Thursday, May 23, 2013

Truths to Live By: Divination Provides the Roadmap

Divination is meant to help us stay on track. It was given to us to guide us towards our destinies. It helps us stay focused on the bigger picture.

It is important to distinguish divination from fortunetelling. Reading fortunes attempts to predict future events. The belief is that events are predetermined. People are victims of fate.

Ifa divination is a way of reading energy flows. This allows us to be guided to the best position in life. It helps us achieve our destinies while maximizing joy, love, and harmony.

There are two types of divination in Ifa. The Life Path and the Current Readings. The Life Path reading is a look at the biggest possible context. It determines the energies that one chose before coming. We discover the Guardian Energy or Orisa, which explains how we express ourselves and how to behave so that things go as well as possible.

The Current Reading is a look at where we are in the moment. It is a snapshot of our current condition, and alignment.  It helps us understand both where, and how, to focus our energy. Over time Current Readings lead us to maximum success, and growth.

Ifa divination is performed by an initiated priest connecting to the energies of wisdom and knowledge, Orunmila, and Ela. Through this connection a person’s current state and needed course of action can be determined.

Unlike other systems, success with Ifa divination is dependent upon a partnering with the energy flow that is uncovered. This can include offerings to specific energies. It always includes using the advice we receive, and focusing on the area of our life that is most prominent.

It is up to the individual to do the work necessary to stay aligned. Ifa emphasizes personal empowerment, and responsibility. You chose your destiny. It is your job to stay on track, and get it done. No one else can do that for you.

Do find the possibility of discovering and walking down your destiny path exciting, frightening, or a bit of both. I’d love to hear how you feel.

Connect with Brian

Thursday, May 16, 2013

Success: What's Most Important to You?

Let’s take the next step in defining success and figure out what’s really most important to you.

You should already have a list of values. If not please get it ready here.

The values at the bottom of your list are the least conscious. They may be hidden, but, are usually the most important.

So how do you figure out what your most important values are? Why would you want to?

These values determine how you create success.  The highest, or most important, value has the most influence. The top five values and the driving force. The next five are strong influences.


To start ordering your list, look at each value. What is it about?

Next, ask yourself which is most important. How about second? Continue until you have a list of your top ten.

Be honest. See what you can learn. Start to understand what’s really driving you.

Take a break for a day to allow you unconscious mind to process the list. You can think about it but don’t get it out and make any changes.

Let’s refine your list. Look at each value carefully. Is it absolutely more important than the value below it? If you are certain great. If not, see if they work better in the opposite order. Change the order if you need to.  Continue until you have all your values in order.

This ordered list is called your Success Values Hierarchy. It is the process that you use to create success. In the next post in the series we’ll look at how getting these values working together will get you more of what you’re want.

As you consider your first value, do you like it? Are you comfortable with it as the driving force behind your success? I’d love to hear why, or why not.

Connect with Brian

Thursday, May 9, 2013

Truths to Live By: We Choose Our Destiny

Ifa is about  personal empowerment. We begin our journey on Earth fully empowered. We choose what we wish to learn in our life-time. This learning is our destiny. It is the primary goal of our time here.

We come here from the realm of the ancestors. We choose life here in order to learn things that we can’t  in the ancestral world.

Before we leave home we decide which experiences will be necessary to lead us to the wisdom we are looking for. Experiencing life is how we achieve our destinies.

Our destiny-choices are always big-ticket items. They are general. We need the flexibility to grow through any experience that we have.

Discovering the destiny path is part of everyone’s journey. We all forget the choices that we’ve made. By deepening spiritually, and aligning with our Ori , we can reach our destinies. Divination is a gift that the Universe gave us to help us stay on track.

If one of our destiny choices was to experience a variety of cultures, for instance. We could fulfill it through our career, travel,  or even living in a large city.  The fluidity is there to give us the best possibility of succeeding.

Remember that the Universe is benevolent. It consistently gives us information to help us move forward. We are usually the ones standing in our way. By holding on to negative emotions we can miss the clues that are meant to get us where we are going.

Our destiny journey is meant to be filled with joy and love. If we aren’t experiencing them it is time to make some serious changes in our lives. We will all experience challenges. Our joy will give us the strength, and resources, to face them. We will be able to maintain a positive attitude in the face of the greatest crisis.

Do you feel like you’re on your destiny path? I’d love to hear why, or why not.

Connect with Brian

Thursday, May 2, 2013

What is Success?

How you define success has a lot to do with how successful you feel. If your definition doesn't match your values then success and satisfaction will not come together.

Most people define success in terms of money and possessions. Material things are great, but, if you’re looking for happiness and fulfillment they won’t automatically come with money.

Money can’t buy happiness. Poverty can’t deliver it either. The extent to which you feel satisfied in your life has more to do with your values. What matters to you most makes you fulfilled.

A value is an idea. Wealth may be one of your values. Happiness, satisfaction, fulfillment, may also be values for you. All these values are distinct. Wealth doesn’t always lead to happiness any more than happiness always leads to wealth.

We need our values to feel good, both consciously and unconsciously, and to get the most out of life. This is where wealth gets tricky. Values are general. There is always more to have when we make material things too important.

The best way to find balance is to have some values that are not material. If you want happiness, it needs to be near the top of your list.

If you feel like you want more peace, satisfaction, or fulfillment in your life, you need to focus less on wanting what others have.

Challenge your status quo by listing everything that is most important to you. What are the things that make you feel successful? Be honest. If you discover things you don’t like you can always change them.

Once you have a list of 10 to 15 items, stop. Take a look at your success values. This exercise has shown you how you define success. In future posts we’ll discover what to do with this list to make your values work for you.

Are you surprised by something that you discovered when you listed your success values? I’d love to hear why, or why not.

Connect with Brian