Wow my first blog! Not being a huge internet fan, blogging is a bit foreign to me, but I’m jumping in and getting out of my comfort zone because for some (unknown as yet) reason this feels like the next step for me. My first thought was where on earth do I start?! Then I decided it was about time I explained a little more about my life’s purpose journey, how I got to where I am, and why ‘Life’s Clues’.
I can’t remember a time that I did not want to be helping others and showing, perhaps teaching, healthful and peaceful ways of making our way through life. I was always the friend with the ear and random people also found the need to vent to me. There has always been a thought of one day I’ll have a “Hippie” shop or I’ll do workshops/classes. There used to be a wellness centre that I went to called ‘The Purple Door’. Just thinking about it makes my heart sing. There were complementary therapies provided by many beautiful souls, workshops and classes, a lovely shop and a fairy garden. It was a wonderful piece of heaven created here on earth where peace, love and healing was abundant. That’s what I want! That’s what I want to create! A space where peace, love and healing is abundant. I believe, in a way, that I have already started this with the little space I work from now.
I can’t say I ever thought I would be doing card readings for others. In fact I had a reading in my mid 20’s when I was told one day I would be doing it for others. And I laughed! As many of you know I started sharing my love of the cards on Facebook in what is now my Sunday Weekly Card Drop. Then people started asking me if I would do a full reading for them. As I started reading for people I didn’t know personally, my intuition became louder. While I am using cards for my readings, the messages have become more intuitive, prompted by the cards. This is why I now call myself an Intuitive Card Reader. The cards I use can have many interpretations but I focus on the messages I am intuiting rather than just the authors’ descriptions.
The idea of being a Healer for others also was far from my mind and only came up a few years ago when, after doing a few courses, I realised I had been doing it naturally in some form since I was a teenager. The label of Healer doesn’t sit well with me though, as one of my beliefs is that we all have the ability to heal ourselves. In fact we are the only ones who can choose whether we heal or not. While others (doctors, naturopaths, psychiatrists) can aid, guide and give us tools to use on our healing paths, it is up to us to accept and use the tools to nurture and allow our bodies, minds and souls to heal. The old saying, “you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make him drink”, is true on our healing journeys too. This is why I adopted the phrase Energy Facilitator rather than Healer. I facilitate the energy flowing to, through and from your body with different modalities to allow you, your body, your mind and your soul to do the work needed to function well, heal and thrive. Once I started offering energy work to those outside my family, which I had been doing for many years without realising, my knowledge and understanding became stronger. Again, when I started working with people I didn’t know personally, I wasn’t second guessing what my intuition was telling me.
The name Life’s Clues was born over 20 years ago. I can’t even remember how or why it came up, but I knew it was going to be my business name one day. I was asked what it meant by friends and family and felt a little silly saying I don’t know. I didn’t know the what, perhaps I still don’t really know, I just knew it is. When I was at school doodling on my books, as you do, I always drew pentagrams. It wasn’t until I was in my 20’s that I actually saw a pentagram somewhere and thought wow that’s what I used to doodle. The knowing that it was important to me spiritually was always there, but I didn’t know why. Then about 15 years ago the thought of “doing something” lead to making a logo for my business. There were no other possibilities, the pentagram had to be in it. I had people say “oooh that’s a bit risky”, or “people may think you’re a witch”, but my knowing was, this is my logo. Still I had no idea what I was going to be doing, I think I had thoughts of workshops and teaching the tools I had been gathering at that point.
Over my life I have learnt about, and included in my day to day life, many things I suppose some would call ‘alternative’, ‘hippie’ or ‘woowoo’. Things like aromatherapy and making my own products, crystals for balance and energy cleansing, numerology, angels and archangels, meditation, yoga (the meditative kind). I guess all things that fall under what was once called ‘New Age’. The first book I ever bought was from a little shop at the bottom of Queens Street in Auckland. The shop was hidden downstairs in a very old building in a dark little space and full of ‘woowoo’ books. It was called “Love is the Answer” by Gerald G. Jampolsky, M.D. and Diane V. Cirincione. I still have it, and to be honest, I don’t remember what it is about. But it started me on a journey to find peace and happiness in this world and then to share it with others. The idea that we are all here to learn and live in a space of love is a big part of my functioning, in fact, these days I find it very hard to comprehend how people can act negatively towards others or live in ways other than love.
