 There are moments in my life when I haven’t felt fully confident in myself. I’m sure most people feel like this from time to time. Sometimes, old stories and negative voices from our past sabotage us. Sometimes, we have fear and anxiety about putting ourselves out there in the world – vulnerable to judgment and criticism. Sometimes, we just feel weak and anything but courageous. When I’m in this place, I love to bring an image of the Hindu goddess, Durga, to mind. She’s invincible and powerful, the protective Mother of the Universe.  She emerged from the powerful and fierce light of the great Goddess as a divine woman with one thousand arms - both beautiful and ferocious. In each hand, she carries a weapon that was given to her as a gift from the gods. Armed with the multitude of weapons, she mounts and rides her tiger that roars so loudly that the heavens and earth tremble. I hold this image of Durga, and even chant a mantra invoking her as I remember the 5 tips noted below. This helps me to step into my own power with confidence. You can access a recording of this mantra by becoming a member of my Free Healing Library. Click here to become a member. You can do this too when you need a boost to your self-confidence and it’ll help you be able to shine your light into the world! You’ll feel empowered, powerful, and strong. You’ll be able to take up actions with courage. Doubts, insecurities, and criticisms will start to melt. You’ll align with your True Self. You’ll embrace all that you are.  Here are 5 tips to help you give your self-confidence a boost when you need it most. 1. Be mindful of those negative voices in your head! If they’re making awful comments about you or your abilities, change that tune. As soon as you notice the negative voices, stop them, fill yourself with compassion for YOU, and shift those voices to positive, kind, compassionate words. “Kindness in words creates confidence. Kindness in thinking creates profoundness. Kindness in giving creates love.” Lao Tzu 2. Spend a few moments sending love to yourself. Imagine warm, golden light in your heart. Feel this light warm and expand your heart. Feel it reach out beyond your heart and encompass your whole being. Speak those compassionate and kind words to yourself in your head. Do this every morning or several times throughout the day, as needed.  3. Seek those in your community who can support and encourage you. Maybe these are your close friends or maybe a support group with a specific focus. Find those who can give you encouraging and positive feedback.
4. Shift your posture. Sometimes when inwardly we don’t feel very confident, we can shift our soul mood by shifting our physical body. Stand in a posture that speaks confidence to you. Maybe legs apart a little, hands on hips. Or sitting upright, leaning forward. Relax your face, breathe deeply, and smile. Hold the posture that you experience as CONFIDENCE for a couple minutes. This helps to shift your mood to one with more inner power and confidence. 5. Leave the rest to the Divine. After you’ve done the work that you can, simply turn it over to the Divine. The Divine has wonderful ways of supporting us and moving us along our journey in life, as long as we put forth our own effort. So, offer it up to the Divine for further guidance. Trust that Divine support will come to you. Say a prayer out loud. Here is one of my favorites from the 12 Step Tradition: "God, I offer myself to Thee, to build with me and to do with me as Thou wilt. Relieve me of the bondage of self, that I may better do Thy will. Take away my difficulties, that victory over them may bear witness to those I wold help of Thy Power, Thy Love, and thy way of life. May I do Thy will always!" (Alcoholics Anonymous, page 63) Interested in more? Check out my Free Healing Library, including a mantra for Durga on my website at Doctor of the Soul. Click here to become a member.
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 This week, as I’ve seen the beauty of the sun shining on the sparkling white snow resting in the branches of the evergreen trees, I’m reminded of a favorite Navajo Prayer Song about beauty. Now I Walk in Beauty Now I walk in beauty Beauty is before me Beauty is behind me Above and below me Beauty’s easy to see in the world when we look at something like the sun shining upon the glistening snow or a palm tree sway in the breeze over turquoise waters  But what about on a gray overcast day when you’re not feeling particularly energetic and enthusiastic about life? And there seem to be many problems that you’re facing at the moment. How do we find the beauty in the world then?  I’ve learned, in my life, that this is the most important time to see the beauty in the world. Even though it may be hard. When we do find the beauty – either see the beauty that is already there or create beauty in our lives - it’s like healing salve to our soul. It helps us not get bogged down by our difficulties. It brings us a sense of peace and joy in our day and in our lives. Take a moment and consider the beauty that is all around you right now. Maybe the dazzling color of a blooming flower or the crackling flames of a fire in a fireplace. Maybe a soothing song you heard on the radio. Consider the beauty you create in your life too. The beauty of a meaningful encounter with a loved one that ends with a warm smile. The beauty of a nutritious salad you just made for lunch brimming with fresh produce with all the colors of the rainbow. Taking time to become mindful of the beauty in your life can help you to….
