How EXCITING; I FINALLY found it! There I was, waiting patiently for God to answer my prayers, and the answer was already right there in the place I was least willing to look! Ah yes, isn’t that how it usually works? That which we refuse to let go of blocks us from our own joy and success. Here’s my story…
While Journey of Possibilities will always have an inspirational Facebook page here to help us all renew, there is more to it. Ten years ago as I finished my BA in family communication, I had my first vision of Journey of Possibilities. I sat with families and individuals in beautiful nature while we worked together through many of the same challenges I’ve faced. More visions through time reached a pinnacle last year as I met exciting new people to help me expand it, and found I’d been laid off from work. However, the WHERE remained a mystery. I trusted God to deliver, but wondered when. I also dreaded the idea of buying, building, and managing a place.
When I sold the home I’d hoped to grow old in during my divorce, my broken heart was not into searching for a new one. My spirit navigated, and I kept returning to this quiet rural subdivision I’d seen before. One day, continuing further down a dead-end than we’d done previously in an attempt to turn around and leave again empty-handed, we passed a grove of trees and stumbled upon my house. I knew God had led me home.
I have really found peace here. There is only one neighbor who has been a challenge, and it salted a very old wound when they glossed over their negative behavior by blessing others and displaying crosses like immunity badges. Needless to say, I have avoided these people and their aggressive pets to the best of my ability, and deliberately do not look down at their end of the road anymore.
Back to Journey (trust me, it all ties together amazingly), I’ve resigned myself to renting facilities for events until we can find and fund our own place. I scheduled yet another visit to a retreat center nearby (White Eagle Lodge), and discovered this one is very close indeed. Arriving, I fell in love. I had found a place so perfect I knew I was again home. We laughed that if my street punched through where it is now a dead-end, I lived less than a mile away. We tried to get bearings on my house from there, but I only had a general idea. As I left, I basked in how we equally wanted to work together. Divinely perfect!
Two days later, I returned from my morning walk. As I topped the hill to my house, I reluctantly looked toward ‘that’ end of my street, three lots down from my home. There shining clearly just above my neighbor’s cross archway I could now clearly see the center…
It is always my hope that something of my journey may be of help to you in yours. My lesson: trust God and look past the negativity.
This week we are honored to welcome Shelly Wilson, Reiki Master, as our guest. We asked Shelly what our slogan Return to Nature and Remember Who You Are” means to her, and we truly appreciate her response which follows.
The Universe is splendid when presenting us with guidance and signs. The ability to recognize when you are receiving guidance from the Universe, your Higher Self, your angels, and your guides is a skill that is easily mastered with practice and patience. Signs are presented to us as coins, songs on the radio, overheard conversations, and pictures. When stepping outdoors to bask and revel in Mother Nature, a multitude of opportunities for signs await us in the form of birds, clouds, butterflies, and various other insects.
Guidance is sometimes subtle and comes in whispers and gentle nudges. This same guidance may become louder, more persistent and may feel like the proverbial push or shove when we do not recognize or acknowledge it. When this happens, the Universe is adamant that we receive the message. It is up to each one of us to choose to listen and to take action on this guidance. We have free will and can always choose whether or not to do so. However, it is important to recognize and acknowledge the guidance you are receiving and express gratitude for it. Understanding the how, when, why or what is irrelevant at the moment it is recognized, yet it should be acknowledged. The significance will be realized at precisely the moment it should.
I would like to share with you the story of a pivotal sign that I recognized immediately. On December 2, 2010, my day began with a short guided meditation and pulling a card for myself. This day I opted to use Doreen Virtue’s Archangel Oracle Cards. The card I pulled for myself was “Spread Your Wings!” with Archangel Ariel stating, “Do not hold back right now. The timing is perfect,and you are ready to soar!” I accepted the message, but could feel the doubt settling in to my humanness. Truthfully, I questioned my abilities and my purpose.
A few hours later, I walked down my driveway to get the mail. I clearly remember the bright cloudless blue sky. Walking back up the driveway and nearing the house, there was one cloud in the sky. I stared at it in amazement and smiled. The image from the oracle card was being presented to me “bigger than the sky.” I ran into the house grabbed my camera and snapped a few photos. I went back inside to upload it on my computer. Returning outside to view the cloud once again, it was completely gone.
Now I should mention that there are naysayers when I tell this story. They say it was the trail left by an airplane. To me, the how or what doesn’t matter. The Universe provided me with a sign. I promptly recognized this sign and expressed my gratitude for it. This cloud picture is my inspiration to continue to spread my wings and soar and to encourage others to do the same. I utilize it as my logo knowing that this message was the proverbial push I needed to get going.
I encourage you to allow yourself to recognize the signs that nature presents to you. I have many other stories about clouds, bluebirds, and butterflies presenting themselves to me. My awareness for signs is heightened and I lovingly recognize and accept these signs with gratitude.
About the Author ~ Spiritual teacher and life enhancer Shelly Wilson made the decision to quit existing and start living several years ago. She desires to make a difference in the lives of others and encourages individuals to live an authentic life. Shelly holds a BS degree in Business with a minor in Psychology and is an Usui/Karuna Reiki Master. She is a motivational speaker and hosts “Believe and Believing” and “Journey into Consciousness”, which can be found on iTunes and Blog Talk Radio. Shelly offers private intuitive readings, life enhancement sessions, Reiki healing sessions, and teaches classes.
