Shift of Heart

Is Love Really Stronger Than Fear?

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Is Love Stronger Than Fear?

fear versus loveWe often hear the quote that “love is stronger than fear”—but is it really? The skeptic in me wonders. Negativity seems to have such a large hold over most of us. Fear can overwhelm our body, mind and spirit. Fear makes you sick, off- kilter, lose concentration, feel highly anxious, drink too much, eat too much, act out inappropriately, and become depressed, angry or withdrawn. Fear is a powerful energy.

Is love just a nice corny word, a frill, a blah overused and misinterpreted term, or does love TRULY have a power that can diminish fears?

For YOUR personal answer, try this quick visualization:

Imagine that in this moment you can only settle on “The Only Fear” TV Channel. Think of one huge fear that you have right now. That’s right. Just choose one fear, even though there may be a keen competition for which fear gets into the spotlight. Get really worried about that fear. Tighten all of your muscles, frown deeply, groan loudly, scream if you must, bite your nails, throw some pillows, grab some ice cream, chocolate and huge desserts, and get into this fear with all of your might.

First, I am sorry you are having this fear; I have many too—but STOP. STOP!  In this moment, you have the power and control to dissipate all fears.

Breathe in and out deeply and s-l-o-w-l-y, consciously, repetitively. Look around. Anything REALLY bad happen? How is THIS moment going for you? Right here, right now, in THIS new breath, in THIS new moment.

This moment is ALL we know for sure.

What if we said positive power words in the middle of irrational fears: “I am safe. I am safe and loved. All is well.” Imagine a visual picture of what that can look like, sound like and feel like…as if it were true. Repeat this affirmation, or create your own positive power words.

These inner growth tools can be a template for becoming your OWN life coach when your life gets tough.

Now breathe in and out s-l-o-w-l-y and deeply, and use your visualizing “clicker” to switch to the next channel and program. You guessed it! “The Only Love” TV channel. Imagine your heart opening up more and more to love. See the color green swirling in your heart space, expanding it more and more towards emanating love: Send more love to yourself, more love for others, and I know that this is a huge stretch—expanding love, compassion and forgiveness even towards people that are not “your cup of tea.”

To increase your loving heart space, think of a person (or an animal) that you love with all of your heart. Breathe into your whole being the warmth of this particular love, returning to our positive affirmation: I am safe. I am safe and loved. All is well.

Notice how you feel now in comparison to the pull that fear had within you. Is fear still grabbing you? Try hard not to let it consume you. Remember? In this moment, you have the power and control to dissipate all fears.

Do you feel more peaceful, open, loving? IS love stronger than fear? Can you design more moments so that love DOES becomes stronger than fear? This is our choice in every new moment: Choosing love or choosing fear. What is your choice in this moment? I know what mine needs to be.

www.shiftofheart.com; “Shift of Heart: Paths to Healing and Love” amazon.com/author/cherylmelody

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7 Presidential Election Coping Tools

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Cheryl Melody Baskin

Cheryl Melody Baskin, Author of "Shift of Heart."

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7 Presidential Election Coping Tools

trump-clintonWithout my taking political sides, the emotional climate of this 2016 election can be tough on the body, mind and spirit! Trauma, depression, confusion, negativity, shock, bewilderment and disillusion are just some of the emotions that seem to be filling our beings lately.  In keeping with the theme of my book, “Shift of Heart-Paths to Healing and Love,” here are 7 presidential election coping tools that I personally use in order to “go high, when it feels low”-to quote Michelle Obama.

  1. Stay focused on your intention to love.  Each of us is the positive energy for mirroring love.   Love is the only gift that will see you through this time period, and beyond.
  2. Find one small way to show love, kindness, compassion, forgiveness and caring to someone—someone you know and someone you don’t know.  Quietly offer someone “soul food” -a smile, warm eye contact, a softer heart, a “please and thank you”, opening the door for a stranger, letting someone in front of you in line or in traffic: All of these actions towards being love will feel so nourishing to your own spirit.  Nothing feels better than taking the high road in life!
  3. Think and say loving words to yourself, and love that inner child within you.  Be your own loving parent to yourself, nurturing and nourishing your essence, being gentle with yourself, going for a slow walk and breathing in the healing power of nature, and deciding to love rather than to judge and criticize yourself.
  4. Be the changes you want in others and in the world.  That is all that we can do! We can’t change the volatile climate that is occurring.  All that I can change is….me; all that you can change is…you. Rise above the chaos, and heal yourself beyond the negative noise.
  5. More than ever:  BE love! Send yourself that energy, send it to people that you enjoy and even to those with whom you have personal issues.
  6. Remember to psychically send this love out to the world too: It is a form of Meta-Meditation: Offering yourself love, your friends and family love, a stranger- love, someone whom you don’t like-love (quite the challenge), and send it out to all corners of our precious world.   Our thoughts can be felt vibrationally.  All we think, do, feel and say is resonated outward.
  7. Believe in love and hope, and make it your intention to become that catalyst for positive change, one moment at a time, one person at a time.  Stay above the noise and don’t sink into it or become it.  Love like your life depends on it, because it does.Cheryl Melody Baskin
    Author: “Shift of Heart: Paths to Healing and Love”
    shiftofheart.com 
    amazon.com/author/cherylmelody
    chermelody@aol.com

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Feel Good During Hard Times: 7 Ways to Inner Paradise

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Cheryl Melody Baskin, Author of "Shift of Heart."
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Feel Good During Hard Times: 7 Ways to Inner Paradise

sunrise over the oceanChaos is everywhere-internally at times, in personal situations, every day in the news and in our political climate, and of course globally. How do we keep it together-despite chaos, violence all around us, sadness, hurt, utter craziness?

