You can download the program as an MP3 and stick it on your iPod, put it in iTunes, or burn it to a CD. Or you can purchase the CD itself which is shipped via U.S. Postal mail and will take 1-2 weeks to receive.

Reviews and responses so far from the people who bought advance copies at the Conscious Growth Workshop have been very positive. One person told me he started crying (for the first time in many years) while listening to one of the meditations. The first meditation is a love meditation, and the second is all about gratitude. If you’re a fan of guided meditation, you’re really going to love these two. Each is less than 10 minutes and designed to bring you to a high vibration quickly. They’re also designed so that you can do them repeatedly and get different results.

The mp3 version is $19.97. You’ll receive a link to download the zip file immediately (88mgs)

The CD version is $29.97 and comes in a slimline jewel case. Free shipping is included to everywhere in the world.

I invite you to purchase this program today!

© 2009 by Erin Pavlina.

***

There were 33 of us in the first group.  We had been summoned.  It was with excitement and a measure of trepidation that I and my companions entered the Great Hall.  What did God want to tell us?  What task were we to be assigned?  What quest was there to engage?

We gathered in the Hall and waited.  I recognized all of my companions.  We shared knowing and reassuring smiles.  And then His presence filled the Hall.  Love and warmth magnified to infinity bathed us all.

“It is time to return,” God said.

There was a murmur in the group.  I sensed many were reticent to return.  I know I was.  I could also sense excitement and hope from others.  Someone spoke.

“Why now?”

God said, “Because they’ve forgotten Love.”

“How are we supposed to remind them?  Their hearts are closed.”

God replied, “What is closed may be open.  You know the way.”

“We are guiding from here, isn’t that a better place for us to help them remember?” someone responded.

“You must show them the frequency so they can hear it again,” God said. “They’ve forgotten Love.  They are listening to fear.”

I said, “When we incarnate we too forget Love.  It is too hard to bear.  This causes great anxiety and despair to be disconnected so.”

God said, “That is the way of the Lightworker.  You will remember in time, and then you will remind others of what they’ve forgotten.   I would not ask this of you if it was not of great importance.  Others will follow to help you, and still others are already there to remind you of what you already know.  You will be cared for.”

“Is there really a way for us to bring the people and the planet back to love?”

God said, “Yes.  Remind them of what they’ve forgotten.  Resonate at the frequency of unconditional love.  There is nothing more you need to say or do.  It will be enough.  Wake them to the frequency.  Show them the way back to Love.”

And then God said, “I have great faith in all of you.  You have my Love.  Please take it with you and show anyone who has forgotten.  There is too much fear in the world.  Be the light that cuts through the darkness and fear, and show them the way Home.  Remember, I am with you, always.”

God stepped out of the Great Hall.  I and my companions formed a circle and held hands.  We held tight to each other and someone said, “We will go forth with courage and compassion.”

Another said, “We will not forget our Way.”

“We will remind people of the Love they’ve forgotten.”

“We will overcome our own fear of disconnection.”

“We will support each other and work together.”

“We will carry only the frequency of love in our hearts.”

“We will love unconditionally.”

“We will remember when the time is right.”

“We will stand against fear wherever it is prevalent.”

“We will not judge those who have forgotten the light.”

“We will bring comfort to those who suffer.”

“We will have faith.”

We went around the entire circle this way.  I gazed into the eyes of my fellow lightworkers and vowed to remember as soon as I could so that I could help guide the planet back to Love.  I knew there would be challenges to my faith.  I knew there would be times I felt alone, and times I would feel so overwhelmed that I would cease to care what happened to others, but I resolved to get past those feelings and remember why I was there.   I would seek out the support of other Lightworkers who could empathize with my plight.  I took great solace in knowing that no matter what happened, I was loved, and would someday return Home.  I knew that my journey would be safe, even if it was uncomfortable.  And I vowed that my time there would make a measureable difference.

We headed out of the Great Hall to make our preparations.  There were Guides to recruit, parents to pick, plans to be made.  I carried in my heart all of God’s Love.  Yes, with this Love I could help them remember what they’d forgotten.  I was ready.

© 2009 by Erin Pavlina.

My higher self came to me in a dream last night.  She handed me a box filled with puzzle pieces and told me to put all the pieces together.  So I got busy working on that.  The pieces were in the shape of North American states and territories so I was able to know roughly how to put them together.  As I got close to finishing I said to her, “Oh I get it.  I see what’s happening here.”  She said, “No you’re not done.  Put all the pieces in place.  All you’re seeing is the small pictures on each piece and you’re assuming much.” 

So I kept going until every single piece was in place and then stepped back to see the big picture and was amazed by what I saw.  I understood it all so clearly.  The pieces lost their borders and all I saw was one big picture.  She said, “The details are important.  Every piece carries its own impact on the whole of the puzzle.  Every piece must be in the right place in order for you to see the big picture.”  I said, “This is awesome.  I can’t believe what I’m seeing here.  I’ve got to share this with everyone.”  She said, “No, this was only for you.  It’s part of your job to get all the pieces where they belong so that the big picture is revealed to everyone.”  I was feeling a little disappointed as it all seemed so easy. I just wanted to show everyone the big picture.  I knew they would all understand if they could just see what I was seeing.  She said, “Everyone needs to be a part of this puzzle.  Every piece must understand how integral it is to the Whole.  Everyone on Earth needs to understand how they fit into the big picture.” 

Reluctantly, I took apart the puzzle and put all the pieces back in the box.  I heard something jingling at the bottom of the box and pulled out a key ring with four keys on it.  She said, “Those are your tools.  You are to awaken people to their unique contribution to the puzzle.  You must help people understand how important they are to the Whole, that no piece is any greater than another, that everyone has a reason for being here.” 

So then I started asking questions about people I personally knew and asking what purpose they served in the Whole.  She gave me some specific answers.  I asked her how I was to go about doing all of this.  She said, “Keep doing what you’re doing.  Appreciate what you can do and your own unique contribution to the Whole.  The piece of the puzzle that is You is complete and whole; you need only share it with the world.”  She showed me images of myself doing a workshop.  It felt like I was teaching.

She said, “People cannot see the big picture when they try to be something they are not, when what they share with others is not their true self, when fear and fear of judgment cause people to alter their frequency and project something other than what they truly are.  This does not serve to show people the Whole.  It fragments the puzzle when a piece wears a mask hiding its true identity.  When this happens, the picture is fuzzy, muddled, and inaccurate and people react to the Whole with an inaccurate understanding of its true nature.  Remind people of their unique contribution to the Whole, help them find the courage to be who they truly are, and reconnect them with Love.”

The last thing she said to me was, “When you realize that all that is required of you is to be yourself, you will find your life flows easily and steadily.  You will merge with the Whole, and your place in the big picture will be revealed.  Do not try to be another piece. You are who you are for a very specific reason. Embrace it, use your talent and skill, and show people the unique contribution you make to the Whole.”

When I woke from this dream I immediately came to my computer to write it down so I wouldn’t forget it.  It was a powerful dream for me.  I felt humbled, charged, and hopeful for humanity.  Let’s get busy putting this puzzle together, people!  Show the world your piece!

© 2009 by Erin Pavlina.

What is one book or other source you would highly recommend for a complete beginner interested in becoming an intuitive counselor?

You’ll want to develop a very clear connection with your guides, specifically your conduit guide.  And you’ll want to be proficient in counseling.  So I would study the “How To” information of other intuitive counselors such as myself, Colette Baron-Reid, and Sonia Choquette.  Read their books or their blogs, attend their seminars, teleconferences, and workshops.  Or arrange a consult to get detailed answers to the questions that pertain to you in your individual situation.

What do colors in dreams represent?  Aura or chakra colors?  I have had two dreams in a row where the same shade of the colors green and orange have featured prominently in wedding scenes but in different contexts.

Green is the heart chakra color related to compassion, empathy, love, and connection with others.  Orange is the sacral chakra color related to relationships and emotions.  It’s no wonder you saw them at a wedding.  I’d have to know how you felt in the dream to help you better understand why these colors are coming up for you.

In times of personal woe, a lot of people have trouble connecting spiritually. How would you suggest they find comfort if they feel cut off in that way?

