Clearing the Air Literally & Figuratively

Clearing the air literally and figuratively!

Are you feeling you could use a lift in your mood or a lift in the energy that surrounds your environment? Do you feel physically heavy or are you feeling ‘off’? When I do I always turn to the ancient act of smudging or burning incense to clear my own personal energy, my home, my pet’s energy, or office space.

It’s like taking an energetic shower! The smoke used from dried sage bundles literally changes the ionic composition of the air, and can have a direct effect on reducing your body’s stress response. A 2007 study showed that in a closed room sage burned for 1 hour reduced airborne bacterial counts by over ninety-four percent.

This paired with shifting your mind energy and establishing a ritual of cleansing combined with healing intention has an Uplifting effect overall.

Using the smoke from sacred fires, or burning herbs or incense as a purification ceremony or ritual has been a common practice amongst many traditions throughout the ages. I use this tradition in my home for myself, my environment, and my business and spiritual practise.

Here’s how to do it if you want to clear negative energy, create clarity, access wisdom or just clear the air!

–Buy your Sage bundle at most health food stores for about 7-10 dollars.
–Use a glass bowl, iron plate, or abalone shell to catch any embers that fall
–smudge whenever you feel you need to be uplifted or if you find yourself thinking about smudging
–light one end of the bundle, allow the flames to die out, you can blow on the embers to release more smoke
–walk around your space or go to different rooms with your mantra or intention in mind. Pay attention to busy areas and corners.
–remain conscious of the fact you are holding a burning object and catch falling ashes in your bowl or plate
— make sure you push the burning end of your sage into a glass bowl or clay dish to extinguish the flame and allow to burn out safely
–leave a window open on the floor you are smudging to clear the air and allow the stuck energy to be released
– replace the new air with incense, diffuser blend, or positive intentions

That’s it!
Enjoy this beautiful ritual.
It’s another way to uplift your energy. 💕VC

www.veronicaconnors.com

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Soul Step No. 7 – Transcending the Enemies to Your Peace

Adding to the conversation in Soul Step number 7.

Soul Steps: 52 Ways to Reconnect with Spirit. 

What are the enemies to your peace and how do your overcome them?

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If I loved myself I would …

I recently had a great conversation with a group of women about Self Love.

We talked about a lot of things it is and isn’t.

It’s Not about pie in the sky, Pollyanna thinking, or spouting endless affirmations that mean nothing to you.  It’s Not about thinking you can’t love others as you grow your own self love.  It’s Not about selfishness either. Well, it kinda IS about a good kind of selfishness.

It’s more about filling yourself up in ways that work for you no matter what others think.  Protecting your emotional or physical boundaries even whet it’s uncomfortable. Learning to move into or out of relationships or situations that don’t line up with who you are on the inside, despite the fear of change.  Meeting your own emotional needs instead of asking others to do it for you.

It’s about speaking and acting from a place of peace and understanding. It’s  knowing deeply that a bit of you resides in everyone and everything on this planet. It’s the wise teaching to do unto others as you would have done unto you. Because really self love is simply about loving others too as you can’t treat others poorly and love yourself at the same time. Not possible.  

There’s more. It’s also about Loving what is in the moment because right now it can’t be anything other than it is.  Loving others in the moment because right now they can’t be anything other than what they are . Loving yourself despite your flaws and mistakes because right now you can be no different in this moment.

Essentially, self love is loving yourself into the fullest, truest version of who you are and it takes acceptance,  awareness, and inner excavation. It requires patience,  insight, and stillness. It means asking “What’s the most loving thing I can say or not say, do or not do, think or not think.”  When you ask the questions the answers will come.

This love opens potential. It creates space. It relaxes resistance.  It gives you room to breathe.

It helps you notice when you’re off tract and gives you space to recalibrate for your next step.  Sometimes that next step is to do nothing. Sometimes, it’s more inner excavation until you reach some clarity.

If you’re wondering what to do in a situation ask yourself this question:

If I loved myself I would …

or

The most loving thing to do is…

Keep coming up with answers until you reach an aha moment.

With Love

Veronica

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Like this post? I recommend for you: Self Mastery The Art of Becoming You 

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Three Ways to Support Yourself

Do you criticize yourself when  learning a new skill?

Are you guilty of picking out all the things that went wrong after a meeting, performance, lesson, or new experience?

