The Age Thing is No Longer Valid

I'm 56. As I grew to this age I followed a set pattern of maturity & development that was established long ago. Centuries ago people developed maturity early, since the life span was so much shorter. Farm kids my age developed their maturity at a different rate than most middle class urban or city dwellers. Basically the times, life span & life style determined rate of maturation. The majority of middle class Americans my age grew up with a childhood of being cared for, & with conveniences & leisure. As a result, we were a little slower to mature than our parents had been, who were slower to mature than their parents had been. As I watched my kids grow up, I thought they were especially slow but now that they're in their early adulthood (30 & 25) I'm seeing a maturity I didn't have at their age. I've also recently been exposed to young Lightworkers in that age range, & I realize that evolutionary trend in maturing has more factors changing it than ever before.

Age seems to come up so frequently. One of my clients frequently complains about forgetting things & attributes it to aging. I hear a lot of age contrasts as well as age-related excuses for bad behavior. One former friend claims to be an old crone (younger than me & I'm by no means old or crone-like) & says that gives her the right to be nasty to people under the guise of being blunt & outspoken. And many young people make excuses for rude or selfish behaviors by citing their youth. In truth, there just is no excuse, youth or age, for nastiness! If you truly are mature, then you have the wisdom to know how to behave toward others & the obligation to do it. If you're old enough to indulge in selfish or rude behaviors, you're old enough to take responsibility for making better choices.

And as far as what you can & can't accomplish given your age, that line is truly blurring. When I was young, 56 was old. Of course I perceived it that way but that's not what I mean. It truly was. It was getting close to retirement age, was the age of my grandparents when I was little. It was when people really started to slow down in life but now all bets are off. At 56, I'm just getting started again! I can't go for a string of days on 4-5 hours of sleep like I could 30 years ago but so what. We all know how unhealthy that truly is. If you give up at any age, you're going to lose your abilities. And if you take care of yourself & stay active & vital you retain much more. I believe one of the greatest changes in physical capabilities at this age between my generation & my mother's is that we learned about physical fitness & nutrition just in time to make healthy changes. There are also all kinds of techniques to keep your brain sharp & avoid memory problems as you age, including certain types of mental games & activities. But what the expert advice boils down to (I've done a lot of reading on it from articles I've encountered - & reading happens to be one of the techniques most recommended, by the way) is that if you stay activity involved in life your brain will too. And the final key is - wait for it - attitude & intent, of course. I'm working on teaching this client not to talk about his memory problems in that way, to reverse that attitude & thinking. There are also lots of specific techniques for people with true memory problems.

I didn't like the term "New Age" when it first became popular. I used to react to the tone of things rather than check them out for myself. In fact, I just realized that, & that it's a tendency I still have. I was always the last to go for any fad or new thing. By the time I'd get "on board," I'd get the stuff on sale & no one else would be wearing or listening or using it even a month later. It's because I always listened to my mother's negative talk about things or later the negative "buzz" being spouted by the mainstream middle Americans, didn't check it out for myself. My latest example of doing that is Lady Gaga. Last year I finally found out who she is. I was "stuck" watching Letterman one night (meaning determined to relax watching TV & that was the least bothersome thing on at the time) & Lady Gaga was one of his guests. I was so pleasantly surprised by her, so I checked out her music & really liked it. Then I caught a few minutes of her with Oprah Winfrey teaching personal empowerment to young women & it blew me away. In case you haven't realized, personal empowerment is one of my biggest themes. Lady Gaga is quite young but so very "together."

One of my soul family is a lovely young man that I adore. He has more maturity of spirit, wisdom, & Light & Love in him than most of the people I know or have ever encountered. All the people I'm positive are in my soul family have a certain Lightness of Spirit & a huge amount of pure Love in them. He's the youngest & most are nearer my own age but among them I find that age is pretty irrelevant to wisdom & depth of spirit. In the beginning I was amazed by a Reiki Master who's about my daughter's age - her inner beauty, wisdom, & what it was like relating to her. When I first met her I was newly attuned to Reiki II, had been a practitioner for about 3 months I think (as in, total - a month after being attuned to Reiki I, I was attuned to Reiki II). I'm not sure how long she'd been a Reiki Master when I met her. But she was my first cause to notice that the age thing is no longer valid. Since then I've come to accept that especially within my soul family, I don't feel the age difference among true Lightworkers.

I have the best time gabbing with the girls (around my daughter's age) as well as talking with the women in my age range. Both are positive & rewarding. I have the best time with the young ones because it fulfills things in me I need - I'm so many different ages in one thanks to growing up as a victim of abuse. So I'm 5 & 16 & 23 & who know what all else besides 56. I love being one of the girls. It's exciting to hear about what goes on in their lives - the 3rd dimension stuff of their age mixed with the old soul philosophies & reactions! And with those my age we have the experiences of our age mixed with these philosophies & reactions. It's comfortable, comforting, & greatly relate-able. I've also learned not to be entirely amazed when people my daughter's age can teach me so much about the universe, metaphysics, & gifts. I have some wonderful give & take relationships with these young ones, where we learn from & give different things to each other. Some of their gifts are incredibly awesome & some have been at least vaguely aware of them their entire lives! That's actually a blessing as well as a former curse for most of them, as most were outcasts & very misunderstood while growing up. These days we have all those cable channels that feature shows on clairvoyant kids & all kinds of metaphysical topics. Some of this stuff has almost become mainstream. But way after these young people needed that kind of support & acceptance. I had half a moment where I was a tiny bit envious of the fact that a young friend has always had certain gifts. Then I realized what she dealt with growing up & got real.

One of the newest factors in aging & maturity is now the age of the soul. Old souls in young bodies are coming to the forefront all over, & are being activated. I also believe that physical aging is changing in some of us. Those of us who are raising our vibrational levels seem to be un-aging, myself (notably) included. In many places I've read & heard that our very DNA is changing as we release all that no longer serves us, heal, & therefore are able to raise our vibrational levels (through our own efforts, meditations, Divine intervention). It also involves clearing, balancing, & aligning our chakras. Even in the decades where nutrition & fitness began to be flogged, then organics & such, most of us had never heard of a chakra, much less did anything for ours. (In fact, the automatic spell check only recognizes chakra with a capital C & doesn't recognize the word Reiki at all.) Many months ago I briefly said something about things like Bible passages taking on a whole new meaning these days. Now I also see that many universal principles seem to be changing.

Take Yourself Seriously, But Not Too Seriously

First I have to ask - do you ever go back & see if comments have been posted on the most recent blogs? Today I posted 2 interesting comments to Thursday's blog. One is from someone in my soul family who sent me an email in response to the blog & gave me permission to post his comments. He has some interesting & slightly (to not slightly) differing views on the subjects. Then I also posted my reply to his response. If you have any interest in the topics of soul mates, soul families, & twin flames, it's worth going back to read what he had to say.

And that last paragraph mirrors what this blog is about. I know some of you read & enjoy these blogs, find them of value, at least enough to take your time sometimes & read them. That's more than I do with the blogs of most others. The only one I regularly read is my daughter's. I take myself seriously enough to know that I'm given some things to value to pass on & teach & usually a good way to say the things. I take myself seriously enough to dedicate the hour a day it takes to write them, 5 days a week (except for holidays). I don't take myself so seriously that I believe they're vital for any of you, that I don't feel I can take weekends or holidays off. My work ethic & training is that consistency matters. God took over this blog (most days) close to a year ago & my job is to show up & listen & do it. I take all that seriously. But sometimes the topics are way less serious, & those are way more me than Him. But you know what, He has a sense of humor about Himself & us too. God has a hugely great sense of humor. Where do you think we got it?

We need to take ourselves seriously enough to believe in ourselves, our talents & gifts, our abilities & our work. To not believe in ourselves is to hold back & usually fail from lack of trying or wholehearted effort. What about those who try to tell you that you're not good enough? That can be the worst or best thing to happen to you, depending on what you do with it. If you get mad & decide to get good enough, that's great. Maybe that's just what you needed to get there. If you could have been & gave up because someone pronounced judgment on you, how very sad. Unless you went on to be something else more needed & more fulfilling to you. The real red flags are those who tell you that you're not good enough along with a boastful message of "look at me, I'm the real deal." Some self promotion is one thing, & needed in this society unless you have someone to do it for you. (Think of all those political ads on TV. Some involve the politician telling what's so great about him/her. Others have someone else saying it. Most candidates have both kinds of ads out there.) But if self promotion is included in a negative message about you, please understand that the whole message has been invalidated. Where there's self promotion with a negative message, there's ego driving it, & jealousy.

The best way not to get into ego & jealousy is to not take yourself too seriously. There are very few Mother Teresas (or fill in the name of an all-time great you most admire) here on earth. And who knows what she was like as a child. She might have gone through "the terrible two's" too. We're human. Chances are you're not Monet. Doesn't mean you shouldn't paint. Does mean you shouldn't expect perfection or think you're the be all, end all. One effect of taking yourself too seriously is negatively judging others. Another is negatively judging yourself. Another is getting stuck in fear & therefore not trying. I only painted 1 painting from the time I was 14 until I was about 50 despite the fact that I wanted to paint so badly that I took hundreds of photos of things I wanted to paint. But I was afraid I wouldn't be able to paint the way I envisioned things & so didn't try. When I finally did try, I was right. I wasn't able to paint what I was envisioning. I took group lessons for about 2 years & mostly only painted in class. I took private lessons for about a year with the same teacher, during that time. I seriously went about learning & developing. But I learned to have fun with it after awhile, rather than take it too seriously. As soon as I did that, my style began to emerge! And I was finally just really having fun with it. When I get too locked into the outcome (take myself too seriously in it) I don't paint & when I decide to just let it flow & accept what comes I have a great time & enjoy the results.