I guess for many years I have been gathering tools to use in my business, and really, I still feel like I am gathering and developing them. Just yesterday I realised my online weekly Card Drop is morphing into less of a reading (what job should I do, will I find love, should I move) and into more of a “Life’s Clues”, weekly wisdom (listen to your intuition, heal your body/mind/soul, love yourself) giving people guidance and support in navigating their life’s journey that will help them answer those questions. (Perhaps the meaning behinds Life’s Clues is finally coming to light…)
Something else that has played a huge role in my life for the past 30 years is pain. I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia in my early 20’s when it was just becoming a thing. At the time I felt like I had been given a label and dumped in the ‘too hard’ basket because nothing was helping me heal. I then moved away from the painkillers and traditional methods and started a very long path on what was then called alternative therapies. Ironic, as most of them have been around as long, if not longer, than traditional western medicine. It is wonderful to see them now being called complementary therapies, as it should be. This path has given me an understanding and patience for how the body, mind and soul heal. I found what “should” work and what was “normal” was not the case for me. In fact most, if not all, of the many practitioners of many therapies I have seen over the years have at some point said to me something along the lines of “oh that’s strange your body doesn’t react the way they usually do”. I am not normal! But then are any of us normal? And what is normal, really? (That may need to be another blog!) This has lead me to another of my strong beliefs that there is no right/normal/best way of healing. Each and every one of us has individual needs and they may be helped by one, two or many tools that there are available in this world. What I know for sure is just because it works for someone else doesn’t mean it will work for you. And just because one practitioner has their process, doesn’t mean your body (or mind or soul) wont need other complementary therapies to help it work for you.
In 2020 the world changed, many will say for the worse, I believe for the better. Our world has grown so quickly over the last 100 years and even more so the last 30 years. The internet has made the world so much more accessible. We have so much more to do and expectations are much higher. (That’s another Blog too!) COVID-19 made people stop and slow down, find better ways to function and rethink their priorities. For me though, it was changing on a personal level too. My family dynamic was shifting, and who I had been for the past 17 years was about to be no more. My youngest was starting High School as my oldest was finishing it and planning on moving away to University. But that wasn’t the biggest change. My Mum, the foundation of my life, was diagnosed with cancer – again. This time was harder. This time I left work and became a full time carer for her. It was during my caring months that I realised life is finite. That putting off until tomorrow, what can be done or said today, may mean you don’t get to do it. That not doing something through fear only delays the timeline, not the fear. So this is when I said enough waiting, time to start this business. You know, the one I have no idea what its about, yeah that one. So during this time, I did things like get an ABN, domain name, start a Facebook page, basic things that I could do because I had a name and a logo, but still not the what. Again I had people asking me, “but what are you doing?”. I would get confused looks when I said I really didn’t know, I just knew I needed to start. The idea of me doing Intuitive Card readings and Energy Facilitation didn’t show up until after Mum had died.
So this leads me to where I am today. Do I believe I’ve found what I am supposed to be doing yet? My purpose? No! I still feel like I am in another ‘gathering tools’ chapter. But then, maybe we do that our whole lives. Do I feel like I am heading in the right direction? Definitely! After every reading, every energy session, I feel energised and inspired which is unlike any job I have ever had before (apart from being a mum). I believe all the tools I have been gathering along my journey help me now with different clients in different ways. I see them pop up or hear things coming out of my mouth and think “wow, now I know why I learnt about that”. There is still a long way to go, but I have also come a long way. The path of Life’s Clues has been a very slow one. I believe alignment and gathering of tools is part of all of our journeys. I don’t believe we ever stop learning, after all life is one big classroom and there are lessons in it every day. The impatient part of me is going, “are we there yet?”. The knowing in me is saying, “it will all happen when it is meant to happen”. And hey, if we were there yet wouldn’t that be the end of this lifetime?
My life’s motto is “Enjoy your journey!”. It’s so easy to find yourself rushing to get ‘there’. Which makes it so easy to miss the little things. The little things are important too. They can be big things down the path. Slow down. Take one step at a time. One moment at a time. Look around. Smell the roses. Re-evaluate your priorities. Be in the now.
Enjoy your journey
💜 Donna