2. Awaken gratitude – When we become aware of the beauty in our lives, it awakens our sense of gratitude for all that we have. And, we know how beneficial this is to our personal growth and our health. 3. Be in the present moment – When you pause to see and recognize the beauty around you right now, you come into the present moment. You set aside your thoughts about the past and about the future and become mindful of what is in the present in your life. 4. Cultivate a mood of calm, peace, and joy – Noticing the beauty in the present moment, automatically slows us down. We breathe deeper, feel warmed within, and smile. A wave of peace and joy washes over us. 5. Express your love and care for yourself and others – Beauty in the form of actions such as a vase of flowers set lovingly on a table, a tidy kitchen, a warm smile, or a handwritten note all express love and care for either yourself or others.  What beauty can you find around you right now?
How can you bring beauty into your life more? Interested in more? Check out my Free Healing Library on my website at Doctor of the Soul. It’s the beginning of February. How are your New Year’s resolutions going? This is the time that most people lose their enthusiasm for their resolutions, and let them fall by the wayside. How are you doing?  Have you considered not creating resolutions, but life goals for yourself? Ones that you’re passionate about and are committed to reach in your lifetime. Ones that you feel help you become your best self. That’s what I prefer to do! Do you have goals for your spiritual growth such as regular meditation or another similar practice? What about time to discover your own creative expression of who you are and who you are becoming? And how about your own self-care – nutritious food, adequate sleep, movement? Any financial or career goals you’d like to achieve? And relationship or family goals? “The first step to getting anywhere is deciding you are not willing to stay where you are.” -John Assaraf  Here are 5 steps that’ll help you unlock your inner power and be on your way to reaching any goals you have for your life!
Sometimes we also think of our goals in a negative light such as Don’t stay up so late at night. Don’t eat sugar. Instead, create goals that are specific and in the positive: I take care of myself by going to bed by 10pm each night. I eat healthy meals that support my well-being with only natural sweetener on occasion. 2. Write down your goals in the present tense with a detailed action plan. Choose only a few goals at a time. The most important ones that you truly are passionate about. Write them down. This makes them real to you and strengthens your commitment to each one. Write them in the present tense so you can live into already having achieved this goal. Create a detailed action plan for each one that leads you through the steps to success. Goal in present tense: I care for myself through exercising regularly 4 times each week for at least 30 minutes each time. Action plan: I do yoga each M and Th from 4-5pm. I run for 40 minutes each W and Sat. at 3pm.  3. Review your goals regularly. Review your action plan briefly each day and check on your progress. This will keep you motivated! Maybe even record yourself stating your goals and action plan and listen to it daily if that is easiest for you. Review your plan at the end of the week. How’s it going? What milestones can you celebrate? Take time to celebrate your accomplishments, no matter how small! This will help you to stay committed and on your path to success. Your desire to change must be greater than your desire to remain the same. -John Assaraf 4. Be patient. Remember changing your habits and mindset takes time. Sometimes several months. Be patient and kind to yourself, while still using self-discipline to keep yourself on the path to success. Don’t get hung up on small missteps and badger yourself with negative voices of failure. Celebrate your successes, adjust a goal or an action plan that appears to be unrealistic or too far out of reach, as needed. Then continue forward with positivity and passion. 5. Ask for spiritual guidance. Don’t forget to offer up your goals to your spirit guides and ask for support. Be open and attentive to receiving in quiet moments such as meditation, but also in the course of your usual day. Support may come in surprising ways!  Interested in more guidance in creating your life goals? Schedule an individual session with me at Doctor of the Soul
