“Only if we understand can we care. Only if we care will we help. Only if we help shall they be saved.”   ~ Jane Goodall

If you are looking for inspiration, miracles and feel good experiences, including bliss, then you have to look no further than the events in Haiti. Have you noticed that 9/11, Katrina, the tsunami and the earthquakes of Haiti have succeeded in uniting us as a country and as a world community in ways that no other force has been able to achieve.  In simple terms, events that take our breath away, inspire each of us to make the choice for love which, in turn, leads to our experiencing an extraordinary sense of well-being and bliss.

Just think for a moment about recent weeks in which you have been traumatized, inspired, transformed and even able to experience your own healing as you stayed glued to your television, watching both the horror of the destruction of almost an entire nation, as well as the attempts to rescue those caught in the rubble of the destroyed homes and buildings. The turn of the clock and the shaking of the earth have forever changed the poorest country in the northern hemisphere, while, at the same time, deeply touching the heartstrings of the rest of us.

Have you wondered why it is that we are moved to choose to respond with love? The answer rests in part with Albert Einstein and his quantum physicist colleagues. Einstein believed that since everything is energy (and all energy vibrates), and love is among the highest of energies, we honestly are thy brother’s keeper. In other words, given that we can energetically merge with one another (because we are pure energy), the only way to treat one another is with compassion, love and kindness. Catastrophic events such as the colossal destruction in Haiti quickly remind us that we are a brotherhood, that we are in this together, and, therefore, we have a responsibility to care compassionately and lovingly for one another. That is what brothers, sisters and families do, isn’t it?

After all, there is an old saying that goes something like this: “ If not for the Grace of God, that could be me.” Haiti reminds us that we, too, could be in a similar situation. Mother Nature does not always give us advance warning. We identify with the pain of these people; we know it could be us in need of help at some point in the future. And, yes, as Einstein believed, we are thy brother’s keeper.

The fascinating paradox about a catastrophic event is that as horrible as it is, it provides opportunities for people everywhere to rise to an inspirational level of being the best they can be. As we choose to follow our hearts, do what feels right and behave lovingly, we create miracles and miracles feel good and blissful! (To be continued…)

Susan Barbara Apollon

Author of “Touched By The Extraordinary”
& Intuition Is Easy & Fun

©2010 Susan Barbara Apollon

Life being what it is, you will at some point begin to notice that you may not be feeling as excited about your New Year’s resolutions and intentions as you initially were. Life happens. You will notice that your attention may feel as though it is disconnecting from your intention. Be prepared to anticipate such moments. This is where it helps to practice your ABC’s, something I created many years ago to help my patients heal themselves.

First, do A. Be aware of how you are feeling and what you are thinking! It is time to question Mind before it really does a job on you. Mind is what it is. Our job is, when we are not feeling good at our heart level, to question it!  Ask yourself, “How am I feeling and what am I thinking?” Given that you will probably be in a beat-yourself-up mode, due to being pulled away by the events of life, your thoughts may be, I can’t do this. I am failing at my resolutions. I don’t do anything right!”

Then, do B, once again.  Breathe! And as you breathe deeply, intentionally quiet yourself with each breath and go within. Once there, ask yourself: “How do I know that’s not so?” (I made it rhyme for young and old!) Now, in your stillness, ask your intuitive, meditative self for three proofs from your life experience when you were challenged and you thought you could not do something difficult, but you proved to yourself you could!

With your proofs in hand, do C which is choose another feel good image, picture or thought you can play or say to yourself that reconnects you with your intention. For example, “Of course, if I could accomplish the impossible in the past, I can do this now!” See yourself doing what you intended to do, be it volunteering, interacting with people as you start a new business. balancing your budget, eating healthier, looking slimmer -  you get the picture! Remember, everything is energy and, therefore, to feel good and accomplish your goal, you need to focus on a feel-good image or experience.

Finally, I highly recommend a journaling technique to accompany you in the process of fulfilling your intentions. I borrowed this from Dr. Rachel Naomi Remen who borrowed it from her friend who is an anthropologist. It is amazingly powerful and transformative because it is based on your own intuitive wisdom!

