Dance, Shake and Roll with Life In Our 50th Episode!

This past week- the Tina Turner-an idol, an icon, a legend, a mother, a woman of power and grace left this mortal arena to claim her place in the spiritual realm. 

In this week’s podcast I would like to spend some time talking about her and how she exemplified being a woman of grace and power. 

In her 2020 book, Happiness Becomes You: A Guide to Changing Your Life for Good, she writes: 

I’ve reflected a lot about adversity over the past decade while I battled a series of severe health crises that nearly killed me. Through it all, I had many opportunities to review my life and ask myself some tough questions.

How did I overcome so many serious problems? You might know the list, and it’s long—an unhappy childhood, abandonment, an abusive marriage, a stalled career, 

There were so many external circumstances and forces I couldn’t change or control, but my life-altering revelation was that I could change my way of responding to these challenges. The most valuable help comes from within, and peace comes when individuals work on becoming their better selves. I started that work in my thirties, when I discovered the transformative power of spirituality.

Spirituality isn’t tied to any one religion or philosophy. It isn’t the property of a priesthood or clergy. Spirituality is a personal awakening and relationship with our Mother Earth and the universe that increases openness and positivity.

In almost every episode of this podcast, I have emphasized the importance of creating a personal spiritual practice. I know that our lives are only enriched by increasing devotion and relationship to Spirit. For Ms. Tina it was complete commitment to chanting the Buddhist mantra nam-myoho-renge-kyo. This commitment to spiritual practice requires discipline and a belief that no matter how bleak the circumstances there is something bigger, something better waiting to revealed in you and through you. Your wildest dreams, the ones that we too often keep locked deep within us are for you. They live just beyond that gap between your current reality and your best life. Your devotion, your spiritual practice is the bridge over that divide. As you cultivate this practice you step onto the path of the divine. 

Your consciousness expands and you begin to see through the clouds and past your own limited perception of reality. From this vantage point, you begin to recognize the ways insecurity, self-doubt, fear, and resentment are preventing you from seeing the truth of your awesomeness. The more you grow in your practice the more you see the clouds, not as obstacles but as opportunities to add another another support under your bridge. 

What we once perceived as problems become opportunities to see ourselves and our paths more clearly. Your true self grows stronger in this state of clarity as does your power to change whatever is stopping you for from manifesting that dream I know lives inside of you. So today, take a moment to write down that dream- write it all down, every detail. Let it be bigger than big. Let it be as fantastic and magical as it is. When you are finished read it back, change any place where you made it small or made it try to conform to your current circumstances. When you are done, I want you to read it back one more time and this time feel it in your heart, feel in the core of your being. See what it would look like, smell it, taste it, embody it with every cell of your being. And then I want you to put on a song that makes you want to dance, to celebrate. I want you to shake like Ms. Tina Turner when beat drops in Proud Mary. Move without thinking about rhythm or technique. Feel your inherent power. Feel your grace. Know that in this moment you are on the other side of that bridge. Know that if you can do it now you can do it again and again and again. Love yourself fiercely. Love every part of your life that has brought you to this present moment. Tina Turner concludes her 2020 book by writing:

If you could go back in time and change something in your eighty years of life, what would you change?”

My answer? Nothing.

The good, the bad, the ugly, and the pretty, it all adds up to me. I honor my journey, all of it. Changing the past would mean changing me. And I like me, just the way I am. Why would I want to change anything?

She continues:

I’ve already changed my past, by turning poison into medicine, and by raising my life condition, which transforms my perception of the past. Our perception determines the way events affect us. So, when we change the way a past event affects us, we effectively change the past.

In other words, since past, present, and future are seamlessly connected, a change in the present moment has the power to affect a change in everything throughout all directions of space and time.

On an even deeper level, the reason I happily and gratefully accept everything I went through in the past is because I believe every detail of my life is both my karma and my mission. We are all born with a mission, a purpose, that only we can fulfill.

When you live with a joyful sense of purpose, when you infuse your life with a greater purpose beyond your individual self, every aspect of your karma can become a brilliant facet of your mission. You can transform sorrow and adversity of any sort into joy, stability, health, and prosperity. By changing poison into medicine and accomplishing your inner revolution, you can use every experience of karma to encourage others who suffer from the same problems that you overcame.

You can become an ambassador of hope, an essential and radiant treasure of humanity, in which you recognize that all who have ever lived are members of your extended family.

As you continue to spread light in this way, actively doing good in the world, that energy will come back to you in abundant positivity. When you refuse to perpetuate any bad that has been done to you, you can free yourself from the chains of negativity.

Use your life for peace and goodwill. Keep on going until you climb the summit of your happiest dreams.

In your heart, I see the start of every night and every day

In your eyes, I get lost, I get washed away

Just as long as I'm here in your arms

I could be in no better place

You're simply the best

Better than all the rest

Better than anyone

Anyone I ever met...

If anything I said today resonated with you, give this podcast and YouTube video a like. Share it with a friend who might benefit from this message. If you would like to delve deeper into creating a spiritual practice that fits your life leave a comment below.

This is our 50th episode. Thank you for your support. I would love to know where you are tuning in from so also drop that in the comments below. Blessings!

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