3 Tips on How to Stay Relatively Calm…Especially Over the Festive Season!

Posted on December 16, 2015 by Cherie Roe Dirksen

Christmas Fireworks!

It’s the season to be jolly — dust off the mistletoe and pucker up for that long line of friends and family just waiting to be welcomed into your house for another round of yearly festivities.

“Christmas is a time when you get homesick, even when you’re home.”
– Carol Nelson

However, there is a darker side to the holidays (ho ho….humbug).

Being within close proximity to certain friends and family members over vast periods of celebratory time can lead to some festering issues, mounting stress and hair-raising quibbles.

Invariably, some wild words could get slung about the Christmas dining table!

We’ve all probably experienced our fair share of family squabbling during holiday gatherings but how can you ride out the storm without having a huge blow-out before you’ve even got to sample that hot, steamy Christmas pudding?

Secret Santa’s Little Helper List

“A Christmas miracle is when your family doesn’t get into a single argument all day.”
– Melanie White

Remaining calm and peaceful at family reunions is no small feat — it requires a lot of awareness, internal reflection and non-reaction.

The button-pushers will always try to work their Christmas magic but you’re going to have a Santa sack full of antidotes. Below you’ll find zap-it-in-the-butt recipes to counteract disaster:

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Reign (deer) It In — if someone is working on your last nerve ask yourself if you really need to react and cause a potential argument. Can you simply smile and walk away? See if you can be the still presence and avoid a hot chestnut from slipping down your trunks. It’s a great test to be non-reactive — can you pour ice over the coals this Christmas? Sometimes, when I feel overwhelmed by chaotic vibes I go and take 5 in the bathroom — just sit and take 3 long deep breaths and restore your essential energy. Walking away and creating space or a break in a quarrel can be the very thing needed to diffuse it.
Root (beer) Yourself — ground yourself wherever possible. Take deep breaths and root yourself into the present moment. When you are quiet, calm and centered, you move into the space of still presence where you can become the observer and this can be a very illuminating place to be. You might even get some clarity on certain behavioral patterns in others which may lead to a better understanding. When we are being seduced to the dark side of arguments it’s better to keep shtum unless you have something incredibly significant to say — otherwise, you will only be adding fuel to the yule logs. Remember that most of what you say — in these heated situations — isn’t being heard because there is too much tumult around and ears tend to close whilst mouths tend to flap. Being the still observer offers you a way to stay in control of your emotions and gauge what needs to be said, done or to identify if this is your cue to take a stroll around the garden or build a snowman.
Spread Good Cheer(s) — we all love our family and friends, but if you find yourself in a situation where you truly cannot contribute anything but loving them unconditionally, then do just that and send them love. Remain calm and balanced and focus on the love you have for them. Build on that and project it towards them. Remove yourself from the room if needs be and then do it in privacy — even if it means locking yourself in that bathroom again for a few minutes to gather/center yourself (your family and friends might wonder if that egg nog is acting as a diuretic but better that then a festive altercation). I guarantee you will have helped them more by doing this then by rising to the bait of drama and argumentative behavior.

Good luck and may the force be with you!

Original article written by Cherie Roe Dirksen for Conscious Life News

Other articles you may enjoy:

Dangerous Illusions: Why Time Should Be Replaced

How to Lose Friends and Generally Alienate People

3 Quotes on the Green-Eyed Monster That Will Change How You See Jealousy Forever!

Are You Prepared For Christmas? With Up To 75% Off, You Will Be!

Posted on December 8, 2015 by Cherie Roe Dirksen

Yeah, Christmas is creeping up on us yet again! I don’t know about you, but I’m just not organized for this years festivities (what’s new?).

If you’ve got all your ducks in a row, I take my hat off to you! Well done.

If you’re like me and haven’t got a clue…maybe I can help a little.

I’ve been whipping about my stores trying to put together a 2015 catalogue and thought I’d better hurry seeing that there is a whopping 75% off all Christmas cards and 20% off other items now until Thursday!

You also get 20% off select items at Redbubble but that’s for today only.

So without further ado…let’s spring into action with a little ho ho ho and a sprig of mistletoe:

CARDS (75% Off Until 10 Dec. 2015 – use code: GETYOURCARDS at the checkout)

When you are at my Zazzle store, use the code: GETYOURCARDS at the checkout to redeem your discount (offers at Zazzle valid until 23h59 PT, 10th December 2015).
When you are at my RedBubble store, use the code: TICTOC at the checkout to get your discount (offers at Redbubble valid until 23h59 PT tonight).

GIFTS FOR HER (20% Off Until 8 Dec. 2015)

GIFTS FOR HIM (20% Off Until 8 Dec. 2015)

STOCKING FILLERS (20% Off Until 8 Dec. 2015)

If you’re still stumped for great gift ideas, you may reel with excitement at this new and innovative present-ation! READ HERE: The Most Insanely Creative Gifts You Can Give Anyone! And Saves on Therapy Bills Too…

T&C apply to special offers – see the relevant site (Zazzle/RedBubble) for more details.

Dangerous Illusions: Why Time Should Be Replaced

Posted on December 2, 2015 by Cherie Roe Dirksen

“I must govern the clock, not be governed by it.” — Golda Meir

Passing the Time

I was listening to a Dolores Cannon lecture yesterday (read more about her extraordinary life and her sad passing HERE), she said some profound things. One, however, really stuck out for me.

Time does not exist.

Yeah, I know that’s nothing new or revelationary but it’s still a hard concept to grapple with for most.

I mean who doesn’t wish for time to simply cease chiming away?

We’d all be youthful (no time, no age!) and less stressed or anxious as we wouldn’t have to scuttle about meeting our daily, hectic schedules. Let’s face it, we’d be able to fit a lot more into our lives without time because we wouldn’t have that sword of Damocles hanging over our head in the form of a ticking pendulum!

Set it to the Clock

On the other hand, time can be a great way to keep appointments. There’s nothing more exasperating than someone arriving late for a date! Time helps us to organize ourselves and to not waste…well…err…other peoples time.

You can also use a timer to boil an egg — another handy way to use ‘time’. The list could go on and I do get that time keeping can be an extraordinary useful tool. However, the emphasis is on tool, not fact.

Time — all our watches and clocks — is nothing more than a tool. There is no clock in the sky.

I know Einstein spoke about time being the 4th dimension and it is scientifically taken as such, however, I find it’s an iffy topic for me simply because it’s still a man-made construct.

Time is still an illusion. The planets, sun, solar system, galaxies and such are all on a course and that course has structure and dependability but ‘time’ isn’t real. Hence why some people still work on different calendars.

“The only reason for time is so that everything doesn’t happen at once.” — Albert Einstein

But what if everything is all happening at once? I don’t mean to lay into poor Einstein ’cause I think he was brilliant but we do have to question certain things or, at least, rethink what they mean and how much power we give that meaning.

We as human beings, have taken time on too literally or, should I say, linearly. Dolores Cannon went on to say that, in her many case studies, she was told that we are the only planet that observes time. We’re kind of a cosmic joke. Binding ourselves to it’s influence and rigidity.

They say that when we get rid of the concept of time, we will finally be able to travel interstellar! Well on that note, I’m ready to throw my time piece in!!!

Metaphors About Time

We’ve been told that you can liken time to a circle – never ending, never beginning.

Some say time is like a layered cake. You are experiencing your current moment as the top layer but if you cut into the cake you’ll see all the many other layers (points in time or other lifetimes) on top of each other — still there and existing.

I’ve heard great analogies of time being like a DVD. You can watch the story from start to finish and you can skip around the chapters and scenes at any point you wish, which is why some philosophers claim you could — theoretically speaking (although many people have already experienced this in dreams, altered states and in meditation) — visit the past and future.

It all sounds fabulous but my a-ha moment is still to come…

The Penny Drops…

It’s so simple, it’s maddening.

In the lecture I mentioned at the beginning of this article, it was said that we should stop using the word ‘time’ and replace it with ‘event’.

Huh? Is that it?

Yes, but it’s so acutely concise. Instead of referring to points in time, we should refer to them as events. Because time actually doesn’t exist but events do.

Meet the Astral Traveler

Say you can astral travel. You astral travel back in ‘time’ to your 13th birthday party. That party is still happening as an ongoing event — think of time as that layered cake example. You could even speak to yourself in ‘real time’ — in other words you are having a conversation with your pubescent self.

You would probably get back to your present moment and then suddenly remember the conversation you had with this ‘spirit being’ (who was actually you from the future) when you were 13 years old and this event will catch up with you in your present (lol…it’s a mind bender alright!!!).

You have now entered a new timeline from that specific event.

Say the same astral traveler decided to go further back in history to visit Beethoven. He sees this German composer working hard at his grand piano. He takes a peak over Ludwig’s shoulder and notices he’s writing Symphony no. 5!

The astral traveler is actually witnessing ‘history’ which would be Beethoven’s present moment.

This specific event is taking place on the 31st December 1804 and it is still happening today in the layer of that cake.

We’ll Get There — Give it Time…Not!

I think the moment we all agree as a collective to disband time, we will open ourselves up to a higher consciousness experience of life on this planet.

Right this moment, people all around the globe are channeling entities from our past, present and future (some even claim to be us in this future) — and is this so hard to believe?

Can we perhaps even change the past if we wanted to? Rewrite history? Align ourselves with different timelines and change tracks? Have we done this already? I don’t see why not.

You wouldn’t even know if it had been done anyway. For all you know time has been changed and Hitler didn’t win the war (yes, you read right — in the first version of history he could have successfully won WW2 and started his global NWO — we could all be sporting interesting mustaches this Movember on that timeline)!

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Dolores Cannon speaks of nexus points (in her conversations with Nostradamus) and these are unchangeable events in history. In other words, Hitler is probably a nexus point. Meaning his birth will always be an event (or he will always be born in that point in time) but the many timelines that run from that nexus point are mutable.

Related article: Dolores Cannon – 5D Earth is Here!

It’s time to broaden our minds and throw out what doesn’t serve us anymore. I think time might be on my list, how about you?

I’d like to end off on a humourous note — a witty quote by that Irish comedian, Dylan Moran:

“People will kill you. Over time. They will shave out every last morsel of fun in you with little, harmless sounding phrases that people use every day, like: ‘Be realistic!'”

Original article written by Cherie Roe Dirksen for Conscious Life News. CLICK HERE to see their awesome site and find out why over 700 000 readers tune in daily!

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How to Lose Friends and Generally Alienate People

Posted on November 11, 2015 by Cherie Roe Dirksen

Green-Eyed Monsters Are Not Purely Sci-Fi

Allow me to ignite this article with a bang-on quote by Robert A. Heinlein:

“A competent and self-confident person is incapable of jealousy in anything. Jealousy is invariably a symptom of neurotic insecurity.”

Let’s just bask in that wisdom for a second. Aaah…can’t you just feel the truth of that seeping into your bones?

Common Jealousy — Get Yourself a Shovel!

Boy meets girl, boy goes out with girl, boy sees girl getting other boy attention and *bang* — the green-eyed monster rears its ugly, nobbled head.

Boy becomes possessive over girl, boy doesn’t want girl to so much as look at other boys, boy is digging grave.

But what would make this boy decide to excavate his own resting place? Eventually (if girl has any self-esteem) he will lose girl and alienate friends/people in the vicinity of the jealousy boxing ring.

I’ve seen it happen time and time again. The thing is as simple as Robert said in that deliciously succinct opening quote: Insecurity.

A person who is truly okay with who they are — and has a decent amount of self love (Read related article: Do You Feel Worthless? 2 Reasons Why You Need to Love YOU), self respect and dignity — is secure from within (their green-eyed ghoul has turned into a lovable pup!).

Coping Strategies

Therefore when you encounter someone with jealousy issues, try not to get your back up — have a little compassion for where they’re at. It is a reflection of extreme low self-esteem and insecurity within themselves that makes them act out in such a manner.

However, in saying that, it is also not healthy to remain in a relationship/friendship or situation where someone is showing signs of jealousy. It’s not acceptable behavior and the person should either take responsibility for their emotions or you should walk away.

It’s alright to gently point out to the person that their behavior is not appropriate and if they can’t sort it out they should think of taking a break to meditate or seek counseling about their lack of self esteem.

Sometimes the jealous person may indeed be on the receiving end of a partner who is not worthy of their love and trust. That is why jealous people tend to have worth issues because no self-respecting person would remain in any kind of relationship if it didn’t serve them to do so.

Hidden Jealousy — Cloak and Daggers!

I was treated to a character recently — let’s call him Barry for convenience — who, after many various encounters, I realized was neurotically insecure.

The way Barry chose to voice his jealousy was through insulting every man, woman and child who had the misfortune to cross his path.

For all intents and purposes, he was quite charming and nice but soon after 10 minutes of banter Barry would pass a flippant, neatly packaged, gob-smacking insult to a passing stranger — very passive aggressive, darling!

This would inevitably make me feel uncomfortable and I would ask him if such behavior was necessary to which he always had some kind of justification.

Now this is not typical jealousy aimed at one person, Barry was just generally in contempt with the world!

His jealousy was boundless. It soon became apparent that he was envious of certain traits in others — be it their youth, money, relationships, status — it didn’t matter! Barry was on the warpath! And jealousy was the fuel to launch his arsenal of verbal insults.

His cover story was that he spoke ‘the truth’. So, basically, if someone did not meet his standard of beauty/intelligence/morals, etc. he would let them know because it is alright to do so (in his mind).

Here’s where we run into a problem. We currently have over 7.3 billion versions of the truth on the planet as I type this!

Everyone has their own version of what true is and that’s okay! Life would be pretty baa-baa-boring if we all thought the same and became neat and tidy sheeple.

Back to Barry (and any other characters out there that need to hear this):

You need to ask yourself 3 questions when you open your mouth to speak the ‘truth’:

It may be true but is it necessary?
It may be true but is it kind?
It may be true but am I only saying it to make myself feel better (and therefore making a total prat out of myself)?

You see, I think Barry is on a constant insult loop because of his own insecurities. He has to constantly put other people down in order for him to feel slightly better (which doesn’t last long anyway!).

Find out what's at the root of jealousy...click on picture

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Any self-respecting person doesn’t need to put others down — they have accepted who they are and feel good about themselves, there is no need to be unkind. Hurting others doesn’t even cross their minds. They are impeccable with their word because they know about the smoky mirror! (Read more about that here: 4 Reasons to Entice You to Quit Drama).

Endings and Beginnings

So, above are two examples of how to lose friends and alienate people. If you’re the jealous type, I beg you to work on your own self-esteem and self-love — it will strengthen your foundation and ability to make lasting relationships without fear of losing the ones you love.

Learn to love yourself — people are attracted to confidence and respect (you don’t have to be a super model to be attractive, you just have to be your authentic self).

And for those of you who are on the receiving end of a green-eyed monster — run (or e-mail this article to them and then run)! I hear Italy is nice this time of year.

This article was written by Cherie Roe Dirksen for Conscious Life News

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3 Quotes on the Green-Eyed Monster That Will Change How You See Jealousy Forever!

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The Most Insanely Creative Gifts You Can Give Anyone! And Saves on Therapy Bills Too…

What You Can Do to Help in Chaos

Posted on October 21, 2015 by Cherie Roe Dirksen

Prints available

Dining on a Rancid Take-Out Menu?

As society and the media pumps out more pandemonium, bedlam, jiggery-pokery and mayhem for our global dining-room table consumption, one wonders just how much more one can take?

The ways we cope and react are numerous. One can spontaneously break out into interpretive dance (as mentioned in my recent ‘heart talk’ article, which you may find interesting — READ HERE), churn out a few Shakespearian sonnets, join one’s local Hare Krishna movement or go and make like an ostrich (only to name a few saucy coping-mechanisms!).

Dust Off Your Head — You’re Needed!

It’s no small wonder that my close group of friends (and officially me too after last night) are all having the same dreams — unfortunately, that of the ‘end of days’ scenario with those four epic horsemen!

I mean WTF(udge)? The battle for middle earth has begun (Tolkien was way ahead of his time)!

Can you feel it? Yeah, I know a lot of you will say that people have been predicting the apocalypse since the dawn of mankind and naught has happened yet but, seriously, there is something up of late. And I know it’s not just me who’s feeling it.

Has the battle betwixt good and evil reached a climactic pinnacle? If so, whose side will fall?

Okay, this is where you come in…

What Can I Do?

In the throes of mass panic, fear, galvanization and all the rest of it, you can be that still presence.

There are 2 things you can adopt when you feel you’re in the middle of something chaotic:

Be Aware — drop into your heart space (read more about ‘Heart Wisdom’ HERE). Instead of spontaneously bursting out into reaction, take a knee (even if it has to be a quick one!). Centre yourself and see things for what they are. If you can react from your heart instead of sweeping fear or anger, you are opening a space for resolve or balance even if you can’t see it yet.
Be Calm — energy compounds energy. If you react with more chaotic, aggressive, panic-stricken energy you are not helping, you are adding fuel to the fire. If you can act with calm, balanced, centered energy you may just be able to dissolve some of the chaos and be the watering can to those licking flames.

Now, if you’re able to use the above-mentioned traits, you will be in a space where you can be of more help than if you were to become erruptively reactive. When you are reactive without these 2 attributes you will more likely cause more chaos than help to bring about any kind of reconciliation or balance.

Don’t get me wrong, there is nothing erroneous about taking action in a situation — just be equipped with a calm awareness firmly tucked under your coping-strategy belt.

Your ability to remain calm and aware will be key to bringing about a new consciousness movement.

Original article written by Cherie Roe Dirksen for Conscious Life News (CLN). Click here to view their awesome site and see why almost 700 000 readers tune into what they have to say daily.

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Misery Tamed With Mercy Meets My Massive Canvas (Photo’s Included)

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Misery Tamed With Mercy Meets My Massive Canvas (Photo’s Included)

Posted on October 14, 2015 by Cherie Roe Dirksen

I’ve been itching to get to work on a BIG scale. So, I bought this really large canvas and got painting! It’s a concept that has been brewing in the recesses of my mind for quite some time.

I wanted to mingle masculine and feminine energies together in one epic piece de resistance. I wanted to truly express raw, untainted emotion — gut-wrenching, shadow-self kind of shit. You’re getting me, right?

Then I wanted to balance the energy and…well, you’ll just have to see.

This painting is part of my ‘Finding Beauty in Chaos’ Series that I think has been stepped up a notch.

I’m not going to waffle on about the inspiration behind this piece as it’s all in the description at the end (scroll to the bottom if you’re seriously that impatient!).

Come be a fly on my studio wall as I reveal ‘Misery and Mercy’ — the painting process below:

So, the background is now finished — here’s what it looks like:

And now to add the ‘Mercy’…

And voila! The painting is finished 😀

Below is a side view of the painting. The original was sold via the Karoo Art Hotel, Barrydale. But prints can be purchased through Saatchi (click here or on the picture below).

Prints aavilable at Saatchi…click on picture above

There are also prints and other forms of paraphernalia available (such as tote bags, clothing, mugs, skins, etc). Click on the picture below to take you to that highly reputable and dead funky store, RedBubble:

‘Misery and Mercy’ (Finding Beauty in Chaos Series) by Cherie Roe Dirksen. Acrylic and Mixed Media on Boxed Canvas. 1016mm x 1270mm x 40mm.

Inspiration Behind the Art:

My ‘Finding Beauty in Chaos’ series was sparked by my spiritual quest for balance in a world that feels like it’s gone completely off the rails.

The background represents the ‘chaos’ of the material world — the concrete jungle with all its emotional graffiti that stains the streets looking for an outlet to voice the misery.

I then try to temper the painting by introducing the ‘beauty’ aspect — nature in all her glorious splendour. Nature always has a way of fighting back and overcoming the odds — not even cement can keep a young sapling down for long.

I was struck by a story told about Mother Theresa by her room-mate of many years. She said that the one trait that stood out the most in her memory of Mother Theresa was her ability to walk down the streets of Calcutta, in all its filth and depravity, and see past the chaos to find a flower growing out of a crack in the gutter. She would then focus on this and smile — it brought her great joy.

Come see what I did with this painting...Cherie Roe Dirksen

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When I paint a flower I feel an overwhelming bliss – an excitement to capture the beauty and magic of what I see and how I feel when I am in their presence.

They are such a primary source of inspiration because I still cannot fully fathom their exquisite beauty. Eckhart Tolle put it in a nutshell when he said that we could look upon flowers as the enlightenment of plants. I could look upon flowers all day and still be mesmerized. They are a true gift to us and to gaze upon their delicate wonder is to look at the unfolding of pure potential in a world where everything seems insane.

There is hope.

Thanks for journeying with me through this process. Please don’t forget to leave any comments or feedback in the box below 😀 You know I love hearing from y’all!

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Do You Feel Worthless? 2 Reasons Why You Need to Love YOU

Posted on September 30, 2015 by Cherie Roe Dirksen

What’s the Deal with Self Love?

“Self-love is the source of all our other loves.” — Pierre Corneille

Healthy self love is not narcissistic or egotistical — let’s just get that out the way first off. Some people immediately associate self love with selfishness or egotism — it is neither.

To love yourself is as important as breathing — without it your cup is empty and you can’t truly love or give of yourself if you’re an empty vessel, now can you?

Meet Jane…

Jane is a vibrant and gifted woman. Jane is also a people pleaser. She spent over 10 years in a dead end relationship with John because she didn’t want to leave him.

Why?

She didn’t want to hurt his feelings.

Wow.

When I questioned Jane about why she hadn’t thought of her own happiness in this equation, she said that she ‘didn’t matter’. She went on to say that she has tried to placate all the people in her life because she wants to ‘keep the peace’ and not ‘rock the boat’.

Jane also divulged that when she was younger she was taught to be selfless and giving and that if she didn’t adhere to these principles she wouldn’t go to heaven.

“I think the most important thing in life is self-love, because if you don’t have self-love, and respect for everything about your own body, your own soul, your own capsule, then how can you have an authentic relationship with anyone else?” — Shailene Woodley

So as we started unraveling the complicated tapestry of Jane’s self worth and self love issues, we started getting towards the crux: Jane believed that God wanted her to be self-sacrificing otherwise she wasn’t worthy of His/Her love.

What complete and utter balderdash!

Thing is, a lot of people still believe this to be true and I think it’s the complete opposite. You are a worthy and lovable creation of the creator and deserve as much love and respect as every other beautiful being.

You’ve got to get with the divine program and start turning that love dial to full tilt on the inside!

Read related article: Self Love: The Importance of Consciously Valuing You

Unscrambling the Concept of Self-Sacrifice

Here’s why I don’t think it’s healthy to be self-sacrificing:

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When you have regard for other peoples feelings that is great — it’s called empathy/ compassion/tact/kindness — nothing wrong with those traits. But when you do this with no regard for yourself you are, in fact, going against your own principles. Why? Because you are a person too…duh! Did you ever stop to think that you — a shard of the divine in carnation — are doing an injustice to a human being (your very own self!)?
When you decide to be in ‘service to others’ instead of ‘service to self’ (this is where egotism and narcissism reign supreme) it is a most noble and amazing thing but you need to be included in that service. It is completely contradictory to abuse your own rights and feelings in order to help others. In fact, you cannot truly give of yourself if you have no self love or sense of self worth.

If you need a bit of help with getting over societal conditioning and not giving a damn about what other people think of you so you can clear a path to self love, give this article a once over: 8 Tips on How to Stop Caring What Other People Think of You

Conclusion: if we all learned to love ourselves more we’d have world peace. Give it a shot.

Original article written by Cherie Roe Dirksen for Conscious Life News (CLN) — click here to visit their awesome site and find out why over 600 000 readers tune n daily!

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5 Tips to Get You Living the Dream!

Posted on September 16, 2015 by Cherie Roe Dirksen

Need Some New Direction?

Are you tired of the same old same old? Do you feel your life needs new lift and you know it? Thing is, how do you go about creating a strategy to implement a new idea or goal and stick to it?

We often know exactly what we want but have no idea how to get there. If you don’t already know what you want to see change in your life, then read this related article: Dr Wayne Dyer: Your Purpose Will Find You

Now for those of you who are ready to revamp and remodel your life, here are some tips to get you started on a fresh game-plan and it’s really easy to follow:

Plot and Plan

Once you have an idea/dream/goal you’ll need something that will be in your face every day reminding you of where you’re heading and this is where a vision board or whiteboard comes in to save the day! If you’re compiling a vision board (which is the best tool to keep you in alignment with your goal), then make sure the end game is on there — don’t fuss too much over how you’re going to get there. As long as you have direction, synchronicity will guide the way (read more about SYNCHRONICITY here: Why Sychronicity Can Change Your Life). Using synchronicity and your innate wisdom will guide you to take the appropriate action at the right time and get you into that slipstream in the quickest way possible. The best place to have your vision board is on your fridge, office space or the back of your bathroom door, where you are guaranteed to visit daily and have the plan etched into the back of your eyeballs. Or be lazy like me and create a vision board on your computer then use it as a desktop background — another guarantee that you will see it every day.

Plausibility

Don’t forget to add this to your Pinterest board!

The quickest way to fall off that goal bandwagon is by setting unrealistic goals. Start with small, baby steps to your destination. Draw up a list and if there is too much on the list, narrow it down to the top 3 achievable goals for this day/month/year. You can always put the leftovers on your next list of goals. Mapping this out should be fun not exhausting — don’t tire yourself out before you’ve even begun. So, for example, you want to manifest a farm in the country but you’re still staying with your parents. Instead of drawing sweat-beads in the effort of manifesting a smallholding, try first to manifest a stepping stone — perhaps a comfortable apartment? I’m not saying you shouldn’t reach for the stars, what I’m saying is that manifesting your dreams takes believability and that is unique to every individual. So if you’re new at this or things haven’t worked out in the past, try to set your goals within a realistic framework and you can always work your way up that ladder! Goals are not set in stone, they are mutable and if you change your mind — there is nothing wrong with changing tracks. Keep that list well dusted!

