3 Signs That You Are a Lightworker

  "A lightworker is anyone who devotes their life to being a bright life in the world." 
 ~ Rebecca Campbell, Light is the New Black

     You may have heard the terms HSP (highly sensitive person), empath, and lightworker and wondered what they mean. Although individuals often have these three traits together, they each mean something different. An HSP is usually an introvert, and is highly sensitive to sensory stimuli. An empath, though also sensitive, can be either an introvert or an extrovert, and has the distinction of absorbing the negative emotions of others.

     Lightworkers are often empathic, but not all empaths are lightworkers. The difference is this: An empath is sensitive to the emotions of others, and feel those emotions as if they were their own, while a lightworker is sensitive to energies and feels a calling to heal. Most empaths have a lightworker life purpose that involves healing others, but not all.

     Here are 3 distinct signs common to lightworkers:

1. Loss and upheaval.  Many lightworkers have experienced harsh childhoods, challenging life circumstances and abusive experiences that serve as a catalyst for their own awakening, ascension and healing. This upheaval can involve the loss of a job, loss of a relationship, loss of one's health, or some other life crisis.

2. Sensitive to energies.  Lightworkers often have psychic or intuitive experiences with instances of premonition. These can come in the form of visions (clairvoyance), auditory experiences (clairaudience), gut feelings (clairsentience), or "knowings" (claircognizance). These experiences often include instances of serendipity, synchronicity and "coincidences." Consciously or not, lightworkers can read and sense energy.

3. Affinity for healing. Lightworkers feel a calling to heal, whether that is healing of social or environmental problems, healing of animals, or healing of people. This can take the form of hands on healing, writing, teaching, counseling, creating music or art, or engaging in advocacy. Whether this affinity for healing is through the use of the hands, words,  voice, or the energy imbued in a work of art or a piece of music -- if it is done with the intention of healing for the highest good, it becomes a force for healing. This calling to heal begins with self healing, because in order for a lightworker to help others heal, they must heal themselves first.

     We live in an upside-down world where most people operate from the smallest, most fearful part of themselves, rather than their true source of power, health and happiness - their higher self. Lightworkers are here to heal this imbalance in the world. But when you are completely surrounded by people who value material over spiritual, it's easy to get lost and forget your life mission.  Lightworkers need to come together to support one another.

   For more about discovering your purpose, click HERE 

     For more energy healing solutions for sensitives and creatives, subscribe to this blog and go to my website to subscribe to my newsletter and receive a FREE recording "3 Keys to Removing the Blocks to Getting What You Want in Life" and a power-packed Energy Medicine Resource Bundle with handouts for my most effective energy healing skills! While you are there, check out my award-winning books, oracle cards and guided meditations that can teach you everything you need to know to live a healing way of life and awaken your greater health!

   Thank you for supporting this blog by using the amazon link embedded in this article for ANY purchase.  Your support is greatly appreciated! 

How To Be Happy!

     "The key to being happy is knowing you have the power to choose what to accept and what to let go."   ~ Dodinsky, In the Garden of Thoughts

  Happiness is not a destination or an event. Happiness is a moment to moment choice. We become happy by choosing happy. Let me explain...

Exercising Your Power

   Each moment of your life you have the power to decide what you want to pay attention to. And what you focus on grows.  When you focus on thoughts that make you happy, you create heaven on Earth, moment to moment. When you focus on thoughts that make you feel bad, you create hell on Earth, moment to moment.

  You do not have to police your thoughts or fight your thoughts! You don't have to argue with the inner voices that say bad things to you and make you feel less than. You don't have to believe these thoughts or act on them.

   Every moment of your life you have an opportunity to exercise your power, or to give away your power - simply by making a choice about what you focus on.

    There is some truth to the classic image of an angel on one shoulder and demon on the other.  This represents your higher self and your lower self. Your higher self is the high vibrational part of you that is mature, wise, generous, loving, expansive and empowered. And your lower self is the low vibration part of you that is childish, fearful, doubtful, rigid, reactive and powerless. Listening to your higher self creates happiness. Listening to your lower self creates unhappiness.

Who do you listen to?

     When your inner lower-self voice says you don't deserve happiness, you don't have to agree with it. Observe it in a neutral state and then engage your higher self by focusing on some quality that you admire in yourself. And then feel that admiration and deservedness.

     Even though I have an inner voice that says I don't deserve happiness, I am lovable and acceptable exactly as I am and I am willing to focus on my admirable qualities. 

    When the inner lower-self voice says it's hopeless, you don't have to give your power to it by saying yes to that thought. Observe it in a neutral state of emotion, and then engage your higher self by focusing on what gives you a feeling of hope.

     Even though I have an inner voice that says it's hopeless, I am lovable and acceptable exactly as I am. I choose happiness by being willing to focus on what gives me a feeling of hope. 

   When the inner lower-self voice says it's too hard to be happy, you don't have to fight against it, argue with it, or say yes to it. That just makes it grow! Observe it in neutrality, and then engage your higher self by focusing on an area in your life where you have a feeling of ease.

     Even though I have an inner voice that says it's too hard, I am lovable and acceptable exactly as I am, and I choose happiness by being willing to focus on what gives me a feeling of ease.

Grow it or Shrink it...It's Your Choice

    When you consistently choose happiness, eventually your inner "doubting Thomas" will fade away and be barely a murmur.  Your "inner demon" will become smaller and smaller.  Disempower your inner abuser by withdrawing your energy from it. You get to decide what you want to make smaller, and what you want to make bigger. And you make that decision each moment by choosing what you focus your energy on, and what you withdraw energy from.

