“5 Days to a Clutter-Free House,” by Sandra Felton and Marsha Sims

Are your tired of tripping over clutter on the floor? Is your office, bedroom or basement starting to look like you could qualify for an episode of “Hoarders”? Then we found the book for you!

In “5 Days to a Clutter-Free House: Quick, Easy Ways to Clear Up Your Space,” authors Sandra Felton and Marsha Sims offer an easy-to-follow outline for clearing the clutter from your life, home, office and more.

One of the basic tips we love is the “toe-to-head approach,” which uses the human body as a guide. It starts by clearing clutter residing from the feet to the knee, and goes up the body to a new section each day. Instead of feeling overwhelmed by your floor to ceiling stashes of stuff, this approach focuses one section at a time.

The authors lay out a 5-day game plan, including how to assemble a team to help; tips for before, during and after the process; lists of items needed to clear the clutter away for good; and examples of others who successful followed the plan.

It’s a no-nonsense, clutter-busting plan that can help even the messiest of spaces!

Exclusive Coverage: Hay House I Can Do It Ignite NYC Part 1

In mid-February, Hay House I Can Do It Ignite came to New York City and the Javits Center for a weekend of inspiration and advice from bestselling and brand new authors in the spiritual and self-improvement field.

From a mob daughter who shared her story of a life filled with anxiety, stress and shame, and a man who discovered the power of social media through a video that went viral after United Airlines broke his guitar, to a woman’s miraculous recovery from terminal cancer after the doctor’s gave her hours to live, the two-day event brought laughter, tears and inspiration to all who attended.

Kicking off the weekend was best-selling author Dr. Wayne Dyer, who explained to the audience the greatest gift they possess when it comes to attracting their desires is the power of imagination. In his book, “Wishes Fulfilled,” Dyer explains how to tap into the manifesting power within us.

“The No. 1 principle is that if you would like to be able to create something, you must first be able to imagine it, because everything that is created is first imagined,” said Dyer.

He also brought new author of the book “Dying to be Me: My Journey From Cancer, to Near Death, to True Healing,” Anita Moorjani to the stage, who spoke later in her own segment about recovering from cancer after a near-death experience. Moorjani had been suffering from cancer for four years, and had tumors “the size of lemons” in her lymphatic system. On February 2, 2006, she slipped into a coma, and doctor’s told her family she was in her final hours and would not come out of it.

“I didn’t know I was in a coma,” she told the audience. “I was aware of what my family was doing, but also what they were feeling. I felt so incredible – like my energy, soul and essence expanded, and it went outside the room.”

She explained how she was able to become aware of her brother who was in another country and frantically packing to get on a flight and see her in the hospital. She was pain free, and all of her fear was gone.

“I felt free, and I felt connected to everyone around me,” she told the audience. “I felt unconditional love bigger than anything I had ever felt.”

She encountered the essence of her father, who had passed away years before, and felt love from him, despite them not getting along when he was alive in physical form. In the realm she was in at the time, there was no time and space, and she remembered being aware of her brother in India, her father in spirit form, and her mother at her bedside in the hospital room simultaneously.

“I had incredible clarity, and realized why I had the cancer and why every decision in my life had led me to that hospital bed, dying,” she shared.

She was given a choice whether she wanted to stay where she was or go back to her physical body, and she admits she did not want to go back. But her father told her it was not yet her time and she needed to go back. After making the decision, she remembers opening her eyes to the hospital room, and although she was very weak, she started to talk to her family and tell them what happened.

Within four days, her tumors shrunk by 70 percent, and the huge open lesions she had on her body – which the doctors told her would require surgery – began to heal on their own within three weeks.

“Within weeks they could not find a trace of cancer anywhere in my body at all,” she said.

Moorjani shared a few of the lessons she learned in the other realm with the audience, including self-love, and the importance of removing fear. “It is really, really important to love yourself. If you don’t you can’t love anyone else. You can’t give what you don’t have,” she said. “If you fill yourself up first, giving yourself joy, you will be the most joyous to be around and you will love people unconditionally without even trying.”

She also lost her fear of dying through her near-death experience, which helped her to now live her life more fearlessly. “Where there is love, there is no room for fear. The more you love yourself, the less you will be fearful. Fear doesn’t keep you safe. Love keeps you safe,” said Moorjani.