At the end of each day, set aside fifteen minutes. In a quiet place, take a few minutes to breathe deeply and create stillness. In your journal, begin to question your intuitive mind and write the first question: What surprised me today? Put your pen down; breathe deeply, go into the stillness and wait to receive images or words from your Higher Intuitive Wisdom and then write a few lines as an answer. Then write the second question: What moved or touched me today? Again, do the same process. Finally, write the last question and do the same thing: What inspired me today?

Extraordinary awareness, experiences and transformative growth emerge as the result of engaging in this exercise. The simple acts of choosing to breathe deeply, create stillness and question your intuitive mind allow you to receive the imaginative pictures and words to discover who you really are and what really matters to you, as well as to come to love yourself unconditionally (without judgment or criticism).

Fulfilling your intentions and New Year’s resolutions is not what this journey is about. Rather, this is a journey of you discovering you, how powerful you are and of you coming to love yourself unconditionally. This is a process which has the power to transform you as it fills you with peace and enables you to fulfill your intentions.  Creating peace in the New Year begins with self-transformation. Now this is what miracle-making is all about!

“I guess I was wrong when I said I never promised anyone. I promised me!” …Kermit the Frog

Susan Barbara Apollon

Author of “Touched By The Extraordinary”
& Intuition Is Easy & Fun

©2010 Susan Barbara Apollon

The invitation came unexpectedly just a few days before the New Year. Could I come to New York and speak about “How to Set and Keep New Year’s Resolutions and Intentions”? While there was little time to prepare, I knew that this would be a great opportunity to share with everyone what I have been living and teaching patients in my practice. Making miracles (Creating and Keeping New Year’s Resolutions) is really all about energy – and positive, loving energy, at that!

We arrived at Rockefeller Center early. After going through security, we headed up to the 7^th floor for the interview. The studio is huge, pleasant and filled with desks, chairs, television monitors of all major shows being broadcasted at the same time.

I had the pleasure of meeting and speaking with several of the producers and stage-staff - all down to earth and so very kind. While waiting for my turn to be interviewed, one of the producers, Li Jing, helped me with getting a cup of coffee and enabling me to relax a bit as we talked about what led up to the production of Touched by the Extraordinary.

The anchor who interviewed me, Pat Battle, was wonderful. We hit it off immediately. Pat is high energy, positive, has a great smile, radiates feel-good energy and is absolutely lovely. I felt blessed to have such a super, supportive team around me as we prepared for our segment. Having my family there, just a few feet away also helped me feel even more comfortable.

And, then, we were on. The segment literally flew by. I worked to convey as much of the material I had prepared. I was told my enthusiasm was felt by those present and that they especially valued some of the tools I had spoken of, including my ABC technique and three question journaling method. I was genuinely moved by their warm response.

What fun this was and what a great way to begin the New Year!

May we all be blessed with a New Year filled with Laughter, Peace and Much Love.

Susan Barbara Apollon

Author of “Touched By The Extraordinary”
& Intuition Is Easy & Fun

©2010 Susan Barbara Apollon

Why do we set intentions or make New Year’s resolutions? I am convinced that it is especially during the holidays that we realize we are out of balance, not whole and not feeling any true sense of inner peace. We wish one another a happy, healthy and peaceful New Year because we intuitively know that we are not feeling whole, though we desire and need to be. The word healthy contains within it the word heal. To heal is about creating balance, well-being and wholeness. So, our intentions are born out of our awareness of what we lack and need in order to feel better and happier.

Besides being aware of and harnessing the gifts of Imagination, Intuition and Breath, keep in mind that the secret to making miracles and manifesting your heart’s desires or creating an intention (what you are most passionate about and lacking in your life) is being aware and remembering that EVERYTHING IS ENERGY! Quantum Physicists, including Albert Einstein, emphasize this point, along with the fact that all energy vibrates at different levels. This includes you, your thoughts, intentions and all that you picture, visualize and see in your mind’s eye!

