Message From The Angels

My dear friends, we love you so very much,

Celebrate the changing seasons on your earth, and even more so, the changing seasons of your lives. You were born to go through cycles of birth, death, and dormancy, time and again. 

Some of your cycles are brief. You are born into life anew with each day. You die unto your waking lives at night when you go to sleep, renew your spirit and body, and then you are birthed anew once again.

Some of your cycles are much longer. You begin a job or a relationship. You move into a house. Then at some point in the future you leave, change, or move, dying once again to an old life and readying for the rebirth.

Nature knows these cycles well. Trees blossom, grow, bear fruit in fall, and lay dormant before the cycles repeat. Animals give birth, build homes, gather food, then slow down or even hibernate before the cycles begin anew. Seasons change. You never intended to remain stagnant when you came to this earth. You intended to grow.

It seems that human beings are much more comfortable with "birth" than "death" or "dormancy." Birth can means starting a new project, entering a new relationship, entertaining a new idea, buying a house, changing your style, or any of a million other things that bring something new into your mind, heart, soul, or life. Birth is exciting and filled with promise.

Death is letting go - of a pattern, an ideology, a relationship, a thing, a situation – any time you must give up something you once created in your life you go through a "little death,'" even if only a "death of the ego." For many of you, life's little deaths can be difficult. Letting go of what once served you but no longer does is often a challenge. In truth, it can be freeing and exciting. When you break a glass, you get to buy a new one. When you leave a job you can be open to better. When you let go of an old upset, you are happier. All of life's little deaths offer the promise of more. You are an expanding soul! 

Dormancy is the period of time where you wait and integrate. You regroup; clean your closets - mental or physical. You take stock of where you've been and more importantly decide where you want to go. Dormancy is an important step in creating your next birth. You need never feel guilty about your periods of rest. Taking the down time necessary to fully prepare for a new birth is encouraged. Spring comes after winter, dear ones. You will require the "little winters" in life in order to more fully enjoy your springs.

Allow yourself to enjoy whatever season you find yourself in right now.Birth is exciting. Death offers the promise of new life. Dormancy is a time to learn from the past and incubate new directions. 

Just as your physical seasons are all required for the full blossoming of life, all your human seasons are necessary in the eternal cycles of life. Embrace them. Enjoy each one, knowing the next is always soon to follow.

God Bless You! We love you so very much. 
-- The Angels

Message from Ann

Hi Everyone,

I have a little joke that death is my life. I talk to angels and those who have passed on. I live with a constant awareness of our impermanence. I go through constant growth – tossing old paradigms and beliefs as soon as I find ones that work better. I was a crusading Catholic who became a mystic as I experienced an expanded understanding of the nature of God and the universe. I was an avionics engineer who quit without a clue about who I'd become, simply on faith and guidance... The last few years I was excited about speaking at amazing conferences. This year I am exciting about going deep within.

Periods of birth, death, and dormancy are so familiar, I feel like I know the inner terrain associated with each cycle.

I can often sense an impending "little death" in my life. I feel confined, as if I'm wearing a metaphorical pair of jeans that is too tight. I see all the clutter that needs to go. I can't stretch my body enough. I notice that an old way of being or believing isn't making me happy anymore. Little deaths, like these – just like the ultimate death of the body – occur when the soul must expand. As a seed eventually grows and must cast aside its shell, we too grow beyond our beliefs, circumstances, jobs, relationships, or simply self-concepts from time to time. Something needs to give. It is during these periods where we feel a desire for change even if we don't know what it is.

Years before I quit engineering I felt dissatisfied. I knew there had to be more for me than a life of worldly success. Years before I got divorced I knew that I was becoming someone my former husband couldn't relate to. Years before I started teaching in public, I felt the inner urge to share what I was learning. Like a woman several months pregnant, you feel these changes brewing within you. Before a "little death" you are pregnant with new life. Spirit is coming to life within you, in new ways.

After you let go of something, dormancy is often a very necessary phase.When you quit a job, it is good to take time and ponder what you want to create next before blindly looking for the next one on autopilot. When you leave a relationship it is good to examine how you showed up, and ask what you might want to change to be more loving towards self and others in the future. When you let go of an old belief, mentally "try on" new ones to see which feels right, resonates, and fits. 

It is in our dormant stillness and times of introspection that we hear our hearts, receive our guidance, and set the direction for our next birth. It is in "lazy, unproductive, down-time" as our society might call it that we find, ideas bubbling up, not from our conditioning, but from our depths. Watch TV, play games for a while, daydream... periods of dormancy are always followed by birth. Our hearts come to our awareness when our minds are allowed temporarily to dull. Dormant periods are not wasted time. Before I wrote three books, I spent months after work watching the food network. I needed the time to let things marinate within me, before the ideas were fully cooked!