     Have you ever seen a toddler have a temper tantrum? When you withdraw your focus from the tantrum, guess what happens? It stops on its own! If you feed the tantrum energy by focusing on it and trying to make it stop, it explodes! When my daughter had tantrums, I would move her to the next room,  give her permission to scream and yell and kick as much as she wanted, and then close the door to give her privacy for her expression. But without an audience to focus on her tantrum and feed it energy, she no longer cared about making a fuss. Yep, you can even shrink a tantrum.

     Now that you know how to grow happiness and shrink doubt, what else would you like to grow in your inner garden? Joy? Peace?

      For more energy healing solutions for sensitive and creative women, subscribe to this blog and go to my website to subscribe to my newsletter and receive a FREE recording "3 Keys to Removing the Blocks to Getting What You Want in Life" and a power-packed Energy Medicine Resource Bundle with handouts for my most effective energy healing skills! While you are there, check out my award-winning books and programs that can teach you everything you need to know to live a healing way of life and awaken your greater health.

   Thank you for supporting this blog by using the amazon link embedded in this article for ANY purchase.  Your support is greatly appreciated! 

Awaken Your Greater Health Wins 2017 NYC Big Book Award

     "It is books that are the key to the wide world; if you can't do anything else, read all that you can." 
~ Jane Hamilton, A Map of the World    

     Awaken Your Greater Health: How Energy Medicine Opens the Way to Healing by Heidi DuPree, RN, CTN has been named Winner in the Alternative Medicine category of the 2017 New York City Big Book Award®. Published in 2015, Awaken Your Greater Health has won numerous book awards in Health & Wellness, Spirituality, and Alternative Medicine, including a 2015 Nautilus Book Award, a 2016 Readers' Favorite Book Award, and a 2017 John E Weaver Excellent Reads Book Award.

    Awaken Your Greater Health is the road map to guide you out of the turmoil to where greater energies can rule your life. Through practical information on energy medicine and true-life stories of transformation, you will learn how to clear the way to your "inner castle" - the sanctuary within you where power, health and happiness come from!

     The NYC Big Book Award® is for independent authors and publishers, as well as big and small presses. Books are judged by experts from different aspects of the book industry, including publishers, writers, editors, book cover designers and professional copywriters. The winners were chosen based on presentation, editorial quality, audience appeal and overall excellence. "We want to help find the audiences these books were made for; and to celebrate the printed book in the town which makes authors superstars," said awards sponsor Gabrielle Olczak.

      Heidi DuPree is an award-winning author, holistic nurse, Certified Traditional Naturopath, and transformational entrepreneur with a deep appreciation of nature, a passion for knowledge and a mission to challenge how we think of medicine. She is the founder of the DuPree School of Energypathy Healing®, an online school that offers courses to sensitives and creatives who wish to master their energy, and programs leading to certification in Energypathy Healing®.

      Thank you for supporting this blog by using the amazon link embedded in this article for ANY purchase. Your support is greatly appreciated! 

Why it's Important to Listen to Your Intuition

     "Trusting your inner wisdom and taking action helps to strengthen your intuition muscle." 
~ Sheree Franklin, Intuition: The Hidden Asset Everyone Should Learn How to Use

     Many of the clients I have worked with are afraid to trust their intuition. They fear that the intuitive messages they receive are just a bunch of "hot air." Or they think their intuition is just blowing smoke up their...well, you get the idea. It's important to know that doubts and fears about intuition are coming from the lower self.

Fear....or Love

     The lower self is the part of you that operates on fear. It is your child self and as such is small-minded, unaware and unconscious. The lower self is associated with low energetic frequency and compromised health.

     Your higher self is your direct connection to Spirit. It is the part of you that operates on love. It is wise, mature, aware, conscious and open-minded. The higher self is associated with high energetic frequency and greater health. Your higher self, in the form of intuition, will never steer your wrong.

Hard...or Easeful

    Your intuition is the voice of the Divine speaking to you through your higher self. If you listen to the fear and doubt of your lower self instead of listening to your intuition, you end up going in a direction not fully aligned with your highest good. Following your lower self will require a course correction down the road, sometimes painfully.  So you can go easy, or you can go hard.  Because listening to your intuition brings ease to your life!

It's All Good!

     Even though listening to your lower self can make your life more difficult, this does NOT imply that your lower self is "bad" or "wrong!"  Even if you listen to your lower self and head in a direction that's not in your highest good, it's not a "wrong" direction or a "mistake." It is the lower self that labels things as "bad" and "wrong!"  So you see -- you can't make a mistake! Choosing to listen to your lower self and going in a direction of life difficulty is just part of your growth process.  It's ALL GOOD!  Ironically, we may need these growth experiences to learn how to trust our intuition.

    Now you know WHY to trust your intuition. To learn more about HOW to trust your intuition, click HERE.

                   WATCH THE VIDEO VERSION OF THIS ARTICLE HERE

     For more energy healing solutions for sensitive and creative women, subscribe to this blog and go to my website to subscribe to my newsletter and receive a FREE recording "3 Keys to Removing the Blocks to Getting What You Want in Life" and a power-packed Energy Medicine Resource Bundle with handouts for my most effective energy healing skills! While you are there, check out my award-winning books and programs that can teach you everything you need to know to live a healing way of life and awaken your greater health.

   Thank you for supporting this blog by using the amazon link embedded in this article for ANY purchase.  Your support is greatly appreciated! 

