Letting Go of 2017

We're at the end of 2017. Christmas and the end of the year always seem to come round quickly to me! It doesn't seem that long since I wrote my Reflections post but it was 7 months ago. Now that it's the last day of the year I thought it would be helpful to reflect on how 2017 has been and release it. (I started writing this a few days ago but it's now New Year's Eve!).

Note: This is assuming you're following the Western yearly calendar. I know other cultures have different calendars (such as the Chinese one), and I also follow the Wheel of the Year and with that New Year was Samhain (around Hallowe'en), so I also did some reflection then. You could just do your own reflecting and releasing whenever feels best to you. :)

While I love Christmas, I don't like New Year so much. I've never done as much for that. And I find the time after New Year depressing because all the excitement is over and we've still got most of winter and cold weather to go. I tend to take a while to "settle in" and adjust to the new year. But I think that rather than pushing myself to be different, I should just try to accept how I am and go gently. So if you're not in a really happy, positive mood either, don't be hard on yourself. :)

2018 is a universal 11/2 year in numerology. 2017 was a "1" year which was about new beginnings and 2018 is supposed to be about lessons/insights, love and relationships. 11 is a "master number".  I don't follow numerology really closely but I find it interesting to read about the universal year and my personal year number. (I've forgotten what my new one for 2018 will be, I'll check later).
You can read more here: https://consciouslifenews.com/2018-numerology-forecast-112-universal-year-lesson-taughtlessons-learned/11146485/#

And sign-up for a free energy attunement here (done remotely): https://whispersfromthesoul.com/free-event-new-years-energy-attunement-2017-2018/

Gratitude List

Things I'm grateful for this month:

Yule coming up
Christmas
Christmas decorations and trees
Secret Santa that I've been playing as part of Amina Makhdoom's FB group
Pinterest sections- makes it easier to organise my boards!
McDonald's festive range
Starbucks' gingerbread lattes
My new fleeces-good for colder weather

Gratitude List

Things I'm grateful for this month:

Bonfire Night fireworks displays
Late autumn golden sunshine
The gratitude challenge I've been taking part in, in Amina Makhdoom's FB group. (It's based on Pam Grout's Thank & Grow Rich book).
Infinite Possibilities book by Mike Dooley
Christmas decorations and products in the shops
Sunny days and blue skies (not a fan of colder weather but we've been having some sunny days)
Hot chocolate
Getting the Cadbury's choc advent calender I wanted!

Feeling Your Emotions Introduction

I'm starting a series of posts about emotions and how it's important to get in touch with them. So this is the introduction post. :)

Disclaimer: I'm not a doctor, so if you're having mental/physical issues please seek medical help in addition to reading this. :)


In a lot of spiritual books and articles on websites people mention how your emotions affect you. If you keep them bottled up then they can get stuck and cause you problems. For example suppressing your feelings can cause you to become depressed. Some people talk about the mind/body connection and say that how you feel can cause physical illness. I believe this. An example is Louise Hay's work. For more on that visit this post: https://fallingpetalsuk.blogspot.com/2017/09/my-current-favourite-spiritual-and.html

Gratitude List

Things I'm grateful for this month:

Autumn
Autumn leaves
Library books
Walking in the woods
Pumpkins
Pam Grout's Thank and Grow Rich- currently reading the e-book  which I bought on offer
Getting new fairy lights for the lounge
Hallowe'en/Samhain next week

Gratitude List

Things I'm grateful for this month:

Claire Baker's September Celebration which I'm currently taking part in. Did it last year as well. :)
Madron
Trees starting to change colour
September roses
South Coast Shimmy
My camera working again when I've been having problems with it!
Sunsets
Belonging to online communities

My Current Favourite Spiritual and Magic Resources

In the past I've posted about spiritual practices. Today I thought I'd share about my current favourite spiritual and magical resources, books and websites. :)



Books


The Map by Boni Lonnsburry

I've written about this before in my post about the Law of Attraction which you can read here:
https://fallingpetalsuk.blogspot.com/2013/08/law-of-attraction.html

I've had The Map since it came out in 2013 and it's one of my favourite LOA books. To be honest though, I haven't seen big dreams manifest yet but that could be because I haven't worked with my intentions daily. It is good though for inspiring me and helping to shift energy.

