There are 9 days until Christmas and for many of us the pressure of the holiday is on. It is funny, I think that one of the most amazing times of the year can bring out the best and worst in us.  Today,  I invite you to take 5 minutes from your crazy schedule and breathe. Breathe in the moment and let out all your anxiety. Know that all is well. Accept what is right now and not what you wished it to be or not be. By participating in this moment, right now you can move forward with deeper meaning. Worry and stress never made things better or your wishes appear faster. Your wishes never get here when stuck in worrying. 

I came across an ad from a department store posted in a newspaper years ago and here I share it with you with a few of my own added. I wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and many blessings to all. May we acknowledge all our blessings that are here now already in our lives big and small. 

 Last Minute Gifts – That Money Can’t Buy.

Keep a promise, Keep a secret

Share a dream, Share your time

Send her favorite flower or write him a letter of your love

Let someone have the last word

Give a smile, Return a smile

Laugh at his favorite story — again

Let someone in line, go in front of you

Listen to a child

Listen to an adult

Love your pet,  Rescue animal from abuse and neglect

Remember those who have no one and be there for someone if only for a moment to say hello

Say something nice to someone you like

Say something nice to someone you don’t

No matter how or what you say or do sharing your love

is the finest thing we can do, always.

Merry Christmas. Sweet Dreams and Many Blessings.

Cheri

About 2000 years ago, 5th century B.C.. in what is present day Ireland, England and France, a people called the Celts lived and ruled. Can you imagine what life was like for those people? 2000 years ago, there was no electricity, no indoor plumbing, no phones or computers, no cars, no grocery stores? Life for these people was hard and they depended on Nature, as volatile as she can be, she is all they had and all they knew. So, the ending of summer was likened to the ending of human life. The bright, sunny, bountiful days of life and fun ended on October 31, and the onset of autumn, days shortened to long, dark nights of cold and scarcity of food began. What is now Halloween was originally called Samhain (sow-in) the Celtic new year.

The Celts believed on the day of Samhain the veil between the spirit world and the living world was the thinnest. They believed that the laws of time and space were suspended for a short period, allowing the spirit world to mingle with the living. It was believed that the spirits of the those who had died the previous year were in limbo and that they would come back on this night to possess the bodies of living people for the next year. Their belief was that by possessing another living, human was their only hope for an afterlife. Of course, the living did not want to be possessed and who would? So, they would extinguish their home fires, which would leave their homes cold and uninviting to roaming spirits. Then they would don various masks and costumes of the ghoulish and frightening type to parade around in and be as destructive as possible to scare away spirits looking for living bodies to possess.

Another tale revolving around the extinguishing of home fires was so that everyone could go and light a fire in unity — the Druidic Fire, which would be kept burning continuously in Usinach as a common source of protection. This night of Samhain was also believed the easiest of evenings for the Druids or Celtic Priests to make predictions about the future because of the close presence of the otherworldly spirits. For the Celts, a people in a land and time that depended so much on the laws of Mother Nature, these prophecies were most important in providing direction and comfort for the long, cold, dark winter ahead.

For a person thought already to be possessed by evil spirits, this night is when the Celts would burn these people at the stake. Hmmm, now that is a scary thought! This was thought to teach the spirits a lesson about what would happen to them should they decide to possess a living person.

Around 43 A.D., the Romans conquered the Celts, adopted Samhain and then meshed Samhain with their two holidays in October. Feralia, the passing of the dead; and Pomona, to honor the goddess of fruit and trees. The apple, being the symbol for Pomona, is thought to be the reason for the tradition of ‘bobbing for apples” or “apple paring fortune telling”.

The word Halloween comes from the Catholic church and is the corruption of All Hallows Eve, November 1, and All Hallows Day or All Saints Day, for the observance of all the saints in heaven. During the rule of the Romans, spirit possession belief on Halloween declined and the holiday became more of a ceremonial day with dressing up still included.

