Realizing Your Destiny: Set Your Intention

Want to have an amazing fulfilling day? Set your Intention!

When you’re driving to a new location you usually plan to get there via the safest, easiest route.  You put the destination in your GPS or look on a map and follow the instructions one step at a time.  

Imagine if you just got in your car, started driving and hoped your car would take you where you needed to go.  You would never reach your intended destination. 

 

We are no different. Your daily experiences are accomplished through presence and intention. It is just like setting your location in your internal GPS and then allowing each direction to unfold as it comes.  

Otherwise the energy of each days events will dictate your experience. And your life!

Begin your day with a morning intention.  I engage in a ritual each day to attune my energy, align with my intention and then allow my intuition to guide me through that flow.  

Do you want to feel rushed, anxious and off kilter today?  Or would you prefer to experience peace, joy and the rhythm of your soul throughout the day?  By setting your intention first thing in the morning, you set the tone for the quality of your day. 

You would not think of going to work or engaging in your daily routine without first brushing your teeth. A morning intention setting ritual can be as fundamental to your thriving as basic hygiene. 

My routine begins with stretching exercises, clearing and centering my mind, emotions and body and then feeling into the stillness of my spirit.  After sitting in the silence of my cleared being, I set my intention for the day. 

Now, I am a real life person, with a child to attend to first thing in the morning.  Though I always work my meditation ritual into my day, it sometimes doesn’t flow perfectly.  On those days, I may be brushing my teeth or standing in the shower tuning into the divine and stating my intention for the day.  Sometimes it is as simple as “Thank you God for making me an instrument of your love, light and truth today.”  I will then envision my day unfolding within my mind and see my self operating throughout the day as a clear channel, flowing with the rhythm of the divine in all circumstances.  As I see that movie unfold inside, gratitude radiates throughout my heart and being. 

Setting my intention is not an attempt to control the day’s outcomes.  Rather, I am aligning with my soul-self – the eternal, divine essence that exists within a state of peace, joy and infinite resources.  By deliberately tuning into and aligning with my soul self, I am able to then flow with life’s ups and downs more peacefully.  Life becomes a heart-centered, soulful flow of divine opportunities to experience richly rather than a series of problems to reactively solve. 

Morning Intention Setting Ritual Suggestions:

Stretch

Stretching your body first thing in the morning increases the range of motion in your muscles and joints.  It enhances your muscular coordination, increases blood flow and improves your energy level. Stretching is a metaphor for moving beyond your habit postures, thoughts and emotions into new horizons of experience.  So begin your day by stretching into the more flexible, open and expectant you!

Move

We all know the health benefits of exercise by now. Your body, mind, emotions and spirit thrive on healthy movement.  The best form of exercise is done outside, near trees or large body of water.  But even ten minutes of healthy indoor movement will clear your mental and emotional bodies, uplift your physical body and connect you to your spirit!  

Breathe Deeply

Deep breathing oxygenates your blood and stops the reactive mind from controlling your experiences.  Breathe deeply into your lower abdomen, filling your lungs with air and slowly exhale.  There are many helpful breathing exercises to support full presence in the body, clear thinking and emotional stability.  Deep breathing connects you to your soul self.  

Meditate

I was a stay-at-home mother when I noticed that just 3 minutes of intentional silence while my daughter napped, changed the flow of my entire day! Meditation intimidated me at first but soon I craved the deep silence and calm it provided.  I did not follow a specific meditative instruction.  I sat quietly in my living room, breathing deeply into my belly, closing my eyes and feeling into my being.  I did not try to control my thoughts or make them disappear; nor did I follow them.  I simply noticed their presence while bringing my attention back to my breath and feeling into the deeper spaces that rose in between the thoughts.  With practice I am now able to sit in meditation for long periods of time.  Cultivating this practice of silence allowed me to discover my innate intuitive abilities and open to a whole new career direction that lay hidden beneath the constant chatter of my mind. 

Meditation research reveals that it boosts your immune system and improves overall health; enhances creativity and clarity of thought; reduces reactivity and supports healthy relationships.  And it nurtures your intuition and direct experience with the divine.

Set Your Intention
What do you want to create in your life this year?  What you are focusing on this morning and where you direct your energy here and now will determine that outcome.  You have to tell your internal GPS where you are headed by holding that intention steady and then allowing the intuitive directions to flow into your conscious awareness throughout the day. Set your intention and bring your creations to life!

