Category: Healing


A Spiritual Response to Global Crises

Filed Under: Emotional Well-being, Energy/Vibration, Healing, Manifesting, Meditation, Spiritual Growth by Soul Arcanum — Comments Off on A Spiritual Response to Global Crises


Copyright Soul Arcanum LLC. All rights reserved. :)
 

Dear Soul Arcanum:

I feel so unsettled these days because of the crisis in Japan. How do you feel about this? Are we going to get through this? 

Ka:

Dear Ka:

Please note that I do not intend to make light of the situation in Japan or human suffering in general. My heart goes out to those who have lost their loved ones, homes and businesses in this tragedy, and to all who face an uncertain future – which includes you and me, my friend. However, in asking for my opinion, I assume that you are seeking a higher spiritual perspective on all of this. From this higher spiritual perspective, I can see that all is well and that there are valuable lessons and opportunities in this situation.

The reason you are feeling uneasy is because the whole world is feeling uneasy. Your unsettled feelings belie the fact that we are all connected; what happens to one happens to all on some level. This is perhaps the greatest lesson humanity is in the process of learning right now.

We live in exciting times. It wasn’t that long ago that an earthquake could have devastated Japan and only those present would have known about it. Now we are all connected on more than a spiritual level; we instantly receive news of what is happening across the globe in vivid, full-color images. Further, given nuclear technology, what happens in other parts of the world could have a devastating effect on us here.

I believe that what we see happening on a physical level mirrors what is happening on a spiritual level, and that the political and ecological problems we are facing arise from an inner spiritual crisis. When we began to question and reject organized religion, we lost more than just false beliefs and illusions: most of us also lost all sense of the sacred. This created a hole in the soul of the world and left many people spiritually adrift. It also encouraged the abuse of the planet and other people, for if nothing has meaning, then life becomes entirely materialistic. It’s then every person/country for itself in a race to gobble up as many resources as possible before someone else gets there.

To me it just makes sense that in order to address the crises we see in our outer experience, we must look to what is happening on an inner level. For one thing, it is from the inside that we make decisions: it is our values that determine how we treat the planet and each other.  Further, the seeds of physical existence are planted metaphysically; the state of the physical world reflects what is happening on a spiritual level, so to change what is happening in the outer world, we must change what is happening within.

Just as we can now fly around the world and connect with people on other continents via phone and internet, we are all growing more and more overtly connected. This is moving us toward the realization that we are not separate individuals, separate races and separate nations, but all part of one big family sharing the same planet and resources. Whether it is by divine design or not, tragedies like the one in Japan are awakening us all to the realization of Oneness.

I am sure that we are all going to get through this, but it may not happen here on Earth unless we wake up and develop a respectful attitude toward all life as sacred. Our ancestors had a healthy respect for nature; events like the earthquake and tsunami are reminders that we are completely dependent on the same nature we are so determined to conquer and exploit. The reason I believe we will all get through this is because I know we are more than our physical bodies. Since we are all multidimensional beings, when we die, we will all continue to exist in other dimensions. The earth plane is a place of limited physical resources and extreme contrast. We incarnated here to have an intense experience in hopes of achieving tremendous spiritual growth. We shouldn’t be surprised that Earth isn’t one big amusement park, for that’s not what we signed up for: We came to develop the wisdom to choose love over fear, and to do that, we have to have unsettling experiences.

You are understandably afraid. The news is full of frightening information about war, ecological destruction and every sort of tragedy imaginable. While it’s understandable to feel afraid, I’d like to submit that your fear is a call from your soul to find new faith and reach for light instead of succumbing to darkness.

You begin to do this by holding a vision that is beautiful and peaceful. You can send prayers to those in need and imagine everyone coming together to help each other. If there is something overt you can do to help those who move you with compassion, do it. Otherwise, vow not to be sucked into fear and despair but instead to keep your inner light burning bright so it can shine out to others and illuminate their way.

To manifest global positive change, we must join together to promote what we value. Scientific research has shown that group meditation can create a powerful positive influence on the collective consciousness of society. While there have always been natural events like earthquakes, if we unite in appreciation of the sacred nature of the planet, we may not have to deal with nuclear fallout on top of whatever Mother nature dishes out. Perhaps if humanity grows more peaceful, the planet will as well. For more information on transcendental meditation, visit istpp.org and tm.org.

By affecting collective consciousness, we begin to change what is happening on the spiritual level from which physical existence arises. The same unified field of consciousness that has made you feel uneasy can be used to generate new peace, love, harmony and well-being. You’ve been receiving impressions from the unified field of human consciousness; it’s time for us all to start purposefully sending positive vibes out.

To find your own way to new peace, regular meditation should prove powerful, for it will lead to the development of equanimity. You will then be at peace regardless of what is happening in your outer experience. In addition to meditation, I recommend learning how to have out-of-body experiences, for aside from having a near-death experience, this is the most profound way I know to conquer fear of death and awaken to the truth that we are all multidimensional beings. For a comforting peek at what astral travel can do for you, check out this fascinating talk by Jurgen Ziewe.

When you realize that the Earth is just one dimension of many and that we will all leave it one day for other worlds, it’s easier to relax about what is happening around the globe. This doesn’t mean we stop caring. Rather, instead of running around telepathically yelling The sky is falling!, we are able to respond to whatever and whomever comes our way from a place of higher spiritual values.

I believe we are heading toward the realization of a global community and hopefully a period of greater peace and cooperation, for it is becoming ever more clear that what happens to one affects us all.

Soul Arcanum

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Spiritual Way to Heal Compulsive Eating

Filed Under: Healing, Hypnotherapy by Soul Arcanum — Comments Off on Spiritual Way to Heal Compulsive Eating


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Dear Soul Arcanum:

I have been trying to lose more than 100 pounds for years and I am getting really frustrated and down on myself. I have lost the same 30 pounds or so over and over again; I always put the weight back on. I am a compulsive eater; I just can’t seem to stop eating. I am convinced that there is something essentially wrong with me that makes me different from other people; I feel crazy and totally out of control. I hate myself for being this way. I hate how I feel and look. If dieting were the answer, it would have worked for me by now; I’ve figured out that I have to go deeper than dieting and exercise, which is why I’m coming to you for spiritual advice.

B.

Dear B.:

Since a lot of people who want to lose weight are going to be reading this column, the first thing I want to do is differentiate between being overweight due to bad habits and being overweight due to compulsive behavior. In my hypnotherapy practice, I see all sorts of reasons people become overweight. Perhaps the most common reason is very simple: with its convenient high calorie foods, huge portions and lack of physical exercise, modern life is a recipe for packing on the pounds. If we don’t consciously strive to remain fit and healthy these days, we’re bound to get out of shape.

Of course, many people do use food for emotional reasons; in fact, everyone does this sometimes, for when we eat for pleasure, we are eating to feel good. What you’re describing, however, is an actual addiction. Like someone who can’t get through life without drinking or using drugs, if you need food in order to emotionally cope with life and your habit is ruining your health and happiness, you’re addicted.

