In the event of loss, setbacks and adversity, it’s easy to lose site of the shore. It takes effort to remain mindful and present to joy when your head is spinning with ‘what if’s’ and ‘if only’s’.
If you’ve found yourself caught in the murky abyss, hold strong. Your first job is only to acknowledge you are there. Tire yourself not with thoughts of how you wound up there and how on Earth you’ll ever get out, simply BE in the abyss and feel all the feels. Honour exactly where you are in this moment.
Trust that you have the power to heal and like anything, this shall pass. Now hand it over to a Higher Power, and let go.
All will be revealed to you in good time if you simply keep faith.
Remember, you are an infinite, unlimited being of light and LOVE. And with love in your heart ANYTHING is possible – even the murkiest of waters can be transcended into crystal clear rivers.
You, my Dear one, are completely unhindered. Place your feet firmly on the earth, arms stretched wide, eyes tilted to the skies, and smile.
Too often we give our power away; to the doctors and professionals, to other people’s experiences who’ve ‘been there and done that’, to our teachers, superiors and peers who claim they ‘know better’.
But within each of us is a sacred, divine wisdom that knows exactly how to live.
We needn’t seek outside for answers and expert advice. If you take the time to listen to your body, your heart and your intuition, then you will be guided each step of the way. The answers you seek will find YOU. Synchronistic events will begin to show up in your world once you connect with your deepest wishes and intentions – each one leading you to precisely where you need to be.
I have found this experience to be true in my own life. Since making a commitment to a natural, drug free birth and pregnancy, I have discovered women who have walked the path I wish to walk, each one empowering me to take my body, baby and birth into my own hands.
The guidance and wisdom I’ve attracted into my world since making this firm decision has been mind blowing.
Whatever you’re experiencing, if you’re feeling confused by the overwhelm of information ‘out there’ – get still. Tune into yourself. Trust yourself. You know exactly how to live.
This week my partner flew to New Zealand to be by his Uncles side as he transitioned from this lifetime.
Losing loved ones is never easy, and being so close to death certainly gives cause for reflection of the important things in life; family, relationships, connection…
Today, take a moment to give thanks for those simple blessings we often take for granted – those things that money can’t buy; air in your lungs to breathe, limbs to move freely, laughter in your heart, the earth beneath your feet, someone to love and to hold…LIFE beautiful pulsating life.
Life can be ever so fleeting. Let us not waste it longing for what we do not have, when we can give thanks for all that is already ours.
Whether we choose fear or we choose love – both are just that; a choice. ‘I believe that every single event in life happens in an opportunity to choose love over fear.’ – Oprah Winfrey
When we live in our shadow; fear, worry, anxiety, disappointment, anger, blame, doubt, resistance and resentment reign. Such reactions to discomfort are a result of social conditioning, past traumas, learned behaviours and the false perceptions of our ego. But in any moment, we can choose to live in our light.
Acceptance, understanding, joy, awareness, trust, surrender and forgiveness are all acts of love. Love has the power to dissolve even the greatest of fears – to illuminate even the darkest recesses of our minds.
Whatever fears are holding you back – choose love. Everything in life has it’s opposite. Even fear serves a purpose – without fear, we could not recognise our ability to emerge from the darkness into the brightness of our very essence.
Today, acknowledge your fears. Make peace with them. And watch how they melt in the light of your love.
I have discovered that whenever my life seems stagnant, stuck or uninspiring – I am usually experiencing some form of resistance. Resistance can signify a crave for change, but it can also indicate a non-acceptance of what is.
I like to think of acceptance as a releasing of the pressure cooker. When we bless and accept our circumstances as they are, suddenly the pressure eases, the tension lifts, and we undergo a shift – a softening of the soul. In letting go of the struggle we place our faith in a Higher consciousness.
It is from this healing place of trust that true transformation occurs.
Today, as you move through your day, notice any resistance that arises. Try to accept the present moment as it is; this is my account balance, this is my work situation, this is my house with the messy floors, this is my relationship status, my weight and my rusty car. This is okay. This is real life. And then surrender. Release all control. Trust that life will undergo a change once you embrace the healing power of acceptance.
Soul Strolls
Since returning from our New Zealand trip, we have been experiencing some extreme temperatures here in Melbourne. My English blood has yet to acclimatise to 40 degree heat, and navigating work and home life in such high temperatures has been a call for me to practice acceptance. Sometimes we just need to slow down, keep cool and honour our body’s need for rest.
My partner and I planned to go away on a camping trip for the long weekend, and true to our style we left it a little late only to discover that most of the camping grounds within a 3 hour radius were already fully booked. Rather than remain disappointed, we planned little dates throughout the weekend to keep cool and enjoy this rare time off together.
I learned to accept that ‘Soul Strolls’ don’t always involve getting outside. Sometimes Soul Strolls include belly laughing at the new Jumanji movie (such a funny film!), dancing to live music, breakfasts at the local cafe and ‘doing’ life with my man by my side. This is a true stroll of the soul.
