10 April 2008

The Secret, Mud and Poo
It was around February last year that I decided to try ‘the Secret’ out. I had my own way of creating my life’s goals but I thought it would be fun to see what would happen ‘the Secret-style’. The concept of life being a catalogue and to just order what we wanted, well I found it an interesting concept that needed to be put to the test. Especially as I was getting clients to my practise who were asking me about it and they seemed to get stuck in the process. The Secret Movie doesn’t really tell you how to get past them. So the way forward for me to get insight in this was to experience it myself.  That would enable me to see through the process and explain it in common language.

So I started out with some small cosmic orders, like a free cup of coffee a day. Part of me felt that this was just not quite the way we should work with life’s sacred abundance. I believe that we’ll get what we create if it serves the purpose of our life. It was a cold February day when I did my first Secret experiment and I had just dropped off some guests at Bristol Airport. On my way back I went for a walk in a Gorge nearby. As I was walking along I remembered my free cuppa and I put it out to the universe.

Shortly after my dog ran off chasing some rabbits into the valley and I had no choice but to run after her. She ran right into a muddy swamp, and we both spotted it too late. Here we were at the bottom of the valley, stuck in deep thick mud. As I’d literally ran in I was stuck up to my knees in running position. My wellies were completely filled up with mud too and whenever I tried to move a foot, the other would get stuck deeper. It was kind of scary as there was not a soul around and my dog was in the same tight spot as me. First I got this nervous giggle, thougt it quite funny, then it became scary and I tried screaming for help, then I got angry and then I got scared again. Nothing helped and dog wasn’t doing any better.

I don’t remember how long it took and I can’t remember how I did it but I managed to get out of that tight spot leaving my boots stuck in the mud at first. Then I managed to get the dog out and last my boots. I was covered in mud, the whole car was muddy and I felt so miserable. I hadn’t ordered THIS from the universe! I also wasn’t looking forward to the amount of work to clean myself, the dog and the car up either. As if I had nothing else to do! On my way home I drove past one of my favourite pubs and I decided to go in for that long awaited coffee, I’d pay for it myself. Who’d care I looked like a dark maple pudding. As I walked in covered in mud, the owner stopped me and said: ‘ What on earth happened to you?! ‘
So I told him and he had a good laugh, so did I. It was after all quite funny. I ordered a huge coffee and from out of nowhere he then said : You know what….your coffee is on me!
( ofcourse I hadn’t told him about my cosmic order!)

So it had worked, I had my first free Secret Coffee Order in the pocket but hell if I’d have to go through that amount of mud every time I’d ordered something I’d rather pay for it myself!
I did continue to practise with the Secret, but you know, in the last blog I wrote that I never seem to get away with anything that feels not quite right to my own heart and soul. I guess that’s how it felt with some of the free cups of coffee and meals. It felt like using others, it just didn’t feel right. The Secret? I think it’s a great start, really great stuff but I believe there is a part missing in the film, it’s called creating with integrity and with a higher cause in mind then just you! I believe in sticking to creating what truly feels right. I think those are the things we then also receive and all the orders that don’t quite go with our heart and soul’s purpose will remain ‘on hold’ and that’s exactly how it should be. The Secret can help you in realising how good you are in knowing and understanding what is your life’s purpose is. It’s a great tool, but not a means to an end. Of course each of us have different life purposes and we all can decide what is best for us. Just in case you seem to run into small accidents while out creating, then just ask yourself if what you’re asking for is actually what resonates with your heart!

A Cows-Poo Blessing
The cows-po story is less worrying.  I never thought that a piece of Cows poo would be able to make my day and I never thought I’d write about it in my blog either. But life never seizes to amaze me and who am I to keep it from you. Joy can be found in the tiniest things, or…in this case ‘in a piece of shit’.

So here I was, a week or two ago and I’d been going through a bit of a watery phase. If I didn’t  dream about rain pouring down, then it would be pouring in the house from a leak in the new bathroom or it would be me pouring over with tears. Sometimes we need to cry to clear our hearts and it obviously was my two weeks of crying. I remember that when I first came to live in Glastonbury, I’d wake up every day crying and it would last for about a half hour and then I’d be fine. It was clearing up then, so I trusted it would be fine now. I felt kind of drained after those two weeks and thought it high time to take a day off.

As I went up the Tor for a long walk and a lie down in the sun, I encountered a heart of Cows poo

and the sight of it made me sheer happy! It even matched my cows-wellies. It just absolutely made my day.

I spot hearts every where, I have a whole collection of heart shaped stones, wooden hearts but never had I found one in cows poo. It just brought out a huge smile on my face. So I walked on and only a few steps further, I found another one, but this one was quite fresh: What a treasure! Really, I have never been this enthousiastic about any poo in my life.
The tourists passing me on their way up found it a bit strange that I was taking pictures of poo, but I didn’t care.

As I lay down in the sun I thought it was a nice sign of life that when you’re going through some ‘shit’ there’s always a heart to find in it. It kind of re-assured me. So I had a great day in the sun, relaxing for hours just staring out over the planes surrounding Glastonbury and on my way down that same day, I found number heart three: all dried up.

T gave me a feeling that all the shit was about to pass, it had literally dried up.  

Blessings always come in three’s….even in the form of cows poo!
I wish for all of you to receive the little blessings that life offers you and to see the fun in it!
Because life is for living it in joy.

Bless you, Sacha.

15 March 2008

Married in Egypt?

Egypt is definitely one of the most beautiful places one can visit. I had wanted to go to Egypt for a long long time, but it never felt quite right, until November last.
I just wanted and needed a trip to a hot and sunny destination, for some peace and relaxation so I could lounge around and reload myself, doing absolutely nothing.

