Less Fight, More Joy. Living An Authentic Life

I used to think that I had to conquer the world. In order to ‘make it’ or to be a success I needed to overcome challenges and beat my insecurities. I had to attack problems head on and fight my fears.

After suffering through many years of chronic illness including Ankylosing Spondylitis, several episodes mimicking stroke and three years of almost daily chronic atypical migraine, as well as more than enough personal and family trauma for one lifetime (I won’t go into all the gory details here), I have come to realise that all this fighting and attacking and beating and challenging has left me completely devoid of the energy I need to do what I am actually here to do i.e. To discover myself and enjoy the opportunity that being alive right now has given me.

Being a channel has placed a heavy burden upon me to be responsible and make the world a better place and I have shocked and surprised myself at how ungrateful I have been about this incredible gift. I have become an expert at leaving my body and communicating with energies that are not manifest in this world. I can travel into the past and view past lives (See Guided and Rose; my mother was a nun, as examples). I can transcribe esoteric wisdom, and where appropriate my words and energy can effect significant healing. I am a fully qualified Psychologist and my training in understanding the human mind and behaviour have given me the opportunity to work supportively with those who are suffering or in need of some coaching.

What I am not good at however is being in this body and concentrating my energies into my own health. I have difficulty running and managing my home efficiently and getting things done. I can understand my children’s life purposes and view their contracts but I’m not always good at slowing down enough to play and laugh and have fun.

Thankfully through my work with my Angels and Guides and my circumstances I am once again reminded that we are here to learn about ourselves and we are given multiple opportunities to do it. Some of them pleasant and some of them not so much. Our job is not even to change the world because the world is here to develop us on a personal level. The circumstances are irrelevant. It is only our attitude that counts. This is the one thing that we can change instantly.

Changing your attitude does not always change your circumstances but it makes every circumstance easier to manage. When we train our eyes and our attention on what still needs to be done then we will always be seeing responsibility.

Try instead to put an object of joy in each room so that every time you enter the room you train your eyes on beauty and joy rather than obligation or responsibility.

Bring your home back to life. Long standing negativity, irritation and disappointment is enough to transform any space into one that drains energy rather than gives energy. Set your intention to activate your home again and set it to joy.

As an Angelic style personality I have always thought that love was the highest priority but I have realised that love and joy are completely separate concepts. It is possible to love someone who does not bring you joy, just as it is possible to feel joy in a place that you do not love (Prison for example). Love comes with responsibilities while joy does not. When you can find joy in yourself and those around you, when you can find joy in your environment and in your work, you lift your energy to a whole new level, and set yourself free. This joy activates joy in others all without any burden or responsibility.

I have realised that I have taken my life for granted. Always complaining about what still needs to be done and judging what I have done so far but never being satisfied.

Dissatisfaction is a great motivator for change but put into overdrive it drains energy, corrupts your thought world and leads to health conditions.

Being grateful and appreciative of all that I have and all that I have been given really helps to heal my mind and my physical body. Being content wherever you are and whatever your circumstances doesn’t mean that you do not strive to be the best you can be, but it certainly takes the pressure off and allows you to stop picking on yourself.

At the end of the day it is not the circumstances that determine the quality of our life, it is the way we view the world. Stop fighting the world and start appreciating it, the good, the bad, and the ugly and instead of trying to control your life, embrace the ups and downs. Appreciate and respect yourself for what you have already experienced and take small steps to enjoy the beauty and joy that is there for the taking.

Action steps.

  1. Remind yourself that you are amazing already not for what you have done or not done but because of who you are. Perfect, whole and complete even in your human-ness.
  1. Find something that you love about each room in your home, school, office, etc and then focus on this each time you enter the room. It might be an object such as a candle, a flower, a picture or it may be a thought. The object is not important more the joy that it represents. Take a moment to feel good as you meditate on each object or joyful thought.
  1. Write the word Joy on your drinking glass or drink bottle and then drink it in.

