I don’t know about you but the past 4 years have sent me off on trajectories I never knew existed and I have visited inner and outer world places I never thought I would get the opportunity to go to. Whatever your journey through these challenging times, I hope you have found time to reflect and find the growth in them…

In our quest for spiritual growth and connection to something greater than ourselves, we often find ourselves seeking external rituals, activations, and ceremonies. We try to fast-track our enlightenment, believing that these practices will bring us closer to our higher selves and the divine. However, it's time to reconsider our approach. Ascension is not an outcome that can be achieved through external means; it is a deeply personal and inward journey that unfolds at its own pace.

We say that we want to leave behind a world that is free from prejudice and fear, that is clean and organic…

I put to you that you are not just leaving this world to the children of today but to yourself of tomorrow.

What you create today you will find on your return.

©Olwynne Cade 2014

I always know when something in my life has come to an end, because I find myself on the outside of a door that has no handle on my side.... in other words there is No Way Back.

What do I do now, plays in my head? To add to the angst, I find myself standing on a ledge with mist around me. Not just a little bit of mist but thick mist and you don't step in any direction when you can't see your hand in front of your face.

I believe that we attract people to us to reflect us back to ourselves, so that we can see who we really are being at any given moment.

After 55 years of telling people that I am not Welsh, in reply to their query about the origins of my name - Olwynne, I can now say, with great pride - Yes! I have Welsh heritage.

So how did this come about and how did I not know this important piece of information for 55 years? All I can say to that is life is a journey of unfolding mysteries.

Why do we wait until something has happened to express GRATITUDE for it?

Instead of waiting until after something has occurred that brings about feelings of GRATITUDE try PAYING IT FORWARD. Give thanks every day for this life you have chosen to live and for those who have agreed to share it with you.

Life is like a recipe book. It is full of experiences waiting to happen. Ideas burgeoning to come to life. Some will be pleasing to the palate and others will leave a sour taste in the mouth. Unless we are prepared to cease resorting to the same old tried and tested dishes and broaden our taste buds, we will continue to eat the same fare day after day.

My 5th and final 'voice in my head' is not a naysayer or even a critic of any kind. She is a wanna be superhero of epic proportion. It was her need to rescue every sad, lost, homeless, hurt, bleeding, needy person on the planet that allowed all the other characters to exist. You may have an intimate relationship with one yourself. She is the Rescuer.

You are a lazy worthless SOB! You need to smarten up and get a real job! All this stupid follow your dreams stuff is for fairies, sissies and lunatics. You are lazy. Plain old lazy do you hear me?"

There he goes again. The Drill Sergeant Major.

What is a Gatekeeper you may be asking?

My personal experience of the Gatekeeper is an archetypal guardian who stands at the threshold of your personal boundaries and vets everything and everyone that wants to enter your personal space.

In a previous blog, I introduced you to the Critical Critic. Here is another of the troupe, I would like you to meet Petal. She is a resplendent, iridescent, winged, fire breathing dragon. Her mantra is, "We are all going to die. The sky is falling, the sky is falling."

She looks very much like a combination of Dame Edna Everage and Patsy & Eddy (Absolutely Fabulous). She is a drama queen.

External critics are pretty easy to spot. The Inner Critic - I call her the Critical Critic - is the one who has the most to say and does the most damage. I have a pretty active one of those myself.

She is part of a troupe of archetypal characters who play out in my psyche daily, dishing out their brand of 'words of wisdom' to me through their authoritarian personalities, resulting in my feeling crushed and ready to give up, give in and run for the hills.

Sometimes I feel like I am going mad!

There are so many people living in my head telling me how to live my life that I feel like I will go 'unquietly' insane, and for the grammar police out there, I realise that 'unquietly' is not a word ok?

Their voices are often loud and demanding my attention and they even gang up on me sometimes. Their point of view, has for the most part, run my life and discouraged me from any kind of self-love.

Each of us have been children. We could not be here if we had not been a baby/child. As children we are close to our spiritual self. Our memory is still mostly intact. You may not remember now but I venture to say that you told the adults around you at the time that you saw or felt spirit, or perhaps you had memories of your most recent life which was discounted as a flight of fantasy or your making up stories.

It is the 1st February here in NZ and we have arrived in the third trimester of summer. Vibrant green grass flanked by lush trees that have benefited from good rain and warm sunshine surround our home, their roots buried in the warm earth. Birds sing incessantly to express their delight at the abundance of a bountiful summer.

In early 2000’s I was sitting in the lounge of a family in my capacity as a funeral celebrant discussing the service for the patriarch of the family. He believed in life after death and had planned his service accordingly.

Some children say that they have been here before. They give various details about previous lives, often describing the way in which they died. Of course, young children say a lot of things, and we may simply think that they are fantasizing as children often do.

You have been telling the people, That this is the eleventh hour. Now, you must go and tell the people, That THIS is the hour, And there are things to be considered. Where are you living? What are you doing? What are your relationships? Are you in the right relationship? Where is your water? Know your garden ...

Why is death such a challenging subject for us to talk about? Alongside birth, it is the one thing that we all have in common. We were all born and we will all die. I have had many experiences in regard to death and dying, both personally and through 20 years in the funeral industry as a celebrant and funeral director.