Being Heroine of Your Own Journey

by Laura Grace - 

Currently, I am involved in a feminine empowerment program. It is a program I chose for the continuation of my spiritual, soulful and emotional evolution.

Although the course is founded in wise feminine leadership principles, the curriculum is challenging me to seriously ponder the true meaning of what American journalist and playwright, Nora Ephron, once declared: 

“Above all, be the heroine of your life, not the victim.”

It’s clear what it means to take 100% responsibility for our lives but what exactly does it mean to be the heroine of our own lives?

Most of us are familiar with Joseph Campbell’s teaching of the “hero’s journey.”  Like the main character in the film “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty,” the hero ventures forth from the world of common life into a region of supernatural wonder.

There he encounters fabulous forces and a decisive victory is won. The hero returns from this mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons on his fellow man.

Although I have always been fascinated by the hero’s journey, I often felt something was missing. That “something” was revealed to me in 2012 when I invited Dr. Jean Houston to be the keynote speaker at the Central Coast Annual Women’s Symposium. 

While giving an impassioned speech based on her book The Wizard of Us, she asserted,

“By the way, the heroine’s journey is very different than the hero’s journey.” 

Now that caught my attention. For as much as we have sometimes tried to emulate men, we women are very different.

In fact, neurobiology reveals that women’s brains are hard-wired in a uniquely different manner.

Dr. Daniel Amen, who’s written over 30 books including Unleash the Power of the Female Brain (2013), shows that women’s brains are very active; the amount of blood flowing into our frontal lobes hard-wire us for collaboration, appropriate worry, intuition, self-restraint and good judgment.

Most importantly, we intuitively know when something is wrong and are willing to shift gears before the Titanic hits the iceberg and sinks.

This isn’t about whether a feminine approach to life is better than a masculine one; we need a balance of both energies in order to thrive.

The heroine’s journey does differ greatly from the hero’s journey. And one of the greatest variances is how we choose to travel.

Unlike the hero who strikes out on a solo passage to conquer his demons, women recognize that stepping into their feminine power requires aligning with a collective field of support. 

Many of us have been trying to do “life” on our own which can only take us so far. 

How many times have we felt alone in trying to share our gifts with the world, overwhelmed, or unsupported by life?

In order to shatter our inner glass ceilings—the limiting beliefs and behaviors that sabotage our success—we need to activate a new culture of empowerment which necessitates a shift into a collective quantum field.

It’s a known fact that geese fly 75% farther and faster when they are flying together. Solo passages cannot carry us the distance. When we are soaring as a self-actualized woman, we must activate a field of unprecedented support. 

This is, perhaps, the most essential part of the heroine’s journey.

We begin to create a unified field when we affirm:

• I AM ALLOWING LIFE TO SUPPORT ME ON MY JOURNEY. THIS INCLUDES ALL OF THE PEOPLE WHO ARE OPEN TO RECEIVING THE GIFTS I DESIRE TO CONTRIBUTE.

• I AM FULLY PRESENT IN HOLDING THE SPACE FOR OTHERS TO EVOLVE AND TRANSFORM.

• I AM LETTING GO OF OLD STORIES OF REGRET, SETBACKS AND DISAPPOINTMENT AND CHANNELING MY ATTENTION, INTENTION AND ENERGIES ON WHAT IS AVAILABLE FOR ME TODAY.

I invite you to step into your own heroine’s journey by bonding with others inside your identity as a powerful and resourceful woman. 

May we join together in support of our highest potential for loving relationships, physical health, emotional well-being, financial abundance, creativity and friendship.

May we birth the seeds of our potential forward as we journey together and answer the call to our souls’ deepest purpose.

lauragrace.net

Living the Authentic Life

by Laura Grace -

You are meant to live an intimate and authentic life, a life that honors the depth of who you are, a life that nourishes your heart and expands your mind, a life that is unencumbered with what others think, a life that empowers you to be who you really are.

And yet, with the pressure we feel from others and life in general, the question may remain, "How can I live such a life?" "What steps can I take toward being just ‘me?’"

In my own life, I have found the following practices to be invaluable and successful components in experiencing an authentic life:

AUTHENTIC LIFE PRACTICES

Taking care of yourself 

Nurturing your body, mind and spirit must be a priority in your life.

 Accept that you can only give to others to the extent you are giving to yourself. Putting yourself first is not "selfish," but "Self-full."

Dare to be yourself 

Strip away the mask and let yourself just "be." 

Take time to have fun and allow yourself to find humor in being human. Know that your purpose for being born wasn’t to live life according to what society deems correct. Your purpose is to discover your true self and live from that awareness.

If you resonate to the color violet, then be violet, not brown. I once read a quote from Rabindranath Tagore who wisely asked,

 "That which oppresses me, is it my soul trying to come out in the open, or the soul of the world knocking at my heart for its entrance?"

Give only from the heart 

Doing anything out of obligation dishonors both you and the other person, and will only leave you feeling resentful. Do an "inner check" before you say "yes" to anyone.

If resistance surfaces, do another inner check. If heaviness or resistance occurs again, trust what you feel and do not commit to something that is not in alignment with your heart.

Look inward for your fulfillment, not outward 

Within you resides a wellspring of creativity and love.

Turn within to become aware of what is driving your needs. Is it because you are feeling unloved, scared or lonely?

Practice giving what you want to receive. Extending love, from the heart, is the fastest way to fill any emptiness you may feel.

Appreciate yourself 

Take time to appreciate how far you have come on your journey.

