Our Infinite Energy

[the MONTH ahead] March's Call To Action

Since March 1, nearly everyone I've spoken to has felt February's heaviness lift and dissolve!  It's been the most beautiful shift to observe and take part in.  All of February's gloominess, antsy-ness, indecision and all-consuming thoughts have been turned into confident action, courage and optimism.  With March's new energy, we've been able to let go of obstacles and see the opportunity that lies ahead.  The 8 vibration is one of authority and power, with a desire to guide and direct; it's no wonder so many of us feel like we've tapped into a new energy reserve, pocketing the feeling of determination and planning our next move.  It's not that February didn't serve its purpose- that slight pause of motion allowed us to face the behaviors and negative thinking that held us back.  By doing so, we've allowed ourselves to push forward with less baggage and a stronger awareness of self.  

March is influenced by the 8 energy which means that the cerebreal thinking of February will manifest into material form.  It is an extroverted number, so expect to be pushed toward collaboration or urged to work with a group.  This is a month in which we can expect to see the fruits of our labor begin to blossom and bear.  It also means that thoughts become action at a faster and more intense speed.  Intention is everything.  As long as you put positive, declaritive energy behind your goal, it has the chance to emerge just as you imagine.  The 8 energy is the feeling of, "what you sow, shall you reap."  Likewise, if you find yourself stuck in a rut of doubt and negative thoughts, what you hope to see bloom will end up wilting. Keep your affirmations and thoughts positive.  Expect everything you desire with an unedited, enthusiastic attitude.   

This week, Thursday's full moon brings answers and clarity to the options we found ourselves negotiating in February.  This is a week to write down, shout out loud, draw out- whatever is your medium of choice- all of the things you hope to manifest in March and even throughout the year.  The Mercury Retrograde that comes next week on March 12th, will help us map out a plan, generating more certainty about the steps needed to get exactly what we want.  

What do you hope to manifest this season?

[the week ahead] Releasing February, Welcoming March!

source for this dreamy photo by Irene Suchocki

 February 26- March 3

For many of us, these past couple of weeks have been filled with uncertainty.  Privately, I've felt as if alone at sea in a tiny canoe, with one paddle and a vast ocean.  Reaching the crest of what will soon be my new personal year (numerologically marked by your birthday), I've been nutty.  Really nutty.  Like, overwhelmed by doubt with dives into anxiety.  February's 7 energy has continually nudged us into private moments of reflection- the process of collecting your experiences and hearing the lessons in them.  But it can be terrifying, as you float between past, present and future.  I quit my full-time job nearly a year ago and jumped into the world of freelancing, not simply exchanging steadinnes for, well, rockiness, but also establishing myself in two new fields.  Balance and confidence ebb and flow more intensely.  And lately, I've been ridiculously hard on myself.  

 But then I kept hearing it in the air, from many of you- hasn't this week been intense? why do i feel so anxious?  i don't have my normal pool of energy, i usually have.  i don't know what i'm doing or where i'm going.  A bit of light started to shine.  I wasn't going crazy thinking that I was alone in this journey.  We were all experiencing February's wave of intensity, as this month has been about an excavation of our spirit and goals.  And then one of my favorite bloggers and creative inspirations, Bri Emery of Design Love Fest, wrote what's been heavy on her heart for the past couple of weeks, adding another voice to the chorus of our shared experience.  I was reminded of my intention in creating this site- to offer a space where you find comfort in knowing that others are right there with you, connected in energy to your journey.  After all, we share the same moon & stars. 

A healing is not always a gentle, easy process, and that's been our focus throughout February.  It's uncomfortable.  Issues float to the surface.  You're forced to see them, to confront them.  Most of the time it feels like things are being scraped or torn and in some ways they are.  No wonder it's been a rough month, right? As we let go of parts of our self that we've always known (behaviors, reactions, ideas, relationships), we eliminate crutches we've come to count on.  But we're making room to evolve, to let in fresh air, to breathe life into new ideas and new ways of being.  Good ol' fashion growing pains.  

With March's entrance comes a bit more balance.  Instead of being on the side of the see-saw that's up in the air, our feet touch the ground.  This Thursday, we'll exchange February's realizations for March's manifestations.  Our discoveries become actions!  Thoughts are set in motion!  With the first Mercury Retrograde on March 12th, we are poised for our first breakthrough of this freedom-seeking, bound-for-change 5 year and set sail in a new direction that aligns deeply with our spiritual path.  In these last few days of quiet, still February, stay open to the messages in your heart.  Release your concerns, ask that they be replaced with adventures and, as always, make time for gratitude.  Can't wait to share more about March's 8 energy next week.  Until then....love and light to you all.  

