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Energy Vampires! How to Spot, Repel, & Avoid Them

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Energy Vampires! How to Spot, Repel, & Avoid Them

We’ve all met these types of people. They are either sad, broken, emotionally dramatic, or simply narcissistic. Somehow they refuse to own their stuff and seek to improve themselves. While these people deserve our love and compassion, they do not necessarily deserve our attention or time.

Are you feeling continuously drained at work, home, or social events? Do you often feel stressed so you cannot enjoy the things you once loved? Are you feeling unmotivated and unable to engage in life?

These symptoms may be surfacing for several reasons:

An introverted personality strained by constant social interaction

Depression born from repressed emotions

Confusion due to various life stressors and changes

Or

Being the victim of an Energy Vampire!

Are you ready to take back your life and cast out all that bad energy?

It’s time to learn which people in your life are sucking the happiness right out of you and preventing you from enjoying the activities you once enjoyed!

What is an Energy Vampire?

At first, the term “Energy Vampire” seems fantastical, but it’s becoming a common term used to label several types of personalities. Simply put, Energy Vampires are people who feed on your energy and who selfishly use that energy solely for themselves, kind of like new-age narcissists. 

That definition makes it seem like these people are dark, twisted villains who are looking for vulnerable people to prey upon, but that’s not often the case. Most of the time, Energy Vampires don’t realize how challenging they are or how their toxic personality traits affect the people around them. 

Certain personalities lend themselves to evolving into Energy Vampires due to learned behavior. It’s possible that Mom or Dad was an Energy Vampire and nurtured their child into an equally dramatic and needy personality. Or maybe the Vamp in your life had a difficult childhood and now craves attention from anyone that will lend an ear.  Unable to give to others reciprocally, they become accustomed to unstable and imbalanced relationships.

Like many other behaviors, Energy-Vampirism is often representative of an unconscious lifestyle that can go undetected by the person exhibiting it for a lifetime.

The Energy Vampire Spectrum

Spotting an Energy Vampire might be difficult, especially if these folks are close to you. It can be hard to see relatives, friends, and coworkers with an objective point of view. Further, Energy Vampires can emerge within a broad spectrum of a variety of personalities and behaviors.

At the very least, Energy Vampires are often narcissistic. They assume that the world revolves around them and that everyone exists to serve them in some way. Emotionally or psychologically entrenched in their desires and problems, they cannot consider other peoples’ needs and feelings. Every time you encounter them, you might be unable to get a word in to express your thoughts and feelings.

In the middle of the spectrum, these narcissistic Vamps become manipulative. They actively use you to get what they want, whether it’s constant attention, validation, an exalted ego, or worse. These people demonstrate little concern for how their ongoing needs affect you. Whether they’re conscious of it or not, they take advantage of everyone around them. 

On the extreme end, these types of vampires are psychopathic. Their social behavior is often exaggerated or intense due to innate aggression or ongoing mood instability. This type of person is draining because you’re either constantly giving to them, tensely on guard, or nervously uncertain about what they’ll do next. In many ways, you might be bracing yourself for the eventual and likely consequences of their behavior.

Sound familiar? You might have at least one person in your life that exhibits this type of behavior. If you’re not sure, then ask yourself if there’s a particular person that leaves you feeling exhausted and stressed after every encounter.

Who Are The Typical Victims of Energy Vampires?

Because these human black holes drain energy from those around them, they thrive in social situations when more vulnerable, passive people are available to them. The ideal victim of an Energy Vampire is someone who always sees the good in others, listens to those who need to vent, and doesn’t stand up for themselves when they feel offended or manipulated.

While we’re never truly a victim, only an experiencer of aspects of reality, one cannot help but feel lessened and burdened by ongoing exchanges with Energy Vampires.

If you are a compassionate and open-hearted person, good for you! You should never choose to feel bad about your glowing and positive personality. For healthy people, you are a life-saving support system. For Energy Vamps, you’re dessert.

Energy vampires don’t only prey on compassionate and passive people. They negatively affect everyone around them, including other Energy Vampires! 

How to Know If You’re An Energy Vampire’s Prey

Not sure if the source of your problems is an Energy Vampire? There are some telltale signs that your energy is being drained without you being conscious of it. Even though you have a busy and fulfilling life, you might feel lonely, lost, confused, exhausted or unloved. You might feel as though nobody truly knows you, hears you, or “gets” you. When we are loving a narcissist, it’s easy to lose site of our needs that have long-gone unmet.

Energy vampires manifest in many different forms. Maybe a parent or close relative constantly commands your attention while also provoking your guilt for taking any time for yourself.

Perhaps a coworker is a considerable presence at your workplace and doesn’t care who they hurt amid their climb to the top. Maybe you have a friend who constantly involves you in their personal drama without considering your personal space and wellbeing.

At the end of the day, energy vampires can be anyone. To figure out the source of this stress, focus on these points while you meditate:

Do you feel drained after conversations?

Do you feel like your life is engulfed in someone else’s problems?

When you try to express your thoughts or feelings to someone else, are you made to feel guilty or crazy?

Most of all: do you fail to see yourself as the center of your own life?

Protect Yourself from Energy Vampires

Once you’ve identified the source, you can begin to take measures to protect yourself. It’s not always as easy as cutting the Energy Vampire out of your life, but if that’s possible, it’s time to do it. If it isn’t possible, it’s time to start guarding yourself against their energy-draining effects.

First, become an expert at spotting these Vamps. While it’s not healthy to always look for the negative aspects in people or situations, it is essential to be wary of people’s motivations and repeated actions.

Employ tactics that repel these people from your inner sphere. If it’s possible to block or avoid them, such as declining social events they’ll be attending, then it’s best to protect yourself by staying away.

If you can’t stay away, learn to respect yourself and set proper boundaries. Be clear about what behavior is acceptable in your relationships and stick by those rules. 

Second, lower your expectations for your relationship with that person. Often, we can be our own worst enemy when we get our hopes up for a healthy relationship with someone incapable of empathy.

Third, do not expend any energy on them. Do not overreact, do not accept their advances, and don’t give them the responses they want. Eventually, they’ll realize you’re no longer an easy target.

Fourth, surround yourself with people who can be your reality check. Talk to friends and family who can look at the situation from an outside perspective. They can be your support system for when you need to guard yourself.

Finally, begin to heal. Being the victim of an energy vampire for any period can be damaging to our senses of Self, our hearts, and our minds. Accepting that a person has been manipulating you and stopping the energy drain is the first step. Then, incorporate self-love practices like daily meditation, deep breathing, and reflection through a diary or my personality cards!

REMEMBER!

You are a beautiful Living Being filled with light and love, born from stardust. You are unlimited potential in every direction. With a focus on discipline, virtue, and your own goodness, you can become as expanded and liberated as you desire. 

Pray for others and the Universe prays for us. 

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Transform Your Life with Intentions and Vibrations

Intentions and Vibrations Create, Transform You, Your Relationships, and Reality

When a loved one is hurting or in need, many of us will send a message saying something like, ‘I am praying for you,’ or ‘Sending good vibes your way,” or ‘Thoughts And Prayers!’ Earnestly and lovingly, we recognize that on some level, thinking good thoughts for a person improves their lives. Little did we know we were operating on a level of intentions and vibrations!

