Winds of Change: Four Practices for Inner Peace During These Changing Times

….and in the midst of the chaos, remember what peace there may be in silence….

As we move into our new roles on the earth, change does not seem to be slowing down as we round the corner to the Summer Solstice within the next few months. It seems as though for many of us we are facing hurdle after hurdle, whether it is in our external world or in our internal worlds, so many shifts are happening around us, our heads have been left spinning and ready to rest in a place of peace.

We are craving balance in our lives now like no other time in the past. We know now, we have glimpsed images of who we want to be, we have met, if only fleetingly our highest selves and can not turn back to the life we have held in the past. As we struggle to figure out how this life that we are now living will ever get to a place in which we are truly embracing what it is that we want in life…..we only need to remember four important truths…

1. We are building. Anyone who knows anything about building anything, knows that it can be a messy and time consuming process that ends up costing us a lot more than we planned. My mother is in the middle of remodeling her house; for anyone that has ever gone through the process of building or renovating a home, you know that the process requires complete surrender. The plans that are originally made always go astray and somehow an unexpected bump in the road comes up consistently throughout the project. Know that the process of building our lives is no different. Patience is key with ourselves as we learn to live aligned with our virtues and shape the new worlds we will be living in.

2. We are both the students and the teachers in our own journeys and this role takes power and complete surrender. Remember back to your days as a student. Often, there were ways in which you were being taught that you did not enjoy, you had to learn to surrender to the teacher and the class and just follow your role as a student. As we have moved through our lives we are still in the role of student, still needing to surrender completely to the lessons in life’s classroom. For they are not always presented in the manner that we would like them to. The power however, comes in the discovery that we are also the teachers. Therefore, the lessons that we are learning are lessons that we choose to teach ourselves. Once we are able to realize that every bump in the road is an opportunity that we have created for ourselves to grow and learn, we can then begin to recognize our role as our own greatest teacher.

3. Embracing the unknown is absolutely necessary at this time. As we step further and further into the unknown our discomfort can become unbearable. However, we have chosen to walk in this direction on a subconscious level, knowing that it will bring our soul into the greatest alignment with Source possible. However, it can be the very steps that bring us the greatest growth that are the hardest to bear. Reminding ourselves that we must walk towards the unknown in order to truly rise above all of the ties that have kept us bound in the past is the greatest truth to hold onto at this time. Tell yourself when you wake up in the morning, I don’t know what this day will bring, but I know that as long as I walk in my personal integrity and hold to the highest version of who I know I am, I know that I will be moving in a direction that will help propel me forward in the future to recieveing everything that need to be me in this lifetime!

4. Breathing is our key to releasing everything that we need to let go. I am taking child-birthing classes right now and we are taught right away that breath is one of the most powerful ways to move through pain in the body. When a woman can allow herself to breathe with the pain in her body, to let her breath wash over the pain, and to allow your breath and the pain to become one, a new state of being is arrived at, and the possibility of ecstatic birth is alive. This is founded in the knowledge that a woman’s body is perfect and when we become one with it, birth reaches a place of spiritual perfection that is an ecstatic experience for both the mother and child. Breathing is also a powerful way to release out emotions, allowing the emotions to wash over us, instead of tensing and holding the motion in our bodies is one of the most efficient ways to release emotionally charged situations from our lives. SO with the power to both transform pain and the fear that lies underneath all negative emotions, breathing deeply into your body and releasing that breath into the universe becomes a universal cure that costs no money, requires no tools and can be done anywhere in the world.

And at the end of the day, know that you are indeed moving forward, even if sometimes it feels like a snails pace. Take some time to focus on your accomplishments, on what you have gotten done, for it through our energetic focus in this area of our lives that growth will begin to bloom faster than we can ever imagine in. Take time each day to stop and ask yourself, what have I accomplished today? With this simple shift in focus we can begin to create a blueprint for our perspectives for the upcoming year. For this is the year of the ox, a time of persistence, hard work, and compassion. The sooner we align with these energies, the easier our transition will become, and the faster we will find our external realities becoming aligned with all of the transformation that has taken place on the inside…..

