How Do You Measure Success?

I’ve had the pleasure of working with all kinds of people over the last fifteen years.

After all this time, I still get surprised, depending on whom you talk to, how life and success are measured so differently.

Each person has his or her own hierarchy on what they feel is important and what things portray success in life. 

Here is a list of items I have collected over the years of some perceived success indicators:

1. The amount of money I have in my bank account

2. Where I live and what kind of car I drive

3. Family heritage

4. Number of actual friends

5.Number of friends on Facebook

6.Job title

7. Awards and/or honorable mentions

8. Days in a row I fasted

9. Days in a row I detoxed/dieted/ate completely vegan

10. Days in a row I was able to live in a space of peaceful bliss

11. Number of people I gave Sh*t to just over the last month, proving that I am reclaiming my voice

12. Number of consecutive hours I prayed/meditated/practiced Yoga

13. The amount of invitations I got for the holiday season

14. How many exotic trips I went on last year

15. Popularity and good looks of partner

16. Number of times my cat/dog/hamster declared his or her love for me by licking my face just before breakfast

17. Number of people I assisted last week

18. Dollar amount spent on charitable functions

19. Again, I have the best “worked out body” in the gym

20. Winning competitions

21. Being a good team player

22. I was parent/teacher of the year

23. The ability to grow orchids and other rare plants

24. Amount of acting jobs booked in 2012

25. Proximity to celebrities

26. Popularity of spiritual guru

27. Number of people that are in love with me

28. Number of marriage proposals

29. How many bestsellers I read last year

30. VIP treatment at local restaurant/bar/golf club

As you read through this list, do some of the items of how people measure success reflect your own? Do other ones seem silly to you? Take a moment to honestly evaluate how you measure success in yourself and others.

Now, if you put your items on a list and ask yourself if they hold up in the face of soul contracts, spiritual evolution and the organic, at times, messy and chaotic life on planet earth, you might find that it is time to overhaul the way you measure success.

Here are some of the ways I measure success these days (list is still a work in progress):

1. Did I do the best I could in the situation?

2. Am I using the situation as an opportunity to heal/grow/learn?

3. Am I fully present with the people around me?

4. Am I following my heart/intuition/divine guidance by making this decision?

5. Did I find a healthy balance between work and play over the last month?

6.Is my lifestyle allowing me to optimize my health; mind/body and soul?

7. Are my boundaries in the proper place?

8. Can I speak my truth in the face of criticism?

9. Did I apply the right amount of diplomacy in this situation of disagreement?

10. Am I taking full responsibility for my stuff while not taking on the projections of others?

11. If I died today, is there anything I’d regret?

How does this list resonate with you?

As always, use your discernment and figure out what items work for you and freely add or subtract.

It is normal and human to look for guidelines as to where we stand and how we are doing. Make sure your measuring devices still work for you and support your divine plan for this life. But really, how many lives do you want to spend building castles that you have to leave behind, because as you might have noticed (as an old/ancient soul), the line "hey that used to be mine!" makes you look like a nut job when you want to reclaim that castle in a new body and as far as I know, that never worked for anyone. (Well maybe for some highly evolved reincarnations of important Lamas when their disciples come looking for them!)

Anyway, this might be a good motivation to work on things you get to take with you and to maximize every moment you have to the best of its potential.

Have fun and good luck!

Becoming A Student Of Life

The way we frame our experiences and digest the details of our lives plays a huge part in if and how quickly one can heal.

Being stuck in victim mode and playing the blame game can feel good and seem rewarding, but at the end of the day one has surrendered all power to the external world. Life happens to victims with no fault of their own and zero personal responsibility. Being subjects to other people's moods and currents larger than self, there is nothing left to do, but suffer, complain, have an ongoing pity-party, or play the silent martyr.

When you look at life through the lens of one situation or life, the concept of victim and violator is alive and well. If you zoom out the camera and you look at a soul's journey, you will notice that things don't randomly happen to innocent people. There is always a karmic thread, or lesson involved that leads us to play the role of the victim. In order to heal it is helpful to work with the soul frame, therefore I invite you to view yourself as a student of life. Whenever you are hurting, or somebody wrongs you ask yourself: As a student of life, what is my lesson here? Where is my responsibility/contribution in creating these circumstances? Even if you don't come up with an immediate answer, moving out of victim conscience will allow the Universe to offer you solutions. Why? Well, for one, because you are starting to ask the right questions.

My favorite word: Interesting

How many times a day do you find yourself judging yourself, others and the circumstances around you? I can’t believe I just said that, how horrible. Did you hear about xyz buying the house, isn’t that wonderful? Her mother passed away, how sad. I just ate the whole cake by myself; I am such a pig. Did you see the way these people were dressed, how ridiculous.

A few years ago I realized that I couldn’t control my hyper chatty mind commenting on everything all day long. The judgments were a distraction in seeing things, people and myself with compassion and enough neutrality to allow healing, change, evolution or at least peaceful coexistence. Looking to change this habit Spirit suggested to respond to the world by saying ‘interesting’.  And this is what I have been practicing ever since. Did you hear that so and so really doesn’t like you? Interesting, I wonder what is really going on.   My back is hurting. Interesting, I wonder what the reason is. I feel really uncomfortable with this invitation. Interesting, is there something to work through or is my system telling me not to go.

As you can see in these examples one can create some space around the situation to allow room for examination and flexibility, while the judgment could guilt you into auto-piloted behavior.

Go ahead give it a try!

The Courage To Stay With The Question

There is an inherent need in most of us to understand what is going on in our lives.

When I invite people during sessions to let me know what their questions are, often times I get the questions with the possible answers.

"I have digestive issues, because my mother has them."

"I don't allow abundance in my life, because my parents didn't buy me a car for my 16th birthday and ridiculed me for wanting one."

"I have fear of the ocean, because of the shark movie I saw, when I was five years old."

At times we are in such a rush to explain, to others, and ourselves why we are the way that we are, that we jump to the first best conclusion that makes sense. If you ended up with a faulty or incomplete explanation you are blocking the power of the question, which allows the space for more information to come in. Sitting in that space of not knowing can be scary, annoying, boring etc., yet I ask you to try it. Reopen some of your old files and ask again and be open to consider other options. Sometimes a symptom has more than one reason. The digestive problems could be inherited and you could have heavy metal poisoning and you also might be swallowing a lot of negative emotions. In order to resolve the issue, it is necessary to work on all three elements.

At this point I keep my files open until the symptom is gone, because to me that is the real indicator that I found the right answer and trust me the answers are out there, just make sure you keep your antennas on receptive mode.

