The Value of Mindfulness vs Meditation

Today I would like to talk about Mindfulness - essentially being present and focused in our daily lives, as opposed to Meditation, which  usually involves quieting the mind and focusing it for a brief period of time.

So for example, you could meditate for 20 minutes by listening to your breath, picturing a candle in your mind's eye or by following a guided meditation. I love meditations, especially when they talk us through healing mind, body and spirit. Or better yet, when we access our intuition to ask for guidance. Eventually the meditation has to come to an end and we bring ourselves back to our senses so we can go about our daily lives. 

This is where Mindfulness comes into play. It's about hanging onto that sense of peace, awareness and grounding in our waking hours. In my case, it's usually about coming out of my cloud of thoughts so that I'm aware of my energy, my surroundings and my mind. A quick way to switch off our thoughts would be to focus on our breath as we go about our daily tasks. Another would be to take stock of your surroundings and your physical sensations. Is it warm? How do your clothes feel against your skin? What are the make and model of the cars that are parked on the street as you walk by. Listen for sounds of birds, traffic, etc. Our five senses can bring us into a moment of complete awareness. 

Being mindful is also about noticing our thought patterns and staying in the moment, instead of getting lost in a daydream or worrying about the future. It can be hard to be present 24/7, but we can set reminders to bring us back. I recently asked for advice on Reddit and got a few wonderful suggestions: 

• Focus on your breath during the day, take deep breaths to calm down. 

• Set an alarm on your phone throughout the day and make a note of where your thoughts are. Take the opportunity to bring yourself back to the moment, and if you notice a thought pattern make sure to write it down. This may be what needs to be healed and released on a subconscious level.

• Wear a mindfulness bracelet as a reminder. My version of this is to wear my watch on the wrong wrist one or two days a week. The odd physical sensation brings me back to the moment and also makes me more aware.

• Start by sitting down to meditate for 15 minutes and then transition into a mindfulness meditation, where you focus your attention on something like housework, cooking or doing the dishes.

The end result is a welcome mental vacation because worrying, fretting and scenario planning can add a lot of stress to our lives. I really like Eckhart Tolle's approach to mindfulness and I'm a huge fan of his book, A New Earth. Tolle suggests that we can observe our thoughts to get some distance and slowly break the habit of worrying. Planning for our future and carefully reacting to changes is necessary, but constantly worrying about potential obstacles is not. It's also been said that 70/80/90% of the things we worry about never happen, and that life happens when we're in the moment, not wrapped up in our thoughts. So don't worry, be happy and be mindful and grateful for everything.

 

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Regina Chouza is an energy healer, angel medium and the author of A Personal Guide to Self-Healing, Cancer & Love and Chakra Healing & Magick. Blogging at Diary of a Psychic Healer since 2010, her passion is bringing the qualities of love, joy and empowerment to healing pursuits. Read her books to unlock your intuition. 

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> Español: @AngelMedium33

Psychic Astrology and the Soul

It's been ten days since my last blog post! I'm usually good at sitting down to write about my experiences. Last week I had an awful cold and I was locked up for days. It's finally worn off and I'm back to my summer of fun in London. At the moment I am taking three classes: angels, psychic astrology and tarot. So far I'm most intrigued by astrology as it's completely new for me. Unfortunately I missed the first class because of this awful cold, so I missed the introduction to the Zodiac signs but I hope I can catch up with some reading. Next week we are going to start looking at our birth charts. I'm curious about this because I have a lot of Aquarius. My sun is in Aquarius, and if you look at the nodes of the moon, my South Node (Past Life Sign) is also in Aquarius. I asked my Kabbalah teacher about this; I may have flunked the lessons I was supposed to learn last time, and here I am with Sun in Aquarius again.

In Astrology of the Soul, Jan Spiller tells us that our South Node reflects personality traits developed over many past lives. They come second nature us, creating a comfort zone that we need to balance out by adopting the qualities of our North Node sign - the exact opposite of our South Node. According to Jan Spiller's theory, I would be happier and more well rounded if I pushed myself outside of my comfort zone and adopted behavioural traits that are common to Leo's, the opposite of Aquarius. It's been five years since I read the book and I could probably do with a refresher, but the gist of it was working closely with others, putting myself centre stage (instead of watching or coaching from the sidelines). Leo's like being at the heart of a group, whereas Aquarius does her own thing and won't necessarily wait for others.

I'm not sure how prominent the nodes are in most birth charts. The information in Spiller's book certainly resonated with me, but we haven't covered them in class yet. Instead we focused the zodiac signs and the planets. Personally, I've always been interested in astrology, but I shied away from it because it also felt like a never ending ocean of information (planets, houses, aspects, signs, etc). This class lasts 10 weeks and so far it's great, so hopefully I'll have a better understanding of the stars. Fingers crossed I will also be capable of reading a birth chart. Please drop by my Facebook page if you'd like a practice reading from an astrology newbie :-) 

An Intro to Astrology from Youtube

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Reiki hugs, Regina 

The Ace of Pentacles in my Life

My first week in London has been quiet, except for the cough that keeps pulling me out of my cold medicine-induced sleep. That's right! As soon as the jet lag wore off, the cold symptoms came. I even went to the doctor yesterday with a terrible sore throat. That didn't keep me from attending my first tarot class with Avril Price. It was loads of fun. There were about twelve students in the group, an equal split of men and women. Funny how tarot and mediumship draw more guys than say, angels, healing and crystals. We each pulled a card from our tarot decks and the group read them as an introduction. Mine was the Ace of Pentacles. The card represents my current situation: a new beginning, an influx of productivity, or an exciting project that I may not have stumbled upon just yet. Given the fact that I flew around the world to study intuition, healing and tarot this summer, sounds about right. 

