Joy is not in things; it is in us. ~ Richard Wagner

a beautiful secret shared

The secret of making something work in your life is, first of all, the deep desire to make it work, then the faith and belief that it can work, then to hold that clear, definite vision in your consciousness, and see it working out step-by-step, without one thought of doubt or disbelief.

~ Eileen Caddy

creating a holistic connection

Dearest Readers,

We are currently journeying through one of the most motivating, amazing, inspiring years we are yet to experience; the year of 2012. In Numerology, 2012 is equal to 5 (2+0+1+2), and 5 is the number of change, so this is the year for us to let go of old belief systems, stagnant relationships, and anything that is holding us back from traveling forward on our divinely-created path in the most peaceful and prosperous way.

Holistically, I believe that there is becoming a greater awareness on our earth as to how we can share energy and interact with the life around us to create balance, harmony, and – essentially – a space of love. And rather than it being the end of the world later in the year, those who are sitting in this state of awareness are going to move forward into a space that encourages such balance and harmony even more than we feel it now.

However, we do need to put the effort in this year to connect with our heart’s true desires, and hone in on our gifts and talents so that we are more connected with our self and can travel along our path with purpose and intent. Reflecting on and acknowledging our desires also encourages our life purpose to manifest through the law of attraction; how perfect.

So – consequently – I wanted to create a Post to share with you all some meditative processes you can move through to: let go of imbalanced energies; connect into your heart; and to stay grounded and, therefore, balanced with our beautiful Mother Earth as she continues to vibrate waves of love, inspiration, and light.

This has been inspired by some energy I ran not-so-long-ago on a beautiful, beautiful friend, who I can reflect – with much gratitude – planted the seed in inspiring me to move into this space I now live in of contributing my small piece in spreading love and light throughout the world.

Letting Go

One meditation you can move through to let go is to balance and clear your Feeling Vortex. Your Feeling Vortex is a diamond-shape between your 2nd and 3rd Chakras (Sacral Chakra, which is our orange chakra, and Solar Plexus Chakra, which is our yellow chakra). We hold so much emotion in this vortex, including emotions tied to relationships that you know and feel you need to let go of; take the love you have shared and lessons you have learned and move forward with gratitude. 

And as a side note (I feel this may resonate with some of you), you could also sometimes feel tight in this area, just below your abdomen, which is a further indicator that it's time to focus on this space and let go...

To clear our Feeling Vortex, imagine a silver-white diamond-shape between these two chakras. Then, either physically with your hands, or simply with intent (which means to have an aim or purpose; with intention), imagine yourself pulling out all the cords that are connected within this space, which are attached to anyone and anything that you feel is stopping you from moving forward on your journey in the most balanced and peaceful space you can be in. Once you have felt all of these cords released from any attachment to you, fill your Feeling Vortex with gracious, love-filled white light and close it off (like turning off a tap, I guess you could say).

Do this every morning if possible, Dear Reader x

Opening Your Heart

In many of my energy-running sessions of late, I have had to 'smooth-out' an imbalance within and around the heart, which often suggests that we’re not connecting enough with it - perhaps spending too much time in our head and, therefore, a space of logic and reasoning. This is the part of us that tries to rationalise all of our thoughts to the point of talking our self out of following our heart's true desires and to blend back in with what society has conditioned us to think as the most purposeful way of living. 

As I have previously mentioned, and will continue to mention, you need to connect into your heart a little more, listen to what you feel, and act on this. I will often suggest that it might also be worth you sitting down and writing exactly what you want for yourself (your most perfect, perfect life); even if it is for this year only, or for the next few months.

And to open this glorious space of love, you can imagine a door opening from your heart, and release that beautiful white light that you're currently holding inside, allowing it to radiate out to the world. Shine your beautiful light and share the love.

Get Grounded

Then finally; ground yourself. There are two ways I would like to share with you to move into this space.

The first you can do at any point in time; and I suggest you do as soon as you wake in the morning, lying in bed, and also as you drift to sleep in the evening.