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If you have a testimonial or insight as to how Nature has helped you discover and explore your own Divine Journey of Possibilities, we would love to hear from you as you will undoubtedly inspire us through the challenges of our own Path. Namaste. <3
Sheryl Sitts, Founder and Chief Inspirational Officer
My parents raised me actively attending the church, and my mother regularly turned to the Bible when the hardest of times fell upon our small family. When I began questioning the Lutheran doctrine, I spent months studying and attending various Christian denomination worship services. When I wanted to explore beyond the Christian faith, I became immersed in other cultures and belief systems to further explore worship. Throughout my life, whatever church or situation I was in, I have celebrated my relationship with God in a very deep personal way. I have had faith! At least, that’s what I believed, but then if that was faith, how do I describe this incredibly powerful enlightenment that has been happened to me over the past couple of years?
To put it bluntly, faith in action is the only faith that matters. Believing we are secure because we have a good job, a beautiful family, plenty of money in the bank, a 401K, etc. isn’t exactly putting our care and well-being in God’s hands, is it? Security and the pursuit of security in this world is not faith!
God places dreams in our heart as clues to our Highest and Best Life. Do we honor those? Or does our life serve as a constant argument by a stubborn toddler unwilling to let go of that job, person, thing, or money that we have decided really signifies security? When we feel the pull of our dream, or the dissatisfaction in what we’ve settled for, do we then blame the Divine for our own choices because He/She has not brought forth everything we could possibly need to achieve it without us having taken one single step of faith?
We HAVE to LET GO to live our faith! We have to hear that Divine inner voice navigating the course of our life and STOP ARGUING with it! We convince ourselves that it’s not time yet because we don’t understand how we’d possibly make it without this or that, and yet that is EXACTLY what we are supposed to do in order to really RECEIVE the ABUNDANCE that makes our life so powerful.
I know. It’s hard. I know. It’s painful. I know. It’s terrifying! I KNOW! What you can’t see from that precipice is that all manner of the imagined and the unimaginable comes to pass the moment we live our Faith in ACTION! Put another way, our lives will be exactly as remarkable as we allow by our actions.
As someone discovering this one shaky step at a time, may I only look back to you with your flashlight behind me in the darkness and tell you how AMAZING it is here! If you are actually AHEAD of me in this Journey, THANK YOU for the messages and lessons you have dropped into my path by book, phone, email, podcast, video, and other unimaginable ways.
Life should be a simple flow. We complicate it by arguing with God all the time and trying to make meaning out of what we really have faith in here on earth. This creates so much trouble, sickness, depression, addiction, etc. All we have to do is listen, hear our Path, trust that our life thus far here in Earth School has prepared us perfectly for our unique destiny, and step forward into the unknown on honest-to-God FAITH! Don’t worry! Someone up ahead of me is clearing the path, and I’m clearing the path, and you’ll clear it and show others the way. This is truly the Divine Order of things.
“Life is just a mirror, and what you see out there, you must first see inside of you.” Wally ‘Famous’ Amos
“For life is the mirror of king and slave. ‘Tis just what you are and do; Then give to the world the best you have, And the best will come back to you.” Madeline Bridges
So often we desire change in our lives and set forth madly to bring it about. Then as we fail to find the people, money, ideas, or means to do so, we either become even more desperate, or we simply give up. Desperation attracts desperation in all its ugly forms: fear, greed, anger, resentment, insecurity, etc. Surrender may appear as addiction, codependency, abuse, or depression. This certainly does not paint a pretty picture, and it begs the question: HOW can we make POSITIVE CHANGE from where we are RIGHT NOW?
We humans are indeed funny creatures. We try everything to avoid dealing (healing). We let our brains carry us away in work, school, fantasy, or fiction. We check out emotionally so we don’t have to face things. Eventually, when we’re tired of running or hiding, we find ourselves squarely facing that which we’ve avoided. How long this takes is entirely up to us, but the road always leads back to that unattended, still unhealed wound.
How we choose to heal our wounds is a personal journey. Some seek professional help. Some seek spiritual guidance. Some opt for self-help. Many combine methods. Whatever our Journey, it is not until we walk that walk that we finally see the amazing beauty of our healed, transformed self. We are not who we were before that wound. We are not who we were as we avoided it. We are forever changed, and in all cases this is in a BRIGHTER, more BEAUTIFUL way!
As we heal the broken parts of ourselves, we discover to our surprise that we are becoming someone beyond who we ever could have imagined we could be. We are stronger than we dreamed possible. We shine inconceivably Brighter. We even catch ourselves helping those stuck where we were to Trust and Let Go. Yes, it is then we who shine Light in dark places, and no words can capture our deep gratitude or how we are moved as we begin attracting others who are also operating at this higher frequency, and together we grow exponentially.
This is not my truth. This is Truth. You and I and everyone can and should experience this. There is a price. We have to heal to grow. We all deserve to take this Journey to our highest Self; that is why we are here. That is our Journey of Possibilities! Namaste.
Sheryl Sitts, Founder and Chief Inspirational Officer