Birth comes when we have found a passion once again or when a new idea resonates deeply. Be it a passion for running out to get a cup of coffee after pondering life, a passion for getting out among people again, a passion for going within, a passion for a new career, there is always passion accompanying a birthing time in our lives. If we have rightly made use of the dormant period to reconnect with our hearts, these births come naturally.

There is energy and excitement with a birth. Our dormant period has renewed us in body and mind and we are "ready to go!" A forced birth – making yourself do something before you feel it in your very bones – is painful, sluggish, and uninspired. A natural birth – acting when guided and inspired – is beautiful. Make your changes when your heart dictates. Don't let your mind bully you. Trust. The universe and your soul are in partnership. The Divine within you has an amazing sense of timing.

No matter what cycle I find myself in (or many all at once in different areas of my life) I try to surrender. This year for me is a year of cleaning up the old – getting my previous books on amazon, clearing out and organizing twenty years of hard drives, making backups, clearing clutter, and going within much more deeply to reconnect with my soul at deeper levels. I am learning new techniques this year, waiting to see what emerges next. I am surrendered to the fact that I don't feel like speaking at conferences now, other than my own fun events. I crave my silence. I have less of an outer focus. Something in me is dying. Something is incubating. I don't feel like pushing myself as I have in years past. I am, in my spare time, much more dormant. It feels wonderful.

Whatever part of life's cycle you are in, it is normal, perfect, and nothing to be changed. Trust life. Trust your soul. Things will change again. The seasons always do... and so do you.

Here are some pointers to deal with each "season" in the cycles of life...

1. Befriending the "Little Deaths"

There are of course the little deaths you can't control – losing a job, breaking a glass, letting go of a relationship when it wasn't your choice to let go. These are never very easy, but remind yourself even in these tough circumstances, that there is no death without birth. Give yourself permission to feel, to grieve, but then allow yourself to enter the dormant phase, knowing that when something is taken away, if you have the faith, better will be given.

There are also the little deaths that you do choose. You get fed up with being angry, and resolve to do something to let it go. You quit, leave, move, or donate old stuff. You stop volunteering or quit an organization. You turn off the phone more and stop being "so available" for everyone else. You know these times. 

When you are feeling upset, antsy, confined, or not in love with life, examine your life and ask yourself... "What part of me or my life needs to die? What must I let go to make room for greater happiness? What am I hanging onto – either externally or mentally – that no longer serves me?" When you are ready, seek the help or instruction you need... then let go. 

2. Make Peace with Dormancy 

You know what dormancy feels like. You don't feel like doing much of anything. You're not inspired. You don't have goals you really care about right now. You want to sleep, rest, read, watch TV, or go through life with an active but comfy routine. These periods of time are when you do not want change. You are resting after a period of letting go (or sometimes a period of great accomplishment) and you need time to stop trying to "figure life out."

Give yourself permission. As I mentioned, I've watched TV for months in the evenings during dormant phases. I like to cocoon, snuggle up under blankets and sip soothing tea. I sit out in nature, turn my brain off and simply allow myself to "be." Dormancy doesn't mean you're always inactive. It just means you're letting your "monkey mind" rest for a while.

Allow yourself to play, pray, be entertained, and rest. Sometimes we must loosen the minds' grip on our lives so we can hear our hearts. 

During your dormant phases pay much more attention to how you feel, rather than what you think. 

• If you feel lazy look at that... You may still be judging your worth based on what you do, rather than who you are. At the end of your life you'll care far less about what you did, and far more about who you are.
• If you feel useless look at that. Are you not enough in the eyes of the Universe? Remind yourself you are.
• Do you feel fearful because you don't know what is next? Perhaps it is time to surrender control to a higher power. 

Allow the dormancy to reveal to you where the mind is not aligned with the Divine. Tell your inner children that they're perfect as they are, no matter what they do or don't do. Spend extra time on self-care, self-appreciation, self-acceptance. Great inner growth occurs during dormant periods, if you allow for it. This growth makes your birthing times easy and graceful when they ultimately arrive.

3. Embrace your Births 

When inspired to act, get going! Even if you're afraid, act anyway. Let the passion for your new ideas overcome the inertia of fear. Get help. Seek inspiration. Whatever you do, ride the wave.

After my long periods of dormancy years ago I started writing like crazy! An idea would hit me and I'd run to the computer and write for hours. When I started my online programs years ago I worked like a woman driven. The dormancy was over. The energy was rising up within me. The moment was now.

When it is a time for birth you'll want to get back out with friends, look for that house or job, write that book, finish that project, get a new look, you name it. Everything in you will be ready to get going. Don't delay... the energy of birth is the force of creation. You can move mountains and accomplish dreams during these phases.

Each cycle and season of life offers its gifts. Embrace them fully and then the next will come. While we tend to value our "births" more in our society, the "little deaths" and dormant periods have great value and can bring great joy as well. Whatever cycle you are in, know that the seasons will always change, and as the angels once told me, "Ann.. eternity is a long time. Might as well enjoy the moment!" 

Love you all! 
Ann