Question: Hi Alana, for the last 6 yrs my family and I have been facing great trouble. I live with my parents, a young brother, my wife and my two daughters.
My family’s status has gone in steadily decreasing order. All the wealth we had accumulated has been lost. We don’t feel mentally and physically good.
Today we have nothing left to spend even if someone becomes ill. The whole family depends upon my earnings. I don’t know what to do. I feel helpless. Do you have any advice? Chandan
Answer: Dearest, Chandan. Thank you for your beautiful question.
Do you remember the type of clock that you wind up?
At first it ticks faithfully and tells the time accurately, but then it eventually winds down.
Perhaps all of your challenges have you feeling somewhat wound down.
Alana would like to encourage you to find ways to wind up your clock. These methods do not need to take much time and they do not need to cost any money. The richness and abundance of the universe always envelops you.
Does the Beauty of Nature Awaken Your Heart?
Here is a question. What things spark, awaken, and warm your heart? For many, it is the beauty of nature. For others, it is coming to their senses: taste, smell, touch, sight, and sound. You do not need to fully wind up your clock through a “big event.” You can begin with just the first click of winding your clock. Perhaps there are twenty or so clicks for each winding revolution, and perhaps it takes five or so winds to fully energize your clock. Still, a single click is a beginning…is it not?
If you like, close your eyes and allow yourself to take a deep breath in…hold for a moment…and then slowly breathe out. Continue with a few more deep, relaxing breaths. As you come into awareness of your breath, allow your attention to move up to your heart. Sense the area of your heart. Can you feel the peace there? If not, can you go deeper until you find the peace that is always there? Even when our lives are in chaos, we can move our attention to our heart…sensing deep within…and allow a remembrance of a still peacefulness that always exists within.
If it is comfortable now, place your hands on your heart. Continue to breath slowly. As you breathe in, imagine you are bringing in the light of love, the light of spirit, the light of kindness. As you breathe out, imagine you are releasing stagnation, heaviness, worry, fear. Breath in light…hold for a moment…release that which used to be stuck…is flowing now…as you are aware of your heart.
Winding Up Your Clock
Now, let us ponder what might click your clock.
What is the most beautiful flower or other fragrant object in nature you have ever seen? Can you remember a sense of the colors? And can you smell this object of beauty? How many clicks does your clock wind up?
What is a taste that you enjoy? In your imagination, can you taste it now—even a little? Or a lot? Does it make your mouth water? Imagine you are tasting this now. How many clicks does your clock wind up?
You do not need to wind your clock all at once. You can wind it one tick at a time and whenever you wish. Notice how easy it is to wind one click at a time. Even the sense of a gentle, refreshing breeze on your face can click your clock.
Is there a sound you love? Perhaps it is music or even a sound in nature. Can you pretend that you are hearing it now? You do not need to “really” hear it. You can simply imagine as if you can hear it and receive a sense of the sound. How many clicks does your clock wind up?
Is there a texture you cherish? The feel of a certain animal’s fur, a stone’s surface you enjoy, or the skin of a favorite fruit? Can you feel it now? How many clicks does your clock wind up?
Coming To Your Senses
Sight. Smell. Taste. Sound. Feeling.
Coming to your senses.
When you awaken your senses—come to your senses—you wind your clock. It just takes one click at a time.
It can only help you to feel fulfilled within when you shift your attention from your stresses and problems to that which awakens your senses. When you do so, you begin to create a positive energy within and you release old, unneeded energies. You wind up your clock. As you do so, this positive energy will continue to further wind your clock. You might begin to wonder how soon it will be before you begin to notice things that evoke your five senses and wind your clock even more, and without any effort on your part. Isn’t it curious how you can build a positive, hopeful energy within and that energy attracts more of the same?
Like attracts like. You attract what you want by first filling yourself up with energetic essence of what you want. Then you can both better move toward what you want and attract to you what you want.
See if you can enjoy learning to focus within; focus on what inspires you, awakens your senses, and lifts your heart. Click, click, click.
