I've been thinking for a while about my most beautiful thing.  And it's a hard one to answer.  I'm not greatly attached to material things.  I like my Kindle and it's brilliant for reading books but it's not my most beautiful thing.

I like my gadgets but, if push came to shove, I could live without them!  Just!  I like my vast collection of pens and stationery and while some of the notebooks are a thing of beauty, still not my most beautiful thing.

I don't have children so I can't show you how beautiful they would have been.  

I do love "my" tree and it is pretty amazing and awesome.  I can't walk past it without going over to place my hand on its bark and commune with it for a moment.

My little hazel tree in the garden is my pride and joy.  I adore its gnarly, spiral branches and its almost minimalist look in winter when all the leaves have fallen off.  It's high up there on my list of favourite things.

But my most beautiful thing?  Well, do you know what it is?  It's me!

Ten years ago I definitely wouldn't have said that.  I would have thought it terribly pompous to say such a thing.  I subscribed to the notion that we had far better put ourselves down than think we were anything wonderful.  Self-denigration is an art form and one I mastered a long time ago.

In recent years, though, my journey has moved on and my perspective has changed.  Through my own processes and also the work I teach, I've learned a lot.

That we are at our very core, essence.  This essence is part of eternity.  We are magnificent beings and only now starting to understand this.  (Some days, I admit, I can't always believe it).  

Our essence is part of Source and made up of divine energy.  And each and everyone of us has this at our centre.  So we are all beautiful because we're made up of the same stuff.

This year is about understanding this.  

I did some work with a client today.  One of the joys of this part of my life is that my clients all work in the mind body spirit arena.  So, not only do we talk about the work they need me to do but we also chat about metaphysical things.  Energy.  Vibration.  While we were talking we got on to the subject of teaching and I said that sometimes it's easy to work from a position that other people are more knowedgeable and able.  Even as I said it, I felt something shift.  My client agreed but said that he had reached a point where he had connected to his own power, to his truth and realised that he was the teacher.  We are all our own teachers and teachers of each other and truly become this when we tap into our own inner wisdom and divine knowledge.  

I like to imagine essence as a ball of glowing light that is located somewhere deep within us.  For me, it's always around the solar plexus area but for some it's in the heart.  Each and everyone of us is walking around with this ball inside.  And these balls of light are capable of connecting us to each other.  We just have to let the light shine and be seen.

Stepping into our magnificence changes everything.  Our work, our interactions with others, how we flow.  But first we have to acknowledge it to ourselves.  We have to stop being in denial.  We have to stop listening to others who want to put us down and keep us in our place.  

We exist, first of all, for ourselves.  To experience truth and love and beauty but, most of all, to reconnect with our essence and find that in doing that everything is possible.

I hope you can see yourself as a most beautiful thing too.

One of the things I've been noticing a lot lately is the interconnectedness that is going on around us.  How, when you hear about a specific topic, you can guarantee that it will crop up again in an entirely different context but the same subject a short time later.  I've been contemplating this recently and sense more and more that there is a big plan being implemented.  A Divine Blueprint.  This plan is being subtly communicated so that people all around the world are tapping into Universal Knowledge and receiving the same information.  The result is that we're all starting to be on the same wavelength.

This interconnectedness is becoming more apparent in my Circles, as well as in the Facebook group which has brought us together with people who live further afield.  Posts are written that mirror something I talked about or discussed just a few days before.  Spooky!

A big influence lately has been Anita Moorjani's book, Dying to be Me.  Much more than just a simple near death experience, for me the book is a guide to what lies in store for us as we progress through this process of awakening and there is much we can learn from Anita's account.

I think it's often difficult for us to understand the extensiveness of the world around us and the vastness of the Universe.  Science teaches us that we're pretty much alone in the Cosmos and signs of life on other planets are non-existent.  

I choose not to believe this is true.

My philosophy has always been that if something feels good to me, then I believe it, so from being a small child I never had a problem with believing in other life forms such as ETs.  I was from the Close Encounters of the Third Kind generation and brought up on Star Trek and Buck Rogers in the 25th Century.  It all seemed pretty normal.

Now I know more about vibration and frequency.  This becomes more important as we seek to understand how other life forms are possible but we can't see them.