Have you considered SUPPORTING yourself instead?

All of our children (we have three) have learned musical instruments.  All talented in their own way.  One is very relaxed about his approach.  Sees the good in every performance.  One is in the middle, did her best, maybe saw how she could have done better, but moved on pretty quickly.  The other, beat herself up for every little mistake, every note slightly off pitch, every little hiccup.  A stickler for excellence but also often sabotaged her efforts before she began.

Now she’s trading in sabotage for support.

Learning the spiritual laws of “alignment” will support the learning process and the magic that accompanies excellence.

Alignment means ‘joining up’ with the true energy of any moment.

The highest possible outcome.

The pure positive energy from which we come.

After all, every cell in your body is pure positive energy.

Lining up with that energy changes everything.

Three ways to Reinforce your Learning and Support your Efforts:

1. Express gratitude for what you’re doing right.  After a performance or practise search out at least three things you truly appreciate about your efforts.
2. Visualize how you want things to be. After appreciating what went right you might see things you’d like to improve.  Now take the time to visualize yourself improving those elements.
3. Sit in stillness – meditate every day.  Basically simply sit in stillness and breathe for a few minutes every day. This one is a so big! Lining up with the  pure positive energy  that you are also lines you up with pure positive thinking, pure positive emotions, and pure positive outcomes.

 

Are you learning something new?

Begin supporting yourself.

Try the three methods above – Gratitude, Visualization, Meditation.

Let me know how it turns out!

With love,

Veronica

www.veronicaconnnors.com

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What Delights You? What Seeps into Your Consciousness even after you push it away?

I’m coming to the end of a very long and mostly uphill climb.

Writing a book.

It’s called Soul Steps:52 Ways to Reconnect with Spirit.

I think it was in 2009 that I first invited two friends and colleagues to join a writing project with me.

Although I’ve known this to be an important goal that required completion, it’s been very tedious at times.

A very long journey!

One requiring much patience, respect, open hearted communication, humility, tenacity, education, endurance, love, and ultimately so much growth along the way.

We are on the final stages of the layout now as the last edits sit with the publisher. (Pssst… secret … there are no FINAL edits! Writers are never satisfied with their work.)

There were moments when I didn’t know how it would be completed.

Times when I didn’t even want to look at it.

Even a few years where it lay dormant. Untouched.

But something in me knew this was a project that required my devotion.

Even during those dormant years it crept into my consciousness, calling me back to it’s purpose.

No matter how much patience it took, no matter how many rocks in the road, no matter what shade the nay sayers threw my way, I knew deep down it was part of my path.

Do you have something niggling at you like that?

Do you have a desire to complete a course of study, a secret project, a special hobby? To start a business, learn a skill, go on a journey?

Are you harbouring a message from your inner knowing that has a way of seeping into your consciousness?  A little candle burning in the window for when you come home?

Trust that your Spirit has your back. It knows where you’re headed. Whatever “It” is, it will keep coming back to you time and time again to get your attention. To nudge you forward.  Maybe it’s part of your purpose. Maybe it’s your joy. Maybe it’s both.

Here’s an excerpt from the workbook section in Soul Steps on listening to your Spirit:

“The noise associated with fear is what keeps most of us from moving forward. Where are you allowing this noise to shout over the calm messages from spirit?  Can you let go of this fearful voice in pursuit of growth and happiness? Don’t trample your desire to move out of darkness with fearful thoughts. Move lightly towards them. Realize that any thoughts that feed your fear are from the ego. The ego is hurried, loud, and dramatic. The Spirit is consistent, kind, and calm. Let your Spirit sit in the driver’s seat and watch for signs in repeated positive thoughts, in softer words, and in an impulse towards uplifting and inspired action. Only move towards what feels loving and delightful to you. Finish these sentences: If I wasn’t afraid I would … If I acted from love I would … The most delightful thing to do is …”

So what’s niggling at you?

What’s trying to get your attention?

I know that writing is something that delights me, despite its obstacles and blemishes.

If you could do anything (and you can), what’s the most delightful thing you would do?

With Love, Veronica

 

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Veronica Connors B.Ed, M.Ed, CSLC

http://www.veroincaconnors.com

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Happy Cancerversary!?

Happy Cancerversary.

It’s not something I ever thought I’d be saying to my daughter at the age of 15.