Continue to practice-play with directing your five senses to what makes you smile and laugh and feel hopeful. Wind your clock. Allow yourself to be filled with positive, light, loving energy. Wind up your clock. Build energy. Click, click, click.
Expressing Kindness
Would you like to practice making eye contact with others? You don’t have to stare. When it feels appropriate to you, simply smile at others for a moment. Give them some of your light, some of your love. It will not deplete you. Whenever you give love and light, you will receive what you just gave tenfold or even vastly more. Expressing small acts of kindness can change your world.
When you feel needy, give what you need. When you start to feel more peaceful—sometimes for no apparent reason—allow a smile to emerge. When you start to feel more joy, and you will, share it with others. When patience arises naturally in situations that used to cause discomfort, allow yourself to sense your breath and notice the inner source of that patience. When you notice a gentleness and ease moving through you, put your hands on your heart and express thanks in your own ways.
Your heart is expansive, vast, limitless. When you awaken your heart by winding your clock, you open doorways to infinite possibilities.
Would you like to find opportunities to share your light? Or look for ways to share your love? Or notice ways to inspire others?
See if you can enjoy bringing yourself back to these energies of light, love, and inspiration. Trust that as you light the pathway for others—even in the very simplest and most humble ways—your own path will illuminate. Certainly, you will then attract to yourself the beauty that resides within.
Thank you for your question, Chandan.
— Alana
Dear Alana, I read your suggestion to Chandan and it read like it was so simple to make positivity flow in our lives. I have worked for three decades, and I was well placed and comfortably off. I quit because I felt I had more to give and contribute. Today, I feel dejected because I haven’t been able to make it the way I hoped to in life. I live in a place where there is scarcity in basic amenities. I feel inadequate, frustrated and not able to hope as everyday becomes a challenge. I feel depressed all the time. I feel life at the final score was not up to the mark in spite of my best efforts, endurance and challenging outlook. Help me handle my emotions and attitude in life. I am at a loss. I don’t know if there is a God to turn to or if it is the living spirit of our soul that is the God to turn to.
Dear Alana, I am quiet impressed by your articles giving us precious guidance for rich living at all levels.
By profession I am civil engineer 48 with 2 children having a happy married life after nine years of passing through a very mental and physical traumatic conditions. I am suffering from heaviness, weakness and a little numbness in both legs. I have tried all but not to real effect. I have been out of work for the last eight months. We are living in a rented house. So we are somehow managing the show by taking money help from near ones. The other thing is my younger brother who is supposed to give me my decided share of property which is a good amount is also postponing the matter. I am asking for your merciful advice and prayers to God to resolve all three problems so as to enjoy a long, healthy, wealthy, and spiritually awakened life.
Dear Alana, I have been married for twelve years with two lovely children. Communication with my wife was not the strongest point of our relationship and the feeling of intimacy and love is no longer there for me. I have met a new person that makes my heart sing, and I feel the connection that is coming from the depths of time. I feel caught between two worlds, the existing relationship of stability and socially accepted institution of marriage or re-arrange my life and follow my heart. What about the children? What example do I give them? Should I stay in an unhappy relationship for the sake of comfort or follow my heart despite the uncomfortable ride? I really value your wisdom on this one, Eric.
In my search for a loving and caring partner, I seem to be attracting people who are not available into my life. They claim to want to be with me and yet never make the time to spend with me and get to do things that interest us together. The reason they give is that they are working and in most instances their work consumes them 24 hours a day, and I only get to see a person one hour in a week.
I also work and make enough money to sustain my children and extended family and in most cases would help a partner out financially but all those I have come across seem to do is to take what I can offer and then leave. This has become too tiring a pattern for me, and I sometime sit back not willing to try again as I do not wish to find myself in a repeat scenario. I am blessed financially, in good health and have wonderful relations with friends, work colleagues and family members.
I feel I am emotionally mature to connect with whoever is ready and as I meditate I have become accepting of what I encounter with the Universe and its beings as souls emanating from One Source and assisting me to heal a part of me that needs healing. I wish to know why I am stagnating on finding a soul mate as it is the only thing that I fail at?
