Your intuition is everything – follow the feeling

“Your intuition is the voice of the present moment. It lives in the present moment. It doesn’t live in the past, it doesn’t live in the future.”

– Amir Zoghi –

I’m a big fan of Amir Zoghi. I first went to his Intuitive Warrior event in Sydney around this time last year and I finished 2012 off with his WTF (Wisdom, Truth, Freedom) event, which completely and utterly blew my mind.

I have followed his fantastic Truth Blog and webisodes this year and I have also sampled his online OMG programme. I’m going to attend his Intuitive Warrior event again next week in Sydney, because every time I hear him speak about intuition and the importance of following the feeling in the present moment, it further cements the knowing that I know is already there and allows it to become stronger and more powerful than the voice in my head, the ego, that which wishes to control things, that which gets stuck in the past or the future, that which struggles to trust in the Universe.

I have just come across a fantastic talk that he gave on Intuition on the Soul Sessions website. You can view it below or go directly to the Soul Sessions website and register, which I can highly recommend doing so, because you will get access to a plethora of wonderful talks and conversations with some of the most brilliant minds around the world from the spiritual and philosophical space (Deepak, Wayne Dyer, Joe Dispenza and so on).

Despite the fact that the talk is entitled ‘Secret Mens Business’ it is a talk on the power of intuition and the importance of following the feeling, which is essentially what Amir represents.

Here are some of the key take outs from his talk and what they mean to me in my life.

Purpose is in who we are being.

Amir states that ‘purpose is not found in what you do, it’s found in who you are.‘ This is an interesting one, because throughout my entire life I had always thought that it was related to what you do. Since I have started to follow my intuition more and spend time doing the things that I love, it is not the act of ‘doing’ those things that bring me joy and happiness in the present moment, it is in fact, who I am ‘being’ in that moment that raises my vibrations, brings me into the flow and has me feel a sense of complete and utter peacefulness in the now. Much like I’m feeling right now, as I write this blog post to you.

Intuition has zero logic.

Amir also talks about how ‘your intuition expresses itself through a feeling of knowing.’ This is interesting to me, because the more I connect with my inner knowing, my inner ‘tuition’, rather than trying to understand things logically, the freer I feel. The more I trust that I am the Universe, and that I know all I ever need to know, it frees me up to listen to my intuition and trust that it will guide me in the direction to go in, in every moment. Rather than feeling the need to control and understand everything.

Your intuition is the voice of the present moment. It lives in the present moment. It doesn’t live in the past, it doesn’t live in the future.

And I know this to be true, because everything else is an illusion, created by the constructs of your mind, your ego, the voice in your head that you think is you, but is in actual fact, not your truth at all.

In Amir’s talk he talks about the importance of following your intuition and living in the now, because if you aren’t ‘how do you plan or script the present moment?’ And the answer is, you can’t. It is not possible. Therefore, all you have is the now. All you have is your intuition. All you have is your inner knowing. All you have is the feeling. All you have is the truth, which is the now. And so again it repeats.

When you’re following your intuition, things become effortless.

I know this to be true, because there have been so many times in my life when I have been over thinking something, I’ve followed what my head says rather than my heart and life has turned out to be more difficult than it needs to be. Equally, when I follow my intuition, things just seem to flow effortlessly. It’s not that everything is easy, but the action I take is freely and without effort. And more importantly, the Universe supports you when you are following your intuition and it will give you hints and tips when you aren’t.

Your act of following your intuition, creates flow.

In his talk, Amir gives an example of a rugby player who, at times, when he is on the playing field, rather than following ‘the plan’ for the team will follow his intuition through moments of inspiration and create opportunities for the team, that wouldn’t necessarily have been there if he had been following ‘the plan’. No logic can be applied to this, because he just needs to trust that rather than passing the ball to the right (in the plan), when he feels to pass the ball to the left, that a team mate will be there to receive the ball, and he is.

Following your intuition takes incredible trust and it takes incredible faith. It requires you to listen to your heart, your gut, your body, your inner knowing, your in’tuition’, rather than your head, that provides logic and rational thinking.

This is something that I am working on in every moment of every hour, of every day, of every week and of every month, because I know it to be true. And the closer I get to living in the moment, in the now, from my intuition, the fuller my life becomes of true peace, love and joy.

