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

How to Find Our Real Power by Slowing Down

After years of moving through my life at a fast and deliberate pace, I have spent the last couple of years discovering the power of meditation for clarity and purpose.   When I discuss this with people, most respond with comments about how they could never get their mind to be still for that long, or how they don’t really have the time.  Believe me, those were my exact feelings about it!  Ironically, it is the very act of meditation that will train the mind to be still, so our job is to make that daily commitment and keep showing up.  Thankfully, the benefits occur long before we ever perfect our practice!

If you would like to try meditation, there is a wealth of information online and many guided meditations for you to begin.  All you need is 20 minutes once or twice a day, and you can work up to that!  I’ve found a couple of articles to help you get started.   Terri Cole wrote Flexing Your Mindfulness Muscle on Positively Positive,  and Davidji (popular speaker on  Hay House Radio) shared Meditation: As Taught by Someone in the Real World.

We are complex creatures who can easily get so caught up in our own thoughts, experiences, and stories that we can soon get stuck in patterns that don’t serve us well or allow us full freedom of expression.  Then there’s the busyness that consumes us until minutes turn into hours, days, or weeks spent reacting to life rather than consciously creating our soul purpose.  Meditation is a way to reset ourselves from all of that, sweeping everything off the surface of that proverbial cluttered desk so we can begin anew with clearer intention.  We accomplish more and our lives shift into proactive creation.

Please let me know if you find this helpful to you in beginning your own meditation practice, or share other effective meditation links below.

Namaste,

Sheryl Sitts, Chief Inspirational Officer

Journey of Possibilities

Don’t Give it ALL Away!

Lately I find myself reminding those who serve, heal parent, and care for others in this world (and myself as I repeat the message) not to give it all away.   We who love to help others can very quickly find ourselves running on empty.  As one of my friends put it, “Don’t you and your cats (my latest at-home children) deserve some too at the end of the day?  Why give it all away?”

We race around doing and giving and listening and loving others and enjoying the beauty of observing those effects.  True, that is its own reward, but it is very much like the oxygen mask that drops in an aircraft emergency – we MUST first and always have enough ourselves to keep going.  Even if we can delude ourselves for a while, soon our health reminds us that we are not loving ourselves first.

There is a big difference between being self-centered and loving ourselves.  Loving ourselves first not only ensures we will be able to go the distance, but also that we are emulating the example many more would learn by observing than through our words.  How can we ask one thing of them and show them another?  Which do we really expect them to hear?  Which would WE hear?

Meditation, healthy foods, plenty of water, prayer or reflection, physical exercise, and quiet moments of deep breathing are all things we MUST place strategically throughout the day to restore and sustain us.  Continually seeking spiritual guidance and insight from within, absorbing nutrients from wholesome and healthy foods, energy from sleep and exercise…these create a sustainable life of service which absolutely must begin with self.

We have two excellent excuses to slow down in the evenings and be still this week.  Take a blanket outdoors and observe the Lyrid meteor shower in the northeastern sky tonight and then our full moon on Thursday night.  Connect yourself in to the Universe and receive the Love that is yours.  Soak it in and enjoy the Oneness of being alive.  Talk about rejuvenation! Honor yourself for being a loving, giving, living part of creation and give yourself a big hug from all of us who are so grateful for you.

Namaste and much love,

Sheryl Sitts, Chief Inspirational Officer

Journey of Possibilities

Grief – An Important Expression of Love

This has been a week of loss for me.  One person I love dearly passed away and then we celebrated the life of another and committed his ashes.  Although I know their spirits now soar in a beautiful space, I am sad.  I miss enjoying them here with skin on!   In this age of technology, knowing that I cannot pick up the phone and hear their voice is a constant reminder that they are no longer here.  Feeling their absence through their loved ones leaves a profound void in this place where there energy once radiated.

When we experience loss, there are a myriad of feelings.  Although the most commonly expressed appears to be sorrow through many tears, there is a joy beneath our sadness.  There would not be tears without love, and the more tears and sorrow we feel, the more love was present.  Beyond that, we exchange much more love as others who care reach out with comforting words or touch.  We gather to share memories with others we love and have not seen in a while, and we even meet new interesting people who also cared for our loved ones while hearing aspects of their lives we didn’t know while they were alive.  At the foundation of everything in our awareness for these days is a river of beautiful love.

Often when we feel sad, we’re tempted to push it aside or get busy and not feel it.  It’s hard to feel sorrow, yet if we don’t it will simply become stuck energy somewhere in our bodies that make us sick later until we release it.  Why not view grief as a testament to the beautiful love we have explored here and express it freely as such?

Feeling emotions is quite possibly our greatest human gift.  Think about it: we do not feel unless we care.  (The opposite of love is not antipathy but hate, making even hatred a face of love.)  Grief is love missed.  What could we possibly do that is more beautiful than feeling and expressing love?  Could someone please pass me another tissue?

Namaste,

Sheryl

Animal Totems

The first time I had the privilege of interacting with one of these beautiful birds was almost thirty years ago, and I was mesmerized by their beauty, grace, and power.  I was also a bit intimidated knowing that if I angered one, they could snap off my finger effortlessly.  Mostly though, I was sad to see them in cages.  It moved me so much that I decided to see them one day in their native habitat flying free in all their beauty.  Over the years I repeated that commitment until that dream came true last year and I finally visited the Amazon.  What I found was a key piece of myself in that place and a transformation so significant that my life is measured by whether it happened before or after Peru (see blog entry).  I also learned that when animals come into our path in a noticeable way, we should seek what they mean for us.  Animal totems can be powerful teachers when we allow it.

Since that time I notice that certain creatures come into my life until I heed what they represent for me.  In fact, if I don’t hear them at first circumstances tend to grow quite intense until I listen.  Last year I had an infestation of scorpions in my home throughout the stay of a powerful life-coach who guided me in exactly the intense, chaotic transformation this totem promises.  (I’ve never attracted scorpions before or since.)    Next came the ants:  mounds suddenly every few feet in my lawn and streams of them filing into my home.  It was indeed a time for patience, and then they moved on.  Last month wasps swarmed me in my car, around my windows and doors at home and work.  They weren’t nesting, they were encircling me everywhere I went!  Yes, I did indeed need to be placing structure into my business, and then they moved along.  Now caterpillars are supporting my latest gentler, beautiful transformations that are underway.

So now I ask you, what are you attracting?  What other form of life is either regularly showing up (like those I just mentioned) or evokes such deep emotions in you as to guide you in the direction of your destiny (like my macaw)?  Google the name of the creature followed by “animal totem” or “animal medicine” and see what they may have to teach you!  Follow the feeling that stirs within you as you wonder at the emotions that arise.

Nature really is our great teacher.  As we increasingly replace it with cement and skyscrapers, hopefully we’re not so far removed that we don’t listen anymore.  Connect in and discover your own inner power and beauty in new and wondrous ways.

Namaste and much love,

Sheryl Sitts, Chief Inspirational Officer

Journey of Possibilities

JOIN OUR SACRED WISDOM CIRCLE THIS COMING SUNDAY AT WHITE EAGLE LODGE!

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

YOU ARE CORDIALLY INVITED TO JOIN US APRIL 28TH FOR OUR HOLISTIC HEALING EXPO (CLICK LOGO BELOW FOR DETAILS)!

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.