In times of woe is definitely when you most need your spiritual connections.  Read my free ebook: 10 Ways To Raise Your Vibration in Under 10 Minutes, which you can get instantly when you sign up for my newsletter.  Everything in there will help you reconnect with yourself and your spiritual posse on the other side very quickly.  Nothing helps me reconnect faster than sitting down to a nice virtual cup of hot chocolate and a hug from my higher self, who is a constant reminder that this too shall pass, that what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, and that you can always choose love.  For long term reconnection, I highly recommend meditation and the practice of feeling blessed by keeping a gratitude log.

Do you have any thoughts about whether the use of antidepressants inhibits a person’s intuitive abilities and/or psychic development?

I’ve never been on antidepressants nor have I known someone who has tried to utilize their intuitive abilities while on antidepressants, so I could only hazard a guess.  Anything that impairs your vibration or ability to connect with your guides is going to impair or inhibit your intuitive abilities and your psychic development, whether that’s alcohol, drugs, shame, fear, anger, anxiety, guilt, etc.  To effectively utilize your psychic faculties you’ll want to be as clear as you can.

What are the top two or three inspiring books you read in 2009?

Most of the books I read in 2009 were related to health and relationships, but I wouldn’t say any of them were particularly inspiring; rather I would say they were informative.  One of my goals in 2010 is to catch up and brush up on the spiritual books out there.  First up is Conversations with God, which I’ve never read, but now feel called to read.  I’m just going to pop by the Hay House website and see what they’ve got on tap.

How do you deal with a deceased person who keeps coming into your dreams and insists she is not dead?

Whoa.  Talk about violation of personal space!  If it were me, I would show them the door, which in this case is the light.  Help them crossover by gently suggesting they are in fact dead, and I would ask the angels to guide them to the other side.  I encountered a fellow many years ago who didn’t know he was dead.  It took me 5 tries to convince him he was dead.  If they won’t go, find out if there is unfinished business they’d like you to help them tie up.  That might be enough to get them to cross over peacefully. 

And what’s your take on crystal healing?

I don’t have a lot of experience with crystal healing.  I recall when I was a teenager trying to use crystals to heal myself when I was ill or in pain.  It never seemed to work, so either it doesn’t work or I was doing it wrong.  My jury is still out on crystals.  I haven’t worked with them enough to tout their benefits just yet.

In order to heal deep emotional wounds do we need people or life situations to open up (trigger) those wounds in order for us to heal them?

No I don’t believe so.  You are capable of deciding how you want to feel about the past, the present, and the future.  It isn’t always easy to hold a loving energy towards a situation, event or person, but it’s always possible.  I find that asking the pain why it’s there is important, and learning the lesson is important too.  Pain and difficulty come when we resist what is, when our expectations are violated, when we feel victimized.  I have found that accepting responsibility for my thoughts, feelings, and actions is very helpful in healing old wounds, as is asking myself how I’d like to feel about the situation.

Does hanging around people with a lower vibration lower my vibrational frequency? And do I have the capacity to become immune?

If you are in a high vibrational state like love, peace, or gratitude and you hang around with someone in a lower vibrational state like anger, for example, then either your vibration will drop or theirs will be raised, or you can both maintain your vibrations if that is your desire.  It is not automatic that yours will lower or theirs will raise.  Guarding against those whose energy lowers ours, though, is something I highly recommend.  Learn how to maintain your higher vibrational state when you are around those who might pull you down.  Be an example for them.  I think we all have the capacity to choose the frequency at which we want to vibrate, but I haven’t personally met anyone yet who doesn’t occasionally drop into a lower vibration.

What is the most empowering lesson that you’ve learned so far from your recent separation? (I hope it’s not too personal or too soon to ask) I just think more people need to see that you can find personal power in “negative” situations. I believe you have a good perspective on life and can get that message across.

Great question.  Most empowering lesson is that I’m learning to rely on myself.  Expressing my own power and authority.  It feels great.  A little scary, but ultimately awesome!  I kill my own spiders, open my own jars, set up my own electronics, I’m a rockstar!    My relationship with Steve is like energy, it was not destroyed in our separation, it merely changed form.  And I’m enjoying getting reacquainted with parts of me that were buried in the relationship.  I’m remembering the power of my own message and am looking forward to sharing it more often and more deeply with my readers.

I have been working on my ability to tune into various energies, such as my guides, angels, and environment. However I am not exactly sure specifically how to tune myself in, outside of guided meditations and visualization. Besides simply concentrating and focusing on that which I want to tune into, can you describe in detail the general “tuning in” process? Sometimes it feels as if I cannot locate my station changing knob.

Tuning in is usually the easy part.  The hard part is trusting that you are tuned in to the being you’re trying to communicate with, being able to interpret and understand what you’re receiving, and having the confidence to act upon it.  Unfortunately it’s beyond the scope of this article to go into the kind of detail we’d need to go into, but I would say to continue to have long conversations with your guides (the longer you go the more tuned in you will be), write down what they’re telling you or showing you, act on it, and see what results you get.  You can also ask your guides to help you tune in better, then get out of your own way (and your own logic) and let them show you how to hear them best.

How can you distinguish the voices of your higher self/spirit guides from those of your ego or mind chatter?

Read this article I wrote on this subject: How To Tell the Difference Between Your Ego, Logic, Spirit Guides and Intuition.

How can you learn to control your visions/premonitions/clarsentience, such as recurring ones happening only when touching a certain person/animal, that will fade when you ask questions instead of giving answers?

If you’re getting repeated visions or premonitions there’s obviously a strong warning in that.  If something you’re seeing is going to come to pass you can either try to prevent it or you can get ready to deal with it.  If you no longer want to receive the premonitions you’ll have to shut down your psychic radio and stop tuning in.  That’s sometimes easier said than done, but maintaining control of when you get information and when you don’t is important.  I had to learn how to stop receiving communication from my guides and deceased people when I wasn’t officially working.  Now my guides can reach me in case of emergency or urgency or when I’m working.  It takes a strong spirit to get my attention when I’m not working.  It does happen but it’s rare now.  Work with your guides.  Tell them what you want and need.  Sometimes I get a metaphor for someone that I just don’t understand and I ask the guides to give it to me again a different way.  This is a two way street.  Let them know what you want and what you can handle and ask them to ease off if you don’t like the kind of communication you’re getting.

Do you have a perspective on ‘protection’ – i.e. managing your field and energy both during sessions and when at parties or out and about like new year’s eve?

Great question.  I was recently at a casino in the evening (rare for me) as I was going to a club to hear a comedian.  I immediately realized I was way too open to be there comfortably.  So many people walking around in a state of arousal, excitement, debauchery, alcohol … many of who had nefarious intentions.  Just a lot of low vibration people (not to say everyone there was that way!  Heaven’s no, but definitely a bunch of energies I don’t normally enjoy being around).  So I had to close my “door” so to speak so I wouldn’t be affected by their energy.  First, I closed up my chakras to be tighter in my body.  So the size of an orange instead of the usual size of a basketball I’m used to.  Then I had to close off my energy by erecting an energy shield around me.  You know the kind I’m talking about, the one that says, “leave me alone” or “I’m not the droid you’re looking for. Move along.”  With practice you can do this too.

When I’m working, it’s the opposite.  I open my chakras very wide and connect them with the infinite divine.  I only do this under the protection of my work environment – my White Room – and in the presence of my conduit guide, Bob.  Managing energy is very important in life.  If you’re too open in a room full of lower vibrational people, you can easily pick up on their energy and take it home with you, much like when I’m in a casino and come home wreaking of smoke even though I never touched a cigarette.

If someone is interested in becoming a psychic medium/intuitive counselor, what should they do on a daily/regular basis to achieve that goal? (besides meditate)

Connect with your conduit guide.  Practice giving readings to friends and family.  Get feedback on your methods.  Then practice on total strangers.  Keep refining your process until you’re very confident in your ability to tune in for anyone.  Let your guides teach you as well.  Raise your vibration and keep it high when you are working.  Don’t be afraid of making mistakes; they will happen.  Don’t be afraid of failure.  Just keep working at it until you are comfortable with the results.

Do you have any new year’s resolutions? 

No.  Not sure I like the whole New Year’s Resolution thing, but I do like writing out my goals for the year, so I’ve already done some work on that.  This year will be all about creating products, teleconferences, more videos, and maybe a workshop or two.

When you give a reading, has anyone ever had and shared a psychic hit on you?  What is the etiquette for that sort of happening?

