Category: Self Worth

May18

High Vibes for Hard Times

by Cheryl Brewster

Make no mistake – you were groomed for times like these… if you weren’t, you wouldn’t be here at this precise moment in history, or be drawn to reading the words that follow. High Vibes for Hard Times isn’t just a fanciful thought… it’s a way of life and Viktor Frankl, whose words appear to the left are living proof. He, who survived concentration camps in WWII because he had a bigger why to live for… his high vibes resulted in an epic demonstration of the power of these tools, that we can follow.

Your most important asset is your attitude… will it be based on the intuitive, solid, un-shakeable knowingness within or will it be based on the past habits of limiting beliefs and conditioning? You will know by how you feel.

Feelings are a barometer; they reveal what’s really going on both consciously and sub-consciously. Perhaps a fear virus has been in you long before the pandemic hit. As metaphor, the Corona Virus invites us to step up… to be the thought leaders and visionaries we were born to be; to drop the malaise or programming that kept us from living and contributing our fullest potential. The virus put us all on an even playing field; none of us has been exempt from its affects. Rich or poor, unemployed or not each one of us has a deliberate choice to make – to responsibly contribute to humanity through our own evolution. To bring help, healing, connection to family and work environments is an individual choice, with massive impact. We need healthier, kinder, more synergistic ways of living and being. The quality of your life is the proof.

The virus forced us to slow down. It’s imperative that we keep harnessing the power of this pause as we get back to work and re-create our worlds. They can’t be done in the old way anymore; a new economy awaits us as we discover and harness a new economy within our own mindsets and attitudes.

From my experience, “high vibration for hard times” defines an attitude that is courageous, clear, aligned with infinite intelligence and produces people of strong character, high ethics, solid values with legacies to be lived, and blessings to be shared. It’s one that defies “what has been” in order to “create what can be.” High vibration means that we forgive ourselves for past mistakes, and courageously embrace blind spots to excavate the hidden nuggets of gold within. High vibration means living intentionally, on purpose. It calls us to live from worth, spiritual wealth and well-being. (Did you know that the word wealth actually means well-being)?

High vibration living means that we accept the magnificence of our creative abilities; we create a world based on harmony, not on scarcity or consumerism. We become more willing to value what is innate inside of us, rather than feeding the voracious appetites of an ego that insists it can’t be happy unless or until….. In other words, we choose to be happy now and create from a place of having rather than wanting. Easy to say, hard to do when there are bills to pay and the whole economic landscape has changed. I know. I’ve been there too. But it’s been in those times, against all odds, when I’ve employed the power of deliberate intent using “high vibration” thinking, feeling and visualizing, that things have changed. It’s time to do so again. For all of us.

I’ve found both Stoic philosophy and spiritual tools of prosperity thinking to be invaluable for tough times:
In the words of Epictetus:

“There is only one way to happiness and that is to cease worrying about things which are beyond the power or our will.”  His life as a slave is proof of the power to use the high vibes of deliberate choice: “Sick and yet happy, in peril and yet happy, dying and yet happy, in exile and happy, in disgrace and happy.”

Spiritual mind treatment – the decision to be in alignment with our highest good manifests in the physical world:
Step 1: Desire
Step 2: The Universe responds, so we can trust the process and be at peace, optimistic, joyful, in gratitude and appreciation
Step 3: Make your most dominant vibration the receiving mode of your well-being

Faith is required. How strong will your faith be? In order to be strong, it must be nurtured… and we do that, one kind, better-feeling thought at a time. We surrender into the hope and joy of our desire – we dare to think, feel and act differently. We begin with the end in mind. Make this pandemic count. Take Your Stand for What Inspires You – and Do It. It’s your gift of contribution to a world that needs you, as you, for you. You were groomed for High Vibes in Hard Times.

Call to action – what were your insights in reading this blog? How will you apply them? What’s something you’ve been meaning to do, that you’ll stop deferring and start doing?  Let me know – that’s part of the integration process as we continue to expand and grow.

If you enjoyed this post, let us know and please share!

Rev. Cheryl Brewster, B.Msc.
I empower individuals and organizations to stay inspired and keep moving forward in positive, productive ways, no matter what changes, challenges or adversities they may face.

Personal and Business Intuitive, Consultant/Training/Keynotes/ specializing in:
Intuition in Business, Radical Joy through Conflict Resolution/Communication/
Resiliency Skills, Ordained Minister/Wedding Officiant and Life Celebrant

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Apr11

The Antidote to Stuckness

by Cheryl Brewster

How do you feel about your stuckness?

Are you like me? Where I feel stuck is in how I judge my stuckness. Intellectually I know that stuckness is an inevitable part of life. But oh, if I’m not paying attention, how I can get caught up in hating it! I hate it because of how it makes me feel; ineffective, weak, lacking, ridiculous, hypercritical – ugh – it just feels awful! How many of us are feeling stuck with the changes that the Covid-19 virus has precipitated?

Asking productive questions to catch the blind spots of habit is a powerful antidote. If I could develop ways of catching myself when I start sinking down into the depths of despair, think of the freedom that could take place! If I used how I judged myself as a path to greater awareness, I would be practicing transcendence, the art of spiritual awakening and just plain common sense. I would be mastering the ABCs of Intuition as a form of energy management and accomplish what my heart really, truly desires, no matter what the circumstances around me.

To use pain as a productive tool of transformation defies the conditioning, apathy, stupor, even the stupidity of mankind – it calls out the deprivation that would seek to harm and vanquish the very real battle we each face in determining, will my life stand for something meaningful or will I just “surface-live” because it’s more convenient? The ultimate question, really is, will I live my life for good or for evil? Evil is a lack of love, a diminishing of life, an ignorance that demands power and control at the expense of anyone and anything else. So here we are, over the past few weeks, facing the harsh reality of a species on the brink of possible cataclysmic failure if we do not wake up, and drop our individual and collective apathy on one side and need for control on the other.

