Holding the space for healing

No one can actually heal you. People go to doctors, psychotherapists, chiropractors, acupuncturists, massage therapists, physical therapists, pharmacists, life coaches, gurus, psychics, mediums, shamans all wanting to be healed. So many of us are looking to be given that golden key: the magic pill to take or formula to use that will fix us. The thing that will relieve us of our pain. But really, we heal ourselves using the tools offered by our healers. Essentially all healers really only do one thing – they create and hold the space for your Spirit to heal itself. A healer cannot make you better – it is a partnership of Spirit that occurs. The healer steps forward to create and hold the space for healing to happen and the client’s Spirit opens to receive, accept and absorb the healing offered. No matter how brilliant the doctor or how clear the channel, unless the healee chooses to pick up the mantel and carry the weight and responsibility of your their healing, nothing will happen. This means the client’s Spirit, mind and body must accept the healing. Some healings are huge steps forward, and others provide those first small but vital rays of Light in the darkness.

No one has the power to heal another, just like no one has the power to change another. We heal ourselves through our self-love, our intention, our belief and our trust. Great healers bring to their clients the best possible practices, the highest expertise, their own intensive work, their clear and open channel, their love and and care to offer their clients the highest and best opportunities for their client to use. Any energy worker or doctor will tell you that they can only take their healing so far – at some point the client must take on the responsibility of healing themselves. For mediumship clients, this means processing the information given, sitting with it, working through it to process and digest it. Then, pull out a plan of action and use discipline to follow through with it. There is an old saying that sticks with me – 90% of life is showing up. This is true – you can have every expert’s advice in the world (and what do you thing Spirit guidance is, if not the highest expert?) but if you don’t commit to following through with the changes suggested nothing will happen. Sometimes the suggestions are hard to hear. Growth is not always easy. Do you remember being a kid and struggling with growing pains? Remember how your teeth fell out and how you had to get braces, shots and sick enough as many times as it took until your body built up a strong immune system? Well, real growth is not all clouds, light and rainbows. It is digging through the dirt to find the bulb ready to bloom. It is doing the work of clearing your plot so the beautiful garden you envision can grow.

The best thing you can do in any situation where you want change, where you seek healing is to remember that the key to it’s success lies within you. Your Spirit will tell you what it needs. We just need to listen.

with love,

Ashley

Pop culture & Spirituality: How do you participate when your tastes change?

Before I opened to Spirit I blindly gravitated towards gossip magazines and randomly looked at whatever news stories were given top billing. I watched a lot of different movies, even paranormal horror movies and violent “shoot ‘em ups”. I also read classic fiction, arts criticism and was generally up on world events. I have to say that when I began opening to Spirit, all of that changed. Suddenly I was not so interested in judging celebrities, reading about excessively materialistic lifestyles or what someone's new boyfriend was like. I even lost interest in my favorite authors and stopped reading the newspaper. I felt like my entire perspective on the world was changing and I wanted it to, so I refrained from falling into old habits. I started asking myself, how do I grow and still participate in the culture around me? Do I stop reading anything but spirituality related titles? Do I only watch family friendly movies? Do I stop reading gossip magazines? Then I began to realize that it's not so much about what you read and watch, rather what your point of view and intention is you when you do so.

How about you?? Do you find yourself having very different perspectives on the stuff you watch? Are you suddenly more sensitive to violence or movies about paranormal experiences? Since opening to Spirit you, too, may not find quite as much satisfaction in those old habits. In fact, you may go through a period (or periods) where nothing quite feels right. You are neither here nor there with pretty much every way you used to spend your time. It may begin to be difficult practicing some of your old behaviors with your new spiritual perspective. So, how do you navigate through this?

Law of attraction

As your vibration raises, you change your relationship with everything in your life. This includes the way you spend your leisure time and what you seek out for entertainment. You will experiences shifts in what appeals to you. As your vibration changes, you will be led to different things that match your new vibration. This is the law of attraction at work. Maybe you used to go to clubs and bars and suddenly that's not so interesting anymore. Maybe your gossip magazines are lacking in appeal. But you don’t quite know what does interest you. This is normal. It's part of growth. You need to release old things in order to let new things in. It may feel a bit uncomfortable, but trust that these feelings are just more evidence of the work you are doing and the growth you are experiencing. Give yourself time to make these changes, trust your instincts and don't rush to judgment. You will seek and find new interests, integrate some old ones and let some go.

