Author: Jodi Sky Rogers

Jodi Sky Rogers is an author, content creator, coach and founder of Fertility Books South Africa, an online bookstore (now archived) that catered specifically for women who are trying to conceive. She is passionate about nature writing and specialized in creating soulful fertility, mindfulness and self-care resources that support women on their fertility journey. She has authored several fertility-focused books, including ‘Fertility Calm for the Two Week Wait ’, the ‘Fertility Calm Creative Journal’ and ‘Mending Softly – Finding Hope and Healing After Ectopic Pregnancy Loss’. Her book, Mending Softly, won ‘Best Fertility Book’ in the European Fertility Society’s 2021 Fertility Care Awards. Earlier works include women's spirituality books, Wild Essence and Flowering Within.

Choosing Peace in the Moment

I love mornings. But today wasn’t one of my best ones. This morning, I found myself frustrated. I’d woken up in a good mood, meditated for a little while and was set for a good day. However, the moment I ran through my list of things to do, I immediately became annoyed by a few tasks that had stagnated – things that still need fixing, documents I’m waiting on from my bank, a book order that the distributor lost and now has to reorder, a meeting that was cancelled and needs to be rescheduled…and, and, and…Fixated on everything that was stuck, I allowed myself to feel stuck and to become frustrated at the lack of progress.

Recognising that if I continued on this path, I would only continue to find reasons to be frustrated decided to change course. I made a cup of tea as I huffed and puffed, grabbed a random book from my shelf and went to sit – bum flat on the grass – in my garden, to meditate and read a few pages to centre myself.

As soon as I sat on the ground in easy pose, I felt the calming energy of the Mother Nature flow into me. I closed my eyes, focused on my breathing, grounded myself and just felt the cool morning breeze brush against my skin. Nature is my best friend in moments like these. In less than a minute I felt completely connected and in the flow of the Universe.

I smiled to myself when I realised that the book I’d unconsciously grabbed was The Dance by Oriah Mountain Dreamer. A few months ago, when I needed some inspiration, I’d felt drawn to Oriah’s books as well. It was exactly what I needed at the time. I should say that I don’t place my books in exactly the same place every time I’m done with them. I read them and leave them in different spots in the house depending on where I feel like reading, or end up stacking in the nearest basket or shelf when I’m tidying up. Grabbing a book when I need some soul therapy or spirit inspiration is often a spontaneous lucky dip. It’s my messy way of letting Spirit in.

So I asked Divine Spirit to guide me to the right page as I open the book, I was sure it would be exactly what I needed yet again. With that I randomly opened the book to this page:

The words stuck a note on the strings of my heart. I had a choice to be completely at peace with the present status of things without being frustrated by them. In giving up my resistance, releasing my dissatisfaction and accepting all as it is I could allow myself to embrace the present. In this chapter of the book, Oriah mentions that often we fear that making peace with an unsatisfactory situation and accepting it in the moment means that we are giving up on it every changing for the better. We may therefore associate our choice to dwell on feelings of frustration and agonising over things that are not going right with some sort of progress.

“When believe that we are by our very nature deeply flawed – self-indulgent, selfish, judgemental, sinful – our efforts to fulfil our soul’s longing to live fully become efforts to control, chatise, reshape, improve, and change ourselves.” ~ Oriah Mountain Dreamer

I realize that this is exactly what I do when I busy myself. My egoic-mind automatically translates any glitch in the road as being partly due to me ‘not being enough’ and not doing enough. So I make myself miserable trying to do more or work harder. I lose myself in doing unproductive activities that don’t yield better results or opportunities. Instead, they just consume my time and add to my frustration. But when I make peace with what is in the present moment and most of all, when I make peace with myself, then things seem to fall into place, flow and progress so much better, easier and faster.

“If you surrender completely to the moments as they pass, you live more richly those moments.” ~ Anne Morrow Lindbergh

Then having gained some perspective, it was easy to be a peace with the breath that I inhale in the moment. It was easy to be at peace with the calls of the Grey Louries and Weavers in the trees overhead. It was easy be at peace with the bright blue winter sky and the warm morning sun. I was effortlessly at peace with my new feathered-friend, a Robin, who has been visiting me every day. More able to stay in the moment, the remnants of my frustration melted away. I had now accepted my day was it was and ready move on with what needs to be done.

