Tag: authentic

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

Dec24

Harness the Untapped Power of Procrastination

by Cheryl Brewster

Do you find yourself running into perfectionism? Those debilitating stopping places where no matter how hard you try, you just can’t seem to bust through? Me too.  Instead of fighting procrastination,  the tendency to keep putting things off that I find uncomfortable, I’ve come to see it as an early warning detection system that I can use productively. In fact, procrastination can be saying that “it’s time for another adventure.”

  1. Procrastination shows up when I’m challenging myself, so yay me! It’s the confirmation and encouragement to bust outside comfort zones and the natural fear of failure inherent in change
  2. It’s the psyche’s way of inviting more creatively and authentically, not bound by old rules of perfectionism. This targets more focus and depth and I’m better able to drop the habitual “negative memory bias” of the primal brain’s need to protect at all costs
  3. Procrastination can be alerting me to low energy which needs to be rectified; it forces me to stop and ask the question; if I’m not in flow right now, what will help me get there?
  4. Procrastination can be interpreted as intuition’s call to be more present. By taking a “Mindful Minute” to check-in, I’m acknowledging and centering myself into a more nurturing state of acceptance. I get to enjoy this moment rather than dread it;  I get to change my focus from limitation to the quantum field of infinite possibilities.
  5. Procrastination is s a sure sign that it’s time to exchange judgment and self-recrimination for gratitude and appreciation, otherwise life becomes all work and no play; always striving but never arriving, and that’s not fun at all. In fact, the blessing in procrastination in many ways, is the call to more empowered states.

The research on gratitude, kindness and appreciation is astonishing and the antidote to procrastination and perfectionism. 

Thoughts of kindness and gratitude take us out of survival mode and into thriving. At the University of Zurich, a study demonstrated that when you display kindness or compassion, a hormone called oxytocin shuts down the survival centers in the brain’s amygdala. Since the amygdala is wired for four basic emotions: fear/anxiety, sadness/pain, anger/aggression and love/joy, oxytocin “cools off” the brain circuits that are wired for survival, leaving a love and joy for life. From this state, we’ve got access to expanded states of consciousness that invite flow, creativity and solutions we can’t see when we are in survival mode.

Gratitude and appreciation return us to logic of clear thinking and the ability to master unhelpful and destructive emotions.  As Nassim Taleb, a scholar on uncertainty noted, “real strength lies in the control or the domestication of one’s emotions, not in pretending they don’t exist.”

So the next time you go into the “spin cycle” of procrastination with its inherent subtle and not so subtle feelings, habits, conscious and unconscious programs, remember… every challenge contains within it, the solution. Even procrastination therefore, serves a productive purpose and the sooner we leverage it, the better we feel, the deeper we go into the joy of creativity, authentic living and the fulfillment of creative desire and accomplishment.

Call to action: the next time procrastination or fear of failure comes up for you, consider using it as your early warning detection system, alerting you to self-kindness, appreciation and gratitude to birth something new. You’ll be glad you did.

If you enjoyed this article, let us know! Share your insights and experiences as you “harness the power of procrastination” to live more creatively and authentically, with better results and greater joy.

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.

Feb27

Business Stress – 3 Ways Intuition Can Help

by Cheryl Brewster

As a conscious minded business person, your goal is to provide the highest quality products and services in the most efficient, sustainable methods possible, with customer satisfaction and healthy profit.. But what happens when challenges come up that rock your world? Our knee-jerk reactions take over. Big Time. While some reactions can be  effective, most are not.  Intuitive Development plays a critical role in catching those gut-wrenching situations and transforming them into effective learning experiences. The caveat here however, is that we must be willing to re-frame how we look at ourselves and stress.