It’s not something I’m even sure how to express.

But we have celebrated her cancerversary for the past three years and each year it means something different.

This week was Grace’s third cancerversary, and again we attempt to honour her journey through Leukemia.

Three years ago we moved into an altered state of existence and I feel like we are just beginning to  wake up!

Just starting to live more fully again.  Just starting to breathe more deeply.

To relax into the possibility that everything will be ok.

Cancerversary #1

Still struggling with the disease.  Still struggling with fear and the heartbreak of not knowing.

Chocolate cake to celebrate.

Grace and her brother Harry, had a taste and then beat it up – smashed it to pieces.

Wrestling with what was going on, with a dash of “We’ll beat this” thrown in.

Cancerversary #2

Still struggling to reach a stable response.

Sad and fearful at times.

Not knowing when things would become “normal” again.

That year, we ate the cake!

A pensive moment beforehand.

Cancerveresary #3

At “Light it up Pink at Marble.”

A good way to support others fighting cancer.

Mostly a meaningful way to mark Grace’s journey at Year 3.

A moment of release.

Hopefully for good.

Some things we learned along the way:

Do the most important thing in front of you at the time.

That might just be putting one foot in front of the other.

Next, move the other foot.

Crisis instantly brings an opportunity for acceptance.

There’s always a choice.

Accepting the unacceptable is a gift you give yourself.

When things get really scary, take a breath and remember the big picture.

Basically there is only love.

Love each other.

Love yourself.

Pour some more love into the situation.

The next time you find yourself faced with crisis, fear, anger, torment, and suffering.

Try not to push it away or keep it at bay.

Walk towards it.

Explore the fear.

Move deeply into it.

Sit beside the suffering.

As Pema Chodron said, “Right down there in the thick of things, we discover the love that will not die.”

With Love,

Veronica

Veronica Connors, B.Ed., M.Ed., CSLC

Author, Spiritual Life Coach, Self Mastery Teacher

www.veronicaconnors.com

veronica.connors@nf.sympatico.ca

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Women Nurturing Women

Tuesday Feb. 13th  a group of women came together for a yoga/meditation evening. In fact is was a group of co-workers.

Myself and two yoga teachers and friends put the session up for auction to help raise money for the high school band and a very thoughtful woman purchased the auction item for herself and her co-workers.

We had a wonderful evening.

A full hour of nurturing our bodies, mind, and soul with yoga and relaxation and then 45 minutes of meditation and spiritual conversation.

Afterwords the ladies had a spa evening at Marble Inn and the three instructors had a delicious meal at Madison’s fine dining restaurant.

Things that stood out during the evening:

Caring co-workers comes to mind.  These women really wanted to take care of themselves and each other.

Some  said it was the first time they had ever taken the time to do something like this for themselves.

We had some light moments of big belly laughter and some vulnerable moments of sharing after meditation.

THE TAKE AWAY:

Self Care is the first line of treatment for a fully lived life.

It involves nurturing your physical, mental, emotional, & spiritual self.

Women are nurturers.

Women need to be nurtured.

It starts with taking the time to nurture yourself.

With love,

Veronica

PS – We are planning another evening like this!

Includes yoga, mediation, and swim or sauna.

Maximum of 10 people

email: veronica.connors@nf.sympatico.ca

 

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Did you have a Happy Valentine’s Day?

So Valentine’s Day was yesterday.

Saint Valentine married people who were being shunned in his society. Sweet!

Many of us still celebrate his devotion to love by trying to show our loved ones how much we appreciate them on Valentine’s Day.  Not always an easy thing, right? Sometimes we get it right and some times we get it so wrong!

Now our puppy Ori – she’s pretty ease to please.  Showing her love is not very complicated.  She loves belly rubs, to run along side us when we bike, her favourite toys – lamby, hedgehog, and squirrel.  She loves frozen pb treats and digging in the snow and laying in any puddles of water she can find.  She also loves getting her picture taken.

It’s so easy to show her love because her language of love is very easy to understand.  Just look how happy she is posing for this pic.

People can be a little more challenging to love than our pets.  Not because they are less loveable but because we humans have different languages of love.  Gary Chapman in his book The 5 Love Languages can help you figure it out.

