Mystic Radio with Reiki Master Robin Alexis promotes Conscious Women News

Conscious Women News
February 2010
 
Welcome Conscious Women and Friends to the Conscious Women Newsletter. If you enjoy this newsletter, please pass it on to others and remember to visit us at www.lifedreams.org
 
Dear Conscious Women Friends:
 
As I prepared this month to teach an 8 week course on How to Find and Live Your Life Purpose, I began to look again for ways to help others discover for themselves the reason for their life. After many years of doing a search myself, I wrote my first book, Dream Yourself Awake. It talks about how there are clues in our life, from when we are very young, that lead us to an awareness of our life mission and purpose for being here.
 
Some of those clues are so obvious, we literally laugh in hindsight, such as the time I got a note from a teacher saying, Please Do Not Plagiarize! I have to admit, I hardly knew back then what the word meant. I had written a story in a Shakespearean style for an assignment towards my grade 11 English certificate. The story elicited a dramatic response from the teacher who later admitted, ‘she wasn’t use to this type of writing from her students’.
 
I had dropped out of school some years before. Again, all of this was part of my Soul Contract, to use what I had learned in previous lives, rather than sit on the sidelines of life.
 
Much earlier, a book titled, Little Witch held clues about my life purpose to find and use my voice in teaching others about spirituality and how to use stories to uplift others and help them find their own life purpose.
 
The book is about a little girl named Minx, living with her evil witch mother. Each night the witch flies around on her broom, looking for children to turn into flower pots. The kitchen is strewn with flower pots which the witch has brought home from her nightly endeavors.
 
Each day Minx brushes her hair in a mirror in her bedroom and each day a beautiful, silent woman appears in the mirror. Minx falls in love with the woman and finally says, I Love You!
 
The woman steps from the mirror and tells Minx she is her real mother. The evil witch had cast a spell on the woman, which could only be broken when her daughter said, I Love You.
 
As a girl of 8 or 9, I read this same book over and over. It wasn’t until later that I realized the book held a clue to my life purpose. Back then I was very shy and had many tests about using my voice. It was one of the most important tests of my earlier life.
 
Today, I use my voice all the time. I admit there are times I wish I’d held my tongue. But mostly, I feel very grateful that I can be a servant of God and that my stories can be an instrument to assist others on their path to great personal understanding.
 
Live consciously,
Darlene Montgomery
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Movie of the Month
Julie and Julia
 
