Erica Tucci

By… savoring every moment as a gift from heaven for what you are learning about yourself… you will one day ascend from the ashes to victory. As you stretch your new wings and shake off the debris from the fires that extinguish your suffering, you will have been transformed into a greater being than before.

As I travel down the road to recovery from my stroke, I think about what I’ve been through, where I am and where I’m headed. My stroke was not just a physical situation. Yes, on the physical level, I had a hole in my heart that allowed a blood clot to pass through and land in my brain, causing an ischemic stroke, which paralyzed my right side. BUT there was a huge spiritual component to why I had a stroke. I went through a total transformation of self, moving from an ego-based mindset to having a more heart-centered consciousness, the final goal being to find an inner balance between the masculine and feminine principles within. This was my karma, the road to a more enlightened way of being for me. But having such a life-altering experience so that one can be elevated to a new level of consciousness is certainly not what I wanted or expected. I didn’t think it would have to be that hard. Boy, was I wrong! Trying to become a more conscious soul, at any level, is not an easy task, nor is it for the delicate spirit. It takes a lot of fortitude, a lot of perseverance and a lot of faith! It also takes the ability to align your vision of what you want with what the universe has destined for you, since you are co-creators of your life.

As you follow your path to fulfill your destiny, you know you will encounter obstacles along the way, bumps in the road that will cause diversions, distractions and downright disruptions to your progress. You might fall umpteen times into the psychological chasm of doom, and claw your way out just as many times. And each time you feel yourself falling, you grasp for something to hang onto to avoid falling into the depths of the mire.

You may start by replacing the negative thoughts that are responsible for your plight with positive thoughts. Dis-ease, whether physical, emotional, mental or spiritual, begins with a thought. The energy of a negative thought can reverberate throughout your entire energy field and manifest into an imbalance that becomes an energetic blockage, giving rise to any number of afflictions. By replacing these negative thoughts, which come from your “egoic” fear-based mind, with positive ones, which come from your heart, you are giving yourself a chance to heal the mind-body connection, where one’s thoughts and emotions affect one’s health through chemical changes in the brain that have an impact on the immune system. On a more profound level, and most importantly, is your connection to your divinity, the source of all of creation that is always there to support you through thick and thin. But to fully commune with this inner power that shows us the way to our own magnificence, to our absolute truth, you must disengage yourself from your egoic mind that feeds on fear, and move to your heart center, where your divine essence resides.

Having both a positive outlook and a genuine relationship with your own inner sacredness will help uplift you as you find your way out of the darkness and into the light, to your own brilliance where you shine brightly in your own glory.

But the journey to your radiance is not a swift one. It is not a race to the finish. It is a process, one that could take a lifetime, depending on how deeply rooted the obstacles in your path are, and how many you have. Do not try to take the quick route to that inner light, as there is none. You will always be confronted by some sort of gremlin just waiting to throw you off track. This is how you grow into your own full potential, by confronting the encumbering monster, possibly battling with it, but ultimately dancing with it as your partner. It’s better to make your enemies allies instead of adversaries, as it makes the path to your illumination much easier. All your obstacles will become sources of encouragement instead of deterrents, since, in truth, they are simply facets of your psyche, showing you what you need to do to reach that inner sanctum.

By taking it one step at a time, savoring every moment as a gift from heaven for what you are learning about yourself – who you are at the deepest soul level – you will one day ascend from the ashes to victory. As you stretch your new wings and shake off the debris from the fires that extinguish your suffering, you will have been transformed into a greater being than before. You will have reached a new level of awareness.