by Suzanne Baker Hogan
 
I am a true believer that going for your dreams is the best thing you can do in your life. I speak from experience. And from that experience, I can say that going for your dreams also requires major change. What kind of change exactly? You will have to leave every comfort zone you have created that hides your fears.  

Following your dreams means leaping into unknown territory, and old methods of safety will have to go. Your human self won’t like this one bit. Most likely, it will fight you, kicking and screaming. But keep going! You are learning to let your soul take control. 

You’ll also have to stop doing things for other people. Or, more specifically, stop doing them based on how you look to other people. It is truly scary how much we put others in charge of our power. And changing this might shock everyone around you. So be it! Eventually, they will applaud your bravery.

When you harness the courage to leap for your dreams, you grow exponentially. And it helps to know that you are already extremely courageous. Consider for a moment the courage it took for you to come here and live a human life! 

There you were in your beautiful heavenly home where you felt so loved and supported. And you said, okay, I want to grow even more. I am ready to go back to that tough, rough earth school again. You knew that it would be heartbreaking. You knew that it would be frustrating beyond measure. But most of all, you knew that it would cut you off from your true, divine nature: LOVE. 

Did this stop you? No. You signed up on the spot. 

When you follow your dreams, you will summon the same deep courage it took to come here. And you will have to let your soul guide you all the way. You must trust this guidance and let it lead you, step by step. This is so much easier than getting overwhelmed by the whole picture. Be warned, things might not look anything like you thought. Not a problem! Just have faith in the process. And know that if you fully believe in yourself and your dreams coming true, the universe always delivers. 

Dream big! Leap courageously! Because you deserve to see the deepest desires of your soul materialize in your human life. You were born to find your way to total freedom and do what you really want while on this earth. So sing the song of your soul out loud! For all to easily hear. You will be amazed at how your dreams take flight. And how much you inspire others to do the same. 

Suzanne Baker Hogan, spiritual writer and author of SharetheSpiritual.com and Twin Flame Help, is a guest blogger and coauthor of F.A.I.T.H. – Finding Answers in the Heart, Volume II. To order your copy of this inspirational book, click here. 

by Barbara J. Hopkinson

New years signify new beginnings in many ways—new year’s resolutions, a new calendar year, maybe a new fiscal year—even an exciting new year of life. Unless you’ve lost a loved one.  

Then you may not feel very “new” or very motivated to make resolutions, or even to celebrate life. Your new beginning may be figuring out how to make it through another year without that loved one you miss so much.

Remember, LOVE and GRATITUDE heals, so factor those into your new beginnings this year. Even loss is a new beginning for you both, in a way—your loved one to a spiritual life and you to a physical life without them.  But nothing breaks the bond of love, not even death.  Be grateful for the gift of time you had with them and begin again, knowing they are with you, sending you love.

Three of the most important tips I learned after traumatic loss helped me successfully begin again:
• Be good to yourself, be open and trust your own intuition
• Helping others helps you heal
• It’s ALL about the LOVE

1) Understand that taking care of you is the baseline for you to be able to heal and help anyone else around you. You might be surprised at some of the things that can help you heal.  Keep an open mind to try new things.  Also, I can’t emphasize how important it is to learn to listen to and trust your own intuition rather than others’ opinions of what is best for you.

2) Find a passion and DO something to HELP someone. You will be amazed at how much it heals you and helps you begin to work toward a NEW NORMAL, while it takes the focus off yourself and your pain.

3) New beginnings are most successful when based on LOVE. Love yourself and the one you lost—enough to begin again.  Focus on that love and the positive memory. Love is what binds us, what brings us joy and makes memories. Love is what gives us hope, heals the loss, and makes the loss a sacred part of our story. Love gives everything meaning.

May you begin ANEW with LOVE, GRATITUDE and HOPE.         

Happy New Year!         

Barbara J. Hopkinson, Grief Mentor, Author, and Speaker with A Butterfly’s Journey, is a guest blogger and coauthor of F.A.I.T.H. – Finding Answers in the Heart, Volume II. To pre-order your copy of this inspirational book, click here.

by Rebecca Kirson

The facilitator of a recent training I attended discussed how hockey legend Wayne Gretzky was able to stay ahead of his competitors game after game. When asked how he did it, Wayne replied, “I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been.” 

We have the power to start living from where our life is going, not where we have been.

Sit with that for a moment.

So many people live their lives not 70 to 80 years, but the same year 70 to 90 times. Why? Because they hold so tight to who they were 10 years ago, 5 years ago, last year . . . They can’t let go of the past to create the dreams they say they yearn for now.  

We are powerfully creating our reality every moment of every day based on our thoughts and emotions. Yet every single time we direct our thoughts to the fear and resentment of “what happened before” with our relationships, with our finances, with our careers, we continue to re-create that reality again and again.  That’s why a lot of people feel like they are stuck in the movie Groundhog Day.

In order to create NEW in your life, you have to allow new thoughts, creativity, and inspiration to flow in and to start living with a focus on where your life is going, not where it has been.  You already know the story of playing small, settling with mediocrity, and hiding your light.  Why do you keep rereading that chapter when the rest of the book needs to be written?

A simple foolproof test will answer that for you.  If you look at what you have created in all areas of your life, what do you see?  Are you proud of your art or would you rather throw a sheet over it?  Your life is a direct reflection of who you are being:  your consciousness and energy / your awareness and frequency. 

You have unlimited potential inside of you waiting to be expressed in physical form as the effect of your life.  You ARE creating continually.  The decision is whether it’s a Picasso or a paint-by-number book you picked up at the clearance rack in Walmart.

I encourage you to step into your vision for 2015. What new reality do you want to create for yourself?  What changes do you have to make to meet the aspects of yourself that are trying to emerge? What action steps can you take now to start encoding your present with the future you wish to create?

They call it the NEW YEAR for a reason.  Tap into infinite possibilities and make this the year you go beyond just thinking about it. 

To your success! 

Empowering women is the essence behind the inspirational book F.A.I.T.H. – Finding Answers in the Heart. The first volume of F.A.I.T.H., published in June 2014, has been a resounding success in the United States, Europe, and Canada. The insights the 14 authors received left the readers clamoring for more. But it wasn’t only the readers who were inspired. More women wanted to share their experiences, to be part of the collaborative effort. And thus Volume II came to life, a second collection about love, surrender, forgiveness, and death.

Rather than waiting to reveal the book when it’s completed, we’ve decided to share our thoughts along the way and talk about the topics that matter to us, the ones lodged deep in our hearts. The ones that have to do with faith. Because faith is not a conquest. Faith is an inner journey of divine exploration. It’s an understanding between you and Source, an indication of trust that grows with confidence and knowing. And as you grow in confidence and knowing, the more you empower women like yourself.

On this journey you’ll meet the 14 authors of Volume II and learn more about their hopes, their losses, their wounds, and their dreams. What makes them worry; what makes them glow. They’ll show you their way out of darkness in the hopes of inspiring you to choose the light. And each month we’ll discuss a specific topic, starting 2015 with New Beginnings. 

So stay tuned for more. The next post on the theme of New Beginnings is by Rebecca Kirson, Soul Realignment Practitioner and Transformational Coach from Your Sacred Truth. Discover how to create NEW in your life.