SOUL CONNECTIONS

There is no more powerful feeling than connecting with someone on a soul level. When this happens there are no barriers or ulterior motives, it is just true, genuine connection. I have met many new people recently, and the thing that has surprised me is how many of them I have been instantly able to connect with.

Through my own inner work I have began to shift from living from my ego which is driven by fear, judgment, competition, arrogance and power, to living from the soul which is pure love, acceptance, truth, openness, and oneness. This work has allowed me to relate to people in a whole new way, and has meant I can connect soul to soul without the barriers that the ego imposes.

Connecting from the heart and soul feels so different to the connections you create when you live from the ego and connect via the personality. These connections can sometimes feel fake or superficial and you may not feel like your real self or truly feel at ease when you are around these people. When you live from a place of authenticity in yourself you have the ability to attract genuine, real people in to your life who will actually bring out the best in you, support you and assist you in your soul's journey. There is an instant feeling of peace, ease and knowing that arises.

I have been able to meet people and instantly know that they will be a long lasting friend. I have been able to form deep bonds, speak from the heart, and reveal long held secrets after meeting them once. When you get your ego out of the way, all that is left is your soul, and when you connect on a soul level you are able to completely be your real self and experience the feeling of true connection.

I want to mention 3 amazing women who I have been able to connect with in just this way. I felt drawn to each of these women when I first came in contact with them, and it was definitely my heart, rather than my head that lead me to them. There are so many wonderful people that have impacted my life recently, but the women I want to give a shout out to today are Gabrielle Aitken, Nicci Gafen and Kate Quinn.

Gabrielle Aitken www.aprelo.com
I met Gabrielle at a raw food event hosted by Miss Organic (aka Nicci Gafen). Gabrielle has a beautiful site called Aprelo which promotes the simple, yet beautiful message of Appreciate. Respect.Love. I hardly had much of a chance to speak to Gabrielle on the night I met her, but as soon as she told me about Aprelo, something in my heart spoke up. I knew that she was going to be someone I was going to stay in touch with. As she spoke about her site, she exuded such a strong passion and love for spreading this beautiful message and this resonated with me on a soul level. I would love for you to check out her site, not only because of the wonderful and mind opening information it contains, but also because it features a few of my posts from this blog. Gabrielle was kind enough to ask me to feature some of my writing on her gorgeous site and for that I feel very privileged and blessed. You will find my articles about creating inner happiness and following your heart here.

Nicci Gafen www.missorganic.com.au
When I first saw Nicci Gafen, I was literally pulled to go and speak with her. She was working at the local markets selling health foods and as soon as I spoke with her I knew we would be friends. Once again something about her resonated so deeply with me and I was overwhelmed by her passion and love for her work. Nicci now runs the very successful organic home delivery business Miss Organic. I met Nicci at a time where I was learning how to reconnect with my true passions in life, and as a result I was able to connect with her from the soul. She is a shining and beautiful example of a woman who is living on purpose and following her passion. She lives and breathes for her work and her message and lives every day with the intention to improve the health and lives of everyone she comes in contact with. If you live in Melbourne, I would highly recommend her service for the freshest and yummiest organic produce going around!

Kate Quinn www.katequinn.net
They say that when the student is ready, the teacher will appear and this is exactly what happened to me with Kate. At the time that I came across Kate's work I was in a deep place of inner searching. I had been exploring the use of raw foods in my life to help me experience a greater sense of health and wellbeing and I was contemplating beginning a new career as a life coach. At the exact time that I needed it, I happened to stumble across Kate's blog and discover that not only was she a raw food teacher and editor of Living Raw Magazine, but she was also a life coach! One thing lead to another and before I knew it I was beginning my coaching sessions with Kate. These sessions have lead me through layers of myself that I didn't even know existed. I have been able to reveal deep barriers that have been stopping me, I have shone the light on old outdated belief systems, and gained a new found clarity on what I want in life. Kate's genuine, gentle and heart felt approach supported me though an intense time of change and her powerful skills as a coach have helped propel me forward to a new level of being. If you are interested in life coaching, raw foods, or just finding more love and inspiration in your life, please check out Kate's site.

MASTER YOUR INNER STATE

I want to share something which has been one of the most powerful factors in helping me reach a greater level of happiness, peace, satisfaction and positivity in my life.

My deep journey of self discovery has taken me through many twists and turns, but I recently realised that it has been my ability to take control of my thoughts and feelings which has has created the biggest changes in my life.

