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Do you often feel that you’re sabotaging your best efforts to achieve your goals? Maybe you say one thing but consistently do the opposite. Or, when you’re finally about to realise your objectives, you open your mouth and put your foot right in it!
If we think of ourselves as one persona – a single identity – it doesn’t make sense that we don’t or won’t do what we set out to do. But if we think of ourselves as a team, where the team members are working to different agendas, the reasons we don’t achieve what we want becomes easier to understand.
For many years I had problems in achieving my goals. I gave them great thought, wrote them down, made them SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time related) and referred to them often. My conscious mind was brilliant at goal setting but, somehow, I never seemed to get there.
Little did I know that there was another Jackie calling some, in fact most, of the shots: my subconscious mind. The Jackie wasn’t a gremlin, naysayer or party pooper. This Jackie knew a lot more than my conscious mind such as what my beliefs were and had a direct line to my higher self to understand my purpose for this life. And she was working within those boundaries.
Not only was conscious Jackie disregarding subconscious Jackie but the two spoke completely different languages. Considering these two were my Life Team it was hardly surprising that I wasn’t going where I thought I wanted to go!
So I began team building. I ensured that both parties had input by connecting my subconscious, conscious and higher self daily through meditation and prayer. This allowed my conscious mind to understand how my subconscious was trying to protect me and how my higher self was trying to guide me. My conscious mind can also pick up redundant beliefs in my subconscious that are limiting and work on replacing them. When I set goals now I do so in writing but also in pictures, symbols and with emotion as this is the
language of all our subconscious minds.
I am very proud of my Team Jackie. We pull together to reach our objectives. Of course, like all team building, it’s an ongoing process but it now feels less like self sabotage and more like being part of a protective team. And that’s good.
How’s your most important team working?
Jackie Notman is an intuitive adviser and coach who works on an energetic level with individuals and businesses using tools such as Feng Shui, Numerology, Dowsing, Astrology, I Ching and the Tarot. This article is from her blog ‘Life – and everything else’ where you’ll find an eclectic mix of articles and information.
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Quantum physics shows us that, at a fundamental level, we are small pieces of matter separated by lots of space. In fact, we are really just a bag of space interacting with other bags of space in a bigger bag of space that is our physical world.
This space is called energy: we are energetic beings living in an energetic world.
On one level, we think of energy as vitality: the ‘va va voom’ that drives us. But energy is much more than that. We use energy to communicate with everyone and everything in
our lives. So doesn’t it make sense to consider where we get our energy from in order to understand what is happening in our lives and why?
Physically we take energy from the food we eat and the water we drink. If the plants are healthy, the meat has come from healthy animals and the water quality is good then the quality of the energy we ingest is increased.
Our physical environment provides energy in the form of air and light and the quality of both can make a big difference to our lives.
These sources of energy are all pretty standard and accepted but there are so many more sources that provide both our inherent energy and additional energy that we can tap into when we need it.
Our inherent energy is determined by the time we enter this energetic world. It’s as if we are time-stamped by the energetic pattern when we take our first breath. Our date of birth can be analysed by a number of different astrological systems to show character traits, strengths and weaknesses. Numerology can also deepen this analysis by reviewing the numerical energy of the whole birth date and specific parts of it.
And, as time moves, on the same systems can identify how your inherent energy will interact with the energetic world and other energetic beings at any time in the past, present or future by showing you the cycles of your particular life.
When we come into this world we are given a label that we come to identify as our own and that others perceive us as being. Our name can give a lot of information regarding our life purpose, our abilities and challenges we may face in this lifetime. Whether you believe that our name is chosen before we incarnate into this life to help us achieve our purpose or that we grow into the energy of our name as we start to use it, our name can be accurately assessed using numerology to provide insights into our psychological
make-up.
Another part of our inherent energy comes from our divine essence or our soul. Few of us can consciously understand our soul’s full purpose but we are given the correct level of spirit to help us fulfil that purpose.
To a large extent we have very little conscious control over our inherent energy. However, exterior sources of energy are very much in our control. Eating good food and getting fresh air is a choice most of us can make but these are not the only sources of energy we have control over.
