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Tag: Intuition
Simple Mindfulness Practices to Enhance Your Daily Routine
Life can be extremely hectic, everything around us is designed to distract and keep us busy. Take some time for yourself whenever you have the opportunity, time spent relaxing or looking at your own personal development is never wasted.
The more you can feel comfortable with yourself and in your own skin, the better you will be able to interact and appreciate the world around you. Here are a few ideas of mindful techniques and beneficial ways to spend your time.
Top Mindfulness Practices
Focus on your breath: Sit for a few minutes each day to focus solely on your breath, become aware of your natural rhythm. Any thoughts that come into your mind, let them pass through and refocus to your breath.
Offer gratitude: At the end of each day or first thing in the morning, write down what you’re grateful for. Focus on the positive aspects of within your life and how you help others.
Mindful munching: Become aware of the foods you are putting into your body, make sure you have a balanced diet. Follow your cravings within reason. Sometimes it’s your body telling you what it needs. Take time to enjoy each mouthful, notice the flavours, textures, and colours.
Meditation: Sometimes meditation can be daunting, if you become mindful of your breath meditation is just sitting within yourself. Raise your awareness of the different aspects of yourself, acknowledge your thoughts and allow them to pass through your mind.
Yoga or stretching: If you can find 10 minutes each day to stretch or attend a yoga class, moving your body and stretching your muscles can help to help reduce stress, improve flexibility, and increase awareness of your body.
Likeminded people: Find your tribe, spend time each week with likeminded people. When in discussion allow the conversation to flow, listen carefully and speak freely. Know that you are in a safe space with no judgement.
Walk in nature: Enjoy your local environment, parks, forests, fields, or beach. Whatever you have locally. Take time to breath the fresh air, feel the freshness on your face, listen, look, smell, and absorb your surroundings.
Unplug from the matrix: Switch off technology whenever you can. It plays a huge roll in our lives. Try to start the first hour of the day without social media, put down your device an hour before bed. You will have more time to process your own thoughts.
Self-awareness: Take the time to look in the mirror and reflect on yourself. Really look, smile, and appreciate all that you are. Treat yourself like someone you love.
Spiritual development: Attend courses and workshops with spiritual practitioners and teachers. Look at advancing your knowledge and skills in a safe and secure environment.
“The present moment is filled with joy and happiness. If you are attentive, you will see it.” Thich Nhat Hanh, Peace Is Every Step: The Path of Mindfulness in Everyday Life
I hope you find some of these ideas useful. The more we can relax and explore our true nature, the more we will get out of every aspect of life.
Be present as much as possible.
Written by Richard Stuttle
Mental Health & Wellbeing
The road to recovery can sometimes be longer than you think. It can be frustrating, especially when an injury cannot be seen, but only felt or experienced. It is down to the individual to interpret what’s happening physically, psychologically, and spiritually. Issues with mental health and personal happiness can often be overlooked by others and health care professionals.
Contemplation of death or more importantly contemplation of life. Following an extremely close call with Bacterial Meningitis I am incredibly lucky to be alive.
At the age of forty-four I now understand three things that I really wish I had understood at the beginning. If I was told that it was my choice to be born and my responsibly extended far beyond my behaviour and my family, I might have been able to fully grasp the consequences of my actions and life choices. Not that I regret anything in my life, but I may have chosen to do things with more focus, love, and precision.
- You get one body – respect it and look after it
- You are here to learn – embrace every experience in front of you
- Humanity needs you – work for the good of society and our planet
For others, they consider the physical condition. I look well, I’m moving about and can hold a conversation. I must be back to the person I was before my illness. Friends and family speak to me as if I was the same person as before my experience. Unfortunately, this is not the case. I have certainly changed, and I truly believe these experiences in life happen for a reason. In time I will become a stronger with greater understanding than I had before.
People don’t see the effort it takes to smile, hold a conversation and everything that goes on behind the facade. My head becomes overloaded, I am unable to focus, I struggle to find the right words and can forget things that happened a moment ago or some of the great memories from my past. Simple pleasures are now more difficult and not so enjoyable. I feel emotion in an extremely heightened way. I become overwhelmed easily which makes me want to avoid large groups, noisy environments and anywhere I feel a build-up of unstable or frantic energy.
Time is relative, I will recover and go through things in my own time. Each aspect of life whether it be material or philosophical I now see through different eyes. In my core I am the same, holding the same beliefs and moral compass but the world around me is more intense, more beautiful, and unique.
Issues surrounding mental health
- Confidence and belief in oneself.
- Mood swings and controlling emotion.
- Little things become big things.
- Frustration with people around me but especially myself.
Each experience we have in life changes us ever so slightly. Normally we are robust enough that we do not register the change, or it takes a long time to process through our system and realisations cascade through our body and conscious mind over months or years. A life-threatening illness takes you back to square one and overloads an already fragile mind and body all at once. This can be difficult to handle.
