Breathe easier through Covid-19 & beyond

Notice Covid-19 forces us to confront our deepest fears, especially the prospect of death and losing all that we hold dear. Yet, what if we choose to view the global Covid-19 situation as an opportunity to look deep within, uncover what scares us most, integrate our shadow and heal?

The first breath we take is the beginning of our human life experience. Our last breath taken before vacating the body is Divine Grace. What if we could accelerate our revlations, breathe easier through adversity and realize deeper truths while still in the body?

Inhalation, Exhalation, Transition

Every movement within Creation is a breath of three (Father, Son & Holy Spirit) referred to as the Great Cosmic Breath. There is the inhalation (a contraction), there is the exhalation (an expansion) and finally the space between the peak of inhalation/exhalation, the period of transition.

All life follows this trinity pattern of breath. Some people view this as perceptions of past, present and future.

Earth’s 24 hour day is a full cycle of breath:

• Sunset is the inhalation, the movement inwards during the dark night of restoration 
• Sunrise is the exhalation, the expansion into the day and the promise of service in the world
• The transitionary periods of Earth's day are the periods of Dawn (before Sunrise) & Dusk (before Sunset)

Lunar /cycles also mirror reflect the Great Cosmic Breath:

• Waning Moon (from full moon to new moon) is the inhalation, the breath inward toward consolidation, restoration and renewal
• Waxing moon (from new moon to full moon) is the exhalation, the expansion in the world and the presence of our light mirrored in the light of the moon
• Both the New Moon & Full Moon are the peaks or transitions between the in/out breaths and represent the yin/yang polarities of the infinite all

Earth’s 365 year solar cycle – marked by the Equinoxes & Solstices – reflect a full cycle of breath:

• Autumn Equinox to the Winter Solstice is the inhalation, whereby energy is drawn inward, within us and within the Earth. Animals hibernate, seeds sleep and spirit communes with Earth’s Heart for renewal, regeneration and healing. From the Winter Solstice to the Spring Equinox, the days are getting longer yet we are still deeply held within the breath inward in preparation for our awakening and rebirth into our cycle.
• Spring Equinox until the Summer Solstice is the long exhalation, the budding, flowering and fruiting of plants, new life springs into action and a sense of joyful expression out into the world takes place. From the Summer Solstice to the Autumn Equinox the days are getting shorter, but we are still held within the exhale as we delight in the fruits of our labours and prepare for the inward time ahead.
• Both the Spring & Autumn Equinoxes are the pauses or transitions within the breath. The Equinox is where day and night are of equal length – the energies coming together as one – Heaven & Earth, Spirit & Matter, Mind & Soul.

Surrendering to The Great Cosmic Breath

What can we learn from these three aspects of Great Cosmic Breath ?

As Creation flows in the rhythm of Great Cosmic Breath, then if we too flow WITH the breath by releasing our need for control, we naturally align with creation, live in harmonic resonance with ourselves and everything.

We find peace within, harmony in our waking/sleeping cycles and we transcend struggle as we allow creation to move through us. Cosmic breath becomes our guide, and we sense it as intuition. This is the voice of the universe that awakens us to our divine potential.

From the INHALATIONS within our lives we learn the importance of rest, relaxation & regeneration that supports our growth and healing.   As we reach the peak of the inhalation, the TRANSITIONARY period between the in and the out breath, this is the time of complete stillness. It is the moment of just being, it is the moment of spontaneous healing, the moment of miracles and the moment of pure bliss.

The EXHALATIONS within our lives emerge from the transition… if stillness was embraced in the transitionary moment then we embark on living the exhalation as an expression of spirit through us. We dance with life as we become the dance. Health, well-being, joy and abundance flow from a place of natural grace and ease as all of creation moves through us on the exhalation.

Spiritual ‘Cosmic’ Breathing

Breath is our teacher. When we surrender and let the breath of spirit flow through us, breath speaks to us in the language of field and in a voice that our higher-self yearns to hear.

Spiritual Breathing is the art of breathing fully. This awakens you to the Great Cosmic Breath rhythms of the moment, the day, the season and the year. Spiritual Breathing is not just a practice done in the moment of meditation, but is a mindful practice that becomes an integral part of your life and a practice that incorporates every breath from birth to death, both conscious and unconscious.

Spiritual Breathing is our natural way of breathing when we move beyond the confines of our social conditioning, belief systems and transcend the ego.

To Spiritually Breath is to breathe fully, to ‘know thyself’ and change how we see / co-create in new realities.

Inviting you to work with us through Zoom, on-line to decode your own breath, tune into the language of your own changing energies, imbalances, resolve misunderstandings and heal.

Feel joyful for no reason

Whatever has guided you to this website, from the moment you make up the mind to change, you are already shifting into a new level of consciousness.  Now is the moment to get clearer about what you are doing, why you are doing it, as well as the underlying reasons for your life choices, how you are living, breathing, feeling and being. 