Early American settlers, who were mainly of the Protestant faith, did not condone Halloween very much. It was more celebrated in the southern New England colonies such as Maryland, where beliefs and customs from various European cultures and the American Indians meshed, and a distinct version of Halloween began to emerge. Halloween was then celebrated by “play parties,” which were community events, to celebrate harvest time with ghost stories, fortune telling and song and dance.

Trick or treating was not part of the Celtic traditions, but rather from 9th century Europeans, originally called “souling”. November 2, All Souls Day, was a day on which early Christians would go from village to village, door to door, begging for “soul cakes,” which were squares of bread and currant berries. The more soul cakes a beggar received, the more prayers they would pray for the donors’ deceased loved ones. The belief being that a soul walked in limbo immediately after death and all prayers, even from strangers, would help the soul into heaven.

The lighting and carving of pumpkins, or jack-o-lantern’s, originated from an Irish folk tale. The tale says a man named Jack, who was a drunkard and trickster, one day tricked Satan into climbing a tree. Once Satan was high in the tree, Jack carved the holy cross on the tree trunk, trapping Satan. He then made a deal with Satan that he would let Satan down if he promised to never tempt him again. Then, when Jack grew old and died, he was not allowed into heaven due to his evil ways, nor was he let into hell because of his trick on Satan. Instead, the devil gave him an ember to light his way in the cold dark. The ember was placed in a hollowed out turnip so that it would burn longer. The Irish used turnips for many years as their jack-o-lanterns. When the Irish began coming to America because of the potato famine in Ireland, they found that pumpkins were more bountiful in the new land than turnips. Thus began the use of hollowed out pumpkins as their jack-o-lanterns, which are still popular today.

Throughout the early 1800′s, American’s celebrated Halloween with singing, dancing, dressing up and parlor games. Young, single women at this time believed that on Halloween they could foretell their future husband’s name and appearance through tricks with yarn, apple parings or mirrors. Now that is an interesting way to find a man! Compared to online dating and blind dates, there can’t be much more of a margin of error! Something I might have to check out myself this Halloween!

By the late 1800′s, parents were encouraged to remove any ghoulish or frightening Halloween tales that were of superstitious or religious basis. Halloween had its own American ways now. Through the 1920′s and 1930′s, Halloween became a community celebration with parades and local parties; and vandalism started to become the rage instead of pranks. The baby boom during the 1950′s revived trick or treating. Because of the large number of children, this was a way to involve the community with each other. Town leaders got vandalism down to a limit and the holiday became a “children’s” holiday. In theory, tricks or pranks being played on families could be avoided by providing little treats for neighborhood children. A new American tradition was born and continues to grow today. Americans spend about $6.9 million dollars on the Halloween holiday, making it the 2nd largest American holiday.

So there it is the histor and mystery of Halloween. It is not a holiday born out of evil practices. It  is not an evil day. It came from the Celtic celebration for New Year’s Day and medieval prayer rituals of the Europeans. The day, like any other, is only as good or evil as one makes it out to be.

Happy Halloween
Cheri

Vampires are real and they can suck the life force from you! Toxic people or Emotional vampires are very real and we deal with them pretty much through out our entire lives in various ways. Most of us know at least one and many of us know and deal with them daily. Like traditional vampires who come out in the dark, emotional vampires feed on the dark side of people. Like attracts like and when your energy is at their level they will feed off of you until they are so fat and happy with negative glee and leave you lying there all strung out, defenseless and depleted of all energy. Sometimes, they can even have such control over you that you become one of them. Be careful, very careful.

Who are they and where do they live?

They can be family members, co-workers, bosses, neighbors, friends, customers/clients and therefore they too can live with you, work with you, hangout with you and do business with you.

