Call it what you will, asking for what you need at a deep and profound level not only connects you to Source, it connects Source to self. You are also setting your intention or desire, making it not only clear to the energy around you, but clarifying it to yourself. Remember to “put it out there” instead of fretting. You will then “imbed it inside” at the same time, allowing you to take your dreams to heart.
Archive for the ‘Prayer’ Category
Taking time to pray
Tuesday, June 15th, 2010The journey of life
Tuesday, September 29th, 2009Yesterday was Yom Kippur – a day when Jews around the world atone for their sins and seek to deeply connect with God. One of the passages in my prayer book is very meaningful to me. It speaks about the journey of life and how we move through it learning our lessons and growing. I think its wisdom is a direct hit, revealing what life is about. I’d like to share it with you:
Birth is a beginning
And death a destination.
And life is a journey:
From childhood to maturity
And youth to age;
From innocence to awareness
And ignorance to knowing;
From foolishness to discretion
And then, perhaps, to wisdom;
From weakness to strength
Or strength to weakness –
And, often, back again;
From health to sickness
And back, we pray, to health again;
From offense to forgiveness,
From loneliness to love,
From joy to gratitude,
From pain to compassion,
And grief to understanding –
From fear to faith;
From defeat to defeat to defeat –
Until, looking backward or ahead,
We see that victory lies
Not at some high place along the way,
But in having made the journey, stage by stage,
A sacred pilgrimage.
Birth is a beginning
And death a destination.
And life is a journey,
A sacred pilgrimage –
To life everlasting.
This is a time of great change on many levels. People are realizing that the old systems don’t work, and the present values are shallow. I’m coaching more and more people who are in transition, looking to find where their hearts lie and what they truly value. I feel that what we’re experiencing is a period time that potentiates a huge spiritual shift on this “sacred pilgrimage.” I’m praying for it. I’m looking for a time when people connect with their essential self and with that of others.
May journey year be joyful this year.
How Feelings Can Expand Our Lives
Friday, October 3rd, 2008Feelings are very underrated. In my book, Unlimited Life, I discuss how our beliefs define us. I discuss in the book, and in past articles how limiting beliefs prevent us from creating the life that we desire. A question that comes up often is, “How do I know when I’m limiting myself?” One way of discovering these beliefs is to explore our feelings.
We are often taught to undermine our emotions and to overcome them. However, our feelings are major indicators of whether we are doing what we need to do in our life at the moment. If we are unhappy doing something we are either doing something that we would be better off not doing, or, we may have a belief within us that tells us that what we’re doing is flawed or unnecessary. It’s important to explore these feelings to see which option is correct.
For example, I had a client who was unhappy being an accountant. She felt that she should be helping others more and wanted to be more altruistic. In truth, the world needs accountants and she actually enjoyed the job itself and the tasks that were involved with it. Doing what she loved – accounting – was what she needed to do. But, her feelings of unhappiness helped her to notice that she had a resistive pattern within her – a limiting belief – that was preventing her from experiencing her joy. If she let go of the belief that being an accountant was not serving the world, she could experience the joy of doing her job. When she was joyful she emanated this joy and it would spread to others around her, thereby allowing her to be more altruistic and healing to others.
Sometimes our feelings can help us to decide how to function around others. For example, we may feel uncomfortable being around someone. It’s important to notice this feeling and honor it. So often we try to mitigate these feelings and tell ourselves that we’re being unreasonable. Perhaps we aren’t. It may be best to honor the feeling and stay clear of the person until we’re certain that this person is someone that is trustworthy and gives off an energy that serves us. While honoring our feelings we can also look at what within us is making us feel uncomfortable. We may have a belief within that prevents us from accepting a part of that person. This belief may or may not be unreasonable or true. If the belief is untrue we can learn to accept the other person and release a prejudice within ourselves. Our feelings help us to take note of what is happening around us so that we can steer ourselves and explore our inner beliefs, thereby finding what is true for us.
Many of us are taught to hide our positive feelings, as well. Feelings of appreciation and love aren’t often expressed because we are afraid of rejection, or taught to be more discrete. We are sometimes taught that those who are “overly” demonstrative of their love and joy are somehow a bit “crazy” or off beat. Sometimes these people are not being truthful and are a bit “off.” Other times we feel uncomfortable because we have a difficult time accepting that degree of love or joy that is presented to us. Opening to the positive feelings of others towards us can help us to learn more about our own limiting beliefs about ourselves. We can then feel more love and joy within.
One way to explore feelings is to listen to yourself and honor the feelings. Be your own best friend. Let your feelings express themselves in words and in thoughts. These thoughts are the patterns that you carry within you. They comprise and perpetuate your belief. You may hear your inner voice saying things that may or may not sound true at the objective level. For example it may say, “I feel stupid and silly.” Be a good listener and don’t negate these feelings. Hear yourself out. Then open your heart to you and have compassion for the part of you that thinks and feels this way.
My experiences in the last month have required that I accept my feelings of loss, of pain, of disappointment. Honoring these feelings and “hearing myself out” has allowed me to be a better friend to myself. I can then see the truth and support myself more effectively. I’ve also been given a great deal of love and support from others. I have learned how enlightening and expansive being loved and supportive can be. It has helped me to heal and to grow, and at the same time has allowed the givers of this love to share their most precious gift – their self and their love.
Our feeling self is an integral part of who we are. Our feelings are signals. They are also doorways to discover better ways of connecting and communicating. Feelings are a gift. If we open ourselves to them we open ourselves to one of the most important forces of creation, giving insight, direction, and helping us to create what we truly desire.
