VIDEO: How to Create a Spiritual Evening Routine

Do you have practices or rituals to wind down from your day and reconnect with Spirit?

Are you able to fall asleep peacefully and feeling good?

If not, creating a spiritual evening routine can help. It doesn’t have to take a lot of time, and there are very easy practices you can choose from to create your own spiritual evening routine.

In this video, I share a number of options you can choose from to craft (or update) your own evening routine — whether it takes 5, 15 or 50 minutes. It’s up to you!

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Watch Tammy’s advice on creating a spiritual morning routine (and access a PDF featuring the morning routines of top authors and experts) here.

Get early access to Tammy’s weekly videos by subscribing to the YouTube channel here.

Learning Self Love: Louise Hay Mirror Work

For nearly 40 years, Louise Hay has been teaching others about healing, the power of affirmations and learning to love themselves. One of the modalities she is famous for is her mirror work.

In her newest book, “Mirror Work: 21 Days to Heal Your Life,” she walks readers through 21 exercise to heal their lives and help them tap into self love.

Each day, Hay presents a different theme, a Mirror Work Exercise, a Journaling Exercise and a Heart Thought to support the reader throughout the day. There is also a meditation each day that can be read from the book or downloaded in an audio format.

“Each day that you practice this new way of thinking about yourself and about life will help erase the old, negative messages you have been carrying for so long,” Hay says in the book. “Soon you will be smiling more and finding it easier to look in the mirror. Soon the affirmations will start to feel true.”

The below adaptation is taken from the Welcome chapter, including an exercise from Day 1:

 

Louise-Hay-Mirror-workMirror work — looking yourself deeply into your eyes and repeating affirmations — is the most effective method I’ve found for learning to love yourself and see the world as a safe and loving place. I have been teaching people how to do mirror work for as long as I have been doing? affirmations. Put simply, whatever we say or think is an affirmation. All of your self-talk, the dialogue in your head, is a stream of affirmations. These affirmations are messages to your subconscious that are? establishing habitual ways of thinking and behaving. Positive affirmations plant healing thoughts and ideas that support you in developing self-confidence and self-esteem, and creating peace of mind and inner joy.

The most powerful affirmations are those you say out loud when you are in front of your mirror. The mirror reflects back to you the feelings you have about yourself. It makes you immediately aware of where you are resisting and where you are open and flowing. It clearly shows you what thoughts you will need to change if you want to have a joyous, fulfilling life.

As you learn to do mirror work, you will become much more aware of the words you say and the things you do. You will learn to take care of yourself on a deeper level than you have done before. When something good happens in your life, you can go to the mirror and say, “Thank you, thank you. That’s terrific! Thank you for doing this.” If something bad happens to you, you can go to the mirror and say, “Okay, I love you. This thing that just happened will pass but I love you, and that’s forever.”

For most of us, sitting in front of a mirror and facing ourselves is difficult at first, so we call this process mirror work. But as you continue, you become less self-critical, and the work turns into mirror play. Very soon your mirror becomes your companion, a dear friend instead of an enemy.

Doing mirror work is one of the most loving gifts you can give yourself. It takes only a second to say, “Hi, kid,” or “Looking good,” or “Isn’t this fun?” It’s so important to give yourself little positive messages throughout the day. The more you use mirrors for complimenting yourself, approving of yourself, and supporting yourself during difficult times, the deeper and more enjoyable your relationship with yourself will become…

Your Day 1 Mirror Work Exercise

  1. Stand or sit in front of your bathroom mirror.
  2. Look into your eyes.
  3. Take a deep breath and say this affirmation: “I want to like you. I want to really learn to love you. Let’s go for it and really have some fun.”
  4. Take another deep breath and say: “I’m learning to really like you. I’m learning to really love you.”
  5. This is the first exercise, and I know it can be a little challenging, but please stay with it. Keep taking deep breaths. Look into your eyes. Use your own name as you say I’m willing to learn to love you, [Name]. I’m willing to learn to love you.
  6. Throughout the day, each time you pass a mirror or see your reflection, please repeat these affirmations, even if you have to do it silently.