How Intuition helps to  reduce business stress:

1. Rule number one in intuitive development is to breathe.
Over time we learn to look at breathing in a whole new way:  slowly, deeply, consciously and deliberately.
This kicks us out of the “fight or flight” sequence and gets us connected back to our body wisdom. Otherwise, the huge rush of chemicals released in the body can take over our perspective and we all know what happens… we react (based on the past) rather than respond (based on the present). Without taking time to breathe, we simply repeat old patterns again and again. We’ve heard this a million times… breathe deeply and slowly, but are we actually doing it?
TIP: Use association. Choose something that happens frequently and use it as a reminder… for example…. every time your phone rings, use it as a marker to check-in and breathe slowly, deeply, consciously and deliberately before you answer it.

2.  How would you feel if everything was really okay?
Our intuition has access to the bigger picture that the five senses don’t.  Just take a look at nature’s beauty and perfection – there’s an invisible harmony that runs our world – when we breathe into that inner harmony, we operate from a success minded perspective. Our job becomes less fear-driven and more purpose driven; by allowing this inner harmony to emerge through us, we become aware of possibilities we didn’t see before..  We think more clearly.  Intuition draws from this creative space while fear prevents our access to it.
TIP: Re-frame stress as a  signal to refocus on the inner harmony already inside of you; it builds supreme self trust and improves the thinking process.

3. How would you act if you were already successful?
Ask this simple question in any situation and see what happens! You’ll feel instant relief and guidance and find it easier to drop ineffective thinking patterns.
TIP: Make this question a new practice by using your tea or coffee break to sit with the answers. Be sure to keep a journal handy!

The bottom line: Intuitive Principles reduce stress and add an element of self discovery. They increase profit by creating a new perspective of trust and freeing up stuck energy. Intuitive Development takes time and practice but it’s affects can be felt immediately.  Our biggest challenge as entrepreneurs is to give ourselves the same time, care and attention we give to our customers. Start small and build from there… these three simple steps can have profound affects on your business!

Cheryl Brewster is a Business Intuitive who provides intuitive mentor programs and workshops to support entrepreneurs  in being less stressed and more productive.

Inspiration:
If you focus on the negative in any situation, you can expect high stress levels. However, if you try and see the good in the situation, your stress levels will greatly diminish.”  –Catherine Pulsifer

Oct28

The Energy of Money

by Cheryl Brewster

Are you pushing away the very thing you say you want? Can the energy of money be a profound tool for spiritual transformation? Is there really any difference between tangible cold hard cash and esoteric, metaphysical principles of abundance? Asking these questions is important; they clear the path for us as heart-centred entrepreneurs and change agents, living on purpose.

In my teleseminars and coaching over the last year, a pattern that has struck me as very curious, even bizarre yet absolutely life changing, is this: although we want to create more prosperity in life, a growing shift is the ability to actually accept what we really want. Whether that prosperity is financial, improved health or relationships, most of us are shocked to discover that what has been holding us back has been our own inability to actually receive.

This anomaly is best reflected in some of Dan Millman’s writing (Way of the Peaceful Warrior) where he asks “how good can you stand it?” Wow! Good question… How good CAN we stand it? Are we willing to let it be that good? And if we are, when… and is right now a good time?

Notice that it all begins with awareness. A tiny thought. A tiny pinprick of light pointed in a certain direction.

In studying this phenomenon, I’m drawn to the wisdom of Lester Levenson, the inspiration behind The Sedona Method:

  • There is no difference between the spiritual and material from the viewpoint of Truth. The difference is in outlook; whether you see it from the ego’s point of view or from the Self. A realized person sees the world only as an out-projection of themselves.
  • Any time we see any difference between the spiritual and the worldly, it’s because we don’t have enough understanding of the spiritual as yet. We are separating. The highest state is when we are in the world and in spirit at one and the same time and there is no difference.
  • When we’re there, we don’t see it as world and spirit. We see it as one and the same thing; we see a oneness; we see it all as our very own Self.

To manifest in the physical, we must understand the spiritual.
To understand the spiritual, we must take inspired, authentic action in the physical.

This is where the power of intuition is truly at play:

  • what is calling you, inspiring you, directing you?What do you most want?
  • notice any hesitancy or resistance to receiving it, allowing it, taking action towards it
  • what happens when you hold the resistance in pure compassion and kindness?
  • does it help you become more aware of driven behaviors ?
  • can resistance now be a gift, one that points to the separation that really isn’t there, but one that you believed exists?