Appreciate

As you set your intention and envision yourself moving throughout your day in effortless alignment with this purpose, notice how your heart feels.  Notice how you feel within your body.  Allow that sensation to expand by observing and appreciating your ability to create that positive flow right here and now.  This deep state of gratitude will grow and flow throughout your day by allowing it into your consciousness as part of your morning routine.  Appreciation is one of the highest frequencies on earth. Imagine what you can create by feeling a deep connection to gratefulness throughout your day. 

Re-Connect

What happens when you turn off course from your GPS’ directions? The GPS voice continually attempts to pull you back on course until you finally realign.  When you set your intention in the morning and feel it deeply within your being, you will more quickly notice when you move off course.  Your internal voice will work to bring you back into alignment with your intent. 

Have an action plan.  If you discover that your intention has been derailed, do not give up.  Stop, take 3 intentional deep breaths. Remember to breathe into your belly and elongate your exhale. Feel into your soul self.  Refocus on your intention and recommit in that moment.  You are not limited to your reactions; as you breathe deeply into your being and feel the presence of your immutable spirit coming back into view, you can choose your course.  Re-focus, realign and realize your innate power to experience and create your soulful intentions once again.

Bring your Intention Setting Ritual to Life

How many times do you read an article or take a class and tell yourself “I should do that”.   Don’t stop there.  Put this to practice right now.  After you complete reading this, stretch, drink some water, move your body, then sit in the silence of your soul-self.  Set your intention and let your day unfold in your mind.  Appreciate your innate creative power!  And then put this daily ritual onto your calendar.  You may want to tweak the steps I have suggested to fit into your busy life; but your life is yours to create.  So before you go onto the next activity bring this ritual and your intention to life!

Your destiny is a work of art that you create.  By setting your intention each day you allow your destiny to unfold deliberately with increasing effortlessness, one day at a time.

Authentic Success: Bring Your Soul Purpose to Life!

The other day a friend asked me to share how I came to work as an intuitive medium and shamanic practitioner.   He wanted to know about my encounters with spirit and how early this began. 

From an early age I knew what I was born to do.  In the third grade I told my teacher that I was here to teach the world to love more.  “That is why I am here” I announced. Speaking with spirits was not mentioned because it is a natural ability through which my purpose is able to come to life; not my singular purpose.

You also have a purpose.  Most people think of a purpose in terms of a career or some overtly tangible achievement.  Authentic Purpose has to do your soul evolution and is your reason for being here in this lifetime. Fulfilling your soul purpose gives you the deepest sense of fulfillment.  Your soul purpose helps you to grow and supports the evolution of others.  It is the easiest and most effortless path to abundance, health, self realization and bliss for you.

Success in our culture is often defined by our external achievements but authentic success manifests when you do what you were born to do. Authentic Success will empower you to the core, serve your soul’s evolution, nurture your body and emotional health and uplift and inspire you and others. 

Fulfilling your soul purpose begins with the willingness to know who you are truly.  It means moving into alignment with your soul, not your personality.  Authentic  success  comes to life when you become willing to listen to the consistent intuitive guidance offered to you and act upon it daily. 

 

You have been set up to succeed at fulfilling your soul's purpose in this lifetime.  Your natural talents, passions and core values are the foundation of your soul purpose.  

Whether you own a business, manage a family and home; serve as an educator or health care practitioner; whether you are a solider, police officer, artist, machine operator or a physician – your innate wisdom can guide you into realizing your soul’s purpose and potential.    

    Steps for Bringing Soul Purpose to Life 

Discover who you are

• You are a soul with a purpose for choosing your physical body, life circumstances, skills and talents.
• You have infinite resources beyond the physical world to support you.
• You are set up for success. 

Pay Attention

•  Your Soul Purpose comes to life through intuitive listening and action.
•  Intuition communicates through your senses.
•  Spirit also gives messages through whatever you will notice!
•  Divine guidance is uplifting, empowering & inspirational. It is never  critical, judgmental or demeaning.
• Spirit gives you present time action steps to live out your soul potential

Notice Repetition

• Divine guidance nudges you repetitively until you take action.
• You may feel called to do something; have a persistent thought; see a consistent internal image; bump into people, places and things that represent a singular message; dream the same dream; hear songs or comments that speak to the message.  
• Divine guidance will not waver.  It doesn’t get bored or give up.  You will receive the same message until you enact it in this lifetime or the next.
• Divine guidance always aligns with your soul purpose.
• Divine guidance repeats only messages that serve your highest good while revering and enhancing all life

 Listen to your body

• Your body is constantly revealing whether you are in alignment with your soul or your ego. Action on divine guidance feels positive down to your cells and has no backlash.
• Divinely guided action elicits sensations of equanimity and enthusiasm. Gently your heart and chest open; your stomach/solar plexus calms; your mind settles; your body relaxes; your health improves.
• Ego driven action creates feelings of anxiety; tightness in your heart and chest; quivering or unsettled gut; racing and unkind thoughts; desire for distraction; rigidity; disharmony and weakened immunity; depression or persistent longing and sadness. 