So inspire by my insight today, I invite you to explore these questions that Oriah asked in her book:

“Are you willing to be completely at peace with how things are right now in your life? Are you willing for just one moment to let go of all your dissatisfaction, of all your suffering about how things are? Are you willing to let go of all the worry and tension in your body and simply breathe?”

Fireflies & Dreams: How to Keep Them Alive

Note: I loved seeing fireflies on warm summer evenings near the creek outside my university residence in Grahamstown, South Africa. They ethereal appeal filled the air with a sense of mystery that captures the essence of the illusive nature of our treasured dreams. I hope that you enjoy this post. ❤ Jodi Sky Rogers

Fireflies & Dreams: How to Keep Them Alive

Keeping your dreams alive is a lot like releasing captive fireflies from a jar…

Fireflies blink and glow at night. Just like your dreams, their flicker of light in the darkness inspires a sense of hope and excitement. Your dreams are like treasures, gifts to the Universe that only you can fulfil with your perfect balance of capabilities, desires, weaknesses and strengths. All that’s required of you is your willingness to fulfil them and to go along for the ride.

Do you hold your treasured dreams close to your heart? I know I do. They are whispers from our very essence.

Sometimes we feel the need to protect them. So we catch our flickering firefly-like dreams in jars. Here, we feel that they are safe and we can admire their glow from the comfort of our inner world, sheltered from the cutting blade of dream slayers, the critics and the naysayers. At times we bury them deep, so deep that we even hide them from ourselves to spare them the wrath of our doubtful minds and negative voices. We fear of failing to make these dreams come true.

Pic via Pinterest

Fireflies don’t survive long in captivity. They may be okay and light up in your jar for a day or two, but longer than that they don’t stand a chance. Your dreams don’t survive long in a captive heart either. They were not meant to exist that way. When stuffed away for too long, they die, locking us into a life time of grief as we mourn the things that could have been. They thrive in their natural habitat out in the world– this is the best place to admire their warm glow from.

‘Release your fireflies into their natural habitat in the evening, and enjoy watching them blink their way across the night sky.’ ~ eHow.com

To keep our firefly-like dreams alive, we need to be brave Soul Warriors as we release them into the wild to allow them to flourish and transform into something beautiful.

Pic via Pinterest

You need to give birth to your ideas, visions and inspirations. You need to bring them out for air, allowing them to breathe and take form in the physical world. By giving these dreams permission to exist, you can slowly take the steps to make them manifest in your life. Connected to your heart-space you need flow with your soul’s desires and recognise each next step to take as it is reveal at exactly the right time. You need step forward with faith, trust and the confidence that all will unfold exactly as it should – because your dreams where meant to be.

There will always be dream slayers, detours and stumbling blocks. But with hope and courage in your little Soul Warrior heart, these minor glitches have nothing on the true magnitude and magnificence of your dreams. Besides – the moment you stand in an open field under the starlight and moon stamped sky of night, soft grass under your feet and the cool evening breeze against your skin, watching the magical dance of firefly dreams being released from captivity as they drift towards destiny – you will know that there is nothing more beautiful.

That is what I found when I finally took my leap into the unknown in the name of my dreams.

You may feel vulnerable with your heart wide open and your emotions raw, but your mind will ease as your awareness expands and you revel in the excitement of possibilities that suddenly open up to you. And you will also find that standing next to you are your tribe – the fellow believers who are there to cheer you on, who believe in you and have so much faith in your ability to manifest the vision in your heart. They too are standing out in the open afraid to set their firefly dreams free, but doing so in spite of the fear. There are those too, who will be inspired by your courage and determination. They can’t help but stare in awe and come alive with hope as you light the path for them to follow.

“You would not believe your eyes,
If ten million fireflies
Lit up the world as I fell asleep
‘Cause they’d fill the open air
And leave tear drops everywhere
You’d think me rude
But I would just stand and stare”

~ Owlcity, Fireflies (Lyrics)

So dear heart, Soul Warrior and members of my spirit tribe – How can you keep your dreams alive? What can you do to release them from captivity?

Take one step today. Then be open to the miracles that follow.

Pic via Pinterest

More Firefly Inspiration….

Music Inspiration – Owlcity’s song ‘Fireflies’ is one of my favourite. It’s such a beautiful song and always reminds me of by late cousin, Stephanie, who passed away 3 years ago at the age of 16 because she loved the song too. Give it a listen on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psuRGfAaju4

Symbolic Significance of Fireflies – Fireflies are considered as a symbol of hope, inspiration, illumination and creativity, among other things.