Every single one of us needs to wake up. Many of us are, yet this one thing remains… the call to drop the judgment that keeps us prisoner to suppression of our personal authentic power.

Evil is the word “Live” spelled backwards. Judging our stuckness sends us straight to experiencing hell on earth – to the irrational acronym of G-U-I-L-T: Gut-wrenching, Useless, Insidious, Lies (and) Torment.

I refuse to contribute one second longer to the virus eating away at the sanctity of mankind. Yes, I will wash my hands; and just as importantly; I will wash my mind and my emotions of disempowering, harmful voices. I will take my stand and re-frame stuckness as the Law of Opposites at play; part of the natural rhythm of life. Instead of labeling stuckness as some horrible, terrible thing, I will choose to see it as the very important impasse or right of passage that creates and grooms a new way of thinking and being in this world. Stuckness is a part of the evolutionary phase that begs the question, will I react with judgment and condemnation or will I use it to rise into a higher consciousness? What could happen if stuckness was showing me something new that I hadn’t seen before? What if stuckness is nature’s way of saying there’s a better way? And isn’t that what’s facing us on rebuilding our lives and economy during and post corona virus? Isn’t the whole message one of coming back to what’s most important? And doesn’t that point us back to values that stand the test of time and a connecting back into community; that authentic sense of self and togetherness that ensures innovation, creativity and cooperation for a healthier planet and world?

Oh! The relief that comes with the release of the need to fight, to struggle, to continually feel defeated by inner and outer challenge!

In contemplating this in mediation, I had a vision of St. Francis of Assisi who reminded me that all great leaders have learned this one very important thing – to use stuckness as a catalyst for powerful, important change. Judgment and self-condemnation leading to “less than” thinking, is the virus that has been bred into us for centuries. It is the need for power and control, manipulation and economics that twist moral values, where consumerism has replaced the God of our hearts.

Let us rip away the twin masks of blame and shame and mirror instead, the possibilities of life, healing, innovation and progress that exist through challenges and obstacles. We live in a world that so desperately needs to come back to sanity. By choosing love as a commitment and principle to live by, no matter what, we can then practice the very important Stoic philosophy of “Amor Fati,” which means to embrace fate, to accept the reality of what is and productively use all adversity and obstacles as fuel for the fire of our potential!

So how you do you feel about your stuckness? Will it feed your potential rather than smother it? Will you join me in blessing it and practicing the message of the Easter Story; the message of forgiveness, death to apathy on one side and ego-control on the other? Will you join me in the most courageous act possible; the one of self-forgiveness that leads to loving the self as much as the Divine within? If not now, when? How much longer do we need to wait?

“Your Intention to Love, no matter what, is the absolute Key to Happiness” – Robert Holden

It’s so important that we use stuckness as the opportunity that it provides; to become aware of our negativity in judging it and therefore make the switch back to sanity; to positive reinforcement and the invitation to overcome through the transcendent power of love.

Negative self-accusations and questions lead us straight to creating Hell as our personal reality. As author Robert Holden pointed out in his book Happiness “Now, in H.E.L.L., all the letters stand alone: (the) Horrific Effect (of not enough) Love (and) Laughter, (waiting to be undone). In H.E.A.V.E.N. all the letters stand together: Happiness (next to) Eternity; Abundance, Vision, (and) Ease (joined to) Now (as one).”

In this pandemic we have the opportunity and responsibility to stop creating hell on earth and literally create a new earth. It will come by our individual and collective willingness to be live in deeper alignment with the laws of nature and spirituality – the law of love in action. As WW2 concentration camp survivor Victor Frankl noted, “the last of human freedoms is to choose one’s attitude in any given circumstances, to choose one’s own way.”

Choose well. Choose to use your own personal stuckness not as a stopping place, but a stepping stone into an attitude of grace, faith, fortitude and victory. Take Your Stand for what Inspires you and do it. Take Your Stand for what Empowers you and do it. Take Your Stand for values born out of compassion rather than consumerism. Forgive your past mistakes, embrace the wisdom they birthed, and step into a future with a fortified sense of commitment, compassion and vision. In the words of Albert Camus, find that invincible summer within yourself, that has the strength to hold the winter. Take Your Stand. There is a power inside of you that can and will handle anything thrown its way. Aware, Breathe, Connect to the Heart. We were born for these times, let us navigate them as nature intended. Let us transcend and live from this place of inner freedom that defies any and all attempts to vanquish it. Like the Easter Story, let us rise again… yes, let us rise! Intuition leads the way…. follow it.

Call to Action: Make the switch from the inner hyper-critical judge to the observer mind that sees the bigger picture. Observe your life like a movie…. what could happen in this moment by committing to love rather than fear? Notice the options that surface and choose that better feeling thought to make a new choice that empowers. This is your fork in the road. It’s in the tiniest of decisions and attitude adjustments that show us the way back home.

Inspiration: Canadian Choir of Women Physicians sings RISE AGAIN (virtually)

Rev. Cheryl Brewster, B.Msc.
I empower individuals and organizations to stay inspired and keep moving forward in positive, productive ways, no matter what changes, challenges or adversities they may face.

