“Tug on anything at all and you’ll find it connected to everything else in the universe.” John Muir

What are you connected to and present with in your life? In such a busy world it’s easy to feel disconnected to things that matter most to us. Yet with awareness we can reconnect to our passion, purpose, friends, family, work, hobbies, and nature in the present moment.

Connecting to the body through breathing, sensations and emotions anchors us into the present moment where we can connect more easily to our surroundings. Centering within our spiritual selves and the God of our heart connects us to our purpose and passion. Touching into our heart center supports us to have authentic, meaningful connection with others. Spending time outdoors with the wind, trees, water, and variety of creatures that inhabit this planet brings us into alignment with our natural rhythms and cycles. Gazing at the stars and planets reminds us that we are not alone; we are interconnected with the whole Universe.

There are also many things we may be connected with that don’t support us. Negative people, violent news reports, family dysfunction, drug addiction, noise, pollution and any number of energy draining sources can leave us feeling depleted and disconnected. But again, with awareness we can choose what to connect to and what to disconnect from in order to nurture and nourish ourselves.

Insights into Feeling Connected

♦ What do you feel connected to in your life right now that brings you joy? What supports this connection?

♦ Where are you feeling disconnected, but would like to reconnect? What gets in the way? What would support you to be more connected?

♦ What are you connected to that drains your energy or depletes your soul? What is the payoff? What would you have to let go of, say no to, or embrace in order to shift this?

Inspiration for Being Connected

♦ Connect to your body and present environment right now. Feel your breath flow through your nostrils, fill your lungs and expand your diaphragm. Feel your body against the chair, your feet touching the ground. Notice sensations throughout your body. What emotions want to be felt and expressed? Feel them now.

♦ Connect to your spiritual self and the God of your heart. Center within and say hello to the you that is bigger than your mind and body. Touch into your expansiveness. Say hello to the God of your heart and feel its loving presence within and around you. From this place, connect to your purpose and passion. What are you jazzed about, what makes your heart soar, what’s your bliss?

♦ As you go through your day, be present with your current activity, project, or task. Stay connected to what you are doing by giving it your attention without wandering off in your thoughts. As you encounter others, connect with them on a heart and soul level. Contact the people who mean the most to you. Create a connection with your favorite hobbies and activities.

What do you feel connected to at this moment? What does connection mean to you? Please share below.

“You, yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection.” Buddha

Have you ever experienced a state of pure light and spaciousness where love is as endless as the sky and as free as the wind? This is self-love, unbounded by conditions, rules and restrictions. When we let go of concepts of love we touch into its true essence. It’s more than a notion we conjure up in romance or an expression of care and attachment we have for another. It goes way beyond a feeling in the heart; although it may stem from there. Love is a state of being that is always available for us to open up to, breathe in, and explore the world from.

Total self-love is akin to having a tap fully turned on; love flows freely and continually. It’s only when we allow judgments, invalidation and expectations to get in the way that the flow is blocked. Fortunately we always have the opportunity to increase our love and wash away the obstacles. From this higher state we experience the delight of self-affinity and the effects of self-esteem. Pettiness, fear, scarcity, and jealousy have no room to grow. Instead, the seeds of generosity, trust, care and compassion are sown and grown.

Imagine your life lived from a place of high self-love. How would you treat yourself? How would you interact with others? What would you create and manifest for yourself?

Insights into Self-Love

♦ On a scale of 1 to 10, where 1 is almost nil and 10 is loving yourself fully, where would you rate yourself today? What number pops into your awareness?

♦ Imagine turning the tap of self-love down a notch or two. How does this affect you? What thoughts run through your mind? How do you feel physically and emotionally? How might you interact with others? Let these be your cues for when you’ve stopped loving yourself and need to increase self-love.

♦ What gets in the way of loving yourself fully? Is it perfectionism, judgments of self and others, fears of the future? What rules do you carry in your mind about love? If you increased your self-love to a 10, what might happen - would you be punished, would others ignore you, or would you become completely self-absorbed? Face all the limiting beliefs and lies in your space so you can release them and experience healthy love.

Inspiration for Increasing Self-Love

♦ Imagine loving yourself the way you would love your own child. What can you do to express this love? Brainstorm a list of tangible things you can do today, this week and this month to pamper, honor and nurture yourself. Write yourself a love letter and read it over daily.

