May Reflection

"I see my life as an unfolding set of opportunities to awaken."

- Ram Dass

Well, my dear friends another beautiful month has come and gone. It is wild that we are already moving into June and the Summer Solstice is only a few short weeks away. I am wishing you all well and sending you love during this time of transformation and growth.

I love writing these monthly reflections because it is an opportunity for me to observe how much change has occurred in just a month. Journaling and writing are such wonderful ways to release, let go, and make room for what is to come. If you do not already, I deeply recommend making space for your experiences, thoughts, inspirations, and celebrations of self-growth to be channeled out into your written word.

As many of you already know I have been on a journey of self-growth and healing for some time. Though, I believe that life is all a process of growth, healing, and transforming from one version of yourself to another. We are always uncovering more and being gifted with opportunities to grow and become an even better version of ourselves. It is through our courage and willingness to work through our blocks and heal our hearts that we bring true and lasting change to the world. For me, May was another month of healing and clearing out the debris of what no longer served me so I could move deeper on my journey.

At the beginning of the month, I went on a solo soul trip, where I ended up spending 5 nights in a charming Airbnb in South Dakota while my husband graciously looked after the kids. This was a beautiful gift as I was able to have time to reset and embrace the quiet and gentle call of my soul. When I decided to take this trip, I had absolutely no idea where I would end up, though as the Universe would have it, I was divinely guided to my destination. It was an interesting step out of time for me and was evidently clear why the Universe had sent me to this small town in South Dakota. The Airbnb had a library scattered with books from some of my favorite authors (Ram Dass, Ester & Jerry Hicks, Wayne Dyer, Louise Hay, etc.), and the town was quietly nestled in the Black Hills where I could feel the potent energy of the land. During the week I was gifted opportunities to be around people with highly different belief systems than my own and was able to practice understanding and non-judgment. From my openness of mind and openness of heart, I had lovely conversations with complete strangers and found myself receiving the messages I needed to hear and equally being told “you know, you are saying exactly what I needed to hear, I am so glad I was able to talk to you”.

For the most part, during the five days, I made no solid plans, cleared my schedule, and let the Universe direct me to the places that would provide the greatest benefit. I spent the first part of the trip working on projects and creating, allowing myself to become fully immersed in my writing and move deeper into my work. At the end of the week, I spent time in the mountains and took advantage of the opportunity to visit Mount Rushmore and the Crazy Horse Monument. Both sculptures were magnificent sights to see and deeply symbolic for my journey. I pondered the vastness of the projects and marveled at the passion that it took to create such works of art. These creations had begun as only a vision in one’s mind and were now tangible rock carvings standing the tests of time to tell a story. When it was time to return home, I was refreshed, ready, and eager to get back to my family.

Closer to the end of the month, I had a wonderful encounter with a woman who helped me to release and move through energies I had been holding on to. These blocks had been brought to light when a particular event occurred and dropped me straight into old sensations of anxiety, fear, and lack. I was grateful and proud of myself because during the experience I did not react and was able to clearly see that the situation had occurred to bring to the surface something within me that still needed to be healed. I was able to recognize immediately that this occurred because of the energy I was subconsciously projecting out and thus receiving back. As with all things, in Divine timing, the Universe brought me and Kelly Ford together. Kelly is a warm-hearted and beautiful soul, has extensively studied in Projections, and whose love, compassion, and wisdom radiate throughout her aura. During our time together Kelly provided the space for me to feel held and safe enough to move through a process of releasing old stories and limiting beliefs. During this process, I revisited memories and experiences from my childhood where I acquired these blocks and first started to store them in my body. Once I was able to recall memories and feel the energy of the stored emotions, I was able to move into a process of forgiveness and rewriting the story. When the session was over, I felt lighter, clearer, and raw from the release. Even though a lot had come up, I knew that this was just the beginning. Over the next few days, I continued to feel the emotions that were bubbling up; continuously surrendering, and letting go of all that wanted to be released to make room for the new wave of energy that had begun moving through me. I allowed the tears to fall and to meet myself where I was, compassionately shifting my schedule to honor my own needs for self-care.

The work that Kelly did with me was in response to requests I had been putting out to the Universe and was a pure gift. I graciously accepted the opportunity to have the space held for me in such a loving way so I could move through, release, and rewrite something that had been lying dormant.

If you would like to learn more about Kelly, I highly recommend Clicking Here and Following her Projections Cluster on the islands of Coherence. If you are not yet on the IOC, you can Join by Following this Link.

As I have said many times before, healing is not a linear process and is more like riding a roller coaster with a blindfold on. If you have been on the healing path then you too know that we keep riding the wave, moving with the ebb and flow, and making space for what needs to be healed to surface. We are all students and teachers on this journey and as we continue to move on our path and invite our bodies, minds, and spirits to heal we can use what we have learned to guide others while continuously meeting the teachers who are right for us as the right time.

