Mindfulness is acclaimed as a marvel within the wellness movement where it is regarded as a fundamental tool with enormous benefits. With well-documented, science-backed evidence that it alters the brain profoundly, mindfulness can be used to bring about inner calm, reduce symptoms of stress, anxiety and depression, improve focus and even manage pain.
Mindfulness encourages one to live a life with more lightness.
Jon Kabat-Zinn
There’s plenty of evidence about the power mindfulness has to improve health and wellbeing. But in spite of this widespread knowledge of its benefits most people don’t get around to doing it.
For many this hesitancy arises simply because they are not really clear about what mindfulness actually is. Although it’s often regarded as a form of meditation, mindfulness is fundamentally more akin to the cultivation of a non-judgemental deep awareness of the environment, both within and around the individual. It teaches you not to react automatically to every thought, feeling or situation.
Mindlessness
When you are living mindlessly you usually don’t realise it.
That’s because you live your life on autopilot and your attention is often in multiple places at the one time. As your attention drifts you move through life unaware of what is happening around you or even within you. Thoughts, sensations and emotions pass through your consciousness without you noticing or registering them at more than a superficial level. And your short-term memory is often poor.
Because you’re unaware of your body you often ignore the clues it is giving you, until you get sick.
Living mindlessly can shorten your life and it can also seriously affect the quality of your life.
Mindlessness isn’t a flaw in your character. It’s actually a way for your brain to conserve energy and at times it can be good. But the problem comes when you drift into mindlessness at times when you need to be focused and attentive. It’s also a problem when it becomes your default position day after day.
Mindlessness can be an attempt to distance our self from relationships or experiences that are difficult.
“… when we habitually run away from what’s going on inside us and in our relationships … we end up becoming even more alienated and sad.”
Thich Nhat Hanh
Signs You’re Living Mindlessly
✦ Becoming so focused on achieving a goal that you don’t take time out to reflect whether achieving that goal will make you happy, or if you really want it.
✦ Forgetting people’s names right after being introduced to them.
✦ Being constantly preoccupied.
✦ Reading without taking in the content and having to go back and reread the page.
✦ Scrolling on your phone while only half listening to a conversation.
✦ Eating without being aware of the taste or smell of what you are eating.
✦ Driving on autopilot, so that you are not aware until you reach your destination.
✦ Using work, food, alcohol, TV as a distraction from emotions or thoughts.
Mindfulness Meditations
Mindfulness meditations don’t have a rigid format. Rather they are simple practices that draw your focused attention through your senses to what you are doing in the moment. By thinking of mindfulness in these terms any pressure associated with ‘getting the meditation right’ is removed. This makes it easier to actually begin to develop mindfulness and make it a part of your daily life.
Cultivating greater awareness allows us to quickly separate mindfulness from unconscious, habitual behaviours, or mindlessness. This helps us shift our consciousness to mindful awareness.
To start your Mindful Awareness practice, begin to recognise whenever you notice you are engaging in mindless activity. Use it to help you hold back from overreacting with automatic unhelpful responses.
Mindfulness is when you consciously focus on the present moment. It requires a deliberate choice to not allow the mind to drift aimlessly.
Four Simple Mindfulness Meditations
1. Savour Your Meals: Be mindful during the first three bites of your meal. Really focus on the smell, texture and taste. Chew slowly. Savour the moment.
2. Stop to observe: Take a moment each day to stop what you are doing and watch your surroundings, free of judgement. Simply observe and notice.
3. Breathe…Just Breathe: Simply sit and breathe in a quiet room for 10 minutes. Focus on the subtle movements of your body at rest – how is your body moving and how does it feel.
4. Visualise your thoughts: Empty your mind by envisioning your thoughts as objects, and through breathing focus on each one for a few seconds before pushing the thoughts further and further away.
Disclaimer
All information and opinions presented here are for information only and are not intended as a substitute for professional advice offered during a health consultation. Please consult with your health care provider before trying treatment suggested on this site.
We are all familiar with our five senses – seeing, hearing, touching, tasting and smelling. But you may not be as familiar with your other senses. Much like you have five physical senses, you also have eight ‘clair’ senses or intuitive psychic senses. Everyone has them but not everyone is tuned into them. For many they exist as psychic potential that is just waiting to be switched on.
Just as the name suggests these senses are accessed through your intuition. Once switched on you can develop and strengthen them so you can use them to guide choices to support your growth.
In Psychic terms the clair senses are:
Let’s take a look at each of these individually.
Clairvoyance
A clairvoyant (clear-seeing) receives extrasensory impressions and symbols in the form of visions or mental images through their mind’s eye (third eye). Their eyes can be either open or shut as they download information. You may be clairvoyant if you experience vivid dreams with premonitions. Often clairvoyance manifests as visions, mental images or mini movies that flash across your inner awareness. Sometimes they appear as a movie on a psychic screen in front of you. You may be able to see the colors of the energy fields (auras) around people, plants and animals, or perhaps you are able to see angels, ghosts or other beings. Although most people know about clairvoyance it’s not the most common psychic ability
If you are someone who can easily visualise solutions to problems, have a great sense of direction, or are very good with visual-spatial problems like rearranging furniture or loading and arranging the items in the dishwasher you may have a predisposition for clairvoyance.
A clairvoyant may be able to see the future (precognition), to clarify the present as it is happening (most common) and psychically see the past (postcognition).
Claircognisance
Claircognisance (clear knowing) is when you suddenly know without any doubt that something is true, even though you didn’t see it, hear it or feel it. You just know it. It’s like an instant psychic insight or a download of information that needs no processing or interpretation. Claircognisance can show up as a nagging idea or unrelenting thought, similar to the persistent awareness that someone is lying to you when you have no actual evidence of it. Or you may suddenly know complex information that is completely outside your knowledge or experience. You don’t feel it or sense, you know it.