Beware Of The Back-Door Ego

Anyone who has been doing spiritual work for a while is going to be aware of the power an out of control ego can have on your life, your karma and your evolutionary process.

Some ego productions are very easy to spot. The person that always needs to be the center of attention, the highly competitive, the vanity and greed driven personality will stick out immediately like a sore thumb. It is however the hidden ego that one has to be more concerned about at a certain point in evolution. How about the self-sabotaging soul on a guilt trip? Seemingly there is no ego left that is how bad that person will feel about what they did. If you look closely you will notice however that it was the gigantic ego that thought it couldn't get anything wrong, that refuses to forgive self as a student of life and move on.

Or what about the self-sacrificial person, please everyone eat before me, don't help me I can do it, let me take care of this for you, you seem tired. There might be a very generous person in there, or again an out of control ego viewing everybody else as less strong, capable, courageous, and abundant in resources than self.

I stumbled across another one within myself this morning. Feeling a resistance to share any of my writing in public, I determined the root to be shyness and insecurity. When I dug a bit deeper and asked my boyfriend about his view of the subject matter he pointed out that there was probably was still a strong ego attachment in there somewhere, otherwise I wouldn't be so concerned. The message rang loud and clear. Haven't fully resolved it yet, but hey making peace with being a work in progress is always a good start right?!

Practicing For Enlightenment

Life is about lessons and evolution. All the people around you, including you are little, future Buddhas in training. Sometimes we are on seemingly huge detours, but let’s just consider this, if we are practicing for enlightenment, what kind of skills do we need?

Well for starters our hearts will have to evolve to a place of unconditional love, forgiveness and compassion. If you translate that into a lesson plan we need to alchemize arrogance, judgment, discrimination, revenge etc. Here are some examples of how a soul might choose to do that:

1. If you were really rich one lifetime, feeling superior to poor people, your soul might sign you up for a few lifetimes of poverty in order for you to overcome that stigma, to train your heart to see the essence of people, instead of judging only their costumes.
2. If you were very racist in one lifetime, you might find yourself part of that race in the future, or you might be the 'victim' of racism in order to grow beyond those beliefs.
3. At times we sign up with souls to 'wrong' us for we want to test our ability to forgive.(Sometimes those lessons backfire and we end up in Centuries long revenge matches 'he had it coming'.)
4. I would never be a corrupt politician; those kind of superior statements are another good way to karmicly draw yourself into the exact position you despise in order to develop compassion for the souls around you.

It is not always comfortable or clear to the ego/personality why we ended up in the circumstances we did, my suggestion is to meditate on what your soul might be learning towards enlightenment, there is always a teaching and I find that I surrender a lot better, when I have a clue of what it is.

Don't Marry The Good-looking Guy

The other day while I surfed the net, I stumbled across one of the expert relationship advice articles that stated not to marry the good-looking guy, because he will cheat on you.

This was in response to one of the latest political cheating scandals. What really grinds my God-given-gears about this kind of stereotypical advice is, that it looks for stereotypical solutions to avoid pain/failure/disappointment etc. If you choose to listen to advice like that you might have to tell your soul mate, "Honey I am sorry, but I can't be with you this life because you are just too handsome, could you come in a more ugly package next time?"

My approach, as always, is discernment. Are there good-looking guys out there that will cheat on you? Yes, of course. But you could also find plenty of less attractive guys that will cheat and there are also many people male and female of all shapes and sizes that wouldn't betray you. Which brings me back to karma and spiritual contracts. If you were the playboy/girl in a past life maybe you'll attract people that will be unfaithful to you, teaching your cheating self to be more honorable in the future.

A lot of times people stay in relationships that have already died and the third party becomes the catalyst to move on.

As you can see there are many ways of how to examine relationships, please do yourself the favor and take responsibility for your karma, take an honest look at whom you have in front of you, beyond their external package a.k.a. looks, and have the courage to follow your heart. Love a lot, knowing the person might leave you, or die. If the love is genuine you can't lose, for we always gain by allowing ourselves to have an open heart.

Discernment - Every Contract Is Different

We live in a very result based society and there is no shortage of programs and methods that promise, if we follow their rules, we certainly can’t fail. How many times have you bought into such a promise and after a while have disappointedly given up, possibly feeling more like a failure than before?

The truth is that a lot of these programs will work for somebody, maybe even somebody that you know, so why not you? The conclusion I have come to, is that life is a treasure hunt, each of us volts with unique combinations according to our karmic contracts and individual lessons. It is therefore absolutely crucial to use discernment and allow yourself to find your next clue, even if that pathway looks boring or stupid to your friends and family (it would have to, if it’s not their path). Also keep in mind that certain symptoms/lessons need more than one clue to be resolved i.e. if you have chronic headaches, you might be dealing with a past-life trauma, a toxicity issue and a tendency to overuse your mental body. All three items would have to be addressed in order to rid yourself of the headaches. Therefore I encourage you to be creative, inquisitive and to have stamina and patience, knowing that the clue is somewhere around.

(Guilt from this or past life is a major saboteur in recognizing clues; if you feel like you have been stuck to long it might be time for some self-forgiveness work:)

Clearing Manual

OK, let's talk about clearing, energy clearing that is.

(I suggest reading the posts "Protection Manual" and "How do you pray?" in addition to this one).

Before you get started with any clearing, make sure you are properly protected.

There are many circumstances when an energy clearing might be useful or necessary.

Every item, person, location and situation has the potential for a healthy, well-protected aura (energy field that surrounds/emits from a person, object etc.)

A clearing becomes necessary when that energy field is compromised.

There are different invading forces that can disturb the energetic balance:

1. Trauma

2. Taking on/absorbing negative energy from the environment (read post "Stop being a psychic Sponge")

3. Curses (read post "Enchantment and Curses Now and Then")

4. Negative Entity attachments

5. Negative emotions and self-inflicted blockages

6. Other

Items that might need clearing:

1. Home, office, land etc

2. People, animals and plants

3. Self

4. Objects (books, art pieces, furniture), rocks etc.

The first step in clearing is to determine what it is you are dealing with.

You are establishing a diagnosis, the more accurate your ability to diagnose the better you will be equipped to map out a proper strategy for a clearing.

(If you are unable to work this first step, I suggest sending out a heartfelt prayer for help and/or getting professional help!)

Within this post I will give you a couple examples of how to clear things, but by no means is it meant to represent a full set of tools that might be necessary in situations you encounter.

You will ask Divine Spirit/God plus any personal guides/angels/masters/saints that you are working with for the following:

(Make it a heartfelt prayer and be as clear as you can be within your request)

"I ask Divine Spirit/God to please clear/heal myself/this space/my friend/this situation/relationship from the trauma/negative energy/curse/entity in all time and all space with anything that it has caused and created and send back any negative energies/entities to their proper place in the Universe and return all truthful soul energies to me/situation/space from all time and all space healed, transformed and purified and reintegrate them. Thank you!"

