Spiritual Development Archives

2013: Karmic Polarity

Well, we’re all still here.  There was no apocalypse, no fiery meteors showered the Earth, no cataclysmic events eradicated humanity.  My personal theory remains that the Mayans got tired of chiseling, and went about inventing the Margarita instead.

Can you imagine what would have happened if we had been absolutely certain, without a shadow of a doubt, that the world was going to end on a lovely Friday in December?

I doubt most of us would have shown up to work for the last six months.  We would have flocked to beaches and mountains and beautiful places on our planet, spent whatever money was in our savings accounts, and indulged in a lot of unhealthy food.  We would have surrounded ourselves with the people we truly want to be with, and we would have done only what we really wanted to do.

If the end of the world were guaranteed, our choices would have no consequences.  Free of the fear of what other people think, free of the responsibilities of paying our mortgage and our credit card bills, many of us would finally allow ourselves to do what is truly our Soul’s authentic self-expression.

Except, of course, our society would also have come to a screeching halt.  No-one would show up to work, which means our grocery stores would empty, restaurants would close, garbage would collect in the streets, and the rules of our society would disintegrate into chaos.

Karma keeps us from self-destruction.  But karma can also keep us in limitation.  It all depends on how you handle the system of karma.

We can make choices to avoid unwanted consequences.

We can make choices to create desired consequences.

Both sets of choices can look exactly the same from the outside – but the intent behind these choices is vastly different, and so the consequences are also vastly different.

We can choose to go to work every day because we don’t want to lose our home, because we don’t want our parents to think we’re a slacker, because we don’t want to disappoint our children or our spouse.

In our own business, we can make choices that keep us from losing clients, we can write so we don’t lose people from our list, we can water down our marketing message so that we don’t piss people off.

On the other hand, we can choose to go to work every day because we want to create the home of our dreams, because we feel fulfilled as we express our brilliance, because we want our children to live abundantly, because we want to support our spouse.

We can choose to market ourselves authentically in order to attract our ideal clients, we can choose to make offers and structure our business so that we have the most fun while we do our Soul’s purpose.

One set of choices creates a prison of our own making.

The other set of choices creates heaven on earth.

From the outside, they look exactly the same.

Imagine, for a moment, that you only have a few days left on this planet.  What would you immediately stop doing?  And why?

What choices in life are you currently making only because you fear negative consequences?  What about choices in your business?  What are you creating from fear?

What choices would you immediately start making if you only had a few days left in this human form?  What choices would you make in your business if you knew that you would not fail?

What would you create from love – love for your Soul’s self-expression within this human form?

Choices made from fear create more fear.  Choices made from love create more love.  The polarity between the two is becoming more and more apparent as we move into 2013.  And whether we create from fear or love – that is completely up to us!

Blessings,
Andrrea

Money Manifesting: The Inner Journey

It’s easy to think of the money manifesting process as something that takes place between you and the rest of the world.  After all, money has to come to you from the Universe via other people, right?

Right.  We do have to offer value to others, so that we can receive that value back in the form of money.

But most of the money manifesting process is an inside job.  Most of what allows our income and business to grow and prosper happens within us.

The success of your money manifesting process is determined, first and foremost, by the relationship between your Divinity and your humanity.

That relationship is then mirrored on the outside, between you and your clients, you and your business, you and every other person in your life.

It’s really all about the relationship between YOU and you.

When you embrace your Divinity, trust in your own abundant nature, accept your Divine Gifts as making you infinitely deserving of all that you desire, make no apologies for who you are and want to be …

… all of this is mirrored in how you show up in the world.  And how you show up in the world is inevitably mirrored in your bank account.

What is your relationship with your Divinity?

Is your Divinity is a far-off, vague concept that remains obscure and shrouded in mystery?  Then creating a fabulous income may be equally far off.  You may be confused as to what value you really offer, what your niche is, and while you know that making money doing what you love is possible, you might not be able to quite wrap your head around how YOU can do so.

Is your Divinity a task master, your Soul Purpose something to be accomplished?  Then you will find yourself working hard.  Rather than allowing your Divine Gifts to be enough, you will do more, relentlessly try to improve yourself (and your clients – eek!), constantly strive to impress, perform, achieve.

Is your Divinity something of which you have to become worthy?  Then you will constantly be giving your value away, attract people who will take far more than they give, educate yourself endlessly, look for an outside authority to declare you an “expert,” and chase the next vision, and the next, hoping to finally find the “one” that will create results.

Is your Divinity a burden, your Purpose something you “have to” do, an obligation to Spirit?  Then you will find yourself taking on far more responsibility than is yours.  You will care too much, try to do for others what they must do for themselves, enable instead of empower, wear yourself out, find yourself overwhelmed instead of joyful when you do your work in the world.

Your relationship with your Divinity, the relationship between you and YOU, is what will be reflected back to you in your financial circumstances, in how you create income, in how you work with your clients and customers.

