That Time of Year Again...

When the holidays arrive, life becomes rather chaotic. Our regular routines are disrupted by holiday gatherings, we spend time shopping for holiday gifts and food, and we get time off from work, but most likely have to work harder to get that work done. Yet, even with all of this extra hoopla and frenetic activity, we can learn to keep the peace within ourselves.

I just want to clarify, that being at peace and being happy aren't necessarily the same thing. There is a definite difference between our feelings and the state of our inner being. The state of inner being is what helps us maneuver through life in a calmer and more peaceful way, regardless of what may be happening around us and/or how we feel about it.

Experiencing inner peace comes from practicing the art of letting go. When we hold onto feelings and situations, reliving them over and over in our minds and feeling the feelings again and again we keep ourselves in a state of inner turmoil, even when some of the situations and feelings are happy ones. So how do we get to a place where we can achieve inner calm? It is actually through our ability to acknowledge our feelings about the things that happen to us and around us and then we can let them go.

This may sound strange, but in actuality nothing ever stays the same. No matter how happy or sad we may feel in any given moment, no matter what may be going on in our lives, it will always change. So hanging onto resentments, fear, and anger or trying to hold fast to feelings of happiness and joy actually keeps us in a state of inner turmoil. Acknowledging our feelings and then allowing them to flow into our past frees us to live in peace. This is the art of letting go.

I am sharing an exercise with you in the event you would like to try this. The next time you find yourself in the midst of turmoil, find a quiet spot and close your eyes and breathe slow deep breaths, for just a few minutes. Allow any feeling that comes up to wash over you and then flow away. Then take a really deep cleansing breath and return to your day. Do this as often as you need to and you will discover that you can do it faster and more easily each time.

Inner peace is the key to living a better, more fruitful and comfortable life. If you practice the art of letting go, over time you will find yourself doing it quite naturally. You will discover that there are times when you become consistently peaceful from within and don't even have to pick up and feel feelings before you let them go.

Synchronicities

Not too long ago, I was having a small talk with my friend Cheryle. We were in her garden and at one point our discussion turned to her mother-in-law who passed away not long ago. Apparently, her mother-in-law loved observing and identifying butterflies, and she was also an amateur painter. At one point, my friend was telling me about a beautiful butterfly book her mother-in-law had made from her own hand-painted images of butterflies, and just at that moment a large beautiful butterfly flew down and landed on the jam pot and rested there for several minutes.

We couldn't help noticing the synchronicity of the butterfly's appearance right when we were having a discussion about this exotic insect. It was almost as if her grandmother was sending us a sweet little message through the butterfly. Of course, I was thrilled to experience this magical moment. I have frequent experiences with synchronicity. For example, I might have a dream about someone I haven't seen in ages, and suddenly I'll get a call from them, or I'll read something and a word will stand out in my mind, and I end up seeing it everywhere I go.

Synchronicity is more than just coincidence. It is a way that events, actions, and thoughts come together to communicate with us in a meaningful way. Synchronicities can be very reassuring to us, by validating a feeling we have about something or someone, or confirming the validity of a new idea or plan. Synchronicity is a bit like having a psychic check-in that lets us know we are on the right track, or someone we love and miss is never far away.

The term, synchronicity, was coined by the famous psychiatrist Carl Jung, who first noticed a connection between incidents that were more than just coincidences when he was working with a patient. Apparently, his first understanding of synchronicity came about when a patient was sharing thoughts about dreams, which centered around Egyptian scarab beetles. While relating her dreams, a scarab flew right through the window and landed on Jung. The thing that made the appearance of the insect most unusual was that it was not native to the part of the world where the analysis session was taking place. This led Jung to conclude that the part of the psyche, called the collective unconscious, had produced the scarab beetle at the exact moment the patient was describing her dream.

Jung's conclusion was that our unconscious minds have an affect on the physical world around us, just as the physical world affects our conscious and unconscious minds. As an astrologer, I frequently see synchronicity at work in the lives of my clients as they look for and recognize synchronicities that confirm their understanding of the readings I give them.

Synchronicity has often given me guidance and comfort and I hope that you will experience synchronicities in your life as well to help guide you on your path. If you are on the lookout for it, you may be pleasantly surprised.