I'd like to tell you the story of two clients of mine, Pamela and Janine. They were roughly the same age and had similar life stories.
Both of these ladies were in their second marriage and had been in a relationship with their current husband for 15 plus years.
Both had had unhappy first marriages, but it appeared to be an incompatibility problem. Both of their ex husbands had also moved on and were in happy relationships.
When they came to me for their first visit, they both had much angst and anger directed to their respective exes, as well as a lot of pain attached to these past relationships.
It was strange to be seeing two women with exactly the same issue. Although they were happy in their current relationships, they resented the fact that their ex husbands were also happy. They had a lot of 'unfinished business' between them and it was affecting their health and their weight.
Over a period of six months, we talked about their expectations, their hopes, their dreams, their pain and how they could move on from the situation in a positive and uplifting manner.
I used reiki healing, sound fork therapy and crystal healing, as well as 'love yourself' boot camp, Numerology and Psychic insight.
Pamela was keen to create change in her life. She was tired of being angry. She wasn't happy with her weight, which had eventuated into Type 2 diabetes. She worked really hard at forgiving everyone involved, including herself. She did regular release rituals as well as abundance rituals (in fact I think she still does).
Janine was not so eager. She believed everything was everyone else's fault and there was no way she needed to release anything or forgive anyone, including herself. As far as she was concerned she was blameless and she wasn't going to let anyone get away with what they had done to her. They owed her!
After 6 months, they both decided they were ready to 'go it alone'. Surprisingly, I have heard from them both recently.
Pamela has lost weight, is happier and more at peace with herself, her past and her future. She has reversed her diabetes and life is great. Her current marriage has gone from strength to strength and they have even been in a social environment with her ex and his partner, which has resulted in a friendlier atmosphere around them.
Janine has doubled her weight, is still surly, awaiting apologies from everyone she ever knew, especially her ex husband. She is bloated, has blood pressure problems and tells me that I didn't 'heal her'. I explained that healing has to come from within, but she doesn't see it that way.
All too often we have traumatic, sad or aggravating events in our lives, but we choose what happens next. We can choose to heal, or we can choose to hold on to that pain.
When I look at Pamela and Janine, I know which path I want to choose. How about you?
with love, respect and integrity
Cherie xx

About 20 years ago, I developed a back injury. At the time I was unhappy in my 'going nowhere' job, but I didn't have the guts to take that leap of faith and resign.
The Universe stepped in. As I was lifting an empty box, I felt a twang in the back of my heel. Nothing painful, it felt as if someone had snapped a rubber band and flicked the back of my foot. After a couple of days of strange tingling sensations, I decided to go and see the doctor. The doctor could see nothing major wrong with me, although he did mention one leg was slightly shorter than the other. As such he couldn't refer me to a specialist, so he suggested I try a few of his 'other colleagues' to see if we could resolve the issue. First I went to a physiotherapist, who insisted I should be able to put my feet behind my ears, and did his utmost best to prove it was true. He would push my leg straight up and lean into me with all his weight. He called me a wimp as I cried tears of pain. After two visits, I had had enough of him and went back to the doctor.
Next I visited a reflexologist, who, as it turned out was much more interested in replacing his mistress, as she would be moving soon. (His wife was his receptionist and only in the next room! Tact, much?) One visit was enough to give this charlatan a wide berth...and a good thing too, now that I am older and wiser and realise that never once did he touch my feet!
By this time I was getting shooting pains down the back of my legs and experiencing alternating bouts of numbness and sharp pain in my right heel. My doctor suggested an acupuncturist. Bad idea! It turns out that needles and I didn't work so well together. I would stagger home bleeding and bruised after each appointment. In those days I didn't have the balls to say I wasn't returning, so it took five visits before I 'grew' some. On my fifth visit, he told me he was very excited because he was going to teach some new students and could he video me to demonstrate how to do the needles. He said I merely needed to agree it hurt every spot he touched. Some time later I was very much a pincushion, he packed up his video camera and took it to the other end of the office. I lay there for an interminably long time, waiting for him to return and remove the needles, my bladder sending me urgent messages. Did I call out? Not on your life! About 50 minutes later he walked past the door and said 'Are you still here? You can get dressed and leave.' I won't tell you what I said, but let me tell you, he was my first lesson in knowing what was right for me, what was wrong, and saying 'My body. My choice.' Prior to that, I had believed anyone in a white coat was an authority on my body.