My best friend, who was to join me, suggested wearing a wedding ring, as she feared I might be pursued by the men of Egypt. I thought it a good idea since I would be on my own the first two and the last two days of our trip. As a matter of fact, I thought it would be even better to take a picture of a non-existent husband and children with me! ‘Temporarily married', it sounded like a lot of fun, so I asked a friend in Canada if it would be okay for me to have him and his girls as my instant family. He agreed and so…without ever thinking about it twice, I put the picture in my pocket, the ring on my finger and off I went on my Egyptian adventure……

I really hadn’t given it all much thought other then the hope that the sheer sight of my wedding ring would put the Egyptians off so I could have some peace. How naïve! Now you all need to know I am a terrible liar. It doesn’t work for me at all. It’s usually written all over my face when I try to tell a small lie, let alone try to pretend I‘m married. Me and lying, it’s generally not a very good idea. It’s not in y nature and I can never remember what I’ve said, so I usually get myself into more trouble. Same goes for me and crossing any rules….I always get caught…..so it’s best to stay far away from anything like that….the problem was that I hadn’t thought of this little ploy as lying at all…..this was for protection.

So I arrived in Egypt, still single….I couldn’t tell them my story …...so I avoided it.
A toe out of the plane and the first man on the trolleybus to the hotel, asked me if I was single, so I proudly presented my wedding ring, hoping he’d leave me alone. In stead he sat down next to me and started asking me all these questions…..he was really interested in my life. It was beginning to dawn on me that this wasn’t at all working as I’d hoped. But I had a small hope that this was the only inquisitive Egyptian on the journey because this wasn’t easy, it was hard work!
 
The next morning at the beach, I found out that ALL the Egyptians are very inquisitive and persistent. Where are you from? Are you alone, why? Where is your husband? How many children, how long married…..on and on it went! Since I’d never really given it any thought how the story should fit and since I can’t really lie… the logic of me being Dutch, living in England and having a husband in Canada: well, it all didn’t make much sense to the Egyptians! Not in the least because my ‘daughters’ were 16 and 13….so I had to have been married for about 18 years at least…….it just didn’t add up. 

Did you think I survived the first day, then you’re wrong. The next day they came back with more questions…..so in stead of peace and quiet I had them intrigued and a whole range of questions were fired at me like why he was in Canada and why I was in England and what about the children and their birthdays, education and boyfriends, my job and I just had nooo idea what to answer so I made it up spontaneously as we went along.

I so regretted having done this, now I had to keep it up for all of the rest of my time there and it would mean I’d never be able to go back without having to tell another white lie, because next time I would have to be divorced!
 
Strangely enough I found it incredibly great to ‘be married’ and be absolutely oblivious to any other man. I hadn’t expected to feel different by being in an imaginary marriage at all, but I did. It gave me strength and a sense of belonging, to have a husband and children. I quite liked it and was amazed by how different and good it made me feel. Every time I had to say I was married and that I wasn’t interested in anybody else , I would proudly tell them that I still was deeply in love with my husband and that I was completely faithful to him. Of course that led to many more questions, they all wanted to know how that could be possible after being married for nearly 20 years!

As the week went along, the story spread and I became friends with some of the men, the questions deepened and if I wasn’t careful I would go home believing to be married myself! But there was also a good side to this all:

The good thing was that my husband and children, my fake marriage opened the men up to other conversations and questions, they wanted to know about the western culture and our freedoms and we talked about their culture and how hard it is to do what you really feel in their country. It’s such a different world and culture. Again, being married had opened doors to conversations about the inside world of the Arabic marriage culture and about having more wives then one and so on.

It really was an amazing privilege to talk to some of them and to help them see how they could try and make a difference in their own marriage by talking to their wives like they’d talk to me. In the end my marriage scheme to protect myself had brought me some great male friends and into a realm of truly sharing and of truly making a difference! I ended up with free gifts for my husband and my children, gifts I couldn’t refuse of course. (and I did send them to my friend and his two daughters in Canada, with my sincere thanks for being my husband for that short but sweet amount of time and for my ‘husband’s’ willingness to come up with some passionate husband email to save me and my story.) 

I feel amazingly grateful to have experienced this and to have had a peek into the world of marriage for myself and of marriages in Egypt. It was an honor to give my wisdom to those who wanted to follow their heart but found it hard to stand up for their truth within their own culture. To break away from arranged marriages and the deeply rooted ruling patterns of how you should behave as a husband and a wife in Egypt is not easy at all.  My heart warmed to the kindness of Egypt’s people, to their interest and honor, the beautiful camels and the coral reefs I explored for so many hours. ( I never ever saw that many different kinds of fishies before!) I definitely didn’t think I would get this much out of being married for a week, it’s changed my view on marriage forever! Maybe I’ll try it someday but then for real….

Blessed be, Sacha.

19 februari 2008

Radio show Magic ~ Silence and Forgiveness

Life instantly responds sometimes to the topics I discuss in the radio shows. Sometimes it’s quite funny, the things that happen. As I always work intensely with the meditations and mantras that come into being for the shows, I have many stories to share. I’ll sick to two concerning recent shows.  

I record my radio shows a few days before the actual broadcast date because I don’t have time to go live on the days that the show goes out. I am often too busy with Soul coaching work.  I thoroughly enjoy making the radio shows, even though they take up a great deal of time. Preparing, recording and editing takes a good 7 hours for only one hour of satisfying radio….Call me a perfectionist, but I like to do things properly when they have my name on it.

Most shows are theme-based and related to my Soul coaching work. This way I get to really dig into a theme on all levels: musically, by finding the right songs to go with the theme. Energetically, by meditating on the theme and using the mantra’s beforehand. Personally, by connecting what I initiate on an energetic level to connecting this to the results it gives in my life and finally : when I work on a theme always spontaneously pops up in the soul coaching sessions of that week as it pops up in my own life too.

My shows, therefore are much more then just a bit of talk to fill up the gaps in between the songs, they hold a lot of practised first hand experienced material and depth concerning the topic of that week. This way I live, eat, breathe and experience what I discuss and I hope to pass that on to all of you who listen.