New Year's Insights

Greetings Kindred Spirits!

What a year full of changes it has been for all of us. 2008 was a year of new beginnings for many, some were new beginnings we had been waiting for, other times we found ourselves caught off guard by the changes, and many are still in the middle of the changes that began in 2008. Just because our calendar year changes it does not always mean we truly begin anew in our lives. However, it is always a time for an internal shift, a time to shift our perspectives. And it is often with these internal shifts, that the external shifts that we are waiting for sprout. As we exit one year and move into the next, it is the perfect time to reconnect with our authentic selves and ask the question, “What were my areas of growth in the past year, and where do I feel that I need to concentrate on growing this year?” It is just as important to recognize where we have grown in the past as it is to focus on the future, for it is in the seeds of gratitude for the strength and perseverance that we have had (and this year has brought much of that for us) that the stronger more energetically aligned versions of ourselves are allowed to blossom in the new year.

Many of us have experienced many changes on the home front. We have yet to adjust to these changes yet, and may still be in the middle of adjusting, or finding our place of comfort and security amidst the haze of everything that has occurred in the past months. Fear not, for these changes have been divinely orchestrated and it will only take a shift in perspective to allow things to flow in the New Year. Look ahead to the opportunities that exist and banish worry from your mind this year. Focusing on the future and the good that lies in the situation right now are your greatest allies for change this year.

This will require more silent time. Our minds have been swirling with worries and concerns about what is to come for much of the latter half of 2008. Quieting our minds is ESSENTAIL right now for the new insights to be able to come through. Our inspiration and guidance is at our fingertips, but our minds are cloudy with thoughts….. Finding time to relax our minds, to get away from it all and just listen to the divine silence that is waiting to assist us is so important right now.

Light a candle and allow yourself to fall into the realization that everything is happening exactly as it should be! The questions that are still swirling around concerning home life, professional life and business and personal relationships will all resolve themselves in time. Now is the time to rest our faith in the greater power that we know to be there, it is time to release the worries that have plagued us. Release the stories running through our minds about what is wrong right now and embrace your inner power. This is the time like no other. It is one of the greatest times of awakening of our human spirit that we have seen in hundreds of years, and recognizing that things on the outside have to be this way right now will allow us to flow with more grace and ease into this internal awakening of power.

This is also the year of the Goddess. It is the year to surrender your male energies that led you through 2008, the energies of doing, going, thinking, planning, doing, going, thinking, planning….. We have laid much of the foundation for this year already. Simply paying more careful attention to what we have already done and quietly listening to the voice inside of us is the power that the Goddess brings. It is time for us to nurture ourselves, to take care of our spirits, to nurture our inner selves, for this is where our success will stem from, this is where our futures will be built upon, not upon the outside structures that we once relied upon.

Our current situation is requiring all of us to reach down deep within our hearts and souls and ask what is really important in our lives. What is it that I really want? Where do I really want to live? Who do I really want to be spending my time with? We DO have the ability, more so now than ever, to create the realities that we want to live in. Some of us are almost there, others feel more lost then ever, most of us are somewhere in between. It is our independence that will be the foundation for our success in the future. We no longer need to rely on the old power structures to hold us up, to provide us our paychecks, or put a roof over our heads. Instead, we are moving into a new future, a future in which we will take care of ourselves like no other time in the past. The new smaller communities are beginning to from, reach out to those people that resonate with you, for they may be your new family. These ‘new families’ will serve the same purpose as our old institutions did, they will provide us with a new sense of security, of peace and wellbeing.

