Welcome at Flow of Miracles

Dear people,

Healing is available for everybody. Yet it's a rare week when I don't notice some form of communication where the expectation is clear: there will not be healing. Sometimes when I read the comments of a news story about a rape survivor, sometimes I speak to somebody who is deeply grieving or when I have an intake with somebody who is looking for help, but who has given up or lost faith. Today I'm writing about why healing is available for everybody and why that's so important to remember.

Different faces of Healing

Lucky for us, we often heal without thinking about it. It's not instantaneous, but we don't consciously need to work for it. A cut in our finger, a blister on our foot or pimple in our face. A bit of heart break, a disappointment or a night of less sleep is often also quickly forgotten. Our bodies,  hearts and minds want to heal and we take that for granted. 

Yet sometimes healing is a journey - it takes time and effort to reach our destination. When people can not imagine the destination they think healing is not possible. Sometimes they  want to go back in time. A grieving person won't get their loved one back. A rape that has happened can't be stopped. So they tell me that nothing can be done - there is nothing to heal. When this happens, it means that we are stuck in the past instead of finding a way to move forward.

Healing has many faces. It can be acceptance. It can be new love or new life. It can be inner peace. It can be strength. It can be wholeness. It can be helpfulness. It can be strength. It can be wisdom. But it will never be the exact same way as before. If that was true, it wouldn't be healing, as that would mean we have learned nothing, gained nothing and just rewound time. 

Sabotage in Healing

Sometimes people swear they want to heal, but they've seen a lot of different people and they claim nothing works. With our bodies inner natural healing power, it's very unlikely that nothing would ever work. It often means that our hearts or our minds are sabotaging the healing. Like somebody who tells  you they want to quit smoking with a cigarette in their mouth. 

It's really hard to deal with self-sabotage in Healing. Most of the sabotage is subconscious, so people really feel like they are working hard and trying hard. They are often angry and upset, because nothing they are doing seems to be working. It's like an invisible hand is ruining their work time and time again. Sometimes they feel they have done enough and are unwilling to see where their energy, participation and willingness is needed.

If you notice this happening in your life - remember that healing is always possible. You just need to work on the self sabotage to start the healing process. I made a True Unity video to help people heal self sabotage. If you do notice healing but frequent set backs or mixed results, definitely take a closer look into self sabotage.

Time needed for healing

I  always say that most people would like to be healed yesterday. However, in our world healing takes time. While it's sometimes possible to have a Celestial Speedup all healing takes time. We can't rush our body, mind or heart. I understand that people sometimes wish to flash forward, but for true healing changes need to be made in a healthy way.

If your healing is a time issue, give your body,  heart or mind some grace. While it's wonderful to instantly heal trauma, it's just not always possible. One of my longest personal healing was around 15 years, but the radioactive iodine treatment I did had a large effect on my body. I gained a lot of wisdom on that healing journey and I'm grateful that the issue is healed now. I'm working on deeper healing as I'd like to be medication free.

With longer healing journey's it's often discouraging to see very little results, but you should see some. I did notice a more balanced thyroid year after year and the amount of side effects became less and less. So while I wasn't healed or within normal blood values, I was healing. If you see no results with time, there is definitely self sabotage going on. If you so slow results, be sure to check if there is something extra you can do, but if not, try to be patient and accept the time needed for your healing.

I regularly have to tell clients that they need to wait until the healing energy has done it's work. While I do after care at 6 weeks, I've seen full healing occur 9 months later. The energy was obviously still running. Sometimes people do need a second session, because the healing uncovered a deeper problem or because it wasn't possible to do a complete healing in 1 session. There is only so much change we can handle - no matter how much healing we desire.

Keeping a Healing Mindset

When we believe healing is possible we keep searching, trying new things and listening to our bodies. We are focused on self love and self care. We are mindful of our new boundaries until we are fully healed. If we believe healing is not possible we can sink into depression or despair, make self sabotaging choices and often do things that are wrong for our bodies, heart and minds.

It's hard sometimes to keep a healing mindset, so don't be discouraged if you lost it for a while. Get yourself back on track and forgive forgive forgive. Forgiveness is a great healing tool and will often lead you towards more wisdom and better outcomes. 

Exercise: Available Healing

• Take around 15-20 minutes for this exercise
• Grab a pen/pencil and a piece of paper
• Write down the answers to the following questions intuitively.  
• The percentage of healing available to me is:
• The percentage of self sabotage I'm dealing with is:
• The amount of time I need to heal this issue is:
• The direction I need to take my healing into is:
• Take some time to reflect on your answers. 
• If you aren't happy about the amount of healing available or the time needed, invest in more support or a Celestial speedup
• If you aren't happy with the amount of self sabotage, start healing there.
• Listen carefully to the direction you need to take your healing in
• Don't forget to drink a bit of water and do some grounding 

I strongly believe we can all be healed. That's why I write so many exercises on my blog, make healing video's and do live sessions. And of course work with clients in my practice. If you want to talk more about healing or ask what's possible for you, you can email me, post a comment here on the blog or send me a message on the Facebook Fan Page or on Instagram. 

Dear people,

We all deal with resistance every single day. We all have different things that we resist. Maybe it's coming out of bed, maybe it's doing your dishes, maybe it's choosing the better food option, maybe it's trying for another job etc. etc. It's normal to feel some resistance, but sometimes people struggle with large resistance rooted in trauma, past lives, family karma or other chronic issues. If we don't make a commitment to solve it, the resistance will lead to self-sabotage, procrastination and frustration. So today, let's talk about healing resistance. 

Reducing Daily Resistance

We all have things we dislike, so it's natural to be resistant to doing them. Since everybody is different, we all resist different things. The end result of resistance is easily spotted: the task doesn't get done. This type of small resistance can be easily solved by rewards or improving the task. 

I always think it's funny that we know rewards work as positive reinforcement, but most adults don't reward themselves. Whatever the task that you usually resist is, it's a good idea to reward yourself. Make sure however that the reward isn't a self sabotaging one. For example: don't reward a daily task with food if you don't want to gain weight. It's even better if you can reward yourself with things you want to add into your routine. So if you want to be more mindful, you can reward yourself with a 5 minute meditation, a 15 minute break or a gratitude exercise.

Another good way to reduce daily resistance is to make the tasks that you are resisting more fun. A lot of us don't like doing the daily grind of housework, but adding in music, your favorite audio book or some TV is a great way to get yourself happier while doing your task. It might not be as efficient, but it does get done! 

Acknowledging Deeper Resistance

One of the main reasons deeper resistance doesn't get resolved is because people don't acknowledge it. They will only look at the surface: I'm saying that I want to quite smoking, lose weight, clean up my attic, find a new partner, so that must mean I'm working towards it. Yet, when we take the time to reflect, we'd see that our behavior doesn't line up with our talk. 

Sometimes the resistance is in the subconscious so that people seem to have really good reasons on why they aren't making progress. They were busy, life got in the way, they were stressed etc. etc. Yet, examining those reasons often shows that they are just excuses. If we really wanted, we could have taken steps forward.

So it's a good idea to reflect regularly on if you are meeting your goals or not. By seeing why you aren't moving forward you can find out what type of resistance you are experiencing and heal it. It pays off to regularly check out what or who you are resisting. I always double check when I have to reschedule a task to see if I'm procrastinating, if I prioritized correctly and if I notice any resistance.

Healing Deeper Resistance

Once we know deeper resistance is there, it's time to heal it. It's important to figure out where the resistance is coming from and to step into willingness. Besides this exercise, you can also use the True Unity Video: Releasing Resistance or search my Channel for videos to heal specific resistance types like Fear of the Next Step, Fear of Rejection, Procrastination and others.

