Insightful Inspirations

Gurus, teachers, yogi, monk, etc. these are all the titles of people you might go to for some spiritual help. Someone to show you the path to enlightenment. This week I was reminded to remember the true helpers in our life often don’t come from the likely sources. They aren’t always the ones you want to say “thank you” to and aren’t always obvious gifts.You might find more enlightenment in facing a chain reaction of events brought into your life through an encounter with a person, than from a spiritual master.

For example, lets say you get a job that you need VERY badly. In this job you are unhappy, but it pays the bills. Part of the reason you are unhappy is because you have a boss who is just awful to you. Finally one day, this boss is so awful to you that you snap and tell them off, causing you to loose your job. Then you face finding a new one, financial struggles and anything else that comes along from the chain reaction of events.  In the end you find yourself a job you love, pays better and supports who you are. You gained wisdom about your strength through the struggles to get there. Lessons yu couldn’t learn any other way.  

Can you thank that boss for being the catalyst for your growth? Can you see the wisdom in their involvement in your life?

This isn’t a sugar coated avoidance technique to make every one and everything seem good in your life. This is about having awareness of the wisdom that is constantly around you working with you and for you. This is about noticing the gifts rather than denying them.

Insightful Inspiration of week

Become aware of your catalysts. Who is your life has caused a chain reaction of events that you find unpleasant? Who do you have trouble with because of all the struggle they bring? What are they a catalyst for? Maybe they are just showing you how you don’t want to be. Maybe they are making you reevaluate your life rather than just going through the motions. See if you can find the gift in the chain reaction they have set off for you. Decide if you want to learn your lessons or keep the chain going until you do. You want the lesson or you wouldn’t be there with it. Send them gratitude, forgiveness and love and then do the same for yourself.

Everyone has had a song stuck in their head at one point or another. These songs even seem contagious. Someone mentioned a line from a catchy tune or sings it under their breath and the next think you know it, it is stuck in your head. It is referred to as an earworm, here is where urban dictionary defines it. There are all kinds of interesting studies about this and the brain. Dartmouth University found out that our brain will even fill in the gaps, energetically, even when the song stops playing. There are all kinds of things you can read about this topic. Here is a New York Times article about it.

But if our brain will fill in the gaps on songs, where else is it filling in the blanks. My observation is that our energy systems will try and predict things in order to save energy in creating a new response. So if you get triggered in this behavior, even if it is different than the last time you experienced it, your body and mind will go to the path it has already traveled first, unless it is required to change course. This means that if you normally are defensive when receiving feedback about something, you will tend to always turn there first, before hearing the feedback.

Have you ever stressed about something you have experienced as bad in the past, expecting it to be bad again as this similar experience approaches? Then you stress, prepare and try and control your response to the upcoming badness, only to find out that there was nothing to worry about?

Awareness to these stuck energies is key to changing your experiences with the world. Just because it was bad once, doesn’t always make it bad. That bad song is just stuck in your head. See if you can attract different experiences, just by becoming aware of that stuck song.

Insightful Inspirations of the week

Do you have a mantra stuck in your head about something or someone? “This always happens to me.” or “I can never get paid what I am worth.” or ‘Men or Women are always so ____.” That song is stuck in your head and you will fill in the blanks by attracting those experiences that validate that tape. See if you can replace that tape with something else. That is what Louise Hay of Hay House always tries to do, give you new mantras to say over and over. Replacing those tapes.  See if you can identify a tape that you want to replace. Put a new mantra on a sticky note where you can see it and use it in place of the old one. Then see what shifts.

I just got back from a visit with my father. Every time I spend time with my parents it gives me new insights on myself. It reminds me what subconscious tapes are playing in there that I have yet to uncover. My mother and my father divorced when I was very young and quite frankly are the most opposite people you would ever meet. Who am I most like? If you ask me I am exactly like both of them while not being like them at all. How is that for a paradox. I have taken parts of what they believe and made it my own. I have also gone in the opposite direction of some of their beliefs (to their dismay), but still by their influence.