These lessons apply to all of us in all situations. There's nothing that can't benefit from some perspective & humor. Even arguments benefit. I can remember arguments with my kids & with at least one former spouse that ended in laughter. Usually it was me who suddenly saw the humor in arguing over whatever it was, & burst out laughing. That stops an argument on the spot. At first the other person is stunned but not angry any more, because genuine laughter (vs. ridicule) is unmistakable, & contagious. Once you tell him or her why you're laughing, see the humor, he or she does too & the argument is over. Usually you find that it was nothing that mattered, making something out of nothing, or that you're both basically saying the same thing in a different way. Conversely, we must take ourselves seriously enough to have the confidence we need to make big things happen. You wouldn't be reading this if Thomas Edison hadn't invented the light bulb & Al Gore hadn't invented the internet. Wait! If Thomas Edison hadn't invented the light bulb, someone else would have. No one person is essential, including me & you. And Al Gore is an example of someone who seems to take himself way too seriously. We know he didn't invent the internet! So take yourself seriously enough to do the best you can, be the best you that you can be. But not so seriously that you lose perspective. There's someone else out there who's better than you & if you're putting yourself out there as THE authority or putting someone else down, that's the real truth about who you are - not so great after all, in any way. So toughen up when you need to, & let your light shine. But don't look at the sunlight or moonlight & think that's from you. Oh, & laugh at your mistakes, & over spilled milk. Laughter diffuses those situations just the same as arguments.

Finding Your Soul Family & What That Means, Plus Soul Mate & Twin Flame

Ok, this is again my understanding & interpretation of these terms. And for the second day in a row I'm so excited that I can hardly think! This time, it's because I get to see my Reiki Master tonight! I haven't seen her since January & I was coming to realize that the withdrawal from her, & my soul group, had gotten to the painful stage. My Reiki Master holds Reiki Exchanges & Guided Meditations in 2 different locations & one of those locations transitioned in location & when. My soul group mostly attended this location rather than the stable one. So I haven't seem my soul group since last September or October. I have no idea who will be there tonight besides my Reiki Master but I know there will be the guided meditation & Reiki share. I know my vibrational level is always significantly raised during the guided meditations. I know I'll get to drink in the presence of my Reiki Master, one of the lightest, most loving beings I know on earth. And I know something wonderful will happen that's very needed in my life. How do I know this? Because I sense what I need, know it's coming, know the power of these events, & have total faith in this delivery system (the event, my Reiki Master, those who surround her, the angels & my guides, God). By now I'm not questioning opportunities, I'm simply getting very excited about them!

I've been meaning to cover this topic for quite awhile & certainly all week. It's so fitting that it's today's topic. Your soul group is your soul family, your true family rather than your birth family. In the case of most energy workers, our birth family is a group of people we're related to by blood or adoption, related in the 3rd dimensional sense. Our soul family is the family we recognize immediately or nearly so, & find a deep affinity with, often with shared or similar purpose. Your soul knows when you find one. Usually you feel like you already know the person the minute you meet, feel like you've known that person forever. There are a lot of people out there who are also Lightworkers or energy workers, healers, etc. They'll speak some of the same language & understand a lot of the same things you do but not all are your soul family. If you have to wonder, he or she isn't, in fact. Your heart & soul will tell you who is & who isn't. I was entirely led to mine, wasn't seeking them, didn't know such a thing existed exactly. But I did know I needed community & so in that way had set my intent. I "happened" to be drawn to the Reiki circle around my now Reiki Master, at the old location that has changed, & immediately felt the love & the difference in the people gathered. I was so drawn to them & her, & didn't question that she was the right person to become my Reiki Master. My mentor has urged me to get attunements from & experience others & I knew that was wrong for me even if it was right for others. I knew that I belonged where I was. But once I went to a group event led by another Reiki Master because she was doing something different for the community that interested me. The difference in the atmosphere & spirit was so huge that I never went back. It really cemented the knowledge for me that I was in the right place, with the right group & that it isn't Reiki. As in, not all created equal, not all in the same spirit. It confirmed that I'd found exactly where I belong & with whom, found my like spirits, my soul family. Plus over time my spirit felt & knew it more & more, unmistakeably. These people are my heart's whole home. They know & love me exactly as I am. They know & delight in the child that is me, & nurture that child. She emerges spontaneously in their presence, something so very rare for me. I have to feel entirely safe for that to happen. And they so love that child. They also love to remind me how far I've come, & love it when I share about myself! All the things that are true in an unconditionally loving family & that we don't usually get in our earth families. The way to find them is simply to set intent & open your heart, then accept the experiences & what your heart is telling you. You know how to set intent - pray, ask the angels, write manifestation statements, visualize, write "I Am" statements. You do the same to find your soul mate & twin flame.

Soul mate is usually misused. Men who want to lure women use it. Romanticists use it. But it is a real thing beyond these misuses. You've been with your soul mate in previous lives so when you meet in this life it's destiny. However, I've learned the hard way that it doesn't necessarily mean that you're going to be together from the time you meet through the rest of your lives. I've learned that you can meet your soul mate & he or she is already in another relationship & that isn't going to change. That one is heart breaking! If you don't believe in past lives, you can assume that your soul mate is someone you were destined to meet & love, & I mean truly destined. Forget the popular meaning of all this. It's like the word "awesome." It's been popularized & the true meaning has been entirely diluted. Same is true of the term soul mate. I was destined to marry my first husband & produce the kids we did. At the time we got together, I needed an intervention to entirely change the course of my life or I would have died. I was on a self-destructive search for love thanks to my childhood. But my first husband wasn't my soul mate by any means. I thought my second husband was & who knows. I know he & I have been together in many previous lives & that this was his final time to get it right with me, & he failed. So now it's between God & him & I don't have to deal with him again. I've been told I'll have another husband/mate so this would be a soul mate. Unless it's the first one I mentioned, that makes 2-3 I have or will encounter in this lifetime. I believe that older souls have had many lifetimes so I believe we have many soul mates & not all incarnate every time we do. And depending on the number who do, we may not meet them in this lifetime, or we might not end up together even if we do. I soul mate is simply someone you've known in past lives or at least in spirit & essence before this lifetime, someone you already love & "know." As I've said, it doesn't mean you're absolutely destined to be together.

I believe a twin flame is one you were created with. I'm not really sure if there's another definition for it than that. When I was 16 I had a vision of me (just the outline, like you'd see an illustration of a person surrounded by an auric field) & another soul pressed up against me. I recognized that we were created at the same time, like twins that start as one egg that divides. That's what I believe a twin flame is. Most of us don't incarnate with our twin flame. We are so connected & so much alike that it would be redundant & too powerful for us to be together. Once somewhere I read about this, & my soul agrees with what I read. So our soul mate is not our twin flame. In fact, our twin flame probably isn't on earth at this time. It's probably a trillion to one chance or so.

I know who my twin flame is & I know he isn't on earth at this time. I greet him daily & express my love & when I get around to it, I'll spend more time with him. I am sort of seeking my soul mate at this time. My heart & mind are finally open & receptive, but I also know it's not time yet. I have no idea when it will be. So I just stay open. I also pray for him daily & greet one of his main guides. To tell the truth, I don't always remember to do those things daily. I'm actually pretty focused on the soul mate that I first mentioned & that's a distraction. What I do about him is surrender my love for him to God each & every day. I thank God for using that love for his greatest good & healing; abundant blessings & prosperity; spiritual messages, awakening, & ascension; & his wholeness, balance, wellbeing, comfort, happiness, peace, fulfillment, & joy. I also thank God for using it for my own healing.

Floating on Joy, Transformed Prayer

Within the past week I was given a message through my healer friend & neighbor, Sandra Bear Davis, about my own healing. This goes back to my great need for physical healing connected to that cancer scare, & a pervasive bout of eczema that started just before I went to the doctor for the first condition. Anyway, part of the message was that I need to get to the place where I'm pretty much floating in joy most of the time. Since I got there some days during my devotional times, I knew what she meant. The thing that was getting me there for time to time was surrendering my deepest loves to God during my prayer time. I used to pray in supplication for others. Then I prayed by thanking God as if the healings & blessings were already in evidence. Now I do that but with those I love most deeply or with those who the relationship gives me some kind of trouble, I surrender the feelings entirely to Him & that has brought on that floating.

For example, I completely give Him my feelings for & about my mother & my most recent ex husband. I've been doing that for a couple of weeks or so & I've noticed a huge different this week. Two days ago during a drive in the country, my "I see a groundhog" noise/song came out of my mouth without warning. I then realized I hadn't done that playful thing in nearly 3 full years! I'm not sure if you're getting it, but I was so traumatized from the ending of my marriage & how it all went down plus the aftermath. And that song was part of the good times, the play & joy of the marriage so for that to slip out of my mouth was huge. But it came from the simple step of surrendering my feelings about Jack to God, which led to sincerely requesting that they be used for his highest good & healing, & mine also. And so it's worked so quickly, for me at least! I'm not in contact with Jack to know what's happening for him & it's not up to me or any part of me anyway. After all he did & the choices he made, it's all between he & God. But my healing is coming about because I've so forgiven to the point that I genuinely want the best for him. Last night another huge bit of healing took place. I was telling a new friend about how the marriage ended & instead I told her all the highlights - how we got together & the really good parts of the relationship & what he & it did for me. And that too was so healing!