As the will to shift grows, it helps to hear about inspirational mentors who have made lasting personal change. This of course, is only heresay until we experience unique inner shifts ourselves. It pays to train ourselves to be more observant, to break conditioned emotional patterns, to see our environments and time anew to allow authenticity to blossom.

Rest assured, you may have already begun this process.  Nonethless, it can be valuable to receive a bit more insight, related to meditation, breathing and how your body and behaviour offer you signs and signals.  Who you present to the world is not necessarily who you ar at the core.  

Feeling joy for no reason happens as we dismantle our old identity and break the habit of pretending to be someone we are not.

Interview with Jane Teresa Anderson

 Jane Teresa Anderson is an expert on dreams.  As a dream analyst and therapist, author, and regular guest on radio and television, her work sparks growing curiosity and attention.  She offers Dream Academy courses and subscriptions to her Dream Sight News, as well as an abundance of ways we can deepen our self-understanding and sense of purpose. 

I initially came across her work during my own dreamwork and radio shows.  A recent synchronicity prompted me to contact her. I find her views both powerful and insightful.  My intention in sharing this interview is to reveal deeper reasons why she does what she does, invite her to share things many people would like to know but do not ask, and orient us to where can benefit from more of her expertise.

What makes you, you?

I am the total of all my experiences, conscious and unconscious, throughout all time, honed by a regular practice of dream work, yoga, and spiritual devotion.

Funny! My mom used to say our names take on deeper meaning through our choices in each lifetime. I love the wizard Dumbledore from Harry Potter, who echoes, ‘It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.’  The poet Rumi also echoes, ‘We are beyond words.’ Somewhere, in the unseen continuum, all views and experience merge, just as you imply above. 

This said, as we are exploring the sense of things, we encounter many kinds of dream analysis and interpretation. Which approach do you take? Why?

I take an approach I developed through my research back in the early 1990s.

That’s a bit mysterious. Tell us what happened back then…

Well, I had a few hundred people engaged in writing down their dreams alongside their waking life experiences, completing questionnaires, and doing experiments before sleep and during their dreams. Over subsequent years, I then built on that approach as I worked with clients and on my own dreams. I’m still refining my approach.

It would be fun to hear about the pre-sleep and during sleep experiments!

Your life and interviews, suggest subconscious transformation happens in stages.  What compelled you to deepen your research into this?

I felt a need to do my own research because I wasn’t entirely happy with any other approach that I had studied or read about.

Assume nothing and question everything, what a wonderful philosophy!

Well, some approaches were wonderful in certain circumstances, not in others. I felt there was more work needing to be done. Since I was trained as a scientist, doing my own research was a natural step.

Indeed, taking an interdisciplinary approach is often undervalued. In a role as a lab researcher, I learned that recognizing and documenting findings is invaluable. How do you chronicle your process and research findings?

My findings – and my approach – have been reported through my books (beginning with my first book, Sleep On It, which was published by Harper Collins in 1994, then Dream It; Do It! published by Harper Collins in 1995, followed by The Shape of Things to Come, published by Random House in 1998, and Dream Alchemy first published by Lothian Books in 2003, and then in second edition by Hachette in 2009. My latest book, The Dream Handbook, published by Hachette in 2018 and by UK publishing house Little Brown also in 2018, is an updated version of Dream Alchemy). I have also published my work in an inde-published title, many blogs, and as part of on-line training.

Having read your original Dream Alchemy, I often highly recommend it!  Would you say you have a specific Dream analyst inspiration?

While my work has a Jungian leaning, it is not Jungian.

People often assume a dream analyst must be Jungian or Freudian or some combination. Its refreshing and encouraging to be reminded we can draw from, combine or, not relate to either approach for a given dream. It is as if we each create and evolve in our own paradigm beyond models.

Many people may wonder what led you to your unique career. Yet, rather than focus on the past, I prefer stick to the present. People sense who you are in your energy, actions and passion. Do you focus on past and future?

In dream analyses, I take the approach that dreams reflect the processing of our conscious and unconscious experiences of the last 1-2 days in a bid to update our perspective of our self and our world. When you’re processing a recent experience, it may bring up – or resonate with – experiences from the past, which are then touched upon by the dream. The dream may also project into the future, not in a predictive way, but more to practise how things might be.

Indeed, every day is a new day, full of occasions to learn and unlearn more.  What do you learn from your clients? How do you empower them?

When you interpret a dream, you get to see aspects of the dreamer’s mindset: their conscious and unconscious beliefs, feelings, patterns of behaviour, unresolved issues, ways of seeing the world. I use a number of tools and techniques, including many that I have developed through my research, to do this.

