Secrets of the Monarch: What the Dead Can Teach Us About Living a Better Life

In SECRETS OF THE MONARCH, Allison explains that if you want to understand life, you must understand death. She shows readers how communicating with the dead has taught her important lessons about life and how people can apply these principles to their own lives.

Allison stresses that every person’s life is part of a bigger story, stretching past family and friends to neighbors, community members and society as a whole. By making the most of your life now, she says you can positively affect that story. After all, if you already know the story will end, why not make the content a true masterpiece?

If you are interested in purchasing any Allison DuBois books you can find them all here: http://www.amazon.com/

By Guest Contributor

We use our eyes more than we do any of our other physical senses. We usually feel that our active consciousness is more connected with visual sight than with anything else. The sight-centers in the brain are used more than any of the others, and this fact is proven by our own dreams, in which we “see” figures, but very seldom hear any spoken words. Again our memory consists mostly of visual symbols and stimuli. When we think of a person, we call up their image before our minds eye, this being a “memory image.” Now, as these parts of the mind and brain are so active, it is only an extension of this natural faculty of inducing memory-images, which enables us to see objects and figures in our practice of clairvoyance.

We only have to encourage this mental ability a little more than usual to carry it beyond the limitations of the physical senses; whereas, with the other senses, much less used, we might have to do a great deal more of this cultivation or forcing-process, in order to develop the corresponding spiritual abilities. Clairvoyance and similar faculties usually depend on the partial liberation or freeing of the spirit from the body, and the stimulation of the corresponding psychic sense-organs into a higher degree of activity, to permit their use. The following are a few exercises which will be helpful in developing this faculty of clairvoyance.

PSYCHIC DEVELOPMENT EXERCISES

Exercise 1: Sit in a comfortable chair in a semi-darkened room. Mentally construct (i.e., visualize) before you a tube, open at both ends. One end of this tube fits over your eyes, and the other end extends indefinitely out into space. Imagine that this tube is hollow and that you can see through it perfectly. Turn this tube in the direction of the house of a friend of yours; mentally go into a room and see if you can discover in it anyone present,and if so, who they are and what they look like. Note what you see carefully… including clothing or colors, or anything that stands out for you. You will be able to verify the next day how far your vision is correct. And remember to be playfull with this exercise, the more playful and open minded you are, the less stress will interfere with your progress.

Exercise 2: Next, Construct the tube as before. At the other end of this tube, which you can imagine to be about one hundred yards long, you must endeavour to see clairvoyantly the face of a friend. Try to distinguish the features of their face, making them clearer and clearer. When you have done this, gradually pull it toward you by an effort of will, until it is only about two or three feet from you. It should then be perfectly clear and every feature distinguishable. When you have succeeded in visualizing this face so clearly that you see it as distinctly as you would as if that individual stood before you in life, your progress as a clairvoyant will have made great advances and you may then begin experiments in influencing this person at a distance, or sending messages back and forth while seeing his face before you, as explained. Use your power of WILL – so that he should do a certain thing, to think of you at a certain time or see your face float before him as he is busy with his daily activities. If you practice this persistently, you will ultimately achieve success, being able to communicate and influence persons without doubt.

While career setbacks are often unavoidable, they are not insurmountable or irreparable: with a good mix of planning, networking and optimism, you can find yourself a new position or find a way to circumvent obstacles to growth in your current role.

In order to regain your momentum (and earning potential), you will need to think strategically and assess your situation objectively. Below, we outline some things you should think about if you are currently facing employment problems, or just want to be prepared.

TIP 1: UNDERSTAND YOUR SKILLS
The first crucial step when planning a career change or pursuing new employment is to take stock of what you know and what weaknesses you have. For example, if you are a great analyst but a poor communicator, then look for a role where you can utilize your analytical skills but won’t have to give many presentations. At the same time, if you know your presentation and writing skills need work, start looking for opportunities to speak more. Informal meet-ups of peers and professional organization events are both great ways to build your speaking skills (and network).