Honor your Soul Essence Values

• Soul purpose is founded upon your true essence values.
• Essence values reflect your soul not your beliefs. 

• Essence values support soulful action, words, thoughts & creations.    Essence values promote health, fulfillment, thriving for you and all life.  No one is short changed when you are aligned with essence values.

• Essence values are not founded on your beliefs.  Beliefs stem from paradigms through which you filter your ideas of self, life and what you can experience. Essence values transcend all learned paradigms.
• Example:  I declared my purpose at eight by saying:  “I want to be a psychologist because I am here to teach the world to love more.  When people heal what hurts their hearts, they will love more and the world will be a more peaceful place”.  My essence values are reflected in that statement: love as a healing energy, responsibility for healing; world service; integrity; sharing what I learn; understanding & being responsible for experiencing and creating love throughout my lifetime.  My beliefs are reflected in that statement too; becoming a psychologist was a paradigm through which I perceived my ability to fulfill an essence value. 

Attend to the Present Moment

• Imagine an infant who was not fully in the present? They do not exist. You were born capable of being fully present.  Feeling uncomfortable being present is a learned experience. Presence is how you connect with your soul self.
• Choose to release distracting behaviors.  Distracting ourselves from the present moment has become a cultural phenomenon.  We text, call, tweet and often do this while with others.  We believe we can multitask.  No one is born to multi-task.  Multi-tasking is a form of distraction.  Distractions keep us from feeling our intuitive truth and living our soul purpose.
• What we learn can be unlearned.  Presence requires a commitment to presence. Take a deep breath, choose to know your soul and honor your intuitive impulses one day at a time.  
• Intuitive allowing happens moment to moment. Your soul lives in the state of infinite potential that comes alive through your attentiveness. How you experience this potential in this moment is how that energy is shaped. To realize your soulful potential and experience authentic success, you tend to your essence through calm presence, compassionate witnessing of what you discover and non-resistant allowing.

 Know your limits

• Uh Oh!  What did you think that meant? You are NOT your limits.  Learned beliefs shape your limits and often define our lives.  Beliefs are rarely formed upon divine truth and therefore do not reflect your soul’s potential and purpose.  
• To thrive soulfully, you will need to challenge your beliefs.  To challenge beliefs, you have to fearlessly examine them.
• What thoughts keep you from full-on soul success? 
•  “I have children; parents; responsibilities so I can’t do that now.”
• “I don’t have the money; time; resources to make that happen"
• “Who am I to do that?”
• “If I do that and make a lot of money, I may lose it all; not know how to handle it; make more than my love/partner/parent; I may not be able to manage parenting or other responsibilities…”
•  “I’ll go broke”
• “What if I fail?”
• “There are already so many of that out there.”
• “This is so impractical!” 
•   “I’m not as good as that other”
• “Have no idea where to begin.” 
• Divine guidance moves you into alignment with your soul’s purpose by offering you sound methods for implementation. 
• Every soul inspiration that propels you toward Freedom, Joy, Peace, Prosperity, Fulfillment and Full-on Success has a friend called “Fear”.
• Fear sounds practical, logical and realistic.  It can always prove its case. 

• Fear is the foundation of your belief so it gets louder when you choose to listen to your spirit. 

• Fear can sound like a parent or an authority figure or your inner critic.
• Fear is the illusion that the rational mind or ego rests upon.
• Fear is the framework of the ego which is an impermanent aspect of you – one that forms after birth and is not a permanent part of your soul after death.    
•  The ego’s understanding of life is confined to all that it can comprehend.
•  The ego can only comprehend what it can prove through physical resources.  It is therefore limited to a scarcity framework for its perceptions.
• The ego will never become the authentic ally of your intuition and therefore, your soul purpose. It will limit you to your beliefs about you and your life.  It will keep you from experiencing full blown thriving in this lifetime, if you give it power to rule your choices and therefore your life.
• The ego has become the dominant creative force through which humanity creates.  It is the source of our suffering, alienation and struggle on the planet.
•  The ego is designed to be a useful tool, once you understand it because it allows you to experience the physical world.  You do have the power to transcend your identification with your ego and allow it to serve your spirit.

• YOU can decide whether ego or spirit will be the pilot of your life of your life.  Once you give power to your spirit and learn to master your intuition, the ego will fall into an ancillary role connecting you to the physical world while you learn to navigate both spirit & physicality successfully.     

