Letting Your Inner Light Shine

Something I've been playing with lately is how brightly I can let my inner light shine.

"This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine...."

We all have that inner light, inner spark, that space that some say Divine Light fills us, the space where consciousness resides, that thing that gives us life and, I'd say, purpose. We have this inner light and part of our journey is first to recognize it. To recognize it, to coax it out of hiding, to take ownership, to have responsibility, to play with, to discover how this inner light has blessed us with our own unique gifts to the world and then to figure out how to use those gifts in a way that is deeply fulfilling.

It is the light that, when cultivated and allowed to be expressed, brings sustained joy.

But here's something I've noticed. Maybe you've noticed it, too. As I start to step into my light, as I nurture and nourish and then shine the crap out of my light and feel SO GOOD in my body, other people notice. Those who have found their light say, "Wow! Welcome! We're so glad you've joined us! Let's shine together and create tons of amazing light!"

But those who haven't quite found, or nurtured, or accepted their light seem to want to extinguish mine. Or contain it. Or just push it out of sight. Because it's like I've shined a flashlight into their eyes first thing in the morning. It's just too bright.

I've experienced this in reverse, too. When I was still afraid to shine, afraid to be fully me, afraid to let myself out of the bag, those people who shined so big made me think, "Oh wow, she's so bright! This is kind of uncomfortable. Like a sunburn. I'd better make myself dimmer so that she doesn't notice how afraid I am."

Either we're afraid to shine in the presence of the brightness of others, or we start to push back. Why? Because our culture tells us that you cannot have something for yourself without taking from someone else. Our culture teaches us to have a mentality of scarcity. That only the quick, the rich, the popular, the good-looking, the name-brand and whitest teeth get what they want. The unspoken message is that the rest of us must go without.

That, people, is bullshit.

Our inner lights -- that piece of us that turns on our consciousness within our bodies and that piece that scientists still don't understand -- is unlimited. It is Source. It is in each and every one of us and connects us. It is this same light within me that is in you, and because of the light we share, we are one (Namaste). When I shine my light brighter, you do not have to be smaller. You can be big, and I can be big, or we can be small, or medium. The Source is unlimited.

Similarly, whether you shine your light like a candle or a spotlight, it is the same light, and it is still yours. The key is just not to let it seem extinguished, but to remember that it is yours and it is there no matter how bright or dim you shine it.

So what do you do when you notice that your inner light is being squashed? As an highly sensitive person, I can feel when my inner light is being asked or forced to be smaller because the ego or the human self of an someone else is afraid that my light might outshine them. There are a few ways to go about it. First, you can just keep on shining. This is the route I've tried to take in the past. But as an empath, I find it extremely difficult and painful when I'm shining away and then fall under attack from energetic darts that say, "Turn that light off!"

Second, you can hide your light. But if you've worked hard to shine your inner light, this will feel defeating. This might make you feel that you don't deserve to shine your light, which isn't true. So I will recommend the third choice.

Third is that you learn to cultivate your inner light, which is yours all the time, whether you can feel it or not. Learn how bright you can shine in different situations, around different people, until you receive negative energy in return. It's a practice. Then, learn tools to protect yourself from the negative energy around you, allowing yourself to be protected and unaffected by the energy thrown your way.

Something that I did while I learned and practiced my tools in different situations was to always remind myself of my constant inner light. I found that when negative energy affected me, I felt like my inner light was extinguished, but in reality I just couldn't see it because of the outside energy covering it up. I found a handy, fun and creative way to remind me the spiritual truth of my inner light.

Body art.

While you practice your tools, write yourself a lovely reminder that your inner light is there, that it's yours, and that it's unlimited. And have fun!

Love and Light,
Anna


P.S. If you're not sure how to protect yourself from energy, give me a call -- that's exactly what my services are all about. 

Tool #4: The First Essential Step to Healing: Havingness

As we start to move into the holiday season, we often start to think of all the things we're asked to give. Give thanks, give presents, give time, give energy, give give give give give. Don't get me wrong, giving is great! When done in the right attitude, it helps us cultivate gratitude, which helps us find more contentment and ultimately, joy.

The work I do is mainly with highly sensitive people. Those of us who are sensitive know how to give -- it's part of our nature. Being sensitive often means that you're very aware of the emotions of others and often feel uncomfortable around negative energy. Because the sensitive body is so affected by the energy of others, sensitive individuals often avoid conflict in order to shield themselves from energy onslaught. Often times, this creates a sensitive person who has learned to give or accommodate under almost any circumstances.

