One of the many beautiful peacocks that roam the Aloha Zoo in North Carolina

“We Bought A Zoo” is a movie based on a true story about a widowed father who buys a shanty zoo with the hope of a fresh start. I haven’t seen the movie yet, but I have seen another real life story of a man who bought a zoo. And it’s in Cameron, North Carolina.

Just two years ago, Lee Crutchfield opened Aloha Zoo on 60 acres of Southern land, tucked off a highway, behind a row of mobile homes, on a quiet country road. He has adopted 300 exotic animals who were discarded by their owners. His zoo is a sanctuary for the unwanted, the lost, the sick, the elderly and the homeless. He provides them with their specialized diet, freedom to roam, a clean and protective environment and most importantly, love. Lee shared with us just a few of the stories that brought some of the animals in. Like the 100-year old parrot who survived two generations of family owners before being handed over to the zoo because the last owner, in his late 80’s, was too old to care for it any longer. The parrot, who from age, has lost a good amount of his feathers and had a slight tremble despite the heat lamps, looked content. Lee said he had bonded with the parrot he was perched next to, after his parrot “wife” had recently passed away.

He also explained how the lion’s bloody paws were due to dermatitis and an autoimmune condition most likely brought on by in-breeding by some circus owners and heartless profit mongers. The lion is under the care of a veternanarian. Lee is also open to holistic medicine, desperate to heal the regal cat. We witnessed the African lioness and her Siberian tiger companions purr and enjoy a head rub from two of the volunteers. It was heartwarming to see these gigantic cats acting like little house cats with the joy of their caretakers attention.

And then there was the bear who I’m sure is certified to teach yoga in the wild. I watched him do stretches that you’d see in a yoga or pilates studio. Lee said like Winnie the Pooh, this bear has a sweet tooth and loves Twinkies.

We took a Safari ride. A John Deere tractor took a bunch of us animal admirers on a loop around the vast property where cattle, camels, pigs, zebras and a very humorous ostrich roam the pasture, greeting the tour with the hopes of getting fed. Our tour guide shared funny stories and interesting facts about the animals while we snapped photos and oohed and ahhed. She mentioned that you could tell by an animal’s eyes whether they’re kind or not. I thought, the same goes for people.

I witnessed so much playfulness from the bear and the tigers, and the camels and the horses. As tough as these animals are, they know how to have fun. They recognize the importance of preserving energy and enjoying it. They would rest, exercise, practice awareness then want to play. Multiple species co-existed peacefully on the same land. What a great vision for life.

Activists Gone Wild

I was saddened to hear at the end of our visit that undercover PETA employees had falsely reported the Aloha Zoo to authorities. And though owner, Lee, is in the clear with his integrity, he admits it’s stressful to now be “on the radar” and harassed by PETA representatives who don’t support his mission. And they haven’t even taken the time to get to know the guy.

Without people like Lee, these exotic animals, who weren’t taken out of their natural habitat, but have been rescued, may not survive very long if left to fend on their own. Like the 50 birds that Lee took in from a widow who said she was just going to “let them loose” if he didn’t show up in 30 minutes to take them. Those exotic birds would have never survived a winter here. But I was blessed to see them, happily chirping away in the company of each other, well-fed and warmed in their tidy cages. And the humongous boa constrictor that a woman dropped off after her mother threatened to call child protective services on her because she had the carnivorous snake slithering around her floor along with her newborn baby. That decision may have saved a child’s life. If it weren’t for the Aloha Zoo, where in this desolate country would that snake have gone? Perhaps let loose in the wild to wreck havoc on the neighbors or kill someone’s pet cat. This man is not taking a life away from these animals, he is giving them a life, and love, they may not have had otherwise.

