Have you seen the photo challenge going around on social media? Apparently you post a picture of yourself from ten years ago to compare to what you look like now.  Finding a decade old picture sounded like work to me. But it did get me thinking about the last ten years.  If you had told me 10 years ago, I’d have my own practice as a psychic medium, I wouldn’t have believed you. In fact, I don’t think ten years ago I would have considered myself a psychic medium—an intuitive, yes; psychic medium, no. 

Ten years ago, I was living in Cape Cod, Massachusetts with a 2 year-old, 3 cats, 1 dog and a husband who was gone a lot for work. I had developed a mystery illness that I had felt was limiting my ability to live life fully. I had finally started to develop my intuition intentionally, as an outlet for the stress I was experiencing with a toddler, an illness, and not a lot of outside help. It was the magic I desperately needed. I was introduced to a world where I got to work with angels, Spirit Guides, Crossed Over Loved Ones, Tarot and Oracle Cards. It turns out that I was really good at all things intuitive AND it made my heart flutter when I thought about it. I had found a new passion.

Flash forward to ten years later: I have an 11 year old, 4 cats, 1 puppy, my own intuitive business, a podcast (yay!!)  and am teaching others to find their own intuitive flutter—AND my illness is currently in remission, double yay!

It’s so funny how our stories can change so much in ten years.

Life really does move fast and it’s easy to forget how far we have come. The end of the year/beginning of the New Year has always been a time of reflection for me. Because of the social media challenge, I was thinking about everything I’ve learned and experienced over the last ten years. It was a lot, but I’ll extract the gem and narrow it down to the three lessons that seemed to repeat the most for me::‍

• ‍Follow Your Joy. Life is an adventure. Sometimes the adventure is fun and sometimes it isn’t. That’s how adventures go. There are so many directions you can take. People will have all kinds of opinions on what you should do. It doesn’t matter what kind of job you have or passion you pursue. Looking back, I wish I would’ve said no to a few more things, but I now know that the secret to loving your life is to Follow Your Joy. Only say yes to things that light you up and come from the heart. It doesn’t mean you don’t have to do or experience things that lack joy, but if you have a choice–choose joy. Even if it means that you have to have a lot of courage and make some scary decisions to find it.‍
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• Believe You Are Worthy. Gah. This one. Still a work in progress, but I have heard this from myself and others, “Who am I, to think I can do /have/want/desire __________?” I can now confidently say, “Hey! You are you—and you are unique, full of wisdom, and bring something no one else can to the table. You are worthy because you exist.” So, if you’re having doubts about what makes you qualified, stop and reflect on everything that has brought you to this moment/choice. Trust me when I say, you have gathered a lot of wisdom over the years. Share it with others. And then...
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• ‍Take the Leap. I have taken leaps into the unknown more times than I care to remember. Some turned out brilliantly and some didn’t, but each leap gave me deeper insight into who I was and what I wanted out of life. If you don’t take the leap, you’ll always stay in the same place you are. It’s worth it to take the risk and be vulnerable enough to shoot for your dreams.

So how do you actually apply the above three ideas? I could list a bunch of ideas—connecting to your Spirit Guides on a daily basis, journaling, meditation, etc., but in the end I think just giving yourself space to drop from your head into your heart is a great place to start. Rather than trying to figure out the logic of something, ask yourself, “How does this make me feel? What does my heart want me to know?”  Shut the outside noise down and really trust your soul’s voice to guide you forward.

What’s one unexpected lesson you’re grateful to have learned in the last few years?