Each morning, before getting out of bed, think of at least three things that you are grateful for. FEEL gratitude for these things. This will start your day with positive momentum.
You may want to keep a journal next to your bed and write down the things you are grateful for.
This will add more energy to the experience.
Set the intention that you want to remember to FEEL more gratitude throughout the day.
To get into the habit, you can set a timer to go off throughout the day to remind you. If you are with someone when the timer goes off, tell them something you appreciate about them.
As an added reminder, post the word “Gratitude” in a few places where you will see it throughout the day. Here are some ideas where to post your Gratitude reminders: bedside table, bathroom mirror, car dashboard, computer, refrigerator, work area, wallet or money purse. When you become aware of these notes, think of something you are grateful for and feel the energy of gratitude, sending out a “thank you” to anyone involved.
Sincere gratitude is one of the quickest ways to uplift yourself. It helps to break energy blockages, making it easier to send and absorb all the love flowing to you from others.
The goal is to be more mindful of expressing gratitude, not just for the “good” things, but also for the challenges, for they often give us the greatest lessons of awareness. A little gratitude goes a long way. How do you feel when others express gratitude to you? Offer that as a gift to others. Even your Creator loves to be thanked!
“This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.” ~ Psalm 118:24
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” ~ Philippians 4:6-7
“Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever!” ~ Psalm 107:1
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HEART CONNECTION
The “Heart Connection” is a simple, yet powerful, method to increase love. It is also a way to energetically heal imbalances with people and traumatic events. You may have seen pictures of religious icons having a flame or sun in the heart region. Every conscious being has this Divine Flame, one’s Inner Spirit, which is a connection to the Creator. The Heart Connection can help you to feel a stronger connection with the Creator, your Inner Spirit and others.
HOW TO DO THE HEART CONNECTION
Place your left hand on your upper heart region. Then place your right hand on top of your left hand. Then well up feelings of love and gratitude. Your hands become an electrical circuit and will create an energetic loop coming from the front side of your Divine Flame, going into your left palm, up your arm, through the back side of your heart/flame, down your right arm, out of your palm and back into your heart. Feel the energy and warmth of your heart/flame. Allow the energy to flow through your entire body and auric field.
CONNECT DEEPLY WITH THE CREATOR
Use the Heart Connection to consciously send and receive love with the Creator. Amp up your level of love and gratitude until you feel the energy going to and from the Creator. Bask in this love for several moments. Connecting with the Creator in this manner is an excellent way to start and end each day.
INCREASE SELF-LOVE
The Heart Connection is a powerful method to increase self-love and remain emotionally balanced. Do the Heart Connection as mentioned above. Connect with your Divine Flame. Fan your Flame with feelings of love and gratitude. Bring to mind happy memories and acts of kindness you have performed. Send love and gratitude to your body, mind and soul. Receive the love coming back to you. Know that you are loved beyond measure. Be grateful for the opportunity to be on earth at this moment. Relax and enjoy the love connection.
This is a great way to start and end every day. You can do this while resting in bed with your eyes closed. As you groom for the day, make the Heart Connection while looking in the mirror. Amp up your self-love throughout the day while you are driving, walking or going about your busy day. Simply visualize your hands on your heart while giving yourself a dose of self-love whenever you feel unbalanced or need to be uplifted.
ENHANCE YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH THOSE YOU LOVE
You can use the Heart Connection with those you love or would like to have an enhanced relationship with. First, amp up love and gratitude in your heart. Then imagine the person standing in front of you. Begin to send love to this person and allow your heart to open and receive the love that flows back to you. Telepathically, they will receive this love and thoughts of you may come into their mind. How much they receive your love is dependent on how open their heart is.
HEAL UNBALANCED ENERGIES WITH PEOPLE, PLACES, EVENTS
The Heart Connection is a powerful tool to heal stuck energies created with people you are off balance with. Visualize the person standing in front of you. If the pain is too great with this person, then send them the energy without visualizing them in front of you.
Set a strong intention that you want to heal the wounds with this person. You do not have to direct the energy in any way, just send and receive the love. If you prefer, you can ask their forgiveness, accept responsibility for your actions or forgive them for their actions.