Exercise: Healing Resistance

• Take around 15-20 minutes for this exercise
• Grab a pen/pencil and a piece of paper
• Write down all your resistance thoughts and thought patterns
• If you have trouble accessing them use prompts like: I resist doing X, because, I'm afraid to do X, because, I won't do X, because or I feel resistance, because
• Once you have all resistance written down, take some time to feel it in your body and resonate with the parts of you who are angry, resentful, frustrated, fearful etc.
• Ask for help from God, Higher Power, the Universe etc. to come to a state of willingness / surrender
• Ask to have all parts integrated so your resistance disappears and you feel wholly committed
• Test your commitment by write down what you want to do and setting an alarm to reflect on if it happened
• Repeat this exercise as much as you want to discover new sources of resistance.
• Don't forget to drink a bit of water and do some grounding 

If you want to share your experience with resistance or my exercises, you can email me, post a comment here on the blog or send me a message on the Facebook Fan Page or on Instagram. If you want to heal your resistance with me, ask me for a free intake!

Dear people,

The spiral is a wonderful healing tool to work with, both in what we can accomplish for ourselves, but also in what happens when things go wrong. In English, spiraling can both mean: decrease or deteriorate continuously as well as showing a continuous and dramatic increase. I've written before on using the Spiral in walking meditation, but today I want to write some more about the spiral as a healing tool.

Why a healing spiral?

Most of the time, people like their growth to be a continuous line trending upward. While I can understand why that's ideal, that's hardly realistic. That would mean that we only take steps forward and our lives continuously improve at the same rate. 

After discussing this, people often talk about how life has it's ups and downs, and then draw a line which dips now and again, but in the end rises higher and higher. That's more realistic than the always upwards trending line. Sometimes we take a step back and then 2 forward, sometimes we are stuck in a dip for a long while, but in the end, we achieve more then we had in the beginning.

What it doesn't show is how healing builds upon healing and pain builds upon pain. It's no wonder we call it 'spiraling' when we talk about mental health. When we can't stop a negative thought, it will often generate another and another and another until we hit rock bottom. Breaking that spiral is so important. At the same time, if we are healing, building positivity upon positivity, we will reach higher and higher. That often means we reach higher and higher levels of healing. Of course that means we regularly revisit earlier themes which sometimes means people mistakenly think they make no progress or fear that they are stuck in a loop.

Why use a healing spiral?

If you know that healing and growth moves into a spiral, you can use it in your healing practice to increase healing as well as speed it up. Who doesn't like speeder results? It means meeting yourself where you are at, but also increasing your own healing potential. 

You can also use spirals to get to the core of issues or to manifest things outward. Spirals are found in nature, making it easier to meditate with this symbol. Of course spirals also feature in sacred geometry. So there are many ways in which you can connect to spirals and have them help you.

Some ideas to use a spiral

Here are some ideas on how to use a spiral:

1. Meditate with a spiral object like a seashell, a snail etc.
2. Walk a spiral inwards with a reflection question
3. Walk a spiral outwards with a manifestation focus 
4. Trace or draw spirals
5. Use a piece of rope, string or a necklace to make a spiral

Exercise: Healing Spiral

• Take around 10-15 minutes for this exercise
• Choose a healing theme (for example: physical health, assertiveness, acceptance)
  
• Gently close your eyes
• Breathe in and out until you feel comfortable
• Visualize a spiral staircase standing right before you
• Your staircase is filled with light and healing
  
• Set your foot upon the first step - breathe in and out - and access the healing available
• Gently ascend upwards to the next level
• Ask for the lesson or gift at this stage of healing 
  
• Breathe in and out - and access the healing available
• Repeat until you feel you are at the highest level of healing for yourself
• Extend gratitude towards yourself
  
• Gently open your eyes, drink a bit of water and do some grounding

If you want to share your experience with healing spirals or my exercises, you can email me, post a comment here on the blog or send me a message on the Facebook Fan Page or on Instagram.

Dear People,

I recently spoke about the technique of Psychometry in my Dutch Spiritual Column and I've made a Creating Joy Video about it as well. This technique is defined in the dictionary as "divination of facts concerning an object or its owner through contact with or proximity to the object". For many people it's just considered token-reading. So let's discuss this technique for a bit today and try it out for yourself with a small exercise.

What is Psychometry?

The idea behind Psychometry is that energy from the owner will find it's way into objects. The ring you wear, your clothing, etc. etc. they all soak up your energies daily. Large items like your home, your car etc. will  also soak up your energies. So basically everything you surround yourself with is included in this energy exchange. People who are sensitive can read that energy and know things about you and your future. 

Some Psychics that work with Psychometry will ask you to have a token in your home for a few days and then bring it with you to the appointment. Flowers are very popular for that, but another popular way to do psychometry is with photos. 

Why use Psychometry?

If you are already sensitive to energy it makes a lot of sense to try to see if psychometry gives you good results. You can start by honing the skill on your own items, but doing that makes is hard to distinguish between what you already know about yourself and what you are actually sensing. 

Hopefully, you do have items in your home that belong to others. Maybe you have some second hand items, heirlooms or things you borrowed. It's of course easier to use psychometry on items from people you know as it's easier to confirm what you are receiving. I do highly recommend asking for permission if you choose to read an item belong to another living person. Everybody deserves privacy and you never know what information might come true. I know some people are confident that higher power/God/The Universe won't share what you aren't meant to know, but personally, I don't subscribe to that. 

Psychometry Exercise

• Take around 10-15 minutes for this exercise
• Select an item that you want to read 
• Gently close your eyes
• Breathe in and out until you feel comfortable and at peace
• Visualize opening your third eye and affirm that you are willing to listen to your intuition
• Touch the object that you want to read
• Register all the sounds, smells, thoughts, images etc. that come to you 
• Let go of the object
• Gently open your eyes, drink a bit of water and do some grounding 
• If needed, do some cleansing, like washing your hands
  
• Write down your impressions and check them with the owner of the object

Repeat this exercise regularly to see if this spiritual technique comes easily to you or and if you want continue working with psychometry. For some, the impressions can be too much, and than grounding and cleansing becomes very important, for others the difference between what you are imagining and what you are really intuitively receiving can be hard to distinguish and others don't receive any impressions at all.

Don't be discouraged if this isn't the technique for you, there are many spiritual techniques to help us work with our intuition and be in tune with our soul path.

If you want to share your experience with psychometry or my exercises, you can email me, post a comment here on the blog or send me a message on the Facebook Fan Page or on Instagram.

Dear people,

Of course we all like to succeed. And sometimes we feel that when we have God's/Heaven's/Higher Power's/Universes' blessing, when we're walking our soul path, that means that we'll only have success after success after success. And while, of course, I acknowledge that would be really nice, that is not my experience. We sometimes need to learn our lessons and sometimes we desire things or people that aren't right for us. So today I am talking to you about times when we are destined to fail.

Destined to fail 

When we fail, we can have two choices. We can choose to be bitter and upset. Or we can choose to trust that that wasn't the right thing for us. It's hard to accept, but maybe we were actually are needed somewhere else, be with somebody else or do something else entirely.

Example: Buying our House

When I was house hunting with my husband, that was a huge sellers market. So we decided to first sell his apartment and then only to start looking for a home for the both of us. And that meant that his apartment is sold really quick within only a couple of weeks. But also that we have spent a long time looking at houses afterwards.

When we finally found one that we both agreed on, we bid on it, but it didn't get sold to us. It was a huge bidding war. But since we only just started looking, we decided of course that it was just the start. But in the months after that, we could not really find anything that we were willing to bid on. And my husband was getting more and more nervous because due to financial reasons, the best thing to do for us was to buy a house within a certain period of the sale of his old appartment.