Personal and Business Intuitive, Consultant/Training/Keynotes/ specializing in:
Intuition in Business, Radical Joy through Conflict Resolution/Communication/
Resiliency Skills, Ordained Minister/Wedding Officiant and Life Celebrant

Jan22

Compassion: A Total Eclipse of the Heart

by Cheryl Brewster

If you like me, have a desire to make a big impact on our world, then we must make big impacts on ourselves first. Compassion is the total eclipse of the heart that helps us do that. It is the respect and caring that helps us see the best in ourselves, to move forward from our strengths. When we “take our stand” to be there for ourselves, despite the critical, self-sabotaging, negative memory bias wired into our primal brains, we listen to the voice of deep respect rather than other deep forces. The Joy of Life becomes the filter we look through, even in the dark, amidst the fear and uncertainty of that which we cannot see. We trust ourselves. We appreciate the beauty of our lives as art… we share that which makes us happy. We open up to the power-house of intuition inside us, follow its lead and align with flow, the energy of creation in the quantum field.

When we “take our stand” to live our lives as art, we are the most real, the most rich, the most complete. The art that we share cannot help but uplift and evoke a feeling of connection and rightness in the world. And yet, how often we can hesitate on sharing our creations with the world… am I good enough?…did I do this the right way?..how do I market this?… what if no one signs up?….an endless litany of old limiting beliefs can become a very painful place to live.

We know this, because we’ve all done it. Each time we step into the unknown to embrace “beginner’s mind,” we employ the willingness to drop expertise (or the way it “should” be done),  to learn something new. Yes, it can be frightening but as we’ve all come to realize sooner or later, it is the most valuable and rewarding place on earth… this stepping into a force that is greater than us, and yet is us, if we’d just see it that way.

The recent lunar eclipse seen in the photo above reminds me of the cycle of shadow energies that we cycle through and are evolving from. The yin-yang is simply a part of life; the polarity between love and hate, fear and hope, denial and expression of what is most important. How remarkable to stand beneath an eclipse watching something profoundly beautiful and mystical as metaphor for our own lives. This photo taken from Ambleside Beach in West Vancouver, BC, Canada, on the shores of the Pacific is particularly poignant… The beautiful Lion’s Gate Bridge, a metaphor for the bridge from one world to another. That’s why moon phases are so powerful, not only are we linked to them, like the tides of the sea, they give us an opportunity to release, let go and reaffirm the essence of who we are, and the power of living that essence fully, with courage, tenacity and vision.

The one person you can affect the most is you, and when you are there for yourself, nothing is more incredible than the feeling of caring for yourself. As the Sufi Mystic Rumi said, “Stop acting so small. You are the universe in ecstatic motion…. When you do things from your soul, you feel a river moving in you, a joy.”

If we really understood how often and how deeply we impact each other’s lives when we share that joy, we’d be blown away! What would happen if we shared that authenticity more consistently? These are the little things that affect great change… and by you being kind to yourself and really “being there for yourself,” this world that so desperately needs our help benefits. We are all blessed, spiralled higher and strengthened. Key concepts in Rick Hanson’s book, “Resilient”  which I’ve abbreviated here, underscore the simple power of this type of self-compassion:

Bring to mind a time when you were on someone’s side.. recall what this felt like in your body.. recall some of your thoughts and feelings, perhaps caring, determination, even a fierce intensity. Then knowing what it’s like to be on someone’s side, apply this attitude to yourself. Get a sense of being an ally to yourself; someone who will look out for you, help you, protect you. Recognize that you have rights and needs that matter.

Be good to yourself because then you’re being good to others. When people increase their own well-being, they usually become more patient, cooperative, and caring in their relationships. Think about how it would benefit others if you felt less stressed, worried, or irritated and more peaceful, contented and loving.

Take practical steps to help yourself really believe that it’s good to treat yourself with respect and compassion. Write down simple statements such as “I am on my own side’ or “I’m taking a stand for myself” or “I matter too” and read them out loud or put them somewhere you’ll see each day. Imagine telling someone why you are going to take better care of your own needs. Imagine a friend, mentor or even your fairy godmother telling you to be on your own side – and let them talk you into it!

Let us give to ourselves, the greatest comfort and strength we wish for others; let us have the courage to drop the illusions that prevent us from practicing “Sacred Activism,” a phrase coined by writer and activist Andrew Harvey, which is about “finding gratitude, forgiveness, and compassion; it is about opening yourself up to the kindness within you, letting go of pain, and making a conscious choice to help heal the world.”

Call to action: in order to make a big impacts in our worlds, we must begin with the self. A total eclipse of the heart is required… the ability to go into the shadow, drop holdbacks and apply compassion to bring new understanding into the light. If you’ve read this article and it’s touched you in woman speaking to an audiencesome way, please share – I’d love to hear from you as we continue stepping into our role of inspiring conscious changemakers, starting with us!

Cheryl Brewster is a professional intuitive, providing consults and workshops to support individuals and organizations to build up resilience in ways that are fun, empowering and sustained for long-term change and thriving in life and business.

Oct29

Stay Alive All Your Life! – Part 2

by Cheryl Brewster

What makes you come alive and stay that way, even when it’s hard; when you feel yourself shutting down and it takes pure grit to stay true to your integrity and dreams? How do you keep growing to improve personal effectiveness? Author and expert on world mythology, Joseph Campbell knew this one well:

“Suddenly you’re ripped into being alive. And life is pain, and life is suffering, and life is horror, but my god you’re alive and it’s spectacular!”

I love this!  Are you like me? I don’t particularly feel spectacular in the middle of the pain, suffering and horror that’s part of life. But I have been through it enough times, to know that indeed, there is always an equal or greater benefit; something spectacular that occurs through the process, onto the other side. It takes great courage and tenacity to live this way. The results are priceless: Mind mastery and learning how to hold our ground in the face of uncertainty. With an eye to our personal and spiritual development, instead of feeling overwhelmed and beaten, we begin to emerge with skills and mindsets that turn great suffering into great victory.

