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Who are your Spirit Guides and Guardian Angels

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Every one of us has several spirit guides.

Let’s start with Archangel.

Archangel is the highest of all angels. They love unconditionally, never judge you. Instead, they focus on your potential and divinity. And it doesn’t matter if we are believers or we are skeptical because they believe in us.

There are several Archangels known to us. Some of the better known are Archangel Michael, Archangel Raphael, Archangel Gabriel, and Archangel Ariel.

Archangel Michael is the Commander of the army of guardian angels. As the most powerful of all the angels and Archangels, Michael helps you by giving you strength to overcome your greatest fears and challenges. He is our most powerful protector,  teaching courage to those who invoke him.

So what are spirit guides?

Your spirit guides could  be Archangels, Elemental spirits, Spirit animals  and Earth guides. 

Spirit guides are energetic beings that reside in different dimensions. Usually you communicate with spirit  guides between thoughts and feelings. 

Do you have a spirit guide? And if you do, who is your spirit guide and how can you connect with yours? Is there anyone, a higher power that looks after you  and protects you? 

Some of you feel more comfortable, while others are more uncomfortable talking about spirits and their feelings related to that. 

Remember the time you were at crossroads in your life and could not make up your mind which decision is the best for you, and which way you should go? And then suddenly you saw that sign and felt confident you’re on the right track? 

At this moment you actually met one of your spirit guides. But what are they, how do we recognize them and how do we interact with them? 

You may be surprised by that, but you have actually chosen your spirit guides before your current incarnation, and they have been with you long before your current lifetime. 

Whoever your guides might be, you need to know they are entirely devoted to helping you fulfill your destiny, guide you in your development as a soul and inspire you to grow spiritually in your life. 

Sometimes your guides are your beloved ones who died, and this is why we very often see them coming in dreams. 

Archangel Raphael is the divine spirit guide who heals and gives us mental, physical and emotional strength after we’ve gone through a difficult time in  life.

Archangel Gabriel is the messenger of God. He helps us in our communication and understanding both with each other and with the self. 

Archangel Ariel literally means ‘lioness of God’. She is the divine spirit guide responsible for our physical needs, so she helps us in finding home, providing food and answering our everyday living needs. 

But how do you talk to them? There are many ways to connect with your Archangels and pour your hearts to .

You can say your thoughts and ask your questions aloud, directly speaking to them. Or you can just mentally ask your angels for help because they hear your thoughts. 

In a nutshell, Archangels are our very powerful spirit guides who help us, protect us and love us unconditionally. We can always ask them for help, guidance and advice. 

Let’s see the other spirit guides we have. 

We’ll start with Earth guides.

Your Earth guides can be people you spend everyday life with such as friends, relatives, or in some cases even people we don’t know. 

You can recognize your Earth spirit guides easily. Just think of the person who influenced your life greatly and made you think of yourself in a different way, and maybe even changed the direction of your life by inspiring you. 

Your Earth guide can also be just someone who came up in your life all of a sudden, said something or did something at the right time.

Whoever your spirit guides are, Earth ones or from different dimensions, it is important for us to recognize them because they are our greatest tool for learning.

Apart from Archangels and Earth guides, we have our Elemental guides. 

Elemental guides are spirits of the four elements Earth, Air, Fire and Water. 

The Earth Elementals are the energy spirits inhabiting flowers, trees, rocks and minerals. Apart from their physical role being an important part of our lives, on a spiritual level they clean up our negativity and balance our energetic levels with Mother Earth. 

Equally important, are – the Water Elementals. On a physical level they take care of the physical waters,  on spiritual levels they balance our emotional relation to the element of water and cleanse our emotional pollution. They bring us peace by controlling our anger, anxiety and selfishness. 

Then we have the third Elemental Guides – the fire guides, also known as Salamanders. 

They help you manifest your thoughts, and strengthen your intentions.

The fourth Elemental Guide is the Air Elementals. In your physical world they have power over clouds and winds and in their role as your guides,  they cleanse your thoughts and minds, help you be more attentive and focused, strengthening your logic and reason. Most importantly, they literally blow away your negativity and boost your inspiration. 

So, what are our Spirit Animals and how exactly do they guide us? 

Unlike Archangels and Elemental spirits who stay at a higher spiritual dimension, Spirit animals are embodied spirit guides. They could be animals you had as pets and you felt very attached to, or animals that often appear in your dreams, or even animals you just feel drawn to. 

If there is an animal that keeps coming again and again in your dreams, pay attention to it and try to memorize the messages it gives you. That could be your Animal Spirit Guide. 

So, we went through the different types of Spirit Guides and we spoke about how we recognize them and engage with them by consciously letting them enter our lives and help us. 

I also think we should not only be aware of the existence and connection we have with our Guides, but also realize we sometimes stop them from connecting and communicating with us. And we are not doing it on purpose, actually. 

There are many factors that could block them from entering our life. 

One of them could be overthinking and focusing too much on finding them. When we want to figure something out, our minds tend to overanalyze it and concentrate exclusively on it until we see the answer. This doesn’t work with finding our Spirit Guides, though. 

If we stop desperately seeking them, they will pop up exactly in the right moment when we need them. They are patient, loving and most of all, they need us to trust them. They don’t come if we force them to come. 

If our life is chaotic, our feelings and relationships too – that is just another factor why we can’t see the signs of our Guides. There is just no space for them to enter when we are unhappy, emotionally exhausted and negative. 

What we should do to enable them to help us is consciously ask for their support. We can directly ask our guides to give us a sign which relationship is hurting us more than making us grow, or what habit and people we should get rid of our live. They will be more than happy to help! 

It could sometimes be your high expectations and lack of patience that stops your guides from helping you. If you are nervously looking around desperately trying to find them, and when finding them – expect them to literally point out the way and direct your life, that’s a solid reason for you to actually miss their signs. You need to relax and be patient because the sweetest moments in life come when we least expect them. So do our guides. 

There are many ways and a lot of things you can do to open up for your Spirit Guides to reveal their presence in your life. 

A good starting point is keeping your mind and heart open, relax, omit overthinking and focus on the positive people and habits in your life. 

This way you will open your channels for your Guides to enter and fill your life with love, happiness and joy. 

Have you felt emotionally numb before?

Sitting in front of me, there was this beautiful smart girl I had a conversation with. Impressively calm, very balanced, even restrained I would say.

I was impressed by her. But then I finally was able to put my finger to it and  It  was the absence of vitality. That got me thinking. She was kind of cold, she missed the energy you would normally see in people’s eyes when they talk about things they love. 

I could see something was not right. And then I came up with this question that came very naturally in our talk: ‘How are you feeling?’, I asked her. The answer I got brought me to the topic today: ‘Nothing. Bernadette, I feel nothing’, she said.

In today’s podcast I’m going to be talking about the sense of nothingness that’s becoming more and more prevalent. Emotional numbness.

Do you sometimes feel disconnected from the world around you? 

Have you experienced feeling unreal for some periods of time, or feeling the world within and the world around you seems strange and somehow empty? 

These experiences are just part of what emotional numbness feels like.

Emotional numbness makes you feel like you are living someone else’s life rather than yours; it’s like you are looking at yourself from the point of an outside observer, and your body doesn’t really feel like it belongs to you. You may feel detached from the sense of self, your surroundings somehow feel unreal and you might even start questioning your presence in your own life. 

It's sort of like you are in a state of some sinister awake coma.  You feel isolated, insecure about what exactly is happening to you, disconnected from your own emotions and thoughts. It sometimes feels so hollow that you can’t recognize familiar emotions like compassion, love, gratitude, and even fears and pains start disappearing leaving you in a state of emotional numbness. 

Let me take you now through some reasons that are likely to have made you feel emotionally numb and lost. Because knowing the potential culprits behind it, and what made you feel this way can just help you so much in coping with it. 