 
Silence is the doorway to Wisdom

Silence
So as I was recording a show about Wisdom, I explained how Silence is the gateway to our inner wisdom and how we could practise wisdom by becoming more silent. The meditation therefore was all about Silence. While in it, explaining that when we want to become Silent all that prevents us from being silent has to come out first, all of life was conspiring to prove this point instantly and throughout the whole meditation. First someone next door started to hammer. Not that big a deal, easy to edit out…I just waited and continued. Not long after that, while even deeper into silence, out of the blue someone starts to drill a hole on the outside wall of our studio! I got so startled that I completely forgot to carry on and started laughing! (As we are recording in a temporary studio the noise was extraordinary!)

I got up and walked out, explained and of course they could wait half an hour for me to finish my show. I found it very interesting how I got disturbed over and over again, while meditating on silence and just having explained how all the noise will come out when we want to become more silent!

So if you like to become more silent: then remember all that isn’t silent will come into your awareness before it can be released. If you want to be clean, you have to get to the dirt first. If you want anything, you often come across the opposite ‘negative’ first. This is a normal and a natural process. Once we know how it works, it is then easy to understand that our work is actually having an effect and it strengthens us to carry on.

Forgiveness
Last week I recorded a show about ‘Forgiveness’. For a few days I had been working with the mantra of this show, being: ‘I accept everything in my life’ on a daily basis. It felt so good that I decided to do the mediation again to see if there was anything left in my heart that I needed to forgive myself or somebody else for. When we forgive, we free our hearts. Now I have done this meditation hundreds of times before and it’s always amazing to see how many tiny little things we keep in our heart and how big an impact they can have on our lives.

Often hidden shames and forgotten actions appear when we do this exercise, things we had thought we’d long buried and dealt with. So while doing this meditation a long forgotten thing came up that I still feel really bad about.

A woman in India really went out of her way to help me and get me to the nearest hospital to save my life. It took her about 6 hours in a cab to get through the desert while I was heavily bleeding in the back. It was quite a horrible scenario and nobody had wanted to help me. I would have died there and then, if it weren’t for her. Her name was ‘Lourdes’. As I work with the Mother Mary energy, it felt quite special to be saved by someone called by that name, not really a common name. Without her I wouldn’t be here anymore, so I am eternally in her debt really.

When I came out of Hospital and met up with her, I asked her what I could give her in return to thank her. ‘Anything’…I said. She came out with quite an unexpected answer.
She wanted a pair of trousers that I had my favourite pair actually. Having been through what I’d just been through, my life hanging by a thread and being denied help, being ignored by so many while in such a life threatening situation.. …well I can’t quite explain it but I wanted to give her all that I had but not my favourite trousers! I just couldn’t. Looking back at it, it sounds soooo stupid. They were just trousers. However silly, she understood it and I gave her a really beautiful and expensive gown in stead.

 
'I still have the trousers. Still love them, but Lourdes if you ever read this : They are yours!'

 Anyway, I guess this situation was still being held in my heart. I hadn’t forgiven myself at all for being unable to give my favourite trousers to the woman who had just saved my life. I still felt so ashamed about it, I was still judging myself for it and was keeping part of my heart occupied with this shame and guilt. I clearly had to forgive myself for this, big time, which I did. I never expected this moment to come up in this meditation, I had clearly completely forgotten about it, but my heart hadn’t.

Sometimes it’s the littlest moments or decisions that keep bothering us, sometimes it’s our own judgement that punishes us without consciously knowing about it. This is why these exercises are so valuable, they really free up space on the hard-disc of our hearts. I hope you try some of these exercises in my radio show….and see what you come up with to free yourself. It’s my experience that the most unexpected things lead to the biggest salvation!

Blessed be, Sacha.

You can Listen to my radio show ‘Fresh and Focussed’  on Monday and Wednesday mornings from 8.00 - 9.00am UK-time via www.glastonburyradio.net
And you can post a reaction to this Blog or my show at: sacha@soulwise.co.uk

3 February 2008

The Almost Magical Move

The house that I rented had been for sale since March. I wasn’t surprised when it happened, I had felt the dreaded moment coming up months ahead, still it was a little shock when it did. I loved my house and didn’t want to leave. With the carcrash on top of it, for a while I honestly didn’t know what would happen next. I found it hard to stay put in such an unstable situation, especially with everybody around me constantly asking what I was going to do and where I was going to go.

Yet, I decided to trust life. I had to recover first. I would trust to feel it when I was ready to move and then I would willingly leave but before that time, the house just couldn’t get sold. For months on end I visualised that I would be able to stay as long as I needed to …and no matter how many people came and went to view the house, it didn’t get sold until the time came that I was ready.

Nothing much happened until November came and I started to feel that I was ready to move forward. The concussion had finally warn off and right before I went on holiday I asked life to direct me to my new home. I wanted to receive it, but I still had no idea where it would be. It could have been in Singapore or America for all I knew. I was open to be led in the right direction. I tend to go where my heart takes me, that’s how I ended up in Glastonbury and it could have taken me to any other part of the world.  I basically just surrendered the issue to life, set out a few options that felt right and then went on holiday to Egypt.
                                                                                                           

The new livingroom.

I just couldn’t believe my luck, I got almost exactly what I had asked for and then…..
then I got scared!. Do you know that feeling when you are right in front of the goal and you are free to score, someone passes the ball to you and suddenly you freeze.  That’s what happened for a few days. Thank goodness for one of my friends who talked some sense into me, and made me snap out of it.  It was three weeks to Christmas and I’d decided to move on the 21st, , on the winter solstice..….I needed to get on with things. 

Most people were leaving town to visit parents and friends over the holidays and I realized that it would be hard to get any help right before Christmas. So I used a technique that I work with every day: I started blessing my move. Every single night before going to bed I would bless : I blessed my own trust, I blessed life to bring people to help, strong arms to lift, good meals, boxes to pack, landlords to finish rebuilding in time etc….I blessed everything and anything I could think of.

Honest to God, I swear it was the easiest and most relaxing move I have ever done. Out of the blue my landlord agreed to move boxes in, in the 5 days prior to the actual move. it gave me the opportunity to move a room a day, quite relaxed instead of having to move all in one go. That was such a blessing. As I was ‘only’ moving 7 doors down in the same street we could walk from one house to the other.  Every morning I would start with doing some of my usual work, then I’d pack up a room and pray that someone would turn up to help me carry all the boxes and small furniture to the new house.  