♦ What does your mind need that would make it feel loved? Does it need stillness, stimulation, meditation? What does your body need in order to feel loved by you? What about your heart and soul? Check in with the various aspects of yourself daily and love yourself accordingly.

♦ Take a few minutes now and each day to tune into the essence of pure love. Close your eyes and take a few relaxing deep breaths as you center within your spiritual self. Imagine a beautiful rose filled with the essence of love a few feet away from you. Look at the shape and color of the blossom and then look past the image into the essence and vibration of pure love. Let your heart chakra in the center of your chest match this vibration. Feel the flow of love fill your heart chakra. Let it melt away any blocks as it expands to fill your whole body, down to the cells. Stay in this inner space as long as you like. When you’re ready, open your eyes and go through your day in this state of self-love.

How did that feel? Do you have any questions or insights to add on increasing self-love? Please share below - I’d love to hear from you.

Nourish your Spirit with Stillness
Nourish your Mind with Knowledge
Nourish your Heart with Unconditional Love
Nourish your Body with Living Food
Nourish your Relationships with Thoughtfulness
~ Tim Ong

Kind, caring, considerate behaviors stem from thoughtfulness; being thoughtful grows out of conscious awareness and compassion. To be thoughtful doesn’t mean twisting and bending out of alignment to meet others’ needs. When we are centered and balanced we are naturally thoughtful to ourselves as well as others.

With conscious awareness of our impact on the world, we consider the ripple effect of our words and actions. We are also considerate towards ourselves - our mental, physical and emotional needs. We express care and concern to loved ones and the environment. Extending a kind thought or gesture, knowing it will brighten another’s day, becomes the norm.

Being thoughtful involves letting go of self-preoccupation, over busyness, and compulsive reactivity in order to be aware of how our lives intertwine with others. It takes us out of isolation and far from codependence into a balanced state of interdependence. We know on a deep level that we are all filled with the same spiritual essence. What we offer others is what we give to ourselves.

Insights into Thoughtfulness

♦ Who are you most thoughtful toward? What situations is it easy for you to consider others’ needs? How do you express your thoughtfulness?

♦ What situations or people do you have difficulty being thoughtful? What gets in the way? What would you have to let go of or embrace in order to be more kind, caring and considerate?

♦ How are you thoughtful toward yourself? Are you able to set boundaries, be honest and express your truth in a thoughtful way? Are you kind and considerate to yourself?

Inspiration for Being Thoughtful

♦ Become aware of one thing that gets in the way of your thoughtfulness. Perhaps it’s due to self-absorption, or being too busy, stressed and overwhelmed. Maybe it’s because you haven’t developed compassion; the ability to understand another’s situation by putting yourself in their shoes. Be willing to shift, change or let go of one behavior or attitude that interferes with being thoughtful toward others.

♦ Brainstorm a list of ways you could express thoughtfulness towards others. Find ways that come naturally for you. Are you good at complimenting, supporting or encouraging others? Do you like to share interesting books, CDs or DVDs with friends? Is there something your spouse or children would love to receive? Does the cashier at the checkout stand look like she needs a loving smile? As you extend thoughtfulness from a centered, balanced state, you will give to yourself as much as you give to others.

♦ Find ways to be more thoughtful to yourself. Check in with your body, mind, heart and soul on a daily basis to see what you need. Does your body need to take a break and stretch? Does your mind need to lighten up with some humor? Does your heart need to fill with self-love? What would nurture your soul today? Being thoughtful to you will have a positive ripple effect onto your family, friends, work and community.

What does being thoughtful mean to you? Please share your insights below.

“You cannot belong to anyone else until you belong to yourself.”       Pearl Bailey

Down deep we all want to belong; to a family, a group, a community, and for many, a nation. As human beings, desiring a sense of belonging is most likely coded into our DNA in order to propagate the species. But as spiritual beings, we know we are whole in ourselves and connected to the oneness of life. From this perspective, belongingness just is.

Loneliness and a feeling of disconnection indicate a lack of connection to our spiritual selves and the Source of all life. When we are spiritually centered we don’t give our power away in order to impress others, people please, or fit in. We don’t join groups to feel accepted or to have a sense of belonging. We partner with others who resonate with our current beliefs, values and interests. We participate in romantic relationships, friendships, businesses, and groups in order to share and express our true nature.

