Greetings to you! Well here we are, my last Newsletter of 2009. The end of the year is really creeping up fast isn't it! And, do you know what, time just will not slow down! It's ever more exciting to be a part of the world at this time. Such changes are incredible to see and the pace will just keep in creasing. That's why it's so very important to keep pace with it. Continuously focusing on the present, living in the Now, and letting go of all the stuff that's keeping you routed in the past.

A great quote to get you thinking about this a bit more:

"You can't have a better tomorrow if you are thinking about yesterday all the time." ~ Charles Kettering

In this issue I'll be talking a bit more about forthcoming energy shifts and preparing you for letting go of the vestiges of 2009. To go with that, an annual review of what you've learned, what you've let go of, and what you've achieved. I'll also be explaining more about EFT and giving details of a new free offering I'll be sending out on a monthly basis from December.

I hope you find it helpful and useful and above all, enjoy the read!

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Energy Shifts And Changes

Since the last Newsletter, we've had the Autumn Equinox which caused quite a shift in many people in terms of letting go of the previous harvesting year, and setting out plans for the next.

These shifts seem never ending don't they, as we had the 11:11 just this month too. All of this openings are opportunities for us to draw upon the power and driving force of the Universe to let go of more and more the Ego Self and old stuck energy, and create a happier, more joyful, abundant life for ourselves and others.

Throughout December there are another 3 portals for change and energy shifting: full moon on the 2nd, Winter Solstice on the 21st, and another Full moon (A blue moon) on the 31st December - New Year's Eve.

This will be an incredibly intense month for reviewing the year gone by and really working to let go of stuff you don't need for 2010. Intense, powerful, but also a lot of fun - if you allow it to be. As the build up for Christmas begins, it's wonderful to see people being that little bit more generous and helpful to those around them. The more we do that, the easier the shifts throughout December will be. Remember Christmas itself is also a nice time to shift - to appreciate those who love you, and share your love with all those you meet. Whether or not you're a Christian and celebrate Christmas, there is a lot of joyful energy about that can be tapped into and shared with those around you.

So be present and mindful around the dates mentioned (2nd, 21st, 25th, 31st) and just be gentle with yourself if you experience any major shifts in your life. Also, be mindful that others might also be experiencing shifts and so may not be quite themselves. Tolerance and acceptance for self and others is the key. Better to shift your perspective and view to seeing someone as their higher self. Not only will that help you feel good and stay centred, it will also help them lift up and be more centred.

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Vibrational Essences

Well, what a year it has been for vibrational essences! Firstly the birthing of the Essences of Illumination, then the birthing of the Sacred Heart Essences. I'm also in the process of birthing another set which will be announced early in 2010.

Vibrational essences really are a wonderful way of helping to evolve and powerfully shift old stuck energy that's holding you back. The Essences of Illumination really do take you on a journey from at first recognising the beautiful spirit you are, right through to realizing it more fully. There will be another announcement about the Essences of Illumination in December which is really quite exciting. It's taking all my willpower not to say anything more about it here! Suffice to say the wonderful Karen Peach and I are co-creating this set of wonderful essences and spiritual evolution consultations to help the world be a better place. In light of that, watch out during December for the announcement that just blows me away when I think about it!

Now back to Essences of Illumination. If you've begun that journey do let me have any feedback you'd like to share on how the essences have helped or affected your life. I've had feedback from many who've been taking the essences and it's just lovely to hear how much their lives have changed and moved forward so positively. It's great to know that the order in which the essences are experienced is really making sense to people and causing shifts to begin gently at first, building up to quite big ones when getting to Transcend.

What you'll find from later next month is that there will potentially be an even smoother flow of that shifting following the announcement about the evolution of the essences. Sneak preview - Evolution Through Illumination! Ponder on those words and allow the energy of them lift you and shift you.