So, maybe you’ve recently experienced a traumatic event in your life, like the loss of someone close to you, or had a painful break-up, or faced a failure. This is called Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, and the way it activates emotional numbness in you is by simply making your brain shut down when you experience emotions that take you back to that traumatic event. It could be an object, a person, or a place that triggers your negative emotions.

This post traumatic effect can last pretty long. It may last for months, sometimes even years after you had the negative experience, and it could be a mental barrier that stops you from making friendships or connecting with people in general. 

Traumatic events are the cause for emotional numbness for many people, but maybe that’s not your reason. What else could cause it then?

Well, if you experience emotional numbness regularly but there is no specific event that you can point out as a reason, then your lack of emotions might be a trace leading to depression.

Depression usually makes people feel sad, lonely and lacking self-esteem. But that’s not the case for some. Emotional numbness is just another face of depression that makes you feel nothing in situations you are supposed to feel joyous. Or instead of feeling happy for the good things happening in your life, and feeling sad when you lose someone – you feel emptiness. 

If you recognize yourself in my words, this is a sign your emotional emptiness is rooted in well covered depression. 

But there is another possible reason behind this psychological condition. 

Have you heard of the term Depersonalization? 

Depersonalization disorder could be another cause for emotional numbness. Apart from feeling emotional emptiness, you also feel physically disconnected from your body. Actually, only around 2% of the people experience depersonalization. 

You need to be aware that recognizing you are experiencing depersonalization on time is very very important. Yes, it might affect a few people, and maybe only for a short time, but it can also become chronic and take over our lives. If we don’t identify this condition early on, it stays for a long time, and becomes the captain on our emotional boat.

I asked her to help me understand better what exactly she is going through, so she explained to me the sensations of depersonalization in a way I can relate to by using a simple example I’m going to share with you.

You know those little games we all have played with our minds, like staring at the mirror for a very long time until getting to the point you don’t recognize your own face? Or when you repeat the same word so many times that it no longer sounds familiar? These examples of temporary strangeness can help you understand what depersonalization feels like. 

Well, here’s the thing - while the examples I gave you serve as momentary impressions for us, to her that’s a constant feeling. So depersonalization could be another face of emotional numbness. 

The best thing to do in order to break out of the cage your emotions have imprisoned you in, is by directly addressing them. 

Reaching out for a specialist is a huge step towards resolving this condition. Psychotherapy and proper medications, good diet and regular exercise are extremely beneficial for freeing yourself from the chains of your emotional emptiness.

Beyond professional help, another huge factor in tackling this condition is your surroundings. Yes, you heard that right. You shouldn’t hide and be afraid of what you are going through! 

It’s very very important that the people you are surrounded by understand what’s going on with your emotions and conditions. 

Professional support is always a way.So when you feel hollow and your inner voice tells you you are a bystander in your own life, you have to ask yourself a few very important questions. Start with this one: 

‘What is the thing that really inspires me? The activity, passion or type of work and way of life that truly empowers me and makes me want to spend time doing it?’

By asking yourself this question and taking the time to really reach the answer, you are a step forward towards the boat that takes you back to your deserved happiness.

The next very helpful question is:

‘What makes me feel satisfied’, and in reverse – ‘What doesn’t make me feel happy? What is the thing or things in my life that drown me more and more, and make me feel more lost and insecure?’

Those are really powerful questions that challenge your negative spirits and remind you of who you really are. The third question that gets you back in the driver’s seat of your own emotional environment, leaving behind the emotional numbness is:

‘Why can’t I express my joy and happiness / my excitement, anger or pains?’

After answering these questions and focusing on really reaching the answers deep down in yourself, you realize the need of emotional satisfaction is nothing to feel ashamed from, but instead, it’s a feeling you have to make sure you constantly feed and take care of.

And always remember – you are not alone. We are in this together.

What is a spirit guide part 2

Spirit guides are these cool beings following us around, making sure we stay safe and happy.

Now, I may not know everything there’s to know about spirit guides but I do know that they only want the best for you. 

The best thing about spirit guides is that they always try to send us signals.

My spirit guides often talk to me with numbers. 

When I first started experiencing the supernatural,  I started seeing Angel numbers everywhere. To this day, whenever I’m doing work that’s moving me along the right path for my soul, I keep seeing the same numbers!

The problem is, we can’t always see or hear the clues and hints they’re sending.

I sometimes too wish they were a bit more direct – I don’t know, a massive STOP warning sign that drops out of nowhere before I make a bad move seems direct enough to me!

But nope, that’s not how it works.

The signs spirit guides send are so subtle, that if you’re not used to watching out for them, you can completely miss out on them.

What’s even more, asking for guidance directly is a mission impossible for most people. I bet it just feels like talking to air, huh?  

However, today I want to show you that it is POSSIBLE to talk to your spirit guides and there are ways to ask for guidance when you need it the most, and I’m going to show you a few ways how to do exactly that.

My name’s Bernadette Balla and thank you for listening today – let’s get started!

 

[h2] How do we know if there are spirit guides around us?

First things first – in order to be able to talk to your spirit guides, we first have to be comfortable around their presence and BELIEVE that they’re around us.

Here’s something for you to think about.

Go back to the time when you were five or six. Remember how everything seemed possible back then – and you didn’t struggle to believe in something out of this world, something magical?  

Well, those are the beliefs and feelings you’re going to have to recreate to start sensing higher guidance.

I’m not saying you should fool yourself, I’m saying you should find ways to raise your vibrational energy. This is crucial so you can hear your guides, okay?  

You can enter that high vibrational mood with a variety of different things. You can start coloring, or wear brighter (more childish) colors, or watch cartoons, or jump on a trampoline, or buy a paddle pool, I don’t know, whatever works for you… anything that makes you feel like the child who believed everything is possible.

If you think about it, it’s pretty impossible to hear from someone we don’t believe in, right?

When I was much younger around 5, I had an imaginary friend named Ava. Actually, my mom called her imaginary, I was convinced she was real.

Now, Ava wasn’t the typical imaginary friend you’d expect a five-year-old to have. She was in her 70s, had silky white hair but was always down for a tea party with me and my tea cup set.

As much as I loved having tea parties with Ava, I loved her the most for the way she was able to comfort me.

I’ve already talked about the fact I’ve had a difficult upbringing… my dad wasn’t exactly the best dad on the planet, to say the least, and he’d often end up coming home drunk. 

It was during those drunken nights that I really appreciated Ava being near me.

Your gang of spirit guides – some of them come and go, or at least that’s how I see things, so don’t be too surprised if you sense different beings at different times.

Their energy is different too.

Let’s say, if one of the spirit guides is here to help you learn forgiveness, their energy’s going to feel different than the spirit guy who’s here to help you learn to stand your ground. It’s like having friends with different personalities – not all of your friends are the same, right?

As soon as I’d learn a lesson, they’d depart. At one point, I even had a great-great father following me around (well, it was his soul really), helping me detach from unhealthy family patterns that started back with him.

I’m telling you this so you don’t freak out if you sense different beings and different energies around you. It’s all good, they all mean well.

Now, I do believe SOME of our spirit guides are assigned to us on birth – and they follow us through our whole life. 

Usually, it’d be easier for you to connect to your so-called core group of spirit guides, simply because you’re more used to their presence.

Every time I was stepping closer to the life I’m meant to be living – bam, the warm feeling in my chest. Every time I was stepping away from it – nothing, gone!

Basically, my spirit guides used my own body and my own dreams to signal me and over time, I learned to listen.

Some spirit guides have talked to me – and announced their presence – by giving me goosebumps or chills.

I’ve seen a lot of people that acknowledge sudden chills as a way for a higher being to signal their presence. So if you attempt to talk to some of your spirit guides and you notice the chills or the goosebumps, know someone’s here to listen and help.

 

The one way I love reaching out to my spirit guides is during astral projection. That’s why I’m so obsessed with the world of dreams!  

