2024-GratitudeBlogretread-featured

Kick off the Season with a Big Helping of Gratitude!

by FeaturedLife Coaching

“If the only prayer you said in your whole life was ‘thank you,’ that would suffice.”  ~Meister Eckhart (13th century mystic)

For me, Thanksgiving has always signaled the official start of the holiday season. The holidays can be busy and stressful, but the spirit of Thanksgiving holds the key to getting them off to a serene and joyous start—and that key is gratitude! This year, I encourage you to take a deep breath before diving into the festive chaos to reflect and give thanks for the blessings in your life. Don’t stop when the pies have been eaten and the turkey dishes washed and put away. I challenge you to foster the habit of gratitude throughout the season – and resolve to keep it alive through the New Year!

Why is gratitude so important at this time of year?

Gratitude is all about expressing appreciation for what you have, instead of focusing on what you want or think that you need. During the holidays it’s easy to get sucked into the consumer frenzy. Frequently pausing to acknowledge the blessings in your life will help you put things in perspective and enjoy the spirit of the season!

Gratitude is good for the mind, body and spirit!

Gratitude increases your levels of happiness and optimism, and improves your relationships with others. Studies have shown that gratitude makes you healthier too! Keeping a gratitude journal and verbally expressing thanks allows people suffering from emotional or physical problems to reduce the severity of their symptoms, sleep better, and improve their overall quality of life.

Would you like to be happier every day? Regularly expressing gratitude can help you improve your “set point” for happiness. The idea of a set point comes from research showing that people return to their characteristic level of happiness a short time after experiencing unusually good and unusually bad events. The research on gratitude, however, suggests that by embracing gratitude people can move their happiness set point up – resulting in more optimism, joy and good health!

How can you cultivate the “gratitude habit?”

Are you taking the time to give thanks every day? If giving thanks isn’t second nature to you, or if you are experiencing a “dark night of the soul” and can’t find much to be grateful for, here are some ways to let the light of gratitude into your life:

  • Schedule time for gratitude! For a few weeks, make a conscious decision to conjure up grateful thoughts before you go to bed, as soon as you wake up, or before meals. Soon you’ll notice that thankful, positive thoughts pop into your head at these times, unbidden, lifting your spirits and taking the place of worry, stress, and fear!
  • Keep a gratitude journal! Take five minutes every day to jot down a few things that you’re grateful for. Put pen to paper and let the words flow! Be creative – you’ll find that you have a lot to be thankful for!
  • Say thanks in the form of a prayer! Give thanks to a higher power when good fortune strikes. When you find a great parking spot, have a pleasant interaction with a stranger, or have a successful day at work, acknowledge the event with a quick prayer of gratitude!
  • Remember people in your past who have made a positive difference. If you can, let them know with a quick note, call or Facebook post. Even if it’s not possible to contact them directly, take the time to remember them, give thanks, and mentally wish them well!
  • Give thanks to the world around you. Beautiful sunsets, a peaceful walk in the woods, or a starry night sky can inspire awe and gratitude. When struck by the beauty of nature, repeat the words of e.e. Cummings, “i thank You God for most this amazing day: for the leaping greenly spirits of trees and a blue true dream of sky; and for everything which is natural which is infinite which is yes.”  It’s a great way to give tribute to the wonders around you!
  • Be thankful for the challenges in your life that have shaped you into the person you are. When you tackle a difficult task or handle a confrontation successfully, give thanks to the people and events that have made you strong in mind, body and spirit.
  • Don’t forget your pets! When your pet greets you at the door or curls up next to you on the couch, take a moment to thank them for the unconditional love and joy that they bring to your life.

It is easy to forget to say thank you when our lives are so busy – but that’s all the more reason to take the time! When you experience a loving moment with a friend, family member or pet, admire a lovely view or savor an accomplishment, make it a point to pause and whisper a quiet word of thanks. It will lock that positive experience in your consciousness, and make you more receptive to recognizing the next lovely moment when it comes along!

As an energy healer and spiritual teacher, I focus on sharing ways to bring more light and joy into your life. I recommend that you practice meditation, journaling and healthy living, as well as cultivate the habits of gratitude and forgiveness. These practices will enlighten your own life, and let you spread your light to everyone around you!

initiate

Access Higher Realms for Guidance: Your Leadership Role Right Now (Part 2)

by Energy HealingEnergy MedicineFeaturedLife Coaching
initiate

Are you ready to step into your purpose as a leader — so you can LIVE your soul’s deepest desires, and help us heal our world?

In Part 1, we started exploring how you’re being called to step into leadership right now and I shared a quick, powerful practice for tapping into the guidance of your eighth chakra.

In Part 2, we’ll build off of the foundation we created together, and I guide you to tap even beyond your eighth chakra to find the unique mission of your soul — your true life purpose that’s calling you to step into action now…

We’ll start with a revisit to your 8th chakra — the epicenter of your entire chakra system. Then we’ll tap into your 9th, 10th, 11th, and we’ll even discuss the 12th chakra — the seat of all-knowing awareness.

The 8th chakra for wisdom & higher perception

In the video below, you’ll sense your 8th chakra as a light-filled orb. This is the first transpersonal chakra, associated with the origin of enlightenment and ascension.

Here you can sense that you’re connected to a large community of higher beings, because this chakra takes you beyond your singular self. The 8th chakra connects you with higher spiritual perceptions and wisdom. Here you develop a new spiritual awareness that can bring great changes to your professional and personal life as you go beyond yourself and into your desire to help heal the planet.

Your 9th chakra for tapping into your karmic blueprint

Next I introduce you to your 9th chakra, where all the abilities that are related to the Christ light energy are waiting for you, to be used in both your inner and outer worlds. This chakra is about four feet above your head — and it’s a joy-filled center that sparks the light in all the cells of your body.

The ninth chakra holds your karmic blueprint, as well as the key to the destiny of your soul. You become aware of all the knowledge and the various skills you have acquired in all your experiences and in every lifetime.

As I guide you into this chakra, you’ll take a look at three principal life blueprints: the creator, the healer, and the teacher. You’ll see which one you hold as your main blueprint — the one that you’ve developed the most throughout your lifetimes. As you’ll discover, your karmic blueprint determines your destiny!

Your 10th chakra for tapping into your deepest, highest skills

The power to manifest is within your own subtle energy body. It’s not about affirmations or visualizations — it’s about drawing Divine, Soul energy from the higher realms, into the physical realm.
Through your 10th chakra, you can start to manifest your desires and bring into the world the skills and knowledge you learned in your past incarnations.

The 10th chakra is also responsible for divine creativity — the ability to bring all facets of your life into harmony and to bring manifestation into every area of your life.

In this video practice, I guide you in a meditation to heal your 10th chakra. I show you how to release the energy blockages by dissolving fear. I also share a mantra to use for balancing the masculine and feminine within your 10th chakra and your entire energy field.

