Michele Knight's Blog, page 187
March 8, 2014
The Moody Blues. New Research Offers Hope For Sleep Deprived Teens (and their parents!)
If you’re the parent of a teenager having difficulty getting up in the mornings or who is stressed out from exams – or if you’re a teen yourself – read on! The latest research from the International Journal of Endocrinology offers hope to both tired teens and their parents.
During our teens our bio-rhythms undergo a pronounced shift. We stay up later and also wake up later. All this often coincides with increased pressure from up-coming exams – right when teens need their sleep their bodies seem to conspire against them. No, parents – they are not doing this deliberately to bug you! Studies have shown that around 70 per cent of teenagers are arriving at school sleep-deprived but the new research shows there might be a way of helping teens through the stress of their teenage years.
Most of us have heard of cortisol – a stress hormone produced by our bodies. Cortisol levels are usually lowest during the day but hit a sharp spark in the hour before waking – something known as the cortisol waking response (CAR). This sets us up for the day if you like. Our body clocks are ruled by light so researchers set out to see if they could manipulate light to change the body clock of teens and optimise their CAR to ensure they were wide awake in the mornings and ready for school
The study involved teens from 12 to 17 years of age who took part in three overnight stays each a week apart. The teens were either exposed to short wave-length blue light in the morning or were exposed to dim light. The subjects wore “dimesimeter” wrist bands that measured light exposure and activity levels. Blood tests showed that the teens exposed to the blue light had enhanced levels of CAR in the morning and were better able to face the day. All this sheds light on ‘teenage blues’ and appears to make the idea of a ‘blue light disco’ a stroke of genius.
Blue is also the colour of the throat Chakra and is all about communication, it might even bring about an easier sense of communicating! Perhaps a blue night light may be just the thing for your sleepy teen. Don’t forget, in terms of our soul and body development our teenage years are pretty exhausting with so many body changes, pressure to discover our identities and decide on a soul path and the daunting prospect of our life’s journey ahead of us. Isn’t it a wonder our teens need all the sleep they can get?
March 1, 2014
How strong is your relationship?
Carrying on with my series looking at love in the long term, all relationships are different but good ones do seem to share certain things in common. To see how your relationship shapes up, try this quiz.
Do you have fun together?
a) Yes, lots. Even if we’re just doing something ordinary, we can get each other laughing.
b) Sometimes. Not so much of late.
c) No. I can’t remember the last time we both laughed at the same thing.
Do you trust your partner?
a) I trust them totally.
b) Sometimes I do check up on them or suddenly find myself wondering if they are telling me the whole truth, but it passes.
c) Not really. I check their emails and texts whenever I get the chance or if something has got me suspicious.
Does your partner ever put you down?
a) No, never.
b) Not really. Sometimes they say things that upset me, but it’s usually them being a bit clumsy rather than actually trying to hurt me
c) Yes. A lot. Especially if I try to talk about anything important to me.
If you run into a problem in your relationship, how do you both sort it out?
a) We talk it through.
b) We argue sometimes but we usually find a way through.
c) We can’t really talk about anything because it always seems to end in a row and goes nowhere. If something is bothering me, I just stay quiet about it.
If you ran into a problem outside of your relationship, would you talk about it with your partner?
a) Yes. They are usually the first person I talk to.
b) I can talk about most things but some things I would go to my friends first.
c) No. I have tried, but they don’t really listen or usually say something that makes me feel worse.
When it comes to what you think is important in life, how closely do they match what your partner thinks is important?
a) We’re a good match. We might disagree on details sometimes, but we both share the big picture.
b) Pretty close. Sometimes we just can’t see eye to eye but it isn’t major.
c) We don’t see eye to eye at all and it does cause a lot of rows.
Do you and your partner want the same things out of life?
a) Yes. We’ve talked about what we want for us in the long term and we both have the same idea of where we’re heading as a couple.
b) Mostly. It’s a bit of a compromise really, but that’s what relationships are all about.
c) No. I do feel that if I was to really follow what I thought was right for me, we’d be heading in totally different directions.
Do you still fancy each other?
a) Oh yes. We can be like a couple of teenagers.
b) Yes. We have a pretty good sexual relationship, when we’re not too tired.
c) There’s a bit of a problem there. We don’t really sleep together any more.
Do you support each other in terms of what you both want to achieve as individuals?
a) Completely. If there’s something either of us want to do, we give each other loads of encouragement and practical support.
b) As much as we can but life does seem to get in the way a lot.
c) Not really. I know if there was something I wanted to do, I’d basically be going it alone.
How committed are you to staying together?
a) One hundred per cent. More as time goes by.
b) Very committed. We have our ups and downs like anyone else but I think we’ll make it through.
c) If I’m honest, I think we both think about ending it sometimes. I’m not really sure why we’re together.