In my own life I have experienced many of these vampires and have learned how to avoid them or deal with them in ways that leave me in a better place. I have dealt with the boss vampire, a co-worker vampire, client/customer vampire, several so called friend vampires and a family vampire (which for my own safety will not discuss here!) I hope to help you identify vampires in your life and give you positive suggestions and spiritual solutions in dealing with them. I want to point out here, that it took me a lot of lessons to finally accept that these people really do exist. I have given so many people the benefit of the doubt, or made excuses for them etc., that finally after many tough experiences and soul searching I have learned they do. I thought for a long time that my so called friends and family could never do that because I would never do that to them. That being, steal my boyfriends, abandon me in times of need, belittle me, compete with me, steal from me, cheat on me, hurt me physically and emotionally, crush my dreams, control me and the list went on.  The lessons I have learned is that not everyone has our best interest at heart and that we are the one’s that are responsible for us and our happiness and well being. If we take care of us then we can take care of others from the best mental, emotional, physical and spiritual center of our being. When we stop looking to others for love and approval and look to ourselves and God for it, these toxic people stop showing up to teach us these lessons.

How do you feel?

One of the easiest and most important ways to know for sure that you are dealing with an emotional vampire/toxic person is to notice how you feel when you are with them, before you are about to see them or after they have left.  Emotional vampires will cause you to feel and or be anxious, stressed, tired, angry, depleted, shamed, stifled, shame, suspicious, un-equal and fearful.  Negative feelings in general are what they give off and feed off.  I want to point out here something I strongly believe. Love, impersonal or personal does not grant anyone the right to treat you or you them badly. In other words, if you are putting up with it because it is my ________ who is family or is my friend and there fore they don’t mean it, really. These vampires know what they are doing and if they really don’t realize they are doing it then they are mentally ill. Most of us know when we are being mean, it doesn’t feel good. Don’t stand for excuses or empty apologies.

Types of Emotional Vampires:

There are quite a few “types’ when you break it down. However, I am listing a few that we tend to deal with on a daily basis.

Emotional Wreck: This person is constantly in a state of emotional and mental confusions, drama, excitement, depression…they just can’t seem to keep themselves or their life in order without DRAMA.

Putdown Artist: No matter what you can rely on this person to slam you at each turn. They put you and anything you do down and usually really enjoy doing it in front of others.

The Hater: He/She is always hating on you or anyone that they perceive is better than them; richer, skinner, fatter, nicer, more successful, better house, car, life in general.

The Blamer: Everyone else it to blame for their problems or problems in general. Life sucks for them because everyone else keeps them down. They will usually say things like, “If it weren’t for those ______ things would be so much better.” Or “If it wasn’t for ______ I would be better.”

Moochers: These people are constantly borrowing from you – everything from a stick of gum to money. Like you want a stick of gum back! Anyway, they will suddenly come down with memory loss when it comes time for payback in money or favors.

Gossip Girl/Guy: Never do they have anything to say that isn’t salacious, bad news, judgments of others and pointing the bad in everyone and everything.

Bullies: No matter what age we are these nasty people seem to be around us at one time or another school, work, and socially. A bully loves to hurt, humiliate and dominate those that are weaker than themselves.

Manipulators: These are cunning tricksters that are sometimes hard to see at first. They are masters of deception and subterfuge to gain control over you.

Self-Destructor: This is friend or family member is dead set on bringing you down with them if you stick around and enable them. They are the alcoholic, party-holic, drug addict, etc.

The Downer: Always in a sour mood. Life sucks for them and they will let you know it. Think about that skit from Saturday Night Live with Debbie Downer. Funny as it is on television we all know that in real life that kind of person is so not fun or funny!

The Love Stealer: This person generally is your “friend”. They know all about you, your history, family etc. they have shared some good times with you but all along for them it is just a means to an end which is to get your partner or spouse in bed with them. This person wants you to know that they are better than you because they could have had your partner and you can’t hold them. They don’t necessarily want your partner they want the control over you. They know no boundaries.