When this clair sense kicks in for me, I don’t have any question about the information at all, even if it’s about something I’ve never heard about before. It’s absolutely rock solid. I know, and don’t need proof to know it’s correct.
Many individuals confuse claircognisance (clear knowing) with clairempathy (clear emotion) or clairsentience (clear physical feeling) because their “knowing” is quickly followed by either an emotional or physical reaction to the insight. Over time paying attention to how the insight comes into your awareness will help you distinguish the difference.
Clairaudience
If you are clairaudient (clear hearing) you perceive sounds, words or noise from the spiritual or ethereal realm. Someone is clairaudient if they mainly receive their intuitive information with their inner or outer hearing. This is absolutely about hearing voices, either outside yourself or in your head.
For example, imagine you’re driving to work and suddenly hear the direction “Take the next exit”. There is no one in the vehicle with you but the message is clear and seemed to come from outside yourself. So you take the next exit instead of continuing on your usual route. Later you discover your detour meant you avoided a five-car pile-up, which would have meant you missed a very important meeting.
Clairaudience may also mean that rather than hearing words your ears simply feel hot. Or you may hear sounds like a gong or a bell. Or even that the words of a song or speech resonate with your inner thought at that moment.
You might be clairaudient if you are naturally attuned to sounds, tones, rhythm and music. If you sing, play music, have an easy time remembering voices, or can easily hear in someone’s voice when they’re lying you may have a predisposition to clairaudience.
Clairempathy
Clairempathy (clear emotional feeling) is an ability to sense other people’s emotions, thoughts and symptoms. It is an awareness or perception of emotional energy. You don’t necessarily experience the feeling in your body, but you are aware of the feeling.
This is different to being an empath. It might mean you can feel others’ emotions from far away or in advance. You are Clair empathic if you can sense the emotion in a room before you walk into it. For example, sensing the anger and hurt before walking in on a couple arguing. Or sensing sadness in a loved one across the globe without communicating with them.
Empaths need self-care and psychic protection techniques to successfully manage their empathic nature and shield themselves from energetic overload. A skilled empath knows how to maintain spiritual boundaries, replenish energy and clear unwanted negative energy from their auric field.
The difference between clairempathy and clairsentience is that empaths sense the energy and emotion whereas sentients feel the energy and emotion. Sentients actually experience it.
Clairsentience
A clairsentient (clear physical feeling) gains intuitive insight through physically experiencing the energy in their body. This is quite a common psychic ability. Clairsentients have a “gut feeling” or “something doesn’t feel right” and experience it as a deep physical sensation in their body.
Clairsentients feel, not just sense, the experience of other people’s emotions, ailments or injuries. They can also feel the physical and emotional pain of a land or place where tragic events have occurred by sensing the associated emotions such as fear, jealousy, insecurity, hatred and pain.
Often this ability is felt internally but it may be felt on the outside of your body as goosebumps or raised hairs or even a draught of cold air.
A friend of mine, a gifted psychic medium and clairsentient, gets shooting pains in her body when she walks through the riverbank area where a massacre occurred a hundred years ago. Where a clairempath would have a sense of it and a claircognisant would know it had happened, the clairsentient feels it in their body.
The difference between clairempathy and clairsentience is that empaths sense the energy and emotion whereas sentients experience the energy and emotion.
Clairtangency
Clairtangency is a psychically heightened sense of touch. You may have clairtangency (clear touching) if you have the ability to perceive facts about an event or person through direct contact with an object belonging to them or even with the person. This is also commonly known as psychometry.
You may be clairtangient if you quickly gain unknown insights when you hold someone’s watch or ring, touch their hand, when you pick up an old antique, or you touch an old building.
If you find it disturbing to have old things around you because they drain your energy you may be clairtangent.
Clairalience
For those with clairalience (clear smelling) insights come through the perception of smell. This might be smelling the odour or fragrance of a substance, person, place or animal that is not in your immediate surroundings. You perceive these odours without using your physical nose. Other names for this are Clairscent and Clairscentency.
For example, you may suddenly get a strong smell of the perfume your deceased grandmother used to wear. Nobody else with you is wearing that perfume. Your grandmother is reaching out from the spirit world to communicate with you. Or you may smell flowers that remind you of a living person which serves to nudge you to contact them.
Other clairsalients smell a wide range of aromas such as spices, foods, animals and many more. I have smelt easily recognisable essential oils such as cedarwood oil during meditations. The smells don’t linger. They come in as a brief whiff and then they’re gone.
Experiencing scents might trigger the other senses to “see” “hear” or “feel” what spirit or your intuition is trying to communicate.
Clairgustance
An individual with clairgustance (clear tasting) receives psychic information through their sense of taste without having any physical source of that taste in their mouth.
People sometimes report tasting a favourite food or drink from a loved one who has passed away. Sometimes the taste will draw you to a crucial detail in the situation that you may have overlooked.
Others report that when they are problem-solving they receive helpful information through an extrasensory taste in their mouths. For example, police sometimes get an unexplained taste of blood or a certain chemical relating to a specific drug when investigating crimes, which guides them to discovering what really happened.
Identify Your Psychic Ability
Meditation or being alone in nature are great places to open yourself to recognising the Clair senses. Begin to detect your dominant Clair Sense by opening your awareness to anything you notice outside your normal physical senses. When you become aware of something, don’t doubt it, don’t put it down to your imagination or your strong wish to detect through your Clair Senses. Instead, simply acknowledge and accept you have experienced this as confirmation that you will continue to access information via this sense in the future.
Most people have more than one Clair Sense, however one sense will be dominant. Being present and focusing your awareness to notice how your intuitive insights come to you will highlight your dominant Clair Sense. Once you are clear about which of the eight is dominant for you, you’ll begin to notice when other Clair Senses come online to support and expand the intuitive insights you are receiving from your dominant Clair Sense.