Free from the limitations of the physical world as we know it, I didn’t only get a chance to find the right path for me and my soul, I got to explore the meaning of life in a way I’d never thought possible.  

If astral travels are just too freakish for you, you can try other methods to connect with your guides.

One of my followers recently shared with me that she really loves using the method of active imagination and journaling to connect with her guides. First she meditates, and then once she enters the subconscious, she starts writing questions and answers. And boy oh boy, the things she’s found out so far just by doing this – it’s incredible!

Another follower revealed that she has the habit of asking questions. No special preparation, no anything… whenever she feels she’s in the right mood (whenever her energy’s high and her mind’s clear), she asks questions.

For example, she asks what she needs to do today to grow her business or what does she need to learn so she can find her path, and then waits for the answers.

What is a spirit guide?

What if I told you that there’s always someone watching your back?

And that someone loves you very much and wants you to be happy.   

I know, it’s pretty hard to believe it, especially when life’s not going to plan. Someone’s watching me, Bernadette?! Come on!

Yup, someone’s not only watching you BUT guiding you as well, giving you love and support when you need it the most.

That someone, or better said, that group, are your spirit guides.  

I know it’s difficult to believe in something you’ve never ACTUALLY heard or seen but your spirit guides are there, even if you struggle to hear them and their advice.

I like to refer to my spirit guides as my life mentors.

You know, it’s ironic how much time we waste looking for different “coaches” or “mentors” or seeking EXTERNAL guidance, when we already have our very own PERSONALIZED group of mentors.

And in today’s podcast, we’re going to talk more about that group of mentors: your spirit guides!

Your spirit guides are assigned to you the moment you are born.

YOur higher self, choose them, based on what your soul really needs. So now you’re going to say, how does my higher self could have possibly known what I needed before I even existed?

Let me just say, your higher self KNOWS everything. It’s just that the part of you that knows everything is buried deep into the unconscious… by the way, that’s why I insist on talking to the unconscious, check out some of my other podcasts for info on how to do that.

So when the time came for your higher self to choose your spirit guides, think of it like an interview - only the BEST match could pass. Our spirit guides are chosen for a reason - they are there to help our soul fulfill its unique mission in life. 

There’s not a single person on Earth that doesn’t have spirit guides. Yes, even murders and criminals have spirit guides but they’ve simply chosen to ignore their guidance and gone astray from their path.

I still vividly remember the day when I first got to talk to my spirit guides.

I was at a preeetty bad place in life… more like, a HORRIBLE place.   

I was stuck in a toxic relationship that I was too scared to end, work was draining every ounce of my energy, and I honestly struggled to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

I know everyone around me expected me to take the familiar route that follows after you hit massive career goals. You know, I was expected to settle down, get married, have kids, buy a house in the suburbs, yada yada.

And don’t get me wrong, there isn’t anything wrong with that idea and with that life, it just wasn’t the right life FOR ME. My spirit guides knew that, my higher self knew that but I struggled to catch up with what they knew.  

One day, I hit a basic google search on ways to calm anxiety… and I pressed the I feel lucky button. That took me to a page that was talking about taking a few minutes to be mindful and explained the benefits of meditation. 

I’m not going to lie, it took me a while to make meditation stick as a habit but I was very persistent; to make a long story short, one day, I could feel something was different.

While I was meditating, my mind was racing and I was stuck going over and over again the same question: what do I need to do to be happy? What do I need to be happy? Please, someone tell me what do I need to do to be happy again?!

Out of nowhere, I heard a voice in my head that told me one thing: take it one step at a time.

ONE STEP AT A TIME – yes, that’s what I needed to do to get myself untangled from the mess I was in!

The rest is history – I got out of the toxic relationship, did the inner work, learned how to trust my gut, and completely changed the way I live and work… all of that just because I followed the voice that told me to begin just by taking ONE small step at a time.

Once I started learning more about spirituality, I realized that my A-ha! moment happened, thanks to my spirit guides. So naturally, I WANTED more: more guidance, more love, more amazing moments in my life!

I couldn’t believe my spirit guides were there all along but I was oblivious to them! I was too distracted to listen and notice what they’re saying!  

The more I got involved with my spirit guides, the more I learned about myself and my TRUE mission in life.  

My spirit guides did not only help me find out what makes my soul happy, they helped me claim back my life and my freedom. 

When I told my friend about the whole experience I’m having with my spirit guides, she was like, oh cool, can you ask them for a new sexy boyfriend and a house in Malibu?

Ummm…. okay, let’s just say that spirit guides don’t work like that.

To better explain this, you remember Aladdin, right? And his magic lamp? And the Genie? I love that movie!

Anyway, a lot of people strongly believe that spirit guides are someone like the Genie. You say a wish, and BAM – your spirit guides make the wish come true!  

Actually, that couldn’t be further away from the truth!

Can you imagine how messy the world would be if everyone’s spirit guides made ALL wishes come true? 

What’s even more, spirit guides know that sometimes, your wishes should NOT come true for your own good.

I always think about this when I see some of my exes now. Back then, I was dying to make the relationship work with someone while things were just falling apart, left and right.

At that time, I couldn’t understand why my spirit guides weren’t helping me fix my relationship but now I know that my spirit guides were TOO BUSY saving me from myself!

  

How do spirit guides work?

That brings me to my next point – how do spirit guides work then?

The most important thing to remember before even trying to contact your spirit guides is that spirit guides don’t work on demand. You can’t boss them around, you can’t tell them what to do, you can’t just give them a list of wishes and expect them to act upon it.

Our spirit guides love us in a way that I can’t even begin to explain but just because their love is unconditional, doesn’t mean they’ll let us do whatever we want.

The ONLY way spirit guides work is as their name suggests – by giving guidance.

Notice how in my case, they didn’t tell me to break up with my then-boyfriend or start meditating. They only told me to take ONE step – to begin with something! – simply because they KNOW ME and knew that taking the first step is usually the hardest part for me.

I too sometimes wish that their advice was a bit more straightforward, something like – Hey Bernadette, walk into Target, aisle 3, that’s where your future husband is shopping right now! – know what I mean?! But that’s just not how spirit guides work.

They just give guidance and advice, we interpret the advice and put words into actions.

If we’re on the right path, they’ll let us know. How? Good feels, good vibes, a sense of belonging and harmony. You can’t miss feeling good when you’re following the path you’re meant to be on!

The reason why they sometimes keep us stuck until we learn a lesson is because spirit guides can see the big picture, including the parts we can’t see ourselves. We have to be ready before we move on to something even bigger than what we have now. 

And you know how sometimes, nothing makes sense in the present, but once you look back, everything makes sense? Well, spirit guides have the ability to do that with the future.  

Think of it this way – there’s a maze (that’s life) and you’re in the middle of the maze. There are several ways out of the maze but you can’t really see where you’re going until it’s too late and you bump into a dead end.

Dead ends are the wrong paths we choose that make us feel stuck, like there’s no hope in sight.

Now if you’re like most people, you’ll be trying to exit the maze, one way or another.

Some people make the same choices their parents or friends did, and end up in the same places. Some take a blind bet and end up finding the winning path for them. After all, when luck is included, someone HAS to score at some point, right?

Now this approach, where you just try to find the way on your own… sure, it may work sometimes. But this isn’t the best, most strategic way to navigate the maze.

Most people end up STUCK when they try to take this approach because first of all, doing what everyone else is doing doesn’t usually work out for everyone… and second, that’s not the way you go if you’re keen on living a life you’re really happy with. 

HOWEVER, what if someone could help you out? What if you could have a map of the maze or at least a way to tell if you’re taking the wrong path? What’s even more, what if you could have a friend shouting directions to you from OUTSIDE of the maze, directions that are going to bring you to the ultimate happiness?

That external help we all NEED comes from our spirit guides.

Not only can the spirit guides see the maze and the different routes to the exit but they know what happens if you take each route!