Ah-ha! So, you guide clients to grow more conscious and aware of things they may not yet realize about themselves. That may seem surreal…

Dreams look bizarre and surreal because the logical, editing areas of the brain are not particularly active during dreaming, leaving the more holistic, emotional, intuitive brain to paint a picture of the processing. Interpretation is a matter of learning how to see through the eyes of the picture-painting brain and translate this into a language the dreamer can relate to.

And how does this translate in simple terms?

My approach shows the dreamer (or helps them to discover) how the dream relates to their life; present, past, and potentially future, and lays bare the mindset that causes this.

It feels like you empower people to recognize beliefs, heal their attitude or shift patterns or mindset that may hold them back. Now that is powerful!

Please identify what makes your approach to dream analysis unique.

I follow dream analysis with dream alchemy. Dream alchemy is a process of working with the unconscious mind to reprogram limiting beliefs and resolve unresolved issues. It’s a process that works with a person’s individual, unique dream symbols, since these were produced by their unconscious mind. When you communicate with the unconscious mind using its symbolic language – again, unique to each dreamer – magic happens.

Bertrand Russell astutely reminds us, the universe is full of magical things waiting for our wits to grow sharper.  As you imply, we are our own source of magic. 

During traditional training, student analysts’ dreams are analysed.  What is the most surprising thing you learned about yourself during your training?

I took a different route, doing my research, developing my theories and methods, then testing them on myself and volunteers, so I didn’t experience being trained in someone else’s methods or receiving analysis. Mine was perhaps a longer, more challenging route, because I was my own analyst, and analysing one’s own dreams can be a very tricky business. It’s very tempting to analyse your own dreams and self in a desirable (false) light, to see what you want to see, to not see what you don’t want to see. I experimented with imagining that my dreams were my clients’ dreams, and this allowed me to be more objective.

What you highlight here is that our lives and how we see ourselves in them has outgrown existing paradigms. Your approach that imagined your dreams as those of others is like a mirror. Love your example of being open to observing everything and everyone.  Does this shake your world up?

I couldn’t point to one specific surprising thing that I learned about myself during my own (ongoing) dream analysis. The whole process was more one of turning absolutely everything I thought I knew about myself and the world upside down and inside out, and then opening to a completely changed perspective. At the same time, that dreams can be approached analytically and rationally, the work also opens to embrace the mystery of life. I love walking through both these worlds.

From what you say, dream analysis is a life-affirming or awakening tool on many levels. It can bring clarity, inspire shifts in life direction and far more.  Please share some examples of positive changes from your clients.

All my work with clients is confidential, so I cannot share details. Most work focuses on healing current and past conflicts, issues, and pain, and shifting perspective to enable personal and spiritual growth. Many people I work with discover latent gifts and talents that they go on to develop. The point of the work is to grow through bringing more of our best self into consciousness and into service in the world. Most clients achieve this.

Understand that client details are confidential.  The question is posed as cases are often included in books where names and key details are changed to protect client privacy.  Anyone interested in exploring specific themes can tune into episodes or archives of your monthly Dream Show Podcast.

It is felt by many that Humanity is evolving or shifting in different ways.  How do you witness and/or imagine dreamscapes changing as humans grow more collectively conscious?

I come back to basics: our dreams process our conscious and unconscious experiences of the last 1-2 days, compare these with all our past experiences, and project into potential futures (symbolically, not literally). As individuals evolve and become more conscious, their dreams will reflect this awakening, but will also continue to reveal the unconscious side.

So, if I get what you are saying, we all dream in parallel timelines, the personal and collective, even if aspects of this are as yet unconscious.  It is like, as we awaken, we allow ourselves glimpses into an expanding picture that is beyond our ideas of ego selves...

Please clarify awakening from your point of view as a dream analyst.

Dreamers paying attention to their dreams have the opportunity to fast-track awakening (bringing what is unconscious into consciousness), and this further awakening will be further processed in subsequent dreams. I look at dreams as reflecting an individual’s mindset or evolution, not as tapping into a collective unconscious unless that tapping in is part of the individual’s recent experience in which case it will need to be processed in dream.

Although you admit you only take partial Jungian slant to dream analyses, Jung divides his idea of the unconscious mind into personal unconscious and collective unconscious (where the former made feelings that were once conscious but forcefully subdued, and the latter comprised accumulated genetic information and experiences).  Is this a case where you do not see things the same way?

To be clear, I do subscribe to a collective unconscious, but I believe our dreams focus on our individual experiences. Our dreamscapes reflect our individual experiences.

Thanks for clarifying that!

Some people see dreams as a tool to unleash untapped potential. Other people sense dreams simply invite them to get grounded. What do you see?

