Soul Contracts

When we plan our incarnation, we make many agreements with others. Think of your past lives as a collection, there have been many people that you know, many things you have done. A lot of which has not been completed, it is unfinished business. As such, when we plan an incarnation, we have a sort of to-do list to complete, things we want to finish up, or sometimes things we want to do more of, to build on.

Soul contracts are what they sound like, an agreement with someone and this person can be incarnated like us or they can be a guide. We can have past life association with our guide(s), or they can be someone that we work with on the other side and want to connect with here to help us with our soul’s goals for this lifetime. Either way, the contract brings us together so that we can complete the work within its four corners.

Most soul contracts can be completed within in this life, others, however, may take several lives. On a  soul level, we know that going on and we have no issue with it. We know that the direction we go in and the amount of wisdom we gain will help us reach our goals. This easy attitude about a contract is a little different than how we may view them here in physical reality where we often do not understand our contracts and may feel upset in various forms as a result. We can adjust this by understanding that the people we cross paths with are there because we have a contract for it. We have a soul level agreement to exchange something, some of these things may be pleasant and some unpleasant such as betrayals, or some type of hurt and upset but from the level of the soul what we would label good or bad are equally important learning experiences. Remember, the soul does not judge, it is outside of duality where there is no need to judge, so the concept of good and bad does not exist on that level. This can perhaps, shed some light on the stuff of which your contracts contain.

To learn about your soul contracts in a personalized reading click here

Soul contracts are found in all areas of life, we have them with family, friends, romantic partners, even our pets. As mentioned, they can also be with guides. Soul contracts with a romantic partner or a parent or child are often the most intense contracts, they offer us so very much in the way of healing and growing. It is important to remember that we heal and grow through difficult situations a lot of the time. Having an alcoholic parent or a spouse that cheated on us are examples of contracts that help us to heal and grow. We grow from the negative experience and we change as a result of it. We work on lessons such as forgiveness, self-love, and acceptance. We change as a result of our experiences with another, in meaningful ways, we can become more awakened, more connected to our higher self or guides or simply become a more compassionate, aware person.

Soul contracts exist for the purpose of our growth, we all have them, they are a part of the soul’s plan. We can help ourselves to complete them by connecting to our higher selves and following what feels right, what resonates for us. We can, in essence, get out of our own way and accomplish what our soul intended for this lifetime in that way. This makes life feel easier, less of a struggle. We didn’t come here to struggle with our contracts we came here to live them. We do that by flowing with the experience rather than to resist it. With allowing for the present to open up for us, letting go of the past, being in the moment. This is how we free ourselves, this is how we live in alignment with our soul.

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Find Your Balance

It seems like such a simple thing, balance. It sounds like an important thing to have and we all want balance but yet, it may be more elusive than we realize. One of the things my guides often have to remind me to do is to find my balance. Sure enough, if I check in with my chakra system, I can literally sense the imbalance. Things are leaning heavily to one side, chakras are blocked, you name it. This can be a surprise to see but really if we think about our busy, frequently hectic schedules and the demands we place on ourselves we can begin to see how we can quickly become imbalanced.

What causes this is stress, worry, fear, overactivity, poor diet, negative thinking, lack of self-direction as in doing what you feel others want you to and many other issues. Anything that leaves you feeling overextended or out of sorts is an imbalance. Finding your balance is all about honoring what feels right to you. Maybe you have to work a little less or play a little more. Maybe it’s about getting more exercise or sleep. It can be about how you think, such as worry thoughts or racing mind. If you have trouble with boundaries you may be allowing others to crowd you, to take more than you can give.

Remember you are in control, even though in life it may seem otherwise, it is you who determines how you react to things. One of the most common ways that we throw ourselves out of balance is by letting ourselves react in a negative way to someone else’s negativity. It can be tempting, someone cuts you off in traffic, someone is rude to you, someone you are close to is short tempered. All of these things can make us feel anger, upset, we may be very tempted to lash out, yet that isn’t going to help the matter and it is certainly going to cause you to fall out of balance.

Instead, reach within, to your center, some people are drawn to their midsection, others to their heart, wherever just go there. Feel yourself seated, in the present moment, allow any upset to fade, focus on being here, now. It may help to ground yourself, focusing on your feet, visioning them having roots that run deep down into our mother earth. Now, allow your vision to go back up to your core, see the light there, watch the light expand outward, into the space around you, you are covered by it. This light also extends up, to your higher self, your guides, and the divine. Let this all mingle in your center, let all of this become your present reality.

