Trust and Becoming a Wise Innocent
I love the message of the Fool card in the Tarot deck. The version I have depicts a man smiling happily as he is about to step off a cliff. The interpretation speaks of this card as the state of a wise innocence. A person who is able to have a child-like trust in the good of the Universe and therefore avoids harm, no matter what path they take. They live a charmed existence where Angels intervene to keep them from harm…a harm they often don’t even know was there in the first place.
While pondering this card, I was shown a vision of a child approaching a dog. The child was young, 2 or 3 years old, and it was so excited to touch the dog. I could feel how much she longed to wrap her arms around the dog’s neck. The child’s mother stood near the dog and seemed to be saying it was okay for her to approach, but when the child did rush up to hug the dog, the dog bit her. The mother was as shocked as the child.
The purpose of this vision was to help me understand the dynamic that takes place within us as we seek to have faith and trust in the Divine and in ourselves. Such early experiences, as illustrated by the dog example, teach our innocent self that it isn’t safe to trust. The parent who loves us, can’t always keep us safe from danger. The love we feel in our hearts isn’t always reciprocated by the object of our affections. It teaches us how to pay attention and to learn what we need to know about our environment to avoid danger and stay safe.
This brings me to a universal question…how can one trust and feel safe in an unsafe world? How does one become a wise innocent? Is it possible, after earlier experiences that have taught us the world can be dangerous, that we can find a state of blissful ignorance where unseen helpers leap to whisk us out of danger before we even know the danger exists?
For me, the only path of serenity in the midst of constant change is to find an anchor. For me that anchor is the Divine and while I realize that my faith in God’s guidance and protection doesn’t exempt me from the hurtful experiences in life, it does guarantee me that I will never have to walk through any circumstance alone. I’ve been blessed to see how our Divine helpers will come to our aid whenever we ask. They work through our thoughts, our feelings, through books, and other human beings. They step into the place of fear and pain, and bring comfort and love. We just need to ask.
Today, I encourage you to take a look back over the course of your life. Find a moment when life felt hopeless and filled with despair. Did someone show up to comfort you unexpectedly? Did things work out in a way that, while maybe not what you’d hoped for, were what you really needed? Letting go of our fears and the parts of ourselves that need to evolve for us to grow can be painful, but it is also necessary. So ask for comfort, ask for love, ask for healing, ask for God to make smooth your path and guide you in making wise choices. Then remember… help will come for you. It always does.
Blessings to you and yours!
Nancy
Nancy Nicholas is an Intuitive Life Coach. She offers Life Coaching Readings, Divinely Guided Messages by email, Divinely You Readings, coaching clubs, and other products to inspire and empower. For a free Divine Purpose Survey and to learn more about her services, visit her website: http://www.EmpoweringLightworkers.com.
A Move to Right Brain Thinking?
I’ve been reading a very interesting book by Jill Bolte Taylor, Ph.D called My Stroke of Insight: A Brain Scientist’s Personal Journey. I discovered the book through an interview with Dr. Taylor that appeared in Science of Mind magazine.
Dr. Taylor suffered from a massive stroke that resulted in her being unable to access the language centers housed in the left side of the brain. What she learned through the experience was the difference between the way her left brain saw her world and how her right brain viewed it. She discovered that without the language processing ability of the left brain, she felt very connected to the Universe and very able to live in the joy of the moment. Dr. Taylor said of this experience, “My stroke of insight is that at the core of my right hemisphere consciousness is a character that is directly connected to my feeling of deep inner peace. It is completely committed to the expression of peace, love, joy and compassion in the world.”
I found this fascinating because as I’ve grown in my own spiritual development I’ve noticed two very distinct parts of myself. My intuitive self is very willing and able to let God work through me without attaching to the outcome. That part of me thrives in peaceful, gentle experiences and doesn’t feel the need to strive or accomplish. My analytical self enjoys deep thought and analyzing my emotions and experiences. It derives great pleasure out of accomplishment and anything connected with language and communication. It loves to help things grow. While I love and appreciate my analytical side, I do realize that it is also the seat of worry and anxiety. I can become so caught up in what I am creating, that I lose touch with my physical self and the moment I’m in or become too engrossed in the speed with which things are growing. On the other hand, if I spend too much time in my right brain, I lose a sense of being grounded and connected to my Earthly existence.