As a planet we're in the process of moving up the vibrational ladder.  And this isn't necessarily woo woo but simply the end result of a planetary and cosmic cycle.  One that has happened before and will happen again.  This time, however, it manifests as a raising of spiritual awareness as we tap into a higher vibration.

And as we progress through the frequencies and go higher up the ladder of consciousness, our vibration increases and we start to find matches to that vibration.  We attract people who are on our wavelength.  And we also have higher vibrational experiences such as connections with light beings or an awareness of angelic presence.

(I have a theory, too, that angels and "ETs" are one and the same).

How do you raise your vibration?  There are many complicated ways.  But I've come to the conclusion that it's actually quite simple.

Spend time in nature.  Go and hug a few trees.  Do some Barefoot Breathing.

Meditate.  If you find it hard to do, try walking meditation first.  Contemplation and walking all in one go.

Eat well and nurture your body.

Spend time with like-minded people.

Let go and declutter.  Clear out emotions that don't help you and tidy out your cupboards too.  Spiritual spring cleaning.

Follow your heart.

The big message of Anita's book is that living your truth is the key to being healed.  And this truth is found in your Essence or Divine spark.  If you take away everything that you think you are - male or female, your beliefs, culture, religion, job etc - what is left is your Truth.  

2012 is all about this.  Clearing away everything that no longer works or fits you until you connect with your own Essence and then you understand that we are all part of the Whole.  We're all connected.  And that simple understanding changes everything. 

The woodlands we explored were stunning, especially the second one that was much more untouched and felt like a wooded area should.  I found it very distracting just wandering about, marveling at the trees (especially those entwined with ancient ivy), the ephemera that could be found on the floor (the skeleton of a bird's head) and simply listening to the bird song.  I couldn't identify any but Jason knew each one and could distinguish them from one another.  Amazing!

Photography is very much about tapping into these two energies, especially earth energy.  Any creative endeavour is about connecting to this energy - you might call it source energy.  Whether it's of earth of cosmic origin, it all amounts to the same thing.  It's within this connection that we find flow and experience timelessness, as well as a knowing that we are part of the whole.  We are all one.

Sunday was another Mind Body Spirit day at the Monastery in Manchester.  It's always interesting to go to these events because something can draw you in or be waiting there for you to discover it.  It was lovely to see lots of people I know too.  

The best bits were definitely drinking tea in the sunshine in the courtyard garden and browsing the He Hi She Lo crystals and chatting to Steve and Mo, the He and the She of He Hi She Lo!

The Pioneer Collective is a completely different type of Facebook group from Lea Woodward.

Video sofa talks with Simon on the Sofa.  I especially enjoyed this interview with Jennifer Hough.

Dying to be Me by Anita Moorjani - as mentioned by Danielle LaPorte, this book is much more than a proof of life after death story.  Very relevant for this year and the shift in consciousness, Anita explores why we are all here and what life is meant to be about.

Wishing you a Happy Easter!

This is how it always works for me.  A few days before I'm hosting a group, I generally have no inkling as to what we'll be doing.  At first when I started leading groups this was not how I wanted to work.  In my conventional jobs I always planned ahead, created material, presentations.  We rehearsed for big events and a whole team would be involved in the preparation.  I used to find this way of working quite hard and presenting material that had involved someone else's input was difficult to deliver.  Over time, and in different jobs, I changed the way I presented.  Where other people had forty slides, I would take just three.  And not use them.  I talked about what I knew and I developed a technique of being able to stand up there and talk around my subject.  Not always in the order I had planned but it worked much better for me.  And it was the best way I found to handle presentation nerves.

I had a revelation one day when I attended a big conference.  One of the presenters, someone I knew well and considered to be quite charismatic, was so poor in his delivery I couldn't concentrate on what he was saying but spent the whole time trying to reconcile the man I knew with the one standing before us on the stage.  He read from his notes, head down, for the entire presentation.  One of my colleagues said in an aside, "the key to presenting is speaking from the heart".  Aha!  The penny dropped.

After that everything changed and I did things my way.  And that made all the difference.  

