Author: Susan Hanshaw

Letting Intuition Lead You

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The voice of my intuition paid me a visit today when I wasn’t looking. Thank God I was paying attention. I was in the middle of one of my usual four-mile runs and had stopped to take in the view of the two Bay Area bridges I got from my perch. I had just been thinking about an idea I had for a video series I’ve been wanting to launch before I stopped. It felt like my mind was empty and relaxed as I looked out at the peninsula on the other side of the bay. Then suddenly I noticed that I was hearing a little voice inside of me saying “Yes!” It came across like it was from the mouth of a teenager and accompanied by a high-five gesture. I stopped to consider what was going on and I heard an enthusiastic”yes” a couple more times. I immediately made the link back to the project I had been pondering. It seemed like a no-brainer that my inner voice was telling me that the idea I had was definitely worth pursuing. I shook my head in awe as I reflected on the wonderful mysteries of life that we barely talk about.

I’ve come to give this little voice a lot of credibility. I’ve learned that it is smarter than I am. As I put the pieces of this thought puzzle together it occurred to me that the voice was calling my attention to an insight I’d read earlier that day that struck me. Obviously my inner voice didn’t think I was done considering the idea as much as my thinking mind did.

In the course of blog surfing earlier in the day I had come across an article that spoke to me. In Are You Standing in the Way of Your Financial Abundance?, Ophelia invites us to consider if we might be limiting the abundance that the universe is trying to deliver to us. As I turned around to run back towards my home, I felt like my inner voice had just called me on that one. I had been ready to dismiss my video idea because I thought it had the potential to bring a level of success that some part of my psyche thought was out of my league. Yet I wasn’t even in touch with this until my inner voice provoked me to look at it. And I thought I was a smart girl.

So my inner voice reminded me today of two ideas that I wanted to share with you—

Pay attention to that voice inside of you. It sees through your human weaknesses and knows the greatness you are capable of. Take its hand and let it lead you.

Don’t let your mind limit your abundance. The only difference between you and those whose wealth you admire is their ability to welcome it with open arms.

Thanks for visiting. We’re all in this together, remember?

Wishing you an awesome day.

Susan Hanshaw

Tips for Raising Your Vibration

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I owe this post to a couple of my fellow inspirational bloggers, Grace from the13graces.wordpress.com and Clyde from feelinggood.wordpress.com who have tagged me to participate in a game which promotes the sharing of ideas that inspire spiritual and personal growth. This game, which invites the contribution of ideas for raising one’s energetic vibration, is the brainchild of Cardin Routh from OptimistLab.

I’ve been a student of metaphysics for a dozen years now, yet it seems like it has only been in the last couple that I recall having a true open-mindedness about the concept of vibration. How interesting that this coincides with my exit from the corporate world, where I felt like I had to guard my spiritual beliefs in fear that I’d be looked upon like I had two heads. It’s hard to embrace ideas that are not in alignment with your exterior world. My corporate environment was about the energy of selling widgets, not attracting them.

Now that I’ve committed my life to the promotion of spiritual expression, I am very much in touch with this idea that we have control over the level in which our energy vibrates. We choose how bright we enable our lights to shine. How refreshing it is has been in my own spiritual development to come clean, to speak outwardly about the ideas that live in my heart. So I suppose that is my first tip for raising your vibration—

Seek an alignment with your inner and outer worlds. Give your essence an authentic life in which to express itself.

For me that authenticity means striving to give my spirit the priority over my human nature. In dedicating my energies towards raising the vibration or light on this planet, I know that means that every encounter counts, not just the ones where I’m mentoring clients or sitting at my computer writing. I seek to share my real heart with everyone I touch from the grocery store clerk to the laborers I pass on my running route.

Cherish every moment as an opportunity to shine your light.

Raising your vibration comes through the practice of living as a being of energy. I recognize it is my choice to jump out of bed each morning like a machine who showers and puts on make-up and clothes or one who is a spiritual being that is led through the day by a divine purpose.

Your light shines brighter through your focus on being a light.

I’ve come to take my role as a light worker seriously. I believe that I am one of many. And I don’t believe it is a coincidence that we have come to this planet at this particular time in history. How interesting it is that a global climate that is in such dire need for change has been primed in recent decades by the human potential movement. I appreciate the work that those who have come before me have done to lay the foundation for the shift in consciousness that is now unfolding.

