About Sandra Brossman

Sandra Brossman is the author of 'The Power of Oneness, Live the Life You Choose™', and a spiritual counselor, holistic healer, life skills mentor, teacher, and business consultant. She has dedicated her life to the transformation of individuals in both their personal and professional lives.

Peace Begins Within

 

A man in a grassy field with the sun shining on him in a meditation pose

© AlenD/shutterstock.com

 

Most of us would admit that we long to live in a world of peace.  Yet all we need to do to become aware of the hostility, violence, and turmoil within our physical world is to focus on the news and to give most of our attention to the people and situations within our lives that are causing the most disruption. The truth is that if we truly want to experience peace, we need to stop looking for it to appear in our exterior world and begin to create it within our own personal lives.

 

The emphasis is on the word create because peace is a sense of well being that originates from the inside, beginning with the intention of the heart. If we are “looking” for it, we will not be able to find it because peace is not a place that we can find outside of ourselves.  The condition of our physical world is a giant mirror reflecting back to us the collective thoughts of every person who is part of our earth family. Since thought is creative, whatever we focus on expands. Therefore, what we are seeing in the non-peaceful aspects of our world is an indication that a large portion of our human society is predominantly focused on judgment, violence, greed, and crime.

 

We can point a finger of blame wherever and to whomever we want, but it does not change the truth that each one of us has played a part in creating the condition of the world in which we live.  Perhaps it has been in seemingly minor, passive ways, such as getting caught up in the turmoil and conflict of the world by watching and listening to endless news reports of violence and acts of desecration. Or, it could be as intensively aggressive as being a perpetrator in a massive heinous crime.  Judging who is “most wrong” renders us powerless and only creates more separation and discord between us and within our lives.

 

We can only change the quality of our collective personal reality by taking personal responsibility for the part we have each played in creating it. Since all change begins at the level of self, when we change our individual lives, the world around us changes as well. To create peace within your own life, try some of these basic ideas. You will be amazed at your power to create peace within your own life.

 

Meditate – Create a space of at least 20 minutes every day to sit in a place of peace and quiet.  Your meditation can be as simple as sitting on your sofa and focusing on your breath.  The importance of this cannot be overstated, for it is within the silence that you can remember your mind and body connection with Spirit.

 

Pray – Ask for divine guidance as to how you can best bring peace to the world; envision what a peaceful world looks like. Most importantly, imagine the feeling of peace within your own heart.

 

Forgive –  Let go of the need to be right.  All conflicts, whether it be in personal relationships or between countries, originate from the perception that one party is “right” and the other is “wrong.”  Would you rather be right or do you prefer peace? (You may find it helpful to read my blog on Forgiveness, April 23, 2013.)

 

Live Consciously – Align your thoughts, words, and actions with the spiritual values of love, respect, peace, and cooperation.  This requires diligent practice and is the most effective way to live a peaceful life. Be mindful of what you feed your mind – stop watching violent entertainment shows and videos and modify the amount of time you spend following the news. There is a difference between being informed and immersing yourself in the fear consciousness of the world.  Instead, spend more time reading, watching, and listening to information that inspires you and nourishes your soul. What you put into your mind is what it feeds back to you.

 

Commune with Nature – Spend more time outdoors in the beauty of nature.  Nature innately regenerates your body, mind, and soul and balances your energy.

 

Even though the status of the world may seem overwhelming and out of our personal control, we each have the power to contribute to world peace. It begins with our personal lives, starting in this present moment.  Every person makes an enormous difference in creating harmony within the world.  Like a drop of water, every single thought we have ripples out into the massive sea of the collective thoughts of all humanity.

 

By choosing thoughts of love, we automatically unite with other like-minded souls in forming a field of energy that has the infinite power to exponentially create a world of peace.

 

Love and Light,

 

Sandra

 

 

Sandra Brossman is the author of The Power of Oneness, Live the Life You Choose and the featured presenter in Live the Life You Choose DVD.  To learn more about how you can align your life with spiritual truth, order the book or DVD box set at  http://www.thepowerofoneness.com/products/

 

Greeting the New Year With Hope!

This is an image of a diverse group of hands holding up colorful letters that spell HOPE.

© rawpixel/shutterstock.com

 

The three most important words that most of us have heard from our early experiences in church or school were faith, hope and love. Isn’t it interesting that faith and love are in the present tense and can be felt and experienced by others, as well as yourself, in the moment.