My interest in Dr. Taylor’s work was to learn how she has gone about integrating these two parts of herself…her left brain and right brain personality. I find her advice about “stepping to the right” very meaningful, as I often hear God calling me to come and rest with him when I am becoming wound up in a project or impatient with delay. At first, it was very challenging to “step to the right” as I felt very emotionally invested in whatever I was working on or worrying about. I’m finding though that the more I am able to go to a more peaceful space within myself, the easier it is the next time. I’m learning to recognize when the one way of thinking is becoming out of balance and needs to be “checked” by the other side.
Dr. Taylor says of working with both sides of our personalities, ” Some of us have nurtured both of our characters and are really good at utilizing the skills and personalities of both sides of our brain, allowing them to support, influence, and temper one another as we live our lives. Others of us, however, are quite unilateral in our thinking-either exhibiting extremely rigid thinking patterns that are analytically critical (extreme left brain), or we seldom connect to a common reality and spend most of our time “with our head in the clouds” (extreme right brain). Creating a healthy balance between our two characters enables us the ability to remain cognitively flexible enough to welcome change (right hemisphere), and yet remain concrete enough to stay a path (left hemisphere).”
For awhile, I felt that I needed to “subjugate” my left brain, as it seemed to “take over” and lead me on a high speed race to which there was never any end. After reading about Dr. Taylor’s experience, I’ve come to a more peaceful view of these two aspects of myself. I do need both aspects, but I also need them to be in balance. For me, this means moving to the right more often and learning to let the more “laid back” part of me lead the way.
Dr. Taylor closes her book with the following passage, “I think Gandhi was right when he said, ‘We must be the change we want to see in the world.’ I find that my right hemisphere consciousness is eager for us to take that next giant leap for mankind and step to the right so we can evolve this planet into the peaceful and loving place we yearn for it to be.”
How about you? Are you ready to see life from a more balanced perspective? I encourage you to pay attention to your reactions and actions. Which part of you is leading? Is it leading you somewhere you really want to go? If not, remember you can always choose again! Breathe deeply, remember the peace of a warm summer’s day, and let yourself return to a state of calm. From there, all things are possible.
To purchase Dr. Taylor’s book, visit our Amazon Store: http://astore.amazon.com/sanctuary0a-20?node=15&page=2
New! Divinely You Reading
The Divinely You Reading
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www.EmpoweringLightworkers.com
Do you know who you really are? When you think of yourself do you see the beauty of your spirit? Do you claim your power? Do you see your unique gifts? Too often our fears and insecurities blind us to our true essence, trapping us in a warped self-image.
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About Intuitive Life Coach, Nancy Nicholas…
Nancy Nicholas is the owner of Empowering Lightworkers, Crossroads Coaching, and Sanctuary at the Crossroads. She is a certified Life/Career/Spiritual Coach, an Empathic Medium, a Reiki Master, and an Intuitive Healer. She uses her intuitive gifts to provide Divine guidance from your Angels and Spirit Guides combined with practical coaching strategies to empower you to live your life purpose. She offers Life Coaching Readings, Intuitive Coaching Clubs, Intuitive Coaching products, and gift certificates. She can be reached by phone (330) 416-6184 or by email, Nancy@EmpoweringLightworkers.com.
How Roots Become Branches: Tips for Exploring the Gifts of Who You Have Been
Below is an article I had published in the Journey Magazine this year. Included is an activity to help you integrate who you have been into who you are today. I hope you find it helpful! 
Nancy
How Roots Become Branches
by Nancy Nicholas
“Only another breath will I breathe in this still air, only another loving look cast backward, and then I shall stand among you, a seafarer among seafarers. And you, vast sea, sleepless mother, who alone are peace and freedom to the river and the stream, only another winding will this stream make, only another murmur in this glade, and then shall I come to you, a boundless drop to a boundless ocean.”
Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet
I was shown a vision as I began writing this article. It was of a huge oak tree with thick, deep roots reaching into the lakes that surrounded it. Each of these lakes represented a period of my life and contained a piece of myself. Thinking of this vision, I realize that coming to terms with the past and discovering how to connect the many lakes of my life is not only about having access to the beautiful memories and the love for those times and people, but also for finding the thread that connects the lakes together…connects me to all the people I have been on my life path. It is the continuity that I found myself seeking, rather than the peaks and valleys that always seem to stand out most strongly.
So what is this continuity in my own life? What are the things I’ve loved in every period? What are the common experiences that repeat throughout the very different times of my life?
I realized that as much as the peaks and valleys seem to stand out in my mind’s eye, they are actually only a small portion of my life. They are the land portages between the lakes, not the lakes themselves. In truth, the majority of my life has been filled with everyday things, a quiet predictability, moments of simplicity and steadiness. Ordinary days filled with both clouds and sunshine make up the lakes of my life. Like a thread that runs through a tapestry to help it stay together, those simple, ordinary things are the threads weaving the pattern of my life and bringing it to a place of wholeness, instead of swatches of cloth forever separated and severed. Who would have guessed it was something so inconsequential that is truly the most important aspect of the life I have lived?
And just as the “portages” of my experiences stand out most clearly, so do those aspects of myself that were born during those often difficult transitions. The challenges of each experience called forth a different aspect of me, a part often exiled once the crisis had passed. As I look at the experiences, I take time to honor and embrace those parts of me that developed to handle that which was seemed beyond my ability to cope. I recognize that the pain of the portage became associated with these aspects of my psyche and as a result, they were pushed away.
Yet, now as I embrace this understanding of my roots, I realize that each of these parts of me is essential to the whole. Just as the foundation is rooted in simplicity, so too are my branches rooted in the “trunk” of the core aspects that are me. Letting go of the pain of transition, and embracing the joy of ordinary moments and gentle personal truths, I see how my tree is grown full and bountiful.
For those of you who are also looking to integrate your past into your present and future and discover the fullness of the tree of your life, I encourage you to try the activity below.
Exploring Your Roots
- Use a timeline to chart your life from birth to now. Divide the timeline into sections for each of the periods of your life. Look for places where you moved or had some major change in life (either internally or externally) as you make the divisions.
- Draw a series of circles, one for each of the periods of your life, and label it by your age during each section. Leave space between to draw in the “portages” where you traveled from one period to the next. In each circle, write the key facts from that period in your life. Where did you live? What was significant about that time period for you? Can you describe yourself in a word or two during those years?
- Draw lines in between the lakes and write a short sentence describing the move from one lake to the next. What stands out in your mind as you think of the change from one period to the other? What part of your psyche helped you get through this transition? How did you feel about the change?
- Below each circle, make a list of what experiences stand out in your memory. Remember to include, simple moments as well as the bigger events. What were the bulk of your days during that period like?
- Take a look at your lakes. Let yourself imagine that you are living in each of those periods again. Write a letter from your younger self to who you are now, telling about what you love in yourself and in your world during that time. Focus only on the positive for this activity. Let this be a narrative about all that was good for you during that period of your life.
- Read the letters you wrote and imagine yourself embracing your younger self and all the joyous moments from those periods. Let the love fill your roots and flow up to your branches. Recognize what an amazing human being you are and have always been.
I hope this article inspired you to revisit your roots and to pull the joy and love from the lakes of your life into the whole of you. May the tree of your life be filled with deep, strong roots and abundant branches!
Nancy Nicholas is a Life/Career/Spiritual Coach who is also a Medium and Intuitive Healer. She offers a unique approach that provides Divine Guidance from your Guides and Angels with practical coaching strategies and techniques to help you understand your life and relationships from a spiritual perspective. For free gifts, products, or to schedule a life coaching reading, visit her websites: www.empoweringlightworkers.com and www.crossroadscoachingonline.com
Coping with High Sensitivity
Hello!
I thought I’d share a posting from my Empowering Lightworkers e-club group today. I hope you find it helpful! If you’d like to join in on the discussion and participate in the free coaching call, we’d be happy to have you! To learn more about the e-club or to sign up, visit http://www.empoweringlightworkers.com/eClub.html .
