Day 14 - A Year of Spiritual Awakening - Where You Have Loved Best

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Lesson 14: Recall the places you have loved best...

“Lesson 14: Recall the places you have loved best. Were you with forest, ocean, desert, mountains? Were you north, south, east, west? You are always called to the place that your particular soul requires as home, in this lifetime.”

— Sara Wiseman

Today’s lesson had me asking the Divine “Where is my beloved home?”. I had to remember the place/s I loved best and/or is my beloved place not discovered yet. Would this beloved place be somewhere I would return to or would I travel to this place in the future? Usually our soul connects us to these particular places. I felt what I was connecting to is what I’ve always been attracted to in past lives.

Right now I live in a concrete jungle of Melbourne. I have my retirement dream of having a large property with lots of animals. When I was in the Scottish Highlands, I really thought “this is where I’m meant to be”. As I went into meditation, I was taken to the ocean. I was standing on a cliff face and could see in the distance other cliff faces. What I noticed was the grass. The grass was long and light – not the type of grass I’m used to here in Australia. The grass looked like it was in a meadow but that of the United Kingdom. I don’t think I have been to that particular place I saw in my meditation but I knew it was in this vicinity. There was a dirt track off the side of this meadow but I didn’t see where it lead – that was not revealed to me. I did have a wispy breeze and much of the sky overcast which suggested a cool location. There was much greenery.

I had to come out of meditation at this point as my cats were making so much noise and interrupting me that I couldn’t continue the concentration. I felt that I got enough. I know I am not to live in Melbourne forever. I feel that my beloved home is very much immersed in nature. That I love best when I am overlooking the ocean and also have the abundance of nature’s forests and meadows nearby. I actually think my beloved home is within Britain or Scotland. I did have a past life which I thought was Scottish but turns out was Welsh. It’s possible when I visit Wales that may reveal more and could be where I’m supposed to be. Until I travel to these places, I won’t know for sure. All I know at this point, I’m supposed to eventually head north towards the United Kingdom area.

I could honestly live anywhere as long as I felt a true connection in my heart.

Day 14 - A Year to Clear - Check In WEEK 2 - Inviting Awareness

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Lesson 14: Check In WEEK 2 - Inviting Awareness

This week was a focus on shifting focus to becoming more of a witness rather than actioning anything. I am to note down anything that this awareness has revealed and what changes I’ve become more aware of.

I thoroughly enjoyed the looking up exercise. Taking a moment to step away from the computer and find beauty in my surroundings was a really good practise. It reminded me that taking the moment to just have a minute of silence, appreciating what I was seeing, really was relaxing. Not thinking about anything and admiring the scenery was soothing. I realised I need to do this more. Don’t let the trivial worries bog me down when I can take a step back and just focus on something that will make me smile.

I do realise that having better time management for the activities I enjoy is something I would like to focus on. I really want to enjoy all the hobbies which encourage creativity but not feel rushed doing them all. If I can make up my timetable and be generous towards all these activities, this will increase my overall happiness.

Day 13 - A Year of Spiritual Awakening - Where You Live

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Lesson 13: Where you live is not a random choice...

Like the title suggests, where our soul chooses to live is not a random choice. Where we live is chosen because it truly resonates with us, we're most happiest and it's part of our path. If we aren't happy living where we are, then that should be something we change. We should have the opportunity to explore where we want to live in order to have our soul purely vibing. 

I moved to Melbourne, Australia in 2013. Truly, everything fell into place for me moving here. The other option was Sydney, Australia as I had travelled there before way way back and thought "this feels like home". The funny thing is, everywhere I travel to feels like home. I feel like I am a true child of this earth because every country, no matter what living circumstances, I truly feel in my heart that I could live there - when I visited New York, Surin in Thailand, Cottswalds in the UK, Scottish Highlands.... the list goes on! Maybe I just am an international citizen and where I visit, may have been places I've been in past lives so I am naturalyl attracted to them. Who knows?

Anyway, continuing on why I moved to Melbourne. I had just gone through a massive break up when my most major relationship of close to 10 years (on and off) broke down and I just couldn't live in Perth, Australia anymore. Perth has such a negative vibe for me. I almost always have bad things happen there and whenever I go back, it's like this massive drain on me. That to me shows me that I am not meant to be there. I guess growing up it sat well with me? But now I'm definitely, noooooooo! I had friends help with my transition over to Melbourne and it was like the pieces were setting in fine. Sydney would have been a lot more planning and I don't think I would have enjoyed my time trying to figure it all out. Definitely have made so many good friends in Melboune that are my people. Especially now that I'm on my spiritual path - the universe has provided me this good path, so it's been destined.

