Everyday we are bombarded with a noisy world.  Something is always buzzing in the background.  The so-called soundtrack of your life whether it is the radio, the hum of computers and appliances, planes flying overhead, the voices of others – it is constant.  We are ourselves uncomfortable with silence as we fill the quiet spaces in natural conversation with mindless chatter – embarrassed by the silent lapses.

The constant noise around me sometimes draws me into its endless spinning.  I become like the sounds around me – constantly vibrating and moving, not listening.  I become so fixated on my sound and my moving that I forget to stop.  I become so fixated on the “I,” the Ego, that I forget to trust.  I become my own God – I am in charge, I can do it all - forsaking my true God in service of my Ego.

This is when I fall.  Somehow, something happens and I am reminded to stop and listen.  I see the Psalms of the Old Testament, “Be still and know that I am God,” and I remember I am the beloved child of God, and no one shall ever separate me from this knowledge.  A certain peace washes over me.  I am amused again to see my feet of clay that never do go away, but reappear again and again in new ways teaching me compassion.

In this humbled state, I am able to sit in the silence and know I am not alone.  This quiet does not call me to fill it with my own chatter, my own ego, but the silence draws me closer to my own longing to be whole.

When I meditate with this truth, this longing to be connected with a living God, I hear the silence talking to me - inviting me into the fullness of my life with opportunities and people who suddenly materialize as if by magic.  God is great and sometimes you need to provide the space, the silence, for a living God to speak directly to you.  May you discover the silence is waiting for you too, calling you to peace.

A psychic reading is an opportunity to gain more insight and open the door to your best life.  Usually the psychic or reader will use divination tools such as Tarot and Runes along with their own innate intuition to divine answers to questions, issues or fortune telling. For me, a good psychic reading empowers clients to transform his or her life abundantly. 

Each psychic is “reading” in accordance with their own gifts.  Therefore, some are very good at future predictions while others specialize in healing/transformation and still others specialize in medium work with spirits, etc.  It is helpful to understand your own needs and motives before seeking a psychic as to find the best “reader” for you.  Research on the web, personal referrals or even conversations with the psychic prior to the session can alleviate any of these concerns.

  So where do psychics get their abilities for divination?  Intuition? Some is natural, some is time, some is acquired learning or mentoring and some is listening and watching…For me, it’s all of these things and more.  

My Celtic ancestors called it - thin places.  This is where the magic happens – where the fairies and the real world overlap.  This is the place for me.  My psychic gifts have revealed themselves as “an opener of doors.” 

  I like to think I give my clients a map when they leave my door.  Together we’ve cleared away any blocks, glimpsed the road ahead, some opportunities and even obstacles to avoid, but the drive is still your own.  A good psychic reading involves trust and I believe an opportunity – the opportunity to step into your best life.   

 Each of us would love to “peak forward” a bit and gain insights for a better life.  Psychics offer this possibility, however there are some things to know before making an appointment…

 1.         Psychics are not always right.  Most good psychics will tell you only about 80% (on a good day!) of future predictions will come to pass.  Why?  Well, I tell my clients, what I am showing you is possibilities – you still have sway over future events both positively and negatively.  I like to use future events to empower your life today.

2.         Get referrals.  I suggest only making appointments with people you have been referred to, researched online or spoken to yourself.  Let’s face it, there are scams everywhere - so be smart.  Lots of psychics have web sites where you can read about them, styles of intuitive reading(tarot, runes…), articles they’ve written, etc.  Discover what resonates with you.  This little extra work will pay off in a good reading.

3.         Bring specific topics to look into for your appointment.  Chances are - the psychic will touch upon your big issues without need of your input.  However, I believe each of us gets the reading we “need” instead of maybe the one we “want.”  So the psychic may not immediately focus on the topic you desire without guidance from you.

4.         Be open.  Chances are the psychic will tell you some things you were not expecting, both good and bad.  Some of the words will resonate with you at the session while others words will become clear in your mind days, even weeks later.  Most psychics offer to record the appointment so you can go back later and listen.  Often, as you listen again, you will hear things you missed the first time.  

5.         Have fun and remember this is information.  I have been going to psychics since my early twenties and have been reading for others since 1996.  I love psychic or intuitive readings – however, over the years, I have seen persons who have been completely wrong as well as persons who are on the money nine times out of ten.  Use the information gleaned from your session to empower your life, not a crutch to wait for the inevitable outcomes.

