July's Breath of Fresh Air from Akasha....

Hi everyone,

Thank goodness Mercury has gone direct again!  If you are interested in astrology you’ll probably know that around 4 times a year, the planet Mercury goes retrograde in the sky.  As Mercury is the ruler of communication, the effect of this is often experienced as a breakdown in communication, and technology linked with communication.  For me as a Gemini, with Mercury as my ruling planet, it tends to be a double whammy and this time I certainly felt like my feet and my creativity were stuck in treacle.

However, Mercury Retrograde is also a time to take stock and reflect on all manner of things and I don’t know about you, but nearly everyone I’ve spoken to lately has been encountering some quite tough challenges – whether personal, business or relationship focused, which has led to quite a bit of soul searching. Is this true for you too?  How’s your personal weather been?  Bright and sunny, dark and stormy or perhaps just a bit unsettled?

Certainly here in the UK, the literal weather has been a mix of these.  We’ve had sun, floods, lightning and a sighted tornado – all that’s missing is a plague of locusts!  However, what was really inspiring was the lst July, the day of the Concert for Diana.  

The forecast was for very heavy rain all day but the reality, as you’ll know if you were there or watched it on TV, was that NOT A DROP OF RAIN FELL.  In fact the sun shone gloriously most of the afternoon – and despite being just a day after several averted terrorist alerts in London and a terrorist attack in Glasgow, 63,000 people had a fantastic time.  No violence, no upsets, no skirmishes – even when all 63,000 of us seemed to head to Wembley Park underground station!  Everyone was in good spirits – so it just goes to show what’s possible when the overall intention is positive.  It was indeed a fitting 10 year celebration to mark the life of a woman, who exuded love and compassion to those needing it.

Which is why the feature this month is called “Love vs Fear ….two sides of the same coin”.   I originally wrote this spontaneously soon after 9/11, but with all the continuing unrest in the world, I feel it is ever more relevant today. 

Feature:  Love vs Fear - Two Sides of the Same Coin

When fear, hatred, desire for revenge, intolerance and anger are present – Love is missing.  Fear and Love are opposites. Fear is contraction of the heart, which is not great for physical, emotional or spiritual wellbeing.  With fear, possibilities are limited and life is likely to feel very narrow and restrictive.

Love holds hands with Courage to overcome Fear

Love is at the core of our being.  We don’t have to find it – it is and always has been, within us.  Tucked in the inner recesses of our Being.  Sometimes the journey to “re-discover” it, can seem a long one and yet there are moments when we glimpse it totally and may not even recognise it.  For example:

·         Beautiful images “that lift our spirits”

·         The birth of a baby

·         Children’s laughter

·         Strength in adversity

·         Being with a loved one at a special moment

·         A beautiful starlit sky

·         The unconditional generosity of another

                     And many more……….

Love is not soft and soppy. The love I refer to embraces:  Honesty, Integrity, Respect, Open-ness, Genuine-ness, Truth, Courage, Authenticity, Joy, Generosity, Laughter, Stillness, Freedom,  Clarity, Willingness, Sharing, Compassion, Empathy, ……and Tolerance.

It is a felt sense – the sense of expansion – when the heart feels full.  When love is present, tenderness and strength co-exist. People may be moved to tears by its power but tears can be of joy and relief too.  We may feel vulnerable but the paradox is this:

Vulnerability is true strength

How can that be?  Because when we are vulnerable, we are open, exposed, REAL.  We are flowing with the river of life, not swimming against it.  We surrender, we fall into ourselves and within we find the Love that is there – has always been there – the eternally burning light.  The light that just is.  The light that will never go out – no matter how dark life sometimes gets.  It is said that the “darkest hour is just before dawn” – many times though, great insights and change come after a “dark night of the soul”.

Drama's and Trauma's

It is as if we create the dramas and traumas in life to challenge us to look within and begin taking us back to that place we know.  A time of “re-membering”, “re-joicing”.  The parting of the 70,000 veils – to reveal the inner treasure – LOVE.  No judgements, no criticisms, no anger, no bitterness, no recriminations.  Just Love, all embracing, all encompassing, all knowing, never ending Love.  Love that cradles us like a parent with a new-born child.  Love that holds us in our pain.  Love that sometimes creates the pain so that we may grow.  Love that wraps around us like a beautiful cloak.

Self Awareness

As you journey with yourself, getting to know yourself better, being kinder to yourself - more open, more generous, tolerant, compassionate with yourself, so you become that way with others.  It is a natural evolutionary process.  “As ye sow, so shall ye reap”. 

Through this process barriers can be broken down, conflict resolved and communication become authentic.  Win/Win is possible when Right/Wrong are not part of the equation.

The Shadow

When we point the finger at others, when we label them Bad or Evil…..it is we who have missed the point.  By focusing outwards on how others seem to be, we don’t look within.  We don’t acknowledge the shadow parts of us.  The parts that can be spiteful, vengeful, angry, dismissive, shut down, rejecting.  We like to think that we would never behave like “they” have behaved.  But it is said that there is a killer in each of us - a mother to protect her child is a classic example.

Often we dress our shadow in a mantle of self-righteousness and self- justification.  Worse, we just believe that we are ABSOLUTELY RIGHT and all views opposed to ours are WRONG and BAD.  Then Love is lost and we are in a contracted place.

Know Thyself

These are turbulent and sometimes frightening times…..but, as with all adversity it contains the opportunity for all of us to learn and grow.  Take time to look within.   “Know Thyself” said the Oracle at Delphi - ancient Wisdom that is even more important in our modern world.   Too often we look outside ourselves for answers and expect others to change, when really inner peace is a truly powerful step towards world peace.

If you feel in need of a good laugh for great physical health, emotional wellbeing and mental clarity, you might want to put the date of our next highly popular 3 hour Laughter Event in your diary.   Join us at The Hotel Ibis in Swindon on Saturday 15th September from 1pm-4pm and learn to LIVE LIFE LAUGHING! 

www.thelaughterschool.com/Swindon_laughter.html

Because we like them……

We decided that each month we would include a few links to other sites, either because we know the people concerned and think they are great or we were inspired by the site and wanted to share it with you. By the way, these are not affiliate links and no money is received for including them.

www.whatsuponplanetearth.com

Subtitled "Life in the Higher Realms", this site is recommended for those of you interested in the esoteric.  Through email subscription, you can get regular energy alerts which give insight as to what has been happening energetically in the recent past.  It certainly struck a chord with me yesterday when I read the latest alert from the 11th July.

www.peta.org

Peta stands for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals and with more than 1.6 million members and supporters, is the largest animal rights organisation in the world.   

PETA focuses its attention on the four areas in which the largest numbers of animals suffer the most intensely for the longest periods of time: on factory farms, in laboratories, in the clothing trade, and in the entertainment industry. 

Really useful information….

www.thebreastcancersite.com/clickToGive/home.faces?siteID=2 

This site provides the facility to click to fund mammograms - and it's free. Why not put it in your favourites and click once every day.

If you have some really useful information that you’d like us to share with other readers in the forthcoming issues, email me at
akasha.lonsdale@empoweringpartnership.com
and of course, we’ll attribute the information to you.

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REMINDER DIARY NOTE: NEXT SWINDON LAUGHTER EVENT

 SATURDAY 15TH SEPTEMBER, 1PM - 4PM AT THE HOTEL IBIS, SWINDON.

www.thelaughterschool.com/Swindon_laughter.html

Meantime, to see details of everything we offer, visit www.empoweringpartnership.com.

Until next time, live with passion and on purpose,

Akasha

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