 

Webster defines faith as “a strong belief or trust in someone or something;” and love as “a feeling of warm personal attachment or deep affection, as for a parent, child, or friend.”‎

 

Hope, however, does not typically generate as strong an emotional response as either of these words because it does not create an emotional experience today. It is a feeling or a mindful wish for tomorrow or some point in the future. That point in the future is most likely a goal or vision we have set for an outcome that we desire.

 

So what is hope?

 

Wikipedia says that hope is: “an optimistic attitude of mind based on an expectation of positive outcomes related to events and circumstances.” Hope, therefore, is the internal wish or, as some would say, a prayer for something to occur.

 

We, as a country, hope for peace and the end of wars. We, as a family, hope for unconditional love and support. We, as individuals, are always hoping for a better life filled with the qualities of health, joy, and prosperity.

In a physical world that is filled with crime, poverty, war, and disease, it is easy to get caught up in the fear of what we see and to lose hope for a better world.  Let us never underestimate the power of hope. Hope gives us the ability to endure hardships while working toward a positive outcome. When we have hope, we can experience all the difficulties that life has thrown in our way, and we can climb out of the depths of despair to achieve our goals and to realize our dreams.

 

As we look forward to a successful and pleasant 2015, it is important that we continue to remember that our hopes and dreams are the inspirational fuel that ignites our passion to create a physical world that reflects our eternal connection with Universal Love.  When we have hope, we persist in focusing on the light even in the darkness, and anything is possible.  In the words of Samuel Smiles, “Hope is like the sun, which, as we journey toward it, casts the shadow of our burden behind us”.

 

May this year be your best year ever!

 

 

Love and Light,

 

Sandra

 

 

Sandra Brossman is the author of The Power of Oneness, Live the Life You Choose and the featured presenter in Live the Life You Choose DVD.  To learn more about how you can align your life with spiritual truth, order the book or DVD box set at  http://www.thepowerofoneness.com/products/

The Ultimate New Year’s Gift: Self-Love

This is the image of a chalk board with the text, "I Love Me" written

© YuryZap/shutterstock.com

New Year’s is the time of year for reflection and for making life changing decisions that bring about improvements in your life.

 

Many of us spend the first day of the year living in regrets for things not done and focusing on unfulfilled dreams.  Dwelling on the past is likely to cause you to feel powerless and judgmental about yourself.  More importantly, dwelling on mistakes of the past deprives you of focusing on the golden opportunities of the present.

 

This year, vow to give yourself the ultimate gift – self-love.  Self-love is not about narcissism, vanity, and ignoring the needs of others.  Self-love is about being kind, respectful, and forgiving of yourself.

 

Where do you start? Grab a pen and tablet!  Doing the following four very simple exercises will help you to start your New Year in a wonderful, healthy self-loving way:

 

  1. Make a list of everything for which you are thankful.  Gratitude opens the soul to acknowledging the many blessings you already have.  This is not just the “big stuff,” like getting a promotion.  It also includes the basics we take for granted, like having food, water, and a warm place to call home.  We tend to forget how many people in the world do not even have the basics to survive in life.

 

  1. Write down 10 of the biggest “mistakes” you think you have made over the past year.  Take a deep breath, close your eyes, and one-by-one, forgive yourself.  Honestly, it is as simple as saying, “I did the best I could with what I knew at the time – I forgive myself NOW.”  This is perhaps the most healing thing we can ever do for ourselves because we free ourselves to move into present time, where all new possibilities exist!

 

  1. Write down at least 10 major lessons you learned from the “10 biggest mistakes” (item 2) –  Success is so much more than the absence of failure.  It is about learning and growing from every experience we have – both “good” and “bad.”

 

  1. Write down 10 things you choose to accomplish this year.  Be sure to begin each statement with “I am (the ultimate words of creation), state it in the positive, and say it as though it already is accomplished, i.e. “I am increasingly treating myself with love and respect, and I am attracting people who love and respect me in all my relationships.”

 

It is never too late to bring in the change that you have always wanted to see around you. Let this New Year be the one that will see you being at the forefront of introducing new ideas and new concepts to make the world a better and safer place.

 

Happy, Healthy New Year!

 

Sandra

 

 

Sandra Brossman is the author of The Power of Oneness, Live the Life You Choose and the featured presenter in Live the Life You Choose DVD.  To learn more about how you can align your life with spiritual truth, order the book or DVD box set at  http://www.thepowerofoneness.com/products/

 

The Healing Power of Human Touch

 

This is an image of two toddlers hugging each other.

