Soul Kadee

If you’ve been reading this blog regularly, you’ll notice that I have been writing a lot less frequently of late. Part of it has to do with the fact that I’ve moved house (temporarily, till my old one is rebuilt), and cleared out a lot of clutter in my life. I’ve also fallen deeply in love and am enjoying every moment of it.

That’s what happens when you clear out old energy, my healer, Leo, would say. So it’s a time for new beginnings and new possibilities. And I’m open to all the Universe has to offer me.

However, these days I do not feel the urge to write as much as assimilate new information. I’ve been spending a lot of time in renewal - exercising, reading and meditating. Looking inward, learning new ways of being.

I feel more at peace with myself than I’ve ever felt, more accepting of my flaws and of others, but also more selective of the people and influences I allow into my life.

I also feel the need to take a sabbatical from writing this blog, because, as any good farmer knows, there are times when you need to let the fields lie fallow, so they grow fertile for new growth.

I promise to be back soon. Till then I wish you Joy and Abundance in 2008.

Fields Lie Fallow 
By Intensity

How can we expect people
To feel the need to protect the earth
When they can’t even see it
Smell it or feel it
Only when we come back to living as part of nature
Instead of trying to live above it
Will we understand it’s true value
And the need to protect it
Our earth is just a landfill
Constantly being stuffed full of waste
As fields lie fallow, cities grow
As fields lie fallow, cities grow
As fields lie fallow, cities grow

Popularity: 37% [?]

Iris at My Nirvana! just tagged me for the Thinking Bloggers Award. Thanks, Iris. Love your blog too. I’ll tag my favourite Thinking Bloggers at the end of this post.

In the last issue of Naaree.com, I wrote that I believe feminism has done women a dis-service by making them believe that they need to compete with men.

There are essentially two ways people view the role of women in society:

Traditionalists: Those who believe that women should go back to their traditional roles at home and stop trying to compete with men in the workplace. Thankfully, these are a dying breed - even in India.

Liberals: Those who believe that women can, and should, compete with men and hold their own in all spheres of life. They seem harmless, but this view can actually be quite damaging.

Here’s why. The problem with these extreme viewpoints is that they are both unfair to women, because neither takes into account what women really want.

The first (traditional) viewpoint denies a woman’s aspirations and desire to express herself creatively in a profession, contribute to society and - in the absence of a male provider - fend for herself and her children.

The second (liberal) viewpoint denies a woman’s innate biological need and desire to nuture a family, have children, and express her creativity in a manner that feels natural to her (cooking, taking care of a home, and all the stuff that makes people like Martha Stewart pots of money).

These extremes also don’t take into account the fact that men have changed too. They no longer want to be desired solely for their earning capability. Most men don’t want women who are golddiggers, and actually PREFER a woman who is able to take care of herself financially.

And why shouldn’t they? After all, men deserve to be loved for who they are, don’t they?

Being Feminine At Work

One of the reasons why there are so few women at the top, in most professions, is not because men don’t allow them to grow, but because most women simply don’t WANT that. We know that being at the top of one’s profession involves a great deal of commitment, dedication and more importantly, SACRIFICE.

I’m one of those women who knew that being a good mother was very important to me (perhaps because my own mom worked full-time and hardly spent any time with us). At the same time, I wanted to use my intelligence and my talent, to express myself creatively and be of service to others.

As long as my husband had a steady job, I kept myself occupied with freelance writing until our baby girl was born. When he was out of a job for a few years, however, I decided I had to make a living and started a business I could manage from home.

At no point did I wish to join the corporate rat race. As a sensitive person, the aggression and competitiveness put me off. I made a conscious choice to work from home because I knew that if I really wanted to, I could find a way. I now make a decent income and find great fulfilment in my internet publishing business.

More than anything, women want to achieve BALANCE in all spheres of life. The price of ambition - sacrificing a healthy family life - is often more than we are willing to pay. And why should we?

Today, women are finding fulfilment in a range of professions, and organisations are more flexible and understanding in working out solutions, including part-time and flexitime work hours, that will keep women on the payroll.

Whether she works from home or commutes to work, each woman needs to find the sort of work that fulfils her.

Being Feminine In Relationships

Our confusion over the roles we play, is even more obvious in the dysfunction that has pervaded our intimate relationships.

Women who adopt the traditional lifestyle, and behave in a dependent and passive manner, put themselves in danger of getting into abusive, exploitative relationships.

On the other hand, women who project themselves as strong and independent, tend to be too aggressive and overfunction in relationships. Aggressive women make a man feel emasculated, and they often find they cannot attract and keep a good man for long.

Books like “The Rules“, which struck a chord with desperate American women, and which feminists viewed as regressive, are the outcome of our confusion, as we struggle to balance our femininity, while holding our own in our relationships with men.