The work I do now is different again.  Not only is it about speaking from the heart but also about trusting guidance and intuition.  For the last month I've been putting together ideas for Embracing the New Earth and pretty much all of them are not being used!  Over the last few days information has been filtering in.  A song playing on the radio.  A butterfly flying around me as I left the house.  An image used by a local council.  A symbol seen on the Hairy Bikers Bakeation!  (I kid you not!).  Often I've literally got inspiration off the back of a lorry!  That's just how it works.  The ordinary meeting the extraordinary!

As well as some of these rather eclectic offerings, we've got a lot more in store but I want it to be a surprise so I won't disclose it here for the moment.  But I'll just say that the material comes together in the most astonishing way.  I say this every time but what seems at first random is connected with the whole.  It all blends together in a way you almost couldn't create.  

I still have a couple of space available so if you are interested in joining this workshop in North Manchester, please get in touch.  We would love to welcome you.

I've been sensitive to energy for a long time without necessarily knowing that was the case.  I pick up on the energy of other people and also places.  I can sense someone's energy and read that energy.  It's a very unconscious process and it's often later that it makes sense to me.

Similarly, I can have someone else's energy attach to me or be drained by another person.  This happens less these days than it did at one point because I'm more aware that this can happen to me.  But, still, it happens.  

And sometimes I just find my energy is off kilter.  This one I've yet to work out and master.  I realise too late and then have to pick myself up and rebalance my energy.

The last few weeks have been quite potent.  If you're sensitive to energy, it's very likely that you, too, have experienced a number of emotions, energy surges and general overwhelm.  This has been happening for the last few years but the intensity is now reaching a new pitch.  As we become more in tune with the new energies, often coinciding with solar flares, we feel them increasingly profoundly so it seems as though they are more intense as well.  Plus, as the overall frequency of the planet increases this contributes to how we experience the energies.  I call it the quickening (think Highlander) and it's a gathering together of all the cosmic and universal energies as we align ourselves to the cosmic centre.

We've just passed the March Equinox and, hopefully, the start of a rebalance of our energy.  Don't expect any balance to last for long though as the roller coaster effect is likely to continue for the remainder of the year.  The way to handle this energy is very much to go with the flow although that's not always easy, is it!

The different energies being downloaded to us can make us feel out of balance.  A bit under the weather.  As though we have a dose of flu coming on.  Life often doesn't seem to gel and random accidents can happen.  It's a time to take things a bit more slowly, be extra vigilant around machinery or when driving, rest when you need to and spend some time outside - the ultimate reconnection exercise.

Find somewhere sacred with positive energies and spend some time reconnecting with yourself and Universal energy.

But, most importantly of all, become more conscious of your energy, how you use it and how others also tap into it.  There seems to be a bigger focus at the moment on balance in how we exchange those energies.  Make sure that your energy account is on an even keel, that is equal amounts of energy are going in and out.  Keep the flow moving.  Allow the energy to be heart-centred and start your day with a daily protection exercise.

I know the park like the back of my hand.  I know several secret places where most people don't go.  I suspect there are still a few hidden away corners that I've not yet explored.  

This morning I drove along the "top road" to check on a long line of trees that blossom in the most incredible display of colour.  Pinks and whites.  They always blossom a little late.  Where trees in gardens are in full bloom, the trees in the park are biding their time.  They're nowhere near ready to blossom yet but I'll be keeping an eye on them.

Now I have a mental schedule in my head of all the different milestones of the natural world so that I never miss a moment that I love.  

Granted, these seasons are slightly longer than ours so the transition from one season to another feels more profound but it's happened before and it will happen again.

The more we can tune in with our own natural world, the more easily we can access the keys and codes that we need to shift our awareness and consciousness to the next level.  Everything is there for us if only we would look.

If you would like to know more, I'll be hosting workshops in April and we'll be talking about Embracing the New Earth.  Please get in touch if you would like to join us.

And what do I do?  Sit for days at a time, at my desk, in front of the computer.  

I suggest to people that they should be creative.  Paint, make art, journal, take photographs.  And then I let my camera collect dust, taking it out only to shoot an occasional photograph of a house plant.

So, today, I left my pile of things to do, my ever increasing task list and went out to one of my favourite places.  Just me and my camera.

I did a lot of breathing.  Just in and out, filling up my lungs with fresh air.  