The 11th chakra for going beyond the physical world

At the level of the 11th chakra, you start to go beyond the laws of the physical world, like gravity or space/time, and start to use other siddhis—advanced powers.

This chakra contains your spiritual library — everything you need to be both human and divine. It holds all the connections you need to activate higher spiritual abilities such as teleportation, telekinesis, the instant manifestation of thought into matter, and bi-location and travel outside the limitation of time and space. Of course, this is a very advanced chara, and these gifts will not manifest until the 12th chakra begins its opening.

The 11th chakra has all the connections you need to activate the higher spiritual abilities, such as teleportation, telekinesis, the instant manifestation of thought into matter, bi-location and travel outside the limitation of time and space.

Of course, these will not manifest until the 12th chakra begins its opening. These skills are meant to prepare you for your existence after ascension. It is the new path your soul will follow in its newest form, while still in your physical body.

The 12th chakra for merging with the cosmos and all-knowing awareness

At the Monadic level of the 12th chakra, you are merged with Cosmos and all-knowing awareness. You will be thrilled by the brilliance of this 12th chakra, located about 20 feet above your crown chakra; it’s like a sun vibrating with swirling colors.

And like the sun, it burns hot and bright, since it is the source of your power and strength as well as your capability of manifesting change in both physical and nonphysical reality. All the energies of ascension reside here, which can speed up the ascension process in all the chakras below the 12th. You can also develop control over the elements when the 12th starts to open.

Here is the entrance to the vastness of the cosmos. If the 11th chakra is not wired correctly it can cause problems in the 12th chakra. And blocked energies here can cause issues with out-of-body travel, random healing skills, spontaneous inner visions in the midst of normal living, and even being able to have objects appear and disappear. This happens when the blocked energy is strong enough to bust out and pours too much energy into the 11th chakra where these skills reside.

In this video, I guide you in meditation to help balance the 12th chakra and calibrate your entire energy body at a high spiritual vibration.

If you are interested in guidance, so that you can find balance in all aspects of your life, reveal your life’s true purpose, and become your most powerful self, the doors are currently open for our exclusive Lifeforce Energy Healing® Master-in-Training Certification Course. 

New Year 2020

Do New Year’s Resolutions Really Work?

by FeaturedLife Coaching

Bringing in 2020! With the beginning of this new year, you have been given a new start, a fresh slate, an opportunity to kick off the next twelve months of your life with hope, love, and healing. But New Year’s resolutions may not be the best way to turn over a new leaf.

The Reason So Many Resolutions Fail

For many people, a fresh start involves making New Year’s resolutions—goals or promises to yourself for improvements. Many common resolutions include losing weight, getting a handle on an addiction, saving more money, or moving up in your career. The problem is that many New Year’s resolutions are externally motivated, arising from outside you – from your parents, or partners, or society, and are therefore set up for failure from the get-go.

Resolutions that are born out of a need to please others rather than being born from a deep desire for yourself are often not realized. How can they be? They don’t reflect the true you. And yet, when you abandon them, the cycle of self-blame and shame makes you feel worse than if you’d never made any resolutions at all! Does that sounds like a good way to start the year—with a vow that is unrealistic from the start because it’s inauthentic and only makes you feel worse when you don’t meet it? You deserve better.

Focus on Intention

So this year, I’d like you to break the cycle of bound-to-fail resolutions and instead, make non-resolutions that are less about the end result and more about the journey. Rather than trying to plan goals, focus on intention. What is the reason behind the goal? That’s what you need to pay attention to. When you are clear on what your purpose is—your intention—it’s much easier to make decisions that support that purpose.

For example, let’s say your resolution is to lose weight. When you make a resolution, it’s usually a simple statement: “I will lose 20 lbs this year,” without a crystal clear plan in place. If you use energy healing techniques to dig deeper and understand the emotions behind the weight gain, your chances of success increase exponentially. Thinking about why you want what you want, why it has not yet happened, and how you will move toward your desired result are essential for transforming yourself this year.

Here are a few ways to figure out what you want your intentions to be for this year and how to go about making those intentions a reality in your life.

  1. Practice energy healing.
    Energy medicine is the single best thing you can do for your emotional, physical, mental, and spiritual wellbeing. Energy healing expands your awareness, brings you into closer contact with Source and your higher self, and helps to clear your chakras and energy field of any negativity that might be causing you problems. (like not being able to lose weight) Energy medicine gives you the tools you need to get to the root of your problems so that you can address the cause of your bad habits, or the self-sabotaging or addictive behavior you’d like to change. Attending healing courses and working with a spiritual teacher is a great jumpstart to healing yourself, and journaling, meditation, and being of service are a few of the other methods of self-healing you will learn in energy medicine that will help you clear your chakras and reveal the real you. Uncovering the real you that lies underneath the expectations from others that so often color your resolutions is just one of a million life-changing benefits of practicing energy medicine.
  2. Find your true purpose.
    With energy healing, you will be more and more able to connect with your higher self, who intimately understands the deepest parts of you and knows your life purpose: the reason you incarnated in your body at this time. Your life purpose is the driving force within your soul, and lining up your intentions with your soul’s plans is the best way to speed up your spiritual progress, heal yourself, and actually manifest your intentions. Try journaling about your true feelings, wants, and desires, writing down your most honest thoughts, and see if you can’t discover an intention for the new year that comes from you and not from anyone else. Trust your intuition, which is from your higher self and your guides, the best source of guidance.
  3. Consider adding rather than subtracting.
    So often resolutions are about stopping something, which can feel limiting and may make you resistant. But adding something positive feels happy and fun, like Christmas all over again. Perhaps your intention is to lose weight in order to get in better shape so you have more energy to do the things you love, so try adding a walk after dinner each night, before TV time. Maybe you want to intend to be happier or more fulfilled, so try scheduling in one thing you love to do for an hour each day, or join a group of people who have similar interests.

Remember, do not feel bad if you “fail.” You can’t fail at trying! Or rather, failure is part of trying, it is a part of the process of succeeding, so when you intend to improve your life you aren’t making a vow that can be broken, but rather a choice to move toward a new way of interacting with one particular part of yourself or the world. That simple fact gives you hope and decreases self-blame, and is why intentions are so much more effective long-term.

I hope you’ll try intentionality rather than resolutions this January so you can enjoy a happier, healthier, more light-filled year ahead. Happy New Year!

Perfect Christmas

Christmas is a time when you get homesick

by EventsFeaturedLife Coaching

Are you looking forward to a holiday right out of a Norman Rockwell painting, with the whole family singing around the piano or enjoying a spirited snowball fight before gathering, rosy-cheeked and glowing, around the holiday table? Or are you dreading long days of forced togetherness, the rehashing of old grievances and the airing of new ones as your family falls into its old, dysfunctional patterns? For most, holiday gatherings with family fall somewhere between the two scenarios. These three tips will help you to navigate though the family minefields, large and small, with your spirit and sanity intact.

