Category: Lifestyle

May31

Resilience: The Tension of Opposites

by Cheryl Brewster

Resiliency is the ability to bounce back and stay more centered through life’s difficult events. It is our capacity to manage change, using it to feed our souls, even after it feels like we’ve been drained dry.  Remembering this, especially when it’s hard, helps us make sense of our worlds when they feel chaotic.

Your personal resilience (or lack of it) reveals where you are taking an honest look at your  reality.  Challenge will create a tension of opposites. and this tension is designed to support you being true to you. This intuitive resilience is built in to all of us and is tied to the magnificence of your Soul. Its job is to ensure that you honestly, actively identify and honour your own needs as you take care of others and life’s responsibilities.

What’s important to remember about resilience, and the “tension of opposites?” Our commitment to personal resilience will always help us grow from challenge or adversity. Just as “need is the mother of invention,” challenge is the mother of resilience. Making peace with these apparent opposites is where our power to excel gains quantum fuel. What makes a magnet so powerful is the opposing forces that result in a powerful magnetic energy field. The same is true of resilience:

  • Confusion leads to clarity
  • Boredom creates innovation
  • Pain can feed productive purpose
  • Anger reveals where change needs to happen
  • A lack of energy can reveal the need for more creativity
  • Challenge can feed enthusiasm
  • Creativity transforms resistance
  • Difficulty can reveal easier ways of doing things
  • Struggle births flow

So the next time, you go through something difficult, and start experiencing the “opposite of resilience,” which would be a lack of energy, or not feeling creative or capable, try a “One-Minute Resiliency Recharge.”  Your true desires are being revealed; you need to find out what they are! Set a timer for one minute and:

  • Be Curious: How could this current challenge compliment, rather than oppose or contradict what you’re trying to do?
  • Be Aware: Where are you losing energy? What will help you gain it back?
  • Be Wise: If the tension of opposites supports resilience, what is the new insight or action that is being revealed here?
  • Be Creative: How is this showing you to think, be and act in more empowered ways?
  • One of my all-time favourite “Mindful Minutes”  is to ask myself…. “what would happen if…”
    I chose to be ____________________ about what’s happening (and drawing from my favourite list of words, like: enthusiastic, creative, bold, daring, smart, cheeky, happy, peaceful, confident, successful, enlightened), etc.Robert Fritz echoes this in his book The Path of Least Resistance:

“From this choice the meaning of the word desire changes for you, from “idle wishes and hopes” to “true vision of that which is the highest in human aspiration and vision… as you learn to master your own creative process, you develop a capacity for truth. Good, bad, or indifferent, you will still want to know accurately what is going on.”

The more accurately we can “read” our own lives, complete with strengths and shadow, the more we grow our awareness, intuition and confidence to act.

Call to Action: How will you use the Tension of Opposites to recharge resilience? Email me, I’d love to hear about your experience!
About Cheryl Brewster, B.Msc., Transformational Speaker, Intuitive Consultant and Life Coach: Under every difficulty is a greater inner potential that our intuition accesses. My expertise is inspiring my clients, whether individuals or organizations to re-frame difficulty as a path to tangible, measurable results.  If you’d like to learn how my intuitive consults, coaching programs or speaking services, can support your success, please contact me for a complimentary exploratory call.   As an interfaith ordained minister,  I also offer spiritual counselling and officiate ceremonies for life’s most meaningful moments.

May02

Finding Focus in Confusion

by Cheryl Brewster

Do you struggle with finding focus in confusion? Is it sometimes  hard  maintaining the energy for your goals, dreams and aspirations? Many factors can impede our “burning desire.” Commitment, faith and follow-through to our bigger dreams and purpose are essential. They help stoke the “fire of desire” back to life when disappointments or setbacks take their toll.

One key ingredient that has surfaced from my own experience and studies in mindfulness and neuroscience is the necessity of compassion. Without a compassionate mindset we can unconsciously  berate ourselves and others for “what could have been.” Instead of building up our “fire of desire” to feed the vision of our higher mind, we can spiral into negativity, self-doubt and confusion. Decisions can become messy, difficult and anxiety-ridden.
To use confusion as a focus for clarity:

1. Begin with a Clean Slate
What would happen if in this moment…
You reflected and forgave yourself for the ways you’ve sabotaged any dreams, goals or intentions?

What would happen if in this moment…
You TRULY forgave yourself and dropped the constant mind chatter of the critical voice? How different could this moment be? How different would your life be over time?

What would happen if in this moment…
You let your resentments go and instead channeled that “victim” energy into creative insight?