Inject it with Zest

Make your new desire map fun. If you want to change your eating habits and get slim and healthy, find a way to make it a stimulating change by jazzing up your menu/grocery list and looking forward to your meal instead of planning a drab and monotonous repast plan. Dance in the kitchen while you cook! If you want to find a fresh, purposeful and electrifying job, have fun reinventing yourself and what you stand for — if you want an exciting job, excite yourself first. Make damn sure you’re as exciting as the job you’re after. Savvy?

Feel It, Baby!

There’s no way to bypass this one — you really do have to feel what you’re trying to bring into your experience. If you want to be lighter — you’ve got to feel it within first. Do you want an inspiring job? Set fire to your sense of self — ignite and burn bright! If you feel like you can’t then pretend. Pretend until it becomes second nature to feel it. You’ll begin to rewire your brain to think differently through repetition. Remember: Doubt = drought. Water your seeds and you’ll see the shoots soon enough but you’ve got to stick with the feeling program. It’s one thing to think and affirm your desires but what truly sparks the ignition is feeling.

Kid Around

Everyone has an inner child that wants to play and get dirty in the mud. There is a part of you that still thinks a flower is the most awesome miracle of nature, that swinging on an old tyre tied to a tree is sheer bliss or that blowing bubbles is as mesmerizing as your Playstation. Tap into that part of you when you are trying to visualize your goals. Your inner child will help you make-believe a whole new world for yourself if you only let him/her out to play.

Just remember that a tedious, monotonous strategy will reap boredom and inertia whereas an adventurous, exciting plan will have you hopping, jumping and skipping to where you want to be with a smile on your face. Ultimately, joy is your purpose so have fun on your way to dream manifestation!

Original article written by Cherie Roe Dirksen for Conscious Life News — Click here to visit their awesome site.

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How to Better Understand Your Yin/Yang Energy

Posted on September 9, 2015 by Cherie Roe Dirksen

I saw on my Facebook feed one early morn, that Venus and Mars are doing a little dance in the morning sky together in my neck of the woods.

On 1^st September (which is our Spring Day in the Southern Hemisphere), they were apparently at an exact degree in Leo and appear as one united star.

It feels like a perfect metaphor for the union of the divine feminine and masculine.

The yin and yang energy (and the merging of the two) has felt very poignant over the past couple of weeks and seems to be culminating into a collaborative peak.

But before we get all in a tizz over this titillating sexual energy (as in the ‘universal energy’ and not necessarily just ‘sex’ — although that would be nice too, let’s face it!) — let’s have a simplified look at what these beautiful, dichotomous energies bring to the planetary table:

Sacred Feminine Traits — Looking Within:

The female (yin) vibration encapsulates the ‘being’ energy and yields:

Receptivity
Unconditional Love
Nurturing
Kindness
Compassion
Intuition
Creativity
Flow
Sensitivity
Tenderness

Divine Masculine Traits — Looking Without:

The male (yang) vibration imparts the ‘doing’ energy and brings:

Security
Action
Stability
Strength (inner and outer)
Courage
Expansion
Safety/Protection
Support (emotional and physical)
Responsibility
Logic
Confidence

Marrying the Yin/Yang — ‘I Do’

Whether you are male or female, gay or straight (or anything in between) — you can encapsulate the above-mentioned traits.

The waltz between male and female is a beautiful one and our interdependence is sacred and should not be seen as a weakness but an amazing, God-given strength.

Our ability to work together to weave a reality full of love, life and laughter is a massive blessing that we should all strive to claim.

We simply could not exist without each other.

When we can learn to embrace our characteristics and use them to better discover ourselves, each other and our world —we will step into an adventure beyond belief.

Drop all the stereotypical archetypes and societal labels and step into a world full of wonder as you redefine what being ‘man’ or ‘woman’ means to you. Now imagine all the fun you are going to have playing around with these lively energies!

Original article written by Cherie Roe Dirksen for Conscious Life News (CLN) – Click here to visit their awesome site.

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4 Reasons to Eat Humble Pie and Starve the Ego

Posted on August 12, 2015 by Cherie Roe Dirksen

“When you are content to be simply yourself and don’t compare or compete, everyone will respect you.” ~Lao Tzu (Tao Te Ching)

Easier said than done, right?

We all experience our own egos in mild to moderate doses every now and again (and for some, it’s a constant fighting battle that they’re not even aware of).

When will we actually get it through our heads that it’s okay to be who we are?

The Playing Field For Happiness and Sanity

I can only put this through via a personal encounter I had last week with my ego. It was a sneaky meeting, I didn’t even realize at the time that my ego had me by the short and curly’s.

I was having trouble with a computer-related work issue. Instead of asking for help, I tried to solve the problem when I was clearly not in the headspace or in the ‘know’ of how to fix the issue.

I squirmed and shifted in my seat whilst I allowed my temper to rise. I just couldn’t see the light at the end of the tunnel — the tunnel was sealed off and a huge concrete barrier had been erected to block my passage. The clock was ticking and I was working with a looming deadline.

I began to tear my hair out (literally, at this point, not merely figuratively) and started banging my fists down on the table (real mature) — I was feeling the anger and rage mounting and I was directing all that energy at myself.

Now here is where my ego stepped in.

I felt like I was useless, incompetent and stupid. If I had to ask for help (which at this point was inevitable) I was admitting defeat and that I wasn’t coping (ego not liking the latter).

I fancy myself as a strong, independent, problem-solving kind of woman and this was just not on!

Tail Between the Legs

I bit the bullet and asked for help which I received and within an hour things were back on track.

My ego was seriously wounded though. I had proven myself to be unlearned in this specific field (which is not really my forte but, heck, that just didn’t seem to matter to my ego). I sat down to reflect and lick my wounds.

Here’s the crux of what I learned:

Asking for help does not mean you are stupid. It just means you are not thick enough to stop yourself from learning or letting other people exercise their talents in a specific field. Take that one, ego!
Letting your guard down to show people your vulnerabilities is not disempowering it is the opposite — you’re empowering yourself to be who you are. Your vulnerabilities can make you more relatable to others and yourself. Huh? Cut yourself some slack! We’re all trying our best and sometimes we fall. The hallmark of a pro is to get up again and dust off — that’s what makes you who you are.
Take a massive slice of humble pie and have a good laugh at your expense. The ego diminishes at the sound of you laughing at yourself. Don’t take things personally (even if it’s you doing the personal criticizing).
To stubbornly try and do something against your grain, especially when you know you are going down a slippery slope, causes you pain. Stop doing it. Trust your gut instinct — if it doesn’t feel right, don’t do it. If you must do it, ask for help instead of getting your knickers in a knot. The ego is always trying to compare, compete or criticize — try identify any of these traits in what you are pursuing. Be honest with yourself — are you doing this for you or for someone/something else?

More Pie?

After I had my slice of humble pie, I came across the very same situation yesterday. Instead of a repeat performance of slipping into a state of panic, self-torture, anguish and dismay at my perceived lack of capabilities, I had a good laugh at myself and the reoccurring predicament I found myself in.

I acknowledged that this was another moment where I was out of my depth and I immediately asked for help.

I felt like I stepped aside from my ego and witnessed myself in that vulnerable but okay place and I wasn’t feeling diminished in any way. I was just me and it felt good.

The actual problem was sorted in less than 10 minutes and, contrary to what I thought, I wasn’t at fault this time (yay for me!). It was like a test from the Universe to see if I had digested that humble pie I ate last week.

My conclusion was to love yourself despite your ‘faults’, accept yourself for who you are and don’t give a toss what other people think of you. Step into your power and own the gifts that are specifically you — don’t try to be who you are not.

Be happy.

Original article was written by Cherie Roe Dirksen for Conscious Life News (CLN) — click here to discover why over 500k people love this awesome site!

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How Weird, Little Synchronicities Can Actually Be the Bomb!

Posted on July 22, 2015 by Cherie Roe Dirksen

For those of you who don’t know what synchronicity is, please READ THIS.

Meaningful Coincidences

“Synchronicity hints at the unified world behind the illusory veil of the material universe” — Roger S. Jones

Synchronous moments usually mark major game changes in our individual timelines.

It could be that moment when you bump into a friend you haven’t seen in years that you just had a dream about. You get talking and she’s the very person you need to collaborate with. You both go on to start an amazing and successful online enterprise.

When you look back at that point in time, you just know that synchronicity bought you together and your dream was a breadcrumb leading you to success. That kind of synchronous moment is a no-brainer — it was Kismet!

Synchronicities are awesome markers and can change your life forever if you don’t brush them off as meaningless.

Seemingly Meaningless Coincidences

Okay, so what about those itty bitty synchronicities? You know the ones…

You trip over your son’s toy T-Rex in the morning. You walk into the supermarket and there’s a big Barney the Dinosaur cut-out as you head in. The soccer mom who’s carpooling today comes to the door wearing a Marc Bolan T-Rex t-shirt and you start to think you’re going crazy.

What do dinosaurs have to do with your life right now?

Should you be looking more deeply into prehistory? What is the universe trying to tell you?

That your arms are too short?

Tuning into the Radio

I’ve got an amusing personal ‘mini-synch’ story to share with you: I was packaging a painting for a client earlier this week. I decided to put on a bit of Radiohead (who doesn’t like a bit of Brit rock to make the workload more tolerable?).

So, there I was jiving and gyrating about my studio whilst cutting up board and getting packaging tape in my hair.

I got to my laptop screen to get my clients address (which I hadn’t seen yet) and to my utter amazement…he stayed in a place called ‘Radiokop’. Which, yes — you guessed it — directly translated means ‘Radiohead’ in Afrikaans.

I wasn’t even aware that such a suburb existed in Johannesburg but there it was, as bold as brass, and staring at me from my computer screen! I even did a Google search to make sure that there really was place called ‘Radiokop’ and…of course there was!

Okay, so what do I do with this bit of fun but useless information?

Does it mean I’m going to get a visit from Thom Yorke? I don’t think so…I mean I wouldn’t mind — don’t get me wrong — but I don’t think that’s what it means.

What’s Really Going On?

In my most humble opinion (and I have given this topic some strenuous thought), I don’t think anything happens in our lives for no reason.

These little synchronicities could very well be indicators that we are on path.

Think of it like dialing into your best life — the life your over-soul or higher self came here to express and experience. The closer you get to tuning into your appropriate channel the more life will spit out these weird little markers.

They’re not to be taken too literally, I think they are just there to let us know we’re in the timeline we’re supposed to be in — a tiny wink from the Universe.

When we diverge off this ‘preferred’ timeline, I think our propensity for the wee synchronicities will become less…a little like the white noise interference when we are dialing out of a station. But the more we try to stay tuned in, the more these coincidences will light the way for us.

Just a thought.

What do you think? Balderdash or believable?

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Featured

Posted on July 15, 2015 by Cherie Roe Dirksen

Are You Just Flat Out Broken by the LOA?

It can be darn right frustrating watching people around you manifesting their hearts desires and there you are feeling like you couldn’t conjure a pig in a poke!

What’s wrong with your Law of Attraction prowess?

You’re so sick and tired of hearing that you bring about that which you think about most because you’ve been drawing sweat-beads trying to manifest that $4 million bank account and it just ain’t happening.

What are you doing wrong?

Shooting Too High and Taking the Fall

I’ve had my feelers out, listening to how friends use the LOA to attract a better life. I’ve got to say I’m a bit taken aback. A lot of the aforementioned peeps are straining to go large or go home…and they’re ending up taking the long and frustrating road home.

No wonder!

Here’s what I think is going horribly wrong:

Instead of trying to manifest a bar of chocolate, they’re trying to get a ticket to Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory.
In lieu of attracting a long lost friend to make contact, they’re trying to procure a relationship with the hot guy from ‘Supernatural’.
Despite their amazing efforts to get in shape — and they’re really looking good and making steady progress — they’re feeling shortchanged because they don’t have a bod like J-Lo yet.

In my opinion, the one factor that is going awry is the target is set too high and the patience to manifest such a trophy is way too low.

I totally advocate going for your dreams no matter how intimidating but I also believe in a steady progression of knock-down goals.

It seems like a lot of people are missing the groundwork — then when nothing is coming to fruition, hands are thrown in the air and it is declared that this new-age hippy sh*t doesn’t work.

No…it does work — you just need to hone down on your skill to use this magnificent force of free universal energy.

Those seeds are indeed fertilized and are growing beneath the soil — you may just need to tune your patience, work on your faith and brush up on your affirmation/visualization/feeling expertise. The best way to do this is to start small.No on e wants to hear this but it is actually the fastest track to success.

Trying to manifest a million dollar bank account when you’re sitting in the red is going to exhaust you. So try manifesting $100, then $400, then $600…then progressively increase the amount.

Getting a Self Worth Work-Out

Some people CAN manifest big, it’s not that you CAN’T. It just may be that you’re self belief muscles need some training. As my mother used to remind me, Rome wasn’t built in a day.

Give yourself bite-sized goals to achieve. Each time you vanquish the small hill, it makes the big mountain more and more conquerable (is that even a word?). Now you’re starting to build and flex those worth and belief muscles to the max. Eventually, you’ll be able to take the LOA training wheels off and go full tilt!

But until then, you’ve got to eat the elephant one bite at a time (what a ghastly saying! But it sure purveys the point).

Going from Zero to Hero

Okay, so what’s worth checking in on are these points:

Start small. Manifest things daily that are achievable and remarkable. In other words, you want a beautiful garden so your first thought is to manifest a new palatial home with grounds to match when all you need to do is try initially attract a rose bush (palatial mansion may take in excess of 10-20 years to manifest, rose bush may take a day — you do the math!). If your neighbor then leans over the fence and offers you a gorgeous little cutting of her iceberg roses, you’ll not only be pleasantly surprised because the world works in remarkable ways but you’ll be toning those believability biceps. Slow and steady wins the race. This is how you think and manifest outside the box.
Water! You’ve got to nourish your dreams. Keep them well fertilized and fed. Affirm your desires daily and don’t let impatience or despair creep in and ruin your flower bed! If you’re feeling like you’re not manifesting — check in with yourself. Are your goals realistic? What can you do to enhance your desires (like meditate on them or create a vision board, set an even smaller more achievable goal, etc)?
Trim Back. You future project what you’re thinking NOW. Keep realigning your thoughts to nurture your dreams and not bring about existential drought. Stop reiterating the same old sob story about your life/finances/weight/relationships/’fill in the blank’. Create new exciting versions of the life you’re rewiring to step into.

Happy manifesting!

This article was written by Cherie Roe Dirksen for Conscious Life News — come join the community of over 500k! Click here…

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How to Use Your Heart Wisdom

Posted on April 22, 2015 by Cherie Roe Dirksen

We hear the terms ‘heart-centered living’ and ‘using your heart’ thrown around a lot in conversation and literature these days but how do we practically do this? What wisdom does our heart really have?

“There is no instinct like that of the heart.” ~ Lord Byron

Piercing the Heart Mystery

When I think of using my heart and not my head to gauge situations, it conjures feelings of love (synonymous with our ‘hearts’) and trusting my intuition. However, it still baffles me a bit…well at least up until a recent experience I had (I promise to divulge all the juicy bits further on in this article).

In my experience, heart wisdom has got as much to do with our physical heart organ as mind has to do with our physical brain.

The process of working with your heart guidance is better likened to a hunk of awareness that clusters in the area of your heart. You drop into that space, which is the center of your being — your core — and you try to sense your inborn intelligence…something called the innate.

This is how I see it, or rather, how I feel it.

The Moving Around of Consciousness

When we are thinking and talking, our consciousness is usually felt in the head. See if you can feel your consciousness right now. Does it feel like it’s all sitting up in your noggin?

Now see if you can drop that sense of conscious awareness into your heart center (which is actually your heart chakra — in the middle of your chest).

I feel it’s all about focusing that consciousness wherever it is needed. Sometimes, we can drop that awareness into our solar plexus to ‘feel’ for our gut instinct. When we are faced with challenges, it’s best to sense our answers from the heart chakra and when we need to take action (after we have processed through the heart), we move our awareness up into our head.

It’s a Combo Deal

We need to get used to using all our bodily ‘brains’ to face the challenges of living in this chaotic and, yet, oh so beautiful world.

“The heart is the chief feature of a functioning mind.” ~ Frank Lloyd Wright

We have brains in our skull, for sure, but you can also say we have intelligence dotted all over the body — in our gut, in our heart, in our pineal, in our feet and so on. Most of us have just lost the inherent ability to use them all.

Thumbs Up to a Helpful Heart

Okay, so here’s my story about how I finally ‘got’ using the heart guidance:

A couple of days ago I got my thumb slammed in the hinge-side of my car door…and this is where I’m going to introduce you to the South African word (Afrikaans to be precise), ‘Eina!’ Pronounced ‘aye – naa’ and it means PAIN.

After using ice pack after ice pack to numb the pain, I knew it was inevitable that I would have to leave the cold comfort of my plastic glacial crutch and feel the damage.

This is where the head came into play.

My thoughts wandered all over my thumb piercing the excruciating throbbing and feelings of heat and swelling. It was obviously necessary to feel that my appendage was damaged (if we didn’t feel the pain, we wouldn’t be alerted to a problem).

Right, so now that I was alerted to my body’s distress call and felt the busy little repair army coming to do its job, I wondered, ‘so what is the point of still feeling the pain? I know I’m hurt — I’ve done all I can to ‘doctor’ myself…why can’t we just ‘switch off’?’

“Your vision will become clear only when you look into your heart … Who looks outside, dreams. Who looks inside, awakens.” ~ Carl Jung

Then, by some weird miraculous notion, I started to move my consciousness into my heart center. It was kind of spontaneous and I went with it. I focused all my awareness in the space of my chest and ‘thought’ from there. The pain subsided until it was completely gone and all I was left with was the throb.

I scanned my thumb with my heart mind and was still alert to the pounding (almost as if the body is still reminding you that there is a ‘crisis’ being seen to) but without the pain.

Hallelujah!

For the next half hour I sat switching from mind (experiencing the pain) to heart (no pain), just to make sure I wasn’t delusional. It worked every time!

Alchemy and the Heart — Turning Our Experiences into Gold!

It’s still early days for me and my new found heart/mind appreciation. I’m not professing to now be in full control of pain but I sure got a glimpse of how our amazing system works, or should work.

Pain is necessary to alert us to something that is out of alignment (this can be taken both physically or mentally/emotionally) but could it be that we don’t have to suffer as a consequence? That using our mind to do all the thinking is actually causing us unnecessary suffering?

It’s something to ponder, or should I say, something we should at least try to explore or sense. within ourselves — shifting from perpetual overthinking to heart-centered awareness.

Could it be that our heart-centers are our own personal Philosophers Stone — alchemizing situations to their most basic core?

I’ve sensed that our hearts are divination tools to the truth. When we drop into our hearts we operate from completeness — from the wholeness of our sacred soul.

“The workings of the human heart are the profoundest mystery of the universe. One moment they make us despair of our kind, and the next we see in them the reflection of the divine image.” ~ Charles W. Chestnut

It’s pure bliss to drop into our hearts — when it is done effectively it feels like everything is as it should be and that the only truth is unconditional, unequivocal love.

We are spirit having a corporeal experience therefore it is necessary to be mindful of our thoughts and the physical actions we need to take in order to sustain our material endeavor. However, strive to trust the innate wisdom of the heart and use it as often as possible as a balancing, neutralizing force in our lives.

“If I keep a green bough in my heart, then the singing bird will come.” ~ Chinese Proverb

Original article written by Cherie Roe Dirksen for Conscious Life News (CLN) — join the CLN community (that is over 450 000 members strong) and stay informed on a host of topics that really matter!

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Win the Lottery Using the Law of Attraction

Posted on March 7, 2015 by Cherie Roe Dirksen

I get a lot of letters from readers frustratingly seeking advice on using the Law of Attraction to win the lottery.

I’m going to try to make it as clear as possible, in this article, as to why I think you are failing to procure the winning numbers.

For many, you tried using the techniques taught in books like ‘The Secret’ and ‘The Amazing Power of Deliberate Intent’ — to name but a few — and have had relative success (meaning you may have managed to lasso your ‘parking angel’ or you manifested a great job).

But how have you done with the big things — like that elusive million bucks in the bank scenario?

What is Abundance — You Really Need to GET This!

The problem with all this new-found knowledge of the Law of Attraction is that it’s become a bit of a breeding ground for greed.

There’s nothing wrong with trying to live a comfortable, joyful life — don’t get me wrong — but just going straight for manifesting huge lumps of money is becoming a big problem and the sweat beads of frustration are pooling up on the collective forehead.

Abundance takes on many forms not just monetary wealth.

So, what exactly is it that you want to do with all this lottery money?

11:11, Lizzy’s Legs and… Bingo!

I’m going to help teach you, not how to pick winning numbers, but how to succeed at
LIFE’S lottery.

Don’t hang up on me now — if you clicked on this article there is a curiosity in you to win big and I’m going to explain why you can but not in the way you may have been going about it.

The answer is actually quite simple.

Why — when you’re quite good at manifesting in general — can you not win the lottery? You’ve got to ask yourself:

How many other people who are masters of the LOA (Law of Attraction) are trying to do the same thing?
Are you prepared to wait your turn?
Are you prepared to wait your turn even if it means you may only win in 20 years+ time?
Do you believe that you will win 100%?
Is your self talk, thoughts and actions all pointing towards winning the lottery or do you get bursts of highly negative, emotive feelings that cramp your style when someone else wins?
Are you happy for that someone else when they win?
Do you understand that when you are genuinely happy to see someone else succeed at what you want to do or gain sends out a burst of magnetic impulse that draws it to you even more?
Do you understand that to do the opposite and curse and swear for not winning sends out more magnetic energy to attract losing into your sphere?

Now the questions above require that you answer as truthfully as you can.

But even more important is why I think you are fighting a potentially losing battle — you REALLY need to read this:

Get this authors second book from Amazon for $8.99 (paperback) or download for FREE – click ‘free downloads’ in menu

Tunnel Vision. When you ask to win the lottery you are picking only ONE path out of literally infinite paths to get you to where you want to be. Let me give you a metaphor: Say your friend tells you he is lonely and really wants a partner, someone to share his life with. You tell him about the LOA and he starts visualizing and affirming eagerly. A year down the line you ask him how it’s going and he replies that the LOA is a bunch of rubbish ‘cause he still hasn’t got his dream girl. He then goes on to tell you that he is in love with a married woman and he has been trying to manifest the perfect relationship with only her (he has selected only ONE path/channel among infinite possibilities). You can’t believe how much time he’s wasted! Why? Because you know that if he just asked for the ‘perfect partner’ and not one specific and almost impossible relationship he would be sitting right now with his love. Your friend isolated one option for himself and he may even get what he wants down the line — perhaps when he’s in his 80’s and this woman he has a fetish for is finally available — but do you think he’s prepared to wait that long? Do you think he should rather relinquish the ‘how’ and ‘who’ of his perfect partner and trust that the universe will take care of all the details? Same goes for the lottery.
Multiple Channels for Success. The universe knows how to get you to your destination in the quickest way possible but if you hold on rigidly to only one way of getting there (aka winning the lottery) you are closing doors that would get you what you want quicker. So, you may indeed be manifesting a lottery win but it may take you 10, 20, 30 years+ to get there (like the above example of your friend finally being with the woman he loves in his geriatric years) because you’ve only selected that one channel. Chances are you’re going to get frustrated waiting for your win and your doubt will lead you down a path of negative and woeful thoughts which will kill any seed that is starting to take root. You may even abandon any hope that the LOA works in any way whatsoever and become a sad, lonely and poor skeptic. Imagine wanting to watch the movie ‘Gone With the Wind’ but you only select one channel to watch, wait and hope that it will screen. Wouldn’t you have much better success getting satellite TV and having 500 channels to scour in search of that movie? The one channel may indeed show the movie one day but it could be a long, long wait whereas the satellite option would probably play the movie within a few months.
Scan for Limiting Beliefs. If you don’t believe 100% that what you’re trying to manifest is possible, it ain’t going to happen. It’s as simple as that. When you acquire smaller stuff through deliberate intent, such as receiving a chocolate or getting a phone call from an old friend you’ve lost contact with, it slowly and steadily builds your confidence in the LOA and your believability factor strengthens. But to go from manifesting a bunch of flowers to the lottery is slightly over-ambitious for the budding believer. Most people get frustrated and give up entirely not knowing that, even if you do believe 100%, it takes the 3 P’s to manifest what you want. Patience, persistence and positivity. Oh, and did I mention patience? Patience, patience, patience…I can’t stress it enough. It’s imperative, especially when you are asking for the big things — mountains sometimes have to move to get you what you want, so start being very joyful in your present moment. That’s the only way you are truly going to get through the patience part. Which leads me to…
Be Here, in the NOW.
Everything only ever happens in this moment — the NOW (one of the most powerful books I’ve ever read on present moment awareness is Eckhart Tolle’s, The Power of Now. When you are comfortable and peaceful in your present you will be in a space that resonates joy and magnetically pulls great things into your life experience. It’s always good to be clear on what you want ‘cause it’s a real cracker to wake up to the realization that the world is your oyster and that it was just your perception that was out of alignment.
What’s Best? Winning the lottery might not be in your best interest. Did you ever think of that? I believe we all come here with a purpose — it’s usually to create and grow. Cascades of cash can change people and it might just not be something that your over-soul wishes to experience. It might even set your personal growth back and make you a lax creator — this may be why you are receiving resistance in your personal arena. This does not mean that you must take a vow of poverty, it just means that you must assess what drives you to want so much cash. Whatever the reason is (because you don’t just want money – you want what money can buy) — hone in on that rather than the dosh.