Soul Food
I’ll admit that cooking isn’t high on my agenda when coping with this heat, and salads have been my saviour! So I am sharing an oldy but a goody that I like to prepare (even in the winter if you are on the other side of the hemisphere!) So call it a ‘Winter’ salad or a ‘Summer’ salad – it’s delicious whatever the season! Enjoy.
Soul Music
I’m loving the track Brighter Days by Hybrid Minds, which reminds us to ‘slow down and take a breath.’ It’s a beautiful, soulful track infused with the gentle sounds of liquid drum and base to ignite the soul. Go on – have a listen!
Soul Brothers
Today I am sharing a short yet powerful post titled, If Only You Did 1 Thing Today by Charles French. I love this simple, yet potent enquiry of the soul.
Whether you are slowing down or gearing up a notch, I wish you all a soulful Sunday free from resistance and struggle. It is sometimes in our chaos, that we discover the magical dance of life.
There are countless scientific studies that prove the mind body connection exists. The mind and body send subtle messages to one another, and when one shows signs of imbalance, the other soon suffers.
This week I was reminded of that truth when I chose to ignore my body’s whispers. What started as a sore throat soon escalated into an infection and a complete loss of my voice. My protests of “…just one more day of work won’t harm…I’ll just go and visit these friends… I’ll be fine…” caused my body to scream. And it worked. I have been silenced into submission. Literally.
For some, however, dismissing the body’s signals results in far worse than a sore throat. Which is why it is vital we listen to it’s subtle cues. Maintaining a healthy mind and body are key to living a wholesome life – you cannot have one without the other. All illness and disease results from resisting the flow of life in some area. Once we recognise this, dis-ease becomes our teacher, pointing the way towards greater healing.
‘When we create peace and harmony and balance in our minds, we will find it in our lives.’
– Louise Hays
In adopting a holistic approach to health and wellness, we begin to heal our lives from the inside out – body, mind and spirit. Where in your life are you experiencing imbalance? Diet? Lifestyle choices? Repetitive thinking and behaviour patterns? What are you holding onto/refusing to let go of?
Today, hear your body’s whispers. It speaks to you of loving truth and wisdom – so listen.
Welcome to my twenty-fifth instalment of ‘Soulful Sundays’. A weekly share where I post a roundup of soulful reflections, each including recipes, songs, quotes, blogs I have read and/or any other inspirational discoveries to sooth the soul.
For me, Sunday’s have become a day of quiet contemplation and simple pleasures. A time to reflect on the week gone by and to consider my hopes and dreams for the week ahead.
My hope is to extend some love outward and to share some simple pleasures with anyone who cares to receive them.
Soul Reflections
I cannot stress enough the importance of beginning each new day afresh. Yesterday has been and gone. We cannot undo what has already been done, but we can bless yesterdays lessons with love, and embrace the joy of a new day.
When we drag our past forward into the present, we feel heavy with yesterday’s sorrows. After a while, the accumulation of upsets becomes too burdensome to bear. We must be willing to let go of the notion that things could have been any different. Accept that things were precisely as they needed to be, for those were the lessons we needed to acquire in order to move forward.
Let go. Free yourself from yesterdays sorrows and release the past. Don’t hold yourself hostage to it for a moment longer. Know that you did the best you could with the knowledge you had in that moment, and the same is true of others. Forgive and move on. Today is a new day, with fresh hopes, dreams and joys waiting to be discovered.
Soul Strolls
Since moving house recently, I have yet to discover a local park that is large enough to enjoy a good stroll. The hunt will continue. In the meantime, I took to the streets, but there is beauty to be discovered all around if our eyes are open to it. I captured these cute we flowers in someone’s front garden. Pretty and pink, to brighten these darker evenings in Melbourne.
Soul Food
I have been under the weather lately, and am in need of comforting foods which offer a good source of nutrients to support my health. So I am sharing this delicious Peppermint Chocolate Mousse by one of my favourite health and wellness bloggers, Alice at The Whole Daily. I use DoTerra Essential oils for their therapeutic, organic healing qualities.. This mousse can also be made using orange essential oils! Yum!
Soul Music
Today I am sharing James Bay’s – Let It Go. A gentle reminder to let things go, to let them be and to leave everything that’s broken to the breeze.
Soul Sisters
I am sharing Nina’s post How Did You Live Today? A gentle reminder to live each day to the fullest. To embrace the moment and to not allow another day to go by wasted. Thank you Nina for the reminder.
Life is too short to dwell in the past. So today, let go.
As we approach the close of 2016, we reach a stage when self-reflection is inevitable, especially if we are to live a life of purpose and peaceful fulfillment. And we can start with the essential vibe of love.
Have we loved enough; ourselves as well as others? Who have we taken for granted? Are there any unhealed hurts left unresolved? Is there someone we have neglected or forgotten to express our love and appreciation for? Let us not be idle in thinking that they already know.
When I lost my Dad without warning, there were a million things left unsaid. Expressions of love and gratitude I assumed he knew and never had the chance to say to him. Don’t let yourself be that person who only knows the depth of your love at the hour of separation.