2. Keep the Slate Clean
Call on the power of the ABCs of Intuition to continue dropping those super strong unconscious patterns and habits that need to go: Awareness of Behavior = Change. It will take time! However it’s worth the investment. And  it’s very exciting. Using mindfulness to drop thought and focus on the breath is the precursor to emotional intelligence; we get good at dropping intense emotion and coming back to our centre, just by focusing our attention on the breath.  The key is the willingness to be in the discomfort of change! Establish a practice of immediately redirecting negative and limiting thoughts to a “mindful minute” of tenacious peace, followed by a decisive visualization of how you are CHOOSING to respond to life.

3. Practice Mindfulness and Meditation
Research has found that mindfulness leads to calm and clarity.  Mark Robert Waldman, neuroscience researcher and author discovered that “When you intensely and consistently focus on your spiritual values and goals, you increase the blood flow to your frontal lobes and anterior cingulate, which causes the activity in emotional centres of the brain to decrease. Conscious intention is the key, and the more you focus on your inner values, the more you can take charge of your life. Thus, meditation – be it religious or secular – enables you to more easily accomplish your goals.”

4. Use Beginner’s Mind to Course-Correct with Compassion
Achieving our goals or creating new systems and sticking to them costs us something; effort – the effort to overcome resistance, to stay in alignment with what’s most important by practicing resolve. We must remember that hesitation magnifies fear while prompt, decisive action crushes it. We must resolve to manage both our memory and our imagination – mismanagement of either creates inferiority, worry and mental monsters that create and keep confusion. Ironically, our willingness to be beginners, to NOT be very good at first, provides acceptance. In that space of course correction, we fan the spark of inspiration within to feed the fire of desire to step up even in the midst of setback and disappointment.  Course correction is the art of compassion in action – it’s transformation at its finest. It’s finding focus in the confusion, finding the energy when we feel we don’t have it, starting where and are, and not stopping.

From Clarity to Confusion: for more information contact Cheryl at TheIntuitiveLife.com to learn more or to book me for a private intuitive consultation, coaching program, lecture for your organization or staff training.

 

Jun06

Resiliency – Your Hero’s Journey to Peace of Mind

by Cheryl Brewster

How resilient are you? Let’s face it… left unattended, our resiliency can be worn down without our even knowing it! Have you ever found yourself in the position where the energy to be creative, focused and passionate seems a bit, well, shall we say challenged?  If so, you could be suffering from “resiliency burnout” which can happen with sudden, difficult, unexpected change, or over time, with constant stressors that don’t appear that big, but eventually take their toll.

Here’s what you need to know to keep resiliency operating at optimum levels:

Hands holding sapling in soil on black


Resiliency is defined as “that ineffable quality that allows some people to be knocked down by life and come back stronger than ever. Rather than letting failure overcome them and drain their resolve, they find a way to rise from the ashes.”   Even after misfortune, resilient people are blessed with an outlook that allows them to catch their breath, change course and carry on.

1. Get out of your head and into your heart
Mindfulness is a practice that focuses one’s full attention only on the present, experiencing thoughts, feelings, and sensations but not judging them. Judgment wastes an incredible amount of mental and emotional energy. Its labeling into categories takes us “out of flow,” out of awareness of what’s happening here and now and contributes to stress and perpetual mind-loops. To build resiliency “witness your experience as an impartial observer.” And when you catch yourself judging, see that as a form of growing awareness (yay me, I caught myself!) and kindly, gently bring yourself back to the present, in the here and now.

2. Embrace Grit
Personal resilience must be a radical commitment. Without it, you won’t sustain your highest ideals. You’ll be short-changing yourself and the people around you.  Angela Duckworth, at the positive psychology center at The University of Pennsylvania, discovered that “grit” and disciplined self-control predict more success in life than IQ or natural talent.” Grit defined as “the tendency to sustain interest in very long-term goals,”  combined with self-control, over months, years, and even decades, is key to attaining goals and living your true passion in life. Where do you need to make a radical gritty decision in your life? What would that look like? What impact would it have? How would it change the direction and quality of your life? How would it help you embrace uncertainty?

3. The One Minute Meditator!
To remain focused and productive throughout the work day, take mini-breaks to refresh and restore – set a timer so that for every 20 minutes, you take 60 seconds to do something fun:
Daydream about something really pleasurable.
Practice a minute of “Grit” and see/feel yourself totally overcoming challenge.
Be still and absorb the quiet effects of a beautiful picture.
Meditate on your top values.
Then launch back into your work feeling rejuvenated and refreshed.

Research has found this to be one of the most important tools for reducing work stress and increasing productivity – frequent mini breaks that reward and replenish….If science has proven that you’ll get more done, increase your confidence and self esteem levels, then isn’t that worth a 3 minute investment every hour? Imagine the power of potentials becoming tangibles!

