Archive for the ‘Self-awareness’ Category
The article below was inspired by a client who would prefer to remain anonymous , so lets call her client L.J I did many readings for L.J and I have tremendous respect and admiration for the changes and choices she has made .Her life now is really evidence that as hard as it can be, life can and does get better when we trust and follow how we truly feel. If you read this L.J you have a lot to be proud of
Although I don’t have any credible data to back up my theory, actually I don’t even have any credible data to back up being a psychic , but that aside in my experience as psychic reader I would say that when a man who is forty plus, leaves a woman ,more often than not, there is another woman’s somewhere in the picture. Yet many women I have done readings for have left their husbands without the security and comfort of a partner waiting in the wings for them .Of course there women who leave relationships to be with someone else but none the less, this is phenomena I have observed.
The word I used in the title “Courage” to describe the characteristic that women possess in this area more than men, is word purposely chosen and a word that accurately describes what is needed and required of a women to leave a man, without the safety net of another. As courage is the willingness to take action not because one is fearless but to take action despite the crippling fears that may be present.
I think there are a number of things that contribute to this in the dynamics of relationship. I think a very basic one is how each partner has their needs meet .It would seem for someone men, having wife present , to do all the daily things of running a house, to go on holiday with and general feel look after maybe enough. They may no longer be attracted or have any romantic of loving feelings but security of just the other being there , is far better than being alone .In fact it may not be until an other women arrives on the scene and stirs up some of the more forgotten and numbed out needs that this man may consider leaving there partner. Although it may be wrapped up in the romantic language, it can often be a case of a new model has appeared on the market that can better fulfil what I want, this new model maybe younger, pay them more attention, stroke their ego and so forth.
Posted by
Ewan Nicholson on 27 Jun 2012 under
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Psychic Medium Ewan Nicholson explores what formula, if any, is there to finding a loving and fulfilling relationship and how psychic readings may help someone get there.
Throughout my time as a professional psychic, my work has ended up being about helping people through common themes. The most frequent area of life I deal with is romantic relationships.Time and time again clients come up against genuinely stressful and disappointing scenarios in the course of trying to find happiness in there love life. From being involved with a person who can’t commit, to being single and struggling to meet someone special , to falling in love with a married person, to breaking up with a person who you yearn to be together again .All these situations are unique but they also share common characteristics and invoke common feelings and thoughts. What is great about the similarities we share with others, is our common problems provides with the opportunity for a common solution.
I truly believe, that each person has the ability to create and attract relationships into their life which are secure, fulfilling and beneficial. Our desire for closeness is healthy and it is often our close relationship that provide us with the meaning and depth each us yearn for in life. Closeness also brings colour and vibrancy into our lives ,which can be well needed when we are immerse in a society that is often automated and impersonal .Yet when you have genuinely endeavoured to find that closeness and repeatedly fail to do so over a period of years, it is easy to start to doubt the legitimacy of that need . What we once would have deemed cynical and pessimistic we now call this thinking as being “realistic”. We may find ourselves vacillating from somewhat depressed “can’t be bother” which after period of time our need for closeness and connection prompts to make and “effort” in which we venture out with all our past hurts and fears. Wary that if history repeats itself it gets harder and harder to keep trying but the longer we go without the love we are seeking more we may yearn for that closeness and connection. So we are faced with conundrum “I want a close relationship but I don’t want to set myself to feel disappointed and let down”
I find it a great honour to able to support and guide people towards a place where they are able to find that love and peace within themselves and their relationships .In my personal and professional experience, I have no doubt that the fastest way through a problem is to be able to ask for help and support. Although in the end we all have to take responsibility for our life and choices, knowing we are not alone in our issues and that others do care about our well-being, makes the whole process a lot more easier and lot less tiring. It also encouraging knowing other have been where we are and they managed to find a way forward ,into more loving and rewarding relationships.
Often in my readings I share with people the value of seeing the meaning and purpose in all of how life unfolds. I tell them when there in a
painful scenario, that everything happens for a reason and nothing is by chance and nothing is inherently negative, challenging yes but negative no. This perspective is nothing new and has been repeated and phrased differently by many people, over many centuries. For me it’s a view that makes sense and can really help people gain perspective when we come up against difficult times.