We all have areas that we excel in and those that, despite training and experience, we still struggle with. Understanding both sides of your skill set lets you focus your efforts on roles where you will achieve the best results.

TIP 2: GET TALKING
Perhaps the most important and most poorly utilized asset any professional has is their network. When you are looking for a change or need new employment, it’s the people you know that will be your best source of insight and leads. If you think about your relationships – friends, family, and colleagues – and make the effort to touch base with them, you will be amazed how many new opportunities can appear. Of course, this assumes that you have remained in contact and have been a resource to them in the past (whether personal or professional).

Many times, our pride stops us from asking for an introduction or a recommendation, but the truth is that the people around you want to help you. Not only will it make them feel good to lend a hand, but its also good business: while you may be in need now; who can say when the positions may be reversed? By helping you out now, they strengthen their own network and create new possibilities for their own advancement. It’s a win-win situation.

TIP 3: BE AWARE
Even the most conservative industries experience change: maybe it’s a tool that streamlines processes and makes people redundant, or, a new initiative that brings specialized-skills into demand. Either way, there will be winners and losers from the changes.

The trick to being a winner is knowing what’s coming. Of course, you are not psychic and often company decisions are opaque; but you should always be looking for information about your industry, company, and clients:

1. Perhaps you’ve noticed that more and more customer service is being shipped offshore?
2. Perhaps a previously non-critical business division is suddenly a major revenue generator?
3. Perhaps one of your peers has been recruited by another firm due to skills and experience you also possess?
4. Perhaps a client is looking for additional services that your company provides, but no one has put together a clean proposal to capture the additional business?
These are just some of the scenarios that occur in every industry. If you are paying attention, you may be able to capitalize on any of them.
1. If off-shoring is occurring, look for the niches that are less transferable or start preparing for a job search.
2. If a division is getting mentioned more, see if you can work on a joint project that will gain you visibility or see if they could use your skill set.
3. If you have transferable skills and experience, then why not look at other industries. Getting outside your comfort zone can offer a huge benefit – especially, if your skills are in short supply in a younger industry (or an older one experiencing a shift).
4. Don’t assume someone else will make the pitch. Maybe you aren’t the one to close the deal, but if you put the idea in front of the client you can gain a new contact and pickup some recognition for ‘going beyond the call of duty’. Taking initiative is crucial to your success.

Your job might depend on a company, but your career is your responsibility. Hopefully, you will take some of the ideas discussed above and incorporate them into your career strategy. If you are in a dead-end job, then now is the time to take stock and find a way out. If you are currently looking for a job, then make sure you are searching efficiently and looking at the right opportunities.

Either way, you will need to keep your eyes on your skills, your voice in conversations, and your ear to the ground. Good luck.

By Guest Contributor

When eager to manifest new relationships (and this is always necessary at some point in our lives) we must be ready to accept change and respect newness. Whether in our personal world or our business world, we often feel the need to develop new relationships.

Attract new relationships
Instead of trying to find new people, develop the capacity to attract them. Having said that, necessary actions must be taken in order to open you to being in the right place at the right time. This could mean attending networking events or social and organizational events in your geographical area. It may mean that you simply pay attention to those people you chance to meet in your day-to-day affairs.

Open your heart center
By continually remembering to keep your heart center activated, you will begin to receive signs from those you are attracting. Your heart center has ‘psychic receptor sites’ so that you will know when you are meeting like-minded persons. This is not something new. You have always had the ability to receive the feeling of warmth, belongingness and satisfaction when you are with certain people. Follow through with your feelings and you will begin manifesting new relationships. Your body gives clues: you may feel comfortable, exhilarated, inspired, feelings of oneness as well as other feelings that have been activated between you and your potential new relationship.

Some relationships will be enduring and others will be for just a short time. When you pay close attention, even the new short-lived relationships will often bring you something you need in the way of information, inspiration, to fulfill karmic experiences or to have other types of experiences that your soul wants you to have.