I'm now finding that my prayer times & the results of them are really taking care of most of my greatest needs, quickly & easily. What marvelous manifestation! So this new woman has entered my life in a huge way because we apparently have tandem life missions. I'm much older chronologically so you'd think I'd be wiser & be guiding her. And since I'm so full of mother energy, that's usually my role with others. But I'm learning & being helped by her even more than the other way around! For example, today I was journaling in between doing my angel work & prayers, which is part of why this is so late. I'd just gotten done asking Archangel Michael to help me work on setting a schedule & the activities for it so that I'd be absolutely doing everything I can to move forward with my work & financially. Just after I got done saying that she sent me a text saying she could help me with that. She had no idea what she said that about. But she saw a question mark & me & smelled me & was given those words to text to me in response to that. And I immediately believed her & figured it was in direct response. I don't believe she trusts me as such a huge source for her yet, but I already know to trust. Then again, I don't have the kinds of trust issues she does any more, despite my most recent ex. I got rid of my deep trust issues in the late 1980s, when I was embraced by my first non-related family, the congregation of Mayo United Methodist church. Long-time readers, you know I've mentioned this church before, how it's truly a family the way it's supposed to be.

One of the things I'm doing these days in my prayer time is repaying gifts & kindnesses to me through God. If you've been reading my blogs for awhile you know I have an issue with independence vs. dependency, on asking for & receiving help rather than being the giver. Now I ask God to bless those who have been kind to & given to me in measure to what they've given to me, knowing that His measure is just huge! It's really helping my heart to do this. And all these things are increasing my faith, trust, beliefs & joy.

Last night this young woman & I had a 5 1/2 hour "getting to know you & what you're all about" conversation. We each shared things we've seldom ever shared with others, including our life missions & connections, beliefs. As a result, I know way more than I did at the start of our talk & realize what a huge adventure is unfolding. I also realize that I'm going to have this great & exciting mutual companion to work with & share it all with. I can't tell you how important that partnership or community support is, but will devote a whole blog to that & a related topic. I realize that the promise of the new energies is unfolding. There was that solar eclipse on Sunday & we're now supposed to be into "leaps & bounds" progress energy, & I saw it at work last night. So today I'm just soaring with joy! I can't tell you how glorious this feels, but I know I'm not the only one who needs to get to this place - you all do! I looked up the hill in front of my house & this time saw the wall of trees behind the houses across the street, & how magnificent they are. I can't tell you how many times I've looked up there & haven't really seen it. Before that I looked out my back kitchen window over the sink (so how many times have I looked out there - come on, I do dishes after every meal) & realized how beautiful my back yard is, what an oasis, & how much I love it. In fact, I'm just so overflowing with love & joy that I really am practically floating. Now, you need to understand that nothing else has changed other than attitude, joy, & gratitude. I still have eczema on the bottoms of both feet to the point that at first this morning it was very hard to walk. I've been living with this for more than a month! And I need about $1200 - $1500 ASAP because of cut off notices for utilities & rent coming due soon. Yet I'm so very grateful for the adventure in my life & what's happening, combined with all that is. I'm grateful for the physical afflictions! I'm grateful for the bills due. I'm grateful that I don't currently own a car. I have truly become really grateful for all that is in my life & that's how I'm able to float on joy. I have no idea how & when my body will heal or my circumstances will change & these "unfortunate" things will be overcome. All I know is that it's coming. I see how far I've come in the last few years & it's amazing. I know some of what I'm here for & I know I won't be doing it in poverty & debilitating disease so I have total faith & gratitude. And that's the "helium" of joy & gratitude creating my floating effect!

Finding Your Animal Guides

I'm certainly no expert but a young friend yesterday said she wished to know her animal guides & I promised to tell her the meditation I was given to use. This helped me identify mine. First, I highly recommend the works of Ted Andrews & Steven Farmer. I have "Animal Speaks" by Ted Andrews & "Animal Spirit Guides" by Steven Farmer. Ted Andrews has a lot of great information about animals in our lives, as messengers & guides, including how to awaken to yours. He asks us to think about which animal or bird has always fascinated us, which zoo animal we visit often or first, which ones we see most often in nature or have had encounters with in the wild, the ones we're most interested in, are most frightened by, have been bitten or attacked by, & dream of. These are all significant questions in determining your animal spirit guides & he gives an explanation of each question. He also includes a meditation on finding yours. See the last paragraph of this blog for how I used this information with a meditation to find mine. 

In one of the classes given locally by Dr. Marjorie Rivera, I was given a handout on animal guides. Of course, this happened right at the time that I was most seeking. According to the handout, we have 9 animal guides - east, west, south,  north, above, right & left, below, & within. "Within exists within you & around you since you have an entire universe inside your consciousness. Each one of these 7 directions has a corresponding animal that you have been blessed with to aid you in your Earth Walk by teaching you the lessons each one of the directions brings. Your animal to the East guides you to your greatest spiritual challenger & guards you while you are on that path of illumination. Your animal in the West leads you to your personal truth. He helps you find the answers you already have buried deep within. Your animal to the South brings you trust, balance, & innocence. He protects your inner child. You animals in the North is very wise. He helps you to discern when to listen & when to speak. He also reminds you of all the blessings that have been bestowed upon you. You animal from Above connects you to the Universe, & reminds you that you came from the stars & so shall return someday. This animal also brings you the dreams you experience, helping you connect to other dimensions. You animal from Below brings lessons about Mother Earth & how to stay grounded & balanced while here in the Earth Walk. You animal from Within brings you your heart's desire & give you the strength to be true to your dreams & Walk your Talk. You animal on your Right Side protects you like a father. he is your protector as well as the one who gives you your courage & spirit to fight when necessary. Your animals on your Left Side protects you like a mother. he teaches nurturing yourself as well as others. He teaches how to experience & have loving relationships." I'm not sure where she drew this material. There's someone named Danielle who does Medicine Card readings, & you can contact gina@lonewolfvisions.com for "your own unique Shaman's Portrait."

I am strongly connected to animals & always have been. Often when I say "always" my memories go back to my 20s but in this case I can't remember a time I wasn't drawn to animals. Even as a baby I was attracted to them. I have been more deeply attracted & affected by animals than by most people I've known, & love animals more deeply. One thing I can point to is crying at the end of every "Lassie" episode. I cried because it was over & there would be no more for a week. I cried because Lassie had been in trouble during the show & it broke my heart, but I also cried because she made it through & was ok. In the 90s I bought the Ted Andrews book because I was fascinated by the idea of animals speaking to us, messages from the animals & animal guides. I also bought books on animal miracles & animals as angels & healers in our lives. I was becoming spiritual at that time, truly beginning to believe in things beyond our 3rd dimensional plane so I also bought books by Edgar Cayce, books on soul mates, reincarnation, etc. However, I wasn't really ready then so I didn't read that much of them & didn't understand what I read. Fortunately, I kept them through several moves & still have them.

In my circle of friends, mostly Reiki practitioners, we talk a lot about signs given by animals, unusual sightings. That validated my experiences & early on I began looking up the animals that appeared in my life. At that time, all I had was the Ted Andrews book & it is really more about identifying you animal spirit guides than brief animal messengers. And I was more involved in the messengers, trying to identify the messages being given. So I was fortunate to get the Steven Farmer book, as he covers the messengers better. Generally, when an animal appears "out of the blue," & especially in an unexpected place or time or way, or in dreams, that's a messenger rather than your animal guide. There's something it's a sign of for the then & now. In my life, it's seldom monumental & these things happen to me regularly, perhaps because it's so easy to give me a message this way & I'm so connected to animals. Sometimes though, it's a powerful message, & can even involve one of your regular animal guides. This is new to me but has just happened & I'm still trying to determine the message. My 2nd strongest animal guide & affinity is with the groundhog. This connection is so strong that I'm very active with the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club. I moved to PA to be around them, Punxsutawney, & Punxsutawney Phil in fact. Since it's spring, groundhog sightings are common but I've had some jarringly uncommon things come up in the past 3 days - things out of place & time or of significance. These are great examples of animals as messengers so I'll list them. First, I "happened" to turn on the TV to watch while I ate dinner, something I haven't done in about a month. The show I ended up watching is one I've never watched before, a rerun from 2011 - CSI:NY. There was an outdoor scene & 3 times I saw one of the groundhog head trash cans created for the movie "Groundhog Day"! I still can't imagine how & why they got hold of one of those & put it in the show. It had nothing to do with the action. When I checked email that day, I found a reminder that the birthday of one of my favorite Groundhog Club Inner Circle members is this week, by the way. Then a day or 2 later (all within 3 days) I "happened" to be at the home of someone I'd just met & she showed us a scrapbook of her beloved grandmother. I went with Sandy for the long ride to pick up some plants for the community garden. When Sandy asks me to go places with her, I say yes because I enjoy her company & because I know something always comes of it. Instead of thinking about what I should be doing at home, I've learned to just accept it & go. She knows the woman & I didn't. We thought we were going to pick up plants & perhaps spend a few minutes, but the woman had a whole visit planned & we had a wonderful afternoon. When we were looking at the scrapbook, we came on a page with a picture of a groundhog & a story. The grandmother had once hand raised an orphaned groundhog baby & they became so close that they'd cuddle & sleep together! That's a huge dream of mine, one of the biggest desires of my heart! I understand that it's illegal now & that raising & taming wildlife like that isn't the thing to do, but I want it with all my heart. (They have permits to raise Phil, are fully within all laws & regulations & treat him like a king, by the way. I'd be the first to protest if Phil's life was wrong or bad in any way. And I know all the details of his care & housing because I'm friends with his handlers & have made it my business to know.) So that was sign #2 - it's very uncommon to raise a groundhog much less have a scrapbook page about it. Later that night a friend called to tell me that the movie "Groundhog Day" was on TV. I know this man through the Groundhog Club activities - that was our original connection. Now he's a client & friend & calls me often so that's not unusual, but this is an unusual time of year for the movie & it was a surprise that he called me to tell me it was on TV, & that he "happened" to be at a friend's house & saw it was on, called me from there. So these are the kinds of things I mean about unusual times or places for animals to appear, or in unusual ways. Just seeing groundhogs right now wouldn't have been anything but a source of happiness for me. Instead, these unusual occurrences point to a message here. Now I just have to figure out what, because the books really aren't helping at this point. By the way, groundhog is my animal from Below.