Before I go into a spiritual perspective on healing such an addiction, I have to encourage you to see a doctor to explore possible biological reasons for what you’re going through. I understand if you’re reluctant to do this, but what if there is something physical going on and you’re beating yourself up for nothing?

I believe compulsive eaters are hungry for something more profound than food. This is what underlies the seemingly crazy experience of eating a huge meal but still feeling dissatisfied. It’s sort of like drinking salt water to quench your thirst; the more you drink, the thirstier you get, so you drink more and things just seem to get worse.

I do have good news. First of all, I see a lot in your question that is indicative of what is “wrong” with you. To put it bluntly, you’ve been trying to hate yourself into changing, which never works, my friend. Instead, you must love and trust yourself. Since the very idea of trusting yourself may seem crazy given the situation you’ve gotten yourself into, let me explain.

You’ve been eating compulsively for a good reason. Though it may not have led you to the peace, health and happiness you desire, it has helped you to cope with emotions that you weren’t ready to deal with yet. I believe that we are all doing our bests at all times, which means that people who are caught up in destructive addictions are really doing the best they can to cope at that time. When people overcome addictions, it’s because they have grown stronger and more motivated (self-loving) than they were before, so they have become capable of coping in new and more empowered ways.

This is the juncture at which we meet: you are becoming ready to deal with the proverbial skeletons that have been hiding in your emotional closet for years. Where in the past, you may have cracked the door open to grab something you needed, caught a glimpse of a skeleton, slammed the door shut and run to the kitchen for a snack, you’re now gearing up to open the door wide and look through all the junk in the closet so you can process what you want to keep, what you want to let go of, and what you want to upcycle into something new so you can evolve into a new and <q>better</q> version of yourself. To help you with this process, I strongly recommend you find a hypnotherapist who has experience in dealing with compulsive eating, for the first step must involve bringing all of the stuff you’ve been trying to avoid out into the light so you can see it clearly and consciously decide what you want to do with it.

The rest of the good news is that you are at a very powerful juncture in your life. If instead of trying to get rid of your compulsion as fast as possible, you turn and befriend it, it can become a powerful catalyst for new personal and spiritual growth. Working with it in this way will empower you to not only heal the compulsive behavior and achieve your weight loss goals, it will empower you to change your life on every level and find greater peace and happiness than you’ve ever known before. If you don’t work at this deeper level, you may be able to force yourself to diet and lose weight, but you won’t truly be happy and at peace, which means you’ll eventually go back to compulsive behavior of some kind in order to cope with difficult feelings. (You’ve been down that road before.) Basically, if the skeletons are still in your emotional closet and you’re still afraid of them, they will continue to haunt you.

I also recommend you explore Geneen Roth’s books, especially Feeding the Hungry Heart, Breaking Free of Emotional Eating, and Women, Food, and God: An Unexpected Path to Almost Everything, which offers a lot of valuable insights regarding the emotional and spiritual roots of food addiction regardless of one’s gender.

I see two main keys to healing your self-destructive habits. First you must become conscious of what is happening on a deep level. In addition to hypnotherapy, beginning a regular meditation practice would be wise and powerful for you. I recommend mindfulness meditation in which you simply seek to develop an inner observer so you can watch your thoughts, feelings and actions as from above without judging yourself. If you keep in mind that you are always doing your best to take good care of yourself and you begin to simply observe what is happening inside of you in a calm, detached manner, you will empower yourself to consciously choose new ways to meet the same needs you’ve been trying to meet through compulsive eating. This will enable you to directly process and deal with difficult emotions as they arise, or, when that is not possible, to choose coping methods that support your health and happiness instead of destroying it. For example, I have been addicted to exercise for years; while I’m sure it changes my bio-chemistry, it also helps me release emotional and psychological tension.

If you came into my office for help, the first thing I would do is simply love you as you are and draw your divine beauty and perfection to the surface so you could see it for yourself. The point would be for you to begin to trust, love and accept yourself more fully, for this healing process is ultimately a journey of learning to love yourself better. When you believe in your own power and goodness more than you believe in food as the answer, you will be free from the grips of this painful condition. Please be kind to yourself, trust yourself, and know that when you find the courage to face those skeletons, they will lose the power they’ve held over you. You will then know that you are free to become whoever and whatever you want to be.

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Living Where Someone Suffered and Died

Filed Under: Death and Dying, Energy/Vibration, Healing by Soul Arcanum — Comments Off on Living Where Someone Suffered and Died

 

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Dear Soul Arcanum:

Though I’m not totally convinced about the law of attraction, I do try to remain positive, grateful and optimistic. However, beginning in October 2008, a tornado has hit my existence; it’s taken everything up high in the air and let it all fall back in a jumble. My mom died a long, degrading death. I’m divorcing and leaving my beautiful house in the countryside for an apartment in the city. Money is tight. I’m in the process of moving to a small studio apartment over my father’s house. It’s where we brought my mom from the hospital to die; it was converted into a hospital room for two weeks so she would feel surrounded by our love and care. It offers a beautiful view of the city lights. I’m about to go live there, and even as a temporary solution, the idea of sleeping where my mom’s soul left her body makes me worry about bad vibes. Are they blessed vibrations, carrying her wishes, or are they echoes of suffering and her difficult end? Please reply: I desperately need healthy energy at this stage in my life. Be well always!

Dorothea

Dear Dorothea:

I see two main reasons a person may be concerned about moving into a space where someone recently died. The first is the possibility that the dead may not have crossed over and may therefore be a “ghost” haunting that locale. One big reason we tend to fear ghosts is because people of a highly developed spiritual nature don’t generally become them; instead, they enjoy a quick, smooth transition when they leave this world. Since it is dark and troubled souls who tend to get lost on their way to “heaven,” most ghosts are not the sort of spirits we would want to befriend.

When people of a kind, loving nature do linger in the place where they died, it’s almost always because they died so suddenly that they don’t realize they are no longer living. I very much doubt you have to worry about your mother’s spirit becoming a ghost, for in dying a slow death, she had a lot of time to make peace with the idea that she would soon be leaving this world. If your mother does remain nearby for some reason, you may be blessed to have more interaction with her by moving into this space, for you’ll spend a lot of time in a hypnagogic state as you fall asleep at night and wake up in the morning. This could be a very positive experience for you. As long as you don’t begin to have health problems or feel drained or depressed, I wouldn’t worry about her spirit having a negative effect on you.

Of course, most of the time when people are concerned about inhabiting a space where someone died, it’s because of the energy that may be lingering in the psychic atmosphere. It is true that the events that take place in a space leave psychic impressions. This is why temples tend to feel peaceful and sacred, while places where bad things happened may feel frightening or creepy. Subtle energy is a lot of like germs: just because you can’t see it doesn’t mean it isn’t there and can’t affect you. Fortunately, this also means if you clean the space on a psychic level, you won’t have to worry about contamination by harmful energies. All cultures have practiced some form of ritual designed to protect and bless a dwelling and its inhabitants, for on a deep, intuitive level, we know that creating a healthy, positive psychic atmosphere will promote mental and emotional well-being just like creating a clean physical environment promotes physical health and well-being.