© Nina Buday/shutterstock.com

 

We live in an age where technology can connect us with almost anyone anywhere, all in a matter of seconds, through texting, email, Facebook, Twitter, and Skype. Through social media, we now have the capacity to almost instantly message out updates of our lives, pictures of family and friends, opinions about people, political viewpoints, birth notices, death notices, jokes, and even pictures of what we have had for dessert. Technically speaking, we have never been more connected. . . . . or NOT!

 

Paradoxically, in the midst of all this instantaneous communication, enormous numbers of people are feeling desperately lonely. So what is missing? Perhaps we have become so preoccupied with living in our heads, that we are becoming disconnected from our body-mind connection. Indeed, in many ways, we are becoming a human-touch-deprived society.

 

Human touch is as vital to our health and happiness as food or water. From the time we are born to the time of our death, we crave human touch. Touch is a means of communication that is so critical that research shows that infants deprived of direct human contact grow slowly and even die.

 

Even as we grow into adulthood, scientific studies have proven that touching someone in a caring nurturing way has the capacity to help the body in many ways, such as:

 

• Decrease stress and anxiety
• Strengthen your immune system
• Lower blood pressure
• Increase endorphin levels (your feel-good hormones)
• Help you to sleep better

 

Beyond the obvious positive effects on our body, human touch also creates the ability to restore our minds and bodies with our spiritual connection. When we physically touch someone in a kind, loving way we are doing something which technology cannot do – we are communicating our feelings of love and acceptance at a level that is far deeper than words. Gently rubbing someone’s back, giving a hug, holding someone’s hand, and even a pat on the back can go a long way in nourishing that person’s soul, as well as your own; for when you touch another person in a kind way, you are blessed in return. Touch transmits love, and love has the power to heal everyone and everything.

 

The next time you feel lonely or in need of physical and emotional reassurance, find a person or an animal you care about and give them a hug! The power to heal another is literally at our fingertips!

 

Love and Light

 

Sandra

 

 

Sandra Brossman is the author of The Power of Oneness, Live the Life You Choose and the featured presenter in Live the Life You Choose DVD.  To learn more about how you can align your life with spiritual truth, order the book or DVD box set at  http://www.thepowerofoneness.com/products/

 

How Can We Create A Physical World of Unconditional Love?

This is an image of a blue cloudy ski with the word VISION spelled out in the clouds

© phloxii/shutterstock.com

We came to this magnificent earth to experience our true spiritual nature by using our creative energy to manifest unconditional love into physical form. As we each become whole within ourselves, we have the strength to remember our connection with each other, and we experience Oneness.

 

Oneness is our spiritual connection with everyone and everything through the energy of universal love. The qualities of Oneness are love, health, peace, joy, and abundance. Because we are each created in the energy of unconditional love, it is divine will that we experience the qualities of Oneness in our lives.

 

Each of us has the awesome ability to consciously and actively participate in the co-creation of a kinder, more enlightened world through the practice of vision prayers. Visions are mental pictures, inspired by the soul, clarifying what we want to experience in our lives. Prayer is the energetic bridge that links our visions to universal spirit. When our vision prayers coincide with universal truth, absolutely everything and anything is possible because we are living in concert with the laws of nature.

 

When I completed the book, “The Power of Oneness, Live the Life You Choose,” I was spiritually guided with the words for A Vision of Oneness. Because this prayer is based on the spiritual truth of our unity, it resonates at an extremely high frequency and has the creative potential to manifest quickly and in ways that far transcend our human understanding.

 

The following is an explanation of why each word is so powerful:

 

I AM at one with The Source of Light and Ultimate Expression of Universal Love.

 

We instantly elevate our vibration by beginning our prayers with I AM, the most powerful two words known to man because they are the essence of ultimate creative energy. We are affirming our direct and personal connection with the unified field of love and intelligence and are embracing our power to co-create with Creative Source.

 

I AM an open, active channel receiving and expressing unconditional love.

 

When we align the will of our minds and the actions of our bodies to coincide with divine will, we are exalting our minds and bodies to resonate with the infinitely higher vibration of Spirit, which clears the path for the energy of universal love to flow to and from us.

 

I AM thankful for all that is.