 

[the week ahead] A Turning Point- Seeing Our Path With New Eyes

February 12-18

Last week’s full moon revealed a new sense of purpose that will aid us in unfolding more layers of our spiritual purpose.  These layers will not only reveal the totality in our journey, but will also help dissolve previously held misconceptions about our capabilities.  January & February of 2012 have the same numerology as November & December of 2011, except that we are governed by the year’s 5 energy instead of 2011’s 4 energy.  In many ways, we’ve carried over last year’s vision into this year, breathing in the winds of change, freedom and new discoveries.  This week represents a turning point in our assessment of our goals and desires. 

The influence of the 5 energy throughout 2012 encourages us to not hold on so tightly to a strict plan.  Those of you who know me, know that one of my stock phrases is, “Leave room for the mystery.”  Don’t make your visions so specific that you close yourself off to opportunities that look slightly different, but hold the same rewards.    Last year, the 4 energy led us to complete a very specific goal of building structure.  This year, standing atop last year’s foundation, we recognize how easy it is to let go of ideas, projects or relationships in which the return manifests itself too slowly.  We want experiences to bring a quick return.  Because our focus is on freedom, change and new experiences, it feels more natural to move on quickly from something that isn’t working.

Don’t get me wrong- this year is not about fleeting experiences, it’s about purposeful experiences.  February’s journey allows us to connect more strongly to our instincts and a new sense of purpose.  This week, we discover a new level of insight into our journey and reassess our goals.  We continue to create moments of stillness, to catch our breath, close our eyes and connect with our instinct.  

Love & light to you all.

[exercise] Visual Meditation: Quieting the Mind

image via www.natgeo.com | "Solar Loops" courtesy of NASA

 

One of the most frequent questions clients ask is, “How do I quiet my mind?”  It’s common for all of us- the monkey mind, swinging from subject to subject.  Your first thought is what you’d like to eat for lunch, which swings to what you ate yesterday, which swings to thoughts about organic produce, which trickles into a daydream about your ideal garden, which jumps to an entirely different subject like following up on that interview, from which you then tumble into thinking about filing your taxes and so on and so forth. 

Too often we exist in a constant state of chatter, held hostage by the mind's diversions.  The mind is an impeccable tool for helping us keep organized, manage a schedule, add and subtract; but it is not where we want to reside.  You don’t want to rest in the mind- rest in your heart space.  Rest in your gut.  This is where instinct lives.  These are the places where intuition grows.

So how do we quiet the mind? 

By asking it to be quiet.  By simply choosing not to dwell in its habitat of white noise.  By finding personal methods of disconnecting from it.  I’m a big believer in creating visual meditations that work for you.  For a long while I tried to simply close my eyes and focus on my breathing, but the deeply visual part of my nature would just create images and the mind would then join, like two mischievous friends encouraging each other to play a prank.    

This is the easiest method.  First, you separate yourself by thanking it for the work it puts in (keeping you organized, remembering a meeting) and ask it to be quiet.  Acknowledge its strengths; move on from its limitations.  Literally say, thank you mind, but you can be quiet now.  Remind yourself that your thoughts don’t control you.  You control your thoughts.    

Another application is to visualize the mind's chatter collecting in order to be released.  Deepen your relationship with your third eye and allow its sight to aid you in your quest for quiet.  

> >  Golden Ball of Light Meditation  

Start by closing your eyes.  Let the mind run for a few minutes.  Visualize all your thoughts meeting in the center of your mind and dissolving to form a giant, gold ball of light.  Shift all your thoughts into this radiant, gold light. 

Allow quiet to simply enter, to easily exist.  Focus on your breathing.  Connect each inhale and exhale: in through your nose, out through your nose.  Visualize that ball of light.  Remain gently focused on it luminescence, its healing power.

When it feels natural, move onto picturing the golden ball transforming into one long, bright line that extends up down the length of your central meridian, out of the top of your head and all the way down through your feet.  Continue to focus on your breathing.  If monkey mind chatter sets in again, focus on your breathing and repeat.  Continue to connect to your breathing.  With each exhale, release the chatter.  With each inhale, take in serenity.  As always, thank the spirit realm for their healing power. 