  Psychic readings can be a powerful tool to transform your life.  They offer a chance gain insights, heal old wounds, to begin to live your best life today.  May it be so.    

I’m not one of those people who has New Year’s Resolutions, but I do have intentions for a better year.  I feel the New Year offers a chance of rebirth, a fresh start, a cleaning away of the old to make way for the new.  Over the years, I’ve developed an exercise for myself and my clients to enhance the process of cleansing from the last year and welcoming a fresh, abundant new year into your life.

I do this exercise once a year, sometimes in January or around my birthday in the springtime.  I don’t think the calendar date matters as much as your own personal desire for a clean slate and a new beginning.

First, write down everything you did not like about last year.  No censoring.  Include all your disappointments.  Difficulties in love.  Financial struggles, fights with family or coworkers.  Concerns with health.  The loss of someone you love.  Ended relationships.  Possibly the loss of a beloved pet.  Moments you let others down, even yourself.  Get everything out.

This may bring you to tears: that’s ok.  Let it out.  By writing these experiences you can release the negative energies that tie you to the past.

Once you have finished, read through the pages.  Upon finishing say out loud, “I am grateful for the lessons I have learned from these experiences.  I now release myself of the past and the pain.”  Then destroy the pages through burning, or the like.  Once the pages are completely gone, say out loud, “I welcome love, joy and abundance into my life today and every day.”

Now write out all the things you did like about this past year.  Things you’ve learned.  New relationships.  Advances in your career.  Family.  Vacations.  Spirituality.  Great books or movies that have stayed with you.  Any experience that brings you profound love for others or yourself.  Acknowledge all the gifts this year has brought into your life.

Again by writing it all out you experience the joy of those moments all over again.  It becomes tangible and more real.  Once you’ve completed the pages, read through them and then say out loud, “I am grateful for the love I have received and freely given.  I am blessed.  Thank you.”  Set the pages aside for later.

The next part is truly my favorite part of this exercise; writing a letter to your self.  The letter is everything you would like to see happen or accomplish this next year.  I divide the letter into seven parts; self, career, financial, relationship with significant other, health, motherhood and spirit.

You can modify the parts to fit your life.  Everything you write down is for your best life.  Think big and stay positive.  Dream the very best year and write it down.  Be specific.  Your thoughts become words, your words become deeds and your deeds build your life.  Let go of the “what ifs” and any fears that come up.

Personally, I have struggled with fear my entire life.  I read somewhere once that, “fears are dragons that keep us from our most precious treasures.”  For me those treasures are love and freedom.  What are your most precious treasures?  What blocks you from those treasures?

Once you have completed the letter and are satisfied with it, take this letter and the pages you set aside previously and put them in an envelope.  Address the letter to yourself, place a stamp on it and put it in the mail.  This is very important: DO NOT SKIP THE POSTAL SYSTEM.  The message must go out into the universe, freeing you to receive your most abundant year ever.  When I get the letter back in the mail, I don’t open it.  I put it in a drawer, knowing my message has been received and the universe is conspiring to make it so.

I have been doing this exercise for several years with great success.  Not everything works out the way I envision.  Sometimes it is even better and sometimes not, but I am always surprised.  This exercise helps you release the negativity and pain of the past year thus not bringing it into the new year.  It also allows you the opportunity to bring the good things of the past into the next year.  Most of all it opens the door to a more abundant life in the New Year.  May it be so.