 Acknowledge your Support Team

• You are always supported by benevolent spirit guides throughout life.
• Every divinely inspired action you take will be met with an equal amount of benevolent support
• All people within your path have a purpose for your life as you do for theirs.
• Your support team will expand as you live your soul purpose. 

Soul Purpose uses your Natural Talents, Interests and Skills

• What activities allow you to lose a sense of time?
• When you were a child what were you most passionate about?
• What can you do most easily with full engagement?
• What would you do if you won the lotto and had settled into that after a year?

 The Big Picture

• To live fully requires an awareness that life is impermanent.  You will die. Take time to actively accept this and reflect on your death.
• What do you want your legacy to be?
• When you consider dying; what will matter most to you about how you lived your life?
• What do you dream about doing before you die?
• Are your choices today supporting that legacy?
• After you die, you will  be met by benevolent spirits who will guide you through a life review.  Within that experience you will feel everything you have created in this lifetime.  What do you want to feel?  What do you not want to feel?
• You have the power to review your life now and create what matters most to your soul.  As you do that, everything in your being and life becomes peaceful.

Take time to know your soul’s purpose, listen to your intuitive guidance and bring your divine purpose to life.  A soulful life brings balance, fulfillment, health and prosperity into your experience through your natural talents, interests and skills.  You were born to succeed and are supported in every meaningful way!

You have the power to live a Soulfully Successful Life!  As you fulfill your soulful destiny, you open the door for all others to do this more easily and enhance life.  Thank you for bringing your light into our world.

Namaste, Lori

The Power of Creating Your Life

The New Year holds the power to energize a fresh creative path.   This is not an invitation to make resolutions since that is an act of creating through the ego.  All creations through the ego yield limited and unsatisfying results. Instead, I invite you to harness the energy of spirit as you experience the art of conscious creation in this auspicious 2011 year. 

Conscious Creation moves beyond the ego and the laws of attraction and brings your spirit's true essence to life while aligning with the supportive energies of non-physical reality.  Conscious creation will truly uplift, inspire and empower you. Here are some guidelines to assist you in the conscious creation process for 2011.

Consider yourself an artist.  Michelangelo claimed that he did not create his sculptures.  Instead, the sculpture revealed itself as he chipped away the marble. Our lives are not so different from this description of an artist allowing the marble to become what it is meant to be.  As the creative force behind your life, you have chosen a soul path prior to birth that you too can unveil.  You have power to discover your soul's wisdom, beauty and true essence and then bring through its passionate expressions into the material world.  You can create a remarkable masterpiece that is your life.  Sometimes its easier to consider multiple paintings or chapters of a book when you contemplate your creation process. You can also think of 2011 as one creative masterpiece that will fit into the whole of your life.  Knowing that you have the power of the non-physical and physical world to support your soul's expression, what does your soul long to experience throughout the 2011 year?  What will you create? 

Envision Your Canvass.  Get a pen and paper or print off this article to guide you. Take time to sit quietly, close your eyes and breathe deeply while sitting upright and comfortably in a place where you will not be interrupted.  Play soothing music or sit in silence.  Breathing in and out, elongate your exhale.  Feel into your body.  As you do this, call light to yourself and allow that light to saturate every cell of your body.  Feel the light filling your being and then intentionally expand the light outward until you are basking in a sphere of pure light.  Feel the essence of your soul as you breathe deeply into your abdomen and slowly exhale. Your soul has a purpose for being YOU in this lifetime. Your soul communicates through intuition.  It gives your consistent messages, visions and insights about what would be most fulfilling to you.  As you bask into the calm of your own true essence, become willing to see an authentic vision of your life one year from now.  Breathing deeply, let go of where you think you should be or what you must do.  Simply allow an image to emerge from your soul into your inner eye.  What would your soul most like to create through you for 2011?  As you allow your mind to open to the possibilities of seeing your soul's creations one year from now, what do you see?  Allow a detailed scene to emerge into your consciousness.  Let the canvass reveal itself as you look upon where you are and what you are experiencing one year from now. Your soul is eager to create this reality and is showing you an image of what you are capable of manifesting. Observe the scene. What are you doing?  What do you feel?  Who is with you?  What does the scene represent to you?  You are the creative power behind your life and you get to decide what will be in the scene of this canvass. 

