Tag Archives: inspiration

You’re not alone…

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Feeling small – by Artist Jaime Zatloukal Best

sometimes

life can get you down

you can feel so small that you wonder if anyone knows you’re here

you might even wonder if anyone cares

Sad, wet and lonely puppy – Image from deliriously-angelic.blogspot

life’s burdens may weigh upon you

until you wonder how you’ll ever take another step

until you wonder if you’re cut out for this

until you doubt you’ll ever be the same

until you doubt you can ever know love, or joy or happiness again

A firefighter breaks down after the World Trade Centre collapse on September 11, 2001. Getty Images: Mario Tama

the pain of life can overwhelm you

but understand something…

you’re not alone

although sometimes it might feel like yours is the only voice

out there in the universe – close to home, or further away

there’s someone praying for you

there’s someone who cares

there’s someone holding that space of love and light and hope

there’s someone imbuing you with strength

Image from heavenawaits.wordpress.com

we are surrounded by unseen forces

angels and guides watch over us

love transcends all boundaries

Image from aloneinholyland.com

there are people we’ll never meet who wish us only good

there are hearts whose only thought

is that you be uplifted, that you know love, that you know peace

Candles lit as prayers for peace – image from prajjwal.wordpress.com

today perhaps it’s your turn to hurt

everything has its season

tomorrow might be your turn to hold that intention of love and safety for another

Image by freehugscampaign.org

we are, each of us, in this together

and together we find a way, for ourselves, for each other

today, know that I am here for you

holding that space

wishing you well

bless ♥ xx

When the Muse Whispers in Your Ear…

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This beautiful image from josephinewall.com.uk

O! for a muse of fire, that would ascend the brightest heaven of invention.
~ William Shakespeare

Inspiration comes to us in many ways, but there is one way almost all creative people have in common – the Muse comes and whispers in your ear.

The Muse knows you – she knows your talents and gifts – she knows what is written in your heart.

So she chooses you, and with Divine Timing she drops her tiny mouth to your ear and whispers an idea that is perfectly matched to your talents, your purpose, your dreams…

All you have to do is listen.

And you’ll know this is something out of the ordinary.  You’ll know you’ve just been given a gift.  Your heart will beat a little faster, you’ll feel a pull right down in your belly, your mind will snap to attention, and with your heart you’ll answer ‘Yes!’

The Muse will sigh contentedly. Then she’ll wait. She’ll wait for you to show her that her whispering is safe with you. All she wants is for this idea to be born. She’ll pour her own energy into it, hoping to co-create with you.

If you pull her idea deep into your heart, and if you nurture this whispering with thought and with action, she’ll happily whisper some more.

Try this, she’ll say.  This is the next part.  Wouldn’t it be wonderful if…

But… if you ignore her… if you take her whispering and put it on the shelf, letting it become dusty and dessicated… if her whispered idea becomes a ‘someday’; or if, even worse, you begin to slowly kill the magic by coming up with all the justifications why it won’t work, and why you can’t do it…

She’ll fly off and whisper her idea in someone else’s ear!

And trust me – that won’t be good for you…

One day you’ll be at the markets and you’ll see the thing she whispered to you first, and you’ll think, ‘Hey! That’s MY product!’

You’ll read the book or watch the movie and think, ‘Hey! That’s MY plotline.’

You’ll walk past the shop, or open the newspaper and think, ‘What the? That was MY idea.’

The Muse is endlessly patient and encouraging as long as we honour her inspiration with a little perspiration – if we work at the ideas we’re given, the whole Universe will contrive to support and prosper us!

Her gift to us will be like magic in our hands.

We ignore the Muse at our peril.

So the next time she whispers in your ear, understand that she chose you for a reason.  She chose you because it’s written in your heart, it will make your soul sing, and you have what it takes to bring this idea to life and make it shine!

And isn’t that all you’ve ever wanted to do?

When Divine Inspiration comes calling, say YES. Take your new idea seriously. Nurture it and help it grow.  It might transform your entire life. ♥ It might transform ours too.

