When you think about it, if you think about it, our physical beings are one big feedback mechanism. It will give you the information you require to live a life that most resonates with you. The tricky part can be listening to the body. First one has to make the connection that the body is able to communicate what is going on and then be willing to hear the message.

Have a headache? It could be because you haven't had enough water or you have tension and are wearing your shoulders like earrings. It could also mean that your skeleton needs some attention and an adjustment. There is also the possibility that you are avoiding thinking about an area of your life and your head is saying "umm, hello?  Hi!  If you use me to address that issue, I will ease up and not have to cramp you like a vise grip squeezing your head. Just a thought. It's what I am here for."

Have heart palpitations? Yes, it could be your addiction to caffeine but it could also be that you are hurting and not allowing yourself to feel all of the emotions because they seem too great. I have personal experience with this one lately. My body was trying to tell me that while I thought I was relaxing and allowing the emotions to flow, I wasn't at the level I was now capable of. Of course, we have to follow due diligence and go to the doctor to have the physical vessel checked, but being aware it is giving you feedback can help to alleviate the issue before it becomes a true medical problem. I am very fortunate, because I won't settle for less, to have a medical practitioner who will hear me when I say that I believe it is emotional and a deficiency of minerals, but we have to check out the ole pumper as well. I am so excited to do the stress test! Talk about tangible feedback!

What this recent visit to communication with my body reminded me is that we have pathways that have been created from previous experiences and if we listen to them, we can shift and really be in alignment with self. The feedback loop that is created is like a great conversation. One being talking.  The other listening.  Then taking turns. What you give in a conversation comes back if you are willing to listen. Truly listen. In a session with someone this is what I do the best, I believe.  I listen to their words, their body, their soul and their energy field. One may not know what is being said by their body, mind or soul and it's my job to help figure that out and then change the pathway that will change the perception that then changes the habit... Exciting, isn't it?

For the sake of practice today, let's stay with the body. What is it trying to tell you?  Do a body scan and see what organs, muscles, bones or systems are talking to you. Yes it will feel weird at first, we have been taught to think of our body as a secondary consideration. A vehicle that gets us to from point A to point B but it is so much more than that. If your car made a clunking sound, you would try to figure that out wouldn't you?

We are quick to jump to a prescription and a diagnosis in this society. What if you listened to the messages and then created a working plan from there? For my seemingly broken heart I could stress out more, demand a prescription and a diagnosis, or I could listen, take steps to change how I was responding to life and accept that this process is not an overnight one and that I can learn sooooooo much by opening my inner ears to hear what my heart needs. It works people, and if you can't hear yourself, that is fine. Locate a practitioner that can help you hear what your body, mind and soul are telling you. Then take it from there. Drive your own feedback vehicle.

Feedback. I love feedback. It is the data that makes my brain so happy, the action my body likes and the acceptance my soul is here to learn.  It is also the knowing that I have the tools to have them all work so well together. So can you.

Grab your toolkit, we are going in!

Vicki

www.vickibaird.com

You know what is really exciting to me?  Someone (including myself) who says, "Vicki, (yes, I talk to myself.) I don't know what the heck I want but I know I don't want to live/feel/exist this way any longer."  Yay! So blissfully exciting to hear those words. Why? Because it means the person has realized where and how they are is not satisfying any longer and they want more. It is also where I get to help, if they so desire.

The soul comes into the experience to want more. To explore, expand and eventually evolve through wanting more. More knowledge, more love, more self awareness and sometimes more ice coffee. It's a real thing this ice coffee soul need. Truly.

It can be part of the human condition to acquire more stuff when the soul is really asking to be experiential. It is asking to stretch and bust out of that comfort zone. The brain reads it as I must want the newest car, or next video game or to date someone else. If one was willing to really listen to self, it would realize it isn't asking for material objects but rather a feeling. A feeling of connection.

I get that this can be confusing, believe me, I get it! So how can it be less confusing? Well, first you have to be an active participant in your own life. You have to be willing to see what doesn't completely line up and then be brave enough to say, I want more. Then after realizing you want more, you must be willing to create it.