Tweak the Canvass.  As you review your soul's canvass of 2011, is it everything you hoped for?  You’re the artist of your life.  You have the power to bring more color, beauty, richness into your experience.  All of that energy exists within your soul. Willpower will not manifest the results that uplift, inspire and evolve you but allowing your spirit to reveal its joyful creations will.  Breathing deeply, allow your spirit to adjust the images of your scene until you feel your heart fully open, flowing with love and appreciation.  An open heart while reviewing your 2011 scene reveals its alignment with your soul. Tightness in your chest or stomach tells you the ego is filtering the image.  Breathe and let your soul's essence create the scene and refine it until you feel peaceful and open hearted. You have the power to tweak the scene until it is a masterpiece that is felt within your heart and whole being.
 
Discover and Claim the Essence.  To create a masterpiece, you have to decide what to paint and then use the right canvass, paints, tools and setting to allow the artwork to unfold through you.  It is the same process for conscious creation.  First you allow your spirit to reveal your authentic passions and then you allow that essence into your physical experience daily.  You have to use the tools of conscious creation and do so consistently.  Envision the image of what you have created one year from now.  What is the essence of your masterpiece in 2011? Let a word or phrase rise into your consciousness that captures the underlying energy of your creation. Over the years, I have created a few masterpieces through the art of conscious creation.  Some of these are called:  “Breaking Free”; “A Victory Dance”: “The Art of Play”, "Serving in the Light" and “Blissfest”.  When I was not consciously creating my life, some of my art pieces would be entitled "S@#t Happens"; "Committed to Suffering"; "Addictions in all Forms"; "Soul Loss" and "Dancing in the Dark".  Get the picture?  Perhaps your creation’s essence is “Prosperity with Passion”; “Self Discovery”, “Having Fun”; “Intentional Healing”; “Letting Love Flow”; "Commitment to Soul".   Let the images of your creation reveal the word or phrase that captures its essence.  

Embody the Power.  To embody is to exemplify in a concrete manner. Reviewing the essence word or phrase representing your new creation for 2011, how did embracing and embodying that essence create a new you?  How do you embody this essence now?  How do you resist it?  What can you do today to allow more of this essence into your life?  Bringing the power of any essence to life is a conscious act of allowing it into this moment.  One doesn’t wait for fun to arrive before expressing the joy one wants to create.  To create the masterpiece called “Blissfest” one has to access bliss which resides in the infinite well of one’s true essence first.  That essence is then felt, appreciated and then expanded into physical actions that reflect its presence within us.  By doing that, physical reality will begin to reflect more and more bliss. When I was creating my masterpiece of unconscious creation called "committed to suffering",  I could not imagine a life called "Blissfest".  To expand into blissful living, I had to feel joy in the smallest doses by allowing it into my experience one breath at a time for quite awhile before I could expand into feeling chains of moments that were blissful.  It was my guiding spirits who helped me recognize nothing outside me was changing but my willingness to tap into a small measure of bliss could change everything I experienced.  I smelled a lilac and appreciated that moment.  I saw a butterfly and appreciated that one.  I had running water in my home and began to feel that joy.  Those small experiences allowed me to open my heart one moment, one experience at a time until one by one, the strokes of my canvass became filled with bliss!
 
When you consider embodying the powerful essence of your creation, what does that essence give to you? How does the expression of this essence serve your highest good?  Is it teaching you something? How does the expression of this essence serve others and life in general? What does it allow you to experience that you are have not yet created before 2011? 

Walking the Journey.   To experience anything in the earth plane, you have to walk your canvass into physical reality. I can meditate every morning but the experience of meditation will not live in the physical world unless I bring its benefits into this wakeful moment.  I have to walk my meditation into reality, just like everything I am willing to experience. Discovering the essence and embodying the power of that energy translates into words, thoughts, feelings, and actions.  It requires a whole new energy that emerges from within your immutable soul. That energy is always there but may not being experienced.  Like when I was suffering, I had allowed trauma to shut me down so significantly that I could feel almost nothing but emotional anguish. I kept praying for a miracle.  When my guides appeared one day and told me to get up and become the miracle, I was not thrilled with that response from the divine.  Couldn't the divine just make it all happen for me?  For any experience to happen in the physical world, we have to be the conduit.  This requires consistent willingness and faith in the non-physical energy of spirit to create whatever you are willing to allow through you.  

Visualize your canvass for 2011.  See your creations clearly in your mind or feel the sensations associated with them. What did you do when adversity arose throughout your year?  In the Wizard of Oz, Dorothy has to find her own way home.  She has tremendous support along the way and also meets with her darkest fears that detour and even trap her in the witch’s castle until she unleashes her courage and dissolves the illusion of the witch’s power.  Look upon your creative image representing your 2011 masterpiece.  It took courage to move into a new experience.  How did you bring forth courage, compassion, willingness and tenacity throughout your creative process?  Who supported you?  What did you discover about yourself and life as you walked the journey of your creation?  

