It's not uncommon that the moment we encounter a fear or something "bad" we either try to ignore it, suppress it, or push it away as quickly as we can. The aim is to "get back to feeling good" and, in many ways, this is not necessarily a bad thing (there's that word bad again!).

BUT... there is a purpose behind everything in life - with the ultimate purpose of everything we experience being helping us to remember who we truly are. So,in reality, there is no "good" and "bad" - there are just different things to experience that help remind us of our gorgeous magnificence.

For just a moment, look at it this way. You spent some time attracting into your experience something that feels uncomfortable when it arrives. But, rather than acknowledge it and accept it for how it could actually help you, and understand and the reason it's there, you work as hard as you possibly can to push it away. So it's purpose for showing up has not been fulfilled. It's no surprise, then, when something very similar turns up in your life a short while later. And that can keep happening again and again unless and until you accept and embrace the shadow that you keep trying to eliminate.

Do you see what I mean?

When we class things as "bad" or "good" we're placing judgments upon them. When in actual fact EVERYTHING is Consciousness. That means all the "good" stuff and the "bad" stuff. It's our thoughts and our perceptions, and our limiting beliefs, that cause us to judge it one way or another. The event itself is neither good nor bad. It just is.

Susan Jeffries was totally right (ooops - another judgment there! LOL) when she wrote the book "Feel the fear and do it anyway". FEEL the fear - acknowledge it, accept it, embrace it... allow it to wash over and away from you like water over a solid rock...leaving you stronger from understanding why it was there in the first place. Leaving you more wise and more connected to who you really are. Understand the positive things that it brings with it. Like the warning light on your car dashboard... if you keep ignoring it or covering it up, eventually your car will come to a standstill until you deal with it.

BUT dont' go looking for fear! Just notice it when it arrives. It's not like waiting for a bus and hoping it'll come along... coz if you do that it'll be just like waiting or a bus - you spend so long waiting that eventually not one but 4 of the same all turn up at the same time! Get on with your journey - fear will catch you up if it needs to communicate anything to you.

Acknowledge it. Thank it. Accept it. Embrace it. Allow it to wash away.

Yoda was right about so many things, so if you have never watched The Empire Strikes Back I'd highly suggest you watch it, or at least just watch the bits with Yoda in, to hear Yoda's wisdom.

Yoda said many things that make sense, and what's more amazing is that his wisdom has been around for around 34 years or so! If you can't bear to watch the movie, have a search on the internet for Yoda Quotes and you can read them there.

One of the ones that I've understood intellectually for years is what Yoda was saying to Luke when Luke was trying to lift his spaceship out of the swamp using the Force. Luke didn't end up lifting his ship out of the swamp because he believed that it was too big for him to lift. He saw himself as just one, small, insignificant man trying to lift a spaceship so much bigger and heavier than him and he just didn't believe he could do it alone. He could lift rocks using the force, because he knew he could lift those rocks using physical strength. But he knew he didnt' have the physical strength to lift the spaceship, so he didn't believe he could do it using the force either.

Yoda explained to Luke that there was no difference between the rock and the spaceship - it was only in Luke's limited thinking that they were different. It appears to me like Luke was trying to lift the ship himself RATHER than allowing the Universal Energy (Force) to work with him to accomplish it.

Luke told Yoda he couldn't believe it when Yoda, less than half the size of Luke, managed to use the force to lift the spaceship without any apparent effort. "and that", said Yoda "Is why fail".

The limitations we place on things we can achieve are based on our thoughts and our beliefs. If we don't believe something is possible then there's no way we'll ever achieve it. There really is no difference in believing you can earn £10,000 per year and believing you can earn £100,000 per year. It's all in the limitations you place around yourself. As Richard Bach says: Argue for your limitations, and they're yours.

The other thing about all this, of course, is that the Universe is here to co-create with us. We cannot do it alone. The Universe needs us to co-create in a physical reality, and we need the Universe to help us do the same thing. As we surrender to the Universal flow of source, it guides and assists us as we direct it to create that which we desire. It is a symbiotic relationship. We cannot create things alone and we cause ourselves pain when we try to do so. When we surrender to the flow, and follow the Laws of the Universe, we are able to direct the flow to create things that bring us joy and happiness. When we allow our Ego to take over and try to do things alone, we end up creating frustration and pain for ourselves.