THIS IS TRUE! THINK GOOD THOUGHTS & THEY TRAVEL, IMBUING LIGHT & BLISS INTO EVERY FACTION THEY TOUCH!

Did you know that setting positive intentions for yourself and others can change your world for the better – and improve the vibrations and lives found throughout the Universe? This is also true.

Knowing how to set intentions can help you to improve the positive energy around you and make your world a better, happier place to be.

Read on to learn more about intentions and vibrational energy and how they impact not only your life today, and your life in the future, but the lives of everyone around you for all time.

Goals vs. Intentions

Before we dive into how vibrational energy and intentions can change your life, let’s talk some about what intentions are. Many people think of intentions as something similar to daily goals – today I’ll eat healthier or today I’ll make better financial decisions. But goals and intentions are quite different.

Goals tend to focus on what we don’t have and need to get, and oftentimes, goal-setting can lead to a sense of failure if we don’t meet those goals. Goals are desires built upon contrived pursuits. They are born from the mind and they don’t necessarily uplift us.

Intentions are built upon feelings, hope, and faith. Intentions don’t have a fail safe; there’s no way to fail to meet an intention. It lives within the fabrics of our Beings.

Intentions are soul-prayers pointing to  how we are approaching the world and our life in any given moment.

How Vibrations Interact with Intentions

If intentions can change your life, why are we talking about the energy of vibrations? Because science tells us that everything around us is moving, humming with vibrational energy.

The Entire Universe Is Made Of Light & Sound!

 

Electrons zing around in their orbits, protons and neutrons jumble together in our cell nuclei, and the water in our bodies hums with the power of the Universe around us.

OMMMMMM is the sound of the Earth giving birth to itself.

AUM, AUM, AUM: The mantra of Yogis for eons.

Scientific experiments have shown that our thoughts can have a physical influence on the world around us. The observed will change when other forces are witnessing them.

As we set positive intentions for ourselves, we not only awaken and improve the vibrations in our own lives and bodies, but also in the world around us.

In simplest terms, our intentions can create good vibrations that make our world better.

This is why Sanskrit mantras are so powerful – they are born from the purest intentions. Chanting in Sanskrit can vibrate our souls into healing and great transformations.

Intentions Center & Focus Your Power

One of the best things about setting intentions each day is that it helps to center and focus our power.

Oftentimes, we may say “I wish” about various things in our lives. The problem with this terminology is that it places the power with something outside of us; we have to wait for God or the Universe or people around us to grant that wish.

When you set an intention, you use the language “I will.”

“I WILL!” – This simple phrase returns your power to where it belongs – within your control. You can come to believe and understand that you have the power to change your life, and that your daily intentions can be powerful tools for doing so.

Improve Your Outlook & Attitude

For many of us, if we take the time to listen to what we say each day, we’d find that it’s often overwhelmingly negative. We complain about our jobs, our kids, our looks, our challenges, and our bills.

All of this leads us to view our lives, at least in the moment, as being full of hardship, strife, and injustice.

While life can be challenging, setting intentions for your day can help you to improve your outlook and attitudes on the world around you.

You may start to notice those intentions manifesting in your life, which, over time, can raise your positive energy and overall magnetic vibration. With the best and most uplifting intentions, you’ll begin to see all the beautiful things around you. You’ll focus on your positive hopes and faith, rather than the negative and unseen space surrounding unmet goals.

Overcome Limitations

You may have heard before that the biggest thing holding you back from the life you want is YOU! In many ways, that may be true. Oftentimes, we’re told that we’re not good enough, that we can’t achieve our dreams, or that we’re not worthy of love. Over time, we come to believe this, and we act more timidly, afraid of what might happen if we dare to live boldly.

We project our fears and early childhood experiences onto our daily realities, forgetting that we can change everything with one intention and one small shift in attitude.

As Abraham says, the law of attraction is what drives the Universe and all Creation. Embody and speak that which is an embodiment of your highest vibration and you will naturally see your world improve.

Setting positive intentions and harnessing the positive energy from divinely inspired vibrations can empower us to live a life free of limitations.

With a little effort, we can begin to see how our thoughts can shape the world. Truly, we are built to believe we can do amazing things.

Throw off the false barriers that have been placed upon you, and become free!

Life your life as a full, loving, powerful, and radiant BEING!

Selflessly Serve Others

Although intentions can have a powerful impact on our lives, the benefits don’t stop there. Raising your positive energy can improve the lives of everyone around you – even of the whole world.

Vibrational experts understand that the Universe, heck, the entire eternal, ever-expanding Cosmos, is connected by these vibrations. By improving your inner world, your outer world will improve and expand.

Within your immediate circles, your positive intentions and the benefits they have for you will improve the lives of your partner, your children, and your friends. This can create a ripple effect, raising the positive energy of your community as your circle moves out into the world, happier and more empowered.

Your intentions help to improve the vibrations of one small area of the Universe, and that improvement shifts the balance to the good.

From an energetic standpoint, your energy permeates all realities. So be careful what you project!

How to Set Intentions

So how do you go about setting intentions and reaping all these positive rewards? It’s best to begin your intention-setting practice with meditation.

Meditating helps to center us, removing all of the extraneous distractions and expectations of the world around us. With meditation and a focus on our inner silence and Being, we allow our nature to expand – and we find peace.

After meditation, take some time to focus your thoughts toward what you want and need in your life and from the world around you.

Allow these desires to condense into one specific phrase that begins with an “I Will” – an action statement about how you’ll make this request a reality in your world.

An example:

I WILL EMBODY PEACE AND LOVE AND ATTRACT GOODNESS TO MY LIFE AND TO THOSE I LOVE.

 

Repeat your phrase a few times, allowing the weight of your focus to settle on it, before you set it down and move on into your day. 

You might also pray for others. When we pray for others, the Universe prays for us. 

How to Improve Your Vibrational Energy

In addition to setting intentions, there are also several other ways you can improve your vibrational energy.

Once more, meditation and breathing exercises play a large role in making these changes. Deep breathing can calm you and help you to expel any negative energy you may be carrying.

Pranic breathing is when we breath deeply into our bellies then rapidly exhale through either our noses, one nostril, or our mouths. Pranic breathing can help us accept ourselves, accept reality for what it is, expand, and find peace.

Practicing Kundalini Yoga is a wonderful way to work on your mind-body connection and improve your positive energy at the same time. You may even want to consider taking your yoga mat outdoors when the weather is nice.

Spending time in nature can be another great way to raise your vibrational energy. 

Practicing GRATITUDE might be the best way to embody positive energy.

Each day, make a list of things in your life for which you’re grateful. You may even want to incorporate these into your meditation practice to keep your positive vibrations growing.

Learn How to Set Intentions

The intentions we set each day can have a huge impact both on us and on the world around us. By creating these positive thoughts, we change the energy of vibrations around us and put more positive energy into the world. You can reclaim your amazing inner power, overcome your limitations, and improve the world around you just with your thoughts.

Your mind is nothing but a tool that can help you live in a physical reality, like here on Earth! Your mind is also something that sustains itself. We never have to be in our minds. Even if we extinguish our connection to our minds, we’ll still know how to drive and cook. These things are instinctual.

Releasing our minds and egos, we become free.

I am here to help you awaken and bravely create an inspired life. Learn more about my loving services today and start changing your life in the most positive way.

REMEMBER!