Mostly A
You’ve got a good mix of trust, friendship, fun, sex, communication and common ground. Keep doing what you’re doing. There’s no one model of relationships that fits all these days, but the ones that stay fresh and go the distance have mechanisms in place that mean you can evolve as individuals and the relationship that you’re in also has space to move and breathe. Keep one finger on the pulse of what you have so that if anything starts to drag it off track, you can come back and reconnect with each other. At one time, relationships were ruled by the idea that you fell in love at the beginning and stayed there without moving for the rest of your lives. These days, it’s understood that relationships are a lot more dynamic, that they undergo lots of shifts and changes over time but that the important thing is that people actually fall in love over and over again and that’s what keeps them together.
Mostly B
You’ve got a fairly strong basis for a relationship that can last for the long haul. People with good relationships can compare their relationships with the kind of mythical ideals they see in movies and the media and feel as though they are missing out when actually what they have is very strong. If it does seem as though sometimes dealing with daily life is getting in the way of the time you’d like to spend together or the things that you’d like to do when you grab some time alone, you might think about finding little ways of keeping that special connection that you do have alive. Relationships that go the distance need to be strong enough to weather times when other things demand energy that you might otherwise put into the relationship itself, like when one partner has to work long hours or when you have children. That’s when the underlying commitment that you have to the big picture and staying together in the long term comes in and you know that any tough or challenging times are only temporary, but you are both dedicated to seeing them through together.
Mostly C
How do you feel about your relationship after doing this quiz? Has it thrown up a few questions about your relationship or whether it’s what you want? If you’ve ticked the answer that says you aren’t really sure why you are still together, maybe it’s time for some really deep soul searching. All of our relationships teach us important spiritual lessons and mirror something in us. All good relationships start with self love and a commitment to our own personal and spiritual growth as well as a loving commitment to the relationship itself. Have you fallen out love with you somewhere along the way? Read the other articles on this site to learn more about how you can love and nurture yourself and what effect even just doing that can have on any relationships that you have. One of the deepest spiritual truths is that when we change, the things and people around us change too. Begin by putting some real time and commitment into loving yourself for the amazing, unique soul that you are and see what happens.
Quantum Reality – Change Your Future in a Moment
In a recent article here on MK, Shaman Jon Rasmussen talked about the value of a psychic reading and how we can use the information we receive in that reading to take control of our future.
Jon’s insights into how we can literally ‘craft’ our destiny and change predicted outcomes, led me to delve deeper into the concept of changing our future and also how this can empower us when it comes to manifesting our goals.
‘The only reason for time is so that everything doesn’t happen at once’ – Albert Einstein. Einstein showed us that time doesn’t actually exist. The past, present and future exist simultaneously. We have created linear time in order to make sense of everything because everything is literally happening in this very moment! To put it simply, right this second the Big Bang – the moment of creation is occurring and, if you believe the universe will end that way – the Big Crunch is also happening and everything else in-between.
Quantum physics has shown us that the mere act of observing a sub-atomic particle changes it. This knowledge has had a huge effect not only on the scientific community but also for those on a spiritual path. Of course the great spiritual masters have always taught us that we are beings of light and energy – which of course we are on a sub-atomic level. Everything in this universe therefore exists as energy and that includes our thoughts. Just as scientists have changed the behaviour of sub-atomic particles merely by observing them, so we can change or bring about outcomes merely by focussing our attention.
Think of yourself as a Quantum Creator. As a being of light what you think of as ‘reality’ is in fact a field of quantum activity that you perceive in a very limited way due to being trapped in a human body! In other words, you only see a part of the true reality just like you perceive time as being linear. Quantum physics tells us you are the creator of how you perceive this reality. When you have a goal or an intention you immediately broadcast it out into this quantum field and it immediately exists as what we would call a Quantum Probability Wave. Now we’re doing this every single second of course. The trick to manifesting what it is you want is to give it sufficient attention – just as Jon talked about altering a reading prediction by engaging in ritual, if you give a goal sufficient time, energy and expectation, you Quantum Create it as a definite thing – something that exists at a point in space and time. Of course we can say it exists from the moment you think of it – but your perception of linear time makes it look like you haven’t got it yet.
The amazing thing about what quantum physics is teaching us about the universe and therefore ourselves, is that the universe is renewed on a sub-atomic level every few seconds. The universe is engaged in a never-ending dance of creation and transformation. Sub-atomic particles are destroyed and in the moment they die they give birth to new ones. Most sub-atomic particles have a life of just a few billionths of a second. Which means that in the time you have been reading this article the universe has been totally renewed and re-created many many times.
