How to Hear God’s Voice Every Day (In Unexpected Ways)

God speaks to us every day as The Universe attempts to have a conversation with us, yet most of it passes us by unnoticed. We are no longer taught this language and so we cannot hear it.  There are many ways we can open ourselves to it and see how this will enrich our life beyond measure. It’s funny how often we pray and then miss the answer because we don’t slow down enough to receive it or learn all the ways we are getting these answers every day.

The Native Americans knew that when we seeing more of a particular bird, insect, or animal in our daily path meant we were attracting that ‘animal’s medicine’ to teach us a certain character trait that would be helpful to us at that time.  For example, a sudden infestation of ants into your yard and home may be telling you about more than weather conditions.  Try Googling “animal medicine ___” (or whatever your animal/insect/bird may be) and read about what they can guide us with to help us through a current situation or challenge.

Our bodies are the physical manifestation of whatever is going on inside us emotionally.  When we have a loss or deep pain from a relationship that we unable or unwilling to heal, we ‘stuff’ it somewhere in our body and try to forget about it.  The longer that solidifying energy remains stuck inside us, the worse we feel.   It would be one thing if we did this once in our lives, but we do throughout life!  More and more of our body turns to aches and pains, our bodies ‘age’ and we are less comfortable within our skin.  As these areas begin to hurt worse signaling us to work through the pain, we instead go to physicians and get pills for our ‘illness’ that is in fact becoming true sickness and may ultimately kill us if unattended.  Energy workers can help us begin to dissolve these areas and move the energy for us to again face the pain to learn the life lesson contained within it and release the pain.  Pills or addictive behaviors temporarily numb the symptoms, surgery removes masses, but the cure is healing that wound permanently.  Again, try Googling “metaphysical meaning ______” with whatever recurring ailment you may have and see what your body might be telling you!

Have you noticed how that certain annoying type of person keeps showing up in your life?  You get away from one and another comes along just like them? How frustrating!  The truth is they will keep showing up until we finally work through whatever annoys us and heal it.  Then the pattern is broken and life shifts.  By avoiding these people, we only prolong the lesson we’re meant to experience.

We cannot hear nature communicate with us or grow from the lessons it brings until we slow down and listen. Some ways we can attune ourselves to it are:

• Step out. Take a nature walk to silently observe nature and reflect inward. Kayak and drift upon the water in silence for a bit. Camp and commune with nature.  Sit in a field of flowers or lean up against an old, wise tree, allowing your energy to flow into this plant life and Mother Earth, and its love to flow into you.
• Shhhh.  Turn off the gadgets and be still. Formal meditation is great, but simply being still begins to heighten our awareness.
• Notice. Open yourself to new and wondrous ways that all life may be communicating with you.  Notice how animals react to you and the energy you emit. Play with your intuition and telepathy by attempting to read another person’s energy/emotion and then check in to confirm how accurate you are.  We all have gifts we don’t begin to use…including the power to heal ourselves.
• Meditate. Simply begin with 5 minutes a day.  Don’t wait until your mind is quiet to begin. That is like waiting until your bank account has money in it to go to work and earn money. Just begin. Add a few minutes a day/week until you are practicing 30 minutes a day and you’ll be amazed at how much more centered, peaceful, confident, and effective you’ll be.
• Connect. Meet other like-minded people seeking this path and get to know them through spiritual centers, meditation or exercise groups, etc. Inspire and challenge one another to live more fully and be present.

Life is indeed a magical conversation with the Divine.  Enjoy all that it has to share with you and watch yourself expand in ways you haven’t even imagined!

Namaste,

Sheryl Sitts, Chief Inspirational Officer

Journey of Possibilities

A Mother’s Love

Whether you have ever parented a child or not, you are a Mom.  There comes a time in every woman’s life when she discovers that she is the ultimate mother of her own body and soul.  It is during this beautiful discovery that she can shift from placing everyone else’s needs above her own to fully understand why that emergency oxygen mask must cover her own mouth first.  It’s true when they say we can’t give what we don’t have,  and the more we humbly and faithfully we love ourselves first, the more love we have to give the world.