The Map is centred around intentions (you can read more in the LOA post above). You're supposed to say your intentions every day but I forget to do them that regularly. Now I'm thinking I should go over them and re-write them if I'm no longer inspired. You can read about intentions in this post: https://www.livealifeyoulove.com/sample-intentions/


My favourite techniques in the book are Grateful For Now and Then, and Working with your Past Selves. Grateful For Now and Then is where you write 10 things you're grateful for now and 10 future things you're grateful for as if they've already happened. I don't think Boni writes about it on her site but here's another post she wrote about gratitude: https://www.livealifeyoulove.com/gratitude-technique/

And the Past Selves technique is where you go back in meditation/visualisation and "meet" your past selves (child, adolescent and young adult) to talk to them about your dreams and see where they could be stopping you moving forward. There are more details in the book but Boni writes a bit about it here: https://www.livealifeyoulove.com/frequently-asked-questions-about-the-map-2/

Boni also goes in depth about beliefs and how they can hold you back. I've done her exercise for changing Core Beliefs and they have helped me. If you're interested in reading more about beliefs here's a past post I wrote about them: https://fallingpetalsuk.blogspot.com/2015/11/beliefs-and-believing-loa.html

There are 7 steps in The Map: Step 1- Own your divinity (realise that you are a powerful creator who can create your reality), Step 2- Clarify your dream (get clear on what your dreams are and what you want to manifest), Step 3- Flow energy (do techniques to get energy flowing for manifesting such as the ones mentioned above), Step 4- Take action (take inspired action that feels good), Step 5- Look for response (take notes of any signs and manifestations and respond to them in a positive way), Step 6- Stay in joy (feel as happy as you can) and Step 7- Ask for help (ask angels, spirit guides etc for help in feeling better and manifesting you dreams/creating your reality). You can read more on The Map basics here: https://www.livealifeyoulove.com/the-map-to-a-delicious-life/


Also there is an index on the right of the homepage listing the steps and linking to posts where Boni writes more about them. For more information check out the book. :)

Gratitude List

Things I'm grateful for this month:

Lammas
Last proper month of summer
Travis Eric's LOA course- I got to try it out in return for helping with content suggestions.
Baking
Reba Linker's 100 Days of Healing
Going to the library
New notebooks!
New series/season of Teen Mom 2 starting



P.S. I haven't been posting much lately but I'm currently working on a new post about my favourite spiritual books and resources, so stay tuned! :)

Gratitude List

Things I'm grateful for this month:

Summer! We've been getting nice, summery weather lately.
Iced coffees
Everyday LOA Magic's A State of Happy course- currently taking it.
My boy cat. <3
Positive online connections
New series of Teen Mom UK starting this week
The book How to Be Well by Abby Wynne
Brighton Marina

Design Your Universe- Part 2

This is a follow on to my post Design Your Universe- Part 1 which is about using of the Law of Attraction (LOA) to create the life of your dreams. This is a work in progress for me and I'm doing a series of posts on the process.

Note: This is what I've been doing and it's not the definite way to do anything, so just take what you resonate with :)


In my first post I outlined two steps:

1. Feel better.
2. Change your beliefs and believe that your dreams can come true.

I may add more to this in the future but it's what I've been working on for a while now. Please see the original post (linked above) for more on them.

