Get visual

Get visual

Since 'The Secret' was released, visualisation has become an acknowledged tool to retrain your subconscious and attract the things you want into your life. 

Some people, who are naturally more visually inclined and/or have a vivid imagination find it very easy to do, others find it more challenging. With the explosion of the lets call it 'Law of Attraction market', several tools are available like vision boards, mind movies, guided meditations on CD or DVD. 

Those all have their value, and I use many of those myself. Vision boards and mind movies are fun creating, but once that's done they are made, whilst still being worthwhile and valuable, using them you are consuming rather than creating. 

Set some time to actively visualize at least a couple of times a week. I find it gets me into a totally different state and space than following a guided meditation. As well as getting to customize what you are seeing, you are training your brain more and more conscious of your feelings.
Movies and audios are great way to rewire and train your subconscious after a day's work or when you feel you don't have the energy to actively visualize. I find them a quick and easy way to wind down and get inspired.
I use them like vitamin supplement: a great way to make sure you get all the nutrients needed, especially during stressful times, but rather an addition than a replacement of a healthy and balanced diet.

The most effective visualisations are the ones where you use all of your senses, not only vision.
When you picture yourself on a beach, for example, as well as seeing the scene, imagine smelling and tasting the salty air, hearing the waves crash and seagulls calling and feel the wind on your skin, the sand between your toes and the refreshing water reaching up to your ankles. And add feeling. Feel the joy, peacefulness and sense of freedom you get from watching the sea.

If you are one of those finding visualizing challenging, don't worry, it is a skill that you can develop and practice. We all have memories of the way things taste, look or smell. Here are some exercises:
try to:
-see the face of a loved one, the house you grew up in, a red car, a blue square
-hear the sound of an engine, your favourite song, someone whistling
-feel the soft fur of a dog or a cat, a rough stone, a smooth glass surface
-smell fire, coffee, freshly cut grass
-taste chocolate, salty fries, strawberries

After a while all of this will become easier, and you will be ready to create your own little visuals, fantasies, daydreams that include all of your senses. Create the life you dream of. For example, see yourself walking up yo the front door of  your ideal house, feel yourself searching for your key and inserting it into the lock, hear the key turning and the door opening, smell the fresh paint and the coffee your partner has made expecting you, see yourself walking up to them and embracing them, feel the warmth of the other body, smell the skin and feel the love and appreciation towards that person, taste the coffee you're drinking together.
As Albert Einstein said: 'Your imagination is your preview of life's coming attractions.' So use your imagination and visualize your very own desired reality!

You can visualize to create your preferred reality or to train your brain and subconscious, for example to be more focused or feeling more secure.

 Visualisation is not just a LOA tool but has been widely used in psychology and psychotherapy for years.
I recently rediscovered a book I have read years ago by Piero Ferucci called 'What we may be'. It was written in 1982 on the subject of self-realization using psychosynthesis.  Psychosynthesis is an approach to psychology developed by an Italian Psychotherapist called Roberto Assagioli that is one of the forerunners to humanistic and transpersonal psychology. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychosynthesis
In 'What we may be' Ferucci features many beautiful visualisations designed to help you become the best you may be.

One exercise I like that helps to increase the ability to focus is this one:

The arrow
Imagine you are holding a bow and arrow in your hands. Feel your feet stand firmly on the ground. Hold the bow with one hand and feel the tip of the arrow on the bow's side with the other hand. Experience the stretching of your arm muscles  while you are tautening the bow. See the target clearly before you; observe the tip of the arrow aiming directly at the target.
Now the arrow is stretched to the maximum: the arrow is perfectly aligned.  Feel the energy that is in this absolutely static position. All you have to do is let go of the arrow to unleash the energy that will carry it to the target. Notice how this letting go is setting free all of this dynamic power.
Now you have shot the arrow. Follow its flight and feel its absolutely straight direction. For the arrow, only the target exists, nothing else.No doubts, no distractions, no detours. The arrow flies towards its aim in an absolutely perfect way and hits exactly in the centre - shivering and vibrating it stays sticking in its target.
Feel free to shoot calmly and relaxed several more arrows towards your target and experience yourself being in that totally concentrated, focused power.