Let’s say, if I refused to leave my toxic relationship, my spirit guides could see there’s nothing but trouble and heartache for the rest of my life!

The only problem is, they can’t control us and our choices. Can you imagine how easier life would be if our spirit guides could force us to always make the BEST decisions for ourselves?

Unfortunately, they can only shout directions to you using different channels: your dreams, your intuition, the few mindful moments you have during the day.

That’s it. It’s up to us whether we follow the advice our spirit guides give us or not.

If you think about it, it’s like talking to a life coach, a mentor.

Let’s say, you want to lose 30 pounds and you hire a fitness coach to help you lose weight.  

Your fitness coach can tell you what to do to achieve that in the fastest, healthiest way possible. They can show you how to plan your meals, how to stay on track with water intake, how to exercise the right way, basically, give you everything you need to succeed.

BUT at the end of the day, it’s you that have to do the actual work. You have to prep the meals, hit the gym five times a week, and drink your water. 

If you don’t follow the advice you’ve been given, then you can’t blame the coach when there are no results!

Now, since I know that for most people the hardest part is learning how to tune in to the internal FM and actually hear what their spirit guides are saying, I’m going to stop here.

There’s going to be another episode where we’ll better explain how to talk to your spirit guides and together, we’ll find out what’s the BEST way to talk to your spirit guides in order to receive the right answers!

Part 2: Karma is NOT a bitch

So, Karma is not just a bad event that happened to you recently because some time ago you stepped on a snail, unintentionally offended someone by saying words you didn’t mean to say, or hurt someone without knowing what exactly you’re doing. 

And it’s also important to note that Karma is not here to make anyone suffer, as many people think. 

No, no, and again no.

Karma is not the supreme power that punish you for committing bad actions and speaking bad words. Karma is actually here for good.

Karma is the flash drive of the universe, where it keeps track of our experience on Earth from every life we are given to exist on the planet. Both good and bad. It’s a pool of human wisdom, collected by the good and bad actions we’ve done with our souls while inhabiting different bodies over time.

And it’s the loving teacher who keeps track of all of them and presents the lessons from them in, different times of your life: when we are ready for them, and ready to learn from them.

You may have wondered why there are so many people who commit crimes, hurt other people and in general create a pretty negative mark for their souls, and yet you never saw them really paying for their deeds. But you saw many people who are spending their lives helping others, spreading love, wisdom and support, and yet they go through so many hardships it’s simply not fair. And you wonder why is that, how can the Universe be so unfair?

Let me stop you here! 

Our universe is actually very fair and well organized when it comes to the way it functions. And it’s super wise.  Karma is one of the best teachers. What do I mean with this?

Remember in the first part of this podcast I said our Universe is gracious and merciful, and we are never faced with challenges we can’t deal with and are beyond our capabilities? 

We are always wisely given a good portion of challenges to deal with in our current lives, a portion we can handle – not more and not less, and after we go through that portion of life challenges, our spirits become wiser and more mature, preparing to face another bunch of challenges. 

 

Imagine this as a game: you can’t move to level two if you haven’t completed level 1. And it’s not just because that’s how things work, but because level 1 prepares you and teaches you how to complete it and move forward. It gives you the skills and wisdom that will later allow you to start level 2 and go through it, while learning your new knowledge and wisdom. Sometimes you may fail to complete some challenges in the next few levels if you hadn’t learned the skills from the first level well. 

That’s exactly how Karma works. If life is the game with many levels, Karma is the teacher that keeps track of your performance, and knows if you didn’t learn your lessons on level 1 well, or did something tricky without realizing what would your trick cost you, so it serves you the lesson from your own tricks lat the next levels, when you are ready to learn from your mistakes. 

And this is why Karma is a good thing! Because it’s the tutor who prepares you for the next levels by serving you exactly what you need in order to grow! 

So going back to your question why is that some bad people don’t get their Karma punch in the face right away, but wait for their next reincarnation to serve their portion of hardships – it’s because they are not ready to take them now.

Remember we are not served what we can’t handle?

They just can’t handle all those lessons and difficulties now, they lack the skills and the knowledge to face them. And Karma patiently keeps track of their intention, sometimes it may take a couple of levels, or a couple of reincarnation for Karma to see they are ready to receive the bill and learn their lessons. 

That’s how your soul  grows and becomes wiser. 

And exactly the same applies to all those who do good deeds and share love and wisdom, but life served them many hardships and challenges. It’s simply because they are wise enough to be able to go through them and learn from them, and head towards the next more advanced levels.

 

You’ve met some people who are so incredibly wise that left you amazed and wondering how did they learn so much in the same amount of time you have on planet Earth. Well, you’ve just met souls from more advanced levels. Karma has played its important role and brought them to the wisdom they have worked their way through. 

But here comes the question everybody is asking: how can I cleanse my Karma from bad memories from my past lives that strike now, and live a better life? 

You may have heard some say you can clean it all, say you can’t do anything about that. 

You can’t take a spiritual sponge and just wipe off all your lessons from your past lives and then come into  your current lifetime. 

So if you take positive actions in your life, this might make sense, wouldn’t it? The cosmic law says you reap what you sow, and even though some great achievements you make in this dimension might not be rewarded instantaneously, focusing on positive words, thoughts and actions will surely give you a nice time in your current life. 

I’m going to take you through a couple of things you can do to partly neutralize bad experiences and fulfil your life with positivity. 

Before sharing my advice, I first want you to stop for a moment and think about your body. What do you do when you’ve put too much weight, or you’ve eaten too much fast and unhealthy food? Exactly, you go on a diet, or you stop for a moment, focus on more healthy food, start exercising and make a detox diet.

But think about this for a moment. You do not consist just from a body! You have a soul that orchestrates your body! So you exercise your body, eat healthy and detox, but what about your soul and spirit? 

The way you start living a better life by taking care of your body, the same way you can begin your spiritual detox and start living a high quality spiritual life. 

If you take things this way, you can easily understand what steps you can take in order to cleanse your spirit from past lessons that manifest now. And no, you won’t be skipping the lessons this way. By detoxing and exercising your spirit, you will actually show your Karma and the Universe that you’ve learned some lessons already and they won’t need to serve them again for you to repeat them. 

Isn’t it nice how well the Universe works? Just like a good teacher, your Karma will know you’ve passed the test on this lesson and will give you a holiday, and then start teaching you your new lessons. But you will be a step better prepared, so they won’t be that tough for you. 

So let’s see what exactly we can do to show our Karma we are wiser and we’ve learned our lessons. 

I believe the most important step is to learn to seek and bestow forgiveness, in the first place.

Forgiveness is way beyond just expecting and accepting apologies. It is about establishing a feeling for compassion, love and awareness. And these feelings have the power to wipe off  hatred, the wish for vengeance, negativity and resentment. 

Establishing a forgiveness state of mind is a huge step in your spiritual growth because forgiveness never comes alone. It comes with a number of virtues, and love and compassion is just a part of it. 

Imagine someone says something offensive to you, when you haven’t done anything or given them any reason for that. This act from his or her side is a negative point in the bill of their Karma, and a neutral point for you. If you start attacking back and hurting this person, this is now a negative point for you. The person will keep on attacking, and you will only be making things worse, as none of you will learn anything from each other that will make you grow spiritually. Instead, you will feel bad and disappointed. 

But let’s say this person attacks you and you reply in a calm way, explaining why you won’t accept their hurtful words and that you forgive them. This is a positive move forward for you, and if the person understands their behavior was hurtful, then that’s a lesson learnt for both of you. And it’s all made possible because you’ve created a sense of forgiveness in yourself. 

Now that you’ve forgiven, you have shown your Karma you know this lesson and you are ready to move forward. Your Karma knows you are wise enough and will prevent you from the many similar encounters you were planned to face in order to learn to forgive. But you won’t face many of them because you already know this lesson. 

This is how you can cleanse some of your negative Karma. No, you won’t solve the issues of your life because they are your lessons, but you will skip some negative experiences, and isn’t that a great improvement?