We also have an assignment that I'm already excited about! At the end of the term we each get to present a creative interpretation of the Major Arcana cards, linking them back to a theme of our choosing. I think I might do movie scenes, or just movies. For example, the naïveté of the Fool reminds me of Forrest Gump and how a character that is so innocently optimistic get's so far in life. The Emperor could be Russell Crowe's character in the Gladiator. Even if the character isn't an emperor, he certainly reflects the qualities of leadership, discipline and honour. The idea behind the assignment is to help us connect with the cards and give them three dimensional meanings. I like the idea of referencing movies in readings, it makes it easier to get the point across. Once upon a time, I gave a reading that included a scene from Pretty Woman. It's been one of my favorites, and it resonated with the lady who received it, too. It also happened to be her favourite scene from the movie. 

There is also one humongous coincidence that I have to mention. If you're new to my blog, you won't know that I actually lived in London for five years. This is where I discovered energy healing, intuition, angels, all of it. A year and a half ago I moved back to Mexico City, my hometown, where I hope to stay. I'm only here for the summer, and it just so happens that I'm staying in the very same flat where I lived for three years. As a matter of fact, I'm sitting on the couch writing this post, and it's the same couch where I edited and revised my book, A Personal Guide to Self-Healing, Cancer & Love. Who would have thought this would be possible? I'm thanking my fairy godmother. This is also where I lived during my two years as a healing student. I still can't believe my luck, it feels like I'm time travelling and even being locked up with a cold here is pretty cool. This is one of those synchronicities that we just get to be very grateful for! This used to be my stomping ground, to paraphrase a great song by Madonna, but I'm in a good mood so let's listen to something more up beat instead! I'm looking forward a summer of angels, intuition and friends!

Holiday, by Madonna

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Regina Chouza is an energy healer, angel medium and the author of A Personal Guide to Self-Healing, Cancer & Love and Chakra Healing & Magick. Blogging at Diary of a Psychic Healer since 2010, her passion is bringing the qualities of love, joy and empowerment to healing pursuits. Read her books to unlock your intuition. 

Instagram ~ Facebook ~ Youtube

> Español: @AngelMedium33

Image Source:  Learn Tarot Online

Book Review: Real Magic by Wayne Dyer

Wayne Dyer talks about purpose being the key to the universe in his book, Real Magic. The book has been sitting on my mom's shelf for a the past couple of years and every time I come home it winks at me. I finally caved a couple days ago and I haven't been able to put it down! The description on the back is though provoking because it hints at all of those things that so many of us want to achieve: successful relationships, careers, the big house, heaps of creativity, good health, etc. It hints at that famous rat race, and how we never seem to have enough. Where is this abundance that people talk about?

I had never read anything by Wayne Dyer and was expecting a how-to-get-rich-quick-with-visualisation book, like The Secret. Boy was I wrong! It has really tested my ego and opened up my eyes, especially when it comes to Dr Dyer's suggesting that we shift our career mindset from a "work-for-money-and-riches" point of view, to a "work for quality of life" attitude. His point is that as long as we are incentivised by the external status symbols like cars, big houses, travels, etc we will be limited by the physical world that we are so keen to master. And no matter how much we have, it will never be enough. Dr Dyer has a checklist of 12 attitudes that define spiritual living. 

Here are the ones that resonated with me: 

• There is more to the world than what we see with our 5 senses. 
• Focus on the good you want to create, don't waste your energy fighting the bad things that we want to do away with. 
• Know that you can manifest miracles (I'm not quite there). 

Finally, Know that your life has a purpose! Everything you do right will bring you closer to that purpose and it will also make you feel like a more fulfilled person. This book has quickly become one of my favourites, totally worth reading! I even gifted it to my sister. It's part of my year in magical training - how to manifest your best life. The video below is also a good one to watch, I hope you enjoy it! 

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Regina Chouza is an energy healer, angel medium and the author of A Personal Guide to Self-Healing, Cancer & Love and Chakra Healing & Magick. Blogging at Diary of a Psychic Healer since 2010, her passion is bringing the qualities of love, joy and empowerment to healing pursuits. Read her books to unlock your intuition. 

Instagram ~ Facebook ~ Youtube 

> Español: @AngelMedium33

Back to School: Angels, Astrology and Tarot!

Six years ago, I read a fantastic book on angels and spirit guides. At first, I was nervous about opening that door but the angels make the whole process feel cozy and safe. In a roundabout way, that led me to my psychic school where I studied intuition for almost four years. 

