Greatest Of Teachers

Rather then feel shame towards your shadow self, choose to acknowledge your shadows, to send them love. Allow them to be heard, and seen, for merely all they are, a shadow, a story. Allow your shadows to catapult you towards the LIGHT. Love, love, love them, all of them, even for the smallest of reasons, for the lessons they have taught you, or the awareness they brought you. And watch as they transform to be your greatest teachers + GUIDES. 

Our shadows, our ego, can be our greatest teachers, and our greatest GUIDES, so as long as we confront them. So long as we send them love. So long as we allow that energy to pass through us as gently as we can. If we choose the latter, and suppress and deny our ego, naturally, our shadows can become our masters, and we, puppets of our own fears. A false story that serves you no more. 

Allow love to lead you, to teach you, to be the water that cleanses you and allows your true self to FLOURISH, to grow, and to come forth, to take a stand, and step INTO THE LOVE THAT YOU ARE. Into your natural state of harmony and sacred BLISS + JOY. 

Love washes away all that does not belong, all that's not true.
May you be cleansed, free, and BEAUTIFULLY WILD. 

SHIT AIN'T EASY

We all have those moments, the ones that take us aback. I have them more often than not. I have come to understand that once you have awakened, there's nowhere to go back to. You cannot go back to sleep so to speak, or close your eyes to the truth all around you, to your soul, to your purpose. At least that has been my own story.

To be 'awakened' does not mean you are free from fear, or free of sorrow, for me anyways. I am only HIGHLY aware now of my fear, and of my sorrow. To be that aware of how you feel, to be the one who now observes your fear, your old thought patterns, does not always come easy. There are days that are naturally really hard. I have come across many blogs, many awesome teachers, and sources of self-love Journeys and the art of HEALING, but to be completely honest, I get a sense that they are not all that honest. I have found that a lot of people portray a perfect path, and only half of the truth that brought them to that place of love. If you are here, and you were GUIDED here for some reason, there's a good chance that you know exactly what I mean. 

This journey we are on, the one of self-awareness, self-love, MINDFULNESS, and HEALING, well, SHIT AIN'T EASY, to be completely frank. Oh I could talk days about the RESISTANCE that comes up when you walk forward to a place of Inner Peace. How the moment you feel as though you totally know what's up now, there's a whole new lesson for you to learn, and those lessons can knock you down, that's for sure. But we get back up, we do, but I have found that not everyone talks about that part, the part where we fall down. Where ego catches us off guard, where we feel small, or when we wonder when we'll get past the 'hard' part. 

Everyone has a story of there own, and maybe we do not all feel the need to share the parts of ourselves we are not so proud of, but I want to, as vulnerable as that makes me feel. Yes, I could totally go on and on about how perfect my path has been, how every day I feel so connected and groovy, and how the world comes easy to me now, but that would not be my truth. And I am not sure I could really serve anyone or even myself from a place that's not fully AUTHENTIC. 

So, to the moments that take us aback. Well, today was full of those sort of moments for me. Self-doubt came to play, and self-love took a seat on the bench. You see, I have a lot of dreams, I am a huge dreamer, and a heart so full of love to share, and when I am grounded, I know I am worthy of all of those dreams and more. However, when I am not grounded, when for whatever reason I feel off, ego pulls out the most fearful parts of me. The parts of me that I open myself up to heal everyday. The part of me that's beyond scared to fully go after my dreams, to fully put myself out there, to be seen. 

Today was not a bad day, nor would I say today was a good day. Today was exactly what I chose today to be when I really look closely. Why was I so hard on myself today? On my appearance, on my path, on my Inner CHILD? Because I had lessons I needed to learn. There's always a lesson to learn. And that's how we grow. That's how we become the heroes of our own story. That's how change takes place. Change does not happen because every day's perfect, or because we put on a mask to cover up the parts of us we don't want others to see. Change comes when we choose to be fearless, even when we are fearful. 

Maybe you have moments that come up for you, that make you doubt yourself, that make you doubt the path that you are on. The only words I have for you, are to TRUST. Trust what the UNIVERSE has planned for you, what your God has planned for you. And I understand that that's not always easy, I fully understand that, but when you choose to trust the lessons that have been brought your way, there's usually a sense of support you'll feel all around you, a presence, an energy, that wants to help you flow as effortlessly through the lessons as you can. Ego and our need to control are usually what makes us struggle the way we do. So, TRUST. Trust yourself, SOURCE, angels, Mother Nature, love, and TRUST that you are exactly where you are supposed to be, even when you cannot understand why. 

