The holidays have arrived. You will likely be encountering relatives at the family holiday dinner that you have issues with. Possibly, you have been thinking about how mad you are at your brother’s wife, or your father, or your sister (just fill in the blanks).

You choose to:

a. not attend the family gathering
b. attend with your list of grievances and corner the person to unload
c. bottle it up and put on a stiff upper lip
d. sit back and make snippy comments OR
e. work on forgiveness in advance

Forgiveness is not an easy road to take. Frankly I never learned about it at school, nor at Sunday School, where I was admonished to do it. Furthermore, forgiveness was not modeled in my home. Needless to say, it was years before I even seriously tackled the matter.

The problem with lack of forgiveness is that the victim is saddled with bitterness, anger, and thoughts of revenge. These body and heart-damaging emotions can continue until death (and, I believe, into future lifetimes). At best, the feelings are just hanging around in the background of one’s life.

When you forgive, it doesn’t mean that you have to forget. Forgiving just means that you let go of the angst and resentment, and wish the other well. Forgetting would be foolish if it meant re-engaging in a similar pattern that was hurtful. You may decide to never spend time with this person again, nor put yourself in a vulnerable position with him or her. But you drop the misery around the injury or insult. You let it go.

I will not pussy foot about it – Forgiveness is hard. So, how do you go about forgiving? In my experience, the most important part is a strong desire and will to do so.

What has worked for me is combining use of the Ho’Oponapona Prayer with EFT tapping. Just saying “I forgive you” doesn’t work for me. I have written two articles on forgiving, one on the Ho’Oponapona Prayer  and I’ve done a fill-in-the-blank protocol to give you a framework to do some tapping. The forgiveness probably won’t happen over night, but with patience and some work, it will shift things for you.

So why not get busy right now? Work on forgiving the one with whom you are holding a grudge. Be ready to have a more relaxed holiday. Please call for an appointment if you would like help with this at 512-444-9777. And please write or email your successes to me. I wish you the best and a happy holiday season.

It’s that time again – the Halloween season. For many Americans, it’s merely a one-night event, with playtime to dress up in outrageous costumes. Others know it to be a powerful time when the veil between the worlds is thinnest. It’s a between time of seen and unseen, known and unknown, form and spirit, living and deceased. This ten-day time period arrives a few days prior to Halloween, and ends about seven days afterward.

This is an annual, magical period when you can more easily communicate with your deceased loved ones. Psychic abilities are heightened. Therefore, it is a great time to do a reading or get a reading – Tarot, I Ching, psychic, numerology, or astrology. If you have unfinished business or just want to say hello to Mom who passed, get one from a medium. (Mediums have the ability to talk to the dead.)

It has also been considered a time when you can more easily encounter unseen beings that do not wish you well. Therefore, the ancient tradition of wearing scary masks to keep them away was created. Hint: they aren’t fooled. If those show up and stay, call me for an appointment. In the meantime, wear a sacred oil such as frankincense, myrrh, rose or angelica to ward them off.

This lifting of the veil has been celebrated over the centuries by many cultures. Witness the Day of the Dead (Día de los Muertos) by our friends south of the border. This glorious Mexican holiday to welcome souls of deceased relatives for a short visit is a blend of Mesoamerican ritual, European religion and Spanish culture, celebrated November 1-2.

In ancient Europe, celebrations of the dead also took place in the fall, with bonfires, dancing and feasting. The Catholic Church unofficially adopted this time as All Saints Day and All Souls Day, now celebrated during the first two days of November. In Ireland and the British Isles, it is called Samhain, pronounced sow’ an.

Many put photos of their deceased loved ones on their personal altars and decorate them prettily with cloth, flowers, mementos, and candles. The altar may consist of a tabletop, dresser top, end table, or even a window seal.

So why am I telling you this? Because, it can be an important time for you to delve into deeper realms. Want to talk to your mother, brother, grandmother, or other loved one who has passed on? Want to work on your psychic abilities? Like to get to know your angels and guides better? Take a look here: Messages from your Spirit Guides. Now is an excellent time. Manifestation is also easier at this time, so figure out what you would like to manifest and write it down.

Important during this time:

• Keep a dream journal. If you are paying attention, you may find that loved ones have visited you in your dreams. Dream visits are the most frequent kind, as your conscious mind is taking a break and it stops filtering out things that are not of ordinary reality.
• Watch yourself, as you may feel a bit spacy. No car keys in the fridge. Drinking a lot of water and eating good food can help to ground you.
• You may be receiving psychic messages, so be open to that.
• Tune into animals. Are they doing something strange to give you a message?
• Spend time in nature.  Take time to sit and visit with a tree.

You can use this time to cultivate your psychic abilities. Small things in your life can heighten your magical experience, especially during this time of the year. I wish you many delightful surprises.

Did you see the movie, “What the Bleep” several years ago? Recently, I have begun engaging in Dr. Joe Dispenza’s work, one of the presenters from that movie. He encourages folks to not only create their own reality but to do their own clearing.

Of course, it is different from Compassionate Clearing. Along with meditation and other practices, Dr. Joe teaches us to observe our thoughts carefully.  I want to share with you a way to do some personal clearing. This one is about doing personal clearing and transforming. Observing and analyzing our thoughts can really bring us to a new awareness about our behaviors.

Dr. Joe asks us to choose a particular undesired personal trait we would like to get rid of such as fear, impatience, judging, or worrying.  Once we decide the one to eliminate, we choose one or two positive affirmations to say instead. As you interact with in the world, you can observe yourself and the minute that trait expresses itself in your head, you stop it and you replace it with your positive affirmation.

For instance, for my first experiment, I chose the trait impatience, since it is something I’ve dealt with my whole life. Now, when I’m in a grocery line with a dawdler or coming home with a slow, unconscious driver blocking the left, faster lane, I take a deep breath and say to myself, “I have all the time in the world.” or “Will I even remember this tomorrow?”

Sometimes, I do really well with self-observation and correction, and sometimes it’s a struggle. I keep trying, and I’m getting better at it. It is exciting when I encounter a situation where I feel mastery over that impatience.

It doesn’t matter which detrimental emotional characteristic that you want to eliminate, with persistence, you can prevail. I encourage you to give it a try. You just might be surprised what is running amok in your mind that drags you down, keeps you angry or fearful, or perpetuates worry.