I started focusing on this goal in February 2010, as it seems like it is the key to take me to the next level in the aligning with my authentic self. My wish, which I seed out into the Universe, is to have a three day a week job in my present field, where I earn the same salary as I do now.  I have asked for the opportunity for this to happen by March 31, 2010.

Why do I want this goal?  Having a job which allows me to work three days a week in my present field, would allow me the time to align more with my authentic self and explore work that is authentically “me”.  Aligning with “me” in my work would allow me to fully utilize all of my talents and help others.  Having more time would also help me fully enjoy other priorities in my life right now, like my children and helping my husband with his business ventures.

I was conflicted about posting my goal.  Openly posting my goal to the big wide world involves some scary risks for me.  If it didn’t come to pass, I would be disappointed.  There is also the risk that readers may think I’m a failure at manifesting.  My biggest fear though, is that I am afraid if I put all my faith in the Universe to deliver this to me, and it doesn’t happen, then I will also lose faith in the Universe too.

However, after thinking about it, I decided to post it for three reasons.

1)      I decided it would dedicate me even more greatly to my goal.

2)      The thing my most authentic self desires at the present, is work that is in alignment with who I really am.

3)      I decided that if I could find the courage to put my goal out there, that you might be inspired to as well.

In order for my goal to come to me, I had to come to the place where I could believe it could happen for me.  At first I didn’t believe it could.  The reason I didn’t believe it could, was because I had many fears that were preventing me from reaching it. To allow my goal to reach me, I had to face my fears and work through them one by one.

I wrote down my fears, examined them and reasoned my way through them.

1)      I’m afraid that if this doesn’t happen, that I will lose my faith in the Universe as being abundant.  Will I?  I already have so much abundance in my life (love, friends, health, kids, etc.) that there is no way I could not think that the Universe is an incredibly abundant place for me.

2)      I’m afraid if it doesn’t happen, I will lose my mind if I have to stay at my present job.  Will I?  No, I’m doing this job now and I’m surviving, even if it’s not the life I would prefer, and I know I can do it.

3)      I’m afraid if it doesn’t happen I will be a manifesting failure.  Will I?  If don’t manifest my job in one month, I will likely be a lot closer to manifesting it.  I might then achieve it in 2 months or 4 months, but in any event, I’ll likely be a lot closer to making it happen.

4)      I’m afraid that if it doesn’t happen and my blog readers know that it didn’t happen that they will seriously consider anything I write about manifesting. Won’t they?  Maybe I’ll learn something about manifesting from my experience, readers could learn from.

5)      I’m afraid that a 3 day a week job doesn’t exist.  Doesn’t it?  I know the following people in my field who have jobs that are: a 3 day a week job,  a 4 day a week job, and a 30 hour flexible work week.  These are all real jobs in the real world, so there is no reason I couldn’t have one too.

6)      I’m afraid no one will pay me the amount I need to help sustain my family’s expenses.  Won’t they?  The people I know in the jobs in my field are already making more money than I require.  So it does happen, it is already out there.

7)      I’ll miss my co-workers too much.  Will I really?  Realistically, while I talk to them every day, I wouldn’t want that affection to keep me from progressing with my life.   I go for lunch with them maybe once a month, which I could still do that if I wasn’t working here.

Along with dispatching my fears, I’m:

a) focusing on this vision being more “real” than reality.

Every day I take ½ hour to feel in my body and emotions as if this situation were true.  I write about how I would feel and how I could serve with my talents.  This doesn’t mean that sometimes I don’t worry that it won’t happen.  I do worry about it sometimes.  When that happens I try to bring myself back from worrying about it to focusing on it, and feeling it in my emotions and in my body, as my “real” reality.

b) taking “guided action” towards my goal.

If an action occurs to me that would take me forward towards my goals (without feeling like I’m acting in desperation), then I do it.  Sometimes I worry that I’m not doing enough.  Then I bring myself back to just feeling good about the goal again, and know that I am doing enough.

So I’m putting it all on the line, in front of everyone!!  I’ve moved from scared to excited about this experiment.

Throw some happy intention up there for me if you’ve got some to spare. Thanks!!! :)

Kara

UPDATE:  Just before posting this, I received an email inviting me to a job interview for a 3 day a week job!!!  I couldn’t believe it.  It took an hour just to sink in.  I feel kind of sick to my stomach, along with excited and nervous….

Copyright 2010 :: Kara Thompson

Thanks to Mark Gilliland for the incredible artwork!

I went to the lake in alternate reality, where I usually take off from.  I looked at myself, and “I” (representing G) had transformed into an Iroquois warrior, who was dressed like Mad Max. He was in black leather chaps, and black leather arm bands, with circular saw blades, cut in half, stuck upright on his arms for protection.  These saw blades, were of importance as they represented G’s ultimate protection of himself.

