Your Guide to Self-Empowerment and Positive Change

As you can see I haven’t posted in awhile. Been a busy summer! This post is an excerpt from my report, “Secrets to Sustaining a Love Relationship” which you can find on my website.  It offers some tips. Hope you find them helpful.

Being in a love relationship can be wonderful yet also challenging.  Fortunately there is a lot of information available to us now offering relationship guidelines. The following are a few suggestions that can help improve your relationship.

In order to nurture and sustain a love relationship it is important to practice what I call the three A’s to one another as often as possible. The three A’s are acceptance, acknowledgement, and appreciation. For example, “I love you for who you are. Thank you for taking out the garbage. We’re so lucky to be together. ”

Acceptance means letting go of the need to be perfect and honoring your humanness.  So much of the time couples try to change one another.  This comes out of an unconscious need to control life in order to feel safe.  However, it is fear based and does not foster love.  Since our partners are mirrors for us, our lack of acceptance for them may be a reflection of a lack of acceptance for ourselves.  In order to sustain your relationship you need to accept where things are right now.  This includes accepting yourself as well as your partner.

Acknowledgement inspires positive behavior and therefore fosters growth. When people feel acknowledged they feel encouraged. This creates a desire to want to do more. When you acknowledge all the little things your partner does that bring you joy and support in your life, it will lift your spirits as well.

Appreciation opens doors to communication and to the heart. No one likes to feel taken for granted. Begin to express appreciation for all the little things that your partner does. Look around you and notice all that you have to appreciate in your life.  Self-appreciation is a must as well. Learn to balance criticism with appreciation for all that is good in your partner and in your life.

In what ways do you nurture your love relationship? How do you nurture your relationship with yourself? Although these tips have been geared towards a love relationship, any relationship especially a primary one needs to be nurtured. How do you nurture your relationships in general? I am looking forward to hearing from you about this topic.

All the best,

Susan Eller

http://www.healingfromwithin.com/

“Everything is about the way you feel. Practice scenarios that feel good – and never mind reality. Reality is only a brief moment in time that you keep repeating. “ ~Abraham-Hicks

What a statement! This concept is far different from what I (and probably all of you) have been conditioned to believe. Remember the old saying – “Seeing is Believing”! I bet most of you believe that reality is the truth of a situation.  Yet from a non-physical, broader perspective this is not the case. And now science has backed this up via the research of new physics revealing that we are in constant communication with the Universe via our vibration and feelings.

So how do you go about feeling good when you are experiencing less than desirable situations? Here are some suggestions. Look for the good and positive in your life and begin to appreciate everything you already do have. Use the power of your imagination to dream, to picture what you want. Connect with your inner being, your authentic self and know that the point of power is always in the present moment.

If you are feeling down, look for something to help you feel a little better. It is not realistic to expect that you will go from depression to pure joy. However, find things that bring you some relief, such as listening to your favorite music and reading something uplifting. You may find writing in your journal to be beneficial. There are also many wonderful healing tools and techniques that can help. The following is a method I learned from spiritual teacher, Jo Dunning.

Exercise: Quiet the mind. Sit for a moment and be with your feelings. Let go of any thinking. Just be with your feelings and notice the base line feeling such as loneliness, sadness, fear etc. In about three minutes the energy will rise up through your Chakra system. The feeling will lift and go away. When that happens you will feel better and find yourself in a higher vibration.

Remember that everything is always changing. Nothing stays the same and that this too shall pass. The more you can feel good the more you can attract good things into your life. And it’s never too late to start. So practice feeling good as often and as best as you can. Here is a list of things that help me feel good.

• Being with my husband.

• Enjoying my home.

• Watching my cat’s antics.
  

• Listening to the birds.

• Taking walks in nature.

• I love when I see a cotton tailed rabbit, quail and other critters.

• Listening to uplifting CD’s and MP3 recordings
  

• Getting lost in a good book.

• Appreciating the mountains and sky around where I live.

• Connecting with inspiring, supportive and like-minded friends.

Now it’s your turn. What works for you? Let me know.

All the best,

Susan

www.healingfromwithin.com

Pause a moment from whatever you are doing.…Be with this moment…Take a slow, deep breath and breathe into your belly… As you read these words notice your breathing…Notice your body…. What are you thinking ?… How are you feeling?… Is there any tension in your body?… If so, where ?… Take a moment to breathe into that tension…Relax… Let it go…Just Be.

You are constantly changing. Until more recently inner change occurred without much conscious awareness. Now many people are awakening and with this comes a new POWER, the power to change consciously, with your intention.

No longer do you have to believe that you are a victim. As you learn how to co-create with Spirit, you will become more attuned to the laws of nature and the universe. This knowledge will help you navigate through life more skillfully even in times of change and turmoil.

There are many tools to help you make positive changes. Being mindful as in the opening relaxation is one of them. The following are four more of my favorites.

Learn How to Manage Your Energy

Are you highly sensitive? Do you feel what others feel? In today’s world your life gets bombarded with a myriad of outside stimuli, from toxins in the air to the daily stresses of life. Learn what your body and spirit need by finding ways to nurture your inner self. This means recognizing when your energy system has become overloaded or depleted then taking time to relax and rejuvenate. There are different ways you can do this such as scheduling regular massages, taking healing baths, meditating, practicing yoga and going on retreats. Taking time to recharge your energy will prove to be an efficient tool to help you maintain health and wellness while in the midst of inner changes.