Peace + Love

For an awesome post about detachment and Trust, check out KRISTIN HEDGES blog post here!! Her words helped me a lot today!! 

Hello, Thank You, and Goodbye

The water fell from the sky. 
I heard her say Hello,Thank you, and goodbye. 
I had searched for so much more than those few words. I had yearned to feel her love, I had hoped for her presence. To merely know we were somehow connected based on more than our blood, for her to see me, even once, even for a moment. 

Hello, Thank you, and goodbye, 
words I have heard all too often. A sense of defeat, a heart on the mend of broken. The softness of those words, I could have allowed them to swallow me whole, and stay oh so small. 

But I choose to see her ,then, now, even though she closes her eyes to me. I choose to see her. She's beauty beyond words, she's a star, and always has been. So strongly protected, so far from her truth, how could she see my soul, when she had turned away from her own. 

Tears had fallen down my face, and caressed my freckled cheeks. Sorrow from my past had become my present, I could be angry, I could feel let down. But what I saw was her sadness. What I saw was her own story. What I felt was love for the wondrous soul who brought me here. 

BE THE LIGHT, was what I heard through the tears. BE THE LIGHT. Open your heart to yourself, open your heart to her. Take down your own walls, see your own soul, and see past the walls she has created. 

Hello, Thank you, and goodbye. Words I had heard all too often, became new to me.  Hello to second chances. Hello to open hearts. Hello to FORGIVENESS and COMPASSION. Thank you to WHISPERS of profound words of love, and Thank you to moments of sorrow, moments so raw they break you open. 

And goodbye. Goodbye to the sad story I have told myself for far too long. Goodbye to the need for you to be anyone other than who you are. A soul, the same as me, on your own Journey of self-love and DISCOVERY. 

BE THE LIGHT, was what I heard through the tears, and so I shall be. FIERCELY, and fearlessly, I shall BE THE LIGHT for you, and for me. Here's to the day, both of our hearts, WILL LIGHT UP THE SKY. 

Namaste

To Ground Oneself

>Photo Found on PINTEREST<

We LIVE IN A WORLD that's so consumed by a false sense of Freedom, a false sense of peace. A world that teaches us to look OUTSIDE of ourselves, when the only way to true freedom and peace IS WITHIN. I spent so many years on AUTO-PILOT, and though there were moments of CLARITY, I had not even been grounded WITHIN my body, not even really connected to my soul. Sounds so surreal to me now as I reflect on where I have been and on where I am. When started my Journey to self-love, and my SPIRITUAL AWAKENING, I went and sought a hand to help me through the darker of days, to help me come bacK to my heart and my truth. That hand that the UNIVERSE so perfectly connected me to, was the hand of a man, who has changed me, completely and fully. That man's now someone I am happy to call a dear FRIEND, and truly, my GUIDE, and one of the only teachers I feel taught me matters that well, matter. 

That man, my own personal guru so to speak, taught me many, many lessons. But the one lesson he taught me that I go back to over and over, was to be GROUNDED. I remember the very first day I went and sat down across from my dear FRIEND, and he told me I was not grounded. That I was not presently connected to my truth, and that I was so scared of the present space I had created, that my soul had fled for help. Grounded. To ground oneself. I can honestly say I had never heard the term or even the concept to be grounded, ever, until that day, when he spoke those beautiful words. They changed me, and they continue to change me every day. 

How could I fully LIVE, how could I fully be present, when my soul's not fully connected to my heart, to my body, my TEMPLE, my LIGHT? To ground oneselfs to be blanketed by a handmade quilt of peace, a peace that takes you back to what's real, and allows you to see past fear, see past ILLUSION. 

When I started to fully understand the grandness of the art of being grounded, I was able to focus on what really mattered to me, and I was able to release all of those STORIES we create that never really serve us. As all paths go, yoga, MINDFULNESS,the way we eat, how we create, to learn to be grounded takes PRACTICE. A CONSCIOUS CHOICE you make every day to be grounded, and maybe even moments, an hour here or there. Trust me, when you have been ungrounded for years, a few hours of pure grounded BLISS feels more than enough to start. I now know that every moment I am stressed, or upset, or have created my own sense of chaos, that I am not grounded. There's so much power that comes once you are aware of that, once you know there's a better way, a spectacular,EUPHORIC way. 

So maybe ask yourself, do you feel grounded? Do you feel connected to your souls core purpose, to your heart, and do you feel yourself apart of every ounce of your body, your TEMPLE? Subtle changes, every day, every moment, can completely change the way you see yourself, see your world, and how you connect to both. 

