Where have I been?

It seems like I haven’t written in forever. So much has happened in my world and in our world, I hardly know where to begin. So, I’ll start with me, because it is all about me, after all.

My favorite grandma, Marcella, made her transition last month (for those of you who don’t speak metaphysics, “made her transition” means “died”). She was ninety-four, it’s not like it wasn’t expected, except it totally caught me by surprise. There is something so final about death that even when you know it’s coming, somehow it still blindsides you.

My sorrow temporarily silenced my voice. Not only did my writing stop but, I actually got laryngitis. While my voice heals, I thought I might share some of my grandma’s writing with you. She was a wonderful writer and artist with great sense of humor, and I have found a lot of comfort in her poetry and short stories. The first poem is:

Distraction
The antics of a fly
On the window pane
Made me miss the sunset.

- Marcella Krisel

I love that! First of all, it’s a true story. She really was watching the sunset when she noticed a fly cleaning itself. She couldn’t take her eyes of this fly flicking its legs and wings, and when it flew away she realized she’d missed the sunset.

This funny little poem has such a profound spiritual lesson. Often in life we are so focused on the little annoyances that we miss the bigger more important things. Then we blame those annoyances for “making” us miss out on something wonderful. But it’s our choice. We choose what will get our focus. That is a bit of wisdom for which I can thank my grandmother. I would have said, “That’s a bit of wisdom that I can thank my grandma for,” but Grandma would’ve come back and haunted me with proper grammar. I tried to come up with the scariest font. Can you hear the mad laughter in the background? Mwuuhuhaaa Haaa Haaaaa!

Let me leave you with this…

I am invited to play
With a Ouija Board.
My partner and I
Place our hands lightly
On the little skate
And we get it started
By gently pushing it
In a circular motion.
We continue to help it
In this manner
Until it begins to write
By itself, it seems.
Suddenly it will take off
And spell out a long sentence
Very quickly, as if it is afraid
That one of us might
Try to interfere.

When I sit down to write,
Something very similar happens.
I have a feeling I want to express
And I begin cautiously
Trying to put into words,
When, right in the middle
Or perhaps toward the end,
The pen takes over
And completes the poem
In a totally unexpected way,
But always in a better one
Than I had envisioned.

- Marcella Krisel

I love and miss you, Grandma. Let’s stay in touch, okay?

Why Did the Turtle Cross the Road?

Why did the turtle cross the road? Why, two days later, did the turkey eat acorns on the side of the road? And why did the Monarch butterfly circle around my head for more than a few minutes?

These questions have haunted me all week long. Why you ask? Because I actually got an answer: to bring me a spiritual message. I know, you’re thinking, “Wow, does Gaby actually think the entire world and the animal kingdom revolve around her?” Why yes, I do. In fact, the American Indian Shamans do, too (see, it’s not just ME). They believe that animals, insects, birds and reptiles are messengers from Spirit. The messages they bring are based on the behaviors, characteristics and habits of the creature that crosses your path.

How do I know what I am receiving is a message, and not a matter of a cigar is just a cigar, turtle, turkey and Monarch? I believe there are no accidents. I have lived here over a year and have never seen a turtle cross a street. I have also never seen a turkey wandering around a busy highway next to Target. While I have seen butterflies, I have not seen many Monarchs because they are rare. They don’t usually fly around me, and even my neighbor, who witnessed it, thought it was pretty wild that it kept swooping around my head.

So what does all this mean? Let’s just look at the obvious. The turtle was trying to get somewhere slowly, patiently plodding his course. He wasn’t afraid because he has his shell to retreat to. I stopped my car and picked him up and hurried him to the side of the road so he wouldn’t get run over. As I picked him up, he looked at me like “HEY, watta ya doin’?”

The message for me is that I need to slow down. I also need to go within to do deeper spiritual work. I need to trust that I will get to my destination and not try to force things.

Thank you, turtle!

The turkey was a little more complicated, because the obvious was that Spirit was calling me a turkey, and I did not appreciate that. So I dug a little deeper and researched it further. Turkeys eat five pounds of acorns a day. Acorns represent wisdom and turkeys represent the harvest season. What this means to me is that I am gathering wisdom and I am coming into a time of reaping the rewards of what I have been working on. Either that, or someone’s going to stuff and eat me at the end of November.

Thank you, turkey!

Finally, the Monarch butterfly… which represents metamorphosis. The keys to creating and manifesting are in the stages of metamorphosis. When we are growing and transforming, we are in one of these stages: the idea is born, then we gather what we need to lay a foundation to build upon. Once we have a strong foundation, we go within, and while it may look like nothing is happening, beliefs are reorganizing. When we have transformed enough to make our idea a reality, we bust out and begin to soar.

