Pushing Past Budding Potential to Get to Full Bloom

April 14, 2019 by Alannah Paren in Inspiration

Lately I have been reflecting a lot on how far I have come in my personal life, noting the key practices and elements that helped me get to this point, along with the areas of my life that I still feel like I have not completely unlocked. Inspired by Michael A. Singer’s book The Untethered Soul, I began to come to the realization that I am my own barrier in knocking down any walls that I currently have or ever will have. One of the most important aspects of my journey to where I am now in life, was that I always tried to follow the idea that you “grow through what you go through,” so whether it was one of my lowest lows or highest highs, there was a lesson that I tried to extract for future application. Secondly, in my past, the most prosperous moments came when I had decided to completely surrender myself to whatever life had in store, erasing any imaginative borders that could confine me to a specific outcome. As I have begun to once again ask myself how I can transcend and open myself to even more abundance, ready to focus on my inner self in a way that I haven’t been recently, I have pieced together that in an effort to grow, I must enter out of my “comfort zone” (a place that only exists because I arbitrarily decided that some things in life are scarier than others).

I have been visualizing myself as a little sprout, hoping to push through the dirt and see the sun, imagining that once I get above ground I will finally be able to absorb all the light and beauty of the world. That is when I realized that my perspective was that I had to struggle to emerge from underneath this soil that was blocking me, rather than noticing that this dirt was chock full of nutrients, helping me in my endeavor. This relief of recognizing that something wasn’t a threat to my existence, but was rather a helpful element that wasn’t worth fighting against brought so much contentment – so much stress was shed and I realized that regardless of my stage in life, I can always just be and welcome in all that the universe is willing to provide. Life shouldn’t be a continuous process to get to a certain point where you think happiness exists, there is always happiness and life waiting to be soaked up every day. We have to teach ourselves to turn this perspective into the dominant lens through which we view life.

However, living life free of stress, fear, etc. is easier said than done, and it definitely is not an overnight process. For me, it helps to set little challenges for myself that help me to physically experience and feel accomplished in overcoming things I presume I cannot. Examples of this can be running the extra two minutes even when you feel like you are going to collapse on the treadmill, smiling and saying hello to someone you don’t know very well even if you think you are risking ultimate embarrassment, or maybe it is just deciding to go to a different coffee shop or take a new walking route to test entering into the unfamiliar at a small scale. After successfully achieving the little goals you set for yourself, it is easy to gain a sense of empowerment that will help you to chip away at your larger personal inner walls, letting that warmth of light peek in, and eventually helping you to enter into an infinite space of possibility.

I highly recommend reading The Untethered Soul, as it does such an amazing job of underlying how much unreasonable attention we give the voices inside of our heads, along with helping to illuminate how to get to the point where life feels like it is an effortless, beautiful flow. We are all in a continual state of growth, but sometimes we hit those walls that require us to reflect on how we can push ourselves to bloom into beings that can truly make the most of every moment and surrender to the winds of life. Try to work on tuning out all the meaningless chatter that suggests that you can’t – it is time for us to be brave and slowly emerge out of the boxes we have placed ourselves in! Have a great week everyone! xoxo

The Importance of Being an Explorer

March 02, 2018 by Alannah Paren in Inspiration

Growing up, my mom always imparted on me the wisdom of my great-grandmother: “Be a trier.” These three words have influenced my life heavily, as I guide my life with the perspective that some things I need to experience before I have the authority to gauge my stance. Whether it’s a new food, a new idea, or a new activity (especially one that pushes me out of my comfort zone), I keep in the back of my mind that I must give it a shot if I want to expand my knowledge, knowing that the worst that can happen is that I learn that whatever I tried isn’t something I want to partake in again in the future. This morning as I began brainstorming how to formulate my thoughts into an intelligible blog post, I made myself some tea (and I like the kind that has a little quote to ponder as you sip) and the quote of today’s tea bag was: “Experience will give you the power and confidence to be you.” And that’s when all my thoughts came together.