Mental Health & Art
There are so many benefits to allowing space for creativity. It has been proven to make a huge difference to mental health and wellbeing. Although not everyone is creative, allowing freedom of mind is incredibly important. I have painted for many years and know that approaching a blank canvas without a clear direction can be a very scary prospect. In essence this is what we are doing in life. Without goal and vision, we will never have purpose and feel a sense of achievement working towards a goal. The ironic part is that for creativity to thrive and our mind to process we must approach a blank canvas with complete freedom of mind. Without purpose and expectation, but most importantly without judgement.
Even for the most accomplished and creative artist this can be an incredible challenge. Everyone has created a toolkit of beliefs and skills they use to create their image. This can be difficult to break. That is why many artists paintings are instantly recognisable, they have used their tool kits which is comfortable and does not challenge their expectation or ego.
Allow yourself the freedom of expression and complete honesty to yourself without judgment or ego. You may find it an incredibly rewarding experience.
Written by Richard Stuttle
The Healing Process through Creativity
I have always had a love for painting, my father, a professional artist, encouraged me to draw and paint since I was a child. I love the arts and how different artists see the world. Through art, the imagination knows no bounds.
Before the pandemic, I was introduced to Hester Ligtvoet, we had briefly met a year or so earlier at the Arthur Findlay College. She is a professional pianist, healer, and energy coach. We were interested in how art and music can be combined with spiritual and energy healing. Working together on a weekly basis, Hester played the piano while I produced charcoal or pastel drawings. We worked with energy and the spirit world to create something focused, healing and unique.
We developed a healing session which brough together a music meditation along with a piece of art. An interesting concept, with weekly development we found that we were perfectly in tune with each other. My hand moving around the paper, perfectly in time with Hester’s inspired notes. We both felt we were led by the spirit world for the good of the individual or intension of our focus. We had both done a lot of development over the years but still were completely shocked how our energy came together and it felt very natural.
I had not wanted to paint or draw since I got ill, I think it was due to the abscess developing on the righthand side of my brain which fed my creativity, and I was left-handed. I hoped I just had to wait. Nearly two months after I was first admitted to hospital I went down to the studio and picked up my paint brushes. I did it with the same intent as I had with Hester, only now the focus was my own healing. Physically, the reduction of the abscess. Mentally, to retrain my focus and my memory. Energetically, to build my energy, realign my chakras and repair my energy fields.
I found it an incredibly interesting process, there was no timeframe and I allowed myself to drift. Each colour and brush stoke was making a different. I tried not to pull anything from my imagination but to go deeper than that. At times I felt like a mechanic covered in oil repairing a huge machine, other times floating and blowing clouds to create various formations and symbols. The art as it had done for many years allowed me to look deeper into the subject matter, I had been a traditional artist in many ways, landscapes, and portraits. Each painting had a purpose, to capture the view or the person in front of me. Of course, all art reflects the artist, but this time there was no subject matter in front of me, my healing was the purpose, and I was the reflection.
For people looking to art to find out more about the healing process I can wholeheartedly say that for me I believe it’s made a difference. Art has always been my creative outlet, allowing me to process my own thoughts. It feels comfortable to draw and to paint without expectation (what I mean by this is to remove all notions of this must be good or thoughts, I am rubbish, a child could do better.) For healing, it is not the final product, but the colours and brush strokes along the way. The act of painting or wherever you choose to engage with your creativity is where the biggest differences can be made. Where the greatest self-healing can take place.
Positive Energy & the Power of Thought
I have always considered myself an optimist, even if it’s just a sprinkling on top of a lifetime of societies negative conditioning. I do try to see the learning opportunity and best possible outcome in most situations.
As I have gotten older, I have learnt more about the power of thought. There is a whole science behind it, like attracts like and the power of visualisation and will. I have experience of how this has worked for me. In my book Chasing Rainbows – The Stolen Future of Caroline Ann Stuttle, I talk about living and working in the mountains and meeting likeminded people who have all naturally gravitated together. The same when I was backpacking around Australia, I met people who had the same enthusiasm for travel and who shared the same lust for life. Where it gets interesting is, for example, out of ten people I met, there would be six who shared multiple interests and similar mindsets. Out of those six, maybe two would share a stronger connection.
At first, I didn’t know why or how this manifested, but through years of learning about energy I could feel the levels of connection, shared vibrations in body, mind and soul. These connections are real, only through experience can we understand how we are affected by people, places and situations.
I am using this understanding to help my healing, my body although healed from a medical point of view I feel incredibly sensitive on every other level. I experience everything on a far deeper level, this manifests physically as every sensation or pain has meaning.
