Wednesday, April 18, 2012
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
Jump Start your Intuition
Jump Start your Intuition
*please note, I am using the words “Spirit” & “Universe” interchangeably, so if one has a stronger resonance for you, go ahead and substitute the word.
Practice Meditation
Studies show that we benefit emotionally, physically, mentally, and spiritually from as little as 15 minutes of meditation each day, so when you are ready, begin putting 15 minutes aside to practice. When we practice meditation frequently, we are training our bodies to find inner silence. This inner silence is where Spirit can connect with us most easily, thus allowing us to receive both psychic and mediumistic messages. If you are just beginning to meditate, go easy on yourself. Beginners always comment about having racing thoughts and difficulty clearing their mind. A trick is to focus on background music, to listen to a distant sound, or to imagine floating on the person’s words if you are listening to a guided meditation. In time and with practice, the influx of ideas will cease and you will be able to find the silence. If you don’t already meditate, give it a week of practice and I suspect you will notice a change in your experience very quickly. Also, the best times for meditation are right after you wake up or before you are ready for sleep, as your body moves into a more relaxed state of consciousness. If you are able to meditate at either of these times, it will help to make meditation easier for you. If you cannot work it into your day at either of these times, any time of day is still incredibly beneficial. Also, you never have to worry about meditating and going “too deep” or reaching a place of “no return,” as you will simply fall asleep and then wake up naturally, the way you would from a nap.
Follow your Intuition
We are all receiving information constantly, but we often brush it off as a silly idea or something to save for another time. Start listening to your thoughts. Whether you get the idea to “turn left instead of right” or “wear the red sweater instead of the blue sweater,” start following that inner guidance. It might seem silly right now, because we think that the Universe doesn’t care what colour sweater we wear, but often times our inner guidance leads us somewhere we did not expect. Perhaps the sweater could lead to something greater like someone complimenting you on the colour and making you feel good, the colour acting as a healing agent for you on that specific day, or perhaps act as a reminder for someone else who lost someone who always wore a red sweater; the possibilities are endless. Even if you don’t know why, start listening to your messages and follow this guidance, because the more you listen and follow the guidance, the more messages you will begin to receive. As a side note, the Universe will never guide you to so something hurtful to yourself, anyone, or anything. You also
have no obligation to follow any messages you receive, so use your own gut instincts about situations and guidance. If you think Spirit is guiding you to do anything that society says is punishable by law or dangerous to one’s health, skip that “insight” because chances are your own biases are getting in your way of receiving.
Ask the Universe to show you things
When I first started with this “energy stuff” I was constantly questioning things. I wondered if I was being tricked or if perhaps part of me wanted to believe in something greater so that I could keep my Grandfather alive. In my heart I knew I wasn’t being tricked, but the logical part of my brain would continuously question things, trying to explain every metaphysical experience I had had. It is healthy to take your skepticism into any circumstance, so build your relationship with Spirit and let them show you they are around and interacting with you instead of following blind faith. Ask to see and hear things: colours, words, signs, specific people, a purple moose; whatever you can imagine! Remember to be specific because they will show you in whatever way they can. For example, after asking to see many signs, and Spirit showing me all of them, I asked to see “a rose” and within seconds, pulled into “Rosedale” station. Allow yourself to have some fun with this and don’t feel bad about wasting their time, you’re getting to know each other and this is an important growing process. By asking “the highest and best” to work with you and show you things, you start to trust and create a rapport with Spirit. Whether you talk to them or not, they will always be there to support you, but by taking the time to work with them in this manner, you are opening yourself up to receive.
Pay attention to Coincidences
This relates to the last suggestion. Often times we are looking for answers. We often ask or pray for answers and for help, but ignore the messages that the Universe is sending us because we expect to see them a specific way. The Universe communicates to us in patterns, continuously sharing with us the same information in different ways until we “get it.” An example of this is being reminded of the same person over and over again; hearing their name in a song on the radio, seeing someone who looks like them as you walk down the street, and overhearing a stranger’s conversation where they mention something the person loves. We are constantly bombarded by messages on tv, the radio, and in advertising, and because of this we learn to tune messages out and filter messages, so we that we hear only that which relates to us. To receive messages more clearly, “update” your filters by making an effort to notice patterns and coincidences and uncover the answers to the questions you have been asking of the Universe.