The way I help my patients heal themselves and create miracles of healing is to enable them to recognize that there is energy that feels good and energy that does not. Healing and feeling good require that we focus our attention on anything that feels good and makes our heart sing. Translation: when we picture, think or intend something delicious, upbeat, loving and joyful, we feel like we are on “cloud nine.” We vibrate at a high level – the same high level where our hopes and dreams live. This is good because it helps our brain release endorphins which our body loves and because it shifts us, energetically, to a vibrationally higher place. (Be careful because the opposite is also true!)

Therefore, when you set your intentions, pick something to focus on (a thought, picture or image) that every time you visualize and feel yourself experiencing, you feel fabulous!  If you are eager to lose weight, see and feel yourself exercising, shedding pounds and feeling the joy of becoming your intention. If you intend to stop smoking, see and feel yourself living joyfully and with great freedom, not needing a cigarette to be okay. This will create the high energy you need to manifest your intentions.

In other words, your job is to engage in activities in which you have invested your hopes, dreams and high energy of excitement and enthusiasm.  Tennessee Williams reinforced this when he said: “Enthusiasm is the most important thing in life!” Your work is also to focus on a positive and enthusiastic see-feel experience regarding your intention.

Additionally, it helps to write out your intention daily, in a journal. As you write your intention, image you experiencing what you are write. Feel genuinely enthused and excited about it. Allow your senses to be a part of your “see-feel” experience. This is you doing an internal dance of joy which leads to the fulfillment of your intentions.

Create a community with which you can share your intention and the progress you are making regarding manifesting it. Just one other person is all you need to have some support for you.

If you do not accomplish something you had intended for the day, notice your feeling and thought; feel the feeling and then let it go. Love yourself enough to know that you are doing your best. Stuff happens and gets in our way. Say to yourself, “I am doing my best.” Take a deep breath or two and breathe out any toxic feelings, and return to the moment with the see-feel experience of you accomplishing your intention. In other words, get right back on the horse and continue with your intention.

We make miracles simply by opening our heart to the possibility of possibilities and changing our perspective about our situation. Even Albert Einstein validated this with his words: “You can’t solve a problem with the same mind that created it!” Changing your perspective and incorporating some form of unconditional love – for yourself in this case- leads to the occurrence of what you are hoping for and seeking.

A change in perspective is as simple as choosing to love yourself enough so that you see a difficult situation as a challenge and a lesson. For example, when I experience an unexpected problem or disappointment that seems to be interfering with an intention, I say to myself (regularly, after really feeling the emotion of disappointment), “What is the lesson here for me? What am I supposed to be learning here that can help me on some level?” Just choosing to step back and observe me asking myself these questions and recognizing that this is a challenge which is helping me grow, enables me to more easily reconnect with my intention.

Remember Oprah Winfrey’ words, “Every day brings a chance to start over.” There is always a new dawn and a new day to begin again. So, never, never beat yourself up. Love yourself dearly.

Furthermore, each day, create and engage in an activity which is related to the fulfillment of your intended goal. And, be sure to focus on this activity with anticipated excitement and joy; see it in your mind’s eye leading you to accomplish your intention. This keeps you connected to fulfillment of your intentions.

More to come!

“Nothing happens until something moves!”  Albert Einstein

“Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference.”  Winston Churchill
Susan Barbara Apollon

Author of “Touched By The Extraordinary”
& Intuition Is Easy & Fun

©2010 Susan Barbara Apollon

“There are only two way to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle. I choose the latter.” Albert Einstein

Here we go again…It is the setting of resolutions in the form of intentions and then waiting for us to “mess up” and beating ourselves up again for buying into the belief that we could succeed at the intentions we had set for ourselves. My gift to you this New Year is helping you recognize how amazing and powerful you are and that you can manifest any intention you create for 2010.

For starters, when you set your intention or make your resolution or two, you are actually hoping to create a mini or maxi miracle, something you passionately want, something that makes your heart smile each time you picture yourself fulfilling it. Making miracles is easier than you realize.

Making miracles or manifesting your intentions has everything to do with three major gifts (sometimes referred to as tools) with which you were born. Yes, you were born with them and they are an inherent part of your very being. They are part of your power and enable you to be and accomplish the extraordinary.

