Empower Yourself - Find Your Inner Strenght

Everything happening around you teaches you more about who you are. Whether you are religious or not, find a deeper connection with life. Feel more alive and present. It is an instinct in every one of us, there is something greater out there that makes you question yourself who am I? And what is my purpose in this life?

It is our connection with one another and the universe. It is the connection to your eternal qualities; your real essence; that you will take with you when you die. You are a spirit more than a body. Spirituality works in your everyday life, spiritual teachers comes in all forms; they can be any person who comes into your life, any bad or good experience that you face.

A spiritual life coach says that answers are around you all the time but the question is how are you present them? The more present you become to your life, the more you begin to see that there are signs around you. She says that you have to take note when you begin to judge or shutdown what someone is saying to you and try to stay open-minded, what if everyone that comes into your life is a spiritual change agent in some way? The more open you can be, the more you allow your life to change and the more you can see the influence of grace. She says, "A closed mind is the barrier to living a grace-filled life."

Grace is a divine energy or spiritual intelligence that comes from a divine source. We call it God, others call it [spirit- the universe - a higher power] . This beautiful energy is available to each and everyone of us, regardless of whether you believe it or not, as well. Once you learn to become more graceful, you will see this divine intelligence working in your life.

The spiritual life coach talks about how you can begin to "dance" with Grace. When you see signs of grace in your life, you are entering into "the dance"; the dance of grace represents your psychological growth, you realize there are coincidences that occur in your life and recognize that it is part of this divine intelligence working in your life. She says “As you begin to see those signs, you realize ‘wow, I am co-creating’ my life with some kind of spiritual intelligence here.”

It is also important to listen, pay attention, and take action. When you get the messages, you need to act on them.

In your spiritual journey, you have to know that tough times are an indication that your soul has capacities to move forward. Most people do not want these bad times, they feel depressed, lost and worthless, as they are getting sick or aging or losing money. They are questioning: is this my destiny after struggling in life? The rule of life is its changes; everything is changing, human beings die and others are born.

Most people do not accept this rule but it is a life-reality. Whenever you face changes like losing your money, ask yourself who am I without my material things that I define myself with. You will find something inside of you that makes you greater than this situation. All of your experiences on your spiritual path help you to become more fearless, wise and grateful.

You choose to acknowledge your tough times in a productive way:
· Stop blaming yourself for what is happening to you
· Tough times are not a punishment; they are your spiritual growth
· Focus on what is working with you right now
· If you think that you do not have anything, realize the gift that you are breathing without a machine right now.
· Why me? Break down [get over it]
· The more you resist what is happening to you the more stressed you are, instead accept it and focus on what you need to do to reach your peace of mind. In the middle of a crisis, you need to let go of something old then a new thing will reborn. The new will be better more than you imagine. Your spiritual growth is identified by letting go of something [false identities or habits] then you are reborn. No matter what is going in your life, with this thought you will be alive.

Here are some examples of ordinary people who can be considered as spiritual teachers for most of us:
A mother whose body is attacked by a flesh-eating bacteria, both her arms and legs are being cut [ just recognize her attitude when the doctors told her, she said: “cut them I just want to go home to my kids and learn the new ways to survive my every day duties for my family.” She added that life is about choices and I choose the right path of not giving up, every one experiences bad times, the trick is how to survive them as a fighter. For her, the simple activity is a struggle but she is happy by accepting life changes and living her life to the full.
If you are in her shoes will you follow her attitude?
Another spiritual teacher is a man who survived a plane crash, he sees, from his position on the plane far away from the burning area, the passengers who are dying; their spirits that are leaving their bodies are bright while others’ spirits are brighter. Since then he decided to live his life in a way that when his spirit leaves his body it will be the brightest.

A daughter, whose mother suffers from cancer, was angry that her mother is being ill. She is learning to turn this energy which she spends on being angry to love force. Instead of wasting her energy on anger, she is learning to spend this rich time focusing on the intimacy with her mother.

Another real spiritual teacher is a twenty years old girl, her body was burnt in an accident, who believes in her mind that she is still beautiful, not physically but from inside she feels safe. She is a living example of a person who is highly spiritual and facing a spiritual test. We all complain about things that are not important, for her every day is a fight. She decides to feel sorry for herself only five minutes every day during this time she can cry then she says "Okay! that’s it" and lives her life in its best way. She is happy that she lived; she feels she can do so much in her life, she is living life as an adventure. She is a real definition of beauty and affirms that beauty is in the eyes of the beholder.

You may think that things happen in your life by chance, but this is grace working its way into your life. The power of prayer helps you along your spiritual awakening journey; this power of prayer takes you from your ordinary life to an extraordinary spiritual place.
Find grace in your life and create your own every day miracle:

• Write two or three goals and changes that you want to make in your life right now.
  
• Affirm these goals and changes through the day by saying to yourself, " I am open and receptive to the power of grace in my life. I ask to be shown clear examples of how this energy is operating. Give me direction. Let me see the doors that are open and make sure that I can see them."

From Oprah Winfrey Show

Best Life 4 (Cherish your Spirit)

Break Open

Whatever troubles you are facing in your life, by looking at it in a spiritual level, you will know it is going to be alright.

