If you've ever heard me speak (or had a conversation with me), you've probably heard me say, "Intention is everything." Your intentions are what set the wheels of creation into motion. What you intend and give attention to (in other words, think about), you create. So why do people wind up with so many unintended consequences in their lives? Because they don't deliberately set their intention and if they do, they don't follow it up with positive thought about what they desire. If your intention, for example, is good health, but the focus of your thoughts (and words you speak) is on how poorly you feel, then your focus is on poor health, and your thoughts and words have overridden your intention. If, however, even when you are feeling poorly, you set your intention for good health, find things about your health for which you can express joy (my body breathes beautifully, my legs support me, my body uses the nutrients I give it efficiently, etc.) and then change the story you tell about your health to one that is positive, joyful, and supportive of good health, then your body will respond. Image by enriquelopezgarre from Pixabay Every tool I share and teach is about intention and focus. Whether I'm talking about crystals, aromatherapy, your chakras, affirmations and visualization, mudras, sound healing, or any of the multitude of other topics I share, they are there to serve as a way to set your intention and guide your focus so you can begin to vibrate at the same frequency of that which you wish to attract. The tools I teach are there to remind you who you truly are (you are Divine; you are love) and how powerful you are when you set your intention and focus your attention. While the tools can serve as a catalyst for change, they aren't the true source of power. You are. You have the power to have the exact life you visualize and desire, and it starts with your intention. Set your intention. Let your focus, thoughts, words, and actions flow from that intention. That is the essence of the creative being you were born to be.
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In my work, people often seem most interested in improving certain facets of their lives, and relationships (romantic and otherwise) are usually a biggie. I often hear questions like the following: -How can I find a romantic partner? -How can I have more friends or more meaningful friendships? -How can I heal my relationships? -How can I get people to treat me better? -How can I forgive? These are all offshoots of the same issue, which is how you relate to others, and the answer always starts in the same place. It begins with your relationship to self. Every person with whom you interact is, for you, some reflection of yourself. Other people are giant mirrors for us. We are drawn to people who have character and personality traits we admire, we wish to have, or that mirror aspects of ourselves we like. Likewise, when we don't like something in another, it is because we see something in them we also recognize in ourselves, but we hide it in the shadows and hope nobody ever notices. The answers to the questions above (in order asked), then are: -First, love yourself. -First, love yourself and develop a meaningful relationship with self. -First, heal yourself. -First, treat yourself better. -First, forgive yourself. Your issues in relationships are always about you, the beliefs you have, the choices you make, your desires, and the thoughts you think. What you believe and think about yourself and others fuels your interactions. So to attract love from others, first love yourself. Chakra Work Self love and self-worth begins in your third chakra, which is your solar plexus. It is here where you develop and maintain feelings of self-esteem. Focusing here and truly learning to love yourself is a necessary step before you can bring that energy up into your heart chakra, the center of unconditional love, where you can share the love you have for yourself with others and the world. Image by Ben Kerckx from Pixabay Concentrating on your third chakra as you meditate and using crystals like citrine, yellow tigers eye, and amber can help strengthen this key area to build self love. Using mantras during meditation for self love can also help. Consider mantras such as:
Vajrapradrama or Thunderbolt Mudra Mudras offer another way of focusing and setting attention during meditation, visualization, and affirmation. These hand positions can help improve focus and stimulate energy flow. For self-confidence and building self love, try vajrapradama mudra, which is also known as thunderbolt mudra. Interlace your fingers as shown on the right and rest your hands over your heart and solar plexus chakras as you affirm self-confidence and self-love. The mudra represents and strengthens unshakeable self-confidence, which is key in building self-love. The Secret to Self-Love: Remember Who You Are We spend all day in contemplation of our selves: what we want, how others relate to us, how we are doing at our jobs, what we feel like eating, what we want to wear, how to care for ourselves...the list goes on and on. It's surprising, then, that with so much self-contemplation, we often arrive at conclusions about self that are less than loving. And when we reach these conclusions, we drive ourselves more deeply into forgetting who we are. We believe such terrible things about ourselves we forget our very essence is love. We come from love, we bring that love with us when we arrive in these bodies, and then we spend the next several decades forgetting that about ourselves. So here I am to remind you of who you are. I see you, I know you, and I know who you truly are. You are love. You come from the love and the light, and someday you will return to it. And while it may seem your light or love is hidden right now, it's just covered with a little dust. But even with that light, dusty coating, the essence of you shines brightly. You are love, and you deserve to remember that. So until you remember, I will remember for you. You are love, and nothing can do will make me believe anything different. I love using essential oils for various purposes, including natural health, to make my home smell delicious, and for metaphysical purposes. Recently, I've written a few articles for LoveToKnow about them.