Nurture Yourself Wednesday
Good Morning!
Today is the day to share about self-care. I’ve had a lot of calls lately from people who are struggling with the “side effects” of being highly sensitive and intuitively gifted. If you are sensitive and find that you are feeling emotional, anxious, exhausted or generally out of balance, there are things you can do to take care of yourself.
Elaine N. Aron, Ph.D. wrote a national bestseller called The Highly Sensitive Person: How to Thrive When the World Overwhelms You. In it she discusses the fact that some people simply have a more highly developed nervous system than others which makes them more sensitive to stimulus in the outer world. This brings many gifts, often leading to intuitive abilities and greater understanding and compassion for others, but it also brings some debilitating side effects.
As a Highly Sensitive Person (HSP) myself, I learned the hard way about how to be sensitive and still take care of my own needs. A year ago, I met an amazing man named Gary Peterson. Gary works with people to help them “settle” their nervous systems. He explains that our sympathetic nervous system gets triggered by others or outer circumstances and since our modern society does not often allow for “fight or flight” nervous system trauma ensues. He has a CD available and is currently working on a book on this topic. He also provides bio-cranial therapy and other classes on settling at the Star Instititute which has offices in Ohio and Colorado. For more information on settling visit Gary’s website at http://www.starinstitute.us.
I’ve also created an audio meditation that I use to settle my own nervous system. It’s really made a huge difference for me in being able to stay centered in my own system and to avoid overarousal of my sympathetic nervous system. To read more or to purchase this product, visit my Crossroads Coaching website: http://www.crossroadscoachingonline.com/LC.html .
There are several other things you can do to help you stay centered in your own systems and to minimize the side effects of being an HSP. If you are having trouble with this, I’d be happy to work with you privately or consider joining me for the free coaching call on 4/20.
Are you highly sensitive? Have you encountered difficulties as a result of this sensitivity? What methods have you found helpful to cope with this trait?
Please feel free to share your thoughts, questions, or suggestions!
I hope everyone has a wonderful day!
Take care,
Nancy
Body Wisdom
Body Wisdom
Have you ever had one of those times when you are considering a course of action and find yourself experiencing a lot of physical distress? For years, I simply saw this as nervousness on my part and proceeded to override my fears and forge ahead anyway. Usually, I’d end up sick or in a situation that was not good for me.
Finally, after a couple years of polarity therapy, I learned a very vital lesson. My body is wise. In fact, it is the wisest part of me. What I’d taken for weakness was actually a sophisticated warning system trying to let me know that the course of action I was about to pursue was not highest and best for me.
This month, I encourage you to try listening to your body. When you notice that it is under stress (heart flutters, tension, stomach ache, tense), instead of pushing forward, stop instead.
Here is a simple procedure to help you start listening and understanding your body’s messages:
1. Return your body to a place of peace. Breathe in for 4 seconds, hold for 4 seconds, exhale for 6 seconds, and hold for 4 seconds. Continue this patterned breathing for three rounds while repeating, “I am safe and all is well.”
2. Imagine the action you are considering. See yourself doing it. How does your body feel? If it is tense or you feel a sudden pain, this is not the highest and best course for you to follow.
3. Continue to imagine different options until you body reacts with peace. Try to think creatively and come up with gentler ways to go forward with your plans. Can you do it on a smaller scale? Is there a way to get the help of others first?
4. Follow through and thank your body for helping you pick the best choice for you. Now that you have gotten the message about what you need, follow through! Don’t be tempted to override this knowledge. You’ll find that the more you do this, the easier it will be for you to select only that which is in your best interest.
Nancy Nicholas
Holistic Life Coach/Intuitive Healer/Medium
(330) 416-6184
http://www.empoweringlightworkers.com
http://www.crossroadscoachingonline.com
http://www.sanctuaryatcrossroads.com
Check in for Spiritual Support and Guidance
Ask: Ask for input on your goals this year. Ask your guides and angels to clearly guide you, tell them your hopes, fears and things you would like help with. They are listening!