I believe in the role of activists and that we need people to take charge and speak up against corruption. But in cases like these, I begin to wonder if activists like those from PETA have become less about the highest good for all and more about their own ego attached to the mission which, it appears to me, has been founded on hate and distrust of humanity. Without compassion, activism loses it’s purity and can turn dark. Though I’m sure PETA has contributed lots of good to the world, some of their acts of activism have come across more like terrorism to me. Like just recently, I was in NYC and had to endure being yelled at in the face by PETA activists who were screaming at ladies entering department stores not to wear fur coats. I’ve never owned a fur coat. I don’t get why, with the myriad of warm fabrics we have today, anyone would want to wear a dead animal on their back. Not to mention the cruelty in the process, it is awful. You’re wearing the vibration/imprint of trauma, pain and suffering on your body when you choose fur. Did my sensitive ears need to be ringing with the activists rage that day? No. And although I agree with them that the making of fur coats is a vile business that should be stopped, attacking people about it is stooping down to the abusers level. I bet women who do like fur coats are certainly not going to stop wearing them just because a pack of wild humans are screeching at them like lunatics. If anything, she’ll write them off as crazies and buy the coat without her heart ever knowing what their anger was really all about. Graphic photos, red paint splashes – these kind of acts of guerrilla warfare only scare people. You can’t reach, and open, people’s hearts if you’re approaching them with fear and hate.

I vote for a more tame approach to shift the public’s perception of animal cruelty. Education, not manic harassment, is the answer. It starts with an education in how to be a more compassionate, empathetic person through recognizing your suffering in an animal’s suffering. It’s all the same, and we each have an opportunity through our deeds to add to the suffering in superfluous ways or to add to the healing in whatever small way we can. In the case of family and volunteer-run Aloha Zoo, I think Lee is an inspiration to us all for compassionate action. He is providing an education in compassion at his zoo, and living the example.

To volunteer or make a donation, please visit the Aloha Zoo website.

©2012 Lauralyn Harter

Lauralyn is a yoga and angel therapist® and Reiki Master specializing in holistic healing and intuitive spiritual mentoring. A transplant from Los Angeles, she is currently providing yoga therapy to the wounded warriors at Fort Bragg in North Carolina.

Thank God for the special people who help in times of need

Six months, 5 different temporary stays, 12 flights, one 12 hour road trip later and….I finally have a home. I’m not moved in just yet, but the move-in date is right around the corner. I haven’t even seen it yet. It’s been picked out for me, and I am so grateful I surrender all control over the details. I saw photos online and felt warmth and peace, and I knew that was all I needed to know. Everything else was trust. Trust that God was working through people.

It’s been a long, and tiring journey. Being an empath is challenging. Being an empath without personal space is a recipe for disaster. And though I didn’t self-destruct thanks to my spiritual practice, yoga, aromatherapy and the ears of good friends, I did have my moments of overwhelm, exhaustion and shed buckets of tears. Displacement for anyone is a nightmare. Displacement for an empath is incredibly challenging. Towards the end of this journey, I felt I would spontaneously combust if I found myself exposed to any more people or other people’s things. I need my own sanctuary to recharge from the emotions I tend to absorb from the environment I’ve been in.

But I did it. I made it though. All the airports and car rides. All the lugging of my little pink suitcase, rolling up clothes to fit more, living off travel sized toiletries, finding health food stores for my special diet in whatever passing town I found myself in. All the nightmares I had in my sleep. Sometimes returning to the night of the fire. Sometimes dreams of terrorists or something bad happening. The most recurring nightmare was that I found myself wandering streets, looking in through windows at comfortable living rooms, other people’s homes. In the dream, I’d look for my own keys, digging in pockets, only to realize I didn’t have any. I had no where to go. I was homeless and on the streets. When I woke up, I realized that dream was not far from my every day reality. I felt trapped in a bad dream ever since I woke up to a fire in my Santa Monica bungalow last December.