If your mother suffered a great deal when she was dying, then you are wise to pay attention to the vibes in your new apartment. Since it’s entirely possible that the main energy there is that of the love you surrounded her with as she was dying, the first thing to do is intuitively read the apartment’s energy. The next time you go there, pause outside the door, clear your mind, turn your psychic senses on and ask Spirit to help you sense the energy in the apartment. As you walk in the door, pause again and send your psychic feelers out. What does the space feel like to you? What feelings, impressions, images or thoughts come to you as you absorb the energy in the atmosphere? While we’ve all been in places that felt unusually good or bad to us, the energy in this space will probably be far more subtle, so you’ll have to pay careful attention and trust the intuitive impressions that come to you.

Next, keep in mind that what you do on a physical level will impact the psychic atmosphere. One of the simplest and most effective things you can do is thoroughly clean the space. In addition to dusting, polishing, sweeping and washing the floors, you might also wash the walls. I would add lavender to the water as a gentle purifier, and also smudge with lavender to cleanse the psychic atmosphere. While cleaning the space on a physical level, open all the doors and windows and play some uplifting music. This will get stale energy moving and bring fresh energy in.

If you’re Catholic, you can do the same thing with holy water. Get some from your priest and sprinkle it as you go or better yet, have your priest over to bless the house. If you like working with aromatherapy, you might follow this up by using lemon oil to purify the space of unwanted vibrations, or lemon verbena to create a high vibration, enhance your intuition, and infuse your new home with love. Lemon verbena is great for dispelling heavy energy and lightening the psychic atmosphere; it can also help you wipe the psychic slate clean to make a new beginning.

Once you’ve cleansed the space, you’ll want to bless it and begin to bring your own essence in. Just as pain and suffering can linger in the atmosphere, so can love and joy. This may be how the whole tradition of having a house warming party got started: it was one way to bring loving, happy vibes into a new dwelling. You might throw a party and invite lots of good friends and positive people, or just gather the people you know who have the best spiritual energy to help you bless the space.

When everyone gets there, it would be powerful to join together in some sort of conscious ritual to bless your home. You can go through a Wiccan ritual of sealing the doors and windows to unwanted influences and walking through the space, singing or chanting to fill it with positive energy, or you can simply join the people present in prayer. The more personal this ritual is to you, the more powerful it will tend to be. Here’s an example of a blessing to get you started:

Mother/Father/God, please bless this house and all who live here. Fill this dwelling with the energies of peace, health, happiness, harmony and love. Let this space shine with divine light and beauty and provide a warm, comfortable haven from the world. I envision this home supporting my well-being on every level and in every way, and have faith that it will be so.

As you perform the blessing, vividly imagine what you’re saying: See your home shining with light and supporting you in every way.

I also encourage you to recognize that, though your life has been turned upside down in many ways, you are in a great position to start manifesting a brighter future. Instead of lamenting what used to be, embrace this as a powerful time to begin a new chapter of your life, and expect wonderful new blessings to come your way.


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Clearing Dead, Depressed Energy

Filed Under: Energy/Vibration, Healing by Soul Arcanum — Comments Off on Clearing Dead, Depressed Energy


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Dear Soul Arcanum:

Lately a pall seems to have come over my life both at home and at work. It started with me feeling uninspired and unmotivated. I’ve stopped working out, my house has become a mess, we’re eating frozen dinners every night, and it’s all I can do to drag myself to work and then home again at the end of the day. My home doesn’t feel as light and joyful as it used to either. Now I’m noticing the same sort of energy showing up at work, where I’m meeting all sorts of people who are down and lifeless. I have an appointment to talk to my doctor about the possibility that I’m depressed. I’m hoping you can give me some suggestions on spiritual ways I can get this dead energy moving up and out of my life!

Dee

Dear Dee:

I’m glad to hear that you’re going to talk to your doctor, for it does sound like you’re struggling with depression. I noted with interest that you sent this question to me in the middle of January. I don’t know where you live, but if it’s in a Northern climate, you may be struggling with seasonal affective disorder. The good news is that if that is the case, in a few months you should feel like your life force is returning just as the trees, flowers and animals awaken from hibernation. It’s interesting that an ancient spiritual cure for depression is to spend a lot of time in the sun, for it’s believed that this will raise your spirits, clear your mind, and help release more life force energy/kundalini. If it’s feasible, a trip to some place warm and sunny may be all you need to break this pattern and turn your mood and energy around. If that’s not practical, spending some time outside every day may help invigorate you.

It’s not clear how this whole downward spiral started. You may just be struggling with the biological changes that winter tends to involve, but it’s also possible that your depressed feelings are trying to draw your attention to some deep issue that needs to be resolved. If you sense that there may be something troubling you deep down, hypnotherapy or psychological counseling may be the answer.

Deep issues aside, your life force energy is clearly low; to turn this around, you need to get your energy flowing again. It may seem silly to suggest exercise since you probably don’t feel like you have the energy for it, but if you can get your body moving, you’ll summon more life force energy to meet the demands of what you’re doing. Scientific studies have shown that exercise is as effective as antidepressants for people struggling with major depression. I know when I don’t exercise, I quickly grow sluggish and depressed.

This makes perfect sense on a metaphysical level. The more we draw upon our inner resources to improve our lives and take good care of ourselves, the more we align with a higher level of experience. This also summons more of our energetic resources; it opens up a greater flow of life force energy. When our life force energy is pinched off or under-utilized, we feel listless, lifeless and unmotivated. When our life force energy is flowing fully and freely, we feel enlivened, energized, and empowered. Depression involves a bit of a Catch-22, for when people get depressed, they feel like they don’t have the energy to take good care of themselves, but they won’t get the energy to take good care of themselves until they summon it by taking action on their own behalf.

You mentioned that you’ve quit working out. Most of us have had the experience of not wanting to exercise because we just weren’t motivated or didn’t feel like we had the energy. After a good workout, however, we always feel better and are glad we forced ourselves to do it. This is an example of what I’m trying to explain: by taking action on our own behalf, we summon more life force energy and end up feeling much better. While vigorous exercise tends to lead to the greatest mood boost, I think yoga is also a wonderful way to open up a greater flow and reclaim a sense of peace and balance in body, mind and spirit.

There are other ways to open up a greater flow of life force energy, however. You could go to an energy healer or acupuncturist. Massage therapy may also help. Eating a lot of fresh, vibrant food will raise your vibration and encourage high energy.

You mentioned that your house is a mess. Again, it may seem like you don’t have the energy or motivation to deal with it, but if you can summon the energy to <q>feng shui</q> it, you’ll have the same sort of experience I described with exercise: you’ll feel so much better afterward that you’ll wonder why you let it go for so long. Clutter is stale, stagnant energy: by moving it up and out, you can energize the psychic atmosphere.

The psychic atmosphere of a place is also determined by the energy of the people who inhabit that space. Whenever there is a great deal of anger, depression, or other negative emotion in a space, it’s important to cleanse the psychic atmosphere just as you would clean the surfaces and clear away clutter. This can greatly facilitate any shifts you’re trying to make on an inner level. If you’re not familiar with the idea of “smudging,” please research the term. Basically, you’ll want to cleanse your own aura and the aura of the space you regularly spend time in. This is usually done with sage or incense, but it can also be done on an energetic level much as one performs energy healing.