The mention of a person’s parents is bound to evoke an emotional response. Be it good or bad, we feel something about these people responsible for bringing us into the world. But the bottom line is, the way they view the world has a lot to do with how we view the world. People either try to be similar to their parents or not make the same mistakes, but either way you can’t deny the power of your parents on your energy.

Insightful Inspiration for the week

For good or for bad spend sometime reflecting on what your parents have given you. What belief systems did they influence you with such as ideas about money, relationships, the opposite sex, etc. ? Did you take on what they believed or did you go the opposite direction? It was still their influence even if you went against what they think. See what you can honor from them as part of you. See what you can and can’t make peace with. Keep in mind the concept that actions speak louder than words. What your parents did and didn’t do, matters more than what they told you. Explore this topic and what it means for your personal awareness and growth.  As always I encourage you to share.

Send gratitude to those people who gave you life. Honoring them honors you and the universal power of creation.

Thank you mom and dad.

As promised, there were a few topics requested that I add for the Oracle deck. So this is the last one. Completion.

We have all heard the saying “every end is a new beginning”. But what does that mean exactly? There are some things in life you can’t have until you have a free hand, which means you have to let go of something else. Things like relationships, jobs, and home, typically (for most of us) runs in ones and twos. So you can’t have the next house until you sell the old house, or you can’t have the next relationship until you end the current one.

Seagull taken by Freeman Mester

We often resist change because we are so wrapped up in the loss of letting something go and we don’t yet know what it will be replaced with. We fear it will never be this good again. We are afraid of the possibility that this is as good as it gets and it can only go down from here. When we allow ourselves to dream of the future and trust miracles are coming, we open ourselves up to the gifts of the universe. When we fear we close ourselves off and keep ourselves trapped in a cycle of loss.

It is like a bird flying for the first time. The nest is cozy and safe, but letting go of the nest is important for the bird’s survival and eventually, they just take off and fly.

Insightful Inspiration for the week

What phase is coming to a close for you right now? Are you letting it end, or are you clinging to like a lead anchor? What can you do to support yourself in letting go of that phase and coming into the new phase? What are your fears behind this end? What are your hopes and dreams? Let yourself imagine and expect the best. You are ready for clarity and new adventures.

This is the next suggested topic from the reviewer of my Oracle card guidebook. I am writing this blog in advance because I am on vacation this week. Hopefully this isn’t a topic I will be needing as this publishes.

Sometimes in life we just need to survive. Just settle in and wait for the storm to pass. There are moments in life where there is nothing left to do other than protect yourself and survive it. The phrase “this too shall pass” comes to mind. You aren’t safe to jump out into the storm and try and control it. You are just meant to stay safe and out of the way.

Insightful Inspiration of the week

If you are feeling like you just can’t stand up any more, that is okay. Take a step back with the people you feel the most love and support from and just settle in. Shelter yourself from the opinions, struggles, and chaos of the world. Let things blow over and return to a calmer state.  You will survive and if you don’t you will get another chance in the next life.

I am writing a guidebook for an Oracle deck. Something I was doing as a fun project. I sent the book to someone to review and she suggested a couple of cards to add in. And as with all the other cards in the deck, the inspirations were first born on the blog. So I am going to do the same for these topics. The first one being savoring things.

As we rush through our lives we often don’t stop to notice and enjoy the good things in life. We are rushing ourselves through the experiences to hurry up to the next one. What are we rushing to? Something we would find more enjoyable than this moment. We are seeking  moment in time where we feel fulfilled, full and happy. But if we never stop to savor where we are, we never find the things that help us feel that way. This is basically like running on a hamster wheel.

If we stop and enjoy the tastes, the smells, the moments, we will begin to notice we are already full. We are already the exact experience we need to  and there is nowhere to rush to. When we savor moments it slows things down, softens them and makes them lighter. Go ahead, give it a try.