I hope you enjoyed this article and that it wasn’t too personal. Up until this point I have tried very hard to keep this information mainstream and not to talk about the Psychic abilities that have gotten us through some very difficult times but I am beginning to see that so many others are going through tough times and if the Angels and Guides can be of assistance to you then I owe it to you all to be honest and frank about who I am, what I have experienced and how I have used my abilities to make life better so that maybe you can experience a similar level of love and support in your own life. It is only when complete authenticity is demonstrated despite the fear it can invoke, that the body can heal, the mind can rest and the spirit can thrive.

God bless you all as you discover and demonstrate your own authenticity.

In Love and Light

Gemma

Where Has All The Solitude Gone?

We live in the connected age. Everyone is contactable 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. We feel entitled to access other people, products and services at all hours of the day and night and even when we are on our own, music, internet and the threat or pleasure of someone contacting us, removes all sense that we might ever be in solitude.

We spend our days only ever half listening or half thinking. If we ever pause enough to focus it lasts only a minute or two and we are off again filling our mental space with ‘stuff’.

This is not for lack of trying. We try to concentrate and we try to slow life down but the secret is that we actually want to be distracted so that we are not faced with all the guilt of all the things that we cannot accomplish or that we do not want to accomplish in this lifetime.

Instead of contribution and satisfaction in doing what is right, we have now adopted only one measuring stick.

Happiness

What do we want? What do we most want for our children?

But happiness and the pursuit of happiness leads us to distraction.

We seek only to be entertained, to have a life without responsibility and a life in which we get lots of ‘likes’ from others who are seeking the same absolution from responsibility.

Happy equals do what you want, when you want and don’t let needs get in the way of wants.

It creates a generation of people that care mostly for themselves and a world in which everyone believes they are king.

We expect others to meet our needs and become confused and frustrated because they can’t be bothered meeting our needs and that they are too busy being their own boss.

Then there are the ones who step out of this lifestyle and attempt to give to others only to find that they are burnt out and unappreciated.

The rest of the world looks at these genuine helpers and laugh or scorn. “You think you are doing the right thing but you are not happy and you have nothing to show for your lifestyle” they say.

Have we gotten so far off track that we can never get back?

We have a generation who works for 20-30 minutes a day to justify a full day of leisure. We have people who do not work at work but expect to be paid and we have people who are half present at work and half present in their own cyber realities. Even those who realise there is something wrong do not have the energy to change things.

Then there are those who say “let’s go back to the way it used to be” and people refuse to contemplate it. There are those who want to continue on the same way and there are some who want to move forward.

Some say “let’s have better things”. Some say “let’s have better relationships”. Some say “let’s have better technology” and some say “let’s just stop!”

Let’s use what we need and not get addicted. Let’s look at what we are growing or bringing into our world. Let’s just remember solitude. Some have been born into a world where they have never experienced it before.

Those who remember it, remember it fondly as a place of peace and a place where deep breathing and relaxation came easily. Those who seek it now however, find that it is gone. In its place only boredom. When those who remember say “why don’t we have a bit of solitude?” those who don’t remember say “why would anyone want to do that?!”

What we have forgotten is that in animal studies where mice live in crowded quarters with no solitude, they go crazy or die.

The suicide rate in Australia has now exceeded the death rates from motor vehicle accidents and even cancer.

Is it possible that times of solitude interspersed with times of face to face connection, with a real person, may reduce these statistics?

We need to reduce the liking and increase the caring for the sake of ourselves and others.

We have become a world of social phobics who do not know how to have a conversation that is not abbreviated, haphazardly typed or followed with some kind of ‘smiley’.

We see people who cannot enjoy a pleasant experience without posting about it on social media.

We have people who refuse to move or walk because they haven’t got their electronic step counter on for fear that their steps won’t be counted.

We are all seeking validation like children calling out to a parent, “look, look what I did”. We seek validation from others but we don’t get it. We measure our life in ‘likes’ but in doing so we diffuse the experience as we are having it.