It was amazing how every day, right at the moment when I thought I was going to run out of luck, boxes, tape or hands to help, right at the very last moment in which I’d fear that life had forsaken me …..someone unexpected would phone up, or drop in…and come and bring me exactly what I needed. Help really came out of the most unexpected corners and I felt so grateful and humbled by the perfection of life. When we truly let go of control, when we truly surrender and believe life will take care of us…then the universe really handles the details. It’s amazing how things then come together for us.

The new dining area inbetween the kitchen and conservatory.

By the time it was Friday the 21st, ‘only’ the big furniture and my office were left to be packed and moved. By then I kind of let it slide a bit, I thought I could already relax since everything was going so smoothly. But life is often playful in it’s ways and likes to throw in a test or two. ( I’m sure you all have been there!)  I‘d forgotten to bless the whole ‘getting-the-key-and-signing-the-contract-thing’ and so as I walked into the office, they said my money hadn’t arrived and I wasn’t getting any key. I was gutted, stunned.…the money HAD been sent, but it obviously hadn’t arrived ….As all was arranged for the big move later that day, what on earth was I going to do?

I was in tatters, I was so tired after 9 days of packing and moving and I felt completely confused. I stepped out of the real estate office…. in a daze. I wandered around a bit and thought it best to go and have a strong cup of coffee, do my blessings and wait for some idea to pop into my head to solve this mess. I was not going to give up now!

I relaxed into my triple-shot latte and blessed all of it. After a while I felt my inner strength growing! I would get the key and all would come together just fine, like it always does. While I was sitting there I realized that we often think we have done something wrong when things work out different. Sometimes the obstacles in our way though are a well-needed blessings to others.  I am a firm believer of the fact that delays sometimes have nothing to do with us but with others not being ready and putting up a block in our way. Trusting the obstacles is what most of us find hardest, but there is always a bigger plan being carried out, a plan that exceeds just you and me, a plan that  works for all involved. So I trusted that all would be for the best. 

After an hour I went back to the bank, asked them if they could do anything to help me.  With Christmas coming up, staying in an empty house was not a much of a fun option, even they could see that. As an exception they decided to lend me the amount of money I needed until after Christmas...free of any charge. By then my own money would have come through and I’d be able to return them their money. They took a huge risk by doing so and they went well beyond their duty! ( Blessings and Thanks to the HSBC!)

Oh, how happy they made me. Half an hour later I was outside with the key and ready to move. By 9pm that eve, I had moved into the new house with the help of two fantastic men! My neighbours made me a fabulous Christmas meal and by Christmasday I was almost unpacked and cosy in front of my new fireplace. It was an almost perfect and magical move and I learnt to always, always, always just trust.

Love, Sacha.

Ps.  I later found out that the wiring in the new house had to be upgraded to new health and safety regulations and that my landlord needed till midday to solve all problems and to be able to finish the last bits of touching up. I guess someone really needed those few hours of delay!

1 January 2008

Spider’s Wisdom

As I am walking up Weary-all Hill, close to my home, to see the sun set for the new year, I am wondering what this year will bring to me. I know this year signifies finishing many projects that I started in the past 4 years and actually putting them out in the world, one by one. It’s an exciting time, feeling that I am actually ready for this after so many years of having to learn how to wait and hold back because time wasn’t right and I wasn’t ready. Now, this year, I can finally move forward and focus on my writing, on finishing my book about the Mother Mary energy and her healing symbols that I received. My life’s work and dedication slowly unfolding into the beautiful flower it was intended to be.

As I sit down on top of the hill overlooking the planes around Glastonbury, I think about the past year and what it has brought me? What have I learned, which fears conquered, what have I achieved….. it’s good practise to look back, to really receive my past and everyone in it and use it as good compost for my future. 2007 changed me a lot :
I conquered quite some fears, spoke my truth no matter what, survived a car crash, started a new artistic venture, gained 7 kilo’s then lost 8, recorded and edited many of  my own radio shows, seriously considered a marriage proposal but when he couldn’t care for me after the crash I decided it was better to be on my own. I learned how to salsa, found new and inspiring friends and moved house. Eventhough it was hard work, it actually is quite a year to be grateful for and to look back on feeling pleased.

The sun is slowly sinking and the light catches water drops on a beautiful spider’s web in the grass besides me. It’s a big web, with a tiny little spider in the corner tucked away.
I study his well spun web, it’s so perfect. ‘Did you have your first New Year’s meal,?’,
I think, but Spider doesn’t move, nor answers of course. He just waits, his work is done, his web is spun and all he has to do is to wait until his web catches a prey. The wind picks up and blows something into his web. It dances joyfully in it, like magic. The doorbell has rung and spider comes into action, rapidly approaching what might be his meal, his new years feast.

‘You are going to be very disappointed’. It’s just a leaf’, I think, but I’m curious to see how he responds. As the little fella reaches his little treasure, he lifts it up and inspects it thoroughly for a few seconds and then, like a true Master,  takes it out of the Web and drops it to the ground. No food, so why hang on to it! He repairs his web masterfully to then just as rapid return to his corner. As I watch the simple nature of this tiny spider and his web, it dawns on me that I just saw a very valuable truth played out in front of me.

We weave our life’s web every day and we catch things in it all the time, sometimes accidentally and sometimes not, just like the spider received and accidental leaf into his web by the wind, like he sometimes will receive food. Of course what he catches depends on the spot that his web is in ….and how much he catches depends on how well he has spun it.  So often we make too much of what we catch accidentally, so often we interpret with our own judgement what is just an accidental leaf blown into our web by the wind. We hang on to it and make it much bigger then it needs to be. I think it would be good for me and all of us to be a little more like the spider. To see what we catch in our web and identify it correctly. If it does not serve us, to just drop it without any fuss, to just let it go and move on effortlessly.