When you feel like nothing is happening in your life, check to see if you are in the reorganizing stage.

Maybe lots of things are happening and you just can’t see it. And maybe sometime very soon, you will bust out and begin soar.

Thank you, butterfly!

So look around you… there may be little messengers trying to bring YOU spiritual messages.

Conversation With God

I was talking to God the other day about how to succeed, and believe it or not, I got an answer. It wasn’t an external booming voice. There was no lightning or thunder. The words just gently dropped into my meditative open mind.

“You must make a sacrifice.”

Since I was fresh out of lambs and had recently given up sugar, I asked, “What would you have me give up in order to have more success in my life?”

“Television,” God replied. “No TV five days a week.”

I panicked! “But it’s football season, and “America’s Got Talent” is down to the final ten, never mind the fall season is starting. Only two days… is that two full days? Can I Tivo 48 hours of shows and watch them all?!”

Then I realized I was trying to negotiate more television time with God! God was essentially telling me I could have guaranteed success - all I had to do was cut down my TV watching to two days a week and use that time to be more creative and productive.

In metaphysical teachings, the topic of sacrifice is generally avoided. This “feel good” spirituality, in my ever so humble opinion, is why so many people struggle with success in some aspect of their lives, be it career, relationship, finances, etc. We all have dreams and we all want to be successful, but when it comes down to giving something up in order to make that happen, we usually don’t want to. Behind every successful person is a significant sacrifice.

[**Jesus Alert** Don’t panic, I am about to reference Jesus. Please note: I believe that the parables, stories and symbols in the Bible hold amazing teachings, and that the Bible is not necessarily meant to be taken literally. I also believe that you and I can read the same passage and receive two completely different messages, and both interpretations can be correct. So please don’t let the reference turn you off.]

I digress.

When Jesus was gathering his disciples, he told them to drop everything, leave their old lives behind and follow him. Metaphysically speaking, that means that if we want real fulfillment in our lives, we must be willing to drop our old ways (because clearly they aren’t working) and follow Spirit (whatever form that takes for you).

So I am giving up TV five days a week and using my time for spiritual and creative endeavors. I’ll let you know how it goes. So far, I’ve started this blog and am writing an article for a local women’s magazine.

In the meantime, ask yourself two questions. What part of your life isn’t what you would call “successful?” And what do you have to sacrifice in order to have success in that part of your life? If you sit with those questions, you will get your answer. It may not be immediate, but you will definitely get an answer. When you do, I hope you realize that you are worth far more than any sacrifice you are asked to make.

Godspeed!

Introduction

Life rarely turns out the way we plan. Yet those unplanned events are often the most defining moments in our lives. I have had many of those defining moments and at first glance, my many career incarnations may appear scattered and unfocused. But when seen through God’s eyes they all become a clear picture of who God intended me to be.

When I was 13 years old, I decided I wanted to be a singer. As it turned out, I had a gift that my parents supported and I was given access to the best vocal teachers in the world. I trained for over twenty years and had much success before I was called to the second aspect of who I was to become. Through a series of “coincidences” I found and enrolled in the New Focus Institute of Hypnotherapy. I wanted to help people overcome obstacles that held them back in their lives and so I became a Certified Clinical Hypnotherapist. I kept getting calls from people who were in serious spiritual crisis and while I was able to help them to some degree, I felt called to know more about how our connection to spirit and God affected our lives and how to heal spiritual crisis. That brought me to the Albert Grier Ministerial School where I decided to become a New Thought minister so that I could be a spiritual counselor. But under no circumstances would I be a pulpit minister. I did not want to speak in public. As usual God had other plans. It turned out that I had another gift, the gift of gab, and so I became just that, a pulpit minister. I felt called to share the wisdom God gave me with everyone and so I decided to be a writer as well. Talk about having an identity crisis, what was I, a singer, a hypnotherapist/spiritual counselor, a minister or a writer. After years of ping ponging between all of these careers, thinking I had to focus on one, I had a revelation. The common denominator between all of these careers is my voice. I realize now that God wants me to use every aspect of my voice to help heal the world.


I have found that our soul’s journey is deeper and more complicated than we know. We are evolving Souls that have been given many gifts that we are meant to use. My intention for this blog is to help us get out of our own way so that we can use all of our gifts, talents and experiences for one purpose, our soul evolution.

I am Rev. Gabrielle Michel, singer, hypnotherapist/spiritual counselor, minister and writer and hope sharing my gifts will inspire you to share yours.