Tisiola opened and prefaced the evening’s subject by reiterating that the times we are presently living in, are of unprecedented change and opportunities. A time in history where we are being called to wake up, wake others, and also to be changed and transformed!
This is not a time to go about our business as usual, fall back to sleep, make excuses and attribute blame; this is our time, especially as women, to wake up to our greatness and feminine power and recognise that we are truly mind, body and soul.
To succeed as women, we must partner with one another to share innovative, creative ways to re-think and restructure our individual existence, within the context of our expanding global communities.
We are a community that can reach out globally and make changes. To do this, however, requires a heightened awareness, awakened purpose, and a dedicated commitment to seek out the possibilities.
But how do we succeed? How do we find the support we need to help us in these times of uncertainty and challenge? How do we embrace the challenges and opportunities for growth? How, as individuals and a group, do we imagine our creative world, when the challenges of the real world are still unfolding? How do we, as individuals and a group, recognise the power and possibilities within us?
Those are the questions, Tisiola wants us to ask ourselves, every night we meet together, in order to open up our minds, bodies and hearts, to enable us to understand the great calling and purpose for our time. They are the questions we need to ask ourselves in order to understand the opportunities we have, to be actively involved in this great, unique change that calls us.
By acknowledging the sources of our power as individuals and as a collective, we may become more aware of our creative nature, and our human abilities, and our sense of belonging to ourselves and our community, and our power for collective healing.
We may even find genuine ways of forming relationships among ourselves that elevate one another. Genuine ways of ‘powering with’, rather than ‘powering over’! For it is in the process of ‘powering with’, that humans can truly harness their creativity for the greater good! That said, we were asked to all lean into the idea that we have the power to heal the chaos all around us, through our combined, deeper understanding of our health and wellbeing.
Tisiola then formally introduced us to our speaker for the night, Lynne Gullifa, who has spent many years on her spiritual path. Lynne studied metaphysics and many other healing modalities including shamanic healing, plant medicine, crystal and energy healing, tapping, and much more. Lynne is extremely grateful for the learnings she has gained from many teachers and mentors including teachers from Peru and Arizona. Lynne now teaches and facilitates meditation and she is a practising spiritual healer; Mother of two, and just dear Lynne, to all of us who know her as one of our EWP community members. She is also the owner of the most beautiful Tibetan Singing Bowl I have ever seen or heard.
Lynne’s spirituality, she likens to a drop of water in the ocean, along with everyone else. We are all drops of water in the one ocean of Divinity.
Quoting Kahlil Gibran, “Your living is determined, not so much by what life brings to you, as the attitude you bring to life.”
And for Lynne, her attitude has been one of enquiry, right from the early age of ten years old, where her journey to find the meaning of life started, by attending church, and attempting to read the bible.
Like many of us, Lynne did not find all the answers she sought in conventional religion, so she began reading many other books on spirituality.
At the age of twenty six she married the man who would become a big part of her spiritual journey as her teacher and soul mate.
Twenty nine years of marriage was one of love, adversity, big challenges and joy. The birth of her two children was a spiritual awakening of the heart, and to this day brings her great joy.
There were many challenges in her marriage through co-dependency, addictions and health issues which became an enormous part of her spiritual growth. Surrendering to the Universe and letting go of control and dissolving the marriage took Lynne on a journey of self-discovery and learning how to love herself.
For Lynne, Spiritual Health means moving ever closer to God, and living a purposeful life, and enjoying positive feelings within. Some of the pathways that take her there are:-
· Believing that God is the Spiritual Creating Life Force
· Engaging with her inner soul and learning to love herself
· Having boundaries, as well as empathy towards people
· Enjoying nature. Finding God in everything.
She says those four elements unite us all, with the physical, mental, emotional, and social dimensions of people.
Lynne’s personal way of connecting with her higher self and God is through prayer; meditation; gratitude; helping others; self-care; living in the present moment; listening to her intuition; taking care of her inner-child; embracing her shadow side; gardening; walking in nature; learning from others; reading tarot cards, and connecting with her guides. She also listens to her intuition which she calls her inner knowing, and God’s way of remaining anonymous. Dreams are also another way Lynne’s soul communicates with her.
For her emotional well-being, and good mental health, Lynne likes to drop into her heart space through memories of love and joy, a walk, listening to music, and focusing on the positive, happy experiences in her past. As Lynne said, if you are feeling ok in your life, when or if ill-health or other challenging circumstances land on your doorstep, this emotional well-being can hold you in good stead.
If, however, you are going through a particularly difficult time, Lynne says it is always good to know, that at any given time in your life, you can start over. Now, or in five minutes time. As she says, it is a choice we have; we can allow it to drag us down, or we can view it from a completely different perspective. Not always easy of course, but the choice remains ours.
Lynne’s spiritual guides are an important part of her journey, and she believes they come to us when we are open to receive. Asking for their help opens us up to receive their love and teachings. You can ask for their assistance through prayer, or by just asking for some kind of a sign.
My grandmother, and namesake, Isabella, was a spiritualist, and she always knew when her guides were around because she smelt the most beautiful perfume of roses. For Lynne, she knows, because she feels body tingles, or an actual touch on her cheek.
Lynne describes her spiritual journey thus far as, awe inspiring; amazing; challenging; lonely at times; wonderful (when she found her spiritual tribe), and something she wouldn’t change a bit of.
As Lynne said at the conclusion of her talk, all of her many challenges along her spiritual pathway, have become part of her soul’s growth. Lynne no longer stresses over things, she just asks her spiritual guides for any help when required and as far as her belief system, she allows that to grow and change as she journeys through life.
We then watched a short video, compiled by Michael Bernard Beckwith, American Spiritual teacher and author – “The Four Stages of Spiritual Awakening”:
Stage 1: To Me – Something happens to me, I am a Victim.
Stage 2: By Me – Learning to manifest – I can manifest the life I want.
Stage 3: Through Me – I am in the zone – Life is through me – I am being a channel.
Stage 4: As Me – I’m it – I am one with everything. There is no separation.
PHEW! This was a massive subject to attempt to cover in the short space of time we had available, but after Lynne’s talk, we discussed our various journeys briefly; most beginning along conventional western religious paths; one, like my own, had a spiritualist grandparent; another brought into contact with a Universal Energy Healer because of illness; another had to walk away from religion in order to find God; another had met an earthly angel, who would only accept the payment of her living out her life, as herself – “I always want you to be yourself”.
What a session!
Julie played us another beautiful song, and I read a poem.
Tisiola summed it up by saying she thinks the present times are calling us all, to be more spiritual and to become spiritually healthy. And by doing so, we can meet the remarkable opportunities of the present to connect, relate, learn, share, grow, develop and transform our communities, workplaces, and society by being our authentic selves.
We can be the loving, compassionate and kind human beings we were created to be. The choice is ours. This is what it is to be a Spiritually, Healthy, Well-Being!
The call to us is loud, as individuals, and as a community.
As Margaret Meade said: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”
Our potential is unlimited, so let’s go answer our calling.
Toodle pip for now,
Bella H.