And so the question I ask for you is, what messages are you getting from your intuition, your inner knowing at the moment, that don’t make any sense and aren’t logical? And what would it take for you to follow them, despite what your head is telling you? Despite the fact that taking that decision makes no sense? What’s the worst that would happen? Sometimes we just need to follow the feeling. Sometimes we just need to trust that, deep down we know what is good for us, even though it doesn’t make sense or add up. Sometimes we just need to take that leap of faith and know that everything will be OK.

Sending you lots of love and light,

Kat x x x

Learn more

Watch Amir’s ‘The Naked Truth’ webisodes

Visit Amir’s website

Visit Soul Sessions website

Enjoy the ride (Part 2)

“Be in love with your life, every minute of it.” 

– Jack Kerouac –

Back in May I wrote a blog post called ‘Enjoy the Ride‘ and I wanted to write a follow up to it today. That post used a board game as a metaphor for life. And this one is going to use a motorcycle ride.

Today I needed to drive into the city to drop Darren’s car off to get it fixed after the accident that we were in a month or so ago. See yesterday’s post ‘Don’t get sucked into the drama‘ to learn more about that.

After not having driven much during the 7 years I lived in London, and then not much over the last year or so since being in Sydney, I’m still getting used to driving in a big city. I grew up in the country, and I’m better accustomed to tinkling around country lanes and in and out of small towns and villages.

After getting across the city to drop the car off, I met Darren and jumped on the back of his new Aprilia motorcycle to head home. A few years ago, this is something I would definitely have thought twice about. However, since travelling through South East Asia in 2011 and opening my heart and mind to new things, I had discovered that I actually really quite liked being on the back of motorcycles.

Whether it was hurtling down the back streets of Hue for a morning with a local tour guide before heading on via bus to Hoi An, or travelling on the back of my friend Sophach’s bike every day to school when I taught in Cambodia last July, I have always felt happy and free on the back of a bike.

And it’s no coincidence that, I have manifested a boyfriend who owns one.

That doesn’t stop me getting a little scared every now and then though.

Darren’s bike is big and powerful, and fast. When you’re on the back of it, you need to be completely and utterly present and paying attention. But I actually love how calming and centering it is. I’ve always been one to love a good car conversation, but when you’re on the back of the bike, you’re just alone with your thoughts.

I remember the first few times I was on the back of his bike, it was a mixture of excitement, exhilaration and slight terror, especially every time we turned a corner. The mini control freak in me struggled to begin with, knowing that I needed to just let go and trust that everything would be OK, but still wanting to freak out a little every time I got on the back of the bike.

Now, I almost feel like I’m on the back of a metal horse, and we’re galloping through the streets of Sydney on it, weaving in and out of the other animals.

When we left the car fixing place (I forget what the official name for it is), it was raining. In my old life I would have worried about this, decided that it was dangerous and that I’d get wet and cold and be slightly miserable. In my new life, I decided that it was going to be a fun ride no matter what. I decided that I’d enjoy every moment of it. That I’d enjoy wrapping my arms around Darren, locking my knees around his bum, snuggling down into the seat, feel the wind and rain on my body and enjoy the ride as we skipped across Sydney towards our homestead in Manly.

So the thought for the day is, more of a reminder I guess. In any moment you have the opportunity to make it whatever you would like it to be. I choose the silver lining, I choose the glass so full it’s overflowing with water, I choose the present, I choose joy, I choose to enjoy the ride.

What do you choose?

Sending you lots of love, hugs and light,

Kat x x x

Inspiration for this post

Being on the back of a motorcycle

Image reference – www.silhouetteonlinestore.com

How to be present

“Realize deeply that the present moment is all you have. Make the NOW the primary focus of your life.”

– Eckhart Tolle –

As most of you will know I am currently reading Eckhart Tolle’s ‘A New Earth – Create a Better Life’ right now. And the thing that I am most interested in, is trying to remain as present as I possibly can, in every moment.

It is something that is very important to me, because, it is only in the present that we can we find our true selves, along with peace, love and joy. If we are living in the past or the future (that are just illusions and don’t really exist) we are only setting ourselves up for pain and suffering. True freedom from both of those things can only be found in the now.

The only reason we suffer guilt, anger or sorrow is because we are living in the past or stuck going over a past event that we no longer have any influence over. The only thing we can do is choose to accept what has happened, understand that it is what it is, forgive and forget and choose to live in the present moment.