There were no real surprises for me when I did the following meditation to meet my animal guides & find out their directional relationship to me. I tried logically many times to determine who my animals are based on my affinity & had already been told my main one (Within). First, I set the intent to know before I knew we have 9. I prayed & asked the angels, & one day was just given the information during my time of affirmations & angel work, when I was in light meditation, heart open. After hearing about the 9, I set my intent & used Reiki on myself to get into a meditative state. I set the intent to journey & meet as many as possible. I put on music I use for meditating & Reiki, but different from what I now normally use for Reiki sessions. I believe I used "Slow World" by "Liquid Mind," which I love. I visualized walking along a path & over a foot bridge, to a waterfall. I went behind the waterfall into a cave. I walked through the cave & out the back, across a path to a gate. I passed through the gate into a beautiful meadow of wildflowers. If you have a place of regular retreat or a "happy place," go there. I don't usually do these types of meditations so I needed to take a distinct & long way to get there. You can go to any place in any way you want but a cave & meadow, distinct path you visualize, seems to be key. Perhaps a gate is too, or a foot bridge or waterfall - something that separates your place from all others, that once crossed signifies "now I'm here & this will happen." Once in the meadow, I sat quietly & waited for the animals to appear & talk with me. I didn't meet the one from Within because I already knew her. Instead I met 6 of the 8 I didn't know for sure, & was given their direction or place. I'll have to do it again to meet the other 2. I met them one by one, spoke to them, thanked them for appearing & expressed my love. They had no specific messages for me at the time - of course I asked. They were simply revealing themselves & briefly visiting with me as I'd requested. Once I was sure no one else was coming, I journeyed back the way I came & ended the meditation. Once you know your animals you can connect to them at any time just by speaking with them, & certainly if & when they show up in your lives. Or you can journey to visit them in this same manner.

The Healing of Abused & Abandoned Cats & Pets & How to Move with Cats

This morning the theme of reality checks came back to me when I prayed, as I do daily, for the emotional health of my cats. If you've read any of the blogs about them, you know that all my cats are rescues. Two were fortunate enough to come from no kill shelters that fostered them in homes, 2 were found wandering (as was one from the shelter), & the youngest 2 showed up at my door on a cold night of sleet.

First the 2 from the shelter. Breezy had the best life until she came to me, fostered with her brother, who was adopted first. Her foster mother is known for giving the best, most loving care. All the kittens she fosters are taught to be handled in any & every way & are the most well-adjusted. Mostly nature but part nurture, Breezy is my ambassacat. She loves & greets everyone & everyone who meets her wants her. Her original owner couldn't keep the kittens & they were given straight to the shelter, into foster care. It's obvious she was old enough to leave the mother cat when that happened. She was 5 months old when I got her. These shelters don't adopt them out until they've been neutered or spayed, had their shots, etc. Kittens ideally stay with their mothers for 10-12 weeks but most are ok if separated at 8 weeks. During the time with their mothers & siblings, they learn all they need to know about socialization, burying in the litter box, etc. Kittens separated too early are the ones who knead you until you want to scream, or who suck on things like blankets. Now, Breezy has a thing for blankets but she's great in every other way. We can usually only guess about the pasts of our pets. We have to be as sensitive & responsive to their needs as possible. Louie came from a different foster mother, was found wandering in the woods as a kitten. He's pretty wild & has always been "a difficult child." He could have simply wandered off when not being watched well. Who knows. He doesn't talk to me about it. It's much easier for me to have these conversations with other cats than it is with my own. However, neglected, abandoned, & abused cats rarely talk much about it. And for your comfort I'll tell you that eventually it becomes a dim memory that they react to but don't relate. In other words, they become secure in your love & household. Their spirits sink into their new reality & somewhat replaces the reality they once had to live. The old becomes sort of the memory of a distant nightmare. I know that's true of all rescue pets, not just cats. I've done Reiki & communicated with rescued guinea pigs & dogs too.

Cats need to have jobs within the household. Breezy is ambassacat, top cat, & my baby, my main love-giver. She snuggles me multiple times a day, gives me the daily physical affection I need. It's not the same as with people, but she gives me so much that it compensates me. Louie's job was to tame my ex & he lost his job about 20 months ago. One minute he was on the job & the next he was being shoved into a carrier & taken for a ride. For 15 days he was away from home, housed in 4 different locations, shoved into the carrier for 6 hour rides at times, & when he got home his job was over. My ex never returned. Between losing that job & being fostered in various places while we were gone (I ran to save my life), he was totally traumatized, reverted entirely back to more of a wild child than ever. So he's needed emotional healing. Before that, Breezy & Louie were best friends. In fact, we got Breezy to be his companion, as he needed someone to run with. During & after that trip, he changed toward her, & would hiss whenever she came near, or growl.

Angel was found wandering the streets in December as a young kitten about 9 years ago. She's very needy for some reason. She needs emotional healing because her cup is never full. In the past I didn't react well to that. I simply had trouble dealing with that in a cat & in people. When my ex was around, Angel was very shy of visitors & would disappear for most of the time they were there. When she would finally come around, she'd walk behind all the furniture so no one could pet her or even see her well. The needy one wasn't having anything to do with those not part of the household. Whiskers was found in tall grass as a kitten, maybe about 6 weeks old or so. That was 12 years ago. He attached to me as both momma cat & sibling, & used to grab my ankles & scratch me to pieces when I'd walk down the hall. Sibling kittens give as good as they get & thus teach each other not to play so rough, & a momma cat will just cuff a kitten who gets too rowdy with her. Whiskers didn't learn from them so I was the recipient of these behaviors until he grew out of it. Perhaps because he attached so strongly to me, I'm the only person he's ever really loved. He not only didn't have any real use for anyone else, he didn't like for others to touch him. My ex could get away with it a little, mostly if he snuck up on him. My kids visited enough & are cat people, so they could pet him a little too. If anyone else was in the house, they never even saw him - not even the blur of him.

Karma & Cassandra came to my door November of 2010. They'd been abandoned. I heard that their siblings had already found homes closer to the dump point. I'm not sure how long these 2 wandered. Karma suffered blunt force trauma to her spine just below her neck & had trouble keeping her back end stable on non-carpeted floors. The only way for a kitten to have blunt force trauma in that area, by the way, is by being deliberately hit with something. So Karma is the most emotionally wounded of them all but her physical wound is healed. I gave her kitty glucosamine (normally used for arthritis & joint health) for months until she no longer exhibited any signs of pain or hip control issues, & then for about a month after that just to be safe. When they came to me, Cassandra was the one who stood at the door & screamed to be let in. When I went out to check on her, Karma came out of the bushes where she'd been hiding. I isolated & fed them in the garage for about 2 weeks, then took them to the vets to be checked & get their shots before introducing them to my cats. Once in the house, besides being devoted to each other, I found Cassandra to actually be very shy & quiet, not very active. When visitors came to the house, no matter how loving of cats they were, Karma completely disappeared & Cassandra stayed well out of reach or disappeared as well. 

The cats moved to this house the middle of November 2011. I did right by the cats because I'm a kitty mommy. At the old house I supervised them while the moving van was loaded, made sure they were safe & didn't get out. Once the truck was unloaded at the new house & all their toys, beds, & the cat tree was set up, I went back to get them. At that time I took them in their carriers, their litter boxes, food & water bowls & fountain, & brought them to the new house. I immediately set up their food & water, & their litter boxes. After letting them out of the carriers, I made sure they knew where everything was. Cats are very place oriented but they enjoy exploring their new space. As long as they still have their familiar beds & things, their bowls & litter boxes, they'll do well with the change. Some recommend starting a cat out in just one room but I don't do that. Their things are in each room & I let them explore the entire space from the beginning. If I only had 1 or 2 cats or if they'd had their own room at the old place & would in the new, I'd start with the just one room thing. You have to do whatever is going to make them feel most secure. They have full access to my bed, the couch, & all the other rooms normally so that's what I gave them as soon as they moved here. That gave them full access to me at all times, & all that's familiar to them. Only the smells & layout of the new place were different for them. With cats, you have to change things as little as possible.

The house we moved from was part of my old life that I was definitely ready to be done with. I'd shared it with my abusers. My ex left our lives October of 2010 but my mother was an oppressive presence there until June 2011 & both of them left their junk & presence all through the house. Before I knew I was going to get to move, I'd been working on the upstairs, my main living area, to make it mine. I was selling off all the furniture that belonged to my ex & rearranging it to suit me, to change the atmosphere. I was succeeding to a degree, but it was still a largely unhealthy environment, both physically & emotionally. The new house is my first real home. Its only history is with the owner I rent from, & she truly made it her haven. She was a nester just like I am, which is why she decided to rent to me. She made it a place of peace, safety, joy, & beauty & the things I brought with me engender the same. This is now truly our home, for the cats & me. I joke that I have a cat house & that was true in all places I've lived. What's different is that there are no other influences here. All I brought with me was my inner peace, grace, sense of beauty & home, coziness, & the things that contribute to that, including theirs.