And finally, we saw another property that we would like to buy, so we bid on it, and we heard that it was just us and another potential buyer. And that was because COVID just started and we were in our first lockdown. And of course, everybody was saying that we were insane and that the housing market was likely to crash and we should just wait.

But we really liked the house so we decided to put an offer in. And again, our bid wasn't accepted. We had the highest bid but the couple we were bidding against actually didn't need to get a mortgage, they could pay in cash. So the sellers went with a cash offer.

So that evening, my husband was very dejected and very angry and he said, "I really thought that that was going to be our home and I am so angry. We spend months looking at houses and we still don't have one."
And I told him, "Look, we were destined to fail that wasn't our home, and if it is our home, the other buyers are going to go and drop out and we'll be called back asking if we want to still stand by our offer or not. But I told him, "That is obviously not our home."

And I asked him if he was willing to do some healing work with me so that he could let go of his anger and his disappointment and so we could move forward to the home that was ours. So I'm happy that he was willing to do that with me.

And then the next day I saw our home and I said, "Look, that's our home." And it was in the same street of the house that went into that bidding war. It's just a small street, so we were lucky to find another property for sale there within the same year. So we went to visit there and we made an offer. And we got the call a day later that the house was hours. We are very happily living there. And it really felt that it was destined to be our home.

Because we got this property almost a year later, we were able to save a lot more money and able to do a lot of renovations. And because it was during COVID lockdowns, we managed to snag somebody to actually do it for us because we could just offer him an empty house and the keys. Everything just fell into place wonderfully.

And we wouldn't have been there if we won the bidding war. We wouldn't have been there if we won the bid on the second property. So for us, the third time was the charm. 

Example from a client: miscarriage

When I was working with a client, some grief from a miscarriage came up during her session. She told me that it was devastating was it was the only time she managed to get pregnant and she had loved to be able to be a mother to a living child. 

Miscarriages are hard on the mind, body and soul for almost all people. Some people find meaning or manage their grief, while for others, it can be an open wound. Grief is always a deeply personal journey. So this example does not speak for others.

While she was able to release layers of grief she told me how much better her life had been afterwards. Something was set right in her body - as some major health issues resolved. Something was set right in her life - she recognized that her relationship wasn't right for her and that a child tethering her to that person would have been dangerous for her. She was able be thankful and extended gratitude to the soul she had felt and the experience she went through.  

Destined to fail exercise

If you look back, you might also find instances where after not getting your first pick, you found out that what you received instead was much better. It might be a second relationship, it might be that third bid on a house, it might be that third job offer or even something completely different. Staying in tune with what is right for you, allows you to find patience for the times where it seems you are living setback after setback.

• Take around 15-20 minutes for this exercise
• Make sure you are comfortable and can't be disturbed by your phone etc.
• Close your eyes 
• Take yourself back towards a time where you felt a painful failure
• Ask for help from Higher Power, God, The Universe, your Guides etc. to release any pain, guilt, self attack or other negativity to be released
• Breathe in and out slowly and fill yourself up with Inner Peace
• Ask if you have already received your better path - if you have - feel grateful
• If you haven't received it yet - ask to be filled with trust
• Gently open your eyes, drink a bit of water and do some grounding 

Dear people,

A lot of us have trouble staying connected to our bodies. When you do spiritual work a lot of it is centered around the higher Chakras. That might mean meditation or visualizations or other ways of connecting to your intuition and higher Power (God/The Universe/Heaven etc.). Yet, we are here on earth, in these bodies and they need attention and care too. So that's why today I'm writing about Body Scans - a technique to stay connected to your body. I've also spoken about this technique in my Dutch Column: Spiritueel Moment: Body Scan.

What is a Body Scan?

A body scan sounds like I'm asking you to have an MRI, but actually, it's a technique to help you connect to your body. Generally speaking, there are two ways to do this technique. One way is to connect through your body, most commonly by tensing and releasing your muscles or by placing your hand upon certain body parts. Another option is to visualize and mentally connect to each area of your body. 

Depending on what you are trying to accomplish, one method might be easier or better then the other, but I highly recommend that you get adept in both of them.

Why do a Body Scan?

Life gets busy and when it does, we usually lose connection to our bodies. We rush through things, forget to eat, have less sleep then we should, the ways in which we can neglect or ignore our bodies messages are almost endless. So then we get surprised by a nasty flu or cold, by how tired we are or why we suddenly snap at somebody. 

By doing a body scan regularly, you notice what is happening within your body and thus within yourself. You can make sure that small ailments don't become bigger, find yourself with more energy an a happier and healthier body. Who needs more reason then that?

When to do a Body Scan

You should definitely regularly do a Body Scan. I'd recommend at least once a month and more often if you find yourself disconnected from your body due to chronic illness, stress or other reasons. You can remind yourself to do it on the first Saturday of the month for example.

Exercise: Body Scan with muscles

If you prefer to listen, you can find a Dutch spoken Body Scan in my Dutch Column: Spiritueel Moment: Body Scan. Read the instructions of this exercise thoroughly and then do the scan step by step.

Breathe in with tensing and breathe out with relaxing if you do a Body Scan with your muscles. I wrote this for an upwards flow, but if you want to do a downwards flow, start at the bottom.  

• Find a comfortable place to lay down or sit down 
• Make sure you aren't disturbed for 10-15 minutes
• Gently tense your toes and then relax them
• Move your feet upwards and then relax them
• Gently tense your calves by moving your feet of the floor and then relax them
• Gently tense your upper legs and then relax them
• Gently tense your glutes (buttocks) and then relax them
• Gently tense your stomach and then relax it
• Gently tense your diaphragm and then relax it
• Gently pull up your shoulders and then relax them
• Gently tense your hands into fists and then relax them 
• Gently tense your jaw and then relax it
• Gently raise your eye brows and then relax them 
  
• End the exercise by sitting quietly for a bit and feel the relaxed state of all those muscles
• Drift off into sleep or get up, drink something and continue your day

Exercise: Body Scan with hands

Make sure you place your hands for at least a full breath in and out on each body part. If you feel the need to linger at a certain spot, do so for as long as needed. You might feel warmth or cold as your hands help your energy flow. 

If you can't comfortably put your hands on a certain part, either move that part closer to you (for example: laying down and touching your feet is impossible, unless you bend your knees) or do the parts with intention until you can easily reach. Do not overextend yourself. I wrote this for an downwards flow, but if you want an upwards flow, start at the bottom to reverse this exercise.

• Find a comfortable place to lay down or sit down 
• Make sure you aren't disturbed for 10-15 minutes
• Place your hands on your head 
• Place your hands on your eyes
• Place your hands on your ears
• Place your hands on your jaws/chin
• Place your hands on your throat/neck
  
• Place your hands on your shoulders (by crossing your arms)
• Place your hands on your upper arms
• Place your hands on your lower arms
• Place your hands on each other
• Place your hands on your breast/breasts
• Place your hands on your belly button/solar plexus
  
• Place your hands on your lower belly
• Place your hands on your lower back
• Place your hands on your hips
• Place your hands on your upper legs
• Place your hands on your knees
• Place your hands on your calves/lower legs
• Place your hands on your feet
• End the exercise by setting quietly for a bit
• Run some water over your hands to clear out any old energy
• Drift off into sleep or get up, drink something and continue your day

Exercise: Body Scan with intention

Dear People,

I recently spoke about walking meditation on the radio in my Dutch Spiritual Column, but I'm sharing some more thoughts and exercises about this technique today. I love so many forms of meditation, but walking meditation is so suited to many people, that I want to share more about it. I've also already written about my own meditation practices, but today I'm writing more specifically about walking meditations.

Why try a walking meditation?