As I awake in the morning I always head down to my kitchen and make myself a cup of herbal tea. The tea I chose this morning was Sweet Cinnamon Spice. Then I settle into my rocking chair in front of my altar, light my candle, cover myself with my Broncos blanket and begin my morning meditation. Our bodies, and even our beings, thrive with a rhythm in our lives. We know what to expect and can relax into it, supporting us in being grounded and peaceful. There’s a consistency and reliability that builds strength over time. Then from this strong foundation, we can step out to explore, be creative and adventurous, and try something new out of our daily routines. But, if our lives don’t have a rhythm or a routine, either due to the circumstances we find ourselves in or because we just don’t like routines, we can find ourselves more on edge, more worried or fearful, more insecure and anxious. We might find ourselves more often in a fight- flight mode and can’t relax or access our higher capacities. Or you might just float throughout the day, realizing late that you don’t have any food for dinner or your teeth never were brushed or you didn’t accomplish anything that day. Having something you know you can depend on every day—whether it’s getting up at the same time every morning for some peaceful, alone time or exercising in the evening after work—will give your body and your being a consistency that it craves  One can ascend to a higher development only by bringing rhythm and repetition into one's life. Rhythm holds sway in all nature. - Rudolf Steiner Balance is key when we work to bring rhythm into our lives. Rhythm is a foundation that brings us strength, yet needs to be flexible and fluid too. It’s possible to become too rigid in a routine that could result in too much contraction which can be draining and deadening, squashing any possibility for fun, spontaneity, and joy. Rhythm is really finding our own way to breathe through the day, to flow within a routine, yet with space for flexibility and an openness for something new that may come. What rhythm do you have? What is it that you repeatedly do each day or week? “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” - Aristotle If you are longing for more strength, calm, and balance in your life, consider the following areas of rhythm in your life: 1. Morning – Mornings are so important! They set the tone for your day. Entering into a new day calmly and with intention can make a huge difference for our entire day. Even if you are short on time in the morning, a few moments to breathe deeply, stretch your body, and focus on your intentions for the day can make a world of difference to how our day begins. Don’t forget to drink a glass of water too and best to not pick up your cellphone until after you’ve prepared yourself for entering into the day. 2. Gratitude - We all know how much a practice of gratitude’s important for health and well-being. But has it become a habit in your life yet? Make it one by including it in your morning or evening routine. 3. Beauty – Take a few minutes to make your bed in the morning, put the dishes in the dishwasher, put fresh flowers on the table or whatever brings beauty into your environment. This affects us in a positive way probably more than we realize! It creates a space where you can relax and enjoy your environment, doing whatever you are at that moment.  4. Mindfulness – How often do we go into autopilot or overstimulation or mind chatter in a day? Set an intention in your morning routine to practice mindfulness throughout the day. Then observe how often you are truly present in the moment, not on autopilot, not overstimulated by excessive noises, screens, and people. Or not relentlessly thinking about the past or the future. Just present with yourself in the moment or with those who are with you. What a wonderful practice to make a habit! 5. Practice – What practice do you have for the health of your body, heart/mind, and spirit? Do you meditate and exercise during your day? Or walk in the morning and chant in the evening? Or something else? How are you nourishing your body, heart, mind, and spirit daily? 6. Nutritious food – We need food that has the nutrients our bodies need to not only survive, but thrive! Eaten at the times we need for our health. What you eat and when you eat are important. Explore what is best for you, what supports a healthy body, and a good night's sleep.  7. Relax and Rejuvenate – Do you take time each week to do what you enjoy? What makes you relax and rejuvenate? What makes you feel alive and joyful? Make this a part of your regular rhythm. 8. Preparing for Bed – As you prepared mindfully for your day, prepare for sleep. Take time to relax, drink a cup of tea, or do some stretches. Turn off screens at least an hour before bed. Meditate or breathe deeply. Pick a routine that works for you, but make it a habit that supports a healthy night’s sleep. 9. Sleep – Take advantage of this time where your body rests and rejuvenates. This is where your body rids itself of its toxins, rebuilds and rejuvenates its organs, and prepares you for the next day. 10. Nature – Don’t forget to get outside every day at least for a few minutes! Take deep breaths, put your feet on the earth, look at the beauty of nature, or take a walk. However you can enjoy the rejuvenating and health benefits of Mother Earth. Longer times are wonderful, when you are able to make those part of your rhythm too.  What’s one area where you’d like to bring more rhythm into your life? Why not try that this month! Then see, at the end of the month, what changes do you notice?