Spend this time now reflecting on what it is that you truly want then. Take out that journal that has been left unused and create a vision for 2009 today! There is no time like the present to shape our futures! It is in defining your dreams and aspirations and then asking for spiritual guidance that these same dreams and visions will come into manifestation. Your powers are greater than you realize. We are all undergoing a realigning to spiritual energy this year; it only takes an opening to this possibility in order to truly bring this assistance into your life. Your spiritual guides, angels and universal god and goddess energy are here for you today! We all have the ability to access this spiritual power to improve our lives here, no matter where we are in our spiritual journey, no matter how often we connect to our spiritual center, we are all on a journey of deepening that connection this year.

It is quieting our minds that will bring us closer to this spiritual connection. It is through not only meditation, but regular periods of stillness, turn off the tv, drive without the radio on, spend a night in silence, create a regular night of writing, emptying out your mind, instead of our regular practice of filling it up. We need space between our thoughts to hear from our angels and from God, create that space and watch the magic pour into your life.

Most of all, take time to nurture yourself. Everything will still be waiting there for you when you get back. Create regular time within your days, weeks and months to take a time out and honor the delicate energetic being that you are. We have been going strong for 2008, the Goddess energy that surrounds us in 2009 is an energy that requires softening our approach towards life. It is an energy that requires us to open our hearts and minds to the infinite possibilities that exist for us that we do NOT have to work for. Beautiful synchronicities come into your life when you stop to take a deep breath. If you go on without allowing for that time, you also don’t allow for the magical moments to appear in your life.

Treat yourself with care, slow down, sit in stillness and observe the beautiful garden that you have planted and ALLOW it to blossom. Nurture this garden with delicate love and compassion, do not rush it, for our lives mimic nature, when we try to force things to grow, the only thing that emerges is frustration, when we wait with gratitude in our hearts, the flowering begins… And while you are at it, put some of that love and compassion on your neighbor’s gardens as well. We are all entering a time of great blossoming and growth, helping to fertilize and water the gardens of our neighbors will only enhance the soil that we have planted in as well.

Wishing each and every one of you a month full of surrender, grace and gratitude for what it is that you have in your life right now, for it is truly the time to count our blessings and thank our creator for bringing our souls such life changing experiences and lessons!

From the bottom of my heart,

Aimee

Releasing, Opening to Recieving and Embracing the Light!

There have been many magical forces at work since the summer solstice energies opened us all up in June. We have all been challenged to open up in areas deeper than ever before. Many shifts occurred this summer to help us on our way.

Some of us have been taking everything life has been giving to us, all of the lemons, and have found our own way to create lemonade. However, these glasses of sweet lemon nectar have often been short-lived. We have conquered one obstacle, just to be met with another. It has been time to keep our heads high and know that hope was on the way, it was a time to place all of our faith and trust in our higher power.

There have been many more forces at work underneath the surface, many deeply held patterns and belief systems that we have been faced with changing……and many fears surfacing about how to do it. The last three months have awakened the height of many of our insecurities, insecurities about not being good enough, not being worthy, or not being loveable. We may have faced these fears head on and learned something about ourselves in the process, or hid our heads in the sand.

Whatever the path that this summer has brought you down, know that the months to come will bring the reward for all of your hard work. If you have been hiding under the covers, now is the time to assert yourself. Know as we move further and further along into our own evolution, we will all have to let go of many of the habits, thought patterns, situations and people that have not served our highest good. It may be scary at first to let go of this place of comfort in your life, but know that if you do not let go now, there will only be another cycle for you to learn this lesson in. The wonderful thing about being spiritual beings is that we always have a chance to move forward in the right direction. NO matter how many times we try and fail, we will always be given another chance.

So wherever you are at in your life right now, patiently awaiting the harvest of your efforts, or wondering how you could have spent the past few months with your eyes shut, September will bring renewal. It will bring fresh opportunities for change. So join me in releasing the summer and harnessing the energies of the new moon, join me in ushering in the change we have been waiting for.

This month as we swim in gratitude for the lessons of the past few months and a quiet anticipation of the future, the only place to gain any peace is in the present. Wherever you are resting your head, it is time to come fully into the present moment as we ride the energetic waves ahead.