“Love is not something that just happens to you: it is a certain special way of being alive." ~ Thomas Merton In cultivating lightheartedness, we ensure our capacity to create and sustain joy, find peace in times of turmoil, and respond rather than react to life's challenges. When we exhibit the qualities of lightheartedness—such as playfulness, humor, flexibility, and spontaneity—our lives seem brighter, and we increase our desire and ability to uplift the lives of others. This occurs because these ebullient qualities are expressions of a soul-hearted life. Children are our best teachers for cultivating love and lightheartedness because … [Read more...]
The Power of Having a Soul Team Around You
“Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you’ve imagined.” – Henry David Thoreau To support our own transformation, we must invite into our lives an energetic support team-people who love us unconditionally, without judging, enabling, or interfering with our choices. Such an energetic support team, or Soul Team, consists of kindred spirits who encourage the full expression of our true being rather than our ego-driven identity or the roles we play to survive in the world. As such, they motivate us to let go, follow our hearts and co-create a more fulfilling future. When building our Soul Team, we sometimes realize that … [Read more...]
Loss: The Heartbreak and the Sacred Insights
Despite the pain it elicits, loss teaches us about the delicate balance, intensity, and richness of life. We cannot experience the pain of loss without first having experienced the joys associated with what has been lost. In the movie Shadowlands, poet Joy Gresham, in speaking about her impending death to author C. S. Lewis, expresses, “The greater the love, the deeper the sorrow and the longer it will take to work through it. That’s the deal.” The heartbreak that wounds us most deeply eventually leads us to greater enlightenment, blessing our lives with a more spiritual depth of life. A few years back I was grieving a friend’s untimely … [Read more...]
From Falling in Love to Flowing in Love
When we fall in love, we get a glimpse of our lover’s soul. When we flow in love, all impediments fall away, and their soul is all we see. To fall in love is magical; to flow in love is mystical. When we flow in love with a partner, we engage in the ultimate dance of soul-hearted partnership, sharing our joy, passion, and exuberance for life. The unceasing flow of love that we exude affects how we wake up in the morning, carry ourselves, handle disappointment, give and receive love, and sustain our soul connection. Flowing in love with a partner takes a harmonious balance of giving and receiving love without expectations or conditions. … [Read more...]
Are You Taking Responsibility for Co-Creating Your Life?
In co-creating our reality, we have to accept responsibility for our thoughts, words, and choices in life. That is, we have to be “response-able”― able to respond to events, situations, and people in our lives, instead of reacting to them. It also means becoming consciously aware of our fears, beliefs, and patterns that block the manifestation of our intentions. And to co-create the life we truly want, we must compassionately let go of all that is not in alignment with our soul’s journey. Unfortunately, many of us try to shift the burden of responsibility for our spiritual awakening onto others and don’t acknowledge the innate power we have … [Read more...]
4 Sacred Strategies to Become a Conscious Observer of Your Experience
Becoming conscious observers of your experience—your thoughts, feelings , patterns, and life circumstances—allows you to witness your life from a healthy detached perspective and assess any situation. This is expanded conscious awareness and it becomes activated when you trust your connection to your divine source. Like operating the zoom lens of a camera, you can pull yourself away from any experience to access it from a more spiritual point of view. Consciously observing your experience from an expanded viewpoint helps you gain perspective on and disengage from negative reactions such as blame, attacking, or resisting others when you feel … [Read more...]
Peeling Away the Layers of Old Patterns to Reveal Your Inner Light
Personal transformation requires that we continuously peel away our layers. Like an onion or the Turkish pastry baklava, with its fragile phyllo dough layers, the subtle layers of our patterns must be peeled away on an ongoing basis. In fact, we generate life experiences that reveal the next layer of a pattern to peel away, a process that occurs throughout our lives and is essential to our physical, emotional, and spiritual growth. Using conscious awareness to recognize the layers of our patterns gives us the power to step outside of any situation, no matter how difficult or uncomfortable, and release our destructive reactions. This healthy … [Read more...]
From Soul Mates to Soul-Hearted Partners
When we fall in love, we get a glimpse of our lover’s soul. When we flow in love, all impediments fall away, and their soul is all we see. To fall in love is magical; to flow in love is mystical. When we flow in love with another person, we engage in the ultimate dance of soul-hearted partnership, sharing our joy, passion, and exuberance for life. The unceasing flow of love that we exude affects how we wake up in the morning, carry ourselves, handle disappointment, give and receive love, and sustain our soul connection. We should not assume that there is only one soul mate for each person and we have to seek them out to be happy. Rather, … [Read more...]
Making Discerning Choices Inspired by Love
“Be universal in your love. You will see the universe to be a picture of your own being.” —Sri Chinmoy Making discerning choices inspired by love leads to actions based on a broader spiritual perspective, and prepares the way for loving relationships with ourselves, others, and the world. As the transformative energy of love in today’s world continues to shift human consciousness, we are being guided away from choices that prevent us from loving ourselves and others. Choices inspired by lower vibrational frequencies originating from fear, negativity, and stress result in suffering, imbalance, and disease. Even though many people … [Read more...]
Speak from Your Heart and Enhance Your Relationships Using Compassionate Communication
“There are two types of language in the world: the language of the intellect and the language of the heart.” —Amma Compassionate communication is exchanging divine energy with another. It connects us, heart and soul, and aligns our hearts with others. It promotes a deepening of trust and heightens intimacy with ourselves and in our relationships. The language most universally shared is that of the heart, through which it takes only the love-light in our eyes or the elevated vibration of our voice to create a soulful connection with someone. The primary element in compassionate communication is our divine presence. When we are truly … [Read more...]