Category: Healing


Meditation for Healing Mistrust

Copyright Soul Arcanum LLC. All rights reserved. :)
 

Dear Soul Arcanum:

I would like to know if spirituality in any form can help with social anxiety. I don’t seem to be able to trust anyone, and I want to know if spiritual practices can help with this type of problem.
– Kathleen

Dear Kathleen:

First, please know that you are not alone; I frequently receive this question in various forms.

Mistrust is basically fear that we will be deceived, disappointed or betrayed. This fear is of the ego; it requires a general perspective of separation, of “I” versus “them.” Will they give to me as much as I give to them? Will they treat me as well as I treat them?

Trust is basically faith that whatever happens, everything will be fine. This faith is of the spirit. It requires a general perspective of unity, and assumes we are all in this together. Instead of competing against each other for what we want and need, we are all actors playing our own parts in this great performance called life, and it would certainly be boring if we were all perfect saints.

In my view, the ONLY practices that will truly help you heal your inability to trust others are spiritual practices, for a spiritual path will lead you from ego to spirit, from fear to faith. You will learn to look beyond surface appearances and past your temporal fears about betrayal and disappointment for the deeper meaning in your experiences, and connect with people on a higher level. When you do this, you will not only grow as a person and enjoy a sense of inner peace and security, you will also draw out the best in others. You will manifest a higher level of experience and draw a higher quality of people into your life.

It sounds like you are in the process of making a shift onto a more conscious spiritual path. Many people experience what you’re struggling with as they move from interacting with the world primarily via the third chakra (the solar plexus) to a more heart-based approach to life.

In relationships, our solar plexus sends us warnings to help us protect ourselves, our interests and our resources. When we shift our awareness up into our hearts, we are guided to love ourselves and others, to heal, nurture, and manifest emotional fulfillment. As we are making this shift, it’s natural to want to be able to trust more, and yet not know how to change our old habits.

Earth is a great spiritual school because it creates all sorts of fears about physical survival that one does not encounter in the non-physical. It is basically an exercise in learning to overcome fear in order to choose Spirit.

Further, we all carry a deep longing to recover the bliss of the non-physical, and we usually first seek that special feeling in earthly experiences and other people. This leads some people to drink, do drugs, or pursue other “highs” through extreme sports, sex, compulsive shopping, etc. Others may seek bliss by looking for someone perfect, someone they can always trust and count on – someone who won’t fail or disappoint them as their parents did.

This quest for a perfect person naturally leads to disappointment and cynicism. As we begin to build faith in something higher than our worldly experiences, we grow toward the thing we are truly longing for – a direct relationship with God. This leads us to peace with life and people – just the way they are.

When you learn how to step outside your ego and view people and experiences from the perspective of Spirit, you will rise above self-interest. Then if others are behaving in ways you have found hurtful or disappointing in the past, you won’t take it personally.

In time you may gain the ability to discern why others are behaving as they are, and what spiritual issues they are dealing with. Then you may even be able to offer them love, compassion and spiritual guidance as they struggle with their life lessons.

Further, by greeting others from a place of spirit instead of ego, you will bring out their higher natures. (By mistrusting people right off the bat, you have been doing the opposite: you’ve been expecting and therefore eliciting their worst tendencies.)

Silently communicating with people can have a PROFOUND effect on your experiences. Upon meeting or seeing someone, you might think, “The light in me greets the light in thee,” or “The love in me welcomes the love in you,” or “Namaste,” or something similar. When you do this with feeling, their soul will hear your soul even if their conscious mind remains oblivious.

Whenever you are feeling mistrustful, you can also practice this meditation:

Sit quietly and completely relax your body. Spend at least five minutes getting very deeply centered and relaxed via conscious breathing. Breathe in deeply to a count of four; hold that breath full in your belly to a count of four; exhale slowly to a count of four; pause before breathing in again to a count of four. Notice how a feeling of calm well-being washes over you, and how as you wait to take that next breath, you have a moment of worry – can you wait until the count of four? – then a feeling of relief and pleasure when you take the next inhale.

Notice how the next breath is always available to you, and observe how in knowing this, you can wait for that full count. You don’t need to worry that if you don’t breathe right now, you will suffer. You can trust and sit with your lungs empty for a few counts, for at any moment, you can always choose to breathe. It’s all up to you. The next breath is always available; well-being is always available. You just have to allow yourself to breathe it in.

Now visualize yourself as the teacher of a kindergarten class, for this will engage your higher self in dealing with others’ lower natures. Look around at all the children there. Some are from loving families, while others feel much more alone in the world. Some have been taught good manners, while others are struggling to learn how to follow the rules. As young children, each one is lovable and vulnerable in his or her own way.

You can see them struggling with problems and try to help them, but there are many things they will have to learn for themselves. Sometimes they behave badly: They may not want to share, they may throw tantrums now and then, they may even strike out at you when they’re afraid or frustrated. There are many other moments, however, when they reach out to touch you with curiosity, when they want to play with you and be your friend, when they lean against you with trust and affection.

You are at peace with all of this, for you accept that this is how children are: They can be adorable one moment and exasperating the next. You also know better than to take their behavior personally. You can see that they are all divine spirits struggling to learn their way in the world, just like you, and you know that they are doing the best they can. You also know that the more you love them and allow them to learn and grow in their own way, the more they will love and respect you, and want to do a good job for you.

Besides, your own happiness and well-being do not depend on the fleeting choices of any particular child – your well-being is as available to you as your next breath, and you choose when to breathe it in. You have learned that you can sit with disappointment or emptiness with trust that whenever you want or need to, you can breathe in the love, peace and happiness you desire.

If you trust in Spirit, you don’t have to trust other people, for you will live in full awareness that the source of your well-being is far greater than anything or anyone on Earth. I truly believe that if you ask Spirit to heal you and guide you to positive relationship experiences, your life will begin to change in wonderful ways.

– Soul Arcanum


For Teens Who are Self-Destructive

Copyright Soul Arcanum LLC. All rights reserved. :)
 

Dear Soul Arcanum:

I’ve always been respectful, responsible and a good student. When I met my current boyfriend, however, I started to change. Since we got together eight months ago, I’ve started hanging out with a new crowd, and my old friends say I’m a different person. My boyfriend gets very jealous if I even talk to another guy, and about once a month, he drives me to the point where I can’t think about anything but the fact that he’s mad at me. I then get very depressed until I go to extremes to make up. When this happens, it seems like everything around us just falls apart. We can’t see living without each other, though sometimes we threaten to stop seeing each other just to see if the other one cares enough to do something about it. My life is falling apart. I can’t see my father anymore because he’s a drug addict, I don’t get along with my mom, and my grades are horrible. My boyfriend is the only one who encourages me, though sometimes he digs me into deeper messes. I have a bit of a weight problem, and I have stopped eating in the past just to make people see that I was depressed in hopes someone would help me. What do you think I should do?
– Breanna

Dear Breanna:

I hear your cry for help, and I’m answering it for you and folks of all ages who are in the delicate transition between spiritual childhood and adulthood. I want you to know that even when the people you’re “supposed” to be able to count on let you down, there is always help available to you in Spirit.