Like the spider just has to spin his web and keep it in shape, all we have to do is what we feel we need to, and then we can just wait and see what life gives us next and if it still doesn’t serve us, we can drop it, move on and wait once more. It’s so simple really, nature rarely hangs on to the past. Nature rarely makes a fuss. If we’d follow our own nature a bit more, we’d be more in the moment like the spider and we wouldn’t have to dig into every little thing that comes our way, we could just do it the easy way, receive with grace and beauty and let go with grace and beauty, knowing that there will be new things blown into our web.

That little spider and his web, gave me great insight. I’d never thought that a spider would have given me such a blessing on New Years day and with the sun gone, the sky glowing red…I feel satisfied to return home, to wait and see what life blows into my web in 2008.  I wish you all a fantastic 2008, enjoy the New Year!

Blessings to all your beautiful souls and thank you all for giving me the best job there is!
Sacha.

Want to respond to my blog? Post a message here:
sachasblog@soulwise.nl
Photograph: Wearyall Hill as seen from the Tor
Copyright: Nico Morelissen

8 December 2007.

The Heart shaped Cloud
On a sunny day in May this year I was out walking in the Mendip Hills around Glastonbury with my dog. Nature instantly reloads my heart and soul. I always become clear when out walking on my own for a couple of hours and as I had some questions that needed answers that day, I packed up a picnic, my painting material and a blanket so I could lie down somewhere on a beautiful spot in a field to just be and receive what life had to offer. It’s on those occasions of tremendous peace and relaxation that I receive the most amazing insights and answers.

Before I continue with my story, I need to explain something first: I often dream the truth for others. It’s one of my talents and I usually let the dream sink in during the day to know how to bring that symbolical message across in plain and understandable English. Not always easy. Another talent is that I become one with the person that I am so closely working with and to be able to do so I need to let go of my own identity, again, walking in nature brings me back to myself and my own inner wisdom afterwards. So being out in nature is part of the job, it’s the only way to keep my balance and clarity and the only way to reload my source.

I had been in touch with quite a challenging man in America for a couple of months and our soul-connection was so strong that I continuously received input from his soul for him so he could move forward in his life. Sometimes in my work I come across a soul that touches mine and that challenges me to grow, an amazingly joyous and thrilling experience. The dreams were so amazingly clear and intense that they often took my breath away, this obviously was a very powerful soul and I would go out walking to let it sink in and see which parts needed to be passed on to him. It was as if his soul had finally found an outlet to communicate with and get all these messages from his subconscious to him and it was not going to stop until it was done.  

That day in May I had received an intense dream for him and I didn’t quite know what to do with it. ‘What would wisdom do’, had been my question and while walking I had kept this in my heart, knowing that I’d get an answer that would tell me what to do if I needed one. Sometimes this process of waiting for an answer takes days or weeks and sometimes it takes minutes or even seconds but the answer….. always comes when I am ready for it.

I soon found a spot out of the wind to have my picnic, to paint and to lay myself down for a much needed rest. It was a lovely hot and sunny day. I was overlooking the gorge and could see the Glastonbury Tor in the far distance.  As I ate my lunch I was thinking about this dream, it involved explaining how darkness and lightness are both sides from the same coin. As I lay down to have a rest in the sun I asked life for a sign, a sign that told me how to explain this dream to him in a good way and whether I actually needed to send all this information to him. Maybe it was just for me to know. I closed my eyes and drifted off for a little while and as I opened my eyes only a few minutes later I saw this huge cloud formation shaped like a heart right above me.

It only lasted for a few seconds and I reached for my phone to make a picture quickly. Now I receive many signs from life along the way but this one is definitely in my top ten of most amazing experiences ever! The heart cloud was so big and so close to me that I felt I could reach for it and touch it. The grace and love that poured out of that moment were tremendous.

I stared at it until it dissolved into nothing by the wind. This simple heart in the sky above described so many different things at the same time:
It described the amazingly strong truthful genuine heart connection my soul had with this person in America and it confirmed to me that it was an honest connection, straight from the heart, a connection I could trust.

It also described perfectly how light and darkness come from the same source but that it depends from where you sit and look at it, which side you get to see. From where I was sitting in that moment I saw the dark side of the heart, but it could only be dark because the light was shining on the other side. If I had been on the other side, I would have seen a light heart and would have never thought of the dark part. It also showed that each heart has both sides naturally in it. This heart-image gave me the exact insights I needed to describe and explain the dream I had received that night for my dear and challenging friend in America.

I knew I had the answers I needed and the clarity to write it down in a simple and good way. It once again left me amazed by the stunning signs that life gives to us when we take the time to allow life to speak to us. Without the peace and silence and the time on my own that I take daily to re-energize myself, without all that, I wouldn’t be able to receive these signs and I wouldn’t be able to hear and see life’s answers in the clear way I do now.

It’s the time we take to really connect, that gives us all that we need. Remember that when you ask for something, remember to take the time to receive answers from life and to make sure you have your eyes and ears open, so you can hear and see what incredible synchronicity life has to offer to you at all times. Life is just an amazing miracle! Enjoy it to the fullest….

Love & Blessings,
Sacha.

More stories about stunning synchronicities and magical lifeslessons and funny adventures are coming up real soon!

                                                                                                     2 November 2007

The Window Washer
So it’s official : I’m car less. I’m without a car until my new one arrives.  Actually, it feels a bit naked.  I’ve just returned from bringing my car to the car crusher and it was not easy to leave my first ever car behind.

It’s strange, being on your own in another country, funny things seem to become awfully important when away from your roots. My Dutch left-handed car was one of those things. Even though the poor thing  wasn’t a pretty sight after the crash and after being pooped under and spidered around in webs for 9 weeks while I was recovering.  It still was something that reminded me of home, of Holland, of my roots. It’s been one of the few steady things to always be there for me when moving around, my faithful silent and patient car. 

I actually went out to buy some chocolate and a smoothy to sit in the car and listen to  some music for the last time before having it crushed, quite funny looking back at it. I am taking this opportunity to apologize to my ex, because he had to let go of his first car about 8 years ago and he did the exact same thing and I laughed at him and made fun of him quite a bit. Hhmmm…what goes around really comes around!