I have been teaching how to be aware of and harness these gifts to my patients for decades. I know, both personally and professionally, that when you learn to harness (through practice) these gifts, your life changes, and you recognize how much more joy, peace, satisfaction and unconditional love you experience. Keep in mind that the key to creating miracles is loving yourself unconditionally, joyfully and gently. I use these three gifts to help heal my patients by enabling them to use these tools to heal themselves!

As I see it, these three gifts are the gift of your Imagination, the gift of your Intuitive Wisdom and the gift of Breath. Einstein stated: “Imagination is more important the knowledge.” I encourage my patients to create in their mind’ eye an image or vision of what they  are dreaming about and hoping for and to get really excited and enthused about what they are imagining. I have used this in my own life and have taught it so that those dealing with life-threatening illnesses and even loss can expedite their healing. Your cells (you have 60 trillion of them) experience the high vibrational energy of your enthusiasm which then contributes to your body’s production of the cells needed for a healthy immune system.

When you practice breathing by visualizing warm, healing, soothing energy entering you on your inhalation (through your nostrils) and moving down through your body, bringing peace to your cells, and then, in your mind’s eye, see and feel on your exhalation that you are breathing out through your mouth (lips parted slightly) anything tense or worrisome, your body experiences a sense of warmth, heaviness and relaxation.

Focusing on your in-breath and out-breath several times creates a sense of quiet and stillness. It also shifts you energetically to a higher vibration which enhances your ability to be aware of your third gift, your Intuitive Wisdom or Higher Guidance. Focusing on your breath is essentially meditation – for those of you who shy away from the thought of “meditation.”

When you are breathing deeply, in a quiet, meditative place and feeling relaxed, you find yourself going within and become aware of the ways you receive wisdom or guidance from your intuition. (Sometimes you may see a sudden picture, or in your mind’s ear, hear a tune, a word or more. You might also feel a sudden pain in your body.) This is you getting in touch with you.  Sudden insights or “aha” moments can occur in these times.

Practicing these three gifts enables you to harness and make the most of them. By choosing to take a few minutes daily to simply breathe deeply, go within and experience your own inner stillness, you meet the world of both your Imagination and your Intuition. Thus, your three gifts provide you with what you need to change your perspective, “see” things differently which, in turn, can create the miracle of fulfilling your intention. This is extremely empowering!

More to come!

“Creating your intention is not as powerfully transformative as is your awareness of how you are managing the journey.”…Susan Barbara Apollon

Susan Barbara Apollon

Author of “Touched By The Extraordinary”
& Intuition Is Easy & Fun

©2010 Susan Barbara Apollon

It was a Saturday and like so many others this past summer, it rained on and off throughout the day. I was determined to use the day to catch up on a few promised but unfinished projects. As the hours passed, I felt an increasingly stronger sense of fatigue and sadness.

In the background, on CNN, I could hear the words of those who were speaking about Senator Ted Kennedy. The loving words and stories of his many unknown compassionate deeds touched my heart. But the sadness I felt was deepening. And, then, I realized what was happening.

While working, I had been revisiting and reviewing situations which I had known about but had chosen to not acknowledge. They had to do with recognizing that someone I have admired and trusted, was letting me down by not being as sincere and genuine as beautiful words and images would have you believe. Without intention, I was gathering evidence that I had not trusted my intuition.

I thought, “I must remember Love. And that this journey is about choosing Love, and I must forgive. Well, truthfully, while I do my best as a psychologist, author, mom, wife and everything else, I am simply a soul journeying in a physical body. And, I make my share of mistakes.

I had allowed myself to fill with painful images and thoughts of not having been treated in the same compassionate manner that I had been acting as a friend. I began to cry. “Tears are a good thing,” I tell my patients…and I do strongly feel this way. I knew I had to release from my cells the energetic vibrations of having been significantly disappointed. Realizing that someone I had trusted did not appear to be coming from an authentic place of Love just broke my heart.