Throughout our lives we are surrounded by human beings who are fallible and often caught up in their own life lessons. When we’re vulnerable children, hopefully someone is paying enough attention to see that our needs are met. As we grow up, however, instead of waiting for someone to hear our various cries for help, we have to learn how to take care of ourselves, for we’re the only ones who really can.

It’s time for you to depend on someone more reliable than your parents, peers and boyfriend, and that “someone” is your own higher self and the wisdom and support of Spirit. Fortunately, you’re young and at a very powerful, pivotal junction in your life. If you can move into a conscious relationship with Spirit now, you may skid right past all the dysfunctional things adults do as they struggle to cope with life’s many challenges.

You see, most adults develop the habit of deadening their feelings in response to life’s blows, and this causes them to lose conscious awareness of their inner guidance system. When we repress our desires, erect rigid self-defense mechanisms, and adopt self-destructive habits and false beliefs in order to avoid pain and disappointment, we also disconnect our inner compass. Thus, the earlier we begin to consciously work with Spirit, the easier it tends to be.

Regardless of our chronological age, at some point we are all led to begin building our own spiritual foundation. When we’re little, our parents are essentially our “gods.” They anticipate and fulfill our needs; they seem to be omniscient and infallible; we feel safe and secure with them. As we grow up, however, we realize how very human they are, and this leaves us feeling bereft and unsettled. We then flail about in search of a “new” god.

As our modern world has forsaken religion/spirituality in favor of other pursuits, and turned the quest for God into the quest for a soul mate, it’s only natural for young people like you to shift your allegiance from your parental “gods” to a boyfriend or girlfriend. (Older “kids” can insert the terms lover, partner or spouse here.) When we put a human being in the place of God in our lives, we are definitely in for a rocky ride. What you really need is a direct, conscious relationship with Spirit and your own inner guidance system, which is designed to keep you safe and lead you to fulfillment.

Your inner compass knows when what you’re about to do isn’t really good for you, and it tries to tell you this via your feelings. If you’re thinking about doing something that isn’t going to work out well for you, you may feel a jarring “pang” of hesitation. Then your mind will usually kick in and try to convince you to go ahead and do what you were planning on doing. This may happen so fast that you are never even aware that you had that feeling in the first place.

It’s important to learn how to watch for those feelings and then stop and explore what’s behind them, for at those moments, higher spiritual intelligence is trying to get our attention in order to lead us to what is best for us. Every time we act against that inner knowing, we end up experiencing pain of some kind; when we make a habit of working with it, life gets better and better.

This inner guidance is not some cosmic parent telling you what you “should” do. It’s your own higher self and/or spirit guides trying to steer you toward the decisions that will leave you happy, healthy, and on your way to fulfilling your dreams. Your spirit guides are working with and for YOU, and only want to help you get what you really need and want in life.

One big challenge for young people is that they don’t yet know what they want – and if they don’t know what they want, how can their inner guidance lead them to it? The answer is by finding out what they DON’T want. We all spend a lot of time in our early experiences – our first jobs, romantic relationships, friendships, etc. – having experiences we find undesirable, and these lead us to define more clearly what we DO want.

When you’re not sure what you want at some point, it’s wise to simply identify how you want to FEEL, and love yourself enough to take action in order have that experience. For example, if your boyfriend often leaves you feeling unappreciated when you want to feel cherished, you must be willing to take action (perhaps by leaving that relationship) in order to manifest a more fulfilling situation.

Also, develop the habit of asking Spirit to show you how certain decisions will most likely unfold. If you do this, sometimes you’ll get psychic impressions, and other times, you’ll just use foresight and common sense to make good decisions. Our ability to look ahead like this generally determines how smooth or bumpy our journey through life will be.

So as you contemplate a certain decision or action, ask Spirit to show you what will happen if you do it, and then simply see what pops into your head. You may see a mental “video” of the future, or you may hear words like “trouble” or “danger” or “do it” in your mind, or you may have a feeling in your gut like queasiness, anxiety, or a warm glow.

If what you perceive is attractive, then go for it. Obviously, if what you perceive in the future is not what you really want and you move forward anyway, you’re just asking for trouble.

At some point we must all grow up and find our own way. If you’ve always counted on other people to save you, help you or guide you, this transition may feel very unsettling, but it’s the only truly secure path. It’s like the difference between having a good job and being self-employed. Most people are afraid to strike off on their own because they have more faith in their employer than they do in themselves! We would all be wise to rely on ourselves and Spirit more than anyone or anything else in the Universe, and to trust our own inner knowing above all, for when we consciously work with our own inner guidance system, it steers us to whatever we need in all areas of our lives.

– Soul Arcanum


Is this the year we MUST wake up spiritually or else?

Copyright Soul Arcanum LLC. All rights reserved. :)
 

Dear Soul Arcanum:

I value your opinions greatly! Everything you have written resonates with me completely. I work at a friend’s spiritual shop, and recently, I asked her about something I have been noticing. Some people around me are receiving wake-up calls now, and I’m not sure they’re listening. My sister may have cancer, and my ex-husband (the father of my son) was just told he has RSD (curling of the hand) for life. He’ll have to have surgery every seven years. A lost friend of mine was told she has a rare blood disorder that may cause organ failure, and another friend’s husband has a rare blood disorder that needs to be checked weekly. My question is why is this happening to these folks, and all around the same time? My friend said it seems these people are not awake, and that this is “the year” that will make or break ALL OF US. Those who are awake and facing their issues head-on will continue on in their spiritual evolution, while those who are not awake or not facing their personal issues will have things happen that force them to wake up. Have you heard about this year being “the” year? If so, what are your thoughts about this happening? How can I best teach and guide my son in light of all of this? He’s only five years old now; is this something I need to start soon? Thank you!
– Maggie

Dear Maggie:

Yes! I have heard that this is “the” year that we must either wake up and get it right spiritually or suffer various horrible consequences. Of course, I’ve heard this same thing EVERY year for as long as I can remember. Supposedly, the world is also going to end any minute now; we’re way overdue.

I’m kidding with you, of course. I’m actually really glad you asked about this, because if we don’t stop all those “spiritual people” spreading fear far and wide with their gloomy predictions of earth changes and other scary stuff soon, the planet is going to implode. Okay, I’m kidding again. I can’t seem to help myself!

All joking aside, when we first start to awaken into the upper range of spiritual awareness for this dimension, life on Earth begins to feel a bit uncomfortable. We used to be like most people – oblivious to how our choices and actions create not only our own realities, but also affect the Whole. Now, however, we not only “get it,” but must deal with the double-edged sword of compassion. As we become more sensitive to others’ feelings, we begin to feel their pain. It’s this compassion that motivates “spiritual people” to become helpers and healers, or to just try to make a difference.

I feel this is basically where you’re coming from. You’ve attained a new level of spiritual awareness, and are seeing a lot of contrast in everyone who hasn’t yet joined you. You’re sensitive to others’ suffering, and very much wish for them all the good things you now know come with being “awake.” In caring more than ever before, you’ve opened a whole new can of worms, and along with the blessings, there are some big fears in there.

As we have the power to consciously manifest what we want in our lives, all these health problems must stem at some level from a lack of conscious awareness – that is true. The more we try to avoid dealing with our own personal lessons and issues, the more pain we tend to experience. I’d like to suggest, however, that you’ve gotten into the habit of looking for potential disaster around every corner; if there is a health problem anywhere in the vicinity, you will be sure to hone in on it.

