I was blog surfing the other morning and visited “Awake is Good“.  Jan shared a story which tugged at my heart, about a little girl whose icecream fell off her cone and the response from her parents was verbal and emotional abuse.  Jan’s response was so compassionate and filled with unconditional love … she asked angels to walk with the little girl, to keep her safe and protected and loved, not just for the immediate period after the incident, but throughout her life.

How often have you done something which would have been considered a ‘poor choice’ by those around you, and then been ‘reprimanded’ or ‘humiliated’ for it?  I have had that experience many times.  In fact, after another bout of ’soul searching’ with David over the weekend, I realised that so much of my grieving process involves reliving exactly those kinds of experiences.

One of the things I have really been struggling with since Dad died is the revisiting of the life we had before leaving to live overseas … David and I moved when we were pregnant with Daniel, to the US, for a 3 year contract.  It was only after we left Australia that I realised how toxic life was for me, living caught up in a dysfunctional family.  Now, it’s like I am stuck in an eddying back water, reliving all the issues I have faced since coming into this world.  Jan summed up my experiences when she shared her feelings that the little girl with the ‘broken’ icecream was verbally and emotionally abused.

These days, Angels are such a part of my life that I don’t always realise how much I talk with them and rely on them.  In fact, I recall someone telling me that they always ask the Angels for help, talk to them everyday, and make time to be with them … I was so blown away because I thought I didn’t do any of that, to that degree.  I laughed when I realised that I do all of that, too, but it’s so much a part of who I am and what I do that I don’t have to consciously make “Angel Time” a priority each day.

When I pass a broken-down car on the side of the road, I always ask the Angels to assist.  When I am sitting huddled in the corner of my bedroom, grieving, I ask the Angels to be with me.  When my kids are out and about, especially when they are away from me, I ask the Angels to keep them safe.  Angels allow me to exist in a space where I firmly believe, and accept, that I can Be All That I Can Be … the times I doubt that, those times when my early conditioning and treatment are having the highest impact on me, are the times when I forget to connect with Angel Energy and Love.  Those are very sad times.  I am So Glad that my ‘career’ path involves living and working with Angels because the ‘other’ part of my life, the grieving part, really sucks.

Today, make a point of asking the Angels to help with whatever you are doing.  Remember to connect with your Source of Unconditional Love and Share the JOY with whomever you meet. 

Thanks for the reminder, Jan!

Today is one of those amazing days where I can indulge in things I LOVE.  I LOVE Stampin’ Up!  I LOVE Angel Events! 

I copied this cute card from the Summer Mini Catalog – Gosh, there are so many great ideas in our catalogs!  I confess to this design ‘doing my head in’, a bit, to start with but I love the end result.  I sent it off to Lovely Jenny who has just signed her first Stampin’ Recruit.  YAY! 

There are lots of things I love about Stampin’ Up!  One which fits really well with attending Angel Lunch, today, is the fabulous energy which ‘pops’ out of the box when I open product I’ve ordered.  I find a HUGE SMILE crossing my face whenever a box arrives from Stampin’ Up!  Being ‘energy sensitive’, I LOVE finding Great Energy to bask in.  It’s really obvious when I receive mail from someone in an emotionally tumultuous state – the mail carries it through to me.  That’s why my cards are always given or posted with Great Deliberation … so only positive and loving energy is attached.

Another thing I love about Stampin’ Up! is the Statement of the Heart:

To Love what we do and Share what we love,

as we help others enjoy creativity and worthwhile accomplishments …

in this we make a difference!

Isn’t that fabulous?!

While I don’t ‘teach’ others about Stamping, I do “Love what we do” and I do “Share what we love” … in the making of my cards, and in the giving of them, too.   I also apply this Statement of the Heart to my Angel world:

To LOVE what I do and Share what I LOVE,

as we Share the Warmth and Strength of Journeys Travelled

Hand in Hand.

Cool, huh?

Living Your Passion involves LOVING what you do; Doing Something which Makes Your Heart Sing.  It’s what comes through Stampin’ Up!  It’s what I share when I “Talk Angels”.  I am Living My Passion.

It’s another “Angels” week … Angel Lunch is happening tomorrow and there’s 10 of us all gathering for lunch and card readings.  Woo Hoo!

