Rain until May - are we staying in the now?

I just read a post on a friend's news feed saying they had seen a forecast saying that this wet weather will stay with us for the next few months.

Here in the midlands we have been lucky and haven't seen the widespread floods that other parts of the country are experiencing but I can start to understand how people are feeling at the moment about the weather.  When we have seen so many days that are dark and wet it is easy to accept that things will never change.  When an forecast like this comes along our hopes of sunshine are dashed and we feel fed up.  This is where it is time to stop and really consider what is happening.

Ponder this; how often have we planned our day because of the weather forecast only to find it has all gone to shreds because the forecast was wrong?  I think most people will answer "oh, all the time!" If the weather men can't get it right for the coming week how on earth do they know what will be happening next month?

Once again we find ourselves stepping out of the now and our mood is affected by a prediction of tomorrow, next week, next month when, in reality, we have no idea what tomorrow will be like.

My suggestion is to ignore those weather men and gauge the weather by what you see outside your window now.  Yeah, I can hear the rain in the roof as I type but you never know, tomorrow might be a sunny day.


If you want to take things one step further; include some gratitude that all this rain isn't snow.

Edit ~ It is now April and we have had some stunning weather for some weeks.... so this proves my point.  There wasn't rain until May ;0)

Visit my website to learn about my healing practice  

http://www.crystaloak.moonfruit.co.uk/

Affirmations; why they don't always work.

The concept of affirmations have been around for some time now and there are many proponents of them saying you can change your life using them; that thought creates form.  To a certain extent I agree and I have used creative visualisation to manifest some amazing things in my life.

However, using affirmations isn't as simple as it sounds.

Firstly you have to follow a set of rules that guide you to building the right sentence.
** The sentence has to be worded in the now: "I am" as opposed to "I will"
** The sentence has to be positive: "I am attracting wealth" as opposed to "I am no longer poor"

With this we can create affirmations such as "I am loved", "I have all I need" or "I am happy".

It sounds simple doesn't it?  Unfortunately this is not the case.


I discovered this when I was working in an office with a person that clearly didn't like me.  I recorded the affirmation "I am loved, I am loving, I am love" and repeated it over and over on my way to work.  By the time I got there I was so distressed I walked into work a complete mess.  It was time for me to look at what was going on.

What I realised was; inside we have an internal saboteur that will hear these statements and argue against them.  As we state "I am amazing" the silent voice says "no I'm not" and this creates internal conflict.  As we keep repeating the phrase the inner saboteur gets louder and louder and overrides our attempts to change our thought patterns.

This shows that affirmations are more complex than first thought.

When forming an affirmation we have to listen to our inner voice, if "I am loved" triggers "no I am not" then we have to take a step backwards and reword the sentence maybe to "I am open to being loved".  This in itself might trigger a new response that we need to consider, maybe we realise we aren't open to being loved.  On reflection we may find we don't believe we deserve love.

We would think that in this case an affirmation of "I love myself" would work, but in reality that is likely to trigger "no I don't".  Another step backwards and we find ourselves with "I am learning to love myself"... aaaah, that feels better, no voice arguing. We work with that one for a while and then test the "I love myself" to see how we are doing.  In changing the affirmation we can grow gently and with self care until we can boldly state "I AM LOVED"

Affirmations are great and they can bring about great change, but we have to work with them on a deep level, listening to our inner voices until we find the right one for us.

Visit my website to learn about my healing practice  

http://www.crystaloak.moonfruit.co.uk/

The magic of magic

I saw this picture on facebook today and it reminded me of something I saw on tv a couple of months ago where members of the public were asked if they believed in magic and witchcraft.

Of course, most people said they didn't believe in such things and thought it was silly.  After that they were given a knife and a photograph of a member of their family and were asked to stab the photograph with the knife.  Amazingly very few people could do it.  They were asked why not and many said they felt that in doing so harm would come to their families.

When magic is something ethereal that we cannot relate to it is easy to joke about it, but deep down there is something inside that tells us it is real.  If the photo on the right said "Every time you share this cat one of your friend dies" would you share it?

What is the difference?  It is important to bear in mind that part of us deep down that believes something we prefer to ignore next time we hit that "share" button.

Of course, if we believe that in stabbing a photo of a friend might cause them harm, it is equally as plausible that sending loving thoughts to a photo can bring healing to them, which is just what distance healing is.

Instead of posting photos that have such a negative effect, how about sharing ones that can heal?

Visit my website to learn about my healing practice  

http://www.crystaloak.moonfruit.co.uk/

Which crystal should I use? Intellect or intuition?

I am often asked which crystal is right for which situation and I thought I would post a little about my philosophy on this.