A New Way Of Functioning

It’s time for a new paradigm. One that allows a woman to be a complete, self-actualised person, and yet be capable of letting a man express his masculinity, give to her, and protect his family.

Coach Rori’s ebook, Have The Relationship You Want, taught me that all it takes to achieve this is a simple change in mindset - that of learning to express your feminine energy in a relationship.

We can’t escape our biology, which dictates that for a man to feel attraction for a woman, he has to feel that she needs him (even if it’s only to fix something around the house). A man needs to know that he has something to offer his woman.

Women, for their part, must learn to stop overfunctioning, to lean back, and learn to RECEIVE - a skill that the strong, independent, action-oriented woman has to learn all over again.

The surprising thing is that overfunctioning comes, not from strength, but from fear and a feeling of inadequacy. We overfunction when we feel that we are not enough, that we do not deserve to be loved for who we are, but for what we can can offer a man.

When we “act” strong and independent, we’re actually reacting to a fear of dependence. Women who are truly strong and independent never have to “act” that way. They know their worth, and trust themselves enough to know that they can receive without losing themselves in a relationship.

Leaning back, and allowing yourself to receive from a man, is not about being dependent. It’s about learning to value yourself, and realising that you are desirable, not for what you can give him, but just because you’re a woman.

I’ve been in both places - dependent and independent. In my marriage with my late husband, overfunctioning wasn’t an issue. With him I was very feminine, dependent even - the kind who couldn’t change a lightbulb or kill a bug.

Most of the time, he loved doing things for me. I realised that it made him feel needed and allowed him to express his masculinity. But there is such a thing as being too dependent on a man. For me, independence was something I had to LEARN.

I realised this when, after being widowed, I began to attract men who were extremely masculine and controlling, or exploitative and narcissistic. And in those relationships, I was often the codependent, passive, giving woman - the kind who found it hard to say “no” to anything, even things I was not comfortable with.

Once I realised my mistake, I began learning how to assert myself and set stronger boundaries. I learned that, as long as I express myself in a caring and non-agressive way, being assertive does not make me masculine.

Interdependence Is The Key

Relationships between men and women are not about competition. We need to learn how to COMPLEMENT each other and bring out the best in each other.

Healthy relationships are those where both partners are neither too dependent, nor too independent, but inter-dependent. It’s all about keeping a balance between -

- Work and family
- Giving and receiving
- Masculine and feminine
- Yin and yang

If being a feminine woman in today’s world sometimes feels like walking a tightrope, that’s because it IS. But, there’s no one better equipped than a woman to handle a balancing act like that!

Recommended Reading:

The ebooks here have transformed the way I look at relationships and how I communicate with men.

Have The Relationship You Want: A Womans Guide To Transforming Your Love Life Practically Overnight!
Learn how to get more love, romance, and a deeper emotional connection with a man. Relationship coach Rori Gwynne teaches women the completely original, simple-to-do and stunningly effective techniques for communication, confidence, and connecting with men that she used to turn her now-glorious, decades long marriage around

The Woman Men Adore…and Never Want to Leave
Learn how to communicate with your man and express yourself in a feminine manner. This book will give you the insights that will change your relationships with men forever.

As I promised, here are my personal favourite Thinking Bloggers.

1. Atanu Dey (I love his focus on the India we rarely read about)
2. Robin Sharma (lots of great personal development tips and an awesome podcast too)
3. Steve Pavlina (another great personal development blog with long posts - sometimes rationalises too much)
4. Aaron Potts (loads of great stuff on self-improvement, manifestation, LOA and more)
5. Jennifer (very interesting posts about men, women, relationships, and life in general)

The Thinking Blogger Award rules: This award was started here. You have to award five others whose blog you think deserve this award. Please make sure you pass this list of rules to the blogs you are tagging.

The participation rules:
If, and only if, you get tagged, write a post with links to 5 blogs that make you think.
Link to this post so that people can easily find the exact origin of the meme.
Optional: Proudly display the ‘Thinking Blogger Award’ with a link to the post that you wrote.
Please, remember to tag blogs with real merits, i.e. relative content, and above all € blogs that really get you thinking!

Popularity: 100% [?]

I’m a big believer in energy medicine, and have been using meditation and reiki for the last year, to heal myself in mind, body and spirit. In my desire to treat my body as my temple, I eliminated, from my diet, foods that I believed were not good for me. I programmed my mind so strongly against junk food, that my body now rejects it.

In the last year, I lost over 25 pounds of extra flab. Meditation, inner work, and a healthier diet helped a great deal. But the main reason I lost that load rather easily (with little or no exercise) was because I decided that the weight no longer served me.

We women don’t realise how much of our weight gain is emotional. And I don’t mean only because of overeating (although that does affect many women), because I’m a rather poor eater.