I knew I needed to release this negative energy because it did not serve me. I told myself, “Susan, focus on anything that feels better!” As hard as this was, I did what I teach my patients: Face (the feeling and the fact that I did not feel good – due to a painful thought), Embrace (feel the pain), Breathe (breathe out the painful thoughts and pain) and Replace (which I did by speaking with an angel who enabled me to communicate these thoughts at this moment). I refused to pass judgment, to the best of my ability, because I, too, do not wish to be judged. I then focused on work-related subjects and that lifted me energetically.

However, later that evening, the heaviness remained within my heart, mind and spirit. Though I wanted to choose Love, I was having difficulty. In answering those who had written in my Facebook group, Touched by the Extraordinary, I found a gift of healing wisdom, a quote of Maya Angelou from a woman on the other side of the world: “ While I know myself as a creation of God, I am obligated to realize and remember that everyone else are also God’s creation.”

I quickly realized that my friend’s behavior served as a challenge in my life for me to choose Love and to forgive and, certainly, to not attach to the painful thoughts which caused my suffering.

I am responsible for my own bliss and peace. Therefore, I have released these feelings, but, I will lead my life more aware of the situation so that I do not allow myself to once again be so disappointed. There is much to learn from every moment of our journey, and it always begins and ends with Love.

Susan Barbara Apollon

Author of “Touched By The Extraordinary”
& Intuition Is Easy & Fun

©2009 Susan Barbara Apollon

“The thing I remember best about successful people I’ve met all through the years is their obvious delight in what they’re doing…and it seems to have very little to do with worldly success. They just love what they’re doing, and they love it in front of others.”

Fred Rodgers

Find people to inspire you. Anyone who inspires you most likely vibrates energetically at a higher level which, in turn, enables you to feel good. My patients inspire me every day that I am privileged to sit and be with them. Because they choose to come to me, often when they are in great pain or experiencing a sense of loss (either of which often impairs their daily functions), they are actually demonstrating courage and strength just by choosing to come to see me. I watch these exquisite beings working so diligently to recover their souls and their identities.

One patient recently had been in an accident in which a car hit him while he was riding his bike, causing (miraculously) only mild injuries, but clearly having also created a shift in consciousness, due to the trauma. About a week after the accident, he sat in my office sharing with me the most eloquent writing that expressed his feelings. He viewed his accident as a significant turning point in his life, one that he felt had transformed him. He spoke with great wisdom, deepened understanding and a greater sense of maturity. I was inspired by the manner in which he had found such powerful meaning in an event which, for others, would probably have been viewed quite differently.

My cancer patients inspire me in so many ways. One patient I had been working with, on and off for years, came back to see me during the weeks leading up to her death. It became immediately apparent to me that the illness had brought about an amazing personal transformation in her. This very loving, kind, compassionate and upbeat woman had accepted her cancer and her life.

She had actually claimed her power – something she had never been able to do up to that point. For the first time in her life, she spoke with calmness, peacefulness, complete love for herself and others and great self-confidence. She was no longer afraid of standing up for what she knew to be right and just. I was moved and inspired by her courage, power and stunning ability to assert herself in ways she could not previously do.

Her family, friends and doctors were inspired by the manner in which she approached her own death. Because she was not afraid of death, neither was her family. The manner in which she chose to die enabled her family to handle her death with a greater sense of peace and equanimity than would have been the case if she had handled it any other way.

Another patient has heroically handled her challenge of a diagnosis of Multiple Sclerosis. I am extremely inspired by her choosing to view her MS as a teacher of many lessons. Her determination to persist in holding onto her vision of well-being and being able to continue to live her life with good quality has enabled her to continue playing her beloved music (which is inspirational for her) and has enabled her to walk without the canes she once thought she would always need. She is a magnificent role model of hope, perseverance and great wisdom for all of us.

Your well-being and your bliss can be engendered by being conscious and aware of aligning with those who move and inspire you. It is all about feeling good because when you are inspired and feeling good, you know you are connected to your own soul, to your Source and to All There Is. Choose to be inspired and bliss will be yours!

“When I think of Robert Frost’s poems, like ‘The Road Not Taken,’ I feel the support of someone who is on my side, who understands what life’s choices are like, someone who says, ‘I’ve been there, and it’s okay to go on.’”