Two Energy Medicine Books Win John E Weaver Excellent Reads Book Awards

      "Whenever you read a good book, somewhere in the world a door opens to allow in more light." 
~ Vera Nazarian, Dreams of the Compass Rose

     The Other Medicine That Really Works: How Energy Medicine Can Help You Heal in Body, Mind and Spirit by Heidi DuPree, RN, CTN has been named winner in the 2017 John E Weaver Excellent Reads Book Awards in the Alternative Medicine category.  Published in 2013, The Other Medicine That Really Works has won numerous book awards, including a 2016 Readers' Favorite Book Award. The Other Medicine That Really Works is a comprehensive guide to a healing way of life.  See the trailer below:

     Awaken Your Greater Health: How Energy Medicine Can Open the Way to Healing by Heidi DuPree, RN, CTN has been named winner in the 2017 John E Weaver Excellent Reads Book Awards in the Wellness category. Published in 2015, Awaken Your Greater Health has also won numerous book awards in Alternative Medicine, Spirituality, and Health and Wellness, including a 2015 Nautilus Book Award and a 2017 Independent Press Award. Awaken Your Greater Health is a road map for discovering your true source of power, health and happiness. See the trailer below:

    The Excellent Reads Book Award was created to honor John E Weaver, an avid reader and book promoter who passed away in 2016. According to Earthshine Media Group, "He loved discovering great books and authors, and sharing them with his friends. In keeping with John's tradition, we are looking for great books that we can rave about."

     Although I am very grateful to Earthshine Media Group, the judges, and the late John E Weaver for this honor, I cannot in good faith recommend this business to other authors due to their unresponsiveness. Although it took seven months of inquiries to receive a digital award seal, I am happy to report that the situation finally did resolve.
                                                   

      Heidi DuPree is an award-winning author, holistic nurse, Certified Traditional Naturopath and transformational entrepreneur with a deep appreciation of nature, a passion for knowledge and a mission to challenge how we think of medicine. She is the founder of the DuPree School of Energypathy Healing®, an online school that offers courses to sensitives who wish to master their energy, and programs leading to certification in Energypathy Healing®.

      Thank you for supporting this blog by using the amazon link embedded in this article for ANY purchase. Your support is greatly appreciated! 

How to Find Your Path in Life

     "Inevitably, we must make our own path rather than someone else's."   
                ~ Joseph Campbell, The Hero With a Thousand Faces

     "Like all great teachers, the best gurus guide their students to the point where they are no longer needed."   ~ Philip Goldberg, American Veda

    I have noticed that in leadership, marketing and business practices, there seems to be a "playbook" from which advice is dispensed. This formulaic, "outside-in" approach is based on what has worked for others. But the emphasis on sales, measurable outcomes, or return on investment does not work for highly sensitive women or spiritual entrepreneurs who are here to serve the highest good. Because the advice given is presented as THE way, rather than helping the individual find their way.

    If you are unsure of your path or purpose in life, you may look for help and advice from someone who has been successful on their path.  But ultimately, you have to find your way, not someone else's way. This is because what works for others may not work for you.

     We are each unique individuals, and no one on this planet can fulfill your unique life path but you.  It can be helpful to hear about the experiences of others and receive their advice -- as long as their guidance is coming from their higher self.

Lower Self vs Higher Self Advice

    The lower self is the part of us that is:

• rigid 
• controlling
• fearful
• attached to outcomes
• narrow-minded 
• opinionated
• defensive 

     A friend or leader who is operating from their lower self may attempt to narrowly define your path with a message like: "Here's how it worked for me, so this is the way to do it."  Lower-self advisors may also insist that you follow their way, or encourage you to depend on them to show you the way.

     You don't have to define your path in life by what other people do, or how they do it. You aren't limited by what others have done. It does not invalidate your chosen path for someone to choose differently. Nor does it invalidate their path for you to choose differently.

    There is nothing "wrong" or "bad" about the lower self. It is simply an energy state that is not effective in finding your path in life.

   The higher self is the part of us that is:

• expansive
• flexible
• respectful
• accepting
• detached from outcomes
• open-minded
• compassionate 
• wise     

    A friend or leader who is operating from their higher self has no attachment to, nor any opinion about, your choices. Their objective is to help you find your path by advising you to connect to your own higher self. A higher-self mentor will suggest you focus inside you, because that is the way we grow - from the inside out.  A higher-self friend or leader will ultimately guide you to no longer need their help.

    The higher self is not "right" or "good."  It is simply an energy state that is effective in finding your path in life.

     How can you tell the difference between lower self and higher self advice? You can discern the difference by paying attention to your energy.

Using Energy Discernment 

     Energy discernment is the use of your energy systems for decision making. You have everything you need within you to know what's right for you.

     If following someone else's path and/or advice makes you feel...

• less than, or bad about yourself
• confused and doubtful 
• tense 
• constricted
• pressured 
• anxious
• disharmonious

...it is coming from the lower self. You can simply say "thank you for the advice" or, "I'll take that into consideration." And then when you have a moment to check in with how that advice makes you feel, make your decision based on that.

     Listen to how it makes YOU feel, not whether you will hurt the other person's feelings if you don't follow their advice.  Doing so feeds their lower self, which is not in your highest good or their's.

     If following someone else's path and/or advice makes you feel...

• a deep sense of knowing, or wisdom
• uplifted and inspired
• joyful
• expansive
• relaxed
• harmonious

...then you know that it is coming from the higher self and is a vibrational match for your unique path!  Follow this direction, looking for more matches that lead you along your unique life path.

                           WATCH THE VIDEO VERSION OF THIS ARTICLE HERE. 

     For more energy healing solutions for sensitive and creative women, subscribe to this blog and go to my website to subscribe to my newsletter and receive a FREE recording "3 Keys to Removing the Blocks to Getting What You Want in Life" and a power-packed Energy Medicine Resource Bundle with handouts for my most effective energy healing skills! While you are there, check out my award-winning books and programs that can teach you everything you need to know to live a healing way of life and awaken your greater health.

 Thank you for supporting this blog by using the amazon links embedded in this article for ANY purchase.  Your support is greatly appreciated! 