Our emotions can either boost or deplete our energy. Our mental processes can have the same effect. Doesn’t it make sense then to focus our thoughts and feelings on the good stuff in our lives?
Our five senses are also a great source of energy and a primary way in which we interact with our world. Touching something sensual like satin or velvet, stroking a purring cat or holding the hand of someone we love immediately increases our energy. Listening to uplifting music or looking at a beautiful vista will have the same effect as will the taste of our favourite fruit or the bouquet of our favourite flower. We all have choices about how we use our senses so why not use them in fun and delight and boost the energy we receive?
Another energy source is people. Anybody we interact with will exchange energy with us. You’re probably aware of people who leave you feeling drained and others who just seem to give you a lift. The latter inspire us: literally fill us with spirit or energy. Seek these people out to improve your energy levels and become somebody who inspires others too. By giving you’ll receive lots of energy back.
Take account of where you spend your time: your home, workplace, bed or office. All of these places have their own energetic blueprint that will interact with yours. The study of feng shui can help you connect and harmonise with the energy of the space you’re in.
I’m sure you can think of many more sources of energy. The important thing to consider is that the quality of the energy you take in will affect the quality of the energy you experience and give out. And, as energy is our way of communicating with and experiencing this world, doesn’t it make sense to aim for the highest quality you can?
Jackie Notman is an intuitive adviser and coach who works on an energetic level with individuals and businesses using tools such as Feng Shui, Numerology, Dowsing, Astrology, I Ching and the Tarot. This article is from her blog ‘Life – and everything else’ where you’ll find an eclectic mix of articles and information.
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The other day as I was meditating I had a spiritual visitor arrive desperate to give me a message. This wasn’t a lost soul, entity or angel as such. It was me when I was a child. She made it very clear to me that my life was out of balance and I needed to have some fun.
On reflection I have to admit that life has become very serious, partly due to being busy and focusing on managing my time as best I can. I’ve really been operating on
auto-pilot to get things done but, somewhere along the way I had stopped living in a full and satisfying way. And I’m sure I’m not the only one. For me,
little Jackie decided to step in and give me a kick and her method is so much more effective than somebody just telling me to go and have some fun.
When we’re born our hearts are open and the possibilities for our life are endless. However, as time goes by these possibilities seem to get hidden, swamped or discarded. Responsibilities weigh us down and, for many of us, living becomes something that needs to be done to get through each day.
As a young child I expected to be loved. I expected to be considered as much as anybody else. I was curious and wanted to do things that I liked and that were fun.
I was lucky, coming from a stable and what could be termed a ‘normal’ family. But very young children before they have learnt about the world and the circumstances they’ve been born into , have similar expectations.
As an adult trying to make my way in the world these expectations have gradually eroded but, what I realise now is how much I miss them and how influential they are on the quality of my life and on other people’s perceptions of me.
Now it’s time to bring those expectations back. When I’m in a situation where everything becomes too stressed or serious I ask my seven year old self how she would handle it. Let me give you an example. I had a very busy week where it seemed nearly impossible that I was going to do everything I had agreed to do. The only option was to forgo so
sleep to get everything done and, as I become a bit of a grouch without sleep, I was stressing myself out. Little Jackie reminded me that I really wanted to do everything and surely that was more important than sleep for a little while. I was reminded how sleep didn’t figure during Christmas when I was a child!
What could your child self teach you?
Jackie Notman is an intuitive adviser and coach who works on an energetic level with individuals and businesses using tools such as Feng Shui, Numerology, Dowsing, Astrology and the Tarot. This article is from her blog ‘Life – and everything else’ where you’ll find an eclectic mix of articles and information.
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I was speaking to a client recently who was having a hard time in her life: her job wasn’t working out the way she had hoped and, being a
single woman, she longed for a loving relationship.
She had applied Feng Shui to her home but didn’t give any of her actions a chance to work, applying more and more cures she had read
about. She just didn’t know when to stop.
She’d ended up in a confusing environment with a confusing life. My advice to her was to just stop. Stop doing and just be for a while.