So when it comes to thinking about things you'd like to create and manifest in your life, are you trying to do it alone? Do you really believe it's possible to achieve what you're aiming to create? Do you believe it will be really really hard work? Are you allowing the Universe to Guide and Support you in creating in the easiest, and most fun way ways? How can you align more effectively with the Universe to create the life you want to experience?

Earlier today, I was asked a question about why, when we shift our perspective to a deeper truth or new perspective, do we notice more contrast around us and people who hold truths that are not longer true for us.

I thought I'd share my take on it. If it resonates with you, great! And if not... that's also great! We each need to live our truth and share it from a place of unconditional love and acceptance, and that is my aim here.

This relates in many ways to the concept that the brighter your light shines, the more darkness is required in order to perceive it more fully.

So, as you shift your own vibration and remember more and more who you really are, old "truths" no longer resonate for you. What better way of helping to shift the whole of Consciousness than to share those deeper truths and new insights with those who still believe the old ones?

As we learn things and perceive things at greater and deeper levels, we are then given the wonderful opportunity of sharing those with others to help them realise deeper truths for themselves.

It's a bit like having had a fantastic experience that gives you a whole new perspective on life, and then, when you return home, you find you see things so differently than others. At first you are excited and want to share all that you've learned. Some will warm to those experiences and be open to learn from them too. Others will smile politely and continue on their own way. And others will resent and reject it. You're bringing stuff back to them that they're not yet comfortable dealing with.

This last group are the ones that bring us so much angst. There's part of us that really wants them to "get it" too. And we can have a tendency then to keep on at them until they do get it. That's like pushing against a door that says "pull". The harder you push, the more the door stays closed.

There can also be a slight tendency at times to get frustrated and a little judgmental of people who appear not to have shifted as far. I bring myself up short when I realise I'm doing it. We are all exactly where we're meant to be.

When it comes to staying in our vibration (or vortex if you will), it's all about following what we know to be true. When we notice we're being "pulled down", as it were, we need to ask ourselves "how am I allowing that to happen?". Are we focusing on the negatives? Are we allowing other people's energy to affect us? Are we judging them because they haven't shifted? Do we have shadow-parts that we need to embrace?

When we notice our vibration is perhaps slipping, notice what seems to be the cause and then find ways of focusing upon things that help you raise your vibration again. Accept others for where they are. Share what feels comfortable for you and speak your truth from a place of love.

Some people will resonate even more with us when we share from a place of love, and some will move away out of our vibration. And that's OK. When you move from one school to another, the chances are some of your friends will be there with you, and that you'll make new friends.

The more we stop worrying about whether others around us are in alignment with our vibration and just focus instead upon maintaining our vibration, the easier it will be. People who are attracted to our Light will be drawn, and those who aren't will move away.

Breathing and being centred is the approach to take. Share your truth from a place of love, without judgment, and total acceptance of yourself and others. Other people don't need to "get" your truth in order for it to feel more valid for you. Share it, and then allow others either to accept it or not as they will. Listen to their perspectives, check whether that resonates with you where you are right now, and then make a decision whether to alter your views or not.

So to recap my "war 'n' peace" novel , do all the things you would normally do to maintain your vibration from a place of mutual love and respect. Speak your truth from a place of love and non-judgment. And let go of any need to have others agree with you to make your truth feel more true.

I’ve been talking a lot recently about how our subconscious mind has a whole heap of programmes that it runs, automatically, in order leave the rest of our mind free for creating and experiencing the life we want. That sounds great doesn’t it. All those things we don’t need to consciously think about because if we did, we’d be so overwhelmed we wouldn’t be able to function.

The challenge comes when our subconscious mind just keeps running those programmes, regardless of whether they are serving us any more. At the time of creation, those programmes were created (or programmed into our subconscious mind) to help keep us safe and able to cope with life. However, there comes a time when either these old programmes are no longer helpful because you don’t need to deal with what they were created for any more, or because they’re conflicting with new programmes that you’re creating.

So your subconscious mind runs all these programmes to keep you safe, and to give you a sense of identity. A real challenge can be when we notice that there is a part of ourselves that no longer serves us, that we want to change but, no matter how much we try, we just can’t seem to break away from this old limiting behaviour. This is usually due to a whole heap of programmes running deep within the subconscious mind, that we’re not aware of, that just won’t let us change this limiting part of ourselves.