Do you mean that while I’m giving a reading someone gets information for me?  Yes that has happened a few times.  I do read for a lot of other psychics and mediums, some of them in training and some of them relatively famous.  I also read for clients who are just really intuitive.  And on occasion someone will tell me, usually at the end of the reading, some information they’re getting about me.  I don’t mind receiving it, so I’m happy when that happens.  I’ve also had very intuitive friends and colleagues send me impromptu information they’re getting about me.  I like that too.

The other morning, not quite awake, I heard a woman’s voice call my name very distinct accent, I’m sure it was my spirit guide. How do I hear more, like answers to questions?

The time between sleeping and becoming awake is often a time when we pick up on snatches of conversation at another frequency.  It could have been a spirit guide, or it could have been an auditory hallucination, or a hypnogogic hallucination.  It’s a hard time to get answers to questions.  I would work on lucid dreaming if you want to use your sleep time to communicate with your guides.

Could you ask your guides about free will? Say if you wanted to pray for the protection of someone or if you wanted to perform distance healing, would the angels/guides be limited in helping those people because the request doesn’t come from them directly?

Curses and prayers get through with equal effectiveness.  They either bounce off someone’s aura or they impact.  Whether it happens or not depends on the vibration and intention of the person receiving the curse or prayer or healing for that matter.  You can accept or reject either “gift.” 

If you have a reading that states a possibility for your future, but then a decision you make changes the ending, will the universe bring you back on track somehow?

Depends on whether you want it to or not and if you’re a vibrational match for the path you desire.  Like you’ve correctly presupposed, you can change your future, it is not set in stone.  If, during a reading, a psychic tells you something is likely to happen, you can take steps to alter that outcome.  Just change course.  If, however, you change course but you’re still a vibrational match for that thing happening, you could easily slip back into your old trajectory.  At all times and in all ways you are responsible for the outcome of your decisions.  So always think carefully as you move along the path. 

Do you believe in Jesus?

Depends on your definition.  I believe there is a highly conscious being (one of many actually) who incarnated on Earth to help remind us of who we really are.  I’m not sure when he lived or how many times he’s been back since.  I’ve encountered an energy on the other side that felt like the Christ energy to me, and it was quite humbling.  When I think of Jesus, I think of the highly ascended consciousness.  We are all One, so if you believe in Jesus I hope you look in the mirror and see him staring back at you.  You have access to all of his wisdom and power.

Can psychic powers be gained with yoga and your views on Yogic siddhis?

Psychic powers could be accessed while you’re doing yoga, sure.  Anything that puts you in a higher vibration or balances your mind, body or spirit will help you in the development of your psychic faculties.  I don’t know what a Yogic Siddhi is, so I’ll defer to those who know more on that subject.

***

If you want to discuss any of these answers, there’s a forum thread for this blog entry.  Head on over and let’s hear what you’ve got to say!

© 2009 by Erin Pavlina.

During my sessions with clients, I am often able to tune in to their passions.  There’s this big aha moment when I dig up something they long thought buried, and then outline the steps they can take to leave their old passionless job and step into a career that excites them.  Recently I did a reading for a woman who was at the top of her game career-wise, making a mid-six-figure income, success all around her.  But she wasn’t fulfilled, so she was about to quit her job and go into consulting in the same industry she’d been working for for years in an attempt to at least have some freedom.  She wanted advice on her new chosen career path.  But her guides wouldn’t go there with her because she was not on the path with passion.  Instead her guides showed me a scenario where she started a foundation to help impoverished women and children in third world countries, which was not even close to what she was doing today.  I reminded her that before she went to college this is what she wanted to do.  She agreed that was accurate; that that had been her dream long ago but she didn’t think she could accomplish it so she went the corporate/law route, and rose through the ranks in a very large, well known company.  Her hope was that she could convince this company to be more charitable, but it never happened as she got lost in the corporate shuffle of earning profits or else.  When I tapped her back in to her compassion and outlined the steps she would take to make this foundation a reality she was really quiet for a moment and then got really emotional and said, “I would love to do that more than anything on the planet.  Thank you for reminding me who I really am.  It makes so much sense now.”  On the bright side, her power, contacts, and connections in the corporate world are now going to assist her with manifesting her dream.

So what are you passionate about?  Do you remember?  If you’re not sure, here are some steps you can take to tap into the passion you buried long ago or are putting to the side until “later.”  Get some paper or open a Word document.  You’ll want to keep this handy for “later.”

What makes you giddy with excitement?
Think about all the things in your life you love to do.  Whether it’s skiing, reading, hiking, socializing, going to parties, making videos to upload to YouTube, playing poker, or just meditating quietly for hours.  Just make a list of all the things you would feel eager to do if someone told you to take the day off from work and just do what you wanted to do.  “Hey so-and-so, why don’t we blow off work today and go ________?”  Fill that blank in with a list of things you’d rather do than work.

It doesn’t matter if it seems wasteful on the surface.  One of my friends goes nuts over video and computer games.  He’s a gamer, pure and simple.  There’s nothing he’d rather do.  He went to college to learn computer science because it seemed like a likely choice for himself career-wise, but he really wasn’t into it.  Now he works as a game tester and gets to play games all day.  He rose through the ranks quickly and is well-liked because he is excellent at providing constructive feedback that will make the games better.  If he keeps at it, he could potentially create his own game one day or be on the design team.

Another friend of mine loves movies and television.  He spends a lot of time watching both and getting excited about upcoming new shows and movies.  He’d be excellent at creating a new television series, which is something he is now looking into.  But before I suggested it he thought it impossible.  His day job is at an accounting firm where he daydreams and imagines new characters, stories and shows in his head.  The talent and passion are there, he just has to take action on them.

Once you’ve got your list of the things that excite you, really consider how you might segue into a career that allows you to do that all the time!  Think hard and be creative.  You don’t have to quit your job today, just start thinking about ways that other people are earning money doing what you love, and see if you can find your way into that same arena.

What breaks your heart?
When you look around the world today do you see people suffering?  Do you see things that are wrong with the world that you’d love to see fixed?  What breaks your heart?  Starving children?  Abused children?  World politics?  The homeless?  War and conflict?  What breaks your heart is often a clue to passion.  If you were ignited and believed yourself capable of making a difference in the world, where would you turn your attention?  What problem would you tackle?  No one is saying you have to end world hunger overnight.  Just tap into your heart break and see what’s there.

Make a list right now of all the things that really break your heart.  I’m talking about the things that really tug at your heart strings or ignite you with passion and zeal.  Once you’ve got your list, see if you can figure out a way to take action on your heart break.  This doesn’t have to be something you do for a living, but maybe it’s something you start doing on the side, which will eventually lead to expertise, progress, and job offers.  There are people out there who earn a living tackling world problems, such as politicians, movie producers, and bloggers.

What would you do if you knew you couldn’t fail?
What I hear most often from those who know their passion but aren’t taking action on it is, “But I don’t know how.”  No one knows how when they’re first starting out.  Not knowing how to do something is not a good enough reason not to do it.  You learn how.  You either find someone who is successful doing it and learn how they did it, or you go through your own trial and error until you figure it out. 

On your sheet of paper, write down the phrase, “If I knew I couldn’t fail I would …”  and then make a list of what you would do.  Think big, really big.  The sky’s the limit.  Here is my own list:  If I knew I couldn’t fail I would want to help people remember that we are all connected, that we are all One, and that hurting others only hurts ourselves.  I would teach people about compassion and kindness towards their fellow man.  I would empower others to awaken and take action in the area of their passion.  I would teach acceptance and love.

Now think about it, there are so many ways to accomplish the items on my list.  I could be a motivational speaker, a diplomat, a politician, a counselor, a writer, a coach, a screenwriter, etc.  As long as I stay tapped into my message, the medium is my choice.  What could you do with your list?  Make a list of all the careers or jobs you could have where you could make progress on your “If I knew I couldn’t fail” goal.  See what emerges. 

