Dear Guides,

Sometimes I’m bold enough to try something challenging. Even when I am successful, but especially when I’m not, part of me critiques that I could have done better. I can feel my spirits dampen. How can I move forward from here to the best outcome?

Excerpt from Minda’s channeling on 8.20.2010:

Dear Ones,
…

You may assume, wish, dream, even without stating it consciously, that you will try something new and it will work out perfectly, or at least that is the standard to which you aspire. And you may imagine that you will then congratulate and celebrate yourself, go on to make a few improvements and try again next time with even greater results.

But no, nature abhors a vacuum. When you try the new thing, you put out a lot of effort and concentration. When it is over, suddenly there is a space. A mental space. All of your focus had been captivated, and suddenly there is no object of this focus. Suddenly there is a great big hole, into which you can dump just about anything. And what is a very natural reaction, if you are trained in the fashion prevalent in your society, is to fill that hole with a rush of negative thoughts as a relief of the stress and pressure of your effort.
…
So the value of celebration, in whatever form you can allow yourself before any analysis or evaluation takes place, is the most important point here. You have yourself to acknowledge, your effort, your courage, and also your ability to piggyback and gain strength from Spirit, the greater good, to go outside of your comfort zone. This practice of learning how to catch a ride on Spirit is the way you can learn to align and take on bigger triumphs which lead you to expansion.
…

…This increases your ability to let go of some of the details, the doubt and the feeling of shouldering all of the responsibility.
…

Let us help you fill your wings with this confident breeze, so that it becomes effortless. You will find the ride absolutely divine.

This answer continues in “Dear Guides” Journal (approx. 4 pages $3). To order or learn more, click the “Dear Guides” button at right.

Channeling (c) 2010 Minda Bernstein
Painting (c) 2010 Julie Bernstein Engelmann

Painting title: Handling the Inner Critic When Trying Something New 8.20.2010

Dear Guides,

How do we help ourselves deal with longstanding feelings of sadness, heartache or betrayal? Why do we tend to hold on to these and is there any value in doing so?

Excerpt from Minda’s channeling on 8.14.2010:

Dearest Ones,

It is not so much that you long to maintain this little corner of heartaches and miseries in the stables behind the house at the back of the farm, but rather that most of you don’t understand the ways to let loose these wayward creatures that are attracted to lodge within your proximity or inner selves.

Please have compassion for yourselves and do not see this as a shortcoming by which you increase the heat of guilt, self-criticism or disappointment. This is truly a moment to honor yourselves and shower yourselves with love, because you are becoming aware of a very vulnerable part which needs careful nurturing and support.

You are trying to learn in this lifetime, to increase your ability to make healthy and powerful choices in order to enhance your “soul shine,” shall we say, the light which streams from you and contributes to an atmosphere of clarity and brilliance shining all around. And one of the ways to accomplish this is to learn from mistakes, to train yourselves to make better decisions, to acknowledge steps you make in the direction of the light and to leave behind past mistakes.
. . .
As you recognize this, compassion and self-love and love for the beauty of this divine process of evolution will begin to flood into your hearts.

This in itself helps by enabling a wash of compassion and understanding to heal yourselves and others, as you begin to release judgment about these traits you see in yourselves or others.

And as you release the judgments about these areas of darkness which collect back behind the barn in a little pen of pain, you can begin to envision how these entities of pain prefer to be released into the light once they have completed their mission to teach you and guide you towards better pastures for yourselves.

This answer continues in “Dear Guides” Journal (approx. 4 pages $3). To order or learn more, click the “Dear Guides” button at right.

Channeling (c) 2010 Minda Bernstein
Painting (c) 2010 Julie Bernstein Engelmann

Painting title: Dealing With Heartache 8.14.2010

Dear Guides,

How can I become clear on my mission or purpose in life?

Excerpt from Minda’s channeling on 8.10.2010:

Dear Ones,

You are finding one more way to connect and exercise your link to Spirit with this question. Do not surround the desire to know your purpose with stress and perfectionist attitudes. This is an evolutionary process which you hone repeatedly throughout your life, as different areas come into focus.
. . .

