THOSE PEOPLE WHO ONLY COME AROUND WHEN THEY NEED SOMETHING

    It's okay to say no! You don't have to feel responsible for those individuals that only come around when they need something. You don't have to feel guilty for turning people away whom you know are only taking advantage. It is no less spiritual to help the needy and downtrodden as it is to turn away those who learn nothing but use much. You don't have to be the go to guy/girl for the people who take but never give back. Give something to yourself and delete the psychic vampires and users from your life... They are not there to truly be helped or grow in any way; they're only there to take what they can get out of you!

YOUR LIFE, YOUR PATH... YOUR CHOICE

    Life is your choice, no one else's. There is always someone who will try to tell you what is best for you or how to obtain optimum health and happiness; the experts are many, but their opinions always seem to be changing. But what do you want for your life? What is your own heart and intuition telling you? Life is not a one size fits all situation, and no two people require the same thing to experience peace and fulfillment. Follow your own path, it is the only one that will lead to true happiness.

ALONE AND LONELY

    We hear more and more people these days saying that they are lonely and alone. They complain that they have no friends and making new friends in the modern world is a task that seems almost impossible. Certainly it is a difficult thing to do, to live in a society where most people are content to be closer to their electronic gadgets than other human beings. And it's never easy when those we considered our best friends betray us or drift out of our lives. But what can we do to make ourselves feel better under such conditions? I propose a couple of different things: first of all, we can keep company with ourselves. The television need not be our only companion when we are alone. Taking up a daily practice of meditation or self hypnosis is a great way to work on your own thoughts, emotions and mind. Getting to know yourself better and embarking upon a journey of self improvement is a great way to bring joy into your life. If you don't believe me, try it, and see how you feel even after the first week. You will feel proud of yourself, and the light of happiness will begin to shine through the clouds as you begin to make improvements within yourself. Personal accomplishments always strengthen our esteem!

    Another great way to spend time by yourself, is to commune with spirit. Learn how to reach out to the other side and receive messages or have conversations with your deceased loved ones and the angels. The spirits make great companions, and are capable of having some very interesting dialogues. I can attest to the fact, that they can be more entertaining than the living many times. You can also commune with spirit, your subconscious mind and higher self through divination tools such as the Runes, Tarot cards, Angel cards etc. There were times in my own life, when all I had were the techniques and practices outlined in this blog. One would think that would have been a very depressing time. But to the contrary, it was a very exciting and enlightening time. I personally look back on those years now with great fondness and a grateful heart. I learned a great many things in those days and the personal growth was tremendous. You need not pass your days feeling depressed and alone. There is a whole host of things available to you that can help you revolutionize your life. All it takes is a decision and the desire to make the present more personally fulfilling.

ARE YOU LETTING YOUR "TO DO" LIST CONSUME YOUR LIFE AND STEAL YOUR PEACE?

    Everyone has certain responsibilities that they must attend to in life. But often, we overlook the most important responsibility, and that is our own inner peace. If we do not let our minds rest, and find at least a few moments of inner tranquility in our day, it can affect us in numerous ways. Stress and anxiety affect our mood, it affects our health, it affects the quality of our lives, it affects the quality of our relationships. How many people have made themselves physically ill because of worry and stress? How many relationships have suffered or broken up over someone being a workaholic or just not being mentally present even when they were physically there? If we really think about it, we will see that quieting the mind so that we can be fully present in each moment is of vital importance.

    Sitting with the body motionless is not necessarily resting the mind. Our thoughts can be going over a million things and be in great turmoil, with the body not moving a single muscle. Immersing ourselves in television or video games is also not an ineffective form of attaining inner peace. These things are like putting a topical anesthetic on the surface of our conscious mind, while the turmoil still churns behind our shallow distractions. How many times have you turned on a movie, and found that when the story line was at a lull, your mind was drifting back to your troubles or the lists of activities that needed to be done tomorrow. We must learn to quiet the mind and empty it of all worry and stress. The only effective way to do this is through some form of meditation. Whether it's sitting quietly and concentrating on the breath, observing our thoughts and letting them go or being out in nature and just letting the beauty of our surroundings enfold us in its stillness. The quieting of the mind works differently for everyone, but it is a vital part of our daily lives. In taking at least five minutes in our day to detach from the noise and static of the world around us, we allow ourselves to be at ease within ourselves. It helps us to be in tune with our own higher power in the universe and within ourselves. when we are at ease, we are more focused and present in our lives. We live life more fully and love more completely. Just as stress and distraction has a negative, trickle down effect on our lives...inner peace has a positive one.