Imagine everything being wiped clean and restored – just slightly differently, every trillionth of a second or so. Also, when a particle is created, it is instantly travelling at the speed of light (or faster if those neutrinos are anything to go by!). We are also made from the same particles which means we are also travelling at the speed of light too.
Every moment is therefore a new beginning – a fresh start in a brand new universe. The chance to change our thoughts and intentions and begin again. When we look at life this way we can see every second as an opportunity to change and use this knowledge for empowerment and to manifest our goals. So, if someone ever tells you it’s too late – quantum mechanics begs to differ. A brand new reality is created every single moment. Your power is quite literally in the now.
February 19, 2014
How Science Backs Up Your ‘Gut Feeling’
You feel it ‘in your heart’ – or you have a ‘gut feeling’ about someone or something. We’ve always referred to the heart as the centre of emotions and our ‘gut’ as the centre of our intuition. Scientific research has now shown that there are good reasons why we refer to these regions of our bodies in this way and that they may in fact be carriers of information.
We all know that the heart generates an electromagnetic field which extends far beyond the physical body. Instruments have measured this extending to about 10 feet in all directions around us. This is why we say someone is ‘crowding our space’ – especially if it is someone whose energy we don’t like – they are literally standing within our electromagnetic field. This field transmits information to us – which is why we can often pick up on someone’s emotional state without them actually saying anything to us or us even touching them, when they come into contact with it. The field also changes frequency with our own emotional states – we in turn transmit information to others. How they pick up and interpret this often depends on how attuned they are and how much credence they give to their intuition but this is often the way we pick up that someone is lying or that while they may be coming across in one way there is actually something ‘off’ – in other words a disparity between what they are saying and their energy.
So, our personal ‘vibe’ is reflected via this electromagnetic field which explains why so often if we are in bad mood we often seem to encounter more people in a similar state than usual and when we are in a good mood the world literally does smile back at us. It’s merely how other people react to our energy state as they come into contact with it. But it goes even further than that. New research by Dr. Candace Pert into psychoneuroimmunology has revealed that the molecules in our bodies which carry emotional intelligence which are known as neuropeptides are not only generated in the brain but also in other areas of the body – namely the heart and the gut! So when we say we have a ‘gut feeling’ we are actually not speaking metaphorically at all – we are acting on emotionally intelligent information that is generated by a part of our bodies outside of the brain.
Sensitivity to this kind of emotional information is what has allowed us to evolve and stay safe over hundreds of thousands of years. How many times have you ignored your ‘gut feeling’ only to regret it later when it was revealed that the ‘hunch’ you had was spot on? Like exercising any body part we need to use it or lose it and our intuition is no exception.
At least now when you have that gut feeling you now know there is a scientific explanation for it. Proof perhaps we should pay as much attention to the information our bodies ‘download’ as we should to that which our brains tell us.
Sabotage? Go Straight to Your Goal!
It’s amazing how we can unconsciously sabotage ourselves when it comes to reaching our goals and the thing is unless someone else flags it for us, we can carry on doing this – and getting more and more frustrated our dreams aren’t manifesting as we thought they would! I believe we should dream big – the bigger the better in fact. But aside from not taking action at all, it is taking the wrong action that often results in us not manifesting our goals. It’s important when heading to the stars to keep our feet firmly grounded in reality and awareness of what we are doing – and when what we are doing is just plain counter-productive and goes against what our intentions are.
Here are the four main traps we can fall into when it comes to turning a goal into a reality.
Love: You say you want a loving and fully committed relationship but then go and fall for someone who is unavailable either emotionally or in status. Other variations of this include falling for someone who lives on the other side of the world (and neither of you wants to relocate) or someone who has a different sexual orientation. If you want a relationship then don’t start one with someone who is not in a position to reciprocate your feelings or be with you 100%. Getting the love you want and deserve begins with self-love and self-love has nothing to do with putting yourself through a lot of pain and unrequited longing. If this is a pattern for you then you should read as much as you can on emotional unavailability. Sometimes it is not just the other person who is unavailable but actually us on some level. They are just a reflection of this. Start to really love and appreciate yourself. When you do you will not only refuse to put yourself through these experiences any more but you will attract potential partners who are able to truly love and cherish you.
Money: You want more abundance in your life but refuse to open your bank statements, keep track of your spending, charge the going rate for your skills or worst of all, go around saying you don’t care about money. If this is your attitude then money will not care about you either. Increasing our net worth not only begins with increased self-worth but also with cultivating a relationship with money the way you would a person. How are you treating money? With contempt or with care? Choose the latter and watch how your relationships and your bank account starts to transform.