It takes time, great self-compassion, guts, and the willingness to trust and develop our intuition, to feed our resilience, and to keep the faith, even when it appears counter-intuitive.

As Campbell emphasized:
“People say that what we’re all seeking is a meaning for life. I don’t think that’s what we’re really seeking. I think that what we’re seeking is an experience of being alive, so that our life experiences on the purely physical plane will have resonances within our innermost being and reality, so that we actually feel the rapture of being alive. That’s what it’s all finally about…”

Ahhh, what it’s really all about… the rapture of being alive! Business and spiritual leader, Marsha Sinetar, agrees: “It’s the “burning desire to be or do something that gives us staying power – a reason to get up every morning or to pick ourselves up and start in again after a disappointment.”

The rapture of life can only occur with a burning desire for it. How do we keep the fire stoked when it’s hard?

  1. Science proves it: “high vibe” thinking feeds the flame
    Our brains are hard-wired with a “negative memory basis” to notice potential threats and protect us from harm. Studies done by John Cacioppo, Ph.D., (Ohio State University, and University of Chicago), demonstrate that the brain reacts more strongly to stimuli it deems negative. There is a greater surge in electrical activity, meaning our attitudes are more heavily influenced by negative rather than good news. Research has also shown that a specific ratio of five (five “high-vibe” thoughts to balance out the “one low-vibe thought”) is the magic formula to balance out this negative memory bias.  Worth remembering!  Working “with” our physiology rather than judging ourselves for habitual negative thinking is empowering. It course-corrects us into the extra energy of inspired action that we need for true change and growth to occur over the long-haul. As ancient wisdom reminds us, it is our continued commitment to choose “higher vibration” thoughts to feed the flame of desire that feeds our intent, which in turn feeds our will, which feeds our behavior, and ultimately, feeds our destiny. This leveraging of our negative emotions/memory-bias into holistic, focused, resilient, “alive,” possibility thinking becomes automatic over time. And that’s huge. Now there’s hope, encouragement and something to look forward to, even when life is very hard and hasn’t turned out the way we thought it would.
  2. Give yourself credit and re-energize past successes
    What are some of the toughest times you have been through?
    What helped pull you through? What belief, inspiration or process did you use?
    How did you become a better person through this difficulty? How can you apply that to current circumstances?

    3. Have enthusiasm and clear intent moving forward
    Begin and end each day with vision, re-charge throughout and end it in reflection: spend time in the morning in visualization, prayer or meditation to re-stoke that burning desire and pre-plan how you will “Create Your Day.” It takes just one minute of mindfulness several times throughout the day to keep coming back, to build focus and follow-through. In the evening do a review; celebrate wins and also identify where you can improve. Apply the 5-to-1 ratio to rehearse how you will do things differently tomorrow…. by getting excited about our improvements, now course-correcting becomes more positive, more enjoyable. We have something to look forward to, feel more resilient and capable. Now true change is happening, so that even in the midst of our hardest challenges, we have something to hang onto, a reason to keep going, a grit, tenacity and energy that feeds us, that feeds the rapture of being alive!

Call to action: on those tough days; dig deep – bridge the gap of where you are to where you want to be by applying the 5 -to-1 ratio to this very moment… right here, right now. From this viewpoint you actually are where you want to be, only now you get to enjoy the ongoing journey as a way of life, not just sporadically. To paraphrase Campbell…. my god, you’re alive to your innermost being and reality…. and that’s spectacular… that’s what it’s really all about! Draw on the power of intuition to keep feeding the sacred flame within you – that’s its job and you can trust it to help you come alive and stay alive all your life.

 

Sep13

Stay Alive All Your Life!

by Cheryl Brewster

If there’s a wish that we all had, whether it’s career success, love in relationship or living our fullest potential, underneath each and every wish and goal would be the utter recognition and joy of being alive. That sense of aliveness, of awesomeness in the present moment, whether circumstances are easy or difficult, is the evolutionary consciousness at work in each one of us.  It’s actually the “real us” and what we are really looking for… so often we think we’ll find it in externals; but we won’t because it’s already inside us.  Our external world, therefore becomes the stage upon which we express this ultimate, glorious, inner power that is our great calling.  Albert Camus said it best:

“My dear, In the midst of hate, I found there was, within me, an invincible love.
In the midst of tears, I found there was, within me, an invincible smile.
In the midst of chaos, I found there was, within me, an invincible calm.
I realized, through it all, that… In the midst of winter,
I found there was, within me, an invincible summer.
And that makes me happy. For it says that no matter how hard the world pushes against me, within me, there’s something stronger – something better, pushing right back.”

Isn’t this an elegant description of the awe and wonder available to us in each moment, especially in managing change! That inner strength that defies the pain, tragedy and sorrow of life  can be more of our everyday experience. Consider your own life.  Out of the deepest, darkest experiences, will also come fresh new beginnings. Life rarely turns out the way we think it will and hard times can knock us out of the saddle; at times we’re left lying broken and winded on the ground. Life can hurt. A lot. And when we’re in the grit of that knife-edge; when we want to give up on our dreams, we enter the dark night of the soul.  It’s as if we’ve used up our old world, but we must not lose hope that a new one is arriving. This is the time when honest introspection, although hard, allows something more deeply authentic to arrive. It is in this moment of pain, that we have an incredible opportunity to transfer the heavy dullness of a lack-luster trend back to feeling and staying alive. From Camus: “But what is happiness except the simple harmony between a man and the life he leads?” 