 When working with crystals, or many other complementary therapies for that matter, it is important to turn the intellect off and turn the intuition on.

The whole human system of mind, body and spirit is complex and our brains don't hold all the information; there is much that goes on in our body that we are not aware of.  How often have people found that they did not know they were ill until they were VERY ill?  Surely if our brains knew what we needed to make us well we would know at the very first instance when something started to go wrong.

However, while our brains are blissfully unaware something is sending antibodies to deal with the problem.  People who are paralysed from the neck down still have organs that function despite the connection to the brain being severed. 

All this means there is a part of us outside the brain that knows what is going on and what we need.  This is what we tap into when we work with complementary therapies.

So how does this connect to picking a crystal?

If the brain doesn't know what we need to make us well there is no point in storing vast quantities of information so that we choose the right crystal on an intellectual level.  Instead, we have to quiet the brain and tune in to something more innate, the quiet voice that speaks to us when we we take control away from the brain.

It all sounds quite difficult but in reality we are given clues all the time.  We can get cravings for a certain foods and when we look into it we find that there is some nutrient in that food that our body needs.  We change our mind when we are traveling and find that if we had continued on that path something terrible would have happened.  These things aren't luck, this is us listening to our intuition.

So, when you want to work with a crystal and you have a purpose in mind, don't reach for the books; don't try and remember what you were told.  Simple look at the crystals with the work you would like to do held in your mind and see which one catches your eye.  Don't question it, don't doubt it, just go with it.

As with anything we try to learn, the more we listen to this little voice the better we hear it and the easier it gets for us to know just what we need in any given moment.

Of course, once you have learnt to trust your intuition there is nothing stopping you looking the crystal you have chosen up in a book to see what insight you can glean from your choice.  It is important though to not discard the choice if you don't like what you read, trust it was for the best and all may become clear later.

Enjoy connecting to your stone spirits and working with your intuition.

Visit my website to learn about my healing practice  

http://www.crystaloak.moonfruit.co.uk/

Olive - the recovery remedy

Has Christmas worn you out; entertaining, cooking, cleaning, dealing with families? 

Maybe you are weary of working hard in the cold and dark weather and feel you have no energy left as we go into the coldest part of the year.

Bach Remedy Olive is for exhaustion, whether that be mental, physical, emotional or "all of the above". 

Dr Bach wrote that Olive was for "Those who have suffered much mentally or physically and are so exhausted and weary that they feel they have no more strength to make any effort. Daily life is hard work for them, without pleasure." 

 A couple of drops of this remedy could make all the difference. 

Bach remedies can be taken with other medications and have no negative side effects . 

Visit my website to learn about my healing practice  

http://www.crystaloak.moonfruit.co.uk/

The importance of grounding

In the time since I started working with crystals, and particularly since I started receiving regular healings, I have become increasingly aware of the importance of grounding and I wanted to share a little here about what it is, why we do it and how to do it.

So, what is grounding?

Along with the physical body that can be seen and touched we also have an energy field, some call this the aura or merkaba.  When someone stands too close and we feel a shiver it is our aura that is being affected by that of the other person.

The aura is anchored to our body via the energy centres that are often called the chakras and information is passed to our conscious awareness through them.  One of the most important chakras that anchors everything together is the Earth Star and this is situated 6" below our feet connecting us to the earth's core.  This connection to the earth's core is what grounds us.

So why is grounding so important?

When we are calm and balanced our aura reaches about arm's length away from our centre and is like a bubble stretching above our heads, below our feet, in front, behind us and to the sides and it acts like a safety shield protecting us from harmful energies.  When we become stressed many people's Earth Star chakras shut down and we lose our connection to the earth.  This causes our aura to shift, possibly expanding to a great distance or holes may appear in it becoming like a fishing net allowing harmful energies to leak in. 

We may not be aware of it but this can lead to us becoming clumsy, dizzy, anxious, easily upset or ill.

It isn't only stress that can unground us, alcohol, drugs, fear and shock can also cause this to happen.  If you have ever fainted you will have experienced becoming ungrounded suddenly.  Your energy field will have become completely detatched from your physical body. When you see someone who has had a car accident and they are dazed, that is being ungrounded.  

For some, being able to release their connection to the earth is a protective mechanism.  Lightworkers and HSPs are particularly prone to this and many have never been grounded in their lives.

If we are continuously ungrounded our whole energy system will be affected and we find that we fatigue easily, are stressed more often, easily swayed by other people's opinions or unkind thoughts.  We are more susceptable to harmful energies and we may get ill more often, possibly progressing to chronic illness.

