I am so grateful to the souls that come to me for communication. Those that are in the physical and those that have passed. The lessons I have learned from them have helped me immensely to appreciate my own life. That is a value that is immeasurable.

Often people ask me what is the opinion of those on the other side. I have to be the bearer of information that they really have no opinion. They have an intention that each of us will live our best lives but they don't have a desire to give their view on how we should each do this.

A few weeks ago I was doing a group session and someone who is pretty familiar with my work asked me questions on what her loved ones were doing on the other side. I was happy to respond with what they were giving me as their activities. Her next response was to go into a story of how they were like here. A very common next move.

It is often difficult for people to wrap their minds around how someone was here was because they were humans learning to appreciate they have a soul too. In all the beauty that is humanity there are also limitations. These limitations do not exist on the other side. Once you transition you begin to realize that limitations are something that are very human based and something you don't have to adhere to any longer. I feel like this is very refreshing for us when we cross and therefore those who are on the other side are no longer willing to entertain the idea of limitations any longer. Isn't that fantastic?

The next line goes to total credit to her loved ones for it was a wonderful example of how we can lock ourselves up into the story of how someone may have suffered or may have been committed to their own belief systems. The quote that her dad gave me was their lives were all part of an equation that includes us but it's the sum that is important not the different components. I took this to mean that each of our own experiences add up to a greater experience but we have to be responsible for our own part of the equation. When one crosses they will continue to be responsible for theirs but it won't be through a less than experience, meaning a lack view. It will all make sense and the focus is on the total number of their life not on one specific beliefs system or experience when they were here whether that was a physical limitation, an emotional one or a view of life.

Her dad, in his soul self, was able to articulate that it was fine if she wanted to continue running her own story or beliefs but he would appreciate if she didn't assume that they were still running those beliefs on the other side. What a wonderful teacher he is. What a great gift to be able to communicate what is observed in his experience. On the other side you begin to realize your own stuff but they (and eventually we) don't run their stories anymore because it's no longer pertinent to them (us). It was all part of the equation but it's the sum that's important not the different components. I love this. 

What if you could adopt this as a knowing? What if you allowed yourself to let go of all the little things you judge about you and started looking at your total number? Imagine the relief you would feel. It would be like croaking without having to! Thanks Karen's Dad! 

Give this a go and start appreciating you! The added bonus is this makes math fun! 

Totaling my own experience as I type, 

Vicki

www.vickibaird.com

How does it get to be the holidays so fast? It seems like one minute we are planning picnics and summer vacations and the next there are decorations out for December holidays in October. I know time doesn't exist on the other side but it seems to be flying on this side.

This year I have had a new perspective of the holiday season. I've never been a traditional gal. I don't get super excited to shop and trust me, cooking is never a woo hoo moment for me so planning a meal does not make me gleeful. I do love the music and the lights and the little kids excitement but the rest of it seems like too much fuss directed at acquiring more stuff and stressing us out. At some point this last year I decided I wanted experiences to be my gift to me this year. I can't say where it happened but I am glad I became aware that stuff couldn't make me happy, I had to do that myself!

I wonder if this perspective wouldn't help others enjoy the months of November and December and beyond! So often when someone says Happy Holidays (and yes, I am totally happy with this expression...it has happy in it!) they don't mean it. They may not even believe that a happy holiday season is possible. There may be so many stressors that they are only wishing to move past the time of holidays and get to a more normal schedule. Does this sound familiar? Do you want to fast forward past the parties and shopping and wrapping? Do you want to stay solvent in your energy as well as your wallet? Do you miss family members, either because they passed or because there is family tension and Happy Holidays seems nauseating?

What if you decided to take this holiday season like you would take a hairpin turn? What if you downshifted, held the wheel with confidence and trusted that you have come through other holiday seasons and you will this one too, with the added benefit of enjoying it too!

What if you decided that time with someone was worth more than any item you may have to dust? I don't want anyone stressing over what to give me. I want to see a smile. I want to hear you donated to a charity instead of buying me something, or I want to hear, Vicki, want to go to dinner and we will enjoy each others company AND eat out? (Remember, I don't cook!)

What if we slowed time down and realized the holidays are really for celebrating and honoring all of what we already have? If you take that corner too fast you may not stay on the road and risk a crash, but if you are conscious and take it with care, it will be exhilarating.