Julia Child and Julie Powell - both of whom wrote memoirs - find their lives intertwined. Though separated by time and space, both women are at loose ends... until they discover that with the right combination of passion, fearlessness and butter, anything is possible.
Click here to watch trailer
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Story of the Month
How Césan Got Her Groove Back
There is a film called “How Stella Got Her Groove Back.”  If this story had a humorous title, it could probably be called “How Césan Got Her Groove Back.” Another possible, more serious title could be “The Battle for Césan’s Soul.” In truth, it’s the battle for the soul that helps you get your groove back.  At least, this is what I’ve learned.
Three years ago I was in yet another of a long series of careers that didn’t quite fit.
Struggling, unhappy with myself, fearful, secretly depressed. By any standards I had an excellent job: an adequate, reliable income with full health benefits for my whole family, a location close to home, a progressive work environment, a noble profession . . . Nevertheless, I was going crazy because I thought I should be content with this and I wasn’t. I was going crazy because I knew I just wasn’t in my groove, not groovy, not grooving at all.
I felt all this energy pent up in me, wadded and stuck and pushing to get out.  It seemed like I’d been in this state for years, and I really didn’t think I’d last much longer unless I did something about it. Finally, the fear of what I might find became insignificant compared to the fear of what would happen if I continued to ignore it.
Once you’re willing to accept the truth, it’s usually pretty easy to see. In my case I had known for years, at least 15, that I wanted to be an artist. It was not that I had been to art school. I hadn’t. I had done some creative work here and there along the way, and there was simply a feeling, a dawning revelation that I came here to create. 
I believed that to deny this calling would have been to slowly fall apart from the inside. I had no choice, really—I had to go forward with it.
Do what you love, and the money will follow.
Be bold, and unseen forces will come to your aid.
Build it, and they will come.
To thine own self be true.
Damn the torpedoes!
I was determined to be an artist and sell my art.  I knew I had the creative juice. And as for the business part, well, I’d post-produced a feature film, I’d managed a thriving therapy clinic, I’d led corporate workshops, I’d taught adolescents, I was a mother, for heaven’s sake. I guessed I could figure the business part out.  I’d have to, anyway, because I wasn’t about to let it stop me.
There is a story of a commander of a squadron of ships who landed on a beach with his troops only to find that they were vastly outnumbered by the enemy.  But they won the battle. Why?  Because the first order the commander made was for his troops to burn their own ships.  It is a brilliant strategy, really. No retreat was possible. He had left his troops no choice but to win or die trying. This is pretty much how I felt about my decision. I resolved not to back down.
I’ve heard that the most difficult part of getting what we want, actually, is to know what we want.  I felt totally clear, and really, surely, that was half the battle.  With my firm resolve and the support of my husband Mark . . .
I handed in my notice at my job, finished up my contract, transformed my home office into studio space, invested in art supplies, and started to do some painting. I was doing what I loved  . . .  I was being bold . . . and I waited for the unseen forces. 
Now don’t get me wrong, I do truly believe that the unseen forces do come to our aid. It must be said, however, that unseen forces have a style and schedule all their own.
Just because we have a Revelation, just because it is exactly what our Destiny might be, we don’t always herald the triumphant victory that we might expect or hope for. 
A Revelation (and the more powerful it is, the truer this is) is actually more like a battle cry.  Fear, being the keeper of the personality’s status quo, senses a change, an aspiration to a higher level of being, and basically goes nuts.  As we will ourselves to higher purposes and take the revelatory faith-based leap, fear sounds the alarm on behalf of the old personality.  Thus begins the battle for the soul.  The enemy is merciless.
When I left my job, our family income decreased to the point that we had to remove our daughters from the private school that had been their beloved home and community for eight wonderful years. We sorely missed our extended healthcare benefits. Debts that we had started to pay off started to build up again with alarming speed.
Family and friends had a whole continuum of judgments and criticisms and concerns. One family member who had been to art school said that a teacher whom she greatly admired told her that if you’re going to be an artist, better be a plumber too.  This, she said, was the best advice she’d ever received. Another friend said, “Oh yeah, do what you love and to hell with the money, right?!” Even my closest friends would say sympathetically, “What a hard way to earn a living.” Other artists would complain about how difficult it is to get your work out. How difficult to show it, how difficult to sell it. My mom was concerned I would expect too much. She was worried I had set my sights too high. 
The art supplies were expensive, as I was using highest quality paints and products available. The credit card debt was building  . . . and I wasn’t even doing that much painting. Things kept coming up, preventing me from getting into the studio, plus I had discovered just how intimidating blank canvases can be. The work I did manage to complete didn’t look all that great, I thought, and then someone suggested maybe I should go to art school  . . .
I was pretty certain I was the worst wife and mother in the world, financially irresponsible, idealistic, a dreamer, impractical and naïve.  And, just maybe, I was wrong about my artistic ability.  I started to scan the jobs section of the paper instead of painting, to do the laundry instead of painting, to worry instead of painting…  
And then a couple of months after I had started on my new path, I began to have some health problems. Over the next four months, my health became progressively worse.  Numbness in my hands and feet, shooting pain up my arms and legs, exhaustion, dizziness, nausea, mental confusion—I was a basket case and my family was terribly worried.
My glorious decision, my Great Calling was fading like a mirage.  I thought I might be dying or worse. 
I felt completely defeated. Here was the proof that the enemy, fear, was looking for: the proof that would keep me cowering on my knees forever. I simply didn’t have the right stuff to be a successful artist.  It was clear that I should give up—the fears and insecurities were overwhelming at this point.
Looking back on that time, three years ago, I’m just now beginning to recognize the significance of it.  My healing crisis, my dark night of the soul, my ultimate test  . . . just how resolved was I?
In a dark and tightly bound cocoon space, with all our energy drawn inwards, we give birth to incredible new aspects of ourselves. In my case, I now know that I was forging the tool belt of skills I would need to manifest my dream.
I collapsed because I needed to pause.  I needed to gather my forces. I would need many to go where I was intending to go.
The subconscious negativities I carried about being an artist, about getting what I wanted, about following my bliss, had caught up with me and taken over.  I was possessed by my own crap—a curse? Well, in the end, a blessing.
When it finally became clear that the doctors and tests couldn’t find anything wrong, and it was clear that whatever it was, was not life-threatening and that I was not in fact deteriorating from some terrible disease, I gradually accepted that it was up to me to find a way out for myself.  And here’s the blessing.  The pause, the collapse, the dis-ease, forced me to examine everything.  To look at what was working and serving me and, oh boy, to look at what wasn’t working and wasn’t serving me. 
Well, that part of the journey is a whole other story—suffice it to say that I cleared and cleansed and cleared and cleansed, and I’m still clearing and cleansing.
What we fear we draw towards us.  It’s how we pray for what we don’t want. Very effective, from my experience.  Even though I was clear enough to see my Destiny path, I was avoiding the self-examination of all my fears and doubts about being able to paint for a living.  And so what happened? The fears and doubts kept manifesting as obstacles on my path: financial problems, negative judgments from others, diversions of all sorts, and finally illness.
At last, when I was unable even to move off my couch and pick up a paintbrush, I was forced to wake up.  I was forced to bring the rest of my self to a new level, the level of the successful artist I so wished to become. 
I was forced to seriously commit to my personal development. I mean real commitment—a daily, hourly, constant commitment to becoming more aware and more awake.  What I learned was that the battles are not won any other way.
As we awaken to our greatest fears, the obstacles in the outside world begin to dissolve  . . . such a powerful lesson to come my way.
The battle for Césan’s soul is surely going to continue for some time. But I will not retreat.  I burned my ships.  Remember what an effective strategy that was?
Two and a half years ago, one year after making my Resolution to paint and six months after I became ill, I sold a painting for $180.  The rest of that year I sold enough to cover all my start-up costs and expenses plus a bit extra. The next year I more than quadrupled my income from the previous year and was fetching up to $2800 for a painting. This year I’ve had work in the windows of two major galleries in Toronto, had paintings shipped to the US and Europe, sold rights for four of my paintings to be used on a postcard series, and was hired to do a number of commissioned paintings.
            My daughters have grown a lot from their experiences in their new school and from seeing their mother succeed, my family and friends have given up their negativities, and I dare say they are even inspired. The relative whose teacher suggested being a plumber to support an art career? She is now one of my biggest supporters and has herself sold many of my paintings. The friend who said do what you love and to hell with the money?  He has asked me when he can come over for some advice about selling his artwork. Most of the time the pile of laundry does not take priority over my painting, and I hardly ever look at the jobs section in the paper anymore. Anyway, I’m too busy with my new career, the one where I Got My Groove Back.
~Césan d'Ornellas Levine
The Battle for Césan’s Soul is taken from Conscious Women Conscious Careers by Darlene Montgomery and available at www.lifedreams.org.
 