This is a good way of asking for a clearing. A simple clearing is easily accomplished this way.

Some circumstances however are a bit trickier because the clearing is multi-layered.

Let's say you want to help to clear a friend who has been surrounded by negative energies and feels depressed. You are using all the tools you have and nothing happens. Why might that be?

Well, let's say for example your friend has a deep seated guilt issue and he/she feels the need for punishment, that guilt has the power to override any clearing attempt you make.

If this is the case, the guilt needs to be cleared first and your friend will have to do some self-forgiveness work before any clearing attempt on your part would be successful.

Another reason a person might not be open to a clearing is if the item/energy to be cleared gives them power/comfort or is used to solicit negative attention.

Use discernment! If it is self you are dealing with, have the courage to be brutally honest with yourself, maybe it is time to change your mind. If you are dealing with someone else, maybe you have to let go of the attempt to clear him or her for the time being and respect his or her free will.

A very common reason that a space clearing seemingly doesn't work is when you are dealing with an open door to a lower frequency dimension. As you clear things more negative energy keeps pushing through and therefore might create the illusion that nothing was cleared. Mirrors, at times, come with open dimension doors and some black magic rituals open them to support the curses. In that case, add to the healing/clearing prayer:

"Please close any dimension doors to the lower realms in all time and all space and transform and purify any energies that leaked out in all time and all space and send them back to their proper place in the Universe."

Then continue your regular clearing.

Another way of doing clearings is to run white light and love energy through a space, or use the chakra meditation to run it through self. (Remember darkness is the absence of light, therefore this offers a powerful solution, especially if you are not quite clear what it is you are clearing).

Here are some additional tools that can be helpful in situations when a clearing is necessary:

1. Flower Essences (read related post)

I suggest 'Golden Armor', 'Pennyroyal', 'Watch your Back', 'Violet Transmuting Flame Violet' (ask for the meditation that it comes with) from Green Hope Farm plus any additional ones that fit your situation (go to their common concerns page on the website)

2. Aromatherapy works well especially Lavender, Lemon, Palo Santo and Frankincense support the clearing and protection process (make sure to select organic brands, I love the company "Floracopeia" (check out their "Spirit Blend") and note that some companies have special cleansing and protective blends available).

An addition to any cleansing ritual is the burning of sage (a native American tradition), which is very useful.

3. Music and sounds can offer another helpful energy to be added to your toolbox

(Gongs, crystal bowls, as well as any music that you feel strengthens you can be added; trust your instincts)

4. Taking baths in salt water is also useful

5. Create a sacred space. Light white candles, set up an altar, clean your space physically and have uplifting art and images around (read post "The Importance of Art and Objects in Your Life")

Some things are more difficult to clear than others.

As always, use your own discernment, this is an outline of possible tools and clearing is a huge topic. Be flexible to integrate other tools and to get outside help if you should need it.

God bless and good luck to all of you on your Journey!

Consider A Holiday Makeover

We are coming upon the holidays again.

A few years ago I found myself pretty burned out during the holidays and everything they entailed.

My experience was that I was stuck for a couple of months doing all the things I really don't enjoy and I couldn't wait for January to roll around for me to resume my life and spiritual routine.

Here is a list of some of the items that didn't work for me:

1. Too much food and events/parties centered on eating and drinking too much

(Not to mention the guilt trips from fellow participants if one didn't want to participate)

2. Expectation and stress levels surrounding gift giving and receiving

3. Meeting with people I really didn't want to see

4. Collective stress that could be felt all throughout public places

5. Not enough evidence of spiritual energy as a center/focal point of celebration

I got so annoyed that I decided to skip the holidays altogether. There were no lights and no decorations, I didn't send out holiday cards, informed friends and family that I would like to skip the exchange of gifts, was a no show to any social event and one year I escaped to Costa Rica to a Yoga Retreat for a couple of weeks and got back early January once the whole hoopla was over.

My holiday boycott lasted four years. That was the time frame my system needed to detoxify from all the annoyance and to start missing all the good stuff that holidays have to offer.

I started to see the beauty in the lights and the decorations again, appreciated the seasonal changes, the heartfelt exchanges with loved ones, the opportunity to celebrate Spirit and a time to be reflective and grateful.

As much as I developed a longing for the special time during the year, I had no intention to go back to all the things I didn't enjoy, so I decided to reclaim the holidays and celebrate them in accordance to my heart and soul.

Here are some of my new guidelines:

1.No Stress!

2. Spirit comes first!

3. Any decorations and events have to be supported by point 1 and 2

4. I make plenty of time for meditation, prayer and soul-searching rituals by myself and to share with my friends and family

5. I choose to share holiday greetings and gifts only if they are heartfelt expressions and avoid auto piloted behavior

6. I allow each year to be different and spend some time meditating before the holidays on what feels right for this year

So, if you happen to be tired, burned out and dread the thought of another holiday season, give yourself a chance for a holiday makeover.

If you fear the rejection of loved ones, I can guarantee you that more people are burned out than you think and they might actually appreciated some changes.

Happy, blessed holidays to all of you! May you and your loved ones enjoy a peaceful season!

Caught Somewhere Between Fate And Free Will

Ah, the age-old question of what the future might bring keeps returning throughout our journeys.

 Fueled by our insecurities and our inability to stay fully present in the "Now" we all wander off into the land of the future at times. We imagine, hope and wish for our dreams to be fulfilled, that we are blessed with what we are lacking in the Now, that a burden is lifted, a pain healed, a lesson learned, a disaster averted and a question answered. I have realized an interesting observation; there appears to be two very distinct teams in the future treasure hunting department.

The first is a group of souls that is fully resigned to fate. Their questions sound like this:

1.What am I meant to do?

2. When will I get married?

3. How many children will I have?

4. Where will I live?

5. What should I do in regards to this situation?

6. Which profession am I meant to have?

7. Etc.

The other group is so convinced of their free will that they feel like they just have to pray and manifest hard enough to get the life they want.

Their questions and statements sound like this:

1.What else do I have to do to attract the right partner?

I have already done xyz and it's still not happening, but I know I am so close.

2. What other blockages do I need to release within myself in order to manifest more financial abundance?

3. How many more times do I have to repeat the same mantra/affirmation to get what I want?

Here is my take on the topic:

I certainly don't think that the future is set in stone. The level of freedom to co-create a soul has in each life varies from lifetime to lifetime.