In his book “Get Happy Now,” Joseph McLendon III describes a fabulous process to stay aligned with this harmony, which I’ve modified slightly here:

  1. Recognize that every time we feel a heavy or negative thought or feeling inside of us, we can use it as leverage back to this place of aliveness
  2. That “less than” feelings are indicators of past conditioning that are  ripe and ready for release
  3. Release comes more easily and consistently by, choosing a power word to interrupt habitual focus of  these”less than” feelings
  4. In that interrupt, engaging body movement like punching the air with our power word, and jumping up and down or dancing to some goofy moves, creates a momentary gap that has surprised or shocked us out of past conditioning and into the present.
  5. In that moment we tap into the power of that invincible summer within us; we mentally envision and physically/emotionally see, hear, feel and move as the person we really want to be, right here, right now. We visualize the fulfillment of that desire and feel it NOW. Recalling past successes and peak experiences engages the existing neuron pathways wired for success. Adding a smile that activates the vega nerve releases feel-good chemicals into the body to create a state change on all levels…. physiologically we are integrating the joy of life, our own unique energy system on all levels; physically, emotionally, cognitively, spiritually and intuitively. Add a smile, snap your fingers, use your arms to draw a wide circle in front of you while shouting the word “Magnificent!”
  6. This is called anchoring; combining high emotion with a clear mental image of ourselves and/or our goals, with physical movement. Just snapping your fingers can be an excellent anchor to instantly create a state change of “staying alive” and living from your invincible summer
  7. Give yourself a pat on the back as an additional, final anchor to celebrate the successes of this moment, like “way to go, or “I did it!”
  8. Perform at least five times a day consecutively for 10 days and soon, the ability to leverage heavy or negative-feeling emotion/thoughts becomes automatic… now we’re talking quantum field where the ability to take action becomes more automatic and effortless
  9. Hand write (yes by hand, not typed), a script and read out loud daily, with feeling

One of my favorite scripts that I’ve collected through the years (this one again by McLendon), is called My Magnificent Day:
“I’m healthy, happy, and full of joy and excitement. I smile most of the time and I’m excited about the future to come. I’m enjoying the energy that I have and the friends that I have the privilege of being in my life. I am grateful beyond measure for all of the many blessings that I have in my life and I am ecstatic about the ones to come. My greatest joy is helping others see their happiness and glow with positive energy and expectancy.”

I’ve found the greatest success by creating my own visualizations to capture my goals and creating a morning ritual of waking up to feelings of enthusiasm to create my day. I then read my personal script out loud, with feeling. The profound power of this simple tool is ridiculously enjoyable, easy, fun and SMART! It gets results. It’s vibrancy of life that Norman Vincent Peal so eloquently describes as enthusiasm:

“Many often accept the humdrum life without making a fight for a better one. We think in a downbeat way that maybe we just don’t deserve more. One of the greatest human needs of our time is a weapon to fight mediocrity, one that teaches us how to make sure of zest and vitality and the creative forces buried deep within us. Enthusiasm makes the difference between success and failure.”

Call to action:
So often we postpone or delay our peace and happiness.  We live humdrum, mediocre lives. We get caught up in the past where guilt lives. Use guilt productively; it’s a flashing beacon letting you know things have to change…. drop the past by using the physiology of anchoring to get you back into your body, and use it to enjoy this place of invincible summer inside you. What happens when right here, right now, you take just one minute to walk through the exercise above? You’ll feel better and be on your way to enjoying a more magnificent day, enjoying the awe and wonder of you. You will be “staying alive all your life,” deepening personal effectiveness and self-worth.

If you enjoyed this blog, let us know! And check out the services offered to support you in this very important and powerful process.

To your magnificence as a Conscious Changemaker and the continued mastery of stress management.

 

Jul12

Is it time for a Self-Care Makeover?

by Cheryl Brewster

Energy. We love it. It makes us feel good. When we have it, we enjoy life and get more done with less hassle and more ease. It makes sense then, to think the thoughts and do the things that energize us. However, as we know, day to day living and unforeseen events can distract us and take huge withdrawals from our energy reserves. If we’re not careful, an overdrawn energy account becomes the norm rather than the exception. Before you know it, we’re running on fumes. Literally. And that’s not fun. Left unchecked, burn-out and its twin sisters fatigue and exhaustion come to visit and it feels like they’ll never leave. It can seem like we’ve lost ourselves, and the ability to bounce back to previous energy levels can be challenging.

I know. I’ve been there. Big time. We all have or will at some point in our lives. However, the essential wisdom that can arise, if we’re open to it, is pure gold. Out of great tragedy can come great triumph, out of great pain; purpose, and out of great confusion; clarity. It’s why I’m so passionate about the work I do… as each of us re-frames what drains us into what empowers us, miracles of being and doing occur. We become living legacies! So it’s important to ask:

  • Are your self-care strategies solid?
  • Are you evolving them to step into your greater potential?
  • How often do you use them?
  • Are they working?
  • What stops you?
  • In the changing fortunes of time and circumstances, asking “why” self-care is important, you anchor the deeper meaning of your life. That personal anchor is important. It needs to be strong so that no matter what the seas of life are doing, you’re equipped for the weather. Nothing is more exhilarating.

Self-care isn’t selfish, it’s essential.  It’s about actively looking after your own health and well-being, so that you have the energy to support the people and the things you love. To commit to self-care is to value yourself, your loved ones, your calling and your profession. Not holding your self-care as sacred, important and meaningful short-changes the very people you’ve sworn to protect and the very fabric of your soul. From my perspective as a professional intuitive, self-care is a life-long discovery and practice that supports the purpose of the life-time.

Self-care “IS” energy – it’s the ground in which the five cornerstones of life; health, relationships, career, community and Self are fed or famished. Compassion fatigue is a risk found not only in the care and wellness industries, but in every avenue of life; if we stretch ourselves too thin, a chronic depletion begins to occur. We must interrupt that pattern.