People tend to put on weight when they’re stressed, depressed or ill. With women especially, low self-esteem tends to lead to a vicious cycle where we put on weight, stop caring about the way we look, which causes us to put on even more weight.

Fact is, when you’re stressed out, perhaps suffering from low self-esteem, or have a lot of negativity in your life, your body goes into starvation-mode and tends to store weight. For sensitive people, fat actually acts as a buffer against negative energy.

Intuitive healer, Judith Orloff, M.D, explains the energetic premise of obesity, in her book, “Positive Energy: Ten Extraordinary Prescriptions for Transforming Fatigue, Stress, and Fear Into Vibrance, Strength, and Love“.

One big reason that many diets fail is that traditional weight loss programs don’t factor in how we process subtle energy, what Chinese medicine terms life force or chi. Subtle energy penetrates and surrounds the body.

Sensitive people who I call intuitive empaths unknowingly overeat in response to being overwhelmed by negative vibes. Empaths not only can sense energy around them, they absorb it into their bodies.

Here’s the energetic premise of obesity: When empaths are thin, they have less padding and are more vulnerable to soaking up negative vibes. For instance, early twentieth-century faith healers were renowned for being grossly obese to avoid absorbing their patient’s symptoms — a common trap I’ve seen modern-day healers also unconsciously fall into; food is a convenient grounding device.

Similarly, many of my patients pack on pounds to protect against overwhelming vibes, massive or minute. Energy is at the root of an empath’s hunger. Whether your sensitivity to negative vibes is minimal or intense, for a diet to succeed, it’s important to develop alternative coping strategies other than overeating.

Although I don’t eat to ground myself, my body still tended to store fat when I was stressed out or depressed. Once I learned how to use meditation to ground myself, the fat fell away easily.

Find Your “Why” And The “How” Will Follow

I come from a family that encouraged music, rather than athletics. Except for the occasional stint in the gym, I never took physical fitness seriously. Over the years, I tried a few ignorant and misguided attempts at working out. One of those ended in collapse from over training, so I was very wary of starting any new workout program.

Besides, I loved my curves and had no desire to look like a skinny supermodel. But, accepting your body is one thing. Denying your poor health is another. The emotional and health challenges of the last few years had taken their toll on my body, and I found it difficult to build chi, beyond a point, for the purpose of healing.

Building chi energy requires muscle strength and excellent blood circulation. As a healer and lightworker, my less-than-adequate fitness levels were an obstacle to my spiritual growth. Also, as a woman over 35, I knew that I would soon start losing lean muscle and bone mass, if I didn’t take steps to preserve it. To boost my healing abilities, and preserve my quality of life, I simply had to get serious about my fitness goals.

I read that the best way to build strength is with weights or resistance training. So, I began my education in fitness and strength training with Jon Benson’s Fit Over 40, an inspiring ebook that features a number of amazing role models who overcame disability, age, and other serious health challenges, to achieve levels of fitness most of us can only dream of.

Especially awe-inspiring was the story of a 77-year old grandmother, who also happens to be a champion bodybuilder!

Bodybuilding And The Law of Attraction

Personally, I have no intention of participating in bodybuilding contests, but I did realise, that bodybuilders are actually some of the best role models for manifesting abundance.

Not only are they highly focused and motivated, they are also familiar with many techniques (including creative visualisation), taught by spiritual gurus and Law of Attraction teachers, to achieve their dream bodies. My favourite fitness gurus are Tom Venuto, Jon Benson and Will Brink.

I learned a lot about manifestation from Jon’s Fit Over 40 book, where he describes very creative ways to use visualisation to manifest goals. Jon talks about the need to get rid of limiting beliefs, and heal the spirit before we can heal our bodies. He recently started the M-Power Inner Circle to help people achieve the life of their dreams.

I don’t believe we can consider physical fitness in isolation from financial, emotional or spiritual fitness. A healthy mind, healthy body, healthy finances, and a healthy spirit are like spokes in the wheel of abundance. If either one of these spokes is weak, the wheel is in danger of collapsing.

Why Vijay Mallya Is NOT The “Richard Branson Of India”

Like Jon, I believe that a person who is deficient in even one of these areas is not truly a success and is not expressing her full potential. That’s why it irritates me to hear Indians comparing Dr. Vijay Mallya with Sir Richard Branson. Sure, Dr. Mallya, has the wealth, the flamboyance and the lifestyle. But you only have to take one look at him to see that, physically, the man is a wreck.

I believe overall fitness levels are a good indicator of a person’s emotional set-point. You know something is not quite right, when a person who can afford to employ the world’s best fitness professionals, doesn’t care enough to take care of his own body.