Greed and Fraud in Santa Monica

And then the unthinkable happened: the landlady committed insurance fraud. After the fire, she was desperate to cover the costs of repair. She was angry her property had been damaged. Instead of taking responsibility for not keeping her promise to replace the wonky drying machine in the first place, which she hand wrote on my lease, she decided to frame me. She researched my website and saw that I sometimes use aromatherapy oils in my healing practice. She then shoved oily rags into the drying machine so when the insurance adjuster came to view the scene, they found evidence that they felt was enough to charge me with the bill. The landlady, insurance company and bill collections agency that followed all ignored the official fire report that contained the truth: there were dry sheets in the dryer the night of the fire and that the cause was a mechanical issue, not human error. To add insult to injury, the bill collectors response to my explaining the truth of the matter was: “Oh, yeah, right…YOU’RE GUILTY!”

Imagine your life turned upside down because of a cheap, inexperienced landlady who now was framing you and then being judged by some cowardly woman on a phone line determining your guilt by the amount of dollar signs she’ll make out of the deal. This entire situation has been one extended experience with intimidation by bullies – I just can’t stand them. They do nothing but spread stress, fear, pain and negativity in this world, from the little bullies-in-training at elementary schools, to the larger bullies that blew up the World Trade Center. They’re nothing more than unhappy cowards trying to overpower others in an effort to feel self-important and create a mirage of self-esteem.

While the landlady was concocting this plan, which was unbeknownst to me at the time, she intimidated me into signing a legal contract promising I wouldn’t sue her. She had devised what she thought was the perfect plan. She could blame me, and get away with it without the fear that I would sue her for what could have been millions in damages considering the facts of what happened, what I lost and the physical and emotional distress that ensued.

At first, the landlady acted cordial to me and promised she’d have a move back date as soon as she knew from the construction crew. When she became informed by the City of Santa Monica that it was the landlord’s responsibility to pay for my relocation fees, the landlady changed her tune. She didn’t want to pay my hotel costs. She suggested I find someplace to stay. When I told her I had nowhere to stay in L.A., she cut off communication with me. Red Cross tried to inform her of the law and get her to pay, but she refused to cooperate. The next thing I knew, she was giving me 3 days to vacate my bungalow, which led to my homelessness. She then used the insurance money to fix the damage and sold the property for a million dollars. Sometimes I wonder how her past six months have been. The relief she must have felt selling the property that hadn’t been the money maker she had hoped for. Her home being unaffected, her job remaining stable, her life unchanging as she zipped around the palm tree lined streets of Santa Monica in her Mercedes. All the while here I was, career opportunities lost, homeless, flying back and forth across the country sleeping on couches and sharing beds in small spaces, suffering from post traumatic stress and losing sleep, my life changed forever.

Love and Support from Everywhere

During this incredibly tough time, I received supportive cards, texts and phone calls from friends and good wishes from Facebook friends. I thank God for The Red Cross that first week of homelessness for providing a place for me to stay and some cash for food. I continued on with the only job I had left that I could do anywhere: provide intuitive medium readings. I gave phone sessions from hotel rooms and the homes of friends and families. It has been a job that has kept me connected to a higher state of thinking and feeling, and kept me grounded. I’m very thankful for it, and to my teacher, Doreen Virtue. Never would I have guessed that such a job, that I don’t reveal to most I meet, would be such a blessing during a dark time. Every time I provided a reading to someone, it reminded me that everyone is struggling with their own challenge, and everyone has the power to rise above and is divinely helped to do so. Spiritual counseling connects both people to healing, that’s the beauty of it.