Feeling good about yourself and your life is energizing. To be really effective in supporting your loved ones and your community, is the willingness to master what is de-energizing. That’s the fast-track to more energy. It may not make sense to the logical mind, but we’re not talking theory here… we’re talking about the quality of your life!

Need more energy? Choose thoughts and activities that energize. From Stoicism (an ancient philosophy of self-control that overcomes destructive emotions that drain energy) we learn that:

  • If an event happened, then it was meant to happen, and we are meant to make the best of it.We don’t get to choose what happens to us, but we can always choose how we want to feel about it.
  • Feelings are emotional energy and nothing is more energizing than using obstacles to our advantage. From that perspective, every event in our life holds a sovereignty that supports us. Everything. We transform victim into victory.

Recent studies from a university from North Carolina show that “acceptance coping” contributes to “post-traumatic growth.” People whose lives had been totally devastated were not only able to move through it, but go in a new direction. As Peter Levine, trauma expert has said…

 “Trauma is a fact of life, it doesn’t have to be a life sentence.”

Energizing declarations calm down the flight/fight response of the brain’s amygdula and are super simple and effective in replenishing lost energy. But you must be firm. You must be a warrior with your own mind. Use these energizing declarations to divert energy from drain to gain:

  • What once stopped me now advances me, so I choose to be kind to myself and accepting of this moment.
  • Events don’t matter as much as my response to them , so I choose to…
  • I use all circumstances to my advantage which means…

Call to action: repeat, repeat, repeat… baby steps advance big results… be patient and be willing to see time as your friend – drop expectations of things needing to be a certain way, and use them to your advantage by being at peace with the journey.  See your life as the work in progress that it is. Creating effective self-care strategies is like highway construction; it’s messy work, there will be plenty of delays and detours, and it takes time. But with vision, commitment and the proper set of energizing strategies that feed the soul, a new super highway is built. And that highway is your personal unstoppable resilience and your personal path to freedom.

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 equipping my clients, whether individuals or organizations with self-care strategies as a path to success.  If you’d like to learn how my intuitive consults, coaching programs or speaking services, can support that, 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 moment.

Sep30

Fearless Action to Master Change

by Cheryl Brewster

Take Action!

What wants to move through you? That idea or project that is relentless in its pursuit of your attention and call to action. The one that keeps tapping at your shoulder, yelling in your ear and tugging at your heart… the one that says if you don’t slow down and really look at this, you’ll continue down the slippery slope of unachieved goals, regret and unexpressed creativity.

In her seminal book “Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway,” Susan Jeffers provides a powerful, clear strategy for turning pain into power. Her bottom line is that the only way to get rid of the fear of doing something is to go out and do it! So why don’t we? I love her two-fold answer… the first is education (you didn’t learn the facts about fear); the second is the reminder that every time you feel afraid, that it’s simply because you are not feeling good enough about yourself.

The  interplay here between intuition and self esteem makes sense.  Intuition is the driving need for self expression; it’s also the path through fear that takes us from pain to power.  The heart knows the way…the heart always feels good about itself… in fact it can never not feel good about itself because it’s the very essence of life,  limitless in its power. Intuition then, uses the power of the heart to shore up where we don’t feel so great about ourselves so we can move forward into action!

So how do we overcome fear and take action to follow the heart, and honour those intuitive impulses? As Jeffers brilliantly counsels:

  1. Reframe fear
    Remind yourself that when you feel fear, it’s because you’re not feeling good about yourself….Fear then, can be seen as a useful marker, pointing the need and path to higher self esteem.
  1. Decide that “I’ll handle it” is your new (and only) life perspective.
    When fear becomes a habit, we’ve allowed “less than” beliefs or helplessness to feel stronger than the reality of our capability and  infinitely powerful essence . When you decide that no matter what happens, “I’ll handle it,” fear dissolves!
  1. Take Action
    Feeling good follows action – too often we reverse the process thinking that when we feel better, then we will act.  The opposite actually is true. Whether it’s massive action, or one tiny step, the truth is, that nothing will change without taking action.
  1. Measure results with a pain to power chart.
    Check-in daily  to see if you’re moving on the chart from pain to power. If you’re not, it’s because you’re not taking responsibility for that area of your life.
  1. Practice the ABCs of Intuition.
    Aware, Breathe, Connect – this simple 3-step process is the link between self esteem and action.  AWARE of the power within that’s stronger than any obstacle; BREATHE that power in and CONNECT to the heart – it knows the way…. we can trust ourselves and the process of life…. we can drop self doubt and take action from an inspired, empowered place. Self love steps out into action, no problem!

If you have a calling or intuition that you know you’re not following through on as completely as you could, ask yourself why you’re resisting or delaying. You’ll get an immediate answer. Now what is one small thing that you can do to move yourself from the pain to power chart?  Do that thing… the highest form of integrity is the noble task of honoring what wants to move through you.

If you enjoyed this blog or would like to share the results of what you learned and applied, email us! We’d love to hear from you and celebrate the success you are creating! If you are not already a subscriber to our daily quote of inspiration, be sure to sign up.

Cheryl Brewster of The Intuitive Life is a personal and business intuitive, specializing in self development through mastering change.

 

 

 

Jun30

Self Love – The Courageous Choice for Results in Life and Business

by Cheryl Brewster

What builds or destroys your relationships at home and in business?
What totally transforms how you “do” life, especially behind the scenes where no one sees you or knows what you’re really thinking?
What is your foundation, touchstone or immovable center point during times of intense challenge, emotional “spin cycles” and piercing disappointment or grief?