I haven't found a magic pill, button or spell that will transform someone in a blink of an eye. Think of how boring that would be? Sure, the first ten times would be fun when you immediately manifested what you want, but I'd be willing to bet most people would go to the material again on that and eventually find it less fulfilling then they originally thought it would be. The reason it wouldn't be fulfilling is each of us wants that GO ME! moment. We all want to celebrate and be proud of ourselves and we stinking deserve that feeling and moment.

So, what are you not doing that could help you get to that go me moment? Are you an active participant in your life or are you floating along the river of wherever the current takes you?  An active participant has a few of the following tools in their toolkit:

• They make decisions for themselves. They may consider another's input, but the decision comes from their own self. Whether this is where to go to dinner or what job to take or whom to date, it doesn't matter. It comes from within.
• An active participant is always learning. They realize that we can't possibly know everything but there is no limit on what we can learn so a walk in the forest can be as educational as a PhD. 
• An active participant feels lit up about their life. They know that there are ebbs and flows and that is what makes this life thing fun. There are opportunities everywhere and being excited about life brings them front and center. 
• An active participant is able to separate someone else's experience from their own because they are completely aware of the space they occupy. Empathy and compassion are available, but sympathy does not get play time. They realize that if someone else is acting out or not living up to their potential, it is on the individual not anyone else. 
• They also realize the entire world does not revolve around them so when another active participant makes a decision about their own life, it isn't because they don't have time for me/ love me/want what's best for me, wah wah wah

These are some of the ways one can check in on whether they are an active participant or not. There are millions more, I am sure. Be willing to take your own temperature and see if you are participating in your own life. I don't know about you, but when I croak and get to watch my movie of my life, I want to be able to say, Good job Vic, you were open and lived life to the fullest intention of your soul. High five! 

Actively enjoying my soul ice coffee this am, 

Vicki

www.vickibaird.com

We all have a team on board. We have a committee that is here to help us be our best selves, whatever that may be for each of us. That committee is made up of our soul, our mind and our body. Each of us has this committee even if we aren't aware any longer or we plug our listening ears to it.

Our soul is like an individual GPS guiding us on a path that absolutely has a plan, a loose plan. A blue print, so to speak, that acts as an outline for our journey here. We get to fill in the rooms and the add ons but there is one, I promise. Within that blue print is a theme each of us is here to learn. Every soul sets an intention it believes the person can carry through and learn. Isn't it nice to know that your soul believes in you? It doesn't know everything as it is growing and expanding too, but it has vast knowledge to pull from and when we learn to include it, that information is available. Perhaps knowing it is there is the first step.

The mind, including the brain, is an amazing computer. It processes, categorizes, and strategizes for the best of our selves. It has, through it's experiences, created a data base that is wonderful and can be very supportive. While it can contain corrupt files and lead us astray, it is a valuable asset when it is well trained!

The body is amazing at picking up signals and processing information and sending it to the computer of the mind while receiving guidance from the soul at the same time. All while chewing gum and walking! If you don't find that amazing, I have nothing else here for you. The body gives us that gut reaction and inner voice that while subtle, never lies.

So, when you combine them all and actually use them, it makes this life thing a whole lot easier. Believe it or not, it gets to be very fast so you can determine if you want to go to that party for instance or whether you would benefit from taking that job, on the spot.

They can all work independently but that is a lot of work. It saves a lot of time on the crazy train when your brain wants to over think something and when your body feels everything around you if you use them all. The balance of all systems go creates a seamless process. In the beginning it may be a bit like driving a stick shift, but you will get the coordination down soon enough.

How do you do it? Well, first give yourself permission to acknowledge all of these places and use them simultaneously. Then, when you feel that pull or desire for more, you take a moment to tap into that soul self and feel the support. Then you can employ the mind and ask of it "what is it you would like?" After you hear a question or use this example, drop down into your body and feel what the direction could be. When we connect to feelings we get a very keen sense of what is in our best interest.