For some souls, it's a bit like taking a ride on a train. The fate aspect dictates the station you get on, the stations you will stop at and the station that will be your final stop. It also determines whom you share the ride with. You however have free will on how you spend your time on the train. Who do you socialize with? How much time do you spend sleeping, eating, meditating or educating yourself? What's your attitude like? Are you at peace with your fate or do you threaten your fellow passengers every five minutes that you've had it and that you will be jumping out of the window?

Furthermore, I believe that the way we conduct ourselves on the train ride we're on will influence future lives and realities.

Let's call these behavioral consequences karma. The more negative karma we have the less we might be able to enjoy co-creative freedom in our future.

Other souls journey might be more of a road trip than a train ride. They have their own car and can travel wherever they wish to go, as long as there is a road, gas and other necessary resources available. These types of lives that carry more freedom aren't necessary more pleasurable. At times, souls freeze and become paralyzed in their actions in the face of all the possible choices. It does take a mature soul that has gained great clarity to navigate these waters; otherwise you might end up with a lot less movement than the people on the train.

When you want to gain clarity on your status in this life, it is important to gain some understanding of the spiritual contract your soul made. Another interesting resource could be your astrological chart (if you know your exact time of birth - make sure to find a skilled practitioner though to avoid additional confusion!).

Things you will find in your spiritual contract are:

1. Lessons you want to learn this life.

2. Potential relationships and their function

3. Talents and challenges

4. Potential professions

5. Financial and material support/abundance

6. Health

7. Social/cultural backdrop

8. Spiritual awareness

9.etc…

Now, any of the items above could be strictly defined by the soul or kept flexible, which means you'd have more co-creative power while you are alive. The ones that are pre-determined will feel like they are fated while the rest aren't a solid reality yet.

Most of us are stuck somewhere between fate and free will. It is important to work with and surrender to the elements that we can't change and to have fun and be creative with the ones that are waiting for our input.

How do you know the difference?

Most of you will have an element of intuition in regards to the elements that are fated:

1. Deja-vu experiences

2. Dreams or a sense of a meeting or change in your life

3. A Feeling like a force of nature is moving through your reality and you didn't solicit it consciously.

If you are asked to co-create you might find yourself:

1. Feeling a bit confused

2. Insecure as what to pick

3. Too many choices that all look good

4. Life feels stuck until you give your input

5. Excited, running from opportunity to opportunity, yet nothing sticks

Wherever you are on the spectrum between fate and free will, enjoy it, know it will change and rest assured that it is perfect for your experience and evolution right now!

How Do You Pray?

Prayer is an important tool for the ancient soul in the modern world (for everyone else as well, of course!).

Let's go over a little prayer 101.

1. Remember that the divine forces have to respect free will. That means they are not allowed to interfere unless you ask for it. Therefore prayer on behalf of self or others goes a long way. At times all it takes is one person to ask for help to make a big difference.

2. What is your motivation when you pray? Is your request fueled by fear, greed, and ego or is it generated from a place of love, surrender, and forgiveness?

When we pray our intention is received as much as what we ask for. I have noticed that my heart-centered prayers are answered a lot quicker than those generated from other parts of self. So, note to self: connect to your heart before praying!

3. Be genuine! I do believe that it is more powerful to put forth an authentic heart-centered request than to run mentally through a pre-scripted prayer disconnected from a personal, heartfelt intent.

4. Be careful what you ask for! Often times we have a specific goal in mind when we put out a request. Lets say you have asked for an increase in worldly abundance in your life.

That's great- there is nothing wrong with that! But, if a part of you feels that in truth you don't deserve the abundance and you are sabotaging yourself due to guilt issues i.e., be aware that your prayer can trigger a series of opportunities for you to become aware of your guilt and the opportunity to clear it. That means your life might seem more challenging for a while and it may look like your prayers have not been answered when indeed they have.

5. Who do you pray to? I have worked with a lot of people and everyone seems to have their own list of beings on the other side they pray to. Saints, angels, ancestors, masters of every shape and size are being summoned for help. Please consider including Divine Source/ God in every prayer. The reason is that every divine being has its own set of specialties and might not be the best choice to fulfill your request. If you address Divine Source directly, the best help can be sent to you, possibly someone that you are not even aware exists.

That does not mean to exclude the Saints or Masters etc. from your request. You are just expanding your horizons.

6. Location, set-up and duration of prayer:

Of course, it is nice to have the opportunity to pray in a sacred place or building, in front of an altar lit with candles for a long period of time. It is however, not necessary.

Really, anywhere, anyhow, even if you only have five minutes can make a difference.

Who says you can't bless a place and make it sacred simply through your prayer?

 Any old traffic jam, office building or random place in nature will do.

Divine Source is not closed-minded and isn't hung up on rituals as much as some spiritual disciplines would like you to believe.

Make prayer part of your every day life and recognize the spiritual opportunity in every moment of your existence.

Life As A Treasure Hunt

One of my biggest challenges this life has been to have patience for myself and the process of life, especially, when I lack the larger picture perspective, or the direction I was given suddenly changes. I do well with information. If I know where I am going and the pathway has been shown to me, I am willing to put up with a fair amount of discomfort. Otherwise forget it! I will be upset, even if things are seemingly going well.

Unfortunately, I find myself over and over again in situations with little to zero visibility forced to rely on my faith. All I can do in these moments is to put one foot in front of the other until I find the next clue. And of course, use this wonderful opportunity to work on and strengthen my muscles for patience and surrender.

It does appear that many of us are involuntary members of this mystery club called life.

One of the things that helps me continuously is the to look at life as a treasure hunt.

When I admit to myself that I really don't know yet what life has in store for me it is easier to look for the next clue and trust, that I will have all the necessary information, as I need it.

 Maybe my ultimate destination is not the top of the mountain that was pointed out to me, but it was the only thing I could see from the crossroad where I was standing.

Can I be flexible enough to correct my course along the journey when my path changes once I meet the boat on the river?  And when I climb into the boat, can I allow the river to take me to wherever I am destined to go? And while doing so, can I be present in the moment to absorb the gifts of the journey to their fullest?

I am certainly still a work in progress in these matters but I have learned to surrender quicker and to pay closer attention to life, for it always has a way of working out.

In case of doubt, keep walking with a prayer in your heart and the courage to put one foot in front of the other. Life is a mystery! Make peace with that. Your journey will be different and unique and remember; within the abundance of the Universe there will always be another clue.

Enjoy your treasure hunt! You too shall return home one day, that is a promise!

What To Expect When Soul-Conscience Breaks Into Personality-Reality

This is a very interesting topic that affects many of you these days.