So a test, a task, a challenge. Have an experience, talk with someone face to face or, spend some time in solitude, alone in your mind and enjoy it.

Go somewhere fun and don’t take photos, don’t post it on social media and don’t talk to others about it. Enjoy it because it is enjoyable, discuss it with yourself. See if you can keep some things secret not because they are not worth sharing but because the experience was meant for you and not for everyone else.

A little solitude may actually leave you feeling more connected than a whole day on line.

Compassionate Detachment – a Buddhist Perspective

Prayer and meditation are the same in that they are both inducing altered states of consciousness but they are also fundamentally different. When you are in prayer, much of the time you are asking or hoping for fulfillment of your desires. You are asking for assistance to enable your cravings and, in doing so, you prolong your suffering. When you meditate you are stilling the mind and disengaging from craving and desire. You are peaceably tuning your senses down so that you can paradoxically heighten them. This is a great skill.

When you are able to settle the mind there is no need for prayer because there is nothing that you need, there is nothing that you desire and there is no outcome that you are unduly attached to.

When you accept the nature of things you are free to let go of your desire to control things. In doing so you allow yourself to enjoy life with a lightness of heart.

When you realize that it is the nature of things to change then you stop being surprised and dismayed by things that naturally fall away.

When you are detached you realize that this is not an excuse to avoid caring for yourself or others or your surroundings. It is important that you take care of your shelter and your body as these things allow you to continue living but do not be deluded into thinking that your actions will allow you to live forever or that taking good care of your home will allow it to remain untarnished and unworn.

At some point we will all leave this earth and all of the things around us will crumble and disappear. Through understanding this is it is possible to care ‘enough’ for our self and our belongings without getting too attached and it is possible to care enough about others without desiring to change or control them.

When you want to do something in your life that it purposeful this is good but, realize that those with a cause often do more harm than good. When you are passionate about something you often push others away and segregate yourself from others. When you have a cause you are putting it above others and in doing good you may also cause others to feel dis-empowered. Seek not to have a cause. Do things and take action wisely but do not feel that anything is more important than the present moment.

When you are attempting to move forward with some action or some idea and you become blocked, do not become stressed or angry just flow around the block. Become like water taking the path of least resistance. When water comes up against a block it flows through the cracks and around the object. If water just kept trying to get through that one spot then a dam would build up and the water would stagnate. This is not good for the nature of water. Water needs movement and change. This is the nature of water. If the water fought and fought and managed to break the dam then there would just be a great mess. There is no need for such mess or such suffering. When you are blocked, take the path of least resistance until more options open up to you. It is not a sign that you can or cannot achieve something it is simply a matter of karma or timing.

As soon as you can accept this then your flow returns to you. If you are meditating or concentrating on something and you get distracted do not be angry or disappointed. It is in the nature of people to be alert to other things going on in the environment. When you realize that there is no threat then you can settle back down again. No harm done.

Action first then wisdom. We learn from our actions and our practice. When you are reading about something it is easy to intellectualize it. It is easy to generate many questions and to talk about the ins and outs of something for many days and months without getting started. If you get started you see what the action involves. Then your questions are useful and you see that many of the questions that you were going to ask fall away and become irrelevant. When you practice, you understand. When you understand you know and when you practice, understand and know then, you have wisdom. From wisdom comes enlightenment which is a setting down of all of those things that cause suffering and transcending the self into a peaceful nothingness.

Did you enjoy your lunch today? Yes. Could you have enjoyed more? Probably, could you have enjoyed less? Maybe, could you have enjoyed something different? Could you have enjoyed nothing?

An enlightened one would answer yes to all of these questions because they are not attached to their external circumstances and they have trained themselves to accept each and every moment for what it is. If there is food they can eat and if there is no food it is not a problem because at some other point there is bound to be. They endure each moment willingly without stress and because they detach from the desire to eat or be full or enjoy a specific meal, and because they detach from the desire to control their circumstances they are free to not worry about what will happen next. If you can endure hardship in this moment with a smile on your face then you are learning.

