“You must see your goals clearly and specifically before you can set out for them. Hold them in your mind until they become second nature.”

~Les Brown, Author & Motivational Speaker

It seems like everyone is trying their hand at intentional manifestation these days. And I couldn’t be happier to hear it. Because, as we practice at focusing our intent for optimum manifestation, we each become more aware of the negative messages that we are sending out in our daily lives. And in so doing we tend to lessen the number of those messages that we are broadcasting, which can only result in the evolution of a more positive world.

What isn’t positive, however, is the frustration that many of us can often feel when we work to manifest something and it doesn’t seem to turn out properly. Try as we might it seems that the focus of our intent on one positive thing long enough to bring it into manifestation for ourself is something that we just cannot achieve.

Many people determine, prematurely, that the power of intention simply doesn’t work or, that their own thoughts are too hopelessly negative to allow them to use this power. But this is not necessarily the truth.

We live in an externalizing society. We are taught to believe that all that we could or should be doing to better ourselves is something outside of ourself. Thus the internal and natural abilities which are involved in intentional manifestation, the imaginative and visualization skills we need to employ, have not been properly nurtured or developed in our lives.

In developing the skill of focusing our visualizations on our intent, and seeing it as real, we can become more and more gifted at the actual manifestation of our deepest desires.

Here is a Visualization Focusing Exercise that you can practice at to strengthen these abilities:

First, choose a solid object that is about the size of your hand, but not bigger than you can hold in your hand. Make sure that the object doesn’t have too many colors or too many sharp angles or jagged edges. *The classic item used in this type of exercise is an apple.

Next, sit comfortably, as if you were preparing to meditate. Hold the object in both hands and stare at it. Examine it and how it feels in your hands. Look at its different attributes and slowly turn it, touching and observing the look and feel of all of its sides.

Continue memorizing its features. Feel its weight, its texture. Observe any nicks in its surface and how the light reflects off of, or casts shadows, upon it. Sit with it for as long as you feel necessary to really know what holding it looks and feels like.

Now, set the object down on a table or the floor in front of you. Place it so that you can clearly see it but cannot touch it. While looking at the object, place your hands in the same position that they would be in if your were holding the item.

Here you begin to visualize (ie. pretend or imagine) that you ARE still holding the item. Feel its weight, see its color and shape in your hands. Allow yourself to imagine running your hands over its surface. Feel its texture against your skin.

You may close your eyes, if the “feeling” sensation is easier for you. Or keep them open, if the “seeing” sensation is easier for you. DO NOT mistake looking at the actual object in front of you for actually visualizing it in your hands. You may glance at it in front of you but the point is to SEE and/or FEEL it still in your hands.

You can sit with this exercise for as long as you like until you feel some measure of success. And you can begin again by picking up the object and following these same steps as often as you like. Don’t give up, your ability will improve with time and frequency of practice.

Use the same object every time, or change objects when you wish, the choice is yours. Changing objects may make it more difficult but some people like a challenge. ;)

Once you succeed and are comfortable with your ability to feel or see the object still in your hands for a long while after setting it down, you can then move to setting it out of sight and trying to achieve the same level of visualization.

After you get really good at it, keep practicing at further distances. Sit with the object in the morning before leaving the house and then try the visualization while on your lunch break at work.

Then, once you master a simple, hand-sized object, you can try your hand at smaller objects, like keys and buttons, or more jagged and complicated objects, such as a banana, a wrench, a Rubiks cube or a dvd case. Maybe you will be able to sit on a motorcycle or a bicycle and then use your visualization abilities to recreate that sensation long after you finish your ride. ;)

This process can and will lead you to being able to stand in an empty field and see that dream home being built, or stand on a stage and feel the 20,000 people cheering for you.

Focus on developing your hidden skills and strengthening your belief in your powers of imagination and intention. If you want it, you will get there!

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“The happiest man is he who learns from nature the lesson of worship.”

~Ralph Waldo Emerson, American Philosopher & Poet

It is certain that we all have our bad days. Even the most enlightened of people can sometimes feel a lack of energy and be overwhelmed by the external reality of this world.

In these times we, as individuals, often wish for just one soothing moment, just an hour or two of peace and quiet.

Seeking outside of ourselves for security or happiness is, of course, not going to help us find it.

We certainly can only find lasting security, happiness and peace within our own spirits.

But the environment that we find ourselves in can often make it either easier, or more difficult, to achieve connection with our spirit.

When we strip away all the flash, the lights, the mechanical noises, the social pressures and the workload, what truth are we left with? The truth that we are all natural beings.

In this truth can be found the answer to that unknown longing which we, as seekers on a spiritual path, can feel tugging from within us, but cannot seem to put into words.

We miss our daily connection with nature.

It seems so simple, and may not immediately appear to be at all helpful. But in our moments of stress, illness, doubt, sadness and lethargy, we can indeed once again be filled with simple goodness. And the prescription is not a chemical one at all.