Though I truly believe in the meaning of all things, it is something that is certainly easier said than done. The challenge of truly integrating this outlook I have lately felt in my own life. Recently I have ended up entangled in situation that has been very stressful, disconcerting and difficult to get my head around and make peace with. It has involved the buying of property and the work involved taking from a empty plot of land into a liveable house. It’s a horrible feeling to know you have shafted while at the same time you know there is nothing on practical level you can do about it. What can then make it even worse is looking back and being honest about that fact that I put myself exactly where I am, maybe through unfounded trust, gullibility and lack of thoroughness in investigating what I was getting into but none the less it arose from choices I made. Then on top of all that I am aware that it hasn’t been the first time I have ended up on the raw end of a deal. As I you thought I had learnt my lesson only that I obviously haven’t
The bottom line is according to my own perspective that I espouse to my clients ,my own tough situation has happened for a reason, something good will come of it and the best thing I can do is accept it with a loving detachment. Umm I think…do I really say that to people? Umm this is not easy ,feeling so wronged and then asking of myself to see it as so right. As I can’t get it out of my head how this has set me back,I can’t seem to let go of the anger of feel toward myself , the supposed victim and them the supposed villains .I have imaginary conversation and confrontations putting it all right and getting justice, even though I know this will never happen. Up to now the only measurable outcome of what I have been going through is stress and struggle.
Posted by
Ewan Nicholson on 13 May 2011 under
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It’s a theme that I discuss regularly on this blog but its theme that I deal with regularly in my readings, it’s the issue of acceptance. On o
ne hand it’s a simple and straight forward principle to practice , on the other hand it seems to grate and push against our instincts and drives. When faced with a scenario where someone is not feeling the way we want them to feel, we have hard time just accepting that this is the way they feel. We link accepting this with giving up and defeat. We then get caught in polarity that either I am pushing and striving to make the relationship better, or I depressingly throw in the towel and walk away. Yet often we fail to see that our “pushing” and “wanting” for that person to be different, could be a contributing factor that keeps them in the place where we don’t want them to be.
Acceptance is not about defeat, acceptance is solely about acceptance .If a person say, is unwilling to commit, they say upfront that they don’t want too much involvement. Acceptance is just respecting that person’s right to feel that way . Acceptance is practicing not fighting and struggling to get what you want, by trying to change the way another person feels. It can be tough and quite confronting, as our mind if often scheming and plotting to somehow, in some way, get what it wants. This could be more love, more commitment, more time, more contact, less distance, more communication, the list goes on .As we hold an idea in our mind of how we want that person to be and subtlety are pushing them into that place .We think if only they could commit and feel they way I want them to feel then everything would be ok.
The tricky part with acceptance may have to face the fact that the person we want to be a certain way, just isn’t that way. That doesn’t mean we have to water down the things we are desserving of, rather we just fully accept that this person is unwilling or unable to give us what we want at this moment. Choosing to continue with that person is then our choice, a choice we make with a honest understanding of where they are and want their willing to give .If someone decides to continue , whilst just accepting other person commits fears, they then may struggle with the feeling like the other person is now just getting things their way. It may feel like the relationship is now just shaped around their preferences and inability to commit .Yet the reality is, if they are unwilling to give more and really do only want something on their terms, then acceptance takes us away from the hope of a more commitment in the future that allows us to avoid the present.
Posted by
Ewan Nicholson on 23 Apr 2011 under
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Easter is here again .I have the important duty of working out where to hide my children’s Easter eggs .Being three and four years old girls, they have to be hidden well enough for them to have fun but not too hard that they end up crying because they can’t find any(I have to make sure I remember to ,so one melted egg does show up three months from now) .As I walked through the supermarket looking for my essential chocolate mini-eggs I was surrounded by rows and rows of chocolate themed eggs . Easter is here and there no getting
away from it, literally! Malta ,the island I live in strange mix of overt and celebrated Catholicism and stock standard chocolate coated consumerism of modern Easter. Although I am no longer a practicing Christian, for myself there is powerful symbolism surrounding Easter and central religious focus of the death of Jesus Christ ,his pain, his betrayal, his death and the his eventual resurrection. To me the ritual of Easter possibly has more relevance and bearing to our own lives than we may think.