For a lot of us - the idea of sitting still and meditating is quite daunting. We keep feeling distracted by our body, our thoughts and our position. Sitting still is definitely not everybody's cup of tea. Yet, a lot of us have felt the freeing clearheaded feeling that can be created when our body is in motion. It might be while we are running, using a swing set or rocking a baby. Repetitive motion can help us get into a trance like state.

So it's no surprise that a walking meditation is an easier way to get into a meditative trance for a lot of people. And, of course, in our busy lives, it's nice to have the additional benefits of walking on top of the benefits of our meditation practice. So even if you've been discouraged with other ways of meditation, I highly recommend you at least give walking meditation a try.

Basic needs for walking meditation

Yourself and a place to walk are basically the most important things. I recommend wearing clothing and shoes that are comfortable for you and no jewelry. That means you won't be distracted by tight fitting clothing or sounds as you walk and your feet won't hurt. And if you want to sit and rest after your walk, you are comfortable and can extend your trance like state. 

As for the place: you can do walking meditation everywhere, even in your own living room. I do recommend that you walk somewhere safe. Especially if you want to walk with your eyes closed. So while technically you can do a walking meditation by walking in your neighbourhood, if it's busy, I don't recommend doing it. Not only are busy streets distracting, you can also harm yourself if you do reach a meditative trance.

Best place outside for me is usually the beach when it's not busy (spring/fall season), because you have a wide open space with not much people. That means that you have a lot of visibility. Sounds of the sea/ocean also work to help bring me in a meditative state. Another good option is usually a park or forest when there aren't much people. Or a mountain path or pasture. Being in nature means it's easier to be meditative, but please be mindful of your safety. 

 
If you want to walk inside your own home, make sure to clear a space around you. If your walking meditation keeps getting disrupted because you need to step over things or turn very quickly, that usually doesn't work. We all like to have at least a couple of strides in each direction.

A basic walking meditation

• Prep: wear comfortable clothing, shoes and no jewelry. Bring a snack and a bottle of water (or other beverage) 
• Select (or prepare) a safe area in which you are going to do your meditation 
• Start walking in your natural pace
  
• Become mindful of your pace, your body and yourself
  
• Walk in a soothing rhythm or pace that allows you to walk for a length of time and to 'zone out with your thoughts'
• Once you are at peace - sit down, eat and drink something
• If needed, do a grounding exercise
  

Deepening your walking meditation practice

Once you have the basics down and feel that walking meditation is something you'd like to do more often, there are many variations you can do to see what works best for you. You can also change your walking meditation practice depending on what your goal is for the meditation. 

Here are some tips on what to try:

• Walking with your eyes closed or open. If you do closed, the best way to do this is to create a circle and walk safely in it or to create a square (for example, 4 steps forward, turn right, 4 steps forward, turn right, 4 steps forward, turn right,  4 steps forward and you are back at your beginning). I do not recommend walking with your eyes closed if you have not set a safe path for yourself! 
• Changing the pace of your strides. Going from fast to slow or standstill if you need more peace or moving from a stressful pacing towards a more relaxed stride. It's also possible to move from slow to increased pace, for example if your goal is to accelerate something in your life. It's much harder to reach a meditative trance by going faster though. Changing pace during the meditation can also help, if you want to get more in touch with the cycle of life. Or just noticing you do this subconsciously (speeding up or slowing down).
• Stopping and starting at places in your meditation. You can do this to get more viewpoints, tune into your body, take time to see what your natural pace is, acknowledge what's changing during the meditation and for many other reasons.
  
• Walking in a pattern. Different patterns help us with different things. A square helps with feeling solid, a circle is a closed loop, a spiral inwards can help introspection and one outwards can help with goal setting and connecting with life, a triangle can help with different viewpoints or with different aspects of ourselves or a problem. Or walk a trail with your eyes open and acknowledge what you see, hear and feel during it.
  
• Walking with intention - you can do a mantra during the walk or bring an energy with you (for example by drawing one of my 100% Positivity Oracle Cards - which you can do for free on my website).  
• Walking with a question or with a issue, allowing inspiration and higher power to solve it for you.
  

As you can see, walking meditation is quite versatile. I'd love to hear how you experience walking meditation! Post a comment here on the blog or send me a message on the Facebook Fan Page or on Instagram. Or listen to my Dutch Column: Spiritueel Moment Loopmeditatie and leave a comment there! I sometimes host walking meditations or other meditation in my practice in Delft, The Netherlands or the surrounding area. If you are interested, sign up to the Monthly Newsletter to be the first to know of any meditation events.

Dear People,

I recently spoke about Pendulums on the radio in my Dutch Spiritual Column, but thought I'd write a blog post about it as well. I did mention using a pendulum in my blog post concerning if I use my gifts to find lost items but I'd like to expand on what you can use this spiritual technique for and how to try it out at home. If you want to know more about this technique you can also listen to me talk about it in my Dutch Column: Spiritueel Moment Pendelen.

Why use a Pendulum?

I find a pendulum to be a very easily accessible spiritual tool. Unlike Tarot or Oracle Cards, most people already own something that they can use as a pendulum. You can use a key chain, a necklace with a pendant or basically anything that has a string and a heavier object on it.

Besides having the tool readily available to most people, the basic Yes/No swings of a pendulum are usually easy to discern. So you can teach somebody how to work with a pendulum in just a few minutes - although it's a lot harder to get consistent good results of course. Practice makes perfect as always.

When working with a pendulum it's also very quick to get answers and it's quick to get several answer in a row. That means that while basic Yes/No questions might not seem very useful to many people, they can be used to narrow down answers fast. For example: Is my phone in the house / Is on the first first floor / is it in my bed room / is it on the floor / hidden in something else etc. etc.

Pendulum Pitfalls

When doing any intuitive work, it's often hard to distinguish between what we want to be true, what we fear to be true and what our intuition is actually telling us. When using a pendulum, it's easy to subconsciously try to influence the result due to our movements. So it's very important to keep your arm and hand steady, so it's actually the pendulum doing the answering and not your own subconscious. I've seen people move their arms/hands and being unaware that they are influencing their results. It helps to watch yourself in a mirror or to close your eyes until you feel a good swing and then check your results.

Another disadvantage of the Pendulum is that it doesn't give much extra information. You need to ask it the right questions to move forward. And if you forget an aspect, you might not get the full picture. For example, if you are asking about job offers and you forget to ask if a better offer is coming, you might choose the best offer available to you that you got answers on. When working with Oracle or Tarot Cards you can easily draw one card for insight and that you missed something and what it is. You can ask your pendulum if you are missing something, but then you'd have to ask a lot of questions to figure out what exactly it is. 

Pendulum Charts

If you want a range of answers fast, you can use a Pendulum Chart. If you have several options, you can put them in a chart and see what your pendulum indicates. If you get a good feel for it, you can make charts with a lot of options in them. I recommend using a circle, so it's easy to use. However, when you are starting, having a chart with 4 quadrants makes it easier to see what answer is being indicated. 

Pendulum Tips

Feel inspired to give it a try? Here are some quick tips to use a pendulum/

• Make sure your position your arm and hand correctly. You can see how I do it in my Creating Joy: Pendulums Video
  
• While it's tempting to give your pendulum a big swing, just waiting patiently while it picks up some speed usually gives the best results.
  
• If you get tired out fast, it often means your pendulum is too heavy - so if you use a necklace, use one with a lighter pendant and if you use a key chain, remove some keys from it.
  
• Make sure you ask first what indicates a yes and what indicates a no. It can be different depending on your pendulum. While it's tempting to think a yes is a vertical direction and a no is a horizontal (as shaking your head no) that is not always the case. 
• Besides using Yes/No indicators you can also create "Maybe yes/Maybe No/Maybe/Unknown. Just name the indicator and see what happens on the pendulum swing. You can see horizontal, vertical, circles, but also diagonals.
  