Essential Oils Every Naturalista Should Have is a list of ten of my very favorite oils and some of their uses. Ylang Ylang Essential Oil Benefits looks at some of the health benefits of this delicious floral oil. Image by Marina Pershina from Pixabay Do you use mudras during meditation or yoga? They can help focus intention. I enjoy them and use them as part of my meditative practice. I've been writing a few articles about them lately. -Check out this article I wrote for LoveToKnow about Surabhi Mudra, which is a wish fulfillment mudra perfect for use during affirmations or visualization. -This article discusses Pran Mudra, which stimulates life force. -Pushan Mudra balances your digestive system. -Ganesha Mudra can help remove obstacles and relieve stress. -Linga Mudra builds fire and passion. -Rudra Mudra enhances will and clears obstacles. One of my favorites, lotus mudra (also known as padma mudra), opens the heart chakra. You can hold it at heart level or raise it high above your head while breathing deeply. This mudra represents a lotus flower, which extends roots deep into muddy waters but floats above the muck and opens up to the heavens. Padma mudra opens you to love, compassion, and joy while reminding you to float above negativity and remain open to guidance and influences from your higher self. If you're just starting your crystal collection, there are so many choices - so which is best for you? I recommend going to a crystal shop or show and holding different crystals to see which feel right. In my experience, there's a little "click" of knowing when I pick up the perfect crystal for me. Allow your instincts to draw you to the crystal; go where you are called and then start holding the crystals one at a time. Close your eyes and focus to see which feel best to you. If you can't make it to a crystal store, so you're ordering online, then there are three crystals I believe everyone needs that should be among your first purchases. Rose Quartz Rose quartz is a crystal of unconditional love, romantic love, and forgiveness. It supports the heart chakra, and it has a peaceful and calming energy that can help you vibrate at the frequency of love. It can also support compassion and kindness. I recommend working with rose quartz if you are looking to forgive yourself or another, if you'd like stronger relationships, and to strengthen your compassion. Wear it as a long necklace (at about heart level) or place it near where you meditate. Clear Quartz Clear quartz raises your personal vibration, supports spiritual growth and connection to the divine, and amplifies other energies. It's a great crystal to use when you're feeling joyful (or some other positive energy) and want to bring more joy into your life, because it amplifies that energy. If you're feeling cranky, then you may wish to avoid the clear quartz until you are in a better space emotionally because it can amplify the negative emotions just as easily as the positive. Clear quartz is also a good stone to use in conjunction with other crystals because it amplifies their energy, as well. So if used in conjunction with rose quartz, for instance, it can amplify the vibration of unconditional love. I keep clear quartz in my meditation space to strengthen my connection to my higher self and to the Divine, which I seek during meditation. I also hold it during affirmation or visualization because it amplifies those energies, which can draw them to me more quickly. Citrine Citrine is a form of quartz (as is it's close partner, amethyst). It supports the third chakra, which is your center of self-worth, self-esteem, and creativity. Citrine is also a stone of manifestation, and it can help you manifest abundance - it is a prosperity stone. I wear a pear-shaped citrine ring on the desire finger (index finger) of my receiving hand (in my case my left, because it is my non-dominant hand). The narrow end of the pear shape points towards my hand and arm to direct the energies of prosperity, creativity, and self-worth from the universe to me. So I'm using the shape of the ring and pointing the wide part like a funnel at the universe to funnel prosperity, self-love, and creativity to my receiving hand. For prosperity, you can also place citrine in the prosperity corner of your home (the back, left corner of the house when you stand at your front door facing into the house), or put it in your wallet or cashbox. For creativity, keep the citrine near where you create, such as on a workspace or in your kitchen, for example. For self-love, wearing citrine as a bracelet keeps it at about third chakra level and can help strengthen those feelings. You can also hold it when you affirm or visualize. Want to learn more? I have a crystal healing class coming up at Vision8 Studio in Portland on November 12. Seats fill up quickly, so pre-registration is required. The class is $25. My newest book, Crystals for Beginners, just released on Tuesday. Image by Aline Ponce from Pixabay We encounter people all the time who seem broken. Perhaps they are sad or traumatized from their experiences. Perhaps they don't seem like nice people because their behavior is cruel or unkind. Perhaps they have physical or mental illnesses that seem unfixable. Perhaps they live in circumstances we perceive as tragic. It is human nature to feel some way about people in these types of situations: to see them as unfortunate...to see them as being broken.