For me, Dr. Mallya is simply not a patch on the athletic Sir Branson. I have nothing against Dr. Mallya personally, but a role model for success, he is not!

You are only given one body. Take care of your body and it will take care of you. A month ago, I didn’t even know what a Rep was. Today I work out in the gym thrice a week, and on other days practice T’ai Chi and Pilates. If I can’t work out for a day or so, I really miss the endorphins. Believe me, they can be pretty addictive.

Resources: Free bodybuilding and weight loss ebooks

Popularity: 100% [?]

What we resist, persists.
- Sonia Johnson, American feminist, activist and writer.

I just got my copy of The Secret (DVD) today, and as I was watching it, the teachers happened to discuss a topic I’ve been thinking about a lot recently - that FIGHTING AGAINST anything (war, corruption, drugs, global warming) doesn’t work.

I have a strong personal belief that states, If you don’t like something, don’t complain about it. Change it. That’s because, the more attention you give something you don’t want - the more you complain about it, fight it, write about it, protest against it - the more you invite it into your consciousness, and your life.

It was not the Secret that taught me this, but my own experience as an environmental activist and journalist. I’ve written on environmental issues since 1996, and I realised, as most activists did, that we were fighting a losing battle, as far as many issues (like global warming) were concerned.

But, I also realised that focusing on the bad news and the disasters wasn’t helping. So, whenever I researched an issue I was covering, I decided to also give balanced coverage to the solutions that local groups and NGOs were exploring to challenges like pollution, deforestation and water scarcity.

I found a great deal of good news amongst all the depressing news that was covered in the mainstream media (MSM). The good news rarely enters public consciousness, because bad news makes better news, as far as MSM is concerned. One reason I avoid MSM (or scan through the headlines at most) is because I believe that, while it’s good to stay informed, it’s even better to be selective about the thoughts that you let into your mind.

As the Law Of Attraction states, what we focus on, expands. So, if your focus is on FIGHTING AGAINST the forces that create war, poverty, environmental degradation, you’ll only ATTRACT MORE of the same. And so,

• The War on Terror spawns more terror.
• Anti-war protests create more war and hatred.
• Protests against communalism create more hate.
• Focusing on your spouse’s faults creates more unhappiness in marriage.

If you want to use the secret of deliberate creation to create a world you desire, stop paying so much attention to what’s wrong with the world, and focus on the good you can do instead. Here are some ways you can make a difference by changing your focus right now.

• Don’t be Anti-War. Be Pro-Peace.
  
• Don’t fight the interests that create global warming. Focus on making alternative energy sources more profitable.
  
• Don’t fight against corruption. Focus on creating transparency and public accountability.
  
• Don’t fight against communal forces. Promote tolerance, love and understanding.
  
• If you’re in a relationship, don’t nag your significant other to change her/his ways. Focus on how good s/he makes you feel instead.
  
• And (this goes out especially to the Mumbai police) stop cracking down on kanoodling couples in love. Focus on freeing Mumbai of real criminals instead.

Like the Beatles, I believe that “All We Need Is Love.” And that the war on terror can only be countered with a Campaign for Love. Perhaps it’s time to send George W a copy of The Secret…

The LOA teachers state that one positive thought is many, many times more powerful than a negative thought. So focus on love and happiness. Will it help you change the world? Who knows? All I can guarantee is that it’ll make you feel sooooo good.

Join the Campaign For Love here (site under construction).

Popularity: 47% [?]

Problems cannot be solved
at the same level of awareness that created them.
- Albert Einstein

The Law of Attraction teaches that, to change your circumstances, you must change the way you think and feel. To attract something or someone into your life, you must raise your vibrational frequency to match that of the object you desire.

So how DO you raise your vibration? Simply by choosing experiences that raise your emotional set point, or as the teachers call it, following your bliss. As Sherry Binkelman explains in her article, Raising Your Vibration,

The influences upon which we focus our attention or thoughts are those that determine or define our vibration. Negative vibrations are associated with the lower chakras, with what we consider to be “negative” emotions or feelings, including hatred, anger, doubt, fear (of loss, lack, failure) jealousy, envy, judgment, (both judgment of others and self-judgment) impatience, disharmony, imbalance, insecurity. Positive vibrations are those such as love, harmony, peace, balance, kindness, understanding, compassion. Our vibration attracts to us experiences of like vibration, and also attracts to us people who are of the same vibrational frequency.

Many LOA books, including the ones by Abraham-Hicks, offer processes (22, no less) to raise your vibration to one of optimism and joy, at which point you start to manifest your desires.

It’s really not as complicated as it seems. Instinctively, we all know what we need to feel good. But, blissing out doesn’t mean using drugs, alcohol or prescription meds as uppers. That’s just a way of avoiding your issues, and will ultimately land you in rehab.