Pendulum Practice Questions

The best practice questions are those you do not know the answer too, but you can find out easily and quickly. That might mean you ask questions for somebody else (who knows the answers) or you ask questions that have easy to verify answers. So these questions won't give you any super useful information, but do help you practice getting a feel for the pendulum. After you've had a couple of successes, it's much easier to trust your process and ask questions that matter to you and give you new information.

Practice questions:

• How much mail is in my mailbox?
• Will my package be delivered today?
• Do I have an email from X? 
• Will I be rained on today? 
• Will I find a parking spot near X?
  
• Will I receive a phone call from X?
• Will I meet X today?
• Will I have a seat on the bus/tram/subway?
• Did I get a good grade/pass my test?
• Do I fit in my jeans/bikini/shoes?
• Do I have an assignment due this week?
• Will X be in stock at the store?
  

Want to discuss Pendulums or share your experiences? Post a comment here on the blog or send me a message on the Facebook Fan Page or on Instagram. Or listen to my Dutch Column: Spiritueel Moment Pendelen or watch Creating Joy: Pendulums and leave a comment there!

Dear people,

I love Self Care, because self care is self love. For a lot of people it's really hard to take the time to take care of themselves. Life can get really busy, you might feel obligated to take care of others first or of your household or just forget about your own needs. We tend to forget we can't pour from an empty cup and that we need to prioritize our own well being. If you recognize that, it's time to do some self care! If you have only a minute, check out my Creating Joy: Self Care video.

Three Pillars of Self Care: Eat, Sleep and Relax

I always tell people that before you do other things, we need to make sure that the three pillars of self care are strong and healthy. If we don't do that, we will ultimately crash our health. The bill of neglect always comes due - we can stay upright for a while, but in the end, we can't live without food or sleep. High stress levels will definitely also take their toll. 

So yeah, it's tempting to just forget meals or eat fast food when you are busy, but it's not a healthy long term choice. It's hard to get the right amount of sleep when you are stressed and it seems so much needs to be done or to choose to relax first and pick up work later. Yet, if we do that, we will replenish our own energy reserves and have the time to find better solutions. 

Stressful situations tend to cause decisions being made out of fear, exhaustion or emotional distress. And later one, we'd see that if we had just taken a break, we'd have made better choices. It's very hard to remind ourselves of this though, because the stress and lack of sleep will definitely cloud our judgement. 

If our foundation of self care is solid, it's time to make sure our second level of self care is taken care of. This one is very personal, because what is self care for one person, is deeply annoying for another. For some, a part of self care is connecting to our loved one's and having social time. You can see quite often that when people become parents, some people really need to leave the house and go out, while others are most content just reading a book on the couch or taking some time in the bath tub.  

You are the one person who knows what you need for your well being. Don't drink coffee if you are a tea drinker or force yourself to go out if you need some me-time at home. It's fine to try out new things and see what they do for your well being, but if you have been stressed for a long time, going back to your old time favorites is often the best practice. 

By regularly taking care of your own well being, you will notice it's much easier to be flexible, generous with your time and energy and joyful. If you only do the foundation of self care, after a while, you will notice you have a feeling of discontent. We all need to make sure we do things that make us feel happy!

Last level of Self Care: Soul Purpose

When the first 2 layers of Self Care are solid, it's time for the last level. We have enough energy and vitality to take things on and we are happy enough to deal with more, it's inevitable that we are drawn toward our soul purpose.

If we don't move towards it, after a while, our lives will start feeling meaningless and we wonder what it's all for. So we will find our lessons, our opportunities and our blessings if we choose to connect to them. God, Higher Power, The Universe whatever you feel comfortable with, will continue to offer them up to us. 

If we are very tired still, we might find opportunities to heal, to be pampered or to be cared for. If we are ready to learn, we will find teachers, books, podcasts or other resources. If we are ready to help others and ourselves, we will be called to use our gifts and talents. We don't really need to do anything for our soul purpose, it will just be done through us. So listen, be guided and enjoy!

Self Care exercise 

• Take around 5-10 minutes for this exercise
• Make sure you are comfortable and can't be disturbed by your phone etc.
• Close your eyes 
• First, allow yourself to receive love and care from God/The Universe/Higher Power
  
• Imagine yourself being completely filled with this care
  
• Let is rejuvenate you in body, heart, mind and spirit
• Once you feel completely at peace and cared for thank God/The Universe/Higher Power
  
• Ask for any guidance on how to take care of yourself and listen closely
• You might get inspiration based on food, sleep or other activities
• Gently open your eyes, drink a bit of water and do some grounding 
• Plan your self care activities and hold yourself to it!
  

If you want to share your experience with self care or my exercises, you can email me, post a comment here on the blog or send me a message on the Facebook Fan Page or on Instagram.

Dear people,

Often I'd hear from people that it's bad to be sweet. Sweet is considered being a push-over, unable to set healthy boundaries, being compliant or overly accommodating. It's sad that being sweet is getting such a bad rap nowadays. Especially since sweetness can truly melt our hearts. Who doesn't like seeing sweet baby animals, sweetness of two young lovers etc. etc. So today, let's work on embracing sweetness.

Sweetness in our lives

Of course the most obvious external sweetness for a lot of people is sugar! And with how often it's added in to food, some of us have serious issues with cravings and missing the sweet taste in their life. It's important to realize that true, lasting sweetness is not one that leaves a bitter taste later. So sugar isn't actually adding any sweetness to your life - it just feels that way temporarily. I highly suggest you don't overindulge in sugar if you feel the craving of sweetness in your life. 

So what sweetness can you expect in your life that is pure and good? It could be as simple as a compliment from your boss or your friends, an unexpected gift, a nice smelling flower you encounter or a ray of sunshine that you sit in. Life is filled with sweetness that can be embraced when we see it or try to look for it. I truly believe that God is always creating sweet surprises for us.

Those kind of sweet moments, when life feels so wonderful, can pass you by, be fleeting or embraced to last longer. When we choose to live with awareness, we will find sweetness everywhere and it will fill our cup. You can also try Gratitude work to enhance the sweetness of life or try out the exercise in this blog post.

Sweetness for yourself

Often, people are stuck in their own busyness or critical voice and forget that they can also increase sweetness for themselves. You can build your own positive voice, practice self care or just do something sweet for yourself. When is the last time you gave yourself a gift? Decided to speak about yourself with kindness? Complimented something you did? And of course, watching bunny, cat or dog video's, for a reasonable time, is also a wonderful way to have your heart melt with sweetness.

While it's wonderful if other people bring us sweetness, it's also kind beautiful to gift it to ourselves. It might feel a bit uncomfortable at first - but once you get used to it, it should remind you that sweetness is to be savored.

Sweetness in our relationships

Often people tell me they long to go back to the beginning of their relationships - when their partner was still sweet. How he or she would gift them unexpected surprises, gave them more attention, did sweet things or sweet talked them. So why does that stop? Sometimes people get stuck in a rut, they might stop wooing their partner or (which is most likely) they are stuck in resentment.

So what happens if we let sweetness return in our relationships? If we do, it's easier for our partners to forgive us our mistakes, to treat us with grace and to feel like we contributing in positive ways in our lives. Do you always have to be sweet? Definitely not - but when we choose to consciously be sweet, we are enhancing our relationships. 

True sweetness is also sweet to us. You aren't buying a gift out of guilt, you are buying one because you have a sweet memory that you'd like to share (these used to be my favorite snack!) or you want to create something sweet for your partner (I saw them and I know you love them). And thus, the sweetness you give to your partner, is also creating sweetness in you. You get happier seeing their excitement, gratitude or joy. 