Be the person you want to attract
In order to attract attractive people, you must be attractive. To attract powerful people, you must be powerful. To attract committed people, you must be committed. What you are becoming, you will attract, so it makes good sense to involve yourself in some personal development activities. Personal development activities can include many things but highly recommended is the ability and discipline to pray and/or meditate on a regular basis. Getting to know your soul – the highest aspect of yourself – brings to the fore all of your good and divine qualities. These qualities are the stuff that attracts new relationships with people who have good and divine qualities. When two persons meet and both have good and divine qualities, magic can happen – on a personal level, a business level or community level, for the greatest good of all.

What is your inner posture?
On a practical level, when meeting someone new, be aware of your inner posture as well as your outer posture. Your voice will reveal to the other person your level of respect, your interest in them by the way you listen to them and your level of oneness and acceptance of them just as they are today.

When in a networking situation and connecting with a person, focus on how you can help them. Make sure you are listening intently to them when you are face to face. Learn how to ask good questions. Before departing, get their e-mail address or other contact information. Electronic communication is less invasive and quicker than a phone call; however, phone calls are appropriate under many circumstances. Send them additional contacts, a website, a tip, a telephone number or anything that you connected with initially. Cast away any fears of actually connecting with that person again – the sooner the better.

Experiment. Write down on paper the qualities that you want in your new relationship – one relationship at a time. Look at that paper daily and visualize your new relationship walking toward you while you are feeling the feelings you want to feel in that relationship. Continue doing this daily until someone happens to show up in your life. At that time, you know you are manifesting new relationships – all by your own design and powers of attracting that which you seek.

By Guest Contributor

Many people especially those who have stressful jobs use various meditation techniques as a form of stress management. This is because meditation techniques are effective in relieving stress because it targets specific body parts that are easily affected by stress attacks.

Nowadays, meditation techniques can be classified as “concentrative” that involves the means of focusing into a specific object and the other can be termed as “expansive” that involves a person’s free flowing thoughts, observation, and reflection.

Stress buster meditation techniques

Being an ancient practice, experts say that meditation techniques can vary depending on the origin of the practice and the culture in that place. The use of these in stress management also depend on the personality of the person and where he or she comfortable with.

Today, it has evolves into so many forms and types. But, most people who use meditation techniques as a form or stress management use the most popular ones including the mantra meditation, the trataka or steady gaze, and / or the chakra meditation.

The mantra meditation refers to one those meditation techniques that involve production of sound or the combination of one or more sounds that are played in a very spontaneous manner. When the sounds are spontaneously played, it can greatly affect the metal process and psychic consciousness of the person practicing it.

The Trataka or Steady Gaze, on the other hand, is one of those meditation techniques that have been commonly practiced by majority of the religious systems in the world such as Sufism and Christianity. When translated literally, “trataka” means to “gaze steadily” into a specific object. In this meditation technique, the person meditating is asked to gaze steadily in a certain an object and focus his or her attention to it. Because of its effectivity in holding a person’s concentration for a long period of time, the “trataka” is considered as one of the most effective yet simple means of meditating.

Among the benefits of this meditation technique is that it helps in the improvement of the person’s external and internal optic function, alleviates visualization disabilities as well as poor eyesight, develops deep mental concentration, enhances the person’s ability in maintaining single point sight as well as developing a person’s sense of intuition.

Another meditation technique for stress management is the chakra meditation, which greatly helps in the manifestation of energy and mind control. It is also known to be very effective in developing a person’s deeper consciousness. For beginners, there are actually seven Chakras available to be tried on but the most popular among them is the “chakra anusandhana,” which can be self-tutored. This meditation technique helps awaken the chakra of a person in a very gentle and balanced way. It is also one of those meditation techniques that are easy to do. What you can do is to sit or lie and close the eyes.

Once you have done this, you can now adjust body as well as your clothing for proper breathing control. Once you get hold of it, you can let the chakra flow into you slowly. Although this is very effective, don’t overuse it because it can lead to various side effects including exhausted mental capability.

If you decide to do this as a form of stress management, always make sure that a professional to avoid creating imbalance that can lead to various personality disorders guides you.

