by Ginger | Apr 30, 2023 | Blog
Have you ever found yourself contemplating buying something you might not otherwise have purchased in order to take advantage of a special marketing offer? It can be tempting. We live in an age of consumer culture which showers us with sales, discounts and coupons if we act now or just add a little more to our shopping cart. Intellectually we know it’s all designed to get us to buy more, but emotionally we can get sucked in. While some offers can be a helpful windfall, it’s important to remain discerning of whether it’s the best offer for you right now.
I recently received a coupon from a grocery store that I frequent for a significant discount on my next order. A nice, unexpected bonus, but I had recently made a grocery shopping trip and didn’t have a lot on my list for this next order. As I put my order together, my total fell short of the minimum purchase for the offer and the expiration date was only a few days away. I went back to see if adding a few extra non-perishable items would get me to that total. After re-calculating, I saw that I would need to add still more to my order. In that moment, I realized this offer no longer felt like a gift. I was going to have to buy more and more to fit the requirements and I just didn’t need those extra items. The mental body might reason, “But if they won’t go bad before you eventually use them, why not?” But the energy of stocking more and more beyond my true needs just didn’t feel good. So, I checked in with my soul about whether I should try to use this coupon and heard to let it go. If the coupon didn’t fit my needs, then it wasn’t really for me. I downsized my order back to its original size and felt lighter again.
Did I really check in about a coupon? You bet! The moment something feels discordant within is our signal that we are likely stepping out of alignment with our divine selves, and we should immediately take a pause, take a breath and check in with our divine guidance. This is how we heal ourselves, one moment at a time. Small steps count! In this case, I would have been coming from scarcity if I made myself buy things I didn’t really need in order to get a discount. Again, the mental body might question this: “But isn’t being able to get more things for less money an example abundance?” Not necessarily. If we have to scramble and jump through hoops that we weren’t otherwise going to jump though, then we’re re-enforcing the fear that we’re going to lose out on something. This is not Divine Abundance! It is lack and limitation. Anything we manifest in our lives from that energy, will carry that energy. Do we really want lack and limitation radiating all around us?
Author Lynn Twist, who wrote The Soul of Money, has a wonderful saying about abundance: “What you appreciate, appreciates.” When I’m getting my needs met while focusing on joy, flow and ease, I’m holding that energy of gratitude which expands and creates more abundance. That consciousness leads to many wonderful new creations when we’re open to how and when they come into our lives. When I let go of that coupon, I felt abundant because I could let it go. A week later, I received a new coupon with another significant discount, this time with an expiration date much further out. Maybe I will have enough in my next order to get the discount. Maybe not. But I feel at peace and whole either way and that is the true gift.
Marsha Hankins recently posted a blog with some great insights about abundance.
10 Keys to Unlimited Abundance
Image by Nattanan Kanchanaprat from Pixabay
by Ginger | Mar 31, 2023 | Blog
“What we believe is a new movement, a new understanding as to how valuable community is… It’s an understanding that we have to move from the transactional side of thinking that we can solve these giant human problems to a relational side that says it takes relationships, you and I, one on one, human to human, heart to heart in order to really begin to move that needle.” -Alan Graham, Founder and CEO of Mobile Loaves and Fishes
What an elegant and down-to-earth way to describe the essential elements of true and lasting healing for everyone everywhere. We cannot solve our current issues just by finding that perfect action step, new system or outer world solution. This is daunting at first because true change takes time and consistent attention. The crisis of displaced persons will not be solved by simply building cheap housing. Hunger will not be solved by simply handing out food. Creating lasting change to systemic racism, sexism, agism, etc. takes more than carefully worded legislation. The outer world changes must support inner world shifts, and those inner shifts can only come from connection, mutual respect, and a deeper understanding of our true selves. Change must be inclusive and wholistic.
The opening quote in this blog came from a documentary called “Community First: A Home for the Homeless” which featured interviews with residents and staff at a community in Austin, Texas created to serve and support those who had been living long-term without a permanent dwelling. The founder’s vision was to create more than just structures to house people but a whole community to build relationships, trust, security, self-confidence and a genuine sense of purpose. Most residents were formerly chronically homeless while a few residents voluntarily left large houses to downsize and live in community and service. Residents needing help to become self-supporting are assisted with setting up cottage industries to earn a living and pay rent. Mental health and social services are provided to help some residents transition from insecure, and often traumatic, situations to a more stable environment. Residents collectively elect their peers to serve on a community council. It is a whole, integrated system for the entire community to both receive and give service.
The root word “whole” in “holistic” reminds us that we are so inter-connected and our systems so integrated that we cannot truly heal individually until we experience all healing as part of a greater whole. All healing creates ripples across the same lake, no matter where those ripples originate. If that lake becomes unbalanced and diseased, we cannot scoop out the diseased parts of the water, try to heal it and then pour it back into the same lake where it became diseased in the first place. The entire lake functions as a whole system and healing must happen as a whole. From this consciousness, even the simplest action can create whole-world healing.
image courtesy of GDJ on Pixabay
by Ginger | Feb 28, 2023 | Blog
Each year, I check with my Soul for overall themes and areas of focus in my healing. One of the things I’ve been guided to work on this year is letting go of attachments to the past: past events and situations, past actions or words, past beliefs about who I thought I was supposed to be or how I was supposed to act. The key is to allow ourselves to integrate the wisdom from these experiences while letting go of the specific story rooted in the third dimension.
