How to Spring Clean Your Life

The arrival of Spring brings with it a time of rebirth, change and growth, both physically and spiritually. As we say goodbye to Winter, we see nature beginning to bloom, and the world seems a little brighter once more. As nature flourishes around us, it is a perfect opportunity to take a look at our lives and see how we too can change and grow. Everybody has heard of the idea of a Spring Clean, where we take the time to fully clean and freshen up our houses, throwing away things we don’t need and getting our living spaces more organised and ready for the new season. However, have you heard of spring cleaning your life?

Similar to the traditional Spring Clean, this is simply taking some time to really pause and look at your life, and take steps to make sure that everything is as you want it to be. This includes getting organised, getting rid of things you don’t need, and setting goals that will help you flourish and be happy. Here are our tips on how to spring clean your life.

Step it up at work

We spend the majority of our time at work, so it’s important that our job makes us feel happy and fulfilled. Are you where you want to be in your career? Or could things be better? Perhaps you’ve been thinking of asking for a raise, or applying for a promotion, but have been too nervous to go for it. Or maybe you’re bored and looking for a new challenge, but haven’t got around to looking for a new job yet. Whatever will help you be happier in the workplace, now is the time to go for it.

Even if you’re perfectly content with your current role, you don’t want to get too comfortable. It’s easy to get comfortable in a job you’re good at, but comfort leads to boredom, and boredom leads to unhappiness. It’s important to keep things fresh and interesting, and that requires a new challenge from time to time.

If you’re not looking for a new role, why not ask your boss for a new, challenging project? Taking on new responsibilities and learning new skills helps you keep your mind sharp and prevents you from living on autopilot from 9-5. Your job should be rewarding, not just something you do for 8 or so hours every day that adds nothing to your life.

Reevaluate your relationships

The people we spend time with affect our lives in many ways. When we’re not at work, we’re usually spending time with our partners, families, and friends. It’s important that these relationships make us happy, so if somebody is having a negative impact on your life, it’s time to think about letting them go.

We change as we grow older and it’s inevitable that our friendships with change too. Sometimes we simply outgrow certain people and relationships, and it becomes a strain to try to hold onto something just because there is a lot of history there. It may be sad, but in these cases, it’s better to let nature take its course, and let these relationships come to their natural end.

Other relationships you should consider letting go of are any with people who bring only negativity to your life. Do you have a friend who constantly makes you feel bad about yourself? This is what’s known as a ‘toxic friendship’, and you should let that person go for the sake of your own happiness. Your time is valuable, and you should spend it with people who bring you joy and love.

Are you happy in love?

On the subject of relationships, you should take some time to focus on your love life whilst spring cleaning your life. If you’re in a relationship, ask yourself if you’re really happy. If the answer is yes, that’s great! Now ask yourself, what can you do to make it even better? How can you make yourself and your partner feel as loved and as happy as possible?

If the answer is no, it’s time to figure out why, and what to do about it. Do you need to make changes to make the relationship work better? Or is it time to decide if you want to be in the relationship at all? The decision to end a relationship is obviously a difficult and sad one, but if you’re not happy or the relationship isn’t serving you, then ending it will ultimately lead to something better, and you will thank yourself later.

Give your body a boost

Did you make a bunch of resolutions in January to eat healthier and exercise every day? Did you stick to those resolutions, or have you slid back into old habits? If so, no need to worry! Now the days are getting longer and warmer, it’s the perfect time to set new goals, and make them stick.

As well as trying to eat healthier and cut out too many snacks and takeaways, Spring is a great time to take up a new exercise routine. Figure out what your goals are, and find something to suit. Do you want to lose weight or tone up? Consider joining a gym or starting a running programme. Or, are you simply looking for a fun way to be more active? If so, consider joining an exercise class, or even a dance class. Take a friend and enjoy it together, or go solo and use it as a way to meet new people while also getting fit.