4. Embrace Your Hero’s Journey
Mythologist Joseph Campbell uses the Hero’s Journey to describe the cycles of life that we all go through, including “the call” to be our authentic, best selves. The Inherent pain in such a journey is unavoidable; however it can feed our resilience.  Within this journey, we discover our shadow,” (in Jungian psychology, the unconscious aspect of the personality which the conscious ego does not identify in itself). Because we tend to reject or remain ignorant of the least desirable aspects of our personality, the shadow is largely negative so we tend to judge it. We experience inner conflict and struggle within ourselves. However, positive aspects may also remain hidden in our shadow. Resilience is our ability to recognize the shadow when it’s triggered, to remain the impartial witness and accept the gift of emerging consciousness. As Jung said, ‘there is no coming to consciousness without pain.” The paradox is that we can use this pain of growing awareness to actually feed resilience, not drain it dry. Having a clear understanding and foundation in the Hero’s Journey is life-changing and transformative.

Within these four steps, we see that resilience is both innate within us, yet requires nurturing and commitment.  Perhaps the bravest thing we can do, is to live a resilient life… the courage to come back, and keep coming back…that is the Hero’s Journey.

If you enjoyed this blog, let us know! Our mission at TheIntuitiveLife.com is to support your Hero’s Journey in transforming uncertainty into comfort, confidence and resilience. If you would like to learn more about Cheryl Brewster’s intuitive consultations, workshops or keynotes, we’d love to hear contact us here. For upcoming events, see our calendar.

Dec05

Procrastination – Busted! 5 simple steps to freedom!

by Cheryl Brewster

What’s on your procrastination list? Procrastination is heavy and binding. Left unchecked for too long, its energy field grows bigger, stronger and more difficult to dissolve. Those tiny  “later” messages can soon become “never” messages. So what to do if those procrastination habits are out of control? Take heart! It took time for them to get that way, but they don’t need to stay that way. Besides, procrastination energy is potential energy just waiting to be used differently!

procrastination cartoon

Procrastination is the avoidance of doing a task which needs to be accomplished. It is the practice of doing more pleasurable things in place of less pleasurable ones, or carrying out less urgent tasks instead of more urgent ones, thus putting off impending tasks to a later time. (Wikkipedia)

 

 
Step#1 – You CAN change so be willing to!
Start with how you FEEL about your procrastination habits. No matter how much we want to break free, we never will if we’re condemning ourselves for what got us here. And in fact, isn’t that the biggest procrastination of all? Not allowing yourself to see possibilities for something different is simply an incorrect thinking habit.  Be willing to see it that way by dropping the guilt and self-recrimination and choosing to make a positive change. The most authentic, heart-felt success stories are from people who took a serious challenge or obstacle and mastered it. The reframe here, is that you CAN bust the procrastination habit simply starting with one decision at a time and building on it.

Step #2 – Start with where you are.
Nothing feeds overwhelm more than trying to do too many things at one time. We set ourselves up for failure by not seeing where we’re simply trying to do too much. By asking yourself if you could only do one thing today and still feel successful, you create an immediate starting point! A clear path begins to emerge and you are on your way. Like the old proverb says, the journey of a lifetime, begins with that first small step… just keep taking small steps.

Step#3 – Be task specific rather than goal specific
Goals take time and are comprised of many tasks. Without accurately forecasting how long these tasks take, we can easily overcommit. Get in the habit of deciding what goal needs to be completed in a given day, week, month., etc., and then  making a task list for each. Transfer those tasks into your appointment calendar… if you’re not allotting time for tasks, how will they ever get done, how will those goals ever be accomplished?

Step#4 – Mentally and emotionally “vibrate” to your BEST feeling thoughts
Keeping the visual of a sliding scale in your mind with pain on one side and power on the other, really works! Asking yourself if this thought is leading you to feel better or worse about yourself totally transforms the energy field that created procrastination in the first place. It frees you from the trap of having your precious energy getting scattered or sucked into ineffectiveness.  Positive, empowered thought pops you straight out of the procrastination habit and straight into energized, inspired, authentic, heart-centered, appropriate action. Pain to Power thinking leads to increased personal effectiveness, prosperity and happy, inspired living.

Step#5 – Be determined to be a vibrational match to your heart’s desire
Realize there’s no other alternative left to you – if you want to be free of procrastination, then what would it feel like to do that? Feel that feeling now and be determined to confront any lesser feelings with this very powerful decision. Tangible, physical results are simply the manifestation of these invisible, empowered thought forms.  Everything is energy! Empowerment starts in thought and ends in accomplishment, so what rituals or habits help you “lock’n load” into this energy field? Be brave! Committment to what you most want, begins with making it the most important thing in your life… you can do it! Begin and keep on keeping on!

When we see our procrastination simply as a field of energy that houses huge resources of potential energy, something profound happens… that one little busting through chink in the wall of limiting beliefs gets bigger and bigger. It’s the willingness to do this type of nitty gritty work that feeds the joy of our success.  Ask any great person how they got to where they wanted to be and the answer will be universally the same… they stopped procrastinating and took action.

So what’s on your procrastination list? The opposite side of that list also exists… feel that vibe now and voila! The procrastination energy field…busted!