    When most people are getting ready to make the transition from this life to the next, they do not lay upon their beds and wonder if they did all the jobs in their lives that needed to be done. They're not worried about what activity was left undone. They don't congratulate themselves for always being up on things and not being lax with their duties. One hundred percent of the time the questions are: Did they love enough? Did they make enough time for their own spiritual practices and connect with the divine in their lives? They often regret it if they did not take enough time in their lives for the little things, to live, laugh, and love. And they will often speak about how peaceful or unpeaceful their lives have been until that final/fateful moment. This should give us some indication of what our greatest responsibility is for ourselves and the souls around us - Love and peace; and we cannot love another until we give ourselves peace and unclutter the mind of all its busyness.

ZEN PRAYER FOR LOVING KINDNESS

   I open my heart like a lotus blossom 
waiting in silence for boundless love to fill my pores 
and like the sun warm the world
 I am ready to release myself from hungering after people 
as if their love will save me from my suffering

I am ready to release myself 
from my jealousy of the love other's share
 and which I miss during lonely hours 
I am ready to release myself 
from thinking that love can be found outside of myself
 and that my own heart is empty

 I open my heart like a lotus blossom
waiting in silence for boundless love 
to fill my pores, and like the sun warm the world

THE SACRED SPACE WITHIN

    Late a candle today and honor the sacred within yourself. You are the temple of the higher forces of the universe, you and the universe are one. You are not a victim, you are not a meager being who is below the gods of heaven. You are a conscious being who embodies the very spark of the divine. Your thoughts have power, your decisions are both cause and effect. Know thyself, honor thyself. Create a sacred space today, to commune with and honor the sacred being that you are.

MAKING SOMEONE ELSE'S LIFE YOUR DREAM

I have my own dreams, my own goals. To fulfill them, I must turn my attention away from others and on to me. I can't make anyone else's life my dream.


    All too often, the caregiver sacrifices his or her life for someone else. This is a noble cause when we are caring for the sick, infirm and the elderly. But when we put our dreams on hold for someone who is living recklessly or making the same bad decisions over and over again; it is like giving them the steering wheel of our life, and we continuously take the horrendous journey with them. It can be hard to watch someone we care about ruin their lives in some destructive way. But what can we do when they do not respond to our love, advice and help? Sometimes, we simply need to let go and let God. How many lives have been bottomed out after a lifetime has been spent trying to save someone else? It is a sad thing to see, and it's an easy position for many of us to put ourselves into. But we have to realize, we have dreams and aspirations of our own. There is nothing wrong with living our lives and finding our happiness. We cannot make someone else's life our dream. Because our vision may not be their desire. It is hard to watch those on the self-destructive path fall into the same ditches over and over again. But we have to let them make their own mistakes if they keep shunning us and rejecting our help. There is a vast difference in trying to help someone, and living their life for them. We have our own lives to live, and we should not feel guilty in pursuing that which brings us joy. The person in constant need can often take advantage of the one who gives too much; we must be careful not to let ourselves fall into that trap. The only life we can truly control is our own, navigated in the direction that you want it to go. Don't let another person's anchor nail you to the ground and keep you in a perpetual state of stasis. Letting go is difficult, but sometimes the only person we can save is ourselves.

HERD MENTALITY - A LIFE CHOICE THAT BREEDS UNHAPPINESS

Life is like a library owned by an author. In it are a few books which he wrote himself, but most of them were written for him. —Harry Emerson Fosdick

     Many people go through their day feeling dissatisfied or like something is missing in their lives. Life feels disjointed, unsatisfying or like there is something just out of reach that could cause true joy and contentment to burst through into the mind and heart. In most cases, that something is our true nature. We have been so programmed by the people around us, or society, that we have lost touch with our true selves. There are many individuals who feel like if they ever truly said what was on their mind, they would be ridiculed or rejected. We often see those who bully others, being negative and insulting to those who don't fit into the general societal mold. Is this anyway for any of us to live? Should we be controlled like a herd, and punished for being who we truly are? 

