Category Archives: Ancestral Wisdom

Ancestral Wisdom, Metaphysics & Intuition, Nature's Rhythms

Winter Solstice: Reflection and Renewal

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And so, we arrive at Solstice, a powerful energetic gateway and brief pause between endings and beginnings. This moment marks a threshold between the dying and rebirth of the Sun’s light, reminding us that even in darkness the light will always return. Over the past few days, the energy has been drawing inward inviting us to align ourselves with nature to celebrate renewal within the darkness. This is a quiet moment of stillness to slow down, pause, go within and listen to the whispers of our soul.

Winter Solstice Energetic Gateway

Solstice is a potent and sacred energetic gateway occurring twice a year in June and December. It marks a power point on the Wheel Of The Year when abundant celestial potential flows out.

Solstice holds spiritual and magical power. It is a time when our soul whispers become clearer and the heightened energy makes it easier for us to access guidance from the refined energetic realms.

The Ancients were aware of this and celebrated the day with powerful ceremony, designed to shape the consciousness and expression of their society.  Much of the ancient meaning has been lost in modern celebrations. But, when you understand the Solstice esoteric meaning of rebirth and renewal, this energy can be used to expand creative power and generate transformation in meaningful ways through the rest of the year, in both your own life and that of your world.

During Solstice the doorways to the Higher Realms are ajar and the veils that separate the worlds thin. Under this influence we become more attuned to the energies around us as well as to other dimensions.  When we consciously attune with this Power Portal, we can open strong and clear engagement with our True Nature, our Highest Self.

Solstice: Conscious Transformation and Evolution

Today’s Solstice offers us a moment of integration, where Heaven and Earth, time and eternity, Matter and Spirit align.  This meeting of energy and matter provides a conduit through which limitation, restriction and false thinking can be transformed and released, allowing new awareness to emerge and grow.

This is a turning point in the cosmic cycle which guides us to slow down and go within.  The energies support our introspection to reflect on where we’re at, and whether our actions and dreams are in alignment.  We can use this moment of confluence to make intentional decisions and conscious choices to carve our way forward.

Whether you are experiencing the Winter or Summer Solstice, whether it’s time to release in Winter or create in Summer, this moment supports you to receive deep insights and deliberately create opportunities for conscious transformation.

This energetic turning point opens a potent portal of time to disrupt your pattern of everyday living. Take this Solstice moment to focus light on your pathway for the upcoming year.

Solstice and the Zodiac 

At the June Solstice the Sun moves into the sign of Cancer, the crab. This is a time to bring our focus to how we use our emotional potential.  It is a time to ‘feel’ and to honour those feelings without judgement. Practice compassion and patience with both others and yourself and whenever you feel hurt seek out the lesson it holds.

The Solstice-Pineal Gland Connection

Within our physical body our pineal gland plays an important role at Solstice.  The pineal gland is associated with the Third Eye chakra and is considered the organ of universal connection and the seat of consciousness. It possesses the ability to help us awaken and transcend into a higher state of being. 

The pineal gland enables the intuitive Third Eye which receives cosmic energies through the Crown Chakra, to link the physical world to the spiritual and inter-dimensional realms beyond time.

This tiny gland is sensitive to light and darkness and is directly influenced by sunlight.  At Winter Solstice it helps awaken our dream state, activate our clairvoyant gifts and ignite our imagination. 

Honour Winter Solstice

Winter Solstice marks the shortest day and longest night of the year.  This is a time before the return of the Light when daylight is at its weakest and darkness reigns supreme.

At this time of the chrysalis, we are invited to go within and enter the dark depths of the soul.  Solstice serves to remind us that we are an integral part of the cycle of Nature.

Known as both Solstice and Yule to the Ancients, Winter Solstice celebrates the rebirth of the Sun.  It honours the first, tiny spark of life nestled in the darkness of the womb, in both nature and ourselves, which will later give rise to the new.  As with Summer Solstice, Winter Solstice also celebrates the light, however at this time, in its polarity of darkness.

This is a sacred time of inner reflection in which to embrace the night, practice meditation and make space in your life for new beginnings.  It is a time to invite healthy abundance and growth into your life.

Winter Solstice is a time to withdraw from the busy-ness of life and to take a well-deserved rest.  It is a potent time to be alone with your thoughts and intuition to rediscover your Inner Light.  Sit with who you really are, your True Nature, and gain strength from within.  You don’t need to investigate or journal what emerges, just to surrender and BE with your feelings.

Solstice, whether at the height of Summer or mid-Winter honours the light and this can be represented practically with fire. Flickering candles or a roaring bonfire reminds us of the warmth and life-giving light of the Sun.