As well as diet and exercise, it’s important to remember to give your body some extra love and care occasionally. Run yourself a bath, put on a face mask, or treat yourself to a massage. And whilst you’re looking after yourself physically, remember to give yourself some mental and spiritual relaxation too. Take some time for yourself to do things you enjoy, such as reading a book, watching a favourite movie, or simply giving yourself some time to lie down and listen to some music.

Spruce up your finances

Spring cleaning your life is all about getting organised and cutting out the unnecessary things. One of the most important parts of our lives we need to be on top of is our finances. Take some time to evaluate your financial situation, and how you can improve it.

Go through your accounts and see how much money you are earning, and how much you are spending. Make note of all of the unnecessary things you spend money on, and how much you could save if you stopped needlessly spending. Set yourself a budget, and make sure you’re saving a little each month. Seeing a savings account grow is extremely satisfying, and you never know when you’ll need the extra cash.

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Question of the Week: How to be More Present

Every week, we receive questions from our community members asking advice on love, careers, friendships and life in general. We choose one of those questions to answer right here on the blog, in the hopes that the advice we share will be helpful for others in our community, too. This week we heard from Kara, who wants to know how to be more present.

Q – Sometimes I find it really hard to focus on and enjoy the present moment. I spend a lot of time worrying about the future and simply daydreaming and not concentrating on my day-to-day life in general. Time passes so quickly and I don’t want to miss out on things right now because I’m too focused on other things. Do you have any advice on how to be more present? Thanks, Kara.

A –Hi Kara,
Thanks so much for getting in touch, and for such a great question. Many of us are guilty of daydreaming out days away, and suddenly realising one day that time has passed by without us even really noticing it. None of us want to look back when we’re older and wonder where the time went. Here is our advice on how to be more present in your everyday life, and enjoy the here-and-now.

Shake up the routine

Most of us live our lives in a routine; we get up, go to work, come home and make dinner, spend some time with the family, go to sleep, and repeat the next day. This is natural of course, but it can cause us to live on autopilot. When you do the same thing every day, it becomes second nature and requires little thought, leaving you with lots of time to zone out and daydream the days away.

Shaking up your routine is a great way to make sure you’re paying more attention to your daily life. This may seem difficult when you have a job, family and other responsibilities to take care of every day, but there are some small and simple ways to add something new to your days. Do you usually eat your lunch at your desk or in the canteen at work? Why not go out on your lunch hour once or twice a week? You don’t need to buy an expensive lunch, just take a packed lunch and eat it outside. Or use your lunch hour to go for a walk, or catch up with a friend.

You can also add something to your evenings by doing something different after work. Instead of going home and spending the evening in front of the TV, why not have a mini adventure? Go for a drive or a walk, or pay a friend or family member a surprise visit. Even if it’s just once a week, doing something different with your evening will make your weeks feel fuller and memorable.

Wake up earlier

Another good way to be more present in your everyday life is to give yourself more time. Are you one of those people who press snooze and get up at the very last possible minute so that you only have time to quickly get ready and then rush out of the door to work? Do you allow yourself long lie-ins at the weekend because you’ve been up ‘so early’ during the week? If so, it’s time to spend less time dreaming, and more time awake.

When we’re rushing around, we barely have time to register what we’re doing. When we give ourselves more time to do things, we can slow down and really take notice of ourselves and our actions, and have more chance to enjoy them. It may be difficult to wake up earlier at first, but you’ll soon learn to love it. Wake up half an hour earlier and treat yourself to a delicious breakfast, or simply enjoy a longer shower or even a bath if you give yourself enough time.

Simply having more time to enjoy the little things will help you enjoy and appreciate them more, and you will start your day feeling more relaxed and prepared, which will lead to less stress and worry.

Limit screen time

The internet is such a big part of our lives now, and everyone seems to be online 24/7. Though social media is a useful way to keep in touch and see what our family and friends are doing, spending too much time online can ensure we’re spending more time thinking about other people than ourselves.