Relationships based on neediness or loneliness become codependent. Relationships based on wholeness and completeness are a celebration of life. When a person feels whole and complete within, they can be alone and still feel a sense of belonging.

Insights into Belonging

♦ Where would you rate your current sense of belonging on a scale of 0 to 10 with 0 indicating none (feeling lonely, disconnected and separate) and 10 being full (feeling whole, complete and belonging whether alone or with others).

♦ What supports you to feel the level of belonging that you currently feel? What gets in the way of having a full sense of belonging?

♦ What could you do right now to increase your sense of belonging (center within your spiritual self, pray, meditate, go for a walk in nature, etc.)?

Inspiration into a Sense of Belonging

♦ If you currently feel a sense of loneliness and longing to belong, sit with that and allow it to be. Go deeper into it to see what underlies it. Are there old childhood memories of neglect or rejection fueling it? Is there anything recent triggering it? As you release pain from the past and move into the present, it will be easier to connect to your inner sense of belonging.

♦ Reflect on your connection to everything in the Universe. Touch into the energy that exists in the cosmos; the intelligence within and between all the planets, moons and stars. Notice how every tree, plant and creature in nature is whole and independent, yet supports the whole ecosystem to flourish. Feel the Source of life that flows through you and every living being and creature on this planet. Know that you are connected to everyone and everything in the Universe.

♦ Take a few minutes each day to spiritually center within and tune into your wholeness and completeness. Feel your connection to the Source of all life. Take this inner sense of belonging with you into your daily activities and encounters. Retune to it anytime you feel separate or alone in order to remember that you belong.

Do you have any questions or insights into having a sense of belonging? Please share below.

“As we grow as unique persons, we learn to respect the uniqueness of others.” Robert H. Schuller

We are each unique beings; physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. In addition to having a distinctive finger print, iris and voice pattern, we have a unique combination of personality quirks, feelings and thoughts. We each see life through the lens of our own unique experience, beliefs and perspective.

When we embrace our uniqueness, our gifts and talents come to life. Our soul has permission to shine through. When we conform in order to fit in, be accepted and avoid rejection, we shut down, numb out and give our power away. As we learn to practice self-acceptance and honor diversity, we feel safe to be our authentic self.

We all long to be seen for who we really are; not just our physical image and personality, but who we are as spiritual beings expressing our uniqueness in human form. Although we are all one at our core, at the same time we are unique vibrations of energy. When someone recognizes and acknowledges this, we feel seen and known on a deep level.

If we don’t embrace our uniqueness we may strive to be special. Special implies better than, more talented or gifted than others. It stands out from the rest, whereas uniqueness is a recognition that we are all special in our own way; no one is any better than another, just different. One person has a talent for making others laugh, another has the ability to evoke emotions by creating beautiful music, and yet another can listen with such compassion that those close by feel nurtured and understood.

Each human, plant and creature on this earth is unique, just as each planet in our solar system has distinct characteristics, and each galaxy in the universe displays it’s own brilliance, yet we all share the same divine essence.

Insights into Uniqueness

♦ Reflect on your friends and family members and explore what is unique about each of them. Do they have a unique voice and laugh? What are their distinctive personality quirks? Do they see the world differently than you? What unique gifts do they bring into your life and into the world? What is it you particularly like about them?

♦ What is unique about you? Is it your bluntness, kindness, whacky sense of humor? Perhaps its how you blurt out inappropriate comments at a dinner gathering, or see right through to the heart of the matter, or have a calming affect on those around you. Notice what triggers you, what touches your heart and what sets you apart from others. What are you known for? What are your strengths? What about your so called weaknesses, perhaps these are just part of your unique package that makes you perfect as you are. Embrace all aspects of your unique self.

♦ What happens to you when you try to fit in with a group or blend in with others in a way that covers up your uniqueness? How does it feel? What about when you embrace your uniqueness? How does it feel to be your authentic self?

Inspiration for Embracing Your Uniqueness

♦ What gets in the way of embracing your uniqueness and being your authentic self? What do you need to do to feel safe and acceptant of yourself and others? Let go of any limiting beliefs or fears that block you from being authentic.