So if you have begun the Illumination journey, or are yet to begin, do give me a shout when you're ready for the next essence. Don't forget that "Balance and Boost" is also there to help you too. "Balance and Boost" is a bit like "rescue remedy" (One of the Bach Flower Remedies) and contains the vibration of all of the current 6 Essences of Illumination (Authenticity, Determination, Abundance, Perfect Joy, Deep Soul, Transcend). Unlike the others it can be taken whenever you need to recentre, rebalance, and boost the connection with your Soul.

Remember too that the Sacred Heart Essences do not have to be taken as a 6 month course (like the Essences of Illumination). They are there to help balance energy in specific areas of your life. "Centred in the Light" has been one of the most popular essences as it helps you feel centred and strong and, even better, can really help with courage to stand your ground in a confident and calm way. With all these energy shifts happening in December, "Centred In the Light" can help you not get knocked off your centre.

Contact me if you'd like to talk more about or invest in the essences.

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Year End Review

As I said above, we're almost in the last month of the year and how quickly this year has flown! It seems like only last week I wrote about setting goals for the year ahead and getting you to think about the things you wanted to achieve this year. So now's the time to review all that.

When working for some companies, each year you are given an appraisal where your work and effort are reviewed against objectives and performance targets set at the beginning of the year. So, let's do just that. Take some time out to answer the following questions:

I. Did you achieve all the goals you set yourself? (If you didn't what were the reasons? If you did, what supported you and helped you do so?)

II. How happy are you with what you did achieve? (If you're unhappy are you being too hard on yourself?)

III. Did you set and achieve any other goals during the year? (If you did, what motivated you to do so? Could you have done even more?)

IV. What were the things that you learned that most benefited you? (Think also about your relationship with yourself as well as others here)

V. What was your greatest achievement? (Have you celebrated that and your other achievements yet? If not, how will you?)

VI. What would you like to have done differently? (Think both constructively AND positively here - this is not a rod to beat yourself up with)

VII. If you didn't achieve everything you wanted to, what were the reasons/circumstances? (don't be hard on yourself here - review objectively and honestly because there will be times when life and circumstances change or prevent you from achieving something).

VIII. What's the biggest lesson that you've learned that will help you next year? (What other good things will you be carrying forward to make your life easier?)

It may take an hour or two to work through this thoroughly so don't try to rush it (and do it over a glass of mulled wine and a mince pie or two!). This is about honouring and respecting yourself and how much you've grown and developed during the year. It's also a useful thing to do before setting your goals for next year ; Have fun with it and, if you'd like to share, then please let me know how you got on.

Of course, it can also be helpful to do this kind of review with a coach, so if you'd find a session with me helpful then please contact me to book something in.

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EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique)

As you probably know, I'm a qualified EFT practitioner and draw upon it quite often to help both clients and myself let go of fears and self-limiting beliefs. EFT is quite easy to learn how to do and, once learned, can be used every single day whenever you reconise a fear or belief that is holding you back.

For those of you who are new to it, EFT is a form of psychological acupressure that uses light tapping (instead of needles) on acupuncture points along the meridians of the body. It involves tapping on various points on the face and body, combined with repeating out loud the identified problem, followed by a kind of affirmation phrase. This works in two ways 1) to pattern interrupt the subconscious and allow it to find a better way of working and 2) it balances the energy system and helps to relieve the psychological stress. EFT is completely safe and easy to apply, and is non-invasive. The only slight proviso with this is that I would suggest that, if you are pregnant, you discuss this with a qualified EFT therapist first to avoid any contra-indications.

Each EFT tapping exercise consists of a Setup Statement followed by 2 rounds of tapping on the acupressure points. Round 1 focuses on the fear, block, or problem using the negative reminder phrase, and round 2 focuses on the positive outcome using preferences and choices. Not all therapists use the 2nd round, but I feel it's more effective to tap in positive phrases after releasing the negative stuck energy.

So you start by repeating the Set up Phrase and tapping with four fingers of one hand on the karate chop of your other hand (see diagram below) - doesn't matter which hand you do it with.

Eg Even though I'm doing this silly tapping thing, I completely and deeply accept and appreciate myself

Repeat this 3 times while tapping on the karate chop.