By Guest Contributor

Have you ever been in a position where you wanted to help someone out so bad that you were frustrated because everything you have tried doesn’t work? Or the person doesn’t seem to hear what you’re saying? Often times we feel that there is something more that we either should have done, could be doing or didn’t do. We can find ourselves going around in circles in our thoughts and then punishing ourselves because we couldn’t come up with an answer.

I have to tell you that in my experience, the very fact that you care, you can pretty much trust that you have done all that you could. If you aren’t able to effect a change, please consider that maybe you weren’t meant to in this case. Or the person isn’t allowing you to help them. We all know someone that we have tried to help who can’t seem to hear what we are saying. Or they can’t see what’s right in front of them. Some people…don’t even want help.

I’ve found that we find comfort in our suffering. It’s safe and there are no surprises. I think that we have all felt that at one time or another. So what are the qualities of a good friend, wife, husband, leader or whatever role you are playing in someone’s life? Be and example. Be an inspiration. It’s not tough to do really. You just have to be, you. Without the ego getting involved. I believe that we are like a lighthouse in a way. We shine our lights out to sea and whoever is supposed to be drawn to that will come into our path. Some choose not to see it. Others cringe at how bright your light is. While others still, rush to suck up every bit of your power. But if you notice, Lighthouses don’t dim they’re lights because someone can’t handle it…or try to shine brighter because a certain boat isn’t paying attention.
It just shines. No matter what the weather is on the outside.

So really, all you have to do is shine without strain, without effort and without thinking about it too much wondering if there is something more you should be doing.
Again, the very fact that you have compassion towards a person and care about them enough to want to do something to help them sometimes is enough. They will pick up on that energy and if there is something more to be done then it will present itself.

That’s tough to do though because we want to be in control. We want to make sure that we are doing everything. We even want to control another’s experience. Isn’t that right? Check to see inside of you what you are really feeling when you are trying to help someone else out.

Most of us want three things:

• We Want Security
• We Want Approval and
• We want Control

Sometimes it’s just one of these, sometimes it’s a mixture of all three. If you are not happy with a situation the way that it is, don’t you want it to be different? Do you want to change the outcome? That is what wanting control feels like. That is an article for another day. Right now let’s focus again on being the best inspiration that you can be. When you are just being the soul light that you are you are setting an example. Whether you are aware of it or not, the other person will notice. You may not see that difference now, but trust me, you will plant a seed inside of that person and when they are meant to, they will come out of the fog that has been keeping them from seeing the truth.

In my opinion 5 qualities of a good leader are:

1. Sets an example and lives what he/she teaches
2. Gives permission to other people to just be themselves
3. Allows others to follow their path without tainting their experience
4. Sends their love and light without getting the ego involved
5. Encourages, not demands a shift in another’s perception

I know that this may not be the immediately answer that you were looking for but what makes an inspiring leader? One who lives what they are teaching; especially in business. Do you want someone as a boss who practices “do what I say and not what I do?” Be a light. Be an example. And through this way you will become everything that everyone needs from you. They will follow their path and you will follow yours.

By Guest Contributor

Everyone has some form of Psychic ability and can use this psychic awareness to improve their daily life and share their psychic gift by helping others. But How do you begin?

Step 1
Connect to Your Intention and Focus. Dr Wayne Dyer is a great inspiration to me. I love his book, “The Power of Intention”. Through intention, I created an affirmation that I suggest you write down on a 3 X 5 card and read upon rising in the morning and before going to sleep at night to imprint this goal into the unconscious part of your mind. The affirmation is “Every day, I am becoming more and more psychic”.

Step 2
You have to believe that you are Psychic and gifted with the ability. When I first began psychic reading, I wondered if I was making up the information for my clients. I thought that perhaps I had a wild imagination! Fear would creep in for me because I wanted to get it right. Internally I felt paralyzed when I shared the things I was seeing, hearing, feeling. I focused on accessing the quality of TRUST. I connected to the small quite voice within that said “Joanna, it’s okay, give the information and all will turn out well.” When I heard the other voice “You’re making it up. Don’t say it, you’ll look stupid!”