 

Put the power of forgiveness and unconditional love to work for you:

 

As a spiritual teacher, I encourage my students to give themselves and those around them the gift of forgiveness and unconditional love. This holds especially true during the holidays.

If you know in advance that you’ll be seeing a family member who has wronged you, take the time to forgive them before the event. Close your eyes and imagine the person standing in front of you. As you breathe in, silently say, May you be happy. May you be well. May you be safe. May you be peaceful and at ease. This powerful Buddhist exercise, called “Metta,” dissolves anger, resentment, and guilt, and will help you to feel more loving and in control as you journey “over the river and through the woods to Grandmother’s house.” When you arrive, don’t undo the good you’ve done by telling the person that you have forgiven them—that will only bring the old issues back to the forefront and put them on the defensive. This processing is for your benefit. Simply send them love, and move on!

 

Stay outside of the emotional fray, and celebrate your own spiritual progress:

 

The holidays are not the time to resolve old issues, or confront other people. Enjoy the time with family, and set the limits that you need to keep yourself healthy emotionally, spiritually, and physically.

 

Take care of yourself. Take walks outdoors, meditate and consume alcohol, sugar, and caffeine in moderation. If you’re tired, give yourself permission to leave a family event early. You’re not obligated to stay till the bitter end. Fighting and drama tends to escalate as it gets late, especially if the alcohol is flowing. If there is family drama, step out of the fray and observe; pretend you’re watching a play, rather than allowing yourself to be pulled in.

 

 

Finally, capture the holiday spirit by looking outside of yourself and your family circle:

 

Are you trying to recapture the breathless excitement and holiday magic that you remember from your childhood? Or do you have old, traumatic memories of the season that you’re desperate to replace with happier ones? As an adult, you can experience the very best of the holidays, the spirit of joy and love, but you might not find it wrapped in a box, or around the table with your extended family. For many people, the formula for a light-filled season includes not just family time, but time spent alone and time spent helping others.

 

Gandhi said that the best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others. Don’t depend on the “big event” to fill you with the holiday spirit. If, despite your best efforts to forgive and forget, an overdose of family time is causing you to dwell too much on past hurts and disappointments, shift your focus outside of yourself. Figure out a way to help others, and by doing so, you’ll nourish your own spirit. Serve holiday dinners at a homeless shelter, deliver gifts to the lonely or sick, visit a nursing home to sing carols, send cards and packages to the troops, and remember what the holidays are really about—bringing more light into the world.  Doing that is a sure way to fill your own soul with the spirit of the season!

Limiting Beliefs

Heal Your Limiting Beliefs (But First Discover Them!)

by Energy HealingEnergy MedicineFeaturedHealthLife CoachingSelf Love

Do you ever feel like you are running in place instead of moving toward your goals and dreams? Like you’re pounding away on a hidden treadmill going nowhere. Clearly, something is holding you back, when your path seems to be blocked, and chances, you are blocked by limiting beliefs you don’t even know you have.

What’s a Limiting Belief? 

Just like 15th-century Europeans who believed that the earth was flat, you may have unexamined beliefs that are incorrect. Such beliefs may be limiting you, holding you back—especially those that stem from fear-based thinking. Fear is always limiting, as opposed to opening, expanding and freeing. When you start to look closely at your personal beliefs, you may be surprised to find that some actually close doors rather than open them. Limiting beliefs can stifle your vision, your potential, and your power. You won’t set sail to explore the world if you’re afraid you might fall off the edge.

Where Do Your Beliefs Come From?

Typically, your most important beliefs are unconscious. You haven’t examined them because you don’t even realize they exist. Over 90 percent of your core beliefs originated in childhood, coming from your parents or caregivers, school, and culture. These subconscious views run the greater part of your life and shape your potential to be happy or unhappy, rich or poor, healthy or not so much. You have inherited what you believe, most of which is unconscious, and all of it dramatically influences your life.

Do You Know What You Believe?

Questioning your beliefs is an exercise well worth the effort. It’s part of the process of self-discovery needed for spiritual growth and healing. 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. You’ll want to ask yourself: “Where did this belief come from?” and “Does it still work for me, or is it limiting me in some way?” If you think that an idea no longer fits you, ask yourself what might suit you better.

Here are some of the personal “belief” areas you’ll want to examine:

Religion – this is usually the primary limitation for people when they want to expand their consciousness. What, if any, childhood faith were you raised in? Do you believe in the tenets of that faith now? Do you practice them? Are they fear-based? Are you aware of unconscious beliefs from your early education about religion that may be negatively affecting your life today? Also, consider your beliefs about the religions of others. Do you automatically reject others or their thinking because their religion is different from yours, even if you give only lip service to your own?

Politics – So many people automatically exclude everything from the “other side,” assuming that no good can possibly come from it. Do you automatically decide that everyone who opposes your viewpoint is 100 percent wrong? How much do you expose yourself to the beliefs of the other camp? If very strong feelings arise when you look at this area of belief, consider it closely and make sure that love and not fear is ruling your outlook.

Social Values – Where do you stand on the right of women to make decisions about their own bodies, the death penalty, gay marriage, social welfare programs, and other important topics? I always try to read well-written pieces on both sides of every issue and then consciously recheck my position. Have you thought through your own views on these issues recently, or do you automatically determine that there can be nothing of merit on the other side?

Race – We’d all like to think that we’re blind to skin color, but the truth is that we inherit racial prejudices from our family of origin, our schools, and our country—and these are very hard to delete. Bring your feelings into the light and really examine them.

Money – I can almost guarantee that if you have money problem, they can be traced back to certain beliefs you inherited from your family of origin. What are your beliefs about abundance and your own relationship to it?

Relationships – What subliminal or even overt messages did your mother and father give you about interpersonal relationships? How healthy is your relationship to yourself? Is your self-talk positive and empowering? Do you believe in your worthiness and potential? What about your relationship with a significant other?

Why Is It Vital to Question Your Beliefs?

Most of your preconceived beliefs are unconscious unless you make the effort to shift them into your awareness. Here’s why it’s important to bring all of them into your consciousness:

  1. 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.
  2. If you want to work comfortably with others, you’ll need to be able to accept their beliefs and treat them with the same respect you would your own.
  3. A person with a lot of fixed beliefs is acting from fear. Being afraid to give serious thought to the activities and opinions of others means that you are judging them without really giving their ideas your full consideration.

To free yourself from limiting beliefs that keep you “running in place” instead of growing into your greatest good, give some thought to your beliefs. Find out where you really stand. Free yourself to be open-minded and self-determined, think what you want to think, be in the driver’s seat of your own consciousness!