Then repeat "this silly tapping thing" while taking two fingers and tap, somewhere between 6-10 times, on the following points (see diagram below):

Eyebrow (EB )
Side of Eye (SE )
Under Eye (UE )
Under Nose (UN )
Chin (Ch )
Collarbone (CB )
Under Arm (UA )
Top of Head (TH )

Then work through again saying the following for each point:

EB It's OK to tap
SE It feels good to tap
UE Tapping is helping me shift
UN Tapping is helping me release my fears
Ch It feels good to release my fears and blocks
CB This tapping is easy and feels good
UA I am getting more comfortable with EFT
TH I feel absolutely fine tapping my fears away

So you see, you do one round with the negative set up phrase, and then repeat with the 2nd round of tapping using the positive statements. Try this example above to see how it works.

Once you've learned how to do it, you can use EFT for any fear or block you have, i.e. fear of flying, fear of confronting someone, lack of motivation, etc. Any time you find yourself saying things like "I can't", "I'm no good at", or "I have to" there's most likely a limiting belief there that can be tapped away. Also, if you have negative feelings about a person or situation you can tap those away too "he makes me angry", "I don't like the way she does X" and so on.

Of course, it's great to work with a therapist as you can cover so much with someone else working with you. EFT is a therapy that I thought was a load of nonsense when I first heard about it, but now I absolutely love it. It's simple, easy, and quick to do, and can provide immediate relief from any negative emotions and thoughts.

The reason I'm recapping on EFT, as I know I've talked to you about it before, is that, from next month, I will be sending out three EFT tapping routines for you to do for yourself. I'll cover a broad range of things that will hopefully help you let go more easily of any fears of limiting beliefs you might have. I hope you enjoy the EFT tapping routines and if you'd like to try an introductory session with me, throughout December and January I'm offering a 30 minute taster for just £25 investment.

If you're not sure about any of the points, do contact me and I'll be happy to help.

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As I said at the beginning, this issue is very much about letting go of what's holding us back and preparing for the shifts that will continue to happen as we move forward.

It is in loving and nurturing ourselves in this way that we uplift ourselves, the planet, and help others to do the same. Never has it been more important to love yourself and focus upon your needs in order to be able to help others all the more.

Watch out for announcements in December and don't forget to get order your essences or book in a session with me soon.

With love and blessings
Alun Illumine

I was reflecting back on my ponderings from last week and a phrase came to mind that has stuck with me “if you haven’t got anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all”. Now this is a phrase I’ve heard a few times throughout my life and it’s always been in relation to talking about other people. It makes a lot of sense really, especially bearing in mind that energy follows thought. So, if you think good things good energy will flow to the person you’re thinking about, and vice versa.

Now there are two other themes I want to highlight in this week’s musing: firstly, this phrase doesn’t just apply to saying things about other people – it also applies to saying things about ourselves! So I’m saying to you now, if you don’t have anything nice to say about yourself, then don’t say anything at all! We are all, and I do mean all, beautiful Souls who are having a physical experience. There is nothing at all that could ever stop the Universe/God from loving us completely and unconditionally. It can’t happen so it’s not even worth contemplating. If God can love you then surely you can love you too – especially given that God is in everything, and therefore in you. So even if you think you don’t love yourself, actually you do – so stick that in your pipe and smoke on it! :-)

The second theme is about respecting other people who think a lot of you. Another way to look at it is this, whenever you put yourself down to other people you’re kind of slapping away any good thoughts they have about you. How rude is that? Imagine how you’d feel if you’d given someone something and they just chucked it back at you. Now don’t start feeling all guilty about this, because that’s not the point. The point is to get you to see yourself in a completely different light – the light of love and acceptance. If you weren’t good enough to be here, living life at this time, then you wouldn’t be here believe me.