Perhaps in answering these questions, a bizarre, counter-intuitive pattern begins to emerge; we begin to see that the very thing we disowned in ourselves is our treasure. And therefore, there is no need for separation. There is nothing to fear, and no one to judge. When it comes to money, if we drop the separation, the fear and judgement; what remains? We begin to realize that all resistance is simply the invitation to let go of refusing what we most want to experience. As we embrace the learning, all manner of energy is freed up; we clear in the spiritual to take the inspired action necessary in the physical.

How good can you stand it?
Isn’t it time to have more fun visioning with the energy of money?
Isn’t it time to accept more wholeness with the energy of health?
Isn’t it time to enjoy manifesting your sacred partner as you fall madly and deeply in love with yourself?
And isn’t now a good time?

Intuition. Mindfulness. Prosperity. All here now. Are you accepting it or pushing it away? How do you know? Sometimes we go through unexpected, unwanted events, but when we remember that  “the highest state is when we are in the world and in spirit at one and the same time and there is no difference.”  This takes new vision and the willingness to apply emerging certainty through the vehicle of uncertainty. Brave work, powerful work, requiring repeated steps and application. “We are what we repeatedly do,” said Aristotle, “excellence is not an act, but a habit.”  Here’s to our new and strengthened habits as we grow stronger through accepting resistance and treasuring all the tiny, exquisite moments that are so incredibly rich, even in the midst of resistance.

If you enjoyed this blog and would like to learn more about Cheryl Brewster and her work in supporting Conscious Changemakers in creating prosperity as they live their passion, visit TheIntuitiveLife.com

Feb15

The Quest for Happiness

by Cheryl Brewster

I have found that the authentic life is a simple life; that awakening into deeper truth, authenticity and simplicity is more about dropping things than it is about gaining them.  The desire to connect even more, from this deepest, most authentic part of my heart is what has emerged over the last year. It comes with a high price and yet no price at all, because the letting go while at first glance seems painful, is in reality the letting go of pain. The price that appears so high in the beginning, cannot compare to the value of what is received or restored.

My attempts to explain my experience are summed up best by one of my favorite authors, Anthony de Mello from his book on Awareness… take a look at what he says here about Happiness:

“Do you want to be happy? Uninterrupted happiness is uncaused. True happiness is uncaused. You cannot make me happy. You are not my happiness. You say to the awakened person, “Why are you happy”? and the awakened person replies, “Why not”? Happiness is our natural state. Happiness is the natural state of little children, to whom the kingdom belongs until they have been polluted and contaminated by the stupidity of society and culture. To acquire happiness you don’t have to do anything, because happiness cannot be acquired. Does anybody know why?

Because we have it already. How can you acquire what you already have? Then why don’t you experience it? Because you’ve got to drop something. You’ve got to drop illusions. You don’t have to add anything in order to be happy; you’ve got to drop something. Life is easy, life is delightful. It’s only hard on your illusions, your ambitions, your greed, your cravings. Do you know where these things come from? From having identified with all kinds of labels!“

What labels do you have in your life that are not contributing to your happiness? They could be a certain outlook, expectation, assumption, habit, any number of things.  The bottom line is, by dropping this dead weight, happiness emerges. And nothing is more inspiring or contagious than happiness! 

In my intuitive mentorship programs, I stress the importance of the ABC’s of Intuition; become AWARE of the inner wisdom inside, BREATHE it in, and CONNECT to the heart… the same is true of happiness because it’s already here… the power of imagination and enthusiasm expands it even more. So when something challenging or difficult comes up, I encourage the habit of asking the question “What would happiness do in this moment?” The question is brilliant because it surfaces illusions which are in fact delusions to let go of. Try it, you’ll like it! The more I practice this, the easier and more juicy it becomes.

Simple. Authentic. Happy. Awakened.
That easy, that profound, that Wow!