If you can endure pleasure in this moment with a smile on your face then you are learning also.

Compassionate detachment allows for contentment in all circumstances. Compassionate detachment allows us to learn from all that is around us, those things that we consider to be good and those things that we consider to be bad. Remove the judgment and you remove the suffering. See hardships as something that will pass and joys and triumphs as something that will also pass and you will not try so hard to move on or hold on. You begin to enjoy the flow of life and enjoy the rich experiences which come your way. You get to experience illness and irritability and these are a blessing and a gift if you look at them the right way.

When you see things the right way the suffering disappears.

2014

2014 is the year of life coming together. This is the year of putting aside the past, forgiving life for being so hard on you and for choosing not to be angry at your circumstances anymore. This is the year for consolidating your energy and living simply with great satisfaction.

This is the year for getting back to basics and clearing out your physical possessions, getting your physical body fit and strong and adjusting your attitude so that you are confident, strong and mentally focused.

This is the year when you stop selling your future and instead, focus on increasing the power of your income to support you in the present, to preserve your future and to balance debts from the past.

This is the year of discovering the lifestyle that has eluded you in the last few years. It does not involve great expense but it does involve great enjoyment.

This is truly going to be a wonderful year.

If this is the kind of year that you would also like to have, then the articles to come will be worth looking at. This year we will be discussing these topics in greater detail, with the aim to inspire you to make positive changes in your life and be all that you want to be.

The first Article in this series is called Stop Selling your Future. It makes us aware of all the ways that we book ourselves up and commit ourselves financially, physically and emotionally. It puts a different spin on time and financial management and gives practical ways to clean up the past and save for your future by giving yourself a far more enjoyable and satisfying present.

So Stop Selling Your Future When you buy on credit you are always a month behind. The money that comes in is already allocated to covering last month’s expenses that weren’t paid for because last month you used your income to pay for the previous months expenses.

Putting things on credit ensures that you will always be behind. You will always be obligated to keep working more and more because you are paying not only for the cost of the things that you purchased but also interest or a credit surcharge on purchases. Even if you pay it off at the end of each month you will still not be ahead.

When you get up to date and break this cycle you will find that your money has more power. When you pay for things on the spot, in cash, you do not have to think about it again. You will not be working hard to pay for takeaway dinners from 3 months ago.

When you reverse this, the work you did in the past will be paid in the future. The thoughts you had in the past will come into fruition in the future and the savings that you are accruing will protect you in the future.

When you decide to live in the present you still have some cleaning up to do of the past and some preparation to do for the future, but most of your time can be spent enjoying what you are doing right now.

When you give yourself permission to live in the present you appreciate life more. You are not always thinking about what has to be done next or where you are going in the next minute. You have planning time for that. There is time that you have put aside to take care of those details. For now you are free to enjoy the experience of being.

When you live in the present but allocate enough time to the past, then you have a space for cleaning things up and getting things in order. This is the time for completing projects from the past. Tidying up and cleaning out old paperwork and de-cluttering is no longer a hassle because once you have taken care of it, it is done. It is finished and you will not have to do this again.

As you allocate time to the future, you make the time to dream and plan and visualise how you would like your life to be. You can be inspired and set goals and get your systems and philosophies in place. Putting in place good plans in your future time makes for a much more pleasant present.

Discovering Self-Worth

I was a little Angel and God sent me down to Earth,
He said go now and explore yourself and measure your self-worth.

I said “well this is easy, too easy to be frank,
I’ll just go and sell myself to the local branch of the bank.
They will tell me how much I’m worth and pay a princely sum,
And then I’ll show God how much I’m worth now there will be some fun”.

