Tag: Emotional Wellbeing

Stop Running From Shadows

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Yesterday on my run I noticed my shadow. I always notice my shadow when I run, but yesterday it came with a special message. That message was that you can’t outrun your shadows. No matter how fast you run, you can’t out run them. So, you might as well stand in harmony with them. Standing in harmony with shadows means accepting those parts of yourself that you would rather keep hidden.
shadow
As I watched my shadow move to the left and the right of me, to the front and then behind me, there came another message. Your shadows are harmonious. They are obedient too. They move how you move. They do what you do. They do not come to embarrass you or put you under. Instead they come to shed light on where you just might be in life at any given moment. Our darkness is our light. It gives us insight, into the deeper aspects of self. For our emotional health, mental sanity, and even our spiritual development it would be wise to pay attention to our shadows so that we can gain a greater awareness of self. So ask yourself, what am I trying to hide. Ask yourself, what would I like to keep a secret. And while I do respect privacy, I understand how keeping secrets can function as piracy—stealing away precious hours, days, weeks, months, and even years of the treasure of life, toiling to keep secrets buried. Nothing stays buried forever. It either rises up to hunt you, or emerges as energy around you. Stop running from shadows, and find a way to stand in harmony with them. Breathe deep, and ask your shadows to work with you…to prosper you.

I AM harmonious. I stand in harmony with my shadows, and I AM prospered. Blessed Be.

 

Practicing The Presence for Emotional Wellbeing & Personal Growth

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“Be present, become the present, receive the present.” ~Nadirah A. Shakir~

Practicing the presence is about more than sitting in a silent room, and focusing on our breathing. Practicing the presence is focus and awareness. It’s a way of being—how one travels through life. Although meditation and deep breathing are catalyst for becoming present, cultivating awareness, and centering, true presence requires much more. True presence requires openness which is what deep breathing promotes. Meditation (depending on the type) fosters awareness and facilitates centering and grounding oneself.

Why would anyone want to become present? We practice the presence so that the precious moments in our lives don’t fly pass us as we jolt towards the future; and we practice the presence so our progression forward is not stuck in the past. The present moment is really all that we have to make any substantial changes in our lives. I once heard a cognitive professional say, “If a person is stuck in the past that will eventually make them depressed and stagnant. If a person is fixated on the future that will create anxiety, but if a person can learn to focus their attention on the present moment then they have the potential to create the life that they desire.”

For some of us the present moment—our present experience  may be undesirable. It may be something that is causing us lots of pain on an emotional, mental, or physical level. What do we do then? Do we stay with the pain? Do we stay present? The answer to all three questions is, yes, you stay present. You stay present with the intention to understand, and heal your current condition. Think about it. Would you want to take the way you currently feel with you as you move forward? More than likely you won’t, unfortunately though this is exactly what happens. People try to escape their current unpleasant conditions by acting like they don’t exist, and just “getting on with it.” And while they may jolt ahead a couple miles, guess what shows up in the future? The same pain they tried to escape a couple miles back.

Stay present even if it hurts, but employ the intention to understand the source of the pain so that you can do the healing work which is required for growth. Don’t try to bandage it and get going! Allow it to rise to the surface so that you can see what’s going on, so that you can heal it. What’s covered won’t get enough air to heal thoroughly. Being present with our discomfort doesn’t have to be so uncomfortable if we employ an attitude of gratitude regarding the experience, and relinquish the desire to control how things play out. This is where your openness comes in into play. If you are open to the present experience the Universe will provide all of the people, resources, and situations that you require to truly heal.

When we practice the presence, we become the present, and we receive the present that the Universe wants to gift us. How is this possible? This is possible because when we are present we are both open to Spirit and aligned with the Universe. This openness and alignment puts us in a state of receptivity. When we are receptive we allow others to share with us, and in turn we share with them energetically and otherwise. Practicing the presence puts you on the path of healing, self- discovery, and personal growth.

Be well with yourself. Learn from and release the past, look forward and plan for the future, and remember, the present moment is the true gift. Wishing you all the gifts of today, and all the blessings in every PRESENT moment that is sure to come. Nadirah A. Shakir

Spiritual Dating for The Truth Seeking Single

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You know Spirit will offer us many ways to learn life lessons. Spirit may be trying to teach you a life lesson through food. It could be your body or your health. Maybe it’s your finances or your life purpose. For many of us Spirits seeks to teach us through our romantic relationships. Our romantic relationships affect us the most, because they are often heart-centered. So when something goes array within our romantic relationships it takes us right back to center—our core—our heart space. Their is a wealth of information with in our heart space, and we can tap into that wealth of knowledge when we decide to become still, surrender, and listen. The energy with in our hearts is a culmination of our thoughts, beliefs, emotions and experiences. This energy creates a vibrational frequency that circulates within us and transcends out side of us, connecting us and attracting to us other souls who either have similar vibrational frequencies or the spiritual energy/blue print that our soul requires for self exploration, and healing in this incarnation.

As a truth seeking single, I often take this philosophy into my dating life. Often times we cannot see ourselves objectively, and even when we can see ourselves we tend to ignore the less perfect aspects of ourselves and focus on the flaws and shortcomings of the people we are dating. By taking the Spiritual Dating philosophy on every date with you, you empower yourself because you are becoming aware of things that you might want to heal. Spiritual Dating for the truth Seeking Single in it’s simplicity reminds us that we are what we attract, and we attract to us the relationship we require at the time for further self exploration and healing.

Here’s an example of what Spiritual Dating for The Truth Seeking Single means, and how it can be applied for self empowerment and healing: Woman is asked out by man. Woman says yes because there is something about the man that she is very attracted to. Woman finds out that the man is a military officer. Woman is surprised by her attraction to an armed officer because she is a “peace advocate”. Man and woman date, and fall deeply in love. Woman is in conflict with her spiritual beliefs against war, and her love for her soldier. What should she do? If the Spiritual Dating philosophy is implemented in this scenario the woman can do a couple of things. The first thing she can do is a. continue to love her solider and remember that love heals all wounds, and is non-judgmental, b. tell the solider that war is against her spiritual beliefs and leave the relationship all together, or c. embrace and explore her own inner warrior or issues she may have regarding anger, rage, and forgiveness.

Spiritual Dating takes the superficiality out of dating and places the focus on inner work and self exploration which will ultimately lead to growth and understanding of self, which will ultimately make you a better partner if you so choose. So the next time someone ask you out on a date, shrug your shoulders and say yes if your are not busy. Allow yourself to show up exactly as you are, and realize that the person that you are dating is the person that you attracted so that you can heal, and grow, and learn more about yourself. Make Saturday nights count and date like a truth seeking single! Don’t forget to be present!

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