What makes you feel like you’ve contributed?
Another way to determine your passion is to ask yourself to finish this phrase, “At the end of the day, I feel best when I’ve _________” and fill in the blank.  Do you feel best when you’ve solved a problem, helped someone who was suffering, had an impact, made a change in your life, challenged yourself, organized an area, gotten all the kids to after-school activities on time, made a nice dinner for your spouse, taken time out for yourself, meditated, communed with nature, etc?  What gives you that nice sigh of contentment and the feeling of a job well done?  Could you earn money doing that for a living?  You bet you could.  Even if you feel most content sitting in a hot bubble bath or getting a massage, why not open a spa and sell that contentment to others?  What if you’re a stay-at-home-parent who is super organized and you feel great at the end of the day if everything is in its proper place and all the children are well fed and clean?  Write a book to help others who aren’t as good at it as you, or start a blog, or do workshops on it.  Don’t discount contentment and contribution.  If you love it, chances are other people would love it too.  Help them find it if they don’t have it and you’ve got a new career.

***

Your passion is in you somewhere.  Remember it or find it.  Then turn your passion into action. Find the road that leads to success with your passion.  You can do it!  When you combine passion with skill and contribution, success is not far behind.  Don’t spend another day doing something you hate. Find and ignite your passion today!

© 2009 by Erin Pavlina.

You come from Love, but you do not remember.  Know this though:  There is nothing you need to be or do to be worthy of Love.  You simply need to remember who you are.  You are a loving conscious tendril of Source, an expression of thought and energy.  You are the embodiment of Love.  You are an explorer, here for a time, and then back you go to Source.

If you ever feel disconnected from Source, that is your own perception, for Source is never disconnected from you.  There is nothing you can do or be that will cause Source to disconnect from you.  That is impossible.  Forgiveness, understanding, and compassion are yours.  Always.  Can you remember this truth?

Do not judge yourself.  Do not fear the loss of Love.  It is impossible for you to be cut off from Love.  You are living in an illusion where you think you must act a certain way in order to gain Love.  There is no mountain to climb.  There is no goal to reach.  No approval you must seek.  You must only remember that you are loved. 

When you remember that you are loved, help others remember this too.  Help others see the connection you all share.  None of you are separate from any other.  You are all One.  Do not jockey for position.  Do not put others down.  Do not harm another’s connection with Source. 

Pierce the veil and see past the illusion.  All you have to do is be.  All you have to remember is Love.  Feel the connection in your heart and in your soul. 

Act from Love and you act in accordance with the Universe.  Where there is Love, you will glimpse Source.  Act from fear and you will feel disconnected from Source;  you will be led further into the illusion.  Do not give in to fear.  Reconnect with the truth of Love.  Reconnect with Source.

Take heart.   You are never alone.  You can always draw upon Universal Love.  Let it fill your soul.  Let it propel you to greater peace.  Do not struggle against the current.  Do not struggle at all.  Surrender to Love.

You are loved.  Always.  It cannot be any other way.  Do you yet remember?  Search your feelings and you will find the Truth.  Honor the feeling.  Honor the Truth.  Be One with Love.

You are always worthy of love.

© 2009 by Erin Pavlina.

If you’ve been following my blog regularly you’ll know that I’ve always had a deep fear of public speaking but that I’ve been actively working on overcoming it by taking massive action in the direction of my goals.  I joined Toastmasters 3.5 years ago, I’ve volunteered to introduce Steve when he goes on stage, I recently entered and won my first toastmaster contest, I volunteered to be President of one of the largest Toastmaster clubs forcing me to speak in front of a large audience at every meeting, I did a one hour radio show, and a 90-minute video interview.  All of these actions are part of my plan to become comfortable with public and professional speaking. 

The first time I introduced Steve on stage I was so nervous.  The old me would have quit speaking right then and there.  “Forget it, that sucked, I made a fool of myself, we’re never doing that again!”  But I’ve come to learn that failures and even embarrassments are nothing to be afraid of.  You pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and get back in the game.  So when Steve asked if I wanted to speak at the workshop I said yes even though it terrified me.  I knew that saying yes was the right thing to do.  I didn’t let the fear stop me.  But I told Steve that I didn’t want to prepare anything.  I wanted to be in the moment and stay fully present, not get stuck in my head trying to remember something I’d memorized.  He agreed that was best. 

During his planning he would occasionally ask me things like, “Do you want to tell your Star Trek story?”  or “Do you want to be on stage when I do the relationship segment?”  I told him to put me wherever he thought would serve the audience best.  So when the first day of the workshop rolled around, I had no idea if or when he would call me up to the stage.

It didn’t take long.  After the first break, Steve was talking about the principle of Power.  I heard him say, “I’d actually like to bring my wife Erin up on stage to tell us a story of how she successfully used her Power to accomplish a goal.”  That would be my Star Trek story.  My heart was pounding as I walked from the back of the room to the stage.  I had no idea what I was going to say, how I was going to start the story, or anything.  Earlier that day, I asked Darren LaCroix, World Champion of Public Speaking, our friend, and the guy who was introducing Steve, if he would come up on stage with me so I could feel what it might be like if I was up there.  I told him I was really nervous about speaking and asked his advice.  He said, “You’re going to be nervous when you first get here.  That’s okay.  Once you get your first laugh you’ll know the audience is with you, you’ll feel their energy, and you won’t be nervous anymore.”  I was doubtful but I absorbed the info and clung to it like a life preserver.

And so it was that I stepped on stage and began my story.  My breathing betrayed my nervousness, and I’m sure I stumbled a bit, but Darren was right.  As soon as I got my first laugh I relaxed.  I felt the audience was with me, that they wanted me to succeed, and that they were engaged in my story.  By the time I was done, which took maybe 7-8 minutes, I was actually enjoying myself.  That’s something I wouldn’t have believed possible before.  I left the stage, no longer afraid of being up there.  I began to hope Steve would call me up again.

As it turns out, Steve called me up during the career section also.  Then I did announcements daily from the stage.  Easy and very similar to what I do as president of my club, so I already had that as a reference experience.  On the third day we did indeed do much of the relationship segment together including some Q&A.  I loved it.  I wasn’t the least bit nervous.  I was happy speaking on stage.  The longest I was on stage at any one time was probably an hour or so.  Interestingly, last year my Mastermind group and I were talking about putting together a one day workshop where each of us would do an hour presentation.  I really resisted that.  I wasn’t ready.  I really didn’t think I could do it.  Now I know I could.  Why?  Because I have a reference now.  I’ve already been on stage for that long.  Yes, it was with Steve by my side, but I’m sure I could do it alone too.  I discovered that the key is to stop thinking about my personal issues and to concentrate on what I’m trying to convey to the audience.  It’s about them, not me.  My job is to share something that will benefit them.  Thoughts of how I might look or come across disappear in light of what I’m trying to give to others.

When was the last time you pushed yourself beyond your comfort zone and created a new reference experience for yourself?  What are you avoiding because you don’t think you’re ready?  How could you get ready?  What actions could you take today to make you ready for that challenge in the future?  I had to join Toastmasters 3.5 years ago to be ready for what I did this past weekend.  I’m a patient woman.  I knew if I just kept showing up to Toastmasters, participating, and giving it my all, that I would eventually get better at public speaking.  Now, I’m not just better at it, I like it. 

Don’t let fear stop you from creating the life you want.  Continue to create new reference experiences for yourself until you reach your goal.  You can take baby steps all the way, or one giant leap if that’s comfortable for you.  My next goal is to do a 1-hour presentation by myself.  I’ll use all of my reference experiences to get there.

What is your goal and what reference experiences will you use to get you there?

© 2009 by Erin Pavlina.

Steve was asked to become a member after having been nominated by a current member of the group.  Not everyone is asked to join this group, and not everyone who wants to be in this group will get an invitation, so we were both completely honored to be welcomed into this group, he as a member and me as a member spouse.

This retreat has nothing to do with making deals or trying to get anything from anyone.  It’s about giving, sharing, and being together.  It was more like a family reunion than a networking meeting.  We settled easily into the flow of this group as they were more than welcoming. 

By the end of this retreat I looked around the room and said to myself, “Wow, the world really is in good hands.”  It was like being in a room of higher selves.  Everyone there was consciously directing their growth.  They were all authentic, loving, giving, nurturing, supportive people.  There were presentations, but also a lot of singing, dancing, meditations, experiential exercises, and sharing of meals.  I never felt higher or lower than any person there.  I felt completely included and loved instantly.  It was like going Home. 

You would probably recognize many of the names of the members of this group, and some you would have never heard of because their work is in niches you’ve probably never studied.  But the names really don’t matter, it’s the work that matters.  All of these people are raising the consciousness and vibration of the people on our planet.  After meeting and getting to know them, I realized we all have the same message: Love.  It’s only in the ways we teach and express it that we differ.