So, start with something you are not attached to such as, do I even like broccoli or am I eating it out of habit? You could tap in, allow yourself to inquire as to what would be fulfilling in this moment and then feel the answer. However you decide to do it, the time you give yourself will be the real connection point. I wish that for you. That connection to self and then the collection of the team!

Rah rah sis boom bah!

Vicki

www.vickibaird.com

People are often surprised when I say we choose to come here and do the work we are doing. They are even more surprised to hear we continue to do work on the other side. There is usually a groan involved here but on the soul level work, is not a four letter word. It is something that is exciting and celebrated. Wouldn't it be nice if we did that on this side? Celebrated growth and wanting to learn.

When I meet someone, in a reading format, the sound of their voice connects me to what their soul came here to learn this time around. It acts as a theme in their life. This started happening a few years ago and at first I couldn't determine what the heck purpose it served and then I realized when I pointed it out to people, they started relaxing as they had been living it without putting the dots together. The understanding that this life thing isn't accidental or something that happens to oneself can be powerful to hold.

My theme is balance, which if you were my personal trainer, you would have a fit of laughter right now. Perhaps I should tell him but then it wouldn't be so entertaining when I try to tell my head to tell my body to balance. It is like a message comes up that says "does not compute." Now, balance isn't all physical. It is emotional, energetic, spiritual, work to play and a whole host of other things that crop up quite often. The benefit of knowing this is when I feel out of balance or frustration I can be nice to me and acknowledge that this is a balance thing and to be patient (which is probably another theme for me to learn).

You don't need to have someone read for you to find your theme. Look around and see how you bump into things. What are your challenges? What takes you many times over to learn or perhaps you are still learning? (Hint: a life theme is a life long adventure. Get good with the repeating message at deeper levels.) It takes a certain level of honesty to be able to do this. You would have to observe yourself and how you interact with others and be able to see where you could have done things differently. It takes being able to look at it without judgment and then to create a form around it.

For instance, I have a client who is relationship challenged. Not just in intimate relationships but in all, with her siblings, co-workers, friends, neighbors and the list goes on. She is aware of this and is actually a very nice person. She came to me because she couldn't figure out what she was doing that was creating conflict wherever she goes. Without knowing this ahead of time, I pointed out that her soul path was to learn how to accept self and be willing to not know everything. I remember her heaving this big sigh and saying how hard that would be. This is where I point out, you don't have to do it by next week but you do have to get started if you want to enjoy this process we call being physical.

We started with a simple exercise of letting go of having to know everything. We can't. It's not possible. We, as souls, are here to learn and learn and learn so if you know everything, I promise you are not in a physical life. It wasn't simple of course, but she knew what I meant when I suggested it. Start there. Start by saying to someone, you know, I really don't know but I will find out for you. It is so stinking freeing to not know everything and it is exciting to get to learn something because you didn't know it in the first place.

There isn't anything wrong with her, she is in process and she will do the best she can with what she has. I truly believe we are all doing this and if we come from a place of understanding that we aren't paying back something karmically (don't EVEN get me started there!), or you don't have a curse or life just sucks, you can be empowered to do great things in your own life and then impact others.

So, how does it feel to know you were smart enough and brave enough to take on this human life experience and your soul completely knew you would rock it? Rather nice to feel supported by yourself rather than knocked down eh?

What if you took that energy into your life right now? What if you decided to fill the position that is created for you and you alone? What if you DID rock it? Oh man, that would be great!

Knowing the theme and applying it are collaborators in this dance. Once you feel it or know it, what is a step you could take to accomplishing it? For myself, I trusted that I would be supported financially this summer and have taken a scaled back schedule. It was scary at first but I knew that if I wasn't listening to my soul message, I couldn't ask others to do so either. I also believe that in the space I made, I have become more me than I have ever been. That is really cool to feel and I SOOOOOOO want everyone else to feel that too. We could have a "I heard my soul" party!

I wish you all the best in connecting to that help wanted advertisement your soul posted. I know you are the best one for the position of you. I mean, come on, you are perfect for the job!

Off to allow balance in all that I do,
Vicki

www.vickibaird.com