Understanding Loss and The Handless Maiden

   "As she completes one round of descent and transformation, she plunges into yet another. All this descending and loss and finding and strengthening portrays a woman's lifelong initiation into the renewal of the wild." ~ Clarissa Pinkola Estes, PhD, Women Who Run With the Wolves: Myths and Stories of the Wild Woman Archetype

     I wrote this article because I wanted to share a very important message that may be underlying any loss and upheaval you may be going through. It's a message of transforming suffering into blessings, abandonment into abundance, and betrayal into upgrade.  I'll start with a story....

    Although I initially "woke up" in the early 1990s, awakening is a lifelong process with stages that don't necessarily occur in a linear fashion. When I say "woke up," I mean I became aware that my identity had been built on illusions and false beliefs about myself as a victim unworthy of love and acceptance. Like a house built of cards, those illusions came crashing down so many years ago.  In 2016 I entered another stage of awakening when I completely changed the way I work.

    For over 20 years I had worked with my hands in an energy healing practice. Almost overnight, I had a deep knowing that I would no longer work with my hands, but would be working with energy online. This was not a conscious decision. It was as if I was being carried through this change by a force greater than myself.

     Perhaps you've made a change in your life that involved ending something that didn't really make sense to anyone, maybe not even to yourself.  Perhaps you couldn't really justify the change in practical terms, but you just knew you had to do it, even if it involved a loss to yourself and others.

The Initiation

      For a healer to stop working with her hands didn't make much sense to me either. Touching transmits energy and is an important aspect of healing. I am not suggesting that a healing practice that includes touching is better or lesser than a healing practice that transmits energy in ways that do not include touching. This article isn't about making such comparisons. Rather, it is about exploring the awakening process. In 2016 Spirit made it known that there were other plans for my life and I was simply responding to the call.

    Something surprising happened when I made this change and started sensing and transmitting energy to individuals online. I felt suddenly free from limitations. No longer was I limited to sensing energy with my hands, or dependent on my hands. Nor was I limited to working with people within geographic traveling distance of my office. I have always used all my senses to track energy, not just tactile, but having the tactile removed expanded my other senses.

     I still felt all the same things in my body as when my hands were on a client. My hands would feel warm,  I could feel energy moving through my body, and their pain would register in my own systems. But it wasn't until recently, when I picked up a copy of Women Who Run With the Wolves: Myths and Stories of the Wild Woman Archetype by Clarissa Pinkola Estes, PhD that I began to understand the transition that I had made. As I glanced at the table of contents, my eyes were immediately drawn to the last story in the book --  the tale of The Handless Maiden. 

The Handless Maiden Myth

     The Handless Maiden is a story told in varying versions in cultures throughout the world and throughout history. The maiden allows her father to cut off her hands to thwart the devil over a deal the father had unwittingly made to hand over his daughter. This mutilation initiates her descent into the underworld, or spiritual world. I immediately recognized the symbol in my own life. I had willingly cut off my healer hands. Like the handless maiden, I had traded my physical hands for spirit hands.

     In the Inuit tradition, the motif of the Handless Maiden is conveyed through the legend of the goddess Sedna. Sedna is tricked into marrying an evil bird disguised as a man who promises to abundantly provide for her. But once he takes her to an isolated island, she discovers he can only provide enough for her to survive. Eventually her father rescues her, but fearing the stormy seas will capsize the kayak, he throws Sedna overboard. Sedna clings to the side of the kayak, refusing to let go. To save himself, Sedna's father cuts off all her fingers.

     The sense of safety we are searching for is not in external circumstances. It is an inner state.  The abundance we search for may appear to come from the material world, but it is spirit that provides. If we look for abundance in the material world, we become "tricked" into an illusion.

     When Sedna's father cuts off her fingers, she can no longer keep her grip on the material world.  She had no choice but to surrender to the spirit world, depicted in the myth as her sinking to the bottom of the sea.

     When we've lost it all and our hands surrender their grasp of the illusion of the material world, we "descend into the underworld" like Sedna. This is a shamanic phrase that can be translated as entering the spiritual realm through the deeper self. From the icy depths, the spirit of Sedna became a symbol of endless prosperity, the wellspring of energy that awaits all of us when we connect with the spirit world.

Emergence of the Exiled Feminine

    There is a large minor planet at the coldest and farthest edge of our solar system named after Sedna. Planet Sedna is so far removed from Earth in her 11,000 year orbit that she was not discovered until November 2003, and then not announced to the public until March 2004.

    The astrology of planet Sedna represents the emergence of the exiled, suppressed feminine. As Sedna was revealed in our solar system, the exiled divine feminine has come to the forefront of our collective consciousness. I am seeing the influence of her "medicine" in my life and those I work with.

     On the surface, what looks like loss and betrayal is an initiation of the journey to our soul.  There is something much deeper at work in our lives whether we are willingly letting go, or having loss seemingly imposed upon us.

      If you feel drawn to end patterns in your life - whether that is a job, a relationship, a living situation, an illness, a belief...  - know that the spirit of Sedna may be at work in your life as well.  Loss can actually be the first step of an initiatory process of turning suffering into blessing, by helping you connect to an endless abundance of energy, health, and love.

                          WATCH THE VIDEO VERSION OF THIS ARTICLE HERE. 

     For more energy healing solutions for sensitive and creative women, subscribe to this blog and go to my website to subscribe to my newsletter and receive a FREE recording "3 Keys to Removing the Blocks to Getting What You Want in Life" and a power-packed Energy Medicine Resource Bundle with handouts for my most effective energy healing skills! While you are there, check out my award-winning books and energy healing online courses that can teach you everything you need to know to live a healing way of life and awaken your greater health.


   Thank you for supporting this blog by using the amazon links embedded in this article for ANY purchase.  Your support is greatly appreciated! 

