Author: Susan Hanshaw

awakening

/ Susan Hanshaw / Leave a comment

www.sanctuaryforchange.com

I used to consider the word “awakening” as one of those new age terminologies that would never make its way to my vocabulary.  Yet somehow I have since not only come to understand what the term means, I have actually experienced it in myself.  And because of the mentoring work that I do, I am also seeing it occurring in others.  I sense there might even be a revolution brewing.

What I am referring to is a shift in what many of us are now willing to tolerate as our experience of life.  I’m seeing this in myself as well as my sisters and brothers of the Baby Boomer generation.  As a whole, we’re well-educated and have spent our adult lives building successful careers.  We’re an affluent and accomplished generation.  Yet as we lose our parents from this earth and let go of our children’s hands as they walk along their own independent paths, we realize that in the very end all we really have to hold onto is ourselves and our connection to the universe.  A generation that crashed through the elusive corporate glass ceiling, we now want more.  We’re no longer satisfied showing up at the office like a machine collecting a paycheck.  We want to feel passionate about our work.  We want to fulfill our purpose.

For many getting in touch with their purpose seems like the most daunting of tasks.  Yet it is daunting only when we remain in the machine mode we’ve become accustomed to; when we experience life only on the surface.  It’s when we awaken to remember that we have heart and a soul that we can begin to crack the mystery of our purpose.  For purpose is an expression of our heart.  That’s where we need to look for our clues.  When we begin to have a relationship with our heart—to pay attention to what makes it skip a beat or feel totally full of joy—we can start to recognize the passions that are unique in us.  And it’s our uniqueness that enables us to serve the world in our most authentic way.  That’s what purpose is.

If you are one who is seeking to step into your purpose yet feel stuck in knowing how to go about it, stay tuned here.  I will be talking more about this in future posts.  As a start, though, I would encourage you to step outside of yourself from time to time and take a look at the package of who you are from a sense of purpose.   Take an inventory of the following and ask yourself why you might have inherited these particular gifts:

What are your creative or professional skills?
Recreational interests?
Physical attributes and body type?
What adjectives are often used to describe how you show up in the world?
What simple things give you joy?
Do you have you a long-held dream that just doesn’t go away?

Awakening is about getting in touch with your soul and giving it a chance to come alive.  The way to do that is to pay attention to who you are and how you respond to the events that unfold in your days.  There are many clues to be found, yet in order to see them you must be paying attention.  It’s not hard.  It simply requires focus.  Yet that focus makes life far more interesting than being asleep at the wheel in machine mode. 

the faith to follow your heart

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www.sanctuaryforchange.com

“Faith is a knowledge within the heart, beyond the reach of proof.”
           — Kahlil Gibran

I left my well-paying corporate job just shy of two years ago to follow my heart.  When I share my story I often receive comments back about the courage it took to take such a leap.  I won’t deny that courage wasn’t involved.  Yet what it really was and continues to be is a leap of faith that my heart is leading me where it knows I am supposed to go.  And I follow it because I trust that my heart is wiser than my mind.  I believe it knows the real role I am supposed to play in our world.  And I believe that if I am doing what I am really here to do, the universe will take care of me just fine.

You see, when we show up for the role we are really here to play, we then become in true alignment with God’s intention for us.  Wouldn’t it make sense then that everything we need to be successful in this role will somehow find its way to us through God?  Isn’t this what is meant by the statement that everything that we will ever need was given to us when we were created?

The first personal growth workshop that I taught included an exercise which asked the students to share the unexpected gifts that had come their way throughout the course of life.  I assumed that each person would produce a list as abundant as my own.  I was shocked when a handful of the participants shared that they felt that life had been much of a struggle to get from here to there.  What an eye-opener that was for me.  My instinct quickly told me that because I have always been one to expect that I would be well taken care of, that was my experience.  I attracted my good fortune through my thinking.

So here I am in year two without my cherished paycheck.  Truth be told, I’m not where I’d like to be financially yet.  Do I ever experience days where I focus on fear or lack, you might ask?  Yes, I have those days.  Yet luckily they are quite rare.  For these days when I get up in the morning, I pay close attention to that voice inside that feels like my heart giving me direction and I surrender to it.  My heart is now the boss.

Yesterday I awoke with a strong desire to do some serious research on what kind of equipment I would need to add video to my blog here.  My boyfriend sat down with me and together we gave ourselves an education in digital camcorders.  On his way home he stopped at an electronics store to discover the model we’d been looking at on sale and he snagged it for me.  So stayed tuned because within a week I expect to deliver my messages of hope and inspiration with my voice and face as well as my fingertips.

I have no idea where this will take me.  It just feels like the right next step.  And that is what following your heart is all about.  It’s putting one foot in front of the other, trusting without proof that where you are being led is where you are supposed to land, knowing that you are always in good hands.

what master do you serve?