 

The resonance of gratitude also raises our vibration and increases our capacity to receive. We can certainly express our thanks for specific things; however, when we are also thankful for everything that exists, we honor the divinity in every person we meet, every challenge we encounter, and every situation we experience, whether it has been pleasant or not. When we do this, we broaden our perceptions to accommodate an even greater flow of blessings because we recognize the blessings in all that we see and experience.

 

I see myself joyfully experiencing peace within, health at all levels of my being, and abundance in all forms that are in my greatest good.

 

We connect our visions with the universal field of unconditional love and infinite potential by declaring what we want to experience in our lives as though it is already in existence. We can see it with our mind’s eye and declare it through words. What matters most is that we affirm the qualities of life we truly want to experience and feel it within our hearts as though it has already been accomplished.

 

I see my personal healing contributing to a World of Unconditional Love, Harmony, Wholeness, Abundance, and Joy.

 

Each one of us affects all of us. As we heal our own individual lives, we can honor our personal responsibility to contribute to a world in which we can all experience the qualities of Oneness by expanding our personal visions to a larger world view.

 

I surrender this vision to the unconditional love of the Universe.

 

Between our physical reality and our visions of new possibilities is a space in which we need to surrender our personal will. When we surrender, we let go of our ego’s need to control the outcomes, and we place the masterminding of how our prayers are answered into the hands of universal intelligence. When we surrender a prayer to the love of the universe, we are acknowledging the infinite wisdom of Spirit to provide resolutions that far surpass our grandest human plans because they are answered in ways that are for the good of the whole.

 

I know this prayer is being answered in ways that are for the greatest good of all.

 

This is the faith part of our prayer and the point at which our limiting belief systems many times start to creep in. We often question the power of our human spirit to create with divine energy. Pure faith transcends believing or understanding – it is KNOWING that our prayers are always answered, even if we cannot see it with our physical eyes. When we expect positive outcomes, we are acknowledging that our prayer has been heard and is accomplished according to divine will. Interestingly, the word “expect” is derived from the Latin words ex (from) and pector (heart). It is the nature of the Universe to work in concert with the desires of the heart.

 

Amen.

 

This is the part of the prayer where we release our intentions to the Universe. The sound of “Amen” is extremely significant: “Aaah” is the sound of creation and breath, and “om” is the sound of manifestation (bringing energy into physical form). Saying this prayer at least once a day has phenomenal potential to heal your life and to bless the world. Since our thoughts create our reality, one can only imagine the infinite transformational energy that can be generated by the majority of our world population uniting with each other in this vision prayer for global spiritual healing! We have the power to bring heaven to earth!

 

Love and Light

 

Sandra

 

 

Sandra Brossman is the author of The Power of Oneness, Live the Life You Choose.  To learn more about how you can align your life with spiritual truth, order the book at http://www.thepowerofoneness.com/products/ 

 

How Would You Change Your Life Now If You Knew You Had Only One More Year To Live?

This is a gold image telling you to change your life now.

© oleschwander/shutterstock.com

 

We all know that no one is going to live in this lifetime forever.  Sooner or later, we all need to face that, for better or worse, our lives here on earth will inevitably come to an end.  It’s kind of like the “pink elephant in the room” expression indicating that we are sometimes uncomfortable discussing the obvious.

 

Ironically, we tend to become most clear about what really matters in life at the end of our lives, not when we are born.  It really is a paradox:  Although we have to live life going forward, we can best understand life by looking back.  This fact is evident in that many people, when nearing death, are gifted with a phenomenal clairvoyant retroactive vision in which they totally comprehend the parts of life which were most important to them.

 

So how about if we reverse the sequence and tap into the wisdom that people have shared at the end of their lives and use these insights to guide us to live our lives to the fullest in present time?

 

Bronnie Ware is an Australian nurse who spent several years working in palliative care, caring for patients in the last 12 weeks of their lives. She recorded their dying epiphanies in a blog called Inspiration and Chai.

 

“When questioned about any regrets they had or anything they would do differently,” she says, “common themes surfaced again and again.”

Here are the top five regrets of the dying, as witnessed by Ware:

The most common of all was:

 

1. I wish I had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the one others expected of me. Most had not honored even half of their dreams. She found that they went to their death realizing that this was a choice they had made, and they deeply regretted having never really lived their dreams, or even part of them.