You raise your level of vibration by responding to the events of your life from a perspective of spiritual meaning.

How interesting also that this revolution is unfolding at a time where technology has paved the way for light workers to spread their messages throughout the world in this venue we call the internet which can touch millions of people at any given moment.

Sharing your thoughts and beliefs increases their vibration.

I’d like to acknowledge the bloggers on my blogroll for their efforts in raising the vibration of our planet. The more we share at this level, the more our vibration expands. Let there be light!

Thanks for visiting.

In peace and light,

Susan Hanshaw

answers await your confusion

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www.sanctuaryforchange.com

“Restlessness and discontent are the first necessities of progress.”

— Thomas Edison

I woke up this morning after a long, leisurely northern California holiday weekend wondering just how I would transition back into my work world. I love what I am doing, yet a part of me didn’t feel totally ready to let go of my vacation mode. Why can’t I just continue to play, I thought? I worked my way through my first cup of coffee and a shower when it hit me that I might find inspiration by focusing my attention on why I am here.

I sat at my desk and stared out the window at the trees rustling in the wind. I suddenly felt so alone in the world, like everyone else was out doing their thing and I just couldn’t get in touch with mine. I was feeling like I had one foot in the weekend and one easing its way back to work. Am I the only one feeling like this, I wondered.

I sat down to meditate, knowing that somehow I would be helped by going deep within and asking for some guidance. I sat there on the floor almost in desperation for an answer that would snap me out of my lost fog. What I wanted was some black and white directions on where exactly to place my energy today so that I can feel like I’m doing what I am supposed to be doing. Yet after sitting there for several minutes the only thing that came to me was the inspiration to just respond to the day from my heart. What came with this was the reminder that I am not just this physical being that enjoyed a weekend staining a backyard deck and sipping Chardonnay on a mountainside terrace. My expression is not just happening when I’m vacillating between having fun and being productive. The in-between time counts just as much. For it’s in those quiet times that enable us to listen to what is going on inside and take direction from there.

For me today what’s going on is that I’m feeling unsettled. I am feeling like there is more to what I need to be doing than I’ve yet allowed expression. I don’t know quite what it looks like, though, and to be honest, that bothers me. Yet the good thing with all of this is that I’ve got my own attention. There’s a reason I am bugged and I’m asking why because I’ve learned that answers won’t come unless I ask. Perhaps my answer will rise to the surface from within me. Or maybe I’ll get the answer through the voice of a friend with whom I share my discomfort. Or just maybe an opportunity will present myself that will feel oh so right.

I don’t like feeling this way. Yet I know that being tuned in to the fact that I am unsettled enables me to be totally open to whatever is to come next.

How are you feeling? Are there any confusions that are trying to call your attention? Trust your feelings. They’re there to tell you something.

Thanks for visiting.

Yours in the spirit of peace, light and inspiration,

Susan Hanshaw

law of attraction: letting heart have a say

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“I am responsible for what I see.
I choose the feelings I experience, and
I decide upon the goal I would achieve.
And everything that seems to happen to me
I ask for, and receive as I have asked.”

— A Course in Miracles

I was pondering over these lines today while I was sitting outside in the luscious warmth of the late spring California sunshine. Gazing about my waterfront surroundings, it occurred to me that there was something I might learn about my own manifestation in these words.

I am often in awe of the jewel of a home I literally stumbled across ten years ago. My house is nothing fancy yet its foundation sits on a peaceful waterfront peninsula which is home to waterfowl, palm trees and boats of all kinds. As I sat out on my deck this morning thinking about these lines from A Course in Miracles, it caused me to wonder exactly how I had come to manifest such an amazing place to hang my hat. Ten years ago was a long way back in my rear view mirror, as my boyfriend Dean would say. I was a very different person at that time. My focus was on pushing forward in my corporate status and bringing home increasing amounts of money. My consciousness was a long ways away from seeing my home as a haven for inspirational writing. It was a dream that lived inside of me, yet one my ego never thought I’d have the guts to pursue.