Perhaps the most powerful thing you can do is study the law of attraction, for this will lead you to understand how and why we tend to continue along a certain path once we’ve begun to head in that direction. For example, if we are thinking happy thoughts and feeling happy feelings, we tend to attract people and experiences that are a match to our high vibration, which leads us to think more happy thoughts and enjoy more happy feelings. If, however, we focus on something negative or are feeling down, we tend to attract glum people and unhappy experiences, which leads us to feel even worse.

Just as we have to push ourselves to exercise when we don’t want to, to break free of a pattern of low energy and depression, we have to stretch for positive thoughts. This isn’t easy. The key is to “fake it until you make it.” By this, I mean you begin to imagine wonderful things and summon wonderful feelings. You may do this by vividly remembering a time when you felt happy and energized or imagining how you’d like to feel in the future. Pushing yourself to count your blessings is another great way to start to focus on the positive.

Finally, one of the most wonderful ways to feel better is to uplift other people. This is metaphysically very powerful both because we get what we give in life and because when we make others feel better, then what we are focusing on in our outer experience is joy and happiness. It doesn’t matter that it “belongs” to someone else; the important thing is that we are giving our attention to joy. This fills us with the positive feelings that naturally attract more positive experiences. Basically, the fastest, easiest way to live in a brighter world is to start spreading some sunshine around.

Soul Arcanum

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Healing Ancestral Wounds

Filed Under: Healing, Karma, Past Lives, Reincarnation, Relationships by Soul Arcanum — Comments Off on Healing Ancestral Wounds


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Dear Soul Arcanum:

Through research, I have found that recurring patterns like addictions and limiting beliefs that get passed down through generations are due to ancestral wounds. How does one go about healing an ancestral wound in order to stop the recurring pattern once and for all?

M.

Dear M.:

Though the Bible does mention that the “sins of the fathers” may be visited upon future generations, I think most of us born and raised in the West are surprised by the idea that we may both be paying for the “sins” of our ancestors and able to heal our ancestor’s wounds. However, in many Eastern and tribal cultures, it is commonly believed that we not only have individual karma to work through but family karma as well.

We inherit far more from our ancestors than our hair and eye color and our tendency to develop diabetes or heart disease. Along with gifts like athletic and artistic ability, we may receive certain mental and emotional problems. Since there is no hard line between the physical, emotional, mental and spiritual, from a metaphysical perspective, this makes sense. It’s possible to inherit all sorts of things from our ancestors, from a tendency toward violence, laziness, depression and despair to addictions, phobias, and emotional problems. If you step back and view the generations as a river of life, it’s easy to conceptualize how there is a never ending flow of energy from our ancestors down to us, which will continue on down to our descendants.

We all hold certain beliefs that we are not consciously aware of. In fact, we may think we believe one thing while our behavior tells an entirely different story. These beliefs are programmed into our subconscious minds and stored in our cellular memory. Some of these we picked up from early childhood; some were developed in past lives; some we absorbed as if by osmosis from what we sensed the people around us believed; some we inherited from our ancestors through our DNA. We have also inherited survival beliefs and instincts from our ancestors, so we may instinctively react to experiences in a way that would have been more appropriate in a different time and place. Since nearly everything we do and assume arises from the subconscious, it is very powerful to become conscious of what we really believe and work on cultivating the beliefs we truly desire to hold on this level. This is the power underlying hypnotherapy.

According to many cultures and shamanic traditions, we can not only inherit the unresolved wounds and issues of our ancestors, we can also heal them. This is because time is not actually linear. If we step outside of time to connect with those ancestors and help them to heal, we actually change our own present and future. (Since time is not linear, it is possible for those ancestors to be reincarnated and for us to connect with them anyway.) If we view moments as places, we can perhaps imagine that we have only to travel upstream to where the problem occurred to be able to work on addressing and resolving it, which will change what flows down the line to us.

Sometimes it is obvious that a family pattern is being repeated. For example, if you struggle with alcoholism and you come from a long line of alcoholics, you are clearly dealing with something you’ve inherited. Sometimes, however, we have no idea that we are playing out an unconscious program we’ve inherited. Often, it’s only when everything else has been tried that a person ends up in the hands of a healer who discovers an ancestral connection during the healing process. Of course, it is important not to assume that an ancestral pattern is the cause of a problem, for it may just as well be rooted in a past or past life experience. Spirit attachment could also be involved. Since we tend to reincarnate in the same family lines, we could even be the ancestor causing the problem!

If you suspect that you are dealing with family karma or ancestral wounds, it’s a good idea to find a healer who is experienced in such matters. A hypnotherapist will ask your own higher self/subconscious mind what’s going on and what you need in order to create what you want in your life. Some healers may use kinesiology testing or dowsing to determine the root problem. A good psychic may be able to pick up on what’s happening and what you need to do to resolve it.

As for how healers resolve such matters, it depends on who you see. A hypnotherapist will first guide you into a deep trance state. From there, she may dialog with your higher self or subconscious mind to ask what the root problem is and what needs to happen in order to resolve it. If it’s determined that you are acting out an undesirable pattern you’ve inherited from someone else, she will guide you in giving back or releasing that pattern. If it’s discovered that the belief or pattern causing you trouble is rooted in a past or past life experience, she will guide you in healing and releasing that experience and any limiting imprints and patterns you picked up as a result of it. Since every person and situation is unique, a good therapist has to know how to work intuitively with an individual in order to respond to their personal needs in the moment.

If you see a shaman and it’s determined that there are ancestral wounds that need healing, the shaman may lead you through a ritual designed to transcend space/time, connect with the ancestor, and facilitate healing. This may involve all sorts of wonderful elements such as incense, drumming, chanting, guided meditation, journeying, etc.

There are a few things you can do on your own. There are many cultures that build altars devoted to their ancestors. If you are feeling some tension or conflict with your family line, you might use regular prayer or meditation in front of a family altar as a ritual to help you begin to consciously work through your familial karmic inheritance. You can also send healing back to your ancestors much as you would send distant healing to a family member living now. I recommend meditating on whatever it is you are struggling with and sending healing to whatever comes to you, whether it’s ancestral in nature or not. Also, when we keep experiences secret, we actually give those experiences power over us. If there are any family secrets you’re holding close to your chest, you may want to unburden yourself of the power they hold over you by bringing them out into the open where you can face and deal with them.

Finally, it’s important to remember that what we inherit is a tendency, not a certainty. What we are unconscious of controls us; what we become conscious of, we can control. In my view, the most powerful way to free yourself of a negative outside influence, whether that influence comes from the people you’re descended from, the people you are living with now, or the circumstances you find yourself in, is to consciously choose to create what you want in your life. This is the power underlying personal and spiritual growth. It’s the power of working with the subconscious mind in order to cultivate positive beliefs. It’s the power of working with the law of attraction.

Biology is not destiny: you have the power and freedom to take whatever you’ve been given and mold it into whatever you desire. The key is to bring whatever is happening up into the light where you can see it clearly, for then you’ll have the power to transform it.