Step 3
PRACTISE! PRACTISE! PRACTISE! The way I overcame my fear was to keep psychic reading. After each reading, I received confirmation that the information was correct. The more I read, the more confident I became and so now over 1,000 psychic readings later, I still hear the voice of doubt inside however the voice of trust is more strongly developed inside me. I acknowledge the voice of doubt and I do not follow its instruction. Do not give up, the psychic pathway is a rich and rewarding experience!

Step 4
Open your heart and your mind to being a receiver. Visualize the top of your head as a “radio antennae” that can pick up psychic transmissions through the airwaves. Radio waves are invisible to the human eye yet we know they exist or how would we hear people and music on the radio? Let your senses pick up on the unseen energies that exist around you.

Step 5
Meditation! I do some form of meditation every day. You may like to try a guided meditation CD to help you focus. Many of my clients have told me that they find it hard to sit, be still and meditate, too many thoughts arise for them and they feel bad that they cannot be perfect at meditation. There is no such thing as a perfect meditation! You could try “Soul Abundance” my guided meditation CD. It takes you on a powerful inner journey through visualization that will definitely heighten your psychic senses!

By: Guest Contributor

Many people have the mistaken belief that some people are psychic and some people are not. Really, however, we all have some degree of psychic ability. The difference in those who we consider psychic and those we consider non psychic has much more to do with how willing to trust their intuition they are.

Many people feel that they have intuitive abilities and acknowledge this sometimes, perhaps through an incident of synchronicity, or unexplained coincidence. Using your intuition involves trusting the information you receive that way. It is, on a more comprehensive level, just knowing something and trusting it despite not knowing how you know.

Psychics may go for years will the inkling that they are a little bit psychic without knowing that they can develop that intuitive sense for the benefit of themselves and others. Those seemingly random psychic experiences are clues that we have these abilities. It is up to us to learn to trust them and learn not to block them.

My own first psychic experience happened when I was a young adolescent. I was terrified to stay home alone because of recent news about the kidnapping of a girl my age, but that summer while I was out of school, I had to stay home by myself while my parents worked.

One day I walked into the garage on my way to the mailbox, and as I shut the door behind me, I realized that I had left it locked and I was locked out of the house. It may not seem like a big deal, but I was terrified. I jiggled the doorknob, tried to turn it, but it was hopeless. I was locked out, and I would have to wait in the garage or outside until one of my parents came home.

Then, something told me to try the door again. Yeah, right, I thought. But I did it, and the door was unlocked. It could only have come from a plane other than the physical world in which we live.

The chakras of the body are energy centers that allow us to process information from the physical and spiritual world around us. The ability to feel energy, or clairsentience, belongs to the second chakra, just below the navel. Have you ever had a gut feeling that something was wrong? You were processing that information through the second chakra, and it is valuable information.

The fifth chakra is located at the base of the throat, and it is the ability to hear information. This inner dialog is how we receive and process clairaudient information. This is the sense that told me to try to open the door one more time that day.

Processing information through the seventh chakra is when you just know something. This chakra is located on top of the head. Have you, or someone close to you ever just blurted out something from nowhere that happened to be very insightful? It probably reached him or her through the seventh chakra.

The key to developing our psychic abilities is to learn to trust the knowledge that we don’t know how we acquired. It is a collection of experiences that builds over time and can’t really be forced. We all have psychic abilities to some extent, and we all have the ability to make the best use of our psychic abilities if we will practice and learn.

By: Guest Contributor

Your boss just came into the office and you know that the first person that she will talk to is your close friend. You are listening to music over the radio and your younger brother tells you he knows the title of the song that will be played next. Sometimes, we experience strange things around us that look as if it came out of nowhere and yet we seem to know what is going to happen for sure. Are these parts of what is called psychic phenomena or just plain coincidences?

What exactly is a psychic phenomenon?
Every individual is believed to have innate psychic abilities that are waiting to be discovered. Since this power of the mind seems hidden from consciousness, people are not really aware of it and find it strange when they are able to do extraordinary things. Psychic phenomena are identified as the products of our psychic abilities that may be unseen but are still apparent in our everyday lives.