I was given up at birth for adoption by a woman who carried me to term so gently and lovingly that I was born with no deficiencies, addictions, or disabilities.  How does a woman carry a baby like that for nine months and then give him/her away at birth?  That is a mother’s love.

Later I discovered my records had been misplaced or shuffled in with others at the agency, and now I have no way to discover the identity of my real mother to even thank her for that ultimate sacrifice and let her know things turned out well.  Meanwhile, I was raised by loving parents who adopted me immediately.  A woman unable to have children of her gave me all she knew and all her love until her death when I was 30.  That is a mother’s love.

Helping my husband to provide for his stepchildren and assist in raising them to the best of my ability taught me much about the other side of the experience.  While they already had a mother, I gave them the only kind of love I knew in whatever capacity they would allow me.   I may never know what if any impact I had on their lives, but I do believe I made some difference, good and bad, intentional and unintentional.  That is a mother’s love.

With my adopted mother gone and my stepchildren grown, I’m now a single 47 year old woman redesigning the next season in my life.  I look in the mirror and see the results of how I have parented my own self up to now.  I am met with a mixture of satisfaction and desire to improve, and a sense of peace in the love I have developed for myself of late.  Healing old wounds and forgiving (mostly myself) have really improved my self-esteem.  One day at a time I continue to encourage myself but in a gentler way than my warrior-take-charge attitude of the past.  That too is a mother’s love.

Happy Mother’s Day and remember to give that mother’s love to yourself first.

Namaste,

Sheryl Sitts, Chief Inspirational Officer

Journey of Possibilities

The Truth About Success and Failure

Do you ever find you’re getting sucked into seeing yourself as society views you?  A lean body is success; excess weight is failure.  Money in the bank marks success; low funds denote failure. Being involved with someone romantically is success, while being alone indicates failure.  There’s no end to these examples, and even if we usually disagree with them, we may give them a little too much consideration during moments of weakness or insecurity.  Once that begins, it’s a slippery slope downward until we struggle to even find hope in our gloom…even though all that’s really changed is our perception.

Since launching Journey of Possibilities, I’ve experienced setbacks, dry spells, times I felt more like I was moving in reverse than going forward, and even times others may have viewed as complete failures.  I suppose my recent decision to cancel Illumination Houston 2013 may be seen that way by some.   This roller coaster ride prompts me to blog about what I’ve been learning:

• Success and failure are relative, and our social measures for that change every few decades.  In truth, I’m highly successful in emotional and spiritual growth, happiness, and clarity.  I’m more focused and know myself better than ever.   My relationships are richer, and my experiences more fulfilling than I’d dreamed possible.  Materialism has never given me the joy I’ve had this past year, although my increasing financial success will now be enjoyed with a new level of gratitude.
• There is no shortage of people ready to criticize, discourage, redirect, and (mis)guide you.  Ignore them; these are not successful people.  Successful, happy people help others achieve the same.  They do not belittle others to feel better about themselves.  Insecure people do that.
• Contrary to popular media, many good people exist.  I’ve been supported and encouraged by complete strangers with such heart and spirit I feel honored to meet them.  Rest assured this world is in many good hands, whether you hear about them on the news or not.
• Every up and down strengthens us and shows us what is and isn’t important.  We learn gradually to ‘let go and let God’, and gain much clarity around what we do and don’t have control over.  We learn to work better with others and trust.  Aren’t these beautiful lessons learned through ‘failure’?
• Meditation and prayer are survival tools.  When the judgments of the world begins to eat away at our confidence and strength, finding cracks in our armor and chipping away at us, meditation and prayer center and ground us again while showing us how meaningless people’s opinions and judgments really are.  Following our Divine Path never misleads us, yet an earthly perspective suggests otherwise.   Beware heeding that and changing course; the prize is likely around the next corner.
• When we’re willing to let go of the big thing we have our eye on and trust God, we are then shown what a really big prize looks like! This does NOT happen until we have heard the call and taken our leap of faith.

Illumination Houston 2013 may be cancelled…for now…but Journey of Possibilities is becoming more successful every day.   We are excited about our new projects and can’t wait to share all of this with you.  Thanks for joining us on this Journey!

Namaste and much love,

Sheryl Sitts

Are You Telling Your Dreams, “Maybe Tomorrow”?