And though it all feels quite right: I’m ready for a new phase with a new me and a new soul, a new car, new working directions and a new fantastic mobile, still it was quite a thing today, car-closure. Never ever thought it would be.

So when I left the car, I noticed a small hand window washer/ice scraper that I had forgotten to take out and I’d had it as long as I’d had that car. I decided I could not leave it, so I took it with me.  I felt quite silly since the garage owner looked at me with pity, but recycling is the word here.  It’s a perfectly good window washer so why let it be crushed!

On my way home, while walking down the hill I was holding it in my hand since it was too big to fit in my bag and somehow everybody seemed to notice it. And everybody seemed to want to comment on it too which led to very funny conversations, lots of laughter and some very weird insinuations too.  ( I mean what on earth can be sexy about a window washer / ice scraper!) I do admit that it must have been a bit of a strange sight: sad looking tall blond with a window washer coming down hill. 

It is about a 20 minute walk home and it took me over three (!) hours to get here.  I happened to meet many friends along the way who wanted to know about why I was walking around with a window washer in my hand. Walking around with one of those things is definitely much fun, it’s lifted my spirit and I ended up coming home radiant and smiling….  The good thing is that I will never forget that walk and so I will always remember the last day of my car in good spirits. It also felt quite symbolical:

1. without that little window washer in my hand my walk home would have been quite different!
2. from being a sad and feeling empty, I ended up verry happy and joyous, feeling good about the decision to let go of the old.
3. the walk home was promising for what was about to come: a new and happy life, with lots of support, fun and understanding along the way.

Life is amazing in it’s unique ways to enlighten us and lift our spirits if we are open to it, if we are willing to receive it and if we listen to our own impulses, however odd they might seem at first. It really pays off to dare and follow your heart. I am glad I took that little window washer with me.  It will be in my new car and it will be a story to tell and to remember till the end of my days!

Blessings, Sacha.

24 oktober 2007

Ask and You Shall Receive
Sometimes life seems to provide me with what I need, straight away. Usually this happens when I remember to Ask. The perfect timing of an Instant Materilisation always amazes me. It’s one of those obvious things,  to remember to ask for something. Still we forget about it all the time. It sounds so simple.…. and you know what: IT IS!

The real question here is:  how many times a day do we ask life to bring us something, really? And if we do ask, we need to remember that it only works if we really mean it and really need what we are asking for!  The questions need to come from the heart, otherwise life won’t give it. 

I think, a lot of people have trouble asking in general, I think. Mostly because they don’t know what they REALLY want out of life. When I start a coaching, it usually is because one is out of touch with themselves, lost, not able to tell me what they want. And iIf you don’t know what’s in your heart, this materilisation is not going to happen, or at least that is how I experience it. Now I find it quite hard to ask for anything, so to ask life on a daily basis for what I need was something I had to practise quite a while. As soon as I learned to allow life to take charge of whatever is going on though,  total magic seemed to comes in. The kind of magic that you could not have dreamed of!  

To be able to recognise or interpret the signs or answers that life provides you with is not always easy, but sometimes they are really really clear and that’s when you know you are on the right path. When answers come to you instantly, then everything  just ‘resonates’,  so to speak.
 
The Friend
In May, the day before my birthday, I decided it was time to hire a secretary. I was so busy and creative and so behind with many of the little things that needed to be done,  I just felt I was in desperate need of someone who could do all the little things, the things that would take me out of my creativity. So I asked life to please send  me a secretary NOW and then I let it go.

I’d met this lovely girl from Australia in town and she needed a place to stay for a couple of days before she would go to New York. So I offered her a couple of nights for free in my house, something I’d normally would not do but for some styrange reason I felt compelled to help her out.  Her friend, Marie,  would drop her off the next day. So I got to meet Marie on my birthday and we talked a little. She mentioned that she was looking for work and of course that was my queue: ‘Do you have any secretarial skills’? I asked. She said : ‘Yes, as a matter of fact I do ’ and to cut a long story short: I got myself a secretary within a day after asking for one. It was the best birthday present I ever gave to myself! ( we’re six months down the line and she still is here, doing more and more. She’s a true blessing!)

The Girl from the Postoffice
For the first time since I’ve lived here, I’d  managed to get tickets for the Glastonbury Festival in June. I also had a fully booked guesthouse, soulreading bookings and a very sick dog to take care of in that very same weekend. If I wanted to make it to the festival at all,  then I needed someone to take over quick. So three days before the festival would start I put it out to the Universe, to life,  to bring me the right person for the job: someone to walk and care for my dog and to take over the B&B in a way that was resonant with me. That someone had to understand the delicacy and energy that I set up in my house and B&B. It seemed like an impossible mission, but I let it up to life to decide on it, having total faith that if it woud be necessary, it would happen.  As soon as I had stuck my question on my vision board , I decided to go to the post office. ( it was a time that I normally never go there and I really did not need to go to it that urgently.)

While waiting in line and talking to a friend about the festival, I mentioned  that I needed someone to take over if I wanted to go to the festival at all. A few moments later I was tapped on the shoulder. I turned around and I saw a lovely blue-eyed petit girl behind me. She said: ‘Excuse me for interrupting your talk but, I am looking for work. I’m new in town and I am not going to the festival, I heard you say you were looking for someone to take over?’ She introduced herself as ‘Natalie’.  We talked for a while and I liked her,  she was exactly what I needed. So we went for a coffee, I took her home to meet my dog and within two hours after putting my wish out there I was sorted! I just love it when life is this spot on. 

Natalie took over fantastically, as she and Marie also helped with the Sacred Souljourney a month later and we are all good friends now!

So why don’t all of you out there try it, ask life to give you what you are after, ask for a sign and see what life can come up with.  Living my life this way has made it so much fun. Every day is an adventure in it’s own and every day I realize that life is so beautifully tuned into all of us. All we have to do is trust it, and live it and ask for it…..and it will be given if it’s the right time.