Try something new this year. Listen to you and really ask what you would like to do on a day of honoring. For Thanksgiving this year, I am thanking my body for supporting me this year and rather than stuffing my face I will be doing a race that raises money for enrichment programs. We will have a dinner with the kids at another time, but this is what I want to do this year and I am giving myself that gift as well as providing an example of authenticity. Traditions are important but how do new ones get started if we don't give ourselves permission to navigate those turns?

Whatever your holiday celebration is, I wish you the best of you and the time you get to spend with others. The saying is so true that we can't take items with us when we go, but I promise you, we take the connections we have made and we hold them dear. How we spend our time here matters when we are no longer physical, shouldn't it matter while we are?

Celebrating you in my life,

Vicki

www.vickibaird.com

I have heard myself saying to people lately, let's take this a step at a time, the incremental movements will add up, I promise you. This is very interesting to me when I see a pattern happening. I used to think I was in a particular advice place then I realized they were patterns that were showing up in peoples lives and I was picking up on that pattern by offering what I knew to be the most helpful route to whatever they were wanting to create in their life.

It is also interesting to me because one of my challenges in this lifetime is slowing down and taking things piece by piece rather than thinking I have to do the whole project at once. Over the last year I have realized that I am much better balanced when I give myself permission to relax and accept that warp speed is not always the most productive. I would vacillate between being so busy I couldn't see straight and non-movement. Oh, it might still look like I'm moving because I always have something I  am working on but to me it felt like standing still...in cement...hardening cement. Not a great feeling to be mired in your own energy.

When I decided this past summer to not teach any classes, I was relieved then completely freaked out by what I would do instead. A good indication you have a hard time relaxing is when you give yourself a break, you immediately fill it with something else. Luckily, I caught myself wanting to fill my schedule with other commitments. I decided perhaps I wasn't a cold turkey sabbatical person. Perhaps I had to open my schedule a little at a time until I was comfortable with, gasp, a whole day without something scheduled! A little bit at at time was a good way to ease myself into a new way of life.

 Of this I was clear, I wanted a way of life rather than a way to life.  I wanted to learn how to be as relaxed as people thought I was. I wanted to feel inside that calm, confident, everything really is ok way that my soul knew is true. I want to know I lived life. That I experienced it. I wasn't just here to pass the time. I did it one step at a time. I know this is something I will put into practice every day of my life as it is too easy to get pulled back into the frenetic energy. It takes some concentration and commitment to live the way I want. It also takes the ability to hear oneself. How do you know what kind of life you want to have if you can't hear yourself through all of the static?

I decided, I say with a tongue in cheek because I feel pushed, to walk El Camino in France/Spain in 2016. It is the five hundred mile hike through mountains, forests and farmland depicted in the movie The Way. As is the way of the universe, as I decided I wanted live a way of life, this movie was introduced to me as well as a few books. The clincher was when I was cleaning the bathroom and opened the cabinet we have had for over a year and the stamp on the inside was Camino brand. Seriously? I don't need to be hit with too many cosmic 2x4's before I listen anymore. I started researching. It typically takes people around a month to walk the path. Do you know how they do it? One step at a time. This was confirmation to me that I was on my own right path and that little by little does work.

How do you want your life to be? Do you know? Can you be nice to you and recognize that you didn't learn to walk overnight? Can you be accepting and loving of the path you are already on, while fine tuning it to what you really want?

It seems to me that when a way of life is practiced, this living thing could get really fun because we will be in ease of who we are. Doesn't that sound exciting? When you know how you want to be, the knowing of what you want and what to do follows suit. In case there is any question, just look in the cabinets or closets you've had for years....it's written right there even though you couldn't see it before. Amazing.

Willing to see the signs,

Vicki

www.vickibaird.com

Have you ever heard that expression, don't allow others to occupy space in your head rent free? I love that expression. So often we do that. We allow the ones who aren't even in residence to drive us to that frustrated place. This may be because you still hear the voice of your parents even if you are an adult yourself or you consider what the house of they is going to say rather than be able to hear what your own thoughts are. 

The house of they? Well, those are the people we always hear referenced, they said we should live like this, they think I should wear that, they know me better than I know myself, WHAT? Who are these they people? I want to talk to them.....exactly...just try to find them when you need them! 