We live in a world where everything has to happen instantly, where we collect lots of stuff and where we have to keep on doing things. We fill our lives up with clutter and we fill our minds up with clutter.
It’s often thought that Feng Shui is just about your environment and, on one level, it is. However, Feng Shui is based on a philosophy known as The Tao or The Way and a deeper level of Feng Shui advocates living our lives according to The Tao in order to bring happiness and fulfilment.
One aspect of this philosophy is simplicity.
Clearing clutter in your home or business is one way to bring simplicity into your life and allow energy to flow again. Simplicity in your thoughts will have the same effect:
- Less ‘stuff’ in expended on the ‘what if’ thoughts
- More space for clear thinking
- Less scattered energy in having to do this, that and anything or everything
- More focus on what you really want
- Less frustration that you haven’t got what you perceive other people to have
- More contentment and satisfaction with the things that are good in your life.
How do you Feng Shui your mind? The same way you Feng Shui your environment:
- By noticing what is going on at the moment
- By knowing what you want or what you want to improve
- By noticing how your mind and thoughts need to change
- By taking one small step at a time and giving the action chance to work
- By being for a while instead of doing.
Jackie Notman is an intuitive adviser and coach who works on an energetic level using tools such as Feng Shui, Numerology, Dowsing,
Astrology and the Tarot. This article is from her blog ‘Life – and everything else’ where you’ll find an eclectic mix of articles and information.
This Feng Shui information is general for everybody. However, there are deeper levels of Feng Shui which take into account you and your specific business or home environment.
If you would like to find out more about living in harmony with your environment, and using energy to your advantage, contact Jackie Notman on 07920 461574 or through her website www.fs168.co.uk
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You have permission to publish this article as long as the tagline (above) with links is included and no changes are made to the article. A courtesy copy of your publication or link would be appreciated.
Fresh Winds is a UK based charity that offers energy healing. The Charity has just been awarded a £200,000 Lottery grant to carry out research in conjunction with Birmingham University and the NHS Good Hope hospital in Sutton Coldfield. The research will focus on the effects of using energy healing on patients with bowel conditions.
The decision to allow this grant has been strongly criticised by scientist and doctors on the basis that benefits from energy healing is unproven and therefore should not be granted public money. Some have gone so far to call energy healing ‘voodoo’.
On the basis of such a remark I would brand such naysayers as short sighted: if they knew anything about either energy healing or voodoo they may draw a comparison that both work in the energetic field but nothing else.
And, at the end of the day, the point of this research project is to provide evidence that energy healing either does or does not have an effect which is the evidence they are asking for.
But scientists and doctors are clever people. Surely their comments cannot be down to ignorance? Of course, if energy healing was proven to have benefits then we wouldn’t need to pump so many people full of drugs and then other drugs to manage the side effects of the original drugs from drug companies who fund scientists and ‘thank’ doctors for prescribing their drugs.
So, I’ll ask again: surely such comments from scientist and doctors can’t be down to ignorance?
Feng Shui is most often discussed in terms of our environment: our homes, our workplaces and our gardens or outside spaces. We, as energetic beings, interact with the energy of our environment.
There’s no doubt in my mind that, by applying Feng Shui knowledge, we can ensure a harmonious space in which to exist.
However, there is another aspect of Feng Shui which is often overlooked. If you’ve read any of my other articles on Feng Shui you will know that I talk of layers: we can view everything fairly superficially to begin with and then delve deeper into another layer and another layer until we find the perfect environment for us at that time. Another way to use layers in Feng Shui is to think of the environment as one layer, time as another layer and ourselves as layer too. After all, if we Feng Shui the space we’re in shouldn’t we Feng Shui ourselves too?
So, how do you Feng Shui yourself? It probably won’t surprise you to learn that this has many layers too. On a superficial level we start by treating our physical body in a way that conforms to Feng Shui principles. Feng Shui is part of the system known as Tao (The Way) which also includes macrobiotics, Chinese medicine, acupuncture, shiatsu, chi kung and tai chi. So, we have some guidance on how and what we should nourish our body with and keep it in balance to maintain good health.
