Self-belief

So ladies and gents, it’s all a lot clearer to me now. This year is all about self-belief and moving through obstacles that prevent us believing in ourselves if we hope to manifest that which is in our hearts - and in that process opening to greater love and trust.

Last year was all about putting our ducks in a row, so to speak, clearing out dead wood, the stuff that was no longer working for us in our life, and being more aware of what we needed to keep and how that may inform our future.

I know many of you are up against your lack of self belief and how this prevents you doing things you’d like to do. I know this, not only because I have heard some of you talk about it, but also because I have had to look more honestly at this core belief and work through it to shift it , and I can see how the universe is trying to move us all through this, collectively.

It is in this way that things will change. And things need to change. But for things to change we have to change. Sometimes we see it the other way around, we think that we need to start by changing things externally, but this isn’t true, for things to truly change externally, without us pushing, then we need to make the internal change, and then things externally change effortlessly and we find a greater flow in our lives.

But first we have to do the work to move through whatever it is that is holding us back. And usually it is a core belief around our lack of goodness, or our lack of self, belief, or our inability to value ourselves, something that undervalues us and makes us lose confidence. These stick us and prevent us moving forward in our life. The silly thing is, we wouldn’t wish this on our children, and yet we let it happen to ourselves.

What I have discovered is that when we do look at these core beliefs that need shifting and actually do something about them - shift the thinking - then things really do start to change. When we start owning the person we are and valuing ourselves and our life experiences and all we know, then this helps us believe in ourselves a little more, and when that happens, we start to recognise that we are indeed loveable and then everything shifts, the internal and the external, and effortlessly too.

But the process itself is not easy, a dark night of the soul often comes upon us as we have outgrown the life we are leaving behind, we are feeling suffocated and know that things need to change, but there is a grieiving for the person we are leaving behind as much as there is a huge fear and resistance to taking a step forward into the big and scary unknown.

Who will we be if we let go of those thoughts? Well we won’t know until we do so, but I can assure you that it is worth the risk, that the hanging on to the old will not bring you any joy in the one term despite it’s feeling of safety and just sticks you in victimhood (“poor me, look at what’s happened to me mentality”).

At the end of the day we have one life and we have a choice in how we live it. We can continue to devalue ourselves and stop ourselves living our greatest and fullest life, or we can do something about it and look more honestly at what is sticking us and prevent us moving forwards in our life. Always there is a thought, because everything arises from the thought. Our body is a manifestation of our thinking and our mental response to our life experiences, the body keeps score after all.

But we have the opportunity every day to change this. We can lose ourselves in the dark night, take medication to further numb our pain, or we can own it, face it and sit into it. It is hard, I know from my own experience. Pain is hard to sit into. But the pain that comes from not moving forward, of not feeling of it, of not letting it be there and moving beyond it, is actually greater than the pain we are trying to avoid feeling in the first place.

It’s kind of crazy really what we will do to avoid feeling that pain, because we do create more in the process, just because we keep separating from, and denying aspects of our true self in the process. We have all had painful experiences in our life and we will do all we can never to feel that pain again. But unless we feel that pain and let it go, it will stay there, somewhere within us, eating away at us a being triggered from time to time as our soul tries to get us to look at it and let it go, heal from it, simply by no longer being scared of it.

At the end of the day, wee cannot avoid pain. Not really. Not if we want to live a life worth living. A full life. A life of deeper connection to heart and soul. And at some point we know we have to move through this old and trapped pain, the bits we couldn’t deal with at the time, the stuff that stops us truly opening ur heart to the world, of truly trusting, of truly walking our own unique path. This is alchemy. This is the spiritual journey towards greater soul connection.

I came across a great affirmation this week, which is so true and indeed helpful:

“I transform pain and suffering into a greater capacity to love”

I also came across this really helpful reading from a divine feminine book, which sums it up beautifully:

“When we are in the fires of suffering, it can be difficult to trust that gold is being forged. It can be hard to trust when we are in terrific pain that there is a process at work that will make us more authentic, more alive and infinitely freer.”