Interested in bringing the chanting of mantras into your spiritual practice as part of your rhythm? Check out my guidebook, How to Bring Life to Your Chakras: 7 Healing Mantras.  When you were a child, did you imagine what life would be like as an adult? How did you picture it? What was being a “grown-up” going to be like? Maybe you thought life would be filled with fun, freedom, joy, and all that you ever wanted? Or you pictured traveling, exploring new cultures, and fun experiences? Did things always unfold easily and joyfully in your imagination? Maybe you thought you’d fall in love, get married, live in a beautiful house, and have children – living the American dream of years ago? Or maybe you pictured yourself at the top of your career – as a leader, innovator, loved and respected? Maybe you thought you’d be so free that you could do anything you wanted at any time, anywhere? It didn’t matter what, just that you were free to choose and you imagined you did so with joy and passion for your next adventure?  Now, as an adult, what is your picture of adulthood? Do you cling to any of those past pictures from your childhood that leave you feeling disappointed or deflated now? Maybe you see that you’re not achieving them – yet deep down you still hold a belief or picture that you should be? Do you feel like you’re failing because inside you still hold the view from your childhood that’s full of the “shoulds” – what you think you “should” be working towards or doing in your life. What if you were released from all of these “shoulds?” Whether they came from your childhood or appeared since then. You simply let go of them all. What if you put in new attitudes and a new belief system for the present time? What if you believed you are living your perfect life now? What if you believed…. You are everything and you have everything that you need now. And your path in life is simply accessing and using what you already have within you. What kind of shift would that bring in your attitude, how you perceive your life, how you enter into your life? "Trust that your soul has a plan, and even if you can't see it completely, know that everything will unfold as it is meant to." — Deepak Chopra  Your soul does have a plan for you. Here are a few tips for learning how to trust in your soul’s plan for your life and letting go of what does not serve you now.
Curious about a plan that my soul had for me that wasn’t exactly what I pictured for my life? Check out the film of scene 2 from my performance of Feathers on the Breath of God that is available on YouTube. Watch it here! How is the Divine calling you to shine forth in the new year? What images come to mind for you as you look into 2019? What do you want to create or birth new in this year?  These questions kept coming to me again and again during the Sacred Nights recently. I’m always inspired by the courage and strength St. Hildegard found to bring forth her visions into the world. She always gives me strength to keep on my path to manifest my own visions. One of her greatest visions was when she was called to leave her home of 40 years and build her own abbey. St. Hildegard’s commitment to bring this project to fruition was fueled by the inspiring work she saw from St. Rupert in the 7th century. Her song, O Jerusalem, is a celebration of this new creation, her abbey, and the respect and even kinship she felt toward St. Rupert.  The world is calling us to become creators within our communities. New and courageous solutions and new and courageous ideas are needed! Through our creations, we have the possibility to become a shining and powerful healing force in the world! Become inspired to begin your next creative endeavor! Or what I like to call your Rupertsberg! I invite you to listen to St. Hildegard’s song, O Jerusalem and do the accompanying practice. Click here to access the song and practice. As St. Hildegard expresses so beautifully: Feel the Living Light! Feel the Beauty! Feel the Spark of God! Feel the Warmth which heals. Hear Love calling: “Peace, Peace, Peace.”  What in your life are you being called to create right now?
What is your next Rupertsberg? Meaning, what is your current (or next) creative endeavor that you are being called to birth into this world so that it can be of service? Fill your Rupertsberg with beauty, light, and love as you picture it in your mind. Imagine it bringing warmth and healing into the world. Step into what it would be like to manifest in the world. How would you feel? Picture yourself having already brought this vision into reality. How do you feel now? How can you realize and manifest this vision? If you are inspired by the song O Jerusalem and the accompanying practice, I invite you to check out all 10 Healing Songs and Practices that Will Give Voice to Your Creativity now available here. Bring your creative vision into the world this year!  It’s 2019! Happy New Year! We’ve passed through the longest night of darkness and now we’re seeing more of the sunlight during the day. I hope you were renewed and nourished during the Sacred Nights of winter that just passed! Are you feeling filled with hope, strength, and love? Ready to shine your light out to the world in the new year? To share the gifts that your community is waiting to receive? I hope so!  As you begin 2019, I invite you to engage in a regular practice to heal and balance your chakras so you can show up as your best self in your community in the new year. A practice such as chanting mantras for each chakra can support you in stepping into the new year with……..