The centre of our earth holds the most powerful, nurturing, radiant white light; picture this light in the centre of the earth, connect in to it, then envisage this light moving up from the centre of the earth, up through the soles of your feet, up through your body, and let this light settle into every cell in your body. I will do this with my breathing, about 5-8 times; or as long as I feel like sitting in this space.  So,

Breathing In - Have this white light come up through your feet and into your body

Hold your breath – And let this light settle into all of your cells

Breathing Out - Open the door of your heart and shine your white light out to the world

(And when you think of it, with intent, you can direct this white light to specific people, places, and situations, too, showering them with love, light, and gratitude)

Another beautiful, beautiful way you can ground yourself is by finding a tree, and standing in front of this tree, place your hands on the trunk, and close your eyes. Imagine roots growing from your feet and into the earth below, and then connecting and intertwining your roots with the roots of the tree. Sit in this space and imagine yourself becoming one with the tree; sharing energy with not only this beautiful, beautiful tree, but Mother Earth, too. 

You will feel so much love from this tree, so be sure to give love back. Sit in this space for as long as you feel is right; it is such a magical experience.

Sending out the most nurturing, grounding love and light; you are all doing so amazingly.

Love, love, love, and light x

love, love, love...

After having shared my reflections of experiences and lessons learned over the Holiday break with you beautiful, beautiful readers, I need to acknowledge how blessed I am to have such a sacred space of inspiration, love, and open-mindedness, which is fuelled and influenced by each and every one of you, to be able to share these thoughts.

I do, however, feel the shifts in energy that many of us are still experiencing and moving through, whether that is simply feeling a little more tired than usual, or perhaps having very limited space for patience and empathy, particularly in current relationships and interactions.

We are gradually moving into a space where it is time for us to begin to reflect on our present situation and acknowledging what is contributing to our greater well-being and what, perhaps, we need to consider letting go of; for some, it may be letting go of current relationships, or it may be your current work situation, your current beliefs, or perhaps even letting go of habits of consumption, whether that be eating habits, or materialism etc.

A beautiful friend of mine has been working through huge barriers for herself throughout this last year in coming to accept that it is time for her to sell her house. Up until just recently, she has felt this desire lingering in her thoughts and intuition, however it is so easy for us to quickly move from our heart’s desires to the thoughts in our head that ‘rationalise’ these desires, usually to the point of deciding against what initially had come through to us intuitively; because our head feels comfort in sitting in the safety of the risk-free known that is now.

And I feel the urge to repeat the words of Anais Nim once again,

“And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.”

Needless to say, this beautiful, beautiful friend has been spending the last few days slowly (we must still remember to be gentle and nurture ourselves in times of change) taking down old photos, storing away books, and packing away items that she can currently live without, and the excitement and joy that blossoms from her energy is the most beautiful source to share and be a part of. She is letting-go, releasing all fear of the unknown to the Universe, surrendering to the love that the Universe is here to share with us, and has complete faith that – with patience and intent – everything will manifest exactly as it is meant to, and everything will be okay.

Whenever feelings of fear, or sadness, or anger, or guilt (the lowest energy of all) do begin to cast their way into your space, feel the fear, feel sadness, or anger, or guilt. These feelings are here for a reason, so acknowledge them, allow them to move through you, become one with these feelings, and then let them go with love and gratitude (more detail xx). And while this technique may not resonate with you, it is important for you have some form of space that you can go to where you feel safe, loved, and comfortable to sit in a space of vulnerability; you deserve this.

2012 is the year for you to use your intuition more, listen to your heart, and learn to trust yourself. Create and have intent for every practice you move through; whether that is meditatively, spiritually, or simply in your interactions. Be patient, be patient, be patient. Trust, trust, trust. Have faith, have faith, have faith. And I ask for you to be so very gentle on yourself.

Love, love, love, and light to you all. x

nurturing your heart space.