Written by Richard Stuttle
The Originality of Thought
Original thought is completely necessary. As individuals, we must come to our own conclusions and arrive at our own truths. It doesn’t matter whether that truth is a widely held belief or not, if a conclusion has been reached in the mind of the individual, then it’s necessary. It’s a far more powerful truth than that of believing a truth arrived at by others.
Through learning and experience we come to know our own truths, these can change over time as we gain more knowledge and deeper understanding. In this moment of our evolution, we believe we’re as evolved and intelligent as we have ever been, but simultaneously completely ignorant and utterly stupid.
How could it be any other way? Look back 5 years, are you smarter now? Do you cringe at some of your thoughts, beliefs and conversations? Only with this awareness and willingness to change what we have previously perceived as known truths we can reach originality of thought.
Confidence in experienced knowledge and false truths is one way our mind navigates, using each point as a stepping stone to arrive at our own thoughts and conclusions. There is no point regurgitating the thoughts of others or reciting chapters of books or speeches from our peers. They are not authentic and have no weight to us, they are empty as we did not arrive at our own conclusion and we do not fully understand what we are saying. A false truth said with belief is far more powerful than a widely held truth that is not fully understood.
There is an old idea, in order to reach the top of a mountain, you must first complete the climb. Without going through the full process for yourself you will never fully appreciate the view from the top. The feeling and emotions attached to someone else’s journey will never be as authentic spoken by the voice of another.
Arriving at Original Thought
A challenge in itself and incredibly difficult. Every method of learning is unique to the individual, but spending significant time in meditation and study will help. An idea or thought to be fully understood, first needs to flow through the creative and logical process centres in the mind. It needs to be dissected, analysed and viewed from every possible angle. It needs belief to be added, feelings and emotions wrestled with and attached. It needs time to process, filtering through every aspect of self and our head, heart and gut. Only then will it start to become authentic to the individual. We then have the ability to speak our original thought with great passion and impact.
Many times, I have read a passage or listened to a podcast and only weeks, months or even years later felt a ‘eureka’ moment. Something has finally finished processing, clicked in my mind unlocking a greater understanding. Further study is still required, asking yourself the question, ‘How do I feel about this?’
Greater knowledge and inspiration can offer new insights, spending time in nature or speaking with others can also be trigger points. It must be felt, authenticity only comes to a thought with the addition of ‘emotion’ and ‘knowing’.
Conveying Original Thought
Undergoing this process is not for the faint hearted. An individual may feel it’s their responsibility to share their new insight and original thought. This is where another process must begin. There is only the mind of the individual who understands it to that degree. This becomes a new starting point and asks the question how can I share this information to others who have not all been through a similar process and reached similar conclusions?
There is an old strategy in marketing content. Take a page of text, reduce it to a paragraph, reduce that to a sentence, reduce again to a tagline, reduce again until you finally end up with one word. In one word the same message as the whole page should be conveyed.
How is this possible? It is not just saying the word, it’s the conviction, sentiment, knowing, feeling, energy and truth which is also conveyed when the word is spoken. All of this should be passed on gracefully and freely, and others will be able to connect with parts that resonate with them. It becomes their starting point on their journey to the realisation of their truths and their originality of thought.
Written by Richard Stuttle
What is the Purpose of Prayer?
Prayer is a major part of most religions and can be seen in many ancient civilisations including Mayan, Egyptian and Greek, dating back far beyond 4000 BC. Praying has been considered a powerful force and a way to offer thanks to God and Mother Nature depending on the religion and belief system.
Prayer is a way to communicate with God and connect your soul with the divine. It enhances belief for many. Prayer is a conversation, a way for connecting with the divine and listening for a response. It is quite possible to have a conversation with God and must always be considered a huge privilege. To have the ability to talk to the creator and undergo the realisation that a spark of the creator’s energy is in oneself.
Prayer offers a moment of inner reflection. It offers time for the individual to understand more about their feelings and a moment to feel thankful for life itself and the blessings bestowed upon us. It’s a way to be completely honest with oneself and offer forgiveness to ourselves and others. Compassion can come through understanding and reflection.
To understand the power of prayer, it must be understood that it is relevant to the belief, honestly and intent in which it is done. Just like with every other action in life. Prayer must be done with love and appreciation. It must be from the heart. Empty words will do little to change anything but done with love and passion, prayer can be extremely powerful.
One example of this utter dedication and love for God has been represented in sculpture by one of the greatest artists and sculptors in history. In 1647, Gian Lorenzo Bernini was commissioned and began work on the Ecstasy of Saint Teresa. This became a defining work. The story of St Teresa is well known, ‘Teresa of Ávila was a nun who lived in 16th century Spain, at the height of the Reformation. She wrote about her visions in several books, including this description of the scene Bernini depicted: Beside me, on the left, appeared an angel in bodily form…. He was not tall but short, and very beautiful; and his face was so aflame that he appeared to be one of the highest rank of angels, who seem to be all on fire…. In his hands I saw a great golden spear, and at the iron tip there appeared to be a point of fire. This he plunged into my heart several times so that it penetrated to my entrails. When he pulled it out, I felt that he took them with it, and left me utterly consumed by the great love of God. The pain was so severe that it made me utter several moans. The sweetness caused by this intense pain is so extreme that one cannot possibly wish it to cease, nor is one’s soul content with anything but God. This is not a physical but a spiritual pain, though the body has some share in it – even a considerable share.’