In Part 1 I said that I would write more about tools in Part 2. So here we go. :)

Gratitude List

Things I'm gratful for this month:

Roses in my garden
Library books
Litha/the start of summer
Mayberry Garden Centre
Candles
Summer drinks
Rose and honeysuckle hand cream- I recently found a tube I'd lost a while ago!
Tess Whitehurst books


Bonus:

My local vets. :)

The Love Project- Romantic Love (Relationships and Anxiety)

Back in December I did the latest post in The Love Project series, on the subject of romantic love. You can read it here: https://fallingpetalsuk.blogspot.co.uk/2016/12/the-love-project-romantic-love.html

Then I wrote about feeling shame over being single. Today I want to address anxiety in relationships. As I've mentioned before I have anxiety. The main issue I have is health anxiety (HA) but I also have general anxiety and a bit of social anxiety. This can make it hard to socialise and connect with others. I'm also wary of forming relationships due to negative past experiences with friendships and probably because of my early family life as well.


Dating with anxiety

I've not been on many dates and when I have met up with someone it was more of a friendship thing. I was extremely nervous when I did meet up with a man but at least I know I am able to do it. Going on dates is something I'd like to explore more of, so that's what I've been thinking about lately.

I recently did an online search for "dating with anxiety" and I came across a couple of useful sites. I find it helpful to see others sharing their experiences with anxiety and in particular dating with anxiety. One blog I found is called The Anxious Girl's Guide To Dating. There are some good posts on there. Here are a couple:

https://anxiousgirlsguidetodating.com/2015/08/05/ask-what-you-want-wednesday-facing-your-fears/

https://anxiousgirlsguidetodating.com/2016/10/04/breaking-habits-we-dont-even-know-we-have

Reflections

In March I started a series of posts called Design Your Universe about the Law of Attraction. I've written one post so far and you can read it here: https://fallingpetalsuk.blogspot.com/2017/03/design-your-universe-part-1.html

Since then I've been planning to carry on but I've been feeling held back in my life lately by my anxiety, in particular health anxiety. I've started the second post but it's not ready yet, so I thought I'd do this post instead. I'll write about my thoughts on creating the life of your dreams and how you can feel held back by challenges, especially mental health.

Gratitude List

Things I'm grateful for this month:

Sunny spring weather
Spending time with my boy cat. :)
McDonald's New York Stack burger
McD's new Raspberry Ripple drink
Tess Whitehurst's The Good Energy Book
Receiving a Joy Box I won during Amina Makhdoom's Joy Challenge!
Eurovision!
Doing a performance with my belly dance group BD4U


Bonus:

Winning Luna Press Publishing's' flash fiction competition! My story is Dream Time. :)

Gratitude List

Things I'm grateful for this month:

Having a new computer mouse and keyboard
Spring!
Flowers and blossom trees
Warmer weather and longer days
Easter coming up
Amina Makhdoom's Joy Challenge
Inspiring sites and blogs
Choccy eggs! lol

Design Your Universe- Part 1

Note: The title of this blog post was inspired by the symphonic metal band Epica's album!


I've had this post in mind for a while, the basic gist of it but had to put it all together. I've decided to do a series of posts, so here is the first one. :)


Designing your universe

I think this can be a good way to describe the Law of Attraction (LOA). There are other phrases such as "manifesting" and "creating your reality". For a basic explanation of the Law of Attraction you can read this post: https://fallingpetalsuk.blogspot.com/2013/08/law-of-attraction.html

I first became really interested in LOA in 2010 when I read The Secret by Rhonda Byrne. Although I think I had heard of it before then because in 2008 I started a "Vision Pad" (like a vision board), and in 2009 I wrote a Life List (aka Bucket List). I started more actively working it with in 2011. I have seen my life change in some ways, I've lost weight and I am more confident than I used to be. And I have manifested smaller things like a PS3 and a BlackBerry (things that once felt quite far out of reach to me because of the price). But other stuff like a relationship and holidays to Miami and Hawaii hasn't happened (yet!). I suppose the biggest thing I manifested is being in a music video. I'd wanted that for years and in 2012 I was in my belly dance group's music video for a dance called Celtic Star. It wasn't a professional one for a band but I still count it! lol.