My beautiful, inspiring readers,

First of all, I hope that you have all had a lovely, joyous Holiday break, filled with bucket-loads of love, laughter, and tasty food… x

I was blessed with the most perfect gifts over these last few weeks, particularly between Christmas and New Year’s, through the sharing of conversations and relationships, which has pushed me and challenged me, resulting in filling my soul with knowledge, wisdom, inspiration, gratitude, love, and growth. And I need to use this time now to reflect to you all that these words have been pieced together with so much love and gratitude from the deepest depths of my heart; everything is perfect…

Needless to say that while I am blessed to be able to reflect back on this time as a beautiful, inspirational journey, which, essentially, I had set-up for myself to shift me into an even more loving, gracious, and balanced state, these times can consequently be the most exhausting and challenging spaces to experience and move through. So it is therefore important to be gentle on yourself and set aside any judgement that we so quickly and easily cast upon ourselves when we feel that we are not handling these experiences with the wise, positive, and gracious outlook that we have worked so hard to embody and embrace throughout every step of our journey.

My greatest lesson throughout this time – and I am sure will continue to be evident in this current journey of mine – is to create balance for myself. I need to balance my actions for other people by also setting aside time for doing things for myself that contribute to my well-being. I need to balance being a sensitive soul and taking on board the different energies from those around me by disconnecting myself from their space, meditating, working on my own energy whenever it begins to feel unbalanced, and also learning to say “no” with love and gratitude. I need to acknowledge when it is time to stop giving to others and using my gifts as an inspiring healer, and listen to my heart, nurture my energy, my heart, my mind, and my soul. How can I give love, light, compassion, intuitiveness, and gratitude to others when I have not stopped to give myself time to refuel and reenergise?

Having lost sight of these balancing words of wisdom that I once had, and have now once again reconnected with, I have spent a large amount of my time over the past few weeks – whilst surrounded by beautiful, inspiring souls – feeling fatigued, exhausted, and I am yet to recall the last time that I have had so many tears release their way out from me.

However, we must also take note that on some level we set-up each experience that unfolds for us, and we never create anything for our self that we cannot handle, move through, be inspired by, and grow from.

And while at the time we may feel overwhelmed, exhausted, or angry – and perhaps even light body symptoms such as heart palpitations, ears ringing, and absent-mindedness – you deserve the time to disconnect from the situation at hand, find a sacred space for yourself, close your eyes, breathe deeply, and place your hand over your heart and fill your heart space with a beautiful, green emerald light; imagine this light growing from deep within and pouring out from your heart to as-big-a-space as possible in front of you, sit in this space, and repeat, “I love myself, and I trust that (this) is occurring for the greater good. I send everyone in this situation love and gratitude, and am thankful for the lessons that are currently being learned and embedded within me.”

Balance these situations, too, though, by noticing when you are happy and when you do feel balanced and grounded. Be gentle on yourself; you are a constant inspiration to those around you, so it makes sense to spend some time giving inwardly so that you can feel that love, light, and amazing-ness that you so very much deserve. Release, surrender, let go, and feel whatever feelings come over you, cry whenever you feel the sensation to cry; the more deeply you embrace these feelings, the more quickly you can move forward into that beautiful, nurturing peace-of-mind.

“May your joys be as bright as the morning, and your sorrows merely be shadows that fade in the sunlight of love."

~ Irish Blessing 

be gentle on yourself.

This Post is laced with a message that I so desperately want to get out to you all as these shifts in energy (internally and on earth) continue to occur more often and more intensely.

Over the past few weeks, those who I share beautiful relationships with have reflected to me some of the challenges that they have been moving through. Similarly, perhaps you, too, have come to a point in your life where those thoughts, beliefs, and desires of the life that you had wanted to create for yourself are being challenged, and the time has come for you to strip back your old thought patterns and make way for this beautiful new journey (which, evidentially – whether you are consciously aware of it or not – you yourself have created and moulded this new path from past experiences and lessons learned).