Let's start by defining the terms personality and soul:

1. Personality refers to your current life persona. It includes your family history, your experiences this life, your physical form and all of this life's data. We are usually born with a good dosage of amnesia, which leaves us overly identified with our personalities.

2. Soul refers to your true energetic self that is present within all lifetimes. It carries all the information of any experience you've ever had as well as the emotional charge of trauma as including the memories of successes and the accumulated wisdom of lessons learned.

During this specific juncture in human history many of you will go through a spiritual awakening. The way I like to describe it is that the soul conscience is breaking into the personality reality. Here is a visual:

Picture a moving canvas in orange and red representing the personality. It changes forms like a kaleidoscope between triangles and squares.

All of a sudden we have some waves of green and gold moving through with patterns of circles and spirals. First there are only a few, still allowing the orange and red patterns to dominate but as time progresses the green and gold starts to influence the canvas more and more to the point where the original pattern is vanishing giving way to a new moving picture. That is the soul conscience breaking through.

Here are some of the symptoms that you might be experiencing if you are going through this process:

1. You will most likely experience identity crises. Your taste in foods, hobbies, friends and opinions can suddenly change to a confusing degree. You might wake up in the morning, look in your closet and feel like you have nothing to wear. Your life might feel like it only partial fits and you wonder who the person was that made all these choices in regards to your career, where you live and whom you spend your time with.

2. Your emotional body is suddenly flooded with strong emotions that don't make sense in the context of your current circumstances. Often, these are past life memories that for many of you will hit you emotionally before the mental body catches up.

These emotions can be triggered by certain movies, art exhibits, smells and flavors and as I said before, will seem disproportionately intense in comparison to the trigger.

3. You might develop new interests and when you pursue them you excel very quickly like you are remembering versus learning the skill from scratch.

4.You have a strong pull to certain time periods in history and go out of your way to collect information through books, movies and anything else you can find.

5. Your view of life changes. You become curious about topics like past lives, karma, soul healing and evolution. You develop a more holistic view of your personality experiences.

6. You start to find conversations that are not soul centered increasingly boring.

7. When people relate to your personality versus your soul self you will tend to feel unseen and lonely.

8. As your perception of self shifts due to your old sense of self giving way to your soul sense of self, you might feel like you are living on shaky ground. This tends to be unsettling, uncomfortable and confusing.

These are as always just some possible symptoms.

If you are going through this process, find a way to be patient and compassionate with yourself. Remember that the way you are feeling is normal and will pass, once you settle into your new reality perception.

The more you hang onto the familiar, the more painful the process will be.

Be curious about this soul of yours and find creative ways to explore it.

It is time to remember who you truly are and remembering is all it is! Your soul ultimately is more familiar to you than your personality ever could be and when you connect to that truth you will find that you finally make sense.

I always find flower essences a very helpful tool during times of extreme changes

(read post on flower essences for more info).

Enjoy the ride and don't forget to breathe!

Helpful Tools 3: Chakra Meditation

One of the things we all have to practice repeatedly while being human is proper alignment. Think about it!

The moment we lose our alignment, we lose our balance and stumble or fall.

This is true for the physical as well as the emotional, mental and energetic body.

If you look at great martial artists, you will see, they have mastered alignment and therefore can move graciously and powerfully through time and space.

I have found Chakra meditation to be a powerful tool and ally in my practice to maintain my alignment. As a structure, it provides specific assistance to strengthen weaker areas within self, as well as, keeping the energy body cleansed and well maintained.

If you are familiar with this form of meditation, dive right in.

Otherwise, I suggest doing some research.

One book I like is:

The Book Of Chakras by Ambika Wauters

There is plenty of good material out there on this topic. Trust your instincts and see what calls to you

Protection Manual: Useful Tips and Troubleshooting

One of the repeat items we all have to deal with is protection. This post is dedicated to energetic protection.

Let's start by getting a visual idea. The physical body has an immune system to protect it from disease. We can either, support and strengthen the immune system through supplements, a balanced lifestyle, dietary choices etc., or we can weaken it through neglect of our physical bodies, stress and toxic exposure.

  Similarly, we have a system that protects our energy bodies. Imagine yourself watching a cartoon and you can virtually see the energy in vivid color. If the energetic immune system is strong, the person is surrounded by a bubble of bright light possibly tinted in light shades of gold, white, pink, violet or green. This bubble allows light to filter through and purifies/transforms shadows and slimy green energies heading its way. Like a trampoline, unfit energetic clusters bounce off, so that the soul within the protection bubble can maintain its truthful self-expression. As you know from experience, there are times when we happily cruise through life, well protected, capable of holding our alignment even in the midst of challenging energetic circumstances, while at other times the slimy green and black specks make it through and we get sick. When that happens we want to apply some tools to strengthen our protection and to learn valuable lessons, as to why our energetic immune system was compromised in the first place.

1. First of all a couple of 101 reminders:

a) Darkness is the absence of light.

b) The Divine Forces (i.e. Guardian Angles) are not allowed to help unless you ask for it.

So the first thing you want to do when you feel like your protection has been undermined or you need a boost, ask for help!

c) Ask the divine beings to put a protective bubble of white light around your whole being in all time and all space (Visualization of a space-suit like white bubble where negative energies bounce off, Chakra-Meditation (see post), Flower Essences i.e. Golden Armor by Green Hope Farm (see post on Flower Essences) are useful additions to this step).

2. Get in the habit of regular energy clearings. The same way you need to take a shower to maintain your physical cleanliness, it is important to cleanse your aura, home and work space regularly in order to keep your energetic immune system strong. If we go back to our cartoon image you can see that if there are grey smudges in our light bubble, they would appear like cracks and these cracks can undermine our protection (If you are not familiar with clearing procedures yet, I will dedicate a future post just on clearing, in the meantime you might wish to already read the post: The importance of art and objects).

3. If you are dealing with a continuous collapse of your energy protection it is important to start troubleshooting since there are many possible reasons why a soul creates energy cracks due to internal, karmic patterns (read posts on Psychic Sponges, Energy Vampires, Enchantments and Curses).

a) The first step is always to have the awareness and ask the right questions.

Observe the situation and notice if a pattern has been established: "Every time I meet with so-and-so I feel drained. I wonder why?" "Whenever I go to crowded places, I start to feel heavy and tired. What is the reason that I can't stay in my frequency yet?"

b) Scan your system for negative/unresolved emotions like guilt, fear and empathy. We all have moments where we don't feel like we deserve to be in the light and

well-protected while we see other souls suffer. That is one of the things we all have to learn on our path to enlightenment. Can you enjoy your own good karma while others are still battling in hell? Do you allow yourself to have full divine support, even though you have made mistakes? How scared are you of other people's jealousy towards you if things start going too well? Are you addicted to drama because you are getting love and attention from your environment when you suffer? Is your soul committed to suffering because you feel that is the only way you are going to learn and evolve?