Psychic phenomena can be more clearly defined under the domain of parapsychology or the contentious science that investigates telepathy, psychic readings and spirits. Parapsychologists involve themselves with studying two types of phenomena. One is called ESP or Extra Sensory Perception and the other one is termed Psycho Kinesis or PK. Altogether, these phenomena are called Psi. ESP is said to be apparent in three areas: telepathy, clairvoyance and precognition. Mental telepathy, as it is more popularly known, entails a mind to mind interaction that allows a person to read or get into another person’s psyche. Meanwhile, clairvoyance is the ability to make mind to object interactions as is noticeable when a person touches certain objects and be able to connect with the events related to it. Lastly, precognition entails a mind to future interface, allowing a person some accuracy to predict what is about to take place.

On the other hand, PK implies a type of mind control over objects or things. By mere concentration on an inanimate object, a person is able to move things in any way they want. PK can have a macro or a micro influence on objects so that bending a piece of iron is macro PK while micro PK describes movements that cannot be seen by the naked eye.

Knowing that psychic phenomena are actually results of the influences of mind discredits other phenomena believed to be brought about by mischievous spirits. For instance, parapsychologists believe that for a person believed to be under possession and able to do different things from lifting the bed to breaking down the power supply is actually the unconscious human power of PK or in this instance RSPK (Recurrent Spontaneous Psycho Kinesis). Moreover, those who appear to be able to talk to the dead through a medium may be similar to the telepathic abilities in psychic phenomena.

For those who believe in the potential that the human mind possess, then psychic phenomena is a source of power beyond any limitation. Therefore, the next time you get to read what happens next, don’t fret because it is your mind displaying its precognitive capabilities.

By: Guest Contributor

For a fair number of people who are incredibly attuned to their inner self, their next stage of “evolution” is trying to speed up their psychic development. Naturally, psychic abilities differ from one person to the other. Some people have the power of: auric sight (power to see other people’s aura,) clairaudience (clear hearing,) clairempathy (clear emotion,) clairvoyance (clear vision,) intuition (perception of information with no portals,) mental influence (a form of telepathy that can be used to sway others,) psychic healing (ability to cure ills using psychic healing,) psychokinesis (power to move objects using the mind,) psychometry (perception of information via an object,) and telepathy (mind communication.) If you think that you have one or more of these special talents psychic development is essential in honing up your powers to a certain degree. But exactly how do you do this? Here are some tips.

1. Read more, learn more, and understand more. It is never enough that you know that you have special abilities. Like everyone else, there should be new knowledge coming in so that the person achieves a well rounded insight about what he or she has. Think of this like a form of education. What you may have learned five years ago, may no longer be applicable by today. Keeping an open mind to other possibilities is also important, but this should be balanced out with keeping a critical eye out for inconsistencies as well. The learning process of most psychics revolve more on self discovery; therefore, not everything you come across with, either in literature or through other psychics may apply to you. The more you know about your special abilities, the better you can harness your strengths and overcome your weakness.

2. Meditate. The mind is the most powerful instrument that any psychic can possess. Unfortunately, the very sad truth is: many people who have these abilities never tap into their full potentials, simply because they think meditation is a useless practice. On the contrary, the art of meditation has been used by the greatest minds since time immemorial. Meditation helps clear the mental clutter that may be holding the psychic back. At the same time, this form of discipline is essential when it comes to training the person to channel his or her energy into one focal point; which in turn, accentuates the inherent power of the psychic gift. Meditate, even for as little as 15 minutes at a time each day, and your psychic development will benefit greatly.

3. Remove your fears. This is one of the biggest steps to psychic re discovery. Most people with inherent mental abilities are afraid to explore and use their powers, for one reason or the other. It is easy to say that you think you have advance mental prowess; but when it comes to actually using it for the benefit of others is an altogether different topic. In order to know just how far you can go, you need to open your third eye more, and re discover what you can and what you cannot do. You have to remember that fear is a very strong restraint to your psychic abilities. So getting rid of it can be difficult, but not at all impossible.