But one thing that these clients often lack is the ability to receive and to own something simply in order to have it for themselves. Instead, everything they allow themselves to receive is because it will somehow benefit someone other then themselves. They feel a tremendous amount of guilt when it comes to having something that is just their own, a secret jewel just for them, just because. In healing, we have to be able to HAVE and receive healing in order for us to heal.

Sounds simple, right?

For so many of us, we practice giving on a daily basis -- that is, giving to others. What we don't do is practice giving love, affection, or attention to ourselves. One of the primary reasons I see clients struggle with healing is a failure to allow themselves to have it. This often manifests as an underlying belief in their deservedness to have or to receive.

What if we were all allowed to have everything we wanted, as long as the desire was manifested in our hearts and fed by Source energy? Guess what, we do! Our deepest desires and fears are reflected to us in our reality. The spirit knows it can have whatever it needs to learn and grow, plus the things it wants to keep the body comfortable while achieving growth. But so often, our bodies and minds have been programmed into believing that we have to be deserving of something in order for us to have it.

The spirit world doesn't work that way. It is human to say that something is right or wrong, good or bad, or that someone is deserving or undeserving. The spirit world doesn't see good or bad, right or wrong, it just sees what is. I'm sure we can all think of someone who is a total schmuck who has everything they want. That person may have a sketchy moral character, but they also have high havingness.

Havingness = our ability to have.

Think about how much you really let yourself have. I know that in my life, I have high havingness in learning experiences, good cars, keeping good friends and living in beautiful places, to name a few. Where I'm constantly working on my havingness is in my ability to receive and believe praise and in my finances.

Our level of havingness affects our health and healing, too. If you've been struggling with your health, take a moment to check in with yourself and notice how much you're able to let yourself have healing. Be honest with yourself. I check in using a psychic tool and visualize a gauge out in front of me, but you can also simply ask yourself how much you let yourself have your healing and trust the first answer you get. Maybe it says, "40%." Ouch, but you can work with that and raise it up.

In a reading, I can help you look at your havingness and help you discover what is keeping you from having your health and healing. From my experience from working with clients, I find that it often comes from a feeling of not being deserving, not being good enough, not knowing who you would be as a healthy person and being afraid to find out, being afraid of losing the attention that being ill attracts, and believing that you are a victim of your own body.

You are none of those things. You are an infinitely creative spirit in a body that you created.

Our body puts out signals to alert us that something is wrong. In order to fix it, we first need to tune in and try to figure out what our body needs from us. Next, we need to seek a treatment that resonates with us. We also need to identify and release the energy, belief systems or programs that made us ill in the first place. But in order to all of that, we must first believe that we can have our health and healing. We must first believe that we truly own our bodies.

How do we create havingness? Raising our havingness is a practice that involves understanding that we are inherently deserving of having the life and health that we desire and that when our health is off, it is our choice whether to stay a victim or take action. Taking action means more than going through the motions of healing -- it means digging deep and noticing whether there are beliefs you have about yourself that need to change and then making a commitment to changing those no matter how uncomfortable or ego-compromising it is.

When I notice my havingness is low for a particular area in my life, there are two ways I deal with it. First, I ask myself why my havingness might be low. Usually, I notice it's because it deals with an area of my life that I'm not completely comfortable in, have been hurt in, or haven't wanted to look at. Next, I ask myself, "What's my first step to raising havingness?" Usually, my body asks me to release an old belief I have. As I work on releasing it, I replace it with a positive, concrete affirmation. For example, if I have low havingness about finances and my spirit tells me it's because my belief says that making money isn't spiritual, I might use the affirmation, "When I prosper in my divinely-inspired mission, the world prospers with me."

There is a psychic tool for increasing havingness that's a bit more simple if you have a regular meditation practice. After grounding and calling back your energy, you can imagine a bubble out in front of you. In the bubble, as a gauge to appear with your level of havingness. Notice the number. Now ground your gauge to the center of the planet and allow the grounding chord to release from the gauge any energy that's not allowing you to have what you want/need. See the energy move to the center of the planet. You may be able to identify it, but you don't have to. Watch your gauge, it may have moved upward. If not, take your psychic finger and move it up to 100%.

