“Rejoice with your family in the beautiful land of life!“
— Albert Einstein

Good morning! I hope you enjoyed a wonderful weekend!! As we enter this week of Thanksgiving, I thought I’d share this wonderful article by long-time SoulfulLiving.com columnist, Laurie Sue Brockway, about spreading light and positivity to our families during the holiday season.

Wishing you a very blessed week!

Enjoy ♥

“Bring Light and Healing to Your Family for the Holidays”
By Laurie Sue Brockway

Graceful may not be the first word that comes to mind when you think of your family holiday gatherings.

Perhaps you love your family, but you realize they need a little … work. No family is perfect and not every family is as conscious as you’d like them to be, but there is hope. You can be the bringer of light in your house and with your relatives … the one who lovingly tries to bring healing and joy to the tribe.

A Family-Friendly Ritual

In my book, A Goddess Is A Girl’s Best Friend, the Roman Goddess Lucina (know in modern times as St. Lucy) is portrayed as the bringer of light. She has the ability to see with spiritual eyes, and she teaches us to do the same.  This gives us greater compassion and allows us to see things as they are … and, also, as they can be.

Call upon her energy to help you in your role as light bringer to your family during this holiday season.

Mini Rituals of Thanks and Love

There are many ways to evoke a sense of closeness and evoke that warm and toasty family feeling.  In fact, you can turn the meal into a sacred event that everyone can easily participate in – without them even knowing! This will turn a ho-hum gathering into “a moment” that can uplift all. (By the way, you can adapt this to a gathering of friends, too!)

1.  Hug a loved one: During the schmoozing part of the family gathering, before the food is served, forget about meaningless chit-chat. Instead, hug the people you love and tell each them something you love and/or appreciate about them. This can be a complement about someone’s hair, outfit or cooking, to an acknowledgment of someone’s sweet nature, kindness, generosity, brilliance, et al. Hugging, along with offering a few kind words, is a warm expression that can do wonders. It will automatically raise the energy of the gathering.

2.  Play a piece of music. Music opens the heart and uplifts the spirit. Make sure you bring some terrific, inspiring CDs to the family gathering and or select family favorites that everyone can relate to and maybe even sing along to. Any music and song that warms the heart will get people in a good mood and settle their energy.

3.   Say Grace. Even if your family has never said a dinner prayer in their lives, suggest one this year; or add this prayer to the customary grace that is said at dinner. Adapt the following prayer to your families’ religious and spiritual beliefs…

Continue Reading “Bring Light and Healing to Your Family for the Holidays”

Copyright Laurie Sue Brockway. All Rights Reserved.

I’d love to hear your thoughts! Please scroll down and leave your comments below.

Wishing you a joyous and blessed week!!

Soulfully,
Valerie

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“The darkest night is often the bridge to the brightest tomorrow.”
—Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Happy Friday! I am excited to share today’s Daily Soul Retreat with you. It’s a meditation video I discovered at YouTube, and I know you’re going to love it!

The author of the video, “Release Your Wings,” has created a guided meditation to help us find that place of positivity — the peaceful sanctuary within ourselves, when we find ourselves feeling overwhelmed by negative situations.

I found this beautiful video to be very peaceful and calming and felt transported to a Higher place of Divine Love and positivity.  I hope it offers the same for you!

Enjoy ♥

If you’re feeling inspired, I’d love to have you leave a comment below.

And, if you haven’t already done so, be sure to pick up your special package of inspirational goodness exclusively for our Daily Soul Retreat Newsletter Subscribers — a “Soul Retreat Gift Pack” filled with over $300 worth of Ecourses, Ebooks, Audio Workshops and Meditations, donated by our awesome SoulfulLiving.com authors. If you aren’t already subscribed, click here for all the details. If you are already subscribed, watch your Daily Soul Retreats for all the details.

Wishing you a peaceful and mindful day!!

Soulfully,
Valerie Rickel, Founder
SoulfulLiving.com

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“We don’t see things as they are, we see them as we are.”
— Anaïs Nin

Good morning! I’m excited to share a wonderful article with you today by a fabulous author and long-time columnist at SoulfulLiving.com, KD Farris, Ph.D.

KD is a speaker, counselor, and healer. She is also the author of the book, MESHE, HESHE, MISON & ORBIT and has been teaching workshops based on the topic of her book for over twenty years.

If you’ve ever found yourself in a negative mindset, her article is sure to get you back on track of thinking and living positively.

Enjoy ♥

“Tending to the Negative Mind”
By KD Farris, Ph.D.

In the early years of discovering my spiritual path, I was introduced to several big concepts that I was not yet ready for. I didn’t really understand Love or God as it was being described to me, and Positive Thinking sounded and felt like lying to myself. Lying to myself was something I was trying to stop doing.

