13th Jan 2010
Dear Friends,
As I sit here writing you this letter in front of my fireplace, I am filled with immense gratitude for our infinite connection to God and the Life Force that is always available to us. Recently I newly discovered my own connected Presence to love. The experience that brought me this realization was a number of different scenarios leading up to a planned trip to Canada that I was not able to go on, well at least not for the best and highest good of all!
I was so disappointed. I had visualized this trip for months and was so excited to go.For days I cried like a baby, really feeling the pain deep in my heart…crying into the night on my pillow until 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning. I was so upset at myself for making a “wrong decision” in my mind that I could hardly see the beautiful person I was. I justified myself as being “wrong” by wrapping the gift of my soul in judgment…not pretty wrapping paper to say the least! I felt like an undesirable gift!
Yuck, I only wanted to see what was inside, but the wrapping paper of judgment looked so ugly!
Remembering a spiritual truth saved the day (and night), I knew at the bottom of my heart that oftentimes there is truth and beautiful gifts behind the appearances of things, so I took a step in COURAGE and unwrapped the gift of me…
Tears began pouring down, I could feel the magnificence of God’s love within me illuminating every cell of my body. The angels caressed my skin and I could hear them say “surrender to love precious child, trust in our peace and let it go.”
Relaxing deeper, I fell into the presence of God…
My mind tried to hold on to the painful thoughts but as I surrendered them to love, feeling complete peace and understanding. I discovered that by connecting to the love within me, there was truly nothing outside of me that could take me from this presence of love, it was inside me!
Nothing was “right or wrong,” from an infinite perceptive of love and learning. Love is always around us, it’s not until we feel it within that we can receive it from the world.
I thought I had done something “wrong.”
Have you ever felt bad about not having something only to discover that what you really WANTED was already within you. The love you are is your gift, WHERE EVER YOU ARE NOW OR WHATEVER YOU CHOOSE TO DO IN YOUR LIFE IS AN EXPRESSION OF YOUR OWN LOVE.
This is my Christmas present to you, to share my experience and hopefully inspire you to understand that this gift of love is always available to you and forever expanding into a greater expression. Love cannot be taken away, created or destroyed. It is simply the truth that passes all understanding, what I often call Intuition.
For me, I found the outside circumstance were not what I had consciously paid for or planned this Christmas season. They were something that was priceless and sponsored by God, the gift of my own PRESENCE.
Sitting in the arms of god I rest in love…friends have called, clients and loved one’s alike, the spirited angels kissed my heart that night and the veils parted. There I met with all our angelic brothers and sisters of the light…inviting me to see the truth and live in the
LIGHT OF LOVE. I hope you will connect with your own presence today and open the GIFT OF YOU!
With joy,
Abby
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12th Jan 2010
It is a joy to share the gift of healing with you. I wanted to briefly tell you how I began my career as an Intuitive Coach.
As a young child I believed I was special, that there was something different and unique about me. Well, that was one sure way to get myself in trouble! Years later I finally realized that the way to claim my “special place” in the world was to be of service.
Dare to Dream! “I have a dream, a dream that serves you and me; together we are standing in perfect peace and harmony.” I’m sure each one of you has a dream. Something that makes your heart sing, your body sweat, and your imagination run wild! What ignites the spark of light within you?
Your dream may not look the same as mine. In fact, it will probably be radically different! Dreams are expressions of our own unique divinity and creativity. When we dream, we connect to an infinite source of love that is waiting to express itself through us.
My dream began to awaken when I was a young adult. I remember spending countless hours underneath the shady apple trees in my backyard. There, I would listen to the birds sing and laugh out loud as the wind would tickle my bare feet. Life was beautiful and surely a place where all my dreams could come true! So I continued to dream…
All through the way through grade school and high school I remained intently focused on my vision. My vision was this: I saw myself helping men, women and children alike at a healing center where I offered counseling services, energetic healing, massage therapy, and Yoga. People would come to this center for peace and restoration, for healing and empowerment, and to gain clarity into their life’s purpose.
After years of continuing to diligently focus on my intention to manifest this dream, it has now become my waking reality. I opened Life Force Connection a year and a half ago. Come rain or shine, my dream continues to grow. Each and every day brings many new surprises, but I have learned to embrace the thrill in not knowing what the next moment may bring!
