Category: Law of Attraction

When the Earth Slept: A Quarantine Fairy Tale

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Picture Created by Melissa Wooten Art

*Due to the overwhelming response I have received from this story, it is currently in the process of raising funds to be published.  If you’d like to support this journey by pre-ordering a copy, please do so HERE.  You can also share this story with others who may benefit from it!  Thank you SO much for your help!

Once upon a time the Earth got VERY sick. Her temperature rose and rose and rose until it erupted into a slew of wildfires that ravaged the land. She shook with chills, causing massive earthquakes and every time she sneezed, torrential winds kicked up. The people called them tornadoes and hurricanes. She cried because she felt so awful and her tears created floods that washed over the soil.  Try as she might, the Earth could not get her sickness to go away. There was simply too much that she had to do to support all of the living organisms walking along her surface and she was not able to get the rest that she needed to heal and thrive again.  She thought and she thought, and she thought, until finally she came up with a solution. She would look to the people to help her.

So, she came to the people and she asked them to go their homes.

She asked them to spend time with their loved ones and to close their doors and to stay inside for a while so that she might get the rest that she needed without having to worry about them and take care of them.  So that she could rest her weary spirit, just for just a while.

At first, the people felt wary and afraid. They had never been asked to close their doors and stay inside. How would they keep themselves busy? How would they work and make money? How would they entertain themselves if the stores and the movie theaters and the bowling alleys and the playgrounds were all closed? They crossed their arms and shook their heads no and the Earth wept harder and the floodwaters rose. She shook with despair and the grounds cracked beneath the people’s feet.

Eventually, after watching the Earth continue to struggle and realizing the damage that her struggles were doing to her, the people began to talk to one another.

“We would not allow our own kind to suffer this way without rest,” some of them exclaimed. “We must give her the chance to sleep and heal as she carries so much responsibility on her strong shoulders,” they said.

And so, it was decided. The people shut down their shops and their movie theaters and their bowling alleys and their schools. They cancelled their plans to fly away for vacations and they agreed to postpone their meetings and their get-togethers and their parties. They went into their homes with their loved ones and they closed their doors.

Then a heavy silence fell over the Earth. Gone was the din of cars swooshing past one another on the roadways. Gone were the sounds of jet engines roaring overhead. Gone was the clanging of hammers and the growl of power tools as construction came to a halt.

The Earth took a deep breath in and let a giant exhale out as she settled in to nap.  She was lulled to sleep by only the sounds of the birds chirping, and the crickets playing lovely tunes; the wind whispering through the trees, and the gentle crash of the waves upon empty shores.

Many suns rose and set, and the moon cycled from new to full and back again. Meanwhile, behind their closed doors, many of the people became restless. They had not yet learned to appreciate the stillness and the quiet.  They were afraid of the unknown; afraid of how long the Earth might sleep. They wondered if they should wake her. They talked together and decided that they should try to.

And so, on a beautiful, early morning, just as the sun was peaking over the horizon, the people went outside and they began to dance. They started slowly at first, hoping that the gentle rhythm of their feet drumming against the Earth would tenderly wake her from her slumber. Still, she slept. The people began to dance faster. Still, she slept. And so, the people began to jump and yell and shake their bodies, twirling in circles and prancing across the Earth.

Still, she slept.

Yet somehow, as the people danced, they forgot that they were trying to wake the Earth from her slumber. They realized, as they moved and shook and allowed joyful sounds to burst from their mouths, that they were reviving an old song together. One that had not been sung for many, many years but that they felt rise up from deep within them.  They felt cheerful and connected to one another, some of them for the first time in ages. They smiled and laughed. They felt appreciation for one another and for their strong bodies and capable hearts.

As this shift happened in the minds of the people, the Earth finally began to stir. She stretched her long limbs and blinked her eyes opened. She looked about and saw beautiful things happening all around her. Animals that she had not seen in long passages of time crept slowly out of hiding to drink from her rivers and streams. Thick smog that had hung heavy over the mountaintops began to dissipate and she was able to see snow-capped peaks that had been hidden from her view for ages. She took a big, deep breath in and noticed that the air tasted sweeter and cleaner. She saw the now crystal-clear oceans shimmering in the distance.

And then, she saw the people. All of them dancing together, creating beautiful music, rejoicing in each other and massaging her skin with their rhythmic steps.

She felt the sickness slowly leaving her body. Deep within her core, a stirring began, like a small flame flickering in the breeze. As she continued to watch the people, the flame began to grow and grow and grow. The more that the people danced and sang and rejoiced, the more powerful this warm buzzing in her center became. She realized that their joy and love and connectedness were her medicine and she felt stronger and stronger still as she observed them.