I recommend you examine your habit of focus. While the problems of those closest to us will naturally come into our awareness, if they touch off some deep fears of our own, we may start watching out for more of the same. This is when “lost friends” and the husbands of friends, and friends of friends of friends – anyone with any possible health issue – will leap up and grab our attention.

This is what I feel happened here. Fear gripped you when you got the news about your sister. It really socked you in the gut when your ex-husband then came down with this rare disorder. This made your own vibration plummet, which made you vulnerable to the fears of mass consciousness, the greatest of which is that the world is somehow going to end. This is how you went from concern about the people you’re close to, to fear of Armageddon.

As you ran around in a panic, trying to figure out if the sky really was falling this time, your mind scrambled to make sense of all of this by comparing these two individuals. At some level, you believed that if you could figure out what else these two have in common, you could determine what “causes” this sort of thing. Then at the very least, you could make sure you and your son would be okay. When you saw that neither of these two people are what you consider spiritually “awake,” you deduced this as the cause.

What I’m trying to do is illuminate how for all of us, allowing little fears to run wild can lead to general, pervasive anxiety. When something scares us, powerful primal instincts put us on alert for more signs of danger – and what we look for, we tend to find.

Since we’re all creating our own experiences of life based on our habit of focus, instead of looking for unawake people with health problems, I recommend you start looking for all the wellness in your world. If you just look for it, you will see wellness EVERYWHERE. For every one person you know who has an extraordinary health problem, you know hundreds who sail through every day without a second thought about their physical well-being, and most of those people are not what you would consider to be “awake.”

Also, when you encounter someone who basically says the sky is falling, beware. You don’t want to get caught up in the powerful fears of mass consciousness, nor do you want to contribute to them. Whenever you feel tempted, just remember that throughout recorded history, nothing like this has ever happened despite innumerable prophecies of doom and gloom.

This may sound radical coming from me, but I don’t think fear itself is a bad thing. The Universe would be a big blank nothing if not for the opposing forces of light and darkness, good and evil, creation and destruction, faith and fear. We should no more strive to eradicate all fear than to change nighttime into day.

To be happy, instead of trying to avoid or conquer anything, we must try to make peace with all we encounter. We can, however, choose to sleep at night and live our lives in the sunshine, where it’s warm and easy to find our way around. We can choose faith over fear, and contribute to that which we personally find to be right and true at a spiritual level. This is both the best way to be a positive role model for your son, and to also manifest a life of peace, joy and well-being. As you continue to evolve, you’ll naturally grow more and more into a deep inner knowing that there is a natural divine order at work in the Universe, and that in the big scheme of things, all is well.

I expect that for the rest of my life, I will continue to hear that this is the year we will either “wake up” or suffer catastrophic consequences. I don’t believe it, because it isn’t supported by anything I’ve learned or experienced in life. Instead, I believe the more we’re centered in faith, the more we dwell in knowing that all is truly well.

Those who are asleep will continue to lose themselves in both lovely and frightening illusions – in the great dramas of life – while those who are awake will learn to relax more and more with trust that everything is going to be just fine. I figure since there is no true end to our spiritual journeys, and thus no need to rush, we might as well quit worrying and try to enjoy the ride.

– Soul Arcanum


When You Can’t Live Without Him/Her

Copyright Soul Arcanum LLC. All rights reserved. :)
 

Dear Soul Arcanum:

I have searched long and hard for a true blue psychic, and something just led me to you. I love a man whose name is Jimmy. We broke up last March over a misunderstanding, and it has been an extreme emotional roller coaster ride ever since that day. Since our breakup, I have sent kind, loving correspondence to him to let him know how I feel. I even remembered him on Christmas and sent him a gift and a card. Life has truly been a struggle. I know that one should not just wait around for love, but having someone special is extremely important to me at this time in my life. I can’t imagine life without this man, for I have always felt that he was the one for me with all of my heart. I know that he has issues when it comes to showing and expressing his emotions, but it never hindered me from pursuing him the past seven years. I do not push him in any way; I give him space to follow his heart in his own time. I have even prayed that God would take my life now and allow me to come home, because I really do not want my life to go on without this man. This is how much I truly love him. Last night I even prayed to God many times to allow this to happen if Jimmy was not going to come back to me. He may be a self-centered pig at times, but this does not diminish my love for him, because I have seen a beautiful side of him that not many people get to see. Will Jimmy come back and give this relationship another whirl, a real try he truly puts his heart into? I would really love to hear from you. Thank you for your time.
– Diane

Dear Diane:

My sweet girl, I wish I could whisk you off to a beach in Mexico for a year or so. By the end of that time, you’d be so over Jimmy. You’d be happily engaged in a whole new life, with a whole new sense of hope and possibility.

First, no person is so fantastic that life is not worth living without them. Barring extreme physical pain due to terminal illness or something like that, thoughts of suicide are always very short-sighted. When I read for people who don’t see life as worth living, Spirit often suggests they watch the movie “Joe Versus the Volcano.”

In that film, Tom Hanks’ character is a hypochondriac who learns that he is dying. He accepts the offer of a millionaire, which entails becoming a human sacrifice by throwing himself into a volcano. He has to travel halfway around the world to get to this volcano, and en route, he awakens spiritually and discovers that his life is indeed worth living. We watch him blossom from a miserable, anxiety-ridden man clinging to a bleak existence, into a bright, joyful free spirit. Only when he faces his own mortality for real does he begin to fully open to everything that is beautiful in life that he has been missing.

I encourage you to rent this movie and let it speak to your heart and soul.

Now you have to realize that what you describe as love is not really love, but rather obsession. When we’re caught up in romantic obsession like this it’s very hard to see it, so I understand if you are vehemently shaking your head and saying that I don’t understand. I know, because I’ve been where you are. I believed it was really love too, and wound up wanting to die, just like you.

My own obsession was named Dan, and my entire purpose for living was for him to love me back. When we make someone the center of our universe like this, we make them our God. As no mortal can fill those shoes, we are setting ourselves up for a lot of disappointment and heartache when we do this.

It’s not that we’re fundamentally pathetic. In fact, most people who fall into this pattern have very deep spiritual natures but a lack of spiritual teaching and direct experience of divine grace. We’ve been raised to make romance EVERYTHING. Our modern holy grail is a “soul mate.” We’ve been duped into believing that romantic love is the highest thing we can hope for. When romance then leaves us in a miserable heap on the floor, it’s no wonder we decide that life is just not worth living.

The energy underlying obsession is a very powerful force. The more you tell yourself you don’t want to live without Jimmy, the more energy you send to this force, and the harder it is to break free of it. You feel incomplete without Jimmy because you’ve literally given away your heart and soul to him.

Here’s another lesson we all have to learn eventually: Deciding that we don’t want to live without someone is actually a good way to send them fleeing. It’s a pretty heavy trip to put on someone’s shoulders. Most people feel suffocated by this sort of emotional dependency.

Making someone else responsible for our will to live is never a healthy or attractive thing to do. It leaves us clingy, vulnerable, grasping and draining. We won’t find true fulfillment in love until our own hearts and spirits are whole, until we see ourselves as complete expressions of divine beauty.

