It's time to say goodbye to London. I can't believe it's been 5 years since I got the email from the border agency with the news that my UK work visa had been approved. It sounded too good to be true. I boarded a flight to London, hoping I'd find a job within six months so that I could stay.
I won't lie, it was nerve wrecking. Luckily, it didn't take too long to find a marketing job with an American company. My colleagues were friendly, mostly expats and we all had that in common. I was also looking to try something new so I signed up for meditation lessons. In a roundabout way, I found the College of Psychic Studies and began learning about healing and intuition. The rest is history :-)
Since then I have made great friends, in the "muggle world" and through my classes. I also became a healer, started this blog and slowly started to figure out my life. Living in London has opened lots of doors for me but now its time to leave. At least for a while. Family and warmer climates call.
Next week I am leaving for Mexico. I am looking forward it, it feels like a working holiday. Not sure what I will do but I can figure it out one day at a time. A little healing, a little writing and lots of enjoying!
My angels like to remind me that the holidays are about giving and receiving, with good reason. When we collectively feel kind and generous a cosmic window opens up to let even more blessings into the world. Some of these blessings come our way, others to to people who are more ready to receive.
I am not sure what the difference is, but I would like to think that being happy and willing to give plays a part in it. So give a smile, give a little bit of your time, give a hug, or a friendly word to someone on the street (or in your life). This Christmas I am giving my full attention to my family so this blog is going on holiday, for real this time. See you in 2014!
I had a great reading this week (Awww, I am going to miss my psychic school when I move to Mexico next month). I have always considered myself a doer and an (over) thinker. And now that I am a qualified Healer, I assumed that I would do a lot of healings. Busy busy.
What the reading suggested, however, was that I simply be. Without trying to do anything, and that the healing would happen by proximity. Maybe I give off happy healing vibes (smiling!). I like the idea and it also takes some of the pressure off.
This Tuesday I will put it in practice. It's my first official day befriending cancer patients at the centre where I practice Reiki. The job description for a befriender is to sit and listen. It's not about doing anything to help (there is only so much you can do or say). We're just there for them.
Yesterday's readings couldn't have come at a better time. The past few months I have been keen to volunteer as a Healer but it's about what they need, not what I think I have to offer. And if the client needs me to sit and hold the space, that works for me.
When I was about eight or nine, my mom sent me to Jewish summer camp. We were Catholic and to this day I have always thought she must have had a weird mental lapse when that happened. It wasn't fun being the only Catholic kid. I had never met anyone who didn't think Jesus was the Son of God.
I had also never met anyone who didn't believe in or care about Mother Mary. I was shell shocked and for the first few days I kept asking them questions. Not because I disagreed with their faith, but because I couldn't wrap my head around it. What do you mean you don't believe in X, Y or Z?
Lunch time was also a surprise. The other kids told on me for not bringing a kosher lunch and I had to wait until after camp to eat it. Where were all of these rules from? The only food rule we had was "no meat on Fridays in Lent." That summer was an eye opener for so many reasons.
Why do I bring this up now?
Facebook is Why. We all led relatively sheltered lives in the age before the internet. We knew the people around us and what we saw on the news. And our experience of reality had smaller boundaries. How many Buddhists are there in Kansas? How many Bible Belt Christians in Delhi or London? If we think of spirituality, religion and culture as a range of colors, the palette varies from place to place. The likelihood of us being splashed with a new or different color was not high, until now.
The internet changed all that. Now that I am on the blogosphere, I sometimes have people telling me that God is against intuitive readings. Which is a shame really, because intuition is nothing more than learning how to Listen when we ask for help and for guidance. Anyone can do it, though for some reason it's easier to read for others than for yourself (less worry and wishful thinking).
But we all have different backgrounds and for some that is The Belief. It's not my belief and sometimes they call me on it. I don't know why we humans are so keen on telling people what is "right" or "wrong." I've done it too, so I'm not pointing fingers. Sometimes it can be hard not to call it like we see it ...
Hiro Nakamura was my favorite character on Heroes. They were all pretty cool, even the baddies, but Hiro was the best. It always cracked me up when he called himself the Master of Time and Space. He would also squint/blink himself into a different location, usually to rescue someone from danger.
So today I went to a class on Time Travel workshop. If you are wondering, we didn't teletransport ourselves to another time or place. Thank God that is impossible. I imagine the real experience would be a lot more frightening than Michael J Fox would have you think.
Instead, we followed guided meditations to view our past lives, from the comfort of a nice yoga mat and hard wood floors in South Kensington. It was pretty cool. During the first meditation I saw myself in a Central American jungle scene, under the stars and near an archaeological site. I think I was some sort of a medicine woman or healer (big surprise) and it felt like I was grounded, less of a thinker. No concept of time either. I tried to get a sense of the century, say 1600's? It didn't feel like we had a concept of "European Time Keeping" so it must have been a long time ago. That was pretty cool.
After lunch we did a second meditation and this time it felt like I was seeing a different place in the universe, but not a different time. It felt like a cluster of stars, rocks or light. And it was full of light beings but no vegetation or water to speak of. No air. No concept of breathing. There were also elements that I would describe as metallic. Some of that light was shining our way.
There are a lot of reasons why I keep going back to the Kabbalah Centre. Something always clicks and even if I don't agree with everything said; there are a lot of good ideas that I can apply to my life. Yesterday we had a no nonsense lecture on MONEY and how to bring more of it into your life. Some spiritual personality types shy away from the desire to be rich, thinking that they would have to be greedy little dudes to focus on having more cash.
But at the same time, we all have to think about rent and bills. It is also nice to have extra for holidays, a nice place to live, etc. So where do we draw the line between wanting enough and wanting too much? And what about quality of life: do we want to spend time, energy and life force chasing dough? Yesterday's class didn't cover this (haha), but in the past we have talked about money being neutral. Not good or bad. It's what you do with it that matters - and possibly what you do to earn it. For example, quality of life, legality, ethics, etc.
How do you choose to spend, invest or donate money? You could buy free range products, which are expensive but less traumatic for animals. As an investor, you could look into eco-friendly businesses that treat nature as a stock holder, not a cash cow. Or, you can find another cause to support. The ones with the purse strings decide how and where money is spent. We can do lots of good and enjoy a better quality of life. Nothing wrong with that.
Not everyone is destined to be a Bill Gates, or needs to be one. But we all deserve to live well. Yesterday's question was, how do we go about experiencing more wealth in our personal lives? Is it affirmations and meditation? Pushing yourself to get ahead? Climbing up the corporate ladder year by year, or venturing out there and starting a new business?
The Answer:We have to create it, and most of all, add Value.
Work smart. Work passionately, work with purpose, and ideally choose an enjoyable career that also adds value. No shortcuts here. But we can get a leg up by asking God, our Angels and Guides, or Spirit to point us in the right direction. Where does inspiration come from? Why did the Google Guys suddenly think to reinvent search? Where did JK Rowling get the idea for a wizarding school? The ideas were brilliant, both full of potential, but what made it happen was their ability to follow through. They were inspired, they embraced it and they didn't let up. One of my managers in the cola world used to say that everyone in marketing had good ideas; not everyone had the ability to follow through and get them done. That is makes the difference: Imagine. Believe. Do!
I can personally think of a few ideas that I haven't followed through with. It's time to get started. Success may not happen overnight, but it can happen relatively quickly when the universe is aligned (including our intention, creativity, and action). Let's get on with it!
Now just for laughs - a fun clip from Jerry McGuire!