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www.sanctuaryforchange.com

“The mind can elect what it chooses to serve. The only limit put on its choice is that it cannot serve two masters.” — A Course in Miracles

In the fall of 2004 I was struggling with the realization that I was becoming miserable in my corporate management job. My heart had not been in it for at least a couple of years and I began to feel more pained by the growing sense of emptiness it left me with. I don’t recall if I saw any connection with this at the time, yet that fall I also felt called to read the bible for virtually the first time in my life. I became so fascinated with the life of Jesus that I rented nearly every DVD I could get my hands on to bring his story alive in my mind.

One day during my exploration process I received a revelation that I hadn’t bargained for. I came across this message that we cannot serve two masters at the same time. Yet the message I received was even more specific than that. I had been led to scripture which spoke about how man cannot serve money and serve God at the same time. That message hit me like a violent blow. Looking honestly at the choices I was making in my life, I saw clearly that money was my master. I felt like I had been cut off at my knees. I was very much in touch with an understanding that my real purpose in life is to inspire and teach, yet I continued to cling tightly on to the security the job represented. Then when I saw in black and white how I had made my life all about money, I couldn’t live with myself. I felt like I’d been caught selling my soul. I knew I’d have some major regrets if I didn’t do something about how I chose to use my precious time here. I put myself through another four months of this agony until one Monday in April when I’d finally had enough.

I don’t know about you, but I am certainly guilty of sweeping things under the carpet that I prefer not to face. You know what I mean; we can pretend it’s not there if we don’t acknowledge its existence. It’s easier to just not ask any questions when we don’t want to hear the real answers. Yet sometimes the bad ass truth is exactly what we need to bring us to our knees and light a fire under us.

So I invite you to take an honest look at the choices you are making in your life. What master are you serving? And how does your understanding of that make you feel? If suddenly you were to be told that your life is about to end, would you be at peace with yourself? Or would you be squirming with regret, wishing for a second chance? If you happen to be someone who would want a second chance, that’s a clue that your heart hasn’t yet felt its true expression. There is a lot of courage to be found in the faith that our hearts are wiser than our minds, and that we are best served by following them.

claiming abundance

/ Susan Hanshaw / 1 Comment

www.sanctuaryforchange.com

I am writing this on the first day of spring.  This vernal equinox marks the time of new life.  In many traditions it is the beginning of a new year.  When I was living in New Hampshire the first day of spring was a major big deal.  It was a sign that there was light at the end of the tunnel; that the snow and cold would not be hanging around too much longer.  The weather was given official permission to start getting warmer.  Yet as I’ve moved back to my native California, the first day of spring is just another day.  It’s easy to forget what other realities are possible when you take the life you have for granted.

Perhaps you’ve heard the saying, “we are spiritual beings having a human experience”.  And perhaps like me, you’ve nodded your head in agreement with this idea before immediately getting back to the business of life.  Our human life, that is.  I believe we all know that our human perspective is what creates all our problems in life.  Yet why is it that it tends to be the side that we always focus on, the identity that we constantly attach ourselves to?  Why is it that we choose to see ourselves as too this or not enough this instead of the amazing powerful light that we are?

It’s spring now.  Why not let your light be exposed more brightly? 

If you are wondering how to do this, first start by remembering who you are.  Rather than thinking of yourself as the body that goes to your job, drives your car, wears your clothes, and talks on your cell phone, imagine the essence of you as a bright light.  As you look around, consider everyone you see as beings of light.  In doing so, you bring your perspective back to truth.  We are all equal beings of light.

Being equal means that we have equal access to abundance.  What Oprah, Donald Trump and Bill Gates have access to is the same substance as you and I.  The only difference is in how we choose to claim our abundance.  We make those claims in our minds through our thoughts and beliefs.

I catch myself cutting off my abundance of experiencing love when I tell my boyfriend I am too busy to see him, or my financial prosperity when I don’t make the phone calls to promote my programs.  And most of the time when I cut myself off like this it is because I’m telling myself that I am not good enough to be deeply loved or worthy enough to be paid for living my dream.  Pretty pathetic, isn’t it?  Yet when I am spiritually awake I remember that I am a creation of the perfect loving light that created all of us.  I remember that I was created from abundance.  It surrounds me and flows through me.  I just need to get out of my own way and stop clogging its flow.  I’m going to try to make that my loud mantra for spring.  How about you?

Here’s to spring—to new life and new beginnings.  Start shining that bright light of yours.

stamp out fear

/ Susan Hanshaw / 3 Comments

http://sanctuaryforchange.com

What if you were to believe that you were given everything that you would ever possibly need when you were created? You may not have everything at your immediate fingertips, yet what if you knew that you simply had to trust that you will receive what you need at the right time?  Shouldn’t that abolish all your thoughts of fear, lack and doubt?  After all, what would you have to worry about if you knew you have everything you need?  You could stop worrying about a lack of this or that and just experience the flow of life.  Wouldn’t that be something? 