Insightful Inspiration of the Week

Savor the moment. Find something really good about today and hold on to it. Relish in it. Feel it in every cell of your body. Let yourself be nourished by the gifts around you. Calm your energy with this pause and notice how it clarifies and tones your perspective, not just about what you are savoring right now, but about everything else as well.

What is the first thing you do when you hurt your hand? You shake it and rub it. That is your natural response to disperse the excess energy that caused the pain to begin with. Shaking actually helps release energy and restore you to a more natural state.

You can use this concept for other things in your life. If you are struggling with a situation that hit you quickly and you felt unprepared, give it some time and think about healthy ways to shake off the energy. Some examples of how you might shake off the energy include exercise, talking to a friend, meditating, or expressing emotion. If you don’t shake off the energy, it piles up on you and makes the next situation feel all that more overwhelming.

Insightful Inspiration for the week

Shake it off. For the situations that are impacting you this week, consciously shake off the energy in a way you find enjoyable. You already do this naturally, but by bringing awareness to it, you are enhancing its healing affects. Try this visualization. Visualize a tree that represents you, covered in snow, representing the energy of the situation.  This tree has so much snow on it that its branches are bending and are overwhelmed. Now imagine shaking that tree. Allowing all the snow to fall off those branches, popping up the branches back into their strong, unburdened state.

When you body craves something, it is typically craving an experience of some sort. Whether it be something sweet, a beer, a cigarette, or just an apple, what your body really wants is the vibration of taking in that experience.

For example, for some people smoking becomes the only time when they stop and relax for a minute for themselves. So when they try and quit, they can’t because they aren’t giving themselves this experience in any other way. Some people crave sugar because they are trying find the sweetness in life, but are struggling to do so. Craving fat can be about grounding and slowing things down. You are just as addicted to the experience itself as you are to the thing you are ingesting.

Insightful Inspiration for the week

The next time a craving comes on, big or small, pay attention to everything related to the experience around this craving. See if you can notice what brought on the craving and how you feel after answering the craving. That will tell you a lot about the experience you are seeking. Then see if you can find other ways to meet that craving before it becomes a craving. You might try giving yourself more of that experience throughout the day rather than just when the craving hits. See how it shifts your relationship with that craving.

As always, please feel free to share.

One of the worst energy busters I see is people’s negative self talk. The questioning, doubting and then berating if and when something doesn’t go as planned.  Sometimes it gets so bad, the person gets frozen in their ability to make decisions. Who wants to make a decision if you are just going to get beat up for it later?

The negative self talk is present in every one I have ever read for. The energetic blocks get bigger depending on how often you do it and what else you are telling yourself.  So it is always good to be aware of how often you do it and then make a note to shift the energy into a different way of thinking. For example, let say every time you try on clothes to buy you say to yourself “I am so fat!” Trying on clothes becomes a torturous process and no longer an enjoyable thing. Then the clothes you are currently in possession of become negative too, until you are just feeling completely miserable every time you get dressed or look in the mirror.  How awful! No lets say the next time you make a pact with yourself to go buy clothes without talking to yourself that way. You catch yourself saying to yourself “I am so fat.” Then you notice, shift the statement and restate to yourself “I would really like to work on this part of my body so I can love it more.” You don’t have to lie and say “I love my body” just restate things.

Insightful Inspiration of the week

Check in with your mental chatter. The conversations you have with yourself about situations. This can be about anything. For example past choices, what you said to someone, how you are doing something.  Are you are sending discouraging demeaning thoughts to yourself?  Take note that this statement is backfiring in your life somewhere. It is creating an energy pattern of this negativity that is going to show up again and again, until you shift this pattern. You are attracting things in your life to support that negative thinking. Send yourself loving supportive thoughts so that the energy you bring back to yourself represents this feeling. Love yourself first.