Soul Arcanum

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Relationship Still Haunts her Many Years Later

Filed Under: Destiny/Higher Plan, Emotional Well-being, Healing, Relationships by Soul Arcanum — Comments Off on Relationship Still Haunts her Many Years Later


Copyright Soul Arcanum LLC. All rights reserved. :)
 

Dear Soul Arcanum:

I am wondering about a relationship that started when I was 20 and ended three years later. It was very rocky and passionate; it still haunts me to this day. I am married to a wonderful man who is in many ways the opposite of the man who left me to pursue his dream career. Despite my best efforts to get over it, this haunts me daily. Is this unfinished business, some sort of karmic destiny, or am I obsessed by what I can’t have ever again in this life? When I found out that he got married five years after we had broken up, I felt like someone had winded me. It was one of the worst and most embarrassing moments of my life, since our mutual aquaintance assumed I was past all of this. I’m hoping you have some insights for me. Will we ever meet again to put this to rest? Will we be together in the next life?

Anne

Dear Anna:

You are not alone; I receive many questions like yours at Soul Arcanum, and also do many readings for people who have similar issues. You’ve asked if this is unfinished business, karma or obsession, and I think all three are going on. You have a strong karmic connection to this individual, which means your relationship never really ended – it just went dormant on a physical level for a while. There is a lot of unfinished emotional business here, which is causing you to obsess about him. Though we tend to view obsession as something that is unhealthy, obsession is really a call from our subconscious that we are missing something important. In this case, it’s a sign that you have a deep wound that needs more healing.

Many people continue to have dreams about important people from their past for the rest of their lives. I often dream about my ex-husband; in fact, I probably dream about him more than I dream about my current husband, which feels strange and unsettling. In these dreams, I am usually hoping my ex will be “nice” to me. At first, I never had dreams in which he was kind to me, but over the years, the dreams have gotten more and more positive. I always wake up from those dreams feeling ridiculously happy that he bothered to give me the time of day.

These dreams have led me to realize that I still feel guilty about our marriage ending and some of the choices I made when we were together. I feel bad that I was unable to fulfill my vow to remain married to him until death. While I am very happily remarried, my ex doesn’t seem happy in his own life, so I still have a strong desire to make sure he is okay. Every time I interact with him in some way, I am reminded that he may still be hurting because of choices I made in the past. Though I may have moved on in my physical life, on a metaphysical level, I am still a few decades back, trying to find a way to make everything all better.

I also often think about a boyfriend I had in college who hurt me very deeply. As he was an angel when he was sober but a devil when he was drunk, I just can’t believe some of the things he did when he was drinking. There is a part of me that still seeks to understand and make peace with it all. Whether we are dreaming about someone from the past or they keep popping into our minds when we’re awake, it’s a sign that we have some unfinished business with that person or a wound that needs more healing.

The feelings you describe are both normal and very common. Just as the body is constantly seeking to return to balance, the soul is constantly seeking to work out any kinks or issues in order to find new peace and understanding. On a conscious or physical level, we may have moved on, but if there is debris from the past that has been swept under the proverbial rug, our subconscious mind will keep trying to drag it out so we can deal with it more appropriately.

This is what is happening when someone from the past pops into our minds. Usually, the feelings we last experienced in relationship to that person come with the thought of them; at the first hint of emotional pain, most of us stuff our thoughts of that person back under the rug. Thus we may go through years of having someone pop into our minds, for if we keep pushing them back under the rug, they remain where we may trip over them every time we pass through that inner room.

As we move through life, we are constantly growing in strength and wisdom. When we become more capable of dealing with something that happened in the past, we tend to notice thoughts about it more because we aren’t so quick to shove it back under the rug. When we finally become capable of truly dealing with something, instead of pushing those thoughts away, we begin to turn toward them with curiosity, as you are doing now. We begin to ask why this person keeps coming to mind and perhaps drawing correlations between what we’re experiencing, the patterns we’ve experienced over the years, and this old wound or issue from long ago. Instead of shoving thoughts of that person under the rug, we hold them up to the light and ponder the best way to deal with them.

It is highly likely that you will be drawn back into relationship with each other in future lives so that you can work through the karma between you. Further, whether positive or negative in nature, strong emotions create a gravitational force that draws us toward the object of those feelings. However, it is important to keep in mind that these relationships are ultimately not about the other person; they are about our own personal lessons and issues. While we may have karma with someone, we don’t actually need to interact with that person to learn whatever that relationship may have to teach us or to make peace with that individual. All of that can happen on a metaphysical level.

That being said, if you keep thinking about someone from the past and longing for closure, I think you’re wise to honor those thoughts and feelings as signs from your inner being regarding something important that you need in order to feel the way you want to feel and create what you want to create in your life. In many readings on such matters, Spirit has encouraged people to act on such feelings by seeking the person involved out and meeting with them. This can be very powerful, for it almost always leads to a far different experience than the person expects. For example, when the person who has felt “in love” with a certain individual for many years meets them in person again, they may realize that the person they have been in love with no longer exists and perhaps never did. In other words, they’ve been in love with an idea of a person, not a real individual. If someone has <q>hated</q> someone for years, they may realize upon meeting them again that they are not the monster of their memory and imagination. Such meetings can spark sudden and lasting change as they lead the sufferer to let go of fantasies rooted in the past and move on to more fully enjoy present realities.

When the individual can’t be met in person for some reason, meeting on a metaphysical level can be just as healing. This is especially helpful when the individual who is “haunting” you has died. While these encounters can be affected via meditation, a hypnotherapist would be able to guide you into a deeper level of experience and help you work through any strong feelings that come up so that you can achieve lasting peace and freedom from obsession.

Soul Arcanum

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The Spiritual Power of Yoga

Filed Under: Energy/Vibration, Healing, Meditation, Spiritual Growth by Soul Arcanum — Comments Off on The Spiritual Power of Yoga


Copyright Soul Arcanum LLC. All rights reserved. :)
 

Dear Soul Arcanum:

I have a friend who is always raving about the benefits of yoga and has piqued my interest. Last week, I attended a yoga class at a local gym and I have to say that I was disappointed. I thought yoga was somehow going to be spiritual – that I would feel something special during the experience – but it was basically an exercise class full of very limber people. Do you think yoga has spiritual benefits? Do I just need to keep at it or was I perhaps just expecting too much from the experience?

Joyce

Dear Joyce:

Please note that when I use the word yoga in this article, I am referring to yoga as most Westerners view it: as a form of exercise that involves movement through various poses. When most of us think of yoga, we probably think of hatha yoga, which involves a slow-paced, gentle series of different poses. There are a number of other yoga schools that are popular in the U.S., including vinyasa, ashtanga, Iyengar, bikram and kundalini yoga. There is an abundance of information on these and other styles available on the internet, so I encourage you research what each one emphasizes so you can find the right style for you.

Of course, even within a particular style, every yoga teacher is a unique individual and will teach in a unique way. If you think back to when you were in school, I bet there were teachers you loved who taught wonderful classes and teachers you really didn’t like who taught classes you dreaded. The same is true of yoga.