I love surfing ‘Angel Space’.  Playing with Oracle Cards, talking with others who like playing with Oracle Cards, hanging out in that metaphysical energy which allows me to see that there really is a grander scheme than I can see on a day to day basis, in place.

And, every so often, we have a visual reminder that Angels are with us, all the time.

I think I am going to make it a policy to get the camera out, ask for the Angels to ‘Be Available’, and take photos of a room.  Imagine being inundated with Angel Beings - like in the photo!

I am blessed to be friends with 2 amazing women.  These women are just ordinary people with extraordinary abilities ~ they always provide me with that little extra understanding and awareness I need to make better sense of situations and experiences.

My intention this week has been to focus on my ‘other’ life ~ readings, Angels, messages ~ rather than indulging in all things Stamping (I am still inspired by the projects going on at UStamp – next week!).  I guess I don’t ‘notice’ what I achieve in these kind of weeks because I don’t have a physical project on display to remind me of what I have accomplished.  Hmm.  Maybe I need to create some kind of acknowledgement for my learnings.

But, it’s only Thursday and I have learned so much already, this week.  Monday’s Gift was being given the opportunity to find a Place of Peace within my heart and soul, regarding the emotional rollercoaster of grief that has taken over my life.  My lovely and wise friend LISTENED – I mean, Really LISTENED – to me, in a way which is quite unique.  She Actively Listens and ‘hears’ what you are saying, on all levels.  And then she responds … and so much of what I have been dealing with is eased.   For it’s not really my father’s death that I am dealing with as much as it’s the relationship disharmony I feel with the people still living.

Tuesday’s Gift was the first card I took at Angel Lunch ~ Relationship Harmony.  Oh, Wow!  So simple, so appropriate ~ and it still blows me away that the Universe is so in sync with me and my life.

Wednesday’s Gift was from my Lovely Tarot Reading Friend, with whom I was having coffee, and from whom I received (as I always do) the most incredible comments/observations/messages, which seem to ’spring from nowhere’.  At a previous coffee, I was told I had Rabbits bouncing around my head.  LOL.  Lots and lots of inspiration and ideas were flooding my awareness that day!

Her message was about my Dad’s need for Control and how that impacted on my life.  It certainly did!  My entire life with Dad alive has been one big journey of his expectation of how I should and would behave.  Of course, I inherited a lot of ‘bloody-mindedness’ from both of my parents so unfortunately, for dad especially, I have been Seriously Challenged on the ‘Yes, I am happy to capitulate’ front.  From the time I was young and not allowed to learn to ride a bike, or go out with friends at night (until the end of exams in Year 12), through to being informed about what would be appropriate behaviour for me to adopt, “given my upbringing”, as a 40 year old, Dad has been attempting to Control my life. 

It seems funny thinking about it now because I’m pretty sure that the same rebellious attitude to life that I have is the one that Dad had.  Gosh, life must have been hard in his head, too, growing up.

And, today, I am doing What I Love – a Reading ~ Angels, Past Lives, whatever is needed.  I understand how important those Pieces of the Puzzle are, for making sense of life.  I have received exactly those gifts from 2 lovely friends, and the Angels, this week.  I am Very Grateful.

Even after all the years I have been ‘playing’ with Angel Oracle Cards, I can still be BLOWN AWAY by the messages and synchronicities which occur!

Lunch, yesterday, was intimate and quite different from previous lunches ~ actually, all lunch gatherings are different because we have a variety of people, meet on different days, choose different meals etc ~ in a way I can’t quite describe.  I guess it was the dynamics of the ladies who enJOYed a sumptuous meal and the intimate sharing which took place.

The amazing messages which came through the Oracle Cards were so accurate ~ we took a card each, with dessert, and every card was perfect for what we had been sharing during the main course! 

Which, of course, they would be.  But it still blows me away!!

I think the part which was Most Astounding was that one of the ladies, during the course of  the meal where we took 6 cards in total (we each take one card as a reading for each person), chose the PROSPERITY card 3 times!

She was off to buy a ticket for Lotto!

Angel Lunches are such fun, incredibly inspiring, and an easy, caring way of sharing other people’s journeys.