♦ What supports you to be real and authentic? Is it your state of mind and emotions or is it dependent on who you are with? Regardless of how others view you, embrace your uniqueness and let it shine out with friends, family and strangers. Honor the diversity of others and notice how this supports you to be yourself.

♦ Touch into your unique vibration beyond your physical image, thoughts, emotions and personality. Close your eyes and center within yourself. Say hello to your mind and to your body. Notice thoughts, emotions and sensations, and then go deeper into your spiritual self. Feel your expansive true nature and notice the quality of your unique vibration as a spiritual being.

Do you have any questions or insights on how to embrace your uniqueness? Please share below.

“I would rather have a mind opened by wonder than one closed by belief.” Gerry Spence

Openness is an open hearted, open minded, genuine way of being in the world. It’s a place of softness, spaciousness, and lightness. It’s where possibilities and inspiration live.

With an open heart love emanates from our very being into the world unobstructed. We are safe when our love flows fully. Shut down, our heart becomes hardened and vulnerable. Open, we embrace ourselves and others with tenderness, compassion and joy.

With an open mind, we experience life first hand rather than analyzing it through our beliefs and programming. We are open to new ideas and understandings beyond our ego’s views of reality. We know there is so much more to life than we see with our physical eyes.

When our body is open and relaxed, our life force moves easily through our physical form; cleaning, clearing and supporting us to have optimal health and energy. We look and feel flexible and vibrant.

Openness is how our spirit lives; it knows no other way of being. As we center within our spiritual selves, we open to our higher truth, wisdom and knowingness. We see the bigger picture beyond dualities of right and wrong, good and bad, us and them. We step into the oneness and wholeness of life.

Insights on Openness

♦ Where is your mind open and where is it closed? What areas do you let family, cultural, religious, or societal conditioning dominate you and prevent you from opening up to broader views?

♦ Are you open hearted? How open is your heart at this time? What causes it to close down? What supports it to open up? How does it feel to have an open heart versus a closed heart?

♦ How open, relaxed and flexible is your body these days? Where do you carry tension or tightness? What are you holding onto? What emotions are you clamping down on? What would happen if you brought openness to your body and emotions?

Inspiration for Opening Up

♦ To become more open minded explore other beliefs, ideologies and world views - particularly in areas where you are easily triggered into judgment or fear. Adopt another’s viewpoint to see what it’s like. Let go of opinions in a conversation and just listen with neutrality.

♦ Open your heart by taking time each day to turn inward and connect with the love within you. Turn up the volume on it and let it flow through your entire body down to the cells. Whenever you feel wounded by another, instead of closing your heart as a way to protect, which only shuts down your own access to love, open your heart and nurture yourself with love. Then embrace the other with loving compassion and forgiveness.

♦ Open your body through relaxation, movement and energy awareness. When you notice tension or stress in your body, take a deep breath and on the exhale, let go of holding. Allow emotions to surface, vibrate and release. Move into a state of non-resistance and feel your energy and life force flow through your body.

What supports you to live in a state of openness? Please share below.

“I don’t want to get to the end of my life and find that I lived just the length of it. I want to have lived the width of it as well.”  Diane Ackerman

To live life fully is to embrace the richness of each moment, each experience, each encounter. Life is filled with an array of experiences, some pleasant, some not. If we shut our eyes to the unpleasant side, we miss out on the wholeness and fullness of life. When we are present in every aspect of our lives we rely less on external circumstances to fill us up as we know we are already complete. We are then free to enjoy the different scenarios without attachment. Like the turn of a kaleidoscope, each day offers a new picture.

Some miss out on the fullness of life because they are too afraid to participate; they live vicariously while their life sits on a shelf like a book waiting to be opened. Others fill their days with so much busyness and distractions their life becomes a blur, similar to the terrain when you zoom past it on the highway.

The fortunate ones are those who live life fully; they enjoy the subtle essences as well as the vibrant colors; they balance the active moments with stillness and silence; they appreciate the depth of a dull, gray day as much as the sun’s radiant rays.

Life is not meant to be compartmentalized into what’s good, bad and okay, but viewed and experienced from a bigger perspective where experiences flow together into one grand design.

Insights on Living Life Fully

♦ What aspects of life do you avoid? What underlies this - fear, judgment, guilt? What do you miss out on as a result?