Life is a gift, and it should be lived like a gift every single day, she told the audience. We should all wake up every day and ask ourselves what would bring us joy. For those who have lost loved ones, we need to know they are fine, blessed and still around us, and they do try to communicate with us. But most importantly, they want us to be happy.

“Nobody leaves before their time,” she said. “My only purpose and your only purpose is to be who you are. We make life really complicated, but you don’t have to work hard at anything. Love yourself enough to be who you are and when you are unafraid to be who you are, whatever is yours will come to you.”

Doreen Vritue & the Angels
Another best-selling author, Doreen Virtue, took the stage after Dyer to help the audience discover the help, healing and guidance available from the angels – who are non-denominational, celestial beings that we all have around us at all times whether we believe it or not, she said.

“We have all these friends in high places, literally, who don’t want anything in return from us,” Virtue told the audience. “We may believe in angels, but a lot of us don’t realize they want to help us with even the small day-to-day things, like getting a parking place.”

She explained we are all “earth angels” here to help one another as well, and this is something we all agreed to before coming here. The purpose of earth angels is often to carry out the messages from the angels when people are not tuned in to listening themselves.

“Angels want to hook you up to your higher will, and sometimes the answers have nothing to do with what we are praying for,” she said explaining how many people are now getting clear signs and messages it is time to change their diet and lifestyle.

“Every time someone gets the message to change their diet or make a lifestyle change, such as start yoga or exercise, these messages are about tuning the piano so you can hear the messages from back home – the angels,” said Virtue.

She told the audience the veil has been thinning between our physical world and the non-physical world, and more of us are opening up to the truth of who we are and what our purpose is in this life. Additionally, Virtue spoke of the worry around money, explaining it is only energy and something we can manifest, but the key is to keep our energy high.

“They key to manifestation is to have higher energy levels,” she said. “This is why the angels get on you about your lifestyle.”

Many people wonder how to stay positive when they see negative situations around them and in the world, and Virtue explained if we want to manifest positive, we must stay in that space no matter what.

“We think if we anticipate problems it will protect us, but when you anticipate problems you attract problems,” she told the audience. “We procrastinate with our purpose because we want to know the ‘how,’ but sometimes it’s better not to know because we often think we won’t be able to handle it. But once we are in it, we are always able to handle it.”

Virtue also spoke about her newest book, “Mary Queen of Angels,” explaining it looks at Mother Mary outside of the religion she is associated with, but as a non-denominational being like the angels.

“Just like the angels, you don’t have to go to church or temple. Mother Mary loves you unconditionally, and what she does is open your heart,” said Virtue. “Any time you are stressed all you have to do is close your eyes and say a prayer.”

Ending her time on stage, she asked those who have awoken to the true essence of who they are to embrace it, and work to help others remember the same. “You are all here with gifts to help sleeping brothers and sisters who forgot who they are,” she said. “The bigger your purpose, the bigger your ego, and the louder the fear you have. But know your life purpose fits you perfectly, and it’s something you are passionate about.”

Read Part 2 of our coverage, featuring The Daily Love’s Mastin Kipp and new author Michael Eisen!

3 Truths All Heartrepreneurs Needs To Know

By Keri Nola, MA, LMHC

As a conscious, heart-centered entrepreneur, aka “Heartrepreneur,” I used to struggle to find a marketing plan that resonated with my values and kept me from feeling like a slimy salesperson.  Can you relate?

I used to wonder if I would ever be able to share my divine gifts with the world in a way that felt transparent and heartfelt rather than guarded and masked in inauthentic advertisement. Over the past several years, I have managed to build a prosperous healing practice that supports me abundantly not only financially, but emotionally, mentally, and spiritually as well. I have tried numerous approaches, studied with several conscious mentors and created a business building tool box that doesn’t require me to compromise my principles.

Today, I’d like to share with you a few of the heart-centered truths of business building I’ve discovered so you too can grow your business with ease.

Truth # 1: When people know you and like you, they are more willing to buy your products and services, and refer others to do the same. When you are so caught up in “selling” your products and services, you miss the opportunity to create authentic relationships, which are actually the key to selling what you have to offer.

Look for opportunities to connect with your target audience that help them get to know you better — offer free tips, videos, audios, e-books, trainings, and/or teleseminars, and give people a chance to experience the gifts you have to share. When you are known and liked, your products and services sell themselves and you are then freed up to just be YOU and do what you do best — create your products and services!