My Iroquois warrior (representing G) went up to the Upper World, twirling and twirling as he went.  There were invisible energy cords everywhere criss-crossing back and forth through the sky, trying to ensnare him.  As the Iriquois twirled, he cut all the energy cords that were trying to bind G.  These were all the cords from those currently involved with G’s project.  The message was that G has to cut all the energy cords of everyone currently involved with the project, to free it up to move ahead.

Once the Iroquois warrior had cut through all the energy cords, bullets started flying at him.  All the people whose energy cords he cut were very angry.  The message was that these people will try to attack G when he takes the project out of their hands, and they will send energetic bullets towards G, but G will be able to deflect all the bullets.

The Iroquois got lighter and lighter as he was released from the grip of all the cords.  He started flying up faster and faster.  Finally he was so high, he was at the very, very top of the Upper World where he could grab the tailfeathers of a Firebird/Phoenix.  He pulled the Phoenix down into the Upper World.  The Phoenix was squawking, and then it flew away.  This means that the project will rise up again and have new life, like the Phoenix does, once it is untangled from all the energy cords.

When I asked for other messages for G, I saw a small bird picking up seeds.  I asked who she was and she told me “Wren”.  I asked if she was G’s power animal and she said “Yes.”  I asked for any messages for G and she said “Keep unearthing these seeds G”.  She wants G to continue to unearth the kernels of truths that he is conveying to the world in his project.  I asked if G could do anything for her and she said “Love Me”, the message being that not only should G honor and love his power animal, his personal totem animal, but also love himself for who he really is.  Then Wren flew away.  She gave a wren call as she left. I got the message that G is supposed to hear a real-life Wren’s call, that when he listens to it, more will be revealed to him at that time.

Then I saw a chameleon climbing up a branch.  I asked for messages for G and he said “Continue to be yourself”.  He stayed green instead of blending in with the brown branch.  His message seemed to be, “be yourself as much as you can, but you are allowed to “blend” if you absolutely have to”.  I asked for any more messages for G and he said “Climb with the times”.  His eyes kept swiveling behind him, as though to tell G that he should keep his wits about him as he continued to “climb” at his job, always observing in all directions.

I asked what else G should know about going forward with the project.  They said “Firebird Company”?  The message has to do with promoting and marketing the project with words Firebird or Phoenix in the name. I suggested to G that also maybe there is someone who is interested in his project located in Phoenix, AZ?

Then all the guides told me that G should ensure his project is totally finished.  He must have the project completely finished, ready and waiting, sitting in a box. (I don’t know why this is important, but it is was presented as being essential to the success of his project.)

Analysis of G’s journey

G very strongly related to the warrior as himself, as he feels he is in that role in this lifetime.  He could see that he needed to free the project from those involved with it previously, and to have it absolutely ready to go, at a moment’s notice.

He could relate to the going higher and higher to touch the tail of the Firebird/Phoenix, as he’d had a similar experience during his recent meditation.

In regards to Chameleon, G could relate to the need to sometimes veil his true personality at his day job, like the Chameleon.  I told him to remember Chameleon’s messages for the future, at work.  I also urged him to do some research beyond the obvious meanings of Chameleon to give him some deeper insight for himself, and what he should learn from Chameleon’s wisdom.

G had no prior connection to Wren.  Since she presented herself to me as his primary power animal, the totem animal that represents him, I urged him to do some research on and meditate on Wren.  I also urged him to try and at the very least hear a real Wren’s song, or at least a recorded one, as in the journey it was indicated that he would get some further information he needed downloaded directly into him at that moment.

Some of Wren’s Celtic meanings are: friendliness, sharing, determined, quick-witted, active, agile, creativity, light-hearted, free-spirited.

Perhaps Wren was also a reminder to G to approach the launch of his project into the world from a new innovative angle, and not stick to traditional methods of promotion or marketing.  Since the Wren is also considered to often move from place to place, perhaps G also needs to try different areas to get his project launched (which also fits in nicely with the message about maybe trying to search for a company with Firebird or Phoenix in their name, or contact somebody in Phoenix, Arizona).

G could see the value of getting the project completely finished, so it was ready to be received.  He was thinking of promoting it himself.  This would also fit in with Wren’s reminder to approach from a different angle.

Also, G probably needed to be reminded to try and make a little progress each day.  I spoke to him about possibly using a blog to promote his work, as a way to publish a little at a time, and present a online presence to the world, and he seemed to be open to that possibility.

Thanks very much to G for allowing me to share his journey on my blog!!

Kara

Would you like get “unstuck” on an issue in your life?  Want to access the wisdom available from your Higher self, intuition and your guides and power animals?  I have two more appointments available at this month’s prices, before they increase in April. Email me at conduitofjoy@hotmail.com, for my next available appointment.

Copyright 2010 :: Kara Thompson

The best piece of advice I ever got from my coach, was when I was deciding what I might do next, as work I found meaningful and fulfilling.  I mentioned that I enjoyed doing journeys for other people.  Then she asked “But what’s the funnest part for you when you’re doing a journey?”