The truth is that you do have the opportunity to believe this.  It is your choice to believe whatever you want.  Among the billions of ideas out there for you to believe lies one that says that you will always be taken care of as you believe you will.  If you believe you will be a millionaire, you probably will.  If you believe you are doomed to live in poverty, that will likely be the reality you experience.  So much in life is about our perception.  And there’s more good news in that because we get to choose what we wish to perceive.

If there is something on your mind right now that is causing you discomfort, pain or fear, try letting go of it for a moment while you remind yourself of the loving energy that created you.  That is the same energy that flows through you constantly.  If this energy can create the world, it can very well take care of whatever is on your mind.  I know that this kind of trust doesn’t often happen overnight, so try practicing one day at a time.  Remind yourself that you are in good hands.  The worst thing you have to fear is your own mind. 

inheriting the power of creation

/ Susan Hanshaw / 5 Comments

“You are a miracle, capable of creating in the likeness of your Creator.” — A Course in Miracles

Might this one statement sound so grandiose that it comes across as unbelievable? What does it mean that we are capable of creating in the likeness of our Creator? And where might that capability come from? With such a collective consciousness fired up on the law of attraction these days, it seems only right to explore this idea from a place of depth. We might even ask ourselves if perhaps the law and the quote from A Course in Miracles might be linked.

For the benefit of those not familiar with it, A Course in Miracles is a non-denominational spiritual curriculum that was scribed in the early 1970’s by clinical and research psychologist and tenured Associate Professor of Medical Psychology Dr. Helen Schucman and aided by her department head, Dr. William Thetford. Dr. Schucman described the writing process as an inner dictation that came from Jesus. ACIM has been translated in seventeen languages and has sold over 1.5 million copies. Nearly 2,000 study groups exist worldwide.

The Course teaches that God (or whatever word you are comfortable with) is the creative source behind all of life and that we are all connected in spirit through this creative energy. Our bodies are simply vessels that our spirits use to do our work here on earth. As extensions of this creative energy, we have all inherited its power to create. Our mind is the channel that directs this energy. When we focus on our spiritual connection and let go of the physical limitations of body, we can more easily grasp how we are extensions of the divine creative energy. If we believe in the power of the law of attraction, might it make sense that this power exists because of our connection to divine creative energy?

There are amazing benefits to be found when we understand the implication of this connection. Being connected to the source of life means that we have access to everything that exists without limitations. This access takes place in our minds as demonstrated in The Secret. Even more importantly is the idea that we are a connected family of man, each given a unique role to play. We can find clues to this purpose by looking closely at the unique gifts we were born with. We can ask ourselves what the divine intention was when we were created.

So how does this all tie back to the statement about our ability to create in the likeness of our Creator? We tend to think of ourselves like free agents with minds of our own operating in our own little worlds. Yet we did not create ourselves so our ability to create has been inherited. And because Mom and Dad did not create themselves either, all of creation ultimately gets linked back to our original Creator. The law of attraction is an example of a power we humans have not created, yet one which has been passed on to us. By using this power, we are creating in the likeness of our Creator.

making spirit sexy

/ Susan Hanshaw / 2 Comments

www.sanctuaryforchange.com

“Believing that what your physical eyes cannot see does not exist
leads to a denial of spiritual sight.” — A Course in Miracles

I recently asked the founder of a non-profit if there was a turning point in her life which moved her to start her organization which provides food for people with life-threatening illnesses. She told me that while caring for her dying mother with cancer, she felt a sense of peace and love from this transitional process that left her convinced that there is so much more to life that what we can see and touch. She shared with me how this experience has changed how she approaches her life.

As someone who shares this belief, I know how much courage and comfort can be found in believing that there is a supportive energy that flows through all of life that we cannot see, touch, hear or smell. Beyond believing that the energy exists, consider that this energy is available to you personally in the constant form of guidance, strength and supply for all your needs. By denying the existence of this spiritual energy, you enable yourself to drift in and out of a perpetual state of fear as you keep looking for external proof that everything is on track and okay.

Nearly two years ago I said good-bye to a successful 20-year corporate career. When I share this story almost always what I hear is some comment about the courage involved. While I don’t deny that it took courage, my courage is totally a product of my trust in this spiritual energy. It wasn’t my conscious choice to lose interest in a career that provided me with security and comfort on many levels. Instead what happened was that I surrendered to the energy that was pulling me in a different direction. I figured that if it was pulling me so strongly, it must be leading me to a place I need to go and ultimately, one that would take good care of me.