Healing Charlottesville

    "The healing of our inner and outer relationships, and with it our full manifestation potential to unfold can only happen if both our Masculine and Feminine Spirit are healed within."
  ~ Jona Brandis

     "The blessing of letting go is creating and holding sacred space for healing." 
  ~ Debra L Reble, PhD, Soul-Hearted Partnership

     My husband and I met and fell in love in Charlottesville, Virginia nearly 40 years ago. We were two souls magnetically drawn to each other by our matching wounds.  For me, it was a deep wound of my feminine, the result of childhood sexual abuse. For him, it was a deep wound of his masculine from childhood medical trauma. We both have PTSD. And for all our adult lives we have taken turns holding the space for each other to heal.

     Today I realized that we are not just healing our own divine feminine and divine masculine. What we have carried is far beyond our own pain. What we are holding space for is not just for ourselves, but for the collective wounds of the feminine and masculine.

     How ironic that the beautiful city where we found love was the site of shocking violence and hate: Where a hate-filled man took the life of a peace-filled woman.

     I don't profess to know what it is like to be a man (or a woman) so angry and filled with hate as to join a hate group.  I don't profess to know what is it like to be a person of color, a Jew, a Muslim, a member of the LGBTQ community, or any other minority in the United States who fear for their lives. And because I do not know these things I have been silent and reluctant to have a voice on what is happening in my country, even when clients ask for my opinion.

    This is what I DO know. I know what it is like to be human and to be deeply wounded. And I know what it is like to heal from those wounds.  And so that is what I can offer to heal our inner Charlottesville.

    This is what heals: LOVE

• Love the part of you that feels outraged, horrified, terrified and in grief
• Love the part of you that feels hopeless and has lost faith
• Love the part of you that is wounded
• Love your feminine and love your masculine
• Love the part of you that wants to hide
• Love the part of you that feels hatred toward those who spread hate

    Shine your light. Open your heart. Spread your love. Be a source of peace in this world.

  For more energy healing solutions for sensitive and creative women, subscribe to this blog and go to my website to subscribe to my newsletter and receive a FREE recording "3 Keys to Removing the Blocks to Getting What You Want in Life" and a power-packed Energy Medicine Resource Bundle with handouts for my most effective energy healing skills! While you are there, check out my award-winning books and energy healing online courses that can teach you everything you need to know to live a healing way of life and awaken your greater health.

   Thank you for supporting this blog by using the amazon link embedded in this article for ANY purchase.  Your support is greatly appreciated! 

How to Use the Power of Intention

   "Every intention sets energy into motion, whether you are conscious of it or not." ~ Gary Zukav,  The Seat of the Soul 

  On my birthday 4 months ago, I wrote about a ritual planting of thousands of marigold seeds harvested from seed pods I had gathered the previous fall. I planted them with a lot of intention, as they represented the seeds of my birthday wishes. Four months later, I have noticed something very interesting...

    In the area where I planted the seeds, the plants have grown full and mature, and are already beginning to produce seeds.

   But the excess plants that I transplanted to other areas of the yard have barely grown in 4 months:

     As I sat in my garden today, my bare feet on the ground in my daily Earthing practice, I puzzled over this difference. The plants all have similar soil conditions. And many have similar sunlight conditions.  Some of the stunted transplants are only a few feet away from the area where I planted the seeds and the marigolds are thriving! What could account for the difference?

The Power of Intention

      When I planted those Marigold seeds 4 months ago, I was in a state of setting intention for my new year. I was chanting my birthday wishes and affirmations. Doing so made my body feel buzzy with energy.  My hands were warm with the flow of energy as I manually mixed the seeds into potting soil, and when I scooped up handfuls of the soil and seed mixture and scattered them throughout the planting area.  My bare feet tingled as I stood on the ground during this process.

     As I did this ritual planting, I was filled with gratitude...  Gratitude for all the blessings in my life and all the blessings I knew would be coming.

     Your birthday is your personal new year's day, and on my birthday I was filled with excitement for my new year. As I scattered the seeds, I visualized my heart's desires and felt the feeling of them coming true, as if it were already so.

     Perhaps the flowers are not only being fed nutrients from the soil and energy from the sun, but also energy that I infused in the ground where I planted the seeds.  Can the expanded state of energy that the power of intention creates really affect the rate of growth of a plant?

     Many years ago I worked with a shaman-priestess.  She worked out of an office in her home, which was located in a row of townhouses.  In front of the townhouses were a row of trees. The tree directly in front of her house was twice the size of any of the other trees, even though they had all been planted at the same time. This was a woman who lived her life with daily intention and guided others to do the same. Each time I came to her home for a session, I noticed the size difference in the trees. The tree seemed to thrive in the positive energy field around that home!

      If the energy of intention can affect the rate of growth of plants that dramatically, imagine what it can do for your life! Energy follows intention, and the state of your energy determines the state of your health, relationships and career. When you set intentions for your highest good, your higher self guides your life. Click HERE for more about how to set intentions.

    Next year I plan on using intention with all my plantings in all areas of my yard. It will be interesting to see how that affects the rate of growth!

     For more energy healing solutions for sensitives and creatives, subscribe to this blog and go to my website to subscribe to my newsletter and receive a FREE recording "3 Keys to Removing the Blocks to Getting What You Want in Life" and a power-packed Energy Medicine Resource Bundle with handouts for my most effective energy healing skills! While you are there, check out my award-winning books, oracle cards and guided meditations that can teach you everything you need to know to live a healing way of life and awaken your greater health!


     Thank you for supporting this blog by using the amazon link embedded in this article for ANY purchase.  Your support is greatly appreciated! 

Why You Shouldn't Even Try to Fit In

     "It's not only OK to be different, it's awesome and admirable and courageous and heroic. It's your differentness that is your destiny and your happiness, and your differentness is what makes the world more interesting." ~ Bill Klein, Life is Short 

     I'm writing this to tell you that... you don't have to fit in.  In fact, you shouldn't even try to fit in.  Because when you try to fit in, you cease to be YOU. You become some version of yourself. You become out-of-sync with your spirit. You create disharmony in your energy systems. And that disharmony affects your health. Because the state of your energy is a direct determinant of your health and happiness.