We can glimpse our untapped potential through our dreams, and we can also discover where we might be out of balance and need more grounding. These are just two of a multitude of the types of gifts dreams can bestow when we work with them. Dreams show us where we’re at, on every level, what holds us back, what drives us forward, what we have lost touch with and need to reconnect with, and what we have yet to discover and fully bring into our being.

Like you but in his own unique way, Dr. Eric Pearl invites us all to be open to deeper   Reconnection with ourselves. Dreams are but one Path. Its not what you do, but why you do it.

Different levels of dreams exist. It is said many creative people are inspired while dreaming on the astral plane and bring visions into their conscious awareness. Alexander Graham Bell for instance, is said to have downloaded the telephone vision in a dream, drawn it and invented it in our reality.  Great composers are said to hear heavenly sounds in dreams and then translate this in our world as symphonies for us to hear. What is your view?

In my work I do not refer to astral travel or the astral plane. It’s maybe just semantics, but I prefer to focus on how our dreams relate to our individual and unique experiences of life on physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual levels. My understanding of ourselves as spiritual beings working through physical bodies means that our dreams process our individual experiences at each of these levels.

Which examples can you share where inspiration comes through dreams? Would you say we each contain an unconscious reservoir of bright ideas?

Our unconscious reservoir is perhaps endless, and can certainly be drawn upon during dreamtime when our logical, editing brain is pretty much out of action, freeing us to be more creative and imaginative. Whether we believe we draw on an unconscious mind that is part of our individual being or part of our spiritual being, or part of an overarching wisdom is, I believe, semantics again. Our dreams assist us to know the greater aspects of the self and our being.

What about finding solutions to challenges…how can dreams assist us?

When life reaches a point where we’re ready to find the solution to a challenge that has been occupying us (what a machine would look like that could help us to communicate across the world: a telephone), the solution is there, accessible through our unconscious mind, often delivered powerfully through our dreams when the chains of waking consciousness are loosened. (It is also possible to be inspired by a symbolic dream, to take elements of a dream and spin them into a new invention, or a song, or a painting, quite apart from the meaning the dream would deliver if analysed as reflective of the individual’s mindset.)

Clearly, this invites us each to pay closer mind to what we tell ourselves!

Past and future regression are often described as states of consciousness. How do you see these in your work?

While we may indeed be able to access past and future lives (or past and future events) through our dreams, my approach is to come back to basics. Our dreams process our conscious and unconscious experiences of the last 1-2 days and compare these to all past and potential future experiences. If past life or future life scenarios are relevant to this processing, then they may be glimpsed in dreams, but I find this is a dangerous track to introduce into dream analysis because people get naturally very excited about bypassing challenging dream work and believing that – for example – the dream about being in a battle in the Middle Ages is a literal glimpse of a past life rather than a symbolic dream about the inner conflicts and battles about reaching middle age.

Absolutely! Different ways exist to look at things. Some dreams are efforts to escape what we resist. Of course, we cannot escape ourselves forever! Please share another thematic example.

As another example, a person might be terrified that the dream that they had about their partner dying is a literal preview of the future, rather than a symbolic dream about a sense of an ending in some area of their life (not necessarily the relationship). I have met many dreamers who have wasted years looking for a soul mate they met in a dream, having missed the opportunity to connect with a wonderful inner aspect of their own soul or being. So, while I do believe in past and future lives, I don’t encourage dream work as territory to explore this.

So, its like dreams allow us to map our own uncharted (emotional) waters. Love they can put situations into perspective, provided we are open to that.

Breathwork is described as a futuristic kind of dreaming where people are known to heal themselves of emotional trauma. What is your perspective?

I don’t know enough about breathwork to comment on this. I certainly agree that there are plenty of healing avenues to connect and reconnect with our inner being and with life on every level, physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual, and that is wonderful. My work focuses on dream work because I believe it is one of the most powerful avenues to self-knowledge, awakening, and healing. I also enjoy working with dreams because they directly access the unconscious. If you have an element of conscious awareness, it can be used to re-shape or redirect any experience of the unconscious: it can edit. So even in hypnosis, the conscious mind can edit (in my personal experience of being hypnotised). Unless you are lucid dreaming, dreaming is a place where there is no conscious edit. You have absolute access to your unfiltered unconscious mind.

However, working with remembered dream material (while awake) can be powerfully healing. Dream alchemy is one example. I imagine that breathwork, hypnosis, and other modalities are also powerful in this regard.

Thank you for sharing these insights.

As you were originally trained as a scientist, consider this: the voice of Alpha is our intuition, which grows clearer the closer our brainwaves get to 7.5Hz. Theta (4-7.5Hz): Theta brain waves are present during deep meditation and light sleep, including the REM dream state. Some people use the terms subconscious and unconscious interchangeably. Researchers link deep feelings of peace to Theta brain waves, as well as lucid dreaming.  Share your view.