    I would suggest that confidence is the key to winning this battle. Everyone seems to respect a confident person, even if that confidence is fake and driven by a damaged ego. How much more will true confidence change the landscape of your life if it is truly projected from a place of certainty. Be confident in who you are, be proud of the fact that you are different. Don't feel like less of a person just because you don't agree with the mass populace. Perhaps it is the mass populace who have the problem because a large percentage of them are not saying what they mean, they are just mimicking what the voices around them are saying. This is not confidence, this is not true joy in living. This is not legitimate self expression or caring for oneself. To follow the crowd and force yourself into a certain role is inevitable, emotional suicide. It is a life choice that will never foster peace or happiness. Don't let the library of your life be filled with books you do not want on the shelf. Write your own script, borrow from those you truly respect and delete the pages that someone else has inserted against your will.

DOES THE UNIVERSE BRING PAIN INTO OUR LIVES?

    When people go through a difficult time, many say things like, "why is God doing this to me?"
  "Is the universe testing me?" or, "it must be part of God's plan."... But is it really, does the Divine send pain and trial into our lives to test us or teach us some kind of lesson? Let's dissect this concept for a moment and see whether or not there is any truth to it. First and foremost, we can all be the victims of our own bad decisions. If we make bad life choices, then our days will likely be chaotic and filled with drama. The universe or God has nothing to do with it.  It is possible however, that if we keep making the same critical mistake over and over, the universe will deliver a lesson to our door to try and get us to stop sabotaging our own lives. And yes, those lessons can be a bit painful. But again, these lessons are because of our own bad choices and limited thinking.

    But does the Divine cause us to get fired from our job, lose our spouse or come down with some terminal disease just on a whim? Might we be smitten with a car accident or cancer for some minor infraction? Absolutely not! No one is perfect, everyone makes little mistakes every day of their lives. The universe is not going to punish you for these as if it were a cruel task master. Think about it, all of the great religions of the world tell us that God is love. Would love seriously injure or harm its children just for the sake of doing so? Would God be God if he/she brought pain into our lives just so he/she could take it away to prove that he/she is all-powerful and good? That would be a bit sadistic. Yet many hold up the story of Job in the Bible as the gleaming example of God sending us hellish trials just to test our faith. However, if we look at Job from a more metaphorical/metaphysical vantage point, as many do, we see that Job was a man filled with many fears. And eventually, he drew to himself those things which he worried about on almost a daily basis.

     If God or the universe brought evil into the world lives, then it would contradict and negate all of the many verses which tell us that God is love, that there is no darkness or evil in him/her. If it were the case that the universe brought us both blessing and cursing, it would be more like living under the dictates of a cosmic schizophrenic rather than a divine love that is beyond our comprehension. So the next time you are challenged in life, ask yourself, is God doing this to me? Is the universe punishing me? Or did I make a bad decision, or perhaps is this just a life circumstance that I have to work through with patients, faith and logic. To think that the higher forces of the universe are waiting in the wings to run us through adds more complication and fear to life. And besides all that, it is just not true. Would you do such things to your children, family and friends? Chances are, you would not! Now think about this; if you are a finite human being with that much compassion and mercy, would not God's compassion and mercy be even greater? Are we greater and wiser that the Infinite Intelligence of the Universe? Of course not... Let this logic be your guide.

SOMEONE WILL ALWAYS FIND FAULT

    Not everyone will like you, and people from your past often think you're the same person now as you were in junior high. They often think that they are the only ones who have grown or matured. It doesn't matter how nice or perfect you are, there is always someone, somewhere that will find fault. It can be a bit discouraging and even anger inspiring. But when this sort of thing transpires, we must combat it by being happy and confident in ourselves. And also realize that spirit loves us just the way we are. Another person's opinion cannot hurt you unless you lance your own heart and give it entry.

WHAT KIND OF DAY WILL THIS BE?

    We are empowered to decide exactly what kind of day we will have, every day.

 

 

    Many people have used the terms, "if I had my way " And, "if I ruled the world I would..." What most of us do not understand is that we do have our way. We do rule the world, even if it is just our personal little piece of it. We do not have to stay in a bad relationship. We do not have to buy into the criticism of others. We do not have to emotionally thrust ourselves into the negativity of the world around us. You choose how you will react to all of those things, and you also choose if you will be a part of them. The kind of day you have is truly up to you.