Truth #2: Consider what you can give before being concerned with what you can get. The truth is, giving is getting. It’s the good ol’ adage that what we give to others comes back to us multiplied, and I have found this to be absolutely true in heart-centered business building.

When working to build relationships with potential clients, customers, and/or referral sources, Heartrepreneurs know it’s about building a mutually beneficial partnership that involves asking others how you can support them and trusting the universe will honor your giving spirit with abundance in return.

It’s also helpful to remember you may not receive in the same places you give and/or you may not see a return on an investment right away. When you come from a spirit of giving, receiving is never far away.

Truth #3: Collaboration takes you a lot farther than competition. There are plenty of people who need what you have to offer. Competition is a harmful mindset of lack based in the fear there isn’t enough to go around. The truth is there is more than enough for everyone, and when you learn to connect with colleagues, customers and clients from a heart-centered space, you will welcome the abundance you deserve and desire.

Consider connecting with other professionals who may have contact with your target audience and discover ways you can support one another — team up for a joint venture, create a referral program, brainstorm ideas together. There is only one YOU and no one can create a product or facilitate an experience the way YOU can. Allow yourself to reconnect with the truth of your uniqueness to make room for partnerships and connections with others for support.

Are you in alignment with your truth? Making a few small shifts in your perspective, can welcome infinitely fulfilling changes in the way you experience and expand your business. Give yourself permission to try something new today and be curious about the benefits you will notice.

Have you signed up for our FREE monthly e-newsletter yet? We bring you advice from today’s top authors, and the best in spiritual and self-improvement — sign up now for FREE!

Author of “A Year on Your Path to Growth: Daily Inspiration to Reconnect With Your Soul,” and “44 Holistic Tips for Peaceful Sleep,” Keri Nola is a highly regarded psychotherapist, and Founder of Path To Growth LLC, an integrative healing center based in Central Florida. She combines traditional and holistic techniques to create products and experiences that help people access their inner wisdom and create a healthy mind, body and spirit to live their most inspired lives. Her real life experience paired with her extensive education and work background makes her a compassionate, balanced, and sought-after professional in the areas of personal and spiritual growth and development. For more information, visit www.pathtogrowth.com; follow Keri on Twitter @PathtoGrowth; or on Facebook

Mirror, Mirror: The Shadow Self & Dating

By Amy Leigh Mercree

Many of us on a spiritual path focus on living love and forgiveness as best as we can, but we run into some issues with standing up for ourselves. We know forgiving is best for the soul. But what if your ex cheated and fathered several kids (not with you) while you were together? What if your current girlfriend makes fun of you in front of her friends? When do we put on the boxing gloves and stand up for ourselves? And if we do, are we still spiritual people?

Living love is a journey ripe with growth in each moment. We try our hardest to forgive. We mediate to be more Zen when someone cuts us in line. But we live in a dualistic world. One where everything exists – from the most joyous and light filled to the darkest and most dense.

We are all forever seeking balance in our own ways, and our world offers us an amazing array of mirrors for the parts of our selves we don’t like or feel uncomfortable about. But we can take the reigns and integrate those parts of ourselves so they don’t show up as people in our lives who push our buttons – and especially so they don’t show up as our spouses or dates.

Understanding the Shadow
Your “shadow” self is the part of you that stays hidden away for nobody to see. Occasionally, you might catch a glimpse of it, in a moment of partially suppressed rage, or stark loneliness. The shadow is a very personal aspect of the total self. It’s everything you find unpalatable, unattractive or socially unacceptable that is a part of you no matter how deeply it is buried within.

Your shadow can be scary, for it contains all that you fear, especially about yourself – your inner malice, manipulations, jealousy, envy and madness. It’s the sad little child hiding in the corner after being rejected, and it’s the bully on the playground who terrorizes others. It’s the power hungry monster within, and it’s the helpless supplicant victim. Your shadow is everything you can’t control – your very own, personal inner chaos.

Gaia, the earth mother, saw beauty and potential on this planet orbiting our sun, and she made it her home. Out of the prehistoric chaos of volcanic eruptions and earthquakes, peppered with almost constant meteor showers, life was born. In coming here, she was aware of the struggle for balance that would occur, as this is natural law.