Since then I quit my day job to become a healer so the change has been dramatic. I started blogging in 2010 to keep track of my experiences in school. You can find posts about healings vs posts about intuition under the labels of Healing School and Psychic School. 

Last year I moved to Mexico City where I have been blogging, healing and hosting a weekly radio show. Life still feels like an adventure and this summer I'm going back for three months. I just signed up for class and I couldn't be more excited!

This is my summer term, can't wait to get started: 

• Working with Angels and Guides: This class is the main reason I'm going back for the summer. During my time in London I slowly worked my way up through the introduction, foundation and intermediate/advanced lessons with Amanda Roberts. I am hoping to be an Angel Medium someday, and for that to happen I need to take the Advanced class, which is channeling mixed with teacher training. To be honest I'm thrilled and nervous. I have been using angel cards so much the past year that getting back into a "pure connection mode" might be a challenge, but I'm ready for it. To graduate I also have to do dozens of case studies, so please Like my Facebook Page to get updates, and potentially a free 15 minute Skype reading this summer. I have to do thirty sessions before moving onto 40 minute readings. All I need is feedback and a smile.

• Intermediate Tarot:  I have been reading tarot since 2009, mostly self taught, and I thought it would be nice to take a class. Avril Price (the tutor) is said to be fantastic and I'm just psyched to be a part of it. We can also bring our own cards so I'll be using the Wizards Tarot by Corrine Kenner. It has so many layers, including astrology, healing, and the traditional themes of the cards.  

• Psychic Astrology: This is also a new for me, so far I have barely skimmed the surface focusing on past life astrology at the Kabbalah Centre, and with Jan Spiller's awesome book, Astrology for the Soul. In class we will go through our birth charts every week, looking at different aspects and how we can use them for readings and spiritual psychology. I'm not sure what to expect, but it will be great!

• Astrology and Magic:  I was done choosing classes for the summer and thought, if only there was a magic class and I would feel like I was at Hogwartz. The description for this was too much: how to use visualization and the planets to manifest our dreams, goals and other desires. It fits well with the Heart Manifesting Workshop that I attended in February. 

There is one more class that I'd love to take this summer, a Shamanic Medicine Wheel workshop by Judy Hall (at SIH). I figure I can wait until I'm settled in next week before signing up for any more classes. As always, my blog and Facebook Page will be full of updates, personal reflections and notes. This will be a busy summer as I'm aiming to rewrite the second draft of my memoir, a prequel to my student days in London. That's the nut to crack, I'm hoping London will inspire me. 

Thank you for reading! Join me below

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Reiki hugs, Regina 

The Second Coming of Christ: Literal or Mystical?

Most of my posts are based on my experiences and personal musings. This one is no different, just a snapshot of where I am right now. I'm not expert on the Second Coming of Christ but as with any subject, I asked my intuition to point out a theory that I can wrap my head around. 

The theme popped into my mind a recently when I stumbled across a book called The Yoga of Jesus, by Paramahamsa Yogananda (does the name sound familiar? Yogananda also wrote Autobiography of a Yogi). The Yoga of Jesus is now on my reading list, and somehow the cover got me thinking about the second coming of Christ. Do we take that literally, is he coming back in physical form?

It dawned on me that there may be another option. What if it's not a physical incarnation but rather, a metaphysical or mystical one? I'm starting to think that the Second Coming of Christ is going to happen in our hearts and minds, not in the world around us. It's when we start to assimilate that loving, forgiving and compassionate energy, letting it take the lead in our thoughts, our words and our actions. When that peaceful consciousness reaches critical mass, I can see Planet Earth being total bliss. Heaven on Earth. We wouldn't need the promise of a better afterlife, this one can be pretty amazing too. I'm not sure what would happen with the human experiences of sickness and poverty. You might still see these conditions on earth but we wouldn't be so quick to turn a blind eye to suffering. It's up to us to help each other.  

Christians talk about loving Christ and that's fantastic, but the bigger challenge is to love, respect and value each other. Jesus won't edge you out of a promotion at work or disrespect your beliefs and traditions. Loving Jesus is easy, we are not in competition. Loving each other can be tough, whether it's family, friends or complete strangers. At times, I wonder if humanists (atheists) have it right. We don't need a belief system to treat each other with respect. All we need is empathy, putting ourselves in someone else's shoes regardless of who they are, what they believe or where they come from. Maybe it's just a change in perspective that we need?

> And for a reality check - we can show compassion and care for our community while setting healthy boundaries. If everyone does their part, that weight will be easier for all of us to handle. I’m not for giving until it hurts either; having that as a goal is nonsensical. If everyone pitches in, in whatever way is easiest for them to do so, we’d get a lot further, with no compassion fatigue. 

Reiki hugs, 

Regina 

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Regina Chouza is an energy healer, angel medium and the author of A Personal Guide to Self-Healing, Cancer & Love and Chakra Healing & Magick. Blogging at Diary of a Psychic Healer since 2010, her passion is bringing the qualities of love, joy and empowerment to healing pursuits. Read her books to unlock your intuition. 

Instagram ~ Facebook ~ Youtube

> Español: @AngelMedium33