Recognize that they and you both operate from the unresolved emotional trauma incurred throughout life. Keep in mind that when humans intentionally harm themselves or others, there is often demonic interference. This doesn’t excuse their behavior, but it may make it easier for you to forgive them.
If you are not ready to forgive or feel uncomfortable sending love to this person, then focus on connecting with their Inner Spirit, their divine connection to the Creator. Do the energy exchange from this level. You can do this with people who are alive or deceased.
Perhaps it is not a person, but a place or an event that is the cause of the imbalance. Focus your attention on this place or event, asking the Creator to help you to heal. Ask for insights to help you see things from a new perspective in order to heal more deeply.
Caution: With this exercise, you are communicating at a soul level, which includes the mind, emotions and will. This exercise is not meant to be used to get someone to become romantically interested in you. That is manipulation, not unconditional love. Rather, send this person love and an intention that you are interested in getting to know him/her better. Then let that energy flow as it will.
You cannot change the past, only your perspective of it. The future is created from decisions made in the current moment. The current moment is where one’s creative power lies. Thus, your current thoughts, words and actions allow you to release the past and open doors of possibilities that will create your future.
THOUGHTS
Humans have a “monkey mind” with thoughts constantly flowing through. Yet, which ones do you grab onto and remain focused on? If you stay focused in the past, with all the trauma you didn’t resolve, regrets, anger and anything that didn’t meet your expectations, you keep those imbalanced emotions and memories stored in your body and energy fields. As a result, they become part of your current experience.
This negativity creates energetic blocks in your body. It is like blocking the river flow with a dam. The energy can’t flow properly and the water pools and stagnates. Similarly, blocked energy will not flow properly through the body, which leads to physical dis-ease. These blocks also affect one’s mental clarity and creates emotional imbalance. Energy blocks also affect one’s ability to expand their spiritual awareness by blocking Divine Love energy flowing in from the Creator. This also creates communication blocks in relationships with others.
It is important to resolve emotional trauma, to accept responsibility for your actions and inactions, to forgive others and yourself and to let go of expectations that did not come to fruition.
When a person is having low vibrational thoughts, they will absorb thoughts put out by others that are similar in nature. If a person has expectations that negative things always happen to them, that they are cursed or have low self-esteem, they will keep this “victim” mentality alive in their energy field. As a result, they will draw people of a similar frequency to them, reinforcing their false beliefs. Victims will attract perpetrators, keeping both in a vicious cycle of abuse.
On the opposite spectrum, those who focus their thoughts on positive outcomes will experience more happiness, joy and a zest for life. They are busy fulfilling their heart’s desire. Model their behavior. Learn how they overcame their obstacles. You will likely find that many of them spend time each day in inner-spection. They have parameters, keeping in mind the time and energy needed to follow their pursuits. All of this increases the natural flow in their body, as well as their energy connection to the Creator, thus energizing them to follow through with their dreams.
In addition to self-generated thoughts, there are many other avenues that thoughts affect one’s soul (mind, emotions, will). Here are a few that you might want to pay attention to: song lyrics, movies, TV, the news, books, gossip, whiney people’s stories, uninformed teachers, improper medical diagnosis, damnation preachers, one-sided history books, mud-slinging politics, social media negativity, conspiracy theories, end of the world fearmongers, etc. We are constantly bombarded with negative words and false beliefs. Add to that the demonic realm who throw projected thoughts, preying on one’s weaknesses.
Start paying attention to what you are thinking as well as what you are allowing into your energy field. Over time, these energies glop together in layers, creating physical, emotional, mental and spiritual blocks. As soon as you realize you are engaged in negative thinking, focus your thoughts onto something that is more inspiring. You can also offset the thoughts by singing songs of praise and immersing in scriptural studies.
Be ready to turn off the radio, TV or computer if they are bringing you down. Learn to gracefully remove yourself from gossipy conversations. If you can’t get the others to change the topic, gracefully, walk away. If you are not an activist, then withdraw yourself from the drama others create. If you don’t have positive solutions to bring to the table, then you become part of the problem.
WORDS
The words you speak reflect your thoughts. “Great minds talk about ideas, average minds talk about events, small minds talk about people.” People “out of their minds” talk about heart-centered topics such as love, kindness and spiritual awakening. What level you are on when you are “speaking your mind.”