Fred Rogers

Susan Barbara Apollon

Author of “Touched By The Extraordinary”
& Intuition Is Easy & Fun

©2009 Susan Barbara Apollon

“I am only one; but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something; I will not refuse to do the something I can do.”

Helen Keller

I am wondering if you love quotes as much as I do. Quotes are probably one of our greatest sources of inspiration. Not a day goes by that I do not find beauty and wisdom in the words and thoughts of others. Sometimes, it is my patients who speak profound words that touch my soul. Other times, I come upon words that make me stop in my tracks, words which come from a guest on a television or radio show or an article from the internet, the newspaper or a magazine. Of course, there are the words of our great philosophers, writers and great leaders throughout history who continue to motivate and inspire all of us.

Perhaps you have, like my husband and myself, been collecting particularly inspiring words of wisdom and have been jotting them down and storing them somewhere where you can refer to them in times when they seem especially appropriate. I have an ongoing book of quotes I have been creating as a gift to give to my readers, filled with quotes that have inspired me and which, I hope, have the power to inspire you.

Books are one of the greatest sources of words of inspirations. Whether in the form of stories, poems, journal entries or essays, these quotations are often so beautifully and powerfully written that they move, touch, motivate and inspire us to take action – action which may serve to help us find our purpose or to help improve our world on a scale we could not have imagined possible! Perhaps, this is also why we see so many calendars with quotes. What better way to motivate you to have a great day than to provide you, at the beginning of your day, with great words of truth and inspiration.

Just this evening, on the ABC Evening News, the Person of the Week was a woman who had written a children’s book that has inspired children to take actions which raise funds to help children in Africa to have a better quality of life. Because she was honored and her work was discussed on a national news program, I am confident that this author has inspires countless numbers of others to find a way to make a difference.

Even the words of our children’s beloved Mr. Rodgers have been released in a book which I recently purchased. Why would I buy such a book? Because Fred Rogers’ words inspired me while he was alive and are even more inspirational for me since his death. Just consider the following quote which I find to be inspirational: Listening is where love begins: listening to ourselves and then to our neighbors.

One more example that I wish to offer you of words from Fred Rodgers that inspired me: When we love a person, we accept him or her exactly as is: the lovely with the unlovely, the strong along with the fearful, the true mixed in with the façade, and, of course, the only way we can do it is by accepting ourselves that way. I believe that what inspires us about this gentle soul is that he lived what he preached – and he lived with great dignity while inspiring all of us to live with dignity.

Susan Barbara Apollon

Author of “Touched By The Extraordinary”
& Intuition Is Easy & Fun

©2009 Susan Barbara Apollon

“Life is my college.” Louisa May Alcott

“Where there is love, there is life.” Mohandas Gandhi

When interviewed for The Survivor Spirit, cancer patient, Jane Yamashiro stated: “Help may not come from where you expect, but it comes if you ask and are open to receiving it.” She also stated: “Why dwell on negative issues and load yourself with baggage when you can glide through life and enjoy the views? Life is wonderful when you let go and flow.” Jane allows herself to be inspired by life!

In my own life, I have made it my intention to be inspired by various people, places, situations and special words - and have created my dreams via putting my focus of intention on my sources of inspiration. For example, I have learned that I draw to me that with which I am vibrationally and energetically aligned and that the highest level of energetic vibration, for me, is Love. Thus, above a collage of family photographs in my kitchen hangs a wood carving with a favorite quote that has been a source of personal inspiration for me for more than twenty years: ‘I have learned to cherish those I love as though I would not have tomorrow.”

I am inspired by words that remind me of why I am here, who I am and how I can be of service. I am inspired by Love – every moment of every day. This includes actions of Love, words of Love and thoughts of Love. Love is such a high vibration that it has the power to make us feel genuinely good and happy and attract to us very positive, high energetic experiences, including healing miracles.