     You do NOT have to...

• ... be someone you aren't so people will like you or accept you.  
• ... pretend to like what other people like.  
• ... go along with the status quo. 
• ... avoid rocking the boat.   
• ...desensitize yourself to live in an insensitive world.
• ...turn off your intuitive gifts to adapt to a harsh environment.
• ...grind down your square peg to fit in a round hole!  
• ... dim your colorful, magnificent self.  
• ... make yourself small and invisible to avoid being criticized.

Health Consequences

       The bottom line is this - trying to fit in can have a negative effect on your health, and over time this effect can be significant.  I've worked with people who were literally dying because they were living in complete opposition to who they really are. Once they stopped trying to fit in, their health was restored.

     If it is in your highest good, DO the following:

• Rock the boat!
• Determine your own value!
• Be the square peg!
• Be "big" if that is your true self!
• Allow yourself to be visible and seen! 
• Be your vibrant, unique, authentic self!

    If you are an empath or a lightworker, click HERE for tips on keeping your energy open and clear.

     
      For more energy healing solutions for sensitive and creative women, subscribe to this blog and go to my website to subscribe to my newsletter and receive a FREE recording "3 Keys to Removing the Blocks to Getting What You Want in Life" and a power-packed Energy Medicine Resource Bundle with handouts for my most effective energy healing skills! While you are there, check out my award-winning books and energy healing online courses that can teach you everything you need to know to live a healing way of life and awaken your greater health.

     Thank you for supporting this blog by using the amazon link embedded in this article for ANY purchase.  Your support is greatly appreciated! 

How to Stay Conscious and Aware

     "The readiness to initiate the journey cannot be forced, nor can people be faulted if it has not occurred in them as yet. The level of consciousness has to have advanced to the stage where such an intention would be meaningful and attractive." ~ David Hawkins, MD, PhD, The Eye of the I 

      I usually give my clients some "homework" to work on in between appointments.  But for some, the homework is "forgotten" before they can even do it. They have every intention of doing it, but as soon as their session is over, the homework is out of their awareness, appointment after appointment. Sometimes we are so good at going unconscious and moving things out of our awareness, we aren't even aware that we are doing it!

You Aren't Being "Lazy" or "Forgetful" 

     If you are unable to stay conscious enough to make positive changes in your life, believe me - you have a good reason for doing so - even if you are unaware of what that reason is. You may start your day with the intention to stay conscious of what you are eating, or conscious of your breathing. Before you know it, its evening and you barely remember what you ate all day. Was it healthy? Was it too much? Was your breathing restricted?

     In my work, I have noted a direct correlation between trauma and unconsciousness. The more traumatized someone has been in the past, the higher the level of unconsciousness in the present.  For example, if you lost all your possessions as a child, you may find it very difficult to stay aware and conscious about reducing the clutter that you have accumulated (to unconsciously replace your lost possessions).  Or if you've been traumatized by a physically painful health condition, especially in childhood, you may find it difficult to stay aware of your body in the present moment. Or if your attachment to your parents as a child was insecure and you turned to food for love, you may find it difficult to stay aware of your eating patterns.

     We all have a tendency to avoid pain of all types. Especially the pain of shame. Shame is the lowest possible vibrational state. As such it is a very uncomfortable state to be in. We will do almost anything to avoid feeling shame - including becoming unconscious and numb.  And its often at the root of current avoidance.  Although the examples above were caused by past trauma, the bottom line is they all felt shame - one about their clutter, one about their body, and one about their excess weight. We can also feel shame about being unable to stay conscious.

     In order to discover why you are going unconscious, the critical factor is trust. 

The Importance of Trust

   You will not discover why you are going unconscious unless you trust yourself. If there's a possibility that you are going to judge yourself for not remembering, or for not doing your deep breathing, or for not following your eating program, or for not working on clearing your clutter - the reason will stay hidden. That part of you will go mute, just like a frightened child who is afraid to open her mouth and confess to judging parents. What this part of you needs is unconditional love and acceptance not judgment. 

    Here is an affirmation that can help you trust yourself:

     Even though I have judged myself for doing _______ in the past, I love, accept, and forgive myself - completely and deeply. 

External Reminders

     Its certainly OK to use external reminders of your goals while you are working on loving and accepting yourself, and building trust in yourself. Once the new behaviors become habit, you can remove these external reminders.

• Set up a reminder alarm on your phone with a gentle ring tone 
• Put up signs around your home or in your car, like "BREATHE!" 
• Write yourself reminder emails through one of the free online email reminder services

                         VIEW THE VIDEO VERSION OF THIS POST HERE.

      For more energy healing solutions for sensitive and creative women, subscribe to this blog and go to my website to subscribe to my newsletter and receive a FREE recording "3 Keys to Removing the Blocks to Getting What You Want in Life" and a power-packed Energy Medicine Resource Bundle with handouts for my most effective energy healing skills! While you are there, check out my award-winning books and energy healing online courses that can teach you everything you need to know to live a healing way of life and awaken your greater health.


     Thank you for supporting this blog by using the amazon link embedded in this article for ANY purchase.  Your support is greatly appreciated! 

4 Steps to Setting Intentions

     "Our intention creates our reality."  ~ Dr. Wayne Dyer, The Power of Intention 

     A client recently asked me "What does it mean to set an intention?"  Excellent question! You may have heard the phrase "set an intention" and wondered what it really means, why it is important, and how you do it!

Being Clear

     Moment to moment, it's important to be clear about what your intention is in your actions and words. Because if you aren't conscious about your intention, your intentions are usually unconscious and feeding your lower self.  This is also known as having a "hidden agenda."