Healing The Past

For so long, I’ve wanted justice. I’ve asked myself a million times how someone could be so cruel. I know there are cruel people in this world who do awful things out of fear, greed and selfishness, I just find it so frustrating. I firmly believe life doesn’t have to be so ugly if people would just do the right thing, live in integrity, have a freaking heart. I’ll never forget the night of the fire when I called her to let her know what was happening and she arrived a short time later and shot the most hateful look at me as I stood shivering and in shock, grasping my scared chihuhua on the street corner. She never even asked if I was okay. It’s just not human to be so angry, to lack such compassion at a time like that. If I would have died, which I almost did that night, she wouldn’t have thought twice about my disappearance from this earth. She would have just been stressing about the money she lost. Her behavior following the fire was heartless: sending me a vacate order on Christmas Day. Threatening me in all sorts of ways. Sending me condescending and intimidating emails. Even keeping my deposit and just leaving me with two weeks rent in my pocket. She was nothing more than a bully, using my shock and vulnerability at the time to work in her favor.

It is true that what goes around comes around, and the universe has very clever ways of righting wrongs. The hatred this woman has in her heart is causing her own suffering. I think she experienced her own trauma in the past that she never healed, which is why she cruises through life so cold, manipulative and detached. Unhealed pain and suffering only leads to more in this world. It’s like a virus that spreads. The greatest thing we could do for the planet is heal any anger, any resentment we have and pump up the amount of love we feel for ourselves and humanity. Even when humanity acts less than Godlike, He still made these souls and I have to trust that he made them for a reason that wasn’t intended to hurt us, but to help us learn.

Life Lesson

The lesson here I’m recognizing the most is the importance of placing human life above material things. In the end, when you die and have your life review, you will not be regretting an expensive home that you bought or missing some designer dress you wore. What you will regret is treating people callously, mistreating any living thing at the expense of your own greed or selfishness. Most of all, you will miss the opportunity you had here on earth to make things right.

©2011 Lauralyn Harter

The Heaven Healing Arts studio in Seal Beach, CA

In 2008, I was at the height of my career. I was renting a $2,000 a month oceanfront office that I transformed into a healing studio. With some fresh paint, a water fountain, soothing music, and positive energy the cottage-style studio became the neighborhood hideaway to escape to a serene, sacred space for holistic healing. Being the new merchant in town with a different kind of business, the editor wrote an article about how I got there. I shared the story of how I was previously renting a tiny little office in a health food store store. When the store went bankrupt, us renters were thrown out. I had a booked schedule and needed to find a new space asap. I had been searching new spaces for a while since my practice had been expanding, but now I only had a week to sign a new lease otherwise I’d be out of business.

Every time I did a Google search, the same beachfront property came up. As much as I searched for less expensive alternatives, it seemed to be the only rent ad that I could find available at the time. My mind was cautioning me about the high overhead, but my heart was telling me it was where I needed to be. I decided to follow my heart, and instead of worrying about the overhead, focus on the service I was providing and all the creative ways I could bring a little more love and light my new small coastal town. Sure enough, every month I earned just enough to pay the overhead and the sacred space became a welcomed refuge from the stress of life; a place where kindred spirits met and shared their spiritual faith. It was very special.

As I shared my story with the editor, I mentioned my vision board and how I had the practice of being very focused and visual about my goals in life. How I believed when things were meant to be, you would be divinely guided in that direction and what you needed would be provided for.

Creative Collaging: Seeing Is Believing

I started vision boards in 9th grade. The year was 1989, long before The Secret or The Law of Attraction had been published. It started with a photo of a Saab that I ripped out of a magazine and glued to my school planner. I looked at it every day, dreaming I would someday own one. That didn’t happen in high school. Instead, my father loaned me a car from a place called Rent-A-Wreck. I never did end up owning a Saab. As I grew older my tastes changed and I didn’t want one.

However, my dream of moving into the city from the suburbs was something that wasn’t a phase. I had a large framed photographed of the New York City skyline on my wall. I would make collages from cut out every day photographs of the city and key words of what I wanted from living there – an education, career, fun, love. I would often stare at these collages and sometimes trade them with my best friend, who shared a similar dream of pursuing her artistic dreams in Manhattan. I would visit the city often, getting myself accustomed to the trains, buses and neighborhoods that would soon be my home.

