Throughout this past month, the guidance coming through for my clients has had the theme of how to weather an unexpected or uncomfortable spiritual test or trial.

Many people believe that once they make the decision to follow a spiritual path, life will get easy.  When unexpected or difficult things happen, they often feel disappointed or betrayed, as if they didn’t get the reward for good behavior that they thought they deserved.

As you begin to awaken to your own truth, the world – as the mirror to your unconscious beliefs – will offer you opportunities to clear out anything that is not in alignment with the true self that you want to reclaim.  Instead of seeing resistance or challenging events as obstacles, you can choose to see them as evidence that you are re-evaluating your beliefs (progress!) and being given the chance to reaffirm your new choices (gift!).  The test isn’t a punishment – it’s an opportunity.

What do you believe in – really?  Do you believe in an all-loving, all-powerful, and all-present Divine Spirit (choose your terminology) – or not?  Do you believe that in punishment, poverty, conflict, and pain?  Or do you choose forgiveness, abundance, harmony, and health?  Do you let others tell you who you are or what you should do, or do you look to Spirit for guidance as to what is correct for you?

When you feel like you are being tested, the thing that gets you through is FAITH.  You don’t need to have complete faith; even just a little willingness to have faith is enough.  In order for faith to work, it essential that you not let your reasoning mind take stuff that happens to you personally because that keeps you stuck in your ego.  Challenges are a part of life and they happen to everyone – you can count on that.  However, you can also count on faith to get you through whatever comes.  Just keep your thoughts and feelings pointing in the direction you want to go!

I had house finches build a nest in my hanging basket one summer and I observed over several weeks as they hatched, grew, and then finally fledged (flew on their own).  This video is amazing.

Inspiring Video with Nest of Robins

Here you will find a collection of insights and inspirations! Enjoy!

A Spiritual Teacher shares her insights on meditation, God, and being your authentic self.

Looking for ways to use your intuition to follow or find your bliss?

I answer some common questions about intuitive guidance in this  interview with Nancy Brook on the Women’s Information Network.

[audio:http://thewinonline.com/episode/find-your-voice-tuning-your-inner-guidance]

Like or share this interview!

This month’s message considers the meaning of the word “better.”   I’ve been thinking about this since July, when I did a talk on Polarity Therapy for a spiritual discussion group.   I explained that the goal of healing work in Polarity is to help people feel better – more grounded, balanced, and in alignment with their higher self.  A member of the group asked if describing one kind of experience as “better” than another one didn’t indicate an ego-based judgment.  I could see his point.  How can anybody judge what’s better for someone else?  After all, we’re all equal in Spirit.  Who is to say what’s really “better”?

I thought about it, and there are two kinds of “better.”  For example, you can say that a certain individual feels “better than others” and mean that the person is arrogant or believes he or she is superior.  This is how we see the word “better” in advertising, where it suggests an increased value or worth of something relative to something else:  “Our product is better than their product.”  This use of “better” is really a two-step process, because one item must be shown to have more quality while other items are proven to be not as good.   This “better” requires judgment according to an outside standard.

However, there is another kind of “better” that takes place entirely on the inside.  This “better” merely points to a personal preference or sense of improvement.  For example, if you like red apples better than green ones, there is not a judgment, only choice.  If you are hungry and tired, but feel better after eating and taking a nap, there is no judgment, only relief.  There is only judgment if you believe that in order to be fond of a certain kind of apple or to enjoy being rested and well-fed you must criticize all other kinds of experiences as wrong.

You can’t judge one life experience as “better” than another – either when comparing someone else’s life to yours or in reviewing your own life in hindsight.   However, you can observe your life moment to moment to know if you’re on track and headed in a direction that you like.   In healing work, the rubber meets the road with how good you feel and how well your life works now.  Ultimately, your experience is completely subjective and the only person who can say if you “feel better” or not is you.

With wishes for an ever better feeling experience,

Elizabeth