This past week I saw in action the loving tendrils of Source energy who spiral out into the world, touching individuals all over the planet with Love.  This past week I was invited on stage because someone recognized that I am fearful of the stage.   She invited me up and said, “Do what you fear the most” so I started dancing, and I loved it, and I didn’t feel embarrassed or self conscious at all.  There was no judgment in that room.  And Steve got it on film too so I’ll always remember what I did.

I was transformed.  I gained courage.  I touched love. I was wrapped in this nurturing, powerful collective embrace that together said, “We can do it! We are unstoppable!  We can bring the planet to a state of Love.” 

Have you ever had one of those moments, days, or weeks that completely transformed your energy?  Where you knew you could never go back to how it used to be?  Where something just clicked and you realized you’d reached a new level of awareness, a new purpose, with new drive and passion?

The last time this happened to me was April 2006 when I discovered I was a psychic and medium.  That was a three week whirlwind of transformation that included filming for the Criss Angel show and then having Doreen Virtue read for me at Hay House’s I Can Do It event. 

So many ideas are flooding through me right now.  I can’t wait to sort through them and see what blossoms from this experience.  I am filled and overflowing with love.  And I’m going to be exploring new ways to share my message of love, oneness, and connection with the world.  Stay tuned, the best is yet to come!

P.S. If you want to see photos of the conference, I’ll probably be posting a few on my Facebook account.  Send me a friend request so you don’t miss out.

© 2009 by Erin Pavlina.

The other bit of information you need to know about me in order to fully understand and appreciate the story I’m about to tell you is that while I am pretty darn successful in the areas of Love, Truth, and Oneness, I’ve had to really work over the years at getting better at Authority, Power, and Courage.  I’ve had to overcome panic disorder, being too dependent on my parents well into adulthood, and letting other people tell me what I should be doing with my life.  And while I’ve made significant strides in the area of Authority, Power, and Courage over the years (some of my friends can’t even believe how far I’ve come) I still have a lot to learn.

Okay, you’ve got the background.  Here’s the story of how I recently went up a level in Courage, Power and Authority.

As I mentioned, I joined Toastmasters three years ago because I knew at some point I’d find myself up on stage speaking to large crowds.  I figured I might as well get a jump on becoming a better speaker so that when I actually did take the stage I didn’t die of fright.  I’ve done well in Toastmasters, earning my first educational award – Competent Communicator – and taking on officer positions within my club to improve my leadership abilities.  In January of 2009 I became President of my Toastmaster club, Voice Links.  I did this because I’ve never been the leader of an organization or group (though I’ve taken the Vice President position many times) and I wanted to have the experience of being the person in charge, the leader, the head honcho, the buck stopper.  I had great success being President of my club, I learned a lot about delegation, managing others, and being a leader.  I was told by several members that I was one of the best Presidents the club had ever had.  I preened.  I felt good.  I stepped down.  Yes, I stepped down as President even though I could have remained for another 6 months.  I did this because the job wasn’t challenging for me anymore and I’ve learned that if I get too comfortable it means it’s time for a greater challenge.

I am a member of another club, Powerhouse Pros, which happens to be the largest club in our district with over 50 members, and is more geared towards people who are interested in becoming professional speakers.  This is the club Steve’s been in for years.  I was asked to take on the position of VP of Membership for the upcoming term, which I agreed to do because I knew it would be a challenge and a growth experience, which is what I’m actively seeking right now.  But the day after I stepped down as President of Voice Links, I was asked if I was willing to become President of Powerhouse Pros.  The thought terrified me, honestly, because I didn’t feel ready to take over a club that had had such recent massive growth and a club where people were actually using it to become professional speakers.   I’d only been in the club 8 months myself!  But I realized that I had to face this challenge because it was exactly what I asked for.  I had to feel the fear and do it anyway.  I had to step into a role I didn’t feel quite ready for because those are the situations that provide us with the most growth.  Steve had a good chortle at how the universe pushed me in this direction.  And he agreed it would certainly help me in the area of Courage, Power, and Authority.  I accepted the job even though I didn’t feel ready or capable.

I was immediately catapulted into a leadership position unlike anything I experienced in my other, more laid-back club.  The difference in correspondence alone is monstrous, but managing all of these people and making sure their needs are being met is a real challenge.  I am very lucky that I have an executive board full of officers who are awesome, kick ass, and quite competent!  Once we all become accustomed to our roles, I feel our ship will sail quite smoothly.  

The transition officially takes place on July 1, but I was asked to give a speech at our June 29th meeting, awarding our outgoing president with an engraved gavel for her year of service to our club.  I wasn’t exactly expecting to have to create a tribute speech, but I accepted the challenge.  Our outgoing Vice President of Education, the person in charge of creating the agenda for each meeting, came up with the brilliant plan of us doing a Wizard of Ah’s theme, which would involve several of us acting our parts all night during the meeting.  Whoa.  Hang on.  Not what I signed up for.  Hold up!  I found myself charged with the role of the Wicked Witch who is out to fill our president’s shoes (aka the ruby slippers).  Steve got such a kick out of this idea.  He said, “Oh yeah, you gotta do it.  You totally have the Wicked Witch cackle down pat.  I’ve heard you do her voice.  You’d be a natural at it.”  I resisted, “But I’m already doing a whole speech that is sure to make me nervous.  You want me to act all night too and memorize lines and, and, and…”  He replied, “This is what you want.  A challenge.  And the universe is giving it to you.  Accept the challenge.  That’s how you go up a level.”

Shortly thereafter the universe sent several synchronicities to show me I wasn’t going to get out of this so easily.  First, Steve suddenly got an email from a woman who signed her name “Just call me the Wicked Witch of the East.”  That was synchronicity #1.  Ten minutes later I found myself at the grocery store, parked next to a vehicle with the license plate “WchyWmn.”  That was synchronicity #2.  The third synchronicity came in the form of someone on television mentioning the tornado from the Wizard of Oz movie.  I agreed to be the witch.  I had a hat and a cackle and I knew how to use them!

Now guess who they got to join me in this debacle?

John Kinde, playing the scarecrow.  John is a professional speaker, humorist, and runs an Improv Troupe here in town.  This man is the unmitigated king of observational humor.

Bryant Pergerson, playing the Tinman.  Bryant made it all the way to Toastmaster’s highest competition, the International Speech Contest, beating out nearly 25,000 other toastmasters along the way.  My man Bryant can speak like nobody’s business.

S. Frank Stringham, playing the Cowardly Lion.  S. is also a professional speaker and comedian who does an amazing impression of the Cowardly Lion.  S.  is a member of John’s Improv Troupe as well.  The man was born to be on stage and is always entertaining.

Darren LaCroix, playing the Wizard.  Darren is actually a World Champion of Public Speaking and coaches people on how to be better professional speakers.  If you want to know how to speak better, you get with Darren or buy his products.

Bill Parker, as our narrator.  Bill is a Distinguished Toastmaster, the highest level of distinction that Toastmasters offers, and is also a new member of the Improv Troupe.  He’s quite comfortable speaking and has been doing so for years.

Sherri Parker, playing Glenda, the Good Governor of the South.  Sherri is our new District Governor, a high mucky muck in the Toastmaster organization, and also a Distinguished Toastmaster who gave a keynote address at our recent Toastmaster Leadership Institute.  Girlfriend’s got it going on!

And then me.  Little old me.  Still struggling to get the butterflies to fly in formation.  It was like standing next to Tom Cruise, Robert DeNiro, Tom Hanks, Robin Williams, and Meryl Streep while they decide to throw together a little something to act out for fun. 

But hey, I’m here to learn, to get my feet wet, to challenge myself, and this was how it had to be.  I got the script for our play the morning of the performance.  I spent the day practicing my cackle and also writing up my tribute to our outgoing president.  I fed the butterflies in my stomach since they were hanging out so long, I figured they might be hungry.

I was too busy to be nervous, but occasionally throughout the day I would get stabs of adrenaline as I realized what I was going to put myself through.   The night before our meeting I had a dream about the entire event.  There turned out to be some prophetic components to this dream.  First, I dreamed that twice as many people were at the meeting than we usually have, and in the dream we ran out of chairs and it was standing room only.  I also dreamed that some of our guests were in school and had to attend a toastmaster club meeting as part of class credit.  I dreamed that our VP of Education, Bill, was late – he usually arrives first to help set up the meeting room, but in the dream he came only 10 minutes before the meeting which, at a meeting as chaotic as this was going to be, would have been a bad idea.  I also dreamed that our outgoing president, Pam, was in a bad mood and angry at our VP of Education.