As her children, before incarnating here, we too were aware of the beauty of balance, of light and dark, of the beautiful dance, whose essence is chaos. As the reflections of Gaia, we all dance the sacred dance to manifest balance, no matter how we incarnate.

When we bury, or repress aspects of ourselves, they will manifest or “act out” like wayward children. This can occur on many levels. For example, our shadows can manifest in the form of other people who wrong us, as they hold up a mirror to help us more clearly see ourselves.

As beings gaining cosmic consciousness at a critical time in the planets evolution, an opportunity exists to take responsibility for our shadows. This means integrating our own personal shadows to the best of our abilities so less energy is available for manifestations of darkness.

In the constant movement towards balance, if there is less repressed shadow energy being held by the beings of the earth, then there is less of a need for events and situations we cannot ignore, to make us stand, and take notice of our shadows. Doing this integrative work raises vibration on an individual level, and raises the vibration of the planet.

Here is an exercise to help integrate your shadow:

Shadow Integration Activity
Gather your courage and faith around you like a sky blanket, and use this process to integrate your own shadow only. This is individual work that is best done consciously. Do not do this for others, as they too must take responsibility for their shadow selves.

Go within your heart space, and see yourself standing in a temple at the center of your heart chamber. Notice the surroundings, and walk over to the alter in the center of the temple. If it is bare, cover it with things that bring you joy, such as flowers, tropical fruits, minerals, pictures, artwork, statues of deities or songs.

Then stand tall, proud and strong. Raise your spirit arms above your head in the temple as you stand physically at home or out in nature and do the same. Speak the following out loud with clarity of intention.

“I call all aspects of my Self to the center of my heart chamber. All are welcome in the temple, You will be received with love. My shadow, hear my call. It is time to integrate shadow self, shadow self, shadow self.”

See your shadow stand before you in the center of your heart temple. Do not judge it.

Look it straight in the eye. Know it. Feel white light or love emanate from your spirit self, and from your hands and heart and eyes. Love your shadow.

Allow balance to enter your soul structure and permeate your being. Offer your shadow a home in your heart temple. Perceive the wholeness that stems from shadow integration. Feel the oneness in welcoming all that you are into the center of the temple of your heart.

Use this process as often as you would like. Know you have made a difference in the world by the responsibility you took, and the light you magnetized. Your relationships will be lighter and you will have no need to bring mirrors of your shadow into your life as dates.

Amy Leigh Mercree is an expert dating & relationship coach, entrepreneur, adventure guide and author of “The Spiritual Girl’s Guide to Dating: Your Enlightened Path to Love, Sex, and Soul Mates.” Visit her adventure travel site, www.LoveSeaVacations.com for eco & dolphin travel fun and visit www.SpiritualGirlsGuide.com for your complete conscious dater’s toolkit. Follow her on Twitter: @AmyLeighMercree

 

Gabrielle Bernstein’s Miracle Mindset Tips

Bestselling author Gabrielle Bernstein’s new book, “May Cause Miracles: A 40-Day Guidebook of Subtle Shifts for Radical Change and Unlimited Happiness,” offers readers a guide to create a miracle mindset. In the March 2013 cover story, she goes into detail about the book, its principles, which are based on “A Course in Miracles,” and how to retrain the mind from a thought system based on fear to one based on love.

In the Q&A below, Elevated Existence asked her to share a few quick tips our readers can use to navigate the path from fear to love.

EE: The foundation of your work is checking in with our intuition or “ing” to help guide us on our path. How can people begin to utilize this guidance on a day-to-day basis?

Bernstein: Once you connect to your intuition, it’s really just a matter of saying ‘yes’ to it. That is really the best way to use it – just say ‘yes.’ Once you start to know what your intuition sounds like, feels like and how you are connected to it, and what kinds of messages you receive, then the only thing you need to do with it is to take action with it.

The worst is when you tap into your intuition, but then you don’t listen to it. That happens a lot. People second guess it or deny it. It’s a practice to become really faithful to that voice, and the more you practice the principles of “A Course in Miracles,” or any spiritual text to guide you, the more you learn to trust that voice, and the more you know when it’s there. You get to the point that you just can’t deny it anymore.

EE: Many people are running negative patterns in their minds and they are not aware of it. Then they question why they are not manifesting or not happy. What is the first step to shift out of the pattern of fear to one of love?