How to Interpret Your Dreams

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'Beautiful Nightmare Nights' by vacuumslayer - deviantart.com

We are such stuff as dreams are made on,
and our little life
is rounded with a sleep.
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

Your dreams are yours alone. We all interpret dreams differently, based on our own personal internal dictionary of words, colours, signs and symbols. Using a dream decoder written by someone else will be next to useless except as an amusement, so instead I suggest the following technique, which is loosely based on the work of Carl Jung.

Image from lookingatlife.org.uk

I had a dream once in which I was running around in this pair of sparkly red shoes, talking to all of these bizarre and interesting people. It was only near the end of the dream that I realized somewhere along the way I’d lost all of my clothes except my shoes. Not that anyone else was noticing…

So let’s work with this dream!

1. Give your dream a name, like a movie title. Make it dramatic and meaningful to you!  Lets call my dream “Oh My God – Me Naked in Red Shoes” 

2. Write down all the main characters. If they have no names, give them a description. For example: Me, Man with basket, Girl with dog.

3. Write a synopsis of your dream. This is like a summary, giving your dream a beginning, middle and end, where you put down all the main points, action and locations. At this stage in my dream about running around in red shoes, like a nude Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz, I was pretty sure it was about me feeling exposed and vulnerable – out on display. Makes sense, hey? But bear with me, I’m not finished yet…


4. Write down any single image, phrase or action that stands out. For me, it was the image of the Red Shoes. These really stood out for me, as I’d NEVER in my life worn red shoes. (Mum impressed upon my sister and I that red shoes were very ‘cheap and flashy”. Mind you I have two pairs now… Sorry, Mum!) Trust me – when you think back on your dream there will be one thing, and it might be a very small or seemingly insignificant detail, that just sticks in your head. You’d think the thing that stood out from this dream would have been the nudity, but no. That’s how the red shoes were for me.

5. Now take a clean sheet of paper, draw a circle in the middle and write your image/action/phrase inside the circle. Do it just like the example below.


6. Draw several lines coming out from your circle – like little rays of sunshine a child would draw!


7. Now without giving this ANY thought (Don’t you DARE think!), use ‘stream of consciousness’ and immediately write connected words that you associate with red shoes, or whatever your particular thing is, coming off each of the lines. NO THINKING – JUST WRITE! My words in relation to red shoes were Television, Powerful, Confident, The Boss, Happy, Dancing, Joy, Self-Expression. Heaps different to my first ‘intellectual’ interpretation, don’t you agree?


8. Trust that what you bring through from your subconscious is actually what your dream is all about. All the rest of the dream is just filtering, and your BRAIN composting and analysing things.

Image from sheknows.com

Tips on Getting Ready To Dream

The Dream State is a powerful place for healing, transformation and Guidance. There are many ways that we can work with enhancing the dream state. These include reducing stimulants such as coffee and cola at least six hours before sleep, not going to bed on a hugely stuffed stomach, and avoiding arguments and violence or disturbing images in games, books or on television at least an hour before going to bed.

Dreaming Techniques for Conscious Connection

Image from daydreamdoodle.com

Get yourself a journal in which you can record your dreams, both waking (visions or daydreams) and in the sleep state. Before going to sleep, take half an hour to prepare yourself for conscious connection. Have a bath or shower, and imagine the water washing away any negativity.

When you are ready and warmly dressed, sit in meditation or lie quietly in bed ready for meditation. You may want to sip a cup of relaxing herbal tea first. It will soothe you and help you to move more easily into the meditative state.

Use a breathwork technique to calm yourself and slow your breathing. Give thanks for all of the positive events and energy you have encountered during your day. After drawing healing light into your body fill your body and aura with whatever colour comes to you. Literally fill yourself up with this colour.

Then sitting or lying quietly within your meditation, relax more deeply and offer up a prayer for Guidance. Ask that you be Guided in your dreams, and that you be opened up to higher and higher levels of Healing, Learning, Love and Light. Stay within the meditative pose for another ten or so minutes, being quiet, still and aware of any thoughts, sounds, images, colours or sensations that arise.