While in meditation, I was reviewing past events where I felt regret and asking for clarity about the roots of that regret. What I heard was that I wasn’t being true to my divine self in each of those examples and I was still feeling responsible for the ripple effects, however small, of not having been able to act from a higher frequency in those moments. I was resistant to letting go of what the lower self still saw as a history that made me into “me”.
I heard to start with looking at these past events not as my stories but as stories from the collective, belonging to all. I began to see these events with myself as an actor in a much larger ensemble cast so the details of my “character” became integral parts of the greater storyline in the Experiment in Duality. The potential wisdom from these events is available to all who tap into their higher wisdom and see the unfoldment from the perspective of the observing audience, what some call the silent witness. When we remember ourselves as aspects of Source, we have all of the wisdom and understanding of all aspects of Source. When we surrender the details and take responsibility for our own part in the healing, we can offer the wisdom and growth gained from those experiences to the collective consciousness.
We don’t need to have every possible experience in this lifetime, or even in all of our lifetimes, in order to benefit from the collective healing that each Source aspect experiences. We have each chosen to highlight certain experiences and work on certain themes of healing in our unique evolution but we still benefit and learn from the unique spiritual path of all beings. The more we release our personal stories to the collective wisdom, the more we open ourselves to understand more deeply from that same collective wisdom. In this way, we can continue to play our unique part while honoring our role as part of a much greater whole.
Image by Mystic Art Design from Pixabay
by Ginger | Jan 29, 2023 | Blog
I recently pulled my copy of The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz off my shelf to re-connect with its energy. It’s a beautifully poetic story teaching us about the illusion of separation we’ve created. In the book, Ruiz offers four simple statements as a daily guide for reminding ourselves of the truth of who we are. Universal truth may be simple, but it’s incredibly powerful. I share them here with you:
Be Impeccable With Your Word. Speak with integrity. Say only what you mean. Avoid using the word to speak against yourself or to gossip about others. Use the power of your word in the direction of truth and love.
Don’t Take Anything Personally. Nothing others do is because of you. What others say and do is a projection of their own reality, their own dream. When you are immune to the opinions and actions of others, you won’t be the victim of needless suffering.
Don’t Make Assumptions. Find the courage to ask questions and to express what you really want. Communicate with others as clearly as you can to avoid misunderstandings, sadness, and drama. With just this one agreement, you can completely transform your life.
Always Do Your Best. Your best is going to change from moment to moment; it will be different when you are healthy as opposed to sick. Under any circumstance, simply do your best, and you will avoid self-judgment, self-abuse, and regret.
For myself, I’ve found that what these four principles boil down to is helping me to stay fully present in the moment with love and openness. When I commit to asking myself these questions about my thoughts, words and actions, I am reminding myself to be as aware and conscious of my underlying intentions as I am able in that moment. What we intend becomes our reality. It may not be the reality, the truth of the universe, because we are still in the illusion, but it becomes our reality and experience. Our intentions are powerful and they come from all aspects of our being, especially the subconscious parts of ourselves that are not fully in our awareness. These four statements are tools to help bring those hidden intentions to the conscious level so that we can heal what is out of alignment with our divine truth. Use these along with the other healing tools in your spiritual toolbelt and enjoy your creations!
Image by 0fjd125gk87 from Pixabay
by Ginger | Dec 31, 2022 | Blog
As I sit down to do some visioning for the coming year, I’m reminded of an interview by Oprah Winfrey with Melinda Gates, who shared that she chooses a word each year to embody her overall focus. That year, she had chosen “Shine” as her guiding energy. She explained it wasn’t so much about shining herself but finding ways to support everyone to shine through her philanthropy work and her life. It was simple and incredibly powerful. As I craft my own vision, I’m being reminded of that same concept.
The idea of a new year with new possibilities and potential for growth is a powerful concept, even if the actual date of January 1st is mostly arbitrary. For me, it can be so powerful that I start to get a little excited and carried away with things I’d like to work on, explore, learn, expand on. I sometimes need to re-direct myself back to the silence with my Soul. What is really my purpose in this exercise? The lower self may see it as a fun list of things to accomplish, but from the Soul’s expanded perspective, it is more of a conscious acknowledgement and aligning ourselves with what is already on its way. It is the process of our little will coming into greater harmony with the flow of Divine Will.
By keeping my vision simple, choosing one or two words to represent the energies I am guided to work with, I can relax into trusting my divine self to draw to me experiences which will help me master those energies. It rarely happens that I start off the year with a big bang to dive headlong into those resonances. It is usually a subtle, slow build that I don’t often observe consciously until later. Yet, looking back, I see how all those experiences, situations and people gave me many wonderful and creative opportunities to work with those energies, build those spiritual “muscles” and begin to truly embody them.
Trust in your Soul. Trust your inner wisdom to guide you, not just in the quiet comfort of your meditation chair, but with whatever each moment brings going forward. Even when something comes along that feels startling and unexpected, remember that you drew it to you with your intention. It is an answer from your Soul to keep guiding you forward.
Image by Joe from Pixabay