In less than a month I began to notice changes in the cats. At first I thought it was because they were getting more socialization than ever before, & that the people coming into the house loved cats. Louie would come to see who came to the house & be friendly with people, & allow himself to be petted. He was still hissing at Breezy though. Cassandra was sometimes visible & could be petted by a few, & Angel would sometimes come around to be petted! Whiskers then really took to someone who came for a few visits over the winter. She's part cat herself I know, & he would lie in the living room & mentally invite her to pet him while she'd be giving attention to another cat! I was shocked, but thought it was just her. But a few weeks ago he came into the kitchen when I had 2 women visiting. He plopped onto his side & used body language to invite one of them to pet him. And he now comes out to see who's here when someone comes, will let most visitors pet him at least for a moment. He's very sensitive to their energies & only really likes & responds to certain people, but remember this is the cat who used to entirely disappear!

I've been praying & asking certain angels to help with the emotional healing of the cats that need it & it's working, of course. But I think one of the biggest factors is the new home & atmosphere. I can feel & see the changes in them. They are so relaxed & happy! Most people don't get to pet Whiskers but he no longer goes & hides at all. He either stays just where he was lounging (remember, he's an old man & he's also the other top cat) or he comes to see what's going on. He either invites someone to pet him or tolerates it for a moment & then abruptly walks away. Louie still hisses at Breezy every once in awhile, but then again she can be pretty annoying. She doesn't respect the boundaries of the others, just horns in. But I now sometimes see him licking her face, like before it all hit the fan in 2010. Angel now comes around to be petted & so does Cassandra. Angel will also now walk away from petting after her cup gets full, which is also new. She'll do that with me & with visitors. Karma's the only one who still needs extensive emotional healing. She used to dart away in fear when someone else would walk in a room she was in but the other day she walked out to see who was here. We've got a long way to go before someone's really going to get to pet her, but I believe the day is coming. Besides prayer, angel intervention, & Reiki work on them, I heal them with my love & my gentle presence in their lives. I am totally respectful of them, their feelings, their wishes, & their needs. I know each of them as individuals. I know how they like to be petted & touched, & approached. I speak to them gently & lovingly, & say loving things. I talk to them as if they're human & understand, knowing that they understand tone of voice totally & that they do understand the things said to them. Some people will try to play tricks on them, say nasty things in a loving tone of voice. You can't fool an animal ever. They are totally sensitive to what's being said. People form mental pictures they aren't even aware of when they speak & animals read those pictures in our minds. So if your speech isn't in alignment with your tone of voice, they aren't fooled & they certainly don't love you as deeply as they could. You're being two-faced & they don't trust you! They also know when people are just off-hand about & toward them, vs. truly loving & respecting them - owners & visitors. And then there are owners & parents. I don't want to tell you my true feelings about pet owners because I'll get really upset & angry & say some really nasty things. We should all be pet parents! They deserve that, & the difference in your relationship with them & the benefit to both you & them is more than I can say.

Some people stay in unhappy relationships because of the kids, & this isn't really off topic. My cats obviously knew the difference between our lives in the old house & the new. The difference was entirely me! I felt the oppression in the old place & I'm entirely free of it in the new. My cats have flourished & truly responded to the new, happier energies here. Your children know the difference just as well. You may not fight out loud or loudly. Therefore they may not be affected by fighting, but they're still adversely affected by the atmosphere in the house & the unhappiness of the adults. Unless you can entirely turn the relationship around & reintroduce all the love, respect, & care for each other, you aren't benefiting the kids at all or doing them any favors by staying together. Sometimes getting out is the kindest thing you can do, because then whoever has main custody has a chance to find the peace & joy within self, & then the kids will benefit. Except in cases of abuse, it's best for both parents to stay involved in the lives of the kids. Louie would have perhaps benefited from seeing my ex from time to time, but that wasn't possible. Above all, don't fight over the kids & involve them in your struggles against each other. My ex loved that Louie made himself his cat, & I've only begun to have a relationship with Louie in the last few months. For more than a year I took care of a cat that had no use for me & wasn't happy! More on topic, there's my daughter. My first ex husband made her very attached to him & pushed me away. We split when she was 8 & he tried to brain wash her to use her against me. I can't tell you how badly that damaged her! You absolutely have to put the wellbeing of your children first, just like I put the cats first each & every day. Now, I put my kids first way more than I do the cats because it's entirely different, yet actually so very much the same. It's just that kids need so much more. Putting the wellbeing of your kids first isn't staying together in a loveless marriage, it's honoring & respecting their needs as you do what's best for all involved. And staying in a marriage just for them isn't what's best overall. For 9 of the 10 years of my first marriage, I knew it was a mistake & that I would leave him when the kids were grown if nothing changed for the better. Eventually I couldn't wait that long, that nothing was going to change. During the years as a single parent after that, I gave my kids too much of myself to compensate. Now I believe I do it very well with the cats & am learning to do it overall. I make conscious choices between their needs & desires & mine. I have a good balance going with that, so that we'll all happy & content. But they & your kids can't be entirely happy & content when you aren't. Not only do you have less patience, you're less loving & giving when you aren't getting your own needs met! You probably don't realize it because your love for them hasn't changed & you're doing the best you can. But if you step back & take an honest look, you'll see just what I mean. Ok, there's a reason I got off on this tangent that I won't explain, but some of you needed to hear this!

Reality Check

I lead a very uncommon life, especially now. Most of my friends & the people I associate with are metaphysicals, usually healers of some sort. These people speak the same language I do, & we learn from each other. We share stories of a variety of experiences I'd only heard of in the past. Last night I was talking with a man I know (I'll call him N.) about the fact that we both have a black panther as our main animal guide, & he mentioned shapeshifting. Just prior to hearing about Reiki, the most "outlandish" things I'd ever thought of or read novels about were about cats solving mysteries, talking cats (both the themes of 2 of my favorite sets of novels), time travel (romances based on it have fascinated me for decades), & the novels that are the basis for the HBO series "True Blood." As a teen I read Edgar Cayce & lots about telepathy & such, & believed in these things, I read a book about the true possibility of time travel. I had a real tendency to believe in ESP, telepathy, etc. Besides the novels centered around cats & their people, the Sookie Stackhouse books that became "True Blood" are my favorite. I love the way Sookie finds out that all the things she'd heard about & never believed in, like vampires & werewolves, were real & became a part of her life one by one. She takes it all in stride, with wit & humor & they're truly fun books. Sometimes I feel like I live a Sookie Stackhouse adventure, only she usually ends up in danger & I don't.

The point is that I'm experiencing the things that fascinated me & finding out that so many "outlandish" things are actually possible. Not only that, I'm finding I have a true affinity & gift for many of these things. I regularly talk with "the dead," for one thing. I commune with them, with angels, with ascended masters. I regularly receive messages from God & the angels & feel I know & understand them pretty well. I live my life now devoted to fulfilling my missions in life, working for God. My life is nothing like it was in the past, when I was career driven, deeply involved in parenting my young children & trying to make a life for us. It's entirely different than it was 2 years ago when I was trying to survive with a husband who just wouldn't work but kept talking & planning for it, was dominating me & my abusive mother. I was caught between 2 abusers & developed Post Traumatic Stress Disorder at some point, I'm not sure when. The last phase of my life before this one was trying to work from home, be a homemaker, be a wife to Dr. Jeckle/Mr. Hyde, satisfy his deviant & insatiable sexual desires, but also having some freedom to develop my artistic talents & gifts. I lived on a farm (a lifelong dream) & was surrounded by all the wildlife I could possibly desire, & was out of the rat race & able to drop my former Type A behaviors. As a result, I developed a calm & peace that permeated my surroundings, so remarkable that every visitor did remark on it. It wasn't always there. It was interrupted at some of the worst times by Mr. Hyde, but most of the time it was there despite the constrictions on my life & self. Despite it all, I was in the process of becoming my true self. During that time I realized that I no longer fit the Methodist church because of my firm belief in reincarnation, & I began studying Sylvia Browne & David Michael Walsh, looking for affirmation & answers.

The other day I was talking with N. & he was talking about how his friends & family call him weird because of his beliefs, activities, & path. Last night I was saying that every once in awhile I see my life, beliefs, activities, & attitudes from afar, as if through the eyes of others, & think about how weird it all must seem. Then I wonder, just for a moment, if I've gone off the deep end or if I'm the one living right, the one who "gets it" & they don't. I said that to a group of metaphysics & it was interesting to note that one person said that's pretty normal & shows I'm not nuts. She said that it's those who don't wonder who are in trouble, not those who do. And I know that, actually, but it was nice to hear it too.

I know I've mentioned this lately but I've been dealing with some dissatisfaction in my work & world, in my life. My answer to that has been to actively work toward finding out why so I can solve it. These days I don't have to wait long for answers, like I used to, for things to come to me. I've progressed so far that answers are nearly immediate most of the time, or come within days. I don't have to work at it like I used to. I did an angel card reading on myself & an action plan formed because of it but part of it was centered on working my greatest passions & figuring that out has been illusive lately. I was told to journal to figure it out, so I've been diligently journaling every little thing in an effort to truly get in touch with myself & my feelings & needs. From that I was able to figure out my greatest passions & interests, separate them from the things I do because I think I should. Then yesterday my neighbor & friend, Sandra Davis, came over to chat. She ended up delivering a message about me she'd been given as part of a message about healing she needed to hear. She is a wonderfully gifted channel, healer, & guide! The things she told me entirely fit & completed the picture I'd been coming up with on my own, so was very welcome. I've gotten a lot of help with this once I truly set my intent & made it my work this week to come up with these answers & really make effective changes. You see, I almost got upset because we passed the middle of the month & I don't have the money at the moment for the bills or the rent due at the beginning of June, don't know how I'll get it exactly. Instead of getting upset or worried though, I concentrated on figuring out what I need to be doing to unblock things & get them to start flowing. Along with the answers, I've had some amazing affirmations, reminders, messages, & reality checks!