As I wrote, this is alchemy, this is integrating more soul into our existence. This is the process that opens us to greater love and this isn’t just love for others but love for ourselves. And when that happens, when we transmute our pain and suffering into love, then we believe in ourselves, we value ourselves and we respect ourselves and can move on. Things change. We change. our life changes. Our inner light shines brighter, we feel truly grateful to be alive, we love ourselves, we love others, we love the world. And with that our life opens and flows in ways we could never have previously imagined.

So if you are reading this and some of it resonates then it is time. I know I’m biased but there is absolutely no doubt that Reiki supports and indeed encourages this process of transforming our pain and suffering into love, not least because it is healing (it is the universal life force energy) but because by its very nature it assists us with our personal and spiritual development - it absolutely wants us to be whole. It also helps to provide us with the clarity to understand the nature of our patterning and the courage to do something about it.

You can do this. This is your year. This is your year to believe in yourself. To do the work on yourself to let go of anything that tells you that you are not good enough, that you are not loveable just as you are, that you are not the beautiful human being and soul that you absolutely are. All you have to do is have the intention to work only our lack of self belief and then be open to what comes into your orbit by way of people, books, treatments, courses and workshops…follow your heart…pay attention…

With love

Emma x

Living wisely and intelligently

“I believe this kind of transformative thinking is what will save us. It is a philosophy of treating the world’s creatures, its gifts, as of equal importance to us. This begins by recognising that trees and plants have agency. They perceive, relate, and communicate; they exercise various behaviours. They cooperate, make decisions, learn, and remember - qualities we normally ascribe to sentient, wisdom, intelligence. By noting how trees, animals and even fungi - any and all nonhuman species - have this agency, we can acknowledge that they deserve as much regard as we accord ourselves. We can continue pushing our earth out of balance, with greenhouse gases accelerating each year, or we can regain balance by acknowledging that if we harm one species, one forest, one lake, this ripples through the entire complex web. Mistreatment of one species is mistreatment of all…The rest of the planet has been waiting patiently for us to figure that out…Making this transformation requires that humans reconnect with nature - forests,, the prairie, the oceans - instead of treating everything and everyone as objects of exploitation. It means expanding our modern ways, our epistemology and scientific methodologies so that they complement, build on and align with Aboriginal roots. Mowing down the forests and harvesting the waters to fulfil our wildest dreams of material wealth just because we can has caught up to us”.

Suzanne Simard is amazing and everyone should read her book Finding The Mother Tree. It is incredible what she has helped to discover about trees so that we can understand more about the inter connected nature of this world we live in and I hope that with time the rest of the scientific community will catch uo with her and stop separating and dividing and seeing everything separate from one another, including may I add, our medical profession.

We should all be making an effort to grow trees where we can, because they truly make a difference to this planet on so many levels. It was this awareness, inspired by Dr Diana Kroeger-Beresford, who also writes incredible books, which led to Ewan and I setting up our Plant a Tree Project, which sadly was never as well received as we hoped - you can’t even give trees away these days, there just isn’t the interest, nor for some, the space. And this is the concern isn’t it, with all our over development. No space for trees, so fundamental to life on planet earth and our human existence.

Taking on board all I have learned from this book about mycorrhizal networks and the interconnected nature of all living beings growing in the earth, I am curious to grow my veggies in a different way this year, to see where they most thrive in the garden. The medicinal plants are have certainly been abundant in their dedicated moon garden, which receives the light of then rising moon all year around, and has been worked with crystals and sacred geometry. I’m intending to use different crystals with my plants this year to see if they thrive more with clear quartz or rose quartz for example, I will let you know!

I love how Suzanne weaves in Aboriginal wisdom from various Canadian indigenous people, and the way that they used to live in harmony with nature before the colonists came in and basically took what they could without any regard for the land or the waters or the many people who lives so lightly and simply in the areas that were developed, all for money…we have a lot to learn and fortunately this wisdom is now being used increasingly to heal the areas that have been destroyed by the greed that motivated the rather aggressive practices of forestry and mining, for example.

