The Impossible

I'm sitting at my desk staring at my diploma that arrived today. I had just got out of the shower when my husband walked in and showed me the package. He opened it and we both sat there just looking at it. He laughed as he said "Master of Science. All I can picture is you in a white lab coat working with chemicals". I remember when I thought I would never even complete my Associates degree, no less a Masters degree. When I finally completed my Associates degree, I thought to myself "I could get my Bachelors degree. I don't want to waste my GI Bill". Through pregnancy and the birth of my son I completed my Bachelors degree. I will never forget sitting in the hospital doing college algebra online, after having my son who was very sick. You want to talk stressful- that was stressful, and I'm good with numbers. I would have paid someone to complete that class for me, but I pushed through and completed it.

My associates and bachelors degrees were both in business and I really wanted a degree in my first true love, fitness. I decided to go for my Masters so I could have a degree in the field I was working in. Not to mention, I love to learn. There is a never ending flow of information available to us, especially in my line of work. In July I completed my Masters program and I am so proud of myself for achieving my education goals while owning a business, being a military wife, and having a child.

There were so many weekends I stayed home while others went out, in order to complete homework assignments. I spent countless hours studying and trying to balance life in the process. The saying "do now what others won't, to live a lifetime as others can't" rings very true to me. I'm thankful for the sacrifices I made and I'm so thankful for the people who supported me a long the way, specifically my husband.

I am now starting my Doctorate program. This is something I never in a million years thought I could do, but I'm doing it. If you would have told me I would have a Doctorate degree 5 years ago, I probably would have gave up before I even started because the thought was to overwhelming and too far out of reach.

You have to take the first step in your journey no matter what it is. Set goals you feel are attainable and move in that direction. The more you accomplish, the more empowered you will feel. I feel that there is absolutely nothing I can't do now. If I want it, I know that I can make it happen. The same is true for you. Embrace your gifts and invest in yourself!

To you health,

Jessica Summerall: This is the motto I choose to practice to make sure that I am doing everything I possibly can to ensure someone is successful, long term. My job is to educate, support, train, teach, and encourage the people who come into my life. Their job is to use those tools to achieve the success they desire, whether it be financial or physical. Providing quality counselling articles, hynotherapy writings and other mind help resources online.

How Stress Affects the Body, And Irritable Bowel Syndrome

Stress is an IBS trigger, but it also causes many other problems. It can have a profound effect on your mental and physical health. Here are some facts that might surprise you.

Human beings encounter stress as a daily part of life. Every change in routine that requires us to react causes a little bit of stress. We respond with ingrained responses. Some are inherited; others are learned.

Little bits of stress are beneficial; they keep us alert and ready to respond to the difficulties of life. In fact, the only people who don't experience stress are dead. However, prolonged periods of stress can have a devastating effect on your health, with symptoms such as:

• Colon spasms in people with IBS
• Upset stomach
• Altered digestive activity
• Headaches
• Sleep disturbances
• Elevated blood pressure
• Chest pain
• Tachycardia
• Irregular heartbeat
• Heart attacks
• Trembling or shakiness
• Decreased productivity at work
• Obesity
• Diabetes
• Loss of sex drive
• Menstrual irregularities
• Female hair loss
• Chronic fatigue
• Muscle pains
• Skin disorders
• Recurring infections
• Anxiety and panic attacks
• Shortness of breath
• Memory problems
• Depression
• Mental breakdown
• Substance abuse
• Abnormal immune system response

Stress also exacerbates conditions such as restless leg syndrome.

Relatively minor stress affects many people with irritable bowel syndrome. IBS itself causes stress, especially if it is accompanied by a lot of pain; this creates a self-feeding, vicious cycle that is often hard to break. It may affect close friends and family; they watch their loved one suffering, which tends to perpetuate the cycle as everyone becomes tense and anxious.

There is a huge benefit to be gained by removing or reducing the negative stress in your life.

Here are a few suggestions:

• Avoid watching the news for a few days. Opt for comedies or upbeat musicals instead.

• Take a day off if you work in a stressful environment.

• Hunt for funny photos at images.google.com. Try searches like:

- smiling cat

- laughing moose

- laughing

- smiling dog

Laughter stimulates the immune system and boosts infection-fighting processes. It also decreases pain and provides a distraction from stressful situations.

• Associate with funny people who make you laugh.

• Try deep breathing, meditation, or yoga.

• Avoid brooding about your condition. Focus your attention on other things instead.