T.H.I.N.K. before you speak.
Before you speak or type a single word, filter first by asking yourself if it is:
Timely
Honest
I, I, I (Ego-Centered)
Necessary
Kind
Take time to ponder events in your past when you said things that you wish you hadn’t.
How about the times you held back when it would have been better to speak?
Note the time you spent assuming someone said something or meant it in a way that you took wrong. Instead of asking for clarity at the time, you held a grudge, often for years.
We all do it, but wouldn’t life be much grander if we all followed this simple formula? You can start by making this your practice and offering others a feeling of safety where each of you can fully and honestly express your truth.
ACTIONS
You are probably familiar with the saying, “actions speak louder than words.” There is much truth in this. How often have you heard people say one thing while doing another? You likely are guilty of the same. Take time for inner reflection. Look at the actions you choose and see which are not in alignment with your truth. Do you even know what your truth is?
Are your expectations of self and those you place on others not being fulfilled, resulting in emotional outbursts? Then look within and start releasing any expectations that you discover. Your expectation of others may not be what they choose or even capable of. You can’t control what others think, say or do. Trying to manipulate them to meet your expectations creates stress and separation. Expectations keep you focused on the future, whereas dropping them allows you to live more in the flow of the moment.
Are you in a job that satisfies you? If not, start looking for ways to allow your creativity to flow so that you enjoy your work, while creating the abundance you desire.
Do you engage in recreational activities that exercise your body and bring you joy or drain you? Take note of all the actions you take during your day. Those that lead you away from your true desires, start to filter them out and replace them with activities that allow you to express yourself creatively.
Do you know how to say “no, thank you” to people who pull you into activities you are not interested in?
Do you have co-dependent tendencies that have you doing things out of obligation?
Do you continually offer your services, wearing yourself out doing for others, while leaving little time, money or energy to fulfill your own needs and desires?
Take time to go within to see if you are off balance in this area, then start making changes to get yourself more grounded and centered.
Jesus shows us “the way, and the truth and the life” in the New Testament. There are also plenty of examples, such as the “Ten Commandments” in the Old Testament. I encourage you to study the Bible and other ancient scriptures with fresh eyes, questioning any doctrines you may have taken on with blind faith.
If you are new to reading the Bible or have been away for a while, you are encouraged to start reading the New Testament. Set a goal to read 1 – 3 chapters each day.
Unless you feel Guided to do otherwise, start with the book of Matthew and read through to the end of Revelation. Then restart at Matthew again. Each time you reread the scriptures, you will pick up new information and have deep understanding.
Each day before you start reading, ask Jesus to help you to understand and see the Truth in what you’re reading. At times, you may feel prompted to search online for help in understanding certain words or sayings.
It’s also good to imagine that you were there and witnessing what was being said and heard.
“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” Matthew 7:7
If you want to have balance and inner calm in your life, then taking time daily for inner-spection is critical. You can call this meditation, prayer or quiet time. Be forewarned that if you are a Seeker and you do not take time on a regular basis for inner-spection, your Inner Spirit may start waking you up in the middle of the night to get your attention. The most common time is between 3-4 a.m.
Whether you choose to be in a certain position, sitting, laying down, walking, using special breathing techniques or mudras, it matters not. The goal is to be in a state where your body is relaxed and your mind is free from distractions. Try various techniques to find out what works best for you. Likely, you will find a variety of ways to reach this receptive state of inner peace.
SIMPLE BREATH EXERCISE
Whenever you are feeling your anxiety level rising or about to lose it emotionally, take several slow, deep breaths in and out. This will put you into a more relaxed brain state. Continue until you feel yourself become more balanced and peaceful. You can do this and remain composed even if someone is screaming at you. Allow them to vent, while sending love from your heart to theirs. Rather than engaging in their drama, keep your focus on your breathing so you can remain grounded and clear-headed. Thus, you will be less likely to say or do something that adds more fuel to the fire.
Just because someone else is creating drama, that does not mean that you have to engage in it. The beauty of this exercise is that it can be done easily and under any circumstances. When traffic is stressing you out, breathe. The next time the person you are talking to starts acting out, breathe. Do several deep breaths before reacting to a family member’s behavior. Office problems can quickly be calmed when you release through the breath and do not indulge in gossip.