You can Listen to me ONLINE

11 October 2007

Off....or not?
It’s my week off. It’s one of the promises I made to myself after the car crash: One week off every month to regenerate and replenish my own source and to get into a space of timelessness to write. One week a month to slow down and think of me first. My coaching business is simply too busy, there are so many people out there that have a soul in need and it’s real easy for me to forget about my self. Without a week off, I will never get to the point of timelessness in which creativity can come in and I can actually write. A regular week off, is the only answer.

Now right before I’d planned this precious time off for the first time since I’d gone back to work after the crash, I was getting caught up in my old pattern of work work work and giving in to others and forgetting to have some playtime to myself. So while thinking about the reality of my week off.....while thinking I might have to just work through it, thinking that maybe I was just being elfish here ….as I came out of my backyard on my way to walk my dog… a Van drove up and past me with a text printed on it’s back that read: ‘S.A.S. Above the Rest.’  I stared at it for a bit before it sunk in and brought a smile to my face. What perfection!

I laughed out loud for many reasons:
1. Never before had I noticed a Van like that in town before.
2. S.A.S. is short for Sacha, my friends in Holland call me Sas.
3. The words instantly reminded me of my promise to myself.
4. The message I needed could not have been clearer.
5. Besides it being an answer for myself, it solved a few work issues too.
6. What are the chances for this to happen again, at the same time, in the same way!
I kind of wished I’d had my phone with me, so I could have made a picture of it.  I always have my phone with me except for this time….. of course!

I forgot about it and went back to life and work. The next evening, when I came out of my backyard something interesting happened. It was one of those moments where you feel you are propelled back in time, and the exact same event happened…. in the exact same way: a Dejavu, so to speak.

As I walk out, with my dog, this time my phone in my bag, just in case something interesting would happen, guess what..?

At the exact same point of me coming round the corner of my backyard, the exact same Van drove up and past me, of course the exact same text on the back. It really felt like I’d gone back to the day before. The only difference was that I had my phone on me and the Van did not drive on but they drove into the gas station, so I actually had the chance to run up and make a picture!  It was the night before my week off…how amazing to get a message from life like that twice in a row! If I had had any doubts left about my week of freedom, they were gone instantly in that moment.

My weeks off are sacred from now on….It’s obvious I need to think of me first: Sacha above the Rest.

I hope that all of you out there that are used to give and give, realise… like me, that we need to learn to think of ourselves every now and then, because without loving and nurturing ourselves, our source. Without giving to ourselves  ....we have nothing real to offer others.  If we want to be in our full power and potential, we can only do that if we are filled inside with our own source… It’s one of those really simple truths that I (we) seem to forget about all the time.

So I’m off to a week off nothingness, just for me.

Blessings, Sacha.

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21st September 2007

Boundaries for Miss Concussion
It’s been 9 weeks since my concussion and I finally feel my soul has returned. I feel like me again, but then better, stronger and bolder. I must say it’s really fantastic to feel ME again, to be back to the joyful sparkly me that I knew. And it gets better too: I feel I’m stronger then before, I’ve improved. My soul needed an extended vacation outside of my body to be upgraded. It just might have been one of the many reasons that have become clear while going through this process of recovery. 

But there is more, much more that I gained from not having ‘all my marbles right’ that I’d like to share to inspire you with.  It’s great to share how something that seemed bad, always turns out good, when you trust it. I’ve realised so much during these 9 weeks of rest, rest and more rest. 

The first thing I realised when waking up was that I wanted to stop wasting time. I’d been given another chance to LIVE and I was going to get the most out of it. A common effect of a near-death experience. My fears had gone.  

Secondly I realized how hard I’d been working for the last 1,5 year and how little time I had given to myself to enjoy life. I had become my work, and loving what I do that was not such a bad thing, but it had taken up pretty much all of my time and it had worn me out.  I had to be stopped to realize this. I needed more time to spend with friends and loved ones, I needed to play more with my dog, do a bit of nothing and love myself a little bit more.  This came forth out of a dream I had right after the crash. I slept 20 hours a day most of the times, and I dreamt many dreams of wisdom. 

In this particular one, I dreamt that my soul was having a much needed vacation in the spheres and I asked it to please come back to my body, because I felt so incomplete.  ‘The ONLY reason for me to come back to you, to Earth, is to love and be loved. This is going to be my mission and your mission’, my soul said to me and it felt kind of right.  My soul then explained that the joy of life on earth was to have and experience a human beating heart that could give and receive love.
Love needed to be my healer, my focus and it would be my only way forward.

I felt safest around people that loved me in those days, they made me feel like it was worth living and I could feel that their love pulled my soul back to me. Without love there was no reason for me to be here or for my soul to return. I could feel the pull to the other side quite strong when I was alone. I was battling with death on a spiritual level in those first few weeks. I literally lived in between worlds. An amazing process to experience and I learned so much about this life and about our souls, things that I would have never known about without this experience.  

Focussing on love, on painting peoples hearts was very healing, uplifting and easy.
But while my soul was gone, I felt no connection with any of my other soul work. Quite logical really and scary at the same time. I often wondered if any of my talents would return. If I would have a business after this.  Due to this complete disconnect from my work, I could not handle talking to any of my clients, neither to anyone who wanted energy, understanding or anything else from me.

Where I normally always would put myself last and work around the clock. I now had to learn to put myself first in everything, just because I simply had nothing to give. I had a ‘short fuse’ in my time as ‘Miss Concussion’ and would get easily angry or upset over  what seemed nothing but I soon learned that it was all about setting  boundaries for myself. I learned how many people would just cross them for their own benefits and not hear my needs, how I had agreed to this for many years, how I had not heard myself.  Focussing on doing what I loved and needed over the years had secretly slipped into doing what others wanted from me. It was a valuable lesson to learn and practise.  I had to change my life around and this was my chance. Without this change my soul would not return and I would not live on.