These are just a few examples that can lead you to potential internal saboteurs.

When you find an internal aspect that undermines your protection find ways to transmute that aspect. Often times, it is as simple as to make a different choice.

I.e. I am choosing to lead by example and stay in the light, because I can. That way I'll inspire the souls around me to do the same. Other people's jealousy is not my problem; my job is to stand in my truth, not to be a slave to other's dysfunctions. I am here as a student, not a master of this reality; therefore I do deserve a second chance and forgive myself for any wrong doings.

Going back to the cartoon example, the negative emotions have the power to create cracks from the inside. When you fill the cracks with light by transforming the negativity your bubble once more will be intact.

4. As always, this is by no means a complete guide on protection. Add any other tool and method that works for you and stay open and curious, Awareness is the key and all the answers needed will be provided, just stay open and curious!

The Difference Between Judgment And Truthful Observation

Many wonderful people I work with block their intuitive gifts because they are afraid to see something "bad". To them "bad" equals anything that is broke, hurt, shady or energetically compromised in some way. In order to avoid what seems like a negative judgment, they'd rather keep the third eye closed tightly and stay stuck in the mode of light projections (read post on light-and shadow projections).

If this is you, let me reframe your view!

When you break your arm, the x-ray at the doctor's office will show the fracture.

This is a fact, not a judgment. If the doctor told you that you are a horrible, ugly person because your arm is broken that would be a judgment.

The same is true for emotional or energetic circumstances. We are currently in a reality where few souls have realized their full divine potential. Many of us carry ancient battle scars, are trapped in old trauma loops and show behavior patterns motivated by ego and not the heart. The first step to heal is to come up with a truthful diagnosis. Most certainly a truthful read on something that hurts is not a clean bill of health, but rather an item that requires work and healing.

 As the saying goes: The truth will set you free.

So be brave and face what is and rest assured that no matter what you encounter, everything serves an educational purpose for the soul and can be healed, fixed and brought back into alignment.

And of course, we want to refrain from judgment, for no one is bad, horrible or less than because of their injuries.

How Do You Love?

Love is such an over used word and concept. At the same time, it's probably the most important ingredient in our spiritual journey towards enlightenment.

I have seen a lot of issues that arise from misunderstood concepts of love.

First of all, lets look at different qualities within love.

Our enlightened goal of love is the ability to love unconditionally without attachments, yet with an open heart. Needless to say, most of us aren't there yet.

Love can be laced with neediness, light-projections, codependence, abandonment issues and past trauma etc… In that moment, we don't purely love the people around us for their sake, but from a selfish place; i.e. you think your life will be better/more fulfilled if you find the perfect partner. When you fall in love, these expectations will be projected onto your partner and conflict will arise when the person falls short in providing you with what you want.

The codependent approach makes you believe that if you just support the person enough, they will grow into the potential that you desire.

Light-projection (also read post on light and shadow projections) will tempt you to edit out any red flags and focus on what you want to see. Often times, these associations end up as train wrecks, where you might feel betrayed and utterly disappointed.

The needy prince/princess archetype makes you expect constant attention from your relationships. When they fall short or are too wrapped up in themselves, you will get angry and punitive. However, if someone asked you, you might say, "no I really love them!".

As you can see, it is important to examine the quality of love we feel and be honest if it is conditional or if it is laced with other emotions.

Some questions to ask yourself:

1. How punitive am I within my relationships?

2. Do you love the person for who they are today, or the potential you see once you have fixed them?

3. Do you feel the world owes you due to a prior heartbreak?

If  your answer is yes, do you feel like your current or future partner should make up for it?

4. Do you keep a part of your heart closed/unavailable because you are afraid to get too close?

5. How possessive and jealous are you?

Be honest with yourself and see if you can purify your love toward yourself and others.

 The other part is how do you express your love?!

Many popular love songs are based on a common mistake:

"I left my heart in Paris…!"

"I lost my heart to Rita, John, Susan, my country, the orphans…"

So, if you love from the place of giving part or all of you away, you will end up without that part when the person leaves or dies on you, oops. You will feel incomplete until next time you run into them, which could be lifetimes from now.

That is part of the reason why people don't recover well after certain break-ups.

The more evolved way of loving works as follows:

Look at your heart as a vessel. The love flows through it towards whom ever. There is no limit as to how much love flows through. The more you love the more you gain because the frequency of love is like energetic vitamins flowing through you. If the person moves away, you can still love them without losing any aspects of self. You keep your freedom and energetic independence, whether you are in a relationship or not.

If we give pieces of ourselves away we are limited to how many times we can love. The heart is like a pie, when you have given your last piece away, you are done.

If you approach your heart as a vessel, you are always able to channel an infinite amount of love for yourself and others (that includes puppies, plants locations, jobs etc).

 A good approach to practice the proper energetic love flow is chakra meditation.

In case you already gave your heart away, here is the good news:

You can get it back!!!

How?

Ask God/Divine Source/ your Angels and any other divinely aligned beings you work with to return all aspects of yourself from all time transformed and purified and reintegrate them into your being. Ask for all energies within yourself that had taken their space to be cleared from you in all time and all space to be transformed and purified with everything they have caused and created. Then send them back to their proper place in the Universe. And then give thanks!

As always, awareness is the first and most important step to take in order to improve any situation and condition.

Make Peace With Your True Nature

So, here is a big one for all of us. First of all, congratulations to all of you who have already mastered this step! And may we be blessed with a lot of encouragement and dedication for all of us who are still working on it (maybe this lifetime will be the one?!). 

The name of the game is making peace with your true nature when creation is filled with bigger, brighter and different souls that it'll make your head spin. As you probably have noticed by know, just because we all share human costumes, doesn't mean we share the same soul heritage. Therefore the differences we are confronted with on a daily basis are huge (read posts on soulism and who are you competing with?).

 But no matter who surrounds us, it is our job to confidently embrace our true nature, manifest divine light through our vessel and maximize our true potential the best that we can, instead of staying stuck in an insecurity loop for everything we are not. Remember, Divine Source knew what he/she was doing even if you haven't gotten the memo yet!

One of the games I like to play on my journey to full self-acceptance is: I picture myself and the people around me as different animal species, different plant species, as sci-fi characters and as mystical/fairy tale creatures. It helps me to put things into perspective because it is easy to see that a deer isn't better or worse than a dolphin, a lotus flower isn't superior or inferior to an oak tree as a matter of fact it is clear that it isn't even fair to compare them for they are so different. If you take these examples ask your self:

Who am I in this story? What are my talents? What is my job/purpose and how can I maximize my potential?