Disclaimer

The material provided here is for informational purposes only. It should not replace proper medical treatment, advice, or diagnosis. Always consult your doctor and other health-care providers, as appropriate, before consuming any medications, supplements, or natural remedies; or before altering your diet. Discuss all your symptoms, plans, and medical conditions with your physician.

Any application of the ideas contained in this article is at your own risk, discretion, and responsibility. There are no representations or warranties, either express or implied, and the author assumes no liability for any of the information presented.

You should not begin or discontinue medical treatment based on information contained in this, or any other, article.

Be sure to check out Kathy's latest eBooks:

The IBS Compass: Irritable Bowel Syndrome Tips, Information, Fiber Charts, and Recipes. This book contains information that will help you to relieve stress and set a course to better health.

IBS-IBD Fiber Charts: Soluble & Insoluble Fibre Data for over 250 Items, Including Links to Internet Resources. This book will assist you in monitoring fiber intake, no matter where you are. Load it on your cellphone and take it with you to restaurants and grocery stores. Providing quality counselling articles, hynotherapy writings and other mind help resources online.

5 Minutes to Find Your "G" Spot

Are you tired of the same old things day in and day out?

You know how it goes. The alarm goes off. You drag yourself out of bed. Down the stairs. Eat breakfast. Shower. Go to work. Come home. Watch TV. Go to bed only to start the whole thing all over again the next day.

On top of that you feel that the world is wobbling at a rapid rate at this point in history and you may be moving through periods of intense fear, loss, and uncertainty; you may feel off-balance, almost as if you are spinning at a different rate than the planet.

Find out in 5 minutes

But, what if you could find out in 5 minutes a simple strategy that has the potential to be the turning point in your life? Would you like to know how to do that? Would that be cool?

If there ever was a time to tune in and listen to your heart, it is now! Feel your heart beating. Start with you. Just breathe. Just be with your heart and feel the power. Know that you didn't have to buy this heart. It is there residing within your chest ticking away and keeping you alive.

Welcome to something quietly powerful

Pssssssst! Around the corner, down the bend in the road, in the unseen, the shift on this planet is happening. Just because you can't physically see a flower growing, doesn't mean it's not.

And, this is precisely the time to find the "G" spot. Yes, that's right. Being Grateful for the little things is absolutely the way to bring more into your life.

If you could only glimpse at the huge potential you have to create an amazing, spectacular life, you would all rise up and embrace those haunting moments of uncertainty, those awesome twists and turns, those bewitching coincidences... the ones that say "What are the chances of that happening?", with such a fierceness it would astound even you! And you would come to realize that it is not happiness that makes you Grateful, but, rather it's your Gratitude that brings happiness on!

So, go forth and give to this planet a kind word, a moment of compassion, or an act of love. Be Grateful that you can do these simple things. These things, so under-valued, are truly the priceless ingredients in the wisdom of life! Go ahead find that "G" spot because Gratitude really is a journey that's best tasted every day.

Here's what I have for you. Visit me at calmtoday.com. You can catch the free online webcast to see for yourself how easy this can be. (Come on, you know you can do this!). Invest in yourself. You're worth it! Providing quality counselling articles, hynotherapy writings and other mind help resources online.

How to Get Healthy

Are there many steps to follow on how to get healthy? Being healthy is not about some steps you need to follow. It is not about living on some diet plan and making sure that you follow it religiously every single time of the day. It is about eating the right foods in the right amounts, changing your habits to better fit your lifestyle, doing activities that will keep you physically fit and making sure that all of these have a positive impact on your health.

However, getting and staying healthy is also more than just about the things you do and the food you eat. Sometimes, it is also about making the right decisions, having the right mindset and yearning for the right results. It is more than just wanting to be skinny so you can fit in your jeans. If you want to learn how to get healthy, here are some things that you might want to do first:

1. Stop comparing yourself to anyone else. Weight issues are what pushes many people to start being healthy. Some women want to be skinny as this is what society has made them think is beautiful. Beauty is what you think and see it is. No one can force a standard to you. If you believe in yourself and are not after the aesthetic benefits of being healthy, it would still give you more than enough physical, mental and emotional benefits to keep you going for life.

2. Don't be too serious about it. Things go wrong when people start punishing themselves for eating a bit too much when they are on a diet. They then binge and get worse than where they started. If you ate more than what you're supposed to, let yourself think and reflect, and then promise that you wouldn't do it for as long as you could. You're wrong if you think it does you good when you eat less than what you're supposed to. You're even more wrong if you think you're less of a person because you can't discipline yourself to eat right.