The messages have basically been to go even deeper than I already am, to get to the point that I'm almost always practically floating above the world in joy & gratitude! This comes as I've wondered if I'm not grounded enough, have my head in the clouds vs. in reality. There were also concrete & new ideas of things I can do with my gifts & talents to earn in less traditional ways, & about my true needs. Some of the messages are about changes I need to make in my life, things I've kind of known at times but have resisted.

The affirmations & reality checks have come mostly from my 2 closest friends in the world. Tuesday I talked for several hours with Jenny, who's been my best friend since 1992. I hadn't talked with her since December 27. At that time I was pretty down, going through a period of restructure that led to release, always a painful thing. There are some things I want to tell you about Jenny in my life. When I met her I was fiercely independent & going through my first divorce, single parenting. Out of a tough life, I've had 3 of the toughest periods during my childhood, the 90s when I was going through divorce & custody battles & single-parenting, & the decade or so after with my 2nd husband. In the 90s, in addition to the parenting & divorce issues, I recovered my childhood memories of the abuse I'd suffered, & had that to deal with on top of & during it all. The only way Jenny & I could be closer would be if we were lovers. She knows & understands me better than anyone else who currently walks the face of the earth, even my own children, who know & understand me very well. She knows things they don't & understands it all, thoroughly understands me. And she was with me through the most trying time of my adult life, as I came to understand what I lived, & lived through the nightmares surrounding the care & wellbeing of my own children. When I talked with Jenny, I caught her up on what's happened between December 27 & now. I told her just briefly of the difficult winter & early spring, the wreck of the car & my current circumstances. Then I told her of my life now & how I'm handling things. If you read my blogs you know all this - I've made it abundantly clear how I cope & handle my life. I've made it clear that I view my life as an adventure that unfolds in new ways every day. After only telling her part of it, she said it's amazing. She so totally gets it! Remember, she knew me when! And she's not metaphysical. In fact, in October 2010 I offered to do Reiki on her & she wasn't interested. I had just been attuned to Reiki I & was taking refuge with her for 2 weeks while waiting to see if my now ex would vacate the house & turn himself in for his jail sentence. I did do Reiki on her the following October during a visit, & she became a real believer in it then. However, she's simply spiritual rather than a "follower." She's definitely firmly in the 3rd dimensional world. So that she "gets it" & said my life is amazing is pretty darned cool. Then she added that I'm pretty amazing myself, which was the greatest compliment from the highest authority on earth, to me.

Last night I was talking with my Pam. We've now been friends for about 2 years & were verbally celebrating the anniversary of that. She was telling me that earlier in the day she thought about how far we've both come in this time, how phenomenal it all is. That was reality check #2. I've blogged recently about all this - my new sensitivity to crystals & energy fields, my emerging abilities. I've really only scratched the surface of it, all the amazing experiences in my life now. Almost everything I longer for is in my life now as far as metaphysical abilities. I still want to shapeshift, journey more, be able to give group guided meditations, do past life regressions, fly with lightning bugs, play with fairies, & fully know & commune with my council including my departed loved ones, but it's all coming I know. I mean, my goodness - I now "talk" with plants!

Last night another reality check came from a stranger at a fire circle. She was just passing through & was amazed that I live right next door to Sandy, & how it came to pass. I haven't told the story in awhile, had forgotten the magic & impact. So it was wonderful to hear her reaction to the amazing pull & series of events that brought me here.

Today I was contemplating on this, was given the message for this blog, thinking about how all the people I associate with these days on a regular basis are metaphysicals. At that point I was reminded of the major life-changing readings I got on April 30 & May 1 last year. I was told that my old life was about over & that my life would change entirely after that. I was told that old friends would fall  by the wayside & I'd move on. That hasn't entirely happened, but I very seldom talk with them & none of them live in this state. I was told that younger souls need my help & would be my clients but not friends. My friends would be other Lightworkers. They would be the ones I associate with, want to spend my time with, socialize with. And that's become entirely true, & I'm blessed with more & more in my life all the time! And that's the final reality check in my mind. Life is truly unfolding as it should, as predicted. Yes, they all speak my language & I'm not at all weird to them. That's the way it's supposed to be.

Maintaining Equalibrium - Work With Angels Daily

I've detailed my angel work before but each day I'm awed by the power of working with them. Remember, I grew up thinking, as some of you do, that angels are for others & not for me. I wistfully sort of believed in them. I thought of them as magical beings that work for God & that's true. I had no idea how many there are & that we're each assigned guardians, guides, & various angels. Now I know that we can call on the angels whenever we need help. I've gone through various beliefs in my life about God & what He does for us, how to pray, etc. My heart was in the right place & I was earnestly seeking & trying. I'm not going to claim to have the answers now but my heart is at peace because I feel I truly understand what I need to at this time. As far as prayer, I pray to God & first thank Him sincerely for all that's in my life that I like. Then I thank Him for the things I don't like about my life, health, & circumstances. Then I thank Him for the changes coming, as if they've already taken place. I do that in full faith that He will be taking care of what I need. Then I pray with thanks in the same way for others, knowing He'll bring about their highest good as long as they don't block Him with their free will. After that I greet my council & loved ones who've departed the earth. I know some of the beings (angels, guides, teachers, animals) that are currently assigned to help me. I also know which departed loved ones watch over me & are still connected. This isn't all family. There are pets, one of my elementary school teachers, & some close friends who were loving & protective on earth as well as some family.

Next I speak my "I Am" & manifestation statements out loud, then call on various angels & ascended masters out loud. Some I've been working with for nearly a year. Others have been fairly recently added. Because I ask these beings for help every day, I've had a chance to see how they work in my life. These days all I have to do is call on them in the morning to feel grounded, blessed, helped, & balanced. I feel the energy of asking them to help me & work with me.

Each day I ask the angels to surround my heart with healing & protective pink light & thank them. I ask Archangels Raguel & Chamuel to help me stay true to myself as I experience the important changes in my life. I ask them for their complete & thorough assistance in sorting through relationships, my work, & other areas where my tastes are changing & my life is changing. (Remember, my life is in the flow as much as possible at this time, & therefore always changing.) I ask them to guide me through these changes with grace, compassion, & integrity so that everyone involved it blessed. That's really important to me. I used to live with regrets regularly - feeling I'd hurt or slighted someone, that the lack of contact between us was a failing on my part, I'd reply conversations & imagine all kinds of ill-will toward me. My last ex tried to teach me an important lesson that's helped with that, & this angel work daily ices the cake. He told me that it's not about me, that no one is as focused on me as I'm thinking. He told me people don't even notice what I think I've said or done wrong, they're much more into themselves than that, & it's true. Many of you are too hard on yourselves in this same way, so I'm passing this on to you.

There are others I work with, including Archangels Raphael & Gabriel. Lately I've added Archangel Raziel, who helps with past life karma, & Archangel Zadkiel for emotional healing & help. "Archangel Raziel, I call upon you now. Please help me, guide me & heal me through my past life experiences & relationships. I ask that you & Archangel Michael cut all cords to individuals & contracts that no longer serve me & balance all karma in all directions of time & space & all dimensions, & that Pele burn the ends so they may not reattach. Please help me uncover, heal, & release any old buried pain, now & forever. Thank you." I say this every day because I know that much is buried within me & that there are still things holding me back. I know it's all a process, that not everything is released at once. And if I uncover anything specific, I especially work with clearing it in this way. I also find it important to call on Archangel Zadkiel daily. "Archangel Zadkiel, please help me heal my heart. If I'm holding on to unforgivenss or anger, please help me to release it fully. If there's something I'm not seeing, please help me to see clearly. If I need more compassion, please fill my heart with mercy. When I'm worried or anxious, please fill my heart with faith & calmness. I now surrender my needs fully to you & I trust that your God-given healing power takes care of every detail with Divine grace, harmony, & wisdom. Thank you." I still have potential sources of anger, perhaps buried unforgiveness, worry & anxiety in my life on a daily basis so this is another very important thing for me to do, to repeat each & every day.

My primary angel is Archangel Michael, & I call on him the most. He is the one most involved with all the issues still in my life & my major needs. I believe he works with all of us, & that we each need to call on him at the start of our day. I used to just ask him to "protect me from all lesser energy, anything detrimental to me & all harm." Also, when it's bee season, to "protect me from all things bitey & stingy." Now I've added a lot, & still ask for those things too. "Archangel Michael, you know the details of my Divine life purpose, & I ask you to help me be aligned with my goals. Please clearly guide my actions so that I'm taking the best steps to manifest my wonderful & meaningful career. What parts of my life do I need to focus on more closely right now? Thank you for helping me hear your answers & for giving me the courage & support to make healthy changes in my life. And thank you for watching over my home, me, & the kitties. I ask that you post guardian angels at each window, door, & the computer, ensuring our security. Thank you for guiding my finances & activities so that I can easily afford to pay my rent, utilities, & cover all our needs. Than you for protecting my loved ones & me, ensuring that we're safe & that all our needs are met. I now accept your help gratefully & gracefully, knowing that it's right for me & all others to accept heavenly assistance." To this I added several more recently. They're similar, but I've been feeling like I'm spinning my wheels with my work, have been feeling vague dissatisfaction, & lower energies & enthusiasm for all before me. When I asked for help with that using one of Doreen Virtue's angel card decks (Archangel Michael), using these words were part of the answer. "Archangel Michael, please show me the next step. Thank you for walking with me every step of the way, for holding my hand, giving me the confidence & courage, & guiding my thoughts & actions in the direction of love & my true life's purpose. As the angel of courage & confidence, I call upon you to lend me your strength. Allow me to commit to myself, my life, & my Divine purpose. Please clearly guide me so I can fully open my heart to every experience. Please lend me your courage & fortitude. Help me realize that I am one with all this is Divine: wisdom, strength, love, creativity, abundance, & health. Allow me to feel confident & peaceful about myself in all ways."