You are a beautiful Living Being filled with light and love, born from stardust. You are unlimited potential in every direction. With a focus on discipline, virtue, and your own goodness, you can become as expanded and liberated as you desire. 

Pray for others and the Universe prays for us. 

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Somatic Experiencing: The Wisdom Of Our Bodies

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Somatic Experiencing: Listening To The Wisdom Of Our Bodies

We have all been through hell and back. Life can be quite the challenge. While it’s helpful to soldier through it all and do our best to stay positive, it’s not too healthy to ignore what is stored within our bodies.

Emotions from life’s challenges and trauma can be stored in our organs for the entirety of our lives. These emotions connect with toxic memories. When we work to release it all, it can be even more painful – but in the long run, we clear ourselves for smooth and peaceful sailing ahead!

Working through past trauma can be one of the most horrible experiences you may face in your life. Living through that experience once was terrifying enough. Having to relive it in order to process what you felt during that time may be more than you can bear.

Somatic Experiencing uses the mind-body connection to help you stay calm during triggering events and to find your way back to a more peaceful way of being. It also helps you to release the excess energy that you may have trapped in your body – when the original trauma occurred.

Read on to learn more about Somatic Experiencing and how it could help you move forward into a happier life.

Impact of Trauma

Before we dive into the process of Somatic Experiencing therapy, let’s talk some about how trauma impacts us.

After a traumatic event, many people experience post-traumatic stress disorder. This is not a cute little thing. It can be the most difficult thing you’ve ever dealt with in your life. 

PTSD is a condition that produces a several physical symptoms. PTSD can range in severity from a mild inconvenience to an incapacitating disorder. In some cases, a PTSD patient may choose to be institutionalized for a time. This might help the person establish new boundaries and processes in her life.

Nightmares are one of the more common symptoms of PTSD, often in the form of panic attacks. These are usually flashbacks and re-imaginings of the original event, in which the person seems to relive the traumatic event and various related trajectories.

Panic attacks, anxiety, and insomnia also tend to go along with this disorder. In the most extreme and serious cases, a patient may lose the ability to differentiate from their flashbacks and nightmares and reality.

If you’re experiencing these things, you can choose to work with a Somatic Experiencing therapist, a Traditional Chinese Medicine practitioner, a CBT or ACT therapist, and more. 

There are MANY options for healing if you are feeling completely freaked out & messed up by a horrible event in your life.

The Freeze Response

For many people, PTSD symptoms are born from the “freeze” response to danger. You may have heard that, when animals are exposed to danger, they have a fight or flight instinct in which they choose to fight for their lives or run away. However, there is also a lesser-known response to danger: the freeze response.

The freeze response causes you to stop in your tracks, unable to move or respond to the situation. Think of a deer in the headlights; even though the danger is barreling towards her, the lovely animal soul is wholly unable to move forward.

This response is central to prior and ongoing trauma, whereby we feel trapped in the moment of danger even after the threat has passed.

What Is Somatic Experiencing?

Somatic Experiencing is a therapy technique – much like others invented like neurofeedback and ACT – that aims to help people to process their traumas and find new ways to move forward. Peter Levine, who developed the theory, believed that our nervous systems might never move forward past where they were in the moment we were traumatized. Our emotions and memories get “stuck” there and have to be “reset” before we can feel empowered and clear enough to live our lives in the present moment.

Dr. Levine noticed that while people are often traumatized by the dangers we face, animals don’t deal with the same sorts of ongoing trauma. He believed this was because, at the time of the threat, their bodies let off enormous amounts of energy, even after they escaped the threat. 

Because we don’t expend this energy in the same way, that energy gets trapped in our bodies. Later, when we might least expect it, these energies can become expended. This might occur at inappropriate moments when an unrelated trigger takes us back to the original traumatic event.

If you’re experiencing any of this right now, it’s important to seek the help you need to open up your mind and heart so you can expand. If you’re feeling this right now, see if you can breathe through it and find some tears. If not, call a friend to be present with you in this moment.

When you’re feeling clear and open enough, formulate a plan to find the best modalities for your healing and recovery.

The Reasons For Somatic Experiencing

Somatic Experiencing is extremely useful as a treatment for PTSD and other trauma-based disorders. Even challenging one-off experiences can leave an imprint within us. You might consider using Somatic Experiencing to heal even the smallest fissures within your Being and body.

Oftentimes, people may feel guilt, shame, or anger after a traumatic event. Working through the mind-body connection can help to ease these painful feelings and get your body back into a healthy rhythm.

In some cases, Somatic Experiencing Therapy can help with physical symptoms related to previous traumas. This can include muscle tension, chronic pain, digestive problems, and even sleep issues.

Dealing with the physical symptoms of a trauma can give us more resources to handle the psychological aspects that are driving them.

Recognizing Bodily Sensations in Somatic Experiencing

One of the first steps of Somatic Experiencing is to start recognizing the bodily sensations you’re feeling in this moment. In many cases, people aren’t aware of the physical response they’re having to a situation or how badly it’s affecting them. They might not realize the a pain in a knee or a twitch in an arm is born from a prior trauma or their bodies reaction to a new event in the moment.

For instance, you may not realize how tense a muscle is until it relaxes and you feel what it’s like not to have that strain there.

Your Somatic Experiencing therapist might begin your therapy by helping you become more aware of the physical sensations you’re experiencing.

Your SE therapist may use mindfulness and other meditation techniques to help you discover any tension, pain, or discomfort you may be feeling.

The most wonderful Somatic Experiencing Therapists will help you note these sensations without judgement, fear, or the intent to fight them.

Just like in The Sedona Method, it’s all about witnessing what is there, embracing it, accepting it, and then releasing it.

Resourcing

Once you’ve become aware of what your body is holding and experiencing, your Somatic Experiencing therapist will help you start tapping into the inner pool of resources you have to deal with these challenges.

Resourcing can you seek the tools you need to handle that excess stored energy when it emerges. Soon enough, you’ll be able to draw on a deep inner pool of peace, strength, and resilience.

Your therapist will begin by asking you to remember a place, person, or thing that you love and that you associate with positive memories. When you start feeling that excess energy being triggered, you’ll learn to draw on this source of positivity in your life.

This can help you remain calm and present as the energy expends itself, making it easier to transition back into your most healthy and vibrant rhythms.

Titration

Once you firmly establish your resources and tools, your therapist will begin putting your new coping and healing mechanisms to the test. Armed with the tools to deal with it, you’ll begin wading back into your trauma, re-examining the event that threw your life into chaos. This will be a gradual process that allows you to slowly build your resourcing response until it’s strong enough to tackle the next challenge.

This process is known as titration. It stays focused around the physical sensations you experience as you relive that past trauma. 

You’ll step through the traumatic event in slow motion. Meanwhile, your therapist will watch your body language and physical responses. They may also ask you to report if you’re feeling hot or cold sensations, dizziness, numbness, or an overwhelming sense of weightiness. 

Your SE therapist might also ask about the emotions that are emerging and which ones feel overwhelming. They might help you walk through those emotions and eventually release them.

All of your healing is up to you. The more open and vulnerable you are with your SE therapist, the more you will heal.

Chanting mantras, sutras, and other types of prayers can help you improve your vibration. Doing so, your mind, heart, and body might naturally release many of the things your body has stored throughout years in this life – and from prior lives.