And the only reason we have nervousness, anxiety, worry or fear, is because we are living in the future. And once again, the only thing we can do is understand that the only way that we can influence the future, is in the present moment, focussing on the now. And that we will never actually reach the future, because the future and the past is happening right now.

So taking all of that into account, you ask, how can I live in the present then?

And there are some very simple steps to follow to achieve this.

4 steps to being present

1. Breathe – this is a very simple one, normally overlooked by most, but it is the single most effective way of becoming present in any moment. If life is getting carried away, your thoughts are clouding everything, the voice in your head is driving you a little crazy. Stop what you are doing and take 3 deep breaths. This is all that is needed to bring you right into the present moment as quickly as possible. Then start to focus very specifically on your breathing and notice that everything else starts to fade away and disappear.

2. Become aware of your body – this is also very easy. Once again, if you find yourself stuck in thoughts or feelings about the past or future. Or if you find yourself struggling to shrug off an emotion that you don’t want to feel, start to become aware of your body. Feel the space inside your body. Become aware of your hands, your feet, your lips, the blinking of your eyes. Become aware of the energy that resides inside of your body and you will start to enjoy the present moment.

3. Pay attention to the small things – it can be as simple as looking up at the clouds in the sky, enjoying looking at a beautiful flower, the soft fur of a passing dog, the feeling of the sea or sand on your bare feet, watching the sun rise or set. Finding joy in the simple and small things in life is another way of becoming present.

4. Focus on the sounds around you – this is super easy no matter where you are. You can choose to focus on the sound of a bird chirping in the trees, a car engine, children laughing, a gate shutting. It doesn’t matter what sounds you focus on, but by deciding to do this, will bring you immediately into the now and take you away from your thoughts, feelings, emotions or ego, which of course, are just illusory and not really you.

And it is when you are in the present moment, enjoying the now, that you are able to then come from a much more peaceful, loving and joyful state. And you are able to connect with your true self, your intuition and be able to make decisions and take action from a calm and neutral place.

I hope this post has been helpful to you.

Sending you lots of love, hugs and light,

Kat x x x

Inspiration for this post

Eckhart Tolle’s – A New Earth: Create a Better Life

 

Image found at http://www.quotearts.com/d69.html

People come into your life for a reason

“I don’t think that anything happens by coincidence… No one is here by accident… Everyone who crosses our path has a message for us. Otherwise they would have taken another path, or left earlier or later. The fact that these people are here means that they are here for some reason”

– James Redfield –

Recently a very good friend of mine read The Celestine Prophecy and when she spoke to me about this incredible book, it reminded me of when I read it in my mid 20s.

It also reminded me of the most powerful message that I got from it when I read it, which was that people come into our lives for a reason. They come into our lives because they have a message for us, and depending on how present we are in every moment, will determine whether we receive the message they have for us and use it positively, or not.

It doesn’t matter how long they enter our lives for. It could be a few minutes, like a chance encounter at a bus stop, sitting next to someone on a train or brushing past them on the street. It could be a few hours at the beach, a few days in a training course or retreat, months through a new project or years through a relationship, or perhaps they may enter our lives and stay forever. Either way, every single person that comes into our lives, is there for a reason.

I also stumbled across a great poem written by an unknown author that sums this notion up perfectly.

Embrace and enjoy every single encounter that you have with every person that you meet, and know that they all have a very special message for you, if you are present enough to receive it. Be in the moment, with everyone.

Inspiration for this post

The Celestine Prophecy by James Redfield

People come into your life for a reason You Tube video

Life is awesome when you live in the moment

“If you are depressed you are living in the past, if you are anxious you are living in the future. If you are at peace you are living in the present.”

– Lao Tzu –

I’m just pages away from finishing The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle and I cannot recommend the book highly enough. At the tender age of 32 I have read thousands of books in my time and this is, by a country mile, far and away the most incredible, life changing and re-affirming book I have ever read.

I bought it via amazon.co.uk this time last year and got my parents to send it out to me, because books are so darn expensive here in Australia. And for some reason, even after it had arrived, it didn’t feel like the right time to read it, so I didn’t.

After coming back from the most incredible Christmas and New Year holiday in Queenstown and the South Island of New Zealand with friends and family, I started reading it this January and it has taken me the best part of 3 months to finish it.