Your hard times make you blossom like a rose [grow-evolve]

In crisis times, you may feel that you have lost yourself. However, in the depth of that loss you will find out who you really are. You will begin to trust in who you are. This crisis time is a precious time, NOT a waste. When somebody faces a crisis, he must ask himself this question:
What are you coming to teach me?
What are you coming to teach me about myself?
Look at your crisis and your pain fearlessly and say:
Teach me so I can grow.
When you are facing bad times you have to make a courageous decision:
To take all that pain and crack it open or to shutdown

All people face difficult times in their life, it is the rule of life; the key is to know how to deal with it in a deeper spiritual level. Being spiritual is feeling that there is a power in your life that guides you. It is to be connected to your deep self. Life is a state of openness, be aware of the aliveness of life around you. That aliveness which you see in all the natural beauty in trees, hills, drops of water and the breeze of air. Feel all the creativity, joy, peace and love that God has blessed in life.

Look at your bad times as your holiness moments that make your soul rise. Here is an example of a couple facing divorce; both the man and the woman are feeling exhausted, sick, impatient and angry. If they do not make a move, they will never know how their life can change. Nothing is burning their heart as much as the pain of breaking a family. Most of their lives they cared about what their society thinks them to be. They made a decision to break open that pain and trust whom they are and what is better for their children who find it is better to share a separated healthy minded and emotional parents rather than a broken couple. From that bad experience evolves two peaceful, strong and deep connected selves. Of course, for others it is better to work on their marriage and protect it.

Bad times are the times in which you have to practice your spirituality, saying I want to be that person that I am capable to be. We think that we are unhappy of what we do not get but we are unhappy of what we are not giving. In front of every person there is a choice, his heart can be opened or closed, he can be judgmental or give support. The spiritual path is a choice to be the best we can.

Another example of parents facing the most difficult time in which their son died. For them everything changes forever and their feelings about things. They do not know how to deal with that pain. The only thing they knew is that they have to do it well. They have two places to go; hope or despair. They chose to take the path of hope, one moment at a time, they were gentle with their grief they knew it was a journey and a process. If you do not grief well, this pain will transfer to anger and evil pain. It took them nine years in their spiritual awakening. Before their son's death, they were considered religious but they were not spiritual. There is a great difference between being religious and connecting yourself, your life and what is happening around you to the spirituality of this religion. For instance, some people are religious but they do not pray, others do their prayers without feeling or concentrating on what they are saying, so there are different levels of practicing your spirituality in your ever day life.

The key to spirituality is by practicing it, by being kinder, more compassionate and more conscious of the deep meaning of being alive. As the lawyer practices law, as the doctor practices medicine, to be spiritual you have to practice spirituality. In your spiritual journey:

• learn something new about yourself and the people around you everyday
• Write down ten things you are grateful for in your life
• Do an act of kindness everyday

The more your spirituality is developed the better you will heal in your bad times. As everything in life, practice makes perfect.

Back to the story of the son who died. His brother talked about his own spiritual awakening saying that, to him life was like a picture on the wall in which you think you know how your life is going and what you are expecting, but when his brother died this picture of life was shattered to many pieces. He felt there was no way to put it back again. He was shocked looking at those broken pieces. His brain could not solve this dilemma. He thought he would always feel this way. Then, he experienced his spiritual awakening in his spiritual journey, when he was doing a simple thing: he was grilling some fish and he was happy. He said that if I was happy of my life from this simple thing, then I can do more in my life; good things can happen in my life. He said, he realized that: I can get through this difficult time, I can move forward not in the same picture but I can create a new one.
When your picture of life is broken, consider it old and create a brand new one.

For the spiritual awakening of the father after his son's death, he said at first he was focusing on his work, gaining money to provide for his family the best, he was doing it right; doing all his best. When the death happened he felt he failed. The death of his son broke him open by asking himself: What is really important in my life? What is my purpose here? What am I going to do with the rest of my precious life? The death of his son showed him that nobody knows what is going to happen in life. He decided to live life now. He chose to quit his job and found a little one for which he had passion but with less money. They, himself and his wife, decided to give back to the community that showered them with love and support in their great loss. When you help you heal. They learned in their spiritual path that you are here to serve, to use yourself in service but do not do it as a must; it must come from deep inside of you. They felt those deep great moments in life, they felt free and attached to something larger.

In your own spiritual journey, meditate one minute every day then increase them each month. You will take a fantastic guidance and your life will change. If you do not take it, you are not worth a minute, then you are not on the path. Problems come to all people, having problems is in the human dictionary in life time. Instead of fighting with your problem and not accepting it, ask the question:
what is embedded in you [in problem] for me? What are you going to teach me?
The world is rich of messages, if you are open to see them. If you reach the problem as a friend, you will see your capabilities and the possibilities around you.

Find a spiritual community; friends who share your spiritual path. Pay attention to your life, it is talking to you, nothing is happening in a chaotic way. Spirituality is the essence of everything, all human beings on earth are having their spiritual experiences but they have to be awake, like the radio which needs to be tuned or it will not work.

From Oprah Winfrey Show



[A strange thing happened to me after writing the first half of this article, my computer shutdown and this article was not saved. For a moment I became sad and angry as I was going to write it once more and have to organize all my thoughts again. I was about to shutdown as my computer and then came to my mind the thought of practicing what you preach. I said to myself it is God's will and you may see something as being bad but it is for your own good. I became open to write it once more and I did. I discover that I wrote it much better in the second time. I have my little spiritual experience of the day, only when I accepted, it God helped me to do better.]
Marwa