Pendulation

As you begin to experience these releases and physical effects, your SE therapist will guide you through the process of Pendulation. Somatic Experiencing therapists believe these symptoms are the way your body discharges that excess energy – the emotional energy that’s still trapped and connected to the original traumatic experience.

Faster breathing, pranic breathing, clenched hands, and allowing dizziness, shaking, anger, and crying are all considered a helpful part of this discharge.

As you work through these releases, your therapist will guide you through the come-down process. They’ll help you slowly transition back into a calmer, more peaceful state. You’ll be able to experience these discharges in a safe, judgement-free space. 

They may help you use certain breathing or relaxation techniques to ease back into a more relaxed state of energy. Doing so, you won’t be in danger of trapping that excess energy in your body – more so, you can eventually release all of it. The more you practice this pendulation, the more natural that response will become.

Learn More About Somatic Experiencing

Somatic Experiencing is an exciting technique that can help people process and release PTSD, old trauma, and the most challenging events.

Somatic Experiencing relies on the brain-body connection and inspires patients to walk through the physical and emotional symptoms of their traumas – all the while releasing all of the related imprisoned energy.

Although this technique is still considered “new,” it is helping millions of people walk through their body’s responses to traumatic experiences and become healthier and happier than ever before.

I am here to help you awaken and bravely create an inspired life. Learn more about my loving services today and start changing your life in the most positive way.

REMEMBER!

You are a beautiful Living Being filled with light and love, born from stardust. You are unlimited potential in every direction. With a focus on discipline, virtue, and your own goodness, you can become as expanded and liberated as you desire. 

Pray for others and the Universe prays for us. 

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Highly Sensitive People (HSPs): The Gifts, Challenges, and Miracles

“Highly Sensitive Person” Written on Paper with Hand Holding a Delicate Flower. Shutterstock licensed image.

HSP: The Gifts, Challenges, and Miracles

Some of us are wildly sensitive. We might be grocery shopping and feel what other shoppers are feeling. We might even sense the emotions of yesterday’s workers – the ones who placed the cucumbers into the bin in front of us.  Alas, if you are feeling like you collect energy from every experience and find it difficult to shake it, you might be a Highly Sensitive Person.

Being more sensitive and vulnerable means that your soul has grown to sense what others are feeling. Some HSPs feel things but don’t internalize them. Others feel them and process them at a deep level.

Some HSPs are compassionate, while others might not have an ounce of empathy. Being sensitive does not necessarily mean you are evolved. It must means that you don’t have the same protective mechanisms as others. It might also mean that your brain process experiences, relationships, and emotions in a unique way.

A few questions the might help you determine if you’re an HSP:

Do you often find yourself more in tune with others’ feelings or having more extreme reactions to certain events than those around you?

Do specific environments, emotions, or situations bother you, while other people go unaffected? 

During an argument, do you begin to feel overwhelmed, as if you’re carrying a burden that is not yours?

At cocktail parties and coffee shops, can you feel the emotions of the people around you?

Do you cry or feel stressed when other people are feeling the same?

If any of these questions are hitting home, it might be time to tune into yourself and learn what it means to be a Highly Sensitive Person (HSP).

The concept of being an HSP might feel like a burden, but it’s not. It’s not only a responsibility, it’s a super-hero power. Also, the more you know about yourself, the easier it is to own your experiences, shift perspectives, and protect yourself.

If you truly take command of your sensitivities, they’ll become immeasurably valuable tools & assets – even weapons.

As HSPs, we are not victims, we are warriors with super-skills.

What is a Highly Sensitive Person?

An HSP, also known as a Highly Sensitive Person, has a highly active nervous system and extreme sensory sensitivities. Studies are being done to show that Highly Sensitive People actually have brains that work a bit differently than others, causing them to react in unique and often powerful ways within their daily lives and relationships.

While this might sound a bit strange or abnormal, HSP is not a disorder. In fact, around 15-20% of people report they might be HSPs, making it a lot more common than you think! At the same time, not enough people experience these symptoms for the personality to be widely accepted. Unfortunately, that can make Highly Sensitive People feel lonely and misunderstood.

What’s really unique about the HSP personality trait is that it can be found in a wide variety of personality types. You can be an HSP and an introvert, extrovert, or ambivert. HSPs also come from a variety of backgrounds. Depending on the culture an HSP lives within, they might be lovingly accepted, pitied, feared, worshiped, or ostracized.

How Do I Know if I’m a Highly Sensitive Person?

You deserve to get to know yourself so that you can be 100% comfortable with who you are! If you’ve ended up reading this article, it’s likely you have the traits of a Highly Sensitive Person – or someone close to you in an HSP.

HSP traits can manifest in several ways. Some people are highly sensitive to environments that have too many stimuli, such as loud noises, bright lights, too many people, or distinct textures found on walls or on clothing. When exploring these environments, you might feel like you need to retreat into a quiet, secret place so you can recharge and prepare for your next outing.

Some HSPs will go to cocktail parties and similar events only to spend most of their time in the bathroom, their car, washing the dishes, or playing with the loneliest child at the event. Others might show up and quickly exit, never to return again.

As a fellow HSP, I know life can be challenging at times. Some experiences can be so overwhelming, you won’t want to speak to anybody for a day, two days, or more! If you’re also empathic, you might then carry some of the reactive emotions of those who felt disappointed by your exit. Being an HSP can be an overwhelming and never-ending cycle of energetic absorption and release.

Some HSPs are more reactive to emotional stimuli such as with friends, family, and romantic partners. A small spat might feel like a life-changing argument, and a small trickle of affection can feel like a profound, intimate, and loving moment. As such, HSPs might also experience deep thoughts and emotions without receiving sufficient reciprocation.

Further, you might feel the need to avoid intense movies, art galleries, books, and other experiences that overwhelm you. The feelings that emerge from being overwhelmed can be unsettling and potentially anxiety-inducing. You might also feel deeply moved by beauty and upon each event, you might experience your own personalized form of ecstasy.

If you’re still unsure about whether you’re a Highly Sensitive Person, there are tests you can take. Specifically, there’s a questionnaire by Elaine N. Aron written in 1996 that has 27 questions. If you answer YES to 14 of the questions, there’s a high probability of being an HSP. Remember, though, that questionnaires like these are subjective, and you should never make changes to your life without further consulting with health care professionals and your most trusted allies and friends. 

Explore my Empath Oath to see how your virtues correlate to your depth of feelings for the world.

 

High Sensitivity Is A Super-Power

Everyone is unique! Each of us has our own personality with unique quirks and needs. Being an HSP means that your super-power is born from sensing energy. If you process and harness this energy in the correct way, you will experience a deeper connection to everyone and everything around you – and you’ll have a highly advanced prayer life – but only if you allow these things.

Having HSP traits can feel burdensome until you decide to master them. 

MASTERING YOUR HSP AWARENESS

Here are a few rules you might consider as you explore the benefits of being a Highly Sensitive Person:

Own your sensitivities and celebrate them.

Never blame others for being sensitive.

Never play the victim. 

Own your experiences and process them like a Warrior.

Use the knowledge gained from being sensitivity to your benefit. 

Help others when you can, but don’t hurt yourself in the process.

Clear the energies as often as possible: Cry, Shout, Pray, Cry Some More, Pound The Earth, Do Cleansing Rituals & Ceremonies, And Forgive Everything Often!