If you enjoyed our blog, ensure you are on our regular mailing list by downloading the bonus ABC Report on Prosperity on our website. And to stay REALLY connected to practice these tools, join our Daily Inspirational Quote as well!

Cheryl Brewster is a personal and business Intuitive, Coach and Speaker, who inspires Conscious Changemakers to live their passion through inspired action. Learn more at TheIntuitiveLife.com

 

 

Dec08

Overwhelm – Too Much To Do, Not Enough Time

by Cheryl Brewster

Are you the master or slave of time? Do you feel like you’re destined to remaining an eternal prisoner of too much to do and not enough time to get it done? Can you imagine making overwhelm your best friend? For a “twist of the sublime,” read on! This article builds on my recent blog “Growth Through Struggle,” and provides a way out for those who feel like they’re held hostage by the evil fiend of “never enough.”

Embracing overwhelm – your internal smoke detector – put out that fire!

  1. Ugh! Overwhelm can bring up painful feelings that we want to ignore but we can re-frame those feelings.
    Would you be mad at your smoke detector if it saved you from a fire? Of course not; overwhelm is the same. It’s a very effective warning system, a rude awakening letting you know that somewhere deep inside, something needs to change. So rather than resist it, resolve it. Let overwhelm do its job as a powerful “stress detector” by identifying the limiting beliefs, that left unchecked, will most definitely hamper your success. How? Take a moment to pause and acknowledge what’s really going on; a limiting belief will surface… ask it “what better feeling thought do you need in this moment?” That better feeling thought harnesses your emotional intelligence, realigns you with the integrity of your vision and reveals an immediate solution you would not have seen otherwise… follow it. If overwhelm persists, stop everything and take a 15 minute coffee break to relax – regroup and repeat the process.
  2. Use overwhelm to make better choices.
    Seen as your friend overwhelm can be your best ally; make it your enemy however, and it’s guaranteed that you’ll fall into the sticky pitfalls of paralysis and procrastination.
  3. A “positive overwhelm mindset” will feed your soul rather than drain it dry.
    Just as electricity exists with both a positive and negative charge; look at overwhelm the same the same way… it’s only negative is when it’s not being used positively. Keep choosing to find the seed of equal or greater benefit because struggle makes you stronger!
  4. Overwhelm reveals habits that need to change.
    Is there too much to do and not enough time to do it? Course correct in the moment with those better feeling thoughts for immediate priorities and commit to taking time out as soon as possible to rethink your long term goals and strategies.
  5. Left unaddressed, overwhelm leads to chronic emotional, physical and psychological pain.
    Overwhelm is an early warning system designed to help, not hurt and its sole purpose is to alert you to what matters most – the bigger picture of your life unfolding with the potential for enthusiasm, inspiration and faith to manage all uncertainty, adversity or struggle. Overwhelm is the amber light warning you to replace old habits with healthier ones. Raymond Charles Barker in his book The Power of Decision said this beautifully:

“Never judge yourself by what you have done. Judge yourself in terms of what you will do. You are not the past. You are the present becoming the future. You are a potential of Mind and this Mind knows only the now. It never sits in judgment on anyone, keeps no records and knows only the good of you.”

Embracing overwhelm to resolve the time struggle

  1. Overwhelm usually reveals a messed up relationship with time.
    Gay Hendricks’ book The Big Leap stresses that a major cause of discontent and angst is in how we view time. He says “Quit thinking time is “out there.” Take ownership of time – acknowledge that you are where it comes from – and it will stop owning you. Claim time as yours and it will release its claim on you.” That’s a huge concept to wrap your mind around… “YOU” are where time comes from!
  2. If YOU are where time comes from, then what do you want to do with it?
    When we take ownership of time, we must also lay claim to what we most want. What is your soul’s deepest desire? Robert Fritz in The Path of Least Resistance cautions us, “if you limit your choices only to what seems possible or reasonable…you disconnect yourself from what you truly want, and all you have left is a compromise…the human spirit will not invest itself in a compromise.” Wow! Seen from this viewpoint, overwhelm really is your friend, alerting you to internal compromise that is inhibiting your success.
  3. When you lay claim to what you most want, you trust in the Universe’s ability to bring it to life.
    Time and desire take on a whole new meaning…if you didn’t before, in the immortal words of Napoleon Hill, you begin to “cherish your vision and your dreams, for they are the children of your soul, the blueprint of your ultimate achievement”. Synchronicity begins to play a bigger role in productivity and trust in the abundance of life keeps you focused on what you most want and off what you don’t want.
  4. Your call to action – experiment! Try this out… print this blog and review it daily for a week and see what happens.
    Does self discipline become exciting rather than onerous – do you gain clarity, become more open to change and committed to being your best? Are you willing to set aside time to plan, to begin with the end in mind, to set priorities by switching the creative, imaginative part of your brain to the side that’s practical and realistic and vice versa? Begin to eliminate low priority items. Identify your short and long term goals to resolve any “goal-conflict” and chunk projects down to doable tasks. Get coaching if you realize you’re spinning.
  5. Freedom without structure is chaos so get good at your time management structure!
    Many of us resist structure, fearing it will limit our freedom and creative expression. But the opposite is actually true.  Without good time management skills, all the optimism and positive thinking in the world won’t help us achieve the sustainable results we’re looking for. The secret as Gay Hendrick’s stressed, is to claim time as yours… to align with it as your faithful servant, not your heartless enemy. The result? Not only do you become good at time management, but your greatest enemy has become your greatest friend – overwhelm is here to help, not harm – how’s that for a “twist of the sublime?!” For extra bonus points…. use the visual below as a “juicy” way of remembering your claim to time… imagine a lemon slice, now pop it into your mouth and chew it… what happens? Notice how your saliva glands begin to work immediately even though you’re working with pure imagination?! That’s the power of our thoughts… now “choose” how you want to experience the next 24 hours… make it juicy! Create your day with deliberate intent, experiencing in advance what you truly want… remember, the human spirit will not invest in compromise!