3. Think balance. Balance is always good. If you are planning to make yourself full with a lunch dessert, you need to make sure that it is the only sweet treat you'll have for that day. If you are eating a salty dinner, make sure that none of your other meals or snacks is. Carbohydrates, proteins and fats are essential. Instead of counting every calorie you take in, just make sure that you have enough and not too much energy for your daily activities.

There are many easy ways on how to get healthy. However, none of them would be effective if you do not have the time, effort and determination to make "healthy" happen. It helps if you visit your doctor or nutritionist every once in a while, but being healthy would be always more than just about the foods that you eat and the exercises that you do.

If you are looking for information on how to get healthy, click on the link. Or visit lifestylesecretreview.com. Providing quality counselling articles, hynotherapy writings and other mind help resources online.

Healing Your Life From the Inside Out, Breaking the Bubble of Illusion

Often when we think about healing ourselves, we first think about our emotional or mental self - then our physical body. We rush to a psychiatrist, or doctor - hoping for relief, a cure, or a fix for all of our problems... for a magical pill that will take it all a way. It is this "dis-ease" within ourselves that causes the turmoil in our outer world.

Physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually - if we are not okay with ourselves on the inside, we will manifest this into our external reality and we will probably not like the results.

The majority of us have created a bubble around us, protecting us from hurt and pain that we have experienced or from things we don't want to face. We pretend that we are happy with our life, our job, our spouse and the circumstances that surround us - when in fact, deep down we are wishing for something different.

When we are confronted about who we are, how we are, or about the problems that are clearly evident in our world - we just don't want to hear it. We get angry, we cry, we plug our ears and we say LALALALALALALA... "I can't hear you". We protect the bubble as if it is who we are, as if our safety, sanity and sanctity depends on it. There is no way we can allow anyone to burst our bubble and if for some reason they do, we feel exposed and vulnerable.

The truth is that those feelings are always there, we've just become so good at living in our bubble that they aren't noticed by us most of the time. When these feelings do "pop up" and become a problem, we sometimes attempt to cover them with alcohol or drugs - or any addiction that helps us avoid them.

The biggest problem with this type of behaviour (besides risk to our health) is that we are denying the very essence of who we are - we are suffocating ourselves with our painful experiences, instead of facing them. We refuse to let go of all the hate, anger and sadness that sits inside of us, and this is what is killing us! We need to let go of all the negativity and begin to forgive those who have hurt us - and more importantly we need to forgive ourselves.

I guess the reason I can write about this with such knowledge is because I have been living in a bubble for many years now. I have been denying who I really am at the core of my being because I wanted to protect her. It is in this protecting of myself that I have completely lost touch with that part of me, I have lost touch with the people around me and subsequently I have allowed someone else to live my life for me. I have been denying what I really want, and need because I haven't been present to get what the deepest part of my being really needs. And that is Love.

We have to learn love ourselves, completely and honestly - despite everything that we have experienced. We are worthy of love! Why am I so sure you ask? Because we are made from this Love. Some Great Force that sits in the very centre of all of us, created everything that we could ever need from an Unconditional, Unbiased Love. This Love is Ours, but we will never experience it while we are denying the very truth of who we are, while we are trapped in the very bubble that we have created in order to keep us safe.

We can not heal until we know who we truly are; and that is the person that is past all of the pain, experiences, labels and ideas of who we are that are limiting to our being. It's time to burst the Bubble of Illusion and heal our lives!

The most important thing to remember, in all of this, is that the world is your mirror - you must begin to heal your true self before you will see a change in the external world around you; this includes any physical, mental or emotional problems you are experiencing.

To begin healing, you will need to know where to start. Healing the Self is more than a way of healing, it is an incredible journey of self-exploration and discovery! You will also find many other great healing resources available at OneWorldHealing.net that can help you on your journey! Providing quality counselling articles, hynotherapy writings and other mind help resources online.

Signs Indicating a Spiritual Awakening

There have been times when I questioned my sanity as I walked the path of spiritual purification, feeling very alone. There were times when I fought to repress my intuition as it tried to lead me into truth that my mind could not accept and of which my church would not approve. I lost many friends who began to think of me as too far removed from the traditional teachings of the Christian faith in which I was raised. There was no one to tell me how to regain my emotional health so I could keep going forward. Without information or a guidebook or guru, it took me years to realize that physical and emotional pain comes from resisting the ascension process.