I’ve seen this sort of relationship dynamic many times, and always the person who is made God is far from deserving of that honor. I could see putting someone on a pedestal if they really were Christ-like, for then it may actually be true that we may never meet another person like them. Usually, however, the thing that is most special about the people we cling to is their indifference to our feelings. At some level we believe that if we can get this cold-hearted, self-absorbed “cool” person to return our devotion, then we will have proven to ourselves that we really are lovable.

These romantic obsessions represent someone from our past – usually the parent it was hardest to win attention, love and approval from. They can also be people we loved in past lives who rejected us. By being unmovable and indifferent, they offer us another chance to prove ourselves worthy of their attention, affection and respect. Through these relationships, we try to go back and heal some of the holes in our hearts from earlier experiences.

Our true goal is not to gain their love, however, but to learn to love ourselves enough to leave this tortuous experience behind. We may think we adore a lover more than life itself, but we can only truly love another to the degree we love ourselves. When we want to die for the lack of one individual’s returned affection, we aren’t loving anyone involved; we’re just desperately trying to find someone or something to fill the empty place inside of us.

I wish I could spirit you away to that beach in Mexico, but you don’t really need me to anyway. You don’t need anyone outside of yourself to save you or make your life worth living, because it’s already worth living, Diane.

I recommend you either find a higher calling to devote yourself to, or take off on a big adventure. If you already feel like dying, what have you got to lose? You’re here – you might as well do something important or interesting. The more you devote yourself to this higher purpose or lose yourself in this new adventure, the better you will feel.

Give the best of yourself to someone or something new, and after a while, you will realize that you feel better about yourself and about life. Your energy will detach more and more from this obsessive vortex as you put your heart and soul into relationships and undertakings that actually return your energy. This will lead you not only to new peace and happiness, but to more fulfilling experiences in love too.

There are no shortcuts to true and lasting happiness. You have to stop being a slave to romance and reach for something truer and more lasting: a sense of your own divinity, a personal relationship to Spirit/ the Universe/ All That Is, a reverent appreciation of life’s endless blessings and joys.

– Soul Arcanum

Can You Use Energy Healing for Addictions?

Copyright Soul Arcanum LLC. All rights reserved. :)
 

Dear Soul Arcanum:

Can energy healing help someone heal from an alcohol addiction? My boyfriend is in a 12-step program, but he keeps slipping – in fact, he seems to be getting worse.
– Michele

Dear Michele:

Addictions are a form of OCD – obsessive compulsive disorder. They are born of a desire to comfort ourselves when we feel emotionally overwhelmed. Some people drink, gamble, do drugs, overeat, etc. when they feel stressed out. Others can’t relax enough to have a “good time” unless they’re engaged in their addiction. All such behavior is learned via experience. Addicts simply try to feel better in the moment by relying on a method that worked in the past. After a habit has been established, of course, it takes on a life of its own. It can then be painful both physically and psychologically to break it.

Energy healing/intuitive counseling can not only help, but may prove one of the only ways to truly heal an addiction. This is because these methods will go to the root of what is causing the addiction instead of focusing on the behavior itself. If we try to change our habits without changing our beliefs, we’re in for a very difficult, uphill battle, with nothing but our willpower behind us. If we change our beliefs, then it is natural for our behavior to change accordingly, especially if we’re consciously evaluating our habits.

For example, if someone believes that they can’t handle social situations unless they’ve loosened up with drugs or alcohol, they will continue to be drawn toward substance abuse again and again until they change that belief. If they come to believe that it is truly NEVER worth it to drink in order to assuage anxiety because this produces more problems than it solves, then it will be far easier for them to change their habits to align with this personal truth.

Deep down, addicts believe they can’t deal with life without their addiction; once they start to believe they can both manage and be happy in life without whatever they’re addicted to, they can change. Positive change doesn’t usually happen without some effort, of course – we have to consciously choose what we want in our lives, and put our hearts and souls into manifesting that.

While conventional therapy may recognize that an unhealthy subconscious pattern is at work, it’s up to the addict to figure out why and what to do about it. If the addict was able to figure any of that out, they wouldn’t need help in the first place. Instead of just asking the right questions, as a therapist may do, an intuitive healer can deliver the right answers.

A good psychic can access memories and issues that have been pushed below conscious awareness. These may be from one’s past in this life, or from past lives. A medium can also discern if there is an astral entity attached to the individual that is driving the addictive behavior. Even if such an entity didn’t initiate the addiction, by simply engaging in addictive behavior, we become magnets for such entities, which try to “live through us” in order to feed their own addictive desires. These entities will try to thwart any attempts we make to heal from addiction, which of course makes it harder to quit.

A medium/energy healer can not only discern what is happening at this astral level, but can clear away such entities, and thus greatly facilitate positive change. Further, a healer can reconnect us with our best selves, and by raising our vibration, empower us to create whatever we want in our lives.

It’s also essential to view whatever we want to create in our lives with the law of attraction in mind. Whatever we focus upon expands, so if we focus on “healing from addiction,” we actually send a lot of energy to the idea that we are addicted and need healing. This may be why your boyfriend seems to be getting worse. Going to regular meetings and saying, “Hi, my name is Bob, and I’m an alcoholic” is not a good idea. Further, listening to everyone at these meetings endlessly talk about drinking and alcoholism sends a LOT of energy to the manifestation of more “alcoholism” in one’s experience.

It is often more effective to ignore an addiction and focus on creating what is wanted instead. That may mean we focus on becoming “health nuts” who only eat this and that, drink this and that, and work out so many days a week, etc. Instead of trying to NOT do something, we then have something positive to do. This has the added benefit of making us stronger and saner. One reason substance abuse is so challenging to overcome is because we’re not really in our “right minds” when we’re using. This makes it hard to think straight and make wise decisions.

Following are some of the metaphysical roots of various addictions. When these are driving compulsive behavior, it’s unlikely that traditional methods will prove successful for the long haul. Please note that attached entities can be behind any of these forms of addiction, and self-deception (the desire to avoid the truth about one’s self) is an element in ALL addictions.

Alcoholism: This common problem often stems from past lives that involved a lot of drinking. For example, in centuries past, when the water supply was unsafe, people often lived on beer and wine. They drank it “like water,” so it became normal to them. This can create a preference for such beverages. “Dying of thirst” in a past life can also cause “drinking problems.”

Compulsive Overeating: This may stem from a past life in which we starved to death, or were often very hungry. If you think about world history, this had to happen a lot. It also stems from dieting to be too thin in order to meet social ideals, and from the poor nutritional quality of much of the food we eat these days. (Our bodies will drive us to keep eating until we get the nutrients we need.)

Drug Addictions: This is often rooted in a deep feeling of not being at home here on Earth. When we feel out of sync with life, when the world just seems “wrong” because we vaguely remember other spiritual planes and long to “go home,” we may try to escape from reality via psychoactive drugs.

Gambling: Addictions to gambling are often caused by disempowerment. People who gamble compulsively don’t own their personal power to create what they want in their lives. Instead, they see their “good fortune” as coming randomly from outside of themselves. They are bored with life because they aren’t taking risks to pursue their true dreams, so they crave the excitement of gambling.