There are ways to find Paradise in a New York Minute!

  1. BREATHING  First, be aware of your breathing. Are you holding your breath or breathing in a shallow way?   Here is an easy tool:   Imagine a square shape, and each side of the square. Consciously and slowly breathe in deeply and count inside yourself: "1-2-3-4"  for one side of the square; go to the next side of the square, and hold your breathe for 4; go to the next side, and breathe out slowly to 4; go to the final side, and hold your breath for 4. Repeat and repeat again- till you feel a sense of more calm and centeredness...until you feel more like the best version of you!
  2. WORDS: REPEATING A "MANTRA"--As you breathe, say two words to yourself: "THIS MOMENT, THIS MOMENT."  This moment is all we know for sure.  Stay in this moment, the present, the here and now..and use your breath and the words to help you BE in this moment, without your mind wondering, worrying, fretting, "awfulizing" and being in a state of anxiety.
  3. VISUALIZE!  While you breathe and say those two words, visualize light, healing, love, kindness, compassion, inner mind and heart expansion and spaciousness, forgiveness, inner peace, courage, strength, caring, gentleness, warmth...in you, around you, for yourself, for those you know, for those you don't know, and even for those you don't like.  Now there's a challenge AND an opportunity for inner growth!
  4. MOVE! Take a slow gentle sensory hear- the- symphony- of- sounds- all -around- you type of walk. It doesn't have to be cardio and hard exercise. If you are disabled, you imagine this walk--and studies show that it is the same as doing it!  It can be a healing and slow walk, noticing...,noticing the colors, sounds, shapes, textures and smells all around you.  Nature can indeed heal us.  See it, be IN it, feel it, imagine it!   Seeing just one flower heals-its colors, shape, beauty...be IN the flower's peace, healing and beauty. 
  5. WHERE IS PARADISE WHEN LIFE IS CRAZY? Paradise isn't something that you have to save up for and go to...it doesn't require a hotel room and transportation and money.  Paradise can be embraced into your spirit each moment right where you are.
  6. THE HEALING POWER OF WORDS:  Say healthy words to yourself--your inner talk--Positive self-talk:  Here are some positive affirmation examples:  "Today is a good day."  "All good comes my way today."  "I love myself unconditionally."  "I show my love to someone today." "I create small moments of kindness today."  "I am courageous and strong."  "I focus on the present and release the past." Create your own positive self-talk.  Act "as if."  As if it is true.  Fake it till you make it, "they" say.  It's true! BE it and you will claim your highest self, your star, your highest vibration of love for yourself and others.  
  7. MUSIC:  And then there is music! It has saved my life, my soul, my day and my moments so many times:  Put on uplifting music! Conduct to it! Move to it! Sing or hum to it! HUM, WHISTLE, SING, MAKE UP SONGS, SING THE BLUES, SING YOUR JOY AND WHAT CAN BE POSSIBLE!  These sounds create vibrations--vibrations that uplift and increase your energy and moods .  Sound release is one of the only ways to massage yourself from inside-out, AND raise your energetic vibration to a new level! Pretty good medicine sildenafil citrate really cheap without negative side effects!
  8. SUMMARY:  So that's it...that is how I can call upon paradise in a New York Minute--no matter what is happening.  All these tools, these 7 tools, can save your cells, your body, your mind, your spirit. Try at least one of them, and please let me know if it helped.                                                     --------Written With Love, "Melody" (my preferred first name)                                                                Cheryl Melody Baskin   http://www.cherylmelody.com

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Podcast — The Shift, Part 6

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Cheryl Melody Baskin, Author of "Shift of Heart."
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Cheryl Melody’s Podcast — The Shift, Pt. 6

Stand Proud — Celebrate


lake in the fallThrough tender verbal reminders of how to rise above our struggles and acknowledge that they are part of who we are and our life’s lessons along with our strengths, we are encouraged to step fully into all parts of ourselves and shine our light to ourselves and to others.

The original song, STAND PROUD, from the CD, CELEBRATE! is included in this free podcast.Falsified medications flood North American and European markets

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Podcast — The Shift, Part 5

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Cheryl Melody Baskin, Author of "Shift of Heart."

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Blogpost — The Shift, Part 5

Reducing Stress in a New York Minute

waterfallThrough guided meditation/visualization, positive affirmations, chakra/energy balancing approaches–all written and led by Cheryl Melody–coupled with my friend’s healing song, “In This Moment” by Lyndsey Watson (Sung together on the CD, “Celebrate!), and in memory of all she still vibrates…this meditation can help refocus self toward a calmer center in the midst of stress.

