Although February is the shortest month of the year, it can also be a month that drags on and on. I guess that is why so many of us plan trips to warmer climes this time of year. We restore our reservoir of Vitamin D, take off a few layers of clothing and lighten our spirit. We travel to places that give us a different perspective so when we come home, the lens through which we view life is clearer. (Oh, and don’t we appreciate our own bed all the more!)
While away, many of us immerse ourselves in other cultures, experience exotic foods and tour around historic places. When we return from our trip, we experience the joy once again by sharing stories and memories with friends and family. All too soon, however, our relaxed holiday vibe evaporates into the ether of every day life and our adventure experience is packed away, gathering dust, like our suitcase.
I think for many of us right now, we travel to escape this pandemic too. A part of our brain still hasn’t processed this crazy reality we are experiencing and we think if we can just get away, when we come back it will be gone. Or at least more bearable. The thing is there is no escape. This event is happening globally and I believe it’s the shift and shove our world needs in order for us all to embark on the greatest adventure of our lives.
Doesn’t the GREATEST adventure sound EXCITING?
Maybe you have already been on this trip???
You don’t have to pack a swim suit or ensure your travel vaccinations are all up to date. You don’t have to find someone to care for your pets, or ask your neighbour to keep an eye out on your house. However, you will need to pack a new perspective. Trust me, it’s one that will change all of our lives. Look at this time in history as a portal to creating a richer life. Are you wondering what I’m talking about? The inspiring writer and poet, Rainier Maria Rilke, offered this sage advice more than 100 years ago. His words resonates still, as truth with stands the ages.
And no travel agent is required.
If you’ve ever sat in solitude for any length of time, or walked outside with only the birds as your companions, you will have experience the gateway to the journey within. It’s where spirit meets us and takes us to a place of limitless space and time. A place of peace. While we are there we may want all answers to our questions but;
Rilke also reminds us to:
That’s exciting to me…living the questions. Experiencing them all…even the pain, the terror, the uncomfortable moments on the journey. The best trips in life have a little bit of everything in them after all. Have you ever snorkelled for the first time and had water fill your mask?
Guess what? More and more of us are taking that trip. We see this time in history as an opportunity for a major shift in collective consciousness and we are uniting together increasing the energy vibration full of light and love. And where does love come from? Our truest nature; our spirit, our soul, call it what you will. Our eyes are open and there is no turning back. It’s a good thing too because our Earth needs us all to come together, not just for the sake of humanity, but for the climate crisis happening which will impact us all.
If you haven’t jumped on this bandwagon but are interested, you may be asking yourself?
How do I embark on such a trip within? The cool things is you can jump right into the depths of this journey with a daily meditation practice or some soulful time on a yoga mat. Not for you, you say? Well try this then. One very simple thing you can do happens first thing in the morning. Instead of groaning when your alarm beeps and letting the problems or worries of the day over take you, take a lovely deep breath. Fill your lungs and then slowly breathe out through your nose. As you are taking that first breath of the day, whisper, “good morning,” to your spirit. Wiggle your fingers and your toes, stretch your body and whisper, “thank you!” You have another glorious day ahead of you and now as you take another breath, set an intention for the day. What would you like to focus on? How do you want to walk your path today? What do you want to experience?
The trip within starts with awareness.
Will loving kindness be your guide? How about sprinkling some compassion throughout your day? The funniest thing happens when my intention is to be gentle on myself. My day starts slowly. No rushing. I’m conscious of my breath. I’m not yelling at my kids to wake up but by gently rubbing their backs and whispering, “good morning,” into their ears. As my day starts to unfold I’m conscious not to fill it with too many expectations. If I have already filled my calendar, I edit the least important obligations.
The weirdest thing happens on these days. When I’m back in bed later that night, counting my blessings and ready to close my eyes, I realize that the day ended up being incredibly productive. A day of gentleness ended up being a day when I accomplished more than I would have otherwise. It often is a day full of joy, creative moments, time with myself and time with my loved ones. Maybe I’ve even reached outside our immediate circle and spread some love and encouragement to others. By starting the day asking for gentleness to come, I allowed my spirit to guide me and what came were the same feelings I experience on a good holiday or trip; joy and peace.
And I never left home!
Hmmmmm…..
I have a few other tips on things to do while getting ready for the greatest adventure but I wanted to share something I’m doing this month to get away. It might intrigue you too…
This Friday, February 11th, 2022, I’m starting another adventure with spirit. I’m taking my second, “Foundations of Mediumship and Channeling,” course and I’m SOOOO excited to connect with my spirit team and work with them on a daily basis. If you want to hear more about it, check out this YouTube video and ask yourself, “does this resonate with my spirit?” Is this a trip that I want to take or experience? Since connecting with spirit is all about love…this is my Valentine’s gift to myself. Here’s more about the upcoming course and I’m plugging it on behalf of my daughter who is in the process of building her business as a spiritual teacher and guide. I’m so proud of her!!! She has always been one of my biggest teachers in life.
If it excites you, then I invite you to join me on this journey. But remember, the journey within starts with yourself and if you are new at taking this sort of trip, here are a few tips and some background on what prompted me on this trip of a lifetime.
A bit over twenty years ago, I started on a journey that resulted in a major spiritual awakening. While trying to conceive one more child to complete our family who was not coming through as easily as the ones I gave birth to in my 30’s, I started taking some life style changing steps that eventually allowed me to expand my consciousness and manifest my soul baby….and another three! (I had never dreamed I would be a mom to eight children, four of them born after I was 40!) Many people view having children as a biological act but in order for me to bring these last children to earth, I had to travel deep within myself and touch the divine. They are the magical manifestations from that long, ten year trip. Oh But WHAT a TRIP!!!