Take on a new perspective

Ask yourself what your motivation is for seeking out your media choices. Are you looking to criticize and judge? What needs are your media choices filling for you? What messages are in them and how do you feel about that? Sometimes the choices we make are reflective of fixed pictures we have about ourselves and about the world around us. How does what you watch and read reinforce the ideas you hold about how the world works? What do they say about how you view yourself in the world? Do you have a particular fascination with war or celebrity hook-ups or the newest fashion trend? Why do you think you gravitate towards that particular thing or issue? What need within yourself is that choice filling for you? Spiritual growth is an opportunity to take on a new perspective of the world around you, to see everything in this new light and to clarify for yourself what you do and why. I don’t feel like there’s anything wrong with reading gossip magazines or having guilty pleasures, but there is something missing when we just go along with what’s presented without questioning and knowing for ourselves what it’s value is to us. It’s also not about shutting out the world and living in a bubble – we are human beings and there’s nothing wrong with enjoying a few guilty pleasures in life. Maybe you enjoy reading US magazine in a hot bath at the end of a long day – I know I sometimes do! And who doesn’t love a good blockbuster sometimes? It’s not really about what you watch – but understanding why you do and being clear about what the content really is.

Growing spiritually makes you see the world around you differently. You form your own core set of principles and articulate your own unique perspective. This is empowering. As you embrace your new perspective, you will see more and more how you stand out as a singular, precious and powerful individual Spirit.

with love,

Ashley

Unpacking resistance to Spiritual growth

Sometimes in Spiritual growth we fly high in clear skies. We feel like our growth is easeful and that the path is unfolding before us. Other times, the air is not so clear and we feel like we are in some kind of a fog with little idea of how to clear the air and keep moving. This fog is resistant energy, and it has more than one source. When you feel your growth or connection to Spirit is faltering or unclear, it’s time to clear yourself, unpack the issue and get to the source of your feelings so you can take the appropriate measures to clear it out!

Here are the most common sources of cloudy and/or stuck feelings and what to do about them:

Resistance from within: when it’s you that’s throwing up a block. The number one obstacle when connecting to Spirit and opening your Spiritual pathway is fear and doubt from within you. Fear and doubt go hand in hand, so I count them as one obstacle. Here are some common ways fears and doubt can manifest within you:

• Resistance to meditating, connecting to Spirit or generally working on your growth
• Questioning and doubting the connections and communications you receive from Spirit
• Actual fear of the Spirits themselves
• Feeling that you don’t want to make any changes that will upset the status quo of your life
• Brushing off signs and or guidance as “coincidences” or rationalizing them away.
• Not speaking up when it is clear you have a message and letting the fear you are going to be wrong stop you from relaying the message entrusted to you by Spirit.
• When you start feeling resistance from yourself on your spiritual path, the best thing you can do is celebrate you are doing enough deep work that you actually are affecting the subtle interwoven layers of your personality. If you weren’t actually doing anything in all of your work, you wouldn’t notice any change at all! Encountering resistance within is a sign you are making progress. Your resistant feelings really are just parts within you that need more love and are coming to the surface to be healed and released. Send love to your feelings and just keep going. Don’t let your resistance stop you – its not called a breakthrough for no reason! In order to have those great moments where things come together, we need to break down the barriers that stand before and within us.

Resistance from without: when it’s other’s energies weighing on you  

Sometimes the source is not you, it’s other people in your life who are feeling affected by the changes you are making in yourself. This in no way means you can blame other people for your mood swings – but it is important to understand that sometimes you may feel push back from the other people in your life as you change your energy. Because you are energetically connected to the important people in your life (friends, lovers, family, workmates), when you change your energy others feel it. As you change your energetic makeup, the connections or cords that exists between you and others also change by default. Other people can sense these changes - they can feel it even if you are not opening discussing it with them. This kind of change is like deep shifts in the Earth’s crust: you can’t put your finger on it, but you know something deep is happening. People in your life may become more distant or more clingy than usual as they sense these changes. They may become more argumentative, or more loving. They may even get nervous about you leaving. The fact that you are examining your own beliefs may nudge others to examine their own beliefs, which they may not be ready for. So, the end result may be that you experience other people’s resistance to the changes you are making. It also makes sense that you would feel these changes between you and others acutely, because aren’t you working to make yourself more sensitive to energies as part of your Spiritual growth? So doesn’t it make sense that you would become even more sensitive to the energetic connections you experience with other people in your life?