Great, so let’s move on! Another very powerful way you can cleanse your Karma from past negativity is by finding gratitude. Are you wondering how being grateful can cleanse your Karma?

It’s more simple than you think. When you create a mindset for being grateful, you will start noticing more and more events in your life that are good for you and make your life easier and happier. This way you will open your eyes for goodness and start accepting more easily the hardships in your life. You will know how lucky and blessed you are with everything good happening to you, and you will start welcoming the hardships as challenges you have to overcome as the price for all the positivity coming your way. 

So instead of blaming everybody and everything for your difficulties, you will be grateful to people and things for being part of your life, and completing your challenges more easily. And since this is a life lesson learned, you will be rewarded in your next life. I think now I have to repeat that mother Universe is very well organized and fair to us, if we manage to understand the way it works!

And my last but not least important advice in your path towards cleansing your Karma is: Explore your intentions! Yes, explore your intentions.

Get to know yourself. Take the time, maybe take a break and spend some time in solitude only with yourself, could be a couple of days, but do it! When you stay with yourself – no cheating, no phones! – you can make space for your thoughts and you can start looking them up and studying them. You will realize there are many things you’ve been doing without realizing the consequences, and there are many people you’ve hurt without knowing you’re hurting them.

So when you explore and understand your intentions, only then you will be able to give clear instructions to yourself and set the direction of your life. You will learn what really interests you and corresponds with you, and start off your journey towards your mission, instead of rambling around, hurting people and leaving a mess.

The first bit of wisdom is knowing yourself. And when you’ve acquired this wisdom, you can skip a whole bunch of unpleasant lessons, right? 

Let me repeat what are the ways you can detox your Karma and make your current life better: first, seek and bestow forgiveness! Find gratitude, and get to know yourself by exploring your intentions.

Karma is NOT a bitch

Karma still is misunderstood by many and pointed out as a tool for revenge.

Karma is an old Sanskrit word for action, work or deed. But apart from the literal meaning, Karma also stands for the spiritual law of cause and effect. In other words, all the good words, thoughts or deeds will come back to us, and in the same way all the bad ones will do as well. 

 

I know you’ve heard Karma is a cosmic law – but what does that mean? It means that Karma, as a cosmic law, applies for everybody, everywhere, the whole time., Karma is not a bitch, as most people love saying that when something bad happens to them or their friends. It doesn’t exist for the reason of punishing you for your baaad bad thoughts and actions. That’s not the reason Karma is here. But why, then?

According to the ancient philosophers, the Law of Karma exists entirely for your good! Because it allows us to progress the evolution of our souls. It allows us to learn from our mistakes and educates your spirit about what we should do because it makes us grow and develop, and what we shouldn’t do because it draws us back. 

You can perceive Karma as a good, understanding parent who sees the mistake we’ve made and patiently and lovingly teaches us not to do it again. 

Let’s say you are a kid who constantly runs around and wants to try everything, see and touch everything. And you come to the hot stove and, of course just as all the kids do, you put your fingers on it. As a result, you burn your fingers and feel pain. It’s not Karma that made you feel pain, right? It’s the hot stove itself. Karma is just the good parent who makes you understand everything you do has its effect on you, and once you get hurt from an action you’ve done, you don’t do it again because you don’t want to experience the same bad feelings. 

Karma is the knowledge that allows you to understand what hurts you and what makes you happy, and the more you learn from its lessons, the more you  grow and mature!

I told you earlier that Karma is entirely for our good, right? And you were having these thoughts ‘wait a second, but there is good and bad karma, positive and negative karma – so how does it come only to be for our good’? 

That’s exactly how – just think of the kid who burned fingers on the stove. The kid learned a lesson that allowed it to know what is good to do and what is bad. So here we are not talking about the experience itself, we are talking about the precious knowledge that comes with our experiences. 

So, yes, it’s not Karma that strikes back and bites you in the ass for your past bad actions: they come anyways because that’s how the universe works, you plow what you seed. But it’s karma that allows you to learn that you plow what you sow! 

 

So: no, karma is not a bitch! Karma is a best friend in our spiritual growth and evolution!

I hope I shed light on what Karma really is, so you don’t blame it for your own actions. But let’s now see what are the different types of Karma and see where can our life lessons jump in from!

 

Let me now take you through them.

Sanchita Karma in short is accumulated, collected karma which results have not yet manifested. Basically, it’s a list of pending reflections of thoughts and actions our soul has committed in all of its previous lives since it has been created. Sanchita is the collective Karma of our past, in other words. 

Moving now to Pra-rab-hdha Karma, which is a part of Sanchita Karma. Prarabhdha Karma is the manifestation of our past actions in our current life. It’s an amount of reflections of past actions that is going to be paid back in this current life. 

And here comes the third one: Kriyaamana karma, or the seed karma. It literally translated to ‘being made’. This is the Karma we all create now in your current lives through your thoughts and actions, and which fruits we will reap in the future. Now you understand why it’s also called Seeds karma: because that’s what we create now and we will either experience its lessons now, or in the next birth.

Okay, now you know the three main types of Karma: Sanchita – the collective one, Pharabhdha – the current one, and Kriyaamana – the future one. 

I also hope now you understand what the common way of looking at Karma simply as ‘bad karma’ and ‘good karma’ is super superficial. 

We live in this current material dimension and it’s usually very difficult to look beyond and understand the big picture. What is done by us does not necessarily come back now, I would even say it only sometimes does, while most of the time it goes to the memory stick of the universe, to our own folder in there and each file is opened in different time. 

Our souls inhabit this dimension with these bodies for a certain time, very little actually, and then we leave the bodies but our souls continue their way. And they bear with them the whole memory of each single event of our lives – this one, and the many others before. 

We can’t blame Karma for everything that happens to us for a simple reason: our souls are given a precious thing: free will. And it’s not Karma that creates itself, but we create our Karma with our free will which orchestrates our actions.

I am sure now you have a way better understanding of what Karma is, what are the types of Karma and why it’s not Karma itself we should point our fingers at and blame for our bad experiences. And once people really understand this, they feel freed up of their fears and lead a more fulfilled, brave and spiritually mature life. Thank me later!

But now you might be concerned and wondering over a very important question: what if in my previous lives I did lots of bad actions? Do I now have to suffer for my whole life? 

Well, actually our Universe is gracious and merciful, and we are never faced with challenges we can’t deal with and are beyond our capabilities. But more about how we write our own Karma and cleanse from the bad manifestations from our past lives in the second part 

Reorganizing my Home to Feel Better : Feng Shui

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Lately, we’ve all been spending A LOT MORE time at home than usual.

When the lockdown started, I didn’t mind hunkering down at my apartment because hey, I’m not exactly a party person anyway. My work is mostly online, I was safe, and I had Leo by my side, so what more could I possibly have asked for?  

We have to ride this out together, right?

Anyways, since I’ve been at home a lot longer than usual, I figured I may as well make my apartment feel a bit cozier.

There I was, browsing home décor ideas on Pinterest when I saw an article about feng shui! BAM! 

You know, I used to be very into feng shui before I moved into this apartment. Back at my old apartment, the whole place was organized so it could maximize good energy flow and limit negative vibes.

Then once I moved places…. I honestly have no idea what happened and why I didn’t follow through with my feng shui practice when it made the whole place feel so much better.

I guess too many things happened meanwhile and I just focused more on my business and tried to keep things minimalistic and practical, which is exactly how my apartment felt to me: convenient but not exactly cozy.

Since I’ve had a few extra hours over the weekend – don’t we all have a few extra hours nowadays?! – I figured I might as well go back to my feng shui basics. 

 

First, let me tell you more about feng shui

Feng shui is an ancient philosophy that optimizes the energy flow by carefully planning and positioning certain elements in the home. The story of feng shui discovery goes like this.