So, as you can see being grounded is super important.

So, how do I ground?

There are many techniques suggested for grounding.  I have a visualisation  process that I use that involves sending cords down into Mother Earth.  I also have favourite stone friends that I work with in times when I know I am likely to become anxious or when I am meditating to keep me anchored.  However I have found a very simple method that anyone can use at any time in any place and it only takes a few moments.  It also isn't hard to remember.

 Basic Grounding Process
If you are in a situation where you are stressed and feeling anxious or panicky take a few moments to follow these steps.

• Put your feet flat on the floor and put ALL of your awareness onto them.
• Breath deeply and as you breath block out everything that is going on around you and sense your feet.
• If you are wearing shoes or socks feel how they encase your feet.  How soft are they? 
• If you have bare feet feel the floor beneath them, is the carpet soft or is it a hard floor. 
  
• Feel your toes and gently move them.
• Shut everything out and simply become just your feet.    
• Now feel gravity working on your feet. 
• Can you feel how it pulls your feet onto the floor?  
• Feel how heavy your feet are as gravity pulls on them.
• Stay with that for just a moment longer, breathing calmly.

Doing this should help you feel calmer and more present in the moment.

 

What if that doesn't work?

As I have mentioned, lightworkers and HSPs are prone to being ungrounded for most of their life.  This is because their own energies are often of a higher frequency to that of the world around them and means it is hard for them to function properly on the earth as they are.  Imagine someone who has spent their life at a high altitude, coming down to sea level can be uncomfortable. (This also works the other way and can explain why some find it hard to meditate).

Unfortunately, although for these people it is much nicer floating through life, it has the negative repercussions mentioned above.  This is one of the reasons why many healers have chronic illness themselves. 

We are born into this world to interact with it and as such we need to be present at all times, and that requires being grounded.  For those that find this hard it may be necessary to have regular healings to help them slowly become accustomed to grounding.  There may be fears or past life karma to be healed to allow sustainable grounding.

It took 8 years of monthly healing sessions and a final regression for me to be reliably grounded and I am still learning to deal with the world from that standpoint.  However, as hard as it can be at times, I know it is progress that I stay grounded even when life throws stress my way.  In time this anchor will allow me to be a stronger person and a better healer.

Visit my website to learn about my healing practice  

http://www.crystaloak.moonfruit.co.uk/
 

"In the name of Spirit"... or is it?

So often we see and hear people doing or saying things “in the name of Spirit” or because they have been “guided” to do so. 

This raises the question, how do you know you are guided by Spirit?  Is it possible that your ego has got involved?

Throughout history atrocities have been committed in the name of a higher power.  At the end of Chapter 2 of  his book Mein Kampf Hitler states “And so I believe today that my conduct is in accordance with the will of the Almighty Creator. In standing guard against the Jew I am defending the handiwork of the Lord” .  Going back further the crusades were all "in the name of God".

So how do we know?  Clearly what Hitler was doing was beyond heinous and we look back on the crusades and see nothing but barbarism, how can this be the work of Spirit?

  

When we find ourselves believing we are being guided by Spirit the first question to ask is “does this harm anyone?” or “does this affect another’s free will?”

Personally I believe that Spirit never wishes harm on another soul.   In the case of Hitler or the crusades it is clear to see that his answer would be yes, many many people were harmed by these actions, so maybe something other than a higher power was involved.

We should also, wherever possible, ensure that we do not affect another’s free will.  In the case of healing; although we feel this gift is given to us by spirit, I believe we should not send it without the recipient’s agreement.  To do so would be to allow ego to take over.  Who are we to decide that this person needs healing?  In sending healing are we taking away this person's opportunity for conscious growth?

·         Another test would be to ask “who is to gain from this?”

This is not so simple to answer.  Often, at first glances it may appear that other people will gain from our actions; but what about being seen as a generous,  loving or wise person?  If the person draws attention to what they have done, is it possible there is more to do with ego than first thought?

In the end, before we claim that we are doing something in the name of a higher power we should sit for a moment and ask ourselves “why am I doing this?”.  Dig deep, really search and see if there is any ego involved.  Do we feel the need to tell others that we are doing this? 

Of course, sometimes we are guided by Spirit, for a hidden purpose.  There are times when at first glances a person's actions appear to remove free will and cause harm, but the final result is of much greater freedom and healing.  On a smaller scale we may be guided to do something so we can learn how our ego can get too big for its boot.

This leads to the question are we guided by Spirit all the time, or does our ego get involved more often than we think?  It is up to you to decide.....

Visit my website to learn about my healing practice  

http://www.crystaloak.moonfruit.co.uk/