Posing that question to myself made me step back for a moment.  What WAS the funnest part of journeying?

I had to sort through different aspects of doing a journey.  I like the actual journeying, but unless I can share it, it’s about as fulfilling as watching a TV show.  I like researching the animals and symbols in a journey, but that can be an academic exercise in itself.  I like writing up a journey, but its kind of empty without the input of another person.

After I thought about it, I decided my favourite part of journeying, with a cherry on top, is interpreting and combining the journey, the research, and the personal story into a fascinating instructional tale.  The journey becomes a tale that the person can learn from and use to overcome the obstacle in their life.

The synthesis and sharing of the journey is what makes me go “Ahhhh….That was so fabulous!”  If I’m not finished researching or analyzing a journey my mind just keeps drifting back to it, caressing it like a favourite rock, thinking about it over and over again, and deriving so much joy in the process.

It’s the digging deeper and deeper, and the mingling the meanings and mythology, and the personal story, until I can touch the very core of the Source, that makes me feel like I’ve just stayed up all night long dancing.

I realized that I get to use my brain and my heart and my intuition at the same time.  My intellect, my intuition and my heart are all fully engaged.  I am fully utilizing all of my God-given talents in those moments.  Really, at that moment when I am fully utilizing all the talents of the person I call Kara, I am fully honoring the Divine within me.

My feelings at those moments are that I am totally filled, and it is FUN!  And when I am finished, I can’t wait to do it again!  It doesn’t get any better than that.

Finding the “funnest part” of something you do sounds self-explanatory, and the beauty of it, is that it is self-explanatory.  However, you must keep concentrating on the “funnest part” and not just the “okay part” or the “alright part” to get to the very heart of hearts of what it is that you love.

You must look deep to isolate the part that you enjoy the very most, the part that you absolutely love doing.  The “funnest part” is the thing you want to do for hours and hours without thinking about it.  The “funnest part” is the thing you would do if you weren’t getting paid, and you might even pay someone else to let you do it.  The “funnest part” is the thing that when you are finished doing it you sit back and think “I can’t wait to do that again!” The “funnest part” is the thing that you mind keeps going back to over and over again, like a kid on Christmas Eve, waiting for Santa to arrive with the present you asked for.

Finding the “funnest part” is the litmus test for what really lights your soul on fire.

Journeying fills me with joy.  I’m sure that your “funnest part” makes you feel that way too. You will know, because the feelings you have when you are doing it, you would describe as “fun”, “totally engaged”, “in the zone” or any other term that describes your ultimate fulfillment and satisfaction.

Your “funnest part” fuels your soul, and gives you energy.  It fills you up to the brim. It makes you enthusiastic to do more.  Enthusiasm means “the God within”.  When we are filled with the Universal God force, we are touching the core of our souls.  That is why we are here on Earth, and that touching God is what we are meant to do the most.

If we touch God with our “funnest part” every day, we are guaranteed happiness and joy.  If we can spend most of our time doing our “funnest parts” and even better, making a living from doing them, we are truly blessed beings.

Tell me what your “funnest parts” are below.  I’d love to share in how you touch God….

Kara

In April I will be raising my journey prices.  I have two spaces left for journeys this month at the old price.  Email at conduitofjoy@hotmail.com if you want one of these spaces!  Journey on my friends, journey on….

Copyright 2010 :: Kara Thompson

Prior to my appointment, I had been working on trying to “let go and let God”.  I’m a bit of a control freak, and it’s hard for me to give up trying to control what happens to me. I decided this would be a good opportunity to trust, to give up my illusion of control, and get out of my own way.  I decided to stop squeezing off the flow, and allow the natural abundant flow of the Universe to reach me. That’s when the good stuff gets to us, not when we’re standing in its way.

I knew my heart was ready, but I had to get my mind on side.  I thought “I’m not a dentist.  There is nothing I can do here.  How is my attempting to control this situation going to help me get the best root canal possible?”  When my mind was satisfied that my attempts at control were totally useless, I entirely gave over control to the Universe.  I felt a great sense of relief as I sat down in the dental chair.

As I started to relax, I asked the Universe to help out the dentist and his assistant.  In my head, I wrapped up my need to control into a nice big package and sent it up to the Universe to handle for me.

So what happened?  It turns out that when I got out of my own way, the law of attraction drew the natural flow of the Universe to me.  The Universe delivered to me the best solution possible to my problem.

By handing over the control over my situation to the Universe, I had the best possible root canal.  The experience was amazing.  The dentist and the assistant were full of jokes, and entertained me.  They were super professional and used new technology, which I found fascinating.  I felt no pain whatsoever.  I enjoyed the two hours of just laying down and relaxing.  Best of all, I had control of my own remote and watched a full two hours of uninterrupted Olympics on TV!  I couldn’t even get that at home!