Anchor Your Creative Vision.   As you sit quietly ask your spirit to reveal a symbol representing your creation for 2011.  Some ways to anchor your creative vision: 1) Make a collage of images (a vision board) that support your creation for the year.  Place the vision board in a place of importance within your home and allow the images to serve as creative inspiration for your daily choices.  2)  Write a story about your creative process as though you have already created everything your soul longs to experience in 2011.  Write the emotional truth of the story; giving it life through details and clear imagery. 3) Place images or symbols that represent the fulfillment of your creation in 2011 in significant places throughout your home or office.  4) Journey or meditate to seek guidance about your creative process; to discover the power guides willing to support your creation and the steps needed to facilitate your mastery.  5) Act “as if” you’ve done it already by first allowing the sensations that currently exist within your immutable infinite essence.  Bringing these sensations into your body, emotions, mind and spirit will help your words and actions reflect this energy.  This is not “faking it”rather this is an act of deliberately allowing the sensations to lead your acts until they feel natural to you

Practice allowing.  To create anything in the physical world is an artful dance between structured command of the energy of life and letting go.  Set your intention to allow your vision into your reality; embrace the essence behind that creation and then fully embody the energy. And then release your attachment to how the details will manifest. When a client comes to me for a reading or soul retrieval, my job is to stand as a hollow bone or clear channel for the divine to move through me without interference from my ego.  I set the intention, embrace the essence of the divine spirit moving through me and allow that energy to flow into conscious messages that I then communicate or act upon in a session.  I do not tell spirit what to do or how to do it; I  only command the intention of the session to serve the highest good for my client and all concerned.  I then surrender and allow that energy to do what it needs to do in response to that intention.  To consciously create is to set your intention and then become the hollow bone through which your spirit and divine energies of the universe can work on your behalf.   Your spirit will guide you through intuitive impulses, insights and direct guidance when you allow it to do so.  You will also receive non-physical and physical helpers throughout your creative journey when you are open to this kind of help.  Spirit cannot do for you what you will not allow through you, but if you are willing to grow and expand into whatever you are intending to create, you will be supported by divine helpers throughout your journey.  Do not judge the form of a spiritual or non-spiritual helper.  Remember, they may look like a “scarecrow, tin man, lion or witch” but each will hold the power to open you to the depths of your own creative wisdom if you are willing to grow through the journey.  When things seem not to be flowing, recognize that spirit is attempting to show you where you resist the miracle you seek to experience.  It is helping you to open to a whole new dimension of your exquisite creative soul power.
 
Appreciate the process.  Appreciation is the nectar that fuels creation.  What you appreciate will expand exponentially.  This means your heart chakra is open and experiencing the blessing of whatever is present.  Every painted masterpiece began with a single stroke. Set your intention, engage the tools for creation and appreciate the process of your creative path.  As you open your heart to the magnificence of your spirit’s power, you will discover that every moment of your creative process is worthy of your appreciation – not just the end result.
 
2011 is an auspicious time to be alive.  We are shifting into higher creative frequencies. Enjoy the opportunity to create your life consciously by engaging in the artwork with passion, willingness and appreciation! 
 
I am seeing you creating a remarkable journey in 2011 and beyond! Enjoy the process, trust in your power to create your soul's essence into form and appreciate the love and grace of your conscious creation process!

Namaste, Lori

Conscious Closure of 2010

As the year is coming to a close we can embrace a significant opportunity to consciously reflect upon life.  We can connect with the meaning of our past year and bring closure to this creative cycle.   Here are some tips for intentionally connecting to the purpose of your year and moving into the New Year with conscious grace. 

·   Set aside quiet time to reflect on 2010 over the next few days.   Give yourself 15 – 30 minutes each day to quietly connect with the process of creating closure.  Turn off the phones and schedule time that will be uninterrupted.  Get a journal or note paper to record your process.  Play soothing music.  Light a candle and/or incense to set the intention for that time.  

·   Step 1: Consider what you experienced in 2010.  As you sit in your quiet space consider the year as if it were a film you have just seen.  Don’t evaluate the value of the movie, the leading character (you) or other players.  Breathe deeply and observe the movie of this past year as if you were a neutral observer in the audience. What is the movie about?  Who are the major players?  What are the primary themes of this movie?  What was the dramatic arc of the film? What did the characters accomplish, struggle through and learn?  You may want to write out the story or simply observe it through your meditations.  If emotions arise, let them come as you breathe through them without judging anything you feel.  See if you can witness the story without attaching to the players or outcomes.  Simply observe. 