Allow yourself a brainstorming session, or do this with a friend or in a workshop or guided situation.

In order to free your deeper resources and inner guidance, you can let your rational side take a vacation during this time. Let loose with any and every idea that floats past your consciousness. Invoke the aid of your highest guides and higher self, your angels and all of the masters who can come to assist you in this process. Clear your mind, calm your mind, with some meditation or invocation of the rich, peaceful atmosphere which will give you the access to these helpers who long to serve you.
. . .

Ask yourself, “What is important to me? What do I seek to know in this life? . . . What gives me the greatest nourishment? . . . What gives me that fulfilled feeling when I am able to contribute it? What do I wish that I had more of in my life? What makes my life and my spirit more joyful? . . .Where do I love helping people? . . . What are some of the outstanding moments in my life when I felt I was most powerfully aware of my connection to Spirit or God or my inner divine nature?
. . .

Allow yourself the time and distance to look out over this field of delicate plants and see which are turning their faces towards you, which are growing up taller than the others.

This answer continues in “Dear Guides” Journal (approx. 4 pages $3). To order or learn more, click the “Dear Guides” button at right.

Channeling (c) 2010 Minda Bernstein
Painting (c) 2010 Julie Bernstein Engelmann

Painting title: Clarifying My Purpose 8.10.2010

Dear Guides,

Many of us consciously or unconsciously make choices dictated by fear rather than love. How can we help ourselves to live our lives directed by love instead of fear?

Excerpt from Minda’s channeling on 8.3.2010:

Dear Ones,

. . . Know that if you have chosen this task and this challenge - and yes, you have, because you live there - you are capable of succeeding. You will be able to live your lives out of love instead of fear. It is your birthright to allow yourselves to arrive at this state, as you learn to envision it and one piece at a time integrate it into your daily lives, and then into your visions of the future.

Sending out the rays of these visions of love is like sunshine to a weak plant. It nourishes and gives strength, vitality and warmth to the entire planet. When each of you has moments and these accumulate into segments of time, and then into a recurring and finally a stable state of mind, you are contributing in the most powerful way you can imagine to your world.

As you notice, this description sets up the path for you. In the beginning, it takes constant conscious steps and choices to choose love over fear. In every moment when you become aware of your inner state of feelings and mood, allow yourself to develop the habit of assessing where you are on your own inner scale.
. . .
Then ask yourself, “What single task or action could I take that might draw me towards the direction I feel would bring me what I long for? Can I make one choice and then celebrate it, acknowledge the gift it brings me, if it does so?”
. . .
You, yourself, along with your team of guides and angels, are taking charge to increase incrementally the amount of love into your life, which gradually takes the place of the fields of fear which attempt to smother all of your glorious freedom. So intend to create that freedom for yourselves. Bask in any little moment you create for yourself.

This answer continues in “Dear Guides” Journal (approx. 4 pages $3). To order or learn more, click “Dear Guides” button at right.

Channeling (c) 2010 Minda Bernstein
Painting (c) 2010 Julie Bernstein Engelmann

Painting title: Love vs. Fear 8.3.2010

Dear Guides,

I feel the urgency to have a grandchild, yet my son and his wife are waiting for the right circumstances. Spiritually, is it okay for me to visualize, pray or want something for a loved one that they don’t necessarily see for themselves?

Excerpt from Minda’s channeling on 7.27.2010:

Dear Ones,

The winds of desire waft across all of the Earth, and create a beautiful painting of intermingling wishes, wants, needs and goals, like clouds wrapped around the Earth’s atmosphere. At the same time, there is a layer of intermingling fears …
. . .

It is easy for you to become very attached to a vision that you would like to create. You can convince yourselves that a particular set of circumstances will make or break a venture or even a life period.
. . .

[B]e open to the Universe providing you with the opportunities to have a life full of children, given the vast number of possibilities of how that could occur. Which may very well include the grandchildren you desire – but you would not be thwarted in your happiness if the children appeared from another source.