Two weeks later, my tooth no longer hurts.  Months of pain and worrying about future pain are gone.  Once I was out of my own way, the law of attraction naturally flowed to me, and I got the best root canal possible.

Give it over people, and get started.

Kara

Want to connect with yourself more deeply?  Want to help yourself get more into the flow by connecting deeper? Email me at conduitofjoy@hotmail.com, for my next available appointment.

Copyright 2010 :: Kara Thompson

Thanks to http://www.flickr.com/photos/h-k-d/2774722999/ for the photo!

Montgomery, the skeleton gold-medal winner for Canada, credited his power animal – a turtle – for his success in his medal-winning race. He had his turtle painted, along with a thunderbird, on his helmet to help him win his skeleton race.  He got the idea after a team retreat with sports shaman (who knew there was such a thing – and Canadian to boot! – www.sportshaman.com), who asked him to look inside and find his power animal.  Montgomery found a turtle, and what power his power animal gave him.

It is still blowing my mind that he came out in public and credited his turtle for his success in winning the gold medal.

Terry Williams, Canwest News wrote in the Edmonton Journal, on February 18, 2010:

“…Part of the exercise was to discover their spirit or power animal. Montgomery discovered his spirit animal was a turtle.

“He accompanies me on my helmet and sled,” said Montgomery of the turtle.

Montgomery also has the helmet painted in a native theme. Just before coming to Whistler for the Games, Montgomery had Vancouver native artist Phil Gray do the artwork for the helmet. The image of a thunderbird is prominent.

“The thunderbird is the main theme, but it was my idea to put the turtle on the helmet,” Montgomery said.

“I thought it was fitting to pay respect to the First Nations people and apparently their folklore states that the thunderbird lives up behind Blackcomb Mountain. It’s a powerful animal and one of their most prized symbols. I thought it would be good to pay respect to that and honour the people here and have my spirit animal guide me down the track.”

Montgomery’s experience is a fantastic example of how tapping into the strengths of your power animal can draw out your best qualities.

The turtle, which is Jon’s personal power animal (some call this a totem animal), gave him the strength to bring out the very best of himself, to help him win the gold medal.  Some of the symbolic meanings of the turtle are: strength, stability, endurance, patience. These are personal traits which would definitely help in training to achieve the necessary level of excellence needed in order to win a gold medal.

The most important aspect of Montgomery’s connecting with his power animal is, was the connection with the deepest parts of himself.  Knowing himself in such a deep way allows Montgomery to dig down to the deepest parts of himself.  That connection allows him to reach for the best of himself, in any particular moment.  This connection with a power animal, helps any person, in any endeavour, do their absolute best.

Montgomery’s admission paves the way for the rest of us to bring our power animals into our everyday lives.

Personally, I can’t wait to see the looks on the faces of my co-workers when I walk in a meeting with a crow headdress on….and a giant dragonfly painted on my briefcase.

If you haven’t found your own power animal yet, once you become a subscriber, you automatically get the free guided meditation to find your own power animal.

Yay, score one for the power animals!

Kara

Want to find your power animal to harness your Gold-medal winning potential?  Want to connect with your power animal more deeply through a journey, and see how you it can make you as successful as Jon Montgomery?  Email me at conduitofjoy@hotmail.com, for my next available appointment.

Copyright 2010 :: Kara Thompson

Photograph by: Oliver Lang, AFP, Getty Images, Canwest Olympic Team; Canwest News Service

I was walking my dog one evening and I noticed a beautiful metal fence gate.  It looked like several circles, but on closer inspection it was a jumble of crazy 88’s.  I looked up and noticed that I was on 88^th Avenue.  I went to bed and thought nothing more of it.

First thing the next morning, I opened my email to find an email from a friend with “8888″ in the subject line.  Shortly after that I was listening to the radio, and the announcer said “…and that was from episode 88…”.  Later I was flipping through a magazine and it fell open to a page which had a child climbing on a giant “8″ made out of tires.  Finally when my child looked up and asked me “Mommy, how do you draw an eight?”, I thought “Enough 8’s already! I’m paying attention!”

“8” had tried very hard to get my attention, so I decided to pay attention.  When a sign so obviously jumps out at me at least three times in the space of a day, I try to listen to what synchronicity is telling me.

According to www.whats-your-sign.com, eight is the number of business, success and wealth, since eight represents continuation, repetition, and cycles.  Since business and wealth depend on cycles to fulfill their manifestation, it’s like the snowball analogy: As it continues to roll, in gets bigger and bigger with each revolution.

I checked in with myself to see if this eight energy feels like an accurate read for me.  It does seem to fit.  I feel like I’m starting the snowball.  I’m hard packing snow to form the tiny snowball which is the essence of the “real” me.  This solid core will ensure that as the snowball rolls, it can withstand the adding of more and more.  If the core is true, the giant snowball that results will be filled with authentic power.