Happiness: Really is a choice and a state of mind. We all have to navigate times in our lives where we feel sad, depressed or at a loss such as when a relationship breaks down, we lose our jobs or someone close to us dies. Sadness and grief are the natural responses to these kinds of events. But aside from that we can choose to be grateful for the things that are going well in our lives as opposed to the things that aren’t. We can choose to focus on what we do have right now as opposed to what we don’t. By shifting our focus we get happy. It’s that simple.
Wellbeing: You may say you want to be fitter and healthier but are you living as a fit person would? You don’t have to be following the latest celebrity diet or be a gym junkie. But too many processed foods, taking no exercise, smoking, drinking and not listening to your body will only result in trouble in the long term and in the short one you won’t achieve your wellness goal either. Wellbeing and weight loss if that is also your goal, only comes from making permanent lifestyle changes. Surprisingly enough they often only need be small ones to make a big difference to your life. You don’t need to sacrifice all the things that give you pleasure – or be out jogging at 6am every morning before work to be fit and healthy. Choosing to eat organic just a couple of days a week, cutting down the number of glasses of wine you drink, not having that muffin every day with your coffee or getting off the bus one stop early and walking that bit further to work or home can result in you being fitter and kilos lost with no effort over a 12 month period. Looking after your wellness is one of the most empowering acts of self-love we can undertake – and the one that gives us the energy to reach those all other goals!
Weekly Astrology Video With Michele Knight 24th February 2014
Hello Beautiful Soul,
Thank goodness that Mercury goes direct this week :) finally we can all communicate better. If you love this website and my videos I would be truly grateful if you could vote for us in this final week of voting for the Soul and Spirit Awards 2014! Kiki sends a Kiss and Rocky a Kaw! Just click here and you could win a holiday in India as well! SOUL AND SPIRIT AWARDS I think it was last year that there was one vote in it so your vote really does count! Have a stunning week x
February 16, 2014
Hone Your Tarot and Astro Skills with Your Favourite Characters!
When we are learning to expand our reading skills one of the speed-bumps we can hit no matter whether we are learning to read the Tarot or improve our astrology, is finding people to practice on. Sooner or later we run out of friends or family members. Luckily for us, we have a vast resource of ‘people’ we can continue to refine our reading skills on accessible to us via our favourite books, films or TV shows!
The great thing about successful film, book or TV franchises is that the characters they are based around come across as totally real. And just like the people we interact with and know on a daily basis, they are embarking on journeys of soul growth. They meet setbacks and successes as their stories unfold and just like us, have to overcome limitations – sometimes their own and sometimes those imposed by other people and circumstances. When a compelling character lives out an archetypal journey we can relate their story back to our own lives – and see parallels between their stories and others we know. Joseph Campbell talks about this in his seminal work Hero With a 1000 Faces.
Archetypal stories are universal – as are the characters which populate them which of course accounts for their success. So, we can utilise this in our readings especially if we have run out of actual physical people to practice on!
First – choose a book, film or TV franchise that you feel a great affinity with – one that you enjoy reading or watching. This can be anything from Harry Potter to The Hunger Games, from Star Trek to C.S.I. The choice is yours. If it’s an on-going series so much the better as you can start to make predictions for the characters and then see how accurate you are as the series unfolds. To start with however, choose one protagonist and one antagonist from any book, movie or TV show. Let’s say for example you have chosen Game of Thrones. I’ve used this not just because of its popularity but because George R. R. Martin has yet to finish writing the books – so we have no idea with many of the characters what their ultimate fate will be. Let’s say the two characters you pick from Game of Thrones are Tyrion Lannister and Petyr Baelish. First take your Tarot deck and choose a significator for each character. Why have you chosen that particular card? How does it reflect the personality of the character? What is it about the card’s energy that reminds you of them? Spend some time looking at the card and write down your impressions in your Tarot journal.
If you want to go one step further, based on what you know about the character and the card you have chosen to represent them what do you think their star sign would be? Write down what you think it is and how this aligns with their character and their actions. How do they exhibit the characteristics of the sign and where or when do they show other traits? Look at these and then decide if you can attribute these to another zodiac sign – this could possibly be their Moon or rising sign if they were an actual person. Again, jot all your impressions down. If you are working with an on-going franchise like Game of Thrones, based on the information you have already picked up you can then go on to do an actual reading. What lies in the future for this character based on what you know about them and what has happened so far? Have fun trying to second-guess the creator and let your imagination run riot. The great thing about this exercise is that is can really free up your intuition and creativity if you are blocked.
You can practice in this way with characters from any story you love. Even if you were to do this exercise on a familiar one whose ending and characters you know off by heart – say Pride & Prejudice for example, working out the significator and star sign of Lizzie, Darcy and even Wickham can open up an entire new level of enjoyment and understanding of the story and its characters – and hone your psychic skills as you do!