Besides romantic relationships, it's also wonderful to creating sweetness in all relationships. Again, don't do it out of obligation, guilt or fear. Just respond with sweetness: gifts, compliments, support, kindness etc. whenever you can. You will see your friendships, working relationships etc. flourish.

Sweetness exercise 

• Take around 10-15 minutes for this exercise
• Make sure you are comfortable and can't be disturbed by your phone etc.
• Close your eyes 
• First, allow yourself to receive sweetness from God/The Universe/Higher Self/Higher Power
• Imagine yourself being completely drenched in the sweetness of life
• It flows over you like a shower of multicolored rain and removes all guilt, fear and resentment
• Once you have drunk your fill - it's time to share the sweetness with the people in your life
• Imagine gifting everybody you care about this sweetness
• See it transform their lives
• Open yourself up to inspiration - you might get some good ideas for sweet acts for yourself or others
• Thank Higher Power
  
• Gently open your eyes, drink a bit of water and do some grounding 
• Plan your acts of sweetness so you will do them within a reasonable time frame
  

If you want to share your experience with sweetness or my exercises, you can email me, post a comment here on the blog or send me a message on the Facebook Fan Page or on Instagram.

Dear people,

I've already written some Inner Child Energy Affirmations, have a Creating Joy: Inner Child video and spoken about Inner Child Work in my Dutch Column, but today I'm writing about it again. That's because I find Inner Child work so important. When our Inner Child doesn't get what it needs, we either have childish tantrums and self sabotage or feelings of depression and meaninglessness. Play is so important. So, today, let's do some Inner Child work!

Inner Child

What is our Inner Child? Spiritually speaking, a lot of people believe that we have this Archetype or part of us that needs nurturing, safety, time, energy and attention. If we had a rough childhood, our Inner Child often has a lot of needs that have been neglected. Giving ourselves what we need, heals in deep ways, that help us find a better balance.

Yet even people who have had great childhoods have an Inner Child who has needs. I am on the side of C.S. Lewis who said: "When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up." We all need wonder, amazement, innocence, creativity, passion, trust and play just like we did in our childhood. 

Why do Inner Child Work

For one: it's nice to be balanced. Secondly, it's wonderful to have that inner child energy running through your life. And last, but not least, most humans have a tendency to take things too seriously, to get stuck in to-do lists and forget the meaning of life. 

Allow this youthful energy in your life revitalizes you and allows you to connect to yourself in a deeper way. And you can connect with people of all ages. A lot of energy healers have a youthful demeanor and/or youthful energy. It's because they are able to connect to this energy.

Doing Inner Child work also helps greatly to reduce our childish behaviors: tantrums, anger, unable to say sorry, unable to admit faults or  mistakes, rebelling, you first mentality or quid pro quo mentality. This behavior sabotages our adult connection. What we are willing to accept from children of teenagers, we won't accept from adults. 

When we are harmed in our childhoods, we sometimes stay stuck in childish behaviors. Or if we feel harmed in the same way again, we return back to that childhood state. Sometimes people are aware of the fact that they are acting like a 3, 5 or 12 year old. Sometimes it's a subconscious response. Yet in both cases doing Inner Child work will help heal us.

Inner child work ideas:

While it's nice to spend 15 minutes in meditation/manifestation or visualization, sometimes it's much simpler to reconnect to our Inner Child and access this energy within us. 

So here is a small list of idea's:

• Take the time to play (with childhood toys, with something you never got in childhood, but still long for)
• Take the time to connect to nature or animals with the wonder of a child
• Take the time to return to childhood hobby's or activities! Enjoy those nerf guns or that swing.
  
• Eat childhood favorites
• Have breakfast for dinner or eat your dessert first  
• Go to bed late 
• Have a pillow fort or sleep over
• Watch TV from your childhood
• Give your Inner Child room to tell you what it needs/wants

 Inner child work exercise:

• Take around 10-20 minutes for this exercise
• Make sure you are comfortable and can't be disturbed by your phone etc.
• Close your eyes
  
• Imagine yourself as a child
  
• Allow that child to be the age that is necessary for your healing - baby, toddler, child, tween, teenager etc.
• Simply hug that part of yourself and give it your love
• Tell that part you are proud
• Ask what this part of you needs from you
• Listen carefully
• Discuss if you can give that at this moment or at a later time
• Allow the Inner Child energy to revitalize you
• Say goodbye
• Gently open your eyes, drink a bit of water and do some grounding 
• Do what you promised or plan to do it in the agreed upon timeframe
  

If you want to share your experience with inner child work or my exercises, you can email me, post a comment here on the blog or send me a message on the Facebook Fan Page or on Instagram.  Or post a comment below the YouTube video's: Creating Joy: Inner Child video or Inner Child Work in my Dutch Column.

Dear people,

I've already written about how an illness can be an advantage, but today I'm writing about something that can be a great solution to heal: busting your own lies. We all need to bust our own lies, so we can move forward in a healthy way. Living authentically isn't always the easiest and sometimes we delude ourselves instead of facing the truth. So today I'm writing about how to bust your own lies, so you have a better life.

We all lie - but which lies are problematic

It's very normal to lie - we all do it. Sometimes those lies are polite fictions so we can smooth social waters, sometimes those lies are a little bit more involved, because we want to escape consequences. It can be hard to accept that we lie, but once we do, we can take better care of what lies we tell and why. I know a lot of people who say that they are very honest, but when we are truly honest, we all need to acknowledge that we lie.

Lies based on what's really going on in our lives are very problematic. If you don't want to share your inner most thoughts and feelings, that's fine. But if you tell a lie about how you are feeling to others, you miss out on comfort, support and love, unless they see you are lying and call you out on it. If you lie to yourself about what you are truly feeling, you can't take charge of the problems, heal your emotional upset or look for solutions.

Lying about your own part or responsibilities in problems is also extremly problematic. If you insist it was just 'bad luck' or 'that just happened to you randomly', you are missing out on solving problematic patterns in your life, subconscious self-sabotage or past life pain. While technically it is possible that bad occurrences are just bad luck - if you are always losing jobs, getting into car crashes, having trouble with your friends etc. it's a good idea to take a long hard look in the mirror. Like they say: "If you run into an asshole in the morning, you ran into an asshole. If you run into assholes all day, you're the asshole." It can be very hard to accept our own part in our problems, but it is necessary for healing, self forgiveness, letting go and moving on.

Conscious lies vs Subconscious lies 

A lot of people think they don't lie much, because they are highly unaware of all the lies they are telling. This is very normal, but at the same time, doesn't help in busting your own lies. A few years ago I heard that the most spoken lie is: "I will remember that". Upon reflection, I totally agreed, that I have said that often, while not remember the message later. So now when I hear myself say that, I substitute towards: "Let me write that down so I will remember that". Since I've done this, I definitely had to deal a lot less with things I've forgotten. 

Another common lie is the: "Everything is ok"-lie. If you don't want to share, that's fine, but automatically saying everything is fine, isn't good for us. If you hear yourself do that a lot, take some time to reflect why you don't want to share your life with others. Maybe you need to work on vulnerability, maybe you need to allow support or feel safe with another person. There are many reasons why we tend to automatically say we are good, when we are not. 

If you consciously lie, you know you are trying to get away with something or trying to take something. So it's very important to admit to yourself that you are lying. Asking yourself if it's worth the loss of integrity and the fall out if your lie gets discovered. Besides the polite fictions, that we all sometimes use, we do have malicious lies as well. We need to own those, so we can heal. 

Hearing your own lies exercise

• Take around 5-15 minutes for this exercise
• Make sure you are comfortable and can't be disturbed by your phone etc.
  