Following your bliss is about CHOOSING to be happy, choosing to be in a state of joy and love, as much as possible. It’s about doing work that you’re passionate about, being with people who help you grow and thrive, and choosing experiences that take you to a higher place.

Here’s a list of my personal favourite ways to raise my vibration. Perhaps you can relate to some of them, too.

1. Solitude: This is essential for me, because as an introvert, highly sensitive person, empath, being around people for too long drains me and makes me very crabby. I really need my space, and my time alone helps me recharge my batteries.

2. Reading a good book: As a child, my only escape from the reality of my unhappy existence was to create a fantasy world (helped a great deal by the creations of Enid Blyton, Richmal Crompton, Hans Christian Anderson, the Grimm brothers and Robert Louis Stevenson) of heroes, pirates, detectives and dragon-slayers. I spent my entire childhood daydreaming and visualising - valuable skills that I now make full use of, since they work so well in manifestation. In recent times, I’ve become a fan of audiobooks, as well, because they help me absorb information much faster. Besides providing fodder for my fertile imagination, books have introduced me to the thoughts and ideas of great men and women, and helped me learn many lessons without having to experience them for myself.

3. Meditation, Affirmations, Energy work: The reason I talk about these methods so much is because my life changed a great deal since I started using them. They helped me tune into my emotional guidance system, and my inner guidance, and start making better choices based on my intuition. I use meditation everyday for grounding and clearing my energy, and affirmations to keep my thoughts happy and positive. I just completed a meditation course with my healer, Leo, and we worked on a lot of issues, cleared up a lot of emotional baggage. And it didn’t take years of painful therapy, just 10-sessions of Leo’s powerful healing techniques (will write more about them soon). Meditation and other energy work, like Reiki (I just completed the second level), have helped me heal emotional blocks and childhood scars, which prevented me from attracting the things I desire into my life.

4. Music: Born in a family of musicians, jazz, blues and classical music on the old 48 rpm were a staple diet in our home. One of my favourite memories is of my Grandpa, Martin, entertaining us with his old ragtime numbers on our piano. Another fun family outing was visiting the theatre (we didn’t have DVDs back then) to see a Hollywood musical. I still enjoy musicals and Disney movies. Music can make me smile, laugh, even cry (though I avoid that as much as possible). It’s something I can plug into anytime, anywhere. Definitely one of my best uppers.

5. Dancing: If you’re Goan (or married to one), you can’t escape the old Latin numbers, the waltzes, the cha-chas, and the Mexican shuffle that’s a must at every wedding. Is it any wonder that Goans are happy people? In fact, I love dancing so much, I took a salsa class, and every so often, put on a CD of Latin music, or J. Lo, and groove to the beat with complete abandon. Next on my list are belly dancing and flamenco classes.

6. Exercise: This is one thing I really need to get more of. There’s nothing like a good workout, whether it involves aerobics, yoga or, my personal favourite, Tai Chi, to boost my mood. Endorphins apart, just getting off my ass and stretching my muscles can raise my vibration a few notches.

7. Laughter: I believe that laughter is one of the most spiritual things in the world. A good belly laugh makes you forget all your woes, and lifts your vibration like nothing else. Reading silly jokes forwarded by email, listening to funny stories, watching reruns of Mr. Bean, Friends, Will and Grace, Frasier, and of course, a little Leno, is a great way to wrap up the day with happy feelings.

8. A good movie: Barring horror movies, the sad ones (like Mira Nair’s Water, which, though great cinema, was horribly depressing) and the gruesome ones, I can enjoy a good movie anytime, anywhere. I loved The Pursuit of Happyness, because it ended on a happy note (even though I used up a whole tissue in the first half). I could actually feel the energy rise in the theatre when the main protagonist achieves his goal after so much hardship. I thoroughly enjoyed Dreamgirls and Shall We Dance, for the music and dance. I especially enjoy fantasy, like Bridge To Terabithia, which I must say, made a remarkably strong case for using your imagination to create your own reality. I make it a point to go see a movie (or catch one on the telly) at least once a week. It gives me a good feeling that lasts for days on end. Here’s a little something for you. Download this feel-good (and free) movie, The Secret To You, and watch it daily. It’s slickly produced, a delight to watch and will raise your vibration instantly. You’ll find more free stuff for good vibes here.

9. A long, hot bath: Who doesn’t love a long, hot bath? That must be, like, a universal upper. Just give me a tub, hot water, and some bubble bath, and I’m in heaven.

10. Getting a massage: My favourite way (though a bit expensive, at Rs 800 a pop for an experienced masseuse) to de-stress and relax. Having someone knead my tired muscles is instant bliss.