Sex: Sex addiction is often caused by a lack of creative outlets. When we have all this creative energy and we don’t know what to do with it, we may seek release through sex. It can also be caused by a lack of self-love, which we try to assuage through the affection of another. Since what we really need is self-love, however, no amount of affection from someone else will satisfy us. We might view this ultimately as a sign of spiritual longing – instead of consciously pursuing ecstatic experiences through spiritual practices, we chase after the fleeting substitute of orgasm.

All addictions are coping mechanisms; addicts are just trying to avoid experiences they fear will be “too painful.” While only they can truly create positive change in their lives, psychics and healers can help people who sincerely want to heal from addiction to gain deeper insights into their behavior, reclaim their personal power, release issues and entities driving compulsive habits, and reach for a new sense of self that is stronger, happier and healthier.

– Soul Arcanum


Kriyas: Spontaneous Vocalizations, Twitches, Energy Surges

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Dear Soul Arcanum:

I have been looking for an explanation to some strange spiritual experiences. I took a Reiki class and have been working with what I learned. On the third day I started to experience strange sounds coming from me vocally. These continued to become more frequent, and started to happen during my morning prayers, yoga, and now when any spiritual thing happens to me, even when I’m just reading about chakras in a book. This happens spontaneously; I don’t know it’s going to happen. The energy is so powerful. Do you have an explanation? Thank you for your insights.
– Ellen

Dear Ellen:

As strange as it may sound, what you’re experiencing is a normal, classic symptom of spiritual awakening. In fact, there is a Hindu word for these experiences: they’re called “Kriyas.”

Kriyas are spontaneous, involuntary physical movements. They are frequently jerks and twitches, but can also be vocalizations like sudden laughter or weeping, or the blurting out of words or other sounds. These spontaneous eruptions are caused by a surge of kundalini (life force) energy, and they occur most often during meditation and other spiritual practices – so this perfectly fits the pattern of experience you describe.

When we begin to awaken spiritually, new kundalini energy is released from our root chakras and begins to travel throughout our beings. In order for this greater energy to flow through, our energetic channels have to expand to accommodate it. If we are carrying any blocks or impediments to this stronger flow, this is when they will become apparent.

Blocks can arise from old emotional traumas or psychological issues we’ve been carrying around in our auras. These can be issues from this life or another life. They are probably not things that we are normally conscious of, but they may come up for us in the form of thoughts, feelings or memories and be relived as they are released. While this may be disconcerting and even painful, it’s all part of a natural healing process.

Sometimes kundalini experiences happen because we simply haven’t yet developed the capacity for greater flow. Just like a runner who is training for a marathon has to push beyond her 10k capabilities, we have to stretch ourselves to develop new capacities, and this naturally feels challenging. This process is happening on all levels, not just the physical, which explains why some manifestations of kundalini seem so strange.

Here’s a common analogy: Picture a garden hose that is coiled up with a trickle of water flowing through it. Now crank the faucet to turn the water flow up. If there are any kinks or obstructions in the hose, the pressure will build, and then suddenly when that pressure is strong enough, the kink in the hose may pop out.

We say we are experiencing “kundalini rising” as the inner pressure is building or surging through our systems. This can cause tingling sensations, hyperactivity, insomnia, fatigue, rapid mood swings, psychic and mystical experiences, euphoria, a sense of panic, etc. (As I’ve written before, there are a lot of interesting similarities between this process and what modern medicine has labeled “bi-polar disorder.” There are also correspondences to “chronic fatigue syndrome” and “fibromyalgia.”)

When energy suddenly breaks free, we may experience any of the above, but also muscle twitches, rushes or surges of energy, spontaneous movement and vocalizations – the list is extensive. Some people even find their bodies involuntarily moving into yoga postures when they’ve never practiced yoga before. Others find themselves speaking in foreign languages, singing, dancing ancient sacred dances, chanting, etc.

I went through a number of manifestations like this years ago when I was experiencing a surge in spiritual growth. Even now, whenever I shift my vibration in order to do a psychic reading, my body will involuntarily twitch as I move from one state of consciousness to another. I often experience twitches like this when sending or receiving healing energy as well.

Kriyas can begin to happen on a physical level long before we even become conscious of our spiritual awakening process. As you might imagine, that usually really freaks people out! They may go to their doctor or a psychiatrist to try to determine what is “wrong” with them, and instead of getting comfort and new understanding of what is happening, be put through a battery of physical tests to no avail, or end up with a prescription for something to “calm their nerves.” Some are even labeled psychotic or schizophrenic. Instead of getting help and healing, they end up distrusting not only this healing process, but also their own mental competency � which is a spiritual crisis indeed.

Your spontaneous vocalizations are your body releasing blocked energy. Sometimes these kriyas take the form of long drawn out notes, like the toning done in ritual work to raise energy, or like the classic “Om” of meditation. If you’ve ever heard chanting and toning like this, you know how powerful it can be. Sound has healing power; your body is healing itself intuitively with these vocalizations as it adjusts to a new spiritual vibration.

While this may be easier said than done, the best way to cope with kriyas is to trust and surrender to them. The more you resist them in fear, the more uncomfortable and painful they tend to become. When people learn to trust them, they often shift from alarming and painful to blissful, ecstatic experiences. Try to view this as a powerful, positive healing process.

Of course, if you’re spontaneously breaking into an ancient song and dance routine at work, or yelling out during your child’s school play, it may be really hard to relax and surrender! Resistance will only make things worse; instead of trying to make kriyas stop, you can gain some control over them by accepting and honoring them. The best way to do that is to devote some time every day to this energetic balancing process.

It sounds like you have already adopted a number of spiritual practices like meditation and healing work. Ask your inner being what you most need each day, and allow your intuition to guide you to the process that is best for you at that time. (You might also explore yoga, which can greatly facilitate better energy flow.) Then when you’re in your chosen spiritual practice, just allow whatever comes up to come up. If you experience kriyas, try to relax and surrender from the detached perspective of your inner observer. The more you do this, the more kriyas will occur during those times instead of at less opportune moments.

Now that you know that what you’re experiencing is normal and ultimately healing, hopefully you can relax and trust this process. This will raise your vibration and make everything easier, and lead you from these alarming eruptions to some wonderful awakening experiences.

– Soul Arcanum


Introduction to Energy Healing

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Dear Soul Arcanum:

I am curious about energy healing. I want to try it by getting a session with an energy healer, but I have no idea what to look for or what to expect. Can you offer some background on the whole energy healing topic?
– P.

Dear P.:

First, I encourage you to explore everything you feel drawn to, for that is your inner being guiding you. At the same time, don’t go looking for problems. If you are healthy and happy but still feel drawn to energy healing, it’s probably more because you’d make a good healer than because you need healing yourself.

For those who are unfamiliar, energy healing is the use of spiritual energy to affect the energy field surrounding and interpenetrating the body, from which all experiences (physical, emotional, mental and spiritual) arise. This approach may be called energy healing, healing touch, therapeutic touch, Reiki, etc. They’re all basically the same thing.

While most Westerners are familiar with stories of Jesus’ miraculous healing powers, energy healing can be traced back thousands of years before the Bible. The basic concept of energy as the foundation of life can be found in most cultures around the world throughout history. In ancient India, life force energy was called prana; in ancient China, it was called Chi. Even modern science is recognizing that mental observation affects the object being observed, which validates the premise of mind/body medicine central to theories of energy healing.