Isn’t that what we all would love?! Join me in a regular practice of chanting mantras in Sanskrit to bring renewed energy and vitality to your chakras. What a wonderful way to start your new year! When I chant mantras, my body relaxes and my mind becomes calm. I feel more deeply connected with the Divine. Energy flows to restore my body, mind, and health back to wholeness, back to balance, back to my natural state. This gives me the strength and power to shine my light out into my community. It’s part of my spiritual practice and how I shine my light into the world. By bringing more life into your chakras, you’ll be able to experience…….  Less Anxiety & Fear More Courage & Peace The first chakra, the root chakra, is the one that supports us in finding our resources to survive and take action in really difficult situations. Chanting a mantra related to this chakra can help you calm fear and ground you in safety and security. The mantra associated with Ganesh, the Hindu deity, can support us in the healing of challenges within the root chakra. He is the Lord of Beginnings, and through his power everything is possible. No obstacles can stand in the way. Less Fatigue More Joy & Creativity The second chakra, the sacral chakra, is located in your lower abdomen, a couple inches below your navel. It’s where our emotions reside. Chanting a mantra that relates to this chakra can help you release your fatigue and bring forth your creativity and joy for life. A mantra associated with Saraswati, the goddess of music and arts and also of knowledge and wisdom, can inspire our creativity in life. Helping us to find our own unique gifts to be birthed. Less Stress More Inner Power & Strength The third chakra, the solar plexus chakra, is located between your navel and the bottom of your sternum. This is the home to our light that radiates our personal power and strength out into the world. It’s the awe-inspiring energy of the sun that ignites our power, burning away any blockages that we experience as STRESS that may be getting in our way. Chanting a mantra that relates to this chakra can help to ease your stress and ignite your radiant power, warmth, and light. We can call upon the goddess, Durga, for this mantra. She sits upon her lion or tiger, and battles the forces of evil in the world. She is invincible, as the protective Mother of the Universe.  Less Pain & Suffering More Love & Compassion The fourth chakra, the heart chakra, is located at the center of the chest. It’s the bridge between the lower chakras of matter and the upper chakras of spirit. Chanting a mantra associated with this chakra can help you to heal your hurt and pain and opening your heart to love, compassion, and understanding. For this mantra, we can call upon the god, Krishna, the Hindu god that radiates love and compassion. His playful nature also reminds us to remain good-natured through the challenges that come our way in our life’s journey. Less Negativity More Speaking the Truth Compassionately Our words have great power. Power to heal and power to create anew. This is at the foundation of the fifth chakra, the throat chakra. It’s the source of your speaking, listening, and ability to express yourself authentically. When your throat chakra is balanced and you speak your truth it’ll be experienced as authentic and compassionate. You’ll be able to be open and honest. To stand up for what you believe, yet not be hurtful toward others. Chanting a mantra associated with this chakra can help you to find your voice in self expression and in communication with others. For this mantra, we can call upon the goddess, Lakshmi, the Hindu goddess, of abundance, wealth, and beauty. She can support you in your efforts to speak your truth with compassion and to listen deeply to others, bringing abundance to all. Less Confusion More Clarity The third eye or brow chakra is in the space between the eyebrows, just a little above on the forehead. When it’s in balance you see clearly and understand what you see. You have perspective on events and ideas. You’re open to new ideas and can be quietly reflective. You trust your intuition. Chanting a mantra that associated with this chakra can help you to see clearly, understand what you see, and trusting your intuition. To help balance the brow chakra, we can call upon the Hindu god Shiva who is often depicted with a third eye of wisdom. He sees beyond the obvious with clear perception and shows what is truth. Less Loneliness More Connection The seventh chakra, the crown chakra, is what gives us the ability to “rise above” and access higher states of consciousness, as we open to that which is beyond ourselves. It’s the source of our connection to the divine energy of creation and to our higher self. Also to the experience that we are one with everyone and everything in nature. When this chakra is in balance, you’ll feel grounded and connected to the divine. You have a sense of the deeper meaning of life and feel a deep peace. Chanting a mantra associated with this chakra can help you in connecting to the divine and feeling at one with all that is. To help balance the crown chakra, we can call upon Brahman, for this mantra. Brahman is not to be confused with Brahma, the Hindu deity. Brahman is without a beginning and without an end and yet is within all. Brahman is cosmic spirit and infinite consciousness. The universal principle and eternal truth. If you are interested in learning more