clock lemonIf you enjoyed this article and would like to learn more about working with Cheryl as a speaker on personal effectiveness, intuitive consults or coaching, contact her at 604.781.4022 or email cheryl@theintuitivelife.com.

 

Sep03

Synchronicity: the hidden language of FLOW

by Cheryl Brewster

We are surrounded by a sea of abundance that flows to us!

  • How many times do you think of someone and they call?
  • Do you see recurring sequences of numbers every time you see a digital time display, like 111, 333,  555, etc?
  • Have you pondered an important question to have a billboard or licence plate in front of you declare the answer?
  • When you’re looking for something have you had someone hand it to you without them knowing you needed it?
  • Have you waited in traffic or been detoured only to find the billboard message on a passing vehicle displays what you just finished telling someone at that exact moment?

The odds of having such coincidences occur is mind boggling.  Given the obvious intricate intelligence behind such occurrences, we must ask ourselves, if these things are happening without our conscious involvement, what could happen if we brought more awareness to them? Can you imagine the possibilities, solutions and innovations that could be accessed?! How could this impact our self development and personal effectiveness?

In her book Synchronicity and the Soul, Nancy Seifer explains that it was the power of synchronicity to overwhelm the rational mind that held significance for Carl Jung (1875-1961), the Swiss psychiatrist who coined the term and brought the phenomenon to light.  Jung recognized that synchronicity, which he defined as meaningful coincidence, had the effect of breaking through the “rationalistic shell” of the modern scientific mind.

“(Synchronicity) is a form of coincidence powerful enough to shatter the notion that material science has discovered all there is to know about the universe.  To the person having an experience of synchronicity, the realization dawns that a mysterious force is at play in the world—a kind of “cosmic clock” whose gears operate on a more subtle plane.”

This echoes Deepak Chopra’s poetic words that “Synchronicity is choreographed by a great, pervasive intelligence that lies at the heart of nature, and is manifest in each of us through intuitive knowledge.”

And this pervasive intelligence is ours even without asking! All we have to do is pay attention to the Signs, Symbols and Synchronicity at play in our lives.
We are surrounded by a sea of abundance… but are we actually in flow with it or fighting it?

I’ve been a fan of this amazing principle of intuition for as long as I can remember and find it incredibly helpful in important decision making  and in situations requiring more clarity and validation. I often tell the story in my seminars of how I used a “Bookmark” to determine when I should follow the call from my intuition to leave the corporate world to begin my own business as a professional intuitive.  Although I knew in my heart that this was the right thing to do, it didn’t match the rational thought of my upbringing… My mind screamed no and my heart say yes, even though I’d be leaving a great company, significant income with benefits, and most of all, the security of a guaranteed paycheck for  nothing but a gut feeling and a dream.

Setting a bookmark is a specific technique that finds its beginnings in ancient times and remains just as powerful today.  In my experience, I used a symbol that was fairly uncommon – a boomerang – the “bookmark agreement”with the Universe was that when a real boomerang came into my life, I would know that yes, now is the time to leave the job.  (But I must admit, because this was such a big decision, I thought I’d help the universe out by adding a proviso that either one real boomerang came into my life or three smaller ones which could be in the form of a TV commercial, ad on a billboard, etc).

You can imagine my shock and delight when after a couple of weeks, feeling rather disheartened that the symbol hadn’t arrived yet, I’d picked up a book that I’d recently purchased. The book itself wasn’t something I was particularly interested in, however my gut “told” me that I “had to buy it.” As I flipped through it, I came across an interesting paragraph and there, deep into the story did I not only find the word boomerang “three times,” but I also found the meaning of the word… the boomerang is a sacred symbol cautioning us not to hold onto things too tightly,  for it’s only in surrendering and giving them to the universe, that they can be returned to us in bigger ways.