What is the benefit to giving away all of this personal power and confidence to the house of they? I believe it is because it keeps us from taking responsibility for what is in our own consciousness. If I blame them or hand power over to them, I don't ever have to admit I did something or heaven forbid, I don't know something. If I blame my parents for what THEY did to me, I can act like a dufus now. I don't know about you, but that one isn't working for me anymore. I can feel myself losing patience when someone wants to go on and on about what happened to them and why they can't move forward. It isn't true. There may be circumstances that stunk in your childhood, but if you can drive a vehicle or vote, newsflash, you aren't a child anymore. It is time to take inventory of what is really taking up space in your house and do some clearing out! 

So, how about we start in the attic? What is your thought process? Is it someone else's fault you don't like you or that your life isn't going how you would like it to? (pssst, the answer is no, but if you think it is someone else, you could look at your thought process here.) Do you have a supportive thought process? If you do, give that thing a hug! You will want to reinforce it with more love. 

Speaking of the parents, how about some childhood issues? We covered that a bit but what others could you be hanging on to that aren't serving you any longer? I used the phrase, my parents did the best they could with what they had at the time, repeatedly to help me move through some childhood stuff. I have used this same phrase when talking with my kids. I have also said, see me in twenty five years and tell me you did everything perfectly and then we can chat about our screw ups. 

Could you use a cleansing? Do you want to clean off the old stuff you continue to carry? Good for you! Great answer, for in the cleaning up of the old perceptions of others having more power over your happiness, you gain self love. A great trade isn't it? 

What about your restful self? Are you resting? Are you allowing your physical body to be honored and restored? There isn't an award on the other side for the greatest martyr you know. Sorry to disappoint you. Rest up, read a good book, take a nap, stare at the clouds, meditate, do whatever helps your being be and appreciate that you are taking care of your physical housing too. 

Something that can be very restorative is creativity. This comes in so many varieties that I won't even attempt to nail it down, but you can, for you! If it feels good and lights you up and uses that creative fire, go for it....as long as it's legal. :) 

Now formality can be a lot of fun, but please don't save the good china for a special occasion or wait to tell someone you love them. Dress up and go out to eat, learn to ballroom dance or speak a foreign language but leave the formality there. Get squishy with your family and your feelings. Let them know you care, in your way. This one has been a challenge for me, but I am working my way through my house of me and I'll get it yet! 

Family comes in so many different rooms and decorative styles. I LOVE that about family. I have birth family, marriage family, soul family, adopted family, community family and animal family. We truly are blessed to be able to add on to our family in anyway we wish. We are also blessed to be able to decide when family is no longer a reason to stay connected. This is a tough one but when you realize you don't have to put up with anything that isn't respectful, the family either heals or goes it's own way making room for that soul family. 

It is not easy but it is a way to let go of the past and realize where you want to be today. 

All of this is a way to check in with you and see what is getting attention yet not helping you. If you are one to air your dirty laundry, or someone else's, you would benefit from a home inspection. Something in the upper floors is not satisfied if you are operating out of the basement energy. Someone else is taking up space and not paying rent if you are looking for the drama high of dirty laundry viewing. This includes gossip. The rule I follow; Don't say anything about someone you wouldn't say to their face. It will keep you honest and help you to stop the habit of gossip if you have developed it already and then your laundry will be so stinking clean, they will call you to do a detergent commercial. (There is that elusive they again!)

Have some fun with this exercise and see where you are living in yourself. I wouldn't suggest collecting rent though, just follow through with the eviction process and shift to a higher vibrational way of living. One that is love thy neighbor....and thyself! 

Happy to help you move your stuff, 

Vicki

www.vickibaird.com

Once a month I do an event called Share an Evening with Vicki. It is two (or two and a half if I have a hard time stopping...sometimes three...I need help but that's another blog.) hour event where people can attend to receive guidance, messages and this month, stand up comedy!

It was such a fun group that I was even more laid back than normal. It could also have been the prednisone and inhaler I am on, but we will give most of it to the energy of the people there. They were all willing to have fun, share tears and grow. SO STINKING FUN!

There were a lot of gems that came out of the night as I remember the responses but can't remember what came through. One they reminded me of though that I thought, hey, that's rude enough to be a blog, was the vomit discussion. Don't worry, that's as gross as it gets, the description. I didn't have much of a filter that night so the description, while appropriate, is well, gross.

I was talking with a young lady about how she was leaking energy and if she didn't patch a few holes, her health and happiness would be effected even more than it is. See, we all have an energy field and when we fail to recognize that and take care of it, we can get holes from all the demands of our lives and other people in our lives. As I looked at her field, I realized she had a few people in her life that were vomiting energetically on her and she was not only vulnerable, she was inundated with others crap and couldn't hear her own thoughts.

