Musings...

Life will break you.
Nobody can protect you from that,

and living alone won't either,

for solitude will also break you with its yearning.

You have to love.

You have to feel.

It is the reason you are here on earth.

You are here to risk your heart,

you are here to be swallowed up.

And when it happens that you are broken,
or betrayed,  or left, or hurt,
or death brushes near,

let yourself sit by an apple tree

and listen to the apples
falling all around you in heaps,

wasting their sweetness.

Tell yourself that you tasted
as many as you could.

Louise Erdrich

What our intuition isn’t...

Before I begin a session and in fact prior to teaching a workshop I have a little something that I say, without fail, every single time:

Thank you for my gift

Please take care of me while I am using it

Please get my ego the heck out of here

And never, ever let me say or do anything that will harm someone

All parts of this prayer are vitally important to what I do, but the most important one for me is the third part, the bit that says “please get my ego the heck out of here…” because ego has no part in intuition and absolutely no place whatsoever in the work that I do.

What I am asking by this is that what I think, what I have opinions about, what I see as being true, what I consider of importance, play no part whatsoever in connection with my intuition.

And that’s why sometimes seems that our intuition misleads us, because it’s not actually our intuition speaking, it’s our ego. It’s our thoughts, our opinions, our judgements or our biases. And it can be from any one of these that we take our guidance, instead of bypassing them all and letting the voice within that has no ego, no thought, no opinion, no judgement or bias, letting that voice come through and guide us intuitively.

How do we learn to differentiate? How we learn to do anything else? Through practice. Through being very honest with ourselves, very humble, asking, and then listening for the answer… rather than finding it. Most of all by making a conscious effort to really get to know ourselves. Not the persona that we adopt to get though this thing called life. Not the layers of make believe that we’ve had to invent or had cast upon us to fit into this thing called society. Not the lies and the half truths that we live with, in order to belong and be accepted.

Really getting to know the truth of who we really are. Who we were created as. Who we are meant to be.

In Greek mythology, Delphi was the site of the Delphic oracle, the most important oracle in the classic Greek world. It can be no mistake that supposedly carved into the Temple of Apollo at Delphi, were the words “Know thyself.”

Musings...

People are like stained-glass windows.

They sparkle and shine when the sun is out,

but when the darkness sets in,

their true beauty is revealed
only if there is a light from within.

-Elizabeth Kubler-Ross

Is our intuition always correct?

You followed your intuition and you know in your heart that what you did was right. So how come sometimes it feels so awful?

I often get asked how do I know that my intuition is always going to be correct?

We need to start by defining what we mean by “correct.” If we take the meaning of the word to be “correct” as in “right” (as opposed to “wrong”) then we are, in fact, asking if our intuition is always “right.”

 The answer to that question is that our intuition is always right for us. And that’s the emphasis. FOR US. Which means that our intuition will always guide us to do what is right for us, but that doesn’t necessarily mean to say that it’s always going to feel good.

Again it is in the emphasis. It will be good FOR US. That doesn’t necessarily mean we’re going to like it, or that it isn’t at times going to really suck!

But remember, the story is never over. We don’t know yet where this part of our journey is going to lead us. And we continue along our path. We then often find, with hindsight, that it is exactly the part of the journey that we really didn’t like… the rotten part that we ended up in because we’d followed our intuition… it was that exact decision that brought us eventually to exactly the perfect place, or situation, or person that is right for us now.

Which is why the word trust goes hand in hand with intuition.

It’s trusting that we have an innate sense of knowing...

that we are receiving guidance from whoever or whatever we believe created us...

that we will follow that guidance come what may...

that we inherently trust that wherever we are, at any particular time, is exactly where we’re meant to be...

and that ultimately it will lead is to what is right... for us.

Musings...

If the sight of the blue skies fills you with joy,

if a blade of grass springing up in the fields

has power to move you,

if the simple things have a message
that you understand,

rejoice,

for your soul is alive.

- Eleonora Duse

Postcards from the Universe

In the course of my week there are often lovely little “coincidences” that occur which I fondly refer to as “Postcards from the Universe.” Sometimes they have meaning, which is immediately apparent, other times the meaning will not reveal itself until sometime later on down the road.