Well, my dear friend, I hope that you have had a lovely month and once again I would like to invite you to make the space to reflect on your month of May. What happened? What did you experience? What were your big wins or moments of healing? What are you most proud of from this past month? Allow yourself to feel and release on paper what is asking to be let out and then courageously share this with someone else. If you feel called, I invite you to share your reflection here in the comments below.

Thank you for all that you are my friend. Keep on Shining. Keep on bringing the Love.

Once again thanks for reading my reflection, keep on reading below to see the offerings that are coming up in the month of June.

Offerings

World Unity Week: World Unity Week is an 8-day online gathering taking place from June 19th-June 26th and filled with presentations and performances by various thought leaders and change-makers from all over the world. It is still somewhat up in the air as to all that I will be doing that week, but currently, I will be guiding a meditation during a presentation titled "Living in Heart-centered Gratitude" and will likely be hosting a presentation titled "Be the Change: Living in a Love-Centered World."

Register for WUW by Clicking Here

Stay tuned for more about this is an email a little closer to the week of WUW.

Group Soul Sessions: Throughout the month of May, it became clear that I needed to shift a few things in the upcoming months. So, Group Soul Journeys will begin in July instead of June. This will provide the space for me to give my full attention to World Unity Week and have a more consistent schedule in place for the Group Journeys.

Group Journeys will take place on Mondays from ~ 5-6:30 PM (MTN) offered by donation and will include a Teaching, Meditation, Diving Deeper Practices, and time to connect with others on their journey.

The following topics will be addressed in the July sessions (topics titles subject to minor changes). Please register for each session individually.

• July 5th, 2021 - Be the Change: Embark on the Journey of Self-Love

• July 12th, 2021 - Embracing the Energy of Peace

• July 19th, 2021 - Forgiveness: An Act of Self-Love & Healing

• July 26th, 2021 - Re-remembering your Soul's Purpose: Honoring your Calling

Register for Group Soul Sessions by Clicking Here

22-Day Soul Journey: This creation is taking its divine time to be born. I want to make sure this journey is fully created with divine inspiration and that those who embark on the journey get the absolute most out of it. Thus, I am tentatively setting a start date for Late July early August.

This journey will last 22 days and will include Lessons, Diving Deeper Practices, Meditation Practices & Guided Meditations, Daily Affirmations, and Mantras. All Materials will be available for download to provide for lifetime access and may have the option to purchase the course with or without the weekly Group Zoom Calls. Stay tuned for updates on this offering.

Friday Heart-Centered Meditations: If you have not already, I invite you to join us as we meet most Fridays to connect in our hearts and bring coherence, love, and compassion into our own lives and to those around us. Sessions take place at 11:00 am PT – 12:00 pm MTN – 2:00 pm EST.

Learn More and Register for Free by Clicking Here

*As a note, there will not be a session on Friday, June 11th, 2021

I hope your day is filled with Laughter, Love, Light, and Soul Expansion.

Until next time,

Khadíjih Mitchell-Polka

In the meantime, I'll see you in the Quantum field

Heal Yourself, Heal Others

When we are willing to look at our darkness, meet our shadow, and do the work to heal from past pain and trauma, true change becomes possible. Not only does our world change but by having the courage to work on ourselves, we provide the space for those around us to do the same.

The healing journey is not easy and is like riding a roller coaster blindfolded. But every step we take into our body, searching for what needs to be healed, and willingly surrendering our need to hold on to the darkness any longer, brings us exponentially closer to freedom.

When we focus on our healing and move through this process of personal transformation, we then have tools to share that may just help another on their healing journey. Even still everyone's journey to healing is unique and we all must move down the path by our own choice, finding what works best for us.

Many may want to heal but do not know how. In my experience, the desire to heal is the starting point. The asking or praying to the Universe for help to heal is the first step. Then we must be willing to continuously become quiet in mind and still in body to hear the answers. Once we have an answer, we have to be brave enough to surrender our ego and identity to the process. When we are willing to ask for help, listen for guidance, and surrender to the process, healing not only becomes possible but inevitable.

So my dear friend, may you be the light, may you be love, may you be willing to do the work, and may you be a source of inspiration for others on their own journey.

Four Practices to Shift from Fear to Love

The past week or so I have been thinking a lot about fear and how fear has played a major role not only in my own life but also around the world. I have been thinking about how when we are operating under fear, we limit ourselves and others, our dreams feel impossible, and the fullness of the Universe seems to narrow in so we feel closed off to the truths that lay right beneath the surface of reality. When we are living in fear, other people are always to blame, always out to get us, and people's choices that do not align with our own automatically seem wrong and invalid. A Course in Miracles offers that as we are moving through life if we are not living in love, then we are living in fear. This metaphysical text describes how love and fear drive the many decisions we make, including our reactions to life events, the career paths we head down, the relationships we choose, what we think we are capable of, the ways in which we put ourselves out into the world, how we perceive reality, how we perceive others, how we treat those who are different than us, and our willingness to hear and trust in Universal guidance.