Now let’s go beyond the physical. Feng Shui, and in fact Tao generally, is about balance. It isn’t about achieving and holding on to a balanced state. Instead it’s the activity or dance of energies that constantly go on with the aim of achieving balance. This dance gives us our energy, creativity, vitality and passion. In Feng Shui these energies can be broadly categorised into 8 segments (before slipping into more detailed layers!). These are represented by the trigrams (three lines showing a mix of yin and yang energy) and shown on a diagram known as the Bagua (8 Palaces).
Each of these Palaces represents a category of our life: wealth, recognition, relationships, children, support, career, education and health. It’s quite sensible to assume that, if we focus too much on one aspect of our lives that other aspects will suffer from lack of attention. In fact, a buzz phrase in business at the moment is ‘work-life balance’ and a model used by life coaches is similar to that of the Bagua. This clearly demonstrates that a system that is thousands of years old is as relevant today as it’s always been.
Let’s use it now to bring some balance into your life:
1. Take the 8 areas shown above and mark out of 10 your current satisfaction level (with 1 being poor and 10 being completely satisfied). This is your benchmark and shows the areas you need to work on first.
- Wealth
- Recognition (do you get noticed for what you do?)
- Relationships (family, partners and social)
- Children (whether you want them, don’t want them, have them or not)
- Support (who’s there to listen, lend a hand or pick up the pieces if needed)
- Career (or business if self employed)
- Education (knowledge, qualifications, experience etc)
- Health
2. Now focus on the area with the lowest mark:
- Write in detail how this part of your life would look to score it a 10/10
- Go back over the detail and highlight the bits that would give you a middle score (between your original low mark and 10/10). This will add a sense of realism to the process and provides a focus for short term goals
- Now write down at least three things that you could do that would take you closer to this reality
3. Up to now this process probably sounds like a coaching session but here’s where the Feng Shui bit comes in because you can invigorate the appropriate energy in that sector of your life that will help you to achieve the actions you have written down. For each sector you are working on you can apply the following to your home, room or even an altar that you set up to focus on bringing your life back into balance.
- If you are working on your Wealth sector use Water in the form of dark blues and black colour, water imagery or even an indoor fountain in the south east area of your home, room or altar.
- If you are working on your Recognition sector use Wood in the form of green tones, tree imagery or houseplants in the south area of your home, room or altar.
- If you are working on your Relationship sector use Fire in the form of red tones, triangular shapes and lots of light in the south west area of your home, room or altar.
- If you are working on your Children sector use Earth in the form of neutral and yellow/brown colours, square shapes or pottery in the west area of your home, room or altar.
- If you are working on your Support sector use Earth in the form of neutral and yellow/brown colours, square shapes or pottery in the north west area of your home, room or altar.
- If you are working on your Career sector use Metal in the form of white, gold and silver colours, domed shapes or glass/chrome decoration in the north area of your home, room or altar.
- If you are working on your Education sector use Fire in the form of red tones, triangular shapes and lots of light in the north east area of your home, room or altar.
- If you are working on your Health sector use Water in the form of dark blues and black colour, water imagery or even an indoor fountain in the east area of your home, room or altar.
4. Work on one sector at a time. Don’t try to change everything all at once as it will make the dance of energies even more erratic and balance longer to find.
5. Once you are happy to up your mark in that particular sector then start work on the next lowest scoring sector.
6. If you can, consult an accredited Feng Shui consultant to survey your home and/or workplace. Any changes they can recommend will support your inner Feng Shui work.
Jackie Notman is a copywriter, feng shui consultant and e-commerce retailer. This article is from her blog ‘Life – and everything else’ where you’ll find an eclectic mix of articles and information.
This Feng Shui information is general for everybody. However, there are deeper levels of Feng Shui which take into account you and your specific business or home environment.
If you would like to find out more about living in harmony with your environment, and using energy to your advantage, contact Jackie Notman on 07920 461574 or through her website www.fs168.co.uk
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You have permission to publish this article as long as the tagline (above) with links is included and no changes are made to the article. A courtesy copy of your publication or link would be appreciated.
I’ve recently been banned from two internet forums: my voice is no longer heard. And what sin did I commit? Putting human interest before those of business.