·   Step 2: Isolate the themes.  Sitting quietly in your uninterrupted space, reflect on the themes for your year.    What are the big ideas running throughout 2010?  Was 2010 about family, change, money, health?  What were the primary messages showing up throughout the year?  Where did your energy tend to go?  How do these themes relate to each character within your 2010 storyline?  What did you, as the main character of your story, learn this year?  What did you resist?  Are you willing to expand through whatever you resisted?  Are you embracing what was learned?  What did you gain from this year?  What did you offer to the world this year? After you have isolated the themes, give yourself time to reflect on these.  

·   Step 3: Name your Story.   Sit quietly in your space and breathe deeply.  2010 provided great opportunities for your soul to expand. What was the primary theme or message of 2010?  What does the story of your 2010 life-journey want to be called?  Give your story a name. Do the characters, including you have names too?  Perhaps there are chapters in your story that deserve headings as well. 

·   Step 4: Appreciate. Sit quietly in your uninterrupted space and breathe deeply into your body.  Call light to yourself and allow the light to settle into every aspect of your being.  Feel the essence of light expanding into your cells, flourishing throughout your body, emotions, mind, and spirit.  Expand the light and allow it to enfold you until you are basking in a sphere of light.  As you bask in this light, settle into a deep appreciation for you, your journey and all it has given to you.  Become aware of all the help you have received in the physical and from the non-physical world.   Spend time experiencing the sense of gratitude for what you have created in 2010, how it has helped you to grow and to contribute into the world. Appreciate YOU and all that you have experienced and learned through; all that you have shared with the world and all that you are. Everything that you experience in this physical world is designed to uplift, enrich, empower and evolve you.

·   Step 5: Going Forward.   As you sit quietly, breathing deeply into your body, consider the gifts you have received from your journey in 2010.  There may be places that you do not appreciate, enjoy or experience value.  Offer compassion to where you resist.  You may have observed patterns that no longer serve you and you may choose to let these go. Write on a piece of paper where you do not appreciate and where you may resist; write where you want to release.  Then set the intention to allow a higher perspective into your consciousness and the gifts from these experiences to arise throughout your awareness.  As an act of acknowledgment, you may want throw the pieces of paper into a safe fire, as you affirm your willingness to release, open and expand into a new horizon. What you release opens you to new experiences.  What are you taking with you into 2011 from your lessons learned in 2010?  What power are you integrating into your new way of speaking, thinking, feeling and acting?  What are you creating in 2011?

·   Step 6: Creating 2011. You are the creative force behind your life story.  What will you create in 2011?  Take time to peacefully contemplate what you want to experience in this coming year.  As you breathe deeply into your body, imagine yourself doing this very same conscious closure process at the end of next year.  What do you want the2011 story to be about?  What will you have learned and shared with the world?  How will you feel at the end of next year?  What do you appreciate at the end of next year?  You can write the plot for 2011 and give meaning to this story now.  Make a conscious effort to intend, allow and appreciate your life.  As you set the intention, you then allow your spirit to lead the way through this journey by practicing sitting in uninterrupted space daily, breathing deeply and intentionally connecting with your soul.  As you do this, feel into your true essence and allow that light to expand intentionally into your physical life.  Notice your creative journey unfolding through you consciously and appreciate how you are allowing your true essence to flourish into the creations of your new year. As you do this, you will consciously create a meaningful and spirit centered 2011.

May you experience the bliss of your divine self now.  May all beings experience the bliss of divinity in every possible way.  May all life on earth create and know peace.   

I am seeing you experiencing a peaceful closure to 2010 and a blissful creative journey in 2011.  Thank you for all the ways you have nourished my life.  Thank you for consciously creating yours.  Namaste.

The Medium on The Housewives of Beverly Hills

December 19, 2010

So I just found myself watching a television show that has truly left me stunned.  After spending the day teaching a Level 2 Intuitive Empowerment class where we focused on accessing mediumship abilities and connecting with loved ones in spirit, i noticed that Alison Dubois was going to be on television tonight.  Alison is an internationally renowned medium and the premise for the television series "Medium".  In her television show, Alison focuses heavily on the ethics of her work.  Today's class I too focused on the ethical responsibility of shamanic mediumship while guiding students through meaningful connections with spirit.  It was a profoundly fulfilling day.