Within your money manifesting process, what you are really doing is healing your relationship with the Divine that is YOU.

Blessings,
Andrrea

Mastering Money – Or Money As Master?

There’s a huge financial disempowerment happening in our society today. And if we’re not careful, it’s easy to let this financial disempowerment creep into the way we create income (or not!) in our own business.

Here it is: At some point, we decided, as a society, that it’s acceptable to do what is inauthentic, unpleasant, and out of alignment with our Divine self-expression …. for money.

Think about it. How many people, given a few million dollars, would still show up for work tomorrow because they actually love their jobs? Ten percent? Maybe a little more? Or even less?

Millions of people who dislike their jobs tell themselves every single day that they “have to” go to work because they have bills to pay. But that’s a self-created reality … like any other “reality” we live in.

Here’s the problem: When we embrace this attitude, we actually give money the power to control our lives. We make money the boss.

The more power we give money to determine our actions and choices, the less power we have to change our financial situation. If we let money be the master, we can’t be the master of our money!

And the crazy thing is that we CHOOSE what we give power. In other words, through this perspective, we are the source of our own financial disempowerment!

What’s the turn-around?

Don’t do anything you don’t want to do in order to make money.

That sounds really extreme, doesn’t it? It may even sound “unrealistic.”

Check in with yourself. Is there a part of you that thinks there is NO WAY you could do exactly what you want, do ONLY what is authentic and joyful, and still make a great living?

Check in with yourself, and see how much of your creative power you’ve given away to the concept of money.

I want to be really transparent with you. I don’t do anything I don’t want to do in my business. Really.

I’m sure you’ve noticed that I don’t have a regular publishing schedule for this newsletter. You know why? Because I only write when I authentically have something to say!

I also only teach classes I really want to teach. I schedule my appointments so that I have plenty of time for introspection, self-care, and FUN. It’s actually something I “work” at. Because … it’s not easy.

Most of us – myself included! – grew up thinking that “have to” is a “normal” part of the human experience. But what if we dare question what most of society has accepted as its reality? What if we reversed the more common concept of discipline and dedicated ourselves to ONLY doing what is the authentic self-expression of our Being, both human and Divine?

Stepping out of “have to” and into full and complete self-determination is a process. It doesn’t happen overnight. But it’s a process we can choose.

After all, how could abundance EVER flow from obligation, from the energy of “have to?” How could abundance come from inauthenticity, from who we are NOT, versus our authentic self-expression?

It can’t.

Are you doing anything to create income because you think you “have to?”

What if you don’t? What if the “have to” is just a giant illusion, perpetuated by a society profoundly mired in financial disempowerment?

What if you just opted out of that illusion? What would that look like? How would you do things differently?

And what if doing what you want, what is authentic, what is joyfully expressed, catapults you to a new level of financial abundance?

How could it not?

To the infinite abundance that is YOU,
Andrea

Our First Spiritual Responsibility

Occasionally I read or hear stories of people who sound like they’ve taken a tremendous leap of faith. They’ve quit their job from one day to the next, without any idea of how they’ll now go about creating income. They traveled across the country with no idea of where they would stay or how they’d get back. That sort of thing. And they loudly pronounce that they trust the Universe to provide for them as needed.

That sounds good. Sometimes these are indeed very powerful choices. But the thing is, the Universe acts through actual people. If we put ourselves in a position where we can no longer provide for ourselves … we put someone else in the position of having to provide FOR US.

And there’s nothing spiritual about that.

Following our intuition, or our Soul Purpose, or Divine guidance, is NOT an excuse to be irresponsible. I don’t care how drawn we are to a training program, a place, a teacher, or how horrible our day job or even our marriage has become … there is a difference between a leap of faith and spiritual escapism. If other people end up being responsible for the consequences of our choices … then we’ve engaged in spiritual escapism.

When we think of “the Universe” providing for us, we have to remember that WE ARE THE UNIVERSE. And if we don’t provide for ourselves, then other people will have to do so. And while we are all here to help and serve one another, there is a difference between giving assistance – and having the burden of responsibility for someone who refuses to be responsible for themselves.

As adults, empowered by free will, our first and foremost responsibility is to take care of ourselves at the physical level. There are many unfortunate people who don’t have this privilege of personal empowerment – people who are mentally or physically disabled, people who are sick or injured.

But if we are able-bodied and able-minded adults … it’s our first spiritual responsibility to take care of ourselves. Because if we do not, we can’t possibly serve others. And we, in fact, become a burden. We make others responsible for a roof over our heads, food on the table, transportation and other necessities of physical life. Meanwhile, we have our heads stuck so far up in the spiritual realm that we abdicate our human responsibilities.

That’s not “trusting the Universe.” That’s having people who are more responsible than we are pick up our slack.

I learned this lesson the hard way.

I had a friend who’d been spiraling downwards financially for a few years. When he told me he didn’t even have money to buy food, I had him stay with me for a while.