If you still haven’t figured out if you are around or involved with any of these creatures here are a few warning signs:

• Excessively nice or friendly to everyone, to the extent that it is phony. This is to lure their victims into their world for them to feed off.
• Perpetual doom and gloom attitude and or moods
• Constantly making snide remarks to you or in general
• Almost all conversations with them start off with negative or bad news which they quick deflect or diffuse by saying “Oh I didn’t really mean that…”
• You feel drained, sad, mad or depressed when with them, before you know you have to see or talk to them and after you have left them

Most emotional vampires or toxic people are mentally ill on some level and they are miserable and self loathing. You cannot fix them or talk to them about their ways because they never see that they are wrong. It will always go back on you and the vicious circle continues. Do not enable them by having a “discussion” about how they are acting. They will not get it.

No Garlic or Crucifixes Needed:

In dealing with and or getting rid of emotional vampires the best thing to do is sever the relationship. However, I know this is not always practical because many of them are family members or co-workers, possibly bosses or spouses. My suggestion is to always keep things on a professional, non-personal, cordial level. Conversations should never include personal information. This includes weaknesses, fears, worries or even positive things like a promotion, raise, new this or that. Keep it strictly professional. If they start to gossip or try to lure you in by some “juicy” bit, which always starts out with “Don’t tell anyone but……” At this point, kindly change the subject or excuse yourself politely.

The main thing to remember is the less you engage them and the less attention you give them the quicker they will lose interest. On a spiritual level if you keep yourself at a positive energy level above them they will be less attracted to you because they are operating at a low frequency energy level. Like attracts like is true for this situation as it is for all things in the universe.

Many Blessings,

Cheri

This is an effective sleep prayer to help those suffering from insomnia. After you are in bed and get comfortable, take three deep breaths, inhale the good and exhale the stress of the day. Then repeat slowly, quietly and lovingly to yourself as you fall to sleep:

“My toes are relaxed, my ankles are relaxed, my legs are relaxed, my back is relaxed, my hands and arms are relaxed, my shoulders are relaxed, my neck is relaxed, my face is relaxed, my eyes are relaxed, my whole body and mind are relaxed. Relax, Relax, Relaxing, Relaxed. I fully and freely forgive everyone including myself and I wish for all harmony, health, peace and all the blessings of life. I am at peace. A great stillness comes over me and a great calm comes over my entire being as I realize the Divine Presence within me. I know that the realization of life and love heals me. I wrap myself in the mantle of love and I fall asleep filled with good will for all. Throughout the night peace remains with me, and in the morning I will be filled with life and love. A circle of love surrounds me. I sleep in peace and I wake in joy.”

Peaceful dreams,
Cheri

You get what you focus on and attract to you the things that you give a great deal of thought to. Ask yourself what have you been getting lately? If we are stuck in worry, fear, loss and or lack than that is what shows up in our lives. And if you keep rehashing a past hurt or loss then that too keeps you in that energy and continues to create the same in your present life.  While it is important to think about a situation or event that caused you pain so you can learn from the situation we don’t need to stay stuck in it. In order to make the best of it and move on we need to honor ourselves and what we experienced within that situation. Grieve, accept, learn, forgive yourself and others involved, regroup and move forward with your life. When we keep living in the past , complaining or rehashing a misfortune it only builds walls around you to block your good.

Our positive and negative thoughts also play out in our dreams. One of the best ways that you can guage where you are in your life subconsciously is through your dreams. If during your waking hours you “put on a happy face” in the midst of not so happy times, then your dreams could reflect that you are not being true to yourself by various dark and dreary dreams. Perhaps you dream of a mask or make-up or other disguises that in dreams represent you are hiding your true self. In addition, when you wake up from a dream the most important clue to your true emotional and subconscious state is the feeling you have immediately when you wake up which is usually a continuation of emotions in your dream, what you are truly feeling.  I have had what I considered really good days where I felt fine, everything went well during the day but at night my dreams were dark and filled with frustration. This means that there are deeper beliefs and or thought patterns that are driving me unconsciously that I need to change in order to get what I want out of my life.  On the flip side, when we are experiencing deep sorrow or grief we may have light dreams, happier dreams which is our inner light and beingness reflecting that it is there and it will see us through these dark times. I remember having some of my most beautiful and comforting dreams during one of my darkest periods after my boyfriend had passed away. 