Record any information in your Dream Journal.

Before you go to sleep consciously ask to remember your dreams.

When you awake in the morning, keep your eyes closed, lie quietly on your back and do some breathwork, breathing in whatever colour light feels right for you. Visualise your whole aura flooded with this light.

Sit quietly and write any dreams or other impressions in your journal. (Make sure that you are comfortable and dressed warmly!) If you have time, once again sit in meditation for up to half an hour, and record any additional information or impressions that you receive.

♥ Wishing you sweet dreams! ♥

Image from scenicreflections.com

Listen with your eyes…

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Image from wallpaperstate.org

If only we could pull out our brain and use only our eyes.
~ Pablo Picasso

When I was younger, and just becoming interested in love relationships, my Nana gave me an odd piece of advice. She told me I needed to learn to listen with my eyes.

Of course I had no idea what she was talking about.

But as I get older I am more and more grateful for her wisdom. It holds true for love, friendship, business… It has helped me get my head straight about things more than once in this lifetime.

My beautiful Nana, who is still going strong at 96

Don’t be seduced by your ears, she told me. People can tell you anything, and make it sound good. People can tell you anything, and you might believe it… But it might only be words.

Learn to listen with your eyes.

Image from teacherneedhelp.com

That boy who tells you how great he is, and how successful – how does he speak to his mother? How does he treat his sister?

Do you see him studying hard, and bettering himself?

How does he speak to the waitress in the coffee shop? Is he patient with old people? Kind to animals?

Does he turn up when he says he will, call you like he promised, pay his fair share?

Don’t listen to what he tells you, let your eyes hear his truth.

Conversely, there will be people you meet who don’t talk themselves up at all. There might not be much to hear with your ears, but when you listen with your eyes you’ll learn plenty.

Image from caregiverstress.com

When our feelings, hopes, desires, fears, needs and expectations get in the way they colour everything we hear.

Listening with our eyes helps us to see things as they are – and from that place of knowing we are far better placed to make wise and informed decisions that serve us well.

Evaluating people by their actions, rather than their self-promotion, is a powerful tool in your relationship toolkit. It’s also a great wisdom to live by in your own life – let your actions speak louder than your words and live life with integrity, in a way that showcases your values. That sort of authenticity attracts people and opportunities far better suited to your Highest Good.

Using Crystals to Access Information – Day Three

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Using crystals is a great way to begin accessing information for yourself and others, and can gently open you up to greater levels of spiritual and psychic gifts and awakening.

Although quartz crystals are the most common stone for this sort of connection, I believe that you need to work with the crystal you are drawn to.  My very first working stone was an aventurine shaped roughly like a heart that fit nicely in the palm of my hand. (For more information on how to choose a crystal click here.)

Crystals are great teachers.  They can hold much wisdom, and allow us to tap into information stored within us, within our Higher Selves, within the Akashic Records, and within Guides and other energetic Beings.

When I was young I never, ever thought I would be able to channel or do work at the level I am at now. I was such a skeptic even though my own natural abilities had been evident much of my life. I was okay with receiving information as it came to me, but felt very uncertain about attempting to make it happen deliberately.  I was uncomfortable with even trying this sort of activity, but I found as my resistance decreased and I became more open, things flowed much more easily.

So it doesn’t matter if you feel awkward or uncomfortable with today’s activity – just enter with a sense of innocence and childlike curiosity and you might be amazed at what comes to Light. ♥

Meditation for Accessing Guidance and Information from a Crystal:

Choose a stone you feel drawn to work with, clease it and then sit somewhere comfortable so that you can follow this meditation.  You may like to burn incense or light a candle to further enhance your experience.

Nicole Cody’s Guided Meditation for Connecting with Crystal Wisdoms – Day 3

It is useful to keep a journal to record any impressions, information or names from your meditation sessions. You might even feel inspired to draw or paint!