My work leads me to believe that there is the conscious mind, and everything else is, by definition, un-conscious. In my understanding, what was once known or experienced but has slipped out of consciousness is now unconscious, until retrieved.

Would you say we heal others and ourselves by growing more conscious and lucid dreaming?

Both lucid dreaming and conscious dreaming are powerful methods for exploring the conscious and unconscious minds, for healing, and for drawing inspiration. I choose to work with non-lucid dreaming, and non-conscious dreaming because the editing rational brain is largely inactive during dreaming and so the dream itself brings you direct, unedited unconscious material. Of course you are awake (and potentially in editing mode) when you review a dream, but if you work with a dream analyst or learn the tools and techniques to analyse your own dreams, you can reduce the effect of editing mode.

So measuring brain waves is one way Science measures peaceful states of dreaming (being)? 

I agree that feelings of deep peace can be associated with brain waves.

If you could leave us with lasting insight from your direct experience, what would it be?

We are each infinitely greater and more immaculately supported than we can possibly know.

Please draw attention to anythign else you wish.

I am am available for dream consultations, and invite interested readers to check out Course 1 (How to interpret your dreams step-by-step) at The Dream Academy.  

Thanks Jane Teresa, for all you share here. I also draw attention to Jane Teresa's Blog which is also a great way to catch up on her podcasts and interact with her on subjects of interest.

This interview invites us all to explore different avenues to  better understand ourselves.  It is always wonderful to aspire to become a better person.  After all, we exist in this world to learn and evolve.  Yet, the nature and degree of what we learn does not determine our core worthiness.  We actually have nothing we need to prove.  Any Path we take is up to us. Many reasons exist why some people choose to heal and others not to get well. Come what may, its reassuring to recall we cannot aspire to that which is already ours and can never be lost.  The Truth is only temporarily forgotten.

10 Life-changing revelations

This moment invites a new level of reflection.  During meditation, certain ah-ha moments arise within.  Ponder the implications of these 10 life-changing revelations;

1. Remembering who you are

Self-realisation is reaching that place where you know you are not your body, not the mind, not your emotions, not that which changes with time.  You are the Soul.  If you take away what you are aware of, you are still aware this is not there. Take away awareness and the light goes out.

2. Growing aware of the power of the psyche

The moment the psyche drops into the body is not necessarily as the result of traumatic events in childhood. This moment is so powerful, that it pulls our consciousness fully and instantaneously into the limiting experience. We forget who we are (infinite) because we are busy paying attention to the object of who we are instead of the source of consciousness.  The more intense the emotions, the more powerful an experience feels, the more distracting it is. When we drop into the body, consciousness is immediately distracted by senses, sounds.  Discomfort arises due to an imagined loss of self. However some beings do not drop into the body completely. They struggle with grounding in this world, staying linked to Source.

3. Creating the self concept

We define a world inside ourselves that supports our self concept. Our identity does not develop, but we create it to soften the blow, to distract ourselves from pain of perceived loss of Self.  We each pull the self concept around ourselves, like wool over the eyes, embellish it with the idea that it protects us from deeper pain.  Discomfort prompts each of us to grasp hold of labels and things to define us and enable us to feel more at ease with ideas of who we are in the environment we are living in. The lost Self attempts to redefine itself.  

4.   Changing self -definitions

Throughout our lives, we latch onto experiences to define us.  Ego is this masquerading self we pull over our consciousness.  We reflect on our curriculum vitae or accomplishments for instance, or label ourselves based on a series of changing relationships (i.e. friend, single, married, divorced, parent, widowed, etc).  We define ourselves by changing conditions and relationships to orient ourselves in an ever-changing reality that only exists in the mind.

5.  Feeling driven by fear 

Regardless of what we think we achieve, the false self is driven by fear of rejection, fear of being found out, fear of our self-created 'safe' realities falling apart. Deep down, we do not want life to pass us by and yet, any fear that arises within is pointing to the original fear of loss of Self that happened when we took a body. We subconsciously tell ourselves that as long as we can control things the way we define them, we can feel safer and supported.  Core panic unrecoginzed echoes attention is hijacked elsewhere than who we are.    

6. Distinguishing between core and facade

When someone dies or leaves our lives, grief often arises.  The majority of people are only ever dealing with emotion they feel related to the external world.  The real grief emerging is that which you feel about the illusion of separation you feel toward source consciousness, that which is never really lost, only forgotten.  As long as the predictable aspects of our realities continue, its like we have body guards and we feel secure, powerful, confident.  Our masks exist to protect us from the Truth of who we are.