WOW!

I was shaking. This was something that you see in the movies or read about in books… this happened to other people, not to me! And here I was, not only with three small boomerangs, but with the meaning of the word as a sacred symbol!  I gave my notice the next day and have been privileged to live an extraordinary life beyond anything I could have imagined because “I was willing to let go and not hang on too tight.”

Powerful, beyond all odds and four months later, when I taught my first intuitive workshop in Whistler, what did the store carry? Two decorative boomerangs which I promptly bought. The third I added to my collection when again, trusting my gut to go to a certain store, only to find a boomerang with the engraving “authentic souvenir of Australia.”

Having worked with synchronicity my entire life, to go through an experience as specific and mind blowing as this made a huge impact.  I’ve come to appreciate that when we ACTIVELY participate with the “great, pervasive intelligence that lies at the heart of nature,” not only do synchronicities happen with more frequency, so too do miracles. Can you imagine the impact to families, business and organizations to harness the power of synchronicity both as an art and tool of science for brainstorming and team building? Can you imagine the solution and innovation?  The possibilities are staggering, and like all great things, it begins with us as individuals to apply and hone the hidden language that Signs, Symbols and Synchronicity in our own lives, to test and prove them. To create more FLOW in your home and professional life, consider what would happen if you:

  • asked clear specific questions of the vast intelligence awaiting you?
  • paid attention to what you were thinking before a sign, symbol or synchronicity crossed your path?
  • asked for clear, specific signs to underline or highlight a feasible action or direction to take
  • did a life review of where synchronicity has been the most prevalent in your affairs
  • discovered when there was no synchronicity in your life to find the patterns that prevent rather than propel FLOW in your life
  • willing to participate more fully with this great pervasive intelligence?

Basic tools to grow your awareness and appreciation of Synchronicity and self improvement:

  • notice the thought you were thinking just before a synchronicity happened
  • be clear on your desires, write them down and expect their fulfillment, by feeling them here now
  • keep a journal to acknowledge synchronicity
  • use ritual to honor it in your life
  • be firm and clear in your commitments
  • be diligent in replacing negative thinking with positive thought
  • ask specific questions (better yet, write them down and journal the answers when they come)
  • expect an answer without  attachment to how or when it is delivered, or if it looks different than you originally intended
  • learn more and resist less by spending more time in mindful contemplation and deep silence

We are surrounded by a sea of abundance that flows to us! By paying attention to signs, symbols and synchronicity, we harness the hidden power of flow in life and business. By applying it, we create the change we’ve been wanting and more. If you enjoyed this blog and would like to learn more – see our calendar for upcoming live events or tele-seminars on Signs, Symbols and Synchronicity..

Cheryl Ann Brewster is highly regarded in her skills as a Business Intuitive, Coach and Speaker. She specializes in supporting  those  keen to expand personal and professional effectiveness through the power of intuition and soul-centred business practices. To join her mailing list and/or daily inspiration  or to learn more, contact her at: TheIntuitiveLife.com.

 

Jun30

Dare to be Great!

by Cheryl Brewster

All great leaders have within them a dominating desire that helped them push through the tough times, to live and express their greatness. That desire must be greater than the desire to “just get by,” or the “I’ll do it later syndrome.”

Which one are you right now? As I write this blog, I’ve had to pull myself out of bed and do my best to be inspired… some bug has gotten the best of me for over two weeks now, and it’s starting to wear very thin. It took every ounce of energy to get from the bedroom to my office… but here I am. Just.. like you, when you’ve had to really push to show up, we accomplish something very great when we stand up to challenging circumstances and take steps forward, regardless.

It takes courage, tenacity and willpower to keep showing up day after day, when we are bone tired. The overwhelm can feel debilitating, the sorrow too great to bear when we’ve lost someone or something precious to us. But here’s the thing… life is really as good (or bad) as we choose it to be. Challenging circumstances are temporary but our vision, faith and perseverance must remain solid.

There are days when it takes everything we’ve got to stay afloat… and on those days, even in the midst of our discomfort, we have so much to be grateful for…

Tips to Live Your Greatness:

1. Be great now…look at what you HAVE accomplished…. balance your to-do list with a gratitude/acknowledgment list
2. Know what you really enjoy and do it.
3. When schedules are crazy busy and you haven’t done #2 above, take a few moments to imagine that you did, and make plans to do so soon.
4. Be accepting of what is, especially when you don’t like it… what can you learn from situation? What can you learn about yourself?
5. Do the little things as if they were big things… one thing at a time, with quality and mindfulness
6. When you get scared, live your greatness for others… it get’s you out of the lonely, isolated “I’m not good enough” ego default and back into service… what you do makes a difference and you need to show up!
7. Surprise someone today; do something totally unexpected that “makes” their day
8. Be grateful for what you have and who you are
9. Emulate your heroes
10. Be still and appreciate the billions of chemical reactions that are taking place in your body each SECOND
11. Have faith that whatever challenging situation in your life right now, it will pass, and your strength of character will grow as a result
12. Choose to be happy, content and grateful no matter what.