When people spew on us, it feels even heavier to be yourself and you have sadness you just can't connect to anything. One way people energetically relieve themselves is on social media. My goodness, you can just read some of the posts to realize who was just looking to get rid of energy and used the outlet to do it. Then it gets picked up, kind of like the flu virus, and spread because someone responds with "OH NO!" "You should......" "What are you going to do?" "How could someone do that?" etc. All that drama lowers the energy field and creates the exhaustion that so many people are walking around with.

One way to be healthy and not catch or throw energy, is to not pick up that ball when someone tosses out the whining, complaining, or generally ticked off at the world post. Scroll right on by. It doesn't mean you don't care about the person, it means you are not willing to carry their germs. This is true if the person is right in front of you too. Ask the people close to me. It has to be annoying that I won't get mad when they do, but I know it isn't going to solve anything so why go there? If you truly cared, you would call it universal precautions and say, hey, I'm helping both of us to be healthy right now by not keeping the virus going.

Another way is to be healthy yourself. Make sure you can recognize when you are feeling less than and either shake the energy off by exercising, cleaning something, singing, dancing, playing, cooking, stomping your feet or clapping your hands, anything that will help break up energy. Take responsibility for your own feelings and be willing to fumigate if necessary!

You can also make sure your light is lit so if someone else is having a challenge shining theirs, you can help but not take it on. Imagine a flashlight shining from within and emitting a light from you. It will allow you to create an energetically neutral zone as well as show others that being energetically healthy is good!

This is something that is year round happening and there really isn't a shot for it, you have to be willing to do the journey yourself.

So, I thank my November group for some great laughs and material and for the opportunity to share with everyone else! I wish you health in recognizing when someone, or you, may be over sharing. There are times where sharing is not caring you know! We all do it to some extent, but if we can become more aware, we can acknowledge it in the moment and choose to act in a different way.

I know you can do it!

Get those flashlights beaming!

Vicki

www.vickibaird.com

Let's face it, even the best intuitive out there can't know everything. While there really are crystal balls for some people, I know they are not one hundred percent accurate. For that I am grateful. Sometimes we fear so much what we don't know, we seek out the people who apparently do and yes, I can see your path and what could potentially happen, but it can't be guaranteed because you have free will and make choices that alter that path a bit. I had a lawyer say to me one time that this was my loophole. I laughed for days about that because while it may sound like one to some, it is really my honesty and letting you know that you have the power to create your life the way you want it to be and if you are willing to see that, oh man, the amazing things that can happen!

If anything I see on a regular basis, it is that people truly do not know their own potential. When someone comes to see me, I see their whole self, their true self and then encourage the meet up of that energy and their human self. It is amazing when you see it click in and people start to believe in themselves. It would be all the payment I would need if I didn't have a mortgage and a ridiculously spoiled canine.

Why is it people don't see this for themselves? I believe it has to do with that fear of the unknown. What if I do exceed all perceptions of me and completely fly and be amazing? What will people think? Will I have to maintain it? How will I know what to do next? Will there be people who don't like it and decide to leave my life? The last one is almost always a yes and can keep people locked up in non movement for a very long time. My question is always, why would you want someone in your life who doesn't want the best for you, even if they aren't it? I have had many friends and family move on and decide I wasn't the cat's meow (I know! Can you imagine? LoL)  and while initially I had a hard time with it, now I can honestly say, I wish them well and hold no hard feelings when they decide this. I honor myself by looking and seeing if I did anything that could change the outcome. When it comes back as a nope, I was being me and they felt they didn't want to be part of that, then I can let it go. Sure, it may take reminding myself that I only want to be surrounded by those that have mine and their best interest at heart, but it is so worth the work.

These people aren't always yes people either. Some of my greatest friends are the ones that will say very bluntly what they feel and help me to continue to grow. They see my potential even when I don't. So, if this is the probable outcome for moving forward and going for that all out, this life rocks, place, why wouldn't you do it?

Where is the fear for you around not knowing what the next step is? Is it really about the next step or are you looking too far into the future and creating a much bigger monster than is really in front of you? Like I suggested last week, bite size pieces people!

