Category: Spirituality

Posted on in embodiment, Spirituality, trauma

Who Is Allowed To Touch You?

Certainly, you have experienced human energy. The shift when someone enters the room; either lighting it up or bringing it down. A person’s mood can cause a domino effect. The words we speak project our energy out into the environment, affecting those who receive them. Human energy is vital, alive, penetrating, and of great consequence. Anyone who has been in a long term relationship knows how a person affects a partner, for better or for worse. Those aren’t just empty vows. They are an energetic covenant which binds the intentions and actions of two souls together.

Even the small, daily, and passive actions cause shifts in the environment, including the people in it. It is important to be aware of what energy is affecting us and to proactively protect our own energy. An observation, most people are oblivious to energy exchange and go along being affected without the awareness to choose how to interact with other people’s energies. Our body language communicates the subtleties that we feel even when unaware. Sometimes we create distance when we are uncomfortable or cross our arms in a protective stance. If someone has positive, attractive energy, we may feel drawn to be closer to them or even touch them.

It’s important to realize that every person whom you allow to make physical contact with you is either drawing from your energy or depositing their own energy onto you, sometimes both. It affects your energy, your mental function, and even your physical body in some direct ways. Be wise, consider your own wellbeing. Learn ways to energetically protect your mind and body. Decide who may touch you, when, and how. Remember how powerful your own energy is and nurture it.

Posted on in Healing, Identity, Spirituality

Blooming with Deep Roots

Envision a beautiful flower; a deep, radiant shade of purple, with sturdy, full petals, a thick, hearty stem, and roots reaching deep into the soil, able to withstand any storm. See it as a plump bud being kissed by the springtime sun. As the rainy season ends, the sun comes close and wraps it’s light all around, nudging it to awaken. The petals take a deep breathe, opening wide, falling against one another, in a magnificent display of beauty, resilience, and purpose. A flower may blossom many times as it grows, starting to unfurl and showing glimpses of what it someday will be. Then, when fully developed and in its prime, that flower will bloom and fulfil it’s purpose of supporting life, creating new life, and bringing pleasure to the world around it.

The analogy of blooming with deep roots is one that resonates with me and my spiritual journey. In this season, I am blooming, fully rooted, resilient, and ready to fulfil my purpose. It was around 12 years ago that I began working as a spiritual coach and mentor. This preceded my start as a counselor and therapist, and ultimately, it’s what I came back to. Over the past 20 years, I have had mentors of my own from a variety of backgrounds and viewpoints. I have learned to value diversity of opinion and admire the way that many sources confirm the same truths. As a child, I was raised in a variety of religious settings rooted in Christianity. Even at a young age, I had evident spiritual gifts; knowledge, discernment of spirits, dreams/prophecy, and healing. As I have gone through my life journey, I have come to understand my gifts and embrace my potential. In fact, I love helping others to find their passions and live out their purpose as well.

I’ve learned that there are many names for the same things, depending on the culture that is defining it. You might accept that I’ve had prophetic dreams and spiritual knowledge, or you might understand it as clairvoyance, extrasensory perception, or say that I am an Empath. Any of those descriptions are accurate to what I experience. Regardless of the semantics, I have been using my spiritual gifts to help others for many years. I’ve helped people navigate their shadows and overcome trauma. I’ve facilitated physical and emotional healing. I’ve given guidance through deep processing, providing insight, and building up confidence through encouragement because of what I perceive. I’ve found a variety of tools to be helpful and as a lifelong student, I believe in sharing from an abundance of resources that provide support beyond my connection with someone.

I meet with people in dark places, in uncertainty, and with needs that require a kind of intimate knowing to grow through. We thrive in connection. We heal through connection. Even as I myself am healing parts of me, I have so much to offer others who are going through the places I’ve been. After all, I must heal myself if I am ever to help heal another. That is a life experience I have plenty of. Be Blessed.

Photo by Billel Moula

Posted on in Identity, Spirituality

The Woman with a Message

It was Mother’s Day, and I decided what I needed was a little spiritual healing. I chose to visit one of my favorite shops for something to light up my soul. There I met a woman with a message for me. From the very first exchange, she spoke words that were familiar to me; things I’ve been hearing a lot lately. She confirmed deep feelings I’ve been carrying. Some of it shined a bright spotlight on what I’ve been struggling with, revealing a need to let go, forgive, and move forward into blessings. Some of it spoke to my life purpose, which I am intimately aware of, and my deep need to embrace my confidence and do what I am meant to do. The thing is, I have been holding onto some old ideas, some expired dreams, and some parts of my past that simply aren’t meant to move with me into the next chapter of this life.