The utter dedication St Teresa had for the love for God was all consuming. That power has huge potential to make a difference in our world, not just with belief but also a physical different if harnessed correctly. Prayer, if done with the whole heart, can heal the sick, fix the broken and change our world.
If the power and connection is understood then the realisation and act of praying can help to build bridges, improve lives and help our soul continue on its journey of evolution. Regular prayer is beneficial for our mental state in a similar way long term meditation can benefit our lives. A moment in prayer can harmonise our energy and body, it can allow us to connect with the God within ourselves and boost our confidence. It can also offer an alternate view of ourselves, others and our world. It’s a way to be thankful for life, everything we have and hold dear.
Prayer can connect people in this world, it’s a shared belief, when people pray together, they are also connecting with each other. This can create a psychic link with people in our world, recognising and connecting through the divine spark within each of us.
Praying together as a group or congregation invites the presence of God into the room and helps to increase the faith of everyone present. People who feel touched by God’s presence have more confidence in themselves and strive to live their life’s purpose.
Some of the philosophy of Silver Birch came through the mediumship of Maurice Barbanell, in the book ‘The Teachings of Silver Birth’. When asked about enlisting help from those in the spirit world his reply was, ‘If you pray with sincerity, you make yourselves, because of the act of prayer, accessible to higher forces. The mere act of prayer opens up the soul. You must pray with your hearts, souls and minds. Mere requests are not prayers. Prayer, truly understood, is a great spiritual exercise. I can best explain it all by saying that prayer should always be regarded as a means to an end, not the end itself.’
This answer confirms that prayer done with mind, body and soul can have great power and make a big difference in the lives of the individual, as well as lives of the people that prayers are aimed at. Prayer in itself is only part of the journey and should be done regularly, with conviction, in order to make the difference in people’s lives and the evolution of one’s soul.
Written by Richard Stuttle
Listening to your Head, Heart and Gut
Life’s journey is full of challenges. We have an incredible number of decisions to make along the way, and sometimes our decisions have a greater impact on our life plan than we can possibly imagine. How we make decisions very much depends on our stage in life. The older we get, the more we begin to believe in ourselves, the more we begin to trust our knowledge, feelings and emotions.
It’s not always evident at the time the impact our choices are going to make in our lives, only when looking back in hindsight are we able to see the fork in the road.
It can be beneficial to understand more about our three main decision-making centres in our bodies.
Use your Head
Our minds develop as we grow, learn and have experiences. It is the job of our mind to weight up the pros and cons of any situation and offer us a balanced view. Our mind will always play devil’s advocate, laying out logical reasoning for both sides, sometimes the pros out weight the cons by a long way making the decision easy. Other times, our mind can offer an equally balanced rational for both sides, this is when we turn to others for advice or turn to one of the other decision-making centres in our body.
Follow your Heart
Your heart will always follow your desires. Many rely on their heart to make important decisions, the old saying goes ‘follow your heart’. Although it is worth mentioning that your heart is governed by the feeling of the moment. It wants what you want, but your heart cannot see long term, it lives for now and can cloud judgement. This is when conflict occurs, your head says one thing, logically the best and most rational choice when your heart desires something different. People become unsure whether to follow their head or their heart. This is where listening to your third decision-making centre can be beneficial.
Rely on your Gut
We still don’t really understand why we get feelings in our gut, but it seems in many cases your gut can see the bigger picture. It’s the job of your gut to keep you alive, it also sees the grand plan for your life. It’s the centre of your body, the energy point for your emotions and knowing. If your head and heart are unable to make a clear decision, then your gut reaction is normally the one to go with.
There’s a very crude method to check your decision’s but it can sometimes help. Take a coin, heads is decision A and tails decision B. Flip the coin. If you feel a pull in your gut or extremely disappointed them the decision is not right. Alternatively, if you feel happy and excited then the decision is right.
Life is complicated and of course its never just that simple, all of this also depends on the stage of life we find ourselves. Sometimes there are things we don’t want to do, but it’s the best decision for us. Widening perspective and considering the bigger picture is important. In many cases we need to take small steps to where we want to be, many choices are just for a short time. Our head will tell us it’s the right decision to get us to where we want to be in life.
Ultimately, all decisions are yours and yours alone. Take in as much information as you can and consider to your head, heart and gut. You will be able to make informed decisions for your life and future.
Written by Richard Stuttle