haha, gacked off MindBodyGreen

10 Things You Should Never Apologize For

By Andrea Speir

Sometimes it's good to apologize, but sometimes it's not...Here are ten things you should never apologize for:

1. Laughing from your core.

It seems to me that somehow, through life and social upbringing, we are taught not to laugh loud and hard like we did as kids. I have to say, how great does it feel when someone catches you off guard with something truly hilarious and you release that loud, from the gut laugh. It is such a rush of adrenaline to release such a raw, powerful and joyful emotion. Life is too short to be scared to laugh.

2. Loving someone with everything you’ve got.

The very first time you had a crush on someone, and they didn’t like you back, you got stung. They didn’t ask you to dance at the junior high dance. Your high school sweetheart moved away to college and you did as well. These moments all build on each other, each making the next venture in love more careful and well thought out. This can be a good thing. We learn to love wisely and for the right reasons in an attempt to avoid pain.  

The risk is we also build walls that shield us from great moments and people, loves and adventures. If we continue to view relationships as either risky or safe, how will we know if we missed out on letting our heart guide us?  

Love must be a risk, and we must never apologize to ourselves, our lovers, our family, or our friends for past trauma or emotions. Embrace them and move forward. Move into love.

3. Making time to read a book.

Literature is the one way we communicate with the past and present. We tell each other stories about our lives and the world. We give each other ways of escaping into different realities. Don’t feel like you should be doing something else or that you’re wasting time.

4. Looking at the moon and commenting on the shape and size.

You know you do it. The moon is completely majestic and amazing. It embodies wonder and beauty. We cannot fully comprehend it, and yet we can relish in the light it shines in the dark on everyone, everywhere.  

Stopping to “ooh and ahh” at a little crescent or a full, yellow moon is a moment of literally stopping to smell the roses. You are stopping to acknowledge beauty that is beyond yourself. 

5. Telling someone the truth, even when it would be easier not to.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I think we all agree there are moments when not saying the truth of what is on your mind is the kinder choice. However, there is no need to feel guilty or apologetic for expressing what you truly and honestly believe. That takes courage and strength.

Be the kind of friend you would want to have.

6. Never speaking to an ex again.

It didn’t work out, and that is rough.  

No matter how good of a friend they were to you, your mind has an emotional weight on it when it comes to this person. If being friends is completely fine, I’m not saying cut someone out. However, there should be pressure for you to feel like their emotional well-being is your responsibility or keeping them in your life will be easier for your well-being.  

7. Asking questions.

Not knowing is one thing. Having the courage to say “I don’t understand” is another.

8. Trying something new.

Maybe you tried paddleboarding for the first time on your family vacation, cooking a new recipe, or took a zumba class and it wasn’t your thing.  Oh well! You tried it. The little decisions like that are what build up a courage in our everyday lives.

9. Watching the sparkles on the ocean.

In my opinion, there are few things more beautiful than the little sparkles on the tip of the ocean waves. Anytime you are around a natural beauty, stop and stare. Don’t feel bad for not talking, not looking at your phone or thinking about work. If something is beautiful, allow it to make you feel something, even if you don’t know what that something is.

10. Spoiling yourself on your birthday.

Why not? It’s your birthday! The one day a year you have to stop and think about you.  That’s not vain, no apologies for caring about yourself. Make it a tradition of celebrating yourself every year. Even if it’s as simple as buying yourself a cupcake or taking the time to go on a walk, reading a book in a park, or stopping for that tasty, chocolaty latte you crave. Love starts from within. If other people are allowed to celebrate you, it should start with you thanking yourself for being you.

Published August 30, 2012 at 11:44 AM

About Andrea Speir

Andrea Speir is a Los Angeles based Pilates instructor. She enjoys kicking butt in her Pilates studio, drinking lattes at least twice daily, and writing as a creative way to express herself and connect with others. Connect with her at:

Facebook: facebook.com/andreaspeirpilates.com

Websites: andreaspeirpilates.com and pilatesstyle.com/category/pilates-blog/andrea-speir

Tags: forgiveness, happiness, love, mindfulness, personal growth, relationships, wellness