We have a lot to learn. Here on Guernsey we really do need to wake up to other ways to be with then land - greed will destroy us otherwise and all the magic that Guernsey has. Those if

But for us too, on an individual level there is much to learn from this book, about the impact nature has on us, in our own self healing, in communing with the trees and the plants, of giving back and not just taking so that when we do take we do so respectfully, living in greater harmony with all aspects of our being in the process - just giving Reiki to the trees and plants and land will help and I would urge those of you Reiki attuned to start doing so. I give Reiki to neolithic stones, they are alive too. Everything alive will benefit from Reiki, including you!

Reiki encouraged harmony and it is always about harmony. There is a lot we can learn from nature by being still and listening to what nature has to share, of the wisdom and intelligence, of the gentle pace, of the interconnectivle and supportive nature, of doing what is yours to do and leaving the rest, of just BEING love (and when you see that energetically, it is mind blowing). Nature can be such a wise and intelligent guide for us in how we live our lives - the key is to get out in it and just allow yourself to BE yourself.

Love Emma x

The joy of receiving Reiki

If Reiki can be spread throughout the world, it will touch the human heart and the morals of society. It will be helpful for many people, not only healing disease, but the Earth as a whole.” Dr Usui

I went for Reiki recently and it reminded me how wonderful it is to receive Reiki from someone else, in addition to the Reiki that I channel to myself daily and that I receive when channelling to others.

I feel it’s really important for me at least to take the time to receive and to continue to work on myself, and because of teaching and indeed practising yoga, let alone all the cycling, walking and swimming, I regularly go for massage with Sam Le Compte if I can, and I go through phases of SHEN with Jo Henton, but I don’t always have the opportunity to receive Reiki, because of course one needs to connect with the practitioner.

I used to love seeing Lynn-Marie on Sark but sadly she has now left the island, but I chanced upon anther lady locally because I knew that I needed Reiki. See that’s the thing with Reiki. It does call. My soul needed reiki. It was a challenging year 2022, lots of change, and the bike accident at the end of November triggered a whole heap more stuff to process and heal, and this on top of the effect of releasing my book into the world, which I hadn’t anticipated would prompt such a healing crisis as it did.

So yes, my soul was craving Reiki. It wanted nourishing. And peace. It also wanted support in helping me to let go of that which i no longer need, and create space for the new to come in. It’s a transition process and I have noticed then when transitioning, I have a greater need for Reiki, as it beautifully supports the process and in a gentle and peaceful way too.

That’s the thing with Reiki, it is nourishing and nurturing in its approach, holding us softly as we relax into it and let go, it calls especially to us sensitive souls, because of its gentle nature, not to say it won’t press our buttons as it does, sometimes ushering in a healing crisis which can be difficult to manage in that moment, as it feels as if things are getting worse, but of course it’s process and it quickly pops us through the other side, into a lighter and brighter state of being, no longer held back or restricted by whatever it was that the Reiki helped to release.

I always feel more whole, centred and grounded after a Reiki treatment as if all parts have been woven back together and any knots worked through, things are calmer, I have more energy and feel stronger within myself, in a more resourceful and balanced state of being. There is greater possibility. I am no longer bound down by my mental projections, imaginings and reflections. Essentially, there is greater potential and possibility, more clarity, more ease and with that, more presence.

I mean there are so many benefits to Reiki, not only does it calm and soothe the spirit, but it also calms and soothes the other bodies too, mental, emotional and physical. That’s probably it’s greatest gift. Because once there is greater calmness, then everything shifts. The nervous system settles, the mind releases some of its agitation, the emotions settle and we just feel better about ourselves.

For some one session is enough, but I always find that a course of treatments, usually three, is really helpful in moving me on from one way of being to another, and allowing greater freedom on all levels of being. I am truly passionate about sharing Reiki for this very reason. For those of you who have read any of my books, Namaste, Dancing with the Moon and/or From Darkness Comes Light, you’ll know the helpful and indeed crucial role that Reiki has played in my life. It is both an amazing gift and a wonderful blessing and I am forever grateful to the universe and powers that be, to my higher self then, for calling it in.