   It is important to be conscious of your intention, because energy follows intention. The lower self state of being is associated with compromised health, ineffectiveness and disempowerment.   The higher self state of being is associated with enhanced health, effectiveness, and empowerment.  So if you want to live an effective, healthy life - shine a light on your intentions and agendas! And then set your intentions from the heart for the highest good.

Hidden Agendas

     The area where I most frequently see hidden agendas at work regard actions that are meant to be "helpful." Here are some phrases I've heard that contain a hidden agenda.  I've included the unspoken, hidden agenda in parenthesis:

• I'm only trying to help (myself)
• I'm doing this for your own (my) good
• This is the way I did it, so you should do it this way too (and feed my ego!)

     Are any of these statements truly from the heart and for the highest good?  NO!  In each case, the "helpful" person is actually making it about themselves and being defensive.  Defensiveness is a red flag indicator of the lower self.  I'm sure that making helpful actions about self wasn't the conscious intention, but that's the point! When you aren't conscious about what your intention is,  your lower self takes over!  If you truly want to be helpful, it should be about what the other person needs, not about what YOU want to give.

The Lower Self

    We make things about ourselves when we live in a lower self state.  In that state we feel powerless and will make attempts to feel more powerful.  But the power you seek comes from living from your heart - your higher self for your highest good.  

    I share this information with no judgment!  Judgment is also a red flag indicator of the lower self. The purpose of this article is to increase awareness, not to make you feel guilty or ashamed for your words or actions.

    If you recognize yourself in this article, and feel guilty or ashamed, let's stop for a moment. Take a deep breath, and say this: Even though I may have been making helping others about myself, and that realization makes me feel guilty or ashamed,  I love, accept and forgive myself.  I now choose to offer my help to others for the highest good of all.  Now let it go.

     Guess what?!  If you said that affirmation, you just set an intention!  It's that simple. You just stepped into your true power!

The Four Steps

    Setting an intention is:

1. Bringing your words and actions into the light to see the truth 
2. Acknowledging your feelings
3. Accepting and forgiving yourself
4. Making a choice for the highest good

   The first 3 steps are how to get clear about your intentions.  The 4th step, making a choice, is setting a conscious intention.

     You can see examples of hidden agendas every day in the media. You can see political leaders who say they represent the people, but whose decisions actually represent themselves. You can see people who say they care, but their actions are very uncaring. Yet the world is changing, and it begins with each of us becoming conscious of our intentions.  Don't underestimate the power of one person raising their consciousness.

     Click HERE for a story about the surprising power of intention!

                           VIEW THE VIDEO VERSION OF THIS ARTICLE HERE.

      For more energy healing solutions for sensitive and creative women, subscribe to this blog and go to my website to subscribe to my newsletter and receive a FREE recording "3 Keys to Removing the Blocks to Getting What You Want in Life" and a power-packed Energy Medicine Resource Bundle with handouts for my most effective energy healing skills! While you are there, check out my award-winning books and energy healing online courses that can teach you everything you need to know to live a healing way of life and awaken your greater health.


     Thank you for supporting this blog by using the amazon link embedded in this article for ANY purchase.  Your support is greatly appreciated! 

4 Signs That Your Anxiety Isn't Yours

   "Anxiety is conductive. It wants to travel from one person to another person." ~ Mike Monteiro, Design is a Job

      If you are a highly sensitive person, likely you experience anxiety.  But sometimes the anxiety you feel isn't even yours!  How is that possible?  Anxiety can be "contagious."  Just as anxious dogs have anxious owners, and anxious children often have anxious parents, anxiety can be "catching" - especially if you are empathic.

    Empathic persons are like sponges who can take on anxiety from situations and people they don't even have direct contact with.  It can happen just by feeling sorry for someone, talking to them on the phone, or watching events on the news that are impacting people in a negative way.  To find out if you are an empath, click HERE.

    If can be difficult to recognize when anxiety isn't yours, given that it feels the same as your own! But there are signs that can help you determine the difference.

     When anxiety isn't yours:

1. You feel a generalized sense of anxiety, but can't identify the cause.  
2. Your anxiety seems out of proportion to what you are currently experiencing in your life. 
3. You go to sleep feeling peaceful but wake up shaking and anxious
4. You become suddenly anxious around certain people

 

 Let's take a closer look at these signs. 

Generalized, Out-of-Proportion Anxiety 

     Some empathic people pick up on anxiety related to current events, especially when large numbers of people are having a fearful response. Highly sensitive people can feel general unrest and angst amongst the population, which can make them feel uneasy and unsettled without understanding why.

     If people can have that much of a negative influence on you, just imagine the positive influence you can have on them if you choose an empowered response!  In Power Vs Force, David R. Hawkins, M.D., Ph.D estimated that one empowered person could counterbalance the energy of 90,000 disempowered individuals!

     Before I get into more about that,  let's look at the other signs that anxiety isn't yours.

Nighttime Anxiety

     Some of the clients I have worked with have told me they sometimes awake during the night with their body shaking and their heart racing.  I've had this experience as well.  It can be ascension symptoms (more about that HERE)  Or it may be that they have absorbed the anxiety of others.  When we are asleep, we are in a right brain dominant state that gives us greater access to the collective consciousness, and collective emotional states, including anxiety.

     I have clients who become anxious during the night while sleeping at hotels, because they are unconsciously tapping into the anxiety of others asleep in the building. Or they may have anxiety at home, picking it up from family members asleep in other rooms, or in the same room.

Anxiety Around Certain People

     If you feel anxious when you are around certain people, and then the anxiety dissipates when you are away from them, this is a sign that the anxiety you feel is theirs, not yours.  You can especially feel the difference if you are away from them for a period of time,  as this time apart allows their anxiety to dissipate from your system.  When the anxiety reappears again with contact with this person - whether that is in-person contact, phone contact, or thought contact -  it becomes clear that it's not yours.