This dichotomy can not only be challenging to recognize but even more to accept. It may seem that by dividing all of human emotion into two emotions we are not taking into account the vastness of human feeling and all the truths of one person's lived experience. Though from my perspective when we are calling out the fear that resides beneath the outward projected emotion, we are not only recognizing the projected emotion for what it feels like, we are also diving deeper into the root of the emotion to really determine where it is coming from. The root of the emotion is never really anger, frustration, sadness, or pain, these are simply symptoms of something underlying, something embedded much deeper that must be felt and transmuted in order to experience liberation from it.

Whenever we are experiencing any unwanted emotion we first have to become aware of the emotion in our body. We have to meet ourselves where we are and become something of an observer to what it is that we are experiencing. When we are aware of our emotions and aware of how our body is responding to a situation, then we can begin investigating what the emotion is trying to tell us. If we can dig beneath the surface of these emotions, beneath the stories of who made us angry, sad, or upset; beneath the stories of who hurt us; beneath the blame we are placing on ourselves or others, and curiously question where the emotions are coming from we can begin to find the truth of what is really causing our suffering. We can become a witness to the stories we have been telling ourselves, the beliefs that we have been holding, and how we have been separating ourselves from the abundance of love that the Universe has and always holds for us.

To share a story from my own experience, when I was working on my Ph.D. program, I often found myself in a state of frustration, anxiety, or anger about my program. I was living in a constant state of stress and always wanted to blame my feelings and suffering on something or someone else. It was the professor's fault for assigning more work than one human could do in a given week, it was the entire establishment for silencing me, not understanding me, and not seeing me, it was the structure of academia forcing me to be someone I was not and behave in a way that was not authentic to who I really was. These limited stories ran through my mind daily and I found myself perpetuating my own suffering simply from the thoughts I was thinking. It was when I finally decided that I had enough of the drama, enough of my own sorrow, enough suffering that things began to change. When I really began to meet myself where I was, work with my thoughts, feelings, and emotions, and make time to sit in the stillness I uncovered that all of these limiting beliefs and stories I had been telling myself were merely a projection of the fears I was feeling inside. When I went deeper into myself I found that my anxiety from the amount of work that I was being asked to do came from my fear of not being able to sustain my home life outside of the degree. My frustrations of being silenced came from my own fears of not being heard and not having anything valuable to say. My feelings of being denied the right to be my authentic self and having to behave a certain way to fit in came from my own fear that I was denying my soul and going to live my entire life floating on the tail of someone else's dream. When I really got down to the root of the problem I found that all of these stories and limiting beliefs stemmed from my fears of not living up to my fullest potential and missing the opportunity to help the people in this world I came here to help. On the surface I was angry, frustrated, sad, anxious, and stressed but beneath all of this, I was simply afraid of leaving school, leaving what had been my life for the last 11 years, and embracing the dream and vision for the future I had in my heart. When I was living in these fear-based stories I was automatically cutting myself off from all the love I feel for others and the love I came to this world to share. When I was giving in to these limiting beliefs, I was making it impossible for me to bring any change to the world as I was vibrating at the energy of fear and forgetting about my ability to love. When I got really honest with myself, embraced the emotions, embraced the fear, and made the decision to shift my perspective to one of love, my whole world began to change. I am now halfway through my leave of absence from school and becoming more clear every day on where that is going (though that is reserved for a much later story). I am now building my business and finding time to embrace divine inspiration, listening to the nudges of what is being asked of me to create. Of course, the new adventure I am on and perceived shift in direction is bringing up its own set of emotions that are once again inviting me into the fears and limiting beliefs that are beneath the surface. I am learning to become comfortable with my discomfort, feel the fear and take the leap of faith into love anyway. While fear is uncomfortable it can also be quite beautiful, this is because our fear shows us what it is that we want, by very clearly showing us what we do not want.

So how do we recognize what fears are beneath the surface and reconnect with love? The first step is awareness, which asks us to meet ourselves where we are and be an observer of what we are feeling and the thoughts we are thinking. If we are not aware of what we are feeling and aware of our reactions then we cannot make any changes. Once we are aware of what we are feeling, aware of what is going on around us, and the emotions we are experiencing, we can begin looking deeper and curiously investigating what thoughts and beliefs these emotions are distracting us from. Making time in our schedule for meditation or a stillness practice is a wonderful way to get to know our true Self and to unearth many of the beliefs that live beneath the surface of our everyday lives. Though being aware does not automatically mean that we are no longer angry, frustrated, sad, upset, or giving in to our fear, but it does let us know where we are so we can begin making the conscious shift back to love.