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 treatment suggested on this site.
Mindfulness has become so popular that it’s used as a tool for stress relief right across our society, even in schools. The modern practice of mindfulness is a westernised version of a Buddhist meditation, which teaches that thoughts don’t need to be controlled. It upends the notion that we need to control our thoughts and encourages us to become the observer rather than the thinker.
Essentially mindfulness draws on awareness to help us be present in every moment. Supported by extensive studies, it is a potent tool to combat the high stress levels we all experience every day. Like other forms of meditation, it improves our mental health while increasing our brain processing power. Mindfulness is a very simple technique that can be used every day to find inner calm.
Mindfulness practices are often taught secularly, but their roots reach back to ancient teachings and traditions.
Mindfulness is also known by terms such as mindful awareness or enlightenment. It has a rich history, and its roots are steeped in many ancient religious and more recently, secular traditions, in particular Buddhism and Hinduism.
The Beauty Of Mindfulness
Part of the beauty of adopting a mindfulness practice is that the many health benefits can be gained anywhere, anytime and either in a group or alone. Even just two or three minutes a day can trigger the benefits.
While breath is an important aspect of mindfulness, it takes many forms and can be adapted to suit every individual. These forms include awareness, meditation, yoga, walking meditation or becoming mindful during everyday activities such as washing the dishes, showering, eating or drinking tea.
In simple language mindfulness is non-judgemental awareness
Most of us rush through our day, our week, our lives, without noticing our surroundings and remaining unaware of deeper currents. This leaves us operating on autopilot. In this state we become vulnerable to life upsets and stress. We are left to fall back on the old stories that underpin our subconscious beliefs, which drives us to repeat long-held practices that do not support our growth.
Develop Conscious and Intentional Awareness
In the midst of navigating this busy-ness, what’s far more crucial to our wellbeing is what’s really going on behind the events in our lives. When we are always rushed and overwhelmed we generally fail to notice the real story behind what’s happening. If we do happen to get a small glimpse of that story, we quickly respond with an opinion about it rather than gaining real clarity by stepping back and just observing.
Mindfulness, a conscious and intentional awareness, gives us the means to avoid living on autopilot. By developing our ability to observe and really notice things happening around us and to us, we become tuned into how we habitually react and respond to them, without attaching any personal judgement.
We are able to notice what’s going on without becoming drawn into the drama.
We develop an ability to observe with greater awareness which helps us make wiser decisions for ourselves and our life, to carry us forward in greater clarity without anxiety and overwhelm.
However, being able to draw on heightened awareness coupled with greater calm and acceptance doesn’t just happen automatically. We need to develop this ability within ourselves, and like any new mind skill, it takes practice and time.
Initially we may only be able to sustain a mindful state momentarily. But if we are committed to changing so we can shift from a state of constant overwhelm and drama into one of open, stable, grounded calmness. We can begin to expand our mindfulness and start noticing change quite quickly.
7 Mindfulness Exercises To Reduce Overwhelm
To change how you respond to drama and stress you have to break old habits while also developing new ones. This means you no longer automatically react to triggers and instead, are able to step back, observe with awareness, and identify both the trigger itself and the way you normally respond. Once you become aware of this habit within yourself it becomes easier to break it apart.
These simple mindfulness exercises will help you develop conscious awareness to reclaim a calmer, more coherent presence when faced with life’s challenges. Practice them over and over until you start to notice yourself staying calm without reacting.
1. Awareness Exercise
This exercise helps develop your ability to observe with clarity by uncovering where you place your attention through the day. It also highlights what distracts you from staying calmly in the present moment.
Take a few minutes to walk around the place you are right now, a room at home, work or even outdoors. It doesn’t matter where it is, just go with the place you are in.
Do this without holding any intention or expectation about what will happen or what you hope to achieve in the practice. Just move to whatever draws your attention.
Do this for about three minutes. Then write down on paper preferably, or in your phone, whatever you noticed, what drew your attention or where your thoughts shifted during that time. It’s important to actually record these.
You may:
Have past thoughts rise up
Wonder about future job opportunities
Create vague plans for a family holiday
Try to find a solution to a problem
Criticise yourself
Remember something you’ve forgotten to do
Think about how tired or hungry you are
Became sad, lonely, frustrated, angry, guilty or any other emotion about something or someone
2. Breath Of Life Exercise
A minute or two of deep breathing from your abdomen helps to bring you the calming benefits of mindfulness. This is partly because when you’re completely focused on the movement of your breath you can’t think of other things, you’re living in the moment.
The emotional response to a challenge and the subsequent chaos of your thoughts throws you into a downward spiral of anxiety and overwhelm. Focused breathing takes you out of your thoughts and into your body so you can’t continue to be caught up in the drama.
Breathing from your belly is something you need to cultivate as your automatic way of breathing, all the time. Most people only use the top of their lungs to breathe which is inefficient. Once you set the intent to make abdominal breathing your natural breath it is easy to simply switch your attention to your breath whenever you need to quickly ground yourself to deal with stress.
I describe this process in detail in this blog post about using deep breathing to reduce stress.
Basically, sit up straight in a chair with your feet on the floor or stand. Close your eyes. Focus on your breathing, drawing the breath down deep into your abdomen.
Follow each breath in and out. It can help to place your hands on your belly and feel it rise or expand with the in breath and fall or contract with the exhale. After one minute open your eyes and go about your day.
Your diaphragm, belly and chest should expand as you breathe in and soften as you breathe out. Your shoulders should not move up and down when you do this breathing correctly.