If you’ve never experienced energy healing, I can see why you might be a bit uncertain, for it really is vastly different from a visit to a conventional doctor’s office. With energy healing, usually someone who is suffering some kind of issue (which could be a physical ailment, but could also be an emotional, psychological, or even spiritual problem) will go to see a healer, who may or may not dialogue with them about the problem. It doesn’t matter really, for the healer is not going to diagnose or even “cure” it; she will just connect with pure positive energy and then channel that “healing” energy to the one in need.

In most cases, patients will sit or lie down and relax while the healer passes her hands through the energy field surrounding their body. Some healers do a lot of tuning in to try to find hot spots and cold spots or figure out what is wrong. I do none of that, because I don’t believe in focusing on problems. Instead, I just connect with Divine energy, let it flow, and radiate faith that all is well.

Spirit always shows me an image of the person I’m “healing” at a time when they experienced perfect well-being on every level. For many people, this is when they were a child. In any case, I just bask in that feeling and image of perfect well-being, and I love the person before me in all their divine beauty. The goal here is to help them reconnect with a feeling of great well-being that they have known before; the best they have ever felt. I move through their aura as I do this, but that is usually mainly for their benefit. In truth, we could just sit together (or at a distance) and bask in that wonderful light and get the same results.

So what kind of results are we talking about? As you can imagine, energy healing has been studied in depth, and many very positive results confirmed. Those who receive healing touch have been shown to heal from wounds faster, recover from illnesses faster, and even experience “miracle cures.”

There is more research available on the Internet than you could possibly ever wade through. There are also many wonderful books on energy healing available. There are too many to even begin a list here, but one classic I always recommend is Hands of Light by Barbara Brennan, a pioneer in the field of energy healing who also happens to be a former NASA research scientist.

I have also personally heard from people who have enjoyed spontaneous remission of cancer as a result of energy healing work, and heard from healers who have witnessed similar miracles. One story in particular I’ll never forget.

Some friends of mine were new to healing work when they happened to meet a woman pacing a hospital corridor one evening. (They were there for an ailing elderly relative, and this woman was there because her husband was scheduled to have a large brain tumor removed the next morning).

They got to talking to her about all they had learned about healing, and she became very excited and hopeful, for her husband’s prognosis was dire. She asked them if they would talk to him, and of course they agreed. They explained to him about his power to heal himself with his own mind by simply visualizing perfect health. He also got very excited, as he was desperate for a cure, and thus far, his doctors hadn’t given him much hope.

The next morning they took him for a CAT scan and x-rays to finalize the details of the surgery, and to the great surprise of everyone in the room, found the tumor had entirely disappeared. The man explained that he had lain awake all night long, visualizing the tumor shrinking, and then visualizing his brain perfectly healthy. The doctors weren’t too open to his theory about what had happened, but they didn’t have a better explanation for how a tumor had literally disappeared overnight. He didn’t care what they thought of course – he was too busy jumping for joy.

While amazing miracles like this aren’t commonplace, they do happen EVERY DAY. It’s relatively easy to heal things like headaches and muscle tension, and easier yet to heal non-physical issues like emotional upsets. The less entrenched in the physical dimension an issue is, the easier it is to affect it with energy. I heal my kids and myself spontaneously all the time by simply aligning with perfect well-being and letting that energy flow.

Perhaps the best introduction to energy healing can be found at any Spiritualist church service. Not only will it be free, but it will be very straightforward and sincere. In my experience, one doesn’t need fancy secret symbols or crystals or any other elaborate mumbo jumbo to align with healing. As all healing is ultimately self-healing, all one really needs is someone who is sincere in her desire to connect with greater well-being. If you add a healer who can align with a very high vibration and just let that energy flow with faith, miracles can happen!

– Soul Arcanum


Making Peace with Past Mistreatment

Copyright Soul Arcanum LLC. All rights reserved. :)
 

Dear Soul Arcanum:

I was once married to a man I trusted, who turned out to be a con man. When he became not only verbally/ emotionally abusive, but also physically abusive, I left him. He was able to steal a vast sum of money from me, and reaped great financial rewards during the marriage and after the divorce. Though he was arrested, he has gotten away with paying less child support than he should. He even rigged my car to break down! I traded it in, and he bought it back! He has married very well (she is exactly like me), taken many vacations, lives in an extravagant home, etc. Whatever happened to “what goes around, comes around?” On the positive side, God blessed me with two angelic daughters. I have a nice home, but it’s very modest compared to what I lived in before. Best of all, I am free and far happier now. He is certainly an angry, negative, miserable person to be around most of the time. (This is my opinion, as well as that of his awesome wife, who confided in me.) He has also had a host of health problems. I grapple constantly with trying to let this all go, as it is affecting the wonderful relationship I’m in now. Please tell me how I can feel better about this situation.
– L.M.C.

Dear L.M.C.:

Let’s see: you’re happy, in a wonderful new relationship, and enjoying the sweet daughters born of this marriage. Meanwhile, your ex is miserable, angry, suffering, and disliked by his own wife. You feel good about yourself, for you maintained your integrity throughout this relationship. Meanwhile, he has walked through tremendous stress, and despite the big house and grand vacations, he’s far from happy. It certainly sounds to me like “what goes around, comes around” is working just fine, my dear! :)

There is one thing about manifesting that is often confusing when we observe others’ experiences: you don’t have to be “nice” to manifest what you want in life – you just have to feel that you deserve it, focus on it, and expect it to come to you. Thus we can all see people who are not the “nicest” folks around manifesting wealth, status, beauty, etc. If you really think about it, equating worldly things with happiness is usually a sign that someone is not all that evolved anyway. Someone wiser would more likely focus on manifesting love, true friendship, spiritual growth, deep well-being and joy – not sports cars and mansions.

If we look deeper, however, we discover that everyone does manifest the QUALITY of life experience that they give to others. What we send out comes back to us; what we focus upon expands, whether we desire it for ourselves or for someone else. Thus people who focus on doing the right thing and on bringing others joy and happiness will have a generally happy life, while those who desire revenge or to take advantage of others will tend to feel persecuted and cheated by life no matter how much wealth they are able to manifest.

I do understand your struggle. It can be maddening to treat others with kindness and integrity, only to have them take advantage of our trust. This is especially difficult with ex-spouses. Many years of observation have taught me that divorce has extraordinary power to bring out the worst in people.

I can assure you, however, that even with divorce, spiritual law always creates balance eventually. Time and time again, I’ve seen people who aim high manifesting higher experiences, and people who aim low manifesting lower experiences. The “bad guys” may seem to win the battle of the moment, but then find themselves in a horrible war long-term, while we move on to new peace and happiness.

Let’s look at someone else’s divorce situation as an example. I have had the enlightening opportunity to closely watch a couple go through a divorce scenario that is all too common these days. After the initial uproar and upset, the individuals involved settled into two very different camps. While the husband was determined to be fair and get along for the sake of the kids, the wife was bitter and demanding. When he stood up for himself and refused to let her order him around, she began an ugly campaign against him. She told the kids that he was the cause of all her problems, and she basically tried to turn them against him. In order to win them over, she removed all rules and limits on her teen’s behavior.