We need to begin to acknowledge and nurture our spiritual and emotional growth as they are shaped from each and every experience we have. Sometimes, however, it initially appears much easier to suppress the new thoughts and desires that blossom within our self, especially when it means that we can prevent someone else from getting hurt. Essentially, it is your choice to either follow the natural progression of your beautiful, perfect, inspiring growth, or to create limitations for yourself by suppressing this growth instead, to remain in that safe, known life that has carried you thus far.

It is such a blessing for me to say, though, that following one’s heart and desires, and nurturing one’s own growth is becoming a more regular phenomenon for those who choose to share their stories with me. Just last night, I was re-connecting with an inspiring friend who – when I asked what they chose to meditate on each morning – reflected to me,

“I meditate on what happens to me in general. I like to be conscious of what is happening (in my life), figure out some practical plan-B, then I try letting it go and trust it’s gonna end up well, anyway…”

It is. It is going to end up well. Everything is perfect; trust.

Which leads me to the lacing of which this message is wrapped in…

Be gentle on yourself, my beloved readers. You have chosen this journey of yours, and you are travelling it with such grace, inspiring others along the way. Your journey is yours and it is you. Please stop comparing your love, light, and good deeds to those around you, please stop feeling as though you could do more; you are doing enough, and it is perfect. You are teaching others more than you are aware of and inspiring them to live their most beautiful life, too.

So my request to you just now is, ‘be gentle on yourself and nurture this beautiful growth that you have chosen to embrace’.

How naïve it would be for us to think that our internal happiness did not affect the happiness of those around us… xx

time to blossom

This has been something that I have been wanting to reflect on and share with you all for a while now; it is time for us to come out of our head and move back into reconnecting with our heart…

To be honest, I have found it a little difficult to find the right combination of words that are needed to make this reflection as clear and insightful and motivating as I possible. I thought about simply writing,

“MOVE OUT OF THOSE THOUGHTS IN YOUR HEAD, RECONNECT WITH THOSE TRUE DESIRES IN YOUR HEART; TRUST THAT EVERTHING WILL BE OKAY.”

… but surely I can delve into this thought a little more deeply… ;-)

I have always believed that it is so very important for our well-being to follow our heart’s true desires, rather than the rationalisation of thoughts and ideas that we manifest in our minds; however, how can we do this when we are so regularly and easily influenced by the thoughts and ideas that society wants us to embed within our make-up. We tend to stay in jobs, in relationships, in the city, in our hometown, in our house, in our life that we know because the idea of doing something different (something that is seeded as a desire somewhere within us) is quickly swept away by this rational way of thinking, which takes us back to comfortable, known square one.

I guess the idea to share this thought with you all came about not-so-long ago when I was blessed to reconnect with a beautiful childhood friend of mine. Speaking with her, I could feel her love and compassion radiate from her with such an inspiring glow. However, I could also feel a sadness, which I learned was because she was faced with a situation where she had to choose between following her heart or following those thoughts – that can so easily be rationalised – in her mind. If I were to put these thoughts simply (which can I add, no thoughts are ever so simple…), they travelled along the pattern of,

I know what it is in my heart that I need to do for myself; this is what I am longing for so deeply. However, I don’t want to hurt anyone, which is inevitably what will happen if I follow my heart…

At this point, let me share with you all a beautiful, beautiful quote that I shared with this very special friend at this time: “And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.” – Anais Nim

Once again, I feel as though I am stuck for words because I simply want to shout, “MOVE OUT OF THOSE THOUGHTS IN YOUR HEAD, RECONNECT WITH THOSE TRUE DESIRES IN YOUR HEART; TRUST THAT EVERTHING WILL BE OKAY.”

Everything and everyone will be okay, including that beautiful self of yours. Take the risk, because I can promise that if you follow your heart’s true desires your life’s journey will pave itself so beautifully for you at your feet – it has no other choice if you are connecting and listening to your true self…

Break down those barriers, strip yourself bare, and embrace that state of vulnerability; the universe with shower you with its gifts of love, light, joy, and excitement.

~ for e. ~

nurture yourself.