about how to chant mantras that will support you in living a vibrant life filled with vitality and hope in just 10 minutes a day in the comfort of your own home, then check out my guidebook, How to Bring Life to Your Chakras: 7 Healing Mantras. It is easy-to-use and comes with 7 audio recordings to help you learn how to chant the Sanskrit mantras. You’ll feel empowered to share the gifts you’re meant to bring to the world! Click here to purchase! Want to try it out first? Download the guidebook and audio for the first chakra at no cost HERE. May you grow in the light of the Divine to become your highest self! Interested in more? Check out my website at www.doctorofthesoul.com  I look out my window and see the quiet and stillness of Mother Earth, as she breathes in at this time of the year. The longest day of darkness, the Winter Solstice, is near.  It’s still dark outside when I wake up now and some days I can feel how I begin to brace myself to face the world as soon as I get up. I wonder what shocking news will come today. What will be hard to hear? Difficult to digest? Unbelievable? Do you have mornings where you’d rather put your pillow over your head? To hide from the world? The latest news can feel like it’s more than we can manage sometimes. Especially in this past year. There seems to be so much pain and suffering in the world. And given our easy access to stories from around the world, we hear about the pain and suffering of so many in the world – every minute of the day. It can make us feel frozen, unable to move or feel. It can even make us feel hopeless. I know I do at times. Inwardly our soul longs for inner nourishment and peace at this time of year. Yet, it may be difficult for us to feed our soul what it needs. Especially in a year like this last one!  What if you could take the horse by the reins in 2019? Set your intentions and realize them? Nourish your soul. Find an inner peace. It’s possible! I invite you to take a moment to step away from the busyness of holiday festivities during the upcoming sacred time of the year and! Not familiar with this time? Discover more about the Sacred Nights of winter here. Through our inner work done at this time of year, we can cultivate a deeper connection to the Divine within. We can drink from the stream that’s at the heart of the human spirit that bubbles up and overflows with hope, goodness, courage, and resilience. Our will to, not only, survive, but to thrive! Our thirst can be quenched, and we’ll feel refreshed.  Nourishment and peace for your soul. You’ll find a renewed sense of strength and empowerment to meet the year 2019 with intention! Don’t get lost in the hustle and bustle of the holiday celebrations this year and miss the chance for this sacred moment to nourish ourselves and the world! Take a moment to step away from the busyness and be present.  I invite you to join me this year on an inner journey during the Sacred Nights, Inspired by St. Hildegard of Bingen. I am offering 13 meditations and a journal for this special time of the year, the 24th of December through the 6th of January. NOW AVAILABLE! You can download it HERE. Available for a limited time only. Want to take a closer look first? You can access the first day’s meditation and journal HERE at no cost. Give it a try! Let the beauty, strength and wisdom of St. Hildegard inspire and comfort you. Do you have flashes of insight that come to you in pictures or in words? Possibly in meditation or even on a walk? Or maybe in a dream or just as you awake in the morning? Do you wonder where these come from? Maybe they seem to come from the deeper river of divine wisdom. Possibly experienced as intuition or a spirit guide communicating to us or even our Higher Self guiding us. Yet, you’re not quite sure. You doubt yourself. Maybe you’re just making it all up? Maybe these are just odd things popping in your head?  During the upcoming Sacred Nights of winter that begin at the end of December, it's a particularly powerful time of year for receiving divine messages. These messages can often be about the learning that you need to gain from the past year, insights for the new year, or even guidance on the gifts you are to share with the world. Through deepening your inner work during this time, you can learn to be open to receiving the messages that are meant for you. You can learn to not doubt yourself, but TRUST your insights and gain a deeper wisdom. New to this sacred time of the year? Check out this blog post, Embrace the Sacred Nights of Winter.  I’ve always been inspired by the powerful visions that came to St. Hildegard and her courage to share them with the world. She felt that God was speaking through her. She wrote about the images she saw and words she heard in her book Scivias. Yet, St. Hildegard often doubted herself and her abilities to share her experiences with the world. She lived in a time where women did not preach, speak publicly, or write. Certainly not on controversial topics such as visions from God! She had no formal education, as it was not available to women in those times. And, as a result, she considered herself unlearned and unworthy. She felt insecure and inadequate. Fearful and anxious. In her own words from her book Scivias, she describes her experience. “In my visions, my soul rises high into the vault of heaven and spreads itself out among different people, even those in distant lands and places. And because I see