Get yourself out amongst nature.

I kid you not, it works! Even if you have to get in the car, or on the bus, and drive to nature. Do it!

Go alone or take your dog, but don’t bring another person with you all the time. Other people talk, other people enable us to keep our masks on. What we are going for is silence, room to think, complete freedom of self.

It doesn’t matter if you go for a hike in the mountains, a stroll in the park, a slow meander along the lake shore or a bike ride across the mesa. The location isn’t the point.

The breeze, the birds, the cool air, the tickling grass and the tallest tree…these are the point. Feeling the slow, beautiful and seemingly purposeless rhythm of nature is what helps reconnect you.

The air that you breath will seem more energizing, and the worries that you carry will seem less heavy, less real.

Being silent, in nature, is a meditation. I would argue that it is often the most powerful kind, for it feeds both your body and your spirit. Now that is a lovely balance.

Everyday I feel extremely blessed that my current home is so close to open fields and tall hills, that there is a bike trail nearby and mild weather most days. This has not always been the case, and yet I was always willing to drive far afield to reach somewhere natural and beautiful. No matter the weather, our true place as creatures of the planet Earth is out in nature.

Today, if you do nothing else for yourself, take a walk under that tree or up that hill. You’ll be glad that you did.

Blessings!

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“By simply realigning and harmonizing with Spirit, you let inspiration blossom in the field of harmony.”

~ Dr. Wayne Dyer, Writer & Inspirational Speaker

Hey this internet is a very big place, filled with loads of lovely ways to connect with others. I’d love to hear more about you and get to know my readers.

So, here is a quick note about other places that you can find me online. (The ones in italics are the ones that I use MOST often.)

*Other Blog: http://vegfrugalhousewife.com/

43things: http://www.43things.com/person/veranadine

Delicious: http://delicious.com/veranadine

Facebook Group: http://feeds.feedburner.com/VeraNadine/

MyBlogLog: http://www.mybloglog.com/buzz/community/veranadine/

MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/veranadine

Pavlina Forums: http://www.stevepavlina.com/forums/members/veranadine.html

Stumbleupon: http://darknessdolly.stumbleupon.com/

Technorati: http://www.technorati.com/blogs/veranadine.com

Twitter: http://twitter.com/veranadine

That’s about it for now. After a month-long unplanned hiatus in Ukraine I am anxious to hear from all of you.

Now, I’m off to travel more of the vast blogosphere. Have a great day!

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“Hope is the thing with feathers, that perches in the soul, and sings the tune without words, and never stops at all.”

~ Emily Dickinson, 19th Century American Poetess

There is nothing to fear in this world, in your life. For all that is meant to be will come to pass, good or bad.

The universe decides when and where creation and destruction will take place, and it does so lovingly, without malice or forethought. There is only loving creation, and the act of destruction is merely another stage in an ever-expanding creative process.

The intent of the universal creator is, has always been, and will always be, balance. Balance in all things, for all things are this creator itself. And in knowing itself, and its joy, it seeks only growth, only balance.

Two dogs meet on the roadway, one going home, the other going away. Yet both are still alive. Both are still free. Whether the one going ever returns, or whether the one returning ever again goes, is not of any consequence. They are both equal and the same.

All that the universe has ever created still is. Even if it’s form is lost, or transmuted, it is still there, a record of creation. For all time is NOW. All things are but the one thing, the divine one, the Source.

When you fear you simply make yourself a brighter beacon for all that is fearful. This fear may seem more difficult to banish than most things.

Hope is easier to forget than fear. But it is only the response of your physical body that makes it so.

The true spirit within you is ever-hopeful, at all times, in all circumstances.

How can you relinquish fear in fearful times?

Simply put, you must always negate it. You must answer every fear, every negative with an immediate and counter-balancing positive. Shine a ray of hope upon the darkness of fear. It will weaken over time and leave you standing in the sun.

When it comes by again it will glide quickly past, like the shadow of a bird upon the ground.

How can one cultivate hope? Hope in all moments?

Hope is but the allowing of your divine spirit to flow out from you. Within a moment of silence comes the rush of peace.

You may force a smile to cross your face, do it as a deliberate act. But then sit with it a while, and feel true joy well up within you.

Perhaps the memory of a childhood playground, a silly joke once told to friends.

And that freedom, that ease of being, can fill you up and power you with hope.

Hope is not about the past, nor is it solely concerned with the future. But, instead, it is that conscious acknowledgment that your present is a gift and is filled with endless positives and possibilities.

Bring hope into your life, breed it even in defeat, and your hope will become a beacon to draw all things hopeful to you.

You sit in the middle of a hub of life, in every moment. And the paths that splay out in all directions from THIS moment can take you to countless other hubs and paths.