Let me give you some background. Many years ago I was a fitness coach, studied nutrition and, amongst my clients, there were many whose goal was weight loss. I’ve also had close experience of people with eating disorders so, in some respects, food is important to me.
Whether somebody eats too much or too little the issue is the same: their relationship with food is out of balance. And that’s a pretty big issue all on its own. However, the more I’ve looked into this, the more I see an ever-widening gap between the human interest of people being healthy and business interests. When I say business interests I mean the food industry (additives, fast foods and processed foods), the diet industry and the pharmaceutical industry.
Look at this scenario. Additives and chemicals are added to processed foods. Many of these such as sugars and sweeteners are addictive so people eat more and get fat. As they get fat they develop health problems and so are prescribed drugs. To get healthier they go on a diet. Diets are not sustainable in the long term and they fail. They get depressed and eat more and the vicious cycle begins all over again. At the same time the food industry, drug industry and diet industry are just making bigger and bigger profits.
Based on my experience I put together an E-book explaining why dieting is not the answer and offering a plan that works. As part of my research I’ve been frequenting dieting forums (who incidentally advertise a lot of different diets and I’m sure get paid handsomely for doing so).
So, my first ban came when I responded to somebody who said they were anorexic and wanted advice on the foods they were actually eating. I dared to suggest that they seek help. I was banned from the forum with no indication when I might be allowed back.
Close to that one my second ban came from a dieting forum. This forum gets thousands of messages a day from people on diets. The interesting thing is that a lot of them have been on diets for a very long time, bouncing from one to another, getting bigger and more depressed. I have been advocating healthy eating as opposed to any commercial diet and guess what? I get banned. Underneath the message telling me I am banned is a reinstatement date. Mine says ‘Never’.
When will we realise that putting business interests above human interests is a long term nuclear bomb? When will individuals wake up, put down their fatty snacks and see what’s happening? When will ‘now’ become ‘too late’?
Jackie Notman is a copywriter, feng shui consultant and e-commerce retailer. This article is from her blog ‘Life – and everything else’ where you’ll find an eclectic mix of articles and information.
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Most people have heard of the Law of Attraction since the phenomenal success of The Secret (The Secret (Extended Edition) [DVD]
Well, what choice is that? Of course we all want to be happy and to have a healthy and wealthy life: physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. So, we think good thoughts, we are positive, charitable and happy to serve. We imagine what we want in our lives and have faith that we will receive.
BUT…for many people they don’t get what they receive. Why, if it’s so simple, does that happen?
The Law of Attraction is based on the premise that there is a unifying force in the world and that we are part of that force. This force is the basis of our physical world and can be manipulated with intention to provide our reality. Our connection to this force is through our sub-conscious.
All well and good so far. Quantum physics can demonstrate that everything is derived from an underlying energy and that the observer can affect the outcome of experiments on this energy.
So why do so many people have lives that they would not choose? One theory is that of Karma. The choice of this life has been made by our actions in previous lives. Another is that our Soul has made the choice before coming into our physical body so our conscious mind is not aware of the reasons we are living this life this way.
The Law of Attraction suggests that we can overrule any previous choices and create the life we truly want. Simply, we just need to instruct our sub-conscious, wind it up and send it out to bring everything we desire to us. If this is so there is a weak link in the chain of command which may explain why so many people get frustrated with practising the Law of Attraction and do not get results. And that weak link is one of communication.
We assume that we use our conscious mind to instruct our sub-conscious: we meditate, chant mantras, visualise, repeat affirmations, draw up picture boards and generally try to change how we perceive our reality and hope our sub-conscious will get the message.
However, the big mistake we make is by underestimating just how amazing our sub-conscious is. It runs all the processes in our bodies whilst keeping an eye on our environment to ensure that we keep safe. At the same time it has filed virtually everything that it’s ever registered and will use that information in future when we find ourselves in similar circumstances. It can process up to 4,000,000,000 bits of information per second whilst our conscious mind can only get through 2,000. It is an animal – our own animal – that we don’t understand and yet it has the power to kill us, cure us or give us the life that we want: if only we knew the language.
