Signs Part 2

My most recent blog was about signs we receive from angels and the Spirit realm.  The truth is we are always receiving signs and messages from Spirit.  Most of the time we are blind to them or hard of hearing.  Wouldn’t it be nice if we could wear prescriptive lenses or hearing aids to help us?  Technology has not evolved in that direction.  Yet.  And maybe never will because it is an inner job, not one that outer accoutrements can help.

One sign I often miss is cosmic humor.  I don’t always get the punchline or the possibility that if I only laugh, that may be all I need.  I tend to live life way too seriously.

Once in a while, the joke gets through and I can’t help but laugh.  That happened to me the other day while I was working on my laptop.  I was writing an email and my cursor disappeared.  I could not get it to show up so that I could hit “send”.  I was able to push a key that opened up a search screen so I typed in “What do I do when I lose the cursor on the screen?”  I hit enter and up popped an audio software called “Groove” which I don’t normally use and it started playing a song called “This Is What I Call Fun.”

I am not making this up.  It was a song I had downloaded from a CD.  It was not one I had played in a long time, but it is by Marc Douglas Berardo from a concert he played with Bob Sima at the Ram’s Head in Annapolis.

I had no choice but to laugh.  This was too bizarre.  The cursor was still lost and despite my wanting to curse at my computer, I had to laugh.  It seemed that either my computer had developed a sense of humor or the Universe was trying to get me to relax, enjoy, and have fun.

I still needed to find the cursor so that I could use my laptop.  Although I know some keystrokes from ancient days to take actions like copy, paste, and undo – sometimes you just need the cursor to work.  So I rebooted and hoped the cursor would magically reappear.  When it did not, I tried another search question.  This one was something like “How do I get my cursor back?”  Now I know computer techies would have come up with better questions, but I don’t think they would have received the answers I got. This time the answer was the song “I Don’t Know How to Love Him” from Jesus Christ Superstar.  I am still scratching my head on that one.  Not sure what my cosmic computer was trying to get me to understand with that one except perhaps a lesson in love.

Eventually, through using my spiritual tools, like Reiki and asking my angels – mostly to keep me in a calm and hopeful state of mind – and using my phone to ask questions that actually led to helpful answers, I discovered that somehow, through some mysterious way, the touchpad on my computer had been disabled.  Through borrowing an external mouse (a descriptive term I have always found odd) and following some suggestions from my phone search, I was able to “enable” my touchpad once again.

So what are the signs amidst all this techno jargon?  For me, it is about lightening up, staying positive, asking for help in all of the right places (especially in the angelic realm), and tapping into joy, laughter, and love.  For that is what this life is really about.  No need for cursing even when there may be a need for a cursor.  No need for giving up even when what shows up seems bizarre.  Find the sign in what shows up because the signs are there to point us in the right direction.  The Universe has our back even when we can’t see or hear what we feel we need.  Keep looking.  Keep listening.  Keep laughing.  And, most of all, keep loving.

Paying Attention to Signs

As part of a recent Angel Playshop I hosted near my home participants shared stories of angels appearing in their lives. A key idea discussed is that angels give us signs even when we are not otherwise listening to them.

Some of the signs that people noted for angels getting their attention were:

•feathers appearing out of nowhere in unexpected places,

•repeating numbers on a digital clock,

•colored lights that were seen either visibly as others could see or seen with an inner eye

•messages on trucks or license plates or billboards seen as one is driving

•words or phrases that show up through different sources in a short period of time.

The evening after the playshop I watched a game show I had never watched before. I wanted to relax and there was not much available on TV conducive to relaxing. The game show was a new evening program on one of the main networks so I was curious to see what it was like. As part of the show, the participants were to complete phrases by filling in a blank and then seeing if it was the most popular answer. One of the phrases turned out to be “Heaven on Earth”. I took that to be a sign from my angels that I was on the right track as I find ways to focus my work around that concept given to me by my angels years ago. It seemed so out of place on that game show, but I allowed its significance to sink into my consciousness.

How do signs appear for you? Do you allow yourself to recognize them? When a repeating decimal catches my eye on a clock or my computer, I like to smile and give thanks. When a phrase shows up repeatedly, I take note and ask myself what am I to do with this clue? Should I take a specific action? Or do I just rest reassured that the angels have my back and they are letting me know that?