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Stay Connected! How You Can Keep the Faith in Challenging Times

by Life CoachingMeditation

When asked about the certainties of human life, how would you answer? The comedian in you might reply: “Nothing is sure but death and taxes.” It makes a clever quip. When you think deeply about it, though, you might say that the greatest constants are change and challenge. Cycles of change are built into the cosmos—from the seasons to the tides to the movement of the stars. And challenge? What are the challenges you face every day from the small mishaps in your personal life to the global scale tragedies you hear about in the news and witness on television?  Even if change and challenge are constants in our world, it doesn’t mean that you can’t live your life with a joyful and open heart. All you need is to create some powerful constants of your own!

What’s constant in your life? It’s all the things you love, all your values, and all that you believe in. You have a unique set of gifts and talents, and you are here to use them. Exploring who you are and what you can do is the first step in preparing yourself to embrace change and weather challenges. I have faced a dizzying array of changes and challenges in my life—things I never would have believed possible. Somehow all of them have fed into my spiritual growth and development and opened the true path I am meant to follow in this life. Just in the last twelve months, I’ve experienced everything from physical challenge (falling off a cliff!) to heart-wrenching changes (wrapping up a decade of weekly contact with my online Hay House Radio listeners). The changes and challenges of my life have made me the spiritual teacher and energy healer I am today. The same can be true of you as you open the door to your own true calling.

The challenging times you face today—and the world is supplying plenty of them—can become the components of your spiritual growth and your joyful future. As you pick up the pieces that change creates and meet the challenges ahead, you shape the future. By finding your constants and using them to stay connected to all that helps you heal, thrive, and grow, you fulfill your unique destiny. Your ability to face challenge and embrace change can become the keystones of your spiritual toolkit.

Here are some ways you can stay connected in challenging times:

Maintain your spiritual practice. What keeps you grounded in uncertain times? When your day (or your life) is threatening to go off the rails, what do you do to pull it back together? Here’s where your deep knowledge of your beliefs and values comes into play. Meditation is an ancient practice used to calm and focus the mind and bring your complete self into balance and peace. If you have a meditation practice, lean in and see if there is even more joy and comfort to be found there. If you still need to create your meditation practice, find an experienced teacher to guide and support your efforts. Your yoga and exercise regimens also offer the chance to ground and center yourself. Prayer is another way to reach out and connect yourself to Source energy. Do you dance, sing, write, paint, or use other creative activities to stay connected? Tough times are no time to postpone your spiritual practice. Its purpose, after all, is to help you through such days. Plug in to the ultimate power of Source!

Let the truth set you free. Part of discovering your loves, values, and beliefs is being completely honest with yourself. A daily journal is the best tool I can recommend for opening your heart on paper, for giving yourself permission to be truthful. Over many years, you may have built up layer upon layer of stories about yourself—many for your own good as you perceive it. How many of these stories are true? Do they really serve you any longer? You can use your journal entries to record your feelings as they occur and examine them to test their truthfulness. Have you been honest with yourself? Discovering the truth about your feelings and coming to terms with them gives you the power to forgive yourself and others. Forgiveness, based on your truth, opens the door to the healing power of self-acceptance and self-love. Clearing the channel for connection to your inner self helps you connect to others and to Source.

Join hands and serve. The changes and challenges you face in your life can be the tie that binds you to a community of like-minded friends. Your challenges can also equip you to be of service to others who are feeling the wounds that you have already survived. When you make spiritual study, classes, and workshops part of your practice, you cross paths with seekers on the same journey who become part of your healing community. Joining together in community strengthens your power to form life-sustaining connections and also to serve the world. No matter what seems to be going terribly wrong in the world at large, imagine how good it feels to spend a morning packing lunches for the homeless, teaching an adult learner to read, or visiting a nursing home patient who never leaves her room. By simply joining hands at home, you help build connections that can heal the world!

For the past 10 years I have been so fortunate to share my love of all things energy healing with you on my weekly Hay House Radio show. While this Tuesday will be my final show at Hay House… it’s absolutely not a goodbye.

I’ve been busy at work building a platform and a show format that will revolutionize the way we can connect and interact: face to face, on a weekly basis and available for you to listen and watch live or on your own schedule in a variety of formats.

If you want to stay connected, click here >>>

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Stuck in neutral?

by Energy HealingFeaturedHealthLife CoachingMeditationRelationshipsTruth Heals

hard choice

Well, I’ve finally gotten around to writing about procrastination. I guess there’s a reason I often repeated Scarlett O’Hara’s words in Gone With The Wind: “I’ll think about it tomorrow. After all, tomorrow is another day.” Indeed, we all do it. We put off till tomorrow what we don’t want to face today. It can go on indefinitely. There are, however, consequences to not moving forward in your life, to not embracing change. Emotions get buried deep inside, trouble ensues.

What’s interesting is that procrastination doesn’t come from laziness. Believe it or not, that “lazy bum” who can’t get off the lounge chair in front of the TV has a lot in common with the spiritual seeker who frequently blows off meditation practice. It all comes down to self-love: loving yourself enough to get into gear and do what you know you have to do in order to be the person you want to be.

So how do you start the ball rolling? How do you finally get off the couch and walk into the rest of your life? That’s what I’ve just written about in a blog for The Huffington Post. You can read it and comment there http://www.huffingtonpost.com/deborah-king/what-if-tomorrow-never-co_b_9088122.html?utm_hp_ref=gps-for-the-soul&ir=GPS+for+the+Soul.

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Is Less the New More When It Comes To Happiness?

by Energy HealingLife Coaching

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If you’re like most, your calendar rules your day—the beep of the alarm sets off a series of start and end times to your activities: work, gym, meetings, dinners, classes, appointments, etc., until you’re so booked up that you almost have to check your schedule to see when you have time to eat!

 

The Weight of Busy-ness It can be exhausting to feel like you never have any “free time.” Maybe you feel trapped between “pick up dry cleaning at 7 am” and “plan tomorrow’s meals before bed” and are beginning to feel like you are a robot programmed by your day planner. If so, the weight of your busy-ness may be affecting your ability to enjoy your time, and therefore your life. Not to mention the damage this type of go-go-go living can inflict on your chakras and your energy field.

No Watch, No Problem Not all cultures are as time-obsessed as we are, and those that aren’t, also tend to be happier. Coincidence? Hardly! People who live in places where kindness and selflessness are valued and acceptance is encouraged—where people don’t even own watches and would have no need for a calendar—experience an entirely different reality. They live each day fully in the present moment, appreciating what they have, and are consequently full of joy. During my years of studying with seers and holy men and women in order to become a spiritual teacher and energy healer, I was able to witness this sweeping joy in many non-western cultures. One experience that really stands out to me is my time with the Nepalese. My experience there was life-altering, and opened my eyes to the happiness that comes from letting go of time and just being present.