 

2. I wish that I hadn’t worked so hard. This came from many male patients she had nursed. They regretted missing their children growing up and the companionship of their spouse or partner. She primarily worked with elderly men because this generation didn’t have as many women who were breadwinners. All of the men deeply regretted spending so much time “on the treadmill” of work and giving in to the drive to get ahead. As I suspected, no one ever said on their death bed, “I only wish I had worked harder.”

 

3. I wish I had the courage to express my feelings. Many had repressed their own feelings to keep the peace, either with a spouse or family members. As a result, they settled for a mediocre life and didn’t realize their own potential. She said many had developed illnesses related to carrying the resentment and bitterness for so many years.

 

4. I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends. They would realize, too late, the importance of close friendships and in the last stages of life didn’t have the time to track them down to tell them how sorry they were. They were caught up in their own lives and let important friendships slip and realized too late how deeply they regretted this. She observed that love and relationships were ultimately the only thing that mattered to all of her patients in the end.

 

5. I wish I had let myself be happier. She said this was surprisingly common and that many did not realize that happiness is a choice they could have made all along. Because of their fear of change, they pretended to themselves and others that they were content. Deep inside they longed to really belly laugh and be silly and not care what others thought. On their deathbed, what others thought was not important.

 

I would add two more very important suggestions for living life to the fullest measure:

 

1. Forgive yourself for any ‘mistakes’ you think you have made.

When you forgive yourself, you can forgive everyone else, and nothing creates more peace than forgiveness.

 

2. Say, “I love you” to as many people as you can – Expressing your love is the greatest gift you can ever give to yourself and to everyone you meet.

 

Having read this blog, we have come full cycle back to the question in the beginning:

 

“How would you change your life now if you knew you had only one more year to live?

 

I welcome your insights.

 

Love and Light

 

Sandra

 

 

Sandra Brossman is the author of The Power of Oneness, Live the Life You Choose.  To learn more about how you can align your life with spiritual truth, order the book at http://www.thepowerofoneness.com/products/ 

 

Are You Paying Attention to the Miracles Around You?

This is the image of two Doves flying in a beautiful blue sky

© Tischenko Irina/shutterstock.com


We live in a world in which we have become addicted to stimulation.  It seems that no matter where we go, our five senses are bombarded in environments that are too loud, too bright, too fast, and too aggressive.  Not surprisingly, this overexposure to external stimulation is causing us to become desensitized to the miracles of nature that are all around us.

 

I am sometimes overwhelmed by the abundance of gifts the earth graciously and unconditionally provides for us with no effort on our part.  The air we breathe, the water we drink, the plants we eat, and the earth beneath our feet are but a few of the phenomenal gifts we tend to take for granted.

 

When we slow down, take a deep breath, and stop reacting to the external commotion, we stop “looking for miracles” and begin to notice that there are miracles all around us.  Whether we are paying attention or not, Nature lovingly and generously reveals her innate wisdom to us regarding every aspect of life.

 

Three spring seasons ago, I put a statue of a dove, with the words “peace” inscribed in it, out on my bedroom terrace. I had just moved from a large house and was concerned that, now living on the 14th floor of a high rise, I would no longer be able to enjoy listening to the bird songs that I dearly love.  Since I believe we can communicate with animals, I placed a potted plant on the terrace and sent out a telepathic invitation to the doves to visit us.

 

Within two weeks, two doves showed up and built a nest within the plant I had placed for them on the terrace. They have continued to return several times a year, every year since.  Because I’ve earned their trust, they allow me to get within 1″ of their nest, talk with them, and water the plant. They have blessed me with a front row seat to witness their amazing procreation process, beginning with their mating (they mate for life).

 

What follows their mating process is an extraordinary dance of nature where the male and female work in total concert.  They work together in building the nest, laying of the two eggs (she lays the eggs while he protects her), and sharing the responsibilities of alternately scouting for food while the other one sits on the nest.  It does not matter how cold and windy it may be, they remain unswervingly committed to protecting the eggs until they are hatched.  For weeks after that, they take turns protecting the nest and bringing food back and forth.  When the chicks are old enough, the male and female patiently demonstrate to the babies how to fly from the nest, down three feet to the terrace floor, and back to the nest. After a few weeks, they both leave the babies alone for hours at a time and come back several times a day to feed them and check on them. Within a few weeks, the babies are on their own! They don’t get kicked out of the nest, nor are they abandoned – they are given all that they need to begin discovering the world on their own and then set free to experience life. What is really amazing is that after the babies leave the nest, the parents return one more time, sit on the terrace rail, and coo together for hours. I know they are thanking us.