Sometimes I forget I love Christmas.  Sometimes I get sidetracked by all the stuff, the impending arrival of relatives, the gifts, the ill-will of certain individuals, even myself.  I forget I love Christmas, because on this day so many, many years ago – I know a God that began to live with me.  I know a God that sent his child, really his own self, to live among men – not as a King with riches to spare, but as an “everyman” brought into this world through an unwed mother, poor, but never abandoned. It took me years to understand the significance of this…When we think of God – maybe we think all-powerful, the ultimate “in-control.”  Surely the God of the Old Testament displayed this imagery both positively and negatively.  (Let us not forget rainbows where a sign of God’s never-ending love after he leveled humanity…an earlier version of flowers as a make-up gift I’m thinking.)   The God of the New Testament is the vision I most closely relate to…This is the God that runs arms out-stretched for his prodigal son – aaaghh, this is my God.  A God that knows no limits - that is always available to me if only I would just turn my face to him, to her.   Long ago, in the dark of night, a couple struggled to bring a child into the world.  Joseph did his best, finding shelter where there seemed to be none.  Mary lay her newborn in the only resting space available to her - a manger where animals surely ate from moments before.  Did she know that this was the beginning?  The child she held in her womb so tenderly, even as those around her must have pointed fingers and whispered?  Did she really believe anyone bought her stories of angels? This was the beginning – confusing, slightly scandalize, but a miracle none the less.  If you believe the story, Jesus the son of God, then you know the miracle.  The Jews of Jesus’ day were on the lookout for a savior who was promised to save them.  Of course they were looking for a King in the guise of maybe someone like the powerful King David.  Isn’t that always what we believe – might and bravado will win out?  Some things never change… But, how does the savior come?  Poor, son of an unwed mother, on the margins of society – the last, almost forgotten among us.  Why did he come from the least among us?  I believe he came this way to know us better, to support each of us more.  Haven’t each of us been marginalized, less-then sometime?  Jesus came to be with us, not above us.   This is my God who came to the world, frail and helpless, dependant on the kindness of others.  He came to be loved and maligned.  He came to heal.  He came bearing the name Emanuel - translated “God with us.” He came to live with us, as I believe he still does everyday in so many different ways.  Reminding me always - I too am a beloved child of God.  May you have a very, merry Christmas.   Peace be with you.

Sometimes, husbands are really annoying.  For an Irish, redhead like me, this can cause problems.  During private sessions with clients and over many years of marriage, I’ve discovered a few tricks to avoid homicide when faced with you own beloved husband disguised as the village idiot.  May these tips help you avoid temptation…

1. Pedicure.  Pretty toes are very good to look at while you are having a “talk” with your husband about whatever said grievance is occurring.  As the ridiculous phases float out of his mouth you can distract yourself by watching the light reflect off your pretty toes.  Hot red means business!

2. Music.  Anything you love to be sung loudly.  Girl-power, angry songs are particularly satisfying, such as Melissa Etheridge in her angry years.  It is very helpful to release all those suppressed emotions physically.  Exercise is very helpful too.  However, by singing you are actually speaking the words you may be holding back in “talks” with your husband for whatever reason.  If you are not ready to say these things to him, sing them and get them out of your body.  You will feel better.

3. Journal and meditate.  Write it all out.  Maybe this is just an off day and you will be able to see that as you write.  Or, maybe, this is a bigger issue — possibly a culmination of old stuff, whatever.  It is good for you to release these emotions and experiences through writing.  It forces you to become present.  Another tool to become present is guided meditation.  The meditations lead you out of your incessantly thinking mind back into balance where you can make empowered decisions.

4. Call a friend.  Sometimes just venting to someone you can trust is very helpful and can allow you to feel supported.  However, think carefully about who would be helpful to talk to before you call – chances are, whatever the issue is, it’s going to blow over sooner or later.  For example, calling your Mom to complain about your husband out drinking with the guys instead of being with you or the kids, is not going to endear him to your mother.  You could actually be creating more strain in your life.  Or, telling ALL of your girlfriends of your husband’s blunders keeps the past alive with many re-tellings and finger-pointing.  Hard to keep the high ground with petty behavior no matter how justified the indignation may be.

5. Girls’ Night.  Go have fun, laughter is essential.  Wallowing in self-pity is not productive for anyone.  Laughter will connect you to the space of, “everything is going to be ok.”  You’ll feel better and you may actually be able to breathe.

6. Send your husband out of your bed, either the sofa or guest room will do.  A little space is good.  I am not of the philosophy, “Don’t go to bed angry.”  Sometimes, you are angry and with good reason.  So give yourself the opportunity to calm down and get clear.  The separation will stop you from saying something you may regret later as well.

7. Get away.  Go on a vacation for a couple days, maybe even a week by yourself or with a girlfriend.  This is a last resort kind of thing.  Unfortunately, sending your husband down the hall doesn’t always work.  Either you are too angry, too tired, or just plain had it, to be able to find peace with this man you’ve married.  Getting away helps both of you detach a little and you get a break from whatever the problem is.  The problem truly becomes his problem when you remove yourself from the situation.