So the best action to take here is to examine and focus on the cords or resistant feelings you are having and follow that cord to see who is on the other side of it. It may be someone you know, or even someone you don’t, but the important thing is to recognize that others can affect you energetically. Simply having this information is often enough to release the uncomfortable feelings of resistance you may be having. To release the energy, practice cord cutting and invite Archangel Michael to guide you through this process.

When it’s from another time and place entirely

That’s right – past life events can arise during certain key phases of growth. As you work on clearing your energy, healing yourself and opening to Spirit, it is possible that old past life traumas or memories that are relevant to the work you are doing now may resurface. You may experience this as flashes of scenes or feelings in dreams or in meditation. Sometimes you may begin experiencing unexplained phobias or panic reactions that you had not experienced previously. If this happens, it is important to understand that these things are surfacing because your subconscious is ready to release them. The unsettling feelings or experiences are only showing you what is ready to be healed. You can do this yourself by allowing yourself to remember the past life event either by setting the intention to do so before meditation or sleep. You can try working with a Past Life oracle deck. You can do a past life regression tape to guide yourself or even seek out a regression therapist. The Archangel you can call upon to uncover, heal and release past life trauma is Archangel Raziel. The benefits of exploring any relevant past life experience is that you will gain valuable insight into the wealth of knowledge you actually already have as well as heal yourself of deep seated emotions and fears that may be holding you back. This really is the whole point of retrieving any information from past lives – it is evidence of just how wise, ancient and experienced you actually are.

How do you know which of these issues may be affecting you right now?

Ask. Ask. Ask.  Ask your Spirit and ask your Guides and Angels and Loved Ones to show you what the source of your resistant feelings are. Be direct with yourself and honest about what you receive back. Then try a few different techniques to move the energy out of you. Maybe you don’t ever really know the exact reason you feel blocked – does it matter? Not really. The important thing is to notice resistance when it happens, detach from it, ask for help from Spirit, be honest about your feelings, and work through it. At the very least, you will come out of the experience with more connection to your Guides and Angels, and with more knowledge and practice under your belt!

Trust that each time a fear presents itself it is because your Spirit is ready to release it and make room for more Light. Usually, emotions and stuck energy are ready to clear out once you acknowledge them and stop running from them or pretending they aren’t there. Trust that anything that happens in your growth path is happening for a reason and is there to show you what needs to be healed.  Trust yourself and your experiences – they are your true teachers.

With love,

Ashley

Spiritual growth tips for busy moms

As a mom do you feel like you have little to no time (or energy) to dedicate to your Spiritual growth? As a mother to a very busy 4 year old boy, I am all too familiar with the constant demand for my time and attention. With so much going on, it can be difficult to find time for my own Spiritual development. But, I have created some strategies on how to make this situation actually work in my favor and improve my ability to focus on my Spiritual growth and enhance my connection with Spirit.  You can too. Curious?

A mother’s intuition

The first thing to be aware of is that there is actually a major unsung benefit to being a busy mom and working on your Spirituality at the same time. Being a mother automatically greatly enhances your intuition because you are constantly “checking in” with a being that cannot use words to express their needs. Your own energy is tied tightly to this little person who depends on you for...everything. The constant nonverbal communication happening between you and your child improves your own energy sensing abilities; your intuition and your instincts improve by necessity. Do you know the old saying “my mom has eyes in the back of her head”? Well, yeah. This is pretty much actually true, especially when you are trying to cook dinner, watch a two year old and talk to your own mother on the phone all at the same time. As a mom you get really good at tuning in to another being’s energy and knowing their needs without the benefit of verbal communication. All of the work you are doing as a mom is actually enhancing and improving your ability to tune into and communicate with Spirit!