It all started when some Eastern philosophers noticed that back in the ancient days, some villages are much more prosperous than others without an obvious reason. Well, at least the reason wasn’t obvious at first. 

They realized that even though some villages were relatively close in distance, had the same number of people living in them, and had similar life conditions, the two villages would ultimately develop in two VASTLY different ways.

One would be a roaring success and grow into a kingdom, while the other one would be slowly diminished and die out.

They started looking and comparing things… and they soon realized that ALL of the villages had one thing in common: they have good Qi, or good energy flow!

The villages were placed on a side of a mountain that would shield them from heavy snow and allow for mild winters; all of them had streams running through them that were big enough to support life but not massive enough to flood; all of them had good soil to grow food on and massive forests around.

Feng shui is based on the same principle of Qi, the natural energy that’s surrounding us.

The reasoning goes, when the energy’s able to flow naturally, without restrictions, be that in a home, a building, a village or even a whole town, that place quickly grows to be a good place.

I had a roommate whose mom refused to walk into our dorm because of “bad energy”. Our room was so cluttered, we’ve had clothes and make up and books everywhere… you know what dorm rooms are like, small and stuffed and dark!

It was funny back then but now I can totally relate to my roommate’s mom, I guess I’m getting old!

Anyways, her reaction was enough to prompt me to do some research on the topic. 

And while there’s a whole philosophy on feng shui that sometimes takes years to fully study, I immediately realized that cluttered spaces are one big NO-NO in feng shui!   

According to feng shui, spaces that are untidy and stuffed restrict the energy flow and the fee of the space.

According to the feng shui philosophy, our home is considered our sanctuary.

That’s the place where we come to rest and rejuvenate our energy.

Now, imagine what happens when you come home to a dirty house, full of empty mugs and plates, clothes all over the floor… doesn’t exactly feel like a trip to the spa now, does it?  

Okay, so the rule number one is…

... first figure out what needs fixing in YOUR LIFE and only then find out what needs fixing in YOUR HOME.

What’s your number one focus right now?

What’s your biggest desire – do you want to land a new job or find your soulmate?

What’s your biggest obstacle - is it the lack of motivation or lack of discipline? 

That’s what makes feng shui so effective – it can be individually customized to fit your own needs and goals.  

Only once you’re aware of what needs fixing can you move on translating your goals into feng shui.

The best way to do that is by making a Bagua map.

There are tons of free samples you can download online, just type download bagua map or spreadsheet and I’m sure you’ll find it.

Now, put most simply, the Bagua map is there to help you chart all of the 9 aspects of your life: wealth, reputation, relationships, family & health, children & creativity, knowledge & spirituality, career & work, and helpful people & travel.

We need the balance of ALL areas to live a life with purpose, a life that’s truly aligned.

Each of the charts on the Bagua map has a different color, different side of the world, and is symbolized by a different element. For instance, love and relationships are obviously red, which is why adding elements of red may help you bring more love, passion and energy in your life.

 

My second tip is that in order to…

…make a home FULLY balanced, you also need to BALANCE the five elements of feng shui:

·       Wood — represents growth and creativity; add living plants and trees to an area to balance it out

·       Fire — is all about the passion and the energy; add candles around the home for more feelings of warmth.

·       Earth — as you can probably guess, is all about stability and balance; use rocks and ceramics to pursue those feelings in an area.

·       Metal — is about logic and intelligence though be wary not to overuse it; that’s why industrial homes feel cold to some people – there’s really no warmth to it.

·       Water — last but not least, water is life, wisdom and serenity; if you can’t add an element of water in your home – and a lot of people can’t – even the SOUND of water itself can help!

In the perfectly-balanced feng shui home, all of the elements are purposefully chosen to balance the five elements WHILE supporting the individual needs from the Bagua map! I know it sounds complicated but it’s actually not, and once you get the hang of it, then you’ll be able to make your HOUSE support your GOALS.

 

So what did I do to make myself feel better?

I first started with this mega big deep clean – I literally scrubbed every surface in my apartment. When I say every, I mean under the bed, behind the cabinets, at the back of my closet…

Not going to lie, all of that felt very liberating, therapeutic almost.

After I was done, I could tell the energy in my apartment changed even though I didn’t actually move any of the furniture. It felt light and airy and I felt SO INSPIRED, it’s crazy!

Next, based on my Bagua map, I tried to balance the elements around my apartment.

I first re-arranged some of the plants I had – they’re no longer just incidentally put someplace, now they’re strategically placed to support me and my goals.

I completely reorganized my bookcase and donated a few books I knew I’m not going to read ever again. Here’s the fun thing – I moved my bookcase so it’s facing southeast because I’m working on attracting abundance in my life!

The next thing to work on was my kitchen. You know, I don’t use my kitchen that much and Leo likes to knock things down, so I’ve realized I’ve pretty much kept it very minimalist and basic.

BUT that’s why it felt very metal-like and cold…  I was wondering what I could do and figured that some colorful mugs were EXACTLY what I needed! I chose deep red and deep purple mugs to symbolize fame and work success. 

And it’s different, I can feel it in my bones.

I’m sleeping better, I’m more energized, my motivation is better and I can’t believe all of that is happening just because I took out the clutter, moved the furniture a bit, and that’s about it. 

I can’t wait to see what happens next as I’m working on balancing my home feng shui style even more!  

The Moon’s Influence on a Woman’s body

The Moon’s Influence on a Woman’s body

The moon and its influence on a woman’s body

Bernadette Bella

How many times have you heard men making comments about how impulsive we women are? I bet at least a dozen. But only few of them know the real reason behind our sometimes unpredictable and moody behavior. 

How would you react if I told you that our bad moods, poor self-esteem, sometimes sudden fatigue, nervousness and even emotional upheaval - all of these ups and downs in our bodies are actually controlled by the moon. Yes, you heard that right - they are controlled by the moon. And I’m excited to tell you more about your relationship to the moon. 

I’m Bernadette, and in today’s podcast I am going to be talking about the Moon and how it affects your bodies, and the connection between the moon and our cycles. Thank you for listening! 

We all are dependent on mother nature cycles, from the change between day and night, to the change of the seasons. But here comes the thing – women, unlike men, we are dependent on one more cycle:  which is the month cycle. It starts with the first day of your menstruation and ends with the next one. Usually this cycle matches with the duration of the moon cycle, which lasts for 28 days – but not all the time. Did you know that the word ‘month’ is actually an Old English word for the Moon?

I was having this conversation with a friend about the connection we have with the Moon, and my friend kind of teased me saying if that’s true and we are really that dependent on the moon, then we all should have our cycle at the same time.

Long ago when we didn’t use contraceptives, didn’t have the option for abortion and lived in complete harmony with the cosmic rhythm, our menstrual cycle was completely aligned with all the phases of the lunar month. 

Yes, in the past our cycle fully corresponded to the Moon cycle starting from the first phase of the moon – the new moon, going through the full moon and ending with the last phase – the waning moon.

Some of us have preserved this biological accuracy, but many women have their cycle a few days away from the moon’s cycle.

In this podcast I’m going to walk you through the moon phases, our relationship to them and we’ll see how we women and our personal calendars depend on them. I will help you understand the mysterious laws by which the moon guides your life, when you should be cautious because your health is vulnerable, what’s the best time to go on a diet so it has the best effect and how to use your spirits in each phase.

I’m starting with the New Moon – the first phase of the month cycle.

So, the New Moon is the period when our menstrual bleeding begins. For most of us this phase means a lot of discomfort, pains, bad moods. The first days of our cycle, which are under the sign of the very young Moon, are rarely nice and auspicious. In this time our bodies are at their lowest points of vitality. Our immunity weakens, sometimes we feel anxiety and inexplicable fear, and we have a tendency to depression.