The people, lost in their exhilaration, had stopped thinking about their stores and their bowling alleys and their money and their vacations. She noticed that they were remembering, instead, their deep connection to each other, to her, and to all the ways that she supported them. As she healed, they began to heal and as they began to heal, so continued her healing. They were part of the same and were learning to work together in new ways. However, the people knew they could not dance forever. So, one day, they stopped dancing.

When they did, they took the time to look around them and they too began to notice the animals coming out of hiding, the icy mountain tops in the distance, the crystal cleanliness of the air and the beautiful blues and greens of the oceans.  As Earth once again allowed her people to come back outside and enjoy her many natural playgrounds, she noticed that they did so with a new respect and sense of wonder.  They took greater care to keep the beautiful Earth clean and to honor her wildlife. They took the time to learn more about her plants and the natural medicines they could provide.

They devoted their energy to finding solutions to heal the very things that had been making their beautiful Earth sick in the first place.

As the people took better care of the Earth, the Earth responded with great love. She offered up new resources for the people to use to keep her soil and waters and air clean.  She granted their wish for more knowledge and taught them the ancient ways that they had become so disconnected from. She continued to show them the beauty of simplicity and encouraged them to take the time to dance whenever they felt called to do so.  Together, the people and the Earth created a new way of being.

And so, they all lived happily ever after.

Learn more about this story by clicking HERE.

“If You Believe in Magic, Come Along With Me….”

fairy_forest_3_v3I was driving along in the car with my mom one day when somehow it came up in conversation that I believe in mermaids.  My mom chuckled a little bit, rolled her eyes and kept driving.  A few moments passed, and when I didn’t follow up my statement with any other thoughts that might prove my sanity, she looked at me a little funny and said, “Wait, are you serious?  You seriously believe in mermaids?”  I nodded my head matter-of-factly and continued that I also believe in fairies, sprites, unicorns…the whole lot of enchanted beings that have shown up over hundreds and hundreds of years through storytelling and folklore.  She reminded me that I was 37 and, confused by my lack of logic, she asked me why.  My answer was quite simple…why not?

This conversation has kept me thinking.  Why is it acceptable to believe in some things that we haven’t seen, but ludicrous to believe in other things we haven’t seen?  For example, we have been taught since childhood that all things are created from matter and that matter is created from even smaller particles known as quarks and leptons.  Have you ever seen a quark?  How about a lepton?  Yeah, me neither.  Okay…you may argue that these things have been proven scientifically, so I’ve got another one for you.  Did you know that over 80% of the world has some sort of religious or spiritual affiliation, the majority of which believe in a God or Gods who have not been personally met, an afterlife that has yet to be experienced by those of us still living here in this plane and countless tales of miracles spanning centuries?  Just based on statistics, that means that roughly 8 out of your 10 closest friends believe in something magical, incredible and unseen.  You may even be one of them.

I’m not expecting you to lump your spiritual beliefs, scientific evidence of matter and the idea of fantastical creatures into the same boat.  Obviously, they mean different things to different people and that is more than okay.  What I am asking is if you can broaden your worldview enough for a brief moment to include the possibility of all of these things, whether you firmly believe in them or not.  Our egos have a funny way of shutting down the things that we cannot understand, which is the root cause of so many conflicts within the world and even in our personal relationships.  Ego causes us to set our jaw, draw back our shoulders and stand firm in the belief that our truth is the only truth, but how do we really know?  How do we know what is possible, or even what is real?  The fact is that we believe in things that are beyond our comprehension because they offer us hope, direction, and joy…and sometimes, just because we can feel it with all of our senses to be true.  Consider a quiet moment sitting in nature, a peaceful meditation, the feeling of falling in love or of having your prayers answered…you can feel your connection to things unseen in those moments, even if you can’t see them with your physical eyes.

Our perception is the filter through which our entire life is colored.  When we can take the time to see through brighter filters, so much possibility opens to us.  We become less judgmental of others and more sensitive to the world around us.  Magic seems to dance within us and we start to recognize that magic in others.  We become freer and lighter, curious and delighted, knowing that there are surprises around each and every corner.  It’s not about knowing for sure so much as it is about being sure that we don’t know it all yet and being okay with that.