11. Being a mom: My little girl really IS the best upper a mom could ever have (when she isn’t testing my patience, that is). Watching her grow, admiring her sweet face when she’s sleeping (or is that my relief showing?), taking her on a holiday for two, listening to her child-like wisdom, sharing her joy when she learns a new tune on the piano, gets a certificate for academic achievement, or a new Barbie or game - these are some of the most memorable moments of my life. It reminds me of a line from the movie Hitch, where Will Smith’s character says, Life is not how many breaths you take, it’s how many moments take your breath away.

12. Being with people I love: I’m the kind of person who has very few close friends, some whom I’ve known since my college days. But they’re very special to me, and I make it a point to maintain these friendships, and spend quality time in the company of these special people who nurture me.

13. Watching a sunset: In a concrete jungle like Mumbai, there’s really very little of Mother Nature left to commune with. Watching the sunset at Marine Drive is the closest someone like me can get to enjoy the glory of Creation. Unless, of course, I’m holidaying in Goa.

14. Being creative: Expressing your creativity is a wonderful way of raising your vibration. Creative expression, whether in the form of art, writing, sculpture, pottery, design, or even being more creative in the workplace, is very therapeutic because it puts us in alignment with our desires. My favourite way of expressing my creativity are, writing this blog, creating new websites, and coming up with new ideas to promote them.

15. Making someone smile: Nothing compares to that wonderful feeling of joy, when you know you’ve made a difference in someone’s life. It’s then that you know your life has meaning, and that you’re in alignment with your life purpose. I’m lucky to have been blessed with many such moments, and thank the Creator for all of them.

16. Gratitude: Being thankful reminds me of another of my favourite ways to raise my vibration - and one recommended by all the LOA teachers. Spending some time everyday, appreciating and being grateful for the abundance €œ of love, wealth and joy €œ in my life, and realising how privileged I am to have all these things, never fails to bring me joy. In all my dealings with people, there are two phrases that I make it a point to use as often as possible. They are Please and Thank you. No matter how tiny the gesture, I try never to take people and their generosity for granted. And trust that they will accord me the same treatment.

17. Being good to myself: LOA teachers all agree that self-love is the first step to raising your vibe. You can’t attract anything good unless you feel good about yourself. There was a time in my life when I engaged in negative self-talk, was very harsh on myself, and put everyone else’s feelings before my own. I had a hard time saying no and allowed people to take advantage of my generosity. Today, I take care of my feelings, am learning to set stronger boundaries, say No when I need to, and love and accept myself the way I am. As Sherry explains, Loving oneself is a wonderful way to raise one’s vibration, because each thought or act of self love sends out a vibration of love to the Universe, adding to the Light.

18. Making love: Oooh yeah!

So how many of these did you relate to? And which methods do you use to raise your vibration? Do share, so we can all benefit from your experience.

Popularity: 68% [?]

Meditation can improve your health, increase energy levels and maximize your enjoyment of life. Without a doubt, more people would benefit from meditation if they took the time to practice the simple exercises used to calm the mind, reduce stress and increase energy levels.

So What Is Meditation?
======================

Meditation is a way to transform and heal ourselves. When we meditate, we allow the swirl of ideas and thoughts to slow down to the point where we find a calm and positive connection with ourselves. Although there are many different ways to meditate, all styles teach the directing of the attention in order to re-connect with the part of yourself that is most real and most true.

Why We Need To Meditate
=======================

Unfortunately, we do not walk through the world as children do. We all face difficult and stressful situations throughout the course of life. But rather than beginning each day afresh, we tend to gather the world and carry the negativity of the past with us. The happy and contented person you were becomes covered over by these emotions. Suddenly you feel unhappy and dissatisfied, and even worse; often the process is so subtle, you don’t know why.

Meditation is a way of cutting through those layers of past emotion and excessive thinking. Instead of our minds and bodies being at the mercy of life, we take back control. We focus the attention in a deliberate way, and slowly see the false layers of ourselves begin to dissolve as we return once again to the source of our happiness.

Although meditation is an ancient art dating back thousands of years, modern scientific research now confirms what ancient wisdom discovered long ago. Study after study shows that meditation brings about improved perception, focus, memory and creativity. Regular meditators are healthier, happier, more relaxed, and more productive.

The True Purpose of Meditation
==============================

The seductive appeal of mystic visions, psychic intuition and heightened mental functioning can be very alluring. While some meditators report esoteric experiences, the experiences themselves should not be the primary reason for practice.

The purpose of meditation is to transform the state of our hearts and minds and bring us back to ourselves. As we become healthier, happier and realize greater self-awareness, more benefits begin to follow naturally — improved mental functioning, greater intuition as well as greater access to unconscious resources and abilities.

The Best Style of Meditation
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Always keep an open mind in your learning. Never accept a teaching without verifying the truth of it in your own experience. On the other hand, reserve making judgment in advance of having the experience for yourself.