Resetting Your Limitations

Get this authors first book from Amazon for $8.99 (paperback) or download for FREE – click ‘free downloads’ in menu

I know how discouraged some people feel because part of waking up to your innate power is that you should be able to manifest anything — even the sky is not the limit anymore.

Now while this may be true, every person has varying degrees of truth and beliefs that could restrict this infinite flow of possibility.

Your job is to crack your own code.

Don’t get frustrated seeing other people manifesting what you want, rather get inspired by it — use it as fuel for your own believability factor. We all have to mine through our limiting beliefs, Rome wasn’t built in a day.

Make the journey pleasurable by delighting in synchronous markers (for more on the importance of synchronicity READ HERE) and other magical encounters your path may have.

Delighting in Desire and Not Self-Destructing!

Desires and making them happen can be wonderful but they can also drive us to the edge of insanity.

Why?

When your desire consumes you and it starts to define who you are (or, more importantly, who you are not yet) — whether you’ve been successful or not — you are teetering on rocky terrain.

It can be the cause of great unhappiness, especially when your desires are not met.

The key to leading a fulfilling life is to take great glee in all manifestations. To let go of how you are going to get what you want and experience enchantment in finding out just how the universe delivers your request. Because the chances are you’re going to meet some interesting people along the way and find yourself on a bit of an adventure and guess what? That’s life and it’s beautiful!

Take life as one amazing experience at a time. It’s up to you if you choose to see the experience as positive or negative.

Okay, now that we’ve gone through the finer points, let me get to the juiciest bit — how to win life’s lottery!

Here are the steps to living your life to the fullest.

Get Very Clear — If it’s money you think you want then rather get clear on what you want to buy with the money — is it a house, a car, a holiday, a comfortable life? When you know what it is you are trying to achieve then create a vision board or something of the like and pin your aspirations where you can see them. Go ahead and affirm every day what you want and, most importantly, feel what it feels like to have it already (for more info on this I highly recommend you read ‘The Isaiah Effect’ by Gregg Braden).
Make Joy a Priority — When you take the above step you open up infinite ways for the universe to bring you what you desire without narrowly trying to squeeze it into only one solution (aka the lottery). Your next step will be to blissfully enjoy every moment of realizing your goals — in other words, be happy now. What you assign this minute manifests in your tomorrows. So invest in your future by projecting joy now.
Look for Synchronous Encounters — You’ve heard the saying that the journey is sometimes better than the destination, right? It’s true — every word. As I said before, become Alice in Wonderland searching for those synchronicities (or rabbit prints) that try to steer you towards even more joy. You’re going to get plenty of markers so watch out for them. They might come in the form of a dream that you live the next day or as silly as seeing a number repeating itself wherever you look. In my opinion, even the smallest synchronicities show us that we are pointing in the right direction.
Thanks and Kudos— Gratitude is not only a magnet for success but it also puts things into perspective for you. Sometimes we get lost in all the fuzz of daily life and we forget how much we have and how much we’ve achieved already. Take time out to give thanks and acknowledgment for all that has manifested in your life so far.

You can lead a happy and prosperous life. You were born to encompass the full umbrella that is wealth.

Don’t be confined by constricting yourself to only one avenue or outlet (i.e. winning the lottery when there are many other ways available to manifest your dreams) — surrender to the universal flow and let it gently usher you with effortless ease along your way.

Other articles you may find interesting:

12 Things Successful People Do To Excel

Why it Hurts So Much When Someone Lies

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Why ‘Heart Talk’ is SO Important

Gracefully Receiving is Just as Important as Giving

Come peek at the other things I do besides blogging :)…

Why Problems are Really Potentials

Posted on February 11, 2015 by Cherie Roe Dirksen

The Human Condition

How often do we face troubling, irksome, unfortunate, gob-smacking, gut-wrenching, negative situations? A lot? Sometimes?

Is it something you fear coming up against? Do you find yourself worrying about potential ‘what if’s’?

Whatever the answer — we all experience the downs of life as well as the ups. It’s natural and all part of being human. You can have it all together and be the most inimitable spiritual master sitting atop a Tibetan mountain and you will still face problematic encounters.

Problems don’t change, it’s how you deal with or perceive them that needs the changing.

Be Your Own Alchemist

What if I told you that you just might enjoy coming up against a wall in the future when you know what it represents and how to deal with it?

What we do with our potential problems is what I want to speak about today. You can turn any situation into gold if you know how. What am I talking about?

How Much Treasure Are You Sitting On — Or Is It Just a Bunch of Rotten Bananas?

There is always treasure to be found in your trash. Turning your situation around is just as simple as taking an over-ripe banana and making a banana loaf with it.

Savvy?

When life throws you lemons, make Margaritas! When we mine what we initially deem as a negative situation, we could potentially find a myriad of gemstones in the experience. The key is to have the right attitude and miners helmet!

We are forever expanding and learning — that’s just how our soul operates — when we get thrown curve balls they are really opportunities for expansion.

Yeah, your first reaction to something “caca” is most likely to feel down in the dumps but look back at your past — how many times did that awful thing turn out to be your greatest blessing?

Have you ever stopped to peek into your past experiences to see how things turned out? It’s a great exercise as past experience often shows us future solutions.

If, every time something bad happens to you, you keep reiterating that your life is going to the dogs, then look at what a powerful manifestor you are!

Huh?

If you’re the kind of person who can’t ever find a positive aspect in a negative situation and all you can do is whine, complain and moan about how rotten your life is then you are creating more of that. Kudos!

But wait, what about trying a different approach next time a truck load of sour grapes is being dumped on your doorstep? After all, vinegar is very useful for cleaning toilets, did you know?

How to Turn Situations to Your Advantage

Okay, let’s get short, sweet and to the point of this blog:

Don’t fear the future — If you find yourself slipping into worry about what might happen to you and how you’ll deal with it, just affirm: ‘I am a powerful co-creator and I can bend anything to accommodate my joy’.
All Things Will Pass — This is a powerful realization as it works with both good and bad situations. This is not to say you must fear all joyful moments as they will soon be gone — it is just a reminder that there is an ebb and flow to life and that when you are in the moment, it might feel like things will never change. Thing is, the only constant you can rely on is change. So, remind yourself that if you are having a bad day, tomorrows dawn might be a rebirth on the horizon. And if you are experiencing joy in the moment, you are projecting more bliss into your future — so nothing to worry about there either.
Mine the Matter — You’ve got to dig deep into the situation (whatever it is) and scour over all possibilities to find the diamond. Life doesn’t throw you anything you (a) can’t handle and (b) don’t need in order to grow. And you’re just going to love the muchness that you have once you take the lesson and experience the gratification of growth!
Future Projection — No matter how bogged down and gloomy you may feel about things today, try to visualize how you want things to be. Close your eyes and play a movie in your mind (in the region of your third eye, in between your brows). Choose how you want this situation to play out. Keep watching the DVD until you smile and really feel this outcome ingraining on your path. Draw on that when you feel yourself slipping into dread or doubt. Keep affirming your ideal outcome. You are an alchemist, get used to it!

Program a New Reality, Neo

A really fun thing to do is to keep a diary of all the events that you have turned around through your own personal alchemy. When you look back on the pages, you’ll start to see the pattern of your power emerging.

You are sitting on an immense and phenomenal ability — the power of mind, heart and emotional connection (read HERE for more about this supreme trinity and how to use it) that turns your matrix into the womb of creation that it was always supposed to be (did you know that the word ‘matrix’ means ‘womb’ in Latin?).

You create in your own personal matrix. So, don’t fear the future and what it may bring — scream out, ‘bring it on!’ and know that you can figuratively turn any base metal into gold because problems are only disguised potentials.

It’s your job to uncover the illusion and to stop buying into victimization.

Take a Lesson from the Magpie

To hammer the point home — there is an inspirational, innovative and enchanting gallery/shop where I live called Magpie.

They ‘upcycle’ trash into the most beautiful art concentrating on jaw-dropping, spectacular chandeliers.

What a perfect metaphor for us — isn’t it about time we turned our trash into art? Our lives could be sheer masterpieces of glued together strife made triumphant!

Original article written by CHERIE ROE DIRKSEN for CONSCIOUS LIFE NEWS — CLICK HERE and see why over 350 000 readers love their site!

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16 Imperative Choices For Healthy Living — How Many Are You Already Doing?

Posted on January 28, 2015 by Cherie Roe Dirksen

Sick of Getting Sick?

“Don’t live to eat — eat to live. Don’t let any thing come between you, your ideal body and an ecstatic life.”

Is it just me or is sickness and disease on the rise?

Just in my circle of friends and acquaintances, 20 year olds are being diagnosed with cancer and healthy 50 year olds having fatal aneurysms! Never mind the tragic amount of other illnesses and disease doing their rounds and incapacitating people.

I went into town the other day (and, believe me, it’s a small town) and in no less than 45 minutes, heard of 4 people who have been hospitalized in the past week — all suffering with different afflictions and all pretty young.

What the hell is going on?

Healthy Living No-Brainers

I was listening to a talk show last night and the doctor being interviewed was speaking about the imperative nature of healthy living, especially nutrition.

“You may say today that you don’t give a shit about what you’re putting into your body but let me tell you — the day your body starts packing up is the day that you’ll bloody eat those words!”

She stressed how the western diet is atrocious and how something very drastic needs to be done.

The things she was addressing seemed like a no-brainer to me until people started calling in and I was shocked to discover that most of the listeners were hearing these things for the first time.

Quit Bugging Me!

One example was a caller saying that a friend of his was growing her own vegetable garden and she didn’t use any pesticides on it — he thought she was doing it for religious reasons.

The doctor said something that was smack on the button (and I’m paraphrasing): “If I made you a beautiful, fresh salad and then sprayed Raid all over it — would you eat it?”

The caller said no and the doctor said that this is exactly why his friend is growing without chemical sprays.

Keep Your Finger on Your Pulse!

Well, I was inspired to whip up a quick blog checklist.

Life changes are necessary and, as the good doctor said, if you want to stay alive and healthy, some of these so-called ‘sacrifices’ are detrimental. And I put sacrifices in inverted commas because they only seem that way until you get used to them and they become part of your daily practice.

Hell, you may (and probably will) come to love some of these healthy habits — especially the way they make you feel.

“You may have the healthiest diet and the fittest body, but if you are holding onto resentment or anger, you could be a breeding ground for dis-ease.”

Let’s keep it simple and to the point (some of these things may push your buttons but try to keep an open mind at the very least).

As with anything you read or hear, use your discernment — these are all suggestions:

Drink Water — 10 glasses a day and make sure it’s pure, clean water and not tap water that is over-chlorinated and contains fluoride (yes, fluoride isn’t good for you — READ MORE HERE). Coffee and alcohol actually dehydrate you, so don’t think that you’re drinking water in your beer or caffeine fix. It’s especially dangerous as the first sign of dehydration is thirst and when you drink other things it satiates the thirst but doesn’t help the initial problem of dehydration. Dehydration is only solved when you drink WATER!!!! Don’t kid yourself otherwise (and totally stay away from the flavoured water! It’s full of sugar).
MSG, Preservatives, Artificial Colouring and Sweeteners BEWARE!!! Rule no.1 — just stay 10 miles away from any of the aforementioned things. They are found in about 80% of products at the store but you can actually survive without them. Quick tips: Instead of buying crisps eat non-GMO popcorn or lightly salted crisps (they usually don’t have the MSG) and make yourself a groovy avo dip to accompany and satisfy those taste buds. Instead of getting packaged soups and stocks (which are loaded with MSG) you can buy vegetable stock powders (look in the health section of your supermarket). Look for alternatives! Your great-grandmother didn’t have all this crap in her diet and neither should you. READ MORE about the dangers of MSG HERE, food colouring info HERE, preservative info HERE and Sweeteners HERE.
Cut back on the Sugar (then cut it out) — You can do it! Yes, I know — what about the ice-cream cravings in summer or that one indiscretion after a meal out? It’s better to ‘treat’ yourself every now and again than to have a larder full of sugary shite and kid yourself it’s okay! Seriously, sugar is a major carcinogen. What is a carcinogen? A substance capable of causing cancer in living tissue. Be informed! I sometimes have a nice gooey dessert but it’s seldom and at home I don’t keep the stuff at all. Stevia is a great supplement and it’s natural. Honey in moderation also is a great alternative. I have been making my own chocolate (cause I’m a choc-o-holic) and it’s completely satiating and de-fricking-licious! Here is a recipe for mouth-watering choccies that you can make from scratch: CLICK HERE.
Meat-Free — As a vegetarian, this is a controversial subject and I’m sure many of you have your heckles aimed at me. I believe we are healthier not eating meat but many will disagree — that is your choice to make and I certainly refrain from judging anyone on this point. There is loads of information out there about the dangers of meat consumption — READ HERE for one. Thing is, if you can’t give it up entirely, try at least to incorporate 3-4 meals a week that are meat-free. And when you do buy meat, please buy it responsibly by supporting your local organic/free-range farmers — do it for them, yourself and for the animals. You are what you eat, so make sure the animal was pampered as much as possible and not treated appallingly in some over-crowded factory farm.
Exercise and Movement — Most people shudder at the ‘e’ word but come on! We need to move our bodies and build up a sweat every day. Find something fun to do — it doesn’t have to be all grind at the gym, you know. READ HERE for 25 fun alternatives.
Lactose Leery — Yip, my favourite — not! I love my dairy, especially milk. Although I still smuggle a piece of cheese every now and then, I have cut out most dairy. I supplement rice milk powder in my hot drinks and smoothies it’s actually quite yummy, so I’m not really missing the cows milk much. Here is an article about the dangers of dairy CLICK HERE.
Organic, Fresh, Raw — You guessed it! Eat as much organic, raw fruit and veg as you can — especially the green leafy kind. The more alkaline your body (as in at least 51% alkaline) the less your changes of getting cancer. Why? Cancer cannot survive in a body that is predominantly alkaline. Do yourself a favour and check this chart out — CLICK HERE. Better still, start your own edible patch — after all, the word on the street is that revolution starts one veg garden at a time!
GMO Wary — Frankenfoods should be setting off alarm bells in your head. If you’re still not sure why, then you can READ MORE HERE.
Cut Back on Carbs — Yeah, carbs are delicious but here is some food for thought about these sticky starches: 10 Dangers of Carbohydrates by Dr. Dana Myatt.
State of Mind — You simply cannot thrive on stress, anxiety, anger, fear, regret or other negative emotions. You can experience them but know that it too shall pass. If you find yourself harbouring ill-feelings, especially the inability to let go or forgive, you need to explore those emotions and release them in any way you can. You may have the healthiest diet and the fittest body, but if you are holding onto resentment or anger, you could be a breeding ground for dis-ease. You’ve got to shovel through your muck and turn them into compost for future growth. Remember to water that compost with copious doses of healthy self-love!
State of Heart — Listen to your heart and trust your gut instincts. We all have the natural ability to gauge situations and using our heart-sense will help steer us in the direction of healthy choices for joyful living. The best thing we can do for ourselves is engage in complete awareness and to take responsibility for our actions. The ability to drop into our heart centers for guidance will make for a more switched on humanity.
Get Dirty — Right, bear with me here…has she lost her mind, you might ask? Perhaps, but there is something truly magical to be gained in working with you hands and/or feet in the dirt. Get into the garden and connect with your planet. Feel the earth beneath your feet. Play in the mud. It’s actually got a name and it’s called ‘earthing’. For more about this glorious practice and the many ways you will benefit from it — CLICK HERE and HERE.
Smoke and Drug-Free Zone — The less chemicals we pump into our body the better. Enough said! Still not convinced? Okay, READ MORE and HERE.
Medicinal Laughter — l mean, seriously — who doesn’t like a good belly wobble? But did you know that giggles and guffaws come with some seriously wicked benefits? Like reducing the risk of strokes and heart attacks! READ MORE HERE.
Get Plenty of Sex! Just when you thought I’d suck all the joy out of life with this list, I go and totally redeem myself! So, if you are of consensual age and understand what a true and loving relationship built on a deep sense of trust, integrity and openness is then this is the kind of intimacy I’m talking about. Sex has a number of proven benefits for your health but I’d like to reiterate that sex is a sacred union and should not be engaged in flippantly. READ MORE about the benefits of the side-ways tango HERE.
Candid Coffee and Caffeine — Interesting that I stuck this one at the end…not really. I LOVE coffee but I know that it affects me badly. I still sneak in a cup or two every week (*slap on the hand* ) but I am totally aware of what it does to my body (severe lower back pain due to the detoxification of the adrenal glands on top of the kidneys). You can READ MORE about it HERE. I know, it’s a real bummer and believe you me, I’ve tried so hard to debunk that coffee is bad for you but, alas, to no avail — got to tell it like it is. When I went through my coffee detox I climbed the walls with my eyelashes for 8 days — the pain was that bad! Coffee is toxic and make no mistake, it’s a drug.

Will doing all these things above guarantee a disease-free body? I can’t answer that. The only thing I can guarantee is that you will regret not trying. It’s more difficult to live with ‘what if’s’ than knowing you tried your best to look after yourself.

Rome wasn’t built in a day and don’t completely overwhelm yourself trying to adopt these life changes.

Start slowly and steadily by choosing one thing from the above list to incorporate every week and see how your life and body starts to change.

Attitude vs No-Tolerance Bullshit-o-meter

You may say today that you don’t give a shit about what you’re putting into your body but let me tell you — the day your body starts packing up is the day that you will bloody eat those words!

Get real and start treating your body like the divine temple it is.

If, after reading this article, you ask (and, yes, I can read your mind):

What’s the point in living if you can’t eat sugar, fast food and alcohol?

My answer has to be that you are sorely missing the point of life.

Life is for grand adventures, loving relationships, meaningful encounters, creative expansion and joyful explorations — if you are only living for your next oral fix then you’re kind of missing the game entirely.

Don’t live to eat — eat to live. Don’t let any thing come between you, your ideal body and an ecstatic life. Besides there is much to be enjoyed by eating healthfully — you’ve just got to give it a chance.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide, and does not constitute, medical or other professional advice. The content Cherie Roe Dirksen provides is designed to support, not replace, medical or psychiatric treatment. If you believe you may have a condition, please seek qualified professional care.

Original article written by CHERIE ROE DIRKSEN for CONSCIOUS LIFE NEWS (CLN) – CLICK HERE and join over 350 000 other readers!

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Make a New LIFE Resolution (It’s Much More Powerful than a New Year’s Resolution)!

Posted on January 14, 2015 by Cherie Roe Dirksen

New Year, Blah Blah…

“When you map a way to your success by gradually achieving your markers, then you are proactively making new LIFE resolutions.”

We’ve just entered our first week of the new year and I bet a lot of the best-intentioned resolutions you made have already been kicked to the curb. Was it all just a bunch of yada-yada on New Year’s Eve?

Thing is, it’s difficult to suddenly change a way of doing something overnight. Of course, it is admirable to make better choices in our lives but we also need to be kind to ourselves.

What does that mean? Are you off the hook to go binge drink or keep smoking that pack of fags?

Not entirely.

Decisions for Life

“The key is to be gentle with yourself and take baby steps to a goal.”

When we make resolutions, they are usually set with the intention of bettering our lives by improving on health, wealth, relationship, etc. — right?

Here’s the part where you have to be kind to yourself — Rome wasn’t built in a day!

When we make resolutions to sever bad habits ‘from this day on’, we don’t usually allow ourselves to digress — it’s make or break time. However, we are all human (well, most of us anyway) and we all make mistakes.

The key is to be gentle with yourself and take baby steps to a goal.

Sustainable Solutions

It’s brilliant to want to make improvements to your life.

When you map a way to your success by gradually achieving your markers, then you are proactively making new LIFE resolutions.

Whatever you want to quit, try to first cut back on — this way you won’t overwhelm yourself and plunge into old habits after your first deviation.

Become more aware if you do fall off the bandwagon. Don’t judge yourself. Just pick yourself up and dust off — reassure yourself you’ll do better next time around.

For example: if you really feel like something, have it (within reason). Consciously consume it with the awareness of what you are doing. This way you bring your consciousness into the forefront of the behavior or addiction and you can simply observe yourself in the act.

In moments of quiet reflection, ask yourself:

How did this make me feel?
Is that why I did it?
How do I feel now that I’ve done it?
How can I better serve myself next time?
Is there something else I can do to get that fix naturally?

Awareness is salient to change.

Change is the only constant and we are all always in flux — it’s something we simply can’t avoid. So embrace your new intentions with the will to slowly and steadily shift into that new way of being. Forgive yourself for veering, if you do, and congratulate yourself on what you have achieved.

The Gift Awaits

If you want to make a positive change in your life, I am offering my manifest ‘New Life Resolutions’ (CLICK HERE) to those who want a boost to the new life creation process. You’ll also be gifted with my eBook ‘Creative Expression — How to Find Your Inspiration’ to add to your creatively evolving life.

Good luck manifesting a year full of personal triumph!

Original article written by Cherie Roe Dirksen for Conscious Life News – CLICK HERE to visit their amazing site!

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Posted on December 10, 2014 by Cherie Roe Dirksen

“You can always alter your reality at any time.”

Owning Your Power

You’re probably familiar with the saying ‘what you think you create’ but how can you seriously filter every bad thought? Surely it’s a struggle worthy of giving up on before you even get started?

Certainly not.

There’s only one person responsible for what you think and do and that’s you. If the thought of being the creator of your reality scares the willies out of you, then read on…

The Freedom to Be Happy

“Emotions back your thoughts into manifestation.”

Can you remember learning how to swim or ride a bike? Can you see how determined you were to succeed because you knew the pay-off was going to be huge?

You may have started off with water-wings, splashing about aimlessly— gulping in water — or peddling your heart out whilst trying to maintain your balance even with the training wheels on! But that child never gave up.

Then what came next once the wheels were removed? Probably scrapes and bruises the first week but did that deter you? Did you give up then? Probably not. You wanted to ride! You were hell-bent on feeling the wind on your face and the freedom that would bring with it.

Same goes for swimming — gliding about in the water refreshes and frees your body of weight. You knew that swimming was going to be the biggest trip ever!

Where am I going with this? Your thoughts need training wheels/water-wings if you want to experience the same freedom from negative thought. And here’s how you’re going to do it…

Getting Real Right NOW

Here are a few things you can start to do today to become more aware and proactive with your thoughts:

Morning Motivation — When you wake up, give yourself 5-10 minutes to think about what how you want to see this day play out. See if you can catch any worrisome or negative thoughts before they take hold of the exercise. Put up a STOP sign in your mind and gently kick those blighters to the curb. Then bring your focus back to visualizing your positive day ahead. Try to smile and see/feel yourself enjoying this bright new day. Emotions back your thoughts into manifestation.
Mind Mangle Cleanse — During the day (if you are but a mere mortal) you will probably find yourself slipping into worry, blame, anger, despair and an array of other harmful mind banter. You may even find that your head is throbbing because of all the distorted ‘mind mangling’ that’s going on up there. Here’s your chance to hold up that STOP sign again and see if you can look at things from a different perspective. Most of what we worry about never comes to pass and most judgments/situations when seen from a different angle can evoke empathy instead of anger. See if you can alchemize your thinking — in other words, find the treasure in the trash.
Marrying the Mind — When you start to get a hold on your thought stream and just how much power you DO have over it, you can start to have a better relationship with your thinking. You are now in control and you can focus your inner dialogue on what serves you instead of calling in all the unwanted experiences. Start your affirmations off with a strong ‘I am…’. For example ‘I am going to have a great day today’, ‘I am going to have a safe trip’, etc. Try avoid the phrases ‘I desire’ or ‘I want’ because it only brings more desiring and wanting for the future. When you use ‘I am’ it is in the present tense and is happening right now not in some future timeline.
Re-Member — We often get lost in ‘doing’ and not ‘being’. Try to remember all the things that make you happy and bring you joy. When you smile the world smiles with you. So, remember to feel gratitude for life, nature and the people that make your world spin. Look at every magnificent dawn or sunset as a blessing, every fragrant flower or birdsong as a gift, every smile or hug as a gesture of love and draw on those experiences when you’re in a negative frame of mind. See if you can remove yourself from a negative situation and sit under a tree or listen to some soothing music. Seek out those small but beautiful moments in your life and embrace them. Hold them close to your chest and bring them out when you need to. It’s bound to make you smile. You can always alter your reality at any time. Don’t forget that. If you choose to stay in the gloom, then just know that ‘this too shall pass’.
Over and Out — At the end of the day, review what happened and see if you can pick out any situations that you have turned around in reality. Did you manage to have a good day? Did things turn out like you affirmed in the morning? Or close to? Or can you do better tomorrow? Keep trying and if you do see results it’s going to make you more determined — just like that little tike on the bicycle, gearing up for the next day’s practice. Because you know that practice makes perfect!

You will get a grip on your oh-so-powerful thought stream and you’ll be able to eventually steer those thoughts to benefit your life in ways that will make your head spin — in a good way!

Now it’s up to you to give yourself a reason to smile every day.

Article originally written by Cherie Roe Dirksen for Conscious Life News

Other articles you may enjoy:

How to Use the Void to Manifest

Why We May Be Feeling Disenchanted

Why Rejection Can Be Our Saviour

Discover Why My Cat Can’t Get Enough of this Oil and Be Amazed at What it Can Do for You!

Posted on November 5, 2014 by Cherie Roe Dirksen

Have You Heard of the Amazing Benefits of Coconut Oil?

My cat sat on my lap (no, this is not the beginning of a Dr Seuss book!) recently and started licking my hand — front, back and fingers.