At first, the victim seemed to be primarily the husband, who was maligned and disempowered as a parent, and had to stand by and watch his kids struggle through all sorts of trouble: drugs, promiscuity, crime, school failure, nasty attitudes, etc. As they could always choose to live with mom, there wasn’t anything he could do about it. The secondary victims, of course, were the kids themselves, whose mother’s ego issues prevented her from providing the guidance and boundaries they needed to enjoy health, success, happiness and well-being.

In the end, however, it was clear that the one to suffer the most was the mother herself. She is the one who ended up living in a house full of juvenile delinquents who may have “liked” her permissiveness, but certainly showed her no respect. The stole from her, lied to her, threatened her with physical violence, etc. While she may have won her popularity contest, she got far more than she bargained for.

While this woman and her children were enmeshed in one harrowing drama after another, the husband did the only thing he could do: he simply focused on living by his own higher standards, and soon, many great new blessings began to flow into his life. While at first he looked like the victim of his ex-wife’s crazy campaign, in time we can see how he was actually spared the stress of living with his teens when they were downright obnoxious. As they learn and grow, his children are starting to see the truth of the whole experience, and how in being “strict,” he was trying to love and protect them.

I relay this story because often, it’s easier to objectively observe someone else’s life. Hopefully, it illustrates how eventually, integrity DOES pay. This carries over into all sorts of relationships, of course. If a good employee is treated unfairly and is fired or quits, the management loses a good worker, and the employee ends up with a better job. If we look at any situation with enough distance/ perspective, eventually we see that what goes around DOES come around.

Further, those who conquer their negative feelings in order to take the “high road” are rewarded with blessings far more valuable than houses and vacations: they retain their self-respect, the respect of others, and a clear conscience. When they are able to forgive those who have “abused” them, they also enjoy a sense of inner peace and the freedom to enjoy new happiness.

Ask yourself which you think would be easier: for you to forgive your ex, or if you WERE him, for you to forgive yourself for all that he has done. You would not trade places with him for a huge home or great vacation. When you can find compassion for all he suffers due to his spiritual ignorance and his inability to conquer his monstrous ego, your heart will be cleansed of bitterness, and you will be at peace with all that has happened.

No matter how much his outer world may sparkle, on the inside, it’s so much darker than your own. Try to find compassion for him and pray for him to find the light, so you can complete this learning experience and truly enjoy your many blessings.

– Soul Arcanum

Can We Determine How the Food We Eat Will Affect Us?

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Dear Soul Arcanum: I had been eating organic chicken that is supposedly free of antibiotics and hormones, is able to run around happily, etc. But now I’m wondering, even with all its “good upbringing,” if the chicken is killed inhumanely (as they often are, according to what we’ve read in the news), would we absorb its fear vibrations into our systems when we eat it? How can we make sure we don’t pick up/absorb the animal’s fear, or is that just impossible? I contacted the company that packages the chicken, but I assume they will deny that their chickens are brutally slaughtered. What are your thoughts on this?
– Melissa

Dear Melissa:

As always, the following are just my own personal views. People get passionate about their beliefs, and vegetarianism (and the ethical treatment of animals) is a most provocative subject.

In a nutshell, YES – we can determine how the food we eat will affect us. I think that simply observing the different results people get from various diets demonstrates this. Someone can eat everything that is bad for you, smoke, drink, etc., and live to a ripe old age, while someone else can be super health-conscious and drop dead of a heart attack while out jogging one day.

At a metaphysical level, the difference between the two lies in their beliefs about health and diet, and the energy/emotions that those beliefs generate. I have observed a number of health nuts who were driven by fear of getting cancer or some other health problem develop exactly what they were afraid of. I have seen other people do whatever they wanted to do without one worry about how it would affect their health live to a ripe old age (and have a whole lot of fun doing it, too). We will manifest what we focus upon. Instead of worrying about how our food will affect our health/vibration, we’d be wiser to worry about our worrying! 😉

One who is fully aligned with well-being can do amazing things without suffering ill consequences. This is how fire walkers can walk across hot coals without getting burned; they fully align their energy with faith/well-being.

For example, doctors frequently point out how French people eat cheese and cream and drink wine all the time, yet they don’t have the health problems one would expect from this sort of diet. To me the reason for this is obvious: they eat with reverence and pleasure. They don’t worry about what they’re eating all the time, so they are free of guilt and fear. They approach eating very consciously; they put everything else aside, take their time, and really savor their food. They enter into eating with a high conscious intention of enjoying themselves on all levels, and thus regardless of what they eat, they are nourished. Americans, on the other hand, keep hearing how what they eat is going to create all these problems, and they keeping eating what they “shouldn’t” but obsessively worrying about it or feeling guilty.

Now, you might be wondering how all these health problems began in the first place if people didn’t use to worry about them. Basically, there ARE things that encourage health and things that challenge the body, and most folks tend to sleepwalk through life unaware of how their choices are creating their experiences. These are the folks who stumble into the hot coals and start jumping around screaming in pain. They run to their doctors and show them their burned feet, and then doctors urge the “surgeon general” to put out a warning: “Don’t walk on hot coals; you’ll get burned.”

So it is impractical to try to eat lower vibration foods on a regular basis if one desires a very high level of well-being, simply because it would take more conscious focus and intention than anyone I know would be capable of to override the natural vibration of those foods. (Imagine that instead of summoning the power to walk across hot coals once, you have to do this every time you eat something. It’s exhausting just thinking about it).

I don’t believe there is one diet that is right for all people. I do believe, however, that there is one approach to eating that will prove positive for everyone. It involves making a habit of eating foods that are easy for the body to usefully assimilate. This is like choosing a nice, smooth path in life, instead of hot coals. It also involves making a habit of approaching eating (and for that matter, everything in life) with an attitude of pleasure, reverence and gratitude. In this way, regardless of what one specifically chooses to eat, one’s vibration is aligned with well-being, and thus that is what one will experience. I can’t think of a single culture that historically has NOT had some prayer or ritual designed to consciously align with reverence and gratitude for the food about to be eaten. Sadly, in addition to surrounding us with highly processed, low vibration food, modern life has led us far from simple wisdom like this.

As for the controversial issue of vegetarianism, I feel that is also an individual decision. I honor your choice and I encourage everyone to listen to their bodies and their intuition in making their own choice as well. Personally I think Native Americans had the right balance. When they would kill an animal for food, they would offer a prayer of thanks to the animal’s spirit for giving its life so that they could live. The animal’s sacrifice was thus honored, and the act of eating was approached with reverence. By contrast, we have become totally disconnected from the source of our food. Instead of raising animals and slaughtering them ourselves, instead of watching the beauty and grace of a deer before we kill it for food, we go to the grocery store and buy plastic-wrapped packages of stuff that looks nothing like the animal it was a short time ago. It’s hard to feel reverence for an animal’s sacrifice when we’ve forgotten there was even an animal involved in our meal in the first place.

I recently heard a (vegetarian) Buddhist monk answer a question about eating meat, and he pointed out that for a vegetarian to refuse to eat meat based on principle is to dishonor the sacrifice the animal has made. The animal has died to become our food; if we refuse to eat it, then it has died for nothing. This seems even more poignant in the case of an animal that lived a miserable existence. He encouraged us all to choose with love and to remain flexible. After all, it is impossible to live without harming any living thing. We can’t even scratch an itch without obliterating microscopic organisms.