As I stumbled across to the other side of the road, one of the shop owners suggested I stop going there, as I seemed to stagger over and almost crawl back. Not a good advertisement they said jokingly. There was no way I was ever going back anyway.
After that, I began having issues with my nerve endings and lower back pain. The doctor, telling me he still couldn't refer me, suggested I go to his osteopath friend. Ahhh, how naive I was in those days.... I assumed an osteopath was like a remedial massage therapist - no body cracking here!
About ten minutes into my appointment, the whole street would have heard how surprised I was when he picked me up and 'dropped me', cracking and I was almost certain, demolishing my spine. My friend kindly told me that she had heard the expletive I screamed out from the coffee shop next door! Thats what friends are for, apparently!
By the time I went to see the doctor again, I was struggling to walk. My back was aching continually and he had to prescribe me some pain killers and anti inflammatory tablets to help me get through the day.
By the time I did manage to get a referral to see a specialist, I was wearing a brace 24 hours a day, having to wear heel pads to avoid the nauseous feeling I got while walking, on extremely strong pain killers and unable to walk/stand or sit for any period of time. I couldn't wear shoes with 'backs' on them, and certainly no heels. All the 'work' everybody had done on me had exacerbated my problem. I was told I was but a fine line away from being in a wheel chair.
Now I'm not telling you all this to get sympathy, I am merely trying to set the scene for you.
Although I managed to make improvement to my lifestyle with exercise, etc, I was still in a bad way. I still wore my special heel pads, everywhere...
About ten years later, thanks to some synchronistic opportunity, I met a past life healer. I decided I would 'give it a whirl'. The first visit, she told me about a past life when I had worked in Egypt and helped to build the pyramids. A large slab had slipped and sliced off the back of my right heel. This made sense to me, when I considered the alternating pain and numbness of my heel. The healer told me I would feel a marked improvement the next day. I was skeptical to say the least and wasn't surprised when it hadn't improved as completely as she had told me it would. A week later I was looking at one of my old dream notebooks and found an entry I had written when I was in my twenties. I was a young boy in Egypt, with aspirations of being an architect. I would draw in the fading light on whatever I could. The dream confirmed other facts the healer had mentioned, which was awesome and mind boggling!
I had another past life healing and we talked about my dream and a few other pertinent details that obviously needed to address.
The next morning I woke up and bolted out of bed, remembering I had visitors coming soon and I needed to do some baking. I raced down to the supermarket, and was halfway around before I realised I could feel the sensation of my thong under my heel. Anyone watching me would have seen this woman with a dopey smile on her face, as she 'walked with intention'.
So, just in case you didn't work it out, I never wore the heel pads again. I had only been taking the medication periodically at that stage...I have never taken it again. My point is, all the medical professionals in the world couldn't fix the problem with  my heel, because it was a soulular and cellular memory. My body/soul remembered this past life injury and had replicated it around the same age that it had happened within that lifetime. I didn't need to spend masses of money, dedicate half my life meditating or be healed over a period of years. All I needed to do was acknowledge that this was my truth, to release my old way of being and thinking, to allow that past life with all its issues, to just 'be' and let them go.
We have been here many times. We have specific memories that we hold onto, that may be holding us back, whether its an injury or a vow we have taken during that lifetime. By discovering what happened in a prior lifetime, we are better able to understand why we act or feel certain ways within our present journey.
with love, respect and integrity
Cherie xx

Today I was thinking about life in general as I sat watching people in the mall.  An elderly man with a white stick was holding onto a trundler, while his wife led him out to the car park. I marvelled at the adaptability of humans, the fact he could trust his wife to lead the way; that just because he was visually impaired, he didn't stay home and sulk.