The story of Christ’s death and resurrection tells us that even in the darkest and most difficult times, when we feel the most forsaken and alone , out of this pain there is the hope of renewal, re-birth and new beginnings. When we are in the midst of this hurting it can be easy to forget this fact. There comes a point where we just don’t see the light, we are enmeshed with our troubles that is hard to see or understand the wider more meaningful narrative that we are part of. Yet in the same way our happy moments pass, so do our bad ones. The pain can often be prolonged not by the problem or event that started it, but rather through our unwillingness to truly let go and surrender our want for things to be different to what they where or are.
The difficult part is some feelings we can’t “partially” let go of. Christ didn’t just partially suffer , he died on the cross .His rebirth and accent into heaven could only occur once that death had taken place. Often in life we are faced with these realities, where the only way to truly have fresh start is to sincerely let go and die to what we are holding on to. Do this we must be willing to surrender our wilfulness, our need for an expected outcome and start trusting in the unseen forces that take hold once we hand over our pain over.
It is tricky process in life to understand and know the difference between knowing something to be true and believe in the possibility of its truth. This is particularly so when comes to grey and subjective areas of consciousness and reality , life and death. We have feelings and inkling based on our experiences and what we have been taught and learnt. We work to make sense of the world and our life’s by piecing together these fragments of insights to build a graspable and some kind of meaningfulness picture of the life we occupy. Yet no matter how convincing our convictions maybe regarding the nature of reality we are always limited and defined by the apparatus which does the adding up ,namely ourselves. Like the eye seeing the eye, we can only see ourselves through ourselves, creating an inbuilt and inarguable bias. Even if our views our reinforced via a mass consensus , it does not prove it’s truth, as the 18 million people in Europe during the 14th century discovered when the world turned out “not” to be flat.
All this brings me to this basic question regarding the truth of my own intuitions. Some basics in life I don’t question, the fact I love my partner and kids, the fact I like and dislike certain things .These truths seem self evident and don’t even warrant questioning in the first place. Yet there are other that do, other questions that I find very difficult to conclusively answer . That’s the funny thing with my mind, instead of just accepting the fact I may well never really know something’s, such what happens when we die, instead my mind grapples and wrestles , questions and probes. As I discuss these things with my family and partner, there is a prevailing view that I think too much, not only that, but the stuff I think about is redundant and unanswerable .In addition they point out that I am wasting what I have of life, being pr-occupied with “after-life”, as its an outcomes I can’t alter or change, in a future that has yet to occur, in short wasting life with pointless questions
These conclusions are hard to argue against, as its true , no matter what think about life after death , it will be what it is and no matter how much I query and think , none of my ruminations will make an iota of difference in the reality of my death. Yet even knowing the incontrovertible truth of this logic, these questions still persist and bother me. As all actions, thoughts and events crescendo towards this outcomes of all outcomes. Like rip on the shore of the beach, it pulls us nearer and nearer as are struggles to avoid it are to no avail ,as there is no escape and no getting away from with it.
Posted by
Ewan Nicholson on 20 Feb 2011 under
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I came across author and scientist Robert Lanza from an article on the Huffington post .He has some really fascinating and insightful views on life, death and the meaning of our existence, the real “big stuff” questions .I actually tried to explain one of his articles on “life after death” to my partner Susana, the more I tried to explain what he was trying to say and how his perspective made sense, the more confusing and garbled it sounded .Kind of like trying to re-tell a joke a stand up comedian has said, you discover some things are just left best to hear straight from the person themselves. So I won’t confuse his understandings with another lengthy anti-explanation, I would highly recommend going on to his site and having read through yourself (the links to his site is at the bottom of this review)
What I can talk about with some authority and clarity is how reading his articles made me feel. Like many people I have always wonder about what truly happens when we die and the deeper question of why we truly exist .I feel in my heart that the universe is alive and it is meaningful and the famous mystic’s of Zen, Sufism, Christian, Judaism, and Taoism and many other religions are the people that give us the most accurate view of how life really works .