So get over the negative self talk in your head and see it for what it really is, the Ego Self trying to put you down and keep you in a place of separation and fear. We’re all much more than that – we are each beautiful, sunshine souls who radiate love even if the Ego Self tells us we don’t! Next time you hear yourself saying or thinking something negative, breathe it out, laugh at the Ego Self and know it for what it is, then replace it with a positive affirmation “I am beautiful, just as I am”.

And hush up with all that negative thinking and speaking about other people! It’ll make you old before your time!

The answer to that rhetorical question is: yes of course you are!

One important thing for us all to understand about life is that it never sends us anything that we are incapable of dealing with. God/The All That Is/Source has a view and opinion of us that we are, we always have been, and always will be… good enough. It is just not possible for Source to create something that is not good enough – and that includes you, and me, and everyone else having this physical experience. And yet, we still question that don’t we.

As we go through life we experience contrast – i.e those little, and sometimes not so little (!), bumps and jolts that provide us with opportunities to learn and grow. However we have the propensity to see them as negative, too hard, and usually bloody annoying! It’s all about perception. Remember, we came here to have this physical experience in order to take part in contrast. That’s the whole point. As we learn and grow, so too does the All That Is because, like it or not, we are all a part of it and can never be separated from it. Separation from Source and from each other is just an illusion. A useful illusion in many senses because it allows us the opportunity of experiencing different aspects of the whole, such that we can learn from these interactions.

No matter where you are on your own development path, you are always good enough. For many years I struggled with the notion that I am good enough to teach the people who come to me. I had this “thing” going on in my head that I needed “just one more qualification” or “just one more course” and I’d have enough to be taken as a credible spiritual teacher, mentor, and coach. The thing is, the more courses I did from this aspect, the more I felt there was always more for me to learn before I could be taken seriously. In some respects this was actually very true – there is always more for me to learn and not a day goes past without my learning something new. I also needed to learn that to be taken seriously as a teacher and mentor all I actually needed to do was believe in myself.

Whether or not we see it this way: Every one of us teaches others; Every one of us is also always learning and developing; Every one of us will continue teaching and learning until the day we leave this physical world; Every one of us will continue teaching and learning after we leave this physical experience. The All That Is, is constantly creating and expanding and, because we are a part of this, so too are we.

So no matter where we are on our own development path, we will always be good enough to teach those who come to us. Always. We may not end up teaching them what they initially came to us for but teach them we will. The key here is not to compare ourselves with those who are teaching us, or those who come to us for teaching. There will always be those who are further along their path than we, and there will always be those who are not.

So cut yourself a bit of slack and love yourself for exactly where you are right now. Remind yourself that if someone comes to you to learn something, it’s because they believe you can otherwise they wouldn’t be knocking on your door. The All That Is, never gets things wrong, so learn to accept that it wouldn’t have sent those people or challenges to you if it didn’t think you were good enough to deal with them. Affirm to yourself “I am good enough”

I was in the supermarket the other day and overheard a person saying to her friend “I’ve done my good deed for the day and helped someone pick up their shopping. So now I can relax”. I thought “how great that she’s recognised an opportunity to help someone out who needed it”. Very often people walk past each other either oblivious to the fact that someone could use a helping hand, or worried that if we try to interfere/help we might have our offer rejected, or (quite often) we look to see if anyone else is helping first. In the end the person in need often goes without help.

Of course, there is also the responsibility in each of us to ask for help when we need it, rather than just looking around helplessly and hoping someone will offer.

However, let’s go back to the initial situation I observed and the comment that went with it “done my good deed for the day”. Hmmmm. Do we really need to limit ourselves to just the one? Does that mean if we observe another opportunity we can walk passed and not feel we have to do anyone because we’ve done our “good deed for the day”? Of course we can walk past whether or not we’ve done one or twenty “good deeds”. There is no right and wrong here. Sometimes we’re actually not in the best position to be able to help out and there are others who would be more effective.

But I want come back again to the phrase “I’ve done my good deed for the day” and really put that in lights. There is of course no obligation on anyone to help someone out, but is the reason “I’ve done one already” really that great? Imagine if you were struggling with something and you really needed help so asked a person next to you for help and they said “sorry – I’ve done my good deed for the day you’ll have to ask someone else” (or words to that effect which end in ‘off’ !!)