Trust your instincts

One thing you need to know right off the bat is that you have awesome intuition. You are using it all the time! When you have a tiny being completely dependent on you for survival and cannot use verbal communication, you learn really fast how to tune into their needs and trust what you receive. Using your instincts is listening to your intuition – you are focusing your awareness on another energy, picking up as much information as you can and then relying on your own instincts to respond appropriately. Surprise! This is working from your Spirit and these are the exact skills you need in communication with Spirit. Plus, you can already give yourself a pat on the back with how well you are developing your intuition because you are doing an awesome job: your child (or children) are thriving. Are they not? So, here is living, breathing proof that your intuition is right on. You already are using it on them, so trust it as you apply it to your work with Spirit!

Read all the time

Carry that Spirituality book you are reading with you everywhere – even to the bathroom. Take every second you have to read, read, read. I actually have surprised myself with the amount of reading I have been able to accomplish while caretaking my 4 year old son. I just read bits and pieces while I am with him, as I can. I find that it is far easier to integrate spiritual information and concepts in little chunks than it is to keep track of a plotline or characters as you would in a fiction book. You can get a lot accomplished in a day by just keeping that book handy and opening it every spare moment. Plus, by working on your Spirituality throughout the day in little chunks you are integrating it into your consciousness in a functional way. Spiritual concepts are best learned this way – these are not concepts you can sit sown and study, like you would for a math test. Spiritual concepts and opening your abilities is an ongoing process that requires lots of little moments of practice. You can do this in your spare random moments.

Connect with your Deceased Loved Ones while reading to your child.

Invite your Deceased Loved Ones to that intimate time you have with your son or daughter. Your Deceased Loved Ones love those quiet moments, and when you and your child are relaxed and focused on something together is an ideal time to practice your connection with your Loved One. Here’s how I do it:

•  Set the intention to your Loved One and invite them to your reading time. I like to do this a few hours before. I simply say to a particular person in Spirit that I would love for them to visit with me and I will be spending some quiet time with my son later on around a specific time and would they please join us?
• Then I get settled with my son and our books and I and open my awareness to Spirit as I read. Fortunately children’s books don’t require much concentration to read, and you can put some attention into your clairsentience, clairaudience or claircognizance while you do it. I actually think learning to focus like this really improves your ability to pick up on Spirit – it challenges you to focus on two realms at once, which trains your mind to integrate Spiritual information into your physical life experience. This is essential to successful mediumship.
• Don’t forget to makes notes afterwards of what you experienced in your connection – these validations are really important as you will be able to later review the nuances of the experience which will help you open your awareness for the next connection.
• Find meditation time

I am not even going to suggest meditating when your child is napping – if you’re lucky you may get a few minutes in without you yourself falling asleep. That precious naptime is also needed for taking care of what you have to take care of and simply cannot when you have a child on your hip, in your lap or at your breast.

Instead, try meditating right after your child has settled to sleep for the night (or at least the next few hours!). I really believe 10 min is enough to benefit you.  Being able to switch gears from the day and focus inwardly at will is another skill, which serves your ability to communicate with Spirit.

Approach this with an attitude of play

Let your child inspire the lighthearted, playful side of you. Your Spirit and your Guides, Angels and Loved Ones are all residing in a higher vibration energetic state. The more you can elevate your own energy to match theirs, the easier it is to get in touch with your abilities and connect with Spirit. You can do this by letting yourself play with your child – let your imagination open up as you play with blocks, read books and explore with your child. These things activate your creativity, your imagination and your Spirit. Have fun! The more you can enter into all of your work with Spirit with a lighthearted, open attitude and discard your expectations, the more success you will experience.

As always, trust that whatever experience you are having in your life right now is exactly what and where you need to be for your Spirit to take the next steps on your growth path. I think we all have thoughts like “if only my family was more supportive, it would be easier”, if only I had more time” or “if I didn’t have to cook, clean and take care of everything in my house I may have time to dedicate to my Spiritual growth.” But, that is only fear and ego talking. Instead of resisting the demands put on you by your children and family, embrace them as opportunities to integrate the spiritual concepts you are working on. Spirituality is a point of view; an awareness, a way of being.  It does not consist of classroom concepts that you intellectually apply to your life. By choosing to see every circumstance in your life as a positive learning experience and an opportunity to open to Spirit, you are opening to the flow of life and welcoming in Spirit. By accepting your life as perfect just as it is, you open yourself to the abundance and magic of the universe and you are one step farther along your journey.  Where you are right now is exactly right.

with love,

Ashley