Once we are aware of the emotions and even the fear beneath how do we shift into a state of love? Below I have listed four practices that have greatly helped me to make this shift and I hope that you will find some comfort in them too.

1. Connecting with Gratitude. There is always something to be grateful for. Always. Even on days when it feels like we have nothing, when we are down to our last dime and our world is crumbling down around us, there is still something to be grateful for. Maybe we can find gratitude in the shoes on our feet, or the earth beneath us where we sleep. Maybe we can be grateful for the water that we drink, or the smile from the stranger on the street. Maybe we can find gratitude for our families and friends, and those who have helped us in times of need. There are so many things to be grateful for, we just simply need to take the time time to feel into this gratitude.

   1. Once you have the memories, people, experiences, and things that you are grateful for, attempt to truly tune into the feeling of gratitude. What does gratitude feel like to you? Where does the feeling of gratitude reside in your body? Make the sincere attempt to connect with the feeling of gratitude, while breathing into this feeling, allow it to move throughout your entire body.

   2. Make a list of at least 10 things that you are grateful for. As you move through each of the items on your list reconnect with the feeling of gratitude in your body and see if you can radiate this feeling throughout your entire being.

2. Acts of Service. Shifting our perspective from all the things that we feel are going wrong, to one of "How can I help? How can I be of service?" can help to shift our entire emotional state. When we are able to be of service to others, we are not only able to positively influence or impact someone else life, but we are also able to reconnect with the feeling of love that service has to offer. Service comes in many forms and no act of service is too small.

   1. Some examples of how you can be of service are, picking up trash, helping a neighbor with yard work or another task, volunteering for a local organization, writing a letter of gratitude to someone you care about, phoning a friend who you know has been having a hard time, or simply phoning a friend or loved one to tell them you love them.

3. Deep Breathing & Heart Focused Breathing. When we breathe deeply into our body and invite our attention to the sacred space of our heart this helps to calm our autonomic nervous system, slow our heart rate, and send signals to our body that we are safe. Many ancient texts, reference the heart as the location in which our Soul (the Self) resides. When we can slow down, fuel our body with our breath, and feel into our hearts this takes us away from the noise of our minds and helps us to reconnect with our Spirit. More modern-day science is verifying the importance of heart-centered breathing in bringing our heart into coherence and our body back to balance. You can learn more about Hear-Centered Breathing and its benefits by taking advantage of HeartMath's free course, The HeartMath Experience.

   1. Deep breathing does not often come naturally and requires a decision to do so. To invite your body to breathe a little deeper, simply first begin to observe your breath, is it shallow? It is moving quickly? once you are aware, begin consciously deepening your breath. You can do this by counting your inhales and exhales to the count of 5 (I like to count to 8) and pausing for 2 (or more) seconds between each breath. Ex. Breathe in.... 1, 2, 3, 4, 5... Pause... 1, 2,... Breathe out... 1, 2, 3, 4, 5... Pause... 1, 2.

   2. Breathe deep into your heart, following a similar pattern as before, but now with a specific focus on your heart center. You can imagine that the air is flowing directly in and out of your heart center, or place a hand on your heart for increased awareness.

4. Practicing Presence. Often when we are experiencing unwanted emotions and fears about what is in front or behind of us, it is a signal that we are living each moment in our minds instead of being present in the Now moment. Many times after a painful or stressful event occurs, we can relive that event in our head for days, weeks, months, even years after it has happened. Every time we relive the event in our mind our body actually believes that we are going through the event again and we are continuously flooded with unwanted emotions. Shifting our attention to the present moment allows us to become more aware of what is actually going on around us and take us out of our fear-based stories. When we are rooted in the present moment, we are able to reconnect with the abundance and energy of love that is universally and immediately available to us.

   1. To reconnect with the present moment, begin by becoming aware of your breath. Our breath only ever happens in the now moment and can be a beautiful anchor back to presence. Once you are breathing, begin feeling into your body and gently observing your fingers, hands, arms, and other parts of your body, continuing to move your focus of awareness, observe your surrounding in the space in which you are in. Without attaching any labels to anything gently observe what is around you, moving from one object to another, breathing deep, allowing yourself to become rooted and grounded in the present moment. As thoughts come in, simply observe them like clouds in the sky and return your focus to what is in front of you.

Okay friend, that is all for today. I would love to hear if any of these practices resonated with you or if you have any other practices that you use to shift back to love. If so, I invite you to leave a comment below.

I also invite you to click here to check out my most recent very RAW YouTube video where I discuss the call to choose love over fear. Making this video required me to embrace my own fears and discomforts and show up vulnerably to share my authentic self with you.

Well dear soul, until we meet again, I'll see you in the quantum field.

Peace, Love, and Blessings.