The answers you'll receive might reveal your role this life, or if you already have an expanded awareness you might be able to tune into the larger picture version.

Either way, I want to encourage you to work on it and to maximize your potential, for you are unique and no accident. 

Update Yourself!

Most old souls I work with are stuck somewhere in the past. I mean the past, as in past centuries or millennia, not just a few decades.

It shows itself in form of nostalgia and by giving a lot of power and attention to ancient artifacts, ruins of holy sites, the worship of spiritual rituals from other cultures and the wearing of fashions (native American medicine man, ancient Egyptian high priest, Tibetan monk, African shaman etc).

While there is nothing really wrong with this approach, I still would like to remind you, that if you are one of the souls that is stuck worshipping the past, it might be time to update yourself.

Why? First of all, you most likely already lived the part that you are trying to recreate.

If you give too much power to the past and its form you run into the danger of becoming a bit rigid. The point you might miss is that it is not about the form at all, but rather about the spirit and the energy that runs through it. At times we might give too much power to a form and/or our own past. I.e. if you played a powerful spiritual role in a past life (and here it doesn't matter if it was Tibetan, Native American or Ancient Egyptian to name a few), you might feel drawn to rituals from these cultures more to boost your ego than to get actual spiritual work done. When we practice these we have to be aware of our motivation, because we might entertain the notion of superiority over others (other cultures/religions and souls that is), while not moving an inch closer towards enlightenment.

I believe that God/Divine Source is an infinite, creative energy that continually morphs.

In the moment you try to capture it as a constant, it runs like sand through your fingers.

We have to learn to dance with it, so that it can continue to flow through our hearts and beings. Trust yourself! Find the sacred tools/rituals and objects of today. Make your current home your temple! Send love via Facebook and the Internet. Bless your car and your blender and your washing machine, because collectively it took a long time to manifest these little helpers.

 And remember, God isn't closed minded. Any form will do for divine flow as long as the prayer and intention come from the heart, they will carry more power than any ancient mantra recited a million times from a place of ego.

What does your holy life look like in the modern world?

Ready for your update?

Then go and have fun!

Turning Pity Into Compassion

How often do you look at fellow humans and feel sorry for them?

In a world filled with suffering, it is easy to pity the ones less fortunate.

"Poor fellow, his wife is sick."

"I feel so bad for them, they lost their home/job/partner/investment."

And how easily do you feel empathy and suffer with someone?

"I always experience other people's pain, if someone next to me has a headache I will get one too."

"I have been so depressed, because my sister is going through a divorce."

"The weight of the whole world rests on my shoulders, I don't see how anybody can have a good time."

These are just a few examples of how we might react to events around us from a place of empathy and pity.

At first glance this appears to be a good-hearted and kind way of responding to other's pain and challenges.

If you look more closely there are a number of reasons why you might wish to reconsider:

1. Souls are here to learn (read post: "Becoming a student of life.") Some of the lessons are painful and a lot of people will feel insulted if you pity them, because you are transmitting the message that you don't think they are strong enough to endure or to overcome their challenges. The bottom line is that they chose their challenges.

Can you respect that? By turning pity into compassion you can choose not to suffer with them, or look at them as a victim of circumstances. Instead you might say:

"I can see that the lesson you are experiencing is painful, you have my compassion, I'll pray for you, I will help if I can and if I am meant to. And I believe that you will be OK."

2. By continuously suffering with the world you are missing out on your own journey.

This is a multi facetted reality where many realities are lived out simultaneously.

If you go back to the school example, they represent nothing more or less than different classrooms. None of the classes are wrong or bad, since everyone in the big picture will graduate. So if you deny yourself love, happiness and/or abundance because you feel guilty to enjoy yourself while others are having a harder time you overlook the fact that:

a) They won't suffer less because you are hurting too, au contraire, they might feel guilty that their situation brought you down. Consider holding the frequency (Read post: Learn to hold the frequency!)

b) You miss out on living your truthful karma, there is a high possibility that you'll end up feeling like you missed out on your own life and possibly grow resentful of people in your environment that had a difficult time.

Compassion is a way to be sensitive and to understand our fellow travelers pain without allowing it to color our own experience of life. Our heart can stay open and loving while setting energetic boundaries and knowing that certain situations are not our responsibility; not because we don't care, but because they are beyond our jurisdiction.

So do yourself and others a favor and turn your pity into compassion.

If you have an issue with pity and empathy there might also be a chance of you being a psychic sponge. I suggest you read the post dedicated to the topic, if you haven't already.

How Do You Know What Your Soul Really Wants?

This is a very good question and this post will be an encore to the previous one "Explore your soul brand". (Inspired by the reader comment)

The soul and its journey is the driving force behind your life. At times its choices won't be according to ego or social expectations.

Here are some ways you can tune into your soul (beware, every soul is different, so this by no means represents a complete list):

1. Watch out for the dreams and desires that keep coming back, no matter how often you dismiss them. When you encounter a deep-seated longing/desire, don't go into excuse mode ("This won't work because…!). Instead, play with it. How does it feel if you give yourself permission to entertain the idea? Remember, it's safe to play.  You can always dismiss it later if it doesn't feel like a fit, or you might start looking for practical steps to turn that dream into a reality.

2. When we tap into the soul frequency, our heart opens and we feel excited about our life.  We experience a sense of purpose and fulfillment.

The ego or social direction you take might feel more like duty or responsibility driven and for many souls this will appear plain boring.

3. One of the exercises I like to use is to envision myself in different situations. I become an outside observer and look at self with certain people or at a particular location: I take note of the expression on my face, do I look happy/fulfilled/soulful, or does my demeanor reflect sadness/dissatisfaction/boredom? The answers are already within you; it is mostly a matter of allowing them to surface.

4. Jealousy can give you a good idea about your soul desires. You might respond negatively to someone else who lives the life or an aspect of life you desire for yourself.

When buttons get pushed, don't take it out on the person who pushed them. Instead, look closer to determine which aspects you want for yourself and than start to strategize how you can get there.

5. Allow yourself to be surprised. Sometimes we find ourselves in circumstances with people we didn't expect to enjoy, because they weren't on our ego trajectory. When you find that unexpected bliss, expand your view of self and explore further.

By the same token, you might end up miserable, in a place or situation that you thought was right up your ally. In that case, your ego might have steered you astray. It might be time to right your course.