Césan’s studio is nestled beside Pioneer Park Conservation Area in old Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada. http://cesan.ca/Cesan_Fine_Art/Contact.html
 
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Inspirational Quotes
 
"Every positive change - every jump to a higher level of energy and awareness - involves a rite of passage. Each time to ascend to a higher rung on the ladder of personal evolution, we must go through a period of discomfort, of initiation. I have never found an exception." —Dan Millman
"Your vision will become clear only when you can look into your own heart. Who looks outside, dreams, who looks inside awakes." —Carl Gustav Jung
"Everyone has a purpose in life... a unique gift or special talent to give to others. And when we blend this unique talent with service to others, we experience the ecstasy and exultation of our own spirit, which is the ultimate goal of all goals." —Deepak Chopra
 
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ANNOUNCEMENTS
You are invited to visit www.RobinAlexis.com and find out how to get your FREE On Air psychic readings on “Mystic Radio with Robin Alexis”. Internationally known Reiki Master Teacher, Metaphysical Mother™ and Author Robin Alexishas created a unique new website where you can receive her FREE Reiki Healings right from the website, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.  Just click on the Reiki Healing button on the banner. It’s like a Spa for your Soul.  Please visit www.RobinAlexis.com and tell your friends about this very special healing website where you can nurture yourself.  Robin’s abilities include being a Medium, Ghost Whisperer, Medical Intuitive, Past Lives Reader, Pet Communicator, Clairvoyant, Channel, Baby Whisperer and Paranormal Fertility Expert.  It is Robin's honor to be of service to your wellness and healing.
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PSYCH-K, Emotion Code and Brain Gym
Sessions with Darlene Montgomery
 
If your life feels like you're trapped in a prison of limitations, or you're just not living up to your full potential, chances are you have a conflict between your conscious desires and your subconscious beliefs. This kind of conflict shows up in relationships, self-esteem, spirituality, health and body including weight loss, prosperity, personal power and grief and loss. If you are facing challenges in any of these areas, personally or professionally, PSYCH-K can help you to rewrite the software of your mind in order to change the printout of your life! To set up an appointment for 15 minutes, ½ hour or 1 hour session by phone, Skype or in person email Darlene at lifedreams@rogers.com. Visa, MasterCard payments accepted by PayPal or can be sent through email exchange via PayPal. Cost: $35.00 for 15 minutes, $75.00 for ½ hour, $150.00 1 hour.
 