Words have tremendous lasting power, far more than we often realize. Negative ones can have terrible effects on us our whole lives long, affecting our deepest sense of ourselves as capable, lovable, worthwhile beings. Such words, often carelessly hurled at us without thought for the potential consequences, by parents, siblings, teachers or others in our early years can contribute to a legacy of self-doubt that can cloud our experience of life well on into our adulthood.

I opened up to the power of Love and the concept of God within the first year of my journey, but Positive Thinking took a much slower route.

One day, after being on my path for several years, I found myself in an argument with my best friend over whose driver’s license had the better picture on it. I thought her photo looked better than mine, and she thought my photo looked better than hers.

If you can picture this scene: two grown women, standing in a large living room, huddled under a small light – because it was the brightest light in the room to judge ourselves by – arguing over whose driver’s license photograph looks prettier!

Finally, the absurdity of what we were doing hit me and I said, “Wait a minute. You are the most beautiful person I have ever met in my life. If you, who I think of as the peak of perfection, wants to tell me that my photo looks great, what is wrong with me that I cannot just say, thank you?”

It hit me like a ton of bricks that I had always done this. That I had been putting myself down and keeping myself under, even in the face of uplifting events, for the whole of my life. I said to my friend, “I do this with everything. And so do you! We have to stop….”

And that is when Dollar Therapy, a game I invented to teach myself more about ORBIT (OR-BIT), was born.

ORBIT is the activity in the mind when it is producing thoughts that are born from fear and negativity, untruthfulness and denial. It is the recognition of the chatter in the brain that goes on, which is false or self-effacing, that can enable the chatter to stop. Naming this vapor-like noise in your head, “ORBIT,” returns you to the present moment and the power of your mind back to its rightful owner – your heart and spirit.

Dollar Therapy is like taking ORBIT and adding a price tag to it! The rules of the game go like this: For every ill thought, undermining act, or unsupportive behavior toward myself that I witness, I am to put into a jar, one dollar. At the end of the week, I am to give the collected funds away to a charity or person of my choice. In this case it was to my best friend. She could use the money, and I needed a good healing!

After only a few hours I had to call and tell her the price had just gone down to a dime. She was disappointed, but I wanted to be able to hold up my end of the bargain and it was busting my bank to give one dollar for every slip…

Continue Reading “Tending to the Negative Mind”

Copyright KD Farris, Ph.D. All Rights Reserved.

I’d love to hear your thoughts and comments on KD’s article! Please scroll down and leave your comments below.

Wishing you a very positive day!!

Soulfully,
Valerie

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“All you can change is yourself,
but sometimes that changes everything.”
– Gary W. Goldstein

Today, I’m pleased to share a guest article by one of SoulfulLiving.com’s long-time columnists, Rob Ragozzine, Numerologist, radio host, and author of our column, What’s Your Number?

His article, “Positive Words for Transformation and Change” is eye opening and is sure to inspire a curiosity in you about how your words can bring about change and transformation in both your life and in the world.

Enjoy ♥

“Positive Words for Transformation and Change”

By Rob Ragozzine

Have you ever thought of the words you use on a daily basis? You likely have on occasion, but have you connected them to how your life has unfolded? Lately, I’ve been thinking about how our voices reverberate throughout our lives. We send out our voice into the world, yet we don’t generally notice what comes back to us. We don’t notice how positive words have vitality and purpose.

Did you know that bats make sounds in the same way that we do? They simply bring air past their vocal chords, which are vibrating. However, the sounds that bat makes have an extremely high pitch that is too high for humans to hear. Yet, they use it to determine their distance from food and other objects. They can even determine how large an object and where exactly it is in space in relation to their current position.

Unlike bats, we seldom consider the power of our speech and how it reverberates in our lives. Our words can help us and others to transform, especially when they are uplifting. We all recognize how powerful speeches help to motivate and inspire. Many of us recognize how we feel when someone berates us or speaks negatively to us. I feel that it’s time to recognize this power within ourselves, and begin to accept that our words do matter. Our words do have power.

How can you use your words for change and transformation? What is your heart yearning for? It’s time to talk in a way that connects your words, vision and heart together. If you don’t yet have a vision for yourself, then you may need to use your words to ask for help with this process. Doing so helps you acknowledge the fact that your heart yearns for a life greater than you have now.

If we take another look at bats, we learn that the bat’s symbolic totem represents birth, clear seeing, intuition, wisdom, journeying and curiosity. If you would like to welcome these qualities into your life in order to facilitate change and transformation in your life, then you can welcome the bat as a totem into your meditations or vision journeys.