I absolutely love traveling, but for me the term “explorer” goes beyond the physical act of going on some exotic journey, to also include just the act of “exploring” other options, different perspectives, a bite of that interesting looking dish at the neighborhood potluck… you get the idea! From an early age I’d like to say that I have had an inherent curiosity and thirst for knowledge pushing me to seek out a plethora of new experiences, but I know that some people are more homebodies. Which brings me to my overall message that I hope to instill: even if you wouldn’t describe yourself as one who wishes to go outside of your normal routine, the act of exploring in any sense of the word is so enriching and benefitting. With this freshness that comes with the start of March, I encourage everyone to make this month one of healthy challenge, setting at least one new goal to attempt that pushes the boundaries of the “normalness’ of the everyday.

When we spread our wings and immerse ourselves in something new, we add one more notch to the repertoire of things that make us who we are, since after all, we are all unique creations that have been shaped and molded by our individual life experiences. The more books we’ve read, people we’ve met, places we’ve gone, foods that we’ve tried, etc., the greater awareness we have for the world around us, and thus the more accurately we can place ourselves in the greater context of this diverse world. In my own life, certain experiences have illuminated feelings that were deep inside me all along, but that I could only place a finger on once I was exposed to the converse feeling through an exploration or heard someone else put words to my ambiguous emotions.

I think that when we as human beings take an active approach towards life, meaning that we maintain an open-minded perspective and allow ourselves to continually absorb new knowledge, we work to cultivate a society that is more culturally aware and empathetic. By encouraging our own selves to take advantage of all the wonderful possibilities in life, we are opening ourselves up to being pleasantly surprised and learning something about our own beings, or we can at least take pride in entering and surviving something that wasn’t necessarily our “cup of tea,” but that we now have an educated background in and thus can have justified attitudes towards. In working on making our inverse one of more unity, we need to all have a small taste of what other people’s “normal” is, so we should all view ourselves as “world detectives,” doing our best to collect all that we can so that we can make supported claims, have a better understanding of who we are, and add to the evidence that there is something that connects us all as human beings.

So go out and try a new cuisine, read a new genre of books, watch a documentary on an unfamiliar topic… or maybe even book a flight to that place you’ve always wanted to go to! We never cease to be students of life, so let’s all make the most of our priceless education!

Enriching Reads: Installment #1

January 05, 2018 by Alannah Paren in Enriching Reading

I often talk about ways in which we can better ourselves or take time to re-center, so I decided that in this new year it would be fun (and beneficial!) to start featuring some soul-enriching books. Not only can reading be used as an activity of meditation, helping to uplift and enlighten ourselves, but it can also bring us closer together as we digest the words and thoughts of another, and even discuss the presented topics with those around us. This past week I finished Brian L. Weiss’ book, Many Lives, Many Masters, and I found it to be so thought-provoking, bringing up topics that I have wanted to discuss myself here on the blog, so I knew I had to share it.

In this non-fictional account, Weiss shares his experiences as a psychiatrist who is taught to rely on science, but soon learns that there is something beyond us and beyond science. He delves into his sessions with a particular patient who comes to Weiss through her uncontrollable anxiety and is cured through his hypnosis sessions that uncover her past life experiences much to both of their surprise.

Excerpt of Many Lives, Many Masters — Excerpt of *Many Lives, Many Masters*

Although I highly recommend reading the book for yourself, the most interesting things that I took away from the book were: we each must pursue our lives for ourselves, since we all have individual lessons to learn as we journey towards complete wholeness, and the entire idea of living out our karmic debts and having purposeful interactions with the people we have been reincarnated with. I realize that not everyone believes in reincarnation, however I think we can all agree that we should extract as many lessons as we can and that having meaningful relations is a key tool in this. Essentially, Weiss offers the idea that as we live each life and learn more lessons, we progress on our spiritual journey and get closer and closer to our true selves, which therefore eliminates unnecessary stress, anxiety, and fears.

I hope everyone’s New Year is off to a healthy and happy start! Here’s to raising our vibrations and getting more in tune with our spirits within! Happy reading!

(Feel free to share book suggestions in the comments!)

Many Lives, Many Masters: The True Story of a Prominent Psychiatrist, His Young Patient, and the Past-Life Therapy That Changed Both Their Lives

By Brian L. Weiss

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