Here’s my wish for myself and you in 2017… Let us express more love; may we appreciate those we often take for granted; let us forgive easily and love passionately; may we live a life free from regrets; may love flow easily and often.
There are times when our hearts become closed. Just like tender skin that has come into contact with a hot stove; we contract and recoil from the pain. Our body’s defence mechanisms are designed to protect us from further discomfort; if we fail to withdraw, we risk severe burns, or worse still – death. Our natural reaction, therefore, is to retreat.
But what happens when we remain constricted, when we close our hearts through fear of ‘getting burnt’? When we build a wall of protection around us, we cut off the natural flow of love. Not only do we prevent ourselves from giving love, but we also restrict our ability to receive love. What is called for is not complete constriction, but caution; which is simply another word for ‘attention’, or ‘awareness’.
Just as the stove does not purposely set out to burn our skin, it is not usually another’s intent to inflict harm upon us (with the rare exception under extreme circumstances, of course). But more often than not, we get hurt because there was some degree of carelessness involved. Our own carelessness or that of another. Maybe the heat was turned too high and the pot had reached boiling point? Could it be that we rushed in impatiently, or approached at the wrong angle? Maybe we neglected the stove completely and a fire broke lose? Whatever our reasons for getting burnt, regardless of who was to blame, the affects need not result in the permanent closing down of our kitchens. And the same is true of our hearts.
When we remain open, we choose expansion over constriction. The doors are set ajar for love to drift through once more, filling our hearts with the sweet aroma and comfort of joy. To close our hearts is to take a pillow to our souls and smother our very essence. At the core we are love. And to restrict that life force within us is a slow death for fettered hearts. That is not to say that if you are dealing with a hazardous or faulty stove that you shouldn’t replace it, because your safety and wellbeing is paramount. But what I am saying, is that there is no need to stop cooking, to stop loving, to shut up shop and starve.
It is ok to allow ourselves to be vulnerable. We need only exercise more care and attention, that’s all. But what if I am hopeless in the kitchen? – you may ask. As a child raised on boxed food and packet noodles in working class Tameside, I reply: cooking takes practice and patience. We don’t always get it right. Sometimes it leaves our kitchens in complete disarray, or an unpleasant taste in our mouths which can linger – but when we do manage to create something wonderful, nothing compares to the pleasure and comfort of a sumptuous home cooked meal, prepared with tender loving care.
Those are the ones that warm our hearts, soothe our souls and ‘light the whole sky.’ That, my Dear, is a love that tastes simply divine.
So many of us struggle to let go of grievances; she did this; he said that; she didn’t do this; he failed to say that. We hold grudges, turning a blind eye to the affects our deep-rooted resentments have on our lives and the lives of those around us. We justify our unhappiness and hold others accountable for the way we feel; if only he’d change, if only she hadn’t treated me that way, if only my circumstances were different – then my life would be so much happier. But when we view life through the lens of non-forgiveness – we give our power away. We become powerless.
Here, I tell the true story of a brave woman named Satta Joe; a story of immense courage and forgiveness. Satta lived in Sierra Leone during the civil war, a time of great upheaval and uncertainty. When the rebels attacked Satta’s village, she became the victim of gang rape. Her husband was shot dead and her seven year old son slaughtered before her very eyes. Curled up in a broken heap on the floor with her newborn child, Satta was left for dead.
The man who had led the attack was Nyuma Saffa, a blood relative of Satta’s who had once tried to force his love upon her. Fueled by his grievance over Satta’s rejection and by his new allegiance to the rebels, he unleashed his attack upon Satta and her family.
Once the civil war had ended, the rebels returned to live in the village. Satta recalls feeling powerless: This was very hard for me, but what was I to do? And that’s when Fambul Tok (Family Talk) arrived, a community led reconciliation program. They called for a meeting in the village and asked for those who had experienced suffering during the war to speak up. Satta bravely stepped forward and told her story. Fambul Tok then asked that Nyuma Saffa come forward to admit his crimes against Satta and her family. Finally, he confessed.
As part of the reconciliation ritual, Satta and Nyuma were asked to dance together as a way of forgiving the past. Understandably, Satta refused. She couldn’t bear the thought of holding Nyuma’s hands – the same hands that had raped her and killed her family. Though, after much encouragement – she bravely accepted. Satta states: As I took his hand I was sobbing, not out of despair but a sense of relief that perhaps now we could move on from this terrible pain in our past. I didn’t expect it, but they succeeded in making peace between us.
Satta Joe is one of many heroic people who, under horrific and seemingly unforgivable circumstances, have chosen the path of peace.
Forgiveness does not mean that what the other person did was ok. Forgiveness is choosing to shift our focus from one of pain, to peace. We forgive because we want to feel good. And holding onto resentment prevents us from feeling any peace within ourselves. It prevents us from moving forward.
If Satta Joe can forgive this man for inflicting terrible crimes against her and her family; if she can choose peace over pain and sorrow; forgiveness over bitterness and revenge – then isn’t it time we all cleared the floor and danced?
Dear Dad 