Do you pause before you eat a delicious looking meal in a restaurant so you can take a picture of it? Or do you spend time scrolling through news feeds and ignoring the person or people sat opposite you? If so, put your phone away and pay more attention to what’s going on around you. Implement at ‘no phones at the table’ rule, and spend meal times talking to each other about your day instead. Kids (especially teenagers) might resent this at first, but it will get easier and more natural to simply enjoy the time as a family.

Keep a journal

One way to make sure you’re paying attention to your life is to write about it. Keep a journal and spend a few minutes each evening simply writing about what happened during your day, and how you feel about the events. Even if nothing exciting happened, note down the best things about the day, or what you’re most grateful for.

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ARIES INGRESS CHART – 16.15 Thursday 20th March 2018, London, UK.

At 16.15 today, Tuesday 20th March 2018, the March Equinox occurs. The word ‘Equinox’ means ‘Equal Night’. At this moment, the Sun, in its apparent path around the Earth. is on the Equator. Therefore, all places on Earth get equal hours of daylight and darkness. The Equinox marks the entry of the Sun into Aries. It also marks the beginning of Spring in the Northern Hemisphere and Autumn in the Southern Hemisphere. The chart for this moment, known as the Aries Ingress, The word ingress comes from the Latin ‘ingressus’, which means to ‘go in’ or ‘enter’. The chart of the Aries ingress is drawn for the moment that the Sun enters the very first minute of that sign, which is the beginning of a new cycle for the Sun. This chart gives a general picture what we can all expect over the next 3 months.

Click to view the full sized Aries Ingress Chart

The Ascendant is in Virgo and is, therefore, ruled by Mercury. In this type of chart, indicating national or worldwide trends, Mercury represents the literary world, news, the press, the communications industry, trade and commerce and local transport. Mercury is in the 8th House, which relates to death. Mercury is also square to Pluto, which relates to aspects of life that are hidden from public view – political undergrounds, espionage and organised crime. And the bringing to light of hidden information (through investigative as detective work. We can see the links inherent in this astrological aspect in the current investigation into the recent murder of a double agent in the UK and the government’s dialogue with Russia, whom it suspects of being responsible for the murder.

This matter and its larger significance for our relationship with Russia could continue to be a dominant theme in the next 3 months. There has been speculation that this event may herald the beginning of another ‘Cold War’, like that characterized by the political and economic differences which brought caused tension between the West and the Eastern Bloc between the end of World War 2 and the late 1980s/early 1990s. The conjunction of Saturn and Mars in the ingress chart could be seen as an apt significator for the term ‘Cold War’. However, Mercury is conjunct Venus, which represents peace and diplomacy, in the 8th House which also relates to economic relations with other countries. Perhaps this offers hope that we will be able to find peaceful and diplomatic solutions to resolve our differences and that harmony (Venus) can be brought about by communication (Mercury) Mars (the military, attacks and conflicts) and Saturn (defence, boundaries or sanctions and long delays) and are conjunct the Sun (the Prime Minister or head of State) in the 7th House (relations with other countries) This suggests that our national leader may need to be careful about using force and that resolution of conflict may take a long time and be hard won.

Pluto also represents transformation. One of the major patterns of transformation the UK is currently going through is the ongoing process of leaving the European Union and becoming more separate and independent. Pluto is square to Mercury (trade, commerce, communication and the negotiation of deals) in the 8th House (financial dealings with other countries) This reflects the fact that there are still huge differences over trade in the Brexit negotiations. However, Pluto is in the 5th House of individual expression and creativity and is also square to Venus (diplomacy and our relations with other countries) so perhaps through hard work a spirit of co-operation, the UK will find a way to reach mutually agreeable terms and develop creative solutions to matter of how to get on well with the other nations in Europe and the rest of the world and how to conduct trade and commerce, post Brexit.

In recent years, we have seen the growth of increasingly right-wing politics, particularly in the West. In the ingress chart, Neptune is conjunct the Descendant (other countries and our relations with them) Because of Neptune’s urge towards collectivism, in astrology it is often said to be connected with socialism, communism and left-wing political ideas. Although there is nothing in the ingress chart to suggest a change of government, it may be interesting to observe, over the next three months, whether other countries we deal with display more left-wing tendencies and whether we could be influenced by this and might reflect more inclusive values in our dealings with them.