I so love the part about Archangel Michael holding my hand! It makes me think of him as a loving playmate at times, a being who deeply loves & cares for me. I know playmate just doesn't fit his image but angels have a sense of humor & fun. Sometimes I long to hold his hand & skip through meadows of wild flowers, play in a babbling brook, splash through a waterfall, & laugh together. I also picture doing the same with Jesus. And I want to play, dance, & sing with fairies & other beings, & fly with lightning bugs. I also want to intimately know all my council & commune with them daily, know exactly whom to ask for what & whom to thank. Angels are only going to help us if we ask them to, because they answer to God & He's given us free will. I also know that it helps if you know who to ask for what, & are specific. This is different that manifestation statements, which should be fairly general. In the absence of knowing exactly who to ask for what, I ask in general & include the fact that I want to personally get to know them. They know my heart & so does God. They know I need to be & work in community, that I truly desire & need close, interbeing relationships rather than vague generalizations. They know I want to walk with them & talk with them, have a personal relationship with each of them. So I ask specific beings for specific things as directed in angel card readings & more generally ask my council for the rest.

Some of you know me well. Some of you read this blog regularly. Many wonder how I'm able to progress so quickly in my life & rise above so many challenges. I've just outlined for you exactly how. As always, if I can do it (& I have), you can too.

Want to Lose Weight or Change Your Life? - Tips You Won't Find in Any Women's Magazine!

I want you to carefully read everything in this blog over & over again until you get it. This isn't just about weight loss, it's about transforming your life. Each step & thing I say is of vital importance in this one!

Women's weight especially reflects their lives & feelings about their lives & themselves. Many of us were at our best weight in our early 20s, then steadily put on weight after marriage. Women tend to put on weight when they're dissatisfied in areas of their lives. We put on weight because of stress or depression, or to hide from our sexuality or make ourselves unattractive to our mate or other men (or women, if lesbian). (All of this applies to lesbians too but my orientation is heterosexual & I'll use that in this blog). Personally, I gained weight during my first pregnancy & kept putting it on afterwards. I was unhappy & unfulfilled in my marriage & life. I believe I also wanted to be unattractive to other males to make it easy to stay faithful in an unfulfilling sexual relationship with my husband. In my second marriage I put on a lot of weight & actually got to my highest weight ever in an effort to be unattractive to him. One thing I want you to understand is that I have the perspective now but I was only very vaguely aware of what I was doing at the time. We usually don't know what motivates us, don't even realize how much weight we're gaining or why. There are so many factors. We tend to be less active when we're unhappy, less involved in life & the activities that kept us trim in the past.

If you aren't at your ideal weight, look at your emotions & life first. Really examine how you feel about yourself, first. Then honestly examine how you feel about your life. Only last do you need to look at your activities & eating patterns. The true keys are in first your feelings about yourself, then your life. Your feelings about yourself are the most influential factor in most weight problems. Then, as in all I preach, losing weight is simply a matter of changing your thinking & feelings. I'm so qualified to talk with you about this. I lost 4 dress sizes in less than 18 months this way! I'm not sure how many pounds of fat I actually lost because muscle weighs more than fat so I'm telling you in sizes. I probably lost 45-50 pounds but also gained lots of muscle so who really knows.

I joke & say first I lost 350 pounds (removed the now ex husband from my life). But that was the major first step for me. I had the courage to make a hugely major change in my life. In fact, I entirely upended it. I gave up all illusions about the 10 years of our relationship, dumped out my entire life, gave up what I was trying to do for a living since it was tied to him & faulty. I liken it to an earthquake. All of life as I knew it disappeared with the decision to get him out of my life. In this case, part of the decision involved putting a beloved son & father in jail & going back on a promise to his dying mother. I'd been like a member of his family for about 40 years by the time I put him in jail for stealing my mother's life savings. I deeply loved his adult children, had promised his mother on her death bed that I'd take care of him. None of the family except his children were alive to witness his great fall & going to jail, but I know our loved ones in the afterlife are aware. I tell you all this to point out that whatever you have to conquer to make the first step major change in your life is nothing compared to what I had to do! I did it, so can you.

About 6 months later, I recovered enough to really get involved in life, & that too is a major step. I became very physically & spiritually active. Not only was I involved in a total cleanup of all he hadn't manned up to do, I also advanced my own interests & passions, started my own business & started making part of my life finally about me. During that first 6 months, I read books on marital abuse & the consequences, & examined my role in the marriage, why I allowed myself to be so abused. I came to understand & to accept responsibility, then forgive myself. These too are all critical steps. First comes the reflection & time of bald honesty with yourself, then the decision to make the changes, then the courage & doing it. Then you have to take responsibility for your role in whatever the problem was & the steps & responsibility to heal. Then you have to go in a new, healthier, more self centered direction with your life. Yep, self centered. You have to be at the center of your life! Right now I'm just talking you vs. others. I'm not getting into Creator here. For once this isn't about the spiritual. Weight gain came from self & has to therefore end with self.

The more mentally & emotionally healthy I got the more weight started dropping off. It wasn't really noticeable until after I started my own business & really started getting on with my life, putting myself back into my life instead of living under siege. Losing weight like this becomes a snowball effect. You start feeling better physically & start feeling better about yourself. In turn, you start making healthier choices & craving healthier foods & activities. When all this comes together, it's also the key to keeping the weight off.

Please understand that none of this is about being attractive or not. It's about taking care of yourself & your needs, especially your inner needs. It's about health - mental, emotional, & physical, in just that order. Yes, I love the way I look now vs. then. I regularly find myself feeling bones like my collar bone & muscles in my outer thighs that I'd forgotten exist. I love the way my old clothes fit & feel, & having a lovely new wardrobe of old "friends," clothes from a much happier time in my life. But it was never about this & I didn't consciously try to lose weight ever while it was happening. It was the natural result of all the healthy changes I was making in my life. One of the things I love best is how much better I feel. I don't huff & puff going up stairs or working in the yard, vacuuming, etc. My legs & hip don't hurt any more, nor do my back & knees. And it's not just ending those aches & pains. Overall I feel years younger in my body, just so much better every day overall. Plus, I went from overuse of 2 kinds of insulin to barely using 1 kind! My sugar levels are better than they've been in many years, with hardly any medication to help. (By the way, part of what helps that is a Shaklee supplement I sell. If you have diabetes, please ask me about it!)

I talk about "I Am" & manifestation statements almost daily now & here I go again. If you need to lose weight or make major life changes, you need to write supportive "I Am" & manifestation statements. I'm not going to suggest any specific ones here. These need to be as individual as your needs. But if you need help with them, I'm here.

A Purpose-Driven Life But What's My Current Purpose?

Lately I've been feeling some real dissatisfaction. I've been feeling anger at someone for disrespecting me & at someone else for truly deeply hurting one of my dearest loved ones. I've been feeling used & pulled in many directions, since there's so much I can do & actively do for others but I'm seldom or barely getting paid for it & therefore have little income & time & energy to generate it. I've been feeling vaguely bored & purposeless, like I've been drifting. I've had trouble balancing the fires within me. Since I lead a purpose-driven life, I understand that these are calls for action on my part.

Today I addressed one area of disrespect with the one who has angered me & the next time the other area comes up I'll address it. I did it kindly & gently & my message was received. This will allow me to get over that anger. All I can do about the other anger is pray for the one who has angered me & support the person who's been hurt. I work with Archangel Zadkiel each day on that anger, & it truly helps. I know I've shared this before but it's important to share again. "Archangel Zadkiel, please help me heal my heart. If I'm holding on to unforgiveness or anger, please help me to release it fully. If there's something I'm not seeing, please help me to see clearly. If I need more compassion, please fill my heart with mercy. When I'm worried or anxious, please fill my heart with faith & calmness. I now surrender my needs fully to you & I trust that your God-given healing power takes care of every detail with divine grace, harmony & wisdom. Thank you." My brain often starts the day with my concerns & the left over feelings I haven't dealt with. This part of my angel work always helps me.

I'm not sure what else to do about feeling pulled & used. I'm already working with angels, praying, using "I Am" & manifestation statements. I've got to do some meditations & really put this before God & the angels for help because I still feel stalled. I need some clear guidance & direction, focus. I understand some of the feelings of boredom. My fires of passion have opened with no current outlet. Somewhere out there is "him, whoever he is," my life mate. I can't force the timing nor do I believe I'm quite ready for him in my life but I'm not sure what all I have to do to be ready. And the time has to be right for him too. So again, I have to work with myself - the only thing I can control.

There are a lot of things I can do to change things. It's just the things I should be doing regularly anyway, for the most part. One thing is to start doing all that's before me to do. People are waiting for me to do things for them & whether I'll get paid or not, I need to just do them. Then they're off my mind & not weighing on me. I also need to get back to doing Distance Reiki regularly. That puts me back in touch with my purpose & spirit. I need to do things around the house to improve my environment, & be out in the garden & yard. Again, that gets these things off my mind, helps me feel productive, & the outdoor work is exercise & gets me in touch with Mother Earth & nature. It puts me out in the sunshine & fresh air, which we all need. "Playing in the dirt," as I call it, feeds my soul & spirit. I love the smell of fresh dirt, flowers, the bird songs. We all need that as surely as we need water. And I need to drink more water. I need to exercise, & do creative things like painting. I need to quit giving in to the feelings & letting them drag me down & do something about them. I need to use them to make positive changes.