Eight deals with balance, time, and the recycling path of energy. Eight deals with energies that are in constant circulation and regenerate themselves.  Eight represents opposite energies – male/female, life/death, dark/light, which makes it an ultimate  symbol of balance.

I’m excited because I’m at the beginning of my personal 8 year, numerologically speaking.  This means the energy of this year for me is powered by all the fuel of the number 8.

Tipped on its side, eight is the symbol for infinity.  Eight’s energy constantly evolves, as it cycles back from one opposite to the other, and it gets its power from this balance, in its journey connecting the polar opposites of energy.

Eight stands for unlimited potential.

The Rewards of Eight

I have noticed that it is always easier to go with the particular underlying energy of a month or a year, as opposed to working against it.  It is much harder to accomplish objectives that directly oppose underlying energies.

One of the issues I am focusing on this year, is letting go of my need to control, and trusting that my needs will be taken care of.  So it interesting that I am in a cycle of abundance and balance, where the natural underlying energy can allow this to happen more easily.

I was amazed to come across this explanation of the 8 year on  www.creativenumerology.wordpress.com.  “The 8 year is a time of self-empowerment, which starts with the often startling realization of how little power you actually have in this world, and that it is entirely up to you to regain your power and find a way live as freely as possible. This year, you will prosper according to the strength of your determination, the accuracy of the information you follow, and the depth of your awareness. Throughout the year, your ability to make things happen and get things done will increase. Your expectations will rise, along with your confidence and feelings of satisfaction.”

I’m particularly paying attention to this further explanation: ” Eight is the number of power.  It teaches us that power in any form, cannot be maintained without balance, and that balance cannot hold without accurate understanding.”

“Eight is the number of power in the material world, but power cannot sustain itself without accurate information. However, accurate Information that is not understood has no value. The 8 energy will help you to develop correct understanding of available information. This understanding is what produces the perfect balance from which visions are turned into material reality.”

“One of the first rewards of the year may come as an opportunity to finally do what you want to do – a return on your investment of having the courage to search for what you truly desire in the first place.”   Eight speaks to reaping the rewards of whatever one has invested in life.  These rewards depend on how much love you have for what you do.

Eight Is Gunning For Me

So Eight, I want you thank you for showing up.  I’m paying attention.  I’ve got my eyes and ears open for accurate information and I’m keeping my mind open for the correct understanding of that information.  My intuition is stoked.  I’m looking for what I love, and committing only to those things.

I’m hoping to leverage the powerful eight energy to supply me with the personal power to make big changes.

I hope to write a post in December which is an amazing conclusion to this eight year unfoldment!  Go eight!

Have you had any experiences with the powerful number eight?

Kara

Do you need someone to confirm an outstanding question you have about your life?  Email Kara at conduitofjoy@hotmail.com if you want help with an answer.

Thanks to t3mujin for the photo.  http://www.flickr.com/photos/t3mujin/368548511/

Copyright 2010 :: Kara Thompson

There’s nothing like unexpected love to warm you up in February…

The dreary February weather, plus the ongoing plague of colds and flu in my life, rendered me into loveless grouch.  Trudging through the snow, I asked myself “What is the one thing guaranteed to cheer me up this morning?”  The answer that came to me was “My wonderful co-workers!”

Do these people always cheer me up?  Yes.  Do they add love and value to my life? Yes.  Do I make a point of making sure they know I value them back?  Probably not.

So, dedicated to my wonderful co-workers, in the spirit of love for other human beings this Valentine’s day, I suggest a one-day Valentine’s Day exercise.

The purpose of this experiment is to let yourself feel the abundance of love that surrounds you every day.  You might be unaware of it.  But it’s there my friend.  You just have to remove the barriers to you feeling it.

To perform this experiment, you will immerse yourself in the abundance of love available to you from the actual living, breathing people that surround you every day.  Often, these people might as well be invisible to us. We take them for granted.  They are part of the scenery.

We overlook those around us in our search for “something special”.  However, I am here to tell you that sometimes “something special” is right under your nose.  One of the richest sources of signs from the Universe are other people, often the ones all around you.

You must, as much as humanly possible, open your heart and your consciousness to every single person you interact with. This means EVERY person you interact with, no matter how briefly.  This includes the woman who serves you your morning coffee, your bus driver, your partner and family, even that annoying guy in your office.

We spend a lot of our time either half-engaged, or fully shuttered because we are overloaded and bombarded with way too much sensory overload.  There are valid reasons for protecting our energy field and not fully engaging.  Being overly emotionally open all the time is not good for us.

However, if our default mode is always being shut down that is not good for us either.  While we do keep out the bad and draining energies, we also keep out good soul-nourishing love.  Rejecting all the love energy coming from others does not serve our highest good.  That’s why we, every once in awhile, we need to practice opening our hearts more than usual, so that we don’t forget how.