Bernstein: It’s really a matter of becoming the witness to what is going on, and then having the willingness to change it. It’s the practice of becoming the witness, becoming willing, and then releasing. The first step is to write it down. ‘I thought this. It made me feel this. It made me experience this.’ Write it out because then you are witnessing it.

Then you say a prayer and set your intention. The intention is simply saying, ‘I am willing to see this differently.’ Then continue that affirmation whenever you see fear coming up, and pay attention to what comes up as a result. What opportunities come up for you? What resources come up for you? Then act on them.

EE: What tip or practices can they use to keep them on the path?

Bernstein: Every single day continue to pray for the willingness to change. I still do it every day. ‘I’m willing to see whatever I need to see differently. I’m willing to see love instead of fear. Show me what to do. What miracles would you have me perform today?’ Just keep that openness and that willingness at the forefront, and just be an open door that says, ‘Where do I go?’ That is one of the most valuable things we can do.

For more from Bernstein, see our March 2013 issue! 

May Cause Miracles Live Seminar: Week 5

Gabrielle Bernstein is our March 2013 issue cover story! See what’s in the new issue!

 

In week 5 of the book “May Cause Miracles: A 40-Day Guidebook of Subtle Shifts for Radical Change and Unlimited Happiness,” Gabrielle Bernstein focuses on using the principles of “A Course in Miracles,” when it comes to money and finances. During her live seminar, she explained growing up in an affluent town, but in a home that had a lack mentality.

“When I was 21 – even before I was using these tools – I had a quantum shift in my thinking,” she shared. “I made a commitment I would figure out a way to make money, and ever since that day I have never had a fear of money. There were months when I was waiting for a paycheck to come in, and it would go right back out, but I never had the fear.”

When it comes to raising our net worth, we need to begin by raising our self worth, said Bernstein. “The biggest shift for me was the more I earn, the more I can support myself, and the more I can give,” she told the audience. “It’s the decision-making process internally that needs to change for your net worth to catch up to your self-worth.”

Many of us think we are worth a certain amount of money, such as a yearly salary, but we need to think far beyond that number, she said. We also need to move past the mindset of, ‘How dare I ask for more?” and “I’m not worthy of making money.” This is the voice of our ego, blocking abundance from flowing to us.

In the book she outlines a number of “ego tricks” when it comes to money, and went over a few during the live seminar. One example is the ego has a lack mentality. It looks at the current economy and convinces us we will never get a raise in a recession, or that we will never be able to afford the things we want.

“There is a financial blueprint that has been running your life,” said Bernstein. “This week is about going deep and clarifying the story that is keeping you stuck where you are financially. It’s about seeing where the ego has you in a headlock, and how it has kept you in a blueprint that has been holding you back for decades.”

A New Blueprint
Bernstein ends the introduction to this week in the book by asking readers, “Are you committed to releasing your fears and creating a new financial blueprint?”

Like all of the previous weeks, this one begins by taking the stance of the witness to look at our financial fears head on and identify the story we created around money. The affirmation for the first day is “I am not my lack mentality.”

“These practices get to the core of the problem and we need to heal that root cause,” said Bernstein. “We start by looking at where we are and then we make the conscious shift.”

The second day moves into willingness, with “I am willing to change my inner dialogue about my finances,” as the affirmation to take with us throughout the day. These affirmations help us detach from the fear that is holding us back, Bernstein told the audience.

“When you stare at the debt then you live in the debt. But when you stare at what you do have – ‘I can pay X amount towards the debt,’ or ‘I have a check coming in,’ or ‘I have food on the table,’ that is a different vibe. And gratitude plays a major role in that.

Using both gratitude and forgiveness moves readers through the week, and into a new perception of their financial situation and their financial future. We use gratitude by focusing on what we have, and being grateful for whatever that may be, and forgiveness comes into play by forgiving ourselves for choosing wrongly in the past.

“Your net worth is tied directly to your self-worth, and this work is cleaning up the root and core of the condition,” said Bernstein.

Read our coverage of “May Cause Miracles Live Seminar Week 4.”

Read our coverage of “May Cause Miracles Live Seminar Week 3.

Read our coverage of “May Cause Miracles Live Seminar Week 2.”

Read our coverage of “May Cause Miracles Live Seminar Week 1.”

For more on Bernstein, her books and her work, visit www.gabby.tv.