The answer of self love is obvious… but it takes outrageous courage to truly practice it. Today’s message is that we can do it and we must do it! Yes, ongoing improvement strategies at home and in business are important, but the first one is self love…. without self love, it doesn’t matter how educated, talented or skilled we are, we’re not going to enjoy our experiences and it’s guaranteed, that those around us won’t either. Self love takes the whole idea of  prosperity to a whole new level. (How many super stars have bottomed out at the peak of their careers? Too many to mention…. without self love we can easily fall prey to influences that don’t have our best self interests at heart).

So what can we do to build awareness of this primary component of emotional intelligence?

1. Think of someone that is super important to you, someone you love… what are your greatest hopes and wishes for them? Are you allowing yourself those very things in your own life? If not, are you willing to slow things down to make room for this new mindset and follow-through with persistent, ” thought diligence”?

2. Again, thinking of this person that you love… what would make it easier for this person to live a happy life? Again, are you making those same choices for yourself? What old thoughts would you need to drop and what new thoughts would you need to employ?

3. In knowing what you need to do in your life… can you accept, allow and forgive yourself for the times you don’t do those things? Can you see how self love can be a strategy to free up the energy, to do the things you’ve been avoiding and make them more palatable? Can you begin with noticing current bad habits and understand the need they are trying to fill? Would you be willing to let them be filled in more productive/destructive ways?

4. What authentic leader most inspires you? How would they handle a current challenge you’re having? What self talk would they be giving to themselves?

Healthy Self Love is the ultimate effective business tool; you can “feel” the vibe when someone really loves themselves and what they do… you can also feel it when they don’t. Self loving individuals are the leaders that people love to work for, the parents that truly get what’s most important and come from those priorities. Self loving men and women are brave enough to make their happiness the priority; they’re grounded, strong, integrity-based visionaries. They help others see what they cannot see for themselves.

Self Love is the ultimate relationship tool; it heals the wounded parts in ourselves and others by making good use of the triggers that set us off so we can re-frame to evolve them.

Self Love says that no matter what’s going on, we’ll be able to handle it.
Self Love takes baby steps… it reminds us that Rome wasn’t build in a day and asks us why we insist that it was, when our adrenaline junkie takes over.
Self Love has the courage to face conflict, set healthy boundaries, speak up when it’s important, and stand down when it’s appropriate.

Self Love forgives the past and puts its attention on what’s most important… an empowered awareness of NOW.

See what you don’t like about your life… and love yourself anyway… it’s the only way to create the change you’ve longed for. Will you?

If you enjoyed this blog post, you’ll enjoy learning more about Cheryl Brewster and her coaching program “Spa for the Soul” that takes empowered thinking to a whole new level. For your complimentary overview of how this can apply to current challenges in your life… contact us and quote “Self Love”

Aug31

Dead without Desire – Re-inspire your Life and Business

by Cheryl Brewster

What does the word desire mean to you?

  • Is it vibrantly alive in your life?
  • Are you ticking off those magnificent milestones on your bucket list which can be as simple as weekly bubble baths or as exotic as trips to far-off places?
  • Is it about achieving that long-held dream that you’ve held precious in your heart for as long as you can remember?
  • Or is it something that feels elusive, that you haven’t really nailed down yet, and can’t seem to?
  • Is it downright annoying that right now, you just don’t know what your desire is?
  • Conversely,  does it feel hedonistic, selfish or wrong; always last  on your list after you’ve taken care of your responsibilities in life… e.g., getting “reality” taken care of before you can “go out and play?”

Desire is a hugely important life component that needs cultivating. It’s the stuff  that life is made of… that first kiss, that first job or business deal, the answer to the question “I wonder what it would be like to…?”  Desire may start off as vibrant, raw energy seeking to express itself, or it may bubble up  quietly over time, into a non-negotiable, in your blood, irrevocable “I just have to” drive that focuses on nothing less than  full completion..

Like a burning ember, keen for the passion of potential completing itself, desire needs fuel to become the flame… it must be fed to grow into the exquisite brilliance of accomplishment..  Napoleon Hill said it best over 70 years ago:

Strong, richly rooted desire, is the starting point of all achievement,
not a hope, not a wish, but a keen pulsating desire which transcends everything.”

But how do we get there when we’re just not feeling the vibe?

Modern day Russian author Vadim Zeland describes some key components in his book Reality Transurfing in a chapter entitled “Forward to the Past:”

Don’t’ wait for the future… Bring it into the current moment… allow yourself to have, right here right now.
This is about DETERMINATION…
The intention to have, contrary to the process of constantly fighting yourself.
The determination to have contains by far, more power than the determination to act.
You need to be completely ready to let yourself have.

This is inspiring, “shake-it up” stuff ! In other words, drop the internal fighting, and be absolutely diligent and determined to have the mindset of “letting yourself have.”  It starts with a feeling, or in-your-bones-knowing.  Best selling Canadian author Danielle Laporte echoes Zeland’s words in her brilliant tell-it-like-it-is style in  The Desire Map:

You’re not chasing the goal, you’re chasing a FEELING you hope reaching the goal will give you.  We have the procedures of achievement upside down. We go after the stuff we want to have and accomplish outside of ourselves, and we hope and pray that we’ll feel great when we get there. It’s backwards. And it’s burning us out.

What if, first we got clear on how we actually wanted to feel in our life, and then we set our intentions?
What if your core desired feelings, consciously, informed how you plan your day, your year – your life?

All authors quoted in this blog are Conscious Changemakers  encouraging us to be bold in revolutionizing our lives by leading with desire. It’s important! Laporte’s words are riveting:

It’s OK to want what you want. In fact, if you don’t start there, with actually owning your desire, you are doomed.
Own the wanting. without apology, and all good things will start to flow from claiming the desire.
We can’t hedge with desire.

