The drive for success is strong for many people.

People want money, power, prestige. These are natural, lower chakra desires: The root chakra, the second chakra, the third chakra, all are about stabilizing ourselves in the world, creating structures that we can build, and elevating ourselves to a position of respect among our peers. All normal human stuff.

And yet… the true reality about success, is that success is just a Universe of energy. It’s just one reality: the same as we see “chair” as a reality, or “job,” or “body.” It’s just a Universe of energy, like anything else.

Thus, we can look at the idea of our “success” as a container of energy. And in doing so, we can see pretty clearly how this com- pares or contrasts to the state of our soul.

If you are familiar with using the Rose technique, it is very easy to put up a Rose that signifies your “success” and look at it energetically, from soul perspective. What is the energy of “success” for you? Is it even important? Are other things much, much more important to your true Self?

Such as, experiences, being, presence? Such as, heart opening, expansion, love?

Don’t be fooled by what society tells you about success. Do you own discernment? Decide what it means to you. 

​It’s normal and natural for things to come to an end.

Usually when we are at the end phase of something, we know it: we may have felt it coming for a long time, or we have the sense that things aren’t working and we need a change.

Or, maybe it’s as simple as we’ve mastered something: a tool, a path, an understanding, even a relationship, and we’re ready to try something new.

We’re not meant to be bored in this life.

And yet, even when we know things are changing, we often resist pretty hard: we kick and scream and cling to the little lifeboat of “the way things were” in order to do anything but step into the unknown.

This gap, this space, this unknown always shows up when we are changing. It is the moment between what we were, and what we are going to be. It can be scary, this gap, if you don’t know that a gap is natural, normal, and how it always happens.

Think back to the last time you experienced a really big change, and recall the gap or space between how it was, and how it became.

If you’re sensing endings now, and are already in the gap, just look at the gap as a friend. It’s okay to not know. It’s okay to not have a plan.

The biggest thing is to understand when something is coming to an end, is that this is normal, right, as things always are. Just accepting this, allows you to move forward to what is next.

I live out in the country, and because of this, I drive a lot. Often several hours a day, heading into town and back to take my daughter to and from school.

Sometimes the drive is intensely difficult: pitch black, rainy or snowy, flooding by the river. Sometimes it’s gorgeous: light rising or falling to the east or west, nature shimmering in glory.

I used to get stressed when the weather was bad, and happy when it was nice. But now, I realize, the weather isn’t important. What really matters about the drive, is that it is a portal.

Driving is an activity that induces trance very easily: we hurtle through time and space encased in a small bubble, and in this way we move through other environments, energies, and vibrations quickly. Our mind is one place, and our body is another.

I now use my drive time as portal: I put forth the intention that I won’t just travel in earth reality in my drive, from point A to point B. But that I will also travel in etheric realm in my drive, from point A to point B: whatever the points are that the Universe would like me to visit, understand, or explore, I will visit them during the trance of the drive.

In this way, the drives have become nearly dreamlike: a sense of being so immersed in meditative thought, that I really can’t remember how I traveled on the earth.

Of course I’m watching the speed limit, paying attention to other traffic; all the real world driving is happening.

But underneath it’s all etheric journey. When I reach my destination I have received new information and new understanding.

​If you have been working hard on your spiritual growth, it’s easy to get into the trap that if you are “good,” only good things will happen.

Good things will happen if you are spiritually devout.
If you meditate every day.
If you put spiritual development first.
If spirituality is your whole focus.

But then sometimes, in fact often, “bad” stuff happens anyway. Why is this?

It’s true that as you become more aware, your life tends to improve very rapidly. What you create or manifest as your reality, is what you begin to experience. When you are in higher vibration from spiritual practice, you begin to experience a higher vibration life. And yet…

The sad, rough stuff of life still happens. No matter how “good” you are.

Let yourself simply accept this. We’re here for the good, the bad, the all of it. We’ll have lessons in soul growth, until the moment we die. And after we die, we’ll come back and do it all again, in our next life.

Don’t try to use spiritual practice as a way of making your life all “good.” It doesn’t work that way.

We’re here to grow. Every single experience in our life takes us there.

​When you are on the spiritual path, you will find that usually you have a nudge or crisis or event that results in an awakening.

Sometimes it’s really beautiful; the result of a very deep meditation, or an experience in a workshop or retreat.

But more often, it’s the nudge or crisis version that wakes us up the fastest. Getting fired, getting sick, breaking up, financial ruin, death… all of these big jolts break us out of whatever pattern we were in, so we can start again.

It’s like a do-over, a reset, a big shock in the circuit that makes us stop, take a breath, and reassess.

If we’re really aware, we see clearly how much we were on the wrong track.

And with this jolt, also comes awakening: we wake up to who we really are (unlimited soul in limited earth body) and what we’re here for (soul growth) and we get back into the business of life with new understanding and new appreciation.

​When I work with people to discover their spirit guides, there’s often a lot of expectation that we will encounter a particular kind of guide: a tall, wise guide, for example, or a beautiful woman guide in lovely gowns, or a devout monk, and so on.

And yet, often… in fact very often, people have tiny guides show up in one or more of the guide positions: earth guide, spiritual teacher, mystic guide.

The tiny guide might be a fairy, or a leprechaun, or something like Tinkerbell. And often when people see these tiny guides, they laugh at first, because the guides are so delightful. But, then they get worried, that they don’t have “big” enough or powerful enough guides.

Don’t be confused by the way a guide first shows up. In all cases, the tiniest guide is not tiny at all: they are just showing themselves to you in this way, so that it will be easier for you to receive them.

Guides use humor and friendliness in the same way. They show themselves in non-powerful, non-aggressive ways, so that we are not afraid, so that we let our guard down, so that our childlike Self sees clearly.

Underneath the tiny aspect, the guides have other ways of representing themselves: they are incredibly powerful and wise. If you think you are ready to see this, ask your tiny guide to show you the other aspect of themselves, and watch them shape shift into something different.

The power will be astounding. You will see how big they are: ascended masters of tremendous wisdom and energetic ability. You may prefer them tiny, after all!