All of these things I dreamed came to pass.  Our room was overflowing with all manner of people, more than 50 people showed up.  It was insane.  Several people had to stand in the back because we ran out of chairs.  Our president, Pam, was angry at Bill because the fake agenda he handed out was wrought with errors and she was annoyed with him.  Plus he was nowhere to be found as he was running unusually late.  And there were several students from the local university who came by to witness the meeting as part of one of their classes.

Back to the story …

This night turned out to be a whirlwind for me.  I successfully did Pam’s tribute.  I did a decent job as the Wicked Witch, though I spoke much faster than I should have.  Our area, division and district governors came by to do our officer installation so I was involved in that.  And finally, at the end of the meeting, Pam called me up to get feedback from our guests and to end the meeting.

Through it all, though, I had fun.  I can’t believe it, but I had fun.  Something I’d been dreading turned out to be something quite enjoyable.  By the end of the meeting I could feel a metaphorical mantle of power settle on my shoulders, and instead of weighing me down, it raised me up.  And I learned something so valuable.  When you face your fears instead of running from them, you go up a level in courage.  And if you can remember to have fun in the process, you’ll have all the power you’ll ever need.  For a moment there, I forgot all about the butterflies in my stomach.  They had stopped fluttering.  I think they were afraid of my cackle.

When Steve and I got home that night I was riding a high I haven’t had in a long time.  We sat on our couch together and watched the end of a Star Trek episode, Remember Me.  In it, Beverly Crusher is in a reality of her own making and is trying to get back home.  At one point she says, “Could it be that simple?  Just click my heels together?”  It was the final nod from my Guides.  I’d done good, and I was pleased with myself.  I know the road ahead may have some bumps, and I know the butterflies may come back, but I will face them with courage.

What could you do today that would help you level up in courage?  Where have you gotten so comfortable that it’s not even a challenge anymore?  What are you avoiding doing that you know would provide you with tremendous growth?  Follow that yellow brick road, my friend.  At the end you’ll find not a wizard, but your own power.

© 2009 by Erin Pavlina.

Right now you carry a set of beliefs inside you.  Are those beliefs serving your highest good?  Are those beliefs making you happy?  If the answer is no, listen up, because you’re doing yourself a huge disservice and the result is unhappiness.  How long do you want to be unhappy?

Happiness isn’t about what you have or what you’re doing.  Happiness is a state of being that is completely controlled by your own thoughts and beliefs.  If you’re not happy,  you’ve chosen not to be happy.  And if you think the world is making you unhappy, or your parents are making you unhappy, or the economy is making you unhappy, then you’re just plain wrong.  You are making you unhappy.  Because your level of happiness is directly related to your beliefs. 

Does this sound familiar?

“I’ll be happy when I win the lottery.”
“I’ll be happy when I get that promotion.”
“I’ll be happy when she agrees to marry me.”
“I’ll be happy when I get out of debt.”
“I’ll be happy when I get my own place.”

And so on.

What is your particular “I’ll be happy when…” story?

Years ago a friend wrote me a letter.  In it he said, “In order to be happy you must first decide to be happy.”  At the time I think I was 17, and I didn’t understand what he wrote to me.  In my world view, happiness was something that was a result of things going on in your life, so how could you decide what’s going to happen in your life, and therefore how could you decide to be happy?  But now I get it.  You can choose how you want to feel under any circumstance at any time in your life.  And if you can choose how you feel, why would you choose to feel unhappy?  Why not feel happy all the time?  But this is easier said than done.

So you have to look at your beliefs.  I believe that everything happens for a reason and that it serves my highest good.  I believe that even when bad things happen to me that they are there to teach me a lesson that will make my life better in the future.  I believe that life is a gift, and I can’t wait to see what I can do with this gift.  I believe that no matter what happens to me in this life, I am still loved, protected, and cared for by my posse on the other side.  I believe that I am never truly alone.  I believe I am helpful, caring, honest, kind, and just; and I believe people on our planet live better lives when people like me are around.

Are any of these beliefs empirically true?  No.  There’s no way for me to say these beliefs are absolutely true.  That’s why they’re beliefs and not facts.  I have chosen to believe these things, not because I saw evidence that they were true, but because my belief in them creates the evidence that makes them true for me. 

What do your beliefs look like?
“No one ever really gets ahead in this world.”
“People are selfish and will step on you to get ahead.”
“Money is the root of all evil.”
“Most parents screw their kids up so why bother having kids in the first place?”
“No one is looking out for me, they’re all too busy looking out for themselves.”
“I’ll never be good enough to get the job I really want.”

And so on.

But you’re choosing to believe those things and you’re making them true for you.  If my beliefs are not empirically factual, then neither are your negative or limiting beliefs.  So why carry them around with you like they’re facts?

Change your beliefs, change your world.

You choose your beliefs, and your beliefs create your reality.  So choose beliefs that serve and empower you instead of ones that bring you down or make you unhappy.

So how do you change your beliefs?  First, identify the beliefs you have that aren’t working for you.  The next time you find yourself unhappy ask yourself what you have to believe in order to feel so unhappy.  Write it down.  Keep doing this every time you find yourself upset or unhappy.  Identify the belief that goes with it and ask yourself if that’s something you care to keep believing or if there’s another way of believing that serves you better.  Keep a list of all these beliefs.   Then choose to let those beliefs go.  Those beliefs are gone. 

Next, come up with a new set of beliefs such that, if you believed they were true, would empower you.  Decide you’re going to adopt those beliefs.  Try them on for 30 days.  You have to really believe them though, you can’t just pretend.  Otherwise you’re saying, “I wish this was true” which means you believe it’s not.

Don’t tell me you can’t adopt a new belief in an instant.  You can.  You’re not saying, “This is empirically factual,” you’re saying, “I am choosing to believe this.”  Then let your reality reflect your belief back to you.  If you’ve never done this you might choose to believe it’s impossible.  Then of course, it is.  That just proves my point.   Really, what do you have to lose? 

The more you adopt new beliefs that empower you, the better your life is going to get.  If you’re having trouble coming up with beliefs you can get behind, just try easy ones first.

“I believe that something positive happens to me every day.”
“I believe that there are at least 5 things I can be grateful for every single day.”
“I believe that people are usually kind.”
“I believe that somewhere in this world someone is acting kindly and unselfishly towards another person.”

You’ll find evidence of all these things if you’re looking.

But Erin, isn’t this just your RAS at work?  (That’s Reticular Activating System, which is just a fancy way of saying you see what you expect to see.)  So fine!  See what you expect to see.  Just start expecting to see great things!  Use the RAS to your advantage.  Why on earth would you choose to only see the negative?  What does that say about you?

You can’t fool the system though, so don’t try this:  “I believe people are really nice at heart except the big corporate greedy folks who prey on unsuspecting people, but hey, even they had mothers who probably loved them.”  Nuh uh.  That’s not going to work.  Adopt beliefs you can actually get behind without conditions.

My reality may not actually be real.  How would I know what was really real anyway?  But it doesn’t matter.  In my reality, I’m happy.  You’re welcome to share my reality with me any time you want.  I don’t own the happiness patent and I’m not going to charge you a royalty for being happy.

Don’t you owe it to yourself to carry beliefs that will bring you happiness?  Or do you believe you’re supposed to be miserable, lonely, depressed, scared, etc?  Tsk tsk.  Put that on your list and let it go.  I believe you’re better than that!  I believe you can adopt empowering beliefs.  I believe that happiness is yours and all you have to do is claim it.  If I believe this, you can too.

So what are you waiting for?

© 2009 by Erin Pavlina.

I had friends who were religious.  My best friend, Frances, apparently belonged to a very religious Christian household.  Whenever one of her family members would leave the house they had to say, “Goodbye, I love you, and Mary and Jesus too” or something like that.  When I spent the night at her house, her mother made me say prayers.  I thought it was cute, but I had no idea who this God person was that I was supposedly talking to.  This was also a violent family.  The son was a vandal and arsonist, setting fire to the hill behind his house.  I watched from afar as his father whipped him with a belt to teach him a lesson.  Frances was often dragged by her hair down the stairs by her brother.  The father was a lawyer and was often called upon to keep his own son out of jail.