There are people who could turn a class on how to change a flat tire into a spiritual experience, and others who could spend an entire hour of Bible study talking about mundane, trivial matters. Similarly, there are students who can find the spiritual meaning in every life experience, and there are others who could receive a thunderbolt from heaven and think of nothing but the weather. My point is that with everything in life, what we take from an experience largely depends on what we bring to it.

That being said, I have encountered yoga teachers who seemed to be missing “the point.” In one of my own first classes, the yoga instructor was as unlike the stereotype of a serene, mantra-chanting yogi as one can imagine, for she was loud, abrupt, abrasive, impatient and critical. (Naturally, I never returned!) As you can see, finding the right teacher is essential.

It’s also important to remember that whenever we try something new, we tend to feel pretty uncomfortable since we are outside of our comfort zone. I therefore do encourage you to keep trying, for the more familiar you become with a certain practice, the more you can put your left brain aside to get fully present.

As for yoga’s spiritual side, it is definitely far more than a series of exercises designed to increase the strength and flexibility of the body: it is a practice designed to harmonize and unite the body with the heart, mind, spirit and cosmos. Through mindful yoga practice, you can move into greater harmony on all levels of your being and into greater sync with the Universe. This state of harmony can lead to improved physical health and fitness as well as profound well-being on an emotional, psychological and spiritual level. The key phrase here, of course, is “when practiced mindfully.”

Yoga developed as a way for spiritual seekers to achieve higher states of consciousness in meditation. A yoga teacher once explained that yoga was what one did before attempting to engage in deep meditation, the idea being that by getting all the tension out of the body, it would be far more comfortable to sit in a meditation pose for hours afterward. In my experience, it is indeed amazingly easy to go directly into a very profound state of consciousness when meditating directly after practicing yoga.

Getting centered in our bodies and gently stretching toward greater flexibility has concurrent effects on a metaphysical level. When we let go of physical tension, we naturally begin to let go of tension in our hearts and minds. As we move through each pose, we let go of stress and strain from everyday life and can quickly shift from a bad mood into feelings of profound peace and joy. In fact, yoga practice encourages such a high vibration that it can lead to instant healing not only of emotional issues but also physical ailments and imbalances. Further, the more we engage in the process of getting centered within, the more we carry this ability throughout our everyday lives. We can then move through all sorts of normally upsetting situations with calm grace because we are so practiced at moving in this way.

Yoga encourages a state of health on all levels, for balance is health, and yoga cultivates balance in the body and between the various aspects of our being. When we are in balance physically, our bodies feel good. When we are in balance emotionally, we feel centered and calm. When we balance all aspects of our being, we begin to embody graceful poise and radiant vitality.

Yoga also opens us up for a greater flow of life force energy, which leads to shining health and happiness. In some cases, yoga can ignite kundalini and spark a spiritual awakening and the development of psychic powers. When we are fully present to each moment and in a peaceful, high vibration, our intuition blossoms and we begin to receive all sorts of insights and creative ideas on how to solve problems and create what we want in our lives. Further, the more we synchronize our bodies with our hearts, minds and spirits like this, the better we get at this sort of communication. This allows us to hear different aspects of our beings telling us what we most need. This greater intuitive awareness helps us flow through everyday life much like we flow through different yoga poses: we spontaneously take just the right actions, say just the right words, and know just the right way to move forward so that what we desire to happen happens and our journey remains smooth.

On top of all of this guidance, yoga practice enhances our ability to consciously create what we want in our lives via the law of attraction. When we move into sync with the Universe, our desires merge with the desires of nature, which makes it far easier to focus on something and attract it into our experience. When we move into a state of flow with all aspects of our being and All That Is, we begin to dance with the Universe, drawing what we need our way, flowing away from what we don’t want, and naturally attracting whatever will fulfill our true needs and desires.

I think yoga is great for everyone, but I have found that it is especially beneficial for people who suffer from anxiety disorders because it helps them train themselves to relax into the moment instead of endlessly worrying about the future. It is also beneficial for spiritual seekers who are highly energetic and find it hard to sit still for meditation. It’s a wonderful form of physical and spiritual exercise for anyone who is tense in body, heart or mind, for it teaches us how to relax and go with the flow instead of endlessly pushing ourselves or fighting the current. Finally, yoga is a fantastic way to bridge the gap between the physical and the spiritual, for it harmonizes all aspects of our being and opens us up to a higher level of spiritual awareness and experience.

Soul Arcanum

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Sending Distant Healing

Filed Under: Energy/Vibration, Healing by Soul Arcanum — Comments Off on Sending Distant Healing


Copyright Soul Arcanum LLC. All rights reserved. :)
 

Dear Soul Arcanum:

My mother lives across the country from me, and she was recently diagnosed with breast cancer. I feel so bad that I can’t be there for her now. I have heard that you can send energy healing to people who are at a distance, and am wondering if this is something I might start doing. Do you think this is possible? Can anyone do it? If so, how would I go about it?

Sandy

Dear Sandy:

This is definitely possible and something anyone can do. Since you have a great deal of love for your mother, you are a perfect person to send her healing in this way. While it’s true that some people have a gift for channeling healing energy, love is the strongest, purest source of healing in the Universe, so sending your love is a wonderful way to support and bless her at this difficult time.

There are three main things that make some healers particularly gifted: faith, spiritual development, and love. Studying these traits should help you become a more powerful healer yourself.

My grandmother had no training as an energy healer but she had tremendous religious faith; when she prayed for people, miracles happened. It may seem like you either have faith or you don’t, but it is actually something you can cultivate. One way to cultivate faith that what you are doing is real and powerful is to Google the scientific studies that have yielded significant results regarding the power of energy healing. You might also explore the work of Masaru Emoto, who has done some fascinating studies on the power of energies like thoughts and feelings to influence the formation of water crystals. I also recommend the book The Secret Life of Plants, for it includes fascinating experiments that demonstrate that our intentions profoundly impact the living beings around us as well as any living beings we focus upon from a distance.

The second trait I mentioned is spiritual development, by which I mean the ability to consciously work with energy. There are many ways to develop the ability to influence outer reality with our intentions, including but not limited to the practice of Qigong and other martial arts, yoga, meditation, magick, shamanic ritual, energy healing, and working with the law of attraction.

The third trait I mentioned is love. The best healers are deeply caring and compassionate; their “big hearts” make them capable of channeling a lot of divine love, which is the most potent source of healing in the Universe. You already have great love for your mother, but you can become a more powerful healer in general if you make a habit of looking for the divine beauty in others and blessing everyone you meet with kind thoughts and feelings.

Once you’re on your way to having all the traits of a great healer, sending healing energy will be simple. Some distant healers use physical objects such as photographs or even stuffed animals as focal points, but I think this is a matter of personal preference. I much prefer to simply hold the person I’m sending energy to in my heart and visualize them in my mind.

To begin, just close your eyes, take a few slow, deep breaths, and mentally reach up to connect with divine love. See a beautiful light glowing above you; feel how it tingles as it connects with your aura and begins to flow through you. Bask in the feelings of bliss that arise as this tingly shower of divine light bathes you with peace and well-being.