Aaah (deep breath out)... The time has finally, finally, finally come to reconnect with all of your beautiful selves once more; and it feels good.

In a nice handful of my most recent Posts, I delved into the idea that there are some big, big shifts going on in the world just now, and I am sure that a lot of you are still experiencing these shifts just now. It may be that you have made some big changes in your life with work, or home, or travel, or relationships, or it may be that you're simply at the stage of sitting comfortably with a change that you know you need to make in order to follow that beautiful, big heart of yours (the rest will follow in time, I promise), or it may even be that you're feeling a little overwhelmed or a little more tired than usual, which it absolutely perfect; sit in this space, and give yourself some time to connect into your heart's true desires and treat yourself to some well-deserved joy (even if it is that short, afternoon nap that you've been holding out for for a while now). 


It is in these times that we really need to acknowledge the importance of nurturing our selves, and this is something that can so easily slip by the wayside and be quickly buried by that life that society has made us to believe is essential in order to survive; work, study, time, or lack thereof, money, commitments... 


There is a place for these aspects of  'life', but we need to start finding a balance between them and the life in which we experience joy, love, light, laughter, happiness, and a space in which we can nurture those beautiful ideas and thoughts within and encourage them to grow and manifest into inspiration; inspiring relationships, inspiring journeys, inspiring situations, and eventually the acknowledgement of inspiration each and every day; it is there right before us, we just need to connect to that part of ourselves that allows us to see through such lenses... ;-) 


And so I reconnect back to the main message of this Post; what is it that you can do to nurture that beautiful self of yours? 


I was blessed to be able to share this last weekend with amazing, inspiring women from all over Australia at a nurturing Nia retreat, which gave us all the opportunity to connect and reconnect with inspirations of exploring joy and encouraging love to flow into our lives; meditation, yoga, dance, massage, connecting with nature, connecting with similar-minded people who radiate positivity and light, and also believing that - for example - you deserve a weekend away participating in a retreat that encourages that beautiful, warm, nurturing love of self. 

So I hope that I have planted a seed for you all just now. And I hope that this seed will give you the inspiration to begin 'seeing' and 'feeling' and 'acknowledging' what it is out there that truly brings joy into your life. And once you have seen and felt and acknowledged this, that you then allow yourself the well-deserved time that is needed to fully immerse in this joy. 

Feel that love and light pour back into your life once more, and let it sit there with you to then share with those around you. Love, love, love, and light xx 

 

editing magic maree's corner...

Editing is now complete; explore Magic Maree's latest, inspiring, uplifting, and 'read-able' Post...

(March 1, 2011: Not having too much luck with this guys - will have to come back to it another time... xx)

love, love, love, and light



sunset >> sunrise

It seems that it is one disaster after the next as of late...

Be it a natural disaster or simply a close friend struggling with making sense of life; I feel as though I have constantly had someone in particular on my mind, reflecting on the challenges that they are currently facing, and sending them my thoughts, energy, and the hope that they will soon have the chance to look back on these current barriers in their life, acknowledging the beauty and perfect timing of each event (challenging, or not) in their journey.

Needless to say, when we are faced with challenges, it is never so simple to reflect on that particular moment in our life in the way I have just mentioned, but I think that if we plant the seed of this notion within our self, it will make our journey a little more uplifting, embedding a sense of faith within our thought patterns.

Carrying a heavy heart - currently aching for those affected by the recent Christchurch, NZ earthquake - as I drove to take my Gramps to morning tea with me this morning, I layered my heart and mind with joyous, loving, light thoughts, which are always mirrored perfectly by Gramps. And a simple conversation took place between us both that shifted my thoughts from worry and concern to faith and confidence that, 'everything is going to be O.K'. It went a little something like this...

Me:
"If you're not going to finish the last half of your baguette, you can now take it home and have something tasty for lunch...!"

Gramps:
"True, true, Sass; I can't complain."

Me:
"And why would you; it's a waste of negativity (sharing a wink)..."