By understanding that our sub-conscious doesn’t just take note of our intentions, chanting, affirmations or picture boards we can make a huge leap in making the Law of Attraction work for us. Our sub-conscious is continually taking note of our environment, where we are and who we’re with. And if that environment is not congruent with the intentions that our conscious mind tries to communicate to it then how does it know what we really, really want?
For example, if you want recognition for your talents and state this as an affirmation daily but then, when somebody gives you a compliment on a job well done you say ‘Oh it was nothing’ that’s confusing and incongruent.
If you are looking for your soul mate but your home reflects arty images of single, lonely looking people that’s confusing and incongruent.
If you want to be an entrepreneur and star t a business but spend your time with people who tell you it’s a bad time to start a business and you’ll never succeed that’s confusing and incongruent.
And I could go on.
There’s a simple answer to this. Look at your life using Feng Shui principles. Feng Shui is about living in harmony with the energies that are inherent in you and your space (home or workplace). However, Feng Shui is also about defining your goals and setting your intentions within your environment as well as your mind. Just imagine how much more effective the communication would be with your subconscious if all those 4,000,000,000 bits of information it processes every second said the same thing: ‘I am healthy’, ‘I am loved’, ‘I am wealthy’?
So, if you’re trying the Law of Attraction, or any self-improvement plan, bring your environment into the equation too for real, life changing results.
Jackie Notman is a copywriter, feng shui consultant and e-commerce retailer. This article is from her blog ‘Life – and everything else’ where you’ll find an eclectic mix of articles and information.
This Feng Shui information is general for everybody. However, there are deeper levels of Feng Shui which take into account you and your specific business or home environment.
If you would like to find out more about living in harmony with your environment, and using energy to your advantage, contact Jackie Notman on 07920 461574 or through her website www.fs168.co.uk
WANT TO PUBLISH THIS ARTICLE?
You have permission to publish this article as long as the tagline (above) with links is included and no changes are made to the article. A courtesy copy of your publication or link would be appreciated.
I read an article recently about a woman who turned to gardening to help her cope with the cancer diagnosis her husband had received, his ten year fight against it and eventual death.
Some might say the diversionary effect that gardening had on her was the key. For others it may be writing, painting or some other activity. I’m not so sure it’s as simple as that.
She focused a lot on the cycles of Nature: the autumnal death followed by winter planning knowing that life would spring forth again. Every gardener understands the cycles of Nature and it’s not a huge step to understand our own human cycles follow similar patterns. Although this understanding doesn’t make grief go away it does perhaps give some perspective to life and enhance our coping mechanism.
But even more than that I believe that being with Nature, in whatever form that takes, offers a unique advantage to us – much more than other hobbies.
A University of Essex (UK) 2010 study showed that just being outdoors for five minutes had a positive effect on our mental well-being. Nature alerts our senses: the bright colours; the wind rustling through the trees; the scent of flowers; the feel of the ground under our feet – all of these prove our vitality and our ‘aliveness’.
But there’s more to experiencing Nature than just our five senses: our body’s natural vibration is in tune with the earth. Remove ourselves from the higher vibrations from electrical appliances, overhead lines and phone masts and we get back to a frequency that our body and brain likes.
Try taking your shoes off and connecting with the earth. Just touching the soil with our hands or our feet will allow us to discharge into the earth, to ground ourselves. If I’m feeling stressed nothing deals with it better than a little barefootedness: the stress is literally sucked out of you. (Find out more about the health benefits of grounding: Earthing: The Most Important Health Discovery Ever?
Another bonus that comes from Nature is exposure to natural light. Not only do we re-connect with the earth but we can feed from full spectrum light. This is discussed more in my blog When is Light not Light?
It’s hardly surprising that this woman found her coping and grieving process through Nature. It’s also a shame that others don’t know about the perfect ally they have right outside their doors – just waiting.
Jackie Notman is a copywriter, feng shui consultant and e-commerce retailer. This article is from her blog ‘Life – and everything else’ where you’ll find an eclectic mix of articles and information.
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You have permission to publish this article as long as the tagline (above) with links is included and no changes are made to the article. A courtesy copy of your publication or link would be appreciated.
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