We can feel good knowing that we’ve helped someone, by doing something which really didn’t inconvenience us, or didn’t delay us by much that would really make a difference to someone. Like helping someone up or down the stairs with a pushchair. I’m amazed at how many people walk past a someone struggling with a pushchair or pram. Is it really so much to ask to hold the door open for the person behind us who’s loaded down with bags? Or allow the person with walking difficulties enough space to get off the train or bus before us?

Now I’m not saying put everyone else first and yourself last. That’s a bit like putting everyone else’s oxygen mask on and leaving your own until last meaning you probably die of suffocation!

The thing with life is, we can sometimes be so wrapped up in our own world, trying to get from A to B on automatic pilot, while thinking about other things, and not actually noticing what’s going on around us. As Mary Poppins would say “not seeing passed the end of our nose”. We’re not bad, horrible, or evil – just preoccupied.

So next time you’re walking around, going from A to B, or doing your shopping etc, perhaps notice a little bit more any opportunities to help others. At the end of the day, you will feel good from helping someone out, they will feel good about being helped, and there will be just that little bit more love and kindness in the world. If you’ve never watched the film “Pay It Forward” with Kevin Spacey I’d highly recommend it. If we all paid it forward a bit more the world would be a so much easier and more pleasant to live in

“Do, or do not. There is no try”. Remember that line spoken by Yoda in the film “The Empire Strikes Back”? This was when Luke was going to “try” to do something using the Force. How many times have you found yourself saying the same thing? I know I used to.

The thing with the word “try” is, that it almost sets you up for failure – “I will try…” means that you can’t promise you’ll succeed. What kind of message do you think that’s sending your subconscious mind or those around you? There’s another phrase I seem to remember hearing a few times “He’s a ‘trier’ not a ‘doer’”. Now admittedly one must take this into context as there’s also the phrase “you don’t know if you’ll like it unless you try it”. The context I’m using here is when we’re aiming to undertake doing a task or facing a challenge.

If you try, there’s a chance that you will not succeed. Have you ever watched someone who’s said “I’ll try” and then when they didn’t succeed there’s this little, deflated voice saying “well I tried my best”. And you can hear the Ego in their heads saying “yes you tried, but you didn’t try hard enough”.

In reality, there is no try. We do things or we don’t. It’s where we put our focus that really counts. You don’t try to brush your teeth each morning, or go to work, or eat a meal, or face a new challenge – you do it or you don’t. When a challenge arises for each of us, we meet it head on and deal with it, or we choose to avoid it, or we run away from it. Each of those choices are us “doing” something – not trying.

You see, here’s the thing. When we “do our best” we know that we’ve always succeeded at something. We know when we choose to “do our best” that we’re putting our effort, heart, and soul into something. Even if the results are not what we perhaps would have wanted, we can still walk away confidently knowing, “we did our best”.

When you watch an athlete running a race – of course one of their aims is to win the race. However, having read a number of sports coaching books and watched programmes about sports coaching, also utmost in the athlete’s mind is doing their best to beat their personal best. At the end of the day it would be great to win, however if they don’t but they do beat their personal best there’s still a great achievement.

Now you may think this is just semantics on words and, to a point, I would not disagree with you. There is much power in words, however, and it is we who allow our sub-conscious to be programmed or reprogrammed by the words we take in.

It is also about belief. If we tell ourselves we will try, we’re opening up the opportunity to fail on so many levels. If we know and believe that we will do our very best, whatever the outcome, we will have succeeded.

Doing our best at whatever we do is where our focus needs to be, in order to be most helpful in terms of feeling good about ourselves and our achievements. If we keep allowing ourselves to “try” we’re constantly allowing ourselves opportunities to fail and not giving ourselves the chance to see what we actually have achieved. Where is your focus at the moment? On “trying” or “doing”? Remember, you are a powerful being and doing your best is what you’re actually good at if you allow yourself to.