Perhaps in fact it is not children that you wish to have surrounding you, but rather some inner fulfillment that you seek. Perhaps you can ask deeply what it is that you truly long for, that would fill your desire for contribution to your family or your community. Perhaps there is a longing within you to develop your own meaningful activities which would be as compelling as grandchildren. Or perhaps there is a playfulness or child-like nature within you which longs to be expressed.

If you use your energy to discover your inner passion that drives this quest for grandchildren, then you will have more control about how to fulfill this desire … while leaving all of the space in the world to your son and his wife to take full control of the timing that feels right for them, not needing to take into account your own desires.

There is such a beauty in each person creating the atmosphere and stream of light and colors of their own life path.

This answer continues in “Dear Guides” Journal (approx. 4 pages $3). To order or learn more, click “Dear Guides” button at right.

Channeling (c) 2010 Minda Bernstein
Painting (c) 2010 Julie Bernstein Engelmann

Painting title: Wanting Something for a Loved One 7.27.2010

Dear Guides,

People talk about the importance of finding one’s “mission” or “purpose in life.” They claim it is especially vital to do so if one plans on using one’s spiritual insight to earn a living. Can you talk about this from your perspective?

Excerpt from Minda’s channeling on 7.20.2010:

Dear Ones,

A question about mission or purpose is like a question about whether you should wear your glasses or not when you go out into the busy city streets.

. . . Those of you who need this correction for your eyesight will very easily understand how it makes a difference. It is possible to avoid certain major obstacles without your glasses, but it is not nearly as easy to get a complete picture, an overview, advance warning on where things might be moving fast into your visual field which may require some adjustment to avoid collisions, etc.

Understanding your mission can help you to answer questions about priorities that come up constantly in your world. Decision-making becomes much more simple and natural. There are many benefits in terms of how you will draw people and circumstances into your life, because the more you have this purpose on your radar, the more you will envision and create the aspects which will further its realization.

All the parts of the puzzle will begin to assemble, and placing them will become self-evident, pleasurable, the type of challenge you will be eager to dive into.
. . .

If you need or want the money to be coming in through this mission, that is an important facet in that this piece of the puzzle will not readily appear if it is not in your plans, which could have a negative result if you were counting on it.
. . .

There is much to say about [how to define your mission or purpose], but mainly it is left to your own discretion as to what feels whole and complete and, mainly, inspiring to you to live your life on a daily basis in the way that motivates and enriches your spirit and inner being.

This answer continues in “Dear Guides” Journal (approx. 4 pages $3). To order or learn more, click “Dear Guides” button at right.

Channeling (c) 2010 Minda Bernstein
Painting (c) 2010 Julie Bernstein Engelmann

Painting title: Do I Need to Know My Mission? 7.20.2010

Here we are, again a month with a fifth week.

In months with five weeks, on the fifth Thursday there is no channeled blog or Dear Guides Journal. This way subscriptions to Dear Guides Journal are always four to a month.

However, the great news is that people who subscribe to Dear Guides Journal or who are signed up to receive the Beauty & Spirit Note will get a special message e-mailed to them on the fifth Thursday of the month.

Wink wink nod nod, go ahead and sign up! (See sign-up box at right.)

You can view past issues at:
http://www.julieengelmann.com/Beauty&spiritTOC.html

Enjoy!

In the spirit of love,
Minda & Julie

Photo (c) 2010 Amber Engelmann

Dear Guides,

To me, my life feels hard. But compared to others experiencing war, sickness and starvation, it seems easy. Are my struggles as significant spiritually as theirs?

Excerpt from Minda’s channeling on 7.13.2010:

Dear Ones,

. . . It is less a matter of which challenges you face than it is of how you choose to face them. That is where the “significance” comes in. If you can learn to choose peace in your heart when faced with whatever seems challenging that appears in your life, then you are taking the steps you have programmed as challenges for yourself.

The circumstances of the challenges can range from war to internal disruption. There is a vast difference between these in your world to the outer eye, and you can enjoy your gratitude that you are not struggling with the former; but at the same time, you do not need to feel guilty or under-challenged or like you are getting off the hook in this lifetime.