• Think of a statement you want to verify
• For example: I love myself, I am blameless of X, I am doing the best I can, I'm making healthy choices 
  
• Gently speak it in the air
• Listen carefully to your own voice: do you sound strong, confident and convincing? Or does your voice waver, do you sound small etc.
  
• Feel your body: are your relaxed and does this statement resonate fully with truth? Or do you feel a blockage somewhere or notice stress?
  
• Notice your energy: does this resonate with you or does it sound off?
• If you notice your statement is a lie - state the opposite and again notice what happens. Is the counter more true? Are both not strong and does it mean you are divided?
• Ask God/your Guides/Angels/the Universe to place you back into Truth
• Notice what happens for you and if need me, repeat your statement to hear the difference
• Do a few statements if you want to, but no more then 10, because this work can really be tiring
  
• Gently open your eyes, drink a bit of water and do some grounding 

Want to share your experience or give feedback on my exercise? Email me, post a comment here on the blog or send me a message on the Facebook Fan Page or on Instagram.  Want to work more with releasing lies? Check out the True Unity Video Release Self Delusion!

Dear people,

A few weeks ago I did my Dutch Column about our Positive Voice, but you can now also find a Creating Joy: Positive Voice video on my YouTube Channel. Many of us know how to easy it is to be critical of our bodies, our behavior and ourselves. Building our Positive Voice means we build self value, self acceptance and self love. Yet it seems many of us don't know how to do that as negative self  talk is so ingrained that positive self talk doesn't feel like an option. So today I'm writing about finding and supporting your Inner Cheerleader to support yourself.

Positive vs Negative messages

Research says we need 5-10 positive messages to negate 1 negative message. Yet when we grow up we are surrounded by negative messages. Don't do this - don't do that - you didn't study enough - you didn't eat enough vegetables - you ... fill in the blanks. Our parents, our teachers, our peers and ultimately we ourselves, talk negatively about ourselves. 

That's why many of us have a big negative critical voice that is talking to us every single day. It will say things like: "I can't do this/I can't do that", "I'm not smart/beautiful/worthy" etc. etc. Yet, our positive voice should be there to counteract this poison by telling us: "I can give it a shot, it might be easier then I think, I am smart/beautiful/worthy just the way I am.".

If you notice your critical voice sounding like your parent or specific teacher, it's very worthwhile to do some cord cutting and release that energy. We do not need somebody else's judgement clouding our own. We need to decide what we value, not what we have been told to value. 

Reducing your Critical Voice

If you are a parent, don't think you need to be positive at all times to your child. Just separate the behavior from the child. Instead of saying: "You are dumb", we need to practice saying "that wasn't a smart thing to do". The person isn't being judged, but the behavior is. 

So if you hear yourself saying that to your child or yourself, please try to make an effort to change your language. What we choose to say and how we choose to say it matters. It will take some getting used to,  but it's very worthwhile.

Building your inner cheerleader

Expect to feel a bit uncomfortable when you first start building your positive voice. We aren't used to giving ourselves a praise, a pep-talk or validation. Yet, it's so important to learn to give yourself positive self talk. You can use compliments you've heard from others about yourself, use affirmations or try talking to yourself as if you are your own best friend. 

 Positive Voice exercise:

• Take around 10-20 minutes for this exercise
• Make sure you are comfortable and can't be disturbed by your phone etc.
• Ask for Higher Power/Heaven/The Universe/God to return you to a place of self love and self value
  
• Gently breathe in this atmosphere 
• Open yourself up to listening what messages and inspiration is there for you
• Repeat them out loud
• Whenever you feel ready - thank Higher Power/Heaven/The Universe/God
• Gently open your eyes, drink a bit of water and do some grounding 
• Do what you promised or plan to do it in the agreed upon timeframe
  

Want to share your experience or give feedback on my exercise? Email me, post a comment here on the blog or send me a message on the Facebook Fan Page or on Instagram.  Or post a comment below the YouTube video Positive Voice from my Dutch Column.

Dear people,

I've spoken about co-creation in my Dutch Column and on a Creating Joy video. I love manifesting, achieving my goals and walking my path using this spiritual technique. It's wonderful not having to do things all on your own and always having support from Higher Power. Want to know how to work with co-creation? Read on and try the exercise in this blog post!

What is Co-creation?

The idea of co-creation is in the name: co, from cooperation, or doing thing together and creation for creation, creating things. So basically it means creating in cooperation. As a spiritual technique that means it's not only creating with others, but specially, creating with Higher Power. It doesn't matter if that's God, the Universe, Higher Power, Heaven or whatever you are comfortable with.

You can of course also co-create with other people, which is also lovely, but not what this blog post is about, unless you choose as a group to co-create with higher power.   

Drawbacks/Benefits of Co-creation

One of the big drawbacks of using co-creation is that you need to relinquish control. When we work with higher power, it's not us behind the steering wheel of the car. We need to accept that Higher Power has a better plan then we do. Sometimes that type of surrender is hard for people and they come and complain to me that they are trying to co-create goals for their business or private life, but it doesn't seem to work at all. 

They are right that it won't work, because if you are trying to force a relationship that isn't right for you - you can't do that with co-creation. Same goes for business goals that are not in line with your soul path or purpose. You simple won't get clients for services or find that storefront if it's in the wrong city for you. 

That's why if you are a micromanager or control freak, co-creation is going to be hard for you. You need to accept that you are asking for the other more knowledge, wiser and more loving partner to take charge. 

Even when the co-creation is going well, you will have to release your timeline, because that's also out of your hands. I remember really setting a deadline for myself to start the new year with a new business name a few years back. But I just couldn't find or connect with anything. In the end, I decided to use co-creation, knowing it might mean not registering domain names or even getting my business cards ready in time. Once I accepted that and listened however, I did receive the name, and everything fell into place on time. Yet - my time isn't always Higher Powers time, so it could have meant I would have needed placeholders.

Benefits of Co-creation

So what are the benefits of co-creation? First of all: it's lovely not to have to do it on your own. Having support is wonderful. Just knowing support is available greatly reduces stress levels! It might feel strange to leave big decisions up to Higher Power, but once you learn to surrender your life becomes a lot less stressful.

Secondly, you only have to do half the work, and sometimes even less! Imagine being able to ask for help in finding a place for your business. Doing it on your own would mean checking out many different places, hoping you'd pick the right one and signing a contract. Doing it with co-creation would be asking what is the right place for you. You'd listen to guidance, you might be guided to somebody, somebody might be guided to you or you'd just stumble upon the right place. Instead of having endless lists to compare places and getting statistics, you'd just open yourself up and listen. 

Thirdly, better results. While co-creation with Higher Power takes some getting used too, once you start seeing results, you'll know immediately that it's worth it. You pick the right people, the right places, the right work, the right everything. Even if things don't go 100% your way, they often either go better then you ever dreamed of or you'll learn something very important that is worth the aggravation!    

I'd like to say: "Always", but that's not completely true. There are times when you need to take quick decisions and won't be able to get into the head and heart space for co-creation. There are times where it's hard to let go of the outcome and you notice you can't co-create. There are times where the decision to do co-creation can feel like overkill - like what you'd make for dinner.  

Co-creation is the easiest to do for big projects, blockages/obstacles that you are unsure how to overcome or anything that is so important to you that you just want the highest level of success. 

Co creation exercise

• Take around 10-20 minutes for this exercise
• Make sure you are comfortable and can't be disturbed by your phone etc.
• Close your eyes
  
• Imagine a symbol for the project/goal/situation you'd like to co-creation on. For example: an imagine of a house for your housing search etc.
  