This is how you become balanced once more. We are all constantly bombarded with energy, other peoples thoughts, actions, our own thoughts, and actions, and it’s normal to become out of whack as a result. If we are able to have the dexterity, we can regain our balance, and then things fall into a space of ease. We can move more fluidly through our life as a result. Find your balance and do it often, this will help you align with your soul, your path and your highest potential. Namaste.

Depression: Is Your Soul Trying To Send You A Message?

We hear the word depression and think it's a negative, it's a bad thing, it's something to run from. We, society, has labeled it as such. The overall consensus is that when we feel bad something is wrong and we must fix it, at once! We are embarrassed by it, we feel we have somehow failed and we are ashamed. There is so much stigma attached to depression that it creates feelings of alienation from others. 

There are more people experiencing depression than we realize, in fact, according to the World Health Organization, 300 million people worldwide suffer from it. It is not so much a thing to push away, repress, or ignore, as anyone who has suffered from depression knows it doesn't go away like that. Instead of deciding that depression is negative, let's entertain the idea that it might be something more. Depression is a strong emotion, it is actually a combination of emotions, they are fed by your thoughts, these thoughts create an emotional response and this response becomes over time a pattern, this then becomes a belief. 

Now let us consider all of this in a different light. To do so let's get a better look at you. You are here, having an incarnation, we know that much, you have a physical body and you are living in physical reality. Yet, there is more to you than this. You also have an eternal soul, that part of you that will go on after this life and has lived many, many lives before this one. That part of you is here with you in this present moment. It is seeing and feeling everything that you are. You are a projection of your own soul. Which means there is never any separation from your soul, or higher self, ever. Your soul has a plan for this lifetime, it has to do with your life purpose, life lessons, soul contracts and the like. It has a path in mind for you to walk here and the choices you make either put you on that path or deviate you from it. The path is intricate, it's anticipated that you will make many choices that enrich it, even ones we might call mistakes, which can be our greatest teachers. However, the path can be stalled, ignored or even downright lost. This is when our soul comes to us and loudly starts sending us messages when these messages are ignored long enough, we can feel depressed or anxious. We sense something is wrong, we just think it's something other than what it truly is. 

We blame our relationship, job, the town we live in, the family we were born into, it's not that these things aren't factoring in, but it's more than that. It is often that we are failing to check in with ourselves and feeling what we need to. To hear ourselves out, through feeling, knowing or any other type of connection to our inner self is critical to staying on our soul path. We are here for the purpose of living our soul's plan, in order to do this, we must listen to our higher self. 

Start today, ask yourself, what do I truly want? When is the last time you asked yourself that? Find the answer through feeling, knowing, trust what you get. Build from there step by step and become authentic in your choices, in your beliefs, and in your actions. You are your soul, right now, today, in this moment, you are your soul, know yourself and you will walk a happy path. Not only that, you will walk a meaningful and authentic path each and every day.

Do You Have A Copy Of Your Life Map?

We all come in with a plan. We choose our life purpose, our life lessons and we have soul contracts, or agreements that we must honor.  We have karmic obligations and we have our path of destiny. All of this is contained in a comprehensive life plan which is like a road map of your life.

For example you might have a life purpose of Caretaker, and your life lesson may be Patience. There might be a soul contract with your spouse that involves Forgiveness. Now let's see how these elements might play out.

As a caretaker you want to help and care for others, this is a natural drive. However, the danger is to give too much and not balance it by giving to yourself. Due to the life lesson of patience there is a sense of impatience about much of life, this may manifest in terms of annoyance with small things such as long lines, paying bills, traffic. Without working on this annoyance it can increase and turn into anger and frustration. Finally, with the Forgiveness contract in place chances are at some point your spouse is going to hurt you, or may have hurt you in a past lifetime.

Without the knowledge of your life map this all seems rather unfair and hard to understand. Here is what you would need to know. Your habit of annoyance is caused by the need to slow down, to become patient with life and learn to apply this patience in every situation in your life, then you will be working through your lesson. Your need to forgive your spouse is why you feel difficult emotions around this partner. Above all else there is a strong drive to care for others the universe will bring in opportunities for you to live this life purpose, it always has but once issues such as patience and forgiveness are resolved these opportunities will be more apparent.

Knowing our life maps makes everything fall into place, we know why we are going through what has happened and is happening and we have a clear picture of where we are going, our destiny.

Namaste,

Joy

Joy's Readings

Soul Contracts, We All Have Them But What Are They?

We have life charts, life purposes, soul mates, life lessons, past lives, karma but we also have soul contracts. Agreements made between us and other souls about our work together. We have several contracts with different people, parents, siblings, romantic partners, children, friends, I have seen agreements between people with their pets as well. 