Solstice Ritual for Grounding and Awakening

Just as the natural world responds to the energy and light at Solstice, we too can feel the energetic shifts when we tune in. Set aside time today or tonight to do this simple Solstice ritual to connect with the Earth, Spirit and nature.

Find a quiet, dark space where you can be alone.  If possible, retreat to somewhere calm and quiet in nature, the forest, the beach or your own garden, where you can immerse yourself in these potent Solstice energies to harmoniously tune into the rhythm of the Earth.

Light a single candle to invite in the Light. Settle, relax and ground yourself with steady, deep breaths. After a few breaths, take your awareness to your feet and notice your connection with the earth.  As you engage with that connection feel the energy rising from the Earth through the soles of your feet and travelling up through your whole body.

Bring your awareness back to your breath. Observe your feelings as they emerge in the darkness.  Don’t engage with them, simply observe and then release them.  Open yourself to consciously receive whatever it is you need to move forward through the coming year with clarity and grace.

As you maintain your connection with the Earth place your hand on your Heart Centre and become aware of your connection to Source.  As you merge with both Earth and Spirit notice the bridge you have created between the two, the rainbow bridge. Know that YOU ARE this bridge and that both Matter and Spirit reside within you.

As you continue to breathe become conscious of the rhythm of your breath bringing gentle, restorative and healing energy to recharge you.

For a few more minutes just sit and enjoy the feeling of rejuvenation and renewal.

Embrace the Return of Light

Winter Solstice is a moment of pause which doesn’t demand any grand gestures. It’s enough to simply pause, rest deeply, reflect, dream and open yourself to inner growth.

This is the time for a fresh start, so declare that you are open to new and inventive ways to grow.  Then get out of your own way.  Be observant and watch for the intuitive sparks the Universe sends in your direction.  Remember these messages will be subtle and may appear in many different ways.  Be ready to take action to nourish your inner light of creativity as you move forward towards Spring.

Disclaimer

All information and opinions presented here are for information only and are not intended as a substitute for professional advice offered during a consultation. Please consult with your health care provider before trying any of the treatment suggested on this site. 

© Catherine Bullard and Happy Holistic Health, 2012. Unauthorised use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Catherine Bullard and Happy Holistic Health with appropriate and specific direction to the original content

Ancestral Wisdom, Conscious Mindset, Metaphysics & Intuition

Access Your Personal GPS to Activate Your Intuition

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Intuition is a type of intelligence that you always had,

even before you knew anything else at all. 

Right from the very beginning it quietly speaks

to you in small whispers that guide you towards

what’s best for your growth and happiness.

It can be difficult at times to consciously make choices that are aligned with your highest good. In challenging times confusion and indecision reign so you waver when facing complex alternatives. At times you may feel tempted to say, “I’ll just let the Universe guide me about which direction I should take, or what I should do next”. But this way of thinking gives away your personal power. It can leave you drifting aimlessly through your life experience.

It’s up to you to choose your life trajectory, it’s not enough to expect that somehow the Universe will guide you. You have to CHOOSE to take control of your life. But if that’s to be truly effective and create more than just the ‘Law Of Average’ for you, you need to learn to recognise your intuition and then to work with it effectively. Intuitive directed intelligence is a powerful support to help you make important decisions about your life direction and rise above the Law of Average.

Intuitive directed intelligence is a powerful tool to help you make important decisions about your life direction and to rise above the Law of Average.

Your Personal GPS

Imagine your intuition is a personal GPS system which works in a similar fashion to the GPS in your car.  If you have installed it correctly, you know how to use it properly.  Once you’ve switched it on you can rely on it to get you from where you are now to where you want to be, from point A to point B, in the most direct fashion.  You can expect that it will keep you clear of any traffic jams or roadblocks and take you by the fastest, most direct route to where you’re going.  And at the same time, it will give you good fuel economy and be efficient.

Intuition is just like a GPS for your life.  When you have all the components in place to make it function properly and know how to use it effectively, you can rely on it to guide you through life and get you to where you want to be in the best way possible.

The quality of the direction and support you get from your intuition is entirely dependent on how well you set up your intuitive GPS and how well you interact with its intuitive prompts. 

This relies on three important tools, Peace, Precision and Perception.

  • Peace is about creating a static-free environment where you can immediately recognise your intuition whenever it shows up.
  • Precision relates to giving your intuitive GPS precise directions.
  • Perception refers to the way you interpret the messages you receive.

ACTIVATE YOUR INTUITION

STEP ONE:

Go to your heart to generate coherence

Research by the HeartMath Foundation recently revealed that the intelligence carried within your heart out-powers that of the brain by 10 to 1. Because the heart is the first organ formed in the body, many more lines of information are developed from the heart TO the brain than there are from the brain to the heart. Much more information travels from the heart than from the brain.