Challenges for HSPs

If someone calls you “sensitive,” it is often meant negatively. It can hurt to hear that we “overreact” or “think too much” because it invalidates our emotions and experiences. People with HSP traits suffer these insults and invalidations more often than others because of their visceral reactions to life. 

It’s true – HSPs experience life, emotions, and thoughts on a much deeper level. What feels good to some will feel great to you, but what feels bad to others can absolutely devastate you. Pain, whether emotional or physical, is experienced much more by HSPs, and recovery time can be much longer.

As a result, many HSPs choose to take a back seat in life to avoid pain and disappointment. It might feel too much to handle when people or life obstacles let you down. HSPs can often pass up opportunities for growth and enjoyment because they’d rather avoid overstimulation, exhaustion, and potential pain.

The Benefits of Being an HSP

Highly Sensitive People have strong gut feelings and are incredibly intuitive. Having a sensitive nervous system means that you pick up on stimuli that most people can’t, and you have stellar observation skills. You won’t only be able to pick up on changes in your environment but also sense the needs of others with fantastic accuracy and foresight.

HSPs can enjoy intense and powerful relationships with others because of their ability to empathize, anticipate needs, and feel emotions deeply. For the same reasons, they make stellar parents.

Being able to pick up on stimuli and experience on an advanced level means you can also enjoy life so much more. Prayer, rituals, devotion, fine food, art, sex, travel, and adventures can be enjoyed on a whole new level. Having a heightened ability to enjoy stimuli means you have a positive attitude.

When you are extremely grateful for life and everything you have, you are an EMPOWERED HSP!

 

Self Care for Highly Sensitive People

Overall, you should celebrate and feel blessed if you are a Highly Sensitive Person! The people you should keep in your life are those who appreciate how deeply you feel things, including how deeply you understand and care about them. In exchange, your personal tribe should understand your need for space and cooldown periods when things get too intense. 

Here are some great methods that HSPs can introduce to their daily lives in order to find balance, peace, and growth:

      • Schedule positive experiences into your most hectic days
      • Plan for alone time and relaxation periods after anticipated times of overwhelm
      • Suggest alternatives to experiences that you aren’t comfortable with – there’s no need to push yourself
      • Come to understand your personal boundaries for environments, people, and tasks – and be clear about your triggers
      • Create a soothing space you can use as a retreat when you’re overstimulated – build a lovely altar
      • Incorporate meditation, yoga, prayer, and other practices that allow you to center your body and mind to find balance

Proper self-care for HSPs is important. To fully know yourself, remember to incorporate helpful practices so that you can continually experience peacefulness in your mind, body, and heart. 

Embrace Your Sensitivity

If you ever become upset over your state as a Highly Sensitive Person, remember that you aren’t alone. Some of the most innovative and profound people in the world are HSPs. And many will go down in history as assets to humanity. Scientists like Albert Einstein, actors like Jim Carey, Gilda Radner, and Nicole Kidman, and social reformers like Desmond Tutu, Jane Goodall, and Martin Luther King Jr. are also HSPs who made the most of their sensitivity superpowers!

You are extremely intuitive, empathetic, expressive, and compassionate, and all your friends and family are lucky to have you in their lives. You’re on the path to seeing and doing great things. Remember to harness the power of your ultra-sensitive nervous system and unique mind for your own benefit and the benefit of those you engage. 

As a human being, you are the embodiment of love. As an HSP, you have 10X the ability to feel this at a core level – so OWN IT!

REMEMBER!

You are a beautiful Living Being filled with light and love, born from stardust. You are unlimited potential in every direction. With a focus on discipline, virtue, and your own goodness, you can become as expanded and liberated as you desire. 

Pray for others and the Universe prays for us. 

 

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Neurofeedback, ACT, And CBT: Powerful Healing for the Heart & Mind

Shutterstock licensed image:  Heal your heart, your mind and life will follow.

Neurofeedback, ACT, and CBT: Powerful Modalities for Healing the Heart & Mind

The events and conditions within our lives can feel dramatic or difficult. At various junctures in our lives, we might feel completely overwhelmed and unable to cope.  We might even lose hope, faith, and focus.

Luckily, our world is constantly changing – and so are we. And while many of the aspects in our lives can feel insurmountable, we are always in control of our perspectives, attitudes, and abilities to look deeply within ourselves. 

Even the darkest night has a dawn.

Shadows disappear when obstacles are dissolved.

Science is working on behalf of all the people who are in pain. Many are creating inspiring, life-changing technological advancements that promise to improve life as we know it. All of these emerging innovations are making life more peaceful and bearable for those who are struggling.

Let’s be honest.

Most of us suffer from at least one of these things: stress, frustration, anxiety, depression, panic attacks – or all of the above. Sadly, each of these things is fueling an accelerating mental health crisis.

It might seem difficult to significantly change our immediate environments or have lasting impacts on the world around us. We might not realize just how powerful and impactful we can be!

Regardless, we can change how we respond to everything. If we’re disciplined, we can deeply heal ourselves and become more resilient. By approaching life with a sense of warriorship – a sense of adventure – we can accomplish just about anything. 

Upon every challenge, we must focus on the positive and forge ahead with courage. It’s vital that we dig deeply within ourselves so that we may heal our hearts, minds, and spirits.

While God and Guru are here to nourish and guide us, the only person who can truly heal and save us is ourselves. 

We’re actually lucky to be on the planet right now.

There are so many unique healing and scientific innovations appearing almost every day —  ever heard of somatic experiencing? Specifically, new therapies are gaining momentum in the mental health space that could unlock a future of brighter days.

No matter the modality, begin by being vulnerable with yourself. Ask yourself what you’re feeling and what you need. If you can, call out to God and ask for Her loving guidance. When we’re open and vulnerable to the Divine, angels and transformative forces will come to our aid.

Knowing which options are available to you during your healing process is important. Here are a few that I love: CBT, ACT, and Neurofeedback therapy. 

What is CBT?

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, commonly shortened to CBT, is a wildly successful therapeutic method that has recently gained a lot of recognition. The idea behind CBT is that we can train the brain to respond to certain situations differently than it had before. This method involves talk-therapy mixed with Gestalt-style experiencing. This modality can also be found integrated into mobile phone apps that prompt and guide seekers to change the way they speak, feel, and think about their current situations and feelings.

Why does this work? The mind functions by firing neurons and creating neural pathways. The more your brain responds to a particular event, the more permanent this pathway becomes. People who often react negatively to events might do so because this is the most familiar way the brain knows how to respond. 

In other words, the more you can coax yourself to respond differently or positively to things, the more familiar and comfortable it becomes to stay positive rather than react negatively. 

Through CBT, we can learn to not only cope with stressful situations, we can learn to master and transcend them. Through CBT processes, we can learn to respond positively to even the most disruptive chaos. Breaking our negative cycles and teaching our brains to respond positively help and heal our minds, hearts, and spirits. 

What is ACT?

ACT, or Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, is a direct descendent of CBT, and for many people, it’s the most important modality they’ve adopted in their lives. This method uses CBT in conjunction with acceptance therapy, which teaches the patient to genuinely accept the world and all situations so that they can find peace. Another word for this technique is mindfulness, which encourages us to live in the present and be aware of ourselves and our decisions within the moment. 