Do you have any favourite visualisation techniques?

Feel free to share and comment!

Love, Light and Happiness,

Anya

Remember to be yourself!

Remember to be YOURSELF!

So maybe you have been into spirituality for a while. You came across the Law of Attraction and learnt that where your focus goes, the thing grows; that thoughts become things and all that stuff about raising your vibration and avoiding negativity.

Your logical conclusion was 'oh, so in order to improve the quality of my life I must do lots of high vibrational things and avoid the low vibrational. Hmm, I should make a lifestyle-adjustment'!'

Great! And since you are very committed, you went the whole holistic way: changed your diet and only eat healthy food and lots of greens and fruit and little or no meat. Started some form of exercise. A meditation routine and a regular, spiritual practice. Stopped watching the news to avoid negativity. Read inspiring books, watch inspiring films and listen to mellow or upbeat positive music. Say your affirmations regularly.

Yet, not a lot of things seem to shift, you life did not miraculously get better. Not that you would ever admit that to yourself since you choose to only see the good in everything!

Maybe it's time to ask yourself: is all of that actually ME? Are you enjoying the changes you have made? Are they making you feel better? Or are there things that you are missing? Clean living does not have to be sterile. You can allow yourself once in a while a few 'privileges'. The important thing is to enjoy them consciously. That's why I call them 'privileges' rather than 'guilty pleasures' or 'slip-ups'. 

Maybe you used to love pizza or junk food or sweets, and decided to clean up your act and switch to a healthy diet. The odds are, once your body is detoxed and used to healthy food the thought of junk food will make your skin crawl, but what if you are secretly dreaming of burgers and fries? Should you deprive yourself and brave on with the salad? My take is that you don't have to. You don't need to be militant, but conscious. Enjoy it while you're eating it, and observe how you feel afterwards. If you notice yourself feeling sluggish after gulping down that fatty or sugary food, that might automatically stop your cravings, otherwise just be aware of you general diet choices and avoid going for the unhealthy stuff by default or out of comfort.

Or maybe it's films, books and music. In general, my taste is quite eclectic, but I adore watching horror movies since I discovered Freddy Kruger at the age of 13 and  and I have started devouring Stephen King books when I was twelve. And since those early years I loved horror movies and books,  and thrillers. My late teens coincided with grunge which got me into harder music like metal as well. 

When I got into the Law of Attraction and heard that all those things are low-vibrational and actually toxic for your subconscious, as it doesn't know the difference between fiction and reality and might absorb the messages from the books or song lyrics, I decided to cut those things out. 

Luckily, as I  said, my taste is very eclectic, I had plenty of other music to keep me amused, read books that are inspiring and even some romance novels. I watched more funny and less violent movies (though I could rarely bring myself to watch romantic comedies unless forced by peer pressure, I never liked those!). I was genuinely OK with all of this, and didn't feel I was missing anything.

Until I went around a friend's house and he put on a Slipknot live DVD. Within minutes I was buzzing. The sheer energy and drama and spectacle of it, the absurdity (they all wear masks and behave like berserks on stage)! I was mesmerized. And I felt more alive than I had in months. When I looked past the lyrics that were often violent or desperate, the noise, the act with the masks and the liberal use of the f word, I could see that they, the band, were passionate about being of service ( putting on a good show without holding back in any way) and were treating their fans in a very respectful and appreciative manner, more so than some 'serious' style musician I had seen. Even if I had to filter through a lot of bad language...