Record your Dreams
Often times when people begin energy work, they will begin to have vivid or lucid dreams. Keep a notebook next to your bed where you can write down the dreams and ideas you have during the night. It works best to do this before sitting up, as your equilibrium shifts when you sit up and moves you into an “awake” state. Later, you can look back on your dreams and see if they were prophetic or representative of any parts of your day. Often times your dreams will reflect current themes in your life and help to provide you with insights or metaphors for addressing these themes.
Take Notes
Record questions, insights, and coincidences. Often intuitive messages come to us in fleeting thoughts, so write them down while you have them. My belief is that if you are meant to know it, the idea will come back to you, but it is helpful to have a record of your insights and experiences so that you can watch your own advancement as well as the evolution of your ideas.
Waking Up: My Spiritual Journey
My Spiritual Journey began when my Grandfather, the kindest and most loving man I knew, passed away. I didn’t actively search for greater meaning or clarity, but instead watched a specific series of events unfold before me, thus reigniting my interest in and awareness of the metaphysical world. For me, this is the most logical place to begin the story of my journey, as it not only marks the beginning of this blog, but also narrates my reintroduction to the afterlife, courtesy of my Grandfather.
Five years ago, on January 19th, after a decade of confusion and searching to find my way in life, I woke up. My Grandfather had just passed away after months of hospital stays and a roller coaster of diagnoses and emotion. Every part of my life was in chaos. I was recovering from a deep depression, I hated my field of study, I was tied up in school politics that inadvertently threatened my academic career and future, my family and I were falling apart due to stress and exhaustion, and on top of that, I had just lost the one person in my life who made me feel as though I was loved unconditionally and couldn’t fail.
Any time things felt too difficult, I would slip my hand into my Grandpa’s and somehow he had a way of silencing my fears and calming my nerves. In these moments of silent comfort, it was as though my Grandpa and I had a higher understanding of one another; one that needn’t be voiced, but could simply be felt through our connection; and now after a horror story of negligent Doctors and nurses, my Grandpa was gone.
The next couple of days were a haze as my family struggled to make funeral arrangements, working to secure decisions about the funeral home, service, casket, memorial card and obituary; things that became consuming and yet, were so insignificant after this loss. The details of the upcoming day were where everyone found solace; focusing all of their attention on anything they could to avoid thinking about the reality of the situation.
It was the night before the funeral when it happened. It was only a few hours before I had to be awake again, yet I continued to scan photographs of my Grandpa’s life. The slide show was the detail that I was able to focus on and it had to be perfect; it was my way of honoring him and presenting him the way I thought he would want to be remembered. While creating the slide show and adding music, one song felt as though it didn’t fit. I was emotionally drained and considered leaving the song in, even though I didn’t think it would have appealed to him in life. Whether it was by chance or a belief in something greater, I suggested out loud that my Grandpa would not like the song, and all of a sudden, my computer screen started to flicker, displaying what looked like the “static station” on a television. I laughed a little at the coincidence and agreed to remove the song, my screen returning to normal immediately. I thought perhaps it could be an error in the music file, so I tried again, and this time nothing happened; the screen stayed the same. I brushed the occurrence off as a fluke, but still decided to change the song, a part of me recognizing what had really happened. As I found the appropriate song and completed the slideshow for my Grandpa’s funeral, a wave of comfort and exhaustion washing over me, and I retired to bed. In the days following his funeral, I tried to withdraw and protect myself from the reality of the situation, and yet, unexplainable events began to occur, making me feel as though I had to stay connected and share them with my family. On the day that I declined to go to my Grandparents house, I was remember laying in bed crying, when my cell phone, which had been powered off, began to ring. As I reached for my phone, sure I had turned it off, the call display glowed with my Grandpa’s name, only to have nobody on the other end when I answered. Other times, I would walk into a room, while home alone, and feel as though he had just been there, the scent of his aftershave lingering. I knew that these little “coincidences” were more than just chance occurrences and that something was waking up within me to help me to perceive my Grandpa’s presence. Now, with hindsight and some understanding of metaphysical world, I realize that my Grandpa was still holding my hand, even after his death, helping me to navigate through such a difficult time in my life and find comfort in his presence.
In the last four years I have been guided to write. I have decided to create this blog as a record of experiences that I have been fortunate enough to bare witness to and other times, experience first hand. It will act as a narration for my adventures, struggles, and learning as I find and create my way along my spiritual journey. My hope is that each reader will find something of resonance to take away as well as something to add to encourage the evolution of our own personal growth.
Thank you so much for reading and please feel free to share your comments, stories, and struggles either for feedback or simply because you feel guided to share.
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