The problem I have at times is I am someone with very limited understanding of scientific language and framework .Recently an atheist friend of mine, that passionately believes in Darwinism and sites Christopher Hichens and Richard Dawkins as his personal hero’s, ask me to justify and explain these views I hold against the modern understanding of science ,understandings that he deems almost “irrefutably true”. When you respond to a question like that with “well umm uh ,that just how I feel” it’s hard not to feels it’s fairly lame and intellectually pitifully response. After reading Robert Lanza articles I felt like emailing my friend and writing “read this, it like he said!!”. As it was like hearing my intuitions and feeling being translated and explained in way that logical and authoritative. Simultaneously to that sense of confirmation was also this sense of some kind of brain unlocking as I was exposed to ideas and possibilities that I had never honestly consider before, wow! Genuinely new ideas!! In an age with some much of our information and knowledge is just things we have heard before being rehashed ,it so refreshing to absorb insights turned my brain upside down and inside out.
I think that’s the wonderful and lateral nature of how we progress and understand things as people. We potter along seemingly getting nowhere, maybe even feeling stuck, then all of sudden there comes this breakthrough or flash of understanding. One of the things I have been feeling lately is my appreciation of what is in front of me, the immense value of all I have this very moment. As to be content with were we are and what we have runs contrary to the emphasis society places on getting more, having more and being more. Now some of that is just the nature of capitalism and consumer society .Our western society is structured in a way that permits us to be bombard advertisements telling us what we need and why we need it. It’s common knowledge large corporations pay highly qualified psychologist and persuasion experts to tap into our most basic unconscious buttons of greed, fear, security or status. In addition to these social forces compelling to “do more” or to “get more”, there our own human nature of desire. To start with our basic desires for food, sex and security unpin many actions each and every day. Layered on top of that are more subtle drives for control and approval .All these drives them have various means of how they express or manifest in our lives. Yet the interesting thing is after our basic survival needs are meet, it’s seem when we fulfill each of whatever it is we want, very soon after another “want” emerges. Although our desire to improve our lives has lead to wonderful discoveries and inventions that have elevated our quality of living, it would seem on an emotional level we are no more or less happy as a civilisation now as we were 3000 years ago . It would seem the human condition has remain somewhat unevolved as we see the same mythical Greek drama involving, war, lust, betray and cruelty been re-enacted each night on the six o’clock news.
The endless to-do list…
Part of the lack emotional evolution seem to connected the belief that true happiness lies within getting what we want. Although I don’t think we can switch of the desire button and although there some benefits of being driven it is not the only way to approach being happy. It is also liberating thing to feel that everything I need to be happy I have it in front of me. That no matter if I “do” or “do not” get the things I want, it won’t determine or be the ultimate measure of my contentment. Thinking I have everything I need already is not the natural way to think, as most days of moments are spent working out how I am going to get what I want. The function of all these desires we tell ourselves is satisfaction or contentment. The problem arises is when we finally get it, more often or not the need for more of whatever it is, better stuff , more of it all comes up and we are back were we started .The Buddhist call it the “hungry ghost” another term for it is the “hole in the soul”. It’s the endless “to do list” of achieving happiness, that no matter how many items I tick off new ones inevitability appear that now need to pursued and attained.
I think it’s safe to assume if you were to ask the average Joe on the street what they want in life one way or another you would get the answer “To be happy”. Even if it wasn’t directly that, such as I want fame , money and power as your questions probed further that person may assume that all these other thing will lead them to being happy. So it makes sense if this is what most of us wants to ask the question “What is it that prevents us from getting it?” What causes us the pain that prevents us from being happy?
Will getting what we want make us happy?
Through my own personal experience, as well as trying to help others, I see much of our pain and suffering come from us all the time wanting to change things we have very little control over. This applies not just with people and circumstance but with ourselves. You might be startled to note how many times through the course of a day you find yourself fighting “something” or “someone” in our minds .From the minor like “He should have indicated when pulled out in front of my car” or “The waiter should have at least apologised when they brought out my lunch order forty minutes late” or, to the major ones of “I want my partner to more affectionate” ,”It’s unfair I didn’nt get the promotion” “I hate myself or being this overweight” .We are constantly evaluating our life interactions in terms do they give us what we want or what we expect.A good dayis made up of successfully getting what we want, a bad day is usually consistent of events and outcomes that far removed from what we want. Yet within this mindset most of us possess, we often fail to truly examine two pertinent questions
1)Is getting what want really the source of lasting happiness?