 

So why am I going on and on with my dove story?

 

I am reminded of so many lessons in life as I observe these beautiful creatures: The extraordinary things that can be accomplished when working together; the integration of male and female energy; the power of the number “2,” (representing love); their relentless dedication to their life purpose; the demonstration to the babies of how to survive; their uncanny wisdom in knowing when to free the babies to explore life on their own; the innate ability of animals to communicate with each other, and, even more amazing, the ability of the animal species to communicate with us humans.

 

I recently looked up the meaning of the dove totem. Although they are best known for their symbology of peace, they are also representative of gracefully moving through the veil between the material world and the metaphysical world of Spirit. How perfect!

 

So here we are again – back to Oneness!  Like the doves, we have the ability to work together in peace and harmony, to lovingly support each other, to bravely fly from the comfort of our “nests” into the unknown, and to move through the veil of our present physical world into the spiritual reality of unconditional love and Oneness.

 

All of these miraculous lessons are so beautifully and simply taught by the mere presence of two doves!

 

Love and Light

 

Sandra

 

 

Sandra Brossman is the author of The Power of Oneness, Live the Life You Choose.  To learn more about how you can align your life with spiritual truth, order the book at http://www.thepowerofoneness.com/products/ 

 

Give Yourself Permission to Feel Your Feelings: Part 2 of 2

This is the image of a little girl holding her beloved cat who offers unconditional love for her to share her feelings

© Vinogradov Illya/shutterstock.com

 

In last week’s blog, we discussed how we all experience different versions of pain in our lives and that it is extremely essential for your well being that you allow yourself to express your feelings.

 

While this is true, it also realistic to say that our daily routines are typically so demanding that we find ourselves in many situations and places where we need to suppress our hurtful feelings. It is socially acceptable to laugh and smile in public, but what about all the “negative” emotions we have, like: anger, sadness, depression, and anxiety?

 

It is certainly not appropriate to cry, scream, or be physically aggressive when we are in school, at work, during social occasions, or in public places.  When we are at home, we are preoccupied with a myriad of other responsibilities, such as: parenting, housework, errands, and, let us not forget, being emotionally and physically available to our spouses and partners.  It seems like just having the time and space to express our negative feelings is a luxury.  As a result, we typically “stuff down” the anger we feel about an argument we had with a friend or family member, the grief we feel about the loss of a loved one, the betrayal we feel when we have not been supported by loved ones during a very stressful time, and the list goes.

 

Where do all these repressed emotions go?  I believe we store them in a mental file which I call, “feelings to be dealt with at another time.”  Of course, unless we create the time to get these feelings out of our minds the energy of our negative feelings accumulates and eventually manifests as mental and physical disorders.

 

So how do we constructively manage our feelings?  The following are some suggestions on how to manage your emotions in healthy ways:

 

    • Create a daily quiet time and space for yourself– This can be for as little as 10 minutes a day – perhaps the first thing in the morning or the last thing before you go to bed.  This is time that you are sanctioning as a healing time for yourself.  If you do not declare a daily “healthy me” time and space, you can be quite sure that everything and everyone else in your life will take priority.

 

    •  Close your eyes and breathe –  Inhale deeply into your lungs to the count of 5, hold the breath to the count of 5, then slowly exhale to the count of 10.  Repeat this at least 5 times.  This automatically calms down your “fight or flight” response.

 

    • Identify your feelings  –  Many times we are unaware of what emotions we are holding in. Ask yourself, “What am I feeling?”  Is it grief? Feeling unimportant? Abused?  Becoming conscious of your feelings is important because you are the only one who can access the emotion(s) that you need to express.

 

    • Accept whatever you are feeling – Just observe whatever you are sensing with absolutely no judgment.  Feelings are not “right” or “wrong.”  It is just energy which, by its very definition, is constant motion.  Feelings are not meant to be stored – they are meant to be expressed.  Pain is actually blocked energy.

 

    • Interpret the connection – Is this a familiar feeling that is based on a present time situation, or do you sense that it is linked to a previous event?   Perhaps you are having a major response to a minor situation because you are associating it with an event in the past that caused great trauma.   For example, if you are breaking up a friendship, is this the same feeling of abandonment you had when your parents got divorced? If so, the time has come to deal with the underlying source of your emotional trigger.