What do you intend to create for yourself? There is a flame of light within you waiting to be ignited. The light within me wanted to help others awaken to their purpose. How do you choose to shine your light? Now is the time for you to re-ignite your passion and live the life of your dreams!
With joy, Abby
Abby E. Gooch practices her career as an Intuitive Coach full time. Life Force Connection is open Monday- Saturday. To schedule an appointment call: 858-531-8434. For more information please visit us at: www.lifeforceconnection.com.
“May you allow the grace of love to carry you to the place where your dreams are manifested into reality. Listen to the soft whisper of your soul and beckon to its call.” Abby E. Gooch
Read on…
From Fear to Love
I believe that each of us was born of the light, that we are always surrounded by the light, and that we can be constantly guided by the light of love within our own hearts. So the question is, what keeps us from embracing the love that we are?
The absence of love is fear. Love is your presence. Love is your being. Love is who you are. When we choose to quiet our own inner thoughts, we can feel the presence of love living, breathing, and working through us.
When we choose to listen in quiet confidence to our own inner voice of wisdom, all fear disappears. God speaks in stillness. In this stillness we can feel and know truth. The truth is love. Love requires nothing because it already is everything. You are this love.
I had a client come into my office last week who was so terrified that she could hardly write her name in the in-take form. Trembling with fear she asked me if she could ever feel whole again. I wasn’t really sure what she meant by whole, but I assumed that she simply wanted to feel love again. I smiled and gazed deeply into her eyes, “Of course you will feel love again. You have simply forgot that love is who you are.”
We spent the next hour releasing beliefs of unworthiness, self-doubt and negativity. Towards the end of the session, her face began to soften. Tears of joy streamed down her faced and she burst out laughing! ” I can’t believe I ever read into my silly thoughts, they are just like books in a library- some are happy stories and some just need to be placed back on the shelf!
And so it is with our thoughts. Every thought that you think can be perceived as a story, fiction or non-fiction. The only way a thought can have any power over you is if you invest your energy into it. By detaching from your thoughts, you can surrender to the bliss of simply being.
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5th Jun 2009
Meditating to Wholeness
How many times have you strived for something or tried to prove to yourself that you could do something, only to find that you already were perfect whole and complete as you were? For example, starving yourself to be the perfect weight, dressing the part of a new corporate job but never really feeling comfortable in the clothes, smiling when all you really want to do is cry! Guess what? Who you are is enough….you are perfect in essence and all you have to be is you! Isn’t that a relief?…! Your very existence is all you need!
When I decided to take the venture up to central California for the meditation retreat, I was determined to reconnect with my soul, to feel the love, joy and peace within again. I had a funny feeling about leaving everything behind in the “real world”…it made me feel a little uneasy to be flying down the freeway at 80 miles an hour and leave everything behind. I had to let go and trust that my spirit was guiding me there.
Once I arrived to the meditation center, it was already dark. Dinner was served in the dining hall and guidelines for our stay were given. We were to maintain the rule of “Noble Silence” meaning no verbal communication. There was to be no physical contact with anyone, no looking at the opposite sex, or were to stay on the premise during the entire program. We handed our personal cell phones and car keys to the group managers, just to ensure we would not be tempted to leave! The only key I had left was my commitment to finishing the 10-day retreat and unlocking the door to my heart again.
Instructions were given to come to all group meditation and meal sittings on time, no exceptions! There were only two meals served for new students, breakfast and lunch. Dinner consisted of fruit and tea. Our dorm buildings were small mobile houses converted into dorms. The beds were about five feet from each other with hanging sheets to divide the personal spaces. Up close and personal to say the least! Well, I was in for an experience I knew. I did not know what the next day would bring, but somehow I trusted it would all be good….
Rise and shine! Four-thirty in the morning came much to early. We were scheduled to start our first meditation sit before the sun even rose. “Funny joke.” I thought to myself! I had been moving the day before and feeling worn down from the drive I didn’t even glance at the clock. It wasn’t until six -thirty that my body woke me up just in time for breakfast! The air was crisp and fresh, I could see my breath as a white cloud in the early morning air. I bounded down the dirt path, eager for something warm to fill my empty stomach.