I felt inspired as I watched them slowly crossing the road and it made me think about the rest of us and the life path we are on. How often are we lead, almost blindly where we are meant to go? How often do we reach our destination, even though our eyes aren't focussed on that particular goal?  How often do we need to trust we are heading in the right direction, guided by unseen hands? How easy would it be to say 'I can't see where I'm heading, so I refuse to go any further?' 
When things are going wrong and life seems like a struggle, I sometimes wonder if it would be easier to just sit there and wait it out. Life seems a lot easier for those people who dodge the obstacles in their life, who find other ways to do what they want, but then, does that mean they miss out on what they are meant to learn? But I wonder, do they reach the destination that they planned or do they find themselves unable to avoid that path later in life, which then leads them to the destination they are meant to 'arrive at'.
If we try to avoid the 'stuff' that causes us sorrow and pain, does it catch up with us in another guise, on another part of our journey? Of course it does. Like when we decide not to take an opportunity because it doesn't feel right, but it is destined to be ours....it comes around again, maybe in a slightly different guise, but it we do revisit it.
We are here to learn a specific amount of lessons, to teach others in many ways and to experience all that life has to offer. Sometimes, it can feel as if we are being guided by unseen hands, especially when we believe we are heading in a particular direction, and when we get to the end of that path, we find the view isn't quite what we expected...in fact its better than we could have anticipated!
Isn't it great when we 'trust' in the journey...in our path?
with love, respect and integrity
Cherie xx

I know I have talked about this before, but I have an urge to 'chat' to you about it from a slightly different perspective.
I believe that before we come down to this earthly plane, we make a life plan, involving the people around us, what country we are born in, the bodies we are blessed with, the experiences we will have and the lessons we will learn to help us complete our life journey. Some of them were/are pleasant, some not so - and that is applicable for people, places and experiences/lessons written up in our plan.
All too often I hear people complain about their family, their parents who weren't that great, that life surely would have been better if they had only been born to a different family.
We chose our family, we chose our parents, our siblings, our grandparents. We chose them because they all had something to teach us, and in return, we had something to teach them. We may not have always liked the lesson, but we learnt it...well, most of the time....and if we didn't, we met someone else later on who provided the same lesson with a different slant to it.
We chose our names, we chose our birthdate, because we knew that the vibration we entered and lived in this world was important. We knew that we could 'tap into' some of our lessons and get some inside knowledge through astrology, palmistry and numerology. We knew there would be hints, signs along the way...some that would be subtle and comforting and others that were 'slap in the face' brutal and confronting.
We chose our bodies, we knew the lessons we would learn through the amazing physical form we had chosen. We knew part of our life plan was to learn to love ourselves unconditionally.
All the important people around us that are a part of our life, the good, the not so good and the downright nasty, we also chose...actually, we asked them to help us to learn specific lessons....and because they loved us, they agreed to come down to the physical plane with us. Such unconditional love! Some agreed to be our worst enemy, knowing we would not remember while we were down here that last lifetime we were best friends, lovers, siblings or family.
And anytime you feel there is no truth to what I'm saying, I want you to remember the image attached to this post. I received this earlier this year from a friend. This little girl (whose name has been changed for the purpose of this post) started this conversation out of the blue...without prompting, without knowing that what she said would be so incredible or validating...
The children coming through now remember so much more than the rest of us who came before. They are 'aware' and 'knowing', and there is less chance of them being 'squashed' by parents, family and society, as more of us embrace the knowledge that there is so much more to life than we could begin to comprehend.
Its important we honour their inner wisdom and sensitivity as well as nurturing our own. For they will help to bring about huge changes within our world....and we knew that before we came down to this earthly plane. We agreed to help!
with love, respect and integrity
Cherie xx

There are times when we desperately want change in our lives. We want that awesome new job, a loving relationship, to own our own business, to be financially independent....and the list goes on and on.
I was talking to someone the other day who was bemoaning that she kept attracting the same kind of man into her life. Each time they would start off great, and eventually they would 'wander off' to greener pastures. We talked at length about her views on relationships and self worth and it turned out that she didn't believe in long lasting love and she didn't love herself very much either.