Heading up the Mountain My husband and I were experienced mountain climbers when we went to Nepal, and I’d done a considerable amount of third-world traveling, but Kathmandu seemed like a different world altogether when we arrived. Brightly colored prayer flags waved in the breeze above us, car horns blared, and food stands grilled food right there on the side of the road at the airport. From there, we hired a Sherpa (a mountain guide) and took the scariest plane ride of my life up to Lukla—with a pilot who took a big gulp of rum right before we took off and a terrifying landing in what I later learned was the airport rated the most dangerous in the world—and started our climb up the mountain.

Sleeping in Huts Full of Joy (and Yaks) We trekked during the day for seven or eight hours at a time and at night, we’d build camp to sleep a few hours before getting up to do it all again in the morning. If we stopped near a village, which was really usually just a three-hut settlement, we would ask the locals for a place to sleep. The people were warm, welcoming, and generous, often giving us their last two eggs or the potatoes they’d dug up that very day so that we could eat.

Infectious Smiles The huts were filled with thick black smoke from the cooking fire, and animals shared the space—yaks, goats and other creatures were treated as part of the family as their milk and wool were necessary for survival. Just as we would settle in to rest, the priest of the settlement would begin his vigil, praying and spinning a prayer wheel throughout the night. As you can guess, we didn’t sleep much, but were buoyed by the overwhelming sense of joy radiating from the people around us. I was in awe of the utter delight each person seemed to have in everything—the smiles on their faces were radiant and infectious.

Like Going Back in Time Water is so scarce in these villages that the people do not bathe or ever wash their hands, so you can imagine the risk. Water boiled at that high an altitude is not potable, and as Eric and I ate the generous offerings of the people, we also worried we would be infected with hepatitis. We did suffer from horrible dysentery, that went with the territory, and remember, there are no bathrooms. There were also no beds or chairs to sit on, no showers or soap; it was like going back in time. And yet, after just the first ten days in Nepal in these conditions, my sense of time expanded. I didn’t know or care what time or day it was and I suddenly felt freer than I’d ever felt. In my new state of being, I no longer worried about sanitation or comfort or lack of sleep—I was one hundred percent present in each moment as it passed. Then, I understood the joy of the Nepalese.

Fully Present and Altered While being fully present, I was attuned to the beauty of the sunrise and sunset, the feel of the wind on my cheeks, the mountain vistas that stretched for miles, the way the clouds tumbled below our peak, the thin air in my lungs, the warmth in my blood—everything was alive and shining and I felt the same joy I saw reflected in the faces of these mountain people. Despite the fear and discomfort during this trip, I knew even as I left that I had been blessed with profound lessons about simplicity, resilience, acceptance, surrender, and gratitude.

Less is More—Lack Turned into Gain The Nepalese seemingly had so much less than what I was used to in terms of food, water, shelter, and modern conveniences, but they had so much more freedom, appreciation, love, and yes, happiness. Despite the perceived lack, I actually found the Nepalese way of life more satisfying than life back home, and brought much of that attitude back with me. Namaste! In the US I was a true Westerner—“more, better, faster” was my mantra—but when I returned from Nepal, I had elevated my consciousness to a new level of understanding about being present, and how presence leads to gratitude, which leads to happiness. With this new perspective, I was able to become an energy healer and practice energy medicine with more purpose, clarity, and joy, and pass those same gains onto my students in my energy healing courses.

Deepening Gratitude So, if you want more happiness in your life, the answer is not to do more, but less, and to be thankful for the gifts you’ve been given. Spend a few minutes each day practicing just being—stare in awe at a beautiful sunset, sit with your eyes closed and listen to tree branches sway in the breeze, pay attention to the complex flavors of your meal, play a silly game with a friend or a child. Begin a daily routine of meditation quiet your mind and body, and deepen your gratitude. When you take the time to slow down, be in the moment, and appreciate what’s around you, no matter what it is, you can cultivate the joyfulness I witnessed in Nepal, and your smile, too, can become infectious. If you’re attracted to this kind of learning, Join Deborah for her new online video course, The Secrets of Chakra Wisdom. Click here to discover more about the 

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Have The “Perfect Holiday” on Your Terms!

by FeaturedLife Coaching

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“Christmas, my child, is love in action.
Every time we love, every time we give, it’s Christmas.” ~ Dale Evans

 

Whatever holidays you celebrate between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Eve, you might find yourself anticipating the upcoming festivities with more dread than joy. Who can blame you? For many, the holidays are way too full of unrealistic expectations and that nagging feeling that you owe yourself and your family the “perfect holiday” no matter what financial, emotional or family challenge you’re facing.

 

The way I see it, common holiday gripes fall into three categories:

 

I can’t afford it! If it’s hard to make ends meet under normal circumstances, the additional cost of buying gifts, mailing out cards, and putting up holiday decorations – plus splurging on festive clothing, and holiday meals – can make your bank account scream for mercy.

 

I don’t have time!  Wondering how to heap all the extra holiday chores on top of your normal workload?  Wish you could skip some (or all) of the decorating, shopping and entertaining? Doing the holidays up right is a big job, especially when you’re also juggling family, work, and household obligations (and who isn’t?).

 

My extended family makes me crazy! Unresolved family issues from the far and recent past are often exacerbated by the holidays.  As an energy healer, I can assure you that memories of holidays and special occasions, good or bad, lodge in your psyche – and come flooding back every year. Unresolved family issues, resentment, trauma and abuse come to the surface when everyone gathers, and what was supposed to be a season of brotherly love can become a pressure cooker of stress and anxiety!

 

You can take control of the holidays, and have a light filled season on your own terms. Here are some tips that you owe it to yourself to try:

 

Scale it down. Got time or financial constraints? Give yourself a pass on any events or obligations that you can’t (or don’t want to) handle.  Henry David Thoreau may have been on to something when he said, “Distrust any enterprise that requires new clothes.” If you’re dreading attending a fancy event, quote Thoreau to yourself and blow it off in favor of something that gives you real joy – like cuddling up on the couch drinking hot chocolate and watching The Good Wife! Scaling down goes for gifts, cards, travel, or anything else that doesn’t contribute to your true enjoyment of the season.

 

Give yourself and your family the gift of forgiveness. Hit the “reset button” with your family. Spend time before the holidays journaling about each of your family members, and consciously forgiving them for past wrongs. You don’t have to forget, I fact, pushing down negative feelings is the worst thing you can do! Simply acknowledge your feelings about the person or event, and choose to forgive them. You will feel a sense of relief and lightness that will carry you through the season. While you’re at it, forgive yourself in advance for tackling the holiday on your own terms – skip the guilt if you choose not to bake, send out cards, or buy gifts.

 

Experience the joy of helping others! Being of service is the key to your own enlightenment and balance. Spreading your light to others less fortunate is especially important during the holidays, and it can be accomplished in small ways that bring joy to the giver as well as the recipient! Bring cookies to someone ill or alone, sing in a choir, donate clothes or small gifts to the needy, or just make a special effort to have a kind word for the harried service people who are working extra hard this season. When you take the pressure and stress off yourself by approaching the holidays on your own terms, it gives you the spiritual bandwidth to help others!