(copyright 2012) Sara Nersesian/Our Infinite Energy

[the week ahead] Our Focus Turns Inward

2012's dynamic 5 energy arrived with a loud agenda, as if someone gave me a great big (loving) shove from behind.  Since January's arrival, I feel like I've toppled over into a pool of possibility that was previously something I only dared to imagine.  I was motivated and active, quick to set goals, as if my mind was emblazoned with a neon sign blinking words like achieve, ahead, forward.  As January trails off, soon to join the collection of months and years behind us, I'm connecting with the stillness of the 7 energy that February brings.  It carries an instinct to pause, to not move so fast, to exist in a world where the outside noise is muffled and your inner voice resonates with more volume.  Our energy gently turns inward.

Though January is numerologically influenced by a 6 energy, this month has also been about adjusting to the 5 energy that nurtures our overall experience this year.  This month's experiences have been about what's outside of us.  Freedom and change govern our choices, so we've been looking outside of ourselves toward experiences that will activate freedom and manifest change.  2012 is about external circumstances pulling our energy out.  When I attach an image to this energy, I picture thick beams of light, radiating out of our energetic planes in all directions, illuminating opportunities on the path ahead.  It is much like the picture above, except instead of us catching light, we emit it. 

This Wednesday, we shift into alignment with the 7 energy and acquire a new feeling of harmony.  This balance comes with moving our focus from the outside to the inside.  The 7 energy is about inner silence, inner knowing.  It is, in many ways, the opposite of the 6 energy which carries a more social and socially responsible agenda.  February is about tuning into and attending to our inner voice.  In the weeks ahead, we'll feel a stronger connection (and desire to connect) with our spirituality.  Logic and rational thinking take a back seat this month. Our intuition guides us.  Throughout February, we worry less about designing or creating the experiences that will lead us to the other side of the wall we are meant to break through; Instead, we conncet with new levels of self-awareness that bring us their naturally.  

February's arrival can be slightly jarring because it carries a distinctly different feeling than January.  It can feel like melancholy, but fear not- we are simply turning our attention back on ourselves, embracing the quiet that aids reflection.  This month, don't worry about the how and when of things.  Pool your energy into your infinite faith. Trust your intuition.  Achieve new levels of understanding.

 

image via nationalgeographic.com | Grand Prize Winner, photo by Shikhei Goh

Welcoming November!

November 6-12

“There’s no place like home” were Dorothy’s magical words.  Uttering her realization, her lessons in using her heart, brain and newfound courage were cemented.  Home took on new meaning and she readied herself to return.  Apropos of shifting from October’s 5 vibrations to November’s 6 energy, we may find ourselves uttering the same statement.  Home is a major theme for this month, along with healing, health and work.    

With October in the past the, the process of change has simply become our new reality.  The Wizard of Oz is a suitable reference.  Like Dorothy, we’ve arrived in a vivid, new reality with an inviting, twisting path before us.  Last week found me deep in the throes of the final phase of October’s 5 energy, taking in new experiences everywhere I could.  I’ve been neck deep in cardboard boxes with my move (quite literally changing homes), bounced from one intense freelance project to another, all the while pushing the limits of my comfort zone.  As I stand among piles of unpacked things and boxes still taped, my new reality feels in a state of flux but I know what the ideal is and I'm ready for November's journey.

Like Dorothy, we’re following a new, brick road into November where we emulate her social nature.  The energy of this month brings experiences of service, responsibility and humanity.  Paired with autumn’s harvest energy of giving and receiving, this month will make us aware of how we serve others.  Through this lens, defining our truth, our new reality and the devotion to this new reality become the crux of our journey.  We will create new ideals to which we aspire.  Our attitude this month is slow and deliberate.  Similar to our orderly nature during September’s building period, this month we’ll find ourselves purposefully defining our work and home spaces, with a heightened sense of how it benefits others.  Our social nature will guide us.  We will want to give, but must keep our generosity in check and balance our giving with receiving.  Our attachment to our principles and convictions will feel even stronger this month.  This is good, as it grounds us in the truth of our own individuality.  While we extend our hand to others, we keep one hand on our own heart.

Here's to an exciting month...

 ** In honor of November’s energy of service, I will be offering a $10 discount on all card readings and healing services for the rest of the month.  Hooray!

 

The Week Ahead ---> Staying Open to Change, Seeing Your New Reality

October 16-22

This week we continue to feel the swell of October's 5 energy.  A veil is lifting as we drop the baggage of our old reality, allowing a new reality to build before us.  Prompted by our intention for freedom, newfound clarity paves the way.  It is much easier for us to accept information right now.  We are incredibly open to change, freeing ourselves from old habits and stale energy.