Whenever we become stressed, our heart begins to race from fear, anxiety or overwhelm which means that our access to the problem-solving capabilities of our intuition is completely cut off.

Our brain has two types of power. The left brain deals with analytic and logical thoughts, and the right brain with creative thoughts. When we bring together our heart intelligence and our brain intelligence, we create a powerful middle ground of agile creativity which opens channels to our higher wisdom to solve problems and download new ideas.

Intuition thrives when all levels of our mind, that is, our brain, our heart and our gut, come together to function as a whole.

Action

Calm your mind with a meditative practice.

Create a vessel of peace and coherence to hold your intuitive process.

STEP TWO:

Peace. Clear out the static of stress

Stress is the number one obstacle that prevents you unleashing the power of intuition. Stress is like having static on your GPS. Whenever you’re too busy, have a deadline to meet, have too much to do, or are feeling overwhelmed in any way, you cannot access the creative power of higher wisdom.

When you are feeling stressed you become less efficient and less effective. You simply cannot bring up creative and innovative ideas and solutions when you’re stuck in your head, analysing and worrying over a problem or looking to others for advice. It’s impossible.

In order to break the patterns of stressful thought you need to remove yourself from your mind and its thought patterns, because your mind itself is the source of the stressful thoughts. You must relax your mind and clear out the static in order to allow intuition to speak instead. As Albert Einstein said, “You cannot solve a problem on the same level of thinking that created it. ” You need to shift your mind on to a new level in order to access intuitive wisdom and creative problem solving.

Action

Create more Peace.

Take a break, get outdoors and breathe.

STEP THREE:

Precision. The power of asking

Probably the most important step in this process is that of carefully creating a properly worded question. Just as with your car GPS, if you’re not really clear and exact about where you want to go, you’ll end up in the wrong place. You need to be really precise about both your starting point and your destination. Using simple language, ask exact and precise questions of your intuition. This is where most people slip-up in the beginning of this process. They don’t get clear solutions because they ask vague or ineffective questions.

Just as for a GPS, your strong starting point relies on a strong direction request. Questions need to be worded in the present moment, positively oriented and results based in order to get a more potent intuitive result.

Action

Get super clear about what you DO want and what your ultimate vision or goal actually is, rather than focusing on what you are afraid of or trying to avoid.

Make your questions precise.

STEP FOUR:

Forget what you know in order to expand your Perception

People who believe they know everything have great difficulty accessing intuition. Intuitive solutions emerge from the non-linear and non-rational part of the mind. They don’t often follow traditional ways of thinking. So unless you’re open to alternative ways to solve a problem you will limit how intuition can communicate with you.

When you know little or nothing about something you are not limited by what you DO know. Your mind is open to all possibilities. When you give yourself permission to forget what you’ve been taught your mind becomes open and accessible to all possibilities. This is why beginners luck can be so potent.

Action

Be willing to see, learn, and experience new things, however they may show up

STEP FIVE:

Perception – Pay Attention

Intuition speaks the language of the Creative Mind. It uses the language of symbols, and images, music, or art, and it draws on our senses to guide us.

Once you have formed a precise question to ask for direction from your intuition. This is the time to Pay Attention.

Call in the power of awareness and notice what you begin to notice through your day, and also in your dreams at night.

Anything that captures your attention, a song on the radio, a comment from a friend, a graffiti image, or a line in a movie could all hold the perfect answer. This is your intuitive GPS whispering to you. It’s up to you to notice and take action

Action

Watch more, speak less

STEP SIX:

Have fun, play, and take inspired action

Intuition thrives in an environment of peace, ease and grace. It speaks much more clearly in a mind that is not overwhelmed with stress or burdened with the need for perfection. It provides direction through a flexible and agile system that is open to any and every possibility.

Intuition is that voice that speaks to athletes when they’re in the zone, or artists, writers and musicians when they’re in the flow. It’s even that cautionary voice that warns us to be careful on a dark street. It is the detached whisper of inspiration, and it holds no emotion. It is calm and solid.

If you can recapture that feeling where life is a joy even when it’s challenging, and make this your starting point, intuition can begin to speak to you as clearly as any solid real-life coach.

Action

Lighten up! Laugh! Take inspired action

Disclaimer

All information and opinions presented here are for information only and are not intended as a substitute for professional advice offered during a consultation. Please consult with your health care provider before trying any of the treatment suggested on this site. 

