you desire—joy, peace, prosperity, love, wellbeing. Thinking of affirmations as prayers takes them a step up energetically, because they engage the energy of Source in the present moment rather than the future. Petition, or prayer, oftentimes reflects wanting something you don’t have: “God, please bring me a better-paying job!” With affirmations, you’re saying that you already have whatever it is you want: “I love my fulfilling and rewarding job!” Picture in your mind whatever it is you are praying about—a more loving relationship, better health, more abundance—and know that it already exists, thus allowing Spirit to help you manifest it. Affirmations can be used to declare a shift into your higher-self qualities. For example, do you want the gift of healing? State that this skill is already unfolding in you: “I am able to heal.” Do you want to be an instrument of peace and love? Declare, “I am an instrument of peace and love.” At the same time, you’ll be taking action on the physical plane to bring your desire to life. Once you have your vision solidly in mind and you state your affirmation, look for the most obvious next action to manifest that goal into reality.

As the quote that’s often attributed to Goethe goes, “What you can do, or dream you can do, begin it! Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it.” Spirit helps those who help themselves. You can help yourself by using your power to intend, visualize, and affirm the life of your dreams!

 

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Recovering Your Spirit: Three Tips for Healing After the Holidays

by Featured

The excitement, the bustle, the countdown to your big celebration—the holidays arrive like a mighty wind and can leave you wondering what hit you. Even if your days were blessed with abundance and overflowing with good will and good cheer, they can make you feel like a deflated balloon as the confetti settles.  It isn’t your imagination and there’s nothing to feel guilty about. You may be running on empty after the holidays. You rose to the occasion and burned your spiritual candle at both ends. Now it’s time to refuel and refresh!

When you consider how much there is to process at year-end holiday time, it’s no wonder you are left feeling dazed and confused. You may have over-indulged in food and drink, eaten too many sweets, gotten too little sleep, and done too little exercise. You may have skipped a few steps in your spiritual practice. You may feel ashamed that all your hard won spiritual progress didn’t keep you from crumbling when confronted by critical, quarrelsome family members. Fortunately, you have survived and can now call on the resources you need to heal and refresh your spirit. You can rely on the unconditional love that is your birthright to bring you back to a set point of peace and joy.

Try these three tips for healing after the holidays have drained your spiritual well and it’s time to replenish and refill:

Nurture yourself with gratitude and love. Your physical self is a miracle of healing Even if you haven’t taken the best care of yourself during the holidays, you can recover with a gentle and loving approach. Forgive yourself for falling off the self-care wagon briefly and give thanks for the wonderful gift of healing and rebuilding. Create your own spiritual spa where you focus on tapping in to the energy that surrounds you. Eat right, rest well, move your body, and surround yourself as best you can with fresh air, sunlight, and the sights, sounds, and scents of nature. Reviving your good self-care is the first step to restoring your spiritual energy.

Take time for solitude and contemplation. The holidays can draw you into far more social interaction, family contact, and public interface than you are used to or even comfortable with. There is so much to take in and process that you may have fallen behind in keeping up with all the people, places, events, thoughts, and feelings that have touched your psychic space. Emotional overload can result and leave you feeling spent. Alone time, quiet time, creative activity, and meditation will help you catch up and rebuild your spiritual energy reserve. Negative thoughts and feelings may have emerged along with the family reunion and the memory of holidays gone by that may have been happier than your present experience. Take time to examine this negative energy and release it with forgiveness and love. With some quiet time, you can sort your experiences and surround them with healing energy.

Use positive self-talk to affirm and strengthen your spirit. Give yourself a loving post-holiday pep talk. Consider how much you have to be thankful for as you approach the dawn of a new year. Write the story of your holidays in your journal and look for all the good things that happened and reflect on how much you enjoyed them. Any negative events can be analyzed, too, with an eye to understanding and learning from them. Create some affirmations for the new year that will empower you to follow your dreams. Where do you want to go and how will you grow in spirit as you move in that direction? Shine the light of your love on the child of the divine that is you!

As the holiday season fades into history and you begin your bright new year, think about all the ways that you have grown in spirit. You have such amazing strength and understanding, so much power to grow in awareness and to heal yourself and others. The connection you feel with the loving universe that makes your life possible has now been renewed and recharged. No more running on empty as you move toward your future goals and dreams!