7. Awakening to spirituality

Awakening to spirituality is about dealing with core Self rather than hiding from it.  We are no longer duped by or lost in the masquerade.   This is about working through the hurdles we create to get through the imagined fear, to deal with the fear of loss of who we are, so it ceases to occur.  It is about recognizing the game we buy into, recognizing the likes and dislikes we hold dear, the unconscious judgements we make about everything that attempt to control predictable outcomes.  On some level, when we feel insecure, we put loads of attention and effort into initatives to feel loved and accepted.  If we are living life to hide from Self, we never get anywhere.  Notice whenever something inside is not okay, that it attempts to feel okay by manipulating and exerting control over the external world. Growing aware that attempts to control are not working is the stepping stone to realizing what you are trying to hide from and compensate for.

8.  Finding True Being

We only ever truly emerge into this world when we stop being motivated by fear and are instead inspired by Love and compassion.  When our power and conditions arise from unconditional love (as opposed to conditional states like changing weather, finances, economy, rejection, ect), we are powerful beyond measure.

9. Recognizing everything is shiftable

Feelings are is shiftable. This has nothing to do with the external world. Stop looking outside to define yourself.  Instead, look inward to work with yourself.  Stop keeping yourself entertained, distracted so you think you are okay.  Work consciously with the part of you that is bothered by external changes.

10. Being okay with reality

This is not the false reality you have created and perpetuated much of our lives.  This is not about forcing conditions and people to be or do what we want.  This is about being okay with whatever is unfolding, working with it, accepting that it is for the best even if we do not yet grasp the bigger picture.  We do not access our magic if we do not surrender our desire to control and see the blessings in everything. Decide to notice what is bothering us in this moment.  Choose to relax amidst the discomfort.  Disengage. Stop complaining or resisting or taking things personally. Stop allowing external unfoldings to disturb us. Allow the distrubance to pass through.  Discomfort pass through as we leave it alone.  We let go of te parts of the world we were using to define us. We honour and respect the flow of everything. Consider 12 ways to reframe fear and failure and 5 Tips to own it.

Interview with Raana Zia

As life experience guides us from one synchronicity to another, it is a delight to connect with Raana Zia and have the privilege of reading her book, Your Hidden Light:  A Practical Guide to Creating Your Desired Life.

After reading it, I felt I could relate to so much she had written that I intuitively asked her to participate in this interview to share it with Dreambuilders Australia readers. I am absolutely delighted to share this exchange with her which I honestly feel raises the vibration of those who vicariously share parts of her journey.

Thanks Raana for making yourself available for this interview and for contributing in your own way to lighting up the world. 

Being a person who loves joining the dots and empowering others to do the same, I am curious how you heard about me and why you so recently chose to offer me your book.  

I discovered your blog through The Clearing blog in an article written by Kris de Leon.  I read more about you and felt very connected to your messages.  I too have recently experienced similar awareness and understanding of the power of following your heart, intuition, inner guidance.  From what I read in your blogs, much of what you say resonates as truth to me and is aligned with what I talk about in my book.  I so appreciate that you took the time to read my book.

Contrary to what many believe, like attracts like.  That is, everything and everyone is a mirror inviting us to get a message we are not yet consciously seeing and integrating. Please share a bit about yourself and your process. What prompted you to write this book?

I am a corporate executive/CFO turned spiritual self-help author of the book Your Hidden Light:  A Personal Guide to Creating Your Desired Life.  I had been in corporate finance for 20+ years successfully climbing the corporate ladder.  In 2012, while I achieved my goal of becoming a CFO of a billion-dollar company, I felt a strong internal pull in my heart telling me I needed to be doing something else in my life.  I had no idea what I was supposed to do, but the feeling was so strong that I knew I needed to find out.  I spent the next five years reading self-help books, going to seminars, talking to personal coaches, etc., searching for my purpose and building a belief I could do something different.  The more I searched, the more curious I became on how the world worked and how I was able to manifest the good things in my life (career, family, home, vacations, etc).  I was drawn to this subject matter of “manifesting your desires”, and I was determined to make sense of it all in a way that I could easily understand and apply. 

In 2015, I thought that maybe I needed to write a book to synthesize all that I was discovering.  I was getting pieces of wisdom that were life changing and profound from many different sources, but there wasn’t one book that brought it all together in a way that was direct and easy to understand. However, the thought of writing a book was surprising to me since I was never a writer, nor did I ever dream to write a book.  I built my career on finance and analytics, so this new creative urge to write was unfamiliar to me.  Despite my initial uncertainty, I knew I needed to follow my inner guidance, but I needed the right moment of courage to begin. 

In October of 2016, I lost my CFO job due to a corporate restructuring, and at that moment I knew it was time to follow my heart.  I was given the opportunity of time to do what I really desired to do.  However, I was scared because I did not know what I was doing or how to write a book.  My family assumed I would immediately start looking for another job since they had no idea what I was thinking and feeling on the inside.  I remained paralyzed in fear for about six weeks until I finally had the courage to believe that I was a writer and I was supposed to write this book despite what people close to me thought.  The moment I finally believed in myself, was the moment the words started to flow out of me.  The chapter titles and page count came into my head immediately.  I then began writing the content, and I did not stop until the book was completed.  It took me two months to write this book.