Why? I had just rubbed coconut oil on them.

It was the first time she had come into contact with me just after I had done it and it still hadn’t absorbed fully into my skin.

I immediately Googled to see if cats could eat coconut oil and here’s what I found after reading several articles:

Most animals (both cats and dogs) can safely eat coconut oil, in fact it helps to aid digestion.
It has lauric acid (over 40% making it the riches natural source on Earth) and it is a good fat (saturated) for animals to consume as it mimics the animal fat they would be eating in the wild and not necessarily getting in their domestic diet. Therefore you can mix about a teaspoon a day in with their food (and if they are fussy eaters, they tend to lap it up if you mix with coconut oil!).
You can rub it into their fur — it gives a beautiful sheen and apparently protects against ticks and fleas too!
It also can be used for any dry skin issues.

For more in-depth information about how to use coconut oil for your pet, please click on this Wellness Mama article link, ‘Benefits of Coconut Oil for Pets’.

Great News for Pet Owners but What About People?

Did you know that coconut oil has numerous benefits for humans too? In fact, so many that I’m going to cut straight to the chase and name my top favourite uses for this magical white, pasty wonder!

Benefits for you include:

One of the best oils to use for frying food as it doesn’t lose its nutritional value when heated (and it tastes great). Obviously eat any oil in moderation though. Read more about heating coconut oil HERE.
Great for your skin! I use it all the time on my body and face. Especially after you’ve just had a bath or shower — it locks in all the moisture.
Ladies — this stuff is the best make up remover of all time! If it gets into your eyes it doesn’t sting or blur, in fact, it leaves your eyes feeling refreshed. It even takes of water-proof mascara with ease!
It is also a terrific massage oil and spreads beautifully. And yes, it also is a safe lubricant too! In fact, it’s been known to treat Candida, so it’s safe to use on those nether regions, ladies. It has anti-fungal, anti-bacterial and soothing qualities.
I use it as an underarm deodorant as well, mixing it with a bit of baking soda (to neutralize odour) and essential lavender oil (or whatever you want to smell like). However, test this out on your skin first as it may cause a rash (I think it’s the baking soda that does that).
I haven’t tried it yet as a toothpaste but I’m going to as soon as I run out. Again mix coconut oil with baking soda.
Another great thing to do with coconut oil is to ‘oil pull’ — an ancient folk remedy for oral health. You basically put a teaspoon of coconut oil in your mouth and swish around for 20 minutes. It apparently gets rid of toxins and also whitens teeth. I have done this several times and it certainly leaves your mouth feeling clean and fresh. Very important — never swallow the oil after you oil pull as it contains toxins. Spit it out in the garden or bin and not down the drain as it solidifies. Read more about oil pulling HERE.
I also recently read that if you suffer from low blood-sugar and want a quick pick-me-up, you can pop a teaspoon of coconut oil for a sustainable energy boost.
I have also just made the switch from butter to coconut oil on my bread. I, fortunately, love the taste of it whilst others may not. Coconut oil doesn’t go rancid like butter either — so you can leave it out without worrying.
Coconut oil is great at treating scrapes and cuts because of its anti-fungal, anti-bacterial and anti-viral properties.
I also read that you can use it instead of wood polish. You should test the area first but I have and it works well. It apparently can be used to treat leather, etc as well (haven’t tried that though).
It conditions hair. Put a bit from mid-way to tip and leave on for about an hour, then wash well.
I believe you can make great chocolate treats with coconut oil too although I haven’t tried that out yet. However, a friend of mine made me some and they were delicious! You just have to keep it in the fridge to keep it solid.
It also helps to reduce pain. If you have an area on your body that hurts (back-ache, headache, etc) — rub some coconut oil in the area and it soothes the pain. I tried this when I detoxed and initially it did nothing because my pain was extremely severe but when the pain became more manageable I would apply coconut oil and it really did help with mild pain.

Right, so that’s it from my side! I know I’ve probably left out loads of other great stuff so it’s up to you to leave your comments in the box below and tell us how you use coconut oil.

Here are some other great articles that really go into detail about the healthful aspects of coconut oil, so, please read them too:

Health Benefits of Coconut Oil

The 50 Latest Coconut Oil Benefits Backed by Science

Other articles you may find interesting:

Help Me to Pick the Cream of the Crop

6 Essential Steps to Manage Stress

7 Genius Epiphanies to Reset Your Life to

Out-of-the-Box Arty Outdoor DIY

View books by this author HERE

Why Creativity Leads to Universal Expansion

Posted on August 6, 2014 by Cherie Roe Dirksen

This is a quotation from my book ‘Creative Expression — How to find your inspiration’ which you can download for FREE HERE…you can watch and listen to the audio-visual on YouTube HERE or you can purchase the paperback HERE.

The above quote is also available as a poster (just click on the picture to take you to the store or CLICK HERE — there’s a wide variety of sizes and framing options to choose from).

You may also enjoy these blogs:

The Universe is Abundant, Why Aren’t You?

Why Rejection Can Be Our Saviour

How Do You Follow Your Bliss? (YouTube Video)

Reality Check: Disempowering Facebook Quotes

Do You Believe in Magic?

Posted on July 2, 2014 by Cherie Roe Dirksen

I’m not going to be talking about the kind of magic that sees rabbits being pulled out of hats or pretty pink-clad fairy princesses riding on unicorns pulling candy-floss out of their arses.

No. Magic exists, it just might not be in the shape or form of what we’re told magic is.

Magic is something unique and individual. Miracles happen too, they’re just in the eye of the beholder. Beauty is as paradoxical as magic and miracles but beauty exists, doesn’t it?

Beyond Your Boundaries Lies Wonderland

I am doing a 6 week course with the multi-talented, Eleftheria Kakambouras (you can visit her beautiful site HERE), and she said something that really stood out for me, ‘Magic happens outside of your comfort zone”.

Ooooooh — love that!

How profound! But what does it mean? Does magic even exist, I mean really?

Well, like I said before, I do think magic exists — it’s going to be different to each individual according to your beliefs, filters, experience and perspective.

Magic Redefined

What is magic for me?

The dictionary definition for magic says it all: “The power of apparently influencing the course of events by using mysterious or supernatural forces.”

I find magic in synchronicity. When you start to pay attention to synchronicity and how these ‘meaningful coincidences’ can change your life, you’ll start to rethink your definition of magic.

What about telepathy? I have a few friends that share this awesome ‘magic’ trick every now and again. It may not be your conventional idea of telepathy but we sure as hell read each others minds from time to time and across vast distances.

Magic is about bridging the seen and the unseen, however that looks in your universe.

So, what Eleftheria said about magic happening outside your comfort zone is all about pushing yourself beyond your own limitations — what you believe or think you are capable of and/or what ‘magic’ may really look/feel like to you.

The ball is in your proverbial court.

Try to conceive magic as going beyond your boundaries of what is ‘real’ and hoisting your ass out of comfort and normality (thanks for that pearl of wisdom, El!).

Fear Versus Magic

My phobia has been filming myself. I’ve done it once or twice before and absolutely hated it.

That was so outside of my comfort zone because I had to deal with how I sound (eeeek) and all the idiosyncrasies of how I pull my mouth or flick my hair (yes, a bit OCD, I know!) or just what an absolute idiot I can be (now I just call it mad and proud!).

Magic Come Forth and Carrots Be Gone!

The magic arose for me whilst I was filming.

I am attempting to put together a series of vlogs for Youtube, so, I knew I had to face this demon and step out of my cushy little world of typing behind a computer screen.

I started off by video journaling every day (baby steps) — just little 2-3 minuters about my day or anything that popped into my head. As I continued to do this I realized I was actually starting to become more ‘loose’, fluid and confident — a little more of ‘me’ in there.

I always felt that in the past, when I filmed myself, it was like someone had inserted a giant carrot up my backside because my ‘performance’ was so stiff and contrived.

Finally my ‘magic’ had seeped in and I was outside my ring of comfort and actually enjoying the results.

You Define the Magic

This is what I mean about magic being what you bring to it (how you define it not what society says it is).

A few weeks ago I would have told you it would take a miracle for me to be comfortable in front of a camera and now I am actually liking it!

I hope that this ability will open new and exciting doors for me — even if it is only to be able to truly express myself (all carrots removed).

Abraca-fecking-dabra!

Magic is what you make of it. If people laugh at you for believing in magic — let them!

Are you having fun with your version of magic? Yes? Well then that’s all that matters. Leave them to create their own reality without magic — there should be no judgment from either side.

How do you step out of your comfort zone and experience magic? You can make a start by asking yourself these questions:

What is it that you’re avoiding?
Is it something that makes you feel uncomfortable?
Do you know that this is the one thing that could unblock a lot for you?
Perhaps even lead you to greater opportunity?
How could you plot a course to overcome it bit by bit?
Are you willing to give it a try?
Are you willing to look at the world in a new light and experience magic of your own making?
Can you think of 3 things that happened in your life that had a magical essence about them? This could be dreams that have come true to situations that turned into miracles when you thought the worst would happen.

See if you can give magic a more personal meaning.

Other articles you may enjoy:

Threshold Guardians

Alchemizing Fear

The Universe is Abundant, Why Aren’t You?

Here’s Your Crown — You Are Sovereign!

How Do You Follow Your Bliss? (YouTube Video)

3 ‘Dark’ Lessons Darth Vader Can Teach Us!

Why Creativity Leads to Universal Expansion

Shining a Light on Sensuality and Sexuality

Books you may enjoy by this author:

Warning: 4 Reasons Why You Should Avoid Venus Fly-Traps

Posted on May 28, 2014 by Cherie Roe Dirksen

“If everybody minded their own business, the world would go around a great deal faster than it does.” — The Duchess (Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland)

Hmmm, yes. What is it about human nature that keeps our noses continuously stuck in other people’s affairs?

In my short and humble opinion, there are 4 possible reasons that instantly spring to mind (and they all involve a Venus Fly-Trap).

The Smoky Mirror (a definite trap!)
Avoidance (another trap that doesn’t involve Venus but a sticky void and a particularly intriguing dance.)
Self-Importance/Ego (just like an irritating fly that won’t go away — where’s a trap when you need one?)
Drama Addiction (the fully grown Venus Fly-Trap, or, perhaps more of a ‘shut your trap!’)

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall — Who’s the Smokiest of Us All?

Let’s take no.1 — that smoky mirror analogy. People that volunteer themselves to get entwined in the business of their fellow man, usually have some characteristic of what they are judging about others lurking about in their own foggy behavior.

Sometimes we hide these attributes so well, that we can’t seem to see those attributes in ourselves. This takes a lot of introspection to weed out.

Next time you find yourself judging someone else’s behavior, try to see if there is any essence of ‘you’ in the opinion.

The ‘smoky mirror’ (smoky = hard to see through, mirror = others reflected in us) is not going to be the case every time you identify or see a particular unnerving trait in another but the projection of our own inadequacies sure does tend to happen a lot, so be aware and look out for it — best to nip this mannerism in the bud before the bud turns into a fairly peckish Venus Fly-Trap and makes a meal out of you.

Dancing in the Void (A-Void-Dance)

No. 2 is similar to no. 1. Avoidance is just not being able to take responsibility for your own short-comings, so you deflect the attention to make yourself look and feel better. In other words, you know you’re a gossip but you make sure you let the world know what an even bigger tittle-tattle Peggy-Sue is.

Now you’ve safely fudged over your own issues. However, before success settles in just remember that you’ve got to face your shadow head-on or that Venus Fly-Trap is gonna get ya!

Shoo Fly — Don’t Bother Me!!!

“…nothing kills the ego more than hilarity and humility…”

Good ‘ol no. 3 is that juicy little shit-stirrer — the ego. The ego thrives off drama and misery and putting itself ahead of the pack. Sticking your nose into someone else’s business is ego-fodder.

You can make yourself better than, slimmer/tottier (I’m sure I just made that word up!) than, prettier/handsomer than, cleverer than, more successful than so-and-so just because it gives your ego those 15 minutes of superiority— even if you don’t say it out loud.

The silent ego is just as dangerous as the overly loquacious e-goo (terribly gooey and all that jazz).

Just like the sticky residue in the Venus Fly-Trap — your icky e-goo can get you into some sticky situations if you are not aware it’s rearing that self-important head (down boy!).

When the ego has you by the short and curlies, you tend to compare yourself and you’re usually the one that comes out on top. However, don’t be fooled! The ego is cunning and manipulative and can make you feel less than too. Both are a trap and both are easily avoided with the light of your illuminating awareness.

Have a good laugh at your ego if you find yourself in its throes — nothing kills the ego more than hilarity and humility. Show the ego who’s boss — they key is to control the ego and not to let it control you.

The Amateur Dramatics Society — Putting on a Show Near You!

“Remember that taking offence is a choice.”

No. 4 is like the smorgasbord of the lot — you can find a little bit of each trait in no. 4 — the drama addict!

Have you noticed how some people cannot live without drama?

There you are trying to get off the wheel of karma and leave your drama at the door while others are trying to hook you back into the cycle.

There are some people who will purposefully go out and purchase a ravenous Venus Fly-Trap, stick their finger in the jaws of the plant and howl when it clamps down and draws blood. If you are one of these eager consumers, I wish you luck on your journey and can’t quite understand the pay off.

However, if you are someone who wants to keep a potting shed full of petunias rather than a carnivorous plant, take my advice and set your boundaries.

If someone is trying to lure you into drama, don’t try to run away from them (fence-sitting is just not an option anymore — you know it will always come back at you until you face it), don’t confront them with the ego (as in start an argument — you will then have stepped right into the trap and fed the drama) — simply speak your truth or stand firm in your conviction (whatever that may be) and walk away if appropriate.

Empowerment is always about standing your ground and not letting people overstep your boundaries and doing that in a way that does not provoke aggression or submissiveness.

You’ve got to aim straight down the center and tell it like it is — speak your truth and straight from the heart. If you offend someone, that is their choice and they will have to deal with it. Remember that taking offence is a choice.

The Long and Short of Your Schnozzle

As you probably figured out by now, this article has got very little to do with Venus Fly-Traps — disappointing, I’m sure. So, what’s the moral of this tale? Live and let live.

You can powder your nose, you can blow your nose, heck, you can even pick your nose if that’s your thing — but whatever you do, keep your nose out of other people’s business. If they want your hooter present they’ll ask for it.

Original article written by Cherie Roe Dirksen for Lightworkers World

The painting used for this blog is called ‘Girl with the Flowers’ and is available as prints (click on picture above)

Other blogs by Cherie Roe Dirksen you may enjoy:

Why We May Be Feeling Disenchanted

How to Paint Rhino’s and Evoke Protective Spells

It’s About Time This Blog Was Written!

How to Use the Void to Manifest

5 Ways to Tune into a HD Quality Life

10 Reasons Why I Don’t Care Anymore and Neither Should You

2014 — The Year to Sculpt Your Life!

Why You Should Strive to be a Nobody

3 Crucial Steps to Self Acceptance

Feel Like a Rug Has Been Pulled Out From Underneath?

Self-Empowerment Books by Cherie Roe Dirksen:

Table Books of Art and Inspirational Teachings by Cherie Roe Dirksen:

How to Paint Rhino’s and Evoke Protective Spells

Posted on May 21, 2014 by Cherie Roe Dirksen

A Harsh Reality

The plight of the rhino becoming an endangered species is a fierce and emotive topic.

I was disgusted when one night, as my husband and I were enjoying the peaceful tranquility of the Lalibela Game Reserve in East London, we were told that our guide was called out on an emergency rhino reconnaissance as a helicopter was flying over the reserve scouting for these beautiful creatures.

The hard reality really hit me in that moment.

We had just seen these magnificent beasts in the wild, gracefully grazing while the sun was setting – their majesty was overwhelming. Who would want to do harm to such divine creatures? Well, we all know the answer to that and just how uneducated their killers are.

Casting ‘Spells’ in the Painting

So I wanted to evoke feelings of love and protection for these animals in this artwork.

I infused it with the immense sense of calm and tranquility I got from them when I first witnessed them in the wild. Hopefully, this will be mirrored back to the species — a peaceful life.

The gold spiral backgrounds are my better known trademark and they represent the verve of the sacred geometry of life — the divine blueprint. So I thought it apt to ‘preserve’ them in this energy.

How I Painted These Beautiful Beasties

In order of application:

I plotted out the subject matter with a permanent marker.
the background was painted black (2 coats),
I applied the gold spiral technique,
I used thick textured acrylic (the ‘Dala’ brand) to build up the tough raw hide look,
then I used bits of stick and bark to get that wrinkled texture,
Lastly came the final layers of definitive detail.

The painting is very tactile which may not be apparent in the photographic representation, thanks to the textured acrylic. Below are some close-up photo’s of the textured paint:

And, finally, here is the finished product:

“Rhino’s – The Spiral of Life” by Cherie Roe Dirksen. Original Acrylic on Boxed Canvas. 42cm x 59cm x 4cm. $300. SAATCHI ONLINE.

The original is for sale through SAATCHI ONLINE or SOUTHAFRICANARTISTS.COM. Alternatively, you can also buy canvas prints for as little as $95.00 through Saatchi Online (click here).

Interested in seeing more wildlife art prints from Cherie Roe Dirksen?

Click on the picture below:

Other art related blogs you may enjoy:

10 Bands, 10 Paintings…Let the Rock Art Begin!

Painting a Zebra From Scratch

De-Stress with Free Colour Therapy for You and Your Family

Valentines Day Digital Art — See How It’s Done in Under 3 Minutes! You Won’t Believe How Easy It Is…

Creating an ‘African’ Statement for the City that Never Sleeps!

Earth Day Sparks Off ‘Green’ Boutique

How to Use the Void to Manifest

Posted on May 9, 2014 by Cherie Roe Dirksen

New Energy, New World

You may have noticed that the Mayan ‘end of the world’ calendar has come and gone (21/12/2012). We are now supposedly in ‘Year 2’ of this advanced and illustrious new age/paradigm/Earth.

Can you feel it?

Or are you feeling more like you’re stuck in a void with endless karma and drama being flung at your feet?

The Roots are Strong

The good news is that we are in a new energy and in order for the new to emerge the old has to die — and it’s dying hard! What does that mean? Well, in a nutshell, old energy is going down kicking and screaming.

It may look like the negative, base, ‘Mad Max’ war-ridden world is winning but it’s roots are rotten. Smoke and mirrors are being used to prop up these decaying, useless ways.

The new shoots are still young but their roots are strong and fixed in integrity and love. We have created another realm — it just needs our full attention now to manifest itself. It’s going to happen one soul at a time — cheesy but true.

‘Okay, so what does this mean practically for me today?’, I hear you ask.

Understanding the Wind Down to Wind You Up!

When an old system winds down we get thrust into clearing out and preparing for the new — something like moving house. You usually end up throwing stuff out, cleaning your butt off and scaling down dramatically — this is a great metaphor for when we shift into a new paradigm.

You have to get rid of the old baggage to step into a new world. So a lot of you will have found yourself doing copious amounts of emotional, karmic, mental and physical clearing the last few years.

So, when the end of 2012 hit us we were at the bottom end of winding down…then came the void of 2013. Boy! Did any of you feel at a loose end the WHOLE year? Well, I sure did.

We overcame! Now we’re almost half way through 2014 — the promised year of manifestation. However, some people are still stuck in the void energy.

The definition of void is empty space. This is good news! Here you can create anything you want — even more void…as in ‘avoidance’ or a void dance! So use the void wisely.

The void/darkness is the gateway to all mystery and manifestation — the door to understanding this universe we’ve created.

Using the Void

In the Tao Te Ching you can use the Tao any way you want — it is empty but inexhaustible.

What is the Tao? In Chinese philosophy, it is the absolute principle underlying the universe. It is a combination of yin and yang and signifies the way that is in harmony with the natural order.

Is it hard to use the void? No.

Here’s what to do:

Align with your thoughts. Thoughts create everything in the universe. What are you thinking about the most? Be completely honest with yourself. Can you see how you are consciously or, as the case may be, even unconsciously bringing about manifestations in your life that are aligning with what you think about? Okay, most of you probably know this point by now — it’s ‘old school’ stuff but it’s of primary importance and here’s why: Manifesting has become increasingly more instantaneous! Holy crap, my hombre! Hold onto your hats…
Manifest wisely. Instant manifestation can be dangerous for some and great for others. This is why getting clear with what your mind is harping on about is of the utmost significance now. We’re in a potent manifesting energy, where you are going to have things pop up with much more speed than before — good or bad.
Use the void as your clean slate. What does this mean? Get clear today, hell, even right now, on what you want to see unfold in the next 6 – 12 months. Be specific, write it down, read it out every morning and take action where you can — then detach from the outcome and watch out for synchronicities that will point you in the right direction (read more about that HERE). Most people don’t even know what they want to manifest so they just leave it to fate. Wake up call! Fate is you unconsciously manifesting whatever you’re thinking about the most! So you can become a conscious co-creator of your reality or you can subject your life to your random and vague inner dialogue.

Are You Manifesting More Void?

The biggest trouble I’m seeing at the moment is people who say that nothing is manifesting in their life. Wrong! If this is you, you are manifesting too but you are in the void and therefore you are manifesting more ‘void’ when you say or think that ‘nothing is happening’.

Take a look at that phrase, ‘nothing is happening’. So be it — your wish is the Tao’s command!

Get it? I hope so — happy manifesting!

Original article written by Cherie Roe Dirksen for Lightworkers World.

Other articles by Cherie Roe Dirksen you may enjoy:

2014 — The Year to Sculpt Your Life!

Why We May Be Feeling Disenchanted

5 Ways to Tune into a HD Quality Life

Why You Should Strive to be a Nobody

3 Crucial Steps to Self Acceptance

Feel Like a Rug Has Been Pulled Out From Underneath?

The Universe is Abundant, Why Aren’t You?

Self-Empowerment Books by Cherie Roe Dirksen:

Table Books of Art and Inspirational Teachings by Cherie Roe Dirksen:

Now is All That Exists! Here’s How to Embrace it…

Posted on April 9, 2014 by Cherie Roe Dirksen

“For a long time it had seemed to me that life was about to begin-real life. But there was always some obstacle in the way, something to be gotten through first, some unfinished business, time still to be served, a debt to be paid. Then life would begin. At last it dawned on me that these obstacles were my life.” ~ Alfred D’Souza

Movies and Revelations

Don’t you just love it when a movie hits on a spiritual epiphany?

I was watching a flick called ‘About Time’ when something profound cuffed me upside the head. It’s actually nothing new — just another perspective of that elusive pot of gold called present moment awareness.

Brain Enemas and Rosy Tinted Specs

I felt like some zesty lemon juice had been poured through every wrinkled crevice of my brain — cleansing out all that old fluff that seemed to be impairing my vision.

Most of us are aware of ‘the present’ and just how important it is to stay grounded and supremely concentrated in the moment because this is where our joy lies. We know now that future yearning (or fretting, as the case may be) and past residues keep us forever longing for our bliss, like a carrot being dangled in front of an ass (yes, deliberate use of ass as I think we can all relate to feeling like one from time to time).

The thing is, we sometimes feel bogged down in this world full of chaos but we can always don our rose-coloured glasses to be able to see the beauty in the maelstrom.

But how can we effectively live in the moment?

Living This Day Again

For those of you who haven’t seen the movie, there was a scene where the time-traveling father says to his time-traveling son that the one thing he’d learned about being able to repeat history is going back and living the same day over twice.

Seems pretty strange, doesn’t it? Who would want to repeat the same day again?

However, his son tried it out and on the first day he hustled and bustled through a typical working day, missing out on all the delights that could have been because he neglected to see that each moment was a gift. He then went back on the same day and things went differently. Because he had already lived the day before, he knew that every obstacle or worry in his day would be sorted out so he approached this day with joy and ease.

1. He delighted in his encounters with people.

2. He put people’s minds at rest that everything was going to be alright with resolute authority.

3. He treasured every sacred moment with his wife and family.

4. He had fun. The scales had dropped from his eyes — the world hadn’t changed, how he experienced in it had. Life wasn’t about one drama after another, nor was it about worrying and fearing the future — it was about relishing the moment and truly living each day as if it were the last. To take things as they come and know that all things will pass, so all will be well.

A New Recipe For Life

How many of you stress about death (not just your own but people or animals you love), worry about situations, get anxious over things you need to do? I’m guessing quite a lot of you.

I’ve been having my fair share of problems lately ranging from family to business but the one thing that keeps on boomeranging back to me is just to let it be (thanks to The Beatles for pointing that one out!).

Be in the world, not of it — don’t sweat the small stuff.

Point is: You create your world and a good place to start is to be grounded in each moment. Be present in your life and don’t let events just take place around you. Be the event!

Here is a list of things you may need to allow:

1. When life gives you lemons, make lemonade. Alchemize your negative situations by

Do you know you can download my book for free? Click the picture above

finding the diamond in the rough. Diamonds are produced by coal being under extreme stress — turn your stress into a precious gem. There’s something in every situation for us to learn and grow by.

2. Accept that which you can’t change by trusting in divine flow. Send love and turn your situation around by visualizing how you would like to see it play out. Keep realigning to your desired outcome through positive affirmation and clear visualizations and you’ll be surprised how things turn out for the better.

3. React if you need to — blow off steam, vent, scream… shout, shout, let it all out (shed your fears through tears — Tears for Fears)! But then give yourself time and space to clear your mind, meditate and ground yourself. When you are calm and relaxed, solutions tend to rear their heads. Nothing can get through the fog of anger and frustration, so remember to meditate daily.

