What is wrong with the picture at the top? Nothing!

Couple fights are normal. But there is always a way to resolve them, and it may not be the way you thought of in the beginning.

Relationships provide an environment for personal growth and sometimes that means clearing out some old ‘stuff’ that doesn’t serve anyone’s best interest.

When old emotions rise to the surface to create discord you can either clear it yourself or ideally with your partner, but either way clear it if it’s causing distress.

Think about it!

In the same way Earth is not a flat shape, but round…Expanded Consciousness is not a linear thought process, but lateral.

Our brains are wired for both analytical and creative processes and are not meant to be limited by the narrow-mindedness of one or the other. We allow expanded thinking when we stop limiting ourselves through judgment and prejudice that we sometimes bring to a situation.

When we leave our biases at the doorstep we have the freedom to brainstorm and in that genius mode there are no silly ideas or ones that are too outrageous, because there are elements within these ‘crazy’ notions that deserve a closer look.

If you want love you must plant love in the garden of your mind, or any other seeds of the qualities you want to be and see in your life, and then nourish them so they grow. Thoughts are the seeds of the mind, be they helpful or harmful and as humans we are able to choose which thoughts we nurture on love- or fear-based scale.

Similar to the Feeding the Right Wolf analogy, wherever you put your focus is what grows the most and thoughts are made even more powerful when the feelings are strong. Whether you want love or wealth the principle is the same and you will be able to tell if you’re on track because the contrasting thoughts feel very different. Love feels expansive and fear feels constrictive is the clearest way to describe your attunement to either state.

There are those people who know they want love and those who think they have it but are lying to themselves, which is something often found in co-dependent relationships. The qualities of real love are unmistakable and revolve around kindness and compassion born of inner strength and not neediness.

Never doubt common sense!

Make your drinking buddy your meditation buddy & your drinking time will be more about celebrating life than avoiding it.

‘Stress drinking’ is a coping mechanism in that alcohol can be a short-term sedative when you’re really wound up over something in your life. Excessive drinking or self-medicating as a lifestyle can become an unconscious habit that sneaks up on you by repetitive avoidance of one single issue.

You can reach the point of continuously avoiding any troublesome situation because it’s just so damn easy to instantly feel good as if the problem’s gone away. If the over-drinking habit is not addressed your body will reflect the health consequences over the years, not including hangovers.

How meditation helps is by relieving the relaxation load that several glasses of wine or doobies or tablets serve, thereby decreasing the amount of those substances needed to cross the relaxation threshold.

It’s not to say that you need to quit cold turkey or join AA, because meditation is a gentle process where you may not notice the subtle changes in your drinking habits. Plus, you will be able to enjoy the drinking experience more and in a more leisurely fashion than chugging brewskis just to get to the buzz.

Also, meditation creates its own high that comes with practice and helps the body to offset the health complications that arise from substance abuse.

So many beautiful souls in the world…behind so much emotional baggage. It’s time to let it go!

Stop, Drop & Ho’oponopono

1. Stop – what you are doing
2. Drop – into your heart space
3. Repeat the Ho’oponopono mantra directed silently to yourself (to you heart/the divine in you/your higher self & not toward anyone else) until you feel a sense of greater calm & inner peace.

I love you, I’m sorry, Please forgive me, Thank you.

Where’s your head at? Hidden in the SAND or floating in the CLOUDS? Get clarity!

• Short periods of solitude are great for self-discovery, but hiding away behind games all day every day to avoid responsibility is not productive if that’s all you’re doing.
• On the other hand filling your plate with things to do keeps you busy, but over-filling it with menial tasks means you’ll lose a lot of productive me-time & miss dessert.

If you want to see the path you’re on and find a new one you will need to be aware of what’s going on in your Here-and-Now. Clarity shows you where the balance is and opens your mind to better time management and opportunities within your authentic flow.

Through awareness you gain clarity to become grounded in your authentic self and avoid the obsessive and compulsive behaviours that hinder you from achieving your goals. And while Skyrim and Grand Theft Auto are heaps of fun and can help keep your brain active they are still other people’s stories and you need to make time to write your own. That way when someone asks you, “Where’s your head at?” you can tell them it’s creating the story of your life.

Seeking the unknown friend & finding it

With friendship, be it short or long acquaintance, you will never have a better friend than the one built right in to you. Getting personal with the inherent universe flowing within and without is a lifestyle relationship you have with yourself. 

I didn’t set out to seek that result; I merely sought the truth about myself and how to best live my life chock full of challenges. Determined, I learned the hard way about the Universal energy that flows through us all and how to connect to it. By its nature it is in fact a part of me and all of the other ‘me’ people in the world. In this relationship I found an expansive loving nature beyond earthly sentiments, where the hard part for the lay mind is the integration of such a notion. The harder part was thinking I had to explain such secrets, but it’s not about explaining the Universe per se. That knowledge is beyond human brain capacity even though quantum physics is bringing us closer. It is our connection to that ever-expanding intelligence to the degree we choose to be there and I choose that intelligence. In my sharing, I’m not trying to ‘sell’ the Universe as a concept – you either know it or you don’t already. I am simply sharing the wonder of that truth as it pertains to our being human, so it becomes the norm if you consider higher intelligence as part of our evolutionary mandate. When it comes to the Universe in anyone’s life, it’s personal, so if you aren’t there yet you’re in the learning to trust stage. Divine intelligence is not a game; it’s a way of life. Emotionally speaking, it’s not to say when it comes to loving in relationships with others the potency is somehow made less significant. The fact is, authentic love greatly enhances a relationship and that makes life even more exhilarating in a blessed kind of manner.