The writing process was incredible.  I loved writing the book because I felt a powerful energy with me throughout the process. I felt supported and aligned with what I was supposed to be doing for the first time in my life.  The words I was writing helped me through my own uncertainty of losing my high-level job and all the fears associated with that.  Writing the book helped me through a major transition in my life and career because I was constantly reminded by the words I was writing to stay disciplined and focused on what I really wanted in my heart, and to not let fear (fear of poverty, failure, etc.) or doubt stop me. 

All this feels like something beyond you took over.  Over and above what you share already, how has your outer life prompted and directed your attention to an inner shift?  

In the one year, it took to write and publish the book, I went through my own personal transformation.  I went from being in a state of fear and depression (from losing my job) to a place of happiness, peace, and fulfilment for the first time in as long as I can remember.  By taking the guidance of Your Hidden Light seriously and developing a disciplined practice of consciously aligning my inner thoughts, feelings, and beliefs daily, I became more relaxed, confident in my creative abilities, and truly happy.  This new way of being, improved my family life dramatically, and allowed me to achieve all my milestones to getting the book published easily and without stress or strain.  I have become an even stronger believer that it is only though changing your own inner thoughts, feeling, and beliefs, that you can most easily and effectively change the world around you.

After the book was published in November 2017, a professor at the business school at Suffolk University in Boston told me he was adding Your Hidden Light to his syllabus for his course – Happiness:  How to Get It for the Spring 2018 semester.    I am looking forward to the concepts of this book being taught to our future business leaders.

You incorporate quotes from a number of people and books in this work.  Let us know why you are drawn to these particular references?                                                                                          

I quote several people in the book from ancient philosophers, scientists, spiritual teachers, religious/spiritual texts, business people, entertainers, etc. who have all inspired me by their view of the world and the messages they gave to remind us that we are more powerful than we think we are.  All the quotes I use are inspirational, empowering, and relay powerful wisdom.  Your Hidden Light makes this wisdom easily understood and applicable in people’s everyday life.

Very cool.  Many people are unaware that anyone who inspires you is actually a mirror inviting you to allow qualities you admire in others to shine from inside you more consciously in a similar way. As part of your transformation process, are you noticing any shifts in sensory perception?                         

Since 2012,I have become more aware of the energy around me and more attune to my own inner guidance.  Prior to 2012, I never noticed or felt the energy of people or places, the way I do now.  I also feel very connected to the world around me and much more aware that my external reality is a reflection of what is inside of me.  Through my greater awareness, I regularly notice when I am receiving signs or guidance from the Universe. 

Your Hidden Light is meant to awaken you to your most powerful self, what I call your soul self or spiritual self, in order to most effectively create the life you desire.  When I became more in tune to this part of myself, I began to see the world in a different way.  I realized that everything I desired in the physical world came from the unseen spiritual world, which I could only access by going within myself.  The more I regularly turned inward through meditation, the stronger my intuition became.  In addition, I became a more powerful creator of my reality because I learned how to more effectively direct my energy.

Why would readers of Dreambuilders Australia like your book? How could they benefit from it?

Your Hidden Light is a go-to handbook for how you can reclaim the greatest power that has been lost to you – the power to create your own reality.  The purpose of the book is to awaken you to your spiritual nature and the powers you already possess to fulfill what is in your heart.  Your Hidden Light easily synthesizes ancient spiritual wisdom into practical application today.  You will learn the 4-step process to create your desired life with practical tips to help you along the way. You will walk away feeling empowered to live the life you want, and create the world you want to live in.  In addition, you will feel inspired to take at least one step towards making a positive change in your life. 

You offer man ymeaningful insights in your book. What advice would you offer people who feel stuck?

Regardless of the situation, feeling stuck does not feel good.  You feel frustrated, disappointed, dissatisfied, etc.  However, realize the “feeling” of being stuck is telling you what you don’t want.  You don’t want to be in that situation.  The most important step to take when you are feeling stuck is to consciously decide what it is you really want.  This is the first step in the 4-step process to creating what you desire. 

1)      Create your positive thought, desire, or intention. Write it down.  Get it clear in your head as to what you truly want.  Most people feel stuck because they don’t yet know what they want.  Take the time to create the vision for your life.  Some strategies to help you:         

•          Create a vision board – pull images from internet or magazines re: what you want to experience
•          Take a trip for inspiration
•          Talk to a friend, coach, mentor
•          Meditate – go inward and ask yourself what would make you happy

Once you have done the work of creating a strong, heartfelt, positive desire that you believe in then you are ready for change!