Safety precaution: Before beginning your day, don’t forget to visualize wrapping yourself in a protective pink bubble (thanks to Slade at www.shiftyourspirits.com for this tip).  The semi-permeable energetic membrane will allow your intentions out and the pink color will only let good energy from others in, and keep all the negative energy out.

1) Set your intention.

In the morning upon rising, state this to yourself as to your intent for the day: Today, I open my heart to every person I interact with.  I engage my heart and full consciousness with every person I interact with, for the highest good of us both.

2) Engage all of your focus with each person FULLY for the entire time of your interaction.

As you go about your day, make direct eye contact with everyone you interact with (but don’t exceed social norms as we don’t want you getting into other kinds of engagement!).  The eye contact is more about genuine connection, not length of time.  Focus ALL of your attention on this person for the entire time of your interaction.

3) Fully and completely LISTEN to every person who talks to you.

This is the part that I find really challenging.  I have one co-worker whose phone messages are 5 minutes long minimum.  So every meeting with this person is very, very long.  Even though I have to fight with myself to do it, particularly at the beginning, I find that if I truly listen to him there is a pay-off.

Actually LISTEN to what the person is saying.  Listen with your open heart to fully hear to what they are saying with their body language, their emotions, their energy.

Results:

At the end of the day, take some quiet time with yourself and try to figure out what you learned today.  How can you use what you learned to enrich your interactions with people every day?

How do you feel emotionally, now, at the end of the day? Better than an average day?  Worse?

What did you notice from fully engaging and fully listening, that you never noticed before?

What did you learn about yourself?

What did you learn about those people you see everyday but don’t really listen to?

My experience

When I tried this exercise at work, I anticipated that it would be a giant waste of time.  Let everyone talk as long as wanted or needed to?  I’d never get out of the office.

However, the paradox of this exercise for me, was revealed to me at the end of my day.  Very often in my impatience to get a coworker in and out of my office, I found I was oblivious to the fact that the answer to the “question” I needed to answer, was revealed to me as I just listened to them. By taking the time to really listen, instead of pretending I was listening, I saved all the time it would have required me to research the answer, contact other people about the answer and re-think the answer from a bunch of different angles, to come up with the answer.  All because I was so impatient.  In the end, I actually saved time, by truly listening.

Not only that but I felt an accumulation of all the good energy directed my way, and felt that people really liked me alot.

I would love to hear to hear about your results!  Post a comment to this post, so that others can also see what you learned.

Kara

Do you have a question about love you want help to answer?  Email me at conduitofjoy@hotmail.com to see when I can perform a journey for you!

Copyright 2010 : : Kara Thompson : : Conduit of Joy

Recently I left town for a three day weekend and escaped from my deeply entrenched daily routine.  During that weekend I saw the majority of all my favourite friends and relatives in the world.   There was a whole lotta love coming my way.   The love and affection was a little overwhelming and was almost too much, in such a short period f time.

Seeing all those people, and feeling the love and affection from all of them felt so good.  It was like getting a giant booster shot of love that felt SOOOOO good.

But coming back home, when the weekend was over, that good feeling was disappearing.   I was like a fish out of water, gasping for air.

I got angry and resentful thinking about my “normal” life as I flying home.  What was wrong with my life that I couldn’t have those friends around me?  Why couldn’t I have that kind of love and support around me all the time?  I wanted that feeling all the time!

As I leaned against the plane window, I looked bitterly out over the dark pre-dawn landscape.  As the plane taxied down the runway, and flew up, up, up, I was stunned out of my pity party.  A spectacular dawn breaking as my plane rose up into the sky.  It was a truly awe inspiring site.  The fiery orange sun barreled up through the cottony clouds, the way it does every day.  But at that moment, on that particular day, I really “saw” the sun.

I appreciated that sun, I saw its beauty and remembered it’s power.  And I was totally blown away by it.

I remembered in that moment, that we puny life forms are totally and utterly dependent on that Sun rising every morning.  I remembered that the Sun gives all the light that our entire planet and everything on it, depends on for life itself.  I remembered that the Egyptians took their dependence on the Sun so seriously that they had religious rites solely devoted to ensuring that the sun DID come up again the next day.  Their appreciation of that Sun’s magnificence permeated their everyday existence.

All of sudden I was bursting with supreme gratitude.  What an amazing place the Universe is!  Every day, the Sun comes up, plants grow to feed us, and babies are born.

Miracles abound everywhere around us every day, but we can’t see them anymore.

We have so much, particularly in the Western world, filling all our spaces, our thoughts and all of our time, that there is no room for us to “see” our abundance any more.

Abundance is always here – we just need to remove our blinding beliefs so we can see it.

The magnificent Sun reminded me that my life is full of amazing miraculous things.  I just have remember to stop, quiet my mind, and really look at the many blessings I have been given.  I need to take the time to smell the roses that I DO have in my bouquet.