She saw my blocked voice and my hesitation to speak. Ironically, she is not the first person to point this out to me. It’s a message I’ve been dancing with for some time. She connected it to my purpose as a spiritual teacher. No less ironic, she is not the first person to boldly proclaim this calling in my life without knowing a thing about me other than my present energy. I’ve had a handful of guides over the years tell me directly that I am a spiritual teacher and healer. I know this with a certainty in my bones that it’s as much of who I am as the color of my eyes. Even my eyes reveal my destiny.

The most profound part of her message was how she honed in on my gift of writing, the fact that I’ve been stuck and not writing, and the intense need I have to write and share my story as part of my purpose and path as a healer. I’ve danced with this gift for years, writing for fun and education. I’ve worked on books that have never made it much farther than my fingertips. I experience great confidence and also great insecurity about the vulnerability of publishing my own mind. Yet, on a sunny May afternoon, I was brought to a woman with a message for me, which was that I am a woman with a message that needs to be shared. So here I am, taking the first step in a new direction, and telling the story of my own life.

Posted on in Healing, Identity, Personal Thoughts, Spirituality

Remembering a True Identity

My mother told me, “You never lost your identity. You just forgot who you are for a little while.” A shift happened in my mind. The sense of being lost, like a dense fog, slightly lifted and suddenly there was a little bit of the road visible underneath. It felt easier to take a step, although I still didn’t know exactly where I was heading.

Identity can come from many things. We assume roles and if we are not steady in our awareness, those roles become what we believe we are. How often, when asked who we are, do we claim the identity of our roles; I am a mother, a writer, a wife, or a counselor. Which roles we highlight might depend on who the audience is which we are entertaining. In a business meeting, I am not likely to first say I am a mother. Likewise, in a social event full of women who are mothers, I am not likely to first label my career. The trouble herein comes from how fluid roles can be and therefore our identities become unstable. Deep insecurity might lead to an identity that labels us as hobbies, or religion, or sexual preferences.

When life shifts and we are shaken, an identity built on roles can come crashing down. I assumed a primary identity of ‘Wife’ for two decades, more than half of my life. That role was so important to me. It was essential to my self esteem that my functioning in that role defined my success and my value. I absorbed the multitude of messages from the culture and society around me about the role as wife and what it meant. So, when that role came to an end and I was facing the reality of divorce, I felt lost, confused, and lacking something that had become a large part of me. The loss of the relationship did not affect me at this point nearly as much as the loss of that role and title. For many years, the relationship had been gone. There was no substance left, only roles to fill. I had toiled through the slow death of the relationship and moved through deep grief many years prior. At a certain point, I resigned to going through the motions and fulfilling my duties as a wife. mother, and homemaker. I did a damn good job at my “jobs” and so even despite receiving no love or support, I was able to immerse myself in the work of being what I believed I needed to be. This was a self-laid snare that kept me trapped in a toxic situation far beyond when I should have let it end.

Then one day, while nurturing my spirituality, I was given a glimpse of a truth that gave me a sense of home. Talking about spiritual gifts, I heard someone say, “As you encounter something new that feels familiar and resonates deeply within you, you are simply remembering. Remembering who you are, and remembering the wisdom that’s been buried deep within you all along.” This took me back to the discovery that “Everything you need is already inside you.” Then my mother gave me the same message. I was never really lost, I just needed to remember. I am not a wife, but everything that made me a good wife is who I am. As in every possible role, we are not the title we carry, but the substance of what we pour into the job at hand. Roles change and end, but the person within the role is a steady and constant embodiment of attributes whose value is unchanging regardless of where she is positioned at any given moment.

So, if you are feeling lost, disconnected, or lacking, it’s time to remember who you are.