2)      Feel gratitude as if you have already received it

3)      Detach from your desire – know it’s coming

4)      Take actions that are aligned with your desire – you will know what actions to take by going inward and following your inner guidance.  When your actions are aligned with your inner guidance, it will not feel like work.

This is the 4-step process to creating your desires.  I found this to be the shortest and most effective route for getting unstuck.  You will find more details and strategies for each step in Your Hidden Light to help you master this process in your life.

What a gem! Short, concise steps or tips often trigger our own inner light bulbs and remind us we have to illuminate (or en-lighten) from within. Speaking of which, how does your view of time, love and money change as part of this book project?     

The process of writing this book and practicing the disciplines presented in the book, has opened me to the spiritual nature of the world I live in and my connection to the energy that connects everything.  As a result, my view and understanding on love has expanded beyond what I thought I knew was love, to an awareness of the unconditional nature of love.  I am finally beginning to understand what people mean when they say that “love is all there is”.  I now believe that love is how the Universe works – it is unconditional and gives you whatever is a match to what you are thinking and feeling.  I also view love as a frequency that is balanced, accepting, unconditional, and empowering.

I view money as energy like everything else now.  In order to attract money, you cannot feel   fear or a lack of money.  You need to align your inner being to the positive energy of what you want to attract.  This is something I consciously had to do when I decided to leave my high paying career to pursue what was in my heart.

I also have a relaxed sense of time now.  By understanding and practicing the 4-step creation process presented in the book, I began to realize that the Universe supports me, and things always happen at the right time, when I am ready.

Funny, its common for me to be in book stores, libraries or other places and have books literallly fall off the shelf in front me.  The universe has a fabulous sense of humor! Books also end up in my lap or cross my radar in a variety of ways to capture my attention. To me, this is always a sign from the universe the answer to some pending question or, something I need is to be found in or between the lines of the book. I would love to know your view on coincidence and synchronicity? 

I believe that the world we live in is intelligent, and there is a logic and process by which everything happens.  I believe that we are connected to everyone and everything including the Ultimate Creator (also referred to as God, Source Energy, Cosmic Consciousness, the Universe, etc) at a deeper unseen level.  As a result, what we call coincidence and synchronicity are actually connections.  For example, have you ever thought of anyone you haven’t seen or talked to in a while, and then a short time later, that person either calls or texts you?  That was not a coincidence, it was a connection.  Your thoughts get directed to that person, and through our connected energetic nature, the other personal receives the signal and connects with you unknowingly.  Coincidence and synchronicities, because they grab our attention, are reminders that we are all connected at a deeper level.

Everything you discuss is pointing to the humor in the shared experience of selective awareness.  How many times do we overlook what is always right here? It can seem so obvious from another vantage point. How is your sense of purpose during this lifetime shifting? 

My sense of purpose in this lifetime has shifted dramatically in the last year.  I was never clear on what I was supposed to be doing, until I went in search of it.  By writing this book, living and sharing its principles, and experiencing a new sense of happiness and freedom, I know my purpose is to inspire others to find their own power, truth, and joy.   

Another sticking point for many people is fear and how to manage it. Gaining insight into the experience of others can offer valuable insight or inspiration. What is your greatest fear before writing the book and what is your greatest fear? 

My greatest fear was what people would think, especially those who knew me.  Everyone knew me as a corporate finance business woman, not a spiritual self-help author. Now, I can honestly say, I have moved through my biggest fears.  I do not feel fear right now.  However, when I do feel fear, I know it is a barrier I need to move though in order to achieve what I really desire.

Share anything else you feel would benefit Dreambuilder Australia readers.

I realized that before I wrote this book, while I was a successful finance professional, I was hiding who I truly was.  I was hiding my light.  Why do we feel like we have to hide?  I wanted to find what truly lit me up.  Your Hidden Light reflects my journey and understanding and is helping me to shine my light.  My desire for you is that you find what lights you up in your life.  Your Hidden Light:  A Practical Guide to Creating Your Desired Life will provide you with the wisdom, tools, and tips you need to make the change you desire in your life in order for you to become the person you are meant to be.

Thanks Raana for being so genuine and offering the world a glimpse into the nature and details of your personal journey. I invite visitors here to include your book in their own path to deeper fulfillment. 

Your Hidden Light:  A Practical Guide to Creating Your Desired Life is available on Amazon.com and iBooks.  To learn more please visit www.yourhiddenlight.com I especially love how you list such inspirational resources.  I'm familliar with many but not all. Appreciate your guidance. Reading offers subtle or not-so-subtle reminders of what we are ready for right now. Love the revelations we trigger within ourselves when we are open and receptive. Much love and joy to you in your endeavours! May your life continue to be enriched and worries be few.