So looping back to the first question of this blog:
What does desire mean to you now?
Have you been hedging with it… just dipping your toe in, rather than diving in fully?
Have you let your desire energy wane?
Are you wanting to give up? Maybe you just need to make changes so desire can blossom through different channels?
Its okay when things don’t turn out the way we want or expect them to! It just means there’s something better; there is always an equal or greater benefit to any circumstance in our life… but we must be WILLING to look for it… and be completely ready to let ourselves have it.

What single thing can you do to harness the revitalizing power of desire

  • in your job, career or business?
  • with those you love?
  • with the state of your health, prosperity  or financial affairs?
  • with HOW you live your life?

Heady stuff, isn’t it?! How exciting to give flight to our innermost desires with determination to bring those core, accomplished feelings into the here and now. It’s where all of our best work is done… we’ve proven it before so let’s do it again! It’s time to cut loose from same old, and refresh, rejuvenate and re-inspire our lives and businesses… Take Your Stand for what you desire and feel its accomplishment here now!

Interested in learning more on revitalizing the creative, innovative effects of “keen pulsating desire” in your personal life,  career, business or company? Contact us!

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.

May29

Time to Shake Things Up!

by Cheryl Brewster

“The term “spirituality” lacks a definitive definition.” This statement from the online etymology dictionary caught my attention…  (see more from Wikipedia) . How ironic and appropriate to come across a term that cannot be defined except by oneself! I have often found that until I can define something, I don’t have an understanding of it;  if I don’t have an understanding of it, then I am not consciously applying in my life.

What is your definition of spirituality?

In the defining, we begin to see where we are actually living what we say is important to us.  This practice of self discovery invites not only greater understanding, but greater authenticity and accountability – we begin to see where we are being effective or ineffective, where we’re being honest with ourselves or not.

Social scientists have defined spirituality as:
The search for “the sacred,” where “the sacred” is broadly defined as that “which is set apart from the ordinary and worthy of veneration.”

This begs the question, what is sacred to you…

  • in life?
  • in business or career?
  • in relationships?
  • in how you do anything – the big things, and the little things?

Are your life, business, relationships and how you operate “set apart from the ordinary and worthy of veneration?” Or are they dull, boring,  or overcrowded with anxiety,  overwhelm, reaction or repeated ineffective patterns? Is there a sense of energy and aliveness? Does your spiritual life seem separate or disconnected from your everyday life of down to earth, practical matters like running a household or a business?

Veneration is defined as respect or awe inspired by the dignity, wisdom, dedication, or talent of a person.

  • Where are you in awe of yourself and your life?
  • Where are you inspired by your own dignity, wisdom, dedication and talent?
  • How have you defined your life in ways that hold these parameters as sacred, as non negotiable?

The act of defining spirituality shakes things up – we begin to look beyond the assumptions and perceptions of conditioned thinking or inherited beliefs or habits that have lost their life-luster.  It’s the “shake-up call” to awareness of what’s really going on and what we can do to come back to a vibrant life filled with its own dignity, wisdom, dedication and talent. It’s the “shake-up” we need to  share this vibrancy with a world that desperately needs it. We live in a time where the shift of consciousness that is occurring is so important and so needed.  Look at just a couple of statistics and we are reminded, and called to “Take Our Stand”:

  • The Global Study on Homicide reported that in 2012, intentional homicide took the lives of almost half a million people.
  • The US federal price tag for the Iraqi and Afghanistan/Pakistan wars is  close to $4 trillion (let alone the cost of all other countries involved)
  • The  United Nations reported that in 2010-2012,  nearly 870 million people, or one in eight, were suffering from chronic undernourishment
  • According to Food Banks Canada, nearly 900,000 Canadians are assisted by food banks each month and 38% of those helped are children and youth

Huh?! We live in a world gone completely mad!

  • How can this be happening?
  • How can it be acceptable?
  • What can we do to change things, to shake things up?

If each one of us took responsibility for honoring our own dignity, wisdom, dedication, talent, wonder and awe, wouldn’t we in turn, seek to help our fellow human beings? Isn’t it time we awoke from the apathy we’ve grown up in and ask those hard hitting questions?  And isn’t that what spirituality is about? As we define it for ourselves, we come to see the responsibility that we have to live from a higher place in consciousness – to engage the thinking and actions that will access creative solutions to heal our planet.

How can we make this a better world? By defining and applying our definition of spirituality… we move beyond our egos, our self absorption and limited perceptions; we begin to grasp what the mystics have been saying for thousands of years and we yearn to engage that infinite intelligence within… if indeed we are unlimited, infinite, changeless consciousness at our core, then what are we doing to demonstrate this for real-world solutions? What are we doing to “get over ourselves” so that we can instead “give of ourselves?”  I believe it begins with listening to “the call,” the call to greatness that comes to each one of us in the form of listening to a deeper, more authentic, awe-inspired place within us.  As we follow through in the commitment to do the work, we become more mindful of the possibilities… and THAT is the living, breathing, dynamic definition of spirituality… the awe inspiring experience of our infinite, changeless, effortlessness… imagine the possibilities of coming together from this amazing space of creativity to bring healing to our hurting world.

It begins one step at a time, one person at a time, with the courage to change, and none of us does this alone.  As Ram Dass said, “we are all walking each other home.”

If you enjoyed this blog, we welcome your comments and insights.  If you would like to know more about Cheryl Brewster and her workshops and retreats, visit TheIntuitiveLife.com – where you can learn more and also sign up on two different places on the home page: one for general events and newsletter and the second one for a daily inspired quote (look under the testimonials box for this one).  Cheryl is a highly respected professional speaker and personal and business intuitive specializing in helping people transition from stress to success in life and business.