Apparently the show is a reality based series called "The Housewives of Beverly Hills".  Don't tune me out yet! I can barely believe I watched it either!  I watched because I wanted to see Alison!! Well, I have to say I was disheartened. First, Alison was drinking heavily while being filmed and while under the influence of alcohol, she shared psychic "hits" with the party guests  who did not know her/  She was a guest, not there for entertainment.  Alison claimed to be able to see "when the party guests were going to die", laughing that one of the guests was "married for a second time but that the marriage would end up badly soon", calling individual guests "bitches" and "morally bankrupt".  She claimed to be "off the clock" and yet raved about her own "gifts" and how others should be fascinated by her as a result of her abilities.  She instigated arguments and told a stay-at-home mother that she "has done nothing of value with her life". 

I do not know what was happening for Alison Dubios at the time of this filming.  I can only comment on what I witnessed.  And let me begin by saying this....

Mediumship is not for entertainment. It is not meant for casual conversation.  As I understand it, a divine messenger will never be given hits that are judgmental about another.  Judgment is a filter of the ego; not a message from the divine.  Nor will a medium be given offensive language to describe another.  It will be neutral and factual but not offensive.  If that medium is truly plugged into a divine source, he or she will see the whole truth of the individual. An example I can give to you about this very subject is when I sat for a client and saw that her husband was engaged in something very harmful.  The divine guides sharing this insight with me had no judgment of him instead, they provided specific guidance to 1) awaken the client from her denial; 2) support the truth and safety of the children, 3) stop the offense and hold him accountable.  The entire message served to bring healing to all concerned. 

When a medium is plugged into the divine channels and spirit, compassion will emanate from that messenger. At the very least, you will experience the messages as neutral but fundamentally empowering to the client at a soul level. 

Alcohol deteriorates the energy field of the user.  It diffuses the messages, no matter what the messenger claims.  She happens to claim it makes her more "spot on".   The concern is not with her drinking. To engage in offering "psychic hits" while under the influence of alcohol and while voluntarily being filmed is not just irresponsible, it creates suffering.  Liken it to a doctor giving his/her medical opinion to a friend after having 3 cocktails. Would you consider that to be a worthwhile consult?  I do not care if Alison wasn't "on the clock" as professional medium, ethical boundaries do not just pertain to when you are "working".  

Psychic Boundaries are the responsibility of the professional, not the recipient. The guests at this party were completely infatuated and curious with Alison's abilities.  This is understandable because even though every human is innately intuitive and capable of connecting with spirit, we have a tendency to believe that this is a gift given only to a few. The party guests were pressing her for insights and because she'd had some cocktails, was therefore very relaxed and  overtly  infatuated with her own abilities, she did not have the good sense to say "I am at a party, enjoying a cocktail and need to refrain from any psychic activity for now". The guests did not understand the boundary was hers to establish and hold.

There is a divine purpose to mediumship encounters. Today in class I shared how my guides had encouraged me to teach the value of mediumship from a shamanic point of view.  According to my divine helping spirit shamanic mediumship is meant to: 

1. Awaken the individuals participating in the encounter. 
2. Bring closure, meaning and healing to all concerned
3. Uplift, inspire and even empower the client and all concerned.
4. bring through validations that souls are eternal and life is in a continuous evolutionary process
5. Provide connections that reassure the living that we are never alone;
6. Remind us all that we are all loved - even those who seem 'morally bankrupt" (Alison's language) because divine spirits are consistently aiding us into a higher state of consciousness and living!  
7. Remind everyone that mediumship is never for the sake of entertainment or casual conversation; it is always purposeful and it is never meant to dis-empower anyone.
8. And it will never promote the power or gifted skills of the medium over anyone. 

Witnessing a professional medium on television handle herself in such an insensitive and in my opinion, an unethical manner was disheartening.  I know Alison Dubois is talented. I've been a fan of her show mostly because it helped me to feel less alone in this world when it first aired.  It was the only television show that validated the experiences I had lived through as a medium.  But talent and responsible ethics are not the same thing.  Because we shamanic practitioners and mediums stand on the fringe of cultural acceptance, we each have a responsibility to clearly offer our services in alignment with their divine purpose.  As humans, naturally we will waver.  But it is my hope, that when we do, we openly reflect on our missteps and share the lessons we may be learning as a result of our derailment. 

What you do think about mediumship and its purpose? Did you catch the episode?  I have to admit I felt like a gawker watching a bad accident.  I just couldn't believe my eyes and yet I watched the whole thing to its intensely uncomfortable conclusion.  Whether or not you saw the show, I'd like to hear your thoughts about mediumship.    

(Shaman means an individual who is capable of accessing and understanding the world of spirit at will while living soundly in the material world.  A Shaman navigates both the non-ordinary realities of non-duality and ordinary reality at will. Shamans are innate healers. Shaman is a word originating from the Turko-Mongol and Tungusic cultures in Siberia.  It is not a Native American word)