 

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Podcast — The Shift, Part 4

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Cheryl Melody Baskin, Author of "Shift of Heart."

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Podcast — The Shift, Part 4

Ebb and Flow, and Trust- The Connections

red rocks in sedona, arizonaThis life coaching podcast will share my personal life’s wisdoms, along with visualizations and affirmations, healing music and positive power words.

In the midst of a dark time, there is hope and positive flow around the corner.  We only have to “trust.”  Sharing track 1, “TRUST” of my album, “Voice of the Angels

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Podcast — The Shift, Part 3

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Cheryl Melody Baskin, Author of "Shift of Heart."

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Podcast — The Shift, Part 3

Finding your Dreams and Following your Heart’s Longings

dry channel in rocksThis podcast is inspirational to all those who have forgotten their dreams, wish to live them more fully, or wish to discover the latent parts of themselves that are waiting to come out and fly

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Podcast — The Shift, Part 2

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Cheryl Melody Baskin, Author of "Shift of Heart."

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Podcast — The Shift, Part 2

Your Highest Wisdom, Listen to Life’s Whispers, and say YES to All Good that is Coming Your Way

tunnel walkwayThe life coaching podcast focus is still on the 3rd eye chakra, and in being silent long enough to hear life’s whispers to you.   The whispers with share with you what your Purpose(s) are in life, how to resolve an issue, and any illumination in which you may need clarity.

Here I share my own life’s wisdoms, coupled with visualizations and meditations, affirmations and positive power words, healing songs and music.

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Podcast — The Shift, Part 1

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Cheryl Melody Baskin, Author of "Shift of Heart."

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Podcast — The Shift, Part 1

Shifting into your Highest Wisdom in the Midst of Chaos

swan on lakeThis life coaching Podcast is devoted to adults who would like to shift into a more positive state, in the midst of problems-personally, professionally and globally.

Today’s inspiration revolves around our 6th energy center, (chakra), sometimes called the “third eye”.

Energy centers are like vibrant wheels spinning in certain primary areas of your body, and sometimes they each need tuning up.  I am partial to the 3rd eye area, because it can give us answers we have been searching for… if we are still and just listen.  The 3rd eye chakra or energy center can help us make decisions and have relationships that come from a more positive state, and from a higher place of awareness and interaction.

The healing song you will hear in the midst of the visualization is called “Surrender” from my CD “Voice of the Angels.”

Once we make a small shift in our behavior with our words, actions, feelings and thoughts, we can never go backwards completely.  Each positive change builds on the next.  Forgive yourself when you become less conscious, and keep trying… because every moment is a moment to choose differently. Each moment we shift, helps to heal the world.  It is like the “butterfly effect.” Everything that happens to someone and every change we make has an impact on all humanity.

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30-Second Meditation Quickie

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Cheryl Melody Baskin, Author of "Shift of Heart."

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30-Second Meditation Quickie

sunrise on ocean with seagullsDo you feel tense, anxious, worried, or consumed with your to-do list? Do you need to take time out and re-group, but think it will take too long, and now you are worried about getting an "F" in relaxation? What if I told you that I have found an easy exercise that takes only 30-60 seconds in order for me to feel refreshed and renewed? I am now feeling centered and sane again!

Although formal Mindfulness Meditation is definitely beneficial, perhaps you have stayed away from the practice because you've heard that you should sit for at least 30 minutes with your spine straight, palms out, noticing your thoughts, letting go of them like passing clouds, creating a word(s) or mantra to focus on while you notice the rising and falling of your in and out breaths. If you are able to meditate like this, I applaud you and I aim for it myself.

Sometimes, however, I think many of us are driven away from meditating because it feels too hard and time-consuming, and we are too edgy to think that we now have to take time away from our to-do list and spend 30 minutes in a disciplined process.

As someone who likes immediate gratification, here's what I do to renew in less than 60 seconds: I close my eyes and just listen to life's symphony. For 30-60 seconds, I stop the world and bring my attention to all the sounds surrounding me. Life is a varied symphony of sounds. Listening and truly hearing the sounds around us brings us to something wonderful: It brings us into the present moment. The NOW moment. Breathing in the now.

As the comedic pianist, Victor Borge, said: "Tap two stones together three times...and you have a waltz!" When I was a young, I was innately in-tune with life's symphony. I would clink the glasses with my spoon at the kitchen table, (and get yelled at), tap stones of various sizes and shapes together and be interested in the different timbres, listen to the different pitches of the glorious birds, (still do), notice the differences in people's footsteps, or patterns and tones in speaking, and be delighted by comparing unique sounds of laughter.

Stopping the world for a minute and listening to the sounds helps us to refocus and get out of our own way. It can help us heal, re-group and renew. It can help us breathe again. It works for me, and I'd love to hear from you as to how it works for you. 30 seconds. That's all we need to get back to the core of our self, our breath, our NOW moment. Do it every now and then during your day, and let me know if it helps.

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