The duality of old and new is a theme governing our collective experience.  As I mentioned last week, Ocotber is about negotiating this constant stream of information, straddling between the past and present and deciding what will come along.  Interestingly enough, I'm assisting a prop stylist this week on the photo shoots for a design book based on past and present.  Surrounded by vintage objects and DIY projects that are modern takes on different eras of design,  is just one experience in which the 5 energy has materialized.  I'm also moving, strengthening relationships (both old and new) and pushing myself into new dimensions of my businesses.  I'm always amazed, and relieved, when my reality aligns with divine energy.  In what ways are you confronting the old and new?  What is materializing for you?  What are you finding easy to leave behind and challenging to let go of?   

This week, we will continue to negotiate what is helping us move forward and what is holding us back.  Awareness is our best friend.  The direction toward which we transition is sparkingly illuminated.  Just allow the information to stream in.  We are wholly and divinely supported right now, comforted by the idea of change rather than resisting it.  Keep your eyes and heart open. You are breaking through...

Surrender & Release.  Surrender & Release.

love and light to you all *

The Week Ahead ---> Autumnal Equinox + September's Continued Determination

 

September 18-24

We’re more than halfway through September, meaning that the 4 energy securely guides the final building of our new structure.  We ease through the early part of the week with newfound determination before the autumnal equinox on Friday the 23^rd offers a final push toward a new plane of understanding.  With these pending seasonal changes, don’t be surprised if you find yourself particularly sensitive this week, both spiritually and emotionally.  Use this to your advantage. Write down your dreams, jot down anything that repeats itself over and over.  Messages come more strongly in times of change, so nurture your ability to rest and find silence.  Most of all, bring expression to your feelings and release them, so that new vibrations can enter your space, helping to ground you and honor your new journey.

Last week, there was a huge amount of settling into place; it was like we all sat down in our favorite chair, sweat on the brow, exhausted after a long month of work.  A collective, thud, was heard round the planet.  We are more certain than ever before of the path we’re on.  Our behaviors should be matching appropriately.  Recently, we discovered new behaviors, faced challenges that represented past ways of being and assessed how far we’ve come.  Like gears shifting and locking into place, all the disparate puzzle pieces began to form a larger picture last week.  We are firmly planted and trust how we’re getting to our new destination.

Keep in mind, that the opposite is always true.  You’re either moving with the new energy by trusting and letting go or you’re firmly clutching the past, resisting new behaviors and breaking down at the thought of having to budge.  And right now is tricky because the energy is strongly pushing us, like a gale force wind, toward new ways of being.  Those who are resisting might feel like they’re walking backwards, into the eye of the storm, while their vision rests on the horizon ahead of them moving further and further away.  You want to get there, but you also want to go back to what’s comfortable.  So you feel divided.   

 Fear, has been an obvious word to pepper recent conversations; fear of the unknown, fear of change.  Squash the fear when it comes by examining what it’s a result of and how it holds you back.  Ultimately, the fear of change comes from the inability to let go of a certain defense or behavior we’ve come to rely on, but doesn’t truly serve us in a positive way.  We’ve just grown used to it.  But it still holds us back.  But what would I be without it?, we ask…worried.  Remember, you don’t gain more by holding on, you gain more when you decide to let go.  Otherwise you’re walking around with a backpack of old energy, heavy with desire, but without a plan.   

This week, consider how you visualize change.  What visual image comes to mind?  Is it a rope tightening?  Is it a window opening?  Is it a pit of a thousand snakes that you have to jump into?  I hope not, cause that might mean you’re Indiana Jones….and a pit of snakes is kind of scary.  Once you get a sense of your visual definition, consider where you are in this picture.  Are you there as yourself?  Are you symbolized by an object?  See if you can cast yourself in a different role.  Consider what brings you strength.  

Love & Light.  

 

*photo courtesy of nationalgeographic.com | "Yellow Birch, Adirondacks" by Michael Melford

* this photo absolutely took my breath away. i'm proud to admit that i talk to trees and hug them, believing that they offer immense wisdom.  the yellow birch's tentacle-like roots coexisting with the boulder, something that should present an obstacle, beautifully symbolizes how acceptance leads to harmony. here's to the last third of September and digging our heels into new ground.   