In world astrology, Venus highlights issues relating to women as well as relationships and attraction. Venus is in the 8th House, square to Pluto and this combination suggests intensity and dark side of human interaction. We have recently seen the ‘me too’ movement create a vehicle for women to tell their story of sexual abuse or harassment and giving them a platform to talk about what had been a taboo subject. Pluto is in the 5th House, which relates to the arts and entertainments industry and this movement followed soon after the public revelations of sexual misconduct allegations against a prominent film director. As well as uncovering extreme cases of serious harassment, sexual violence and abuse (Venus in 8th House square Pluto) on a huge scale, this movement, which examines the coming together of seduction with violence or harassment has made us all think (Mercury conjunct Venus in 8th House, square Pluto) more deeply about what constitutes sexual harassment, assault and exploitation. Over the next 3 months, this could prove to be an ongoing conversation that continues to challenges our views about what we agree as acceptable behaviour.

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How the Spring Equinox is Celebrated Around the World

Tuesday, March 20th is the Spring Equinox in the Northern Hemisphere. The day is also referred to as the March or Vernal Equinox, and the Autumn/Fall Equinox in the Southern Hemisphere. The Equinox is actually a specific point in time when the sun crosses the Equator moving north and is equidistant from the North and South poles. On Tuesday, it will occur at 4.15 pm.

The word Equinox comes from the Latin for ‘equal night’, and on this date, we will have roughly the same amount of day and nighttime. From this point, the days will begin to get longer and the nights shorter as we move towards the summer months.

The Spring Equinox is celebrated around the world in a number of different and unique ways. The changing of the seasons and the beginning of spring is very important in a number of different countries, religions and cultures. Here we look at how a few of those different groups celebrate this special day.

UK

The most popular Equinox celebrations in the UK happen at Stonehenge. Every year, hundreds of people flock to the ancient monument to enjoy the sunrise and celebrate the possibilities that accompany the arrival of Spring.

The Equinox also ties in closely with Easter traditions in the UK, and so many of the celebrations become entwined. Aside from painting easter eggs in beautiful patterns, there’s also a tradition of trying to balance an egg upright on the day of the Equinox; people believe that the energy of the day helps keep the egg standing up.

Russia

In Russia, the celebration is called Maslenitsa and honours the return of light and warmth as we enter Spring. The celebration is marked by a folk festival which takes place approximately seven weeks before Easter, around the beginning of Lent.

During Lent, dairy products, meat and fish are prohibited, and so Maslenitsa is the last opportunity to enjoy these foods until the end of the holiday. During the festival, an effigy of the Lady of Maslenitsa is placed on a bonfire and burned, followed by the remaining food, and the fields are fertilised by the ashes.

India

The colourful Holi festival takes place in late February or early March and is a celebration of the triumph of good over evil. Traditionally a Hindu festival, it is now an experience that has spread throughout the world. South Korea also holds a Holi Hai festival in early March each year, in their seaside city of Busan.

The night before the festival, there are bonfires and parties as people celebrate the beginning of the new season. The next day, people gather en masse to partake in a giant colour fight, throwing coloured powder over each other. It is a fun and freeing tradition and helps people let go of their troubles and move on into the new seasons.

Japan

Shunbun no Hi is the name of the Equinox celebration in Japan, and the day is marked by people visiting the graves of their ancestors and reuniting with family. This festival is actually seven days long, culminating on the day of the Equinox, on which families clean their houses and leave flowers on the graves. After, families tuck into a delicious treat of botamochi, a sweet rice ball, mashed and wrapped in azuki bean paste.

Spring also brings the famous cherry blossoms, and so around this time, you will see many locals and tourists alike enjoying the beautiful sights and vivid colours.