The pursuit of happiness
One thing that has become the biggest focus through my journey, has been the level of happiness I experience on a day to day basis. About a year ago, I made a decision. I decided to make happiness my number one priority, and I have become quite obsessed with figuring out how to obtain it! I have fallen so in love with feeling good, that in the occasions that I feel bad, it is completely unbearable.

It is strange because I used to tolerate feeling bad all the time. If I woke up feeling flat, depressed, negative, angry or frustrated, I would just become resigned to the fact that I was having a 'bad day' and not really do much to change it. I would find someone or something to blame it on and then complain and wallow all day long. But lately, these bad days have become totally unacceptable to me, and it has lead me to become very interested in what actually causes them.

When I am having one of these bad days, I can come up with lists and lists of reasons, excuses and things to blame my unhappiness on. But at the end of the day what is really causing my unhappiness is the way that I am thinking! Which leads me to what I want to write about...

Don't let the outer world control you
Most of us tend to feel pretty good when things around us in our life are going well. But then as soon as something negative happens, or things don't go as well as we hoped, we start to feel bad. We use the outside world situations as our excuse to let ourselves feel shitty. We blame events or people outside of us for why we are unhappy.We are so swayed and influenced by the outer world that we let the events and circumstances outside of us dictate how we feel on the inside.

As a result we try to do whatever we can to control the outer world. We become convinced that if we can set the world up in a way that we like, then we will always be happy. We believe that if we can eliminate all the things in our life and in the world that we dislike, that annoy us or that trigger negative feelings in us, then we will never feel bad. I have lived most of my life as a control freak and even upon learning about the law of attraction became obsessed with the idea of creating a world exactly as I wanted so that I could be happy every day.

Unfortunately, it doesn't quite work like that....

Be happy no matter what You have to learn to be happy, no matter what is going on around you. Happiness comes from the inside and it not purely derived from having the outer world mould to your command.

Your level of happiness on any given day is in direct relation to your ability to manage your inner state. You must decide how you want to feel. Do not wait for something outside of you to tell you whether you will be happy or grumpy today. Instead decide that you are going to feel good no matter what.

I can honestly not describe the effect that making this simple daily decision has had on my life. Each day when I wake up, I simply decide how I am going to feel, no matter what happens around me. When something 'bad' happens, it may knock me down initially, but then I remind my self of my commitment to feel good, and I find a way to turn it around.
True power comes from deciding how you want to feel. You may not be able to control all of your outer world circumstances, but you can control how you react to them!

How to master your inner state
I am sure many readers are thinking "BUT HOW...?" Sometimes when you feel bad it can be so hard to pull yourself out. I have written previous posts about how I pull myself out of a negative funk. This is not a how to post. It is more to remind you of the power that you have inside of you to change the way you respond to life. This has been a very long journey for me and I cannot sum up all the steps in one short post, but I do want to leave you with some starting points...

• Realise you have a choice. Take your reactions off autopilot and instead choose how you are going to respond to an event
• Create a calm, balanced emotional state. When I work myself in to a tizz over a problem it is much harder to control my thoughts and emotions. I have many tools I use to keep myself calm and at ease in life, and it makes it a lot easier to respond positively and to control your inner reaction.
• Make the decision to feel good. All you have to do is decide! Cultivate that good feeling emotion from the inside-out.
• Refrain from labelling things as good or bad. Just accept what comes to you. As soon as you judge or label something, you are buying in to a story about it and allowing that story to control how you feel.
• When something 'bad' happens find a way to turn it around. Simply shifting your thoughts will in turn shift your feelings. Ask questions such as; How can I turn this around? How can I view this in a different way? Is there an opportunity or blessing here? What is the positive to this event? What are the good qualities of that person? What are some of the good things that are happening in my life? What do I have to be grateful for?
• Cultivate the state you want to experience. Don't rely on your outer world to make you happy or to create a positive emotional state in you. You choose what state to are going to be in. In the same token, do not allow yourself to be swayed or influenced by negative things in the outer world. Don't let them pull you away from your good feeling place.
• Find ways to feel good inside without the need for external triggers. Think of things that make you happy. Ponder the positive outcome. Be optimistic. Appreciate things.

Remember, that in every minute of every day you are sending out a signal to the universe about who you are and what you want to attract to you. If you maintain a happy, positive state, you will in turn attract more and more people, circumstances and experiences which sustain that good feeling. This whole process gets much easier when you are able to feel good most of the time, because eventually you will find you are attracting less and less things to feel bad about! Take back your power and remember that you have the ability to choose how you want to feel. Stop finding reasons to feel bad and instead decide to feel good NOW, no matter what.