And then there are those special times, when it is, quite simply, as if someone is saying: “We’re here, we’re paying attention to your life, and we just thought we’d drop by to let you know that.”

To give you an example. The other night I watched the movie “Ondine.” The story of an Irish fisherman who discovers a woman in his fishing net who he believes to be a Selke (a water nymph). The next day I continue reading “Dream Keepers” by Morrie Ruvinsky. The tale begins when the crew of a fishing boat pulls a naked, wounded man from the cold Pacific waters. The protagonist’s name: Jason Ondine.

These are magical moments and when they occur I simply stop what I’m doing, smile wistfully and say “Thank you. Thank you very much”

And the Winner is...

I'm delighted to announce the winner of the set of four "SoulSpeak" greeting cards in my blog giveaway for the One World One Heart 2011 is:

LORRI

CONGRATULATIONS!

Thank you everyone who participated ~ it was a thoroughly lovely time all round.

One World One Heart 2011

How lovely of you to drop by for a visit! I am delighted to participate for the first time in One World One Heart - what an inspiration to all of us to share more of ourselves with each other. Many thanks to the organiser of this wonderful concept and for all her very hard work!

My name is Shena Meadowcroft and I am an Intuitive, Writer, Artist and Teacher. I live on the wonderful island of Gabriola, off Vancouver Island, on the west coast of British Columbia, Canada.

My days are spent counseling, consulting or creating; either through my writing or my art, which takes on many forms as the ideas unfold. That’s when I’m not meandering along the shore line or in the forest where I find my inspiration and restore my soul ~

My whole focus is to work with people to provide them with a safe place to remember and discover more of who they are. So much of that can be done through journaling, writing, art and sharing our own truth. I love what I do and feel truly blessed to be able to inspire others to do the same.

My prize for the giveaway is your choice:


1)   Either a 1/2 hour intuitive session by phone or by email (for more details please look to descriptions of how I work on the righthand side of the blog under the headings "Intuitive Insights" and "So what is an Intuitive anyway?"

2)   or a print of my "Leaving it all Behind" photocollage, a piece which was commissioned for the millenium issue of Synchronicity magazine.

3)   or a set of four “Soulspeak” greeting cards - for a more detailed description please visit: http://shenameadowcroft.blogspot.com/2009/11/soulspeak-cards.html

The winning name will be drawn on February 17th. Please leave a comment if you would like to be entered into the draw, indicating which of the three gifts you would like to win, and your email address so I can contact you should you win.

GOOD LUCK!

Thank you so much for spending some time with me in my world ~

May you have a beautiful day ~

Find your own Way

One of the most reassuring quotes I have ever encountered are from the immortal words of Tolkein: “Not all who wander are lost…” and tonight, one of the last songs in a fairly innocuous little movie that sparked off a whole other way of thinking for me (which I’ve written about on my Life… Writing… Art blog http://byshena.blogspot.com/2011/01/sowing-seeds-for-new-year.html) was a song by James Morrison called “Undiscovered.” I confess that I did not actually listen to all the words of the song, but one line stayed with me, and that is “I’m not lost, I’m just trying to discover…”

We are sometimes so harsh on ourselves, expecting far too much, to always know where we are going, what we are doing, and why we are doing it. I had decided a few days ago that my main resolution for the upcoming year was to have an adventure each day. It didn’t have to be a big one, it could be a teeny, tiny one. I didn’t have to physically travel, it could be a little foray into a book, exploring an art form or even meandering through a thought. But I would venture forth each day, somewhere…

Joseph Campbell wrote: “If there was already a path it would have to someone else’s; the whole point is to find your own way.”

My wish to you this coming year is exactly that: WANDER ~ DISCOVER ~ AND FIND YOUR OWN WAY!

Happy New Year – and have fun getting lost!

So what is an Intuitive anyway? Talk

The first of my talks "So what is an Intuitive anyway?" held this last Tuesday here on Gabriola was well attended. Several people signed up for the workshop to be held next Tuesday November 23rd which has filled up fast and I now have another five people on a waiting list for one in early December. Date to be announced! Far more importantly that evening, a safe space was provided for others to share their own intuitive experiences and questions. I am so grateful to be able to do the work that I do.