I found my attitude of gratitude about my friends too.

I am amazingly blessed that I have all of these amazing people in my life, even if I don’t see them often.  Even though I don’t see these people every day, they are there.  The most amazing part is that they still love me and adore me after all these weeks and months and years.

I thank that dawn for “waking me up”.

I was reminded that I truly am surrounded by so much abundance.  And for that I am so grateful.

Kara

If you were “fed” by post this post, to get more, enter your email address at the top right of this site where it says “Subscribe to this Blog”  to become a subscriber. 

Do you have a question for me to help you answer? Do you need to touch the “other side” with my help?  Email me at conduitofjoy@hotmail.com to see when I can perform a journey for you!  :)

Thanks for JunKarlo for the great image!

http://th03.deviantart.net/fs70/300W/f/2009/364/4/2/A_cup_of_Love_2_by_JunKarlo.jpg

Copyright 2010 : : Kara Thompson : : Conduit of Joy

Don't panic, it's just me...

What’s the best news I’ve heard so far in 2010?  That I’m going to see more of you, and more of myself in 2010!

A new year is a time that is often used for taking stock of one’s life, and how you wish to improve it.  Our society encourages us, through our all-pervasive media to measure ourselves against arbitrary standards, which often change by the minute. 

This means that New Year’s goals often are goals to become more like “someone else”, someone who might even not exists except in an idealized form.  So our New Year’s resolutions can turns into a list of “shoulds”.  “Shoulding” all over myself just makes me feel crappy.  It usually means that I don’t really care about the task at hand, but I am succumbing to some other pressure that is making me pretend I care about a goal.  Then when I don’t fulfill the arbitrary goal I wasn’t even genuinely interested in, in the first place, I feel even worse about myself.

Why should I make myself feel bad about myself?  Who benefits from that?  Certainly not me. 

It has taken me almost 30 years to come to terms with who I am, and to convince myself that the person I am, warts and all, is pretty great.  I’ve spent my years self-flagellating myself, trying to make myself thinner, and prettier and more interesting.  None of it brought me happiness.   And now I’m done.   

Has any of this striving really helped?  And what cost has this striving come with, how much more unhappy did it make me with myself along the way?

Instead of pursuing goals we really have no interest in, it would be great if the yardstick we could use to measure against is ourselves.  If we could ask ourselves “Who am I right at this very second and how can I be more like unique self?”

So, this year I’m pursuing being myself more.  I’m asking myself “How can Kara be more Kara-like?”

To that end, I asked myself a bunch of questions.  I realized that no question is too trivial, for it’s often in the small details that we start selling out our real selves the most. 

All the questions were to help me focus on what are those things – in every aspect of life – that brings me most in alignment with who I feel I really am.  Not coincidentally they are also those things which make me feel like I am most in alignment with the Source/Divine/God.

It is also important to remember that the answers must be according to you only.  If accounting lights your fire, go for it. The only correct answer is the one that is correct for you, and you only.

Some questions could be:

What things make me feel the most alive?

What daily activities do I do that make me feel the most in alignment with myself?

What makes me genuinely have “my version of fun”?

What colors of clothes make me feel the most vibrant – when people give me the most compliments?

Ask yourself as many questions as you can.  You will get clearer and clearer as you go.

My plan is to incorporate as many of these answers about myself – from the most minute detail to the biggest ones – as I can in my daily life.  That way I’ll become more and more in alignment with who I am.  Before you know it, I might actually be my authentic self, 24 hours a day, 365 days  a year.  That is my goal.

So enjoy YOURSELF this year.  You’re pretty fantastic. You deserve happiness, particularly with yourself.

And I know you’re going to like yourself even more when you start doing as much as you can, to fully transform you into your most authentic self.

Can’t wait to see you,

Kara

Would you like me to perform a shamanic journey for you to assist with giving you some answers about where to start?  Email me at conduitofjoy@hotmail.com.

Also, don’t forget to become a subscriber to this blog, if you want more posts like this.  Click on the button over there ————————————————->

Upon hearing that, “I” took off my football helmet and the football player was P shaking out her hair and smiling. Then P said “Yes!” and started doing a football victory dance, kind of silly and kind of great all at the same time. (P and I were now together in “my” body.) P morphed back into me and off we shot to the Upperworld.

I briefly turned into “Juggernaut” when we zoomed as fast as possible into space and only stopped because we hit our Juggernaut helmet with a huge metallic “bonk” on the Moon. “We” dropped down from the Moon into the Upperworld.

This was the Upperworld like I had never seen it before. It very much resembled the Middleworld (Earth) where I rarely go in journeys, but it was like this Earth as if everything was 10,000 times better. The colors were all so much brighter, the air was purer, there was a feeling of perfectness and contentedness in the air. The scene was of beautiful green verdant valleys and crisp mountains. It was teeming with wildlife and life of all kinds. The natural feeling of the place was that anyone would want to stay there forever. I was standing some distance from where it started. I asked where I was and the answer was “Paradise”.