An adjunct to ACT and CBT – or something that can replace them entirely – is The Sedona Method, a uniquely powerful and effective technique that helps participants acknowledge, accept, and release every experience and related emotions that emerge. More on that, later!

ACT comes in two steps. First, you accept the things out of your control, whether it is the people around you, your environment, or negative events. Then, you commit to specific actions that will help you handle the stress and pain within your situation. 

This method is useful for everybody, from all walks of life. It can help you,  your mind, heart, and spirit become more flexible, open, and (eventually) more detached. The more we can respond positively or proactively under stress, the stronger we become.

What is Neurofeedback?

While CBT and ACT rely solely on human beings changing their behaviors, Neurofeedback elevates these methods utilizing technology. In Neurofeedback therapy, a practitioner uses EEG Biofeedback to help the patient visualize, track, and understand exactly how their brains respond to a variety of stimuli.

With this technology, the practitioner and patient watch a screen to see the way the brain responds, which becomes a primary tool within the therapeutic model. The practitioner applies electrodes to the scalp and shows the patient how their brain waves appear. Then, the patient is asked to alter this activity consciously through a video-game-like interface. 

Through this method, the brain is trained to reroute its pathways, alter its activity, and ultimately respond positively, all within a fascinating reward system. This method is being used to treat conditions like anxiety, panic attacks, depression, anger, attention-deficits, sleep disorders, migraines, and even seizures and autism.

CBT vs. ACT vs. Neurofeedback: Which Is More Effective?

Whether CBT, ACT, and Neurofeedback therapies are effective has been in question for years. Many therapists are committed to using only these modalities, while more traditional therapists worry that aspects of these things are superfluous and ineffective. 

Experts are regularly and rigorously testing new therapy methods to determine which are truly beneficial to psychotherapeutic practitioners. This trend is especially true for recent attempts to administer CBT through mobile apps, which had once threatened the commonly-held belief that professional therapy requires consistent human interaction and face-time with a therapist.

In 2017, a German study revealed that CBT and Neurofeedback showed the same positive results in adults who had attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. The kicker? The same positive results were found in the control (placebo) group. If nothing else, doesn’t this show that it’s not about what technologies and advancements we apply, but what our perception of them is? Maybe knowing you’ve acknowledged the problem and taken action to better your health is the most significant step towards healing.

It’s all about you. How do you feel? What helps you heal? What will help you change your mindset, and in turn, your response to the world around you? Whatever that is, that’s the answer.

Using Mindfulness To Heal

Being present and aware is natural to us, yet it often seems so far away from us. With the hustle and bustle of our daily lives, amid all of our complex webs of  responsibilities, we don’t realize how far outside of our bodies we usually are. We are too often living in tomorrow, next month, or even 5 years ahead of this present moment. When we aren’t in the future, we’re thinking of the past. All the while, we’re neglecting ourselves in the present.

Mindfulness is the first step towards healing, and it can be achieved through any of the above therapies. If you choose to attend a CBT or ACT group or individual session, you’re choosing to acknowledge your problems and pain in the present and take action now.

 If you choose to explore Neurofeedback therapy, you’re choosing to be aware of how your brain reacts and performs upon various stimuli and in the moment. 

When conscious of ourselves in the present, we’re paying attention to who we are, what we feel, and what we want. Knowing some of these things, we can successfully heal the aspects that are most troubling to us.

Of course, you don’t need CBT, ACT, or Neurofeedback to become mindful. Mindfulness is the most basic of all modalities for healing. All you need is yourself and the conscious decision to become fully present. 

Just like with CBT, you can train your brain to be mindful by default. Like with ACT, you can accept your reality in the present without being too reactive or overwhelmed. If you sit quietly amid a challenging feeling, you can find its source, accept the feeling, and then release it. This might take some time to master, but along the way, you’ll clear years of stealth emotions and experiences. Doing so, you can become free.

Find a way to make meditation a habit in your life. Encourage yourself to regularly turn inward so that you can acknowledge how you feel  in the present. This alone will train your brain to advance. 

Through mindfulness, we can become non-judgemental of ourselves and others. Instead of judging and feeling ashamed of our thoughts and feelings, we can fully explore them and get to know who we are. 

What can be more healing than completely and unconditionally embracing our authentic selves? Nada. Dive deeply and you’ll find that you are part of a luminous and expanded consciousness.

Get To Know Your True Self

If you truly want to heal your heart and mind, begin with a 10-minute meditation every morning and evening. As you meditate, focus on your inward and outward breaths. You might even imagine that your inward breaths are full of light and your outward breaths carry away stored negativity and stress. 

Explore different methods of therapy and tools for self-reflection. 

Seek a guru like Amma (Amma.org), Jesus, Buddha, or other living saints like Mother Meera and Karunamayi Ma. 

Talking to a professional or a trusted friend can help you acknowledge your pain and hear out loud what you’re really thinking for the first time. 

Use a diary or my Personality Cards to delve deeply into your soul to source and release behaviors and emotions that are stifling you. 

Any resources that help you pause, breathe, and explore yourself in the present will put you on the path to healing.

REMEMBER!

You are a beautiful Living Being filled with light and love, born from stardust. You are unlimited potential in every direction. With a focus on discipline, virtue, and your own goodness, you can become as expanded and liberated as you desire. 

Pray for others and the Universe prays for us. 

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THE SPRING EQUINOX: MAGIC OF BIRTH & REBIRTH

Shutterstock licensed image: Spring is a time of magic, life, love, and rebirth.

SPRING EQUINOX – THE MAGIC OF BIRTH & REBIRTH

Ahhh Spring! The sun outshines the moon, light overcomes dark, and life once again flourishes on the ground and illuminates our skies. We can feel Spring in our bones. Our guts tell us it’s time to get out there and create. We want to dance, play, and celebrate creation. 

Equinoxes mark a time when day and night are equally long. This is rare: the equally long day and night only happen twice in twelve months. During this time, we can experience palpable and delicious Earthly magic. The Spring Equinox is a time of rebirth for all life. We feel the sun’s energy penetrate and uplift our spirits. We hear the rippling of fountains and the pitter patter of light rain on our roofs. We have renewed hope and faith. Flowers bloom, Bees buzz, Bunnies appear, and ALL IS WELL!

The blossoming season is the embodiment of the connection and cooperation between all Living Beings. It’s during Spring that we feel our connection to every creature and all the luscious, invisible threads that bind us. Every creature rejoices during this time.

Spring is truly the embodiment of the Universe’s love for us.

TRANSITIONING FROM FALL TO SPRING

The Spring Equinox invites us to be truly reborn. During the fall and winter, we
pause, reflect, forgive, heal, and regenerate. After setting ourselves free from the past, we’re ready to flourish.

In case you missed the chance to move on from the lessons of the last year, try this on for size:

REFLECT – FORGIVE – ACCEPT – RELEASE

FORGIVING EVERYTHING, 

WE TRANSFORM OUR REALITIES.

In the Fall, during the Autumnal Equinox, we ask ourselves:

What has been holding me back?

What did I learn?

What can I forgive?

The Spring Equinox symbolizes rebirth as well as new life on Earth. Start your Spring Equinox change by revisiting the hidden parts of yourself that you evaluated in the Autumnal Equinox. By finding and opening the hidden that lives within you, you gain insight into your unique spiritual aspects and gifts – ones you may have never before allowed. Then, we can move on in celebration.