The best style of meditation is the one that feels right for you. There are many different systems of meditation including, but not limited to Concentration, Mindfulness, Zen, Visualization and Devotion. You may decide to experiment with a few different styles and see how they feel. Find one or two styles that you like and then major in those. Above all, pay attention to your self and make sure your meditation feels right for you.

Make Meditation A Daily Practice
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You can be stronger in your self. You can be happier, more balanced and compassionate. You can manifest the changes you truly want to see in your life through meditation. You don’t need to give up all your worldly passions or retreat to a Himalayan monastery either!

A daily ten-minute practice can make all the difference. It’s not much time to dedicate when you consider all the time spent caring for your physical appearance. After all, you wouldn’t go out to an important meeting or social occasion without clean clothes and brushing your teeth.

What about the mind and body — the instruments through which we perceive and interact with reality? Does it not make sense to take the time to clean up our attitude and the way we feel as well?

Copyright Matt Clarkson, Author of Secrets of Meditation, Energy and Manifestation . Want to learn how to quiet the mind, super-charge your energy level and manifest what you truly desire in your life? Remember, this article is only a tiny sampling of what’s waiting for you inside Secrets of Meditation, Energy and Manifestation.

Popularity: 37% [?]

My new portal for Indian women arose out of my passion for helping women empower themselves. If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you’ll know that I’ve been learning to develop and trust my intuition or inner knowing to guide me through life.

In my effort to provide others (especially women, who are naturally intuitive) with the tools to do that, I’m organising a free workshop on intuition. The details are below, so if you live in Mumbai, do register quickly. We have limited seats.

For Immediate Release

Naaree.com Celebrates International Women’s Day With Free Intuition Workshop

7 March, 2007, Mumbai - To celebrate International Women’s Day 2007, Naaree.com is organising a free workshop, titled Develop Your Sixth Sense, with the aim of helping women get in touch with their intuition and inner guidance.

To enable career women to attend the three-hour workshop, it will be held on Sunday, 11th March, 2007, from 3 to 6 pm, at Hotel Four Seasons, near Prithvi Theatre in Juhu, Mumbai.

Intuition is now considered an essential skill necessary to successful living. Our relationships and careers can, both, benefit from our ability to trust and use our intuition in daily life.

Women are naturally intuitive beings. But in a world where five-sensory, logical and rational thinking is valued over hunches and gut feeling, many of us have learned to distrust our inner knowing. Disconnecting from this source of universal wisdom has weakened women and prevented us from reaching our full potential.

In our effort to empower everyone, and women in particular, to develop and trust their inner guidance, Naaree.com has employed the skills of psychologist and trainer Tarannum Siddiqui, in organising a Develop Your Sixth Sense workshop.

Ms. Siddiqui has over six years of experience in training and conducts regular Enlightenment workshops to help women and corporate professionals enhance their visionary skills and perceptual insight.

The workshop is open to all, irrespective of gender, and will cover the topics here.

• What is intuition?
• What type of intuitive are you?
• Take the Intuitive Test
• How to use intuition with intention at work and in relationships
• The I AM exercise
• The Telepathy game
• Discussion and sharing

For more information, and to register for the Develop Your Sixth Sense workshop, please contact Ms. Siddiqui at 9820188998. Registrations are limited, so please book your space early.

For more information about Naaree.com and our plans for future workshops, please contact us here:
Priya Florence Shah
Editor, Naaree.com
Email: priya [AT] naaree.com

Popularity: 40% [?]

I sent out a press release to promote Naaree.com, my new magazine and portal for Indian women, and ended up being interviewed, by Sakshi Singh, who writes for the Free Press Journal. The interview was published today in their Women’s section (just a couple of days before International Women’ Day).

Here’s the interview (click on the pic below to open the larger image or right click and save it to your computer).

Popularity: 32% [?]

All that we are is a result of what we have thought
- Buddha

Everyone these days seems to be talking about the Law Of Attraction (LOA) - the principle that you attract into your life whatever you think about.

To explain it in simple, idiot-proof terms:

• Thoughts are energy - they are as real as sound, light and gravity.
• Thoughts create vibrations, the way a pebble creates ripples in a lake.
• Every thought has a frequency. Thoughts send out a magnetic energy.
• Positive thoughts vibrate at a higher frequency than negative ones.
• Your thoughts attract the circumstances of your life like a magnet.
• What you focus on, expands
• If you think about what you don’t want, you only end up attracting more of the same.
• Everything you currently have in your life, YOU have created, the good and the bad - that’s a fact!
• If you are not controlling what you think about, you are creating your life by default.
• When you focus your thoughts on what you DO want, you are applying the principle of Deliberate Creation.
• Your emotions (intuition, gut feelings) are your guidance system - they tell you if what you are attracting is right for you or not.
• You can change your vibrations by changing the way you feel.