I discovered that a two-year downward spiral is usually no accident. Financial misfortune rarely happens overnight. As it turns out, he didn’t work particularly hard. He was totally comfortable living off my efforts.

It didn’t take me long to realize I wasn’t helping – I was enabling.

These days, should sudden misfortune strike, I would still offer any friend in need my couch or my guest room. But I’d better see them working their tush off sixteen hours a day in order to create income.

Our first responsibility is to BE the Universe and provide for ourselves. This IS the most basic aspect of every Soul’s Purpose. It’s only from this most basic place of empowerment that we can serve others, and step into the experience of our Divinity.

It’s Not Me, It’s YOU!

I’ve noticed an interesting trend lately, with both my clients and healer friends.

It seems we’ve collectively gone overboard in the arena of personal responsibility.

I mean, YES, we are 100% responsible for our own experience. And YES, we create every circumstance in our lives. And YES, when something shows up, we need to figure out what “like” resonance in our Being would have attracted that.

Having said all that, we also share our experience with other people. And sometimes, those other people can spread a lot of muck, negativity, and drama around.

For those of us who are energetically sensitive (and I definitely speak for myself here!) it’s easy to identify with vibrational frequencies that others are creating in our environment. And because we have embraced responsibility for our own experience, we think that any negativity is our “stuff.”

For example …

If your spouse is fearful of your venture into self-employment and you find yourself plagued with motivation-killing self-doubt every Monday morning, it’s not that there’s anything “wrong” with you. It’s that you’ve been hanging out in your spouse’s fear vibration all weekend.

That fear vibration will activate whatever latent fear is in YOUR Being (and let’s face it … it’s always scary making the leap into self-employment) and will thoroughly sabotage you when it’s time to get to work on Monday morning.

Since we’re so self-aware and responsibility-conscious, we may start wondering what’s going on … do we “really” want self-employment? Do we have deep issues around self-worth? Do we maybe lack the self-discipline that is required when creating a new income stream?

No. It’s just that we’ve been hanging out all weekend with someone really fearful. It’s not their “fault,” by the way. This is not about blaming your behavior on other people. But it’s not your “stuff,” either.

If your child resents the time you are suddenly spending on your healing practice, you may find yourself getting increasingly grumpy. It’s not that you don’t love your work anymore. It’s just that a like vibration of resentment is triggered within you, and it makes you grumpy about your work.

That’s all.

Sometimes our experience is impacted by other people’s “stuff.”

Say it with me: “It’s not me, it’s YOU.”

Of course, it’s not ALWAYS someone else spreading bad vibes. Sometimes, it IS us.

But for those of us who are utterly dedicated to personal growth and spiritual evolution, for those of us who are the first to admit our faults and mistakes, for those of us who are happy and willing to do our inner healing work and strive for self-awareness …

… well, it’s easy to end up with 150% responsibility rather than our required fair share.

We’ve pretty much conditioned ourselves to look within FIRST. I think that’s great! But sometimes, this leads us to create problems within ourselves that don’t exist.

If you find yourself oddly unmotivated, or resentful, or feeling guilty all the time, or find yourself fearful for no good reason … look within. Do whatever work you do. But then, ask yourself who you are spending time with. Could it be that they are upholding this vibration and it is triggering a “like” response within you?

I know, I know, some of you are thinking: “But no-one can MAKE me feel anything.” That’s true. But it’s also really, really tough to hang out in the vibration of frustration or anger or fear all day and remain unaffected. The more conscious and energetically sensitive you are, the more you may want to look at what vibrational qualities are being upheld by the people you spend time with.

There’s also the saying: “If someone pushes our buttons, it’s an opportunity to get rid of the buttons.” That’s a great concept, but it doesn’t apply. We are all full-spectrum energetic Beings, through and through. In other words, ALL vibrational qualities, positive AND negative, are represented within us. This is the energetic basis for free will and our ability to create what we want.

The energetic qualities of anger, fear, guilt, resentment, and so forth, will always be potentially present in your Being, to one degree or another. You’re human, after all.

So please, give yourself a break. Don’t attempt to walk on water or eradicate all vibrations of fear / anger / guilt / etc. from your Being. It’s a poor investment of your time. Instead, make choices that resonate to the most positive vibration available, so that you increase this positive vibration in your Being.

Pay attention during your interactions. When you speak with someone, you are exchanging energy. Closely monitor your inner reactions. Disengage if the other person contributes a vibrational state that does not serve you. That doesn’t necessarily mean walking away. It may just mean changing the topic of conversation.

Have a chat with your loved one, if that’s where the bad vibe is coming from. Ask your Guides to clear your energy field of thought forms that are not your own. Take a bath in some sea salt.

This is not something to be afraid of or even concerned about. But awareness is key. Sometimes your “stuff” is not yours at all. But if you insist that it’s yours, you may end up chasing your tail on a never-ending and pointless quest for self-healing.

To your infinite abundance,
Andrea

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