What are you trying to manifest in your life? Whatever it is, I’m going to share the secret now. Are you ready? The key to bringing whatever you desire into your reality is that you must have laser focus/a dream or intention on whatever it is you want. That desire is going to be thrumming in your brain. Then you have to trust that somehow your dream will come true. You may find that you are working really hard and doing everything you can to bring that dream to fruition but things just aren’t flowing for you. You have to trust that magic is happening behind the scenes and the timing may not be right yet. The last key I’m passing to you is the most important of all. Can you guess what it is? “Surrender.” You simply let go. Yep, that’s it….dream it, trust that it will come and then let it go! And after you have done those three magic things, you can play at the following and watch incredible events and experiences happen in your life.
Note: You can do the following in any order. Start incorporating them slowly and your perspective will start to shift. You will start noticing signs that you are not alone, and things will start happening in your life that will allow whatever you have been waiting for to manifest.
Ready? Here are some suggestions as you take that trip within.
- Declutter! Years ago I took a course at our local College on the art of Feng Shui and spent a whole winter reading everything I could find on the topic. That winter, I went room by room and decluttered the things that were no longer serving us any longer. By spring time I had created a space for our family full of peace and calm. Decluttering is a constant process and once you start you will find it doesn’t end just with your physical belongings but will spread out into all areas of your life. After I decluttered our home, I started letting go of toxic relationships and anything that was not supporting my journey.
2. Start taking care of your physical body. Eat whole food, eliminate white sugar, flour and anything processed. Buy a juicer or a really great blender, and start your day with a veggie juice each morning. Stretch and start moving your body. Build a stronger core. When we start feeling better physically, we will sleep deeper and we’ll have more energy for what we want in life. I started practising yoga and found connecting with my breath while sitting on my yoga mat brought me quickly to spirit. Having a yoga practise that starts and ends with some meditation is life changing! Plus having balance, flexibility, strength and endurance all helped me walk my daily path.
3. Get outside and connect with earth’s energy Turn off your phone, kick off your shoes if you can and touch the ground with your bare feet. Sit against a tree and feel it’s roots ground you. Allow the magic of nature to find you. Since I’m a gardener, digging in the earth daily, playing with plants and working with our trees and bushes restores me three seasons of the year in my climate. If you only have an apartment invite some plants into your home. If you have a deck or patio, start growing some herbs, and vegetables. Our earth heals us and brings us to ourselves!
4. Start noticing what you are thinking? Power your thoughts with positive self affirmations. Examine your belief system. Read, learn, follow your intuition and allow it to be your teacher. I find that judgments are always flitting to the surface of my brain and I have to gently remind myself, “it’s all good!” We are human so this will happen. Being conscious is the key. Being loving while on our path is the most important thing we can do.
5. Find a few mantras that keep you on your path. Trust and let go was mine throughout the years we were trying to conceive our last four children. It reminded me that there is something bigger than myself at work. It also allowed the Universe to provide what I needed for a more enlightened life. Listen within. You spirit will tell you the words to chant. Be your biggest cheerleader!!!
6. Start a gratitude journal or a gratitude jar. At the end of the day, write down three things that you are grateful for, or things that happened to you during the day that helped to guide you on your path. When you start this practise, you will be heightened to all sorts of things that happen in your life that you never noticed before. Also, when you start being actively thankful for gifts, more will come. Before you know it, you will be writing down five and then ten things in your journal each day. Watch joy start being your constant companion through a gratitude practice. We have a gratitude jar in our kitchen and during the year we fill it up with little pieces of paper full of grateful moments. On New Year’s Eve, we take turns reading out the notes and afterwards we take them all outside and burn them in a pot, sitting in the magical white snow. It’s been a fun tradition for our family and I believe it’s teaching our children to look around them and be conscious of all the wondrous things put on their path each day. We are soooo blessed!
That’s it.
That’s my list of suggestions for your upcoming trip. What’s really exciting is when you start working on one or two of the above, things start to really roll. For instance, when you start exercising outside, eating well, sleeping peacefully, you may have energy to add some sun salutations on your yoga mat in the morning. And this will make you feel even more inspired so you will then head into your kitchen and fill your juicer with yummy veggies to provide your liver some added support. If you have been looking for a yoga beginner, sun salutations practice, check out this YouTube video. (Just thinking of it now makes my backs and legs and arms, want a good stretch!) Namaste!
Thank you Ashton! And you didn’t even have to leave your house!!!
I have one more link that you may find useful as you prepare for the trip of your lifetime. Earlier this year, I discovered Suzanne Guismann. She is a mystic, medium, spiritual teacher and get this, a former military officer in the U.S. She provides evidence based, aha moments, so if you are skeptical of people being able to connect with spirit and hesitant to start packing for your own trip, then she may blow your socks off. She’s currently offering a free, on line course called: 3 Keys to Unlock Your Powers of Mediumship. Learn more about it: here.
I also want to give you a link to a few of her free guided meditation sessions. They are at the bottom of her “gifts” page. There is a 10 minute clearing chakra meditation and then the one I love, is called, “Making the Connection.” In just twenty minutes allow peace to find you. (click on those hyper links to find the “gifts” page and then scroll down for the free guided meditations)
And I have one more quote by Rilke for you because you are so LOVED! The Universe wants you to tap into everything that is waiting for you.
Well my dear friends and family, I feel like I’ve written another novella type post. It’s hard not to go on and on and want to share the magical journey of travelling within. It’s simply life changing and I know I’m not alone. So many people are shifting their perspective and becoming more spirit driven. Filling our world with more light is always a good thing so, “Shine On” my dear ones and journey well.
Until we meet again, may you be well, happy and peaceful.
Blessings from Hope