(PS – The stone I used today during this meditation was a Canadian Labradorite – that’s it in the picture below.)

Storing and handling crystals

If possible, wrap crystals you are not using, or that you are transporting, in a natural fabric such as silk, cotton, wool, linen or hemp.  Use your intuition when selecting fabrics – maybe a patterned scarf, a scrap of velvet, a bag you found at the markets, or even a pretty handkerchief could be used. 

You may also wish to place crystals on a window ledge, in a potplant, or in a positive energy place within your home. 

Once you have cleansed your crystals, be selective about who you allow to touch them because stones will absorb the energies of the people who handle them.  You may find that there are some stones you need to keep just for you, while others may invite handling from anyone!  After working with a stone for a long time, and investing a lot of your own energy into it, you may find that just holding that stone will take you to a positive, calmer, more meditative or healing state.

Writing as a Manifestation Tool

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Image from collegelifestyles.com

In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God and the word was God. ~ John 1:1

Words have power. Whether they are thought, spoken or written down, there is a great energy to words, and over the next six Mondays we are going to focus on ways to harness this power through journal writing, so that we can bring the energy of positive change into our lives.

No matter if you believe in God, Universal Energy, the power of the mind, synchronicity, the Muse, yourself or humanity – I’m going to show you how to work with those beliefs, and with words, to create transformation. You’ll gain clarity, and begin attracting the help, guidance and information you need to move closer to your own idea of a better life.

The Law of Attraction

There has been so much talk about the Law of Attraction, but many people struggle to understand what it is, how it works, or if it’s even real.

Here’s my simple take on it. The Universe is one of vibration, where like attracts like, where a thought attracts its match. It works like this: the clearer the thought, and the more powerful the emotion attached to that thought (positive or negative), the faster you attract that thing/situation/person into your life. I know that it is real because I have experienced it for myself, and you’ll discover that it is too if you keep working with me over the next few weeks.

So these activities focus on writing as a manifestation tool, but you’ll find they will also start strengthening your intuitive abilities and sensitivities.  It’s a natural result of becoming more aware of the energies in the world around you.

Journal Activity:

Begin by watching this two  minute clip to help to put you into a more positive vibration (which is a great starting point for manifestation):

Now, over the next week use the following journal starters and write as much or as little as feels right for you.  Begin by transcribing these words (the ones in coloured ink) into your journal. Then choose a journal starter that resonates for you and let the words flow.  You can use the same journal starter more than once if it really resonates for you.  Write from the heart, and be focused on SOLUTIONS rather than problems.  You don’t need to know the answer, you just need to know that you want one!

We need to get that jumble in your head out and onto the page.  The real work has already begun, even if it feels messy.  In fact that’s how it is supposed to feel.  Pour it all out onto the page, and enjoy the relief once it’s out there…

Dear Universe, 

There are things in my life that I would appreciate some help or guidance with right now. I know some of these can be quickly sorted, and some may take more time. I am open to however this works.

I don’t know what the answers are, or even how to start, but I am going to trust that there IS an answer, and that with your assistance I CAN find help. I trust that the best possible solution for me exists for the following situations:

  • I would love to find healing in my relationship with
  • I would love to attract into my life a person who could
  • It would be terrific if I didn’t have to __________ because then I could
  • An idea I’ve had in my head for a long time that I’d like to turn into a reality is
  • One thing that I’ve never been able to get sorted is _________ and it would mean so much to me to have some change here because then I could
  • The one thing I really need a teacher for is
  • The one thing I really need a healer for is
  • The one thing I really need a friend for is
  • The one gift I’d very much like to share with others is
  • It’s terrifying, but if I could only
  • I know I’m not good at _______ but it has to get done.  Somewhere out there is some one who is good at ______________ and if I could find them and have them do this with me, or even for me, it would free me up to
  • One belief inside me that is really holding me back is______________.  If I could get some help to overcome this I would be able to
  • If I could find some forgiveness for ___________ then I’d be able to
  • I have this half-formed crazy idea inside me, and I need help to get clarity around it so that I can
  • The one thing that would really change my life right now in the simplest of ways is
  • I’d love to have more friends who were also interested in
  • I’m so lost that I have NO CLUE.  What I’d appreciate is some direction so that
This week, look for evidence of help. Stay open, and have an attitude of curiosity. Help might come in the form of a show on TV, a blog post, a book that jumps out at you, a flyer in your letterbox, a suggestion from a friend, or even a sudden knowing…
Much love to you  ♥ ♥ ♥