Even before I learned about the Law Of Attraction, I understood that we consciously attract people and events into our lives that match our “wavelength.” I knew that, to attract the mate of my dreams, I must become the person I want to attract. (work in progress)

But it’s through the books and audios produced by Jerry and Esther Hicks (who first presented the powerful basics of the original Teachings of Abraham), that I’m beginning to understand how to use and apply the Law of Attraction to create exactly what I desire.

Their books, Ask and It Is Given: Learning to Manifest Your Desires and The Amazing Power of Deliberate Intent: Living the Art of Allowing, provide an excellent introduction to the LOA.

They include a great deal of advice on working with energy and emotions, as well as specific chapters on increasing prosperity, reclaiming health, working with meditation, and clearing clutter for clarity (sounds like something my feng shui practioner would recommend). They also offer 22 processes that you can use to raise your vibration and invite anything you want to attract into your life.

I also bought all three of their Sara books (for my daughter, Sara, of course), and plan to read them to her at bedtime. I believe these are essential life skills that every parent should practice, and teach their kids.

Because I love their materials so much, I was rather surprised and disappointed when I learned that the original creators didn’t feature in the slickly produced and somewhat over-hyped production, The Secret (DVD), that was based on their work, and recently featured on both, the Oprah Winfrey and Larry King shows.

But then I read this letter from them that sort of explains why. And though I know, from their books, what beautiful people Jerry and Esther are, I’m still amazed at their generosity, understanding and willingness to let go of their intellectual rights.

There are four steps involved in Deliberate Creation:

1. Identify what you DON’T want: Get clear on what about your current life does not serve you
2. Identify what you DO want: Visualise the kind of life you wish to create
3. Get into the feeling place of your want: Raise your vibration and feel the emotions you will feel when you have that life. Believe you already have it.
4. Intend and allow it to happen: Get out of your own way and allow the Universe to take over and do what is in your Highest Good.

Abraham-Hicks teach us that Well-Being is our natural state of being. The reason we do not have what we want - health, abundance, wealth, joy - is because we are blocking the flow of energy that creates well-being.

We create obstacles to well-being with our:

• Lack of belief: Negative beliefs, defeatist attitudes, pessimism and expecting the worst only attracts more negativity into your life
• Lack of self-love: Failing to love, respect and value yourself. Refusing to believe that you deserve the best life has to offer, will keep your dream life firmly out of your reach.
• Lack of trust: Not trusting your intuition, your emotional guidance system, will prevent you from knowing which experiences serve you and which do not.
• Lack of gratitude: Learning to appreciating the abundance you already possess will attract more of it into your life.
• Lack of detachment: Being too attached to the outcome, trying to control the result of your creation, and refusing to allow the Universe to decide the outcome that is in your best interest, will keep you from receiving what it has to offer you (even if it is better than what you visualised for yourself).

I come across new books and audios almost every day, that claim to show how to use the LOA and the principle of Deliberate Creation in everyday life, to get whatever you desire - love, wealth, abundance, joy.

The most useful LOA resources offer techniques to help you raise your emotional set point and help you go from from negative emotions, like fear and despair, to positive ones like joy and happiness.

When you raise your vibrational frequency (through meditation, music, or whatever works for you), and eliminate negative beliefs and emotions that block your ability to receive what the Universe is sending your way (techniques like NLP, EFT, Hypnosis work very well), you can truly create anything you desire.

To raise your vibration right now, watch the beautiful “I Create Reality” movie by Christopher Westra. Do show it to your kids and anyone else you think of.

Law Of Attraction Resources:

Besides the resources above, here are some I own and will be reviewing shortly:

Wealth Beyond Reason: This course by Bob Doyle teaches you the principles of the LOA and gives you specific techniques to rid yourself of negative emotions, and an Experiential Meditation to help you visualise what you desire.

The Secret Of Deliberate Creation: This comprehensive course by Robert Anthony has loads of resources and comes highly recommended.

Sleep And Profit: Get the Think and Grow Rich audios, as well as a number of subliminal audios and practices to clear your mind of negative beliefs about wealth and money.

Sandra Anne Taylor’s books: As a counselor in private psychological practice, Sandra Anne Taylor’s techniques will help you clear negative vibrations and invite in the positive.

Popularity: 67% [?]

Just uploaded the photos from my weekend in Goa, where I attended a wedding, saw my new baby neice and attended the Carnival celebrations in Panjim.

Thanks to politicking, the Carnival was a rather tepid affair, with many floats looking like they’d been thrown together at the last minute (which they were). Hopefully next year will be different. Check out some of the photos below.

Popularity: 17% [?]