© Catherine Bullard and Happy Holistic Health, 2012. Unauthorised use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Catherine Bullard and Happy Holistic Health with appropriate and specific direction to the original content

Ancestral Wisdom, Nature's Rhythms

End Of Year Release Ritual

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END OF YEAR RELEASE RITUAL

 

While this post was written for the close of 2016 the ritual presented here is suitable to use at the end of any year.

2016 is coming to a close and it’s naturally time to reflect back on the year… and start to look forward to 2017. It’s been a heavy year of releasing for many people, a year of endings. As we enter the countdown to 2017 many of us are still holding things that no longer serve us. In order to make the quantum leap into the New Year and the new cycle filled with awakened potential it’s essential to release these in the next few weeks. A 2016 releasing ceremony is the perfect way to weeks to round off the energetic cycle of 2016 and make the transition into 2017.

2016: End Of A Cycle

 2016 is the final year in a nine year cycle of growth. As it winds down take the time to acknowledge how far you’ve come over the last 9 years. Reflect on your lessons and new awareness. Embrace wisdom gained and re-remembered and be GRATEFUL for all the joyous moments in your life.

Many people start off their New Year by making a list of resolutions. Many also don’t reach any of their goals. Often they make the same resolution year after year without achieving it!

Create Strong Foundations

Trying to set achievable goals to reach your dreams without first firming a solid foundation is like building a home over a sink-hole. Without firm footings it will collapse. Therefore you need to get really clear about where you’re starting out from. Only then will you create the footings you need in order to create achievable goals. The 2016  Releasing Ceremony does just that by highlighting both the journey you travelled and the lessons and achievements you encountered along way.

2016 has been a difficult year for many. It was filled with difficult challenges that provided great opportunity for personal development and spiritual growth. Many of these challenges revisited familiar life lessons, lessons that repeat over and over, spiraling back upon themselves. Each revisit brings a variation of the core lesson providing the opportunity to reach a deeper awareness of both the lesson and yourself.

Coming at the end of a nine year cycle the lessons of 2016 are the culmination of this spiraling awareness and deepening consciousness. It’s essential to now finalise them or they will be carried into the new nine year cycle to be repeated yet again.

Bear in mind that the significant aspects of 2016 will be those that bring these nine year long lessons to culmination.

Create Your 2016 Release Ritual

Before you begin your 2016 Releasing Ceremony prepare your space. If you have an altar or space you normally use to meditate or journal it would be ideal, so use that. If not create a special space for this ceremony.

First select a quiet, clear corner. Collect your tools together. You need a pen and paper or a dedicated journal, a pillar candle and matches. Brew a relaxing herbal tea. Close the door behind you and turn off your phone so you won’t be disturbed.

To begin your release ritual take a few deep belly breaths to settle and ground yourself. Once you feel solid and grounded light the candle to mark the start and open the energies. Spend as long as you need to quietly disconnect from outside cares. Focus inward and allow yourself this time and space away from the obligations of your life.

Once you feel calm and centred consider the following and record your thoughts and insights in your journal or paper.

Acknowledge Success

1. List your illuminating insights and the great insights that occurred.

2. What dreams came true for you? It’s important to record any dreams that actually manifested. Dreams, and how dearly you held them, are easy to forget once they come to fruition. Include both large and small dreams as small dreams often evolve into big dreams later

3. Include your 2016 achievements, both the small glories and the big ones. Describe what you learnt. What are you now aware of that you weren’t previously?

Recognise Growth

4.  In what ways have you changed? What brought about the change in you?

5.  What are you now aware of about yourself that you didn’t know before?

6.  What no longer serves you that you have now outgrown?

7.  Were you asked to step up in the past year? Have you finally achieved something you have never managed before? Acknowledge your awesomeness and include everything that swells you with pride.

8.  Have you surprised yourself by achieving something you never dreamed you were capable of?

Release Frustrations

9.  What really jarred with you over the year? Was there anything that caused ongoing disharmony? What can you no longer tolerate at all and can’t wait to ditch? What is it that MUST GO?

10.  Need to rant? The floor is yours – get it off your chest. Cry if it helps you release, relief will flow into the space it creates. Just Let. It. Go.

Express Gratitude

11.  What gifts have you received this year? How have you grown? What insights do you now have? How has your life moved forward? Include everything, even the smallest gift. Include everything that has made your life better.

Once you have finished writing you are ready to release 2016 with a huge sigh of relief. You can now face the year ahead and the next nine year cycle with a fresh, clean page. You can now open yourself to new opportunities and awareness. You’re ready to identify dreams, clarify goals and make resolutions.

After doing the 2016 Releasing Ceremony you will see clearly what the first step you need to take is, and then to take it with purpose. As Lao Tzu said:  

“A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step”.