The problem is that we all want change, especially the positive kind. But, do we want to change 'us', our perceptions and beliefs to achieve that change? 
Do we wish desperately for another job, but think we couldn't get anything better because we don't have the skills we believe are required? Do we hate the job we're in, but figure we just have to 'put up' with it so we can pay our bills or keep a roof over our heads? Do we feel this way about all the jobs we've ever had? 
Do we long for a wonderful and lasting relationship but expect that we'll attract someone unsuitable, because that's what we've always done? Do we figure they'll get sick of us or find someone more interesting eventually? Do we hold back in giving of ourselves in the misguided belief that no one can hurt us if we are 'semi-detached'?
Do we wish we could have health and well-being, but still eat in ways we know aren't good for us? Do we imagine every symptom or pain is the sign of something drastic? Do we neglect our body when it tells us it's tired and wants a rest, by pushing it to it's limits?
Well, if we do any of these things or even variations of them, we know for sure that we are attracting all the 'crap' we don't want in our lives. If we believe we are unworthy, unlovable, unskilled, unhealthy (Please note, all those words start with 'un-') then we keep attracting more of the same kind of attention or situations that we always have.
To encourage more possibilities and positivity into our life, we need to look at what we need to change within to make it possible. We need to love ourselves unconditionally, to know that we are totally awesome, awe-inspiring and perfect in every way to be the person we are and to live the life we desire.
 That's why we chose to come here to the physical plane. We knew we could do whatever we wanted, we knew what we are capable of, and we knew we were limitless. We also knew there'd be challenges, like our body shape, our belief systems, our childhood, relationships, unpleasant situations, and day to day problems.....but we also knew that these made up the whole of us, that by accepting who we truly are and believing in our magnificence we could conquer any obstacle in our path. 
So what are we waiting for....? Are we waiting for someone to wave a magic wand (so not going to happen, by the way), or are we just waiting for us to realise we Can, we Will and we Are living the life we are meant to, and that we have the power to change all that exists within it!
with love, respect and integrity
Cherie xx

Worthiness is on my mind again today, so I'm going to tell you a little story...
I had a friend who complained to me many years ago that every man she met treated her the same - They started off as Prince Charming and over time she always became the punching bag. I said to her 'You will always meet these men as long as you have such a low opinion of yourself. How can things change if you believe thats all you're worth, that you should settle for whatever or whoever comes along?' 
  When we believe we aren't worth any better, that we can't expect to meet a 'prince' who stays a 'prince', that we can only expect the dregs of life, that we don't deserve to have a soulmate experience, or worse, we aren't prepared to wait for it, things generally start to go wrong.
As we grow up, we're led to believe that we aren't 'part of a couple' we are a failure or an oddity. When we become a couple, we introduce the other as our 'other half', implying that we weren't whole until we met. So from an early age we believe we aren't whole, that we need to seek a mate and we don't need to be choosy, as long as we're a part of society's expectations.
When things go wrong, we split up, divorce or become widowed, we can feel like a failure thanks to society's standards.
Some quickly search for a replacement, and I'm not saying that's wrong, it is their life and they are free to live it their way, just as we all are free to live our way...that's the beauty of our earthly journey.
However, if we believe we 'need' to be a part of a couple and we have a low self esteem or feel we are an unworthy individual, we can attract the wrong relationships, with people who are looking for someone they can manipulate or bully. (They have
internal radar systems!)
If we don't believe in our magnificence, if we feel 'less than' or undeserving, then we tend to attract relationships and people into our lives that will play on those feelings.
How do I know this? Well, I had several disastrous relationships, followed by an unhappy marriage, which all followed a predictable theme. Then one day I woke up and my first thought was 'I'm worth so much more than this!' and changed.
I believe this was the first step toward my spiritual and personal empowerment. I met my soulmate who I spent 25 wonderful years with. He encouraged me to grow, to be my own person and to believe in myself. Thanks to him I know what I'm worth, I'm not prepared to settle for anything less, no matter what it is I'm searching for. 
I encourage you to realise your worth, to know that you deserve the best life can
offer, to believe in your capacity to give and receive love.
with love, respect and integrity
Cherie  xx