In the Spring, we ask ourselves:

What can I celebrate?

What can I create?

What can I embrace?

How can I give birth to joy?

What do I really want?

What do I truly love?

Where am I going?

Who is going with me?

What will I do when I get there?

THE VERNAL EQUINOX MARKS PROFOUND MOMENTS IN TIME

When the Spring Equinox is upon us, it means the Vernal Equinox is here. The Vernal Equinox is also known as the celebration of Ostara. It’s one of eight Sabbaths or festivals that make up what some people call “The Wheel of the Year.” Every turn of the wheel celebrates endings and births, and during Ostara, we celebrate the possibilities of new life and romance.

YES! It’s time to reflect on where you’ve been and where you’re going. During this section of The Wheel of the Year, it is the perfect moment to say to yourself:

I ALLOW MY PAST. I ACCEPT MY PAST. I RELEASE MY PAST. I RELEASE THE ASSOCIATED EMOTIONS TO ALL EVENTS AND IDEAS. I WILL NOT LOOK BACK. I WILL WALK BRAVELY FORWARD WITH LOVE, LIGHT, HOPE, FAITH, AND JOY!

 

OSTARA OPENS DOORS TO NEW POSSIBILITIES 

We are fascinated and obsessed with our attachments. We easily become blinded by our egos, temporary self-identities, emotions, and projections. Upon viewing one social media post, we can lose touch of ourselves and reality. When we allow this to continue for years on end, we put ourselves into vulnerable positions. After all, near the moments of our deaths, we will feel a surge of unresolved emotions, thrusting us toward a threshold that leads to the Beyond.

It takes courage to release everything that has been holding you back and blocking your connection to the Divine.

Why not begin this process now? 

Release the pain from your past and make way for space within you. Doing so, you will feel more whole and available to love.

Forgive yourself, forgive others, forgive everything. 

Try the Ho’oponopono process. Say these things in your mind to either yourself or another: I love you. I’m sorry. Forgive Me. Thank you. 

Repeat these things over and over again until you truly release. Deep and unlimited forgiveness will set you free.

AWESOME THINGS TO DO DURING SPRING EQUINOX

The three days during equinox provide you with the opportunity to change your perspective, cleanse your heart, and improve your health. 

  • Accept yourself for who you are.
  • Commit to a process that allows you to accept everything as a gift.
  • Commit to growing virtue.
  • Commit to living a Dharmic life instead of a Karmic one. Karmic lives involve contracts where you do this for me, I do this for you. Dharmic lives involve spiritual law.
  • Send love and gratitude to the living Earth.  
  • Pray for those who have harmed you. 
  • Pray for those whom you love.
  • Meditate every day.
  • Find small ways to serve others. A smile can be a tremendous gift to a sad soul. 
  • Do a toxicity cleanse using Ayurvedic herbs. Banyan is a wonderful company for this class of medicine. 
  • Clean the house.
  • Empty the attic.
  • Give away as much as possible to charities.
  • Lean to cook and garden.
  • Commit to exercise and yoga. 
  • Think of your favorite people and give them gifts that will make their lives better.

The Spring Equinox reminds us to be proactive and disciplined, telling us that infinite possibilities are within us. 

 

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THE AUTUMNAL EQUINOX: Season Of Reflection

Shutterstock licensed image: Autumnal Equinox is the time to relax into and release emotions.

 

THE AUTUMNAL EQUINOX: The Season Of Reflection And Deepening

Every year, near the end of September, you might notice a change in temperature in the early evening. From there, the leaves are beginning to change colors and you might notice feelings of happiness, sadness, regret, and pride arise within you.

During this time, we might think about all those who helped us throughout the year and those whom we have helped. Using these thoughts as creative fodder, we might form visions and plans to enact in the new year.

The Autumn Equinox is the beginning of a period of pause, self-reflection, and dormancy. It’s a time of reassessment and inner-planning. It’s when humans, plants, trees, bugs, bunnies, birds, animals, and millions of soil inhabitants go deep within themselves. Even the life of bees is altered!

While it might appear as if everything is beginning to sleep, the energy systems of all of these beings are actually actively gathering strength and energy for a later time. Soon, we will all reemerge in the Spring. 

WHAT EXACTLY IS THE AUTUMN EQUINOX?

The Autumn Equinox is when we honor the harvests of our efforts. It’s when we reflect on who we are and why we’re here on this uniquely beautiful planet. During this time, we might also rethink our processes and procedures. We might even reassess our relationships. 

Certainly, the Autumnal Equinox is a time to process all of our emotions and experiences throughout the prior months, releasing the challenging aspects, celebrating the good, and fully embracing who we are in this moment. 

To take full advantage of the planetary influences and this magical time of year, you might explore performing the Seven Arrows Ceremony or Changing The Book Of Life Ritual found on my Free Resources pages. Through these simple processes, you can connect with the Divine, immerse yourself in the energies of Mother Earth, release emotional and intellectual toxins, and create a pathway to begin again.

WHAT SHOULD WE BE DOING DURING THE AUTUMNAL EQUINOX?

Indigenous cultures mark this time of year as an important period of self-reflection, renewal, growth, transition, and rebirth. To those who are deeply connected to the rhythms of the Earth and Cosmos, it’s a time to gather strength, release the past, deepen our resolve to be loving, vibrant Beings, and imagine new beginnings. 

During this time, we might even venture into exploring the experiences and potentialities around our own deaths. As death opens a door to a new life, so do the Autumn and Winter seasons.

During this equinox, we have equal hours of daylight and night. This is a great time to reflect on the balance of our public personas and our shadow aspects. Where there is light, there is openness and growth, where there is darkness, there is a great potential for learning and expanding. 

When we rest, it is a form of self-care. When we write in our journals to express our thoughts and emotions, it’s a form of self-love. This equinox is a time for silence and looking within.

Given that our lives are moving so quickly, with too many responsibilities, each of us needs time to decompress. If we can write in our journals, find tears of forgiveness, and make time for prayer, even for just a half-hour each day, we will set the stage to become fully rejuvenated, fresh, and expanded at the start of Spring.

For those of us who operate at a rapid pace, we might also need acupuncture, massage, herbal cleanses, and healing sessions. We might feel confused or broken during this time of pause. Be conscious of what you need and seek the healers and helpers with whom you most resonate. This is the time to invest in your healing and expansion. 

When we nurture our inner stillness, we improve our vibrations and allow for growth and positive change.

IMPROVE YOUR SPIRITUAL AWARENESS

As days are getting shorter and nights are growing longer, you might feel a little isolated or disconnected. Consider putting a support system in place. As you reach out to loved ones, you’ll find that everyone is processing something deep during the Autumnal Equinox. 

Truth be told, you are an expanded, connected, Light-Being with unlimited potential in every direction. To source your power and light, meditate 3 times per day, even if only for 5 minutes each time. This will have you know your core Self. Knowing who she is, you can align your personality and identity with her. As you depend on your spiritual practices, you’ll notice that your inner Being is far more expanded than you may have previously realized.

Given the holiday season and all its noise and complications, you might consider foregoing the traditional popular route and create new rituals – ones that truly connect you with God, the Universe, yourself, and those whom you treasure most.

A TIME FOR SELFLESS SERVICE

During these intense transition periods, you might feel that you are focusing too much on the past. If you are unable to truly be in the present, consider volunteering for a few hours every week or every day. By doing so, your heart will come to life and your connection to the Divine will deepen. 