Next, link with your mother by thinking about her, how much you love her, and how you wish her well. Let your heart swell with love for her, then inwardly state a clear, high intention of being a source of comfort and healing for her. If you believe in angels and/or spirit guides, this is the time to pray to them to help you send healing. Whether you have a conscious personal relationship with your guides and angels or not, you can pray for divine helpers to go to your mother to comfort and support her, and visualize her surrounded by beings of divine light.

Next, visualize your mother in front of you. See yourself standing in a river with your mother ahead of you just downstream. See yourself placing your hands in the river, and as you do so, see the particles of light that are flowing into you flow out into the water and begin to stream toward her. Notice how, with your mind and heart, you can channel the flow of that divinely blessed water toward her. See her delighting in receiving this lovely water, and see her coming alive with new joy and well-being.

Visualize her in a state of perfection, glowing with health, happiness, peace and vitality. Visualize her smiling and feeling good about herself, her life, and the future. See her receiving this water in whatever way is right for her, spontaneously using it as she needs. Perhaps you’ll see it washing over her, cleansing her heart and mind of worries. Maybe you’ll see her cupping her hands and drinking of it to quench her spiritual thirst. See all worries being washed away as this water refreshes her spirit. Know that all you need to do is send her this loving, healing energy, and she will use it in whatever way she needs it at that time.

At some point, this process will feel complete. Say a final blessing to your mother in your mind, give thanks for the healing that has taken place, and then simply go on about your daily life.

Please note that when I do energy healing work on someone, I ask to be shown that person in a state of perfect health, happiness and well-being. I am then usually shown them when they were a small child. I simply appreciate the perfection of that child – the strong, healthy little body running joyfully around, the open-hearted wonder of childhood, the perfect peace of mind that comes from living in the moment – and I send the energy of that perfect vision to the person I’m healing so that they can remember how that state of perfect well-being feels. Where many energy healers will scan for problems to “fix,” I don’t believe that is truly helpful because focusing on problems just sends more energy to those problems. With this in mind, you would be wise to ignore any health struggles your mother is going through and simply send her positive, loving vibes while visualizing her feeling happy and healthy.

As I mentioned above, it’s also important to act from faith, which includes letting go of what happens as a result of your efforts. If you are attached to your mother feeling you sending her energy, to her getting better, or to any particular outcome at all, you will shift from a state of divine love into ego and thus disconnect from the infinite healing energy available. This can cause you to experience some undesirable side effects, such as taking on the problems of the people you’re sending healing to, feeling their symptoms, developing headaches from strain, or simply exhausting yourself because you’re pushing from the limited pool of your own energy instead of allowing it to flow from an unlimited divine source. The key is not what you picture but the quality of your own vibration and intention, so simply connect to the divine, connect to your mother, and let your love flow with faith that she will receive and use the energy you send her in whatever way is right for her at that time.

Soul Arcanum


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Healing Karma with Father who Abused Her

Filed Under: Emotional Well-being, Healing, Karma, Past Lives, Reincarnation by Soul Arcanum — Comments Off on Healing Karma with Father who Abused Her


Copyright Soul Arcanum LLC. All rights reserved. :)
 

Dear Soul Arcanum:

I “divorced” my father when I was in my late 20s because he was a pedophile who refused to acknowledge the harm he’d done to my siblings and me. I pressed criminal charges against him when I was in my early 30s and he went to jail. My brother kept in contact with him until a few years ago when he took a sexploitation trip through Thailand. I’ve been through 12-step programs for incest survivors and have done a lot of inner work. My children know why they don’t have a second grandfather. I consider myself a full survivor but want to know if there are ways to complete the emotional healing process so I don’t carry unfinished karma into my next incarnation. Thank you for the great work you do through your columns. My friends and family appreciate them too.

Moneca

Dear Moneca:

First I have to commend you for all the inner work you’ve already done to heal from the past and empower yourself for the future. I also applaud your foresight, for you are right in assuming that until this experience is fully healed, it will come up again and again for you, if not in this lifetime, then in future lives.

My sense is that you’ve pretty much made peace with this on a personal level; what’s left is to make peace with your father so you can align with a higher level of experience with him in future lives. On the other hand, you may already be at the point where you can look at the blessings that came from this experience and give thanks for the unique journey that has been yours, which is a sign that you’re at peace and ready to move on.

Before those readers who can’t see how such an experience could possibly involve any sort of blessing start sending me hate mail, let me explain. I’m sure this difficult journey made you question life and become a deeper thinker, that it stretched you to find inner strength you didn’t know you had, and that it led you to develop compassion for everyone who suffers abuse. We tend to view painful experiences as curses, but in my experience, the more life stretches our capacity to endure, the stronger and wiser we grow.

There is a key turning point in the spiritual healing process where one who has been abused begins to find compassion for the abuser. Let me share my own experience to demonstrate that I know what I’m talking about.

When I was a teenager, I was stalked and eventually raped by a crazy guy in his twenties. Though I was too young to fully realize it at the time, I have come to understand that our meeting was destined and that we already had a strong but troubled karmic bond.

His mother cut and styled hair out of her home, which is where we first encountered each other – at least, in this lifetime. When I saw him, every hair on my body stood up at attention. There was a sense of instant recognition I’ve come to associate with reuniting with someone from a past life, only this time, the feeling was far from positive. In fact, I was inexplicably terrified.

Since there was no logical reason to feel this way, I pushed the feelings aside. It’s too long a story to go into in detail here, but this guy must have felt something strong too because he began to stalk me. I would be driving home from work and see him in his car, following me. When I left school for the day, he would be in the parking lot, leaning against his car, just staring at me. He began to call me every night. When I tried to shake him off, he began to threaten to harm my little brother or my friends. I had learned that he had a number of friends who were convicted felons, so I decided to take his threats seriously.

He stalked me for months before he managed to get me alone; that’s when the rape occurred. I guess I was naïve, but I was truly shocked at how violent he became. It was following that experience that I took my power back, shed my fear of him, and took a stand by telling him that if he ever contacted me again, I would go to the police. (I know I should have gone to the police anyway, but I was sure my father would kill him if he found out, and I couldn’t bear the thought of my dad spending the rest of his life in prison.)

The turning point in my healing process came when I realized that I would rather be me and be raped by this man than to be him. As I struggled to understand why he had done what he’d done, I realized that his inner world was a really twisted, ugly place. I only had to live with his ugliness for a while; for him, it was a constant and inescapable prison.

As I had karmic encounters with other people from past lives, I also realized that I must have some history with this guy. I don’t know what happened back then, but I came to understand that we were both unconsciously acting out some old patterns. I also realized that if I didn’t want to keep circling this enemy throughout future lives, I would have to consciously change things for the better.

This is where your own story comes in. While I am in no way suggesting you try to find a way to justify what your father did or equating an attack by a stranger with the profound betrayal of a parent, it’s nevertheless true that in order to fully heal and set yourself free from this for all time, you would be wise to try to find compassion for your father.

Can you imagine what it would be like to be him? There is a lot of wisdom in saying to yourself, There but for the grace of God go I. While people like to tell themselves that they could never be as selfish or cruel as the individuals they most despise, in my view, that sort of thinking is a good way to be born as just such an individual because walking some miles in their shoes may the only way to develop compassion and understanding for them.