I remember one time my babysitter took us to her catechism class.  We got to paint pine cones and dip them in glitter.  I think we were making a Christmas tree ornament, but alas, no tree graced our home.  In fact, during  Christmas break from school my sister and I would often lament that all the stores were closed because of those Christians.  We were the ones going to the movie theatre and eating Chinese food on Christmas.

I got a vague understanding of who this God person was when my friends would talk about him.  They all seemed to think it was cool that we didn’t have to go to Church on Sunday, as they mostly thought it just wrecked their Sunday morning.  I remember asking my Christian friends why they believed there was a guy sitting on a throne up in the sky.  None of them gave me a particularly compelling answer.  Most said, “Because the bible tells me so” or “My parents told me there is a God so there must be.”

I am really grateful that I had parents who were not religious.  I never had to break free of religious indoctrination.  I never feared God or loved him.  I never feared going to Hell, which to me was this fictitious prison that bad Christians got sent to if they angered God.  Sometimes I was told that God was a loving God and sometimes he was furiously angry, wiping out entire civilizations on a whim.  The story was very confusing.  Being non-religious, I never felt like I was missing out on anything important.  It all seemed so silly to me to believe in some invisible guy who was constantly watching you to make sure you were good.  I thought that job belonged to Santa Claus. 

As I got older, some of my friends told me they feared for my soul because I wasn’t baptized.  They told me I was automatically going to go to Hell because I was not a Christian and did not believe in Jesus.  Honestly, that seemed sort of stupid to me.  I recall saying to one of them, “So if I am really loving and kind and good but not baptized, I go to Hell?  And someone else can be a murderer or pedophile and as long as he believes in Jesus, he gets to go to Heaven?”  They told me yes.  I’m sure it’s not as easy as that, right?  I said to these friends, “Why would you want to believe in a God that punished the good and let the bad into Heaven?”  They told me believing was not a choice but a commandment.  None of it made sense to me.

There was one thing I liked about religion.  Community.  There were a lot of Christians who seemed very kind and loving.  These were usually old ladies and they ran the church parking lot sales.  I met many Christians who were so kind, compassionate and caring.  People in the church took care of each other.  Families looked out for one another.  I thought that was kind of cool.  I asked my parents what would happen to us if we were ever destitute and poor and didn’t have the Church to take care of us.  They told me I didn’t need to worry about that, as we did quite well financially.  So I stopped worrying.

By the time I got to high school I assumed I was just an atheist.  I didn’t believe in God and that was the end of my story, or so I thought.  I found myself praying to God when I was in trouble.  I found myself making deals with Him all the time.  I hoped I was wrong about God because it sure felt comforting to think there was a kindly old guy looking out for me from above.  I couldn’t rationally convince myself that He existed, but when you’re in trouble, you’ll reach for any hand that might pull you out!  Still, I never saw any evidence that He existed. I figured if he was really there and all powerful like people said, that he surely knew I didn’t believe in Him and if He had an issue with it I was sure He would take it up with me personally.

I like how my mom puts it, “I don’t believe in God but I’m afraid to say that out loud in case He gets mad at me.”  Lordy. 

As I matured I realized that religion is man’s way of trying to interpret the divine presence inside all of us, of trying to make sense of the memories we retain even after the veil is drawn and we are left here, seemingly disconnected from Source.  I reconnected with Source on my own.  I explored the divine inside of me and found God staring back.  I began to remember where I came from, where we ALL come from.  And I began to see how we are all connected, simply projections of Source incarnated into outwardly disparate bodies.  I didn’t have this realization in a church, and I didn’t read about it in a book.  I felt it.  I remembered it.  I stopped cutting myself off from Source and Source came back to me.

Today I know there is a God, but God is not some man sitting on a throne pointing his finger at us in judgment.  God is what’s gazing back at you when you look in the mirror.  Which aspect of Him are you?  Are you His compassion?  His love?  Or are you His anger?  His judgment?  His intolerance?

I’m glad I grew up without a religion.  It left me free to find God on my own, in my own way, and in my own time.  I doubt I will ever be religious.  I find it unnecessary.  God is either in your heart or not there at all.  You either carry Him with you all the time, or cut yourself off from Him.  Have you found the divine presence yet?  Can you remember where you came from and where you will return?  Does God reside in your church, or in a book, or is he sitting quietly in your heart, waiting for you to notice Him?

© 2009 by Erin Pavlina.

I was taking piano lessons, but I was a poor student.  I preferred to play by ear but my teacher, of course, wanted me to learn to read music.  So while I was playing complicated songs by ear, she would force me to go back to my little dinky pieces in my piano book, which I struggled with because I wasn’t good at reading music.

Several of my friends in school were also taking piano lessons from the same teacher.  When I talked to them about what they were playing I found out, to my shame, that they had all surpassed me and were in advanced books while I was still in the first one.

On Fridays, our teacher had us give speeches in the school auditorium (that’s a horror story for another day!), and afterwards she would let people play a song on the piano for everyone in the auditorium.  You can be sure I never volunteered to play the piano!  I was way too nervous, plus my friends were playing these beautiful advanced pieces and next to them I knew mine would sound like nursery rhymes.  Even though people knew I played the piano, and even though they all encouraged me to play, I just couldn’t bring myself to do it.

But one day, after a particularly good speech, I was feeling powerful instead of nervous.  I agreed to play a song called the Fairy Prince on the piano.  It was a four-line song and would probably take 1 minute or so to play.  I sat down in the darkened auditorium with the spotlight on me.  I put my hands on the keys.  This was a song I knew extremely well.  I began to play.  But I was suddenly overcome with panic.  I started playing the song at 4 times the normal speed, and I skipped an entire line!  I don’t know what happened to me.  I just totally lost it.  I heard some people laughing in their seats.  I heard my teacher shushing them.  And then there was some polite applause, but it was too late.  Embarrassed and humiliated for not even being able to play such a basic song properly, I vowed never again to perform on the piano in front of anyone!

And so it was, as the weeks passed, people began to forget my faux passé.  I had accepted that I just couldn’t read music that well or that quickly and that I would never catch up to my friends in this area. 

One day it was raining outside so we had to eat lunch inside the classroom.  After eating, our teacher let us play games in the room.  There was a piano in the room and I and my friends would line up and take turns playing one song at a time.  All my friends were playing their advanced songs from their piano books, and I was playing my little ditties.  Then it was my turn again and I decided to try something different.  Every morning after our flag salute our teacher would play a patriotic song on the piano and we’d all sing along to the music. I decided to try to figure out how to play one of them: “You’re A Grand Old Flag.”  I had never played it before, but I had heard my teacher play it dozens of times.  That was all I needed.  After struggling just a little bit to find the right keys I started playing “You’re A Grand Old Flag” perfectly and with gusto!

When I was done with the song I was surprised to hear thunderous applause from the entire class.  Apparently, while I was in my “zone” trying to figure out the song, my classmates and teacher realized what I was doing, and everyone stopped to listen.  When I finally got the song down and was done playing it they were very impressed.

My teacher said, “Wow, Erin.  I didn’t know you could play the piano by ear.  Why didn’t you ever tell us?  Do you realize what a rare talent and gift you have?”  Then she pointedly asked my friends if they could play by ear, and they all shook theirs heads and indcated they were limited to playing songs with music they could read.

After that people asked me to play all kinds of songs.  “Hey, Erin, can you play ‘Yankee Doodle Dandy?’”  Sure thing!  Piece of cake!  “Hey, Erin, we want to hear a Beatles song, can you play one?”  Sure, just name it!  I discovered that it was really easy for me to play songs I’d heard before.  Before long, I went from being a novice at the piano to being a virtuoso … well, at least in the eyes of my 4th grade peers.   I’d found my niche.  And I was happy.

Eventually I stopped taking piano lessons because they were slowing me down, and I started composing my own music.  I was able to compose complicated songs just by listening to the music already playing in my mind.  In fact, I created much of the video game music for Steve’s games when he ran Dexterity Software. 

That experience in 4th grade taught me that I didn’t have to be like everyone else; that we all have our unique talents and gifts.  I still can’t read music that well, but I can play the piano and still compose music when I have time.  I had been very limited by how my teacher thought I should learn and had come to the erroneous conclusion that I would never be able to play songs more complicated than Mary Had a Little Lamb.