Our health in the phase of New Moon is pretty shaky. The effect of drugs we take increases, but also does the risk of side effects. At new moon our bodies best absorb vitamins and minerals, especially magnesium, calcium and iron. That is why doctors recommend us to start any healing courses at the days of the new moon - for example, prophylactic intake of multivitamin complexes or immunostimulants. It is important to remember that during this period the body is vulnerable to all forms of poisoning - from insect bites to poisoning with products we have intolerances to. 

The new moon phase even affects the way we take care of our appearance. Usually we are not really into taking much care of our appearance during new moon. But cosmetologists actually believe that this is the best period to take care of our skin with massages and moisturizing products.

But what about diets and does the New Moon really affect nutrition?

Well, that’s certainly the best time to start a strict diet, become a vegetarian or do a bowel cleansing. That’s because in the first phase, the process of fat accumulation intensifies and for this reason eating high-calorie foods is not the best thing to do. What you also might find interesting is that the young moon helps those who are determined to quit drinking or smoking too. 

Okay, what you need to remember about the New Moon is that this is the time for us women to relax, meditate, focus more on going inwards and spend our time as much as we can in stillness.

Let’s see, how does the Full Moon, or the second phase of the month cycle affect us.

Full moon is the time when we have our post menstrual period, and it usually takes place between the 5th and the 14th day of our cycle. Our bodies become stronger, and our moods get better.

 We feel light and charming.

When it comes to our health, that’s the phase of our ovulation, when the egg matures and releases from the ovary. During this time the ovaries release a large amount of estrogen – the hormone that regulates the maturation of the egg. What you might be interested to learn is that estrogen not only affects our sexuality but it also has a beneficial effect on cardiovascular activity and regulating the intake of calcium in our bones. 

That is exactly the time when we are cheerful and joyous, and we are also very efficient when it comes to our work.

The full moon is also the best time for us to experiment with our appearance, like changing the make-up, or changing our hairstyle completely. It’s the best time to change what you’ve been thinking about but always got scared to do, like cutting your hair. It’s because, in Ayurveda , Full Moon is the time when we are at our strongest.  

Full moon is also a great time for us to do healing fasting, and you can see that nutritionists highly recommend it exactly at this time. It’s because at full moon it has the best effect and we do it with less effort than in other times. 

You should be brave in the period of the Full Moon because all the changes we make have a positive effect on us both when it comes to appearance and our spirits.

Okay, so let’s see the last phase of the month cycle, or the waning phase of the moon. Waning is when the moon gets smaller each day. 

This is the time of our premenstrual period that takes place between the 15th and the 28th day.

 At this phase we get easily annoyed and we often feel like crying. I am sure you recognize yourself in my words. We all go through this time when our spirits are low and we feel somehow weak. 

Men sometimes make these comments how easily we engage in fights, and our moods change all the time. Well, it’s not really our fault! We are trying our best.

That’s the time when our body produces another hormone – progesterone, which prepares our body for becoming pregnant! The bad side is that at the same time it has a depressing effect on our psyche. Simply because if pregnancy hasn’t occurred by the 27th day of the menstrual cycle, ovaries stop secreting progesterone. Blood vessels respond with a sharp drop of this hormone, which is the reason behind the typical premenstrual headache.

So what you need to remember about the waning moon is that this is our time for evaluation and reflection, it’s when we should look at the negative aspects of our lives and focus on what we want to change.

Those are the three moon phases and cycles in our female calendar, so let me quickly review them. 

First we have the New Moon when our bleeding starts. I would describe this time as a transition between winter and spring time because we are inwardly focused, we want to be left alone and in peace. And towards the end of this phase we enter the spring moods: when our bleeding stops and we metaphorically plant a seed for the next cycle.

The next cycle - ovulation, or Full Moon, is when our summer-like spirit shows up. 

We are full of energy, creative, interested in our physical appearance, we are excited.

Then we have the last cycle or the waning moon. The autumn-winter feelings come in, and we can feel both positive and negative, depending on what we achieved during summer time. If we managed to change things we were planning to change for a long time, then at this phase, we would feel happy and satisfied, and if we couldn’t succeed in something we wanted to, then the disappointment spirits come in. 

It’s actually in our own hands: if we recognize our spirits and the phases we are in, we can take great advantage of them and use them in our favor. That is why knowing the relationship between our cycle and the moon phases is so important for every woman. 

Thank you for listening to my podcast – I’m Bernadette Bella, and today we spoke about the Moon’s Influence on the woman’s body. Follow me on Instagram and let me know what you think on this episode. Chat soon everyone.

Lucid Dreaming: What If You COULD Control Your Dreams

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Have you ever wished you could control your dreams?

Or even better yet, has it ever happened that you got to decide what happens next in your dream? Let’s say, you wanted to get into a car that you see in a dream and you actually get into the car and drive off.  

Sort of like being the director to your own dreams.

Mind blowing, huh?

What I’m talking about isn’t only something that we see in the movies – it’s a concept that’s more known as lucid dreaming.

And in today’s podcast, we’re going to take a deep dive into the concept of lucid dreaming and explore methods that are going to help you experience lucid dreaming yourself.

Lucid dreaming is yet another skill of the mind, a powerful way to talk to your unconscious and uncover forgotten parts of yourself.

I’m Bernadette and thank you for listening to my podcast – let’s get started!

 

[h2] What is lucid dreaming actually?

Lucid dreaming isn’t the same as daydreaming or active imagination.

It’s a whole new level of diving into the unconscious… and let me just add, lucid dreaming isn't everyone’s cup of tea. Some people love it, others are just freaked out by the whole experience. 

In short, lucid dreaming is being aware that you’re dreaming… in a dream. Cool, right? In other words, you’re dreaming and in that dream, you are aware that you’re in a dream.

The cool thing about lucid dreams is that when you’re aware that you’re dreaming, you can try and control the dream. For example, if you’re dreaming that you have superpowers, you could be able to control those superpowers in a lucid dream – you could fly or travel through time.

Some people can go even past the dream, leave that particular simulation, and enter another one. That’s next-level, I can tell you that!

So that whole experience of balancing the thin line between dreams and reality is more than enough to get some people hooked on lucid dreaming. It’s a very empowering, though somewhat addicting experience, I have to say.

But lucid dreams aren’t only cool to experience. If you’re able to master lucid dreaming,  it’s like a whole different level of self-awareness and self-development. Lucid dreams are much more memorable, so it’s easier to connect to the collective unconscious, recognize and work with your archetypes, and just get to know yourself in a whole different way.

Over the years, I’ve had multiple lucid dreams. Some were extraordinary, some were downright petrifying, especially in the beginning when I wasn’t exactly sure what was going on. I was terrified of everything, I struggled to recognize my archetypes and it was just not a very pleasant experience. Mind blowing, but not pleasant.

Over time and with a lot of practice and determination, I can now say that I’m finally at the point where I enjoy lucid dreams. To me, active imagination will always be my preferred method to talk to my unconscious but lucid dreams are something that you should try and experience at least once in your life!

 

[h2] How to master lucid dreaming

That brings me to my next point – how to trigger lucid dreams.

Believe it or not, it’s easy and everyone can do it.

The first step?

Be determined that you’re going to have a lucid dream – that’s more than enough to set you off in the right direction. 

There are lots of different techniques and everyone can choose what works best for them. As with every other skill of the mind, lucid dreaming takes a lot of practice and commitment!  

Surprisingly, even though most of our dreams happen there, lucid dreaming doesn’t take place in the REM-stage of sleep. It happens in a stage called NON-REM.

That’s the stage where you’re aware that you’re in a dream but you’re still dreaming. That’s the place where sleep paralysis and out of body experiences happen too!

To experience lucid dreaming, the goal is to learn how to manipulate the mind and the body so you reach and stay in the non-REM sleep stage.

There are lots of different techniques to do this.

BUT I have to say to be careful when choosing which technique you’ll go with.

Some of them may require you to wake up frequently throughout the night, which may affect you in daily life (waking up multiple times at night is NO FUN and sleep deprivation is really problematic!) and others involve taking herbs and supplements and mushrooms… not judging just saying it’s very easy to go down that rabbit hole.