Posted on in Healing, Identity, Spirituality

Healing Hands

“You have healing hands.” It was one of the first compliments I received after giving a massage. It is still one of the greatest compliments I receive and one that I hear with some regularity. I understood this to mean that I have natural skills in bodywork. I also understood this as a way to communicate that I had done something impactful for my client. Still, at times, I have seen this in a more literal unfolding. Sometimes physical things move into repair, or healing, due to the physical manipulations of bodywork. However, sometimes emotional things are healed through touch or the exchange of energy that happens in a bodywork session. I have witnessed the improvement in mental health, the resolution of difficult emotional blocks, the restoration of the body in improved motion or removal of pain and disorder. So much healing happens when healthy touch and positive intention are placed into the same being.

Spiritual gifts do not require labels, titles, certifications, categories, or organized paths to manifest into reality. Rather, our gifts are an essential part of our identities and add definition to who we are. The magnetism of my energy, the potential of my touch, my dreams and manifest destiny, all showed through from my early childhood in my personality and the ways I interacted with the world around me. I believe this is true for everyone. Who you are, apart from the labels and roles you might pick up, will be exactly how you show up from the innocence of early consciousness.

As we go through life, we acquire knowledge, skills, identifiers, materials, and connections that help to communicate who we are and how we operate within the systems of the world. I’ve explored the world through this lens in many ways, collecting quite the array of qualifications to help paint a picture of who I am and what I can do. Healing, especially in the category of Energy Healing, can be a difficult concept to communicate because it is so much an experience rather than a segregated idea. I have learned, studies, applied, and adopted a number of different concepts and applications of energy healing over the years. This month, I am taking a focus on one in particular that I’ve never specifically talked about at length; Reiki. Now you know a little about my understanding and belief about spiritual gifts. Stay connected for what’s to come about this amazing technique.

Photo by Arina Krasnikova
Posted on in Personal Thoughts, Spirituality

The Energy of Autumn

The leaves are changing. Have you noticed? Here in the midwest, the green ocean of corn and beans has started turning golden as harvest time approaches. The overwhelming backdrop of green that came from spring and brought summer is fading into the multi-color, breathtaking beauty of autumn’s renewal. There is so much about this season that I love.

To know me, you must know that I am an autumn child and the ‘Ber months are my heart’s home. Each year I feel as though this season brings new light, new perspective, and new illuminated truths. It is the most spiritual time of the year, not only for me but for the world. We see it in the reflection of fake spirituality that pops up for the coming holidays. Underneath the mask, so much beauty exists.

This year, my revelation has to do with energy. Broadly, most people know and accept that life gives energy. We eat living foods for nourishment because we need the energy they give. Plants emit life giving energy. The sun showers us with energy. Human contact exchanges energy. Words spoken are full of energy, creative and destructive. The energy of growth supports life in the physical world. What I see all around me now is how the descent of what we call death also gives energy. Often, we look at death as a loss and as something that pulls energy out of life. Ol’ Albert told us that energy cannot be created or destroyed, only changed. I think he had this revelation too, in some form. I see the transition of living energy into spiritual energy. As the physical world around us embraces death, the spiritual world is coming alive! Can you see it?

Posted on in Personal Thoughts, Spirituality

Pt 4: Breaking Through the Surface

Like a baptism of the soul, as the dawn broke, she rose up from the brokenness with a new spirit in power. Her soul was cleansed in the fire, her body was cleansed in the blood, the reality of the power of her intention appeared in fullness, echoing assurance through her entire being. She is whole. She lacks nothing. She knows that love is alive in her.

In the darkness of a new moon, she set an intention to move through the transition, breaking her grip on the past and opening her arms wide towards the potential. In that shadow of the moon, she called out to the breathtaking, beautiful, divine feminine. As they came face to face, eye to eye, she saw her own reflection looking back at her, smiling in a wordless language that said, “You are enough. You possess all that you will ever need. Everything You desire is called to you by your thoughts, your intention, and your spoken declaration in love. Peace is at home in You. I am Yours, and You are Mine. Never forget who you are, who you came from, and where you are going.”

With confidence and poise, she lit each candle. She watched as they burned away what no longer served her. The transforming power of the flame dissipated something seen into something unseen, breaking loose every force in the universe to conspire for her good. She laid her head to rest with a peace unspeakable. She woke to the morning light with confirmation that her heart is pure, and her future is secure.