thoughts from last night's last-minute reading

10 Suggestions for Raising Your Magnetic Resonance to Stay Aligned with Your Soul and Spirit in 2012 and Beyond:

1. Focus on your heart. The energy of your heart is 5,000 times more powerful than that of your other organs, including your brain. A strong awareness of your heart, of giving, of charity, of compassion, of empathy, will raise your magnetic resonance and guide you to the right people and places to be safe in 2012 and beyond.
2. Meditate. Focus on your spiritual eye in the center of your forehead, become aware of your breathing and inwardly chant Om. This activity will align you with your soul and Spirit and raise your personal magnetic resonance so all of your needs are fulfilled.
3. Think positive thoughts. Positive thinking raises your magnetic resonance and attracts you to – and to you – the positive outcome to which you devote your energy.
4. Visualize what you want to create – and you will electromagnetically attract the object of your visualization.
5. Pray. Your prayers for yourself and others raise your magnetic resonance and increase the magnetic field of the person you are praying for – and the planet as a whole.
6. Affirm. Affirm in your mind repeatedly throughout the day the positive reality you envision for yourself and others.
7. Give as much as you can. Charity opens the way for more abundance to come to you.
8. Practice gratitude. Gratitude opens the way for more of the quality you are thankful for to come to you.
9. Raise your magnetic resonance through physical methods – get plenty of sunshine, clean water, fresh fruits and vegetables, and feel the beneficial effects of negative ions (positive energy) from moving water, rivers, oceans, waterfalls, or even rain – God’s way of cleaning the earth to bring positive energy.
10. Simplify. Lower your expectations, especially the unrealistic ones. Focus on what is important. Let go of the rest.

Know that everything will be okay. No matter what happens, nothing will happen that you can’t handle, and nothing that isn’t supposed to come into your life can come if you live in alignment with your soul and Spirit. 

Please note this list isn't mine, but it sure did confirm a whole lot of things I've babbled about last night to a new fun Aquarian client, & what I've been babbling about the whole time to other people, even before the whole The Secret hoopla.

& yes, finally, I'm back. I'm sorry to be gone for so long. But a whole lot of things happened to me again (only this time much, much crazier) & it was fun, actually, sure, while I was partially taking a break, especially during my 10th Tarot anniversary. Happy Tarot Decade to me. Ugh.

What gets to me the most, though, is how things are becoming more exciting for me & my brother & my best friend + bodyguard, haha, especially spirituality-wise. Today marks the onset of my & my brother's Mars return (yes, in Scorpio), & my best friend's currently enjoying her Venus return (in Cancer). We hope that starting this coming weekend, especially just in time for my brother's actual Solar return this season (our respective birthdays happen next month), we could all just bond further via music & good food & esoterica, hehe. I can't believe my brother's finally becoming more of his Pisces Rising self. I think it's good, but I need to look after him more sharply, especially with Neptune possibly obscuring things for him. We already just both confirmed my role in his life, & today's discussion has been the best talk we've had in years. ♥ I love it. I love my brother very much. & I'm glad he finally understands all my intentions for the both of us + the world. I really hope that in the next 14 years or so, he'll express his full potential & carry on with his own grand mission. He's so much to share in this world, & I'm personally very proud of him. Creepy how today's talk is influenced with the Moon in the same sign, for now. & how I've been spending a whole lot of time with Aquarian Suns & Moons; as well as Piscean Suns, Moons, & Risings. WHAT THE. No thanks again to my Aquarius Rising & Cancer Moon & Scorpio Venus + Mars. 

After all my personal pain (part of all that excitement I had to go through in the last couple of months... actually, no, ever since this damned year started), I'm now ready to begin anew. I'm very thankful of all the other people in my life this year, & all them new experiences & acquisitions, & I feel very blessed, as always, even if I still know I can do so much better. Saturn in Libra's influence's damn exhausting, but thank God for Jupiter in Gemini making things much much easier to bear these days. I still pray for everybody else suffering & mourning in this world, especially with the recent tragedies my country had to face this quarter. Proceeds of my readings still go to charity, & I hope to finally haul out a lot of other things from this house that could find better use elsewhere this weekend. I'm finally letting go, & letting my inner Venus out (in Scorpio; who's been trying so desperately to come out ever since Venus was in Gemini, only to be slightly blighted by Mars in my sign Libra these past few days). Fine. SIGH.

Speaking of readings, I will be available for another Tarot readathon along the Makati CBD on Monday, 1pm-4pm. Please leave a comment in this post for an appointment with your preferred contact details & birthdays if you're interested, & please confirm at least a day before your schedule. Please also RELAX before seeing me, like I always say, & keep an open mind.

Now for those interested with my Tarot workshops, please note that my rates have changed, & I'll have to screen my new students-to-be before my next class starts. There are limited slots (only up to 10 per run), please take note. If all goes well, I could have it right within the Blue Moon weekend at the end of this month, or on September 1st (yay, my Mercury return starts by then!) Again, leave a comment in this post with your preferred contact details (& birthdays, please!) if you wish to proceed.