Each soul has certain tasks that you have laid out for yourselves. If you did not require of yourself to face the great worldly outer life-and-death struggles, it does not mean that you have not chosen other equally important inner struggles.
. . .

Let yourself be open to learning from whatever you present yourself with in this lifetime. With the intention to move forward on the path you have set out for yourself, you will be given the opportunity to choose how you do it. Set your sights on destinations before you, and how you want to feel once you arrive. This is a wonderful practice, leaving much room for variety.

It is you, yourself, who will bring the evaluation of your work or accomplishments to the tasks in front of you. None other.

This answer continues in Minda’s “Dear Guides” Journal. For the full channeling, please join “Dear Guides” by clicking button at right.

Channeling (c) 2010 Minda Bernstein
Painting (c) 2010 Julie Bernstein Engelmann

Painting title: “Easy” vs. “Hard” Problems 7.13.2010

Dear Guides,

When my business failed, was it because I didn’t follow my inner guidance; I had a soul lesson to learn, for example about compassion; or I was simply “stupid,” lacking common sense or expertise?

Excerpt from Minda’s channeling on 6.28.2010:

Dear Ones,

You are launching a question that will bring you to the essence of judgment as you can see it from the various sides of the fence.

On your side, you see your lives from your present vantage point. You see things as obvious black and white tones, winning or losing, success or failure. From our side, these things are all nuanced; sometimes they are barely distinguishable from each other.

It is almost as if the gradients of color or definition are so “forced” in your world that they create a whole other set of criteria that adds a layer of intensity, drama, significance to the game of life in which you participate. It does create excitement, color, lots of emotional investment and thrills. It ups the ante and puts you immediately into the thick of the action. That is its main benefit.

From our view, these are the minor details, as if you have many choices and any one will do. Whatever is appealing to you, you will learn the lessons through that medium. If you are committed to experiencing situations which will bring to the fore certain types of challenges in order to round out your soul experience, to strengthen some core learnings or structural weaknesses that you have chosen to deal with in this lifetime, then you can create the situations in many various choices or arenas or situations which will deal with these same issues.

This answer continues in Minda’s “Dear Guides” Journal. For full channeling, please join “Dear Guides” by clicking button at right.

Channeling (c) 2010 Minda Bernstein

Painting (c) 2010 Julie Bernstein Engelmann
Painting title: Why Do We Fail? 6.28.2010

Dear Guides,

When we review our life from the other worlds after we die, what will we consider our successes, and what will we deem we could have done better?

Excerpt from Minda’s channeling on 6.21.2010:

Dear Ones,

We love you jumping to the heart of the question! If you can grasp the perspective which you will have in your review position after death and implement it during your lives, you will give yourself the gift of always jumping to the heart of the issue in this manner.

This is the kind of perspective which we are constantly striving to share with you, and the more you can adopt this in your everyday thinking and decision-making, the more clearly you are in tune with the choices you set out for yourselves before you came into this life.

And then, as a consequence, you will be more happy with the results when you review, seeing the many times you “hit the nail on the head” and satisfied the exercises which you wished to master in this life.

How to describe this process? It is like you set up a certain obstacle course that you thought would be fun and a learning experience for your soul. You knew, as a result of counsel and review of other lives, the areas where you were soft or unformed or missing a substantial piece.

. . .

Similarly, you looked at your soul shape and saw the areas which you considered as missing some attention, strength, support, muscle, structure. You can choose any of a myriad of words to describe this.

But if you imagine this visual description we have made above, you see that it is not a question of judgment, of saying, “Gee, you are really weak in this area!” and being condemning towards yourself or another. You would simply say, “Oh, I notice a spot which needs support. Add that to the list of challenges I’d like to work on next time around.”

This answer continues in Minda’s “Dear Guides” Journal. For full channeling, please join “Dear Guides” by clicking button at right.

Channeling (c) 2010 Minda Bernstein
Painting (c) 2010 Julie Bernstein Engelmann

Painting title: Viewing Our Life From Beyond 6.21.2010