But the bank they wouldn’t buy me, said self-worth is not measured by wealth,
So I thought ah yes of course it’s not, it must be measured by my health.
So I trotted to the doctor, but woe be had on me,
The doctor said my health was fine and then charged me a fee!

Well he must be a worthy man to charge others for his time,
Maybe education and career’s the answer they will put me in my prime.
And so I went along to school to earn a worthy degree,
But doubt kept creeping up on me maybe family is the key?

And so I quickly went to work to build a better me,
To find a job and find a home and start a family,
Surely doing all of this will show me what I’m worth?
And others will admire me isn’t that why I came to earth?

But somehow having everything made some of my friends seem mad.
It seemed they didn’t like me now with all these dreams I had.
So I got to thinking and I worried day and night,
What good is life without people who care? I’ve got to get this right!

So maybe it’s about sacrifice and giving dreams away?
Then people will admire me surely that’s a worthy price to pay?
And slowly I began to lose myself a little day by day,
Until one day I realized I’d completely lost my way.

***

Then one day I saw a feather fall, it landed in a tree.
I felt a tingling down my spine and asked ‘is this for me?’
I leaned gently over and picked it up, a tear formed in my eye,
A message: ‘Although you want to give it up, now’s the time to try.’

And so I sat and thought awhile about my special task,
And rather than do it on my own I decided to simply ask:

“God, I came here willingly with purpose and with pride,
And now I can’t remember, what I came here to find.
It’s foggy and confusing and I’m sad that I can’t see,
Can’t you send me someone, to make things clear for me?

And then I had a vision of floating by the sea,
An Angel stood and said my name and called it out to me.
I reached out my hand to call her near, wanting to be shown,
But then the vision disappeared and I was once again alone.

Maybe I’m learning about loneliness, or maybe not to care,
Maybe to reject everyone because when I need them they’re not there.
I just wish I could know my path how easy would it be?
Then I’d simply solve the riddle and then I’d be set free.

But the answer didn’t come like that, it developed over time,
As I learned to be gentle with me and all the emotions that were mine,

I realized that it was not my friends rejecting me at all,
It was myself, and all my fears, that led to my downfall.
Everyone was doing their best to play their worthy part,
I just needed to be gentle with myself and nurture my own heart.

So quietly I sat and spoke to God though I heard no reply,
I said “God I accept myself and I’m prepared to try.
I can only do my best and this is ok you see,
I hope you can find me worthy, for I feel worthy of me”

And suddenly I felt a shift occur, a lightness entered me,
And I felt I’d passed a test though one I couldn’t see.

***

Many years down the track, when I was peaceful in my bed,
God came along to take me home and this is what I said:

“What I am is precious; I can’t be bought or sold.
Others can admire me from birth till I grow old,
But no matter what I say or think or how I act or do,
My self-worth is always infinite because I am part of you”.

God smiled down and took my hand and I stood in the light,
“Now you finally understand there is no wrong or right.
You see that earth’s a learning ground, with many lessons tough,
But when you see through all the tricks you see it’s not so rough.”

“Would you like to go back down, another lesson to learn?
Or would you like to stay with me and let another have a turn?
You can watch and guide a little, to help them on their path,
But you cannot interfere and that’s the hardest part.”

I smiled at all the shining beings, beautiful Angels standing near,
Looking down at all the people on Earth and giving each a cheer,
And I was baffled by their loveliness and their beautiful shining wings,
And I was joyful and so curious to ask so many things.

“Were you all here when I was there, all cheering me on?”
“Of course we were and the more we cheered, you see, the more you shone.”
“But I don’t remember hearing you, or seeing you year after year,
And yet now I see the ways you helped it’s all becoming clear.”

“You sent me love; you sent me hope, when I was in despair,
You wrapped me up in loving arms when I felt that I would tear.
Yet how did you know I needed help
And what I was going through?”

And it was God who smiled down at me and said
“I understand because I’m a part of you.”

So now I’m a little Angel and I’m watching over you,
And what ever you are here to learn, I am here – cheering for you.