FINDING LIGHT IN THE DARKNESS

Do you ever find that life just doesn't go your way? Do you sometimes find that despite all your best efforts, things just don't work out as you had planned? I do, and I have a tendency to get quite frustrated when it happens!

You see, I understand the law of attraction, and I have seen it work in my life. I believe that I am the creator of everything I experience and I take 100% responsibility for whatever comes to me. Therefore, I am very attentive to what I experience day to day and I am always fascinated to understand how what ive been thinking or feeling attracted something to me.

However, sometimes, it feels like this law just isn't working for me. I seem to do all the right things, yet I don't get the result that I want. I used to think that I must have been doing something wrong, but now I see it another way.

The Ego vs. The Soul
You see, there are 2 ways you can live your life. One is from the mind/ego where you believe you run the show. You make the decisions. You choose your path. You believe you know what is right for you and you go after it. The other way, is more spiritual. It is where you realise that your higher self actually knows everything, not you. You come to know that you are merely a vehicle for your spirit to express itself.

We may think we are just are purely our mind and body, but in fact we are a spiritual being that has come forth in to this life with a purpose and a mission. There are things to learn and soul qualities that require developing. Part of living from this place means dropping the arrogant ego belief that we know best and actually acknowledging that we know nothing compared to our higher self and the universal mind.

Sometimes what you want for you, isn't actually what your higher self wants for you. When things don't work out, it may just be that the way you think it is all supposed to unfold is actually not in line with the larger plan.

The universe may in fact block what you want from coming to you because you are not yet ready to receive it, or because more inner work needs to be done before you get it. It may take you off on a side track or push you down the rabbits hole in order for you to learn some soul lessons. It may feel like you are going backwards for a bit. You may be thrown in to a very challenging situation that will cause you to change who you are in order to cope. You may be given a big task to tackle or a big problem to overcome.

Find the Light in the Darkness
These challenges will force you to have to grow inside yourself in order to survive them. These times can often be called the dark night of the soul as you are pushed up a against a wall and forced to find a new way to solve your problem. It may feel like a scary and uncertain time. But if you are willing to look beyond the outer experience you may find a deeper meaning.

These challenges may force you to go inwards, to heal some old hurts, to learn to love yourself, to release some fears, to learn to forgive, to learn inner strength or courage. If you are willing to do this inner work, you will find the light in the darkness.

The best way to deal with these times is to just let go and surrender to the process. Rather than fighting it or trying to fix it or trying to change it or runaway from it, just be with it.

Accept this experience for what it is. Refrain from labelling something as bad or wrong. Let go of the need to judge the now. Stop projecting stories from the past on to this moment. Stop ruining the beautiful now with fears of the future. Accept where you are. Embrace it. Open your arms and say yes to whatever the universe is delivering to you.
You may not be able to see the big picture right now. You might not be able to understand why on earth this is happening to you. But trust me, there is a reason. There is a grand plan that you are a part of. Sometimes if you are not following that plan, your higher self will step in and mess things up for a while in order to wake you up.
We are all being called to wake up right now. The world is falling apart and in order for us to heal our planet we all must first wake up in ourselves

Lovingly embrace whatever challenges are delivered to you. Do not worry if things are not turning out as you planned. Trust that there is a higher force at play in your life that is guiding you and can see the bigger picture. Be at peace with where you are and with whatever is coming to you, and be willing to do the inner work to heal the outer struggle.

CREATE A BEAUTIFUL LIFE

Since starting my blog, I have had some amazing experiences. One of the things that has overwhelmed me the most, is the wonderful connections I have had with like minded people all over the world. There is an incredible power that writing has in bringing people together and helping us each understand the experiences and lives of others.

As a result, I have began to attract some truly beautiful people in to my life. These people are not only responding with positivity and support to what I am writing, but are also acting as teachers for me on my learning path of life.

One of those people is Mademoiselle Deva. Her blog is both beautiful and uplifting and is filled with gorgeous images and lovely words. She was kind enough to offer me the opportunity to contribute to her blog and write an entry for her Sunday Guest Post.

I wanted to use the opportunity to spread some happy and inspirational messages to all her readers. So, check out mademoiselle deva's blog, and my post titled Create a Beautiful Life!