I can see myself living anywhere, as I actually make an effort to go out and make a network of friends, if I choose to. I make a decent effort to make it work out, and always tell myself if it doesn't, then there is always another option. When I visited the Scottish Highlands, I really thought "man, I want to retire here". My dream for retirement is to have a semi-rural property with my rescue animals, just appreciating the land and creating a happy environment for myself and all these wonderful beings. I think that dream is achievable. I can do it in Australia, however I like really cold weather and the Scottish Highlands showed me so much greenery, that I was shown there was more to this world than I realise. I'm sure the next place I travel to may he me swayed me again. I just never know what I'm going to really resonate with but it's all part of the adventure! Very exciting!

I believe Melbourne came to me at the right time. I was meant to be here. Not sure how long for but it's home for me and I love it. I really made some good connections that are for life and I don't know where I'd be without the people I have come across.

Day 13 - A Year to Clear - Feel It All

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Lesson 13: Feel It All

“The best way to release what isn’t working for you is to enter that sometimes scary zone called feeling.”

— Stephanie Bennett Vogt

Sometimes we need to approach our situations with everything - sadness, anger, frustration, overwhelm etc. Stephanie teaches to take it all on but to not take it personally. I think we all struggle with this because we are so self critical. I think we are a product of ourselves, so to not take things personally is going to be a hard process. Sure, it'll be slow but I can't imagine it at this point in time.

Today I am to write down how I am feeling right now and then take a step back to observe what I'm feeling. Right now, I feel exhausted. I think mostly exhausted at myself and the choices I have been making, but trying so hard to break the cycle that causes this exhaustion. If I'm taking a step back and observing there are definitely some choices that need to be made and commitment. Everything can be achieved by being engrained into a routine until the bad habits subside. I think I need to really timetable my time so that I can effectively work towards the goals in my life. I don't want to feel tired every day because I haven't taken care of myself. I think I overwhelm myself by worrying about what I'm not achieving in my set goals when I need to be practical. I know I can achieve everything I set out to do but it's bout establishing routine and truly sticking to it.

I've got nothing more than that. Until tomorrow...

Day 12 - A Year of Spiritual Awakening - Imagine Your Body As

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Lesson 12: You may imagine your own body as...

I did this exercise on the Friday but didn't have the opportunity to write down what I had experienced. 

It was an interesting exercise having to imagine my body as a baby and holding myself to my heart, and then imagining myself as the older version of myself before my death. Again, I was to hold myself to my heart and expand my heart to feel what would come.

I was to understand that my body is ever changing and is a "divine container". Each day, changes occur to the point we don't recognise ourselves. I can't say that I have paid attention on a day to day basis but I can see that I have aged. Mostly noticeable the grey hairs are coming out which means age is coming for me. One day I will be unrecognisable to myself but will it matter? 

Everything leads to us eventually sheddding skin until our soul emerges. That, I think has a double meaning - by going on this spiritual awakening, we peel back layers to find our true selves and our souls emerge to the world, but then eventually when we pass on, we shed our divine container to join other souls in the next life. I think both are both beautiful in themselves but it's also what I believe now. It's having this faith in myself and the change I want to see in others also.

So from my meditation I was a bit hesitant about what would come. Not sure why, but I guess I didn't believe I'd be able to imagine my infant self and then the "day before your death" self. I opened myself to the Divine and baby me appeared instantly. I was newborn and in white. When I held myself, it felt like I was holding my own baby (I don't have a baby so don't know the sensation) and felt fulfilment. Then I moved onto the aged version of myself. It was a different experience - as if my older version was seeing me as death and knew that her time had come. It was if she didn't want to leave so there was this sadness, but at the same time I was there to reassure older me that it was okay. When we embraced there was this unspoken knowing. I definitely comforted her so that she would accept her leaving this life to go onto the next. I believe I was repeating "it's okay, it's okay" to older me though not in a condescending way. It seemed tough for older me to let go. I did feel an overwhelming love come from my older self. It was a surreal feeling - like this abundance of warmth was being spread. My heart did feel more open and accepting.

I don't fully understand the message of this lesson. I feel like I will in coming days when it all unravels in this course. Was I seeing a glimpse of the future? And, did I travel to the past? Am I to open my heart more? Or is it all of the above? I don't want to overthink it and just appreciate, the experience I had.