Close Your Release Ritual

To finish your ritual put your notes aside. Begin by breathing deeply into your belly. Sense golden light flooding into you and filling your whole body with its sparkling glow. Breathe in this beautiful vibrant light for a few more breaths.

Taking your focus to your exhale, allow every frustration, disappointment and disharmony of the past year that you’ve been holding in the cells of your body, to be carried out on your breath.

Repeat this three times until you feel the negativity shift out of your body. Feel your shoulders drop as the weight you have carried is released. Feel yourself becoming lighter and freer.

Once more breathe deep into your belly drawing in the indigo light of vision and perception with your breath. Sense if flow through your body energising your body and clarifying your mind.

Again focusing your attention on your exhale, slowly release your breath along with the difficult energy of the past year. Allow it to gently leave your body knowing that it leaves within you all the positive energy, self-knowledge and awareness you have gained from the experiences and lessons it offered. Know that the insight and knowledge you gained provide a strength to carry you into the New Year.

Sit with the loving positive energy as long as you need and when you are ready slowly open your eyes and prepare to welcome in the coming year with joy and anticipation in your new cleansed state.

 Disclaimer

The Information contained on this site is for your general health information. It is not intended to be used as medical advice and should not be used to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any medical condition, nor should it be used for therapeutic purposes. The information is not a substitute for independent professional advice and should not be used as an alternative to professional healthcare. If you have a particular medical problem, please consult a healthcare professional.

© Catherine Bullard and Happy Holistic Health, 2012. Unauthorised use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Catherine Bullard and Happy Holistic Health with appropriate and specific direction to the original content

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Ancestral Wisdom, Conscious Mindset, Healthy Home, Holistic Health

14 Awesome Books That Will Change Your Life

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Christmas and the summer holidays are the perfect time to dive into some great reads. And as most of us want the New Year to be a fresh start with new plans and goals, it makes sense to read at least one life-affirming, soul-sustaining book to support you on your life journey and life purpose.

This post marks a major milestone. As I hesitantly wrote my first article in July 2012 I never dreamed I would reach 100 posts. To honour this 100-post-milestone I have collected a few of the books that offered me inspiration and guidance, and influenced my journey along the pathway to health, happiness and a fulfilled life.

I am a total book addict. Curled up with a book, reading in my bedroom, is my go-to-happy-place. These are not my favourite books although some are certainly ones I do love. These are books with a purpose.

Because I always want to know the answer ‘right now’ these are books that present a goal or a purpose and then tell me how to get there. Most importantly, they all definitely played an important part in signposting the pathway for me.

This selection can also give you the tools to make enormous life changes for yourself. Take a look and maybe find an inspiring book to add to your summer reading list, one that will open the doorway to allow big changes into your life in 2015.

WARNING: Long but awesome post ahead! Feel free to skim

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LIFE CHANGING SUMMER READS

In no particular order (apart from which one I pulled off the bookshelf first)

 

#1. Love The Life You Live: Ten Steps For Happier Living by Anne Hartley

This book guided me to the Life Coaching course I chose. I‘d wanted to do it for over two years before I found a course that really resonated. During that time I stumbled across this book in which Hartley outlines her “Heart Process”, the essence of the Hartlife Coaching Course I studied.
The Heart Process is basically a guideline to reclaiming your “happy.” Starting with her own story Hartley takes you through a series of heart-based steps to find your joy in life again. This is solid stuff that has been around for generations, but it is presented in such a way that you don’t just get excited about the message, you are also guided as to how to achieve it in your own life. The book is packed full of helpful hacks for mastering each of the ten steps.
Anne has been a Life Coach for over twenty years during which time she has refined everything she has used in her work, and here you have her most successful techniques.

 

#2. Walking Meditation by Nguyen Anh Huong & Thich Nhat Hanh

The practice of mindfulness has recently taken the world by storm, but my introduction came a while ago from the Master of Mindfulness himself through this book. This is more a kit than a book and is a wonderful tool if you want to introduce mindfulness into your life. It contains an instructional DVD, a CD of 5 guided meditations to get you started, and a small book to guide you through so you get the most out of your practice.
Someone once said to me that women gained most from active meditation and men gained the most from still meditation. I don’t know if it’s true or not but the concept of women engaging in the active, masculine Yang, and men in the passive, feminine Yin has a beautiful poetic balance to it.
An excellent and simple meditation for all women (and men) to master.