Posted on in mindset, Spirituality

Magic Numbers and Intuition

If you would only keep your eyes open long enough, surely you would see the signs and mentions of things beyond the normal. Some call it supernatural, or paranormal, or spiritual, among other things. Maybe it’s magic, or maybe we just miss the absolute wonder of life that is always there. Open the eyes of understanding and after awhile the lines a separation begin to fade and everything appears to be connected in ways that are undeniably perfection in their creation. There is no lack of beauty, awe, or wonder all around us if only we would find it. Give it some time, and that which first seems beyond the normal will become quite normal after all.

Once in the realm of superstition, now there is a wide acceptance of simple things having profound meaning. Have you ever seen an angel number? Have you ever noticed a pattern of something popping up in your life as if to present an important message? Have you ever noticed your intuition guiding you toward or away from something without questioning the logic behind it?

We can accept that patterns exist in almost everything. Cycles are the way of the world; the clock repeats every 12 hours, every day has a sunrise and sunset, each month holds a new moon and it’s circle of fullness, the year has it’s seasons, and so on. It’s our awareness of anything outside of self that causes us to notice these nuances and become an active part of the great system. All possibility already exists and anything that will be is already in motion. Most people coast through life unaware of so much that exists all around them. Yet, when the internal world of our awareness and intuition allows us to focus on the synchronicity of everything we are a part of, there is power in our action. That power is intention.

When anything shows up in our awareness, the power is not in that thing, but in our awareness of the potential so that we can set an intention to influence anything. Actions influence outcomes. Words set intentions. Thoughts facilitate energy. Emotions align our intentions and values. Everything is connected. Potential is unlimited. Life is full of magic when you’re living it.

Posted on in Spirituality

Cleansing Energies

Water is cleansing. It’s a quality that is commonly accepted in the physical as well as the spiritual. Recently, I had an experience of vision and understanding that took this to another level for me. While meditating during a shower, I had an amazing visual of golden aura and watched the water flow through me. I recognized that the water moving down my body was also washing through my energy. This isn’t a new idea, but it was the first time I’ve experienced such on a tangible level.  

Understanding auras is largely left to the spiritual community. However, it’s something that every person experiences personally and interpersonally. We put a variety of labels and characteristics to the experience of how our energies interact. For example, the concept of introversion and extroversion is a commonly accepted application of energy exchange. If you are an introverted person, you likely have a larger and more sensitive aura that requires more protection. The need for more personal space physically is a material manifestation of protecting your energy. A highly extroverted person has an energetic aura that is closer to the body, allowing for closer contact. They are also less permeable so require less protection from surrounding energies. We just commonly label this as personality or preference.  

What’s interesting is that water always flows into the earth. Water is charged in such a way that it can capture energy and exfoliate it. It carries low energy into the earth to be grounded and discharged. Isn’t it amazing how we feel different after spending time in or near water? 

I will be going much deeper into these topics in my book. It’s exciting to see concepts come together in a new light. 

Posted on in personal development, Spirituality, Success

Embodiment

What do you think of when you hear the word “embody“? The idea of embodiment involves giving a physical form or expression to something. We can embody a value through personification. It has to do with tangible expression. I want you to think of it as simply experiencing your existence through your physical body.

Assuming you are a human reading this, you are a physical being. You are a body, illuminated with life, with the ability to experience living through your senses. We have senses that come through our physical organs, mind and soul. If you are not grounded in your body and aware of your senses, you may potentially miss a lot of the experience of living.

Humanity is privileged with organized thought. The mind is a powerful tool that advances us through both societal progression and personal development. However, a pitfall of the mind is getting caught up in your headspace. People are chronic overthinkers. The responsibilities we’ve created lead to stress which leaves us overthinking more and less embodied. I’m on a mission to change that.

Embodiment is the experience of feeling what you touch, or what touches you. It is seeing what’s in front of you, listening to comprehend, tasting what nourishes you, and so much more. It is an awareness of how your body responds to your environment. It is the presence of emotion, awareness of meaning, and understanding how to respond. It is how you experience the world around you and yourself.

This is such an exciting and powerful topic. Every week I work with individuals on the process of embodiment and how to build these skills. I’ve seen it work to reduce stress, reduce pain, increase happiness, discover passion, heal relationships, and increase quality of life, work, and success. If you want to develop your skills and realize your own embodiment journey, let’s connect.