I know that they want us to realize and believe that they are available and accessible. We may need to clear some cobwebs from our mind or heart, some old patterns that get in the way, but angels are there for us and are increasingly making it known.

So when your heart feels troubled or your mind feels cluttered as it goes around in circles, open your eyes to visible signs, open your ears to sounds that others may or may not be able to hear. Ask for a sign. Ask for an answer. Then pay attention. See what shows up. Keep a smile on the ready because you may be amazed at how they deliver your answer or sign. And give thanks when you see one. Gratitude and appreciation help the relationship with your angels grow and evolve to greater depths. Gratitude is for you, not for them, because it opens your heart and mind more fully to their presence as you acknowledge and thank them.

Namaste.

Lilia Shoshanna Rae

What If We All Want Change?

I was triggered by the use of the word “change” that I read in a Christmas letter yesterday.  I found the trigger interesting so I took that into meditation. I wanted to explore why I was emotionally triggered by the word when the intent of the Christmas letter was to invite loving discussions among friends and family who have different opinions.

If memory is serving me correctly, “change” was the reason that our current President was elected and now is the reason many give for voting for the current President-elect.  So what if the common desire among all of us with different political views is that we want change, but we just have different ideas about how to accomplish that change?  And what if we sat down and focused on our common goals instead of the various opposing solutions that none of us really know will work.

My key focus in life these days is on spirituality.  I have identified my purpose in life is to bring as much heaven into this earthly plane as I can and to help others do the same.  For me, that means finding ways to feel love, peace, and joy as often and as much as I can, while still facing third dimensional issues of learning how to be successful as I “follow my bliss”, making healthy choices in eating when habits entice otherwise (particularly during holiday season), and dealing with discussions of politics without feeling fear or anger.

As part of my spiritual focus, I have joined others in exploring the concept of “transformation.”  I have been part of the nonprofit organization, A Community of Transformation, in Annapolis, since its founder and a good friend of mine, Linda Roebuck, first shared the inspiration for it.  I have participated in various events for “transformational authors” ever since another friend and mentor, Christine Kloser, acted on her inspiration to use that term for a program to provide training and assistance to authors who know they have an important message to share with the world.

So what if we are all looking for transformation instead of change?  Let’s look at the definitions of both.

To “transform” means, according to the Merriam-Webster online dictionary, “to change in composition or structure.”  To “change” is “to become different”.  A synonym for change is alter.  To “alter” is “to make different without changing into something else.”  I think that nuance gives us a clue to the difference between “transform” and “change.”  Transformation requires a change in composition or structure.  Transformation is change that can result in something that feels brand new.  

We have been experiencing “change” In the United States for years.  Let’s change to a Republican President.  No, that did not work.  Let’s change to a Democrat.  No, that did not work, let’s change back.  Is this going to work?  None of us knows.  Similar shifts have been occurring in countries around the world.

What if we stepped back from the ongoing debates and looked at our common goals and desires?  What if we looked at creative solutions that would lead to a transformation beyond our wildest dreams?  What if we opened to love and respect for each other?  That would be transformational would it not?  All major religions, including Islam and Christianity, have the love of God as their foundation.  Could we extend that love to each other?

In sacred geometry, a spiritual study that has given me great insights on transformation, the triangle holds great meaning.  It is a symbol for the trinity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  It is a symbol for the holistic health practice of joining mind, body, and spirit.  It is also a symbol that shows how thesis and its opposite, “antithesis”, can be transformed into “synthesis”.

What if we join together and instead of being in opposite camps of “thesis” and “antithesis” we choose to be in the transformational process together of synthesis.  That is what leads to paradigm shifts that bring in creative solutions that no one in either camp may yet have thought of.  It takes joining together, though, and love is the key that opens that door.  Several of my spiritual mentors have been communicating messages recently about how important love, true unconditional love, is in these times.  It is so basic, yet so elusive to even the most spiritual of us.