 

#3. Goddesses In Everywoman – Powerful Archetypes in Women’s Lives by Jean Shinoda Bolen

This is the book that launched me into the healing work I do with women today. Exploring the goddesses from ancient Greek mythology Bolen opens up our understanding of the age-old psychological patterns that modern women still follow. This is one of those books that bring incredible ‘aha’ moments as you suddenly recognize yourself in one or another goddess. It places the patterns, whether actual or potential, that you fall into in your life right there in front of you, where you can’t help but see them for what they are.
I love this book – it was such a solid foundation to understanding women’s archetypes and led to my ability to hold space for women’s healing groups, as well as to presenting their life patterns in a far more easily understood way to my Coaching clients. It’s easy to read, easy to understand and very insightful.

 

#4. The Inner Goddess Makeover: A Step-By-Step Makeover by Tanishka

This is the book that inspired me to go train as a Red Tent Facilitator and then later, a Women’s Rites Of Passage Facilitator. I came across “The Inner Goddess Makeover” after I read about women’s archetypes in ‘Goddesses In Everywoman’ and was left hungry to discover more about the feminine archetypes we all embody.
Tanishka uses each of seven goddess archetypes to embody seven universal psychological feminine aspects. Each one also governs a chakra. As you work through the exercises for each, consciously exploring the issues raised, you experience energy shifts and clear old blocks that were limiting you and stopping you from experiencing your personal empowerment and potential.
I worked through this awesome and exciting journey, one chakra/goddess per month. Some of the goddesses were easy but with others I was really challenged. It was so empowering that after I finished I contacted Tanishka and went and trained with her.
This book is challenging but FUN. Even more fun when you set up your own goddess circle to work through it with the support of your Besties. Tanishka pulls no punches! Totally down to earth, her vibrant personality shines through, and she speaks to the reader as if you were both hanging out and chatting over a coffee.

 

#5. The Botany Of Desire by Michael Pollan

This is an odd book to have here but it is the book that galvanized me into opting for organic produce whenever I could, especially potatoes, changing my eating habits forever. It is about the reciprocal relationship between people and four domesticated crops. Pollan links four desires – sweetness, beauty, intoxication and control – with four plants that we use to satisfy them. He uses the story of the potato to illustrate control.
In his examination of how potato growing has evolved he visits commercial potato farms, an organic farm and Monsanto, the developers of genetically modified potatoes. Reading about the intense chemical spraying program and the permanent toxic state of the commercial farms was more than enough to turn me away from commercially grown potatoes forever. It also set me to investigate which other commercially farmed crops are highly toxic and which are relatively safe.
My very first post on this blog, ‘Tater’ Tales was inspired by this book and is about organic vs commercially grown potatoes.
The other stories about the apple, tulip and hemp are also fascinating.

 

#6. Healthy Home, Healthy Family by Dr. Nicole Bijilsma

Nicole is a Building Biologist and Sick Building Syndrome expert who is passionate about environmental medicine. Electromagnetic radiation (EMR), allergens, drinking water, and toxic chemicals pervade our living and working spaces and here Nicole shows you how to reverse their damage on your body, your mind, your emotions and your health.
Australia’s foremost Building Biologist with a young family of her own, she has produced a book full of practical ways to determine and remedy the levels of toxins you are being exposed to everyday.
This book contains lots of questionnaires and checklists to assess your own home. There is also advice on selecting cleaning products, air cleaners, plastics, and more. It even includes a guide for anyone about to buy, rent or build a house, with what you need to investigate or ask before you start.
With resource lists, useful websites plus so much more this is a great book to have on hand.

 

#7. The Complete Homeopathy Handbook by Miranda Castro

I was a Mum who used homeopathy for my family long before I was a professional Homeopath. Back then I needed a book that was comprehensive enough for me to find the correct remedy for the symptoms that presented, but not too complicated for my purely amateur ability.
Miranda Castro has written a book that nails it. It includes the history of homeopathy, principles, myths, how to actually take a Homeopathic case and work out a remedy, then a comprehensive Materia Medica and Repertory to guide your remedy choice.
This book has it all for the ‘Home Homeopath’ and clearly and simply presents everyday homeopathic prescribing as the individualized effective treatment system it can be, when it is done correctly and well.

 

#8. Eating For The Seasons by Janella Purcell

I rarely recommend diet or cookbooks. But this is so much more than just a set of recipes. This book is all about eating in tune with the seasons and the rhythms of nature. By so doing your body gets just what it needs for the time of year.
This means more than simply eating light, raw food in summer and heavier, warming food during winter. Purcell’s eating recommendations are based on the principles of Traditional Asian Medicine.
Recipes (with alternative suggestions) are grouped by season. Each section also contains advice about health objectives of the season, preferred seasonal cooking methods, what to avoid, and which body organs need support.
A great book to remind you of seasonal eating patterns, even if you don’t use any of the recipes, it helps to keep you connected, by tuning in and aligning yourself with the rhythms of the Earth and life itself.

Now available in electronic format.