-The choice is yours- 

SPIRIT COMMUNICATION

 Anyone can develop the basic skills of spirit communication. The easiest, yet most successful method that I have been taught is as follows: sit with your eyes closed and your hands, palms up, in your lap. Take a few deep breaths and relax. After a few moments, raise your right hand and touch it to your forehead. Place your fingers on your third eye, between and just above the eyebrows. Then ask your higher power and spirit guides to open your third eye so that you will be able to receive messages from spirit. Ask that every time you touch your third eye, that your spiritual portal be opened. Lower your hand back into your lap.

 After the third eye meditation and prayer, you will do the following to conduct a spirit communication session: prepare a room that is dimly lit. Have candles and perhaps an article or two that belonged to the deceased person that you wish to communicate with. A photograph is a great thing to have as well. Make sure you have a small table in front of you to place all of these items on. If you do not have any articles, that is okay. Next you'll get a piece of paper and a pen or pencil. Write down the name of the person you wish to contact followed by two or three questions that you wish to ask the person. Place the paper on the table in front of you, close your eyes and place your hands in your lap palms up.

 Next, close your eyes and take a few deep breaths. Say a quick prayer to your higher power asking for wisdom and guidance during this session, and also that you be surrounded by a healing, protective white light. Take a few more deep breaths and bring your right hand to your third eye; let the tips of your fingers rest there for a few moments and imagine your spiritual portal opening up. Then lower your hand back into your lap. Your spiritual contact has begun. You may ask the questions that were written on the paper out loud or silently to the spirit you wish to communicate with. Notice what happens afterwards, are there any sounds in the room? Voices or sensations? Did you have any dreamlike visions, or strong intuitions? The ways in which spirits communicate are many. It may take some time and practice to find out which way they communicate with you the best. If at first, you don't receive any communication at all; don't get discouraged. With time and practice your spiritual communications will get stronger and stronger. You may also contact the angelic realm using this same method.

    At the end of each session, always thank the spirits for drawing close, even if you feel like you have not received any contact at all. Raise your right hand and touch your third eye again, and envision your spiritual portal closing. Take a few deep breaths and rub your hands together, this is to signify that you are ending your contact with spirit. With practice, this technique will bring you many spiritual rewards.

IMBOLC/CANDLEMAS

    February 2nd  marks the celebration of Candlemas or Imbolc; depending upon which spiritual path you follow. Candlemas is a very old holiday with a Christian-Pagan history. Its Christian version is called the Purification of the Virgin and is the end/culmination of the forty day period after Mary gave birth to Jesus on December 25. Back in those days women had to wait forty days after childbirth before entering a church or Temple again due to "uncleanliness". This waiting period is still observed in Eastern Orthodox Christian churches today, and all Christian churches schedule the Christening of a baby forty days after birth in keeping with this ancient purification practice. Therefore today is Jesus' Christening or Naming Day when an exorcism is performed and the baby formally enters the Church. Candlemas is a church adaptation of a pagan goddess holiday called Imbolc where people light candles to welcome the light of the sun as the days grow longer. Candlemas is celebrated on the same day as that pagan holiday, February 2nd. The word Imbolc, variously spelled Imbolg, Oimelc and Imelg, means "ewe-milk" because this is the time lambs were born in old England, Ireland and most of Europe thus bringing back the flow of ewe's milk.

     The pagan holiday Imbolc marks the beginning of Spring, despite the fact that there may still be snow in some places and dreary skies almost everywhere! If you look closely, you will see that the snow is just a blanket covering the beauty of Mother Earth which is about to shine through again. Imbolc is closely associated with the Celtic-Irish goddess Brigid. Imbolc is sacred to Brigid because she is a goddess of fire, of poetry, and of healing, and all things that go along with the creative powers of the onset of spring. She is a powerful representation of the Maiden Goddess, and she has been almost perfectly preserved for us today by none other than the Roman Catholic Church. Rather than categorize her as a demon, (as unfortunately many of the other Pagan deities were at the time,) and risk the displeasure of all Ireland; the Church canonized Brigid and made her the patron saint of poetry and healing. This appeased the Irish, who at the time probably saw the Catholic saints as being very similar to gods. 

     Another tradition for Imbolc is to put a candle in your window representing the Eternal Flame of the Maiden Goddess. So no matter what tradition you follow, light a candle tomorrow and welcome the light of Spring, welcome the light of Spirit into your life and prepare for brighter days ahead!