the visions this way in my soul, I observe them without my outward ears, without the thoughts of my own heart or by any combination of my fives senses. I witness them in my soul along, while my outward eyes are open. So, I have never fallen prey to ecstasy in the visions, but I see them wide awake, day and night. The light that I see the visions in is far brighter than any cloud that carries the sun. I can measure neither height, nor length, nor breadth in the light. I call the Light “the Living Light.” And as the sun, the moon and the stars appear in water, so writings, sermons, virtues, and certain human actions take form for me and gleam within it. What I write is what I see and hear in the visions….. And the words in the visions are not like words uttered by the mouth of man, but like words uttered by a shimmering flame, or a cloud floating in a clear sky. “  When I first picked up St. Hildegard’s Scivias, I knew that this book was extraordinary I remembered that St. Hildegard became the first woman who got permission from the Pope to write on theological issues. I was so inspired that I decided to choose the pearls of wisdom from St. Hildegard’s words and develop them into meditations. This year, I’d like to invite you to join me and take these meditations into this very special time of the year of the Sacred Nights. Starting on the 24th of Dec through the 6th of Jan., I invite you to work with one meditation per day. As you do this work, also pay close attention to the images and dreams that come to you. Look for the divine guidance that’s being shared with you. Join me this year during the Sacred Nights! Inspired by St. Hildegard of Bingen, I am offering 13 meditations and a journal for this special time of the year, the 24th of Dec through the 6th of Jan. NOW AVAILABLE! You can download it HERE. Want to take a closer look first? You can access the first day’s meditation and journal HERE at no cost. Give it a try! During the Sacred Nights of winter that begin at the end of December, I pay close attention to the dreams I have at night. New to this sacred time of the year? Check out my blog post from last week, Embrace the Sacred Nights of Winter.  Sometimes my dreams during this time are exciting adventures and sometimes they’re frightening nightmares. But, I always try to dig deeper to find the golden nugget of meaning that’s meant for me in each one. This time of year is particularly powerful, as your dreams can often reflect the learning that you need to gain from the past year and also give you insights and direction for your highest path into the new year. “Dreams are illustrations... from the book your soul is writing about you.” ~Marsha Norman To help you remember your dreams during this sacred time (or any time during the year!), follow these 6 simple steps. Then you’ll be on your way to unlocking the hidden treasures from the night.
 2. Keep a journal near your bedside. Dreams often dissolve very quickly as soon as you wake up! So, writing them down as soon as you wake up helps you to remember them. Then you can read your journal entry later to discover any deeper meaning or message. 3. Awake slowly, keeping your eyes closed. Early the next morning, as you first awaken, keep your eyes closed while you’re still lying relaxed in bed. Put your attention on your dreams, trying to remember any details. Review the main parts of any dream you remember. Attend to the mood and feelings that arose. Picture the location, weather, colors or any other details that come to mind. Also remember what your intention was that you set the previous evening. 
If your time is limited, as you have other responsibilities calling to you, write down short phrases that include the main events and memorable details, mood, and feelings. Write in the first person in the present, to help you recall being active in the dream, as it was happening. Instead of the past tense which will sound as if it happened already in the past and is over. Maybe give the dream a title that captures the essence, as you see it at this moment. Don’t spend a lot of time thinking about the meaning of your dream at this time or if it even makes sense. Just write, rather quickly, whatever comes to you from the dream before it evaporates. 5. Hold your dreams in your consciousness with a question. Throughout the day, hold the dreams that you remembered and wrote in your journal in your consciousness. Ask for spiritual guidance on what insight is most important to understand.  6. Review your journal entry in the evening. Before setting an intention around your dreams for that evening, go back and read your journal entry from the morning. Has a deeper understanding arisen yet? How will your entry and your thoughts inform your intention for this evening of sleep? I invite you to join me this year during the Sacred Nights! Inspired by St. Hildegard of Bingen, I am offering 13 meditations and a journal for this special time of the year, the 24th of Dec through the 6th of Jan. More info will be coming soon! |
About JeannineI was born in London, England, educated in Switzerland, and am fluent in English, German, Spanish, and French. I hold a Doctorate in Ministry Degree and Masters Degrees in Counseling Psychology and Education. Also, I am an accomplished artist and educator. I use all of this and much more when helping others heal their souls. Archives
January 2019
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