Healers inspire me, perhaps because their work is grounded on Love. When our fifteen year-old dog, Amber was diagnosed with cancer by our vet, which was later confirmed by the University of Pennsylvania, I chose to use a variety of healing techniques that I had learned from those healers whose work inspired me. These techniques involved, on a daily basis, experiencing a sense of merging into the Oneness with All There Is and then filling with overwhelming feelings of Love and projecting this Love onto Amber while touching and holding her.

I was also inspired to go on a wonderful healing retreat in which I studied the healing work of renowned psychologist, Larry LeShan (taught by his protégé, psychologist, Joyce Goodrich). LeShan has been honored by Harvard for his work in the area of intentional healing or distant intention.

For four days, I engaged in intentional healing meditations and experiences. The day after I returned home, I discovered, much to my amazement, that Amber’s right gum was no longer filled with the cancer. Instead, when I lifted her gum, I discovered healthy, pink tissue on both sides of her mouth. Even Amber’s vet, Dr. Louise Morin, validated that this was a legitimate extraordinary healing. Consequently, Amber lived almost two more years (to almost seventeen, most unusual for Golden Retrievers). Had I not been inspired to do the work of intentional healing, this would not have occurred.

As a result of my having been inspired, I chose to write about this in my book, Touched by the Extraordinary, so that others, perhaps you, might be inspired in a similar manner. I know that I am not unique. If I am able to apply such healing methods and intentions, so can you. In this way others may be inspired as I have been by so many beautiful souls. (To be continued…)

Susan Barbara Apollon

Author of “Touched By The Extraordinary”
& Intuition Is Easy & Fun

©2009 Susan Barbara Apollon

“All our dreams come true if we have the courage to pursue them.”

Walt Disney

So, what is inspiration? How does it impact us? And what and who inspires you? Clearly, if nothing else, to be inspired or to focus on something inspirational is all very high vibrational activity, contributing to you feeling like you are living your bliss, finding happiness and a sense of empowerment!.

The word inspire actually has several definitions: 1. To stimulate somebody to do something (encourage somebody to greater effort, enthusiasm or creativity); 2. To provoke particular feeling (arouse a particular feeling in somebody, as inspires optimism); 3. To cause creative activity (to stimulate somebody to do something, especially creative or artistic work); 4 to breathe in (as to inhale air).

For me, personally, that which inspires me (fills me with beautiful spirit) is what touches my heart and my entire being, in a way that motivates or pushes me to want to take some kind of action or to, at least, give thought and consideration to the meaning in my own life of whatever it is that has inspired me. Whatever my inspiration is, it serves my journey in some way, contributing to the forward or upward movement, hopefully, of my soul’s growth – and, most of all, it really feels good!

If you are looking for some bliss and joy, take time to become aware of your sources of inspiration; take time to look for situations, people, experiences and moments which you intuitively know will uplift you and, because they feel so good, you will hold in your heart, where you keep your treasure box of special vibrational memories, as we do with Susan Boyle’s experience, forever treasuring them ….again and again.

Finding inspiration is so often about the internal meaning you give to an external event, making it, then, something precious and uplifting to you. For example, I recently had the honor of participating in a benefit theater production in Bucks County, PA, of Eve Ensler’s The Vagina Monologues.. The goal of the monologues: create awareness of - and an end to - the violence against women. All profits went to charities which support the education of ending the abuse against women and girls.

To my surprise, I found that by choosing to participate in this magnificent production, I was finding daily, if not moment to moment, inspiration that moved me to tears, through the words I was reading and the actors with whom I was performed. Those of you who watch Oprah know that through the gift of television, you are often inspired by her guests and what they have done or by Oprah and all that she is doing to help the world. This is what I felt by choosing to perform in this play.

Consequently, I felt empowered and wonderful – and wanted to be able to do even more to stop the violence against women and to bring peace to the world in which we live. I felt, also, a sense of transformation occurring within me and, most important, I felt I was making a difference! Yes, I was – and have been– inspired by both Eve Ensler’s words and deeds and by the incredibly gifted actors with whom I performed. These women ranged in age from 16 to 65! Quite a group and I was so honored to be included. (To be continued…)

Susan Barbara Apollon

Author of “Touched By The Extraordinary”
& Intuition Is Easy & Fun

©2009 Susan Barbara Apollon