Last night, I pondered what major part of my life I would need to bring in line to better fulfill my life purpose (from Ask and You Will Succeed, a great read by Ken D. Young).   As I held a clear image of myself living the professional and personal life I envision and saw the gap between the now-me and the then-me more clearly, I caught myself writing, “I will…and I would,”  and then I GOT IT!  Every aspect about which I keep saying I “will” instead of I “am” is keeping my dream in the future rather than today, only to wonder why it wasn’t materializing.

Our human mind is so complex we can actually be moving forward and holding ourselves back at the same time and not even realize it.  We really want to be lean but then we believe we dislike exercise and healthy foods, so we yo-yo for years.  We really want a happily-ever-after intimate relationship yet we stopped believing they’re even possible, so now we don’t fully give ourselves to a relationship anymore.  We want a successful business and yet push money away by believing people can’t afford us, don’t have any, or it will somehow corrupt us to have more money.  We are in essence creating a wonderful nature party in our dreams only to have our guests arrive to a TRAIL CLOSED sign while we wait inside wondering why they haven’t arrived.

As we visualize our dream and identify gaps between who we are today and who we must be for our dreams to come true, let’s begin with the aspects we recognize we’ve been telling ourselves we WILL do in the future.  We know if we want a different result, we must take a different action.  Why not move those to the top of the list and find ways to slowly begin those transformations?  Only then will we finally stop telling our dreams to come back tomorrow, and begin readying ourselves for that life today.

Namaste,

Sheryl Sitts, Chief Inspirational Officer

Journey of Possibilities

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How Massage, Reiki, and the Like Can Improve Health…Even Save Lives!

Until a couple of years ago, I believed the widely advertised philosophy that if I simply “eat right, exercise, and see my doctor regularly”, I will live to a healthy old age.  While that may be good and well, I simply couldn’t get there from here.  The more I tried and fell short of that ideal, the worse I felt about myself.  The reality is that for the thousands of us carrying inside us some form of unresolved trauma (verbal/physical/sexual abuse, broken families, absent parent/spouse, divorce, death, impact of war on family, addiction, eating disorders), that is nothing more than a nice ideal we can’t achieve.  Then I discovered the power of massage and reiki in tandem with other healing forms.

I know that I carry anger and fear in my stomach.  I remember years of stomach aches beginning in childhood whenever I felt angry or scared and it wasn’t ‘safe’ to express it.  That reserve just kept growing over the years, and once I began to work through it, I would reached plateaus when progress seemed to slow or stop.  Massage, reiki and other ways of moving energy really helped me break through those barriers.

If we look at ancient cultural beliefs and even our own scientific research into how emotions and thoughts impact physical matter (like  Dr. Emoto’s work with water), we can see that  energy such as that accumulated in my stomach over the years (eventually turning into disease)  benefits from help breaking it up and guiding it into other areas of the body.   This is true for any chakra area where we have stored unexpressed emotions. Working to move energy in that region helps realign that energy power center and restore flow to support more balanced living and health.

When we restore flow throughout our bodies, what was previously a challenge (eating right, exercising, and regular exams) becomes a core desire in self-love and care.  We learn to truly love our bodies again and care for them more automatically.  So you can see that this is about more than just managing stress, the most popularly cited reason people seek massages.  Consider restoring the flow in your own body today.  You and those you love will be delighted.

Namaste and much love,

Sheryl Sitts, Chief Inspirational Officer

Journey of Possibilities ~ Inviting you to Illumination Houston 2013, Lighting the World One Soul at a Time!

What To Do When They Don’t See You’re Right

Last week I had a disagreement which has been nagging at my mind and heart ever since.  Someone asked me not to charge for something and I perceived they felt entitled to it, which I resented so I declined.  The situation quickly escalated resulting in everyone involved getting upset.  Who ‘won’?  Does it matter if we both somehow felt we were right?  This was all still fresh when I attended White Eagle Lodge this morning and heard what I needed for clarity.