When you welcome the bat as your personal totem, it can help facilitate greater awareness of your life and surroundings. You may notice that your senses deepen and grow. Of course, these changes won’t necessarily happen overnight. Like the bat, you’ll have to be dedicated to accomplishing your desired results. You have to tell yourself, and the world, that you’re seeking changes. People may hear you, but your actions will confirm that you wish to open your life to change and the accompanying transformation.

For me, as I journey with the bat totem, I am overcome by the same deep sense of knowing and understanding that the bat has. To foster these qualities in myself, I am called to work more with the bat, and I accept its energy into my life. This speaks to deepening my curiosity and opening to the ways in which bats live. This doesn’t mean that I have to go cave spelunking. You can be discerning, but still be willing to explore. What this means for me is to listen carefully to the words and tone that I use, and wonder not only about how they are shaping my life, but how my words are impacting others.

The shift in seasons, from autumn to winter, is the perfect time to begin pondering change and transformation in your life. Perhaps you will work with the bat as your totem, or any other symbol of your choosing. For instance, you might work with a leaf, acorn, seeds, or something else that represents your desire to change, heal and grow. What will it be?

According to Numerology, 2014 will provide us with plenty of energy and time for personal review and contemplation. You have choices to make. Instead of holding back and telling yourself that change is hard, allow yourself to begin making changes one step at time. Of course, be thoughtful and careful, but be willing to let go of those situations which no longer facilitate a healthy and conscious life. If you bring your hand to your heart, you can ask yourself about what needs to change in your life. What is your answer? How can you act on the guidance you’ve received? Maybe all that is required is for you to begin speaking in a positive way that empowers and uplifts you and those around you.

Copyright 2013 Rob Ragozzine.

I’d love to hear your thoughts and comments on Rob’s article! Please scroll down and leave your comments below.

Wishing you a positive and transformative day!!

Soulfully,
Valerie

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“I change my life when I change my thinking.
I am Light. I am Spirit.
I am a wonderful, capable being.
And it is time for me to acknowledge
that I create my own reality with my thoughts.
If I want to change my reality,
then it is time for me to change my mind.”
― Louise L. Hay

Happy Friday! I’m excited to to share today’s Daily Soul Retreat with you. I’d been feeling like I needed to hear some positive affirmations this past week, so I was delighted to discover this hour-long audio recording of Louise Hay’s “I Can Do It,” on YouTube, in which she talks in length about the power of affirmations and shares many of her favorites, too. Truly life changing!

Enjoy ♥

She offers a Daily Affirmation on her website that you might enjoy, as well: http://www.louisehay.com/affirmations/

If you’re feeling inspired, I’d love to have you leave a comment below.

And, if you haven’t already done so, be sure to pick up your special package of inspirational goodness exclusively for our Daily Soul Retreat Newsletter Subscribers — a “Soul Retreat Gift Pack” filled with over $300 worth of Ecourses, Ebooks, Audio Workshops and Meditations, donated by our awesome SoulfulLiving.com authors. If you aren’t already subscribed, click here for all the details. If you are already subscribed, watch your Daily Soul Retreats for all the details.

Wishing you a wonderful day!!

Soulfully,
Valerie Rickel, Founder
SoulfulLiving.com

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“If you don’t like something change it; if you can’t change it,
change the way you think about it.”
— Mary Engelbreit

Good Morning! I have another wonderful guest article for you today on the theme of “Positivity.” This one is by artist and writer Caroline Joy Adams, and is titled, “The Power of Positive Words.”

Enjoy ♥

“The Power of Positive Words”
By Caroline Joy Adams

Words have tremendous lasting power, far more than we often realize. Negative ones can have terrible effects on us our whole lives long, affecting our deepest sense of ourselves as capable, lovable, worthwhile beings. Such words, often carelessly hurled at us without thought for the potential consequences, by parents, siblings, teachers or others in our early years can contribute to a legacy of self-doubt that can cloud our experience of life well on into our adulthood.

But the power of positive words is just as compelling. And those of us who have had the most challenging of childhoods often reveal that the one key element that allowed us to survive extremely difficult life circumstances was hearing words of encouragement spoken to us by at least one special person–whether a relative, teacher or friend, who showed compassion and understanding toward us, touching us deeply and helping us believe that there was indeed hope for the future.

It can also be the power of words, which we have read, that have effected us most deeply–perhaps stories of the lives of others, whether through fiction or non-fiction, that helped us believe that our lives could take a different turn and become something much more rich and special and magnificent, than our present circumstances would have made it seem possible.

I know that I have always been powerfully influenced by the words I have read, as well as the words others have spoken to me. And this has resulted in the lifework that I am now immersed in, which revolves around offering messages of encouragement and empowerment to others through my own words in various forms. I am deeply grateful for the life pathway that has lead me to be able to offer inspiration to others in this way, as I am often told that my words, whether through my books, inspirational magnets or prints, have given an individual just the message they needed on a certain day to help them face the challenges before them and bring forth their inner reserves of strength and confidence propelling them to take the life-changing actions that can lead them to a better place.