Sounds easy, right? It is!

Well, it is unless you're not ready to release the reasons keeping you from having your healing.

Havingness is also about ownership. It's about coming to the realization that this body was giving to YOU and YOU alone. The only thing that holds you prisoner in your own body is you. Once you realize that you create your prison or oasis you can take ownership of your creation and begin to create your own healing path -- no matter how many times you've been hurt by others, used by others, given to others, your healing path can be no one's but yours. Own it!

What diet are you on?

"You should definitely be on the Paleo diet," said, well, everyone in the last three years.

There is so much talk about which diet is right -- Paleo, Primal, Atkins, Flat Belly, Macrobiotic, Vegetarian, Vegan -- that sometimes, on information overload, I think, "Blah, blah, et cetera, ad nauseum, whatever."

Everyone is looking for foods that work for their body. Some people want to loose weight, others want to gain it. Others want to have more energy and vitality. Some folks want to cure long-standing ailments and illnesses, while others want nothing more than to look good naked. Hey, whatever blows your skirt up (or floats your boat). It's important that we eat healthy if we want to maintain health, right?

Right.

But why is it so hard to find what works for us?

When I was in college, I studied environmental science and became shocked at how much environmental degradation occurred because of factory farming and the meat industry. I decided that I would become vegetarian. Later, for the same reasons, I went vegan. And I thought everyone should be vegan. I read books that supported my views on how my chosen diet was the diet most "optimal" for human health and the health of the planet and felt very smug that I had all the answers.

And I was right. But not for the rest of the world -- for me. And only for a little while.

Four years later, I was having health problems and went to a naturopathic doctor. She noted all of my symptoms, took blood tests, and said to me, "You have a grain intolerance. You have to stay away from grains, wheat especially, and you need to start eating meat again."

That pretty much rocked my world.  I made the dietary changes, I knew she was right. Eating meat and staying away from wheat was really resonating with me -- my stomach problems subsided, I had more energy, and my brain fog went away. But it wasn't because I was on a specific diet. It was because I was eating the foods my body needed at that period in time.

Our bodies reside at a certain energetic vibration. This vibration is a result of our belief systems, family and cultural programming, individual experience and emotional health, to name a few. The newest, sexiest diet isn't going to work for everyone because WE ARE ALL DIFFERENT. We are also different at different phases of our life, given that our vibration changes as we move through life.

Whenever I hear someone recommending their newest fad diet or weight loss program to everyone they know, I cringe.  It's natural that we want to share our success with others, however, we must recognize that what works for us is working because of where we are in our life and how the energy of our successful program resonates with us.

In trying to battle a Candida infection, I gave up sugar, grains, caffeine, fruit, alcohol and vinegar and started eating a diet of vegetables, meats and healthy fats. This diet, while recommended by most health care practitioners for eliminating Candida, didn't resonate with me intuitively. There were components of it that made sense, but others that seemed counter-intuitive. Since I'd asked a professional for help, I took the advice.

I gained 5 pounds and my infection didn't go away.

Just because something works for one person, or a thousand people, doesn't mean it will always work for you. This is why learning to trust your own intuition is so important.

When we learn to be in communication with our body and what our body really needs, we often learn that our needs changed based on season, temperature, age, emotional climate, ailment, etc. Our body is an excellent barameter that constantly gives us feedback as to what is working and what isn't. Often, we meet signals of pain, weight gain, or other "negative" messages with frustration, when really, our body is simply giving us an answer. "What you're doing isn't working for me. Please try again."

In Ayurveda, there's a term used often in treatment called "Upashaya," which means "trial and error." Sometimes we need to try a few things before settling into a new diet or treatment plan. Intuitive counseling provides us with more information as to what's resonating with the body and which dietary changes can be most effective.

With all the diet and health advice out there, it's easy to start believing that you need to "do something" for yourself, or "fix something" within you. We are constantly told that we are too fat, thin, smart, sensitive, forward, timid, dramatic, weird, etc. We live in a society that tells us that we need to fix ourselves in order to fit in.

There is nothing to fix. You are perfect, and your body is a perfect representation of where you've been in your life and where you are right now. Maybe we want to take steps to find a higher level of health and vibration, and that's okay. Your body is giving you all the information you need to take the steps to be healthy and stay there. Once you remember that you are a spirit in a beautiful body and don't need fixing, this information will make itself available to you.