When we selflessly serve others and when we pray for others, the Universe does the same in return. 

The Autumnal Equinox awakens the loving spirits who reside in the Earth’s soil. This time beckons the ancients and our long-ago relatives to nurture us. 

As you venture forward, choose love over stubbornness, hope over grumpiness, and light over shadows. During this equinox, you are being called to forgive, allow, accept, and release all aspects that do not serve your core nature and the light.

Forgive – Allow – Accept – Release

 

In all new endeavors, decide to be more aloof, less attached, and less dramatic. Decide to choose service over selfishness. During this time, you can create a whole new you. 

Take the time to meditate, forgive, cry, pray, and serve others. The seeds you plant within yourself during this time will give birth to a remarkable, luscious Spring.

 

 

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The Year of the Ox: The History, Meaning & Power

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The Year of the Ox: The History, Meaning & Power

Every 12 years, we experience a Year of the Ox in the Chinese Zodiac. Most recently, we rode the rollercoaster of the year 2021, and the next time we see the Ox will be in 2033. You might have heard about years marked by animals in the past, but what does it all mean?

Coming to understand the history, symbolism, and ultimate power of the animals that stretch across the 12-year cycle of the Chinese Zodiac can help you come to understand yourself and the Universe so much better. Armed with this new tool and information, you can better delve into self-reflection, spiritual development, and rebirth!

The Origin Of The Chinese Zodiac

As early as the 14th century, the Chinese used a celestial calendar and celebrated the New Year. The Chinese lunar calendar is the oldest structured example of the zodiac animals used in conjunction with years passing. However, the Chinese Zodiac itself is so ancient that we can’t pinpoint its origin exactly!

However, there is a legend of the Great Race, which tells the story of the Chinese Zodiac’s beginnings. The Jade Emperor commanded all the animals to race across a river in the story.

The first 12 animals to make it to the other side would have years named after them, and they would appear in the order that they placed in the race. According to the legend, the Ox would have been first if it weren’t for the cunning of the Rat, which hid in the Ox’s ear and jumped out across the finish line as soon as the Ox made it to the other side.

When it comes to archeological evidence, signs of the 12 animals in the zodiac first appeared around the 5th century B.C. during the Zhan Guo period. It wasn’t until the Han Dynasty between 206 B.C. and 9 A.D. that the zodiac was officially identified. It was not until the late 500s A.D. that the animals were used to identify people born in their corresponding years. The North Zhou Dynasty was officially in power when the zodiac animals became popular!

We now know that Chinese Zodiac uses animals and elements to mark time passing. Partnered with the lunar calendar, the Zodiac uses animals to mark years, days, and hours in 12 segments each.

Overall, the Zodiac spans 60-year cycles with different combinations of animals and elements to uniquely identify them.

Why An Ox?

The Chinese Zodiac consists of animals significant to China’s culture and history. Each animal was chosen intentionally as being helpful, majestic, and powerful in the people’s eyes.

The animals are always cycled through in the same order, starting with the Rat. Following are the Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, and finally, the Pig.

As a result, if your birth year lands within the second year of the Chinese lunar calendar cycle, you are marked by the Ox.

So why did the Chinese choose to honor the Ox so highly? Oxen have been an essential part of the Chinese’s ability to farm, transport go

ods, and build a powerful military throughout history. For farming, they are strong, sturdy animals that can move heavy materials, graze and provide milk.

They are low-maintenance, providing great help without needing rewards or anything in return.

On the back of the Ox, Chinese agricultural success and history stand tall. As a result, the Ox is highly revered and often used to compliment others, such as “You are very like an Ox!”

What Happens in the Year of the Ox?

Many predictions are told by seers using the elements and animals, including the year ahead, the people born in those years, and guidance such as for relationships and financial success. Though highly revering each animal in their zodiac calendar, the Chinese have never denied the existence of negative forces and flaws.

Each animal in the zodiac has positive and negative traits that help those born in their years better understand themselves and what awaits them.

One might guess being an Ox in the current year of the Ox (also known as your natal year) is a great thing, but it’s quite the opposite! Chinese astrology says that Tai Sui, otherwise known as the “God of the Year,” works to make the natal year of that person unlucky for them.

Tai Sui can be found as a constellation connected in opposition with the planet Jupiter and draws on the unstable energy of the planet.

Using the knowledge of Tai Sui and the characteristics of the Ox, fortune tellers have formulated horoscopes. For those born an Ox, seers have predicted turmoil and strain in love and finances during natal years. Each year has exceptions, however.

In 2021, for example, those marked by the Ox might find some good fortune in their career even if the overall situation was still mainly negative. Which element is combined with the animal during that year can help bring insights to the nuances of those lucky and unlucky events.

If you are born in the Year of the Ox and are entering your natal year, fortune tellers warn that attempts at success beyond self-development are risky. Rejection in love and missteps in your career can lead to turmoil for you. Instead, focus on your wellbeing and take steps to balance your inner self.

What Are The Chinese Zodiac Elements?

Each year, the animals also cycle through five elements. The Chinese Zodiac includes water, metal, earth, fire, and wood. In 2021, the Year of the Ox was also metal, giving the personality of the Ox nuances of popularity among friends and hardworking, active work ethics.

If you are Wood Ox, you’re probably restless and headstrong. If you’re a Fire Ox, you might be practical but narrow-minded.

If you’re an Earth Ox, you could be honest and responsible. If you’re a Water Ox, you might be ambitious and have excellent observational skills.

Using both your animal and water signs, you can begin to explore yourself further and better respond to relationships and situations in the future!

What Does It Mean to Be Born in the Year of the Ox?

Born in the Year of the Ox? A few set things according to the Chinese Zodiac are good and bad luck for you. Your lucky numbers, for example, are 1 and 4, and your lucky colors are white, yellow, and green. You can also have particular affinities to tulips and peach blossoms and to north and south directions.

You also have compatible and incompatible signs! You should stick close to people with Rat, Snake, and Rooster signs, as they are most likely to work well with you.

Lesser compatible signs are the Tiger, Horse, Goat, and Monkey, so you might want to proceed with caution when entering relationships with these signs.

Like the Ox, those with the Ox sign usually enjoy a long and healthy life. They are also best suited for hard work requiring close attention to detail, like agriculture, engineering, carpentry, or politics.

The Chinese recommend wearing red throughout your natal year to avoid some of the bad luck that might come!

REMEMBER!

In all things astrological, please realize that these aspects are only suggestions to help you better delve into self-reflection and ease some stress. You are far more powerful than you realize.

The blueprints that astrology suggests are not hard and fast rules. It might also be that you have other influences in your life that might greatly enhance your ability to receive what you desire.

To improve your vibration, luck, and happiness, spend time chanting Sanskrit mantras and love-filled sutras.

Pray for others and the Universe prays for you.

If you’re looking for more tools to delve into self-reflection, you can try out my personality cards or look into my FREE YOURSELF course. It’s wonderful.

YOU ARE LOVE!

You are a beautiful Living Being filled with light and love, born from stardust. You are unlimited potential in every direction. With a focus on discipline, virtue, and your own goodness, you can become as expanded and liberated as you desire. 

BLESSINGS TO YOU!

There is no “Other.” There is only you experiencing yourself.

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