The seed for this work of mine was planted just about nine years ago, when I attended a social gathering at a friend of a friend’s house. I noticed that afternoon as I moved from room to room a series of affirmative messages on small strips of paper, written by those who lived there, and posted all over the house which seemed to speak to the heart of the reader wherever one looked. I was deeply impressed by this, and went home thinking that perhaps I should write empowering messages to myself, too…

Continue Reading “The Power of Positive Words”

Copyright Caroline Joy Adams. All Rights Reserved.

I’d love to hear your thoughts and comments on Caroline’s article! Please scroll down and leave your comments below.

Wishing you a very positive day!!

Soulfully,
Valerie

Share the Inspiration with Your Friends…

“We don’t see things as they are, we see them as we are.”
—Anais Nin

Happy November! I’m very excited about this month’s Daily Soul Retreat theme – “Positivity.” We’ll be looking at such topics as positive thinking, affirmations, and visualizations… It’s going to be a very positive month!

Today, I’m pleased to offer you a guest article by author Rita Milios. Her wonderful article, “Harnessing the Power of Visualizations,” will help you to energize your goals and visions with positive energy and use the powerful tools of visualization and affirmations to achieve your dreams.

Enjoy ♥

“Harnessing the Power of Visualizations”
By Rita Milios

Do you feel that you control your own future? Or do you dream of changes you’d like to make in your life, yet you don’t quite know how to make them happen?

Many of us don’t realize that the key to controlling our outer lives begins by controlling our inner lives–our mental state. It is said that “attitude is everything”, and this is essentially true because attitude precedes action. Before we do it, we must first think it, desire it, plan it….and believe in it. Whatever our goal, holding the vision of that goal and “energizing” it with a positive attitude that assumes success is the key to eventual success.

Visualizations and affirmations are two “mind tools” that can help you hold a vision and create an attitude that will lead you to your goal. Visualization is the process of creating pictures in your mind. Affirmation is the process of repeating a positive message to yourself. Both are potent, positive mental tools that can be learned and used by anyone.

Visualization works because it creates belief, belief that can alter the circumstances of your life. With visualization, you “speak” directly to your inner, subconscious mind, bypassing the censorship of the logical, conscious mind. Your subconscious mind “thinks” in pictures, and you can reach the programming levels of your subconscious mind quickly and easily with visualization. Visualization is an idea, a thought form, in picture. By starting with a picture, you take a shortcut directly into your subconscious. No words have to be “translated” from conscious (“left-brain”) language to subconscious (“right-brain”) language. You deliver a simple, clear, direct message right into your subconscious mind.

Visualization is a bit of mental “trickery.” You are, in effect, tricking your subconscious into believing that an event has occurred when it has not. Your subconscious mind does not rationalize. It takes whatever you give it as “truth.” If you consistently picture yourself as having already achieved your goal, your subconscious mind soon believes that it is so. Then, in order to balance your inner and outer reality, your subconscious sets into motion any events or circumstances necessary to create in the physical realm that which you believe in your mind to be true. The fact that you only “imagined” the outcome of your goal does not matter. In your mind (as in space) there is no past, present, or future. Just because you pictured having achieved your goal before you did it, does not matter to your subconscious. If you can make the scene real, you can believe in it. And once you believe in it, it tends to come true.

Numerous studies have been done on visualization, assessing its effect on the performance of athletes, on the ability of students to recall information, and its effect on certain healing processes. From these studies and from the experiences of countless people, we have evidence of the powerful role that visualization can play in our lives.

Steps to Better Visualizations

The key to using visualization effectively is to make the pictures, the scenes in your mind, real. Add all the action, energy, and emotion you can muster to the movies in your mind. The more they appear and feel real to you, the more certainly you are creating their (future) reality.

Start by visualizing in the proper place. Close your eyes and “look” inside your mind. What do you see? Total blackness, probably. Now start to imagine a scene in your mind. Where in your head is this scene taking place?

For many people, visualizations are pictured somewhere in the area of the forehead, often right between the eyebrows. While this is OK, it is more effective to move your mind-movies out away from your head. Picturing your scene between your eyes takes more concentration because your eyes instinctively follow your inward gaze. It is better to move your mind’s movie screen out about six inches from your face. This allows you to be more relaxed, and to have more spontaneous, creative images…

Continue Reading “Harness the Power of Visualizations”

Copyright Rita Milios. All Rights Reserved.

I’d love to hear your thoughts and comments on Rita’s article! Please scroll down and leave your comments below.

Wishing you a positive day!!

Soulfully,
Valerie

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