When I was in the midst of writing my first book, Unleashing Your Soul, I spent a lot of time editing outside on my deck. I thought how perfect it was that I had this serene spot in which to do the work of my heart. Now two years later as I am more deeply committed to my mission, I ask myself, just how did I ask for this? And when?

Never once did I visualize living by the water. My optimistic nature held the expectation that I’d find a home that I would love, yet I never pictured this. This tells me that the law of attraction goes to work from levels of our consciousness that we are not totally in touch with. I can see how this has played out in my own experience.

When I first went outside to study this morning I brought a twinge of guilt with me. A little voice was telling me that I should feel guilty about the fact that I was out enjoying the sunshine while so many people were inside, spending their days at jobs they don’t really care about. That was my ego voice talking. I knew I didn’t really believe that. Just looking at where I live showed me an illustration of what my real beliefs are. They are those thoughts that I entertain in the privacy of my inner being. It’s exactly these ideas and speculations that I have about my life that justify everything that is now my reality. I may not even be ready to share all those thoughts with those I am closest to, yet it seems pretty clear that they are those from which my experiences manifest. It’s the truths that my heart dares to speak and not the fearful voice that wants me to live small.

Aha. It seems that your heart has a say in the law of attraction…that is, if you give it a voice with a dose of authority.

Thanks for visiting. May you experience the law of attraction working in your favor every day.

Susan Hanshaw
Inspired by A Course in Miracles

your time is limited

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www.sanctuaryforchange.com

I am blessed to have one of the most awesome jobs on the planet. Along with inspirational coach, teacher and writer, I carry the title of wedding officiant. I recognize that this is not your average job and I often get asked how I got into it. As cliched as it might sound, I followed a calling.

My journey has showed me that following your calling is not necessarily the easiest path, yet it definitely is the one which makes you feel the most alive. It’s the path in which you do your thing and when you’re done, your heart tells you that you’ve just done what you were put here to do. And you can drink in the satisfaction of knowing that if you die tomorrow, that you showed up for your life. I don’t know about you, but I absolutely must go to my grave with this understanding.

I know that what I do is not for everybody. Yet for me there is no greater joy than standing up with two people who are glowing in love as I guide them through the act of formally committing their lives to one another in the presence of their closest family and friends. This is an honor that I’ve come to cherish, yet I didn’t arrive here without a tad of fighting and screaming.

First there was the big decision to leave my corporate career. Then there was the learning curve. Getting used to being the one to stand up front and lead the ceremony did not come overnight or with ease. During my first few I wanted to turn around and dash out the back door. As I stood there with everyone looking at me I thought to myself, “What the hell do I think I’m doing up here??” But with a bit of experience, I got over it. Now I absolutely cherish everything about it. I cherish looking into the eyes of the bride and groom, feeling them acknowledging the commitment they are making. I cherish witnessing the depths that love can be felt. I cherish the opportunity to create an event that enables people to feel their hearts, a rare happening in today’s fast-paced world.

While doing research for my book, Unleashing Your Soul, I came across the text from the commencement address that Steve Jobs delivered to the 2005 graduating class of Stanford University. It touched me. Jobs said, “Your time is limited so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice.”

No one can take away your inner voice. It’s the one thing you bring to your birth and take to your death. It’s also the one thing whose expression gauges how much you’ve enabled yourself to truly live. What can you do today to let your inner voice sing? What can you do to keep a song in your heart for the rest of your days?

Thanks for visiting.

Susan Hanshaw
Inspired by A Course in Miracles

living to live

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www.sanctuaryforchange.com

I attended the funeral service for the mother of a friend I’ve known since high school today. Nick and his family are Greek and the service was held in a very ornate Orthodox church. I’d been to Greek churches with Nick a few times over the years, yet it had been awhile and I had forgotten just how steeped in ritual they are.

His mother’s casket was rolled out the stretch limousine, up the church steps and down the aisle by the pall bearers while one of the priests shook a silver container of burning incense towards it. The smell of the incense brought me to feel as if I were in a foreign land. That sensation stayed with me as I walked into the dome church and took a seat along the aisle. I looked up at the altar where three priests dressed in their full robe attire stood side-by-side. The service started and much of what I was hearing was in Greek. I felt like I was some distant world. I wanted to be fully present for the service yet my senses had been knocked a bit off kilter. Then it was as if my sense of smell, sight and hearing all came together to tell me that something extraordinary was taking place. I was observing a ritual that was honoring the divine. The candles, the incense and the Greek singing combined had created a sacred place. I felt the energy of the divine.