If you are having a hard time holding it together emotionally, excuse yourself and head to the bathroom. Most people will not follow you there. While sitting on the throne, take several more breaths in and out until you feel calm and regal again. When you return, avoid that person or try to engage in a different topic. If that is not feasible, then calmly tell the other person you would like to schedule another time to continue the conversation, when you both have calmed down. This will allow you time to evaluate the situation and hopefully, find a positive solution or outcome.
FACE AND OVERCOME FEARS
Take time to face your fears. You can ask your Inner Spirit to help you recognize the fears that are keeping you blocked. When you face your fears and allow yourself to look at the root cause, it is often easy to dismantle them. Most fears come from concerns about the future, based on the fear of the past repeating itself. However, when you scrutinize many of the fears you adopted during early childhood, they hold no fire anymore, because you are no longer a helpless, voiceless child. Pull yourself into the current moment. Ask yourself if this fear is valid right now.
Rather than staying paralyzed in fear, start taking action on creating the preferred outcome. Nothing that happened in the past killed you. Here you are, reading this, so you ain’t dead, yet. Consider all the things you have worried about that never came to fruition. Also, look at the ones that did come to fruition and you might discover that you unintentionally created them because of your focus on that fear. Remember, we create with our thoughts, words, actions, fears and beliefs. Release what no longer resonates with you.
FALSE BELIEFS
As we encounter trauma throughout our life, we develop coping skills. When these traumas happen in early childhood, we adopt beliefs that match our maturity level. These “old tapes” become the foundation upon which we build our thoughts, words, actions and incorporate fears. It is important to find these false beliefs and have a talk with your inner child. “Call in” your inner child and speak to him or her as though you were speaking to a child at the age that the trauma occurred. If it is too painful to review the trauma, choose to go in as an Observer. Allow the emotions to surface so they can be released.
Bring your inner child up to date by showing him or her that you are now an adult and no longer a victim. Show your inner child that those immature beliefs are no longer valid. They were useful at the time as a coping mechanism. However, now they are creating blocks with your relationships, flow of abundance, self-love, the ability to give and receive love, and every aspect of your life. On my website is an Inner Child Meditation that has helped many: https://www.theresacrabtree.com/inner-child/
These false beliefs are often deeply buried, however, clues will surface when you have PTSD flashbacks, nightmares, when your “buttons are pushed” and anytime you feel off balance with someone or a situation. During your inner-spection time, ask to be shown these hidden beliefs and request help in how to release them. Then fill that void with love and gratitude as you experience a new level of self-empowerment.
There is a Bible verse that reminds us of a great gift from God. We only have to allow ourselves to receive it.
1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Below is a powerful prayer that can help you to keep your body and soul (mind, emotions, will) to help keep you on a good Path. Do this every night before bedtime.
Imagine you are in the presence of the Creator. Review the activities of the day. Admit where you fell short and be truly remorseful, with the intention of doing your best not to do it again. Admit even the things that seem trivial. It’s better to be safe than sorry. You don’t want to have any doors open that allow demons to set up residence in your body or soul.
Pray from the heart with truth and humility. This prayer follows the basic outline that Jesus gave us in Matthew 6:9-13, commonly called “The Lord’s Prayer.” Reword it however you wish.
“Father, I recognize you as the creator of all of heaven and earth. Holy is your name. It is my desire to be your ambassador of Divine Love, living my life in a way that brings more of heaven onto earth. I am grateful for all the blessings I received today. (You can name some, if you choose.)
I admit that today I (state what you did that you’re not happy about). I accept your promise that you will forgive my faults, as long as I forgive others who have harmed me in any way. (If you have unforgiveness towards anyone, admit it and forgive them or state that you choose to forgive them.)
Help me to recognize the temptations of others so that I do not fall into immorality. I receive your blessing to cleanse me from all unrighteousness.
I do not give consent for any demons to have access to my body, soul or my home. If any have snuck in this day, I command now that you leave me and my home, never to return again, in the name of Jesus Christ.
Thank you, Father, for the privilege of my being in embodiment at this time. I offer myself in service to you. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.”