My favorite lucid dreaming method is called Mnemonic Induction of Lucid Dreams – also known as MILD Lucid Dreaming.

Don’t let the name fool you – that’s one of the most powerful, yet completely safe techniques available out there!

Let’s first explain what mnemonic means. You’ve probably learned this in school!

Mnemonic is a memory recall technique that allows you to easily remember a string of words or elements. 

For instance, here’s a mnemonic to help you remember the order of the planets from the sun:

My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizzas

(Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto)

For our brains, it’s a lot easier to remember something simple and ordinary like that rather than a complex string of elements. Think of it as a sticky note for the brain, a shortcut to access your memory at any given time.

Stephen LaBerge came up with the MILD Lucid Dreaming Technique.

His technique uses the same memory shortcuts but in this case, for lucid dreaming.

According to his technique, the key to success is making the brain believe that a lucid dream is possible and then helping the brain enter the non-REM sleep stage.

His technique is simple: you sleep, you wake up, imagine that the dream you had was lucid, and then go back to sleep with the intention of having a lucid dream. Over time, the odds of you experiencing a lucid dream drastically increase.

The technique works wonders because the brain doesn’t know the difference between imagination and reality. For instance, if you think about something you’re scared of, you’ll soon sense your heartbeat going a bit faster, even if you’re nowhere near danger. If you imagine that you’re lying on the beach somewhere, you’ll instantly calm down, even if you’re in a busy office.

You’re doing the same principle with the MILD lucid dreaming technique.

Only in this case, you’re imagining a lucid dream – and thus confirming to the brain that a lucid dream is possible, that an experience like that is possible, that you’re capable of having a lucid dream. You’re creating a fake memory, a fake experience that the brain doesn’t know is fake – it stores the memory as a real one, thus allowing you to access the real experience later on.

So yes, this is an exercise of imagination but it’s enough to create that shortcut, the mnemonic connection your brain’s looking for.

You can grab a notepad if you want, here are the four steps to practice the MILD Lucid Dreaming technique.

1) Go to sleep while having the intention of having a lucid dream

2) Wake up from the dream – some people go as far as scheduling alarms after 4-6 hours of sleep; if you do this, make sure you’re well-rested, it’s going to mess up your sleep quality any other way!

3) Imagine the dream you’ve had – and imagine what it’d be like if it were a lucid dream

4) Go back to sleep and think about the previous lucid dream while falling asleep.

That’s pretty much it!

Though I also have to add, a few side effects might happen.

Some say that this tweaking around with the sleep cycles leaves them sleep-deprived; others manage to get themselves into sleep paralysis, which isn’t always the most pleasant experience.

However, as long as you’re well-rested, eating properly and managing your stress levels with meditation and journaling, give lucid dreaming a go and see how it goes.

If nothing else, you’re in for a lot of interesting dreams!

Thank you for listening – come say hi on my Instagram and let me know if you’ve ever had a lucid dream! 

Do Personalities Visit Your Dreams When You Sleep?

 

What are archetypes?

Explained most simply, archetypes are dream symbols of the unconscious mind that ALL humans share!

Archetypes stem from the deepest parts of the collective unconscious and help you connect to the deepest, most primal parts of yourself.

When Carl Jung was doing his work on dreams, he quickly realized just how important archetypes are. Since dreams are a conversation between the conscious and the unconscious, the archetypes are a SUPER important part of the dialogue.

Now, I feel it’s important to mention that there are no good or bad archetypes, the same way there are no good or bad dreams – we need to look a bit deeper behind what’s on the surface to find the meaning of your dreams.

Since archetypes come from the unconscious, they don’t want to hurt you or scare you, even if the form in which they appear is scary. Actually, Jung himself stated that archetypes usually appear in your dreams when something big is happening in your life. Archetypes only try to establish balance and they may hint you in the right direction.

Let’s say, if you’re at a major crossroad in life or something vital is happening, you’ll probably get extra guidance from archetypes in your dreams.

Everyone – and I mean EVERYONE – is visited by the same archetypes.

For example, that can be the Shadow or the Great Mother or the Self… I’ll explain those in a minute.

I know this is confusing because I’ve already said a few times that my purple cow and your purple cow don’t mean the same thing but let me explain. When i say that the same archetypes appear in everyone’s dreams, i don’t mean that they always appear in the same shape.

For example, my Great Mother may appear in the shape of my favorite preschool teacher, a teacher that I have a great amount of respect for.

Your Great Mother may appear as your favorite aunt, or even take a male form – usually, it’s going to be a person that has a lot of authority over you or a person that you look up to a lot.  

Listen more on:Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6YLsvxo... https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast...The main archetypes

There are 12 archetypes that we’re going to discuss better in the next part of the podcast. 

I’m going to talk about the archetypes people meet most often in dreams.

-        The SelfThe Self is YOU in your most real, sensitive form.

This is the ultimate center of the psyche, representing the unification of the conscious and unconscious personalities, Jung called this individuation.

In your dreams, the Self can appear as you but sometimes, it may not even look like you or behave the same way – it may not even be human!  

Let’s say, the purple cow I so often like to mention could be a representation of my Self. But my unconscious is using that specific image to send me a powerful message and it’s up to me to figure out what my purple cow means.

The same is true for you. If you dream of a dream where you’re sure that’s you – or you feel very strongly related to a particular character – then that could be your unconscious sending through a life-changing message.

-        The ShadowThe Shadow is everything that we try to repress while we’re awake – our deepest and darkest fears and secrets – that come back to haunt us when we dream.

The same way fear is unpleasant, in our dreams, the Shadow is generally unpleasant. It can appear as an evil character, for instance, a person chasing us with a knife or as a disaster event, for example, a flood or war…

Even though the form in which the Shadow appears is not always fun to experience, it’s key to remember that the unconscious doesn’t want to scare or threaten us. Quite the opposite is true – your unconscious wants to help you!

Usually, the Shadow will point out to your deepest and darkest fears or parts of you that you’re still struggling to accept. For example, if you’re dreaming of someone yelling at you, maybe try and see if you need to establish more authority in certain areas of your life.

-        The Anima & The Animus

Oh, this one’s fun!

You know how there’s always a yin and yang in everything? Well, the Anima & the Animus are exactly about that.

The anima represents the female image and soul of a male psyche, while the animus represents the male image and soul of a female psyche.

Put even most simply – Anima, the female side in males. Animus, the male side in females.

The female side is connected to emotions, creativity, and intuition.  The male side is all about logic, rationality, and assertiveness.

Both the Anima and the Animus can appear in all shapes and sizes but most commonly, the Anima appears as highly feminized, anf the Animus appears as hyper-masculine. The messages that the Anima and the Animus send are trying to help you find the balance between the masculine and the feminine.

Let’s say, if you’re a guy, you may have a dream of putting on makeup and wearing a bright red lipstick – that’s your Anima trying to tell you to accept feminine parts of yourself. Maybe you need to get in touch with your emotions or use your intuition more!

On the other hand, if you’re a girl, you may dream that you’re shaving your head– that’s your Animus! Depending on what’s happening in your life at that particular moment, maybe your Animus is here to remind you to be more assertive or establish your dominance over something.

Interestingly, Jung says that our Anima or our Animus are created in infancy when we begin to project ourselves to the parent of the opposite sex.

-        The Persona

The Persona is who we are in our waking life. This is how we present ourselves to the world or the social mask of our inner selves. The Persona is the exact opposite of the Shadow.  

Before we dive any deeper into the archetypes, do remember that each of the archetypes appears in a way that can only be interpreted in your own way.

Even if we dream of the same object, person or event, our dreams cannot even remotely have the same meaning, which is exactly why dream symbols often fail to give you the answers you’re looking for!

I will discuss the rest of the archetypes in another episode. I just wanted to give you a head start on the foundation first. This is the foundation.