Your Dream, Edited

I did end up living in the city and experiencing a lot of what I had dreamed of. Those images I stared at for a few years eventually became my reality. I became the girl with heels and artsy style who got to see plays and read manuscripts for work and have access to every kind of creative entertainment you can imagine. I didn’t live like you see in the movies. I didn’t rent a large, glamorous apartment with city views and air conditioning. I lived in a two room studio facing a brick wall that got so hot in the summer that I stuck like velcro to my bed. But it was my dream come true nonetheless. Maybe I didn’t have the dream apartment, but I still felt I was living my dream, just on my budget.

Fast forward to Orange County, California ten years later. Before my move cross country, I bought a bulletin board and tacked up index cards with my goals. I wanted to become a Reiki healer. I wanted to work with crystals. I wanted to teach yoga. I wanted to help people. I tacked on images of peace and healing, and included photos of spiritual teachers who inspired me. I loved gazing at this bulletin board and believing in the reality of this vision coming true.

At the same time, I took action. I studied, trained and got certified. I researched and planned. One day at a time, I created an entirely new career in an entirely new state.

When The Secret hit the shelves, I remember thinking, what is the secret? I thought other people surely were doing the same thing as me for years. I mean, how else did they stay focused and inspired to reach their goals? Collaging of the ’80’s turned into vision boards in the new millennium. Reaching goals became “manifesting.” All new lingo was coined and now thousands of people were posting up pictures of what they wanted, too. But how realistic were the images they were staring at and hoping to manifest out of pure faith?

Is My Dream Totally Unrealistic?

This week a client asked me a good question: was her dream of living on the beach in California realistic or was she shooting too high and living in denial? After all, she was a single mother without a lot of support, a creative person without a gigantic paycheck. She had been reading spiritual-based self-help books that encourage you to dream big and to believe that you can receive what you ask for. There is no limitation of how big you can dream, and often you hear stories of incredible wishes coming true.

I am a believer in miracles. I’ve witnessed too many in my life not to believe. I’m also a big believer in the power of hard work and persistence paying off. I come from generations of entrepreneurs who ignored naysayers and paved their own unique path in life. I personally witnessed several members of my immediate family having a vision and achieving it, including moving from a tiny one bedroom city apartment to a six bedroom house in one of the wealthiest towns in the country. So this concept of big dreams being possible was a no brainer for me. However, after spending many years among the spiritual community in Southern California, I realized that not everyone is realistic about reaching their goals – or has the drive. There was this idea that if you just pray really hard or reach certain spiritual ideals that the Beverly Hills mansion or Laguna beach house would just magically be drawn into your life. The reality was I saw many jobless and sometimes homeless people drifting through life, clinging onto trust that somehow, someday their material riches would drop out of the sky and into their lap – if they just kept the faith.

As I shared with my client, it takes more than a dream to reach a goal. It takes will power. It takes dedication, focus and action. You’ve got to look at the whole picture of your life and see you and your dream as a whole. So maybe, I said, you’ll be living in a one bedroom apartment on the beach instead of a house. She said she didn’t care about those details, so long as she was by the water. This healthy perspective of her being open to receiving her dream in the easiest way possible will help her achieve it. If you set your goals too high, especially during a stressful time in life, you can create more overwhelm and that can kill your drive to achieve, and believe.

I believe in prayer. I believe in asking for what you want. I believe in working hard to show your faith that your prayer will be answered – your action is your gratitude in return for your dream coming true. Who doesn’t want to feel they helped to create something? It’s a great feeling to know you can achieve what you set your mind to.