On a soul level, no one is ever broken. No soul needs fixing. When we look at another in sympathy, sadness, anger, or with some other negative emotion, we contribute to the vibration that is keeping them in that space. We don't do it with bad intentions; it's human nature to empathize or feel a certain way when we see another in a situation we wouldn't wish for ourselves. However, in our embodied state, like energy attracts like energy. So when the focus is on the negativity of a situation, we contribute to the conditions that perpetuate that energy. When we see someone as broken, and when they see themselves as broken, the universe continues to supply that energy of brokenness until a light enters that can turn things around. There needs to be an energy of non-brokenness in order for that person to find a new way. True compassion involves holding energy of wholeness and healing for someone who appears broken. Even if they can't find that light for themselves in this moment, if you take the time to see them as whole, healed, kind, joyful, and empowered, then you can supply the light that may start to attract healing energy in that person's life. I believe in holding that space for someone--regardless of what they appear to be experiencing right now--until they are once again able to hold it for themselves. Healing can happen in an instant. Nobody is ever stuck in a pattern of belief or behavior. There is no person and no place in the universe where there exists a total absence of light. No soul is ever broken; it is only the body that houses that soul that is stuck in a place where they've forgotten about the light. And if I know someone cannot find light for themselves in this moment, then the greatest gift I can offer is to hold their light for them until they are ready to take it up for themselves again. On a soul level, everyone is whole, everyone is empowered, and everyone is bathed in light. When someone can't find the light for themselves, hold it for them. See the highest version of the person in pain. See their light and reflect it to them whenever you have the opportunity so that when they're ready, they can take it up for themselves once again. That is the true essence of compassion. Image by Stas Sutulo from Pixabay It's finally here, the release of my new book, Crystals for Beginners. I can't even begin to tell you how much I love this book, which covers the basics from choosing crystals to come home with you, to cleansing, to crystal grids. It looks at some great crystals for beginners that should be part of everyone's collection, and it also discusses many other crystals and their properties, as well as offering specific crystal remedies for certain conditions. There's also a guide to identifying crystals you might have now, but you've forgotten what they are. Whether you're new to crystals or an old pro, this is the book for you. I'm really proud of it, and the publisher Althea Press has done a phenomenal job of adding value to the book with beautiful color photographs, a gorgeous color, and a really high production value. It's a great gift for anyone who wants to learn more about using crystals in their lives. Virtually everyone has a supply of past hurts- both major and minor - stored away and ready to rise to the surface. As we explore this pain over and over again, however, we allow ourselves to feel hurt once again as we relive it. This creates a vibration that attracts similar energy and perpetuates our pain. I'm not suggesting you ignore what happened to you. Instead, I'm suggesting you transform it into a source of strength. You survived, and you can thrive. Don't allow anyone to steal your power from you, regardless of how much they hurt you. You are a superhero, and you have the power to change not only your experience, but the entire universe through your rising vibration. Use your pain to fuel your power. Rise stronger than ever to live the beautiful and vibrant life only you can create. Image by deepak meena from Pixabay Creating involves emotion and directed attention to that which you want. This is true regardless of whether you are creating something you want or something you don't want. So, when your thoughts are focused on something negative (for example: How am I going to pay my bills? or My health is so poor! I'm sick!) and there is emotion behind those thoughts, you will attract and create more of the situation you don't want.
Setting a positive intention can help, but if you continue to think about these negative things, you send confusing signals to the universe about that which you desire. So, if you are setting the intention, "I choose to be vibrantly healthy," but you continuously think about how sick you are, or if you set the intention, "I am financially prosperous," but continue to worry about how your bills will be paid, then your negative thoughts and focus are overriding (or at the very least cancelling) your positive intention. When everything is going great and you're feeling positive, it seems pretty easy to set intention and focus positive thought and emotion to create, but what do you do when something negative happens or you are in a negative place? How do you direct positive emotion and thoughts when you're not feeling positive? How do you turn a situation around when what you perceive as your reality (being sick, being unable to pay your bills, etc.) is in direct conflict to your intention? It's all about how you focus. If you continue to focus on the problem, then you are creating the energetic conditions to perpetuate the problem; you are calling it to you through your emotion and attention. To reverse this energy, focus instead on the solution. Visualize yourself with the problem solved. So instead of focusing on the belief or thought, "I am so sick - look at all the evidence pointing to how sick I am," visualize yourself as being healthy and healed. Visualize yourself as being vibrant and whole. And when the inevitable thoughts of the problem arise again, take a moment, close your eyes, cancel that thought, and visualize the solution. Do this for just a moment every time the negative thought arises. So when the thought arises, "I can't pay my bills," for instance, every time you catch yourself worrying about how you are going to pay your bills or thinking something along the lines of, "I don't have the money for this," stop and briefly visualize yourself easily paying your bills or with a bank account full of cash (or both). Shift your focus from problem to solution, and do it consistently. When you combine this with your intention, you can begin to create that which you want instead of that which you don't. Image by yeon woo lee from Pixabay |
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