Practice whenever you can so you can immediately and automatically turn your attention to a minute or two of deep breathing whenever you need it. You’ll discover it immediately calms you and reduces any strong emotional feelings or anxiety you might experience.
3. 4-4-4 Exercise
This is another simple breathing exercise to focus your awareness and strengthen your mindfulness practice.
1. Turn your attention to your breath.
2. Inhale steadily to the count of four.
3. Hold your breath for the count of four.
4. Exhale for a count of four.
5. Hold for another count of four.
Repeat this for a minute or two.
Do this exercise in conjunction with abdominal breathing.
4. Water Immersion Exercise
Water is linked with our emotions so this next exercise is useful because our emotions are triggered by stress and are released through this mindful practice. This exercise focuses your attention on the input you receive through your senses.
The shower is a great place to pay attention!
Whenever you take a shower develop mindfulness by becoming aware of your five senses.
Notice the action of turning on the taps. Notice the feel of the water as you step under, the feeling of it on your skin as it flows down your body.
Smell the aroma of the soap and notice the sensation on your skin as you lather. Observe how your skin feels after the soap is washed away. Feel the steam around your face and watch it as it drifts upward.
Now turn down the hot water for a few seconds and then turn it back up, noticing the change in temperature.
Throughout keep your attention focused on what you sense – what you feel, smell, taste, see and hear.
5. Pause For An Entrance Exercise
For mindfulness to become a positive part of our life it needs to become second nature to us. This exercise helps us start acting mindfully in even the smallest activities of our lives so we start to engage mindfully all the time, without having to think about it.
Generally we rush through doors moving from one space to another without consciously making the shift from the first space to the next.
As you approach a door, pause, before reaching for the handle. Take a couple of mindful breaths. Then go ahead and open the door. As you pass through the door pay attention to closing the door behind you before turning to the new space.
Take a moment to mindfully move your attention to the new space before moving into it.
Do this process and take a moment to pause, whenever you move from one space to a new one, even if a door is not involved.
6. Mindful Eating Exercise
This exercise is similar to the shower exercise and aims to focus your awareness on your senses.
Often we rush through our meal, eat on the run, or engage in other activities while we eat. Mindful eating has two basic principles – slowing down and engaging fully with all our senses.
Whether you are eating a full meal or a simple snack bringing mindful awareness into the process gives all the normal health benefits of mindfulness as well as improving our digestion.
First, don’t eat on the move, sit down or at least stop.
Before you begin to eat look at the food, notice the colour, shape or anything unusual about it. Bend close and breathe in the aroma, noticing what you identify; close your eyes if it helps.
Pick up your food or touch it and notice what it feels like. Is it heavy or light; warm or cold; soft or hard, slippery, fluffy, squelchy? Notice any utensils you’re using, the weight, surface, shape, the detail.
Now take a small bite. Let the food sit in your mouth before you chew it and notice it on your tongue. Notice the texture. Savour the taste. Notice how it feels as you swallow it.
Listen for sounds throughout the process, the crinkle of paper as you unwrap it, the clink of the cutlery, the scrape on the plate and the sound as you chew.
Take time to become deeply aware of the process and the sensations you experience at all stages.
7. Time Out Exercise
To remind you to continue to develop your mindfulness practice keep a timer near you, on your desk, beside your bed or wherever you spend your time.
Whenever you notice anything holding your attention or curiosity, such as an interesting sound, a bird outside the window or the play of light on the wall, start the timer for one minute. As you continue to notice, slow your breath continuing to focus on whatever caught your eye.
When the timer beeps check in with yourself. How do you feel? Do you feel calmer, peaceful, more relaxed?
The Core Message
Mindfulness is both a noticing, or awareness, of all that surrounds you in the external world, and an acceptance of whatever you notice both within and outside yourself, without judgement. That part is important!
The goal when developing a mindfulness practice, is to have it become an automatic way to move through your day, not something you need to focus on. So, the more you do it the less you’ll have to remember it.
In order to make mindfulness a regular and automatic part of your life it helps to involve daily activities in your developing practice. For example, set the intent to deep breathe for 30 seconds every time you pick up your keys, or climb the stairs, turn on the tap or any other action you regularly take. You can use any routine activity to helps you strengthen mindfulness.
Begin to incorporate these exercises into your daily routine whenever you remember and use them to help you move out of feelings of stress, overwhelm, anxiety, or confusion.
Disclaimer
All information and opinions presented here are for general health information only and are not intended as a substitute for professional advice offered during a consultation. Please consult with your health care provider for medical conditions before trying treatment suggested on this site.
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 ourselveswith 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.
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.
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.
The New Moon is an especially potent time to birth anything new into your life. Creating a New Moon Ritual is a powerful way to stimulate new beginnings and bring about change.
Often when you live a life of wellness you get focused on the physical, eating healthy food, getting exercise or avoiding toxins. But the physical body is only the starting place. For good health it is equally important to focus on the other levels in addition to the physical. You need to manifest change on each of the levels of mind, body, emotions and spirit.
New Moon Rituals are a great way to address change in all four aspects of yourself, the mind, body, emotions and spirit. Ritual helps you to clarify needs, to form that need or desire into a goal and to set an intention to achieve it.
Harness New Moon Energy for Manifesting
Once every month I remind my social media followers the New Moon is coming up so they can prepare their Lunar Manifestation List. Some always prepare for the New Moon. But for the many who have never done New Moon ritual the response is often confusion.
For years I’ve held space for nurturing and empowering New Moon Red Tent Circles to coincide with the New Moon. They’re a wonderful supportive space for busy women to take a few hours’ time out just for themselves. They provide space to tune into yourself and identify what’s not working in your life, what’s really p*ssing you off, and most importantly, where you need to make changes and exactly what you want to start in your life.
It all happens within a group of women who offer unconditional support for you to gain understanding and clarity. All in the group can share without comment or advice from others and can even vent if they need. Everyone usually gets amazing insights.