What is Brain Gym?
Brain Gym® is a system developed by learning specialist Paul E. Dennison, Ph.D., and his wife and partner Gail E. Dennison, in which simple, enjoyable physical movements are used to enhance our ability to learn, process information and respond to the world around us in an ease-filled, effective way. Brain Gym is the introductory program of the Dennisons' entire spectrum of techniques known as Educational Kinesiology (Edu-K).
How was Brain Gym developed?
Brain Gym grew out of more than 25 years of experience with clients and students, as the Dennison’s searched for more effective ways of helping children and adults who had been identified as learning-disabled. Beyond the remarkable results they saw with these clients, it soon became clear that Brain Gym and Edu-K support people of all ages and all abilities, in making wide-ranging changes in their lives.
How is Brain Gym experienced?
At the foundation of Brain Gym are the twenty-six simple, enjoyable Brain Gym movements. People of all ages use these activities throughout the day to relieve stress, or as a quick mind-body warm-up before studying, writing, or sports--whatever the activity may be--bringing them back to feeling comfortable and productive.
The Edu-K Five-Step Balance process takes the Brain Gym movements to a new level, and supports deep and rapid change. An Edu-K balance can be done to overcome an obstacle you're experiencing: a skill you can't quite accomplish, a self-defeating habit you wish to eliminate, or a potential within yourself you'd like to develop. We call this “balancing for” a specific goal, and the process is simply referred to as “a balance.”
Edu-K balances are experienced with a trained facilitator, either one-on-one or in groups. Children often choose to balance for coordination skills such as kicking the ball in soccer, or academic skills such as quickly recalling math facts. Adults may choose to address confidence in public speaking, or easily dealing with a certain person or situation. Groups (even sport teams) frequently balance for easy communication or finding simple resolutions as challenges arise. Edu-K balancing typically results in immediate, sometimes dramatic, change.
Where is Brain Gym used?
Brain Gym movements and processes are used by thousands of people around the world, to make their daily lives more comfortable and enjoyable.
·         Brain Gym is used in school systems around the world to help students achieve more easily. While Brain Gym is frequently used to benefit children with "learning challenges," it makes learning of all kinds easier for everyone.
 
·         Brain Gym is used in the business world to help workers at all skill levels to do their work more effectively and easily.
 
·         Brain Gym is a wonderful personal growth tool, allowing people to make rapid changes in areas where they may have felt "stuck" for a long time.
 
If you’re interested in studying Brain Gym, contact Darlene Montgomery for dates and times of upcoming Brain Gym Courses. lifedreams@rogers.com.
 
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Books by Darlene Montgomery:
Purchase all book at www.lifedreams.org through PayPal. Visa and MasterCard accepted at our totally secure site.
 
Dream Yourself Awake: One Woman’s Journey to Discover Her Life’s Purpose through Dreams
http://www.lifedreams.org/bookstore/index.html
 
Conscious Women Conscious Lives: Powerful and Transformational Stories of Healing Body, Mind and Soul Books 1& 2
http://www.lifedreams.org/bookstore/index.html
 
Conscious Women Conscious Careers
http://www.lifedreams.org/bookstore/index.html
Conscious Women Conscious Mothers: True Stories of Wisdom and Awareness on the Path of Motherhood
http://www.lifedreams.org/bookstore/index.html
You can order Dream Yourself Awake by visiting the website www.lifedreams.org and can download it as an e-book or send cheque or money order to the address mentioned to purchase a hard copy. In future all will be available at www.lifedreams.org bookstore. Presently you can any of the books through money order or cheque directly from the website.
 
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We invite you to forward this newsletter to others and ask that you don’t add to it or alter it in anyway and include all information above about Conscious Women Conscious Lives. 
 
This newsletter is sent to you by the Lifedreams Communications. Copyright 2009, Darlene Montgomery.  All rights reserved. Nothing in this newsletter may be reproduced or published without the written permission of the individual authors and/or copyright owners. 
 
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