On my own quest for healing, it occurred to me that I may have hurt this man really badly at some point. As I pondered the karma between us, I also imagined him being raped or abused in a future lifetime in order to learn some compassion, and that’s when it occurred to me that perhaps this was why I had been attacked – to develop greater kindness and compassion than I had embodied in the past. (To better understand karmic relationships and why we reincarnate with the same people over and over again, you might want to explore the research of Michael Newton, Ph.D.)

If finding compassion for your dad proves too difficult, hypnotherapy may be just what you’re looking for. A gifted therapist can guide you in hearing your higher self so you can determine what needs to be done next in your healing process, help you heal and release any issues that are still sore spots for you, and empower you to move past any beliefs that could be preventing you from fully resolving all of this. For example, if you believe it’s not safe to forgive because you could be hurt again, working with a hypnotherapist can help you reprogram your belief system so you can bless yourself with greater peace and healing.

You will know that you have completed the healing process when you can give thanks for the wisdom, strength, compassion and other benefits you received from this experience, and when you can feel compassion for your father and sincerely hope he finds his way to the same peace you hunger for in your own heart.

Soul Arcanum

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Can You Conquer Addictions with the Law of Attraction?

Filed Under: Emotional Well-being, Healing, Law of Attraction, Manifesting by Soul Arcanum — Comments Off on Can You Conquer Addictions with the Law of Attraction?


Copyright Soul Arcanum LLC. All rights reserved. :)
 

Dear Soul Arcanum:

Is it possible to use the law of attraction to manifest sobriety and the wisdom to eat only what one needs instead of overindulging? I’m stuck in a vicious cycle wherein I overindulge, which brings my energy way down and makes it hard to manifest what I want in my life, which just leads me to overindulge some more.

Patty

Dear Patty:

Addictions and “overindulging<” arise from misguided attempts to feel better. There is a deeper hunger driving this behavior, but because you’re not addressing that deeper need, no amount of other stuff will make you feel satisfied. Since you’re not conscious of what’s really going on, you gobble up more and more of what you don’t need because it brings you quick but temporary relief. This is like endlessly watering a plant that needs more sun; the plant won’t thrive and will probably begin to languish because even though you’re giving it a lot of attention, it’s not getting the light it needs.

Let’s say that to get more sun, the plant would have to be carefully transplanted to a nice sunny spot on the other side of your property. If you move the plant, you can move on to all sorts of other wonderful endeavors because you won’t have to endlessly deal with that problem anymore. This doesn’t necessarily mean you’re going to move the plant, of course. There are all sorts of reasons you may avoid doing whatever has to be done to fully take care of the situation.

You may not consciously realize what is needed. It may be that you’ve never transplanted a plant before and are afraid that you’ll mess things up and kill it. You may assume it will take too long and be a very messy chore and you just don’t want to deal with all of that right now. If there is a watering can nearby, it may seem so much easier to just give it a little more water in hopes that this remedy will do the trick.

Like plants that need more sun, people who develop addictions have needs that aren’t being acknowledged or addressed. By way of just one example, many people who have anxiety issues self-medicate with various substances. They may not consciously realize why they feel compelled to self-medicate. They may be afraid that digging in to those bigger issues will be overwhelming or painful. They may not know how to address those deeper needs, or feel like they just don’t have the time and energy to deal with those problems right now. They just want to feel better fast, and they’ve learned from experience that “over-indulging” is a quick and easy way to get a lift – at least for a little while.

The more a person uses a certain coping technique, the more it becomes an engrained habit. At the same time, because they aren’t dealing with their issues, life tends to grow more challenging and overwhelming. This is why addictions to food, alcohol and drugs become more and more difficult to break until a person hits “rock bottom” and their desire for change grows stronger than their desire to avoid unpleasant or difficult emotional issues.

To break free of addiction, it’s essential to start facing whatever you’ve been trying to avoid. This is where spiritual growth and healing come in. For example, seeing a hypnotherapist can help you become conscious of the issues underlying destructive behavior, find healing, and develop healthier habits. From traditional counseling to hypnotherapy to meditation, there are many ways to face the issues underlying addictive or compulsive behaviors. To become free, the important thing is to make a decision to do whatever you have to do to fully resolve the real issues.

We can’t create what we want in our lives without resolving inner conflicts and issues, for most of what we manifest arises from a subconscious level. This means we must consciously face and work through whatever issues may be underlying addictive behaviors to gain the power to use the law of attraction. For this reason, the more we devote ourselves to spiritual growth and personal improvement, the more powerful we grow as conscious creators of our own realities.

To use the law of attraction to quit drinking, lose weight, or achieve any other goal, you have to focus on what you want, not what you don’t want. With this in mind, it’s wise to let go of thoughts like I want to QUIT drinking or I want to STOP overeating. Instead, focus on who you do want to be and what you do want to create in your life.

It’s also wise to lighten up. I know addiction is a serious matter, but if we beat ourselves up about what we’ve done in the past, we’ll beat our vibration down. If we view a goal as being very hard to attain, we’ll just make it harder. This is why making peace with potentially not achieving a certain goal often empowers us to achieve it. By letting go of fear that we’ll fail and embodying the truth that “all is well,” we empower ourselves to gracefully flow toward where we want to go.

We “overindulge” because we want to feel better. When we alter our brain chemistry through things like drugs, alcohol, sugar, shopping, etc., our vibration rises and we get “high.” If we don’t know constructive ways to achieve a higher vibration, we become dependent on such practices for an immediate but temporary boost. Instead of viewing yourself as addicted to a particular habit or substance, it may be helpful to recognize that what you are really addicted to is feeling better, and that wanting to feel better is perfectly natural. It would also be wise to study more constructive ways to boost your vibration when you need a lift.

Be gentle with your body and patient with your heart. Make sure your goals are coming from a purely positive place of self-love. If you hate yourself for your past decisions, you’ll have a hard time manifesting positive change. Instead, approach your goals loving yourself, wanting to feel better, seeing yourself as capable of creating what you want and happily visualizing yourself as you want to be.

It’s also important to remember that since most of what we manifest arises from a subconscious level, how we see ourselves is very powerful. If we view ourselves as overweight alcoholics, we’ll tend to be overweight alcoholics. We have to come to see ourselves as we desire to be in order to become that person. This new image of ourselves must become brighter, more vivid and more alive than any old images we had of ourselves, which requires vigilant inner work. For a while, every time a situation comes up in which you would have overindulged in the past, you’ll have to override the thoughts, impulses and images that come up with the new way you want to be and behave. This may take a lot of will power and mental diligence at first, but the more you do it, the more it will become a habit. Eventually, those new images will become how you naturally see yourself and who you actually are.

Ask yourself what unmet needs are driving these undesired behaviors and find new ways to feel better. Get very clear about what achieving freedom from addiction means to you. Visualize yourself healthy, attractive, competent, empowered and free. Don’t fixate on undesired behaviors; the important thing is to vibrationally align with how you want to be and feel, and keep this vision vibrantly alive in your heart and mind.

– Soul Arcanum

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