 

Take care of yourself.  Don’t let holiday obligations cause you to put your own spiritual and health practices aside.  Make sure you schedule time for yourself to meditate, exercise and journal. This will keep your mind clear and your spirit light – allowing you to enjoy the season and spread that joy to others around you. Get plenty of rest, and don’t go overboard on rich food or drink.

 

The goal of tackling the holidays on your own terms is to finish the season with an abundance of joy and more light. Make time for the things that you love about the holidays, and skip the rest! You’ll wake up in January ready to tackle the New Year – without finding yourself in the hole when it comes to your finances, your health, or your spirit!

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Connect with Your Ancestral Guides!

by Life Coaching

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The dead may not be with us in body but they’re with us in spirit, and during this time of year, at Halloween, they feel especially close!  On November 1st, in the US, Mexico and other areas in the western hemisphere, people honor their deceased loved ones with Day of the Dead celebrations. Families and friends gather to pray for and remember those who have died. In South America, altars are built at gravesites, heaped with skulls made of sugar, marigolds, and the favorite foods of the departed. Families celebrate the memories of those who have died — treating them as something to be honored and celebrated.

 

The belief behind the Day of the Dead rituals is that deceased loved ones return to Earth on that day to be with their families. In my work as a spiritual teacher and energy healer, I detect the presence of ancestors, not just on November 1st, but all year round!

 

Recently, during one of my energy healing courses, I had the opportunity to provide comfort to an attendee who was reeling from the recent loss of both her mother and her 19-year-old son. Her son was killed in a car accident, and less than a year later, her mother fell victim to cancer. The grandmother and grandson had been extremely close, and my student consoled herself with the belief that the spirit of her mother was looking over her son – but she was having difficulty dealing with her own feelings of loneliness and loss. “Sometimes I feel like they are right here with me – I could almost reach out and touch them!” she sobbed. As I scanned her energy field, I became aware of the presence of an older woman and a teenage boy. I was delighted to confirm to my student that her loved ones were not only together and supporting each other, but they were watching over her. I was also able to provide her with some simple energy healing techniques she could use to feel their presence, every day!

 

I urge you to take the opportunity to connect with those beings on the other side that are there to help and support you, if you will simply open the door. They might be loved ones who have recently passed, ancestors who you know through stories or photographs. These guides are available for many different purposes— for healing you or helping you to heal others, for spiritual development, to protect you, to aid in your creative endeavors, or even to help you find a soul mate!

 

How do you connect with those who have previously passed on? To begin sensing and communicating with the spirits of the dead, you need to expand your consciousness beyond the five basic senses. It’s easy to develop these abilities; they are deeply buried in your cellular memory and just need to be reawakened.

 

The following steps will help you connect to any ancestral guide who is there for you. Among the most common of these guides are deceased grandparents and great-grandparents, but use your intuition in choosing your ancestor—it could be anyone in your family tree.

 

  • When you go to bed at night, after you turn out the light and before you fall asleep, state (out loud or silently) your intention to connect to the ancestor most appealing to you. Do the same thing when you first awaken, before you open your eyes.

 

  • Choose the person, whether or not you knew him or her personally, who resonates with you the most. Chances are, whoever first comes to your mind is the right one. Picture the person in your mind.

 

  • Tell this individual that you want him or her to be there for you. Ask a specific question or for help with a particular problem.

 

  • Come to a healing course, in person or via livestream: at every workshop, I help attendees connect to their ancestors; this activity will help deepen your connection.

 

Here is the main rule to remember with guides: they want to help, but they won’t unless they are specifically asked. If you just take a few moments every day, in the morning and at night, to tune in to your guides, you can ask them exactly what you want assistance with, and they will be more than happy to help!

 

Your ancestral guides can be a great source of love and light in your life. To learn more, check out my new book, Entangled in Darkness: Seeking the Light.

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Embrace Nature with all Five Senses!

by Energy HealingLife Coaching

“Nature spontaneously keeps us well. Do not resist her!”

Henry David Thoreau

 

I returned from Miraval last week, looked at the calendar and asked myself, “Where has July gone?”  In just a few days I’ll be back on the road, headed to my next workshop at Omega in beautiful upstate New York. While I’m there, despite my busy schedule, I’ll make sure to spend some time walking and basking in the natural beauty of the rolling hills and lake of this fabulous wellness center.

Spending time in nature isn’t just good for the soul – it’s good for your health. A study in Japan, of “forest therapy” is based on the theory that because humans evolved in nature, it’s where we feel most comfortable. Physical and mental benefits can be achieved by synchronizing our rhythms with the rhythms of nature.

The study has proven that leisurely forest walks (with cell phone turned off or left in the car), result in a 12.4 percent decrease in the stress hormone cortisol, a seven percent decrease in sympathetic nerve activity, a 1.4 percent decrease in blood pressure, and a 5.8 percent decrease in heart rate. Not only that, but participants also report better moods and lower anxiety after a walk in the forest.

It’s no surprise that spending time in nature is key to your spiritual, mental and physical health. Wherever you live and whatever your summer plans might be, there’s not another moment to waste. Get out of the house and spend some time enjoying the warm weather and beauty of the great outdoors!

The idea with shinrin-yoku, inspired by ancient Shinto and Buddhist practices, is to let nature enter your body through all five senses, Bring all of your senses into play and try out a few of these ideas:

1) Journal outdoors:

Take a few minutes out of each day and sit outside with your journal. While you’re outside you can spend some time meditating, listening to the birds or just jump right into your writing. You may choose to write about what’s going on around you, what you hear, and what you see. Or you may choose to write about how you’re feeling. Doing this daily will give you a specific time that you’ll spend outdoors.

2) Look up:

Enjoy nature by learning something new about the birds in your area or the stars in the sky – pick up a guidebook, or download a smart phone app to help you identify birds, or stars and constellations. You can stay in your own backyard, or go off on a weekend excursion to spot some new ones. Either way, bird watching and stargazing will give you a whole new reason to be outside!

3) Enjoy the night:

Grab a friend (or not) and take a long walk in the moonlight – look at the stars and listen to the sounds of the night – the moonlight will cast a new light on everything.  You don’t have to be in a rural or suburban area to enjoy nature – urban areas offer the opportunity to head outside and enjoy the night air and the stars too!

4) Mix up your exercise routine:

Put your gym membership on hold and exercise outdoors. Swimming, kayaking and stand up paddle boarding are all great ways to work out without overheating. Try walking in the early morning or evening—explore a new trail or park in your neighborhood. No matter what style of exercise you choose you’ll benefit from the sun on your face (wear a hat or some sunscreen!) and the wind in your hair.

5) Let the outside in:

Pick up some of your favorite flowers, and open the doors and windows to let in the summer breeze. I’ve picked up a few pots of my favorite herbs and every time I walk by them I get a fresh waft of basil and mint.  They’re a great addition to summer beverages and salads. Now is also a good time to put out collections of shells and rocks from past vacations, or look for some new ones.