4. Reality can be harsh but remember that you are spirit having a corporeal experience — learn the art of detachment and you will soar higher than you ever imagined! After putting this list into practice, I find myself surrendering to the present moment a lot lately and blissing out even amidst the most chaotic of times (once I’ve had a good cry about it, of course!).

Take Back Control

Some things in life can’t be completely controlled but we can sure influence them to our greatest good by taking a leaf out of ‘About Time’s’ script and treasuring people’s company, finding bliss in the mundane and being the still presence that helps other people to be cool, calm and collected.

Original article written by Cherie Roe Dirksen for Purpose Fairy

Other articles you may enjoy:

3 Ways to Alchemize Chaos

An Accidental Triptych

Audio Article on Synchronicity

Why it Hurts So Much When Someone Lies

De-Stress with Free Colour Therapy for You and Your Family

Posted on January 24, 2014 by Cherie Roe Dirksen

Feeling a Little Uptight Lately?

I sure have been! That’s why I started doodling again (sounds rather dubious, doesn’t it?).

I used to draw fantasy pictures when I was younger (in my teens) to relieve anxiety or tension and it really worked. I found myself reverting back to it again this week and it really helped me to unwind.

I know this might be a strange blog for me (or maybe not? Can’t seem to figure out who I am anymore anyway…lol) but I thought maybe you will appreciate it. I finished creating this ‘fairy garden’ picture (see below) last night and I wanted to get you and/or your children/spouse/best friend/neighbour/dog/cat/hamster to join in with printing it out and colouring it in!

Go on! Let’s have some fun, for Pete’s sake (Pete could really use a bit of shits and giggles right now).

Dust Off Your Pencil Crayons, Khoki’s and Paints!

So, your homework (or colour therapy work) is to print this out and splash your unique version of hue onto it (scroll to the bottom to see some of the finished pictures I’ve received from y’all).

Then, I would love you to e-mail me the finished version (cheriedirksen@yahoo.com) and I will put them all together in a blog for the whole wide world to see (you can remain anonymous or let the globe know who the genius is behind the crayons!).

Get In-Touch With the Inner Sense (Innocence) of the Inner Child!

Is this a glorified colouring-in blog?

YES!!! It damn well is and you’re going to have so much fun doing it :)…so without anymore procrastination, here it is (just click on the picture to take you to the bigger version and then ‘save as’ and ‘print’):

Fairy Garden by ©Cherie Roe Dirksen – Have fun colouring this in!!!

Have oodles of fun (because that’s the point and don’t lose sight of it!) and I will publish the finished results in a few weeks, so do try to get me your finished piccie within the next week or two. I am also going to colour this in, in case you were wondering — so don’t feel alone and overwhelmed! 😀

Oh yes, and see if you can spot the 10 fairies, 2 bees, 2 snails and 8 ladybugs.

Isn’t it great to be a child again?

Adios!

If you enjoyed coloring this, then maybe you’ll like my Mandala Colouring Book, click on the picture below – it’s an instant download/printable – and you can get colouring straight away! Did you know that colour therapy is proven to reduce stress and anxiety? You’ll find everything you need to know about the impacts of colouring and your health in the introduction of this book:

Got the colouring bug?

Try your hand at colouring this picture too (click here to take you to the next colour therapy pic). Don’t forget to share with friends and family — you never know who may enjoy this creative activity):

If you would like to GO LARGE, I also have this picture available as a poster (in 2 different sizes) at my print store (you can order yours by CLICKING HERE). What’s more is I have this design available on all sorts of products like mugs, t-shirts, skirts, leggings, so you can even get yourself some glass or fabric paint and go mad! Or enjoy as is 😀

CLICK HERE TO VIEW OTHER PRODUCTS AVAILABLE

You may also really enjoy this blog: The Relaxation Solution for Busy Moms Who’ve Tried it All (and it’s Not What You Think!) — Super Mommy Club

UPDATE: Here are some of the beautiful colour renditions I have received from you and your families! Don’t forget to send me your finished product and I’ll post it here 🙂

Received from Anna (5 yrs) — Cape Town

Received from Mandolin — Durban

Another version received from Mandolin (Durban)

Thank you for your lovely, colourful and bright masterpieces!

Want to see more of my ‘fantasy art’? Click on link below:

Books by this author that you may enjoy:

8 Pointers You Need to Know When Self-Publishing Your Book

Posted on January 11, 2014 by Cherie Roe Dirksen

You’re probably familiar with the saying, ‘everyone’s got a book in them’ but the real question is: how do you start taking those first steps and begin furiously tapping away at your keyboard with zesty enthusiasm?

You Could Be Holding Your Book Within 6 Short Months!

You may be surprised to learn that it is not such a gargantuan and overwhelming task — with the proper guidance and motivation, you too can be the proud author of a spanking new publication.

In fact, it is an absolute thrill to write when your heart is sunk firm into the project. Think of the final joy of holding your book in hand and getting to press your nose deep into the spine of those crisp, new pages of your hot-off-the-press manuscript. Heck, even I’m excited for you!

So what lies between you and that imminent caress of your books glaringly glossy cover?

Below you’ll find a list of the 8 most commonly asked questions I get about writing and publishing a book and some surprising answers:

Why Do You Want To Write a Book?

I write self-help books because I have a passion to help people and if writing about my life experiences and how I’ve overcome certain obstacles can help someone else — I am more than happy.

The writing process also helps me to put certain things into perspective on the chosen topic — i.e. writing about your experiences helps you to gain a certain amount of clarity or slant on what you have lived through.

There’s also the fact that putting pen to paper (or, in most cases, fingers to keys) can be wholesomely therapeutic.

If there is one thing I can’t stress enough, it is to write about your experiences — what you actually know about…which brings me to ask this question:

What Experience Do You Have?

Readers are like bloodhounds and can out an author that doesn’t write from experience, wisdom and passion — there must be integrity in this process.

Even if you are writing fiction — imagination is a wonderful thing but putting structure to your fantasy requires that you know a thing or to about life and living, so get out there and soak up the vibes!

Do your research — there’s never been a better time to be a writer than in this magnificent technological age where Google provides so much information at the touch of a button.

For all you more ‘mature’ folks out there — do you remember when research meant going to the library or, even better, a trip to the state archives? Boy, have times changed!

No matter what you write about, I feel your true motivation should always stem from the love of what you do and that you either have a message or a deep fervor for what you’re penning about.

Is Money Your Motivation?

Never write for the money. I have got 2 books out now and I am only starting to make money from them (not enough, as of yet, to pay my bills — I do a lot of other things to keep myself afloat which is something you should think about before quitting your day job).

This is not to say that you can’t make money from writing, just that it is not a very glamorous career. It is a lot of hard work, promotion and dedication.

I’m sure there are a trickle of overnight success stories but they are few and far between. Most authors need to have a day or part-time job, guest write for other sites to get their name and message out there and keep up daily appearances on social networking sites to sustain momentum and remind people that they are still there.

This is not a path for the lazy or faint-of-heart. You’ve got to believe in yourself and believe in what you do — inevitably that’s all that counts and if you only sell 1 book in your career, that should bring a smile to your face.

I think to date, I have distributed and sold just over 200 books.

It’s not nearly enough to make me a best-seller (believe it or not, having a ‘best-seller’ in South Africa apparently only requires the sale of 2000 copies due to the market now being swamped with books in this wonderful new digital age of self-publishing — but, as you can see, even at this rather low rate, I’m still a far cry away from attaining the best-seller status).

However, I’m a die-hard and ever the optimist — I’m going to keep on getting my book out there if it kills me (well, not really but the statement does add to the dramatic effect!).

Never give up on a dream!

What Can You Gain From Other Writers/Bloggers?

Learning from others beats going it alone. There is a massive writing community out there so go be a social cyber-butterfly!

There is a guy called Jeff Goins who blogs about his writing career — I would go and study his page because he is very informative and you can learn a hell of a lot from him: goinswriter.com.

Which brings me to the next thing. If you truly want to write, start out with a blog — that is how you will build your readership who will later want to buy your book.

Your site is your livelihood in most writers cases.

Do some research on this by yourself and you will see that a lot of people go the blogging route in order to build a reputation and a subscription list of potential readers (I find this site extremely helpful: www.copyblogger.com— they will help you to get a successful website/blog going).

Where Do I Find Motivation To Start My Book?

With regards to getting started with writing, the story either comes or it doesn’t — i.e. you will know when a story hits you, I find you can’t force something that is not there or people will pick up on that (remember those bloodhounds are on your tail!).

So, like I said before, go out into the world and mingle with people, have adventures and live, that way you’ll have loads of inspiration to write.

How Much Writing a Day Should I Do?

When you find something that you do want to write about, dedicate at least 2 hours a day to writing.

Without a regular schedule your book will be left on the back-burner, so stick to a writing regime. I did this with my first book — 2hrs a day, 5 days a week and finished my book within about 5 months.

The second book was a compilation of all my articles that I blogged about, so blogging has its rewards!

How Long Should My Book Be?

How long is a piece of string? As long as it has to be, I suppose.

Some people write shorter books or short stories and some people write trilogies — so that’s up to you. My books have been between 180 and 220 pages (roughly 50 000 — 60 000 words).

How Do I Publish My Book?

Finally and best of all, publishing your book is super easy!

With sites like ‘Createspace‘ (Amazon’s sister site for self-published authors) and another really great site called Lulu.com (and many more) you can do it all yourself at no cost.

Yes, you read right — it’s FREE!

They provide you with templates and most of them even allocate the ISBN number for you (that bar-code at the back of a book which is a unique identifying number) and all you do is upload it once your book is finished and they take care of the rest.

You can even publish eBooks (or Kindle if you’re going through Amazon) gratis through these sites.

They even offer services like editing your book/cover design, formatting, etc for a small fee.

They are a print-on-demand service, so once your book is uploaded, you can start selling straight away to the entire globe!

There are absolutely no hidden costs (at the printing of this article, at least) and you get royalties on your book. However, most of these sites will only pay you out on a quarterly basis or when you have reached $100 threshold.

What Are Printing Costs If You Want To Do It Yourself?

If you do want a batch of your own books, then I have just got my second book printed (November 2013) by a local company (I’m from South Africa, for those who don’t know) that charged me around R4 500 (roughly $450) for 100 books. That included the ISBN number.

So that way, there is an outlay but I tried to presell copies before I got it printed and managed to cover more than half of the cost.

Write Your Book Because It’s Your Passion And You Will Be Rewarded

Write because you love it and not because of the green stuff — that way you won’t be disappointed and if you do make the best-seller list, then that is just an awesome bonus!!!

I hope this helps you to start your writing career. There is a ton of information out there on the net. Not one day goes by when I haven’t read at least 2 articles about my trade, so be informed and you’ll do well.

Good luck!

Have you written a book? Please share your insights below.
Got another question that wasn’t covered here?
Did this article help you?

Books by this author that you may enjoy:

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Posted on December 4, 2013 by Cherie Roe Dirksen

“It is the nature of the self to manifest itself, In every atom slumbers the might of the self.” — Muhammad Iqbal

Upgrading to High Definition

Can some of you stretch your minds back to the days of reel-to-reel movies?

Then there was a brand new evolution called ‘video’ (VHS and Betamax — okay, who of you remember Beta? Lol).

Then came the computer-in-every-home age and we were introduced to CD’s and that wonder, the DVD. Now we’re progressively fine-tuning and coming up with even greater ways to clarify the ‘picture’ with our HD screens and BluRay discs.

Hell, it’s getting so microcosm now that we are just carrying our flash drives in our pockets and file-sharing all over the place! Soon enough we’ll just be downloading it into our brains straight from the ether.

I want to use all these spectacular ‘inventions’ to grapple with an even finer concept — our selves.

You — The Immortal Hard Drive

Read about my latest painting ‘The Fall and The Return’ by clicking the picture above

So, by now (and if you have been following my blogs or read any of my books), you’ll have probably got your heads around the fact that you are a piece of the divine/God/source/prime creator (or whatever else you want to call that infinite one).

This ‘body’ is not your true essence, it’s the consciousness in the drivers seat (mind) that is in control and your biological system is tantamount to a computer hard-drive where all your information is stored.

So, why not upgrade your system to work in prime condition?

Here are a few tips on how to start rewiring your brain via conscious thought command to get the most out of your life and body:

Declare every day that you are sovereign. That you govern your own existence and you are a being of freewill and choice (you are now setting the stage or wiping the slate clean, so to speak).
State each morning what you expect to get out of this day. You came here to experience joy (rooted in love — all that there really is) so make damn sure that’s on the menu each day. Remember to review your day to check in to see if you’ve given yourself time to experience bliss and if not, get cracking!
State that if you do have something ‘unpleasant’ to do that it will go smoothly and easily and you will flow with the energy to take you to the conclusion that is the most beneficial for your path. Keep your inner eye focused on the outcome you want to manifest.
Take 2-3 minutes in the morning (perhaps while you are still lying in bed) to declare that your body is working on optimum prime! You are 100% healthy (try to feel every cell in your body tingle and send each cell love and appreciation) and you are going to honour this awesome biological system by only eating and drinking what the body asks for and not what your mind has been ‘programmed’ to crave.
At the end of the day remind yourself that you are the co-creator of your existence in this dimension and realign yourself to your goals and what you still want to experience. Thy will be done!

I hope this helps you to truly start to embody your sacred self and tune into the HD quality life you deserve.

Start getting used to the fact that you are powerful because we are only starting to come online to our innate mastery — can you imagine what we will become when we unequivocally align to our sovereignty?

Other articles you may enjoy:

The Freedom Checklist – What Every Human Being Needs to Know

3 Ways to Cure the Pushover Mentality

7 Things I Wish I Knew when I Was a Teenager

12 Things Successful People Do To Excel

Only 50 Shades of Grey — What Happened to the Rest?

How Suppressing Your Shadow Self Can Destroy You

The Insidious Rape of Mankind and the Imminent Solution

3 Crucial Steps to Self Acceptance

Extract the Magic from each Moment

Why You Should Strive to be a Nobody

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Why You Need Hibiscus Between the Sheets!

Posted on November 13, 2013 by Cherie Roe Dirksen

Flower Power — 6 Ways This Amazing Flower Could Help Even Your Sex Life

“Flowers always make people better, happier, and more helpful; they are sunshine, food and medicine for the soul.” ~ Luther Burbank

We’re all captivated by the beauty, aroma, intricate workings, sacred geometry, fragility, texture and vast array of colour that flowers provide.

Flowers, like music, can transport us beyond the reach of words. Ergo, they have strong spiritual connotations. Flowers can be seen as natures ever-evolving little prayers, the enlightenment of plants or our instant communion with the divine.

A good friend of mine was drawn recently to the hibiscus and forwarded me some very interesting information about this specific flower that I wanted to share with you all today.

The Comeback of Female Sexual Energy

“Hibiscus is symbolic of femininity, sexuality and warmth, and new creation. It reminds us of the joy, happiness, and overall the blessing of welcoming a new life into this world.” ~
Spiritual Meanings of Flowers: An Alphabetical Guide

The Hibiscus is known to help women to reclaim their sexuality, vitality and authenticity and has aided many women who have been sexually traumatized (through the use of Hibiscus essence).

It also helps women to overcome all that stereotypical, degrading imagery that the media pumps out at us which leads us to feeling a combination of inadequacy, shame, belittlement and a sense of being objectified.

Hibiscus essence also helps to promote a steady flow of loving kindness throughout the body and soul — an important trait of the feminine aspect of sexuality.

“Red Hibiscus, I greet your flame,
Hi’iaka, I call your name,
Teach me your sacred song and dance.
My soul full of passion, you enhance.”

~ Power of Flowers

(click here to buy this flower essence. Please note: I am in no way affiliated with ‘Power of Flowers’ website, this information/product/service is solely for your discretion)

Men, You Can Get Your Groove on Too!

Gents, I haven’t forgotten you — the Hibiscus’s essence can also help you out in the sexual department as it energizes the first and second chakra — meaning that it will ground you, make you feel safe and it will balance your desire towards sex and relationship.

Conjuring Imagery of Penises and Vaginas

Oh, I do love to sensationalize my headlines (naughty, naughty!). I just had to add before I conclude this article, that when I think of the Hibiscus I immediately conjure up both male and female genitals in my mental imagery.

The stamen looks like a penis and the flower petals are symbolic of the vagina — what a perfect balance of the sexes in this amazing flower?!

It reminds me of that highly charged animated scene from Pink Floyd’s ‘The Wall‘ video, when those two flowers are mating. If you haven’t seen it or can’t cast your mind back that far, I have found the clip on YouTube for you to watch (aren’t I a kind aunty?)

The 6 Properties of Hibiscus Essence

The Hibiscus essence, in a nutshell, serves to:

Energize first and second chakras
Assist in healing reproductive ailments/infertility
Helps with frigidity or lack of feeling
Offer solace for long-held scars of sexual trauma
Stimulates sexuality and passion
Helps to release creativity within the internal divine matrix (the womb)

“God writes the Gospel not in the Bible alone, but also on trees, and in the flowers and clouds and stars.” ~ Martin Luther

‘Red Hibiscus’ is available as prints, posters and greeting cards – click on the picture to take you to the store.

If you enjoyed this article, you may also enjoy this site:

BLOSSOM LIKE A FLOWER

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Creative Expression Brought to Life on Youtube (Watch for Free)

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How Suppressing Your Shadow Self Can Destroy You

The Insidious Rape of Mankind and the Imminent Solution

Why Rejection Can Be Our Saviour

3 Crucial Steps to Self Acceptance

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3 Visually Stimulating 2014 Calendars

Posted on November 11, 2013 by Cherie Roe Dirksen

The Gift that Keeps on Giving

With Christmas just around the corner and a mental block of what to get certain people as a gift — why not resort to a high quality calendar with 12 art prints for use after the year is over?

I have just brought out my brand new 2014 calendar range as follows (click on the picture to go to the store and to preview all 12 months):

Calendars are a fun, decorative and useful way to remember all those important dates.

I like to assure you that you are buying quality — below is a list of my calendars specs for your perusal:

Tough wire binding and hanger
Stunningly sharp digital printing
200gsm satin art paper with a tougher cover
Page dimensions: A3 (297 x 420mm / 11.7” x 16.5”)

Show Off Your Own Creative Genius this Festive Season!

Okay, say you’re not taken with any of these calendars and my art is just not up your alley — I understand — but how about exercising your very own creative muscles by producing a masterpiece calendar?

Heave out those doodles, creative pursuits and photographic moments of sheer perfection from the last year and flaunt them to your family, colleagues and friends.

It’s really not that difficult, actually, it’s easy as mince pie!

You can create your own calendar by CLICKING HERE.

For more gift ideas this Christmas, please CLICK HERE.

3 Ways to Alchemize Chaos

Posted on November 6, 2013 by Cherie Roe Dirksen

How to use a Little Spiritual Alchemy

Do you sometimes feel that you are manifesting the good along with the bad? The good manifestations are fantastic but what do you do when you have created a not-so-desirable situation?

The best thing to do is to start to see your potential problems in a new light — what can they teach you?

Once you figure out why they are there and what your lesson is you can turn them around. Does it work? Hell yes!

Here’s some helpful advice:

Accept — when life throws a curve-ball (or 3 or 4 or 12 or whatever your circumstance has chucked at you recently), you need to give yourself some time and space to absorb. To give your acceptance to what cannot change because resisting it will fuel its growth or allow more negativity to enter your slipstream. Acceptance can even transmute the problem as you give it no power. You can visualize how you would rather see it and then let it go. I did this with many problems I have recently faced to see those very situations change to positive in a very short time and I did very little (just a bit of positive affirmations and visualizations) to make it happen.
Act — take action with what you can do and don’t stress about what you are not able to do. Simply knocking down one thing after the other gives a great sense of satisfaction even if you have a mountain of things to do. You will conquer Everest one step at a time. Then when you look back, you’ll see just how much you can get done and how powerful a being you are. I felt completely swamped lately with so much to do but little by little I got things done. Most of the ‘struggle’ was actually in my mind. I still have a few things to wrap up but I know I’ll get it all done in divine time!
Trust in the Flow — I find myself surrendering to the present moment a lot and blissing out even amidst the most chaotic times. I just have a knowing that I am in that Universal flow and everything is going to be alright. So exercise that grounding present moment awareness and trust that everything is in divine order. I have literally sat back and watched the most astounding things flow and fit into place like a giant jigsaw puzzle that I could never have orchestrated if I tried to control the outcome.

Try and perceive your problems as learning curves and transmute the bad to good — after all, you’re an alchemist you know?! Read related article: Why Rejection Can Be a Blessing

The Definition of Alchemy

In times bygone, alchemy was turning matter into gold (the short and sweet version :D).

What you are going to achieve with ‘spiritual’ alchemy is turn your ‘matter’ (situations, etc) into ‘gold’ (treasure/abundance/wealth).

To alchemize a situation is to step inside it and transmute it from the inside out. Get into what is bugging you (through meditation or quiet visualization) and start working your magic — find that gem of understanding/learning that the situation has to offer and morph it (through picturing what you want to see in your mind’s eye) into what you do want to see manifest in your life.

Keep on aligning yourself to your ‘new’ vision especially when you feel that sinking feeling in your stomach (solar plexus) when thinking about the distress it may be causing (keep alchemizing it!).

Please let me know if this works for you (leave a comment below). 🙂 I love to hear your feedback.

Books you may enjoy by this author:

Other articles you may enjoy:

Why it Hurts So Much When Someone Lies

Extract the Magic from each Moment

How to Add Spectacular Drama to Your Life!

My Paintings that made it into the Hoyoko Wildlife Foundation Art Exhibition

Posted on October 30, 2013 by Cherie Roe Dirksen

All in Aid of a Good Cause

In a last minute rush — and with a lot of thanks to the amazing Rupasha Rampersad, for making this all happen, and the awesome staff at Nad’s Art Gallery — I am happy to announce that 7 of my paintings will be on exhibition (opening tonight, 30th October 2013) in the Hoyoko Wildlife Foundation Art Exhibition held at the aforementioned Nad’s Art Gallery (Pinetown), Durban.

Guest speakers at opening night will include:

DIRECTOR OF THE DURBAN ART GALLERY
Mr MDUDUZI XAKAZA
&
Ms Julie Anne Edwards : Founder Hokoyo Wildlife

So, if any of you are in the area, do pop in and have a look — the exhibition will be running until the 6th November 2013 (click here for full schedule). There are also going to be some fabulous exhibits from a private collection of renowned South Africa artists such as;

Otto Klarr
Malachi Smith
Paul Munro
Father Claerhout
Gabriel de Jongh

For more information about the Hoyoko Wildlife Foundation PLEASE CLICK HERE.

Here are my 7 paintings that will be on show (for those of you who can’t make the exhibition — prints of these paintings are available, just click on the relevant picture to take you to the store):

Should you wish to contact the gallery, their details are as follows:

Nad’s Art Gallery

11 Roselle Road, Pinetown

(031) 702 7601

E-mail: nadsartgallery@telkomsa.net

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Healing Through Art — The Gates to Wonderland Just Got Flung Wide Open

Can Using Yellow in Art Enhance Your Mood?

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Only 50 Shades of Grey — What Happened to the Rest?

Posted on September 26, 2013 by Cherie Roe Dirksen

Despicable Me

Not only have I not (double negative, I know) read the sizzling book but I also have no intention of playing in the shadows of this steamy novel — pretty much based on the fact that all I know about it is its reputation for sexual explicitness.

What I do intend to do in this article is to whip out any double-entendre I can think of pertaining to sex, genitals or erotica.

This will be in an attempt to lure you into another grey area (of which who knows how many shades may present themselves) — the balancing of the sexes (an exploration of the ‘shadow-self’ will follow shortly in a blog post near you — so do remember to bookmark this page or ‘follow the blog’ to get updates).

Bottoms Up and Off We Blow!

It sickens me to my core when writers play on sensationalizing filth, which is why I’m in constant conflict with myself and my questionable morals.

Enough said, let’s soldier on in this minefield of masculine/feminine, light/dark, good/bad…yin to my yang.

We need to put on our ‘big-girls panties’ or our ‘big-boys jocks’ now as we undress (oh stop!) the issue of balancing sexual energy. And do get your head out of the gutter — this kind of sexual energy is what the universe is made of — we’re not just talking about the old ‘heave-ho!’.

“There is a deep misconception about the roles of masculine and feminine energy in the world right now, and it has been there for quite a long time. The belief is that masculine energy is a dominant energy, while feminine energy is a submissive energy. This war between the masculine and the feminine has caused many women to forsake their femininity in an attempt at equality, and many men to forsake their masculine energy out of guilt or embarrassment.” — Tuning Masculine & Feminine Energy

Sex and the Universe

Sexual energy is a magical power that each of us possess (or, in some cases, may possess us). We need to master this cosmic force in order to bring a healthy balance to our lives.

The fundamental principle is to recognize that we all, regardless of our apparent sex, are made up of both masculine and feminine energies. We sometimes only suppress one or the other to ‘fit into’ our society, or what is deemed to be normal in behaviour of our relevant genital status.

Don’t Confuse Sex with Sexual

Sex is, of course, great for procreation and extra-mural activities but it is not all about what happens in the bedroom (or behind the bicycle shed). Shelve those preconceived indoctrinated or hippy notions about what the word ‘sex’ means. That is for another blog, another day (maybe even on another site).

This blog is not going to address any kind of kinky, tantric or middle-of-the-road hokey pokey debauchery.

This is not about the ‘act’ it is about the ‘energy’.

The 6 Signs of Sexuality

Sexual energy exists on all levels — it is fundamental to creation on every level. It is dynamic, it is the flow, it is what attracts or repels us in any situation (you are reading and emitting this type of ‘sexual energy’ all the time – consciously or unconsciously).