“Fireflies teach us the value of living simply, and relying on our own inner voices for illumination. Fireflies also come to us with a message of creativity, and remind us that our paths are made lighter by the beauty that we allow into our lives.” Source: http://www.whats-your-sign.com/symbolic-meaning-of-the-firefly.html

Lessons from my MRI: 6 Tips to Help You Stay Centred During an Uncomfortable Experience

The dreaded moment had arrived. For over a week, I’d avoided thinking about it. I didn’t want feed any feelings of anxiety. Here I was, lying on my back, my body slowly being transferred into a big machine. I was halfway in when sudden panic set in. I knew that I was entering into a confined space, but I had not anticipated just how narrow and confined that space actually was. For a moment, I considered squeezing the little device in my hand to notify the nurses of my emotional discomfort so that they could take me out. Instead, I kept my big girl panties on and decided to take a few deep breathes.

I am the hole on the flute that Gods breath flows through. ~ Eckhart Tolle

I’m sure that many people who have been for an MRI would agree that it’s no fun. It can be a nerve wracking experience. I’m not exactly claustrophobic, but being inside a tight warm space with all its banging and loud sounds while the scans were under way for close to an hour definitely required a concerted effort to remain composed.

However, as soon as I focused on breathing, a sense of calm washed over me. As I breathed, I reminded myself not to resist the situation, but to accept it. For a few months now, my hormones have been out of sync. I’d been for a series of tests and needed to have the MRI to see if there was a growth or tumour that could be the cause of this. Fortunately my situation is not life threatening. It has awakened me to the underlying patterns and shadows I still need to work on healing. I’ve witnessed Divine Spirit intervene every step of the way, guiding me to the right information, health practitioners and an amazing spiritual healer at the right time. So by reminding myself of this, I knew that I was protected, safe and exactly where I was meant to be.

To talk myself out of fear, I recalled some of the lessons that I’ve learnt from A Course in Miracles – that love did not create this, fear did and that I could choose to see my situation differently through the eyes of love. When I released my anxiety, surrendering to what was, I felt my angelic guides with me. Soon enough, it was all over. I am grateful that I could apply these spiritual tools to help me through the process.

Place your faith and trust in the essence of love rather than give power to the fear, anxiety and negativity associated with your perceived challenges.

A Course in Miracles describes miracles as a shift in one’s perception from fear to the awareness of love. Making this shift almost always requires the choice to place your faith and trust in the essence of love rather than give power to the fear, anxiety and negativity associated with your perceived challenges. My recent experiences have reminded me that our tough moments are when we need to apply this understanding the most. We also need to find ways of remaining open to the soul lessons and blessings that accompany the difficulty we go through.

That said, here are a few tips from my lessons of dealing with an MRI. Some of these tips can also be applied in other situations as well:

The Power of Healing Energy – The love and light of healing energy has a powerful effect in every situation. Since Distance Reiki can transcend the barriers of time and space, I sent Reiki energy to myself in advance so that I would receive it during the MRI. I feel that the calm that descended upon me when I began to focus on my breathing was partly due to the Reiki energy coming through at that point.
Acceptance – Often most of our stress comes from resisting the situation that we are facing. We may not like it or want to be where we are, but accepting our reality is the first step to moving out of the situation. Make peace with what is. This relieves some of the anxiety and frees up your energy to focus on your healing.
Breathe – When we are stressed or anxious we restrict our breathing. Taking deep breaths fills your lungs and gets more oxygen to the brain. This helps the body to relax and be at ease.
Make use of Remote Sensing – If you struggle with confined spaces then put your imagination to use and expand your senses. During the MRI, I visualised the room outside me where I could see my husband sitting and waiting for me. I visualised the hospital, the area and the parks outside of the hospital. I could also see the sky above me and my favourite nature spots around the city. This way, I didn’t feel so trapped.
Call on your guides – The angels and your spirit guides are there to help you through all kinds of situations. Call on them for help. Ask the angels for extra support. Archangel Raphael and Michael are great companions during medical situations when you feel you need healing and protection.
Use Positive Affirmations – Maintaining a positive outlook and optimism is an important part of healing. Don’t give power to negative thoughts of fear, anger, blame or guilt. Instead, draw on your mental and emotional resources to foster positivity to assist you with your recovered.