     This effect can happen with people you don't even know.  For example, you get on an elevator with a stranger and suddenly feel anxious.  When you get off the elevator, the anxiety may linger for a while, but eventually dissipates.

An Empowered Response

    Anxiety that isn't yours will eventually clear on its own.  But you can move it along faster, and help others in the process!  It's important to understand that it doesn't serve others to take on their anxiety. Doing so can become debilitating and interfere with you actualizing your life purpose. And if you are a empathic person, you likely have a very important lightworker life purpose!

     Now that you know the signs that your anxiety isn't yours, here's how you can serve others in a way that is in your highest good and theirs. By saying this powerful affirmation:

     "If it is in the best interests of ______, please remove their fear and suffering. If it is in my highest good, please clear all my energy centers, meridians and energy field of anything dark, heavy, toxic or disruptive that doesn't serve me and doesn't belong to me. Please cut any dysfunctional cords between me and _____ that cause me to take on their anxiety, and fill us both with self-knowledge, self-love, divine light and spiritual power." 

     Then take a deep breath and let it go.

                            WATCH THE VIDEO VERSION OF THIS ARTICLE HERE. 

      

      For more energy healing solutions for sensitives and creatives, subscribe to this blog and go to my website to subscribe to my newsletter and receive a FREE recording "3 Keys to Removing the Blocks to Getting What You Want in Life" and a power-packed Energy Medicine Resource Bundle with handouts for my most effective energy healing skills! While you are there, check out my award-winning books, oracle cards and guided meditations that can teach you everything you need to know to live a healing way of life and awaken your greater health! 

     Thank you for supporting this blog by using the amazon link embedded in this article for ANY purchase.  Your support is greatly appreciated! 

How to Release the Fear of Letting Go

     "Sometimes letting things go is an act of far greater power than defending or hanging on."
~ Eckhart Tolle, The Power of Now  

     Many years ago, my family briefly had a pet cockatiel named Angel.  He was named Angel because of his beautiful white plumage.  But Angel was no angel!  He started out as a pet belonging to a friend. But Angel did not get along with my friend's other cockatiels. He was a bit of a bully! When my daughter expressed interest in having a cockatiel, my friend happily gave him to us.

     It was agreed that Angel should stay in my daughter's bedroom, next to her 2 parakeets.  This arrangement worked well for a few months.  But when the parakeets died, Angel was alone in my daughter's room while she was in school. We became concerned about his isolation and moved him to the family room.  However, the family cats agitated him. And his daily periods of loud screeching were disruptive to the household.  Even my daughter agreed that it wasn't working out.  But she was very reluctant to let him go, for fear that she would never see him again.

Restoring Flow

     When we are in fear, we are in our lower self. Our lower self experiences life as "not enough" because when we are in our lower self, our energy state is disrupted and feels not enough.  In a state of "not enough" we don't trust in the flow of life.  We fear that if we let go, we'll be left with nothing.  In this state of not enough, our energy isn't flowing and we aren't experiencing the flow of abundance.

     One exercise I use to restore energy flow I call "release-receive breathing." Spend ten minutes in slow, deep breathing while focusing on releasing what no longer serves you with each exhale, and focusing on receiving with each inhale.

     Here are some examples of what you could say out loud or silently with each exhale:

• I release fear
• I release stagnation
• I release lack
• I release mistrust
• I release control

    Here are some examples of what you could say out loud, or silently to yourself with each inhale:

• I receive love
• I receive energy
• I receive abundance
• I receive trust
• I receive support

     This is a slow, rhythmic exercise that re-establishes your natural energy flow and builds your trust in the flow of life.

A Loving Solution for Angel

     I had no idea how I would rehome Angel in a way that was acceptable.  I didn't want to just give him away to anyone.  I finally let go of the situation and asked that a solution present itself. And the solution came right through my front door!

     I held Girl Scout meetings in my home and the girls all admired Angel.  One of the mothers took a special interest in him. As the meeting was breaking up, she asked me a lot of questions about what was involved in owning a cockatiel. She was looking for a pet for her son with special needs. And it had to be a pet without fur due to allergies in the household. She wanted to know how much it cost to own a cockatiel, and how much the cage, toys and food cost, as she was on a tight budget.

     It suddenly occurred to me that this was the perfect solution for Angel.  He and his paraphernalia  could go to a loving family where he could be outside of his cage and not be bothered by cats; a family who might not have been able to afford a pet otherwise; a home where he would help a little boy with special needs.  And my daughter could still visit Angel.

     It was a win-win situation for us, Angel, and his new owners. And it was a solution I did not have to seek.  I only had to receive.

     My daughter did visit Angel in his new home.  And he remembered her, gently rubbing his beak against her cheek while making contented clucking sounds. Once she saw how happy he was in his new home, she trusted that we had made the right decision.

     I recently ran into this Girl Scout mother and she said Angel is still alive and well, albeit with some arthritis in his claws.  It's as if Angel was always meant for them and we were simply the vehicle to get him there.

                        WATCH THE VIDEO VERSION OF THIS BLOG POST HERE.

      For more energy healing solutions for sensitive and creative women, subscribe to this blog and go to my website to subscribe to my newsletter and receive a FREE recording "3 Keys to Removing the Blocks to Getting What You Want in Life" and a power-packed Energy Medicine Resource Bundle with handouts for my most effective energy healing skills! While you are there, check out my award-winning books and energy healing online courses that can teach you everything you need to know to live a healing way of life and awaken your greater health.

     Thank you for supporting this blog by using the amazon link embedded in this article for ANY purchase.  Your support is greatly appreciated!