♦ What parts of life do you embrace? What supports this - courage, enthusiasm, connection to others, spiritual practices? What do you gain as a result?

♦ What gets in the way of fully enjoying life - duties, obligations, lack of boundaries, addiction to drama, isolation? Are you ready to let any of these go?

Inspiration into Living a Full Life

♦ Use water as a metaphor to describe your life - is it the gushing torrent of a waterfall, crashing waves on the beach, the gentle swirl of a stream, a still lifeless pond? Are you content with it? How would you like it to flow? Close your eyes and tune into the vision and vibration of a water scene that resonates with how you would like your life to flow. Feel the speed and movement. Let your body match this energy. Now envision your daily activities moving at this pace.

♦ Throughout the day, stop doing and enjoy being. Let go of the past and future and embrace the present moment. Touch into the essence of your current experience. Shift out of the head and into the body. Make decisions from your heart and soul.

♦ What would your life would be like if you lived it fully in a balanced way. What would you do differently? What would you do more of? What would you do less of? Set an intention to live this way today and every day.

Was something stirred within you? Please share your insights below.

“The power of intention is the power to manifest, to create, to live a life of unlimited abundance, and to attract into your life the right people at the right moments.” ~ Wayne Dyer

When you set an intention through thoughts, words or vision, the power of intention creates a momentum that carries you forward to your desires. Simply stating, “I intend to do, be or experience” something is akin to making a commitment; a promise to yourself and the Universe. If it’s made with the intent being for the highest good of everyone involved, divine sources come into assist. As Goethe said, “All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred…unforeseen incidents, meetings, and material assistance, which no man could have dreamed would have come his way.”

Intention is filled with certainty, enthusiasm and courage. Intending to achieve something is claiming it as yours. It is then created on an energy level and it is just a matter of time before it manifests into material form. The power of intention can be used to focus on anything in your life - not just external goals and dreams, but internal states of being, shifts in perception, and emotional, mental and physical healing. Intending to experience a state of being such as ease, joy or freedom can manifest very quickly as you are the creator of your own experience.

No one else creates for you, but intention calls in your spiritual self and the God of your heart to support you to manifest your heart and soul’s desires. Are you ready to start intending?

Insights on the Power of Intention
♦ What dreams and goals that you intended have manifested for you in the past year?

♦ What small daily intentions such as experiencing easy traffic flow, perfect parking spaces, or clear communication in a conversation have manifested for you lately?

♦ How often do you clearly set an intention for bigger dreams and goals? How often do you set small, daily intentions?

Inspiration for Intention Setting
♦ Set intentions every day. When you first wake in the morning, set an intention for how you’d like your day to go. If you’re having a meeting with an individual or group, set an intention for how you’d like the conversation to flow. As you make these smaller intentions, you will see just how powerful intention setting can be.

♦ Set intentions for bigger dreams and goals. What would you like to manifest this year? Choose up to three things you would like to experience, have or be this year and write them down with a statement such as, “I intend to have . . .” or “I intend to experience . . .” or “I intend be . . .”

♦ Envision your intentions. Thinking about intentions is powerful for the small ones. Writing down intentions helps to claim the bigger ones, but for the deeper desires of your heart and soul, envisioning your intentions as though they are real, right here and now, helps to manifest them more quickly and easily. Take time to envision what you want.

You might also benefit from visiting my Creating & Manifesting page where you can watch a short video on the main steps to create and manifest your goals, listen to a short guided imagery session on envisioning your goals, and read an article on how to have what you want in your life.

If you enjoyed this article, please share it with others through the share/save button. If you have any questions or insights on the power of intention, please share below in the comments section.

“The only real valuable thing is intuition.” ~ Albert Einstein

Trusting intuition involves tuning out the external world and listening to internal cues; the gentle inner voice that reminds you to bring your umbrella even though the sun is shining; the goose bumps that quiver across your arms inviting you to pay close attention to the conversation; the image of a person that flashes through your mind just before they call on the phone. This is intuition in action.

Whenever we need to make a decision we can access intuition by centering within and listening to our inner voice, looking at the situation through spiritual eyes, or opening to our higher awareness. Each person has their favored way of intuiting situations, but all forms are available.