Notice what you have worked through and your commitment to growth and healing. Doing so builds both an inner and outer abundance over time. It will help you to see the glass or your life, half full rather than half empty.

Let go of guilt! 

No one is harder on us than we are on ourselves. And many of us feel guilty for taking care of ourselves, setting healthy boundaries and saying, "No." Having been programmed to feel responsible for others, we often find it hard to recognize our own needs.

Practice dropping any guilt you feel for honoring yourself. Guilt is limiting and crippling and does not serve you.

Living an authentic life means being free from what others think. It requires giving yourself permission to live life according to what your heart and soul desires.

Become aware of your intentions 

If your intention is to be real and congruent, then everything that is not authentically you will reveal itself so you can choose to release it. Spirit will illuminate anything in need of releasing when you set your intention to grow.

Yet if your intention is split: pleasing others, wanting one of the Three P’s: Power/Prestige/Prosperity, etc., then you will experience the effects of your split-mind thinking and your life will never, ever, be completely fulfilling. Practice purifying your intention.

Ask, listen and follow 

We need only ask and we will find that our relationships, finances, work, and relationship with our self begin to transform.

How many times per day do you ask for help from Spirit? And, how often do you listen to it? And then, what about following what you hear?

The amount of inner peace and happiness you experience in your life is directly proportionate to the amount of energy you expend on asking, listening and following the Voice within.

Be willing right now to ask for guidance in developing an authentic relationship with yourself. 

Ask for guidance in releasing beliefs, thoughts and behaviors that do not honor your true essence.

Start with, "Who am I, really? For so long I’ve based my perception of myself on what others think that I’ve forgotten who I am. So, who am I, truly?" and, "What steps can I take to live an authentic life?"

Finally, be willing to hear the gentle yet firm Voice and trust what it says. Such is the life of the authentic soul.

lauragrace.net

Tips for Deepening Your Spiritual Practice

by Laura Grace -

We always have the choice to experience a greater life. 

We can either keep repeating the same self-limiting patterns or we can move more deeply into the spiritual practices that change us on a core level. Peace, joy and abundance are our birthright and are achieved as we practice quieting and centering our mind. This however, is often challenging in our attention-diverting society.

Amidst the noise and confusion of the world, the voice of our deepest self, that "still small voice," is easily drowned out. It's akin to listening for a songbird's harmonious melody against the backdrop of a busy highway.

"Religion means ‘to bind back together.’ … Your spiritual practice brings you back home to a realization of the presence and the power of God [Love]. Today, be sure to allow ‘practice’ time." –-Mary Manin Morrisey

However, meditation and prayer provide a gateway to calm our minds and access answers beyond the level of the problem. Just as our bodies require regular workouts to maintain its strength, our minds need consistent practice in order to quiet its erratic thoughts and feelings.

Silencing our minds through prayer and meditation allows us to connect with our core being so we may experience the peace and fulfillment within.

Prayer is most useful for communicating with our Source, for expressing ourselves. 

A Course in Miracles teaches, "Prayer is the medium of miracles. It is a means of communication of the created with the Creator. Through prayer love is received, and through miracles love is expressed."

Prayer allows us to talk, to ask that we be aligned with a Divine Will and be used by a Divine Instrument. Ideally, it's a time to ask for clarity about a situation or for sending light and love to someone in need.

In Illuminata, Marianne Williamson explains,

"We can learn to speak to God as we would speak to a combination therapist / lover / teacher / best friend / One-we-trust-more-than-anything / One-who-loves-us-no-matter-what / One-with-all-the-power-to-heal / One-with-the-power-and-desire-to-help, for that's what God is."

Meditation, on the other hand, involves quieting the mind so we can receive inner-guidance. Sogyal Rinpoche, in The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying, teaches meditation by emphasizing, "Bring your mind home," and clarifies, "In its deepest sense, to bring your mind home is to turn inward and to rest in the nature of mind. This itself is the highest meditation."

People often get confused about the "right" way to meditate. However, there is no scientific approach for silencing the mind. Too often, we feel guilty for not taking the time to meditate "properly."

It's important to recognize that meditation can occur in various ways: listening to music, walking in nature, sitting in silence—whatever causes you to move into the center of your heart and disregard the clamoring of your intellect.

If we have been doing our spiritual practice regularly—prayer, meditation, developing our gifts, spending time in nature, nurturing our relationships—we can look back over our lives and see how much we have changed.

Look not only at the outward changes in your life but at the inward changes that have occurred: negative patterns have been released, ineffective reactions and responses no longer exist, your heart is more open, judgments have lessened and you are closer to your true nature.

It is these profound inward shifts that our spiritual practice is really all about.

Finally, meditation and prayer enable us to elevate our thoughts by attuning to the highest voice within. So make a commitment to some form of spiritual practice on a daily basis and watch as your deepest guidance becomes your guiding light.

Tips on silencing your mind:

• ALLOW yourself to sink inward. "In," unlike "ascent," implies that all wisdom is already within you, rather than something outside of you that needs to be sought or earned.

• MAINTAIN a sense of importance and sacredness during your attempt. Affirm its benefits to yourself and others.

• PRACTICE approaching meditation as you would a holy altar dedicated to Love and Its’ Creation.

• TRUST and have faith. Know that a "bubbling up" of insight sometimes occurs and you will receive the results when you are ready.

• SURRENDER to your inner guide, knowing It will do Its’ part now that you have done yours.

lauragrace.net