6a.Take note, of the things that resonate with you! It could be something you read in a book, a comment a person makes, a line from a movie etc. These are clues that will reveal further details if you follow them.

b. Last but not least, look at life as a treasure hunt. The soul will always leave clues, as I said before, these clues won't necessarily satisfy ego expectations, but if you follow them you will align yourself with your soul compass.

Great Reminder

Hi! I apologize to all of you who have been letting me know that you missed my weekly postings.
Things have been a bit hectic around here, but I am planning to get back to my weekly schedule.
Got some new posts in the works.
In the meantime here is a great reminder (one of my favorite poems!).

ITHAKA

As you set out for Ithaka

hope your road is a long one,

full of adventure, full of discovery.

Laistrygonians, Cyclops,

angry Poseidon - don't be afraid of them:

you'll never find things like that one on your way

as long as you keep your thoughts raised high,

as long as a rare excitement

stirs your spirit and your body.

Laistrygonians, Cyclops,

wild Poseidon - you won't encounter them

unless you bring them along inside your soul,

unless your soul sets them up in front of you.

Hope your road is a long one.

May there be many summer mornings when,

with what pleasure, what joy,

you enter harbours you're seeing for the first time;

may you stop at Phoenician trading stations

to buy fine things,

mother of pearl and coral, amber and ebony,

sensual perfumes of every kind -

as many sensual perfumes as you can;

and may you visit many Egyptian cities

to learn and go on learning from their scholars.

Keep Ithaka always in your mind.

Arriving there is what you're destined for.

But don't hurry the journey at all.

Better if it lasts for years,

so you're old by the time you reach the island,

wealthy with all you've gained on the way,

not expecting Ithaka to make you rich.

Ithaka gave you the marvellous journey.

Without her you wouldn't have set out.

She has nothing left to give you now.

And if you find her poor, Ithaka won't have fooled you.

Wise as you will have become, so full of experience,

you'll have understood by then what these Ithakas mean

Constantine P. Cavafy 

Explore Your Soul Brand!

A lot of clients I work with are stuck in the habit of attempting to fulfill their social script. What does that look like you may wonder? Well, every sentence that starts with:

"At my age I should…start a family, have figured out my career, have x amount of $ in my account, have invested in a house etc" These statements indicate a soul who is looking to fit into the social blue print of how a life should unfold. For some people that works well because their soul script matches their social script. Under these circumstances there is no problem, you can move right along in your planning. It becomes tricky when our soul desires do not match the external expectations. We might find ourselves caught between a rock and a hard place, especially when we are in the habit of people pleasing. This can lead to us getting married to the next best person and settle into a situation just because the biological clock is ticking. 

Or we might stay in a career that pays more, because at our age it is not OK to start over. Fast forward a few years and we'll probably have to face a divorce, health issues, a lay-off or some other disruption? Why? Well, it's because the soul always finds a way to enforce its plan eventually.

In order to avoid a train wreck, I'd like to introduce the idea of soul branding.

Imagine that each individual life has a form of purpose/lesson plan/ business blue print that is chosen by your soul. The same way you would brand a company because you can't be all things at once, so you need definition, the soul creates a brand identity that supports the lessons/objectives of each lifetime.

I.e. the choice of having children or not, will have a major impact on your brand. If you choose to have them due to social conventions, you might have to forfeit a soul project, because the time investment is so high. So let's say, you don't get to go on your ten years global travel adventure, if you are unaware, you might feel depressed and extremely resentful towards your family, because you'd experience them as a major blockage in your life's fulfillment.

Look at your life in all of its aspects (health, career, hobbies, relationship, finances, etc) like a pie chart and meditate on how much importance your soul puts on each slice.

 Play a game and imagine that nobody will be upset with you, when you acknowledge your truth and there will be all necessary financial support to create a successful soul brand manifestation. Once you have come up with a picture of your soul's vision for this life, compare it with your current reality. When and where do you give power away to outside/social circumstances? In which areas are you ready to take steps in order to get into better alignment with your soul? What do these concrete steps look like?

Remember, we are here to practice for enlightenment. It's OK if you are not there yet.

But do yourself a favor and learn from your choices and circumstances. There is always room for improvement and the more clarity you gain to where you are going the easier it is to come up with a game plan to manifest more of your soul brand.

Avoid creating negative karma by punishing the people around you for choices you have made. Stay dignified and gracious in your actions and don't forget: it's all good!  Even the most annoying mistakes and detours lead to growth, wisdom and compassion.

Got Your Fire Drill Ready?

Some of the hazards of soul evolution and healing processes are emotional meltdowns, explosive eruptions of karmic, unresolved layers, states of utter confusion and repetitive identity crises. Every time we are confronted by the activation of one of these hazards, Some of the hazards of soul evolution and healing processes are emotional meltdowns, we have the choice to either be prepared, or have it spill into our current lives and possibly do some damage to our primary relationships and life circumstances.

One thing is for sure, if you have embarked on the spiritual journey and you haven't reached a state of enlightenment yet, I can guarantee you, the next meltdown is just around the corner. Therefore it does make sense to be prepared and have your fire drill ready, because once you are caught in an emotional tsunami, you probably won't think of anything clever to do.

Here are some suggestions for a fire drill (consider them and then be creative and tailor make your own as you see fitting):

1. Take some Rescue Remedy Bach Flower Essences (read section on flower essences, if you are not familiar with them).

2. Remind yourself and your loved ones that you are processing some old/ancient stuff which has nothing to do with now. Avoid projections! (Read section on light and shadow projections)

3. Go for a walk, or engage in some other physical exercise, to disperse some of the energies that are flooding the emotional body.

4. Sit quietly and pray. Remind yourself that you are not your thoughts, nor your emotions. Find the observer self and breathe through the pain. The good news is that if you are dealing with an old trauma resurfacing is:

a) It's past, so the worst is over.

b) You are ready to deal with it and you have the necessary tools.

5. Remind yourself that you are here as a student of life, not a victim! So no more than limited pity-parties allowed.

6. Eliminate numbing choices, which will only lead to spiritual Groundhog Day! Might as well get it over with!

7. Visualize your Angel wrapping you in his/her wings and cocooning you in divine love.

8. Writing can be a good outlet to gain clarity in. One exercise I like works as follows. Write down the question with your right hand (i.e. "what is going on right now?" "What is the nature of this latest upset?" "What are my current lessons involved in this situation?"). Then switch the pen to your left hand and write down the answers. This is a very helpful way to connect to the right side of your brain, which has more direct access to your intuition and sub-conscience.

As I said, these are just some possible suggestions of tools that can be helpful for your fire drill.

Test them, try different combos and see what works for you.

The most important thing is to have one and to face the process a bit more prepared.

And don't forget to have some fun!