I looked then at the open casket that was placed at the foot of the altar.  Nick’s mom had passed on Sunday and here it was Thursday.  The priest was describing the process of death in a way that was much too flowery for me.  I wanted to get to my own sense of meaning.  I sat there wondering exactly what the soul of my friend’s mother had been experiencing over the past few days.  I thought for a few moments that someday it is going to be my turn.   Then I looked around the church and wondered if anyone else was having these same kinds of thoughts or if it was just me.

One of the things that the priest said that did stick with me was that we were created to live, not to die.  He said that we were created to live forever, which is something that I, too, believe.  That would suggest that we bring forward everything we are in this lifetime, good points and not-so-good.  This means there is always an opportunity to let go of your demons and get your slate a little cleaner for the journey ahead.  If you knew you were going to die tomorrow, what might you want to clean off your slate beforehand?  And so what is it going to take for you to stop procrastinating?

Thank you for visiting.

Susan Hanshaw
Inspired by A Course in Miracles

you can do it

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I spent a chunk of time this afternoon doing maintenance work on my search engine advertising campaigns.  I was pleased with how comfortable I was darting around the campaign management site, making adjustments to ad copy, URL links, keywords and click through bids.  Yet I couldn’t feel grateful for the level of understanding I now have for this technology without remembering how intimidated I felt when I first stepped onto the scene.   It was two years ago and I had just hung out my shingle as a wedding officiant.  My instincts told me that having a high-ranking search presence would contribute to my success, so reluctantly I followed through.

I felt like an idiot as I poked around Google and Yahoo.  I’d just spent 20 years in the world of direct mail marketing yet I didn’t have a clue how to deal with the online stuff.  I’m usually pretty courageous when it comes to jumping into new territory, but there was something about this terrain that terrorized me.  I even did something I rarely do—read the directions—and that made me panic even more.  I couldn’t understand what I was reading.  It was all over my head.

I was determined to get beyond my fears so that I could learn to manage my own ad campaigns.  I took a step back and recognized that this whole search engine business is a relatively new science.  I allowed myself to see that all the other entrepreneurs out there advertising on the search engines were once just as clueless as I was then.  I told myself that if they could figure it out, so could I.  I gave myself some study time where I visited the material over several sittings so that I didn’t get overwhelmed thinking I had to understand it all at once.  I got more familiar with the information with each visit and within a few days I put my ads up.

My search engine advertising has done rather well for me.  I’ve presided over weddings for couples here in San Francisco who found me in places that have ranged from Shanghai, China to Boone, North Carolina.  All it took was determination, a belief in myself and the willingness to do the work required.

This is no different from any sight you set for yourself.  Is there anything hanging out there in your consciousness that you’re yearning to tackle, yet taking it on comes with some level of intimidation?  If so, then bring to your mind an image of someone else who had done what you want to do now.  If they can do it, why can’t you?

falwell: an invitation for forgiveness

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I learned about the passing of Jerry Falwell this morning. Thinking that the topic might make for a good article here, I immediately clicked on to MSN.com to read the news coverage of it. I read the summary article and then followed the link to the MSN message board which read “Discuss: What is Jerry Falwell’s Legacy?” I clicked on the link and began reading down the list of comments. I was appalled. They dripped of hatred and celebrated the death of the founder of the Moral Majority like he was some pig that was about to be roasted for a feast.

For the record, I am a card-carrying Democrat who has never agreed with or closely followed Falwell’s rhetoric. Yet just because we don’t agree with what he stood for, does that excuse us for spitting in his face while his spirit makes its transition to the other side? How will we ever experience peace on earth when we can’t even give one of our own countrymen our forgiveness for doing what he thought was right?

In the time between my discovery of the Falwell message board discussions to the time I began to write this post, the message board has removed from the MSN site. My guess is that the good folks at MSN had the sense to put an end to the disgusting public display of everything that is not brotherly love.