When you are finally able to relax and regain your footing, ask yourself this, real or imagined?  Is this a real issue or passing stupidity?  Let’s face it – men can say/do some pretty dumb things.  Not saying all men, but experience tells me I have heard some tales…

On the other hand, if this is a real issue - what is your part?  Unfortunately, you have a part in this too.  It is not, in fact, all him.  Maybe you just went along with it too many times, maybe he doesn’t appreciate you, maybe so many different things, but the truth is – somewhere inside, you said, “yes.”  Yes to less.

It is difficult to accept that you could be the one creating these opportunities to sabotage your life, but once realize this, you actually become empowered.  Empowered because you can make different decisions.  With clear and balanced thoughts and behaviors, you can make good decisions no matter what the situation.

So, when you are watching the light reflect off your very pretty toes as your beloved husband blurts out some offending nonsense, you will remain calm and think, “Is this a real issue or passing stupidity?”

How do you mend a broken heart?  How does it get broken?  Is it in one event?  Or are there dozens of offenses before the crack?  Oh, I wish I knew.  For me, it happens over time, dozens of offenses forcing me to dodge and weave hoping to keep my balance.  Some days I can, and some I can’t. In my early twenties, I dated a man, really a boy, who I adored.  It was an incredibly, passionate relationship.  I discovered passion is a slippery thing, it goes both ways.  The intensity you love is equal to the intensity you hate.  My, my does can that lead to interesting times…We stayed together six years. Our break-up was a pitiful good-bye, lasting a year of push and pull.  The end did not result from a lack of love; it ended because of all the hurts.  The wounds left to fester and grow.  He was an alcoholic.  I suspect he still is. I grew up with a father who drank too much and a mother who yelled too much.  My old boyfriend was like home.  I loved and hated home as I loved and hated him.  I’m sure I even became the woman who yelled too often, much to my disgust. I remember after he left, laying in bed, weeping for hours - hurting so deeply from the inside.  I would take deep breaths in all the time because I felt like I couldn’t breathe — never enough air, never any relief.   Over and over, in my mind I would repeat this poem my mother once said to me, “I told my soul to be still and wait. Without love, For I know not what to love. Without hope, For I know not what to hope for. But in the waiting, there is faith.  There is love, hope and faith in the waiting.  I told my soul to be still and wait.”  If I said it enough times, finally a peace would descend.   Comforting me, even if it lasted only a little while. Today I know that comfort was God.  I was ceaselessly praying with my poem.  As I lay in my bed at night, I would imagine myself held in the palm of God’s hand.  I started going to church.  It was when I gave up, that my heart began to mend. I can’t say it happened over night.  It was a process and time was a huge part of it.  I can’t even say it won’t happen again.  But what I can say is, I have faith.  There is love, hope and faith in the waiting.  In that space, God waits for me.  I am held there and gently reminded “courage.”  I told my soul to be still and wait.

The torture of the holidays is upon us once again.  I am always of mixed emotions.  I love the holidays and they drive me crazy.  I think they call that schizophrenia.  I don’t think I am alone in these mixed feelings that may require more than breathing techniques or the cocktail hour to begin at three in the afternoon (its five o’clock somewhere…) 

For me the problem really lay in the weeks before Christmas Day - the packages in the mail.  I don’t know about you but I have some relatives that enjoy engaging in “passive aggressive nuts.”  I like to think of the package arrivals as bombs waiting to explode gross into my house.   

I haven’t figured out what to do with them yet…Every year I have a new tactic - open, not to open, give to goodwill, etc.  There are a few things we can not do – open them with our kids, because unfortunately, these relatives play favorites and one of my children is always receiving “less-than.”  To say that this makes me crazy is - an understatement.  One year we made this mistake and to watch the excluded child to see all the presents but one book go to the other was heartbreaking.   

And of course these bombs of Christmas cheer trigger all kinds of old hurts and unmet desires of Christmases past.  Good times.  Thanks a bunch…can’t wait ‘til next year.  So, what to do? 

I think all you can do – take care of yourself.  Instead of focusing on all those other people in your life, stop and focus on yourself.  Close your eyes.  Are you spinning?  Feel the ground under your feet.  What do you need today?  What can you do today to directly support yourself during this holiday season? 

Ideas:  buy yourself a special Christmas gift, take a bubble bath, meditation, get a massage, read a favorite magazine, call a friend, make cookies, volunteer, go for a walk at night and see all the lights.  What’s your great idea?  

Personally I am going to spend the afternoon wrapping gifts for my kids and husband.  It always makes me happy to wrap presents and make pretty bows.  I even think Mrs. Claus dropped off something special for me too…I think a big, sparkling bow will go on that one.