I was working through something very recently and I realised that there were all these programmes running that I wasn’t aware of. Here are a few of the ones I noticed:

- If I want to change this part, that means it is wrong, and I cannot be wrong because then people will think less of me
- I have to preserve every part of me, regardless of whether it serves me, because if I let go of anything, then I will be less than I was, and I can’t let that happen
- I cannot give away who I am
- Who will I be if I let go of this part of myself?
- I have spent years creating all these programmes and I don’t want to feel like I’ve wasted my time with them just to let them go now
- I hate knowing what I’ve created has been hindering me rather than helping me
- What will I replace this part of me with?
- What if I realise later that what I replace it with is also hindering me?
- People will see me as weak if admit that what I’ve created hasn’t helped me
- People won’t respect me if I admit I was wrong
- I refuse to allow myself to feel less than I am, or do anything that would cause that.

Do you see how all these underlying beliefs/programmes, that are running in the background, that help to keep a person stuck.

So if you’re trying to change a part of yourself because you’ve noticed that it’s causing you pain, and you’ve found that it feels so impossible to do, it’s worth understanding what the underlying programmes are that need changing. Two good questions to ask yourself when you notice this are:

- How does it benefit me to keep this part of myself?
- What are the downsides for me of giving this part of me up?

These questions will help you identify what the programmes are that helping to keep you stuck. It then becomes easier to work on releasing the underlying programmes, and you may well find that the original bit you wanted to change changes automatically as a result.

I guess a question before this title-question should really be “Do you love yourself unconditionally?”. Then, if you feel you don’t, move onto the next question “What are your blocks to unconditional Self-Love?”. Are you aware of them?

I think one of the main reasons so many people struggle with the whole concept of self-love is because we’re most often taught as children that we’re never going to be good enough. Think about it for a second: we start at home, and then we move to a playgroup/kindergarten, then we’re moved to infants school, then we move to junior school, and then to senior school, and then potentially to University/College, and then to a job, and then promoted throughout our working life, and then retire. And whilst all this is going on, we’re struggling with having to find a partner, settle down, have children, have a home, stay debt-free, save enough money for our retirement, have the perfect car, and holidays, and, and, and…. And so on.

What I mean by this chain of events is that, throughout this process, we’re always striving for the next thing that will mean “we’ve finally made it”. But, of course, when we get the next promotion, or bigger house, or larger car, family, etc something else looms as a target to show that we deserve respect and admiration from others. It never ends. Well… it never ends as long as we engage with this kind of thinking that our happiness and worthiness of love comes from achieving external accolades and material things.

We’re taught that if we love ourself unconditionally we’re big headed. We’re taught to put others first – because that’s totally selfless and that’s the way we should be. We’re taught not to tell others that we’re proud of our achievements because that’s arrogant. We’re taught that liking one’s self is narcissistic and selfish. I could go on. There are loads of reasons why we don’t love ourselves completely and unconditionally.

The irony is, the more we actually love and accept ourselves, the less we look for this love from outside of us for our validation, therefore the more love we end up being able to give anyone and everyone! The more we love and accept ourselves, the less stress we cause ourselves in terms of living up to the expectations we think others have of us. The more we love and accept ourselves, the more we just be ourselves – and then we attract others to us who totally love and accept us for that. The big meaning of that is... the more you love yourself unconditionally… the more love you attract into your life.

Here’s a little exercise for you to try. Without thinking too much about it, finish the following sentences and just be aware of your answers:

- self love is…
- I don’t love myself unconditionally because…
- If I love myself unconditionally that will mean…
- I’m not good enough to love myself because…
- I find it hard to accept myself unconditionally because…
- If I love and accept myself unconditionally people will think I’m…
- The downsides of me accepting myself unconditionally are…
- All my life I’ve…
- If I did accept myself unconditionally that would mean…
- And that would mean…
- And then I would be able to…
- To love and accept myself more, I’m prepared to…
- So perhaps I really can…
- And the upsides of loving and accepting myself unconditionally are…

These sentences are deliberately worded this way to help you recognise where you’re blocking yourself, and to help you see how your life will improve when you’ve dissolved those blocks. The first step to dissolving limiting beliefs and blocks – is to know you have them, and know what they are.

The truth of the matter is, you are totally worthy of love, and unconditional acceptance. There is absolutely nothing you could ever do, or have ever done, that would make you unlovable. And you’d better get used to it really, because your deserving of love and total acceptance will never change. You always have been, and always will be totally and utterly lovable and accepted. That’s the deep truth of who you really are. Pure. Authentic. Consciousness. And God/The Universe/The All That Is/Divine Consciousness loves and appreciates you wholly… warts ‘n’ all. You. Are. Loved.