Hi Alana, I hope this question isn’t simply too selfish ? I moved from my home (English-speaking) country after owning my own house for 20 years to Europe where I have to learn another language and start again at the age of 52. At the start it felt like such a sensible thing to do as I was moving to be with a man who seemed to really love me and bought a house for us to share. As I have had some love and pain in the past, being really loved was a very big thing to me. I have missed my old life and friends more than I could imagine, felt guilty about moving my dog, and as we live in a remote location and, I came from the outskirts of a huge city, the isolation of the place, language, and loss of my way of life has had a powerfully depressive effect on me. It has taken a year for me to begin to feel OK and able to move forward here, and it has cost us some arguments along the way. I am still not sure if I should try to simply move only forward and forget my past life, or if I can manage to find some way to integrate the parts of my life, past and present. Sometimes I feel quite divided. Is there any direction you can offer me to try to cope with the sense of loss I have ?
Dear Alana, I like your passage very much. As I often say to my friends and my students that we do not live long on this planet, so we must think good, speak good and do good, then we will have peace in our heart.
Boonlert Saisanit, Ph.D.
I’ve already felt peace in my heart just by reading this article, thank you Alana.
A gentleman who owes me money has been troubling me by not giving me my money. I feel awful. I have requested the money from him many times. What can I do? I feel cheated, and I don’t like that as I have been very nice and understanding to him. Please help me in getting my money back.
Dear Alana, My question is as follows: I take care of my 18 year old special needs child and seem to be getting really stressed out lately. Any hints as to what I can do? He does not understand a lot of things although he is not dumb by any means. I love him very much. I have been told to move for my health and would like to know if you see this happening. My birth date is 05/01/1939. Thank you very much, Shirley.
Hi Alana, I’ve always been aware of spirit in my life and at one point was very well attuned to my guides and was able to communicate freely. Unfortunately I came across a very negative person who thought that what I was doing was ‘wrong’ and disapproved of this path. This person was in a position of great authority over me and sadly was a big influence on me, and I agreed to stop. I rejected the gifts that I had, refused to communicate with my guides and cut off from this side of who I was. Finally, I broke free from this person and began a long process of healing that had taken many years. I feel drawn to returning to what I had before but don’t seem to be able to do this anymore. I am so sorry and ashamed of rejecting the gifts, and of rejecting my wonderful guide, and I don’t know how to tune myself in any more, and don’t know how to trust myself. Do you have any advice or guidance? I found your website very helpful.
Click here to read Alana’s answer to CM > Healing From the Influence of Negative People
“See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many.” Hebrews 12:15.
The enemy of our souls has a very specific strategy to destroy relationships. Whether these relationships are in business, marriage, or friendships, the strategy is the same. A conflict arises, judgments are made, and feelings are hurt. What happens next is the defining point of whether the enemy gains a foothold, or the grace of God covers the wrong.
When a root of bitterness is allowed to be planted and grown, it not only affects that person, but it also affects all others who are involved. It is like a cancer. Breaking Satan’s foothold requires at least one person to press into God’s grace. It cannot happen when either party “feels” like it, for none of us will ever feel like forgiving. None of us feel like talking when we have been hurt. Our natural response is to withdraw or lash out at the offending party. It is only obedience that allows God’s grace to cover the wrongs incurred. This grace prevents the parties from becoming victims who will seek compensation for their pain.
The next time you are hurt by someone, realize the gravity of the crossroads where you find yourself. Choose grace instead of bitterness. Then you will be free to move past the hurt, and a root of bitterness will not be given an opportunity to grow.
Delma, thanks for sharing. It sounds like you believe the Bible is “The Word of God.” I can respect that you hold that belief. For me, it’s a book written by humans. Some of the content, perhaps 20% , seems inspired and helpful, while 80% seems to be just “religion,” and much of it judgmental. Personally, I think most of it is myth, like the stories of the gods of the Greeks and many other ancient civilizations.