Gramps (eyes lit up, alert, and once again part of the conversation):
"Oh - I like that! Say it for me again... I'll remember that, Sass."

I'm smiling now just reflecting on this moment we shared... ;-)

Everything is going to be O.K., I promise. And while it may be difficult to view things this way now, I thought I would share with you all a message that I have recently shared over Facebook; acknowledge the beauty of each 'sunset' in your life and know that, just like the cycles of nature, the sun will rise again the next day; the two go hand-in-hand...

Being a Post inspired by the recent earthquake in New Zealand, I have added a couple of spaces you can explore to contribute whatever you like - be that love and light - and see how everyone is coming together, spreading the love and light that glows so beautifully and naturally from within each of us:

Red Cross

Fat Freddy's Drop - Collection at Maranui for earthquake victims

Arohanui xx

may your heart be light and full

This Valentine's Day, may your heart be light and full.

Your primary relationship is with yourself...

love, love, love, light, and the reddest of red roses xx 

bubble, bubble; release from trouble...

Earlier, I promised that I would share another simple meditation with you all - a technique that I use when I feel that the energy around me is, or has the potential to, make me feel ungrounded, anxious, or disconnected from myself.

I find that I am quite sensitive to feeling these sensitivities, particularly when I am surrounded by many, many people - usually in a public situation - but also in small gatherings with close family and friends. An amazing friend of mine once shared with me the idea that the more spiritually-connected we become with our self, the more sensitive we become to the energy that those around us carry within them self, which results in us becoming more susceptible to taking on board so much more energy, leading to a feeling of overwhelming-ness and the desire to spend more time in our own space and being more selective in our choice of friends and social groups.

It is important for you to understand that by choosing to be selective with who you spend your time with and give your energy to, you are by no means choosing to be a nasty, unsociable person. We must all learn the power of saying, 'Let me see how things go', when it comes to committing to plans and get-togethers, rather than saying, 'Yes'. There's nothing more discontenting than knowing that on your one day off, you will be spending your time moving from place-to-place, re-connecting with those who love your energy, leaving little or no time for your self; be that a sleep-in, or a long, hot bath, or a refreshingly-cool swim at the beach...

Think about those in your life who encourage you to come into your heart, who nurture your thoughts and ideas, and who create a space for you to grow in the direction that feels right for you...

This meditation can be used in two situations; first of all, you can use this to 'bubble' yourself from social situations where you may feel vulnerable and open to taking on the energy of others, and the second is an extension of the first, allowing you to release yourself from any situation or person, who may block you from following your heart, growing into the person you wish to be, and following your Divinely-created path.

To begin with, bubble yourself; imagine a blue-ish, silver, semi-transparent bubble surround your self. Visualise this bubble (it may, of course, be different in colour for you) and see it surrounding your whole body. You are now in this bubble, and while you may be able to see the world around you, you're safe and on your own, in your own space, surrounded by beautiful love and light in bubble-form... ;-)

This space will keep you clear-minded and safe from taking on any other's energy; stay here for as long as you need, to ground yourself, white-light yourself, until you feel the environment around you has evolved in to the nurturing environment that deserves your energy and beautiful light.

Now you know how to bubble yourself, you can use this technique to remove yourself from any situations that are harmful to your growth, or perhaps even people who you find yourself referring to negatively...

First of all, bubble yourself and see yourself inside this beautiful space. Next, visualise the person or situation that you wish to detach yourself from and bubble them, too. See yourself in your bubble, and visualise the other bubble, too, surrounding whatever it is you wish to remove yourself from.

Then visualise a bright-white umbilical-like cord connect your bubble with the other bubble; you're now both connected, and you're acknowledging the situation that you're about to be removed from. Bring your guardian angel down (for me, I use Archangel Michael) to the cord and see them cleanly cut this cord with their sword.

See both ends of the cord direct themselves up toward the clouds and send white-light to both. Complete disconnection. Absolute love.

love, love, love, and light xx

new posts coming very soon; you have to 'be' before you can 'do' xx

Namaste, beautiful readers. xx