Often when I do business consulting (yes, I do that too and I LOVE IT!), the business owner wants to look at the ten year plan. I get that it is a wise idea to have a goal and to set an intention and include spreadsheets of where you want to be, but if you don't take the small steps now, chances are you won't attain that ten year goal. It will keep getting put off because the focus is too far in the future.

What is one thing you would like to see happen in the next few months leading up to 2015? Maybe it is just get clear about what you would like in 2015 (hey, there is a class for that this Saturday! Check it out and see if it resonates for you).

What if you weren't afraid...what if you were curious? What if you shifted the vibration from a place of fear to one of anticipation? What if you realized you have already lived through the unknowing of last year and you are still here to rave about this life process?

What if you believed in you the way I do? Imagine that! Get good with the unknown. See it as a wonderful gift you get to open every day and allow that gift to power you through new opportunities. Fear and excitement have the same vibration in the universe. Use that to your advantage. Shift how you see it, so you can embrace change.

Not knowing is fun! We don't need to know to have a yearning to know. We can continue to grow without all the answers and maintain a balance of wonder.With belief in self, that not knowing is a non issue because you will realize that no matter what comes up, you will thrive in the experience when you are curious.

Curiouser than Curious George,

Vicki

www.vickibaird.com

We, as humans, were given the gift of the expression of emotion. We have a variety of expressions to choose from too. Some of us have short fuses while others have what seems like unending patience. Each persons experience is as different as they are. It amazes me when I see people who are so in touch with their feeling that they can articulate exactly what they are feeling. Sometimes it amazes me that some of those same people don't have an edit button, but I am still always impressed with their ability.

We have all these beautiful feelings and yet we tend to lean toward negating them. We have all had the experience where we ask how someone is and they say fine yet we know they aren't. It may be very clear they are not fine but they feel they have to suck it up and pretend all is well. I agree that there are times where communicating exactly what you are feeling may not be in the best manners but what about those times where it is quite safe to do so and we still suck it up?

I wasn't always comfortable with emotions because in my family we didn't talk about anything, at least nothing of substance. There was anger expressed, frustration and humor, we are a pretty funny family if I do say so myself. Feelings themselves weren't though and that is pretty evident by the sheer number of people in our family with thyroid issues. I decided a few years ago that I was going to clear up my own thyroid and to do this I had to learn to express myself. Goodness. Give me a stage and I am very eloquent, have a client need to express, cry, scream, laugh,  and I am good, ask me how I'm feeling and you were likely to get a fine as well. Challenge me to ask for what I would like and I would deflect with that humor I learned.

Through my process though I have come to really appreciate this amazing barometer we are wired with. Why would we have emotions if we weren't supposed to use them? I asked someone the other day when we were discussing her tendency to diminish her emotions if rather than diminishing them, she could learn to use them.

It made sense to my head that we could negate or navigate. We could continue to deny that we felt a certain way or we could learn to listen and use them as the north star to indicate where we really are. I know our head will tell us stories but our emotions tend to be right on. Just ask a two year old when they don't want to do something. They aren't being particularly defiant because they don't really know what that is yet, but they are following their disappointment and expressing their desire for a different outcome. What if you listened to your feeling of less than and asked yourself what you could do for you now? One of my besties, Laurie Magoon, always says "how can I support you with this?" Can you imagine being on the receiving end of this statement? If you know Laurie, you have been but really, how great is that? (Thank you Laurie if I haven't expressed that enough. This is gratitude I am expressing!)

What if you said that to yourself when you were feeling discord, how can I support me right now? This could be a gps of sorts for you to navigate emotions. First, allowing yourself to feel them, then asking how you could be of support and then doing whatever your brilliant self comes up with. I would suggest it be of your highest interest so while that pint of ice cream may support the craving for sugar, it isn't helping emotions to be productive, it is just adding to another trip around the block on your walk! Perhaps start with the walk! See, you are getting good at this already.

One of the benefits of the Belief Re-patterning sessions that I offer is it can help you connect with those feelings and become comfortable in having them, in a safe place, and learning what to do with them!

For this week, give yourself the gift of honoring the emotions as they come up. They are telling you something, be willing to listen. Be nice to you during this process. Much like learning how to ride a bike, this is going to take a bit of balancing if you haven't been listening previously. Be patient and be aware others may not know what to do with your emotions and that is fine. It is still very valid to have them. Their emotions are theirs to deal with. Perhaps they haven't been doing that either. We will all arrive in that caring feeling space eventually, it is part of the soul journey.

Off to express myself,

Vicki

www.vickibaird.com