 

    • Pay attention to how your body is feeling – Mentally scan your body. Are you feeling this emotion in your heart?  Is your throat tight?  Is your head pounding?  Then inhale a deep breath of energy into your heart and exhale it out into the areas where you are feeling the pain. You may discover you are holding the pain in many parts of your body. Take your time – there is no rush.  What you are doing is unblocking the energy by creating movement through your breath.

 

    • Express your feelings verbally – It may help you to journalize your feelings, talk to a compassionate friend, or seek the services of of a spiritual healer or professional counselor.

 

    • Express feelings physically – Spending time in nature and playing with a beloved animal companion are wonderful ways to balance your energy.  Physical exercise is also a very effective way to vent your feelings in a constructive way.  Some other effective outlets for pent up energy:  Find a private place and cry as much as you want; or, if you are angry, get in your car, find a place that is away from the crowd and scream your head off!  Honestly, as strange as this may seem, screaming can be a very cathartic, healing experience.
    • Review your options – Ultimately, there are only a few ways we can manage any situation that is causing pain:  Sometimes we can remove ourselves from the situation or away from the person. If not, we can change our perception about the situation. If neither of the above is possible, we can choose to accept things as they are.  Anything else is a choice to stay stuck!

 

These are just a few ideas for honoring yourself by giving yourself permission to express your true feelings.

 

Remember it is human to feel a huge range of emotions.  Our stress is not caused by the actual events and situations we experience; rather it is how we choose to respond to our life challenges.

 

I welcome your input on how you have effectively managed some of the many challenging experiences that have come into your life.

 

Love and Light

 

Sandra

 

Click to read last week’s blog, Give Yourself Permission to Feel Your Feelings: Part 1 of 2 

 

A portion of this message is an excerpt from the book, The Power of Oneness, Live the Life You Choose.  To learn more about how you can align your life with spiritual truth, order the book at http://www.thepowerofoneness.com/products/ 

 

Give Yourself Permission to Feel Your Feelings: Part 1 of 2

This is the image of a young girl in sunlight holding her cat with open arms

© Vinogradov Illya/shutterstock.com

 

We all experience different versions of pain in our lives.  Whether it is the pain that comes from a broken relationship with a friend or family member, the ex for whom we still long, the death of a loved one, or the physical pain of trauma, illness, and disease, negative feelings are a natural part of life.

 

While we do not always get to choose the particular painful experiences we have, HOW we manage these situations is a choice.  Perhaps this is the meaning of the saying, “Pain is inevitable, suffering is optional.”

 

Most of us tend to deal with pain primarily with our minds.  The mind’s typical response when faced with pain is to immediately focus on fixing the problem.  When we do this, we use our energy to resist the unpleasant thoughts, feelings and sensations of grief, hostility, frustration, anxiety, depression, guilt, and resentment that naturally accompany painful situations.  What we resist persists, so many times our attempts to bypass the feelings that we are having will actually intensify the pain.  This is because we have overlooked an extremely important step in our healing process – we need to FEEL our emotions with our hearts before we can effectively deal with them on a mental level.

 

Simply stated, when we avoid expressing our feelings, we are not honoring our Whole Self – body, mind, and soul.  Our bodies physically register the ease and dis-ease within our lives in a very apparent way.  Feelings are energy, and energy is constant movement.  Therefore, if we do not EXpress our negative feelings, the energy of pain will IMpress itself into some part of our bodies.  For example, if you continue to stuff feelings of being heartbroken, you may eventually develop a heart disease.  If you take on other people’s burdens without appropriately expressing your own feelings, you may constantly have pain in your shoulders.

 

Repressing our feelings also has a negative impact on our minds.  Without a constructive outlet to express our feelings, the mind will recycle the problem over and over without coming up with an effective resolution.  While you may be dealing with only a few problems, the constant mental repetition will cause you to feel like you are dealing with a thousand problems.  To complicate matters, we then tend to become even more mentally overwhelmed because we begin to judge ourselves for even having the emotions.

 

Our feelings are an essential aspect of our human experience.  Emotions are the barometer that measures the “distance” between the quality of life we really want to live vs. the experiences we are actually having.  For example, if we are attracting a lot of abusive people into our relationships and we want to experience a loving relationship, the emotions we feel will be very painful.  Another example is that we may be longing for abundance, yet our actual experiences are indicative of lack.  Again, our feelings will register the discrepancy between what we really desire vs. what we are physically experiencing.