I would be lying if I said that it has been an easy transition because it hasn’t. Yet as I look back on the times that have been the tough ones, they’re the days where my focus was on fear and lack. When I stay focused on my belief that somehow the opportunities I need will make their way to me even if I don’t know exactly how, I stay relaxed, at peace and able to do what I am here to do.

I do believe that instinctively most of us believe there is a spiritual side to life, yet it is one we tend to compartmentalize. Many of us turn that light off until it’s time to pray for a loved one’s recovery or pull ourselves out of a deep dark hole. Yet what if we were to embrace the spiritual side of life; to make it fashionable or maybe even sexy for spirit to be the center of our lives rather than the pursuit of the dollar? I can only think there would be a whole lot more peace in this world.

honoring the divine in the law of attraction

/ Susan Hanshaw / 1 Comment

www.sanctuaryforchange.com

Having been a student of metaphysics for a dozen years, the recent media craze around the law of attraction has surprised me.  I am delighted about the awareness it has brought to these powerful creative principles, yet I can’t help noticing that something vital remains missing from public discussion.  There lacks an acknowledgment of what the creative process is really all about on a deep level.  And there is a significant disconnect there. 

 We can be trained how to organize our thoughts and harness our energy to produce a desired result, yet at that level we’re just acting like programmed machines executing instructions.  What if we were to bring our hearts in and look at it from a deeper level?  What if we were to ask ourselves questions like, “Where did this desire come from?” or “Why do I have this yearning and what am I supposed to do with it?”  From this perspective we acknowledge that there is an energy source that flows through us.  This is where our loving desires stem from.  It’s not all about you or me.  The buck doesn’t start and stop with us.  We are extensions of the creative flow of life.  And we share with this flow our deepest desires because they have come to us from this flow.

I bring this up because I keep hearing this universal law being promoted like a magic technique to use to get what you want.  Yet there’s no conscious in creativity without purpose.  Instead we have the opportunity to look at our desires as clues to what the creative flow wants to express through us, to acknowledge the divine that lives within each of us.  It’s from this place that we honor and respect this power and put it to use with divine intention.  Here we make a shift from being machines in production mode to human spirits seeking to honor their divine expression.  There is great faith to be found in the law of attraction when you accept it in a divine way.  And when we look at ourselves as divine expression, we use our power in a responsible way.

the man in the mirror

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www.sanctuaryforchange.comI got a chuckle from a friend yesterday. This is a friend who is incredibly funny and warm. I’ve watched him make friends with strangers within minutes of meeting them. My friend is a person who loves to talk. It’s no secret. I tell him to his face that I often can’t get a word in edgewise. I am not exaggerating.

My friend has recently begun to do a bit of public speaking. Yesterday he spoke for several minutes to a group of 350 people. We happened to talk on the phone afterwards and he told me how excited he was because he thinks he’s found his calling—public speaking. He felt so alive from the experience. I couldn’t help myself. The word “duh!” came out of my mouth as I laughed. I’m close enough with this friend to feel comfortable teasing him. I reminded him about his appetite for talking and went on to explain how he’d just shown me a perfect example of how our calling can be discovered simply by looking closely at how we naturally show up in life. Discovering purpose is not a mental exercise. It’s looking at all the pieces of what makes you who you are from a sense of purpose. Like my friend, sometimes it can be so obvious and we’re so close to it, that we don’t even think to consider it. So try asking your friends what they think your calling is and see if it resonates.

intuition exercises, part 2

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 www.sanctuaryforchange.com

How can you begin to strengthen your intuition?  By playing simple games with yourself to practice.  For example, try guessing:

  • who is behind the email that has just arrived in your inbox. 
  • who is calling when the phone rings.
  • what color one of your co-workers will be wearing to work.  
  • the contents in your postal mailbox as you drive home.  
  • the exact time when you walk by a clock. 
  • whether a green light will turn yellow before you reach it. 

Create your own fun games to exercise your intuitive muscle.  I guarantee that with consistent practice, you will be amazed at the accuracy of your instinct.

Once you develop this kind of foundation you will become more aware when you are having a gut feeling about something.  Then your job will become learning to take action on your feelings.  If you are like many of us, you will begin to start noticing that you are having a gut reaction to something.  This reaction could be just quickly enough for it to register or a thought that stayed with you.  For whatever reason, you may choose to put your gut reaction aside and proceed in another direction.  Then, somewhere down the line this decision may blow up in your face.  You will remember the gut reaction you had about it.  You then remind yourself that you should have followed your instinct.  These are the perfect lessons you will experience to prove the wisdom of your own knowledge.  You may go through experiences like this many times before you become completely motivated to go with your gut.  That’s okay.  Trust takes time.  What’s important is that you begin to practice so that you can put this power to work for you.