I consciously exchanged energy with the trees and plants.  Exchanging atoms, as Deepak Chopra calls it.  I gave out energy as I walked.  And breathed in new energy.  Source energy.

Time outside, especially somewhere I love like the park, is time well spent.  It never fails to restore me, to inspire me, to clear my head.  I tell myself I can't afford the time, I should be checking emails or doing some or other work.  But it really doesn't work that way.

We need to repair.  We need to reconnect and replenish our energy.  To tap into the energy of nature and just breathe it in.  

This is the key to so much.

It's the key to connecting to our own hearts and our journey but, most importantly, it's the key to this 2012 process.  

It's about shifting our focus from the material world to the natural world.  If each of us individually spends time consciously communing with nature, connecting our own Source to the bigger Source out there, we can help to facilitate this shift.  

And, in terms of not being your own worst enemy, why not take a few moments to see where you hold yourself back, where you could nurture yourself more and be kind to yourself.  How you can do more of those things that bring you enormous joy or where you simply do something that you just love?

Postscript

A short time after writing this post I discovered that Jackie Stewart from Flower Spirit has written 5 Ways to Find Happiness over on Tiny Buddha's site.  I think you'll enjoy it!

Another week whizzing by at break neck speed!  And, here we are again, looking back at the week that was!  This week has been all about energy so all the discoveries are slightly woo woo in nature!

This week I started a new Circle called Cake and Crystals.  It popped on to the table one day when I was working on some ideas.  As with so many of these things I'm mostly the facilitator making it happen.  I think Cake and Crystals is going to be an interesting complement to the Cosmic Circle.  It felt as though we were tapping into a slightly different energy too.  We had cupcakes and crystals (Apatite).  And we did a lot of work on the throat chakra.  Interestingly, several people had coughing fits as we did the work - always a good sign of clearing out.  And I'm feeling full of a cold at the moment, so must be doing some clearing out of my own as well!

If you want a good overview of what's happening with 2012, as well as the history and background to this cycle this post about the precession of the equinoxes is very helpful.

Gypsymoon talks about the 2012 Awakening and our role.

There are some good energy reports this month too including Crystal Herbs (via Flower Spirit), Sandra Walter, Lee Harris, Alison Rae.

If you're experiencing any strange symptoms, here's an article about solar flare symptoms.

Enjoy your weekend.  Why not take some time this weekend just to focus on your throat chakra and nurture your voice?

What boat do you need to burn?

I usually burn bridges.  I've burned several over the years.  I suppose boats are similar in that they transport us from one place to another.  

One of my favourite quotes is:

May the bridges I burn light the way

Burning bridges, or boats, often seem to have such negative connotations as though we should keep our options open, not take too many risks or allow for a way back.  But that's precisely what we don't need.  Often the way back is what was holding us back.  It was that thing that was preventing us from moving forward, from stepping up into who we are becoming.  

Fully embracing the new way, the new place or the new life is what leads us on.  No looking back, no pillars of salt.  

I believe that when life changes radically there are big lessons for us to learn.  I often see life changes as kicks in the seat of my pants telling me, in no uncertain terms, that something has to shift.  And it's no good looking for something similar to replace it, what's needed is a quest in a whole new direction.  Otherwise, you'll just find yourself in the same boat all over again!

In the last two years my life has changed in ways that I always hoped it would.  I stepped out of the conventional into my own unconventional world.  My income now comes from, what might be considered, unlikely places.  Sometimes I hanker for the relative financial security of the conventional world.  The regular pay checks.  But that's all it is.  The rest was often more about selling my soul.  

But there's no going back.  We can only go forward.  So, I'm burning the boat of the conventional.  It never was me anyway.  I love the unconventional too much.  I like playing by my own rules or even making up the rules as I go along.  I like testing the boundaries, not doing as I'm told.  I like doing things because I want to, not because I should do.  I like setting my own hours and working in my pyjamas.  

Most of all, I like being a conscious part of the shifts that are taking place all around.  To embrace this in the way that I believe I'm being guided.  We're on the threshold of burning one huge boat.  It's the boat that brought us thus far but now we're about to step into a new boat to continue our journey.  And it requires immense trust and faith but, most of all, the energy of love.  And that will light your way.