I was given the message that this is P’s new world, this is the version of her world that P will be experiencing soon. P’s world in the near future is an incredible ideal version of this Earth, of “reality”.

I quickly glimpsed a tiger ear out of the side of my vision, then I hear a roar, then I saw the side view of the body of a tiger, then Tiger presented himself to me in his full glory. This type of presentation is the classic revealing of a power animal. Telepathically I asked him if he was your power animal and he replied that he was.

Tiger was not cuddly or fuzzy or anything, just authentic as he was in his full power. All of a sudden my body in “ordinary reality” got a really bad tickle in my throat. I started coughing, like there was something caught in my throat. I kept coughing until I asked if this was a message for you. (I told P she has something that is “caught in her throat”, like an itchy hairball, that has to be coughed out).

Once I got this message, the coughing stopped. I asked the Tiger what the best way P could honor him would be. Wordlessly he told me for P to light a candle and think of him as P looked at it.

I asked for any other messages and an Oyster appeared. The oyster immediately appeared and spit out it’s pearl for inspection by the Universe. “It’s done!” the Universe proclaimed. I told P she is the oyster and her “pearl” (project she had asked about) is ready for release into the world.

P was in her “9” year numerologically and she asked for any other messages specific to her 9 year, and a snake appeared. “Shed, shed, shed – you don’t take it with you!” was the message from Snake. The snake shed 2 or 3 layers of skin and left them where they lay. She appeared as a renewed and beautiful bright green snake with her new skin.

I asked for any other messages for P. I’m not sure who it was that showed up next, but I got the sense that it was two visitors from the Otherworlds (perhaps departed spirits?) One of them peeked out from the top of the Upperworld, and wouldn’t show his body to me. They just said “Tell P we said “hi”. When I asked who they were they said “She’ll know who we are – Tweedle-dee and Tweedle-dum”. (I thought they might be spirits of animals that P used to know.)

When I tried to go to the Underworld, the message I got was that all of P’s worlds (usually Upper, Middle and Lower) were amalgamated into one World – this magnificent place I saw before me, that P would be in right away – so there was really nowhere else to go. This world contained all the wisdom and qualities of all the worlds, which means it really is “perfect”.

The last thing that I saw before I left was a blue whale floating in the sky of P’s magnificent world. He smiled at me and winked, and the telepathic message I got was “Anything can happen here in this amazing world.” Then he just kept happily swimming throughout the clouds.

Analysis

I told P that an unusual aspect of this journey was that, for the beginning of the journey, P and “I” were actually in the same body. I came back to my body “alone”, only after the tiger coughing message. It was hard to tell where I started and P stopped while we were co-mingled.

Usually I am the only one in “my” body in non-ordinary reality. Sometimes I experience being the “journeyee” for short periods of time to receive some sort of message through my body for them, but in this one we were co-existing in the same body. I figured out later that some of the messages I was bringing through for P were also for me.

I told P that “Juggernaut” (a character from the X-men Wolverine movie) is the symbol for unstoppableness, meaning that once started, P is unstoppable. I told P that hitting the moon probably mean that once she got started, she is unstoppable until you run up against “as far as you can go”.

I encouraged P to look at any symbolism for any of the animals (particularly tiger, oyster, blue whale) or any other symbols in her journey. However, I encouraged her to try meanings on for size and only keep those that seem to “fit” for you.

P had a strong connection to football, and could see a connection between the strategy of football and the strategy of a business program she was preparing.

P strongly identified with her power animal the tiger. (She phoned me a few days later and was excited to tell me how much she had connected with her power animal and how it was helping her.)

I told P that my feelings from the journey were that the traits of Tiger that she should work with include: getting “used to” being strategic, powerful and strong, and having incredible power but not having to overtly display it unless necessary (I actually think this was a message for me too), dealing with your restlessness for things to happen by just staying in your own power and being patient, knowing you rule your own kingdom, that you are the queen of that realm and that is enough. These were all the unspoken messages Tiger seemed to be giving me with his body language.

P told me that she believed the Tweedledee and Tweedledum were two healers who had healed her, which created a turning point in her life.

I told P that I thought it was very significant that all of the “normal” worlds where I usually go on a shamanic journey, for her, were all amalgamated into one world. To me this indicated an incredible level of integration in her awareness – that she was plugged into every level of her knowing, spiritual, emotional, subconscious, living authentically.   This being plugged in was creating a wonderful life for her.

The blue whale was such a great wink in the journey, signifying that in P’s new world, anything really could happen. After all, if a whale can float in the air – what else could happen?

Thanks to P for letting me use her journey!

Get your own shamanic journey! Find your own power animal!

Email me at conduitofjoy@hotmail.com to find out when my next appointment is.

Kara

Copyright 2010 : : Conduit of Joy : : Kara Thompson