Written by: Kiara Norwood, M.A., Senior Level Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
What is Heaven? Heaven is often described as a place where Divine entities, deities, Gods, angels, etc. dwell, and a place where we go when we die as a reward for living a faithful and righteous life according to certain religious and spiritual traditions. It is often described as a place devoid of suffering with eternal light and abundance. It is also often viewed as an escape from the “ills and sins of the world.” When Heaven is described as an experience, as opposed to a destination, Heaven can often be described as a place of perfection and bliss. Love, joy, and high vibrations abound. It is usually described as an experience apart from and outside of us. But what if Heaven was an experience we could create in our own lives as a reflection and part of our being?
What influences our perception of heaven?
My background includes growing up in a conservatively religious household that often contributed to my experience of spirituality in a negative manner. I then joined, and trauma bonded, with other churches and religious organizations as a young adult that further perpetuated these messages and contributed to spiritual unwellness and dis-ease. My former religious experiences often painted God as this source completely outside of ourselves, the world as this sinful place devoid of God’s love, and people as irredeemable outside of our religious experience. Heaven was then this place of refuge and a source of hope to push in a world filled with “evil and darkness.” In these circles, Earth was not ideal. When there were experiences of suffering and heartache, they were often either masked by toxic positivity or encouraging suffering because “God has a plan for it and is glorified by it.”
My experience as a trauma and spiritual coach has shown me that many others have had similar experiences. Being consistently focused on “eternity” can stop you from being present in your world and creating Heaven in your daily life. Many of the people I communicate with describe lives where they feel things will not get better, so they find their hope in an external God-source that can go by many names. However, what if that same hope we put into beings and experiences outside of ourselves could be used to propel our lives forward? What if we were truly able to embody the spiritual concept of “as above, so below?” We have the power to shape and create our realities. And contrary to what we may have been told or shown, we are deserving of a good life. A life of abundance is our birthright. Here are three things you can do to start tapping into heavenly energy on Earth:
1. Find spiritual practices that align with you
Spiritual practices help us connect to the divinity and inherent knowledge within. However, many people do not take time to determine what spiritual practices align with their needs or feel beneficial to them. Instead, they do what they have been taught and told to do. Despite what has been told and shown to us, there are many forms of spirituality and spiritual practice. Because spirituality helps us to understand our place in the world, your spiritual practices can strongly influence your earthly experience. If you are adhering to belief systems that make you feel less than, stuck, and powerless; then that is what you will create in your external world. The world that we create externally begins with an internal belief system. As an individual, you are entitled to finding the practice that works for you and helps you create the life you want to create. And while unlearning and being open to additional perspectives can be daunting, it is worth it. Spiritual growth propels growth in the Earthly realm. One way to grow spiritually is reading about a spiritual practice or spiritual belief that you feel strongly compelled to know more about from a reputable source. The more you seek, the more you will find. Your spiritual guides will also aid you on this journey if you ask.
2. Aim to create peace, balance, and harmony in your life
When we see that we are continuing to experience and create chaos in our personal life, there is usually something that we are refusing to acknowledge or heal. If this is an experience you resonate with, ask yourself, “How I am creating this cycle?” Some additional questions you can ask yourself are:
What behaviors do you see yourself repeating?
What types of people are you surrounding yourself with?
What are the job opportunities in which you are applying?
What substances are you indulging?
After answering these questions, make an action plan detailing achievable actions you can take to rectify these experiences as necessary. For instance, if you see yourself struggling to have healthy relationships, ask yourself how are you contributing to the experiences you are having? Are you allowing yourself to be mistreated? Are you harming others with your words or actions? Then decide to better your experience. A first step to this plan could be being intentional to say something loving and kind to your partner and/or friends. It could also be removing yourself from relationships that make you feel powerless, confused, or harmed. The more peace, harmony, and balance you create in your life, the more heavenly It will feel. But that feeling begins with you deciding to create it and being intentional to maintain it.
3. Find ways to create holistic wellness for yourself
Another spiritual concept that can help us achieve heaven on earth is “as within, so without.” This means that what we create internally, will manifest externally. Yet so many of us ignore our bodies internal signals and do not aim to figure out what holistic wellness means to us. If you are consistently feeling ill in any part of your body, that is your body signaling you. Caring for yourself is paramount and wellness is your birthright. Holistic wellness means health and wellness in mind, body, and spirit. When this is your experience, you feel mentally, emotionally, physically, and spiritually well. To achieve that you may have to make some intentional changes. For myself, I had to be transition to a plant-based diet after becoming ill, remove myself from relationships creating harm, and find alternative healing methods to aid in my trauma healing journey. For you, it may look like starting a business, traveling more, getting financial counseling, asking for a promotion, spending time outside, etc. If we feel unwell on the inside, it will translate to what we create on the outside. When you feel sick, it influences how you perceive the world around you. And you cannot say you want better without making the necessary changes to achieve better.
How do these changes help you experience heaven on earth?
The three actions I described help you to experience heaven on earth by helping you to be in alignment. Alignment helps you to maintain spiritual wellness and improve your life. Alignment is being in harmony and flow with your life path, your wellness, and your overall destiny. Being in alignment means you are doing work to intentionally create your reality. Therefore, when things feel like they may be falling apart, they are actually falling together. Alignment helps you to experience joy and bliss because you are living a life worth living that fits your needs. It helps you to see that happiness is your birthright and something you can experience now, and not something you have to wait to experience in Heaven. And it helps you to see that the Divinity that you are waiting to meet and experience in Heaven is in you and around you every day. You do not have to wait to experience something that you embody every day. Heaven is here. It is up to you to allow yourself to experience it. Ase’.
Kiara Norwood, M.A., Senior Level Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Kiara Norwood, M.A. is a multi-award winning alternative trauma healer specializing in helping women of color heal trauma using ancestral remedies and alternative wellness therapies. She is also the CEO of Energetically Aligned Healing, LLC. Her passion stems from her traumatic upbringing and young adulthood. As a child and young adult, she experienced severe abuse, lack, and disappointment. However, she fought through her hardships to achieve holistic wellness. By the age of 24, Kiara had graduated with her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees and started her first business. She is currently running her second business, and living the life she dreamed of as a child. She wants to help other women of color do the same. As an alternative trauma healer, she offers coaching, reiki, herbalism, tarot/oracle card readings, and numerology charting to help women of color create lives filled with success, joy, abundance, and love.
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