Reprinted as an adaptation from “Mirror Work: 21 Days to Heal Your Life,” by Louise Hay with permission from the publisher, Hay House Inc., Copyright © 2016

 

The Art of Manifestation

By Sherry Winn

Many people ask me about how to manifest their desires. They want a simple formula. Something they can do a single time and get instantaneous results. Imagine doing something just one time and being an expert. Wouldn’t that be awesome?

In the 23 years I was a collegiate basketball coach, we never practiced one time and then thought we were prepared to play a game. We created what we wanted by continually practicing, revising and testing our skills. It was an ongoing process to become a good team.

Every year I coached, I learned something new that enhanced my ability. I became more effective and efficient because I had enhanced my skills through repetition and research.

Manifesting your dreams is a process. It requires awareness and the desire to improve who you are.

You might have been practicing manifesting for years without awareness because you allowed your thoughts to think you rather than being in control of your thoughts. Maybe you created unwanted circumstances or people in your life by putting all your energy into what you did not want. Maybe you manifested dis-ease because you put too much energy into guilt or shame. Maybe you formed a life of continual challenges because you believed there was no gain without pain.

Now that you are aware energy goes where attention flows, you can begin to practice where you put your attention. This requires effort. Thoughts flow through us quickly and many times these are thoughts we have practiced thinking, which means we have to develop a new habit of thinking different thoughts.

For example, if you believed there was no gain without pain, and you told yourself that message 30 times a day for 5 years, you would have lodged that thought pattern into your brain 54,650 times. In order to change the neural networks you have created through repetition, you replace your no gain, no pain thought with another thought. Instead of believing gain is associated with pain, you shift your belief system to the idea that goals are attained through sustained attention and right action. Pain does not need to be part of the process.

How do you practice manifesting?

1.  Take the time to become aware of your thoughts. Write down your 10 biggest beliefs and then list how those beliefs are serving you. If your beliefs are not serving you, it is time to change them.

2.  Read personal development books that focus on the positive.

3.  Use your car as a library. When you get in your car, commit to listening to 10-15 minutes of an audio book that will help you grow.

4.  Meditate daily. This is huge. Meditation opens your awareness and it allows you to practice letting go of unwanted thoughts.

5.  Assign one notebook to your goals. Fold the page in half at the midline. Every day write down five goals written in terms of affirmations (as if the goal has already occurred) on one half of the page. On the other half of the page, write down what beliefs are preventing you from achieving your goals.

6.  Note the beliefs you have that are preventing you from achieving your goals. Work on changing those beliefs.

7.  Repeat your affirmations throughout the day. See the affirmations in your head. Act as if you are already living your dreams.

By practicing to manifest your dreams, you not only receive what you want, you enhance who you are. This is the true practice of manifestation — the process of becoming wiser, more joyful, happier, more loving and kind. Once you become who you want to be, you attract more of what you want.

Sherry Winn is an author, EFT Practitioner, Certified Law of Attraction and Master Life Coach and a motivational speaker, whose topics include “Making the Impossible Possible,” “Loving Challenges,” and “Catching Your Dreams.” As a former elite athlete competing at the Olympic Games in 1984 and 1988 in the sport of team handball and head collegiate coach for 23 years, she possesses a deep passion for helping others become motivated to reach their highest levels of success.

Winn overcame her fears and limitations when she contracted chronic pain at the age of 33 and was told by 17 different medical professionals there was no answer. Through books, meditation, mentors and Webinars, she discovered the power of healing through positive thinking. 

To receive a free 50-minute Law of Attraction coaching session, or more information about Winn, she can be contacted by email at sherrymwinn@gmail.com, through her website at www.ucancreatesuccess.com or on Facebook.

Editor’s Advice: A New Approach to Problems

When a problem or issue arises for you, do you fly into a panic thinking, “Oh no! Why me! I can’t take one more thing today!” or do you have faith in the universe to help you solve it?

For many of us, the bigger the problem, the bigger the panic — and let’s face it, that approach just doesn’t work that well.

Recently, I was driving to visit a friend, and I often listen to workshops or talks by one of my favorite authors when I’m in the car. This is usually when I review new recordings for Elevated Existence too!

This time it was Louise Hay, and her CD “Embracing Change: Using the Treasures Within You,” which was taped during a live talk a few years back in Italy.

As I was listening to her talk about her life, and how she learned to handle change, she shared her approach to problems that arise in business and her personal life, and when she listed the affirmations she used . . . well as soon as I arrived at my friend’s house I hit the back button on the player and typed them down into the note section of my phone!