I was on a high after that and it got myself thinking. It's only you who knows what you resonate most with. And maybe your preferred art/entertainment form is your way to deal with your shadow side and letting off steam rather than the expression of who and what you are. I feel bad about killing insects, but I enjoy watching Tarantino movies. I don't believe violent music makes you go out and kill people. Charles Manson claimed he got the message for the killings from The Beatles' 'Helter Skelter'. To my knowledge it's not considered to be a violent song.  Blaming Marilyn Manson for high school massacres is a bit like blaming the Dollar for the bad economy. It may be part of it but not the cause of it. 

The time I spent only with positive music, books and films was fine, but I was feeling a little like I was drifting. When I started listening to harder music again and watching and reading more intense books and films I felt like my senses had sharpened and I could push forward more. I had wind in my sails again. I felt like myself again. And good things began to happen, I manifested several positive things and events. I'm not saying that violent music, films and books bring you good luck, what raises my vibration might not be the same that raises yours, and vice versa; or at least not in the same measure.

The trick is finding a balance and being conscious about our choices. You don't have turn into the equivalent of a Tibetan monk to attract good things into your life. You can indulge into your favourite foods, music, books and films. But be aware of toxic language, negative messages or low nutritional value. Make sure the last thing you watch, read or listen to before going to bed has a positive message, after all, you will be stewing approximately eight hours in your subconscious! Have fruit or salad with your junk food. It's not all or nothing.

Raising your vibrations is not necessarily about depriving yourself of something, but of being aware of your choices. Choose from love, not from fear.

Just to make sure: the indulgences I am talking about here are not involving drug or alcohol abuse or anything illegal; if you managed to get off an addiction, whatever you were addicted to, it is better to stay away from it!

My indulgence for today is a little clip from the Slipknot concert! Enjoy!

Feel free to comment and share!

Love, Light and Healing,

Anya

Some of my favourite Quotes

Quotes

Today I'd like to present to you a small selection of my favourite quotes!

"Be yourself; everyone else is already taken."
- Oscar Wilde

"Avoid fruits and nuts. After all, you are what you eat."
- Garfield

Happiness is not having what you want. It is wanting what you have.
- Rabbi Hyman Schachtel

For the first half of your life, people tell you what you should do; for the second half, they tell you what you should have done.
- Richard Needham

Vision is not enough, it must be combined with venture. It is not enough to stare up the steps, we must step up the stairs.
- Vaclav Havel


Those who will not reason, are bigots, those who cannot, are fools, and those who dare not, are slaves.
- Lord Byron


Believe you can and you're halfway there.
- Theodore Roosevelt


Behind every great man is a woman rolling her eyes.
- Jim Carey



Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage.
- Lao Tzu


As you walk down the fairway of life you must smell the roses, for you only get to play one round. 
- Ben Hogan


Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson


I always wanted to be somebody, but now I realize I should have been more specific.
- Lily Tomlin


Come live in my heart, and pay no rent.
- Samuel Lover


All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson


Don't go around saying the world owes you a living. The world owes you nothing. It was here first.
- Mark Twain


“If ever there is tomorrow when we're not together.. there is something you must always remember. you are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think. but the most important thing is, even if we're apart.. I'll always be with you.”
- Winnie the Pooh


I know where I'm going and I know the truth, and I don't have to be what you want me to be. I'm free to be what I want.
- Muhammad Ali


All the war-propaganda, all the screaming and lies and hatred, comes invariably from people who are not fighting.
- George Orwell


A hard man is good to find.
- Mae West



I hope you enjoyed those!

Love, Light and Healing,
Anya

   

Today is the only one of his kind

Today is the only one of his kind

Today will never come back. It is unique. Do you remember the film 'Dead Poet's Society'?

It's most famous quote is 'Carpe diem - seize the day'. You only have this one chance of living this day, to make it special.

Don't waste time by holding grudges, holding on to resentment or worrying. Remember, today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday. Enjoy each new day as an opportunity for magic to happen, to meet inspiring people, to grow.