If you let your worrisome and fearful mind direct your choices, doubtless you will end up at another point of decision which is bound up in fear.

But, allow the spirit, the unconscious hopeful divinity, to take the feet and walk you in the direction of highest good. Then you are bound to find yourself at a new hub, one from which ever brighter paths spread out before you.

Extinguish fear in stages. Multiply hope in steps.

But know always that, no matter the outcome, you are headed in the right direction. For you are directed by creative divine, the Source of all things.

And that Source is love, eternal.

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“Nothing is there to come, and nothing past, but an eternal Now does always last. ”

~Abraham Cowley, 17th-Century English Poet

As a part of the channeling for my book manuscript I have been branching out and accessing new sources of information. Attempting new things is always a bit daunting, especially when you don’t know what to expect, but succeeding in new areas of channeling is always very exciting to me.

The most recent experience has been in accessing the Akashic Library. Of course, explanations of what the Akashic Records are abound so I won’t get too detailed here, suffice it to say that this wealth of information exists only ethereally. It is an energetic record of all that has ever been or will ever be in the universe. (Hey, you don’t have to believe it if you don’t want to, but really, what do you have to lose?)

There have been many descriptions of what this place looks like by those who supposedly have visited it. You will find that these descriptions vary widely and that those which bear a striking resemblance to one another do so because a person has read widely about the Library before attempting to go there.

I follow a different path, as I tend to absorb only the most perfunctory information about psychic phenomena before I attempt it. I just don’t want the wealth of other people’s opinions to cloud what I might experience.

With that in mind I have come to understand that Read more »

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“Millions of spiritual creatures walk the earth unseen, both when we wake, and when we sleep.”

~John Milton, Paradise Lost

What is channeling?

Channeling is the act of entering an open spiritual state (ie. alpha) and allowing an incarnate energy to use your psyche and your mouth to express valuable messages to living beings. Very often these are not deceased spirits per se, but more global and universal energies such as light beings, angels, deities, personal guides, ascended masters, higher selves and elementals.

How is channeling different from being a medium?

A medium is not generally able to allow spirits to speak using his or her own mouth, but instead can hear or “see” deceased spirits and interpret their situation for others. Mediums deal almost exclusively with deceased humans, whether recently deceased or long dead. This is why I make a distinction between my work as an Historical Medium and my work as a Spirit Channel.

How did you learn to channel?

Haha. I wish it had been a process of self-application with the intention of reaching channeling as my goal. It was not like that however. I have always been a sensitive, telling stories as a child that I later realized to have been truths, things that I only knew based on my spiritual awareness. But channeling as a direct act is something that revealed itself after years of studying meditation, paganism, nature and magic. In many ways I am still “learning” to channel, in that I am yet to grasp all of the myriad ways that this gift can be utilized to bring about positive change in my life and the lives of others.

Do spirits ever show you frightening things?

Well yes, but at the same time, not really. People are often afraid to ask for channeled advice or to hear about spirits of any kind because the fear being told or shown something horrific. “Do they show you their gunshot wounds?” “Do they tell you that you or someone you love is going to die?” In most instances they do not. Spiritual guidance is just that, guidance, it is meant to point you in the right direction, to communicate to you something of value. If you are scared out of your wits, are you going to Read more »

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“You cheer my heart, who build as if Rome would be eternal.”

~Augustus Caesar, Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus

Well, we decided to take a day trip yesterday and ended up choosing a trip to Bath. Bath is historically one of Britain’s top tourist destinations and was the playground of many a Regency well-to-do family.

Of course Bath is not a new town, it and the healing springs that bubble up from beneath it’s ground have been sacred for thousands of years. In the first century A.D. the Roman invaders wrestled control of these healing waters, sacred to the British Goddess Sulis, from the hands of the local Duboni tribe.

After gaining control of the hot springs, the Romans set about subduing its flow and controlling access to the waters by erecting a complex of temples and baths, the remains of which can be visited today.

I find it ironic that the very thing which could make a modern Pagan angry with the Romans, the restriction of access to the spring, is now what has guaranteed modern visitation to its site.

If not for these Roman ruins, the spring would most certainly be capped and unknown, running anonymously beneath this modern, retail-carnival of a city.

So, and this is the only time that you may ever hear me say it, “Yeah Romans!!! Good job!”

I must admit that at the Roman Baths, the temple complex and bathing rooms, some of which take a bit of imagination to picture, are truly exquisite. The presence of both hot and cold natural baths in one place is magnificent.

The circular cold pool and the half moon “hot tub” type of area were both most appealing to me.

The great bath, heated by the forces of nature to about 115˚ Fahrenheit, was awe-inspiring. I can only imagine what it must look like at night with the fire lanterns lit. Against the rules, I put my hand in that warm healing water, dedicated to Minerva, the Roman equivalent of the British Sulis.

All I can say is that one can almost feel all of the Read more »

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