Within the circle you also receive some self-care and sometimes a little creative play. Recently we played with finger paint. I had never done this before, and it was So. Much. Fun.
Why Hold New Moon Circles
The simple answer to why Circles are held at the New Moon is it allows us to harness potent energy brought by the New Moon together with Ancestral tradition.
Throughout history indigenous societies always honoured the time of the New Moon because it is the time when our intuition (those gut feelings you get) are at their strongest, especially for women.
Test this out for yourself. Keep track of what messages your subconscious sends to you in the few days around the New Moon. These messages often come through your dreams. Take notice if you wake up suddenly knowing the answer to something that has been troubling you.
This is also the time when many, especially women, feel extra weary. Your body may feel heavy, feeling overcome by sleepiness in the afternoon, craving early nights or you may feel less like going out and socialising.
This is you telling yourself that it is the best time to slow down and go within. This is the best time to access the intuitive and ancestral knowledge you already hold for a better, happier life.
The time of greater awareness varies from one person to the next but usually is for a few days around the New Moon time. Because the actual time of the New Moon varies from one location to another you need to check for the exact time and date in your area. Remember to set your own location in the search.
Lunar Manifestation Lists
Before closing my New Moon Red Tent Sessions each month, I always invite each person to create their own Lunar Manifestation List.
It’s so easy for us to roll along, one week passing to the next until we suddenly notice that another whole year has passed us by. We develop the habit of non-awareness.
Using the New Moon to set a Lunar Manifestation Intention List is simply a form of getting clear on your wishes for the month, like a monthly goal setting. But it is far more than just ‘goal setting’ as this one really comes from our heart and our highest wisdom.
Lunar Intentions for the Highest Good
It’s important to set your intentions for what you really do need in your life. So before starting our list we spend time going within to connect with our Highest Self for guidance. Whatever you decide to include on your list frame it with the intention of stimulating personal growth.
You may wish to change a bad habit, or release a relationship you have outgrown or invite one you are now ready to welcome in. There may be a material possession you would love. You may need more self-nurturing. Perhaps you would like to undertake some form of service to others or to allow others to be of service to you. It may even be to change the way you view a situation.
Whatever it is you wish to create can be added to your list.
Be Precise
When I look back on my own lists I am struck by how often what I wrote down came about.
For about 18 months I kept adding ‘New Car” to my list. But no new car appeared. Then one month I got precise and I wrote down the make, the model, the extra features and even the colour of the car I wanted. Six weeks later that exact car was sitting in my driveway, and I got it for an awesome price too.
When I got really serious and was more specific about my list, my focus and my energy was directed towards achieving that goal, like an arrow flying towards a target.
Take Your Time
Don’t just dive in. The result will most likely be superficial. This is time you need to get real. Spend time before starting to really tune in to your subconscious, your inner knowing. Allow it to guide you to discover deep insights about how to change for the best.
You can simply sit and write your list but if you spend some time beforehand to really tune in to yourself you receive greater clarity about the deeper issues that are holding you back. Also, you may find something you are ready to receive into your life that you were not yet aware of.
If you meditate this is an awesome way to tune in to your intuition.
If you prefer someone else to guide you through a meditation there are many guided visualisations available on Youtube. (I am creating a series of suitable guided meditations for the New Moon which will be available later this year.)
Keep things Simple
You don’t need to meditate, it’s not essential but it does lift your ritual to a higher level.
Simply taking some time to go somewhere quiet, some place where you won’t be disturbed is enough. It may be a special space in your home or somewhere you love in nature. Wherever you choose just make certain you are somewhere you will not be interrupted. (For busy Mums it may even mean locking yourself in the toilet!) Just find somewhere quiet and peaceful.
New Moon Red Tent Ritual
Make sure you have pen (it can be coloured) and paper with you. Your Lunar Manifestation List needs to be written by hand, don’t add it to your notes on your phone. A journal is perfect for keeping your Lunar Manifestation Lists together if you’d like to keep them to look back at later.
If you wish play some uplifting music, light a candle or do anything that has special meaning for you. But make sure it doesn’t intrude and draw your attention away from listening to your intuition.
When you are seated comfortably take a few moments to relax yourself. Start by loosening your toes and work your way up your body. Finally feel your shoulders drop, your jaw relax and your forehead un-crease.
Now take a few deep belly-breaths. As you breathe in imagine the Indigo Light of Intuition entering your body along with your breath and spreading through every cell of your body. As you breathe out feel the stress of your day and any negative thoughts you are holding leave your body along with your breath.
As you breathe in the Indigo Light on each breath feel yourself connect more deeply with your inner knowledge. Allow your breath to relax into a natural rhythm and sit for a while opening yourself to any thoughts or ideas that flow in.
Be creative and open
If thoughts about what you need to do today are blocking out anything else then maybe what you need to manifest right now are some organisational techniques so you can get all that stuff out of your thoughts. Bringing in techniques such as this will free up lots of brain space for other things in your life. So put it on your list.
What you need may come to you as a picture in your mind-eye, you may hear it or have a clear thought or even just a sudden flash of inspiration. Be open to receive.
Write your list in the present tense, as if it is already happening.
You can’t wish for change in others, that it for them to determine themself. However, you can wish for changes to yourself that may then affect them later or that support you in the situation.
Add up to ten things to your list. More than ten becomes too many and lessens their impact. Less is fine, simply putting greater focus on what you do add, but you do need more than just one or two.
Each New Moon of the year is associated with a different part of your life and your list is more potent when you focus your wishes on that area of your life. This New Moon at the start of Aquarius is about BIG Plans and seeking freedom in your life. This Moon also brings a link with the past and might be the perfect time to discover a new way to renovate, restore or revitalise an old problem or relationship.