Having said that, I will give a few signs, which indicate that we as individuals and a collective society are going through a spiritual awakening. While none of these should be confused with serious conditions, which require medical attention, here are some other signs indicating that a spiritual awakening is occurring for you:

• Change of relationships, careers, dietary preferences, sleep patterns vision and perception, and libido level
• Creativity and energy surges that include decluttering, detoxing, and simplifying your life
• Desire for freedom
• Depression and loss of interest
• Electronic disturbances
• Fatigue , headaches, heart palpitations, hot flashes, and ringing in the ears
• Synchronicities, intuition, and psychic gifts increased
• Keen awareness of thoughts (your own and of those around you) and more emotional responses (energetic sensitivities)
• Miraculous healing of body, mind, or emotions

This list is by no means complete, but these are a few of the more common symptoms that people have reported in regards to spiritual growth. Let's look at a couple of these in more detail.

Anxiety or Panic Attacks

As things change within the body, it affects the emotions and vice versa. Most people fear unsolicited change and may resist the Spirit's attempt to rid the mind of fear-based patterns of thinking. This can manifest as anxiety, nervousness, or panic attacks.

Anxiety is a sign that you are resisting a clearing process. Simply acknowledge this emotion that has come up for healing. This fragmented part of your soul is asking to be integrated and aligned with the purer vibration of your soul. Breathe and bring it into the flow of life-anxiety is just another form of energy. When you feel nervous, remind yourself that this is only energy moving through. Say something like: "I allow dense/dark energy to be transmuted and integrated into love/light energy as I enjoy my peaceful, prosperous, easy life."

Use the tools you have discovered and keep repeating the mantras, prayers, and affirmations. By the time you memorize them they will have started shifting your response mechanism and you will begin to address anxiety in a new way.

Panic attacks can be "talked down" by tapping into the Sacred Heart center. Reading a passage in A Course in Miracles gets my mind calmed down and into better perspective rather quickly. Certain herbs have been found useful for treating nervousness. Talk with an herbalist or alternative health practitioner about using valerian root, passion flower, kava kava, St. John's wort, or other herbal supplements.

Sometimes the intense energy one feels as anxiety is actually a buildup of faster-vibrating frequencies that need to be released. The best way to do this is to get into the Sacred Heart space for five minutes. Do some deep breathing and then envision a ray of light beaming from your heart center toward anyone you feel needs a boost of God-Goddess love and light. If you don't have a particular person in mind, send that beam into the collective consciousness of humanity.

Body Sensations

As the biological body shifts into the light body, the old cellular structure is dissolving, giving birth to a new crystalline structure. For some who are sensitive, this can be an uncomfortable experience until enough of the form has been transmuted to allow for a purer vibration to take hold. The detoxification process can bring about body aches and pains (flu-like symptoms) or fatigue that our current medical doctors cannot explain or treat. It is not uncommon to experience unusual sensations in your body or chakras. There could be pressure on top of your head, tingling on your scalp or forehead (especially between your eyebrows), or energy surges in your body. Pain, hot flashes, and chills are also reported.

Body aches and pains may be directly related to regions in the subtle bodies that are blocked or stuck. Headaches may indicate that the third eye is opening. Stomachaches could indicate that you are stuffing your feelings/emotions. Chronic cough and sore throat may indicate a blocked fifth chakra. These symptoms should subside once the energetic condition is cleared and the body has acclimated to the new vibration. Until then, take advantage of energy therapy, acupuncture, aromatherapy, exercise, herbs, homeopathic remedies, mineral and vitamin supplements, salt baths, massage, or other holistic methods necessary to handle the discomfort.

Because organs and glands within the body are changing to accommodate the light body, your arms, hands, feet, or legs may tingle when you are meditating or doing conscious breathing. For more than ten years, I have experienced the sensation that someone is lightly touching or playing with my hair. I've also felt that I'm half in and half out of my body or that my spirit is too large to fit inside my skin.

If you are having ascension symptoms, be aware of your thoughts because what we think is what creates our reality. Our bodies are a mirror that shows us what beliefs we hold either in our conscious or unconscious mind. Be careful to think and say only positive things about yourself and your body; we are manifesting more quickly than ever.

As we enter these intense years of the shift into purer consciousness, there are spiritually-minded folks all over the world willing and able to help. A Google or Facebook search will help you find a group where you can chat and find community.

Yvonne Perry is the author of Shifting into Purer Consciousness ~ Integrating Spiritual Transformation with the Human Experience (shiftingintopurerconsciousness.com). She holds a bachelor's degree in metaphysics from the American Institute of Holistic Theology and provides personal coaching for spiritual seekers. The host of We Are One in Spirit Podcast, she enjoys speaking about a wide variety of topics to help people realize their own creative power weare1inspirit.com. Providing quality counselling articles, hynotherapy writings and other mind help resources online.