All that happens here on this Earthly plane is merely to build us up as we strive to bring the Christ Light to all of humanity through increasing our own loving kindness.  Well, there was definitely nothing kind or loving about what happened.  I took the position of ‘being right’, and that only ever serves the ego.  Being right didn’t really matter anyway since we’d all lost there.  Had I instead taken a deep breath to return to center, and then offered what she asked with love in my heart, it would have worked out beautifully.  Sure, I may have lost a few dollars, but in the beautiful way the Universe works, even that would have come back to me tenfold somehow, but we would have all felt good from a more loving exchange.

Our need to be right only helps our ego feel better.  It does not build relationships; in fact, it tears them apart.  It does not build wealth; relationships ARE true wealth, in addition to being the cornerstone for any material wealth.  Most importantly, it does not feed the soul or raise our vibration in love; it keeps us stuck in a lower vibration where discord and fear-based negativity breed.

The path to happiness, as White Eagle taught, is a walk of love, compassion, and kindness.  Making another smile feels so good.  Bringing joy to a distressed person is immensely rewarding.  Knowing we are right and conceding to another anyway feels loving and rewarding!

So, although I have apologized for the other day, it still felt like no one came away from that any better for it.  That is, until now.  Really feeling how much better it is to be loving than to be right is quite a beautiful lesson,  and I doubt I’d have gotten it any other way.

Namaste,

Sheryl Sitts, Chief Inspirational Officer

Journey of Possibilities ~ Don’t miss ILLUMINATION HOUSTON 2013!!!  Click HERE for details.

The Magical Player Piano

One weekend when I was little, we took a car ride that seemed to last forever out to visit my cousins in a neighboring city.  Although I’d been told there would not be any children there to play with, I was assured I’d find a wonderful treat awaiting me.  When we arrived I saw a beautiful piano and ran over to see if I could remember how to play Chopsticks after playing it with my kindergarten teacher at school.  As I tapped the ivory keys, my cousin took out a scroll of paper and loaded it into the front of the piano, anchoring one end on a clip and then stretching it upward and placing the roll into a slot.  I told her I didn’t know how to read the dots, and she laughed and told me to just press the pedals at my feet.  Soon a most complex, beautiful song began to play itself on the piano!  I was enthralled as the notes filled the house, and any time we visited them in the future I enjoyed the piano as much as I had that day.

This morning as I awakened to memories of my wonder at that magical piano.  I was surprised by the similarities of that piano to my own spiritual journey.  As souls, we choose the musical scrolls (life experiences) we want to have here for the evolution of our Spirit.  It matters not the song, only that we attend to the rich notes of that song in the most open and loving way possible, regardless of how we may feel.  We can add a note here and there any time we want, for we also have those ivory keys (our own mind) to co-create music.  Indeed, we can take control completely and bang out a very different song, but whenever we choose or are forced to let go, that scroll (our Divine Path) resumes.  If there are pauses in the song, we can ask someone to confirm and reassure us that all is well just as God is always there and our spirit guides and angels are only too happy to help any time we ask.

There is a Divine plan at work here, even and especially when we can’t see it or don’t understand the music that is playing.  Our role is as simple as a player piano.  In this concert, we are here to be willing participants and surrender the keys any time we catch ourselves overtaking the music.  Oh yeah, and our most important job is to enjoy this miraculous experience and love each other through the hard parts of whatever song is being played.

Namaste,

Sheryl Sitts, Chief Inspirational Officer

Journey of Possibilities

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Habits: Free Will in Bondage

Lately I’ve been discovering how I unconsciously push some people away when they get ‘too close’.  It’s actually much more complex than it sounds.  When some people get ‘too close’, my mind starts playing tricks with me about what they really want from me, how they’ll probably go away soon anyway, etc. until suddenly I’m withdrawing from a perfectly good friendship, romance, etc. for no reason at all!   It’s scary to me that I can do all of this now without even realizing what I’m doing.   What began in childhood (doesn’t everything?) to keep me safe then became an option in a couple of unhappy relationships and then a habit until now I’m not even aware that I do it.  Something that was once free will has over time become something that quietly runs in the background sabotaging my relationships.