Getting the best advice in times of need

When I ask questions of what I refer to as simply ‘guidance’ I receive answers in several observable ways. I often find little signs on my daily walk like this resin leaf-shape necklace or certain words leap out at me in movie titles like Serenity. And, even though these little signs are not the end goal they act as propellants to let me know I’m aligned and on the right track in my state of openness and inner peace. At other times, the message is more insightful when it comes to dealing with issues around my connection to others where I am in new territory and basically clueless as to what to do. In this instance I must be respectful of the other person’s mindset as well as find a solution. One such as example is when learning the ins and outs of assisted living in the retirement scenario. I must ask questions for my 97-year old aunt because I know how to find the answers she needs. It’s like mediating with guidance on another person’s behalf since they don’t have access to the insights that I do. I can glean just the facts for the best next step out of several points of opinionated specialists. The most difficult aspect of ‘helping’ others on this level is maintaining your own state of grace and well-being. Often the negative drama energy that surrounds another can be quite invasive when it comes to loves ones who don’t relate to your propensity for broad minded thinking. Even when you observe they are actively creating their own drama it is through their stubbornness mostly. This rigidity closes them off to awareness of new perspectives of which there are many and the most we can do is offer one of those up without begin emotional dragged into it. This is another area where guidance helps immensely with finding the right timing and circumstances. As well, you get the right words and temperament within you to direct the energy to a better result – seeing yourself live that stuff in real time is awesome.

Inspiration beyond guiding advice

Even more than signs and insights when seeking answers to a long time conundrum, advice can come in the form of a loud and clear message around someone else without any forewarning. Like the time in August 2017 when I felt compelled to call my high school sweetheart whom I hadn’t seen for over 40 years and lived 400 miles away. The message resounded in my brain along with an impression of concern that I needed to call him and ‘Make sure he was okay.’ That’s it! It didn’t matter what his life situation was, all I had to do was give him the message and we both could go back to our individual lives…and so I did. At first I ended up leaving it on his answering machine and when he called back right away and I basically repeated the message again. What happened next was really quite miraculous with a whole story to follow. I can’t even go to a place in my mind where I ask myself the question, “What if I hadn’t made that phone call?” There is no way I would have ignored guidance on that level of clarity. The incredible story that unfolded over the next 18 months was written as the first chapter in our Sweetheart Bond Story with the final chapter to be recorded at a later date. 

What’s the point? 

Why am I even sharing this wisdom? To relate to like-minded souls who co-exist and seek to on both the quantum and temporal level. Free-thinkers know there is another way that works on our very own 3D earth plane. They approach life from the authenticity of their true self, without the influence of others and the judgments. My relationship with the Universe is not something I can sell, but the means to get there is a different story. I could by all means sell you on a product or concept, but if you truly want to learn how to be connected to the higher powers of higher thought, the doors are wide open for everyone through simply becoming more aware. At some point or another you will either observe those who are connected the Universe’s life force or you will experience that liberty. The difference comes from such grander conscious awareness where your own self image is more akin to hero rather than victim and who doesn’t want to be the hero in their own life and writing their own story. Yep, it’s a rhetorical question.

Do you want to be able to live in the moment and not get distracted by worries or concerns? Meditation can help you achieve this.

Meditation is a simple yet powerful tool that can be integrated into anyone’s lifestyle. It is a mental practice that involves training the mind to concentrate on the breath, a specific object or phrase to achieve a mentally clear and emotionally calm state. The brain then produces slower brainwaves, which relaxes the nervous system to reduce tension and anxiety, and improve overall well-being.

With a decrease in feelings of constriction and tightness one develops a greater sense of self-awareness. They can then begin to identify and manage stressful thoughts and feelings as they arise and reduce the impact they have on mental and emotional health.

Start by setting aside a few minutes every day in a comfortable quiet place. Over time, you may gradually increase the duration and frequency of your practice to suit your needs. Additionally, it is useful to seek guidance from experienced practitioners, but the most important thing is to be consistent and patient with yourself.

With practice, you will be able to experience the numerous benefits of meditation that are proven by millions of people. It reduces the levels of the stress hormone cortisol in the body, which naturally lowers blood pressure and heart rate. This reduces stress and anxiety leading to improved focus and productivity, and a greater sense of inner calm and balance.

Further, a meditation routine grants individuals a greater resilience to stress and promotes a sense of inner calm and balance.

Smile when you walk

To answer the question in regards to precisely what is personal freedom in general there is clear way to describe the key elements of personal and freedom before combining them into a phrase.

Personal as in individual and Freedom as the authentic way of being in your heart, mind & body to experience life from present inspiration rather than past conditioning or external manipulation. Becoming your authentic self is the path to such personal freedom because the chains of familial, cultural and societal judgments with all its prejudices are broken. This allows you to approach life from a place of authenticity as in connected to the life force of the Universe, or Source.

Another word this power is known by is Light, which denotes our sense of higher love as a natural state of being rather than something to be sought from others. Self-love in this respect is about growing in the connection to higher love from within because that is where it grows from: within us.

The more love, the more authentic we become and subsequently the more freedom to live from the inspiration that shows up in our expanded consciousness. Personal freedom is clearly a goal worth pursuing because it allows for honesty in relationships, be they in the realms of romance, career, family or simply self-love.