Following breakfast, I quickly walked back up to the dorms in hopes of a warm shower. Gathering my towel and toiletries, I headed back to the showers. I turned the faucet on, I let it run for a few minutes, it was cold! “Hum, maybe someone else is taking a shower’ I thought, or maybe the hot water heater is just slow… I let it run for a few more minutes. ”Still freezing cold… Ahhh, just my luck! The pretty little princess inside me was starting to get quite annoyed! Maybe I wasn’t cut out for this meditation business after all!” I huffed back to my mattress bed and fell asleep until the morning bells woke me up for the first group meditation sit of the day.
The meditation hall was full of pillows lined up in single-fill rows. We all sat there in silence. It was all I could do to sit still without bursting into a roar of laughter! I had utmost respect for the tradition; I just was having a hard time conforming to the rules! I mean, I could hear the person next to me and across the room breathing, burping, crying or even farting…wow, I thought to myself this is going to be funny!
The basis of the Vipasana meditation practice was to become aware of your breath, observe your thoughts and emotions as they passed through your consciousness. The assistant teachers and S.N. Goeka’s voice from the recording guided us into a state of stillness through a series of chants and instructions. We sat with our legs crossed as we brought our energy in. I was very committed to my decision to fully participate, but all I could think about was if I had paid all my bills before leaving, returned phone calls, what I would do when I left…everything other than the present moment! I wanted to run, move and at least express myself through some form of verbal communication! Ahhh, I took a breath and surrendered to what was. Here I was I thought, minds well give it a chance!
It was amazing, when I finally surrendered to my feelings, things got better. I would go through moments of excruciating pain, but after a few breathes and subtle movements (about an inch!), they became tolerable. I stopped hiding the painful thoughts and emotions that had blocked and inhibited me for so long. I felt them. Once I allowed them to be present, they passed quickly leaving me with feelings of lightness, freedom and joy. I began to fall in love with the energy inside me again- reconnecting with the essence of life, my soul and those around me. It was pure love, nothing attached, nothing lost, it was forever present and unconditional. Wow, it felt good to be home again in my body. When I experienced pain rather than resisting it, I accepted it as part of life. I was working through a “sancra” as my teachers put it. In other words I was clearing an old unconscious pattern of negativity held in my mind which had manifested as pain in my body.
Every day I felt a little bit better. By the first part of the third day I began to feel tingling sensations in my body…Ahh, sweet release. I felt like Spirit had wrapped her/his arms around the earth and given me a rain of blessing. Showered in love, I felt the light of pure consciousness enter the cells of my body. Vitality and life force flowed. Never in my life had I given myself permission to just sit and BE!
It was immensely entertaining to observe my mind and see both past and future lives. I knew that I wasn’t supposed to be using the experience as entertainment but I found it fascinating that I was able to tap into other dimensions of consciousness!
Every day I had a different experience. I realized that by doing nothing I was still connected to everything! I could be, become, and feel anything I wanted! The love inside me was re-awakened and stillness made all the difference in my quest for more self-discovery. I had always appreciated my intuitive ability to feel the energy of everyone else around me and the environment, but to really get real with myself was a whole-nother story!
Taking the time to get back to the basics and calm my restless mind in the peacefulness of a meditation retreat was an invaluable experience. When I first started my professional practice at age 19, I had lived for my meditations. Over the past few years I realized that I had slipped and missed many precious moments of intimacy with my soul. Meditation continues to serve me and my practice on a daily basis. I recommend that everyone starts a practice of meditation to ease into the gracefulness and flow of life, to feel the oneness of love, and experience the vastness of our souls.
Meditation calms the mind and has proven to help relieve anxiety, increase concentration and provide a more balanced state of mind. I have written a guided meditation CD to assist in the process of developing a meditation practice. It is especially helpful if you are just starting to meditate and also serves in addition to any other meditation practice. You can order online by clicking on the Featured Products of this website.
For more information about the Vipasana meditation center, please visit: www.dhamma.org. I am also happy to answer any questions you may have about this facility!
Happy meditating!
Love, Abby
* Website by Cy Pilkington, Business Coach and Manager Life Force Connection
310-755-5153
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