Have you awakened from a dream where you just felt lousy? Maybe it was a sad dream filled with frustration or angry and you then all day long you felt out of sorts and just couldn’t get on track into your groove.  Whenever this happens try to pivot that negative emotion to a more positive emotion before getting out of bed. To pivot is to think of something that is just slightly better then that thought will bring another thought at that same level and then another and so on until you are in a positive emotional energy level. Here is an example: You wake up from a dream and you are in a pissy mood and if you get out of bed with that ”attitude” believe me you will keep attracting more pissy experiences to yourself on and on all day.  You stub your toe, trip on something on the way to the bathroom, then you spill your coffee or tea on you, then the traffic is backed up and you get every red light and it goes on and on. However, IF you would instead pivot from that pissy mood to a more positive thought before getting out of bed i.e. “Boy am I glad that was just a dream and I am awake now and can choose my mood”, “hey it is sunny outside, oh I am so happy spring is here I am looking so forward to being off this weekend where I can …….”  You see once you start on one slight improvement it brings another at that level and so on. Then you can get out of bed and go about your day bringing more and more good experiences to you. It doesn’t matter what the thought is specifically what you are looking for is the emotional energy to raise your vibration to a level of positive attraction.

At the end of the day, when you go to sleep, end it on a positive thought level that you really feel within you. Saying a prayer, forgive anyone including yourself from any missteps earlier in the day and be filled with gratitude. Keeping our energy level and thoughts raised to the level of goodness to ensure positive dreams and good life experiences.

Many Blessings and Sweet Dreams.

Cheri

As a young Christian, I often thought it was weird to call the day that Jesus was crucified good.  Then I learned the reason it is called Good Friday even though there seemed to be nothing good about the darkest day, is because it is darkest before the dawn of many who awakened to a new life.  Jesus arose from his grave as he said he would. He lives and His teachings live because of what transpired over Easter weekend. 

I think many of us have experienced dark days where we thought that it was the end. And many of us are experiencing some dark days now. Some of us have lost jobs, been downsized from our companies and we feel downsized in our souls. Some of us are going through divorce or the loss of loved one. Others may have debt piled so overwhelming high that it seems hopeless. Or maybe you have been betrayed by a friend or trusted confident and now  the one you thought you could trust has just thrown it away?  I certainly have  experienced many dark days.  And there were many, many times that I have been so down and felt so alone that I couldn’t see a possibility that things would ever be better.  How many have you been there? And what brought you out of your darkest day? For me it was my faith in God.

My faith and trust in God and focusing on God’s goodness and love keeps me and has kept me going during times I felt that I am being crucified. When I turn my focus to God and shut out all the noise and seemingly endless negativity from the world by going into silence and prayer God is there, always God is there.  In this time of silence, I surrender all my problems and hurts to God praying for His guidance and I am calmed. It is then that I hear and feel God telling me the way to keep going, how to reinvent myself, how to meet obligations and to be happy and successful in my life again. 

In dreams, God can talk to us easily because our subconscious is open and receptive to receiving information our conscious mind would otherwise question or dismiss. In our dreams we reach the theta state of consciousness. Theta is the state where God and the realm of creation is and we can get there as well in prayer. 

On this Good Friday, if you are experiencing a sort of personal crucifiction remind yourself that it is always darkest before the dawn. Go into silence and surrender to God with faith and trust that with God you will arise above it all to be new again. There is life after seeming death.

“Is it not known to all people that the dream is the most usual way that God reveals himself to man?” —- Tertullian

Many Blessings and Sweet Dreams.

Cheri