Here is a list of 6 common traits of the masculine energy — do any of these resonate with you (regardless of your sex)?:

Security/safety — a ‘container’ energy
Strong — a sense of standing firm and being a protector
Resolute — a decisive energy
Freedom — the masculine energy wants to be the container not the contained
Logical — always trying to find the solution
Action — impulsive and daring — ‘leap before you look’

Here is a list of feminine energy traits — do you recognize any of these in yourself (again, regardless of what sex you are):

Surrender — not to be mistaken with submissiveness but rather a sense of wanting to be held by that comforting peaceful masculine container energy
Sensitive — paying fine attention to feelings and emotions
Gentle — feminine energy seeks to allow for smooth flow and the path of least resistance
Bonding — the act of bringing together and unifying
Creative — the need to give birth to creation be it in form, thought or deed
Pensive — calculating and cautious — ‘look before you leap’

There is no right or wrong list as you can see — all the points listed above are highly commendable and desirable. The exercise of outlining these different attributes is to marry the two — to ‘meet in the middle’ or to have a bit of both.

When you can embody these traits and draw upon them when you need to in any given situation, you become a very powerful human being.

It is of utmost benefit to be a bit of both. The union of divine masculine and feminine gives us a chance to ‘see’ through the eyes of the other sex and to gain a deeper understanding of our dichotomous nature.

To state the bleeding obvious: Without men there would be no women, without women there would be no men. Let’s face it, we need each other to make it work.

The Benefits of Empathic Behaviour

Firstly, the union of the sexes would probably bring about world peace. A balanced human being would have no need for supremacy — the need for domination is the soul being strangled by the needs of the ego.

Secondly, there will be no more ‘war of the sexes’ — I mean, that’s so last century already! Seriously, when we figure out that we encapsulate both male and female energies, we can finally start to move on.

Not only will this mean that you’ll see more women belching in public whilst their partner blubs over the latest rom-com but the benefits of the union will also include:

Emotional Freedom — you depend on yourself for fulfillment but enjoy the company of others. You are open and honest with the ones you love and are able to express yourself without fear of judgment.
Empathy and Vision — the ability to see things from the others point of view and thus come to an agreeable solution instead of a pissing contest. The need to be right is overtaken by the need to be careful.
Personal and Collective Power — owning who you are, what you are, how you feel and how you choose to express yourself and allowing others to do the same in a manner that doesn’t infringe on anybody’s rights. You flow with life and allow instead of resist.
Wisdom in Equality — realizing that your Yin/Yang energy is reflected in every other soul and to disrespect another is to disrespect yourself. You are free to contain that compulsive judgment.
Creative Action — you embrace creative thinking and act upon ideas that encourage, uplift, benefit or enlighten.
Ownership — you are a part of the bigger picture and not just a small and inconsequential ant (not that I think ants are inconsequential, merely that they paint a good metaphoric picture) mulling about the face of the Earth. Your resoluteness will encourage others to seek out their own power and pass it forward.
No More Rats Arses — you no longer give a monkeys bum about what other people think of you because when you embody the union of traits, you are SOVEREIGN. This is not, in any way, to be associated with ego — it is a state of wholeness within your being. You are embracing your divinity and acknowledging it in others.

If I have left anything out on this list, please do leave your comments in the allocated box below. I would love to get your take or experience on this saucy topic. Knowledge shared is wisdom gained.

Inequality Begins with ‘I’ and Ends with ‘Why?’

To look down upon, to belittle or to mistreat someone because of their sex (and this works with any other human allocation be it religion, culture, skin colour, sexual preference, etc) is an indication that you are not whole.

When you insult or degrade another, you insult and degrade yourself.

A man or (wo)man who is complete, is one who does not need to undermine any other. To do so is a public display of your own inadequacy.

Banging On and On

Right, you lot! Time to zip it up — this subject has been milked. I hope all this sexuality talk hasn’t left you high and dry (oh God, please! No more innuendo!!!)…until the next blog where we will be poking about the shadows of our murky selves and trying to embrace what we find.

Goodness knows what we’ll dredge up, so don’t forget the latex gloves next week!

Other articles you may enjoy:

The Insidious Rape of Mankind and the Imminent Solution

The Shocking Truth About Gender Equality

The Fine Balancing Art of Yin and Yang

Painting Pink Floyd — Soldiering Through the Minefield of Emotion

What is Love?

Books you may enjoy by this author:

The Bald-Faced Truth About Self-Portraits — Photographs and All!

Posted on September 24, 2013 by Cherie Roe Dirksen

“What deflates your self-image gets inflated with the brush.”

I had an idea for a painting — something that combined my love of painting swirly whirly gold backgrounds and the cosmos. I wanted to show the macrocosm being reflected in the microcosm. I needed to paint a person because I wanted that famous nebulae, ‘The Eye of God’, to be reflected in a human eye.

After thinking long and hard, I decided to fling myself into the fateful venture of doing a self-portrait…yikes!

The photo you see on the right is the ‘pose’ I wanted to portray — that ‘devil-may-care’/’caught-up-in-the-moment’ type look. It was actually quite a hoot, in itself, to get the photo right but that’s another story.

The Self-Perception Abyss

For any artist out there who has ever embarked on a self portrait you’ll know all about the conflicts of the inner image that emerges like a festering pustule onto that innocent blank canvas.

“I do not paint a portrait to look like the subject, rather does the person grow to look like his portrait.” — Salvador Dali

For those of you who don’t know what the hell I’m banging on about, it’s like this: When you paint/draw yourself, you tend to subliminally extract or expound on your less desirable traits. What deflates your self-image gets inflated with the brush.

Noses and Penises (I’ve always wanted to write that subheading!)

Early on in the game, Mike walked into my studio whilst I was busy — he stopped and looked long and hard at my work of art. I thought it was getting on nicely. He then turned to me and said, ‘You look like a man.’

Was it true? Was my penis envy that transparent?

He went on, ‘For a start, your nose is way too big.’ I thought my nose was perfectly in order! I have quite a big noggin and that is how I saw myself. Mike assured me that I had a slightly distorted perception of my honker and I went back to the drawing board.

The Good, The Bad and the Darn Right Ugly!

You’re going to have a good laugh as I unveil the painting progress photographs and how many times I had to repaint my face as my husband constantly pointed out my somewhat warped sense of self.

However, after the painting was finished I realized I had, by the end of the process, accepted who I was — imperfections and all! I came to grips with all those idiosyncrasies that I thought were flaws and turned them into unique attributes.

My small mouth (of course, I’ve always lusted after those luscious lips of Angelina Jolie) didn’t seem so undesirable after all. My ‘Roman’ nose (as was pointed out and made fun of constantly as a child) was full of character instead of an ugly blob on the landscape of my face.

“A portrait is a painting with something wrong with the mouth.” — John Singer Sargent

This painting turned out to be my self-image therapy.

The Painting Process Photograph Diary

Well, enough of me banging on about the painting…let me rather show you what transpired:

The beginning stage is set and the canvas is painted black…

In chalk, I outline the ‘Eye of God’ nebula and my frame…

The ‘Eye of God’ get’s its colour…now it’s time to fill in that gold pattern:

With the pattern all done, it’s time to work on my least favourite part — skin tone!

I love this photo, it’s SO creepy! Tip: Never walk in on an artist who is doing their first layer of skin tone…it’s the stuff nightmares are made of…lol.

A long way to go!

This is the part where Mike steps in to have a peek and goes all ‘quiet’ 😉

As you can see, I’ve made a slight boo-boo with my hair (should’ve given myself more volume, damn it!). Not a big problem but it just means that all that pattern will be covered.

Enter the Blonde hair colouring but yikes, that doesn’t look quite right, does it?!

This is where I began to notice that the painting is taking a bit of a ‘David Bowie’ turn (subliminal programming? I’ve always LURVED his look!)…he he. In fact, from profile, we share a very similar nose.

After much shuffling and retouching of eyes, nose and mouth, I decided to call it quits.

Finally, the end closed in and I put the paintbrushes down. It may not be perfect but I achieved the result I was after. I wanted the ‘Eye of God’ to be reflected in the eye of the model.

“So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.” — Genesis 1:27

Please see below this picture for a detailed description of the inspiration behind this piece.

Prints available – click on picture

Title: ‘As Within So Without’

Artist: Cherie Roe Dirksen

Medium: Acrylic on Stretched Canvas

Size: 610mm x 930mm (24″ x 36″)

Painting Description:

I wanted this piece to entice one to look deeper into the meaning of being at one with the universe as that famous Vedic/Hermetic saying goes, ‘as above so below, as within so without’.

The background of sacred geometrical shapes denotes the energy in the ether that we work with subconsciously all of the time— even dark matter contains cosmic energy.

The rent in the energetic field that exudes the ‘Eye of God’ (which is a famous nebula in space that resembles an eye) that matches the eyes of the human — an indication that we are made of stars, we are holding fragments of the divine inside ourselves and we are inextricably woven with the universe.

Eyes are always referred poetically as the windows to the soul but the truth is that when we compare various nebulae to our irises, the striking resemblance is remarkable.

Every macrocosm reflects the microcosm. Every principle in our universe works with a circular centrifugal theory/force — we have planets orbiting suns, we are made up of cells that contain protons and neutrons orbiting a nucleus, etc.

There is no doubt in my mind that we are all one with each other and everything else. This is my message for this painting.

The original is available through SAATCHI ONLINE HERE

Other articles you may enjoy:

Never-Before-Seen Photographs of How I Paint my Patterned Poppies

A Look Behind the Scenes — Painting an Abstract Landscape

Art In The Making — A Step-by-Step Guide on Painting Landscapes

How To Branch Out — Painting Scenes With Trees

Painting a Zebra From Scratch

The 12 Hour Saatchi Art Competition Challenge — Start to Finish

‘Dancing in the Void’ — Pink Floyd Rock Art Painting No.4 Photographs

How to Artfully Get into Your Element

Rock Art Series Painting no. 3 — Jeff Buckley ‘Raw’

What The Beatles Look Like From the End of my Paintbrush

Can Using Yellow in Art Enhance Your Mood?

Art Commissions — The Soulworks Project (Part 3)…Painting the Picture

Books you may enjoy by this author:

Find Me Somebody to Love!

Posted on September 18, 2013 by Cherie Roe Dirksen

“Love is a many splendored thing, love lifts us up where we belong…all you need is love!” ~ Elephant Medley (Moulin Rouge)

Ah, who could forget those magical three lines as tuned to us by that scrummy little Scotsman, Ewan McGregor?

But what exactly is love?

We all need to love and be loved.

Our entire existence is pretty much centered on falling for it, attaining it, looking for it, trying to keep it, giving it away, getting very upset if it doesn’t come our way — so what is this powerful force about?

The Be All and End All

The dictionary defines love as the intense feeling of deep affection. A rather dull and disappointing description for something that rules our lives but it is very apt.

Intense (‘in’ and ‘tense’ — very tense at times!) feeling of deep (perhaps even bottomless, infinity) ‘affect’ (tion) —the process of being affected.

Crapola, words really don’t even begin to get to the bottom of this profound and exquisite sensation. As Eckhart Tolle once said, ‘words are only pointers to the truth’ (paraphrasing).

Science and Love

Science tries to explain love as a chemical reaction in the brain. That’s all — cut and dry…next problem please!

It makes me chuckle. Everything in this existence can be explained by science but only a tiny, infinitesimal fraction of what its true nature holds.

You can describe the fertilization of an egg as the fusing of sperm and ovum in a ‘chemical reaction’ but that hardly explains the miracle of the entire process. Bah humbug, says I!

I can hold up my middle finger to science and say explain this! “Yes, well, that is the muscular encoding of the brains signal to clutch ones first, second, fourth finger and thumb into a holding position to carry out a point.”

Yes, but that point is far greater than the explanation, isn’t it? The sheer force of my will and intent in raising my middle digit is to send you all sorts of messages that couldn’t possibly be said in such a reputable blog.

The Energy Matrix

Love, although it can’t be proven in a laboratory, is the glue that binds us together.

Without it we are lost. It’s what makes life in 3D bearable and adds to our staying power here. It’s what keeps us tethered to beings on the other side of the veil. It leads us back to Source (or God) in a very inexplicable way.

“I need to LOOOOOOOOOOOVE!!!” ~ Madness (Muse)

Without love, what would the point be? Love is what holds our form together, the egg to our cake — the binding ingredient of existential life and beyond.

What is it exactly? Beats me! All I know for sure is that we can’t do without it. Love is formless, wordless but it sure as hell ain’t meaningless.

Here are some love quotes to get your juices stirring — ola ola!:

The love for self quotation by Cherie Roe Dirksen

Other articles you may enjoy:

‘Love and Light’ — What Does it Mean?

Do You Love Yourself?

‘Dangerous Love’ — Skunk Anansie Rock Art Painting No. 5

Letting Go For Your Own Good — Detaching Out Of Love

Do You Understand Unconditional Love?

Does God Love Us Unconditionally?

Turning a Grim Fairy Tale into a Love Story

Is Fear or Love Winning in Your Life?

How Trust Can Bring You Abundance

5 Fundamental Steps to a Thriving Relationship

What Are You Waiting For?

Books you may enjoy by this author:

How to Add Spectacular Drama to Your Life!

Posted on September 11, 2013 by Cherie Roe Dirksen

Got your attention, right? Surely it should be illegal, if not banned, for a self-help writer to promote drama in one’s life?

Yes, under other circumstances — as in ‘karma drama’ and negative or destructive repetitive behaviour) but I’m referring to a good type of drama. Huh? Yes, there is a good kind of drama.

“Every man can transform the world from one of monotony and drabness to one of excitement and adventure.”
Irving Wallace

Here’s one of the dictionary definitions for the type of drama I’m referring to:

(def.) an exciting, emotional, or unexpected series of events or set of circumstances.

Ground Hog Day Revisited

Ever feel like you are on a life-loop — repeating the same thing day in and day out?

Well done if you answered ‘no’ to this — you’re doing great. However, most of us have our moments when we feel the monotony of our daily schedule creep up and douse us with the cold, watery pangs of tedium.

Thing is, what do we do to add some spice? Come on…think! What can one do to inject some adventure into life?

Well, I suppose I should offer up some advice, so here it goes:

Get Creative — start looking at your schedule and see if there is any way you can add a sparkle to your routine. Even if this means dressing up like Ziggy Stardust or Cyndi Lauper whilst vacuuming (after all, girls just want to have fun and boys keep swinging). Anything out of the ordinary can add zest to your life. Or perhaps it may come in the form of you and your children listening to an old classic audiobook, that you have been threatening to read to them, whilst commuting to school or extra-mural activities. You’ll be surprised how everyone starts to enjoy being stuck in traffic!
Do Something Unexpected — this depends on your personality type, of course. Try doing something out of character. Show the world you’re unpredictable (in a good way). This doesn’t mean sticking pencils up your nose at the office but it could entail wearing your AC/DC shirt to the PTA meeting or treating yourself to a night on the town with your BFF’s. Give yourself a shake-up, prove to yourself you’ve still got a pulse. Boring is as boring does (thanks for that one, Forrest!)
Tourist Hangouts — here’s something different that’s usually a hoot! Go hang out where there’s a lot of tourists about. I tell you, it’s great stuff! You get to see and experience different cultures on your own doorstep. I like to loiter at Boulders in Cape Point (a penguin colony near where I live) because I see all types there and it’s great fun to watch all the different reactions to our little black and white flightless seabirds (especially with the foreign children who have never seen one before). I know this may seem like a strange suggestion but it really bolsters that sense of unity with the rest of the world and sometimes gives you an unexpected appreciation for your own roots.
Read — I know some of you reading this are already bookworms but for those who haven’t set foot in a library since the dawn of reality TV, dust off that library card and go scouting for some good books. Just reading about other people’s adventures can kick-start your own ideas for merry pursuit and wild exploits.
Commit — lastly, just commit to trying to seek out adventure. Catch yourself when you slip into complacency. Go for a walk when you feel bored or give yourself that extra little nudge out the door when it comes to socializing and networking. There is a whole world out there. I won’t lie to you, it’s full of crazed weirdo’s but there are also some incredibly fantastic people just waiting for the opportunity to thrill you within an inch of your life (when you meet them, please inbox me their contact details).

Know thyself but try to get to know others too. People have the strangest way of providing irrevocably bedazzling information and star-studded ideas that gets our saliva flowing and all we need to do is make the effort to mingle or strike up that conversation.

I hope this list has given you some fresh new ideas to start cooking up a few new recipes that will let the flavor of life carry you to tastier grounds.

“When all is said and done, monotony may after all be the best condition for creation.”
Margaret Sackville

Right, in saying that, where did I leave my gorilla costume? I need to go out and get some bread and milk and frighten a few prospective tourists.

Other articles you may enjoy:

How J.K.Rowling Helped Inspire My Books

4 Ways to Motivate Yourself Out of Bed

5 Fundamental Steps to a Thriving Relationship

Are You Being Disillusioned by Reality?

Books you may enjoy by this author:

Famous Authors That Inspired Me to Write

Posted on August 28, 2013 by Cherie Roe Dirksen

A Tale of Two Settee’s

My neighbour (and close friend) and I were discussing momentous children’s books on my couch the other day and the rich and bountiful impact such incredible literature has on our lives.

“After I’ve been dead five years, no one will read anything I’ve written.” — C.S. Lewis

She is reading the Narnia series to her daughter at the moment. I also grew up with the magic of C.S. Lewis’s profound wardrobe world. And, let’s face it, what woman (or man, for that instance) hasn’t fallen in love with James McAvoy in his role as Mr Tumlis? Yum yum.

Lions, Hobbits, Pooh, Hallucinagenic Mushrooms, Muggles and Metaphors

“To me [the religious parallels have] always been obvious. But I never wanted to talk too openly about it because I thought it might show people who just wanted the story where we were going.” — J.K. Rowling on her Harry Potter Book Series

But on a serious note, there are tons of books, aimed at both children and adults, that are spiritually profound. Have you noticed the incredible metaphors woven into these tales of good and evil, morality, justice, love, compassion and comradeship in the following books?

Lord of the Rings Trilogy (or any other book, for that matter, by J.R.R. Tolkien)
The Chronicles of Narnia (C.S. Lewis)
Harry Potter Series (J.K.Rowling)
Alice in Wonderland/Alice Through the Looking Glass (Lewis Carroll)
Winnie-the-Pooh (The House at Pooh Corner by A.A. Milne has sparked off other books such as the ‘Tao of Pooh’ and the ‘Te of Piglet’ by Benjamin Hoff to ‘Positively Pooh (Timeless Wisdom from Pooh)’ — all of which liken these characters to Taoism and the Tao Te-Ching)
Dr Seus and his plethora of thought-provoking, humourous teachings that inspire sound and solid moral footing

Some Interesting Facts and Religious Tones

J.R.R. Tolkien was born in South Africa (Bloemfontein) in 1892. He was raised a Roman Catholic but had a spiritual vision beyond the confines of Christian religion.
C.S. Lewis had strange dreams of lions and pictures in his head of a faun carrying parcels before he wrote The Chronicles of Narnia.
J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis were friends.
Lewis Carroll was a deeply spiritual man. At the time of his passing, Carroll was working on an essay applying his skills in logic to proving that a benevolent God would not allow eternal damnation to exist.
When he was known simply as Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the Pope condemned J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series, writing that their “subtle seductions, which act unnoticed … deeply distort Christianity in the soul before it can grow properly” (and, as most of us know, if the Pope condemns it, it must be good!). Rowling said she’s proud to be on numerous banned-book lists. She said, “I go to church myself. I don’t take any responsibility for the lunatic fringes of my own religion.”

Falling For Potter

I have to admit that, although many spiritual writers and books helped me along my path, I also drew much information and wisdom from the Harry Potter Book Series.

J.K. Rowling has an incredible knowledge of all things spiritual, legendary, astrological and magical.

Her wisdom as carried out through the characters in her books, never fails to bring me to my knees.

She is much more than an English Billionairess who writes children’s novels — no, she is a bloody genius!

Cover Up Those Covers or Go Under Cover!

When the Potter books were first released, so many adults were reading them that the publishers had to bring out an ‘adult’ cover for these more mature and somewhat embarassed readers to disguise the fact that they were immersed in children’s literature.

I couldn’t have given a rat’s arse about that as I read the ‘kiddies’ version as blatantly and publicly as I could. I loved the fact that they were being condemned and ‘black-listed’ around the globe — this usually means that they’ll spread like wild-fire and they most certainly did.

Now children and adults all over the world have been exposed to the wonders of magic, spirit, love, compassion, astrology, herbology, courage, morality, wisdom and a plethora of other esoteric teachings — whether they know it or not!

Drawing on Endearing Dumbledore

There are so many terrific words of sheer enlightenment that sprout from the Headmaster character, Dumbledore in the Potter Series. I often find myself in times of trouble and it is not Mother Mary who comes to me it is Albus Dumbledore — speaking his words of wisdom.

“As much money and life as you could want! The two things most human beings would choose above all – the trouble is, humans do have a knack of choosing precisely those things which are worst for them.” — Dumbledore (Harry Potter Series by J.K. Rowling)

My favourite one being (when I am receiving some ‘not so nice’ mail/comments), “If you are holding out for universal popularity, I’m afraid you will be in this cabin for a very long time.” It always makes me laugh and then I don’t take myself or what other people think of me so seriously.

Thank you J.K. for taking that first step, even if it was writing on serviettes! You’ve done the world a huge service. And to all the other magnificent authors — you are legend!

Believing in a New Perspective

It doesn’t matter what book or doctrine you read that helps you to find Source (‘God’) — just as long as you get there in the end!

Finding your Truth — a belief or idea that resonates with your soul — is unique to every individual. Be happy for others who find their divinity in their own way and know that it is appropriate even if it is not the way you have found it.

What books/movies/TV series have moved you spiritually? Please share your favourites with me!

You may also enjoy these articles:

How Trust Can Bring You Abundance

Only 50 Shades of Grey — What Happened to the Rest?

How to Add Spectacular Drama to Your Life!

What a Thug Can Teach You About Love and Courage

Books you may enjoy by this author:

Top 3 Dangers of Anti-Depressants During ‘Spiritual Awakening’

Posted on August 21, 2013 by Cherie Roe Dirksen

Please read the supporting articles and studies within this article. For further information about the dangers of anti-depressants please visit Dr Peter Breggin’s site CLICK HERE.

NOTE: This is a tough subject and please take note that these are my opinions — you must always use your discernment when reading, listening or viewing anything.

Despair Over Humanity Disconnected

It’s a topic easily understood by those who have been through an awakening of their soul but it is ‘eye-rolling’ material for those who have no concept of what an awakening is or going through what is termed ‘the dark night of the soul’.

“Stressed individuals are forced to live in a defunct society that has no real relationship to soul.”

I get frustrated trying to explain to people what it is and why so many go through the ‘dark night of the soul’ or severe depression when they awaken (not to be mistaken for other types of depression — I’m purely speaking of spiritual awakening). My frustrations arise from not being able to put this phenomenon into a succinct package — unfortunately, this experience would take days to explain properly.

There are so many aspects to the awakening process. Even the word ‘awakening’ seems vague to many. In my opinion, it was dubbed so because you seem to start to ‘see’ things from a different perspective, hence you ‘wake up’ and view your world in a different light. When you wake up to certain truths it certainly sets you free but it severely pisses you off first. And, with this, usually comes the dark night of the soul/depression.

Help! I Need a Psychiatrist/Doctor!

There is way too much to cover when it comes to the ‘awakening’ symptoms — what to look for and what to do when you go through this process. However, I want to just outline one key factor in this article: Anti-Depressants.

Much is not understood about coming into soul alignment and it is easily diagnosed as chronic depression in those that cannot either talk about their experiences or feel like they have no clue as to what’s going on.

“More of a problem is now created by a few irresponsible doctors than drug pushers on street corners,” CDC Director Dr. Thomas Friede

I’m no doctor, but I do have a lot of experience in these ‘spiritual awakening’ cases. I have been through it and scraped through a depression that lasted a good 6 months. My husband has been through it and countless friends and family members have either been through or are going through it.

I gain nothing from the information I provide (i.e. I’m not financially benefiting so I have no ulterior motives here) whereas the pharmaceutical companies reap in the rewards of keeping ‘patients’ on drugs indefinitely.

I have to say that I have met a handful of doctors who truly are compassionate individuals. They try to help their patients with long-term sustainable advice like a healthy diet and exercise instead of plying the patient with life-threatening drugs that only add to problems or ‘polyfilla’ initial diagnosis to produce further complications elsewhere in the body.

Trust Your Instinct

Use your God-given discernment wisely when it comes to medicine and psychiatry. You are sovereign over your body.

Practitioners can only advise but their advice also needs to be discerned or meditated upon by you, who is the only person who knows what’s best for your system.

Drugs have their uses and even I am subject to taking a pain-killer every now and then for a migraine, but the flippant use of pharmaceuticals are on the increase and it’s alarming how many people think it’s OK to continuously use toxic drugs to rectify their system.

Some people take a cocktail of drugs every day without even thinking of the long-term consequences.

The Real Killer

I’m not even going to go into the ‘petty’ side-effects of anti-depressants like nausea, weight gain and headaches here. Let’s dive into the more severe risks.

Here are just a few hidden dangers of anti-depressants:

Suicide — believe it or not, all anti-depressants carry an increased risk of suicide. The worst is, the risk is higher in children and teenagers who take antidepressants. Stay far away from alcohol as it makes this ‘side-effect’ even worse.
Physical Dependency — like any drug, chances are you’ll get addicted to anti-depressants and the chemical changes these pills cause. Don’t come off this medication abruptly as the withdrawals symptoms are too numerous to list. You need to gradually wean yourself off them and definitely seek medical advice on how to do this properly. Please read the books by Dr Peter Breggin.
Fudging — anti-depressants are NOT A CURE for ‘dark night of the soul’ type of depression. They merely help, those in severe cases of depression, to cope. You are, however, still fudging a problem that needs addressing through therapy or deep and committed inner reflection (see my list of practitioners who can help HERE). Anti-depressants ARE NOT a long term solution.