The key to personal greatness is the willingness to spend time and energy in self discovery and self development – it’s the courage to value yourself as your most valuable asset. Do that and the greatness within is unleashed. Here’s to your greatness!

If you enjoyed this blog, sign up for our newsletter on the homepage of The Intuitive Life and be sure to also sign up for our inspiring daily quote, farther down, under the testimonial box. Cheryl Brewster is a Business Intuitive and Speaker and is available for one on one coaching and speaking to large groups.

 

 

 

May15

The Healing Power of Imagination – It Works!!!

by Cheryl Brewster

Stress can be deadly. While short-term stress can create anxiousness and overwhelm, we know all too well, that the cumulative affects of stress over time diminishes both the quality and quantity of life. A 2013  report from the  American Psychological Association, American Institute of Stress, in New York reported that:

  • The annual costs to employers in stress related health care and missed work is $300 BILLION!
  • Of people who regularly experience physical symptoms, 77%  are caused by stress
  • 73% Regularly experience psychological symptoms caused by stress
  • 48% Feel their stress has increased over the past five years

What does this mean to you?

  • With 48% of those studied feeling that stress has increased over the past five years, you have a 50/50 chance of being a part of this growing statistic.
  • If you are a person committed to self growth, you are going to experience stress as you challenge your comfort zones
  • Finding tools that are effective, get results and reverse the stress/death connection are imperative
  • The ability to do things differently is paramount
  • One of the fastest, easiest, most effective tools is the healing power of imagination, and it costs us nothing! Except willingness,  a paradigm shift and a bit of time

How imagination heals

In his book Jung and the Alchemical Imagination, author Jeffrey Raff concludes that “disease is never a purely physical event, but includes the spirit as well.” He  says that imagination can be responsible for the onset of disease, and has a great part to play in its healing. Authors Ann and Barry Ulanov of the Healing Imagination concur; they believe  imagination helps us correspond to grace – that’s how it heals.

This is where it gets personal for each of us so using myself as an example: As a business intuitive I teach  big picture thinking,  as a coach I mentor spiritual healing , and as a  mother, to nurture and guide my children,  I rely on the healing power of imagination in::

  • its ability to get my attention
  • using all of my senses
  • waking me up to a bigger picture of life that includes  healing,  solutions and creativity that I couldn’t otherwise see
  • getting me  out of the nonsense of my negative self talk

Simple Strategies to harness the healing power of imagination:

  1. Ask yourself, “what would effortlessness do?” to get   out of the stress habit and into pure imagination
  2. Breathe into your imagination ….  create some space for it
  3. Use Active Imagination (a process that Carl Jung created), as the bridge between the conscious and the subconscious (this includes dream interpretation, visualization, and daydreaming)
  4. Whatever stress or illness may be in your life, view it as a movie…. how did it get there? What will help to heal it? Notice the pictures, images or body sensations that you experience
  5. Commit to take some form of action…. write down what had the most compelling energy from the above  and use discernment… will action on your part take you further into grace or farther away from it?
  6. Do more of what you love… the state changes created from simple things like your favorite song, exercise,  a favorite flavor of chewing gum or fresh flowers take you to a much higher energy frequency which improves corresponding critical thinking and decision making
  7. Pay attention to signs, symbols and synchronicity
  8. Have a check-in or feedback loop to test and measure the results so you can drop what doesn’t work and expand what does

Embrace Simplicity
Stress becomes ugly, rampant and deadly when we lose our capacity to live from our imagination. Just take a look at the results in your life right now: where there’s shortage, lack or illness, there will be one of two things: lack of positive imagination or undisciplined, negative imagination. Until you become aware, nothing will change… the steps outlined here are beautifully simple. Are they so simple however, that you won’t take them? Imagine what would happen if you did?

Cheryl Brewster is a Personal and Business Intuitive who takes clients from Stress to Success through  Consultations, Coaching Programs and Seminars. She lives in Vancouver, Canada and is a dynamic speaker with leading edge material that captivates and inspires her audiences to greater success in life and business..