It’s supported me through severe depression and anxiety, through various relationship and career changes, through IVF, C-section and the post-natal period, let alone with the demands of motherhood, supporting my children with their healing, the nursing staff were so surprised how quickly Eben began thriving in NICU as a premature baby initially needing oxygen and I accredit that to the Reiki, so too helping Elijah heal from the effect of school which sadly challenged his sensitivity.

It is quite incredible and if you are reading this and have never received Reiki previously then I would definitely encourage you to do so. You can find out more information here. I don’t believe anyone ever regrets bringing Reiki into their life, whether that be through a one-to one treatment or by becoming attuned to the energy - it is a true gift to the self. Essentially it is the energy of love, which heals and supports our personal and spiritual development so I’m not sure what there is not to love about that!

For those of you who have received Reiki previously and/or are attuned to Reiki then we’re on the look out for testimonials, which you might share through Facebook or here at the bottom of this blog, and which we can use on them website, to help others take the plunge. We’ve probably all done that before, where we’re teetering about doing a course or buying a product and we welcome the testimonials and reviews of others, to give us confidence in joining up or making a sale. In my experience, it is always helpful to have the insight of others to help make a decision.

So please, if you are able to provide a testimonial then we here at Beinspired would be very grateful. We’re all of us, me, Katie and Jo, passionate about the benefits of Reiki as it has touched each of our lives in wonderful ways and we are keen to do what we can to take Reiki out further into the world. We feel that if everyone was attuned to Reiki then this world would be a much more loveable and compassionate place to live.

The thing is, when you bring Reiki into your life, your consciousness expands and your vibration increases (you lighten up), and that has a knock on effect on everyone around you and on the planet as a whole and that absolutely needs to be encouraged and indeed celebrated - it’s almost like making a statement to our subconscious minds that we are ready to take control of our lives, our health, our spiritual well-being and we are going to do it with our own two hands.

Love Emma x

The dumb phone!

I am an owner of a dumb phone and I love this video, linked below! I long for the day that the dumb phone replaces the smart phone and we become smarter people, not dumbed down by slavery to smart phones and the internet. Maybe then we might create a smarter and more conscious society, who notice what happens around them, rather than having their head in their phone.

I know, I know, I’m being horribly judgmental, but you know, increasing numbers of people are suffering with a loss of mental wellness and I can’t help thinking that there may be a link with the use of smart phones and online living, so that people have less head-space to just be, filling any momentary moment of nothingness with a flick through the phone.

I let go of my smart phone on 1 June 2022 and I haven’t looked back since. It took others a while to get used to it, a few months in and I was still receiving “join WhatsApp” text messages as a response to my text message to a few of my friends. And others found it annoying that they couldn’t include me in WhatsApp groups, even my dad, who for months had been irritated by my using my smart phone too much, was challenged initially by the loss of my daily WhatsApp family photo share.

Actually if I’m honest that’s the one thing I do miss, is the ease with which I could share photos. But then it also stopped me taking a zillion photos that I never actually looked at, and I have become much more present to our outings, no longer reaching for the phone for the photo, and use an actual camera from time to time instead. There are less videos though, albeit the boys make their own these days on their iPads, so these things swing in roundabouts.

I’ve actually gotten to the point where I often have no idea where my phone is, because I have such little need of it. I text from time to time and use the phone only if I need to, but mainly I communicate from my laptop, at home, through email, or in person. And this really is the biggest benefit, being present to people when i meet them, not being distracted by my phone.

It took me a while to adjust to losing this distraction, because I had been a victim of it for years. In waiting rooms and departure lounges, standing in queues, moments of boredom at home and I would be found with my head in my phone. Now no more. Now I enjoy the peace of not being attached to what’s going on in the outside world, of not being at people’s beck and call, of not always needing to be online. Now I find it interesting watching others, especially in departure lounges, the majority will be in their phones. It’s amazing how many are on it when sitting with others in restaurants and cafes too.