In closing, I want to note that as I was writing this blog, my phone, completely on its own (I had not pressed a button or started any music myself) started playing a song by another friend, Bob Sima, a singer songwriter whose songs can transform you just by listening to them.  When a synchronicity occurs in my life, like my phone just starting to play music, I take note and see what message is trying to get through to me.  The song playing was “Say Grace” on the album A Thousand Cups of Tea.  According to Bob, the song was inspired by the Christian mystic, Meister Eckhart.  Some of the lyrics that caught my attention were “Everything in front of me is heaven everywhere and every place.  Every pleasure, every pain, every joy, and every heartache.  … Everything in front of me is a miracle.  Every line on every face, every hand shake, every embrace.  Every worry, every doubt, up and down, and every mistake.  … Every road in front of me leads to home.  … I say thank you.  And I say grace.”  Looking at life that way would be transformative would it not?  

So, I invite you to look at whatever is in front of you – your family, your neighbors, your fellow citizens, the TV – and see heaven instead of any other label you might give.  See an opportunity for love, peace, and joy.  See an opportunity for joining together to find solutions for common goals.  Say thank you for this life in which we can transform whatever we feel needs to change.  Together.  United.  As one.

In love and light,
Lilia Shoshanna Rae
Author of The Art of Listening to Angels
Reiki Master and Creator of the Stellar Healing Modality
Teacher of the Enneagram and other sacred mystery studies
Find out more at: LiliaShoshannaRae.com

Stuff the Turkey; Feel Your Feelings; and Express Yourself in Love

Holidays bring up emotions.  Many of them are positive.  We “celebrate” holidays.  We gather with family and “loved” ones.  We toast good “cheer” to each other, we“cheer” our favorite sports teams, and we sing songs of “joy” and glad tidings.

Underneath the surface are the usually unspoken ones, stuffed way down below so no one will know.  Feelings about missing loved ones, loneliness, or left-outedness.  Financial stresses intensify – will there be enough to pay for the extra food? And what about costs of travel if family is far away? 

I have learned that I often stuff emotions so far down I don’t even know I have them. One day after the election, I was struggling to focus on tasks for building my practice as a healer and getting word out about my new book, The Art of Listening to Angels.  I wasn’t sure why it was so hard to motivate myself to move to write the next email or make the next phone call.  A part of it was that these are new skills for me.  I also knew there was much more going on because I felt terrible.

In the midst of this muckiness, I took a walk.  It was a beautiful fall day.  In the East Coast of the United States, we have had a number of those this year.  I knew a walk would be good for my body and my mind.  I did not know it was good for my emotions as well.  By the time I returned home, I was crying.  All of those feelings that I had stuffed after the election moved up to my conscious awareness, and I could not hold back the tears.  I let them flow.  After that, I felt much better.

I came back home and started writing.  I asked my angels for help and words started to flow.  It felt so much better having moved those stuffed feelings to the surface so they could be released.  I could feel peace and joy again as I wrote.

This year the emotions may be more heightened on Thanksgiving Day if family members are on opposite sides of the wide political divide in the country.  It may be a time to feel them yet find a way to express them in love rather than anger.

I used to be easily triggered by political discussions at family gatherings. I held my mother’s view that politics and religion were not topics for the dinner table.  My brother held a different view and since most of our Thanksgivings were at his house, I first had to get over losing that argument and then had to listen to views that pushed my buttons.

Thankfully, I have become more tolerant and understand over the years.  I realize that different opinions do not have to divide people.  I may not be able to figure out how or why those opinions are held, but so what. 

Love is so much more important than needing to be right or winning any argument.  I no longer care to change someone or their point of view.  Yes, I plan to speak my truth as lovingly and peacefully as I can.  I just do not need to convince anyone that my opinion is best. 

At the same time, it is important for me to stay in touch with my emotions.  If triggered, I may have to remove myself from the situation so that I can feel them and understand what is underneath them.  When I can come from a place of love, then I can return to the conversation.  Angels help me do this.  Sometimes I have to contact a human angel to do this successfully.

Whatever you may be feeling this holiday season,choose to feel your feelings rather than ignore them.  If you have trouble, call a friend or seek some help!  The angels are always thereto assist.  You need only ask.

Find your way through them back to a place of love –for yourself, for your family, and even for those who hold different views.    

With much love and light,

Lilia Shoshanna Rae

Author of The Art of Listening to Angels