One thing I’ve learned as a Spiritual Teacher is that our basic need is to be validated. But the tricky part is figuring out how those in your life feel validation. In other words, what are their languages of love?

Dr. Chapman’s background is in the area of anthropology and linguistics. He studied many languages and how to communicate beyond language. He realized that to communicate effectively we must learn the language of those we communicate with. After 30 years of marriage counselling, Dr. Chapman realized the same was true for marriages.  He discovered that each person had their own way of feeling loved. “Your emotional love language and the language of your spouse may be as different as Chinese from English.”  It gets a lot easier to “LOVE” your partner when you understand their love language.

There are 5 languages of Love:

Words of Affirmation

Quality Time

Receiving Gifts

Acts of Service

Physical Touch

If your partner’s language is primarily words of affirmation then compliments, hearing “I love you”, or a good ole fashioned love letter on valentine’s may please her more than the elaborate night out you plan every year.

You can take a test to find out your language of love. Better still ask your partner to take the test too.  Usually you have a combination of the five languages of love. One or two will stand out.

Seldom do partners have the same love language and we often try to give our spouse the gifts we wish we were receiving ourselves.  But perhaps it’s time to learn your partner’s secondary and maybe even primary language.   Speaking his emotional language can help bring those loving feelings to the forefront of your day, everyday, helping you create a long-lasting and satisfying relationship.

Maybe you’ll look forward to the next Valentine’s Day because you’ll know just how to show your partner how much they are loved. Maybe you’ll look forward to tomorrow because you are better equipped to create those lovable moments.

Take the Test

Happy Heart Day!

Veronica

B.Ed, M.Ed, CSLC

Spiritual Life Coach, Author, Self Mastery Teacher

www.veronicaconnors.com

veronica.connors@nf.sympatico.ca

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Creating Space for Peace

 

Today was the last day for a 10 week meditation class with a group of truly wonderful women from the West Coast of Newfoundland.

It’s always interesting to see who comes together for a class and what each person hopes to achieve for themselves.

One thing we all have in common at the end of each class is that we learn to create more space for peace in our lives.

Space to breathe.

Space to observe.

Space to quite our inner turmoil.

Space to see we are Not the drama, we are Not the chaos, we are Not the pain, we are Not the upset, we are Not the sadness.

We are bigger than all of that.

We can learn to return to our natural state of peace when we simultaneously cognize and intuit this on a deeper level.

Ah … peace.

When you learn to create it from the inside out you know…

It’s a possibility.

It’s a probability.

And you have all the power.

Veronica

Author, Spiritual Life Coach, Teacher

www.veronicaconnors.com

email: veronica.connors@nf.sympatico.ca

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wouldn’t It Be Nice If …

The Beach Boy’s sang the words “Wouldn’t It Be Nice If … we were older and didn’t have to wait so long.”  Or “wouldn’t it be nice if we could live in the kind of world where we belong.”

They were on to something beautiful.

They knew how to dream and use their imagination to see their lives a little nicer.

Spiritual Teachers Abraham -Hicks use the phrase “Wouldn’t it be nice if … ” to help others reach for a better feeling place and to create something different in their lives.

I LOVE this technique for the ease of shifting the mind.

A better feeling place is where your power resides.

Have you ever gotten anywhere from feeling hopeless?

Have you ever produced what you wanted when you felt this way?

Not likely.

So instead of focusing on the hopelessness of what’s in front of you.

Dream up something better.

Every thing you see that’s good in this world was first an idea before it came into fruition.

When you focus on your ideas often enough that they start to FEEL real , then you are getting close to creating the essence of that idea.

So start here.

Wouldn’t it be nice if …

• I ate healthier food
• My body was stronger
• My health was better than yesterday.
• I could pay just one bill.
• I could pay all my bills.
• I had money in the bank.
• I could share wealth with others.
• I felt like I belonged
• I did what was right for me.
• My relationships were more loving.
• I didn’t hold on to that grudge.
• I thought happier thoughts.
• I laughed more.
• I added to the peace of the world.
• My family played more games.
• I could travel with family and friends.
• I found the perfect job for me.
• We all loved each other more.

Now make up your own.

Wouldn’t it be nice if …

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Veronica Connors, B.Ed., M.Ed., CSLC

Spiritual Life Coach

Author, Soul Steps: 52 Ways to Reconnect with Spirit 

Self Mastery Teacher

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