This is only one example.  Whether it’s how we drive, what we eat, vices we try, the way we are with money, how we resolve conflict, or many other things, the same holds true.  There is an initial moment of consciousness when we freely choose.  If  it’s important enough, we’ll even get nervous about the possibilities and weigh out our options before we choose.  If our choice serves us well then, the next time we may more quickly return to the same choice.  After a few times, or when we’re too busy to spend time thinking about it, we may repeat the choice again after barely slowing down to weigh the options.  Before we know it, we’re still behaving that way 5…10…30 years later!  The situation has changed, the people are different, and WE’RE different, but we’re still doing that same old thing with no idea why or even that we are!  How much of our lives are run on autopilot?  And what does it take to get our attention?  Bankruptcy?  A heart attack?  Divorce?  Something else?

Free will can only exist in this moment.  The past is history and we may not even see the future.  All we have is this very moment.  All our multitasking keeps us too distracted to be in this right-now moment that is our Divine gift.   We stay in autopilot.   We are the only ones who can make the conscious choice to live in this moment EVERY moment.  Anything else is robbing ourselves of a precious human birthright: FREE WILL!   Here’s to conscious living – right here, right now.

Namaste and much love,

Sheryl Sitts, Chief Inspirational Officer

Journey of Possibilities

ILLUMINATION HOUSTON 2013 – Lighting the World One Soul at a Time!  CLICK HERE for details, tickets, or a booth!

The Path to Health Begins & Ends With Self Love

Last night I came to a powerful understanding I’d like to share.  I saw our bodies as masses of energy, and then went into what happens to all energy (human, plant, animal) that doesn’t receive love. From there, I shifted to my own body and the parts of my body that I only attend to for cosmetic reasons or because I’m “supposed to” so I don’t get sick or whatever, rather than from a place of love. Those parts of my body that I do not love or where I store unresolved emotions actually slow to low-vibrating energy, which is where we get diseases (dis-eases) like cancer.  Doctors may cut out tumors and medicate us, but they don’t treat the root causes for us rejecting our bodies or holding in repressed anger, sorrow, etc.

Then I saw a healthy body being given nourishing foods and lots of clean water from the Earth Mother, regularly being active to keep all energy throughout the body moving and flowing, and being properly nurtured and cared for. This body is loved, and honored each morning in meditation to realign body, mind, heart, and spirit. This is not a quick-fix or beauty-in-a-bottle-or-quick-weight-loss body, craving to be good enough and driven by fear.  Rather, this is a body that is wholly loved and appreciated for the incredible gift and work of art that it is…an extension of our own Divine energy manifested to allow us to express in human form our soul’s purpose.

Our bodies are truly miracles. Let’s do our part to learn to love ourselves in gratitude.  We’re not only good enough, we’re downright amazing!

Namaste,
Sheryl Sitts, Chief Inspirational Officer
Journey of Possibilities

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Maybe the One You’re Waiting For Is You

It’s time to tell on myself in the hope that maybe it’ll save you some time and embarrassment!   I have a way of finding an exciting new opportunity, going after it until I hit a wall, trying a few times unsuccessfully to move forward, and then interpreting my stall-out as a sign that it must not be the right time.  I continue to be involved while waiting for help to arrive, whether it be for hours, weeks, months, whatever, and grow increasingly frustrated by the delay.  Soon enough, I’ll be venting about this to a friend and describing a hypothetically ideal person to fix things, when I suddenly realize the person I’m describing is me!  I am in fact perfectly qualified to handle this, but something about it (usually that I don’t want to deal with) kept me from seeing that.

Are you being held back in your own life this way? Is there a situation in work/business, with someone you love or a friend, or with a project/hobby in which things seem to be stuck or at a stand-still?  Are you waiting for the right person to help you resolve this?  If so, state exactly what he/she would need to know to resolve this.  Then, ask yourself, “in what way might I be the one I’m waiting for here? ” Do I have skills or knowledge to work this out that I’ve been unwilling to use or express for some reason?  How could I shift the way I am looking at this to open myself to express those?

It’s a beautiful, powerful thing to realize that we’re the ones we’ve been waiting for.  Take a few minutes to savor the hilarity of that discovery.  After you’ve enjoyed a good hearty laugh at that, approach that stale situation with fresh perspective and you’ll be amazed at what you can do!

Namaste,

Sheryl Sitts, Chief Inspirational Officer

Journey of Possibilities