I needed to set some new boundaries for my life and the concussion made it very visible where these new boundaries should be.  If I felt not loved and respected I would instantly get angry or emotional, without a gradual build. I learnt to respect myself within days. I had created unhealthy boundaries towards my clients and me and it needed to change fast or it would cost me my life. Quite scary stuff really. I knew I wanted to live, I wanted to have this second chance so I set my boundaries and it did cost me a few clients, but it was a healthy shift. It’s only normal in a situation of change.  They will make room for ones that do hear me. I can honestly say that I feel so much better for respecting and honouring myself and the change set in motion is already working Miracles, which I will tell you more about in another blog.  All I can say is that this Concussion is one of the best things that could have happened to me, so…… next time life throws you a surprise, trust it and surrender to it and see what it has to tell you.

Blessings, Sacha.

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8th  September 2007

As some of you know, I recently had a car crash and I seemed to have come out quite miraculously okay… on the outside. However, the shock and concussion I was left with were much worse then expected. I’ve been home recovering  and resting  for 7 weeks now and it’s a very very slow process. Having so much time to myself to contemplate, many insights and extraordinary synchronicities have fallen into place since. Seeing death makes one want to do the things they have longed for and this blog is one of them.  In here I want to share all the synchronicities that happen to me, signs that tell me I am on the right path, the things that make my life so beautiful and magical. This first one is a bit ominous but still quite amazing …. Enjoy!

© Robert Jones

The Dead Body A few weeks before the car crash, I’d been thinking of getting in touch with a photographer I’d met to shoot some new pictures for the website. Funny enough, without me getting in touch with him, out of the blue,  a few days later he sends me an email with a funny question: If I wanted to pose for him as a dead body, for the cover of a book ( picture 1). He needed my well shaped legs to stick out from under one of those  police investigation - sheets. I’ve always thought it fun to play a dead body so I instantly agreed.

Now, I believe that life reflects what is going on inside. Everything around us is our mirror, all the time. What we are going through at that moment is reflected back. In Glastonbury especially this concept is very much ‘ín your face’. ‘Playing dead’ symbolised part of me that was about to die, part of my life ending and I knew in my heart this was very true. I had  been feeling it for a while and I knew big changes were ahead. That it all meant so much more, would become very clear, very soon.
It’s my experience with signs but also when I read souls that the images shown or the signs revealed have so many different interpretations that’s it’s absolutely amazing. It shows me that life is much more perfect and clever than I can ‘think it up’!

Funny enough,  the week before this whole dead-body picture came up, I’d been working on a soulreading for a missing person in an unsolved police case in America. It’s the second time I’ve been working on something like this. Readings like these usually finds me, rather then that I go out looking for it. In this particular case seeing, feeling and experiencing the soul involved was quite a horrible event and had an enormous impact on me. Was I ready to move into this part of my work yet? Seeing and feeling the darkest side of life, of people on a regular basis? On the other hand: if the case would be solved, my work would be giving peace to so many hearts involved. Could I turn a blind eye to that? So here I was, in doubt of moving onwards on this path and life asked me to pose as a dead body in a crime scene. Quite interesting synchronicity, right?

The shoot was great fun, I learnt that it was easy to be a model when you are with someone that knows what he wants from you. The pictures came out great and were accepted.  

Two days later, the Sacred Soul journey started. I had organised this journey because I believe we can let go of the burdens of our past by honouring and accepting them, and therefore we free ourselves in this moment to become whole. I used the dead-body picture as an offering on one of my sacred walks. It was a symbol for the part of me that was dead already and I’d been identifying myself with it while actually all I needed to do was to burry it. For the third time these pictures were a very good reflection of where I was at, in life. 

The Sacred Soul journey ended on the 7th of July, but was extended by one of the participants who stayed with me on a prolonged retreat for another 10 days. Our souls journeyed together for so long and we became true sisters in that period of time. It’s amazing how deeply and immediately we connect to each other when the soul comes forward. How we can develop great love for total strangers, in a short period of time. She and I did our closing ritual for the Sacred Soul journey on the 18th of July under the setting sun on Wearyall Hill. For both of us it signified a symbolical walk into our new life, the part that we had invited in during our time together, the new part  that was now opening up. She left for Singapore the next day. And I crashed with my car a day later.

Right before I got in my car on the 20th of July, my eye caught a book that she had given to me.
It’s called “the Warrior of Light’ written by Paulo Coelho. I picked it up,  opened it and read the following:  ‘When evil enters the house of the Warrior of Light, all he can do is to sit down and listen to what evil has to say, hear his plans. And when he gets a chance he needs to ask all he wants to know, so he can be prepared, and when the time has come that evil gets tired, the warrior of light may get up and leave and evil will be left behind.’  I remember reading this and thinking  ‘now that sounds quite ominous!  I better pay attention’. I got into my car and crashed minutes later.  

At the moment of crashing I ‘knew’ I was going to die, I really felt it in my heart and something left me. It made me angry not scared to see death, since my life was so beautiful. In stead of seeing my past flashing by in a split second, I saw my future! ( and it was quite a good one) When I woke up later in the car, dangling above the water, the first thing I thought was: Right, NO more wasting time. I’ve been given another chance to do what I am here for, what I really feel. Some of the fears that had been holding me back, died right there and then. Part of ME had died. I’ve been feeling very different ever since. It’s quite an experience and I’m still in it. So for the 4th time, death came around the corner. I nearly ended up as a dead body. Thank God it was my old and faithful car that got taped up by police tape and not me, but the similarities to that picture a few weeks before are still quite scary!  ( I’ve never been involved in being  taped up by police tape before and I sincerely hope I never will.) These however are the things that happen here a lot, synchronicities. My life is full of them, every day and usually it makes me smile when things like this happen.  It lets me know that I am right on track and that life is supporting me.

Now we can wonder weather things would have been different if I had not done that photo shoot….. but….. does it really matter? Can we escape our faith or destiny? Would I ever be able to find that out? Not really, and……does it really matter what is cause and effect? I don’t think so. I believe in a world where it’s not an ‘either- or’  situation. I believe that everything is one and that everything is perfect as it is and that all this would have happened anyway, without me having to do anything for or against it.  It’s just really interesting to learn to read the signs, to listen to the story that unfolds right in front of us. This time I’d been warned ahead of the event and I did notice, and I have been able to accept the crash more easily because of it

Take care, bless Sacha.

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