What are the chances that a Reiki healer who makes $20,000 a year will ever live in a beachfront property in Malibu? There’s always a chance – like if the healer publishes a best selling book, or lands a TV deal, or marries rich – all possibilities when living in a city like Los Angeles. But we have to live in the now, leaving enough room in life for unexpected possibilities to happen, while staying present. So maybe the Reiki healer won’t have an ocean view but will find a tiny apartment for rent a few miles from the beach in Malibu, or have a roommate – the path that leads to your dream may not always be obvious, sometimes you’ve got to think creatively, be flexible and most importantly be honest about what’s really important to you. You can find ways to make your dream come true wherever you are in life. Maybe it will take time, and savings, and hard work. Maybe it will take daily prayers and trust and faith. Maybe you won’t live like people do in the movies, but you will live in the town you love or work in the city you love. Anything is possible.

But first you need a vision. Without a vision of what’s possible, you will remain in the mindset that what you want is impossible. And life is too short to cut yourself off from living your dream – your own tailored version of it that fits the needs of your life.

©2011 Lauralyn Harter

www.heavenhealingarts.com

Everything I own fit into a small truck - living simply makes life so much easier!

What a day. The final move. The storage units that housed my things after the fire were a good long walk from the entrance to load up. Adding to the trek down long, dreary gray hallways today? The elevator was broken. The moving guys looked none too pleased, especially after just having finished a walk-up job that left they’re bodies hurting.

I knew that my reaction and the energy I exuded would have an effect on their job, and I genuinely appreciated their work, so I made sure to thank them for their efforts. These simple gestures of gratitude made a big difference in their attitudes. They felt appreciated, and they knew I was being honest about it. In turn, they found the strength, and in good spirits and with good care, moved my things into their truck relatively quickly considering the distance of the haul.

The thing about intuition is sometimes certain people will have a very obvious vibe to them, like an open book laying on a table. The information is just there, and it’s in my space, and I can’t help but feel it. One of the movers, Stuart, had an intimidating look about him at first. But as he moved my things, he revealed a really good heart veiled behind a tough exterior wall. Like when he noticed I was sitting on the ground, hands resting on my stomach, he asked if I was okay. I have no idea how he knew I didn’t feel well. I told him I had a little stomachache, just from the stress. He came back a few minutes later and gently offered me a glass of water. (Thank God for Reiki, I treated my stomach and the pain went away almost instantly).

I felt a nagging feeling about Stuart, like there was something that I needed to give him, something that would help him. When looking through a bag of random things, I found a star resonator. A star resonator is a healing tool that protects you from negativity and helps clear and balance your bio-electrical field. It contains the same material used by NASA in space shuttles that protects astronauts from harmful radiation.

I felt this star resonator being drawn to him like a magnet. There was no question I needed to give it to him, that he would benefit from having it. But how would I explain this to him? It’s not exactly your every day item to pass on to someone.

When the guys were done moving, Stuart was kneeling down on the floor, waiting for his partner to finish my paperwork. I quietly stood next to him and handed him the star resonator.

“Do you feel any connection to this?” I asked him.

He held it in his hand and his eyes seemed fascinated by it. “What is it?”

“It’s called a star resonator. It helps protect you from negativity,” I said. I paid attention to his reaction to see if I had permission to go a little further. He was engaged.

“I think you have a good heart,” I continued, “and sometimes people with good hearts may find themselves around stressful people. You’re pretty sensitive and may be really affected by other people’s feelings, so like if they feel depressed, you may feel depressed.”

He nodded and said softly, “Yes, that happens a lot,” his eyes glued to the star resonator.

“You’re an empath, you absorb other people’s energy.”

“So how do I use this?”

“You can wear it,” I explained, pointing to the little gold loop at the top of the circular pendant. “If you find yourself around negative people or in harsh situations, or if you ever feel threatened in any way, wear it around your neck. If you feel tired or angry at the end of the day, you can place it on your heart or sleep with it under your pillow.”

“You can try it,” I shrugged. “It may help you feel better.”

He looked up at me with wonderment and said, “wow, thank you very much.”

His partner said, “I think I need one of those.”

I said, “You’ve got a lot of good people around you. I feel like Stuart needs the help more.”