But hey, each to their own. All I know is that I don’t want to be a slave to anyone or anything if I can help it, and I’m hopeful that more people take a stance, so that we can go back to a world where customer service is face to face and you don’t have to have a phone to access certain Apps to be able to do certain things and that we can continue to pay for things easily in cash.

I appreciate that for many there are benefits, but for many others, they don’t realise how much of their time and energy is consumed by it and how much it adds to there stress and anxiety levels, let alone feeds insecurity, overwhelm and addiction. It’s worth a conversation anyway, in case some of you are thinking about freeing yourselves a little bit this year, from anything which enslaves you, if it does of course.

Here’s the link to the video.

Love Emma x

Oh it's a watery one alright!

Yep, it’s a watery full moon this one coming in Cancer on Friday. Us Cancerians are the ones with the hard shell and the soft inside and we feel it and we’re really feeling it, but we’re not the only ones feeling it. It is an intensely emotional full moon bringing up some very old patterns from childhood around abandonment and rejection and the resulting feelings of being unlovable and not worthy of receiving love, leading to feelings of insecurity and fear around being unsafe.

This moon is definitely trying to crack us open, deep into the heart and root chakras, asking us to look at our sense of belonging and value and the many ways we give ourselves away to others because we feel that their needs are more important than our own and because we might fear confrontation and the emotional instability of others, so we do what we can to keep the peace, bearing the burden ourselves…caring too much about everyone else and not even recognising our own needs, let alone attending to them and meeting them.

Expect to be triggered. Notice the patterns. The same things that happen but might not have happened for years ago now, but are coming up again for you to look at in more depth and to clear another layer. Or maybe they keep happening.

It might trigger feelings of loneliness - notice what you do to counter this feeling, the fear of loneliness and spending your life alone.

It might trigger feelings of deep unease, of things not being how you want them to be and the distress this causes realising that you have no control and feeling unsafe - try and notice what you do to counter this - do you let the mind go wild with its imaginings or do you sit with it and surrender into it.

If you’ve a tendency towards sensitivity and people pleasing, and loathe conflict, then you may have a habit of taking everything far too personally. Watch that and look more closely at your boundaries and sense of self. Where do you end and someone else begins? Can you say no? If not, why not? How many times in your life do you do things you don’t want to do, simply because you struggle to voice those two letters, NO?!

Much like any dark night of the soul, the more you can surrender to it, the quicker it passes. So be with it, the emotional pain, the uncomfortableness, the tears, the utter despair. It passes. It is just some old stuff coming up. There is no need to give meaning to it and yet notice how the mind tries to do this, to make meaning out of something that cannot be truly known, that is old and now needs to go. To make meaning out of it, traps it and stops it moving through you. So surrender and try not to let the mind let go…relax your arms, your elbows and your hands.

Remember, more often than not, whoever has triggered you is not at fault. You may blame them. But it’s really not going to help things. This is an opportunity for you to take responsibility. They’ll likely have no idea that they’ve triggered you, it wasn’t intentional. Admittedly, they may not have behaved well but thank them for playing their role in the bigger picture, of helping you to heal and release a layer of unnecessary protection and defence that lays heavily and prevents you softening and feeling a deeper level of compassion and trust.

And really that’s where this moon is taking us…to soften that hard shell and lean into the softness of compassion for self and for others, to trust. It’s a moon which highlights our sensitivities and asks us to honour these, own them and allow for them. As Gabor Mate points out in his recent book, The Myth of Normal, ‘normal’ is indeed a myth. Embrace your differences and befriend them. Society is screwed, not you. Forget trying to fit not a notion of ‘normal’ in a screwed society as you’ll only end up harming yourself more than you’ve been harmed already.

So be gentle. Sit with it. Let the water flow, releasing emotions that have long been held, place a healing hand on your heart and feel your feet on the earth. Know that you are safe and loved and have every right to be here, you belong on planet earth with your sensitivities and differences and you have absolutely nothing to prove. You are wonderful just as you are. Cherish you, be compassionate, love, and remember that you are a beautiful soul having a human experience, that’s all.

Happy full moon!

Love Emma x