***

Are you trying to read music when you should be playing by ear?  Are you ignoring a natural talent or skill you have because you don’t know how valuable or useful it is?  What do you do better than anyone else you know?  What are you really good at?  Talent lurks inside you somewhere.  When you discover or acknowledge your talent, you have a clue to your path to purpose.  You’ve probably got many talents.  Which one(s) can you use to further your goals in life?  Sometimes you have to go off-script and write your own lines. 

There’s power in your talents!  Make a list of all the things you’re really good at, and then ask yourself if there’s a way to incorporate them into your work (or your daily life).  Could one of your talents hold the key to an exciting new future for you?

© 2009 by Erin Pavlina.

© 2009 by Erin Pavlina.

When I prepare to do an intuitive reading for someone, I do a little tuning in before I call them on the phone.  Part of the tuning in process includes me taking a look at their chakras, which are the energy centers of our body.  By scanning or tuning in to a person’s chakras I can tell in what areas of their life they have problems and I can tell where they are strong.  It took me a while to understand and to be able to interpret what I’m seeing, but I’ve got it down now.  For example, if I see yellow in a person’s third-eye chakra, I know they are proactively working on increasing their intuition or psychic abilities.  When I see a tiny root chakra I know my sitter is struggling financially or doesn’t feel physically safe and secure (e.g. maybe they’re in an abusive relationship).  When I see a wide open throat chakra just brimming with blue light, I know my sitter makes a living as a communicator (teacher, speaker, writer, singer, etc.).  When I see a huge, wide open heart chakra I know my sitter is extremely compassionate, caring, and connected with others.  If the heart chakra is small or dim I know my sitter is feeling disconnected, lonely, and maybe isolated.  Scanning chakras is like a diagnostic tool I use to get a general idea of where my sitter is in life and what’s going on for them.

Most of the time, my sitters have strong, healthy, properly functioning chakras.  But sometimes when I tune in, all I see are tiny pinpricks of light.  The first time I saw the pinpricks of light in one of my sitters, it freaked me out.  I didn’t know what it meant.  His energetic body was dark, the light inside him was going out, like a candle with no oxygen.  The fire inside him was just dying.  There was almost nothing for me to grasp onto.  He was in a state of energetic freefall.  When I asked him if he was planning to take his own life, he admitted to me that after our phone call he was going to commit suicide unless his spirit guides could give him a good reason to live.  No pressure, right? We made it through the call.  My sitter thought he was at a dead end, but the guides were able to show him a path that led to happiness and fulfillment.  I followed up with him a week later and he looked so much better, energetically, that I knew the crisis stage was over and he simply had to continue with his new plan to find happiness and fulfillment. 

It doesn’t happen often that I find people in this state, but it does happen.  When I tune in and see the pinpricks of light I know exactly what I’m dealing with.  I know my sitter is in crisis.  It’s not just a matter of whether to switch careers or whether to leave their husband, we’re tackling the big question: Should I continue with my life or just end it?  I am so grateful to the people in this situation who choose a reading instead of suicide because it gives me a chance to pass on a message from spirit that is usually very powerful and helpful.  Metaphorically it’s as if these folks are standing in total darkness, lost in the woods, with no food, water or help coming, and then their guides hand them a map, a light, a canteen of water, and food rations.  No, the guides can’t just pluck you out of the woods and drop you off at the lodge.  You still have to walk out of the woods on your own, but at least you have the supplies you need to sustain your life until you can find safety again.

Pinpricks of light.  Are your chakras in this state?  They might be if you are experiencing all of the following:

1. Root chakra:  No sense of security, no stability, financial disaster, unable to take care of yourself.
2. Sacral chakra:  No passion, no joy, no hope.  Depressed or sad.
3. Solar Plexus chakra:  A feeling of powerlessness, lack of self-esteem, no confidence in yourself.
4. Heart chakra:  Feeling disconnected, lonely, and apathetic about yourself and others.
5. Throat chakra:  Unable to express yourself, frustrated, feeling unheard.
6. Third-Eye chakra:  Not receiving intuition, unable to see a future for yourself, feeling like there are no choices left.
7. Crown chakra:  Disconnected from God/Source.  Feeling abandoned by life itself.

If this describes you, get help right away.  Go to a counselor, therapist, or book an appointment with me.  Talk to a friend.  Reach out for help.  Gently blow life back into your chakras.  Help someone else who is in a more unfortunate state than you believe yourself to be.  Meditate.  Listen to uplifting music.  Watch a comedy.  Raise your vibration.  Tune in to your guides.  Pray.  Open yourself to receiving help from the universe.  Sing.  Dance.  Write down 10 things you are grateful for, and do this every night before you go to sleep and every morning when you wake up.  Slowly, piece by piece, put your life back together.

Don’t give up.  When you feel like you’re sinking to the bottom of the ocean and you’re drowning in the darkness, you can still find the light.  But you won’t see it if your eyes are closed.  Be brave and try one more time.  You can heal.  You can find your way back from the brink.

I don’t like seeing the pinpricks of light, but now I know the guides can help.  Let them.

© 2009 by Erin Pavlina.

At our pre-Thanksgiving meeting we decided to do something different.  Instead of writing our own intention, we picked names out of a hat and wrote intentions for someone else in the group.  In order to write an intention for someone else you have to know them pretty well.  Since we’ve all been together for a couple of years now, it wasn’t terribly difficult.  Hearing an intention that someone else has thought of for you is incredibly revealing.  Think about what you might intend for someone in your own life.  Do you think you know them well enough to know what their heart truly desires or what they really need in their life?  We read our intentions out loud.  It was empowering, creative, and even a little frightening.  The intention I read for my secret member involved her taking massive action on something I felt she had pushed to the back burner.  She received it well and has taken incredible action since I cast the intention for her.

After going around the room, we did another exercise.  On a piece of paper we wrote all of the things we wanted to accomplish in 2009.  Then we went outside and our hostess gave us a bunch of electric, flameless, votive candles.  For each wish, we put a votive candle on this special light tree.  By the time we were all done, that tree was decked with beautiful lights.  Then we sat around a bonfire and released our intentions (threw the paper) into the fire, with a prayer that 2009 be our best year ever.  It was a beautiful and empowering night, and I left that meeting feeling wonderfully uplifted and inspired.

By the way, the intention written for me was that I make all my wildest dreams a reality.  It’s very powerful when you think about it.  Wildest dreams huh?  I don’t know, I can think of a lot of wild dreams.

Now fast forward to December where we decided to do something special for the holidays.  This time, we printed out small sheets of paper with the following written on them:  My Holiday Wish For You …, Thank You For …, What I Love About You …, and then we answered all three questions for each person in the group.  We brought a festive container to collect our holiday wishes from the others.  We sat in a circle and put our holiday wishes for each person into their bucket, tin, or box.  Then we went around the room and read them out loud.  I can’t tell you how beautiful this experience was for me.  If you’ve ever read my blog entry, Three Wishes, you’ll know that my three wishes in life are to know myself, know another, and to have another know me.  This exercise I did with my Mastermind group tapped into those wishes.  Hearing how other people feel about you is a gift, especially if you’ve impacted them in a positive way.

Some of my favorites were:

What I love about you is that you dare to be brilliant.  You dare to share your brilliance and you dare yourself to be a woman of substance and heart.

What I love about you is your excitement about life and new adventures.

What I love about you is your compassion for others and your committment to your clients, family, and friends.

What I love about you is that you have absolutely gorgeous hair.

What I love about you is your sweet, gentle, spirit that continues to illuminate those around you.  You bring light wherever you go.

Thank you for showing us how to live a more light-filled life.

Thank you for bringing your angels and guides to our meetings so that we may learn and grow.

I could go on but I think you get the gist.  I think we all left that night feeling loved and cared for.  I know I did.  My Mastermind group is a wonderful support for me.  Mastermind meetings allow me to share insights with the group and receive wisdom from them.  You learn a lot about yourself and what you have to offer in a such a group.  I’m blessed to have these wonderful, wise, women in my life. 

Even if you don’t have a Mastermind group, you can still do these exercises with your family and friends.  What would happen if you did?

Bright blessings to you all!

© 2009 by Erin Pavlina.