Enjoy x

THE POWER OF DELIBERATE CREATION

Wouldn't it be amazing if we all were able to deliberately create our life exactly as we wanted it to be? If each day we consciously and powerfully lived our lives by design. We woke up every morning excited and eager as we knew we had an opportunity to create ourselves anew. We could choose what we wanted to experience, what we wanted to do, how we wanted to act and who we wanted to be. And we would know, that by simply choosing it, our life experience would become it.

Believe it or not, but this is how life is meant to be. This is how it has been designed. We have a beautiful universe set up just waiting for us to give it commands so that it can begin to arrange itself around our desires and have them manifest in physical form.

The problem is, that as part of our journey of life, we have forgotten this great truth. We have forgotten our power. We have picked up messages through our life which have taught us otherwise. We have come to believe that life is hard, that we don't always get what we want, and that things don't always go our way.

We have started giving the universe mixed messages or the wrong messages. Rather than deliberately deciding how we want to think, feel or act, we end up creating by default. We either spend our day reacting to what is happening and just giving all of our energy to what we see going on around us, or we spend all our time in the past or future either replaying old memories or forseeing things we don't want coming to us.

The ability to create a life you love, comes from taking your thoughts off autopilot and beginning to choose them deliberately based on how they feel and if they are in line with what you want to create.

I believe it is my purpose in life to help people reconnect with the power they have inside of themselves, and to remember how life is truly meant to be lived. We are powerful creators who have come here to experience joy and live in a world where we can dream something in our minds and then see it manifest in to our physical world around us.

So, how can we reclaim our ability to create our life as we want it to be? Well, there are lots of ways! But here are a few starting points, and things that I believe are the foundations to living life as a deliberate creator.

1. Learn the Art of Contentment

• It is important to create from a place of contentment, rather than a place of neediness
• If you create something from a place of lack or from the energy that something is missing or that you are incomplete without a certain thing, then you will only continue to create more of the 'not having it.'
• Your true essence is perfect, whole and complete. You are missing nothing. It is only your ego or fearful voice that focuses on lack or on not having/being enough.
• You must learn to feel good where you are. Notice what is good in your life. Focus on what you already have. Learn to feel complete and content with what you already have.
• Then, when you desire something new, create from a place of eagerness and excitement. Still love where you are, and desire this new thing simply because the idea of having it, being it or doing it feels really good to you. Don't try to create it because you think you need it to be happy.
• If you feel attached, clingy, anxious or needy about what you are trying to create you are in fact pushing it away.

2. Listen to the Voice of Love

• You are always going to have 2 different voices trying to guide you in life.
• One is the voice of love. This is the voice of your inner wisdom. It is who you really are. It is the voice of truth. It is positive, empowering, supportive and uplifting.
• The other is the voice of fear. It is the voice of your ego and the identity you have formed in this lifetime. This voice attempts to keep you safe and limited. It will tell you all the reasons why you can't do what you want, have what you want or be what you want. It focuses on lack and limitation.
• When creating something new in your life, you must only listen to the voice of love.
• You must seek out this voice. Listen for it and align with it. Take on what it says and believe it to be true.
• To create what you want, your thoughts, beliefs and feelings must all support and be in line with your desire.
• Any thoughts that are fearful, doubting, unsupportive, negative or limiting will block you from what you want.
• You loving voice will be your inner cheerleader. It will say "You can do it" "You have all the skills you need" "You deserve it" "It is possible" "It is already yours" "You can be, do or have anything you want."
• Listen to this voice, and this voice only, and you will be able to create exactly what you want in life.

3. Choose to Feel Good

• Make feeling good each day top priority.
• When you are feeling good, you are giving off a positive energy which draws more people, experiences, circumstances and events that will make you feel good.
• When you feel good, you are able to live as a deliberate creator and draw to you what you desire.
• Feel good NOW, don't wait for something to change before you allow yourself to be happy.
• Appreciate what you already have in your life that is wonderful.
• Notice and appreciate the small things.
• Give thanks each day for the simple fact that you are living on this beautiful planet and experiencing the magical wonder of life.
• Choose to respond in positive ways to events in your life, rather than automatically reacting in a negative way. Choose to see the blessing in everything that happens to you.
• Tell positive, loving stories about you and your life.
• See the glass as half full.
• Tune your attention to the best in every person and every experience.
• Be generous. Be of service. Spread love through the world.
• Listen to your heart, not your head.
• Accept life unconditionally and just say YES to whatever comes to you.
• Trust and relax.
• Let go and go with the flow.
• Do things that bring you joy. Smile. Laugh. Kiss. Play. Hug. Dance.

Now is the time for each of us to all reclaim the power of deliberate creation and live our dream life.