Raising Consciousness With the Storms of Life

Raising Consciousness With the Storms of Life
by Desiree Leigh, Wake Up to Live

I went to see the wonderful Wayne W. Dyer at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre in Vancouver, BC, this past Tuesday with a beautiful and warm friend Nicole. We hadn't seen each other for over a month so we chatted and chatted and chatted. We had so much to catch up on and we loved every minute of it. Thanks for the invitation Nicole!

Wayne Dyer shared many things. One thing that stood out from my mind was when he said something like this...'If we didn't allow the storms around the mountains to be, we wouldn't be able to see the beautiful carvings the storms leave behind visible on the mountains side.'

With those storms of life, we raise our consciousness and experience a greater light. Without the experience of the storms we'd probably be living life very unconsciously.

Wake Up to Live with Desiree Leigh

Mental and Emotional Wellness Begin With You

Mental and Emotional Wellness Begin with You
by Desiree Leigh, Wake Up to Live

If you don't have mental and emotional health and wellness, you have nothing. Without the two, life's chaotic and out of control. Life's choices become emotionally and irrationally based. It's the dreaded knee-jerk reaction to all of life's circumstances. Your choices are directed by your emotions and mental state as they are right now, rather than from a state of wellness and health.

How many more times will you react to the driver in front of you because they were driving too slow? Or, maybe they past you, and you didn't like that. How many more times will you blow up at your kids because the room isn't clean or they didn't do their chores? How many more dreaded times will you defend yourself to the death when someone makes a statement that you don't agree with?

When you believe you are worthless and non-deserving, you will respond to everything that happens around you, with that sense of worthlessness and non-deserving attitude. For instance, your child doesn't clean up his/her room, and you've asked repeated times. This affects you in a negative way. Why? Because you are thinking you are worthless and non-deserving. So if you're thinking you're worthless and non-deserving, when the child doesn't do as you ask him/her, it becomes your fault. You are the one to blame. You didn't parent correctly. Maybe you said it with the wrong tone of voice. Whatever you come up with, it will be your fault. Your emotions of worthlessness and non-deserving arise, causing you to react from that mental and emotional state, and probably not in a pleasant manner.

On the other hand, take the same scenario, but you feel worthy and deserving. You know who you are and how life works. You have a sense of calm and ease within yourself. When things don't go the way you want them to go, you let it go. You creatively find another way to work with it, rather than get stuck and negatively chatter at yourself.

This scenario is possible. I've experienced it myself. A few years back, I was a mess both mentally and emotionally. My rage, anger and depression were totally out of control. I reacted to everything protecting myself from everyone around me. My walls of defenses were thick and solid. No one was getting in! And, nothing did.

The self-realization I had was that because the walls were so thick, I protected the hurt and pain and the darkness that was within me. Because of the walls around me, I couldn't let this hurt and pain out. And, neither could I let anything that had to do with love in.

To heal your life and to begin making better, more inspired choices, your walls must begin to come down brick by brick. That first step is yours to make, and only yours. No one else can do that for you. If you are forced into change, resentment and resistance will happen. Perhaps, you will change for a while, but over time, you will resort back to your old ways.

The question I have is, what will it take for you to begin to transform your life and change the direction of your destiny? Are you on drugs? Are you an alcoholic? Are you an over-eater? Do you live with rage or depression? What is it going to take for you to make that FIRST STEP? If you can't live for your self, then who? For me to transform my ways, it was my children that kept me going when painful emotions started to spill over and memories began to flow back. It was faith knowing that I can have a better life. When I made that choice, that one day standing in the middle of my kitchen, that everything around me was created by me and it wasn't about anybody else anymore, I began "THE WORK." I began my journey to a life of mental and emotional wellness. I began my journey to freedom from the gremlin in my mind. You can do this too. I am here to support you in your journey to mental and emotional health and wellness.

Wake Up to Live with Desiree Leigh

Oneness

The reality of Oneness with divine mind must be greater in one's mind than any conditioned limitation. The more I acknowledge god's presence, the more I enhance the connection and the more god channels through me to serve the world. The god power flows through me and into my daily activities with such elegance, ease and delight. It is a sensation and truth worthy of speaking and sharing with the world.

I can't tell you enough how grateful I am to the power of my divinity. It has and continues to show me the way every day, whether in grand times or so-called troubling times. Opening our mind and heart to the One Divine Mind will, without a doubt, lead us to wholeness making creative solutions and inspiring choices where ever we go. Guaranteed!