• Gently place that symbol upon the ground and release the need to control 
• Ask for help by stating: "I ask God/The Universe/Higher Power to help me co-create this for me
• Imagine the symbol shimmering in gold energy and then rising up until you can't see it anymore
• Ask for guidance: "I open myself up to any guidance/inspiration needed for my side of the work"
  
• Gently open your eyes, drink a bit of water and do some grounding
• Write down any impressions that you had during this exercise
• Repeat this exercise whenever you feel the need to have more guidance on what you should be doing. You can change the symbol based on changes in your journey. For example: paper symbolizing a bid for a house.

If you want to share your experience with co-creation or get some advice on this technique, you can email me, post a comment here on the blog or send me a message on the Facebook Fan Page or on Instagram.  Or post a comment below the YouTube video's: Dutch Column or Creating Joy video and I will respond as soon as possible.

Dear people,

A lot of times people only seem to appreciate fast. Fast results, fast healing, fast changes, fast transformation.. fast everything. Yet, there is so much power in slowing down, in taking your time, in allowing things to simmer before you make changes, take a decision or leap forward. You can see that quite clearly in nature and in cooking. So today I'm writing about the power of Slowing Down.

Why slowing down is no longer appreciated

For many people - slowing down automatically means losing time, getting less results or feeling old. Fast  has become something to strive for. Yet, we all know that fast isn't always better. Some things need time before they are ready, like a good stew. You simply can't make good stew in 5 minutes, no matter how high you put the fire. And a good cook will tell you that the stew is often even better the next day - as all the flavors have had time to mingle.

Yet if you look at your own life, are you taking the time you need? Or are you rushing into making decisions or getting things done fast for the sake of fast? Ever taken the time to slow down and let things simmer for betters results?

Appreciating the benefits of slowing down

So when we choose to no longer focus on fast, we can move from finishing our tasks, towards mindfully staying connected to the right rhythm. Fast tends to connect us only to our heads - were our thoughts and observations are racing around. Slowing down allows us to reconnect to our bodies - feeling what is going on there, what we need or want. We can flow towards our hearts and feel deeply what we've been carrying or what we desire for our future.  

Slowing down gives us time to look at the bigger picture, to allow our inner child to play, without pushing the envelope. Play is a wonderful way to get great results is a relaxed, slowed down way. It focuses on enjoyment, higher vibrations and wonder. That road leads to a lot more satisfaction then looming deadlines and stress. 

How to slow down

If you are used to minimizing time and feeling that less time is more efficient, it can really frustrate you to slow down. Yet if you understand that slowing down gives better results sometimes and might be more efficient in the long run, it might be much easier for you to give it a try. 

I don't recommend slowing down with everything or all the time, but just allowing yourself to feel what a different rhythm does to you. Small ways of slowing down can be something as simple as slowing down your walking speed, choosing to take the stairs slowly, going around the block an additional time or taking the long way around. Observe how you feel and what a small slower moment does to you, your feelings, your well being and your mind.  

If you are eager to slow down more, you can choose to do an activity slower like cooking, a creative hobby or even something as simple as taking a longer lunch. 

Slowing down exercise

• Take around 10-20 minutes for this exercise
• Make sure you are comfortable and can't be disturbed by your phone etc.
  
• Imagine your life moving like a stream of a river
• You gently float above it, seeing the stream move
• Now consciously try to reduce the speed  
• Feel your heart also slow down and take deep and slow breaths
• As you reduce the speed more and more, you are able to see more in the water
• You can check for bubbles, for foam, for fishes or anything else that interests you
• Take some time to check the water and gain insight
• Take deep and slow breaths
• Allow the river to move even slower and see if the water clears up more for you
• You can gentle dip your fingers in and ask for insights
• Whenever you feel ready, release your river
  
• Gently open your eyes, drink a bit of water and do some grounding

Want more slowing down vibes? Check out my Creating Joy: Slowing Down video or try out the Slowing Down Manifestation Meditation. I'd love to hear your ideas to slow down, so please comment here on the blog or on linked videos.

Dear people,

I already wrote a bit about Bonds and Cord Cutting in an earlier blog post and there is an Instagram Live Session about Energetic Bonds & Cord Cutting, but I've noticed quite a bit of trouble in people's lives recently when bonds weren't cut appropriately. So that's why I'm writing a new blog post today including some exercises to help you evaluate and cut cords of unhealthy bonds.

What is the difference between a bond and a wound

Sometimes part of us stays connected to something or someone who is no longer in our lives. The difference between a bond and wound, is that the bond will allow energy to go back and forth. This is noticeable for people who are very energy sensitive, but not everybody notices it. Energetically speaking, an unhealthy bond can drain your energy even when you are unaware of this or are no longer in contact. A wound usually causes problems when it's pressed, but not during other times.

So for example, if you have a wound because an ex partner cheated on you, it's likely you will feel this pain if it's still unhealed, if hear about cheating, if you are in a situation that reminds you of the cheating, if a new partner shows behavior that reminds you of cheating. 

If you still a bond with your ex-partner, even if you are no contact/not speaking, you might notice you wonder about your ex and their life, you might still feel invested in health or happiness or the opposite feel like you still want them to suffer and you sometimes feel like you want to reconnect or want to check out their social media etc. You might have dreams about your ex or even get intuitive insights about them. 

Why we should practice Cord Cutting

When a relationship is healthy and your bond is healthy, it's wonderful to feel energetically in tune with your partner, your friends and family etc. But when we need to let go and move on, keeping this kind of bond is painful and detrimental to our well being. Energy keeps flowing into something that is no longer good for us. 

Letting go can be very hard for us, especially when part of us still yearns for the past. It doesn't matter if that's a past lover, a past job, a restaurant we used to love... that yearning keeps the bond alive. We keep investing energetically into something that is gone. Once that cord is cut, we will feel happier and healthier and are able to connect to the new things, people and situations that are right for us. 

Sometimes I recommend cord cutting for bonds that are still active. For example: if somebody is looking for a new job, but is still very connected and loyal to their old job. Cutting the cord will help return the energy towards the job search instead of the old job. And other example is cutting part of an unhealthy cord, like cutting being a helicopter parent, helps restore balance in the bond between parent and child. So if you feel like have taken on too much responsibility or are acting too dependent on someone, cutting that unhealthy bit will be extremely beneficial. 

Cord Cutting options

There are many different ways you can practice cord cutting. It all depends on what you are most comfortable with. You can also practice multiple ways if you feel the cord is reattaching or you haven't been able to clear it out completely.

• Cutting the cord by Visualization or Meditation
• Cutting the cord by intention
  
• Writing a letter and burning it
• Using crystals to cut the cord
  
• Asking your Guides/Angels etc. to cut the cord for you
• Asking Heaven/The Universe/God to cut the cord for you
  

Cord Cutting Visualization

• Take around 5-10 minutes for this exercise
• Make sure you are comfortable and can't be disturbed by your phone etc.
  
• Imagine a cord running from you towards the other person or thing
• See the energy running through it and see where this cord connects to you (for example: from your heart, head, groin etc.)
• Imagine your energy returning to you and no longer running throughout this cord
• Gently knot the cord on your end - so the energy from the other person or thing can't reach you anymore
• Cleanse the cord with golden light
  
• Imagine the cleansed cord growing grey and wrinkled
• Cut the cord just after the knot
• Absorb the last piece of the cord into your own energy body
• Gently open your eyes, drink a bit of water and do some grounding
  

Want to know more about Energetic Bonds and do some cord cutting with me? Check out my Instagram Live: Energetic Bonds & Cord Cutting or try out any of the True Unity Videos on Cord Cutting like: Release General Unhealthy Bonds, Release Unhealthy Romantic Bonds, Release Unhealthy Bonds with our Parents or Release Unhealthy Friendship Bonds.

Do you want to share your experience with cord cutting or get some advice on this technique? You can email me, post a comment here on the blog or send me a message on the Facebook Fan Page or on Instagram.