2) Why is it we huff and puff over things we have little or no control of?
No fighting, just accepting…
An alternative to this fighting is the practice of acceptance or non-resistance. When you imagine non-resistance you could envision just passively just “accepting” whatever comes your way. Kind of being a spiritual doormat. Yet we you really take a look its more the art of understanding what is you can’t and can control and not exerting energy and effort in pointless directions. This takes great trust in life and the “way of the universe” as just accepting goes hand in hand with letting go of our minds coveted outcomes, we are manoeuvring towards all the time.
It can be all too easy to enter into a routine in the way we think and act that gives us sense of monotony and numbness. We plod along feeling like we have done it all before, because more than likely we have, same s**t ,different day, as expression goes. When we are moving along in this way, a type of emotional autopilot , it makes sense that we feel empty ,depressed and conflicted, as there is another part of us that never really makes peace and accepts this dreary place. We intuitively feel and know that there is more to life than what we are experiencing. This can be heighten even further when the previous mechanism of escape, drugs, drink, food, sex, TV or whatever it maybe, all fail to numb us, or distract us from the pain in the way it used. We are not happy in life and our efforts to pretend otherwise have stopped working.
Although a cynic may say this is “just life†yet that need for “moreâ€, whether we accept it or not, has a power and pull .So much so, we can draw to us the opportunity for change whether we like or not. For many people this “kick start†or emotional revolution begins with a new relationship. Suddenly we feel the blood flowing through our veins, we experience a renewed sense of passion and zest for life. Suddenly a future that seemed rigidly mapped out has been discarded and replaced with a new map that is open and full of potential.
Enclosed with the experience also can be this feeling that this person and this occurrence was somehow fated or destined to be. Although I find it drippy, cliché and corny the general term for this experience is the soul mate (Personally I prefer the term coined by John O’Donahue “Anam Cara†which means “Soul Friendâ€. This then opens the experience up to emotional connections beyond romantic relationships.) When we feel we have encountered a person that is a soul friend, it awakens a feeling of our own soul. That warm familiarity we get with someone, that feeling we somehow know them, tells us the universe we inhabit is driven and directed by powerful, loving and magical forces .The meaningless drift was just a temporary illusion as the curtain is pulled back to reveal a life full of significance, worth and love. Our fated paths have crossed as a part of wider ,more cosmic narrative that we are somehow part of .
As often these relationship are romantic and often they can be catalyst for huge changes in people lives. People suddenly wake up thinking “Why am I doing this?†“Who’s life am I living?†We sense life is too short and too important to be wasted to be with people we have stopped loving or situations that limit and holds us back. Once we have tasted the fruit of those new and meaningful feelings, it is very difficult to just pretend it never happened. All this said, a bigger danger people can face it being aware of the power a new connection may have on us and as a result secretly hide our souls in anticipation of that bond.
If someone asked me what is the best way to attract that depth of union, I would suggest to start living your life with your soul open to the world to see. That begins with understanding and nurturing that awareness of our soul, spiritual centre, cosmic self, spirit or whatever name you choose to call it. Work to make “soul choicesâ€, choices that come from a deeper understanding of who we are and our relationship with that part of ourselves and that part of life. We all deserve to feel magic and meaning in our lives. The love and connection we feel for another is such a wonderful gift we have as people .It inspires us , it enlivens us, it reminds us of what is truly important .Just beware if you’re not feeling that way you don’t have to wait for that “other†person, you can start now. You can invite that deeper part of who you are into your life. You can mindfully choose to commune with your soul .It’s that ever-present flame that burns within each of, producing feelings of unity, connection, love, kindness and peace. It’s the part of us that fights nothing, as its knows everything is ok and will be ok. As you see the warmth and brilliance of your own nature it will be impossible to not start finding yourself seeing it in others. Then our life becomes celebration of our ability to love and life’s amazing way of giving us an unending opportunities to practice this love. A quest of the heart, born from an awareness we are all worthy of tremendous love and capable of both giving it and receiving it. Give your soul a chance to breath, to be heard. As you do, I have no doubt that many fantastic people and opportunities will enter your life.