Here is a paragraph I’ve taken from an article (Antidepressants: 10 things you need to know) about the latter point that I think needs hitting home:

“For people with severe depression, medication can be a very important part of treatment. It can be the difference between being completely incapacitated, and being able to engage in therapy, being able to go for a walk etc. But antidepressants aren’t a magic cure. They don’t suddenly make everything okay.

Severe mental illness can’t be fixed overnight. It usually takes months or even years of treatment to reach some sort of stability where you can get back to your life as it was before you became ill. And non-drug treatments are just as important for people who take medication as they are for those who don’t.

Doctors, patients, friends, family etc often expect medication to make the problem go away straight away. Some people will even wonder why you can’t just “snap out of it” already. It doesn’t work like that. Recovering from a serious depressive illness is like recovering from major surgery. It takes time, and the right treatment.” (source: Hard-to-Swallow)

Here is an article by Harvard Health Publications that covers this in details:What are the real risks of antidepressants?

So What’s the Solution for Depression with a Spiritual Awakening?

The first step to anything is awareness. When you are aware of why you feel the way you do, you can start to remedy it.

I was reading a book this morning and it hit the nail on the head. It did what I could not do, it gave a succinct description of what an awakening is. Here goes:

“Stressed individuals are forced to live in a defunct society that has no real relationship to soul.”

Wow. That neat little package of words just said it all.

When you realize this and wake up to the fact that our world is based on illusion and anything worthy of soul is suppressed, you slip into depression or what is commonly referred to as ‘the dark night of the soul’.

Why?

Because it feels like you can’t cope in a world that is fake. You feel down because you have ‘slept’ (or had the wool pulled over your eyes) for so long without realizing what was right under your nose and now that you see it, there is little you feel you can do about it.

You feel helpless, defeated, drained, angry, resentful and the list goes on according to the individual and their life experience so far.

You can’t function properly because it all feels so meaningless. Then your partner urges you to seek medical or psychiatric advice and the medication process starts.

Partners — Please Take Note

I would like the partners of people who are going through this process to try to glean a better understanding of what may be occurring.

I do not judge you as I know how frustrating it must be to be on the other end trying to ‘keep things together’. Many of you have families who rely on you and your partner as a ‘unit’.

However, not allowing your partner to go through this course in their own time, may cause even further complications. If you encourage the use of anti-depressants you are only postponing the problem and causing another potential problem (the physical decay/damage of their body).

This is not meant to scare you or be unsympathetic — it is just the truth. The truth can be scary and the truth may hurt but the truth will out. Try to be patient and compassionate with this process.

You can deal with anything as long as you have awareness of what it is.

Drugs cover problems and cause more internal damage than you can imagine. You might as well let your partner take to the bottle or get high every time they feel bad. Don’t fool yourself — pharmaceutical drugs are just as life destroying as ‘illegal’ drugs.

In fact, I read only recently, that in the last 27 years 3 million people have died from pharmaceuticals.

“Rather than popping a pill in an attempt to resolve health issues instantly, real health and wellness starts with the individual removing themselves from the medical paradigm. The key to health rejuvenation includes supplementing with whole food based vitamins and minerals, proper nutrition, exercise and a full understanding of the many pitfalls of mainstream medical science. It starts with the realization that your health is in your hands, and that you have the power to optimize your health.” ~ Extract from ‘Is there really a difference between legal and illegal drugs’.

Nature Has the Cure

Besides the awesome effects of exercise, fresh air and being out in nature — you have a plethora of nutritious food options you can draw on to help you cure and maintain a healthy body and mind.

Recent studies have shown that a common household spice like turmeric is more effective than Prozac at treating depression!

Do your research and find a natural cure. Nature holds all the answers. Just sitting under a tree can do more good than popping a pill. Let gardening and healthy eating be the new Prozac.

DISCLAIMER:

This article is not intended to provide, and does not constitute medical advice. The content provided is designed to support, not replace, medical or psychiatric treatment. If you believe you may have a condition, please seek qualified professional care. Always consult your doctor if you want to wean yourself off anti-depressants.

Original article written by Cherie Roe Dirksen for LightworkersWorld.com

Are You Seeing Red?

Posted on August 14, 2013 by Cherie Roe Dirksen

Lustful, Passionate and Scorching

Believe it or not, colour has a huge impact on our lives.

It can greatly affect our emotions and gives us a chance to express ourselves whether we’re aware of it or not. So, my aim in these ‘colour’ related articles is to open your eyes to this wonderful world of hue awareness.

Playing with colour in art, decor, fashion, etc. can be fun, daring, bold and stimulating. Let’s get cracking then!

The Power of Red

Today I’m going to explore the colour red. Red is normally associated with:

warmth,
passion,
love (as in the red rose),
burning fiery heat,
blood,
lust,
prosperity and joy (in Chinese tradition),
conflict or war (as in Mars — the red planet and Roman God or War)

Men and Red

Will it surprise you to know that, statistically, red is in the top 3 of men’s favourite colours?

What man doesn’t want that red Ferrari? Or how about that old Chris de Burg song ‘Lady in Red’ — a man’s fantasy. The ‘red dress’ is renowned for its sex appeal, as so aptly put in The Matrix movie. Remember when the geeky programmer ‘Mouse’ wrote a distracting code for a bountiful blonde with bursting cherry red voluptuous lips and a skin-tight red number to distract Neo in training?

Red can also denote danger as in getting burnt or having blood shed, so it’s a hugely provocative colour — extreme pleasure or certain death, what a dichotomy!

Women and Red

Yeah, okay, you probably know whats coming. Menstruation. When I think of red I definitely think of love, lust and passion but I also think of blood. It is the essence of life and vitality.

Red is the colour representation for our root chakra (at the base of the spine — what I like to call the ‘poop’ chakra and, let’s face it, who doesn’t see red when they haven’t had a decent shit?).

Red symbolizes life at the level of practicality, survival as well as heat and circulation in the body.

How Do I Put Red to Good Use?

Practically, you can use red when you want to:

boost your vitality and energy levels,
protect yourself from anxiety, fear or nerves (excellent for job interviews),
set a sexy, passionate mood (ooh-la-la!),
feel sexy, bold or confident.

It’s up to you how you want to express yourself i.e. through wearing it (clothes or jewellery/accessories), decorating your home/office through art/paint/upholstery, using candles or crystals, using accents of it with make-up — use your imagination and flare!

Go on you Red Hot Chili Pepper! Fire up your life with a bit of red…

Don’t forget that all the pictures in this blog can be bought as prints, canvas prints, framed prints, greeting cards and so forth (just click on the relevant picture to take you to the store) — there’s something to suit every pocket.

For more red art, see my Pinterest board devoted to all things red HERE

Other articles you may enjoy:

Can Using Yellow in Art Enhance Your Mood?

How to Get Your Creative Space Working For You

3 Sound Reasons to Dispel the Myth that You Can’t Afford Art

Books you may enjoy by this author:

Finding a New Way to Accept Death

Posted on August 5, 2013 by Cherie Roe Dirksen

What a dramatic headline!

I’m feeling rather dramatic as my face is still encrusted with tears as I write this — it’s Friday the 2nd August 2013, a day I’ve been dreading for the past week and there’s no going back now.

I had no intention of writing about this so soon (if at all) but was suddenly struck with the urge to share this and, hopefully, shed a bit of perspective (and possibly a tear or two) with you.

D-Day and Empty Spaces

We put down our aged dog this morning, something I haven’t had to do before as I never had pets growing up.

“You think dogs will not be in heaven? I tell you, they will be there long before any of us.” ~ Robert Louis Stevenson

Although the procedure went very smoothly, nothing can prepare you for the emotional torrent that washes over you the minute you step back into your home and feel the empty space that furry little sausage has left behind.

I am already catching myself half way to the front door to let her back in and looking at the clock wondering what I’m going to give her for supper tonight. Then the stark reality hits.

Needless to say, I feel like I’m drowning in my own tears right now but I know that, in time, this too shall pass and she will just be the sweetest memory (and I have so many) that will always bring a smile to my face.

A Vote of Sympathy or a Shift of Perspective?

The reason I’m writing this is not to angle for your sympathy or to make you feel lousy. I’m writing this because I have been battling with guilt for the last week. A guilt that led me to alter the way of looking at death.

Let’s cut this down to brass tacks.

This decision was a few months in the making. My husband and I have been debating whether to put her down or to wait — weighing up the pro’s and con’s. Every time we seemed to reach a conclusion, guilt intervened. The voice in my head would rear and whisper:

You’re playing God.
Maybe she still has a few months left in her…hell, maybe even a year!
She’s still got a wet nose and a twinkle in her eye on those good days.
Why don’t you just let her go naturally?
Look into those big brown eyes — she trusts you and you are plotting to kill her!

Yup, as melodramatic as it sounds, these cursed thoughts pop up every time I became resolute that we needed to do this and soon, as now her limbs were giving way.

Then the voice of reason would start a counter-argument:

She has had a good long life.
She is deaf, half blind and riddled with arthritis and ever-growing fatty cists.
Her back legs are failing her and you aren’t always around to help her back up.
She sleeps most of the time and her quality of life is not what it used to be.
She hasn’t been able to go for a walk in almost a year.
Things are only going to get worse from here on out — let her go!

You know, when I write this out and look at it, it seems like a no-brainer but when you’re the one calling the shots the weight of responsibility is overwhelming.

The run up to our appointment this morning was thwarted with days of feeling like we were doing the right thing and days when indecision crept up and cracked it’s whip in our ears.

The Point at Which Acceptance Came

My neighbor has just had a litter of Labradors — yes, utterly adorable little creatures that catch my eye every morning as I open my bedroom curtains and look down at them galloping about in their yard.

Early on this week, I was looking at how curious, eager and happy they were, frolicking about the garden investigating every little thing. It made me think of Smudgy and how much she loved her walks in the field (I never had her as a puppy, she was adopted by my mother when her first owners passed away and then when my mother died five years ago, she came to live with us).

Yes, Smudge had definitely been around the block!

But back to the puppies…I realized that instead of thinking of this as a linear thing (i.e. you are going to kill her), I needed to see this from a broader more ‘quantum’ perspective — I am going to help her to transition.

Then a new series of thoughts struck me:

You are coming from a place of love, she’ll feel that (i.e. this is not a betrayal of trust, it’s an act of kindness).
You will only be helping her to cross over and who knows, maybe sooner than later she’ll be one of those pups running amuck in a brand new body!
When she does transition, she’ll also be met by all of her other mothers (and father) who will be waiting on the other side of the veil for her.

When the Moment Came

The days that preceded today were fun. I can’t lie, there were moments where I would have a wobble, but, mostly we made the last days the best we could.

Smudgy lived for food, so we bought her everything we could think of as a treat. Every meal she had this week made her eyes bulge! It was classic to see. She got massages and was showered with love, hugs and kisses.

This morning came and I sat beside her and calmly told her what we were about to do and why. I told her about the other side and all the potential that lay ahead of her. I know she couldn’t understand what I was saying but I hope that she could feel the message and sense my love and excitement for her and her transition.

I called on my mother to be with us and the archangel Ariel (angel of animals), so my entourage was on hand! Then I swallowed almost half my bottle of Rescue Remedy (for those of you who aren’t familiar — it’s an herbal tincture to calm you down) and got into the car.

When the time came, I was able to keep her focused on me whilst telling her I loved her and kissing her until she fell asleep. She was looking up at me with her beautiful brown eyes — full of love and trust right up until the moment she fell into permanent sleep.

She was the bravest little soldier imaginable and I couldn’t have wished for an easier transition for her — thanks to my excellent vet and his assistant and my husband, Michael.

Detaching and New Beginnings

It’s always harder for the ones left behind, we know this. But, if you’re ever up against a decision like this or if you need some peace and detachment, please try to see that death is a gateway to a new beginning.

Detachment is different from blocking off or forgetting. It’s about accepting the good, the bad and the in-between and finding peace with all three. A middle ground of acceptance of what is. It’s making a list of the pro’s and con’s and finding that all is in balance. There’s a circle to life and circles are infinite.

Michael said that when she slipped away (he was standing next to me), he felt a great sense of relief, as if she was conveying to him that she was happy to be released.

I think that when death presents itself on our doorstep, we can find solace in remembering that all things must pass in order to be rebirthed. And when transition is inevitable, find the strength and courage in your heart to send a soul on its way with all the love and joy that you can muster.

However, in saying that I’m still bleary-eyed and exhausted from this emotionally draining experience and I need to mourn and take some time to reflect, integrate and grieve.

Thanks for reading this, I know it couldn’t have been easy. I hope my ‘lil Smudgy has let you see things from a slightly different perspective.

I’m going to end this off with the comforting words of my amazing vet. ‘You let her die with dignity’.

Other articles you may enjoy:

Finding the Magnificence of Your Soul

Are You Being Challenged Today?

7 Ways to Lift You from Depression

Is Your Past Tripping Up Your Future?

Books you may enjoy by this author:

How to Blow Off Steam with Impeccability

Posted on July 31, 2013 by Cherie Roe Dirksen

Are You Speaking Badly About Someone or Merely Speaking the Truth?

I pray on the principle that wine knocks the cork out of a bottle. There is an inward fermentation, and there must be a vent. ~Henry Ward Beecher

Here’s a difficult topic — are you a gossiping Gerty or is your mouth sealed so tight, you’ve become a clam?

This has been a hot topic in my circle of friends lately as we are all trying to remain in our integrity and avoid that dastardly, lower vibrational activity that is gossip.

Have you noticed that when you are either amongst people whose mouths are flapping off about someone else that you feel quite uncomfortable — like a squirmy little worm who needs to wiggle away to find richer soil?

Maybe it’s you who has started yapping about someone else and you later feel incredible guilt about this — you bad dog, you!

I’m sure that most of us have been guilty of the odd gossip at some stage in our lives but what is the difference between talking behind someone’s back and actually venting about a situation?

Calm Dialogue versus Dramatization

Sometimes two friends get talking and the next thing you are venting about someone who is causing some irritation or discomfort in your life. You feel that the kettle is boiling and a little steam needs to be let out. It’s healthier to blow off a bit of steam than it is to wait until you explode!

Now, how do you do this without gossiping?

Let’s clear this up with an example of a dialogue:

You: My sister is really irritating me lately. She just keeps on getting into trouble and I have to bail her out all the time. I’ve had enough.

Your friend: Maybe you need to give her a little bit of space so she can work things out on her own.

You: Yes, it will be difficult but you’re right. Helping her out every time she’s in a mess is actually disempowering her and frustrating me. She needs to face the consequences of her choices.

Your friend: Exactly. Make sure she knows you love her and the reasons that you are detaching and see how it goes from there.

Okay, now I know that this scenario is like the most ideal dialogue ever and in real life it’s going to sound a teensy-weensy bit different (especially if you are really pee’d off) but you get the gist of it, right?

This is an example of allowing yourself to vent or talk about something/someone that is on your mind in a way that is in your integrity (i.e. the truth of the situation) and is done in a tactful manner.

Let’s take a look at the flip side of the coin:

You: My sister is such a mean person. I can’t handle her rubbish anymore. She needs to just get out of my life for good!

Your friend: I know! I’ve never really liked her. She is such a leach and you have done so much for her.

You: Tell me about it! And what do I get in return? All her grief and worries!

Your friend: I’m going to give her a piece of my mind when I see her again.

I’m going to stop there because I can carry on for hours (*grin*). It’s like the script from ‘Days of our Lives’. Drama, drama and a little more drama!

Here is a prime example of gossip. Can you notice the difference?

The latter dialogue is not coming from a place of integrity, it is coming from your ego that is offended and taking things personally. There is no form of love in this rant.

Seek Out Compassion and Understanding and Venom Dissolves

Even though the person in question might be doing things to you that are less than loving, it doesn’t require for you to fight fire with fire. The best thing you can do is to detach with love and find the compassion for that person.

Why are they hurting?

No-one who is in alignment with their core will find the need to cause you grief ergo they must be in pain. You don’t need to heal their pain, only they can do that. But you can exercise compassion and love them from afar.

Help if you can and it isn’t going to cause your energy to be drained.

We must learn how to explode! Any disease is healthier than the one provoked by a hoarded rage. ~Emil Cioran

So the upshot is to recognize the need to get something off your chest and to act it out in your integrity without giving into the ego and dramatizing the situation. Tell it like it is and give yourself that much-needed space and time to open up and vent instead of bottling things up inside.

Blow off that steam whilst remaining impeccable with your words — I think it is possible, do you? Join the conversation in the comment section bellow

Original article written by Cherie Roe Dirksen for Purpose Fairy

Other articles you may enjoy:

Are You Bottling Up Your Feelings?

4 Ways to Motivate Yourself Out of Bed

5 Fundamental Steps to a Thriving Relationship

How to Filter Your Blurbs

4 Simple Tips on How to Stay Calm at Family Reunions

Books you may enjoy:

How to Destroy a Frown with One Simple Trick

Posted on July 24, 2013 by Cherie Roe Dirksen

Kiss the Rain (Kiss My Butt!)

I woke up this morning with a cloud of doom and gloom hovering over my head — a mood that can only most succinctly be labeled as feeling utterly ‘crap’. There is just no other word to encapsulate the emotion that would do it justice. The weather even reflected my dull mood as it was freezing cold and raining heavily.

My leaking roof dripped dulcetly into a bucket reminding me that, metaphorically speaking, I had leakages and the dams were getting ready to burst. It sure felt like it as I gulped back the tears.

I had had a bad dream and I felt like the floor could just swallow me up as I sat on my couch not even bothering to make myself a morning cuppa. The dream was bringing back uncomfortable memories of earlier life experiences and issues.

Lunatics and Full Moons

Original Acrylic Painting by Cherie Roe Dirksen

Prints and Greeting Cards Available – click on picture

I pondered these issues and came to my resolutions but still felt completely voided — I really intensely can’t bear this zero-point energy! 2013 was labeled astrologically and esoterically as the ‘Year of Full Moons’ and it sure is living up to all expectation.

One minute you’re on a high and the next minute you’re begging for the earth to swallow you whole.

My husband meandered down the stairs and after settling down, got the rundown of why my face looked like I was sucking on a sour-worm confectionary — a sight he is not that unfamiliar with.

Ebbs and Flows

We are both used to each others severe energetic mood swings by now and, no, it’s not because we are schizophrenic or in any dire need of a high dosage of Lithium — it’s a part of our reconfiguration to all this new energy influx, what some are calling the birthing of a new age or the ascension of humanity. Read more about that HERE.

But let’s get back to this 3D life of woe and misery…

Music is My First Love

I had things to do; dishes to wash, paintings to package (a chore that has me getting my knickers in a knot with tape in my hair and cardboard lying all over the floor — suffice to say, not something I relish) and other tedious work-related stuff.

What to do?

Prints and Greeting Cards Available — click on picture

I reached over for my iPod and placed it on the docking station. The Beatles started playing ‘Rain’ (how appropriate!) and I instantly felt my mood begin to lift as I boogied down to some good old ’60’s rock.

I know I’ve banged on about this before but I just feel it needs reiterating; MUSIC CURES ALL AILS!

Seriously, I thought nothing was going to bring me out of this pit but within 30 seconds my arse was swaying to the synchronized sounds of the fab four.

Mike looked at me, eyebrows raised as if to say, ‘And now?’. I just smiled…sweet music, my hero!

Next step: Where’s my coffee plunger?

Time for some chat back….

Who’s your favourite band/musician?
What music instantly lifts your vibration?
Have you ever tried music therapy?
Does music lift your spirits when you’re down in the dumps?

Other articles you may enjoy:

7 Ways to Lift You from Depression

4 Ways to Motivate Yourself Out of Bed

Are You Running Yourself into the Ground?

2 Musical Quotations To Take Note Of

What Always Helps Me Out When I’m Stuck in ‘The Void’

Books you may enjoy:

3 Sound Reasons to Dispel the Myth that You Can’t Afford Art

Posted on July 17, 2013 by Cherie Roe Dirksen

When one hears the terms ‘galleries’, ‘art collectors’ or ‘investment art’, one immediately thinks of big bucks and inaccessibility but thanks to the ingenuity of certain online sites and galleries, you are most likely in the position to buy original art right now!

Here’s why:

Bid or Buy (a trustworthy and reputable online auction/shopping site that I have used for over 8 years now) has a PayLater plan for approved, secure sellers. Now you can buy original art and pay it off monthly. For example: The painting on the right works out to R340.00 per month (approx. $34.00) with PayLater (click on the picture to take you to Bid or Buy — the PayLater symbol is on the right of the page, underneath ‘add to cart’). They also conveniently accept Paypal, EFT’s, credit cards, Discovery Miles and loads more other payment options to make life easier for your online shopping requirements.

CLICK HERE TO EASILY CONVERT TO YOUR CURRENCY

Saatchi Online offers original art from around the world at every income level. They even have a curator who scours the site every single day for fresh and exciting work by artists from every corner of the globe to put in collections that range from under $1000 to under $100! There are so many great works and diverse artists to choose from but here are a few to get you going:

RedBubble is an online print site that offers excellent, high quality canvas prints, cards, photographic prints, matt prints, framed prints and posters at incredibly affordable prices. There is something here to please every pocket. Here are some tasters of what to expect at this site — an array of artists and a sea of colour, different styles and ingenuity:

So, with all these options, can you honestly say that you can’t do anything about those empty wall spaces?

Do you own original art?

Do you prefer to buy prints?

Other articles you may enjoy:

Painting Pink Floyd — Soldiering Through the Minefield of Emotion

How to Artfully Get into Your Element

Zebra Fever — Jazzing Up Your Walls With Stripes!

Healing Through Art — The Gates to Wonderland Just Got Flung Wide Open

Can Using Yellow in Art Enhance Your Mood?

Do You Own White Bare Walls? Spice Them Up Today with Affordable Style!

Are You Bottling Up Your Feelings?

Posted on July 10, 2013 by Cherie Roe Dirksen

Internalizing or Externalizing — that is the Question!

Suffering is traumatic and awful and we get angry and we shake our fists at the heavens and we vent and rage and weep. But in the process we discover a new tomorrow, one we never would have imagined otherwise. ~Rob Bell

I come across a lot of people who either build up a big drama around their problems or they internalize them.

It’s one thing to go around needlessly gossiping about people and wreaking verbal havoc but it’s an entirely different case to shut up like a clam instead of allowing yourself to blow off some steam.

The ones who internalize their problems usually don’t like to ‘talk’ about people behind their back or find it inappropriate (venting about your children) or disrespectful (especially in the case of your parents) which, of course, is very noble indeed but there are certain instances where it can be appropriate, if not detrimental, to talk about your problems.

Finding Perspective amongst Guilt

No matter who is causing you distress — it’s not personal. There is often a lot of misunderstanding between a person and their actions. You may still love that person dearly but they have done something (the action) to fluff your feathers.

Holding onto the problem could cause you to like them less and less but addressing the core before it festers can give you that space to figure out your next step without losing any love for that person over it.

So, let’s get this ball rolling by addressing some potential situations.

There should be no guilt in:

Admitting that your child has done something to annoy you — it is no reflection on you as a parent or them as a child — it is what it is. You still love them but their action has caused you unease. You’re not a Stepford Wife, you know. I know the perceived ‘norm’ is to always have a smiley face and a tray of milk and cookies for your child, however, the bald-faced truth is that parenting can be overwhelming at times and you are entitled to vent about your little darlings without fear of judgment.

Discussing a problem you may have with a partner, friend or family member to someone you trust with the information as long as it comes from a place of integrity (i.e. the truth and not the dramatized version).

Talking about how you may not be coping at the moment. When you internalize this it becomes like a festering sore that causes you more and more pain until one day it pops at the most inconvenient time and you are left with a sticky mess to mop up. Even worse, you have a physical breakdown. It’s okay to talk about how you are feeling no matter how ‘dark’ you may think it is. Once you let it out of your system, you have the potential to let it go or find a solution, if not just get the support you may need.

The Lone Warrior

If you feel you can’t talk about these things or you don’t have anyone who will listen that you trust, it’s best to let it out and vent in whatever way you can.

Some healthy examples would be to:

Have a little cry (hell, even a big one!) — there’s nothing more releasing than letting your emotions out through a healthy blubber and don’t feel guilty for it! Rather feel guilty for not allowing yourself the freedom to express yourself.

Find some solitude and belt out a scream — this can also work well as long as you are not within the audible radius of a nosy neighbor.

Put on your boxing gloves and get out that punching bag — it’s a liberating feeling to blow off some steam through physical activity.

Write out your feelings and then burn the paper — this can also be an emancipating experience. When you write something down you are releasing it from your internal dialogue and unburdening the mind. Burning it is symbolic of having vented your problem and you are now ready to move on or find a solution.

Human beings are emotional. We need to express ourselves. Of course, we need to exercise a certain amount of restraint when doing this — i.e. don’t hurt anyone in the process — but there are safe ways of doing it as outlined above.

The worst thing you could do is to bottle up your feelings and wait for the cork to explode one day. You are helping nobody out, least of all yourself, when you don’t blow off some steam about your woes.

Everyone Gets to Park Off on the Lavatory Daily

Remember that old saying; when you feel intimidated by someone remember that they too need to use the toilet every day (slightly euphemized here)? Well, this concept is kind of similar. Everyone has problems, don’t think you are alone.

Everyone needs to take a dump once in a while and everyone has to face problems in their life every now and again.