Just one more step to do, which is to speak the list out loud. Giving a voice to your intentions empowers them and anchors them in the front of your awareness.
Finishing Your Lunar Ritual
When you have finished, thank your Higher Self, your angels, or simply the universe, blow out the candle and you are done.
Lunar Manifestation Lists are not like affirmations. You don’t have to keep repeating them. Once you have done the ritual you can put the list away.
What you do with your list is up to you. Some women burn their list, others put them under their pillow, some even bury them. I keep my Lunar Manifestation Lists in a journal as later I like to have the reminder of the power of positive intent. Sometimes reading through them refocuses me when I feel I’m getting nowhere.
Benefits of a New Moon Ritual
There is no time frame around when the things on your list manifest. If you find you’re including the same thing for month after month your intention may need to be re-phrased (as I did with my car). Or it may simply not be right for you or not what you need at this time.
Often when your intent is strong and focused you will find changes start to occur about two weeks later around the time of the next Full Moon.
I hope you decide to adopt this wonderful practice into your life. It literally only takes a few minutes and by regularly setting yourself this focus you’ll receive great benefits.
Catherine Bullard trained as a Red tent Facilitator with the Moon Woman at Star Of Ishtar.
Disclaimer
All information and opinions presented here are for information purposes only and are not intended as a substitute for professional advice offered during a consultation. Please consult with your health care provider before following any of the treatment suggested on this site, particularly if you have an ongoing health issue.
As the year slides to its close the energies of the New Year may already be affecting you. You may already be formulating goals and plans that you would like to birth in the year ahead as New Year resolutions begin to form. You may even be plotting pathways to achieve those goals.
If you are someone who likes to get a jump on the New Year so you to enter the New Year already clear about how you’ll achieve your goals for 2015 it pays to prepare ahead. One way to set the foundation for success with your goals is with a simple New Year Release Ritual.
For the past few weeks I’ve been surprised as I hear myself talking about things that will happen for me in 2015, ideas and plans I hadn’t even noticed were forming in my brain or my heart. But apparently these ideas were solidly there just waiting for me to notice.
Many have already formed plans even if they’re not yet conscious of them and you may find you are doing the same. This year-end you’re being urged to get real about what you want for yourself, to set a considered plan of action, and to get to it now.
It’s way too easy, especially in these fast-paced times to allow your life to slip past. Days flow into weeks, into months, years and suddenly a decade has passed you by. Trying to look back and see the detail of your life pathway becomes more and more difficult as time moves on if you’ve neglected to mark points along the way.
Markers for Your Life
In times past traditions and ceremonies provided marking points in people’s lives. They provided moments in people’s consciousness when they paused, finding time to take stock of themselves and their life.
We still hold on to some of these traditions – 18th or 21st birthdays, weddings, funerals – but many milestones are no longer honoured or even remembered. Many traditions we do still hold no longer require us to examine and consider ourselves and how our life to date has evolved.
We no longer have many occasions where we pause and examine our progress in life, acknowledging our achievements and successes, appreciating our blessings, recognizing our lessons, and planning changes.
Set Strong Foundations For Goal Success
Trying to establish goals and resolutions to guide you along the pathway to achieving your dreams without first pausing and taking time to appraise the road you have just traveled is like building your home over a sink-hole. Without solid footings the structure of your life will simply collapse.
A Release Ritual is your opportunity to establish a firm base on which to build your future. It doesn’t take long to do and provides you with deep insights and clarity to steer you to better results.
As the energies of 2014 begin to unravel set aside time to draw together the threads of the year just passed. Find the space for yourself to weave them into a strong support that will carry you into 2015. Take time to examine your experience, the rainbow of coloured threads of your life, both the weak strands and the strong, threads of extreme beauty, and threads of fragility.
Once you have examined the weave of your last year the signs that point to the new directions you need to follow next become apparent.
Old Year Releasing Ritual
Begin your reflection by settling down in a quiet corner with a pen, paper or a journal, and a relaxing herbal tea or coffee. Light a candle to signal the start of your ritual if this has meaning for you.
Life has a habit of drawing you back to the same old lessons, over and over, spiraling round, often revisiting them under another guise, until you reach awareness and understanding of that particular lesson for your life. Each time you revisit the lesson gets louder, as if the universe is shouting so you will hear.
To save yourself treading these same old well-worn paths yet again next year, begin your release of the old year by writing down the illuminating life lessons you learnt in 2014. What were those ‘Aha’ moments? What great insights occurred?
Next add the dreams that came true for you. It’s easy to forget what the dreams you once held even were once they have actually happened, and just as easy to forget how dearly you held them, hoping they would eventuate. Remember to include the small dreams as well as the huge ones. The small dreams of life often grow into the big important ones.
What did you achieve in 2014? Remember to include the small glories not just the major ones. What did you learn you could do that you didn’t realise before?
You’re now ready to consider how you have grown in the last 365 days.
How have you changed? What have you learnt about yourself? What changed you? What is it you now know about yourself that you didn’t know before? Write them all down.
What did you discover you had outgrown? What no longer serves you? What, or who, did you release from your life?
How did you surprise yourself – what did you do that you didn’t know you capable of? What have you done that swells you with pride? Was there something you were able to do that you have never managed before? Were you called to step up, and you did?
What was there in this last year that was a source of grating disharmony? What can’t you tolerate any longer? By now you know what it is you just have to change in your life. Write it down.
If there’s anything you need to get off your chest about this last year, do it now. Rant if you need to. If you feel the urge to cry honour it, it will bring release and relief.
Now finally, write down what it is you are grateful for, the gifts you received from 2014. Include every little thing. As well as the big stuff in my life, I include small joys in my gratitude lists like my morning cup of tea, or the slightly creepy but endearing smile my gorgeous dog beams at me whenever I arrive home.