My Body, My Soul
Thursday, July 24th, 2008On July 1 I learned that I have breast cancer. (You can read more about this at www.YourIntuitiveLife.com/blog.php or watch for my Breast Cancer blog at www.PinkMagazine.com blogging section.) In the last few weeks I’ve learned a tremendous amount about myself, my life, the disease and the body. I thought I had a pretty good understanding of the mind-soul-body connection. Dealing with this life threatening illness has taught me a great deal more. I would like to share what I’ve learned about the body and soul connection.
I have been what some would call a “health nut” for most of my life. I’ve avoided chemicals in all forms, am vegetarian, take vitamins, exercise intensely and often, meditate, do healings on myself. I was very shocked to learn that my body developed this illness. At first I felt like a failure. I also felt betrayed by my body. I have since come to understand more about the body and how some disease happens, and I am grateful that I’ve taken such good care of it, so it can heal.
Power Truth #10 in my book, Unlimited Life says, “I am not my body. I am a unique, essential being living inside my body.” I learned this while doing yoga 35 years ago. I have since learned to identify with the “real” me that is separate from my mind and body. It is essentially aware and in touch with another level of information than the mind normally misses. I’ve taken care of my body, but thought of it merely as a vehicle for my soul.
Now I understand that body is a being in its own right. The body has been in existence for millions of years – an animal evolving over time, with eons of experiences and information. The Eastern philosophers speak of the body as a temple. This is true. It is a valuable dwelling place for us as we experience life. In fact, we can’t experience life in a full sense without it. However, the body is more than a temple, it is a living, breathing temple that has it’s own awareness. The body has fears, needs, personality, understanding, instincts, knowledge, pain and joy. It also has an incredible ability to heal itself. (those who get squeamish might want to skip to the next paragraph.) I remember watching C-sections when I was a Nurse-Midwife. The body was cut open, the baby was taken out, the uterus was pulled out and placed on the abdomen, sewed up and put back in. The next day I’d see these women walking around the halls of the hospital smiling and unaware of the trauma that the body had faced. They healed, they had more babies, life went on. I know of no other entity that can heal as well as the body.
The body is an amazing being. It learns and adapts daily, and we are unaware of it. Several years ago I was running in the woods in Fall. My foot landed in a hole that was covered with leaves and twisted badly. I heard the tendon snap over the ankle – not torn, but OUCH. It healed over time and I continued to run. Last summer I wasn’t paying attention while I ran, and my foot hit the edge of a hole. It didn’t twist, though. This time it stabilized. My body had learned how to keep the foot flat and navigate over the hole, without my thinking about it.
The body has its own issues. It has its own history. It’s had its own experiences in this life that it’s adjusted to. It has heredity to deal with. This means that there are familial and genetic tendencies in the body that define it. It faces new challenges with pollution and chemicals that are around and in it, and it has to adapt to these. The body has to work through all of these issues. We are each a guest of an entity is growing and evolving. It comes into this world with these issues and we as beings in the body can help it along. But, there are some things that will be unavoidable.
I’m learning a lot from my body. It takes things in stride and does what it needs to do. It lives in present time and deals with whatever is happening in the moment. The body doesn’t complain, but it does get weary and frustrated. It wants me to pay attention to it and give it what it needs. I try to tune into what the body wants to eat, not what my mind wants or thinks it should have. I’ve had this tremendous craving for Mediterranean food and never tire of it. I try not to stuff myself, though, as my body gets tired when I overeat. I try not to tire it. I still exercise, but avoid pushing it to fatigue. Meditation helps to relieve stress, as I see that stress is very difficult for the body to handle in large doses. I’m doing my best to sleep and rest when the body needs it, instead of supercharging it with coffee and power drinks. I exercise when I can, rest when I’m tired. Sleep has been difficult, but I’m working on that.
I’m learning a lot on this new phase of my journey. I’m making friends with my body on a whole new level. It’s not an organic machine. It’s an amazing, living being that I have the honor of inhabiting. Loving, appreciating, and taking care of my body – supporting it as best as I can – has now become not only an essential, but a soulful experience.
Prayers and Gratefulness
Friday, October 26th, 2007Welcome to my daily musings column. My intention with this blog is to share with you the insights I’ve gained daily in my intuitive coaching practice and life. If you’d like more information about me, you can go to my website: www.yourintuitivelife.com.
Today I awaken with a prayer of thanks in my heart for the safety of my family in San Diego. It’s difficult to imagine, even with all of the CNN visuals, the impact their experience with this fire has had. I am so very impressed with the images from the streets. Qualcom Stadium had childcare set up, yoga classes and counseling. People were calm and helpful. My husband, Dave, overheard a radio announcer a few days ago. He was referring to the fact that people were evacuating to the stadium and inferred that mayhem would break loose there. It didn’t. Quite the contrary. The people there have banded together supporting each other. In fact, the word in San Diego is to not send more relief goods to Qualcom Stadium. They have enough!
We are all subject to stress in our lives. These stresses are an opportunity for growth. I can’t imagine the kind of stress that these people are going through, but the evidence I’ve seen is that many people there are taking these events in stride, learning, growing and moving on.
I will continue to send prayers for the healing and safety of those in San Diego. I find that prayer is one of the most effective techniques to promote change. Prayer for me involves going into a deep state of connection with the highest spirit that I refer to as God (both male and female) and communicating at that level. I try to keep the prayer clear, giving specific details about what I’d like to see happen. For example, when my sister and brother-in-law evacuated their home I asked that their home be protected. I visualized a light of gold surrounding their house as a protective shield. I also requested angelic support to keep the home safe.
I will also continue to be so very grateful for all that I have and the experiences and support I’ve been given. I will continue to express my thanks for my family, friends, associates, home, the bird that sings out my window . . . My body, my health and every breath.