Transform Negative Self-Talk

Become aware of self-doubt, self-judgment and other types of negative thinking that erode your self-esteem and keep you from actualizing your potential. Your thoughts exert a powerful influence on your well being. Consistent negative thinking dampens your spirit and keeps you from manifesting your heart’s desire. It has also proven to lower your immune system thus contributing to health problems.

Learn to balance negative thinking with self-acknowledgment.  If you catch yourself entertaining negative thoughts, simply acknowledge the awareness then replace with a positive affirmation.

Over time you will find that your negative self-talk diminishes resulting in increased self-esteem, improved health and a better outlook on life. All will ease the process of change.

Add Light to a Situation

You can transform a situation by adding light to it. Light accelerates your growth and attracts your higher good. If you are not sure what you want or how to solve a problem create a symbol for it. Then surround your symbol with a ball of white light.  Imagine the light illuminating your symbol and smoothing out any rough edges.  Adding light in this way will bring clarity and ease the process of change.

Adopt an Attitude of Gratitude

Finally, be grateful for every beneficial change no matter how small. You can even begin by appreciating all that you have right now. Expressing gratitude promotes awareness, increases your connection to Source and expands your ability to receive from the Universe. It is one of the best ways to bring more good into your life.

Try incorporating these tools into your daily life. Change, even conscious change, often happens subtly over time. You will need to have patience and perseverance. However, the rewards are great.

Do you have any of your own methods? Feel free to post your comments here.

Blessings,

Susan

HealingFromWithin.com

Recently I received news about Ted Andrew’s passing. Ted was the author of more than 40 books including the best seller, Animal-Speak, The Spiritual & Magical Powers of Creatures Great and Small. Although I never met Ted I knew him through his writing as his sensitive, generous spirit shined through his words.

Some people do not realize that spirit lives in everything both animate and inanimate. Ted knew this and wrote about the way of spirit in nature.  Now when I see an animal or bird I look up the symbolism and message in Animal-Speak.  As a result of Ted’s influence I pay more attention to signs from nature. Sometimes this requires quieting the mind and opening to subtler energies, similar to tapping into one’s intuition. Much wisdom can be gleaned by tuning into the power of nature.

Another author and teacher, Lynn Andrews, taught me about the spirit in rocks. I have always been drawn to rocks, pebbles and crystals. Lynn learned from her medicine teacher, Agnes Whistling Elk, that every stone has seven faces: sound, sight, scent, taste, emotion and awareness. In Lynn’s book,  Flight of the Seventh Moon.  I learned that rocks are like all living things except they are denser. Agnes taught Lynn that many rocks come from other worlds and that they can see a long way off. Rocks can provide a gateway to the crystal world to find answers to things. By learning to go into those gateways you could explore many things past and future.

I find this information exciting and wondrous. Because I am an intuitive who was born and raised into a family that reveres intellectual acuity I also find it validating. I have realized for many years that the analytical mind can only go so far. We need to balance that part of the brain with the more intuitive side that is tapped into the forces of nature, the spirit world.

Spirit talks to us in different ways. It is up to us to listen. I tune into spirit by going into the silence, taking walks, channeling Reiki and by connecting with the wisdom of Tarot. What methods work for you? How do you connect with spirit?

Blessings,

Susan

HealingFromWithin.com

November 1, 2009

I’d like you to do something simple. Just for a moment focus on your breathing. If you like you can close your eyes. First relax your abdomen. Now take a slow, deep breath in…Breathe deeply into your belly then breathe all the way out. When you are ready open your eyes.

How was that? Did it feel good? And it was easy too. Most Americans do not breathe properly. Because of cultural tendencies they tend to breathe shallowly into their chests. And if upset a person may hardly breathe at all.

Yet breathing is the most basic vital function. Without it you could not exist. Did you know that your body is designed to release 70% of its toxins through breathing? If you are not breathing effectively, you are not properly ridding your body of its toxins. This means that other systems in your body must work overtime which could eventually lead to illness.

Deep conscious breathing benefits the body in many ways. For example, it releases tension. Think how your body feels when you are tense, angry, scared or stressed. It constricts. Your muscles get tight and your breathing becomes shallow. When your breathing is shallow you are not getting the amount of oxygen that your body needs. In order to breathe properly you need to breathe deeply into your abdomen not just your chest.

Deep conscious breathing is a simple way to relax and refresh. Suppose you are running on overload. Your body and brain feel frazzled and fried. What will help is to relax your body by paying attention to your breathing. It only takes a few minutes. Breathe slowly, deeply and purposefully into your body. Notice any places that are tight and breathe into them. As you relax your body, you may find that the breathing brings clarity and insights to you as well.

Want to relieve emotional problems? Once again deep, conscious breathing will help clear uneasy feelings out of your body. As a counselor, I help people resolve their issues. I find that when I have a client breathe deeply into her body, it helps in three ways. It gets her in touch with her feelings. It eases the discomfort. And it aids in an understanding of the problem.

Breathing is so basic it is easy to take it for granted. You may not realize its connection to how you think feel and experience life. For example, what happens to your breathing when you anticipate pain?  You probably hold your breath. Yet studies show that breathing into your pain helps to ease it.

As you can see breathing sustains life in many ways. With deep conscious breathing you can more properly rid your body of toxins. You can release tension in your body.  And you can ease emotional, mental and physical discomfort.

So remember the next time you find yourself feeling tense, angry scared or stressed…pause for a moment and remember to breathe.

Susan Eller

HealingFromWithin.com