I have savoured every last word. And I know when I’m reading a book that I really truly love, because I don’t want it to end. It was the same with Carlos Ruiz Zafon’s ‘The Shadow of the Wind‘ and David Nicholl’s ‘One Day‘.

I am literally pages from the end, and part of me doesn’t want to finish it at all. And another part of me can’t wait to finish it, so I can get started on the follow-up to it ‘A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose’. And I guess that is what life is like really. Part of us wants to hold on to the past and things that have gone before. Songs, people, times, places, etc. And another part of us can’t wait to get moving into the future. And this can happen positively and negatively.

Perhaps some of us hold on to things from our past unnecessarily, unable to let them go. Past relationships, people who have passed, pets that are no longer with us, bad feelings, tricky things that have happened, people or things that have hurt us. And this causes us pain and suffering, that if we just decided to let them go, from a place of love, and live in the now, we wouldn’t feel.

And some of us get scared or nervous or anxious about the future, which paralyses us from doing really awesome things. I remember that I was so scared to even book my round the world ticket, because I was so scared about travelling by myself, worried about getting malaria or sick, nervous that something bad might happened. In fact, I had pretty much convinced myself that I could quite possibly die on my trip, so much so that I made sure that I spent time with all of the people who I loved the most back in the UK before I left. They didn’t know it at the time, but I was secretly saying goodbye to all of them, in case I never made it back to the UK. Strange but true.

The danger of thinking thoughts like that is that what we think, we become. So it wasn’t very clever of me to have such a fatalistic view of my trip! As it happened, I did get pretty sick, was hospitalised and was taken from the backpacker trail for 6 weeks after the first few months of travelling. But I got better and made a full recovery.

And, as it happens, I never did return back to the UK (permanently), because I fell in love with Australia along the way, and this is where my heart is now. I still love the UK and everyone back home, but in a funny way, I guess I was right.

The big learning for me through all of it though, was the importance of living in the moment. There was no point in looking back to the UK, missing my friends and family, because it meant that I wasn’t enjoying the time that I had travelling. And there was no point worrying about the future, the unknown and what could or couldn’t be, because again, I would be missing out on the amazing travelling experience by not being fully present to it.

So one of the biggest things I learnt and continue to instil in every day that I have on this beautiful planet is to live in the moment. Life is too short and the world is too awesome to put your energy and attention into anything else.

My goal now, every day that I wake up and in every moment that I have is to be as present as I can and my life is continuing to transform and produce more and more incredible moments. I can’t recommend it highly enough!

Inspiration for this post –

The Power of Now – Eckhart Tolle

Let go (Part 1)

“Sometimes letting things go is an act of far greater power than defending or hanging on”

– Eckhart Tolle –

When thinking about what to write for my blog, there were so many subjects that came to mind today. This one, however, rose to the surface.

We spend so much time in our heads, clinging on to the past, things that we’ve accumulated and friends that we perhaps don’t resonate with anymore. And we spend so much energy worrying about the future, what might be, what could be, that we forget to live in the now, and appreciate what is.

Considering it is Easter weekend and Spring is upon us (well in my head anyway – despite that it is in actual fact Autumn as I now live in Australia), therefore a bit of Spring cleaning is in order.

I have a beautiful Willow dress that I bought last year for $450, which I am going to sell. When I bought it, I was in love with it, the colour especially. My favourite, a deep and beautiful violet. The cut is amazing too, very unique and very flattering. Whenever I wear it, people comment on how beautiful it is, but, I haven’t worn it in over 9 months. So, it can’t be that special or important, can it? More importantly, if I sold the dress, I could do something much worthwhile with the money right now, and spend it on something that is more important to me. Such as a fantastic retreat in the Hunter Valley which will broaden my mind and enrich my soul.

I have also come to realise, that it is not the things in my life that I surround myself with that bring me happiness and joy, but the stuff inside me. And this realisation makes it so much easier to let go. Because I’m with me, all the time, wherever I go. And as long as I’m there, in the moment, I’ll be happy.

Sometimes you need to let go of everything, to realise how little you really need.

So, the question is, what do you need to let go of that you no longer need?

Inspiration for this post:

Eckhart Tolle’s book ‘A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose’

The movie Garden State