Affirmations- Keep it Positive!

There are lots of negative associations with positive affirmations.  An episode of Sex and the City always comes to mind.  In “Unoriginal Sin,” Charlotte, in hopes of believing in love again, attends a self-help program that encourages positive affirmations.  There’s a scene of her scrawling an affirmation on her bathroom mirror in red lipstick, her eyes intensely possessed upon what she’s written.  She goes back to the seminar with Carrie, an affirmations skeptic, and the program leader hastily brushes off Charlotte’s concerns about finding love by saying, “keep doing your affirmations and love will come to you.”  Like simply saying you want something makes it appear or that affirmations are an empty routine; like brushing your teeth, you simply need to go through the motions.

It’s these images that make affirmations appear cultish and aimless- a group of people gathered in a room strongly stating that they accept themselves.  Or the image of Saturday Night Live’s Stuart Smalley, privately staring in the mirror, reminding himself that “doggone it, people like me.”  Affirmations conjure images of lonely, desperate folks who anchor themselves to happy words as a way of coping with their problems.  On the other end of the spectrum are images of naïve, happy-go-lucky people, blissfully going about their day.  They create the misconception that affirmations are silly because they’re based in thought, rather than action.  It seems too easy for our cultural “sweat until you get it,” “live to work” mentality.   

Truthfully, ease and expression are part of what makes positive affirmations a stand-by among holistic circles.  At the heart of positive thinking is the law of attraction (also known as the law of similars)- like attracts like.  What you sow, you shall reap.  The energy that you put out to the world is what is going to come back to you.  Thought precedes action.  We’ve all experienced this in some way.  You wake up cranky and it happens to be raining out…then you stub your toe coming out of the bathroom… then you spill coffee…then you’re late to work…and you take it out on a loved one…or yourself…and so on and so forth.  And this is simply short term.  Consider big dreams, big desires and how you’re negative thoughts contribute to the obstacles you manifest.

I encourage affirmations as a gateway. As with most things, you have to meet what you want halfway.  It doesn’t solve your problem completely, but it solves your attachment to the problem.  It dissipates negative energy you’re inviting into your space.  It’s a starting point, the origin toward feeling better.  Nothing is solved through negative thinking. There’s this notion that by keeping a negative thought with you is a way to control its outcome; Quite the opposite.  Holding onto it invites it into our space and the more attention we give it, the more we feed the very outcome we dread.

The Week Ahead ---> Emerging Anew

photo courtesy of nationalgeographic.com | "Neglected Eighty-Eight Butterfly" by Joel Sartore

 

We often turn to butterflies as a symbol of transformation.  Truly a brilliant image, the once caterpillar emerges from its cocoon with new wings and fresh colors.  Metamorphosis is an apt process on which we project our own changes.  Like the caterpillar, this week is about emerging from the dark.    

In a recent meditation, lights being turned on in the dark kept reappearing as an image for our collective change.  As we slide our finger across the “on” switch, enacting our heart’s desire is further illuminated.

This week, we resolve our reflections and shift toward movement, action and creation.  On Friday, Mercury resumes its regular, forward motion and will influence us to do the same.  Now that we’ve tuned in to our calling, the horizon is that much clearer.  Collectively, we move forward.  Don’t be surprised if Monday through Thursday you feel like you’re tripping over yourself.  It’s going to be a little rocky finding this new footing, but by the weekend you’ll feel your feet digging into the soil of this new path.  Consider that the earlier half of this 4 year was about building your structure- the foundation from which new changes would emerge.  The latter half of this year is about finishing the structure, mapping out the details and, near October, executing more change.  Still in the midst of August’s 3 vibration and setting the groundwork for September (a 4 month in 4 year!), we continue to carry the energy of creativity and self-expression.  Our identity is re-emerging before our eyes.  We are getting used to these new wings, a new way of seeing the world and all the ways in which we are to move about it.      

I find at times where deep change is taking place, visualization is an excellent tool that brings confirmation and leads to manifestation.  Create a vision board that grounds your dreams in reality.  Don’t censor yourself or be blocked by negative feelings of impossibility.  Print pictures, tear our images from magazines, write down goals and desired achievements to your heart’s content.  Anything that you pin, paste or attach- expect it to happen.  Through the process of doing, we shift our thoughts and energy from the internal to the external.  Ask for what you want and affirm that you will receive it. 

possible affirmation: 

I embrace change.  I am open to the abundance that aligns with my heart’s deepest calling.