To talk about it is not a sign of weakness, it is a sign that you can admit you are vulnerable and that your ego doesn’t have you by the short and curlies.

The ego is the thing that wants to exude an outer appearance of having it all, coping with life and just being a regular robotic superhuman. The fact is that you’re not. No-one is and it’s great!

Whoop-de-doo, we’re all messed up and we should celebrate our daftness together and not have to feel guilty about it ever again!

Original article written by Cherie Roe Dirksen for PURPOSE FAIRY

Other articles you may enjoy:

How to Blow Off Steam with Impeccability

4 Ways to Motivate Yourself Out of Bed

5 Fundamental Steps to a Thriving Relationship

Are You Running Yourself into the Ground?

5 Easy Steps to Get Your Life Back on Track

Only 50 Shades of Grey — What Happened to the Rest?

How Suppressing Your Shadow Self Can Destroy You

4 Ways to Motivate Yourself Out of Bed

Posted on July 3, 2013 by Cherie Roe Dirksen

“I once had a rose named after me and I was very flattered. But I was not pleased to read the description in the catalogue: no good in a bed, but fine up against a wall.” — Eleanor Roosevelt

You may be good (or in the above case not) in bed but how good are you at rising? Right, now that I have your attention…

Are You a Morning or a Mourning Person?

I love to sleep in (don’t we all?). But at some point of the morning one has to muster up the pluck to actually get out of that nice warm bed and brave the cold/the kids/the untidy house/the boss/the traffic/the kitty litter/(insert general problematic encounter here).

As I was lying in bed this morning, blearily preparing to pry open my eyes, I started with my morning ‘head banter’. I then realized that my thought process on this fine and sunny morn would make for a titillating blog (always capitalizing on my life!).

If you are one of the lucky few (0.001% of the global population) who eagerly jumps out of bed at the crack of dawn with a glint in your eye and a spring in your step — bully for you! However, even you may glean value from what I’m about to divulge.

“You will start to see just how incredibly powerful you are as a creator of your experience.”

Here it goes, my list of morning motivating muses:

1. How Do I Want Today to Turn Out? As Will Pharrell sang, ‘It might seem crazy what I’m about to say, Sunshine she’s here, you can take a break. I’m a hot air balloon that could go to space. With the air, like I don’t care, baby, by the way…Because I’m happy‘ — try to start your awakening mind rolling in the direction of a positive affirmation, like telling yourself just how bizarrely splendid today is going to be. Hell, it could be the best damn day of your life!

Let your thoughts steamroll with the idea of having good things happen to you on this day. If you have something to do today that you are dreading or feel uneasy about, now is your chance to manipulate that situation to how you want to see it play out. If it is a dreary task or something with unavoidable lackluster, tell yourself that it is going to go quickly and smoothly so you can get on with something fun afterwards.

2. How Is Today Going to Look? As you lie under your cozy covers, start to visualize this splendid day — make a movie in your head. Start to see how you want it to pan out — direct, director!

You can draw it out with a detailed synopsis or you can conjour up a quick run-through. Just remember to see yourself smiling and laughing a lot. Have copious amounts of ‘good times’ squeezed into this productive day.

Whenever I do this visualization technique, it really does affect how my day starts to unfold (for the better). You will start to see just how incredibly powerful you are as a creator of your experience.

“You’re only as excited by life as how exciting you can be…”

3. Who Do I Want to Be Today? Express yourself! You’ve got to ‘dress for success’. Jeez, I feel like I’m writing about Pop songs here. This may seem like a bit of a strange and unspiritual thing to put in this article but I’ve only just started seeing this from a new perspective. Men, this applies to you too. There is nothing wrong with expressing how you feel or your personality externally and it is becoming more and more acceptable for men to convey this type of sassy style and creativity.

I can also get into the rut of ‘dressing for comfort’ but have recently realized that it can get uber boring! I’ve been exposed to the delights of that online ‘visual’ feast site,Pinterest and, oh boy, have I got some fashion ideas! It can really broaden your style horizons (and I could do with a bit of that). After brain-storming, I have taken my existing wardrobe and fallen in love with it due to a few tweaks and accessories. I now dress according to my mood.

I could be a rock chick one day, a jeans and t-shirt girl the next, a sweet-16-and-never-been-kissed maiden (yeah, right!) to a sophisticated business woman — anything goes where the mood flows (and, yes, I can also just be in a sweat- pants and jumper mood).

It’s heaps of inventive fun! To add even more pizzazz to this daily routine, I sometimes tease my hair and stick it up in a beehive like Elvira or create a rat’s nest, for those of you who can cast your minds back to the ‘80’s, looking like Kim Wilde or Bonnie Tyler. As the saying goes ‘change is as good as a holiday’. My husband has a good chuckle on these ‘hair’ days when he sees me emerging from the bathroom after hearing the spray can at work. However, the main thing is to please and dress for yourself — if other people don’t have the guts to go a-la-mode, don’t let it put you off your pursuit.

Don’t take yourself too seriously either — experiment with your individual taste and mood and make this about fun. This is just another way of spicing up your life and getting creative. You’re only as excited by life as how exciting you can be or, to put it simply, exciting is as exciting does. You have a corporeal ‘Earth Suit’ while you are incarnation — you may as well use it to have some shits and giggles. Just remember when you look good, smell good and feel good — you exude confidence, which is key to having a good day.

4. What is the Soundtrack of Today? This is my favourite step of the feel-good program — figuring out what musical mood I’m in. When I make up my mind, my toes are already itching to hop out of bed.

After having your first cup of the day accompanied by catching up on the latest articles on Lightworkers World (*wink*), music can be a terrific motivator — especially when you are doing something mundane like housework or on your commute to work.

Put on that Queen greatest hits CD and hoover to ‘I want to break free’ or plan what music to listen that will elevate your mood whilst on your way to work. I actually cannot do the dishes without having some form of toe-tapping tune on the stereo. Spoons make for great pretend microphones and dishcloths can be stretched to make great air guitar solos.

When I’m driving, what I’m playing over the system has a tremendous effect on how jovial my trip is. Seriously though, music has a tendency to make things better and kick-start your day. Combine a cup of coffee or ginseng tea with Jimaroquai and you will be instantly transformed into a Duracell bunny.

I hope these tips works for you! Please do share your thoughts or successful morning rituals in the comment area below.

Original article written by Cherie Roe Dirksen for Lightworkers World

Other articles you may like:

5 Fundamental Steps to a Thriving Relationship

Are You Running Yourself into the Ground?

5 Easy Steps to Get Your Life Back on Track

Are You Being Disillusioned by Reality?

3 Bizarre and Unreasonable Motives to Stay on the Planet

How to Destroy a Frown with One Simple Trick

How to Blow Off Steam with Impeccability

‘Dangerous Love’ — Skunk Anansie Rock Art Painting No. 5

Posted on June 26, 2013 by Cherie Roe Dirksen

You can recap on the whole Rock Art Series HERE — a page dedicated to the process of bringing this musical art collection to life.

Bloody Hell!

Whoa. This painting was a difficult one to physically manifest. Just when I thought that the Pink Floyd Rock Art painting had done my nerves in, this one came to slam dunk me in a vat of excrement!

Not only did this piece take me close onto 3 months to complete but I felt like I was resisting finishing it right up until the last moment. In hindsight, I think I know why…

First Things First

Before I get into the personal details of my past-life drama karma (yes, you read right, this painting started ripping into my own akashic records — how riveting!), I want to go through the emotions that came up for me whilst painting this and, of course, reveal the painting itself.

*Drum Roll* — here is the painting and below you’ll find the list of emotions.

You can click on the picture above to enlarge. Click here to buy the print.

List of Emotions:

Anger
Hurt
Resentment
Female Pain-Body
Discordant
Regret
Sorrow
Broken
Blood, Shit and Umska

Phew! Now you might start to get a clearer picture of why I struggled through this process.

Feeling the Music

Firstly, I have to say that I absolutely love and admire the sexy and sassy Skin (lead singer of Skunk Anansie) and the entire band — bloody (no pun intended) brilliant music!

I’m going to scatter a few YouTube videos in this blog. So — if you aren’t familiar with this Brit band — you can get with the programme.

Skin has an awesome voice and an enormous stage presence. I was lucky enough to see them when they were in Cape Town — well over a decade ago now.

However, this Rock Art Series is diving deeper than audio enjoyment, humming a happy tune or head-banging. This series is pushing past aesthetics and striking at the core — the emotions/energy behind the music (as interpreted by me).

Self-Love or Bust

So, the strong emotions/feelings that I was picking up on was a dangerous kind of love, or should I say, a conditional love. A love that is incomplete and destructive because it’s missing one fundamental principle — self-love and respect.

Possessive relationships are doomed. You enter into them incomplete and want the other person to fill the void inside you that can only be filled by, you guessed it, YOU.

Instead of looking within to find the answers, we look without and turn on the one we love with a deepening resentment, sorrow and a pain that can’t be quenched.

Long and short is: You can’t truly love anyone else unconditionally if you can’t totally and fully accept and love your self (self love is not to be mistaken for ego-based love or narcissism).

My Part in This Epic Blood-Stained Musical Dramatization

The anger and frustrations that came up for me were almost unbearable.

I have a current marriage made in heaven (yeah, I know — lucky me. You can read all about it HERE) but with the deep retrospection I had to undergo, I realized that I had to face a past relationship.

Such a far flung past coupling that it comes from a different lifetime altogether.

It was difficult to go through this in the ‘dark’ (i.e. not quite knowing the in’s and out’s and just going on gut instinct) but I had dreams that helped me along and let me pick through the metaphors of literally having shit dumped on my head by this phantom past partner.

In another dream I also displayed signs of stigmata and bleeding from every orifice while he looked at me and said, ‘Go clean yourself up!’. The most bizarre thing is that he was being cut and I was bleeding which I found to be quite a remarkable analogy.

Above — ‘Brazen (weep)’, Skunk Anansie

Ripley’s Believe It or Not

When I was compiling the video’s for this blog, I realized that it was the first time I had ever seen a Skunk Anansie music video. I have only seen them live and on live performance DVD’s. So, it goes without saying, that I was quite shocked to see that the above and below video were very in sync with the painting style, theme and colours. See for yourself…

Above — ‘Charlie Big Potato’, Skunk Anansie

The Phantom Menace Was Me

Who was this past-life persona?

It doesn’t really matter. The details are mere semantics, what was more important was my understanding of what was being brought up in myself. The ‘people-pleaser’/’don’t rock the boat‘/‘take it up the ass‘ person in me just had to go.

What I got from my ‘past life’ scenario was a sense of being out of control in the relationship but not being strong enough to leave.

I felt oppressed, spoken down to, controlled, literally ‘shut up’ (emotionally and verbally — which is why I think there are bolts in the painting — keeping ‘her’ in place; tape over her mouth and eyes — keeping her gagged in silent pain) and made to feel deep guilt whenever I did pluck up the courage to have my say.

Although, all she/I had to do was step into her/my power and say, ‘No more’ and walk away. She/I displayed signs of being weak (and, yes, Skunk Anansie do have a song called ‘Weak’...LISTEN/VIEW HERE) and not loving and respecting herself enough to walk away.

This all boils down to self-inflicted trauma. The inability to stand in ones power and to have enough self-love to pick up and leave a rotten situation. This is a dangerous love — fear disguised in the wrappings of ‘love’.

The Mysterious Identity of the Unknowable Known

Other things I noticed at the end of this process was that the ‘face’ had smeared lipstick, undeterminable eyes, skin colour or race — she could be anyone from anywhere. She could even be a man (well, maybe one in drag or from a pantomime?).

Another interesting fact is that I picked up the colour purple right at the end and dabbed some of it onto the eyelids, face and a few streaks at the bottom. Could this be a form of mitigation?

Purple is usually connotated with good judgment and spiritual fulfillment.

I Open at the End

Well, Skunk Ananse, thanks for opening a wound that needed to be scraped clean.

Even though I’m still in the process of releasing and realigning to this new found truth, I am grateful to have had the opportunity to actually live through one of my paintings and seek out a deeper personal truth to this collection.

Below are photographs of the painting process:

‘A Dangerous Love’ by Cherie Roe Dirksen
28″ x 22″ x 1.5″
Acrylic and Mixed Media on Boxed Canvas
Click on the picture to take you to the print store.

Other articles you may find interesting:

How I Got ‘Raw’ With Jeff Buckley

What The Beatles Look Like From the End of my Paintbrush

Radiohead — A Teaser Pictorial ‘Rock Art’ Peek

10 Bands, 10 Paintings…Let the Rock Art Begin!

Do You Own White Bare Walls? Spice Them Up Today with Affordable Style!

Posted on June 17, 2013 by Cherie Roe Dirksen

Do You Need to Decorate?

Ever wanted to splash some colour on the walls of your office or home? Why not add wonder to your life with some jazzy, colorful and arty posters?

They’re affordable and there are dozens to choose from!

There’s never been a better time than right now.

Are You Doing a Sentence in a Cell Block?

Today is the day you’ve been waiting for to take charge of your space and treat yourself to a visual feast instead of a prison cell!

How many times have you caught yourself thinking, ‘I need to do something about my home decor?‘, ‘These walls aren’t inspiring me‘ or ‘I wish I could look up at some decent art to get me motivated.’

Transport Yourself Somewhere Amazing in a Flash!

Add spice to those drab white walls with this tantalizing collection of art prints below that will tickle your decorating genie into action and get that imagination roaring into creative gear:

Now if you’re the kind of person who wants an original and relishes the opportunity to invest in art and enjoy their asset every day, then come browse my original art for sale at the SAATCHI gallery HERE (there is also an option to buy a print on stretched canvas for those who want something better than a poster but can’t afford an original):

Disclosure: My Awakening Blew My Reality Apart!

Posted on June 12, 2013 by Cherie Roe Dirksen

Today is a Big Day For Me

As I sit at my keyboard, I realize that this is going to be one of the most difficult blogs I have ever written. However, what I am about to divulge needs to be said — it has taken me 3 years to pluck up the courage to out this to the world.

What stopped me before? My ego, I guess. As simple as that — what people would think of me. But it doesn’t matter anymore.

What matters is the truth. If the Canadian Minister of Defense can tell this to the world, then I can share this with you — my readers.

Disclosure from the Minister of Defense

If you have not seen the YouTube video yet, then I suggest you take out 9 minutes of your time to watch something that could be the most significant truth ever disclosed and the greatest catalyst of change that the world has yet to see:

The tears rolled down my face as I listened to this man talk about ‘alien’ civilizations and encouraging us to extend our mental grasp of life in the universe.

Why?

Because 3 years ago I had my awakening experience. I’ve pretty much kept it to myself barring a few of my close friends.

Am I Dreaming or Just Going Mad?

There is a very good reason I chose an ‘Alice in Wonderland‘ theme for my site — my awakening was like being pushed down that rabbit-hole and trying to cope with a reality gone mad.

“Curiouser and curiouser!” — Alice

I started having vivid dreams about people I had never met in my current life. These people even told me their names and ‘situations’, which I consequentially would Google the next day for validity.

To my shock and surprise, these people were real — all the information was true just as they’d laid out for me in my dreams. I’m not going to go into who and what this was about because it is personal and for my life path.

Tuning into the Matrix

The second thing to happen to me was I began to channel. I had never done this before and was alarmed and pleasantly surprised to find out that I could. The ‘entity’ that came through, called itself ‘Metatron’. Yes, as in one of the archangels from the bible.

Whether you want to call them angels, entities or energetic groups, is entirely up to your comfort in concepts.

I like to think of them as energy signatures that resonate to a certain frequency or level of understanding within us.

Conversations with God?

So, here I am, a mere humble artist, in contact with Metatron (sounds like something from that movie ‘Transformers’).

Well, it was quite transforming! The next thing he told me transformed my life even more and started to push me way outside my comfort zone.

‘Write the book’.

What book? I’m just an artist, I’m not a writer. You don’t know how many times I reiterated this fact to ‘him’ (I am referring to Metatron in the male personification for no particular reason). He didn’t budge. I resisted and he went to call God. Seriously, I still have the notes!

All God said was, ‘Agree to your obligation, write the book.’

Aye, aye, Captain!

Now you don’t want to argue with God, so I did as I was told and started to write my first book, ‘Divine You, Redefining Love in the New Earth’. I came up with the ‘Divine You’ part and Metatron came up with the subtitle (*grin*).

The book was not actually channeled in the traditional sense but it did come from my soul — a part of me that I was ‘mining’ for information.

The Strange Requests Begin

The only time Metatron intervened with the books process is when he asked me to put 2 chapters in — one was about ‘the trinity’ (*gulp* — I had to do copious amounts of research on this before I got it right) and the other was, have you guessed?

Aliens.

I have never had a problem with believing in life on other planets or intra-terrestrial/dimensional beings but I didn’t want to be branded as a UFO fanatic either.

Oh No! Please, Not Aliens!

My ego was out in full force with this one. I didn’t want to come across as a loon. My whole book would be discredited if I start talking about aliens.

None of this washed with Metatron as he began to usher me into a new understanding of what alien meant. After another long trip down the information highway, I started writing about this very difficult concept.

For those of you who haven’t read the book, I have made that chapter available here for you to read. Alien Territory — READ HERE.

I learned a lot that year. A lot.

My journey down the rabbit hole suddenly started to speed up…

My First Experience with the Pleiadians

One night, as I lay in bed listening to the radio, a voice popped into my head. There is just no other way to describe it. It said:

‘We are coming for you. We are the Pleiadians.’

Yes, now I know this may sound ominous but it really wasn’t — I was actually quite bemused. I had heard of the Pleiadians, so I was curious.

2 seconds later all the electricity went off in the room. The lights went out, the radio stopped. I started to pay attention (thankfully, my bladder was empty or I might have wet myself!).

Every instinct in my body was telling me to just relax and close my eyes, so I did. To my utter amazement, when I closed my eyes the whole universe was displayed at the back of my eyelids! Who would have thought?

It was amazing and an experience that I have only had the privilege to experience just one other time.

As I was looking around in awe, a wormhole started to open up (very much in the area of my third eye). I blacked out.

I woke up (what must of been a split second later). The voice was back. ‘That was too soon — travel into the hole.‘

Okay…so the whole process started again and I closed my eyes and was whisked down the wormhole this time but ‘blacked out’ soon after because I remember nothing else.

I have since also channeled some information from these star-beings. They call themselves our ‘extended’ family and, in my humble opinion, they are benevolent (or, at least the ones I encountered).

UFO’s and Mind Jobs

Since then I have had quite a few sightings where I stay — which is out in the sticks, near Cape Point. It is a star-gazers paradise because it is so dark — the night sky is a visual feast boasting the most magnificent view of the Milky Way.

Now that I had some weird experiences of the great unknown tucked under my belt, I made it a habit to go out every night, just for 5-10 minutes or so, to look out into the universe for signs of this galactic family we seem to have.

I wasn’t disappointed.

I can’t actually count the number of times (as there are too many) I have seem mysterious objects, UFO’s or just strange little orbs that float about haphazardly (definitely NOT satellites, as I know what they look like and they are usually on a straight course).

Some of these orbs shoot straight out into space. One of them came and hovered right above my head and then shot up and out of visual range.

I had my first incredible sighting one night. You can read about that HERE.

Wishing Upon a Star

But there is another incredible thing I want to tell you about. Believe it or not — this really happens.

I sometimes feel quite disconnected and I go outside and say, ‘If you’re out there give me a sign!’.

To which, on numerous occasions, I have seen a shooting star (I know, the cliche is almost embarrassing and I can sometimes feel Jiminy Cricket on my shoulder!).

One night, I was outside and feeling low. I looked up and said, ‘Metatron, if you can hear me send me a sign. Oh, and don’t make it a shooting star, I’m tired of those‘ (I did say this quite jokingly, of course. Metatron, as I came to know him, has a wicked sense of humour).

Does it come as a surprise then to know that about 1 minute later there was a red meteor shower? About 3 small flashes fell towards my neighbours yard and fizzled out about 3 meters before impact.

I was so stunned that I just laughed and walked back into the house in disbelief. I told my husband about it and he just said, ‘You shouldn’t test him like that, you know‘.

Lol…maybe not — but I am one of the worst doubting Thomas’s I know. I want constant proof that I’m not going bonkers. Or, at least, that’s how I used to be. I just don’t seem to care anymore.

Truth or Bust!

This is my truth, this is my life and this is how it happened. All these entities that I have conversed with seem to all have one underlying message — unconditional love. They want us to make it on our own, to realize our inherent and divine potential.

All that I have written above is what happened to me, take it or leave it. I wanted to come clean about it and I thank you for taking the time out to read it.

Have you had similar experiences?

Do you believe in life on other planets?

Are you convinced by what the Canadian Minister of Defense has to say or do you still think it’s baloney?

Did you know that the last Pope came out and disclosed that he believes there is life on other planets?

If you still believe we are alone, why?

Other articles you may enjoy:

Are You Bottling Up Your Feelings?

How to Blow Off Steam with Impeccability

The Freedom Checklist – What Every Human Being Needs to Know

Are You Being Disillusioned by Reality?

The Freedom Checklist – What Every Human Being Needs to Know

Posted on June 5, 2013 by Cherie Roe Dirksen

Most people do not really want freedom, because freedom involves responsibility, and most people are frightened of responsibility.

~Sigmund Freud

The Weight of the World

Hello Earthling! How nice of you to have dropped by this titillating planet filled with such great diversity and beauty.

What was that you said? Did you say that you:

Feel burdened by society and all that is wrong with the world?

You feel an overwhelming pressure to change the world?

Did I hear you right? Did you say that you even feel guilty or responsible for the state of the world?

What an awful burden it is to bear when we decide to take on the weight of the world, or on a lesser degree, the weight of another person’s choices or life.

Are you guilty of this? Yes…no…perhaps a little?

Are You Suffering From Mad Cow Disease?

Let me get clear on this. Sit down and make yourself comfortable because I need your undivided attention.

Holy cow! I only recently realized that I’ve been a complete idiot — a buffoon of the highest degree.

In what textbook did I read that I need to change the world, take over if I saw someone else suffering along their path or put every effort into making people see the world the way I see it?

Nope, can’t think of the name of that book so I must have somehow imagined it. But how many of you can say you feel the same way?

You may feel responsible for your partner, your grown up children, your friends and other members of your family. You may even take on the responsibility of complete strangers.

Light Bulbs and Cricket Bats

Let’s get straight to the juicy bit of this article — either you’re going to have an ‘a-ha’ moment or you are going to have to beat yourself over the head a couple of times with a bat to whack the sense home.

You were born here on planet Earth and the global problems were here, social structure (no matter how much you may dislike it) was already in place. Thanks to our ancestors, the worlds configuration was in place the moment you catapulted into reality — the good, the bad and the ugly. You are not responsible for what came before you. However, you ARE responsible for how you affect the world with your presence from this moment onwards. Every choice you make is part and parcel to your responsibility. Own it.

You were born on planet Earth and you needed to work out some of your own lessons and you’re doing great. When you decide to shift your focus onto another person’s lessons and try to tamper with their version of reality — you have made a crucial mistake. You don’t think the other person is capable of handling their own lives so you intervene. You may think you need to because your version of reality and what you think is the right way as it is working so well for you. True?

Nope. It is YOUR truth but it may not necessarily be another’s. When you try to control another individual or their path you are basically saying that they are weak and you are strong. Oops…not very nice. What’s more is you’re not even helping yourself out, you’re just taking on extra baggage.

Helping or Hindering?

Everyone needs to work out their own journey through life. It is your responsibility to love and respect them enough to give them space and to only help out when you are asked to. Get it?

You are disempowering another human being when you try to seize control or mold them into how you want them to fit into your life.

You are not responsible for any other human being but yourself (barring minors under your care, of course). Focus on yourself and be the best person you can be so that you can be that shining example to others. That is the only way you will make a positive change in someone’s life. You can’t go into their space and try to effect change.

The Prime Directive

You are responsible for your life. Your main responsibility is to be happy — you could even call this your ‘prime directive’or ultimate goal. If you are not happy it is your responsibility to sniff out the causes as to why you are not living in joy.

So, now say you have found your bliss but it hurts you when you see other people suffer and you want to help.

Keep Your Nose on Your Face

The stark truth is that they need to take responsibility for their life and choices. You can always help another human being but you should never force yourself or your way of life onto someone else.

To truly love someone is to accept them as they are and respect their life path. Can you do that?

Can you step into owning your life and taking responsibility for your choices today? If you do, the weight of the world will be lifted from your shoulders and you will experience a freedom like no other.

It’s okay to be here, it’s okay to be you and it’s okay to let other people be themselves.

You are only responsible for you. And thanks to the wise words of Gandhi, try to be the change you want to see in the world.

Original article written by Cherie Roe Dirksen for Purpose Fairy

Other articles you may enjoy:

How Trust Can Bring You Abundance

Are You Running Yourself into the Ground?

What Always Helps Me Out When I’m Stuck in ‘The Void’

How to Filter Your Blurbs

Are You Being Disillusioned by Reality?

3 Ways to Cure the Pushover Mentality

7 Things I Wish I Knew when I Was a Teenager

Self-Empowerment Books by Cherie Roe Dirksen:

Table Books of Art and Inspirational Teachings by Cherie Roe Dirksen:

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Movies and Revelations

Brain Enemas and Rosy Tinted Specs

Living This Day Again

A New Recipe For Life

Here is a list of things you may need to allow:

Take Back Control

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Calm Dialogue versus Dramatization

Seek Out Compassion and Understanding and Venom Dissolves

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Finding Perspective amongst Guilt

There should be no guilt in:

The Lone Warrior

Everyone Gets to Park Off on the Lavatory Daily