These agreements can involve karma, what we did or didn't do in a past life when we lived with these people before. The agreements will often have themes, such as family, marriage, support, love, helper, role model, teacher and so on. If for some reason a soul contract is not honored the agreement is generally realized in a future lifetime. It is always best to complete them within this lifetime 

How do we know if we have a soul contact with someone? There will be a feeling of fate between you. You are drawn together, the universe opens a pathway for this to happen. Soul contracts are agreements so sometimes they can be negative such as when two people are caught in a destructive power struggle. Yet, typically I see them as positive and important to carry out agreements that two souls make for the betterment of their time here in this lifetime,

We go through a complex series of agreements, planning, mapping and coordinating before coming here. These plans involve all the people we will meet while here, the karma, lessons, contracts and everything in between. Free will fills in the rest, there are still plenty of choices to make and we can even steer off of our path, entirely going against our souls wishes, although it feels like we are swimming against the current if we do. The best approach is to follow the urges of your soul, when you know someone is right or something is right go with it. When you know that you need to be doing something else, change it. Our main goal here is to to be loving and supportive to one another. The soul contracts we have are just one of the many ways in which we do this.

Namaste,
Joy Thomas

Nature Spirits

If answers are what you seek, go to nature to find them. Anyone can do this but it does take a certain willingness and openness to receive the answers. The first requirement is solitude, to break away from the busy world and go where things are slower, more simple. Find the right space and allow yourself to let go.

Signs in nature vary and they will be different from person to person. To you a crow may be a sign of warning to me a crow or a raven is a sign of manifestation. They are black, like the dark night when all the world is asleep and dreams dominate the land. This is the time for manifestation, this is the time when mystery reigns. That is why so many ceremonies are held at night, under the sacred moon it is a fertile time. Crow and raven remind me of this.

Perhaps you will see a hawk, and this can represent seeing with a keen eye, it may be mean to search within and to do so leaving no stone unturned. Other times seeing a hawk can mean to watch the people and events around you closely, that there is more than meets the eye. If hawk is a totem animal it is likely a sign to remember this and to pay close attention to your dreams as well as your ideas and inspirations, for often these are placed on your path for you by your totem.

Nature itself holds many signs wind, snow, rain, clouds all of these can carry a certain vibration that you can pick up on. Tune into the sound of the wind, what does it make you feel like? Watch the falling snow, see how it glistens on the ground, what does it inspire? The idea is to get back to your core and to let go of the reactions you may have regarding your life circumstances, let these slip away, focus on the signs of nature and allow yourself to re-group and begin again.

To help you along this path I offer a Nature Spirits Reading  to connect you with your nature spirits and pass along their messages to you.

Namaste
Joy

New Year Magic

NEW YEAR READING

Each new year we get an opportunity to start fresh, change what we don't like and bring in what we desire. Yet, for many of us these new years resolutions do not last. The reason is simple, if you don't clear out a space for the new, it won't be able to fit. If you buy a new car but don't move the old one out of the garage first, there won't be any room for the new car, new behaviors are the same.

For example, you may want to quit smoking, and you have very good reasons for it, it is unhealthy and expensive, yet unless you get to the root of your reason for smoking you will be battling yourself and often you won't win. Even if you do actually quit keeping yourself from taking up smoking again can be difficult when you don't deal with your underlying issues.

To get to the root of any problem the fastest way is to sit with the problem, and ask yourself how it makes you feel. What emotions comes up? Why do I smoke? What feelings arise when you ask yourself this....to feel calm, so stress is the issue. Stress has more than one emotion so you would want to track it further...anxiety, worry, the need to take a time out. There, now you have unraveled the problem. You come to see there are several causes and the emotional responses for these causes are creating a trigger to your smoking. The next step is to ask yourself what can I do instead of smoking that can satisfy me, in this case calm me down?  Exercise, walking, yoga, breathing, meditating, being creative, playing music or writing, painting, making jewelry all of these can be used to deal with the stress that leads to your smoking. There are likely more layers of issues such as why you started in the first place and how you feel about smoking. All can be explored to help you better understand why this arrived in your life and how to work through it. 

Addiction is a complex issue, it has a physical component that is at first the hardest to deal with. In the case of smoking you might consider nicotine gum or patches to help deal with urges. Yet, if you really want to work through an addiction understanding the cause helps in letting go of this old habit and moving forward into a fresh, open space in the present where you are free from the addition, the habit and the guilt and stress that it creates by being in your life. You see the stress that leads you to smoke also creates more stress of its own kind so that it is really a vicious circle and nothing is really made better. The only way to make it better is to rid yourself of the damaging pattern once and for all.

Harness the New Year energy, while many others are doing the same thing you can ride the collective energetic wave and it will be that much easier.

Let 2015 be your year to shine!