What would it feel like to shed some of your doubt and step fully into an existence full of infinite possibility?  Speaking from my own experience, I can say that stepping out of my cynicism and truly learning to embrace the unknown that surrounds me has given me a sense of peace, curiosity and wonder that I haven’t known since childhood.  It’s allowed me to stop trying to be in control of everything, and instead learn to sit in the discomfort of not knowing with a deeper understanding that things always work out the way that they are meant to, even if I can’t quite comprehend why in the moment.  It feels a bit like freedom from so much of the conditioning that I have picked up on my journey, and I’m okay with that.

I invite you to give it a shot yourself.  What can you open up to?  You might be amazed at how it shifts the way you see the world.

If you’d like to inquire about one-on-one coaching with me, please fill out the form below to reach out.  I will do my best to get back to you within the next 24-hours.

Jillian Arena is a Certified Transitional Life Coach, RYT-200, and Reiki Practitioner.  She uses her training in each to help her clients around the globe achieve maximum clarity, happiness, and possibility out of life!  For more on working with Jillian, visit her website HERE.  You can also sign up for her FREE 30-Days to Joy Challenge.

Own Your Overwhelm Like a BOSS and Create the Life You Dream Of!

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What’s the one thing that’s really holding you back from living the life of your dreams? Is it your lack of college education? Is it your time constraints? Dwindling finances? Maybe it’s the fact that you don’t have a support system to back you up as you pursue them. Perhaps, it’s as simple as lacking self-confidence. Maybe, you’re not even sure what’s stopping you? Well, I am…and I’m happy to tell you it’s completely changeable!

In fact, it’s nothing more than a bit of overwhelm!

When we become overwhelmed, our bodies and minds get thrown into a tizzy! Suddenly, our big dreams begin to morph into a paralyzing series of tasks that feel way too big to tackle. Our minds flood with questions and insecurities. We find ourselves wondering which direction is the right direction, what the proper first step is, and why the hell we ever thought we could do this in the first place! Eventually, we convince ourselves fully that these dreams must belong to somebody else and we give up. We go back to living our quiet, “normal”, reasonably fulfilling reality and pretend that it’s enough. Sounds pretty awful when you look at it that way, right? Well, guess what?

You CAN make your dreams come true!

Are you really going to let a few fearful thoughts dictate what you can and cannot do with this one incredible life you get to live right now at this very moment? Damn right you’re not! At least not if I have anything to say about it! Why are we okay with being small and living mediocre lives? Why don’t we understand that our gifts, desires, and talents have been given to us so that we could share them with the world? Why don’t we believe that others might appreciate us and our dreams? Why don’t we believe in ourselves as much as we believe in EVERYBODY ELSE? If they can create the lives they are dreaming of, YOU CAN TOO! So, why haven’t you done it yet? Why is your overwhelm stopping you and standing in your way?

Because you don’t have a concrete plan!

You are most likely overwhelmed because all you can see is the big picture, but there’s SO much more than that. All of the successful people (however you define that word) you see around you…do you think their success just landed in their lap? No…it took a lot of little steps to build the momentum to get them where they are today. They knew the secret of creating a plan. They knew that looking at the whole mountain was counterproductive. They knew that they had to take things ONE step at a time.

“But, I don’t know what steps to take! If I knew them, I’d be taking them!”

I get it…I’ve been there too. In fact, I find myself there all the time, but I don’t let that deter me. You’ve heard it said, where there’s a will there’s a way, and sometimes finding the way just means getting creative! Do your research, learn a new skill that will get you closer to your dreams, surround yourself with people already living out the life you want for yourself! Eat it, sleep it, dream it, and do it! That’s the BIG thing that often gets overlooked. It’s not always the most popular viewpoint, but success takes work.

Success cannot happen without action!

What does success mean to you? Is it an abundant career, a satisfying relationship, a feeling of accomplishment as a parent, or finding the self-confidence to have it all? Whatever it means to you, I’m here to assure you that it is not as far out of your reach as you may believe it to be. You just have to create a plan! Take your overarching goal and break it down into action steps. Take those and break them down even further, and further still. Then, commit to taking ONE action step towards your goal each and every day. Before you know it, SHABAM…goal crushed!

Don’t doubt yourself!

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Every single person you encounter has had at least a few great moments of doubt, but what’s worse than doubt? I would say regret. There are so many people out there that should have written a book or won American Idol or fallen in love or turned their hair-brained idea into a multi-million dollar company, but they don’t do it because of their doubt. Then, somebody else comes along and does it and they are left to wallow in their regret. This is your one shot at this life! MAKE IT COUNT!

If you need some help creating a plan to move towards your best life, I would love to help you do it! Visit my website BY CLICKING HERE to learn more about life coaching and how it can help you create your best life yet!