Some find it easiest to listen to body cues such as tingling sensations nudging them forward or a knot in the stomach warning them to stay back. This clear sensing is what many call a gut feeling. Others rely on their inner voice or clear hearing to guide them towards or away from situations and people. It often sounds quiet and neutral, like a gentle Tibetan Monk calmly stating that going in this direction will lead to a peaceful path, but heading in that direction could be treacherous. And then there’s times when the inner voice screams loudly to ensure it gets your attention; “Get out now, the caller is in the house!”

Visual people may prefer to use their clear seeing or spiritual eyes to see the subtle energy dynamics within and between people and situations. This is a valuable tool to quickly and easily see the truth or reality of any situation. My personal favorite is clear knowing or higher wisdom, where you simply know what is going on or about to happen. Trusting intuition is natural for some, but takes time and practice for others. It’s important to turn down the analyzer that wants to assess people and situations from a logical point of view only. The analytical mind is great for doing such things as taxes, but limiting when looking for deeper answers and broader awareness.

Insights into Accessing Intuition
♦ How do you access intuition? What form of intuition comes most naturally to you? Which form is less accessible? What form would you like to develop?

♦ How often do you trust your intuition? What happens when you do? What happens when you don’t? Reflect over times you were grateful for your trusting intuition and times when you didn’t and wished you had.

♦ What supports you to trust intuition? What limits it or gets in the way? What can you do to trust your intuition more often?

Inspiration for Developing Intuition
♦ Set your intention to pay closer attention to intuitive nudges. With this simple intention you will begin to notice your inner voice, clear sensing, clear seeing or higher knowing.

♦ Follow your intuitive decisions. The next time your inner voice, sensing, or higher wisdom suggests something, follow it even if it goes against logic and see what happens. Start with small safe actions and then as you gain confidence and trust, follow bigger intuitive decisions.

♦ Play intuitive games such as intuiting who is calling when the phone rings, seeing an image of the weather later in the day, holding cards with a different color or shape on each and using your clear seeing to visualize what color or shape is on each card without looking, tuning into what others are feeling or thinking while having a conversation with them, and noticing the energy in different settings (such as a library, party, office, friend’s home).

If you have any questions on intuition or examples to share, please comment below.

“Give love and unconditional acceptance to those you encounter, and notice what happens.”  Wayne Dyer

Breathing into what is, letting each moment be as it is; this is acceptance. We have a choice in each moment to accept or resist what is happening. In acceptance we acknowledge the truth instead of resisting reality. We may not like what we see or what we’re experiencing, but we accept that it’s real. This softens our heart and allows us to be in the flow of life rather than struggling against it.

There are things we want to deny - loss, death, hardship. And things we may wish to avoid - difficult people, uncomfortable feelings, traffic jams. But in doing so we shut a part of ourselves off and this feels worse than the thing we are avoiding. Resistance, denial and struggle are anti-life and prevent us from moving forward into a new experience. Acceptance is like the breeze - it keeps on moving and before you know it, the difficult person or situation is gone or has been transformed into something new.

Insights into Acceptance

♦ What are the positive experiences and people you are accepting right now? What are the difficult situations and people you are accepting right now? What does acceptance do for you mentally, emotionally, physically and spiritually?

♦ What positive experiences are you resisting because they are too good to accept? How does this affect you? What do you gain? What do you miss out on?

♦ What difficult experiences or people are you resisting? How does this affect you? What underlies the resistance - is it fear, sadness, hopelessness? What would happen if you accept these feelings?

Inspiration for Being Acceptant

♦ Notice something positive you are resisting in your life at this time - it may be a compliment, a new opportunity, a skill or talent you have. Imagine accepting it as it is into your life. What thoughts arise, what feelings surface? Hear the messages and let them go. Feel the feelings and let them process. Breath into acceptance until it feels neutral.

♦ What or who do you tend to resist? Notice what happens to you physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually when you go into resistance. Take a few deep breaths and breathe out resistance while breathing in acceptance. Say to yourself, “I accept this situation as it is or this person as they are.” You don’t have to like the situation or person, but notice how freeing it is to be in a state of acceptance.

♦ Turn inward and tune into the essence of acceptance - that open, unguarded, spaciousness within. Be a flower blowing with the breeze - grounded into the earth, yet in a state of ease and flow. Take this with you wherever you go.

What supports you to be in a state of acceptance - please share below.