I'll update more later. I have to run & do more readings in person today, & I'll have to finish early to give myself more time to recharge. All these late nights + alcohol lately are taking their toll now, so I'm detoxing as much as I can. Time to focus on home improvement, yoga (yeah, I know, can't believe my last class was in 2008), more writing, & more divination, too. Just in time for the Sun in Virgo. Le sigh. Thank you so much, Scorpio Mars, for the boost. Don't forget to Like my humble Page for free quick online Tarot readings once I get 400 followers before the end of the month, as well as a free 2013 astrological guidebook duo to give away, along with a whole buncha fun stuff to raffle off! Toodles! :* 

The 21 Signs of Spiritual Awakening

I've been noticing how in 2009 I've been forced to think about my spiritual life like crazy, & Life has changed greatly since then. There's still a part of me resisting it, saying I can manage my life as humanly possible as everyone else, but I've realized (again) this month, no thanks to the last Full Moon + Lunar Eclipse in Sagittarius, that I'm different now & I can't just take my life for granted anymore. Not ever. It's perplexing & disheartening & yet exciting at the same time, but I guess I've to live with it. I'm not really enjoying this phase, though, especially while Saturn's being so harsh in my sign.

& then I found this list. I can't remember exactly where, & I've been very sick ever since, & now it all makes sense. If you're feeling hypersensitive like me, & you get weird symptoms, then this could be it. But please get actual medical assistance whenever you can first, especially when you're having emotional highs & lows all the time, & feeling intensely drained physically:

 1. Changing sleep patterns: restlessness, hot feet, waking up two or three times a night.

2. Sudden waves of emotion. Crying at the drop of a hat. Feeling suddenly angry or sad with little provocation. Or inexplicably *depressed - then very happy! An emotional rollercoaster.

3. Altered eating habits, * food intolerance, allergies you never had before. Unusual food cravings.

4. Amplification of the senses - Sight: *Blurry vision, seeing shimmering objects, glittery particles, auras around people, plants, animals, and objects. You may also see geometric shapes or brilliant colors and pictures when eyes are closed.

5. Amplification of the senses - Hearing: Your ears are adjusting to new frequencies. *You may hear ringing, roaring or buzzing noises.

6. Amplification of the senses - Smell, touch, and/or taste. Food may taste better, worse or just different. You may notice smells or fragrances that others are not aware of.

7. A range of *physical manifestations: Headaches, backaches, neck pains, flu-like symptoms (this is called vibrational flu), digestive problems, muscular spasms or cramps.

8. Vivid dreams. Many dreams may be mystical or carry messages for you.

9. A desire to break free from restrictive patterns, life-draining jobs, and toxic people or situations. You want to be creative and free to be who you really are.

10. Creativity bursts: Receiving images, ideas, music, and other creative inspirations at an often overwhelming rate.

11. A perception that time is accelerating.

12. A deep yearning for meaning, purpose, spiritual connection, and revelation. Perhaps an interest in the spiritual for the first time in your life.

13. A feeling that you are somehow different, with new skills and gifts emerging, especially healing ones.

14. “Teachers” appear seemingly everywhere with perfect timing to help you on your spiritual journey.

15. Seeing things that have spiritual importance for you. Noticing how numbers appear with synchronicity. Seeing the message in everything that happens.

16. Increased integrity: You realize that it is time for you to seek and speak your truth.

17. Harmony with seasons and cycles: You are becoming more tuned to the seasons, the phases of the moon and natural cycles.

18. You are drawn to studying and working with crystals.

19. Increased intuitive abilities and altered states of consciousness: Thinking of someone and immediately hearing from them. Intensified sensitivity and knowing. Channeling Angelic energies.

20. Communication with Spirit. Contact with Angels, spirit guides, and other divine entities.

21. Living your purpose: You know you are finally doing what you came to earth for.

& this was just right after I had to question myself again, whether I'm on the right track, & I'd be able to do this for the rest of my life. & so it seems at this point.

With that said, I should devote more time & energy to self-care, even if I'm getting really sick of it. I've been indulging in copious amounts of Amaretto Sours & dark beer again, though, no thanks to all this crazy Watery energy from Mercury (in Cancer) & Neptune (in Pisces). I can't wait for the next weekend to go drinking with my Cancerian best friend again & wax philosophical with her, just before the Uranus-Pluto square. Ugh.

Now these tips look very relevant all the more this year, not just because of that upcoming planetary face-off:

• If overwhelmed and lost, begin by letting go of 'what's no longer you.'
• Don't allow social media or celebrity fixations to dilute your identity -- self-containment can be powerful now.
• Seek out those that are vibing on the new.
• Honor your individuality, including ancestral roots, sense of place, personal story.

Especially timely during a Venus-Chiron square this weekend (both are in retrograde, btw, oh, God). The Universe is devastatingly annoying lately, despite it giving me a few good breaks (albeit very much by my lonesome most of the time). But like what I've re-realized earlier this week, only when we get to really acknowledge our mortality will we be able to fully tap into our Higher Self. I just wish I could integrate the 2 more smoothly now.

Anyway, I'll be available (& objectively sane) for face-to-face readings again in the Makati CBD next week, Wednesday, June 20th, 3pm-7pm. Feel free to email me at sp.lovecraft [at] gmail [dot] com for an appointment, & please confirm a day or at least a few hours before in advance.