Now, I want to share them with you!

Louise Hay said when she is faced with a problem, she says to herself:

     “All is well. Everything is working out for my highest good.
      Out of this situation, only good will come. I am safe.”

I believe there are NO accidents in life, and the universe always has our back — even when it doesn’t seem like it at the time. But when something pops up suddenly, I still need to take a minute and remind myself it will all be O.K. I need to remember the universe is leading me where I need to go, and that I will end up exactly where I am meant to be. And these affirmations are the perfect tool to use!

I like to close my eyes, take a deep breath and repeat the affirmations. It calms me down, centers me, and affirms to the universe or God that I know I am being guided and that all will work out well.

In this crazy, hectic holiday season, problems often arise, our stress is high, and we often forget to take a minute and remind ourselves it will all be O.K. Take a minute and type this affirmation into your phone, so you always have it available when you need it!

Wishing you all a happy, healthy holiday season, and blessed New Year!

Tammy_Mastroberte_headshotTammy Mastroberte is a three-time, award-winning writer, founder of Elevated Existence, and publisher and editorial director of the multi-award-winning Elevated Existence Magazine. She started the new age, spiritual and self-improvement publication at age 30 – eight years after the sudden death of her mother from a brain aneurysm only three days after Christmas in 1999. This tragedy led her down a synchronistic path to discover her purpose and the meaning behind many of the events in her life – including her mother’s death. She now shares her guidance, and the wisdom of today’s top authors and spiritual celebrities through Elevated Existence Magazine. Follow her on Twitter: @ElevatedTammy or on Instagram: elevatedtammy. For more information, visit www.tammymastroberte.com.

 

 

How to Use Affirmations with Success

By Keri Nola, MA, LMHC

Affirmations are statements generally used to confirm something’s truth. When used correctly, they can be powerful tools to assist in transforming circumstances and experiences into abundant realities. When used incorrectly, they can prove to be frustrating and unsuccessful. If you have been drawn to using affirmations but have not found them to be helpful, let me introduce you to a process I have developed called: Evolutionary Affirmations, designed to meet you right where you are and support you in moving forward with ease.

After working unsuccessfully with affirmations for years, I decided to discover the pitfalls and create my own model, which I am happy to say has been working for me and others successfully! As I mentioned above, Evolutionary Affirmations are designed to meet you right where you are with compassion and serve as a stepping stone to help you travel to where you want to be.

When we attempt to affirm something that is not believable to us, we actually create more internal conflict and disconnect from welcoming that which we desire. For example, if you want to affirm your beauty, but currently feel ugly and struggle with your body image, saying “I’m beautiful” a thousand times a day will only be annoying and conflicting to what you believe to be true.

An alternative would be to gently acknowledge where you are and develop a statement that meets you there rather than trying to be somewhere you are not.

The following prompts serve as sentence stems to build affirmations that resonate with you:

—        I am curious about…

—        I am willing to learn…

—        I am learning…

—        I am…

For example, if you want to affirm your beauty, but are not currently feeling very beautiful, you would first spend some time working with the initial affirmation prompt, “I am curious about my beauty.” Take as much time as you need stating this affirmation and as you feel ready, you can move into using the next one, “I am willing to learn I am beautiful.” As this one feels true, you can move to the next, “I am learning I am beautiful,” and lastly affirming, “I am beautiful.”

You may spend days, weeks, months, or even years working with each step. Affirmations are most helpful when they are believable and worked with consistently. Remember to honor yourself and do not rush the process and you can empower yourself to welcome what you deserve and desire!

Keri Nola is author of “A Year on Your Path to Growth: Daily Inspirations to Reconnect with Your Soul,” and founder of Path to Growth LLC, a Central Florida-based integrative healing center that blends traditional and holistic techniques for journeys to peace. As a Licensed Mental Health Counselor, Nola provides psychotherapy and facilitates therapeutic retreats for those seeking to reconnect with their inner wisdom, particularly after trauma or loss. She also offers heart-inspired business consultations for healthcare professionals. For more information visit www.pathtogrowth.com, on Facebook and Twitter @pathtogrowth.

NOTE: Picture of Keri Nola by Monica Alfonso