I wish I could say, "Here's my success story! I designed a fabulous life and here's how I did it!" lol. I can't do that but I thought it would be good to do a post/s about the process of it all, the work in progress.

When you first come to the Law of Attraction you probably do it because you want to have something (often physical, e.g. a job, a relationship, a car etc.) and/or to feel better. Then if you go deeper it starts to become more than that. I think it's about creating change from the inside and becoming the kind of person who has the life you want. We'll look at processes to help with this later on. :)

Gratitude List

Things I'm grateful for this month:

Imbolg
Hans Sloane drinking chocolate- Good for this time of year
Getting a bit of snow!
Early Easter choc, especially Cadbury's solid eggs! lol.
True movies 
Going for walks around the block
Stella Seaspirit's Own Your Witchiness Challenge starting tomorrow: http://www.stellaseaspirit.co.za/own/
Pancake Day coming up

Bonus:

Falling Petals' anniversary. It's 4 years this month since I started this blog! Check out the first post here:  http://fallingpetalsuk.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/welcome-to-falling-petals.html

Spiritual Tools/Practices

As I mentioned in my Healing Mind and Body post I don't believe it's "essential" that you have a spiritual practice but it can certainly help to have one. I'd had the idea to do this post for a while and then I read this article by Cindie Chavez which describes how I feel about it, sometimes spiritual practices vary. Check it out here: http://www.cindiechavez.com/ebb-flow-spiritual-practice/

I find that it's no good "forcing" myself to do something every day, I just do things when I feel like it. For example, a few months ago I got more into affirmations. But in the past month or so I've stopped using them as much. I thought it would be good to share some spiritual practices and tools that I use at various times. :)

Note: You might find it useful to refer to this post on the Law of Attraction aka LOA because I'm going to be referencing LOA: https://fallingpetalsuk.blogspot.com/2013/08/law-of-attraction.html

 

Update 14/2/22: I've been getting an antivirus warning for Suzanne Heyn's site for several months now. I did contact her about it and she thought it was ok, so it could just be my antivirus software. It could be because I needed to update to "https".

Affirmations

I briefly covered these in the basic LOA post (see above) but last September I did a more in depth post which you can read here: https://fallingpetalsuk.blogspot.com/2016/09/affirmations.html

Affirmations are a manifestation technique but they're also used for raising self esteem, loving yourself and healing. I haven't been that into them in the past but found them helpful a few months ago. I created a folder of affirmations and also wrote some down in notebooks. I haven't used them much lately but think it would be good to have another go, especially since I got Louise L. Hay's book You Can Heal Your Life for Christmas (I got it last year from the library and really liked it, so I wanted it to keep). I think she was one of the first people to use affirmations for healing.

The problem with affirmations is that if you don't actually believe them it's a bit of a struggle. E.g. if you're single and lonely it's a big jump to go from that to affirming, "I am in a wonderful relationship with a loving boyfriend" or "I have a great social life". So it might be better to say something like, "I am willing to experience a wonderful relationship with a loving boyfriend" or, "I am open to having a great social life". Kelsey Aida has a good post on this subject which inspired me: http://kelseyaida.com/theinspirationalblog/how-to-use-affirmations

And here's a post from Sarah Prout about affirmations: https://sarahprout.com/how-to-use-affirmations-to-heal-your-life

Gratitude List

Things I'm grateful for this month:

Having a new TV- it's HD, never had an HD one before, lol.
Having a good Christmas and New Year
My Christmas presents
Leftover over Christmas chocolate!
Awakened State's Awakened Bliss Creator Challenge- I'm currently doing it.
Receiving a Louse Hay I Can Do It calendar as part of Amina Makhdoom's Joy Challenge 2017!
Bellman and Black by Diane Setterfield book
Neighbours starting again