I know that I'm a heart centered person & that my soul & spirit is mostly pure Love. Until recently I had part of that blocked, & I've had my sexuality blocked for many years now. In 1998 I walked away from the love of my life, the love of many past lives because it's not going to be a viable relationship in this lifetime. We had a relationship for many years & he's a part of who I am, my soul & spirit, but the relationship ran its course within the confines of this lifetime. I suppressed the feelings after that until recently, & that led to all kinds of problems. A couple of weeks ago I "happened" to read a novel I'd bought some years ago & it opened my heart back up & gave me perspective on this love & relationship. Since I pay attention to & use everything, I called him & re-established contact. I understood that there was unfinished business I needed to take care of before I could heal & move on. What I've done is reconnect with him to establish wholeness in me. It hasn't changed our relationship any - he's a huge part of my heart & that will never change, but he's not going to be a regular part of my life. But now I feel he's an alive & active part. I can call him when I want & need to, & so far that's eliminated the need. By repressing the feelings, I'd kind of created a monster. By freeing them, I liberated my self & put everything into perspective. I also restored a vital piece of myself. Now my heart is much more open & I'm able to be more of myself, more loving, caring, & giving. Each morning I give my love for him to God, who is the one who gave us the love in the first place. Then it's entirely up to Him who He benefits with it & how. 

I've been feeling a vague overall dissatisfaction & also dissatisfaction with my "I Am" statements. They were entirely rewritten based on that teleconference on thriving vs. barely surviving in my metaphysical business & just not doing it for me. It seems I need to regularly rewrite them to reflect current needs. So be it. I wasn't sure where I was going with this blog & what I need to do to move forward so I took a break before this paragraph & did an angel card reading for myself. I used Doreen Virtue's Archangel Michael deck. I now have 5 decks including those & by working with them regularly I know which ones to use when, for myself & others. One of the biggest things I discovered is that I'm still doing the abused child disconnect. I'm not listening to myself & applying it when I advise others, for one thing. I'm not using my journal as well as I need to in order to truly identify my feelings & needs. I need to start listening to my body & emotions & really meeting my own needs. I created an action plan for myself based on the cards & messages. I found that I truly am on the right track but that I have to have confidence & faith in myself. I was right in all the things I've already said I need to be doing, including doing whatever presents itself to me to do - taking action. All I need now is to get fully in touch with my truest passions & purpose. I've been thinking in terms of income needs rather than my true needs & passions. I've been listening to others tell me my purpose, & they may or may not be right. I've also been listening too much to the 3rd dimension messages from myself & others - money, work, the traditional path that drives them. It happens to all of us - people impose their values as absolutes, judge us, advise us whether we ask for it or not, or simply question us about what we're doing with our lives. So today I'm going to spend some time really getting in touch with myself. I've said it before - I have so many things I can do, so many gifts & talents but haven't been making money from them. I've had trouble settling in because of this. Once I entirely get in touch with my self & my passions, I know what to do - write my "I Am"s, set intent, take every step forward, commit myself entirely to my desires, & call on Archangel Michael for help every step of the way. He's a great supply of courage & confidence, strength & power.

Learn How to Love, Honor, Value, & Cherish Yourself

I've learned the importance of loving, honoring, valuing & cherishing myself, to truly love myself. I've learned that those who don't really love themselves fully look to others to do it for them. That burdens the other person & never works. We can't fully love someone else or be in relationship fully until we love ourselves. I'm not sure when I finally got to where I fully love myself but I know I'm still in the process of learning to honor & take care of myself, which is putting that love into action daily.

Love is an action word really, not an emotion. Love that is just an emotion fades & is subject to whims. Unconditional love is action not emotion, & the kind of love we have to have for ourselves, & the only true form of love to give others. Unconditional love is the kind in I Corinthians 13 & what we have to have for ourselves. Look it up. If you don't have a Bible, look it up on the internet.

I understand myself fairly well & have for as long as I can remember. What I've learned to do is to accept myself as I am & forgive myself for my "mistakes." That's part of how I truly came to love myself. I've learned & grown from those "mistakes." I've paid the consequences & taken responsibility. I've apologized to those I've hurt & owned up to my "failures." I've made amends where possible. That's allowed me to have love more fully in my life, for myself & from others. It's also allowed me to understand & forgive others, to move on. All of these are necessary parts of learning to truly love yourself. Now that I love myself I'm almost completely heart-centered & there's great joy in that. I receive so much love from the outside that it amazes me. And I have such peace in my heart & self, because I no longer live with regrets, rage, & emotional pain. I seldom look back & I don't sweat the future, so I live in the present & take each day as a gift. I am so full of love for myself & others that I attract great love. I also attract attention, mostly the good kind. I understand, by the way, that I'm not perfect or where I want & need to be, but it's ok. I accept where & who I am now & understand that although there is always progress & growth in my life & self, I'm what & where I need to be in this moment. I no longer drive myself crazy seeing what I need to get done in my life, environment, or self. I know that it will come in the proper time & I'm able to wait & pace myself.

I do many things for myself. Yesterday I took the day off for Mother's Day, only did whatever I wanted to do pretty much. One way I treat myself is to surround myself with things that make me feel good. Mostly all I can count on is me to do for me. My kids are in other states & I don't have a spouse or boyfriend. Yet I have a beautiful vase of flowers on the table that makes me very happy. I give myself flowers whenever they're in bloom. Right now it's peonies & they smell heavenly. I picked out the best vase to showcase them. I have lots to choose from because I love beautiful vases & fresh cut flowers. I give myself the things that will make me feel special, & then I enjoy them fully. In my home I have pictures hung & knick knacks that have meaning for me, provide a sense of comfort & wellbeing. I treat myself to nice things without spending a lot. I take good care of the things that I have so that I can continue to have them. I also don't clutter with things that don't mean anything to me. I order my environment to suit me. (Some people mentally go to their "happy place." I've made my home & my front porch into my "happy places.") I'm working on ordering my whole life that way too, which is setting boundaries with the others in my life.

Learning to love yourself is a sum of the choices you make. Setting boundaries is very important for that. Last night a friend & client called at 10:45 p.m. & I didn't answer the phone. In the past I've asked him not to call so late but he hasn't gotten the message & I'm feeling anger. So this time I'm going to firmly tell him that it's disrespectful, as is the fact that he argues with me when I'm helping him with changes he needs to make. I'm going to put a firm end to the disrespectful behavior, set my boundaries, stand up for myself. That's something I'm learning to do. I grew up not being allowed to have any boundaries so it's been hard for me to assert my boundaries. But we all have boundaries within ourselves & not asserting them is disrespecting ourselves. So I'm going to politely (despite the fact that he's very impolite with me) but firmly establish real boundaries here. The more you do it the easier it becomes & the more worthy we feel. It's necessary.

I've learned to treat myself more respectfully too. I no longer use self-depreciating humor & I watch my self-talk all the time. When I catch myself saying something at all negative about myself I switch it to the temporary or turn it completely positive, or use it to make changes in myself or my life. I acknowledge myself fully when I need to, including negatives. If I have a nagging headache or am not feeling energetic, I am careful not to speak in "I am" statements about it but I do acknowledge myself & my needs. Then I usually say "Right now I'm feeling..." That brings it to my full attention so I can do something about it. The same guy who called too late has some terrible habits in how he talks about himself. He always talks about how bad his memory is & how chaotic his brain is. I absolutely don't do that. I also really watch absolute words like "always" & "never," as they don't acknowledge the ability to change or grow. I happen to know that I have a tendency to stay up too late, to need a lot of time to unwind at the end of the day before bed, & that when I get engrossed in a really good book I don't want to put it down, spend too much time reading. Instead of negative talk about that, I've chosen to do something about it. Sometimes I allow myself to indulge, & forgive myself. Most often, I choose to put the book down or curtail the time & go to bed earlier, listen to the needs of my body instead of my tendencies. I try to balance my various needs.

Writing "I Am" statements for yourself are a great way to change your thinking & behaviors to learn to love & honor yourself. Here are some really good ones. "I am worthy." "I am devoted to honoring my feelings & communicating from my heart at all times." "I celebrate my great decision-making abilities." "My validation always comes from within." "I am unconditionally loved, loving & lovable." "I am a caring, giving, loving, valuable human." "I am a caring, giving, loving, good & valuable friend." "I am compassionate toward & take good care of myself, nurture myself as I've nurtured others." "I make a great difference, am a catalyst for bringing good to others & situations." "I am becoming the best me I can be." "I am able to change & adapt as needed for my highest good." "I love myself unconditionally. I feel my feelings but am able to handle the highs & lows effectively." "I am a unique, radiant, loving being." "I am who I am & glory in that." "I am my own person & choose how to think & behave." "I speak up for myself & my voice is becoming stronger & more compelling." "I am able to trust people & trust my feelings." "I am releasing all the past hurt in my life & turning it into love." "I am able to accept myself. I don't need anyone else to feel whole & complete." "I deserve the best that life has to offer. My needs are always met." "I am complete in myself & don't need approval from another person to ensure my happiness." "I have a right to express my desires to myself & others." "I am determined to treat myself with honor & respect." "I love myself for who I am & the potential within me." "What I have to say is worthy of being listened to." "I am the Divine plan unfolding itself. I have nothing to prove." "I am at the peak of physical health - at my best weight, in shape & at peak physical capability. I maintain this through a healthy lifestyle, healthy eating & a healthy amount of the best kinds of exercise, activities & play for my highest functioning & greatest good." These are just suggestions to choose from or inspire you to alter & use, or influence the writing of your own. On May 11 I included some good ones too, so please go back & read that blog if you haven't already.