Finished?
Closing Ritual
And now dear friend, you are ready to release the Old Year. You are now ready to face the year ahead. You are ready to set your resolutions, to clarify your dreams and your goals, to decide what is achievable for you, and to stride forth with purpose into the New Year.
Take some time now to close down your releasing ritual.
Close your eyes and breathe slowly and deeply through your nose, down into your abdomen. Hold briefly and then breathe out slowly through your mouth making a small sound as you do. As you breathe out give thanks for the past year, for all your experiences, your joys and pains, the lessons you have been given and the insights you have received.
Breathe in again, drawing in with your breath the green light of healing, deep into your abdomen. As you hold it briefly allow the green light to flow into every cell of your body until your whole body shines with its emerald green glow. Breathe out again, slowly. Sense any negativity you have been holding in the cells of your body, any disharmonies from your past year, flow from you with your breath. Feel your shoulders relax as the weight is taken off them. Feel your body sink into your chair.
Once more breathe in deep into your abdomen this time drawing in the golden light of possibility. Feel it flow freely through you bringing renewed energy to your body, clarity to your mind, and generosity and fulfillment to your heart.
As you slowly release your breath allow the energy of the past year to ride on it. Allow it to float away, knowing that you hold within you all the loving positive energy you have earned in the last twelve months. You will always have the knowledge and insights you have gained.
Take your time and when you feel ready open your eyes and welcome with joy the new energies of the coming year.
Have you ever joined with a circle of women where you take the time and space to connect with your inner knowing? Would you love insights and clear pointers about the direction your life needs to follow right now?
The Red Tent Soul Sister Sanctuary helps to restore balance in your life and nurture your personal spiritual growth, as well as providing you with a deep sense of nourishment to fuel your soul and fill your heart.
If you are in Melbourne this coming weekend this is your opportunity to experience for yourself.
To discover more about the event read on…
With the Winter Solstice just behind us, we journey this month under the Cancer Dark Moon.
The energy of both the Winter Solstice and Cancer is very feminine and enables us to connect strongly and deeply with our innermost feminine intuition. This is our time to seek supportive nurturing, not only for those we cherish and hold, but for ourselves as well.
As we prepare to emerge from the darkness of winter, it is an excellent time to connect with our highest knowing and focus on what we need to nurture and support ourselves, so we then may nurture and support those in our life.
Women instinctively know that gathering with other like-minded women offers enormous psychological and energetic benefits.
The Red Tent Soul Sisters Sanctuary is an opportunity to take time-out from your busy life to reconnect with your inner self, to let your inner child out to play, to share and to be supported in a sisterhood of exchanged knowledge, insights, gifts, wisdom, guided meditation, laughter & art, all within a safe and sacred space, while consciously journeying with the cycles of the moon and universe.
Traditionally the Red Tent was a place where women would gather to tune in to their feminine wisdom and receive insights for themselves, their families and for the greater good of their community. It would take place during the dark moon when the Moon is shadowed from the Sun by the Earth, and when feminine intuition is at its most heightened.
The Cancer Moon
The Cancer moon is ruled by the element of water and is represented by the archetype of the Crab, who shows her hard exterior to the world in order to hide and protect her vulnerability within. This new moon takes us through a concentrated cascade of emotions where trusting and respecting our feelings brings awareness of personal needs.
So come and journey with us, join with a variety of beautiful women of all ages, cultures, and walks of life. This is a time and place where every woman is honoured for her own feminine wisdom and experiences, all of which allow us all the opportunity to learn and grow from each other.
Each RedTent gathering includes a sharing circle, insights for the coming month, guided meditation, setting intentions and a shared supper (or lunch).
You leave feeling deeply soul-nourished and filled with purpose.
WHEN: Saturday 28th June TIME: 11.00am for 11.30 start – 2.00pm COST: $20 WHERE: Indigo Centre for Health & Wellbeing, 563 Whitehorse Rd,. Mitcham Vic 3132
Please bring a small plate of food to share for lunch afterwards
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“Every day, think as you wake up, today I am fortunate to be alive, I have a precious human life, I am not going to waste it. I am going to use all my energies to develop myself, to expand my heart out to others; to achieve enlightenment for the benefit of all beings. I am going to have kind thoughts towards others, I am not going to get angry or think badly about others. I am going to benefit others as much as I can.”
~ Dalai Lama XIV ~
For many people the pursuit of happiness is the main focus of their life. This week what happiness is all about has popped up on my radar in a number of ways.
Apparently, according to the Sydney Morning Herald on May 28th this year, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) says ‘Australia is still the world’s happiest nation’. Their happiness gauge is based on the majority having paid work, the national economy side-stepping the worldwide recession, people working fewer hours, the existence of a stronger sense of community, and that most people said they have more positive experiences than negative in an average day.
But is this how to define happiness? Is happiness all about the economy and what we possess?
According to the Greek philosopher Epicurus external goods such as status and luxury are not good for us, and putting value on them, and pursuing them is not good for us at all.
Epicurus believes we need to abstain from external desire in order to achieve tranquility. He says the path to tranquility is through choosing the simple things in life.
A quick scroll through my Pinterest feed affirms that this is one belief firmly ascribed to by many others today.
“Our prime purpose in this life is to help others. And if you can’t help them, at least don’t hurt them.” ~ Dalai Lama ~
Happiness is Age-Related
Apparently, our level of happiness is age-related as a study by Hannes Schwandt, a research associate at Princeton University shows. People are happiest at the age of 23 and then again at 69 and life slumps for most people in the mid-50’s, when many battle with regret.
Young people in their early twenties feel very optimistic about their future which, while it equates to happiness can easily turn to misery if the expectations and dreams are not met.