6) Go camping:

You know I’m a big supporter of the joy of sleeping outside- I’ve slept outside every night for years. There’s nothing like it to cement your connection with nature and mother Earth.  Even if you don’t do it every night, break out the tent and sleep outdoors at least once this summer. You might want to start the evening with a campfire – even if it’s just in your own backyard.

9) Exercise your creativity:

Set up an easel and paint, or grab your sketchpad or phone camera and capture the natural beauty that’s around you. Take a walk on the beach and collect driftwood, stones or shells. Bring them home and arrange your collection on a shelf or coffee table or frame a mirror or photo with driftwood. You’ll keep the carefree memory of summer all year long.

I hope these ideas have inspired you! Please share your comments below and on Facebook and let me know your favorite way of refreshing and recharging yourself, naturally!

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Standing in Your Power

by Life Coaching

 

 

 

When you hear the word “power,” do you think of control over other people, or money, or even forcefully influencing the course of events? Well, that’s one dictator-type of way to define power, but there is another definition: the ability to act in a effective way. For example, there is the power of speech, or the power to raise the dead, or the basic power of saying no to what you don’t want and yes to what you do want.

 

 

So what does it mean to stand in your own power? It means you honor whatever is really important to you. It means you know who you are, what you are capable of, and why you make the decisions you make. Nothing can rock your boat or shake the foundation of who you are.

 

But let’s face it, most of us get in our way. We indulge in self-doubt, self-sabotage, and mind games like “I don’t deserve this,” or “I’m not good enough.” Do you feel powerless? Are you scared of what others will say about you? Do you feel overwhelmed by your circumstances, or inadequate to handle the complexities of your to-do list? Do you keep sabotaging your own success?

 

Then you’re not standing in your own power.

 

It’s easy to give your power away. Do you let your partner always choose where you’re going to eat or which movie you see? Do you kowtow to your kids’ demands? To your boss’s? Do you take on whatever you’re asked to do, no matter how full your plate is already? Do you invalidate your own thoughts and feelings to please others? What or who are you allowing to rule your life?

 

Pleasing others is a habit. You probably developed it when you were very young when you learned that being cute or using good manners or getting good grades made your parents happy and that made you feel good. Or maybe you had to push away your own needs to fit into your family. You learned to keep your opinions, thoughts, and emotions to yourself. You—the real you—was silenced. You followed the crowd rather than making waves. You learned to give away your power for the approval of others.

 

At what cost? You denied your own voice, the authentic you.

 

So, how do you stop giving your power away? Before you agree to make 30 cupcakes for the school holiday party when you have a looming work deadline, STOP and ask yourself what you REALLY want. Then, honor yourself. Keep standing in your power as you clearly say NO. In order to stand in your power, you have to allow yourself the option of saying no. It doesn’t matter what the home room teacher thinks about you. It doesn’t matter if your kids get mad at you. You simply can’t do it all without hurting yourself.

 

At some point, all of us face the choice of either claiming our power or giving it away. Focus on what is right for you. Quit worrying about what other people think of you. Have the courage to stand up for yourself. Dare to endure criticism from others. Be willing to shock the people who assume you will always comply with whatever they ask of you.

Standing in your power doesn’t mean that you have to be perfect. It means that you accept yourself as you are—your weaknesses and your strengths, your smart actions and your foolish blunders—no matter what anyone else thinks about you.

Don’t think you have to wait until you feel ready or worthy. Remember, no matter what you do, some people simply won’t like you; you will never be able to make everyone else happy. When you don’t take care of yourself because you are trying to make others happy, you start to resent the very people you are trying to please.

 

Whenever the situation arises where you have to make a decision about what to do, ask yourself this question: Am I standing in my power or am I trying to please someone else? Be clear about your priorities. What’s more important than your own balance, harmony, and health?

 

Simply put: Don’t be a martyr! We all know those unfortunate souls who bend over backwards to make others happy when everyone can see that they are ignoring their own needs. It’s the harried mother whose kids look impeccable while she hasn’t washed her hair in a week and her clothes look like they came out of the dirty laundry basket. Martyrs don’t love or nurture themselves. You, on the other hand, do!

 

Pleasing someone else is not the same as caring for them. It’s the old story: if you’re not caring for yourself, you’ll have nothing left, no inner resources, to really care for another. It is vital that you learn to stand in your own power for your own mental, physical, emotional, and even your spiritual health!

 

Do you have trouble connecting with your intuition? When you’ve learned to stand in your own power, your own I AM, you will be able to connect on a much deeper level to your spiritual core and to the invisible realms. Think about it.

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Motivations for Becoming a Life Coach

by Life Coaching

You have reached the point in your life when you realize that your greatest happiness comes from helping others. You want to experience greater spiritual growth and know that service is the key to unlocking your potential. Yet you also need to pay the bills. You can satisfy all those requirements by becoming a life coach. The life coaches that we have trained through the Deborah King Center LifeForce Coaching program come from a wide variety of backgrounds, but all share a common belief that everyone can experience true fulfillment and reach their highest potential.

Are you ready to listen to your intuition, which is saying that life coaching would be a great path for you to follow? Here we share more about the journey of becoming a life coach, so you can envision yourself growing into a richer, greater you.

Navigating Life from Within

During our life coach workshops, you will receive the necessary knowledge and advanced communication techniques to be an effective and confident life coach. You’ll learn to navigate your life from inner wisdom instead of reacting and responding to outside stimuli. You’ll feel like part of the solution—helping to make our world a more peaceful and happier place.

Our LifeForce Coaching program is made up of teaching videos, blueprints, workshops (both live and streaming) and guided meditations. All are designed and targeted to help you achieve your life coaching certification. More specifically:

  • You will be able to overcome obstacles in your own life and achieve better harmony and balance . . . and help others to do the same.
  • You will learn how to be mindful and accountable to your own clients by providing valuable assistance, listening, and guidance.
  • You will learn to understand your clients’ goals and how to help them achieve those goals.

What to Expect

Expect to emerge as a stronger and more compassionate person after taking the journey to become a life coach. Our LifeForce Coaching program will help in every aspect of your life and the life of your clients: family, career, relationships, personal growth, fitness, nutrition, weight, organization, and grief and loss. Why not begin your journey today?

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INNER WISDOM

by Life Coaching

 

Perhaps you recognize this conversation with yourself: “I really have to upgrade the operating system on my computer and bring my car in for an oil change, but first I have to get my taxes done. Why did I ever file an extension? I won’t have enough time to cook a decent dinner, so it’s pizza again. I’m such an idiot about money. I have no trouble losing money, but lots of trouble losing weight. What a loser! No wonder I don’t have a successful life!”