So in summary, there are food choices that are like smooth, easy paths for our bodies. The more whole, natural and fresh a food is, the more life force energy it contains, and the better it is for our health. I try to eat a lot of fresh raw fruits and vegetables and nuts. This is high vibration food, and thus it not only enhances physical health, but also spiritual growth. I limit or avoid sugar, white flour and other processed foods, beef, pork and alcohol. This does not mean I never eat them or that I never would. It does sadden me that animals are treated cruelly, and I am aware of the energy involved in eating those beings, so like you, I try to choose consciously.

Maintaining true health and well-being requires us to remain flexible and open and to constantly listen to our intuition, for when we become rigid and dogmatic in our beliefs, or when we worry and act from fear, we ultimately do more harm than we prevent.

Act with love. Eat with love. Give thanks for all that life sends your way. Listen to your body/intuition and honor your truth. Be humble and grateful. When you approach life this way, your vibration of well-being will override the energy of everything and everyone that enters your experience.

– Soul Arcanum

Kicking the Fear and Worry Habit

Copyright Soul Arcanum LLC. All rights reserved. :)
 

Dear Soul Arcanum:

I am having a hard time with negativity and fear. I can’t seem to feel anything else. How do I learn to vibrate at a higher level so that all the good things I know are out there will start to come to me, instead of all the things that I worry about? Where do you start?
– Michelle

Dear Michelle:

This is a great question, and one that I get in one form or another frequently. When we first wake up to the truth that our thoughts create our experiences and we begin to pay attention to our mental habits, it can be very unsettling, for suddenly, we realize just how much of our thoughts are negative.

This is actually a very good sign, however. It means that you’re moving out of harmony with this negative vibration. You’re no more negative than you ever were before; you’ve just become uncomfortable with that negativity. So right away, here is a plus for you to focus on: even though it may not feel like it, you’re making great progress already!

I remember my own awakening as a conscious creator. My head was constantly buzzing. Every other thought seemed negative or “dangerous” somehow, and I was constantly trying to “take back” or rework some negative thought. This is normal at this stage. The more you pay attention to your thoughts, the more you’ll develop the habit of thinking positively.

First, I recommend meditation. We all have a lot of old energies and issues that we’ve stuffed down, and these will keep running through the back of our minds until we heal or resolve them. They are sort of like mental clutter. We get busy doing this or that, and we don’t have time to really deal with “old stuff,” so we push much of it to the back and put new stuff in front of it, and there it sits, mucking up our vibration and experiences.

In the beginning, meditating is simply allowing mental clutter to rise up so we can let go of it. Many beginning meditators feel frustrated and inadequate because they can’t “quiet their minds.” Well, all that mental clutter has to be cleared first. There is usually a lifetime of it accumulated, so we can’t expect it all to just dissipate overnight. Just sit and allow whatever wants to come up to come up, and then just gently let it go. If it doesn’t want to go, just sit with it and ask it what it is trying to tell you that you need to do (and then do it). Over time, this approach will clear all the stuff you’ve been avoiding dealing with, and then you will have a nice clear inner space, and your meditation will deepen. By dealing with it this way, the negative thoughts won’t take you by surprise so much, and instead of pushing them back down, you’ll be able to release or transform them.

While you begin this meditation practice, I recommend you also surround yourself with positive influences. The simplest way to do this is at a physical level. While it may be hard to control our thoughts, it’s pretty easy to get rid of the junk cluttering up our lives. Clear out all the stuff in your environment that carries a negative vibration for you, especially anything that ties you to a past you’d like to leave behind. For example, if your closet is full of clothes you wore when you were three sizes larger, get rid of them! If your jewelry box still holds the engagement ring your first husband gave you, sell it or give it away while affirming that as you do so, you are making room in your life for new love and a new beginning.

While you’re at it, clean up your diet and exercise regimen. Our physical health has a huge impact on how we think and feel. Try to eat whole, natural, unprocessed foods, and try to make at least 50% of them raw. I’m talking about fresh fruits and vegetables here. Drink water, get rid of sugar and white flour, or just pay conscious attention to your body and feed it the things that will truly boost your energy and well-being. The more you take concrete action to create positive change, the more empowered and positive you will feel.

Obviously, if you are surrounded by negative people, it’s going to be harder for you to become a positive thinker. Start weeding the people who are downers out of your life, and begin to seek new, positive influences. If you pray for these positive people to come into your life, they will! Also, strive to be this kind of person to others. If what you’re thinking is negative, don’t say anything until you have found something positive to say.

While doing all the above, I recommend you read about five pages of a positive book every day. By reading a bit every morning and every night, focusing on positive ideas will become a habit. If you are meditating morning and night as well, you will be clearing negative “junk” and replacing it with these books’ positive ideas.

Some positive, empowering books you might begin with: The Dynamic Laws of Prosperity and other works by Catherine Ponder, Creative Visualization by Shakti Gawain, The Game of Life and How to Play It and other books by Florence Scovel Shin, anything by Dr. Joseph Murphy, As a Man Thinketh by James Allen, etc. These books will keep you mindful of the fact that you are constantly creating for better or worse via your thoughts. Additionally, try reading uplifting books in general. The Chicken Soup for the Soul series is a good example. Other favorites include The Little Prince, all books by Sark, Susan Jeffers, Alan Cohen, Norman Vincent Peale. Keep reading Soul Arcanum as well! There is an endless abundance of positive teaching available.

Be choosy about everything you mentally ingest. Skip the news – nothing will bring you down faster. Make sure the music you listen to is upbeat, like New Age music, big band, etc. Watching TV on a regular basis will keep you STUCK. Some movies, however, can boost your vibration. A few to try: My Shirley Valentine, ET, The Wizard of Oz, Patch Adams, Field of Dreams, Forrest Gump, Pay It Forward, Powder, Phenomenon, the Harry Potter movies, Big Fish, School of Rock, Ghost, Enchanted April, The Whale Rider, Shrek 1 and 2, Big, The Terminal, Chocolat, Simon Birch, Under the Tuscan Sun, Secondhand Lions, etc.

These lists are just off the top of my head. Some people will say, “What? I thought ET was horribly sad. I have never gotten over Elliot crying his eyes out as ET went ‘home.'” This illustrates an important point: our interpretation of life will determine our experience of it. If you look for beauty, magic and wonder, you will find it. Everything can be seen in a negative light, but everything can also be seen in a positive light. You determine your experience when you choose which you will look for.

It does take tremendous mental effort to remain positive, even for people who have developed that habit of thought. Every time you find yourself focused on the negative, challenge yourself to find the positive. Spirit will help you with this; just close your eyes and mentally ask to be shown the situation in a spiritual light.

When this works, give thanks! Gratitude is the heart of positive thinking. Give thanks that you have been given the knowledge to create what you want in your life by changing what you think. Give thanks that I chose your question for publication. Give thanks that you’re already making progress. Give thanks that your eyes work, and you’ve been blessed with an education so you can read all of this. You’ll find endless things to be grateful for if you just look for them.

Finally, make a habit of uplifting others, for what you give is what you’ll get!

– Soul Arcanum