Image from bigstock

My second blogging gong – The Very Inspiring Blogger Award

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The lovely danLrene from Work the Dream has nominated me for The Very Inspiring Blogger award. Thanks Deb! You’re a wonderful inspiration.

I’m honoured, and truth be told, a little mystified that in the 89 days since I’ve started this blog I’ve had more than 23 000 hits already. Thank you, everyone, for supporting me, and for taking the time to visit and read my posts. I’m so glad you’re here to share the journey.

As per the rules of this award, here are seven things you probably don’t know about me:

  1. I won the Spotless Catering Award for my Rural Tourism thesis at Uni.  It was announced at our Graduation Ceremony to uproarious laughter which drowned out what the actual award was for. (Spotless Catering was the company who stumped up the prize money.) Even now I still get teased about being a spotless caterer.
  2. I can’t ride a bicycle and have hopeless balance.
  3. I am secretly in love with Kermit the Frog.
  4. I have worked as a shearer’s cook, had my own catering company, and love to cook in a camp oven over an open fire.
  5. I wish that I could breathe underwater, and am living out my mermaid fantasies in the current children’s book I am writing. Scuba diving is a poor second but is better than staying on the surface!
  6. I see auras and energy around all living things. It just happened.  I woke up on my thirtieth birthday and could see coloured energy around people. On my fortieth birthday I woke up to see auras and energy fields around plants and animals. (It freaked me out so much the first day or so that I couldn’t walk on the grass or eat real food! It’s okay – I’m used to it now.)
  7. I have often dreamed about places I have never been, and then googled them and found out they are real.

The seven inspiring blogs I nominate (and which I do hope you visit!) are:

Sherryl Cook - for a dose of courage, grace and honesty

Sweet Mother  - for a daily fix of humour, pathos and reality

Lorna’s Tearoom Delights  - for tearoom reviews, pictures of tasty treats, taste tests and wonderful countryside ramblings

Lightning Droplets  - for writing inspiration and lovely wordiness

Five Reflections  - for wonderful haiku poetry

Sarah takes pictures  - for beautiful images that delight the senses

Emmycooks  - for delicious recipes you really can make at home

Fall down seven times, stand up eight…

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Australian Soldier at Gallipoli WWI. Image from awm.gov.au

This post is dedicated to the members of our Defence Forces, Emergency Services and their families, past and present, and to everyone who is facing hardship, no matter it’s nature.

There is something that many people don’t know about courage. Something most people don’t know about strength, and resilience…

We usually only find these qualities in ourselves when we’re already on our knees.

There is no need for it when things are going well. When we are in flow and life is good, the gifts at our core are hidden from view.

So you won’t know you have it in you until the day you need it.

Image from thumbpress.com

Life is never all smoothing sailing.  The good times don’t prepare us for the bad.

But I promise you, when it gets hard, if you dig deep you’ll find that there is a place inside you you didn’t know was there.  A place of courage and grace and steely determination.  A place of valour and a drive to stand up and keep going, even when you don’t know how, even when you don’t know if standing back up is actually possible yet.

But you can’t win at life when you’re on your knees. You can’t win if you give up. Victory might be around the next corner.  Or the next.

The Japanese proverb, Fall down seven times, stand up eight... speaks to the heart of this.

Image by mgl23 at tumblr

You can be your own hero.

The choices you make today determine who you will be tomorrow.

Trust that it’s within you.