Mexico

In Mexico, the day is a celebration of the Return of the Sun Serpent, and modern-day festivities take place around the El Castillo pyramid. During the Equinox, the pyramid is cast in shadow by the late afternoon sun, creating an illusion that there is a huge snake moving down the side of it. Following the sunset, many people hold parties and eat traditional local delicacies.

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source https://www.psychic2tarot.com/blog/seasonal-events/celebrate-the-spring-equinox/

Learn How to Lucid Dream

Have you ever had a dream in which you were aware that you were awake? These are called Lucid Dreams. Most people begin having Lucid Dreams when something unusual or extraordinary happens in their dream that makes them question their reality, and they realise that they must be asleep. Though they may feel bizarre, confusing or even frightening at first, Lucid Dreams can actually be very fun and are also really useful if you learn how to take control of your subconscious and make your dreams work for you.

Learning how to Lucid Dream takes a little time and patience, but there are a number of benefits. Once you are able to fully control your subconscious, there are countless options open to you; you can control where you go, what you do, and who you speak to. You could live out fantasies such as meeting your favourite celebrities or doing impossible things, such as flying. Or you could use the time to work on conquering your fears or doing something you’ve always wanted to do in real life but have always been too scared to try.

We all dream on average around four to six times each night, which is around two hours of eight. With so much of our time spent dreaming, who wouldn’t want to be able to control what they experience during that time? Read on to find out how you can learn to Lucid Dream, and make your time asleep work for you.

Keep a dream diary

The first thing to do when preparing to learn how to Lucid Dream is to keep a record of all of your dreams. Try to write down your dreams as soon as you wake up, otherwise, you will forget most of the content as time goes on. Keeping a dream diary will help you spot patterns or themes within your dreams, and you will soon be able to identify the recurring things that happen when you are sleeping. Do you always dream about the same places? Or do the same people appear in your dreams night after night?

Our dreams can give us vital clues about what is happening in our everyday lives. For example, if you’re having a particularly busy or stressful time at work, you will more likely dream about your job or your place of work. Writing down your dreams will show you exactly what is on your mind, even if you didn’t realise it before.

Meditate on the recurring themes

Once you have a record of your dreams from over the period of a few weeks, you should be able to easily spot recurring patterns or themes that appear. Perhaps your dreams are always set in the same place, such as your childhood home or school. Or maybe the same people are always popping up, such as favourite teachers or friends from when you were younger.

Once you’ve spotted these recurring themes, spend some time before you go to sleep focusing your thoughts on them, so that they are more prominent in your mind before you drift off. The best way to do this is to meditate; close your eyes and block out the world around you, and focus on these places and faces that frequent your dreams.
Next, go to sleep as usual. Lie down with your eyes closed, and try to keep your thoughts focused on these themes. Once you’re asleep, one or more of these things should appear in your dream. Doing this every night will manipulate your subconscious into dreaming about these things, and this will make it easier for you to spot that you are dreaming when you are asleep.

Perform reality checks

A good way to differentiate between your conscious and subconscious mind is to perform reality checks to see if you are awake or asleep. Every few hours during your day, perform a quick check, and ask yourself, “Am I awake?” A quick way to check is to pinch yourself; if it hurts, you’re awake. Another way is to look at the clock, look away, and then quickly look again; if you’re dreaming, the time will most likely have changed when you look back.

Once you get into the habit of performing these reality checks, you will begin to do them subconsciously, without having to remind yourself. The checks will eventually spill into your sleep and should give you a hint that what you are experiencing isn’t real. Once you realise you are dreaming, you can begin to manipulate your surroundings and experiences, and this is how you Lucid Dream.

Make your dreams work for you

Once you are able to distinguish when you are dreaming, you can begin to make your subconscious experiences work for you. It may be tricky to manipulate your dreams at first; the shock of realising you are dreaming may actually result in you waking yourself up. If this happens, try to lie perfectly still and focus on what you were dreaming about; with any luck, you will be able to drift straight back into the dream and do what you wish.