 

You have the power to expand your present life experiences to match with the quality of life you choose to live.  In next weeks’s blog, Part Two, we will discuss how to constructively express your negative feelings rather than avoid them.  We will also review how you can develop the perceptions that will guide you to the actual experience of living the quality of life you choose.

 

Remember, BE KIND TO YOURSELF!

 

Love and Light,

 

Sandra

 

A portion of this message is an excerpt from the book, The Power of Oneness, Live the Life You Choose.  To learn more about how you can align your life with spiritual truth, order the book at http://www.thepowerofoneness.com/products/ 

 

The Light Is Within You

This is the image of a human with all their inner light shining through in vibrant colors

© styleuneed.de/shutterstock

 

As we evolve in our spiritual journey, we are increasingly hearing more and more about Divine Light.  The mere mention of the word light reminds us of many pleasant feelings, such as: radiant, bright, warm, delightful, floating, effortless, uplifting and clear.  We seem to intuitively know that light is synonymous with our truth, as is evident in expressions such as, “It wasn’t clear to me at first, but I finally saw the light.”

 

But what about darkness?  Most of us associate darkness with the negative side of life – such as: pain, fear, obscurity, depression, poverty, and sickness.  At a soul level, none of us enjoys experiencing the “dark side of life” –  and yet, here we are, living in a world in which we are personally and collectively experiencing sickness, violence, greed, crime, and poverty.  What is the meaning of all this darkness?

 

From a spiritual perspective, unconditional love is all that is real; therefore darkness is simply the absence of love.  We came to this physical world to remember our True Self through the experience of separation from our creative source. The greatest divine gift we have been given in this dynamic physical world of polarities is the power to choose our perceptions.  Since light (perceptions of love) and darkness (perceptions of fear) are  ultimate opposites, we can only remember the light through the contrast of darkness.

 

Many times our greatest growth periods come through the experience of the pain of separation.  Those of us who have experienced “dark times” in life through tremendously challenging situations such as serious illness and mental, emotional, and physical trauma know the opportunities within these situations to gain enormous wisdom and insight about life.

 

Indeed, there are lessons within our lives that may be much more apparent in the darkness of our despair because we can focus more intensely when there are fewer things to see.  It is like walking into a dark room—at first we can see nothing, yet after our eyes have had a chance to refocus, we begin to clearly see particular items even though the room is still dark.  Likewise, we can have some very profound insights about areas of our lives that need improvement while we are quietly lying in bed recovering from illness and surgery, during  the inactive times that may come with being unemployed, or by feeling disoriented in an entirely new environment.

 

Painful experiences also remind us how to be compassionate and non-judgmental toward others.  We can theorize about how it might feel to have a life-threatening illness, deal with a drug addiction, go through a divorce, lose a job, or have serious money problems; but it is the actual experience of living through these types of experiences that opens our hearts to express tenderness and total compassion to others who are wrestling with their own challenges in life.

 

We are all experiencing different dramatic versions of the pain of separation in our lives as we awaken to our true spiritual nature.  Be gentle and compassionate with yourself – resisting the areas of your life that are challenging your soul is like fighting with your own shadow.  The most effective way we can move through the darkness is to simply accept that our challenges are all a part of a masterful universal plan to remind us of our wholeness and our power to return to the Oneness of unconditional love.

 

As we awaken to this truth, we also begin to remember that the Light we are seeking cannot be found outside of ourselves through our material world.  THE LIGHT WE SEEK IS WITHIN – IT IS SHINING TO US AND THROUGH US.  Rather than react to the fear that appears as darkness, it is our spiritual mission to bring divine light to everyone and everything  through our mere presence.

 

Pure light includes the full spectrum of every color known and unknown to us.  When pure light passes through a prism, the prism refracts the incoming light wave into many other different wave lengths. When we perceive humanity in the metaphorical sense of being one gigantic prism, we see that collectively we form a beautiful rainbow coming from one source of divine light.  As we focus on the light within ourselves and all others, we begin to merge back into one brilliant wave of pure light as, together, we return to our original state of enlightenment and Oneness.

 

Namaste!  (The light within me honors the light within you),

 

Sandra

 

A portion of this message is an excerpt from the book, The Power of Oneness, Live the Life You Choose.  To learn more about how you can align your life with spiritual truth, order the book at http://www.thepowerofoneness.com/products/