 

#9. The Life You Were Born To Live by Dan Millman

I love numerology and once studied it avidly, but it was so complicated I didn’t get far. Not anymore! Dan Millman changed all that. He has devised the “Life-Purpose System” from the ancient wisdom of Numbers, and it’s amazing, clear, and easy to follow. As Millman says “ the drive to understand our life purpose is as important to our psychological growth as eating is to our biological survival.” And he sets out all the information you need to help you in your quest.
It’s a big book but you only need to read the sections that apply directly to you and can ignore the rest. Millman shows you the simple way to calculate what is relevant to you. As you work through your picture he breaks it down into detail that applies to you, along with specific issues in your life and guidelines for action.
Millman’s book can help you sort out conflicts in your life and help you find your life purpose.

 

#10. Excuses Be Gone by Wayne Dyer

Wayne Dyer has been turning out awesome books for decades. But I love this one. After doing lots of work learning to recognise my inner critical judge, this book taught me about changing the lifelong self-defeating habitual thinking that the inner critic thrives on.
It teaches about stepping up and recognizing that although we can’t control everything that happens around us, what we make of our situation, and how we deal with it, is completely up to us and the way we choose to think. Powerful stuff!
It is easy to recognize the excuses we habitually use that Dyer places before us here. He takes us through the Seven Principles of Excuses Begone, with exercises at the end of each principle to help cement them in place. He then looks at seven questions surrounding the paradigm shift such as “What would my life look like if I couldn’t use these excuses?” and “What’s the payoff?”
But what I really love and often go back to just to remind myself, are the Four Cardinal Virtues and how they manifest – reverence for all life, natural sincerity, gentleness and supportiveness.

 

#11. 29 Gifts: How a Month Of Giving Can Change Your Life by Cami Walker

There are so many “Challenges” around now – 5 day, 7 day, 30 day. But this 29 day story of the role that gift giving and the practice of generosity and gratitude played in Walker’s battle with Multiple Sclerosis is heart-warming and life-affirming.
She shows that by placing our focus outside ourselves and the problems of our own life we move the energy of our life away from our problems and illnesses and give ourslf the room to heal.
As she embraced the practice of Gratitude and Gift-giving on her month long journey Cami’s health and happiness turned around. Initially filled with thoughts of ending up in a wheelchair and in extreme pain her experience was transformative.
From her own experience Cami began a movement that has spread across the globe – millions of people on a 29 Day Gifting Challenge.
This is beautiful story of her journey that you can take on and apply to your life.

 

#12. The Power Of Now by Eckhart Tolle

We all talk about living in the moment, but not that many of us actually manage it. This basic message that we hear so often is the essence of Tolle’s book. But what makes it different is how he explains so clearly how our thoughts and emotions get in the way of achieving this, so we actually understand what is going on.
Tolle likens the mind to a destructive disease, and as long as you allow your mind to stay bonded to the inherited collective mind-patterns it will continue in its diseased state and you will continue to suffer.
He leads us to an understanding that enlightenment is found through consciousness, that through surrender we can find happiness and ultimately peace. It is presented as a dialogue with many questions you would ask yourself.
This book really helped me get through some tough times in my life.

 

#13. The Chemical Maze by Bill Statham

This tiny little book revolutionized my shopping. It lists by their number all the additives found in foods, personal care and cosmetics. Beside each it grades the danger the additive poses for you, what the adverse effects are (such as asthma, dermatitis, cancer), why it is added, along with the types of products it is used in.
Luckily for you it is now available as an app for iPhone or Android.

 

#14. Creative Visualisation by Shakti Gawain

One of the first books I read that turned me onto the path of creating the life I really want, this book was written over 35 years ago and still holds today. An anniversary edition has just been released and it is a great book to start with if you are just beginning your manifestation pathway.

 

So this is just a starter. It doesn’t include the writings of so many brilliant teachers. I hope you are drawn to one of the books on this list. Happy reading!

Please add the name of any book that has guided you to make huge change in your life in the comments section under “LEAVE A REPLY” below. I’d love to know, and am always ready to open the cover of a new book and discover another new life lesson.

awesome books 1

 

 

Disclaimer

The Information contained on this site is for your general health information. It is not intended to be used as medical advice and should not be used to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any medical condition, nor should it be used for therapeutic purposes. The information is not a substitute for independent professional advice and should not be used as an alternative to professional healthcare. If you have a particular medical problem, please consult a healthcare professional.