Testimonial:
Cheryl Brewster is a valuable contributor to the Business Management Course at Rhodes Wellness College. She is a dynamic facilitator, combining entrepreneurial wisdom and strategies for effective results. The students’ experience of Cheryl was amazing. We are thrilled to have Cheryl Brewster as an entrepreneurial/facilitation resource and recommend her services highly. – Lisa Brown, Operations Manager, Rhodes Wellness College

 

 

 

 

 

May05

Clarity through want/don’t want lists

by Cheryl Brewster

Like the ABCs of Intuition that are incredibly simple (Aware, Breathe, Connect) to stay present and focused,  writing out  lists of what you don’t want to clarify what you do want, can appear too simple to bother with.  But the benefits are huge and here’s why it’s important to use them on a regular basis:

Benefits of writing your “Don’t Want” List:

1. Instant clarity on what you do want.
2. Self discovery and self knowledge to reveal ineffective patterns and bad habits.
3. Awareness of just long these ineffective choices or patterns have been playing out in your life.
4. Empowerment by being reminded that you do have choice.
5. Awareness of things you didn’t see before.

Benefits of writing your “DO” Want List:

1. Improved vibe and mindset that increase awareness and determination.
2. Improved results by making full use of both sides of the brain   (Henriette Anne Klauser explains why in her book “Write it down, Make it Happen”)
3. Instant physiology changes that over time,  replace ineffective habits  with healthier ones.
4. Enhanced  mindfulness (staying present by paying attention in a particular way, without judgement)
5. Instant  stress reduction, increased feel good energy and  possibility thinking

The lists don’t take long, and when the “DO Want List” is read daily, with feeling, you begin more and more to engage both willpower and commitment to “Take Your Stand” for your best life.  Soon, wanting is replaced with having and your new, healthier mindset is in the driver’s seat of your life.

What is your “Old Story” and what is the “New Story” you choose to replace it with?
It’s good to write this out too in a couple of sentences or short paragraph; review it regularly and acknowledge your progress… it all starts with baby steps.

Use “in-process” statements like “I am in the process of trusting myself more more and I love it!” to help bridge the gap between where you are and where you want to be.  Soon, something very beautiful and wonderful begins to happen… empowerment is here immediately. Negative thinking is transformed to  peace and joy here now, because this is an “Inner Experience,” not dependent on what happens “out there.”    No more waiting…. peace, power, effective thinking and inspired, authentic action are here now because you took the time to engage in personal discovery and self development… all with two very simple lists. Again, the benefits of this very simple exercise are huge; internal mastery replaces control or attachment to things needing to be a certain way “out there.”  We become responsible and accountable for our choices. We become more intimate with our true nature and will settle for nothing less than being in integrity with that.

If you enjoyed this blog, we invite you to experiment with your don’t/do want lists and share the results with us.  Email cheryl@theintuitivelife.com and your name will be entered for a complimentary introductory Intuitive Mentoring session with Personal and Business Intuitive and Coach, Cheryl Ann Brewster.

About Cheryl Ann Brewster:
Cheryl left the corporate world to follow a “calling,” that challenged her at every level possible… she knows what it takes to trust the Self amid deep uncertainty and profound change.  She consults with entrepreneurs and business, provides individual coaching and mentoring and is a popular speaker on reducing stress, managing change and personal effectiveness in life and business. To be included in her email updates, sign up for your free bonus report on her homepage,  and also for her “Daily Inspiration” at TheIntuitiveLife.com

Feb13

How do I love Me? Let Me Count the Ways!

by Cheryl Brewster

Do you love yourself as much as you wish to be loved?
Do you gift yourself the nurturing that you most crave?
Do you allow yourself to receive even when it feels uncomfortable?
Are you willing to be present with your pain and let blame go?

“Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.” Rumi

While Valentines is traditionally for lovers and romance, Rumi’s quote invites introspection whether you are in a romantic relationship or not. Are you willing to find the barriers within that prevent love’s full experience?

In my mentoring with clients and in my own life, the significance of self-love is HUGE! We live in a society that is rush, rush, rush…. I’m beginning to believe that the highest form of self-love is extricating ourselves from the death grip of frantic, frenetic over commitments and schedules. To that end, Valentines becomes a very important Self-Love Day:

1. What can I give myself today, that contributes to my own self acceptance?
2. Imagine never saying an unkind thing to yourself again! What would that do to your outlook?
3. Tap even more to the divine mind within. What’s there? What’s life like from this expanded perspective? What would the goddess/god within say to you about you?
4. What regret or judgment can you let go of, to love yourself/others more fully?
5. If you had no barriers to loving yourself/others, how would that change your perception of “reality?”
6. What is that rare, unique quality within you that you have been shy of sharing? Could you share a bit of it today in celebration of the Love you have for you, for the sheer joy of life itself?

Mindfulness this Valentine’s:
1. Being present with your experience without judging it.
2. Paying attention in a particular way.
3. Being on Purpose

Happy Valentines to your Inner Lover… when we move to the divine heart within, we let go with more ease, release the need to control, we give ourselves the most amazing gift of all….

“When you do things from your soul, you feel a river moving in you, a joy.” Rumi

What does a soul-centred relationship, business, daily schedule look like? We’ll know by how much joy runs through it. We’ll know by how much we’re trusting our soul’s voice, and acting on our intuition.

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