Our happiness is age related
So, what is it that makes sixty-nine-year-olds happy? Have they come to terms with their failures?
The research showed that the elderly have lower expectations and so are less disappointed. But is this all? It reminds me a little of Eeyore from Winnie The Pooh who never expected anything good.
Is it that they have stopped seeking happiness in the material world, so they are able to find happiness in other ways?
Focus Affects Happiness
Of course, this piece of research presents a perfect example of what happens when you focus on the past or the future.
The famous quote “carpe diem” may have come from the Roman Horace, but many others, including Epicurus also had something to say about living in the moment. Epicurus advocated living in the present moment as it is the only time at which we have any control. He said that by focusing on the past and future we dis-empower ourselves, but when we focus on the present moment, we re-empower ourselves. This has become a very popular approach. It forms the basis of many Buddhist practices and many of the techniques of modern psychology are also based on this concept.
“Happiness is not something ready-made. It comes from your own actions.” ~ Dalai Lama XIV ~
Internal State Affects Happiness
It is widely accepted that happiness is not to be found in the trappings of the world but as the result of our internal state of mind and approach to life. Happiness lies within. As Elizabeth Gilbert said in her book Eat, Pray, Love, “We search for happiness everywhere, but we are like Tolstoy’s fabled beggar who spent his life sitting on a pot of gold, under him the whole time. Your treasure–your perfection–is within you already. But to claim it, you must leave the busy commotion of the mind and abandon the desires of the ego and enter into the silence of the heart.”
Leave the busy commotion of the mind…and enter into the stillness of the heart
Key to Happiness
However, there is no one thing in life that many agree can be said to be the key to happiness. It seems that many psychologists have given their advice as to what the answer is and there are any number of blogs with lists advising how to achieve a happy life.
Finding happiness seems to boil down to our need to make changes both to the way in which we assess the positive and negative about our life, as well as the attitude we adopt as the purpose of our life.
Greater Purpose
Psychologist Martin Seligman believes the key is to recognize our strengths and virtues and then to use them for a purpose greater than our own. This concept is one that is ascribed to widely.
“One of the best ways to make yourself happy is to make other people happy. One of the best ways to make other people happy is to be happy yourself.” Gretchen Rubin, author of The Happiness Project
The Other Centred Universe
Srikumar Rao, the author of Happiness at Work thinks our biggest obstacle is the belief that we are powerless and the victim of circumstance. He believes that we are the creators of own existence, and that control lies within the attitude with which we approach our work, and by association our life. As he says, “The knowledge we have that we are responsible for living the life we have is our most powerful tool”.
Rao advocates inhabiting the “other-centred universe”. This is a world where our focus lies on others. And is a wisdom that forms an important part of Eastern spirituality. If we are motivated by an attitude of focus that is outside ourselves, of looking for ways to achieve in our life that will be of benefit to others rather than focusing on satisfying our own wants and desires, then we will find happiness in our life.
“Remember that sometimes not getting what you want is a wonderful stroke of luck.” ~ Dalai Lama ~
Happiness Through Health Crisis
For many people a disaster may seem a huge negative in their life but in hindsight, can in fact turn out to be a positive. When serious illness forces someone to stop and let go in order to undergo treatment and healing, they are offered an opportunity to turn their life in a different direction, one that can ultimately lead them to a happier life. Often this is a much simpler life.
Changes are made on many levels. Frequently the person finds they need to address their nutrition and they adopt a natural, wholefood diet, including the discovery of superfoods. The often seek out and adopt practices like meditation that allow them to sit in stillness. They recognize the generosity of others around them and begin to regularly express gratitude for those others as well as for the small, simple joys of everyday life.
Importantly, their approach to their life can undergo a radical change which leaves them focused on the world outside themselves. Leaves them asking what they can do to improve and benefit the world and the individuals around them. It leads to a generous approach to life.
Pursuit of Happiness
So, back to the things that reminded me this week about the purpose of life and the pursuit of happiness.
Firstly my free ‘Kindness Cards’ from the Wake-Up Project arrived in the mail. These are beautiful little cards to leave behind when you anonymously perform a random act of kindness. They tell the person that an act has been performed and invites them to repeat the game with someone else, to pay it forward.
Secondly, I entered a competition on Pinterest to create “My Happiness Board”. I am not sure if entering a competition to win a great prize constitutes the true pursuit of happiness, and it has created some stress for me, however, once the event is over, I will slowly build the board to hopefully inspire others.
Thirdly, I re-read a favourite book in which one oft-quoted line is “it is what it is”. Forget about putting a positive spin on life. Life is what it is. We have to make the best of what it is. It could be better, it could be worse. But it isn’t, it just is.
Happiness Depends on Ourselves
Look for your strengths, the things you may not even recognize, and use those strengths to address ways in which you can make the world a better place. Practice kindness, be generous with what you can offer. Accept what life gifts back to you. When you reach the age of sixty-nine you may very well realize that the lemons of your life were indeed gold. As Aristotle reminds us “Happiness depends on ourselves”.
And lastly, take note of Gretchen Rubins’ advice and try to notice and give credit to others that are living a life focused on giving what they have to offer to others.
“The belief that unhappiness is selfless and happiness is selfish is misguided. It’s more selfless to act happy. It takes energy, generosity, and discipline to be unfailingly lighthearted, yet everyone takes the happy person for granted. No one is careful of his feelings or tries to keep his spirits high. He seems self-sufficient; he becomes a cushion for others. And because happiness seems unforced, that person usually gets no credit.”
~ Gretchen Rubins ~
Disclaimer.
All information and opinions presented here are for information purposes only and are not intended as a substitute for professional advice offered during a consultation. Please consult with your health care provider before following any of the treatment suggested on this site, particularly if you have an ongoing health issue.
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.
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.