A few ways I love to ground myself are

~ A long walk outdoors, surrounded by nature and my loved ones, or some days alone. 

~ A good hug of a TREE. No really, I hug TREES more often than not.Totally recommend. 

~A barefoot stroll on grass,a sandy beach by the ocean, Feel your body connect to Mother Earth. 

~ Yoga, of course, grounds me to my very core. 

~ MEDITATION, whether you have a few spare moments or an hour, take what you can. 

~ A hot,steamy bath full of Epsom salts and ESSENTIAL OILS. 

~ Have FUN, play, be goofy, and connect to yourself and your loved ones. 

~ Journal,blog, create, however you create, there's total BLISS that comes from that, and you can connect to your heart completely. 

~ Prayer

~ And above all else, breathe you wondrous soul!!

That man I sat across from that day, that open-hearted soul, taught me one of the most valuable lessons I have ever been taught, and I am FOREVER GRATEFUL for the love and KINDNESS he bestowed upon me that day, and every other we have spent UNRAVELLING who I thought I was, and who I thought I had to be. He has helped me every step of the way, to reconnect to my HIGHER self, to my goddess WITHIN. And I hope these words, the concept to ground yourself, to connect to your breathe and your body, serves you and can maybe allow you to connect to your Inner Goddess as well. 

Peace + Love 

The art of FORGIVENESS

It was not that long ago that I truly thought that to FORGIVE someone was weakness on my part, that that somehow reflected onto me as not strong enough. I thought that to forgive someone was for them, that the purpose was to let them off the hook for however you may have felt wronged. 

When I started my Journey, or as the awesome Brene Brown would say, my breakdown spiritual awakening, I learnt that to FORGIVE was about my Inner peace and my peace only. I learnt that the art of forgiveness allowed me the chance to move past LIMITING BELIEFS and become whole. Somewhere along our paths, we start to harness a whole lot of resentment, anger, and overall sorrow. We tend to hold grudges, and replay over and over why we are 'mad' or how awful that person was to us.

If I could go back, I would tell myself to let go, to forgive. To hang on to all that sorrow, you really only hang onto stagnant energy that does not serve you, that actually does a whole lot of harm to you and your soul, to your true essence. 
The art of forgiveness does not let the other person off the hook, you let yourself off the hook. You allow yourself to move forward, to put forth your energy towards your true heart's DESIRES. You bestow upon yourself a MIRACULOUS GIFT.

And the real beauty comes when we choose to surrender to forgiveness, and we actually forgive ourselves, for whatever the reasons may be. That's when the beauty of true self acceptance starts to play, and eventually peace and wholeness starts to dance at our feet. For me, personally, the moment I forgave those I felt had wronged me, so much old energy was released and I had created space for growth, for a fresh start. I took back my power. 

I chose to no longer attach myself to my past. And my sorrow no longer had an RSVP and a plus one to my future. I knew I had a story to tell, and I wanted that story to be my truth,and the only way to my truth was to release all that no longer served me. It has not always been easy, and I have to remember the exact words that I type here day to day. That's why we PRACTICE. 

So, maybe, when you come across an event that would normally cause you to harness anger or sadness or even fear, send love and LIGHT to yourself, and to whomever was apart of the event. Take a deep breathe, and ask yourself whether that energy serves you, whether your peace's worth that resentment. ALL we have to do's be WILLING. Show up, and say to yourself or even out loud, 

I am ready to FORGIVE, I am open to FORGIVENESS, I am at peace. 

Take a deep breathe, and allow your INNER GUIDANCE to take care of you. 

Pure + sacred act of acceptance

Self-love's such a pure and sacred act of acceptance. There's a freedom that naturally flows from that, and I pray that everyone gets to feel that. I pray that anyone and everyone who has ever felt unworthy, know's that they are more than worthy. We have to let go of what we are taught to see as beauty.

To me, beauty's an energy, beauty stems from the love that you are. From the love you have for yourself and for all others. 

Love yourself always, and allow your true beauty to be seen. 

Dear Wondrous Soul

 Dear wondrous soul, the one who knows that love's all you need, who knows we are all one. Allow yourself the chance to be set free. Perhaps, you can allow your soul to expand from all of the corners of who you are. 
Be your truth, allow yourself to be present + allow the FIRE that grows WITHIN you to become the heat source of love that connects us all. Open your heart, dear one, and allow yourself to be fearless. Take that leap, connect to your true self + know above all else, that LOVE always GUIDES us back home. 

>Photo Found on Tumblr<