Escape.  Run away.  How often have you thought about it?  Still, after all these years, the idea continues to attack your thoughts – is it possible?  Yes and no - there is a fine line between healthy escape and denial.

Sometimes, you need to get away.  Maybe you work too much, maybe you are in the midst of a very difficult personal issue, or maybe, you need to take a break from the stressful reality of your day to day life, whatever – escape is possible.  Get in a car, a plane or even a train, and leave that which is the reality of your life.  Why?  Perspective.

For some odd reason driving 50 miles away from your life offers you a little breathing room.  Exhale.  It’s going to be OK.  Somehow it is easier to step into that place, detachment, when the issue/reality isn’t crammed up your nose.  Sometimes the best thing an action-oriented person like you (or me) can do is get away – if only to force yourself to stop.  Stop thinking.  Stop talking.  Stop doing.

When you are in this mindset of non-action, you discover all this space.  This empty space that you have been filling with all the stuff – worry at the top, delusions of control and ego below.  The conversations, the phone calls and the deals that hold the tenuous balance of your happiness in place.  It is when you get to this place that the line of escape and denial can blur.

This is your truth.  What needs to be let go and what needs courage?  Sometimes life is challenging, period.  No easy way around, but straight through the crap.  Are you, in fact, making this journey more difficult on yourself?  What can you let go of to gain more peace in your life?  And this is the rub, that which you give up must empower you, not deny your reality, or your issues.

For example, you can control your behavior, but not the behavior of others.  Trying to make someone love or treat you better doesn’t work, but finding the clarity within to know what you need does.  Once you know what you need, then you are ready to come home from your retreat to complete the next step on your path to peace –  ask.

Asking for your needs to met may be a stumbling block, because asking implies your own worth, your own deserving to be happy.  You deserve to live a beautiful, abundant life.  So go escape, to discover what you need and come home — ask, and you shall receive.

In the night, under the tenderness of the dark, you can find me resting in the palm of God’s hand.  I found my way here years ago.  I came crawling out of my despair, longing to feel loved.  What I first thought was an empty promise, lead to my grace.

As a child I was taught there is no God, only me.  I would find my way with no shelter from the storm, just me, alone and not surprisingly, frightened out of my mind.  I became an over-stressed, anxiety prone adult completely unsatisfied from within.  However, on the outside, the persona the world saw, I was fine - I had a lot of friends, a boyfriend, a good education.  My whole life lay before me and I felt lost and alone.

One Sunday, I don’t even remember why, I found my way alone to a church.  It was a beautiful church.  Pure New England style – a tall, white steeple with a giant bell, stained glass windows and filled with warm pine pews.  The minister was new, just filling in while the regular pastor who was on sabbatical.  The new minister was a woman.

She was a petite lady with a helmet of short, gray hair and sparkling eyes behind thick, black rims.  She used to be nun years ago, but left to have a family.  Immediately I felt a kinship to this woman who took the road less traveled.  Starting down one path only to shock the world by turning around and going in the opposite direction.

I’m not sure what the service was about that Sunday, but I remember I wept throughout.  I couldn’t stop.  I just felt like somewhere inside I came home.  As the pastor spoke, she silently invited each one of us to know God not only by the words she uttered, but by her very presence.  This woman was peace - a beacon calling to a new life.

I do remember she spoke of a loving God who was with you always.  The words were a balm for my wounds and I could feel myself calm from the inside.  I breathed again.  Then we sang hymns, ones I had never heard before and suddenly I was singing the words, “Resting in the palm of God’s Hand,” and I was.

In that moment, I understood - I am never alone.  I looked at the shining faces around me and saw pure joy.  “Joy,” not pleasure derived from buying or attaining something, but joy - the glorious simmering of your soul in the fullness of life.  This was a place for me, resting in the palm of God’s hand.

Today I still use this imagery over and over whenever I feel lost, or out of balance.  Sometimes, as you grow up, you discover you have to release certain beliefs you were taught as a child.  I know this lesson of “There is no God, you have to do it all,” was taught to me with the best of intentions – survival.   However, it crippled my life and I became obsessed with control or truly, the illusion of control.

Fortunately, I changed my belief and allowed myself to feel supported by an abundant and loving God.  So now, in the dark of night, you can find me resting in the palm of God’s hand.  Maybe one day I will see you there too.