Here's a poem by Kalidasa, a Sanskrit poet living around 2500 B.C., I like very much:

                                                 Salutation to the Dawn                                          

Look to this day!
For it is life
The very life of life
In its brief course
Lie all the varieties and realities
of your existence.

The bliss of growth
The bliss of action
The splendour of beauty.
For yesterday is but a dream
And tomorrow is only a vision,
And today well lived,
Makes yesterday a dream of Happiness
And every tomorrow a vision of Hope.

Look well,therefore,to this Day
Such is the Salutation to the Dawn

Enjoy your day. Every day.

Love, light and healing,

Anya

Feel free to comment and share!

   

Tap into your Power

You heard that thoughts become things. That what goes around comes around. What you focus on grows. Feel good, think good thoughts, and you attract good things.
It would be great if we could program ourselves that way. The thing is, we are humans, and even the most positive of us have the odd off day. So what do you do if you find yourself feeling negative emotions, having negative thoughts? Suppress and erase the, pretend they are not real? That would not help! What you resist, persists. You have to deal with issues, acknowledge your thoughts and emotions.

One really great tool I have come across is Tapping, also called EFT (emotional freedom technique). Tapping  helps you acknowledge and release your emotions, and it can be used on anything, not only when you feel bad, but also if you want to set the intention for something positive.
So how does it work? In a nutshell: if you are slightly familiar with acupuncture or shiatsu, you have hear that there are energy lines, so-called meridians, running across our body. Sometimes the energy is blocked, or for some other reason does not flow the way it is supposed to and symptoms of dis-ease appear. An acupuncturist would stick needles into certain points to correct that.
EFT also recognizes that there are blockages of those energy lines, and that they are being caused by your emotions. But instead of using needles, you just gently tap with your fingertips on the energy points saying affirmations.

You start off by tapping several rounds of stating what might be bothering you, until you feel a relief. Then you start reaching for the next better feeling, going from neutral to positive, and in the last round you state the most positive intention. The points to tap are the side of your hand called 'karate chop', between your eyes where your third eye would be, side of your eyes, under your eyes, under the nose, under the lip, collar bone and depending on the practitioner under the arm, where us ladies would find the bra strap.

The advantages of tapping are many. It is quick, you only need to do about five, ten minutes a day, it's discrete and you can do it anywhere and in any situation you might feel stressed, it's free - there are many videos on youtube, you just have to imitate and repeat what is being said, which makes it easy to do, and it is a very forgiving technique, you don't have to worry about hitting the exactly right spot, and it doesn't matter which hand and what side of your face you tap on.

I heard of people who tap while listening to the news or in upsetting situations as to not absorb the negativity, and you don't have to go through all the points in those cases, just tapping the point at the side of your hand or the collarbone is as discrete as it is effective.

By first starting with the negative, you release it, so it won't clog up your system, so to speak, anymore and come up somewhere else.The neutral to positive statement helps you raise your vibrations and by tapping while affirming the positive statements you are programming your unconscious and can attract positive things, people and events into your life.

Go have a look on youtube, it's a great way to start. I can highly recommend Brad Yates, his presentations are very warm-hearted and humorous, or Margret M. Lynch. There are many, many more brilliant practitioners with great videos, too many for me to list all of them here, just see who you resonate most with. All you have to do is watch, imitate what the practitioner is doing and repeat the statements.
Feel your energy shift! For some people quite a lot might be shifting and they could get tearful, that's why you are being asked at the beginnings of the videos to be responsible for your own well-being, but I have never heard about anyone having negative side effects from EFT.

There are EFT videos about virtually anything from worrying too much, breakups, having an amazing day, a good night, being a money magnet, being a love magnet, and much more. Try not only to tap when you are feeling bad, but as regularly as possible. As Brad Yates says: you don't brush your teeth only once and expect it to last, either!

Here are some videos to get you started, have fun!

 

 

Love, Light and Joy,
Anya