His partner agreed. “You’re right about that. I do have a lot of good people in my life. Stuart definitely needs it more than me.” He then added thoughtfully, “My wife is sensitive. She lets things really affect her a lot.”

“Sensitivity is hard to deal with, but it can be a very powerful thing if you know how to use it for good.”

Both guys were silent, considering what I just said.

Stuart’s partner looked at him. “What’s your sign, man?”

“Cancer,” Stuart answered.

“Oh, boy, no wonder!” I laughed. “Cancers are known to be extra sensitive.”

“I’m a Libra and my wife is a Gemini,” Stuart’s partner said.

“Oh, supposed to be a perfect match.”

“Yeah, I’ve heard that,” he said, smiling. He seemed happy to have the blessing of the stars.

I thought it was really cool that Stuart’s partner, a 25 year old aspiring hip hop video director, was into astrology. I’m no expert myself, but I find it interesting and believe that planetary alignments do have an effect on us.

I also knew it was no coincidence that both Stuart and his partner had also experienced house fires. Stuart’s mother had been burned. They had compassion for what I had been through. I felt God had sent them to assist me knowing they would be sensitive and understanding. While I was waiting for them to finish packing up the truck, I noticed this group of white birds kept flying in circles right in front of me. My first thought was the Holy Spirit. Then Peace. I could hear their wings flapping in the wind. Beautiful and magical. I felt it was God telling me love is eternal, everything will come full circle and peace is on it’s way.

Watch video of the circling Birds

©2011 Lauralyn Harter

www.heavenhealingarts.com

Is your love of power undermining the power of your love?

I heard a lecture this weekend by author Diana Butler Bass who is a scholar specializing in American religion and culture.  She talked about how the Christian church has often been so caught up in the love of power that it forgot about the power of love.  Whether is was the crusades in the 12th century or current concerns about the religious right or creeping secularism, a militant response seeks to gain power and control over others.  The power of love to change the world and transform lives is lost in the process.

I couldn’t help but think about power dynamics in relationships.  Many times, especially early in marriage we struggle for power and control.  Not that it is always intentional or conscious; rather it springs from our internal sensitivities.  We have ingrained ideas about how things are supposed to work in relationships and feel defensive when our partner challenges those ideas.  We find ourselves fighting over things like how we handle money or every day issues like who cleans the litter box.  The issues themselves often are trivial but they are connected to strong feelings and deeper agendas.  Our responses are often militant in that we insist on our own way at the expense of the other’s sense of well being.

Breaking power struggles is possible, even easy, when we shift focus from the love of power to the power of love.  In love we can learn to honor our self and our partner by speaking the truth about what we are really thinking and feeling.  For example, “it’s important to me that we save more money because I’m afraid that if we don’t we’ll end up struggling in retirement just like my parents did”.  This at least puts real information on the table and opens the door to talking about each person’s hopes, dreams, fears, and way of thinking.  Love does not insist on its own way but seeks to find solutions that work for the best of all, which cannot happen if you make it about who has power

When you find yourself in the grips of a power struggle consider these questions:

•    What am I really feeling right now?
•    Why is this issue so important to me?
•    Why is it so important to my partner?
•    In the big picture, what’s really important?
•    What do I need to learn from this situation?
•    How can I make this about love rather than power?

After all that you may be tired so go ahead and take a power nap.  You deserve it!

Get instant access to the map that shows you how to get from where you are to where you want to be in your marriage. Complimentary video at  Dynamic Marriage Map

What is Your Labor of Love?
(The thing you are gifted to do that expresses your
deepest and most essential self, that you MUST Do).

Rumi once said, “work is love made visible.”
What a powerful and true statement.   You know how wonderful it feels
when someone loves who she is and what she does—just like a like a
breath of fresh air that allows you to feel cared for and uplifted.

We need more work that this in our world.

People who work in this way are inspired.
The original meaning of inspiration is to “breath in spirit,” so when we love what we do,
we share the very essence of human life—the capacity to breath deeply andjoyfully.