Once you’ve got a handle on staying within asleep whilst knowing you’re dreaming, you can begin to practice manipulating your dreams. Start small, by consciously performing actions or speaking to people you see in the dream. With more practice, you can begin to do things that are impossible in real life, such as flying without wings, or teleporting to another city or country, or meeting your favourite celebrities. You could also use the dream to conquer your fears; though it would be scary, knowing it’s not real would help you overcome the fear in a safe environment you can leave, by simply waking up!

The post Learn How to Lucid Dream appeared first on Psychic 2 Tarot.

source https://www.psychic2tarot.com/blog/spirituality/learn-how-to-lucid-dream/

Question of the Week: How to be Single and Happy

Our community members are important to us, and we care about their problems and want to help. Once a week, we take a question from one of our members and reply right here on the blog. This week we heard from Lily, who has been single for a while and is beginning to feel fed up. Here’s our advice to her about how to be single and happy!

Q – I’ve been single for nearly three years now, and I’m starting to feel like I’ll be on my own forever. It’s really getting me down, and I don’t know what to do. Do you have any advice on how to be happy when you’re single? Thanks, Lily.

A – Hi Lily,

Thank you for your question, and your honesty. So many people feel the same as you do, but are scared to admit it. Of course being single is definitely hard, especially when it’s been a long time since your last relationship. It’s perfectly normal for it to get you down from time to time, but don’t let it take over your life. There are many benefits to being single, and a number of reasons to be happy even though you’re not in a relationship. Here’s our advice on how to be single and happy.

Realise your own value

The first thing you need to remember is that you are a complete and valuable person, all on your own. It’s too easy to get lost in a relationship and depend on your partner. Many people use the phrase ‘other half’ when talking about their partner, and though this is used as a term of endearment, it can be taken quite literally; people often lose their individuality in a relationship, and the two people merge to become one unit.

Though the feeling of being a team is obviously nice, it’s important to remember that you don’t need somebody else to be ‘whole’. You are a person who has a lot to offer by yourself, and you don’t need to rely on anybody else to feel complete. Remind yourself regularly that you are important and valuable, all by yourself.

Get to know yourself

While we’re on the topic of you; now is the perfect time to get to know yourself completely. When we’re distracted by our partner, we tend to put ourselves and our hopes and dreams second, while we focus on doing everything to make them happy. However, the only person you need to make sure is happy right now, is you.

Take some time to really dig deep and ask yourself what it is you want out of life. Are you where you would like to be in your career? Or would you like to move up the ladder, or even try something completely different? Now is the time to make that happen. Do you spend your spare time doing things you love, or are you in need of more excitement?

You have unlimited time to focus on yourself and your life now, with no strings to hold you back from whatever it is that would make you happy. Whatever it is you want to do, now is the time to do it! Get out there, and make your own dreams become a reality!

Enjoy your other relationships

I think we can all admit that our relationships with our family and friends can suffer a little when we enter a new relationship. When you’re all loved-up and spending all of your free time with your new partner, it’s easy to lose track of time and forget to reply to a few texts, or go a few weeks without catching up with a friend. Good friends understand and will be patient with you during this honeymoon period, knowing things will go back to normal in time, but it can still be annoying when you’re the friend who’s been suddenly replaced.

One of the biggest benefits of being single is the freedom and time to enjoy and cherish your friendships, and create new ones. Take this opportunity to give your family and friends your full and undivided attention. Whether it’s nights out on the town, delicious meals at your favourite restaurants, a holiday, or even just a night in, catching up and watching TV; show the important people in your life how much they mean to you.

Remember it’s not forever

When you’ve been single for a while, it can feel like you’re going to be alone forever. However, that is rarely the case. The chances are, you will meet somebody special when you least expect it, and everything will change.
The best way to be happy when you’re single is to stop focusing on the fact you’re not in a relationship. Focus instead on filling your life with interesting and fulfilling things, and having a great time on your own. If you’re happy and loving life, you will be more open and confident, and that is more attractive to potential love interests. Love will find you when you’re ready for it, and it will be an amazing surprise.

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