Wake Up to Live with Desiree Leigh

Canada Remembers

Remembrance Day
Wake Up to Live with Desiree Leigh

If you haven't set any time this year to remember the men and women who fought so bravely in their time of duty for our countries, today is the day to do this - the day to remember the members of the armed forces who died from their services, as well as the civilians and all the families.

Wake Up to Live with Desiree Leigh

Forgiveness Begins with A Willing Heart

Forgiveness Begins with A Willing Heart

by Desiree Leigh, Wake Up to Live

Forgiveness is a process that will begin when you're willing to let go of the burdens you've been carrying, whether it's about your self or someone else. Forgiveness is not something that you make up your mind to do, and then, voila, it just happens. No! Not at all. That's a misconception that continues to get preached constantly. "You must forgive because it's the best thing to do, or else..." If you force anything upon yourself, what happens? You resist it. You may do what you need to do or are supposed to do, for a short time, but you won't do it with a willing heart and it won't last. Yes, you can tell yourself how you'll feel, at peace and in harmony with your self because you've released the suffering, but without a willing heart forgiveness will be short-lived and it won't be real.

One of the steps to open up your heart to forgiveness, is to ask yourself some questions such as, 'what has the situation or person given me?' 'How have I grown with that situation/event/person?' Look at the situation from another perspective without attaching forgiveness to it. Let the word 'forgiveness', and the meaning behind the word 'forgiveness' go. When you begin to see the growth, knowledge, wisdom, transformation, and the gift(s) that were given to you for it, you will then be more willing to forgive and let go of your suffering. This is not a guarantee even after you've done this process, though. Forgiveness takes time and with a lot of self-love.

In my own process, forgiveness didn't happen this quickly. The questioning came a long time after another step that I had to deal with. A big step that took much time and anguish. I had to learn to love me first. I began with Louise L. Hays recommendation of mirror affirmations seven years ago. I think this can be a dangerous process, though, depending on how much you hate your self. When I made eye contact with myself in the mirror and told myself that I loved me, there was a viciousness and rage that came out of me. I hit the mirror closed fist. It was like the devil, full of death and fire within me, coming out. I realized shortly after that I could have smashed the mirror and caused major damage to myself and the bathroom. I cared and I didn't care. I don't suggest mirror affirmations if you feel anything like I did. Starting with affirmations and then working your way up to mirror affirmations would be best. This self-hate took a long time to heal. What I did have in my heart, though, was a willingness to let go and begin leading a new life, how ever long and hard it took. And, I can guarantee you, it was all up hill! What kept me going were my children and knowing that I can have a better life.

In the end, forgiveness is not about the other person. It's about letting go of the darkness that grows deep within you so you can have a better more peaceful life.

Wake Up to Live with Desiree Leigh

Shedding My Darkest Secrets with Rhodes

Shedding My Darkest Secrets with Rhodes
Wake Up to Live with Desiree Leigh

I miss my past school mates at Rhodes Wellness College. We made such a tight bond in our three months together. The school is not solely focused on learning new material as a 'helper.' Theory as we call it. The school has a special way in which many of us opened up and shed our souls to one another. When we shed our deepest and darkest secrets to one another, we learned to trust, allowing each other to go even deeper into the places that we buried so long ago. Those memories that we were hoping to forget yet still shatter our daily lives. As we shed our deep, dark, and scary secrets, we began to move forward with a sense of ease and lightness. Love was brought forth naturally, and a deep connection of unity happened.

Can you imagine, three full months of experiential learning, shedding your soul daily? Feeling stripped and naked, totally exposed and exhausted by the end of the day. Yet even with this exposure, you get a sense of lightness and serenity, and above all, the connection with one another deepens. Initially, the journey was scary, being called out and being challenged, but over time, the learning from each other was the best that could ever happen to me. I will always remember the empathy, acceptance, understanding and love that I felt from others.

I had my guard up for some time. As the instructors and students created safety in the room, I slowly let down the walls and began to trust. What was so marvelous, was learning from each others unique personality, how we are so different yet so much the same. We come in all shapes and sizes, various hair, eye, and skin colors, many different cultures with many different traditions and rituals, but many of us are still carrying deep hurts such as shame. Seems to me, that we are all looking for that open door to give ourselves permission to bear our souls and heal ourselves. Rhodes Wellness College is the place. If you're ready to fully expose yourself and be challenged every day, this is the school to be in.

Thank you for all the learning and love. I miss you all and wish life's best for each one of you.

Wake Up to Live with Desiree Leigh