Love Work With a Passion!
The idea of work has been shifting for many years, and with the
economic meltdown, now more than ever we need to realize that not only
can work be fun—it’s supposed to be fun.

I coach my clients, “never ask what you can or should do”  rather ask,
“will I enjoy  this?”

To love oneself is the key to living a happy life.
We have heard this many times, yet, what does self-love really mean?

Self-love requires knowing and honoring oneself, to go on the Quest of
self-discovery, a lifelong challenge of being the best, most loving,
intelligent, compassionate person you are capable of becoming.

Loving yourself involves finding the true brilliance of you, seeing
and sharing your inner jewel, and the continual realization that you
are unique, like no other person in the world.

Let Your SOUL Shine
To the extent that you come to know your True Self/Soul, you can know others.

To the depth that you come to love your True Self, you can love others.

To the generosity you come to give to your True Self, you can give to
others, for we cannot give what we do not have, nor love what we do
not possess, or know what we do not know.

When people do that, we succumb to pretense and shallowness, which is
detrimental to the SOUL.

At this time, we are at the end of the reign of the ego, and entering
into the Age of the SOUL.  We have nowhere else to go but inward to
seek and ultimately find our happiness.

Step Onto Your Path of Purpose
As I reflect back how I first stepped onto my own path of purpose,
about 20 years ago, I remember reading my first “self help” books that
were by the Love Dr., Leo Buscaglia (1924-1998), all of them made an
indelible impression upon my soul, and I am delighted to see how his
wisdom is still with me today and integrates so beautifully into my
own purpose.

In my work, I teach about three kinds of purpose: the universal,
personal, and professional that each human being has the opportunity
to fulfill during his or her lifetime.

Buscaglia once said that “love is our greatest challenge, for love and
the self are one and the discovery of either is the realization of
both.”

This sums up the fulfillment of one universal purpose, of knowing who
we are as spiritual beings.

He also “It’s not enough to have lived. We should be determined to
live for something. May I suggest that it be creating joy for others,
sharing what we have for the betterment of person-kind, bringing hope
to the lost and love to the lonely.”

This sums up our personal purpose, being loving in our relationships.

He also said, “God’s gift to you is your life and your talents.  What
you do with that gift is your gift back to God.”

And now we have the professional purpose, our unique contribution to
the world.
My work is to help people fulfill these three levels of purpose in
this lifetime, so they can accelerate the evolution of their SOUL.

What stops many is refusing to answer the CALL and saying yes to NO situations.

Know Your No So You Can Receive Your Yes
To truly express Self-Love in your work, you must first know your NO,
so Life can give you your Yes, Yes, Yes!

This often involves Change.
You have to love and honor yourself enough to stop temporizing
(putting off) what you know you need to change or upgrade in your
work/life situation.

Say Yes to your Self.
Yes to Love.  Yes to Life. Yes to Wisdom. Yes to Others.  Yes to Learning.
The soul loves to stretch, so let it.

Realize that all things serve to spur the evolution of your soul.

Love most definitely involves growth—Personal growth as well as the
growth of our mastery of our work (which takes FAT: focus, attention,
time).   It’s been 20 years since I first stepped on this sacred path,
and I am still growing in my mastery.

The essence of loving another human being, ourselves, or our purpose
is to be dedicated to growth, and to find ways to actualize our
highest potential in all of our relationships.

And we accept this because we love.

Wherever you are on the path to Living your Purpose, know that
bringing more love to where you are right now, brings you closer to
fulfilling your destiny.

Because love is a creative and healing force, any time you Love
yourself more, you are radiating that positive energy to others, and
ultimately, “doing the work of the Light.”

*****
Awaken to your Soul’s Purpose and Live a Happy and Prosperous Life
when you enroll in the brand new 8 week mult-media training program,
http://SoulPurposeAccelerator.com

Visit me online http://www.brightlightcoach.com