© Catherine Bullard and Happy Holistic Health, 2012. Unauthorised use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Catherine Bullard and Happy Holistic Health with appropriate and specific direction to the original content

Ancestral Wisdom, Conscious Mindset, Metaphysics & Intuition

Pause, Before Life Passes You By

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It seems people constantly speak of how fast the world is today, of how hurried they feel. We talk constantly about how fast the year is flying by in our fast-paced world and many people feel overwhelmed by the demands of life in 2013. We all know that we should be taking time out to relax, to re-group, to re-new. But there is simply no time!

Life races on.

Suddenly it is mid-year, the end of the year, ten years later, and that’s when we really feel confused about where all that time went.

In times past there was far more awareness about marking the important times in our lives. Families and communities lived a slower, more measured life and were able to recognise and acknowledge the passing of time more easily. They would gather for birthdays, religious celebrations, housewarmings, engagements and marriages. In many indigenous societies they would also mark the passing of the seasons and the lunar calendar.

But today many of these occasions for celebration have disappeared, while other celebrations are done in such a way that may not hold the same meaning or have a significant effect on the person.

We have all stopped pausing to take stock of our life.

Time to Assess Our Life

Making the effort to stop and mark points in our life forces us to take the time to look at where we have been and how far we have come since the last time we examined our life.

When my clients feel despondent about their health, I often read back their history notes taken months or years earlier, during their consultation. This allows them the opportunity to actually recall how bad their health was in the past and compare it to how much better they are now. Frequently as they improved, they stopped remembering how bad they had felt or how incapacitated they were when they first came to see me. When I remind them, they are able to then appreciate their vast improvement and to go on with a renewed positive outlook. Taking the time to review their life experience provides them with life marking points for later.

However, I don’t see this as simply a time issue. All too many of us are our own harshest critics. We set standards and expectations for ourselves at impossible levels and we fail to recognise our achievements, let alone acknowledge them.

When we pause and assess where we are in life, what we now do differently, what we’ve learnt, how we view the world around us or engage with the people we encounter differently, we create a marker that we can use to compare and notice changes within ourselves. It allows us to realise that although we feel we are racing through our life in fact we are also changing and growing. When we take this pause it affords us a chance to recognise ourselves as the wonderful person we are and perhaps to judge our faults less harshly.

Marking Our Milestones

We have just celebrated a 21st birthday in our family and I insisted we hold a celebration for close friends and family. My son was very reluctant and in fact resistant. But partway through the night he told me how glad he was that I had forced him have the event.

Through the week since the celebration I have watched with joy as his reflections have allowed a wonderful self-appreciation to blossom, and he is bubbling with plans for the next few months. I am sure that without marking this significant occasion he would have drifted on through the year, and perhaps his life, without this exuberance about himself and the possibilities that life offers him.

Our lives now run 24/7. Everything seems to be available at all hours of the day or night. Stores no longer close up on the weekend; movies run non-stop and we can find what we want at any hour, day or night. The world is on permanent ‘GO’. Nobody seems to make the space to ask, ‘Where have I come from, and where might I go from here’.

Tapestry of Our Life

The lyrics of the opening verse of ‘Tapestry’ by Carole King have always resonated with me, and whenever I hear them, I cannot help but pause and reflect on my own life tapestry.

My life has been a tapestry
Of rich and royal hue;
An everlasting vision
Of the ever-changing view;
A wond’rous woven magic
In bits of blue and gold;
A tapestry to feel and see;
Impossible to hold.

~ Carole King

Consciously Weave Your Personal Life Tapestry

Instead of racing on with your life, never noticing or appreciating the intricate and beautiful pattern of the life tapestry you are weaving, take some time out for reflection.

Try to make a regular time each week to ‘take stock’ of what you have done, what you achieved, what you learnt, how you could change things. Perhaps even start a journal in which to record your thoughts. Then do the same monthly, then every year on your birthday.

Mark your life path. Find something you love to do, maybe a meal with friends, a facial or massage, walk a labyrinth, see a show, take a balloon flight, whatever you love to mark the important occasions in your life. This is an acknowledgement of your worth and of the contribution that you are making to those around you and the earth as a whole.

Take some time out to reflect on the rich and royal tapestry of your life.

Do you already have a practice that helps you to reflect and take stock? Leave a comment below and tell me what you do, or what you plan to do, to make ‘acknowledgement’ space in your life.

Hawaiian Tapestry by Jay Wilson Take some time out to reflect on the rich and royal tapestry of your life Photo credit: Daniel Ramirez
Photo credit: Daniel Ramirez

 

Disclaimer.

All information and opinions presented here are for information only and are not intended as a substitute for professional advice offered during a consultation. Please consult with your health care provider before trying any of the treatment suggested on this site. 

© Catherine Bullard and Happy Holistic Health, 2013. Unauthorised use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Catherine Bullard and Happy Holistic Health with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.