Pick yourself up.  Keep going.  Grow…

Image by Serena from weheartit.com

Silver Lining – A journal exercise for finding the upside

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Let us rise up and be thankful, for if we didn’t learn a lot today, at least we learned a little, and if we didn’t learn a little, at least we didn’t get sick, and if we got sick, at least we didn’t die; so, let us all be thankful.  ~Buddha

Writing is a powerful tool for self discovery, healing and expansion.  In fact, it’s one of my favourite things to do. Today I’m sharing some journal starters for exploring things I have considered to be negative in my life, in order that I might mine that situation or relationship to find the positives and gifts within it.  I’ve found this activity to be a great comfort over the years, and it has enabled me at times to radically shift my perspective to one which is much more positive.

The one thing that is non-negotiable in this exercise is that you MUST look for a positive – that silver lining on the thundercloud in your life.

One of the things that still stands out for me is the day I heard that a dear friend had been badly injured in a parachuting accident (from which he later died). It marked the beginning of a series of terrible and unforeseen events in our life.  But it also gave me an insight that left me better able to cope with what lay ahead.

What happened on that day remains one of the most precious memories of my life.  We were all in shock, but I had organised for my grandmothers to come for lunch, and I needed to pick one of them up from across town. Life still went on, and the lunch had been planned and looked forward to for months. It was the middle of an Australian summer,  a heatwave no less, and the weekend before Christmas.  I pulled into the madness of a suburban shopping centre to buy cream before I collected Nana.

As I stepped out of the car I was almost bowled over by two things, the heat and my grief. The world slowed right down.  I remember thinking that John must be dying. I stood beside my car as if I was suspended in time. Around me shoppers rushed on in the Christmas chaos, ignorant of the fact that this dear man was taking his last breaths. How could the world keep turning, I wondered.  Why didn’t it look any different?

I felt suddenly connected to an unseen group of people around Brisbane, around the world, who were similarly out of the flow of time, locked into grief or despair or helplessness or loss.  I became acutely aware of the heat, the smell of the melting tar beneath my feet and the gum-leaves on the nearby trees.  Green parrots squawked and fought above my head, and tiny clusters of blossom fell at my feet, like some strange sort of summer snow.  I was struck by the intense beauty of the moment, and of how everyone around me was oblivious to it.  I heard my own heart beating in my chest, was aware of every breath, and felt as if I was seeing the world with new eyes. I became overwhelmed with a sense of how precious and fragile and miraculous our existence is, and my despair was replaced with an avalanche of gratitude.

The intensity and gratitude of that moment has never left me.  It became the silver lining to an awful time on my life.

Here are my journal starters.  Use one, any or all of them to get you into writing flow, and to help you focus on the silver lining rather than the cloud.

On relationships that failed:

  • One good thing about (insert person’s name) that I am still grateful for is…
  • If I hadn’t met (insert person’s name) I never would have…
  • One positive thing I learned about myself from that relationship is…
  • One thing I won’t ever do again is…
  • The best thing about this relationship ending is that…

On death, loss and sorrow:

  • One of the happiest memories of (insert person’s name) that I cherish is…
  • (Insert person’s name) taught me…
  • Because of (insert person’s name) I have learned…
  • One thing I will always carry with me in my heart is…
  • We always laughed about…
  • One crazy thing that always reminds me of (insert person’s name) is…
  • One way I can honour their memory is to…
  • One way I can make the most of my own life is…

On making mistakes:

  • The thing I learned from all of this is…
  • If I hadn’t stuffed up I never would have been able to…
  • The one thing this has clarified for me is…
  • One person who’s been really great in all of this is…
  • The thing I’ll do differently next time is…
  • At least I’ve realised…

On diminishment (you being somehow made smaller or less able)  and disappointment:

  • I may not be able to (insert the diminishment) but I can still…
  • I still have the power to…
  • For now I can focus my energies on…
  • This gives me more time to…
  • For now this door is closed to me.  Other doors that are open include…
  • If I’m being made to stop, or slow down, at least I can use this change of pace to…

On people who’ve treated you badly:

  • Because of you, I’ve decided to never…
  • You’ve made me realise that I am better than that because…
  • You’ve shown me how NOT to be in the world.  I’ve learned that…
  • Because you couldn’t give me (love, respect, attention, guidance, honesty, kindness – insert whatever was missing in your relationship) I’ve discovered and grown this great strength in me.  I learned to be the thing you could not do for me.  I have become…
  • The good thing to come out of all of this is…
  • I deserve more because…
  • I believe that the right way to treat people is to…

Summaries:

  • From the hard times in my life I’ve learned that…
  • My greatest personal strengths are…
  • I’m proud of myself that…
  • I’m amazed that I have been able to…
  • One of the best things to come from all of this is…
  • The way I can now help others is…

Journal for Spiritual Clarity and Connection 4 – All about my Soul

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You don’t have a soul.  You are a Soul.  You have a body.  ~C.S. Lewis

Week 4:  All About My Soul

We are all Spiritual Beings.  We cannot separate ourselves from our Spirituality, just as we cannot separate ourselves from our Physicality.  However, just as we can become physically unfit and unhealthy, we can also become disconnected from our awareness of and trust in our Inner Connectedness.

This week we are going to work on connecting into our own Soul Wisdom. So often we let our minds guide and inform us, or the thoughts and opinions of others. But there is a source of great truth and inspiration within us – and by looking within ourselves we can find answers to things we’ve wondered on forever.  We’re going to start this week with a pledge to ourselves.  It’s a daily thing, so if your choose, recommit to it daily.  But the pledge lasts only 24 hours, so it is entirely do-able.

Just for today I will be gentle and generous with myself.  I will allow myself the freedom to think, feel, experience and express the emotions, creativity and soul wisdom I have locked inside me.  Just for today I will put self criticism and self judgement aside and just BE.

 

Just for today I will support and encourage those around me.  I will refrain from criticisms, gossip and unkind words or actions towards myself and others.  Just for today I will be a friend to myself, and to the people I meet.

 

Signed:

 

__________________________________________

 

Journal Exercise:

Spend time journaling to explore your gifts, talents and passions this week.  Work out what you value, and what your personal and professional priorities are.

Try to remember what you were good at as a younger person, and what you enjoyed doing back then. Those things are often clues to a Self we have forgotten or left behind…

Go through old photos, letters and books.  Recapture some lost aspects of yourself. Use all of this, and the following starters to write:

  • I was sure, when I was small, that I wanted to…
  • An area I have always felt passionate about is…
  • A hobby that allows me to express myself well is…
  • Environments I feel really at home in are…
  • Places that always make me uncomfortable are…
  • If I could identify a past life for myself it would surely be…
  • One thing I stand for is…
  • I feel alive when I am…
  • It kills me a little inside every time I have to…
  • When I was at school the thing I really excelled at was…
  • I’ve never been much good at…
  • The things that came naturally to me as a child were…
  • I know it’s not necessarily valued, but I am really good at…
  • When I look at old photographs of myself I realise…
  • When I look into my future I would like to see…
  • I’d forgotten I was so interested in…
  • If I could turn back time and study anything it would be…
  • The strengths in me are…
  • I have always felt a spiritual connection or feeling when…
  • If I was tuned in better to my gut feelings I would…
  • My intuition is telling me…
  • Places that uplift me are…
  • Places that comfort me are…
  • My ideal life would look like this…
  • Realistic changes I can make are…

Activity:

Be kind to yourself and others. Reconnect with people you care about, and who care about you.

Visit a meditation group, church, temple, beach or some place that holds spiritual and replenishing energy for you. Go on your own or with friends, but go!

Make a commitment to yourself to live authentically. Stand up and give voice to what you believe in. Let your values guide you. Live by your principles.  You can do this in a quiet way, by voting with your shopping dollar or writing letters, or in a bigger way.  It’s up to you!

Plan some longer term changes in your career or personal life to better reflect your talents, gifts and values.  Invest in yourself, your education, and your interests. Live your best life!