 

That nagging, self-deprecating voice is your internal judge and jury—the narrative you have going that reflects the way you internalized your parents, teachers, friends, therapists, and lovers, and all the others who contribute to your social conditioning. It’s sort of like an annoying reality show on TV that you can’t seem to shut off, with each character playing a part in your inner drama.

 

There is another voice inside your head, a voice that tends to speak softly, rather than shout at you. It’s the Jiminy Cricket voice, the gently nudging of your conscience. “You shouldn’t have told that lie. Things are going to get complicated. You should really go back to her and admit the truth.” Its promptings are ethical, and it pays to listen to this voice.

 

But there is still another voice that is the expression of your deepest wisdom. Sometimes it comes from your heart, other times from the gut. It definitely doesn’t come from your thinking mind, the one that is so often overrun by mindless chatter. What is inner wisdom? It’s not the stuff you learned in school. It has nothing to do with logic. The “voice” of inner wisdom may not even use words. It’s more like that feeling in the pit of your stomach that says, “Leave now. This place isn’t safe.” Or “this is the apartment for me.”

 

Research has shown that our intuition is accessible on a body level long before our awareness catches up. Scientists in the UK and at the University of Iowa have done studies on body wisdom versus the thinking mind by using decks of cards, some of which were rigged. Very quickly, the players’ heart rates dipped when they went near the decks that were rigged. Another study measured perspiration on the card players’ palms. The players started getting sweatier palms within ten cards, but they couldn’t say that the decks were rigged for sure, from their logical mind, until they reached the 80th card.

 

Do you try to hear your inner wisdom when you have an important decision to make, or when you’re embroiled in challenging circumstances and don’t know how to deal with it? How can you tell which voice is coming from your inner wisdom? Try this. Write the very first answer that comes to you about a question you’re having. When you read it, does it make you feel calm, peaceful, relaxed? If so, it’s a wise response. If it increases your tension and amps up your anxiety, it’s likely coming from  your less wise linear mind.

 

Of course, the best way to get in touch with your inner wisdom is through a contemplative practice like meditation or prayer. After you have sat in deep stillness, the answers you seek can rise like hot air balloons into your consciousness, quietly giving rise to the aha! of true understanding.

 

For many people, learning to listen to their intuition means trusting their gut feelings. Sometimes literally. An assessment of eating habits of female college students at Ohio State University found that those who listened to their body cues of hunger and fullness had a much lower body mass index than the women who tried weight control through counting calories. Intuitive eaters spend more time thinking about how their body feels and functions rather than what their body looks like to others. Try to listen to your stomach’s signals, the deep wisdom of what your body actually needs, and stop eating before you feel stuffed.

 

Yet another way to learn to listen to your intuition is to write down a problem and think about it just before you go to sleep, and your solution will often be within reach when you wake in the morning. Or the answer may even come in a dream, where we aren’t hampered by our logical conscious mind. Dreams have long served as warnings about health issues or other situations that your mind hasn’t yet grasped.

 

Sometimes our inner wisdom can explode in a flash of insight. You meet someone for the first time and you know he’s the one. Or you’re walking down the street and suddenly know you have to go into the restaurant you just passed. You’re not hungry, but something is compelling you. You go in, and there’s a friend you haven’t seen in years who desperately needs your help.

 

Whatever way is easiest for you to connect with your intuitive inner wisdom is the best way for you. There are no rules. No matter if your signals come from tingling fingertips, or from an ache in the gut, or from a sudden flash of insight, listen to what your inner wisdom is trying to reveal and you will have a happier and healthier life.

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Beating the April Shower Blues!

by Life CoachingMeditation

Are April showers making you blue? You are not alone. Many people experience a mood change when the weather changes. Grayer skies means less sunlight, and countless studies have demonstrated that a decreased amount of sunlight can incite melancholy and sadness. Your tendency on these darker days may be to stay in bed, watch endless hours of TV, eat comfort foods full of heavy carbs, and feel downright sluggish and sad.

Guess what? You don’t have to feel that way on account of those pesky April showers! You are a positive, sunny, happy person inside and you have all the power to change your attitude and MAKE your day sunny no matter what color the sky is outside!

The change first starts with your attitude and perception. Do you want to wallow in sadness and feel lazy and unmotivated all day? Or do you want to reap the benefits of LOVING your life and enjoying each and every moment? There is absolutely nothing stopping you from being happy on a dark, rainy day.

Let’s start with how you are looking at those April showers themselves. Rain is actually quite beneficial and important, because it provides the fresh water making our rivers flow, filling our lakes and keeping our plants alive and thriving. We cannot imagine our life without water. So perhaps instead of waking up to the sound of rain and thinking, “oh ick, it’s a horrible day outside,” you can change your perception and instead think, “oh how wonderful, my plants are getting nourished, the trees will be happy, and I am so truly thankful for this natural blessing.” You may not be able to change the weather outside, but you can certainly change your feelings about it.

You can also busy yourself with healthy, positive activities that will feed your soul. Why not explore hobbies that will motivate, stimulate and sharpen your inner creativity? Have you always wanted to try painting, drawing, knitting, or scrapbooking? What about dancing, singing, playing an instrument, or even just listening to your favorite music? Or finding a comfy place to settle down and dive into that book you have been wanting to read, but never seem to find the time or space to do so? Anything that feeds your creativity, mind and expression will feed your positive attitude on a gloomy day. Positive activities can go a long way!

A rainy day is a fabulous day to write in your journal and add in some extra meditation time! Sip a nice cup of afternoon tea or take a long, luxurious bath. You can raise your level of self-awareness, reflection, and energy! Let the soothing sound of the rain calm your stress and help bring you to a peaceful frame of mind.

Feeling lonely and don’t want all the solace and peace? Why not use this time to build your relationships? Try reaching out to a close friend or spending more quality time indoors with family members. A phone call with a loved one can do wonders to boost your energy and outlook. Or how about playing board games with your family and friends? You can find hours of fun entertainment that will lift your energy and attitude, and bring you closer to the ones you love — it’s a win-win for everyone!

You can take advantage of the time indoors and be productive. You can tackle that closet reorganization you’ve been putting off or conquer that work research you were procrastinating. If you cross off one item from your usual to-do list (despite the April showers outside), you may feel better about how you spend the rest of your day.

Feeling adventurous? When we were kids, we were far more likely to put on our galoshes and run outside to splash in the puddles. When was the last time you jumped in a puddle and played in the rain?

It may surprise you how awesome and fun it is to let go and enjoy the blessings from the sky! And how free and happy you can be if you let yourself feel that way…You have the power to beat the blues brought on by April showers and make every day an enjoyable day filled with positive activities. And the best part is, you can tap into this power on snowy days, sunny days, work days, school days, any day…Try starting your everyday with this sunny attitude. Smile first thing in the morning. See what a difference that alone can make…

Interested in adding more serenity and calmness to your day? Go to https://deborahking.b.smartzsites.com/what-is-meditation/ for more information.