It’s times like this when I ask myself if I am proud to be an American.

Susan Hanshaw
Offering contemporary inspiration from A Course in Miracles

setting a goal: a battle half won

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“In any situation in which you are uncertain, the first thing to consider is “What do I want to come of this?” — A Course in Miracles

My boyfriend, Dean, and I hosted a Mother’s Day gathering yesterday. My parents were expected to arrive at 3 so Dean took off to the city late morning to pick up beverages and hit the gym. He told me he’d be back by 1:30 to help me prepare. At 1:35 my cell phone rang and a frustrated Dean was on the other end. He was caught up in heavy San Francisco traffic and was just inching his way out of the city towards the Golden Gate Bridge. He apologized up and down, telling me that he had no idea the traffic would be so bad. He let me know not to expect him for a good chunk of time. Meanwhile, I’d been pushing the envelope with my own time management and was less than thrilled that I now had to pick up the tasks I’d planned on asking him to do. I was not a happy camper.  Yet I knew it wasn’t Dean’s fault and the last thing I wanted to do with this man who does so much for me was pick a fight.   So I decided to behave myself on the phone.

I was in the shower when I heard Dean drive up around 2:15.  Then the noise of the screen door opening and closing assured me that he was out on the deck getting the furniture situated for the party.  I finished up in the bathroom and went out to greet him.  He seemed a bit nervous as if he didn’t know what kind of a mood he’d find me in.  I let him know that I wasn’t mad and we both hurriedly went about our business.  I went back to finish drying my hair when the thought hit me that I could use this little incident as an opportunity to show him how much I love him.  I marched into the bedroom, tapped him on the back and told him how much I appreciated what he does for me.  His anxious face relaxed into a warm glow as he thanked me before embracing me in a hug.

Every incident that touches your life provides an opportunity for you to decide what you would like the outcome to be.  When stuff happens you have the choice to set a positive goal of what you want to happen so that you can focus your energies on things that will help to achieve the goal.  If you don’t set a goal on the onset, you’re left going with the flow and then looking backwards after it has already happened.  Here you totally lose touch with your ability to guide the flow in the direction you want it to go.

Yesterday the immature side of me was tempted first to respond to Dean’s lateness by getting pissy, yet thankfully I knew that would not lead me to the outcome I wanted, so I focused instead on what I thought could.  The end result was peace and love, everything I could ask for.

Every moment presents you with the opportunity to aim for peace or love.  By claiming your goal, the battle is half won.

the role of faith

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I parked myself on my living room couch last night and tuned into my favorite TV news program, CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360. The coverage that followed provided a provocative query into the role of faith in politics and public life. I sat there watching the sound bites that educated me on the beliefs that ranged from what Mormon presidential candidate Mitt Romney would bring to office to why atheist author Christopher Hitchens purports that religion poisons everything. It was cause for me to not only visit my own faith, but even more so, to question just exactly what we’re getting at when we use the word, “religion”. The word itself causes so much strife that it makes me want to bury it with the force of a baseball bat.

In my opinion, faith is not about religion. It is about believing in a higher power that forever surrounds us with love, guidance and the abundance of life. Faith is having something to reach out to in prayer when your mother has been diagnosed with cancer and is spending every other day in bed, too weak from chemotherapy to do anything else. Faith is the hope you cling to when your husband leaves you for another woman and you’re wondering how you’re going to make it through another day. Faith gives you the courage to quit that job that leaves you empty to follow your heart in perfect trust that everything will turn out okay. Faith is a virtue that enables you to rise above the greatest of challenges. I don’t know what I would do without my faith. I consider it to be the greatest gift I have.

Likewise religion is not faith. Religion is the stories we’ve created around the history of creation. And wherever the stories in our history books disagree lies an opportunity for conflict. Does the story really matter anyway? Whether you believe you’ve been divinely created or scientifically produced, there is a source of energy that is behind all of this. If you can’t have faith in the energy that created you, what can you have faith in? Where will you turn in your darkest of days? I do not mean to pass judgment on “non-believers”. I ask this question in innocent curiosity. I would love to hear your comments.

Thank you for visiting.

Susan Hanshaw
Offering contemporary inspiration from A Course in Miracles