A Spiritual Lesson in Shifting My Values & Building My Internal Empire From the Ground Up

Recently I have had some little treasures float up to the surface of my consciousness and enlighten me with a new sense of awareness. Especially when it comes to my core values and limiting ancestral beliefs. I have been doing some deep healing work about my beliefs around relationships and finances. When I refer to relationships and finances what I really mean is my relationship to myself, my soul and my abundance mindset.

I grew up with beliefs that are extremely limiting in both these aspects in my life. For so long I struggled with wanting to be in a relationship, but having deep rooted fears around intimacy and communication. This led me on a path of self discovery, to uproot and examine my past. For some this may be a terrifying concept, to go digging up the past and find out where, how and why certain beliefs were formed, but for me it was like a treasure hunt that reunited me with some of the most valuable information that helped me to understand my past beliefs, forgive myself for not knowing better and then taking action to replace these limiting beliefs with expansive ones, ones that are in alignment with my truest essence.

Looking back at what I had learned from my caregivers and environment opened up a big ol can of worms that quite frankly I wish I had never unleashed. But in doing so I was able to bring these habits related to money and relating up to the surface and shine a light on them. Let me tell you something; that was the most uncomfortable process of my healing journey thus far. I know that the healing journey is endless and it is something that I will be uncovering more of throughout the rest of my lifetime. To open up wounds that I had once hid in the deep dark crevices of my psyche and pick them apart with gentle loving care was an illuminating process that opened my eyes to so many questions I had pondered internally my entire life.

Swimming in the depth of your psyche and childhood wounding isn’t for all of us, in fact most of us will spend our entire lives purposely avoiding this aspect of ourselves. It is all the parts of ourselves we have learned to lock away because it was labeled as “bad” or unacceptable. The more I began to invite these little parts of me to the center stage and start asking them questions, they were happy and more than willing to share the wisdom of their experiences. We tend to think that these shunned aspects of ourselves are unworthy, that’s why we hid them away in the first place, right? But, what no one has ever told us is; those are the parts of us that contain the most valuable information and if we just carve out the time in our busy and overactive lives to tend to these parts of us we integrate them and they begin to solidify our internal foundation, they become the structure of our empire.

I wanted to share with you a little, or even major breakthrough that I have had recently. I was talking to my guides while doing Tarot. I want to mention that for me personally Tarot has opened up this channel for me and I am able to access a Spiritual Counsel that acts as a therapist. I have this whole team of guides and angels and teachers that are here just for me, that are my safe place to open these wounds and investigate what they are holding inside. They help me do this by simply listening to me as I talk through my sensations I am having, sometimes my eyes fill with tears and I have memories resurface that induce a feeling of sadness, panic, anxiety, stress, fear and powerlessness. I have a sense of awareness now that allows for me to differentiate between the two, knowing that the sensation or emotional reaction I am having is actually stemming from the root of a core wound. As I talk this through with my Spiritual Counsel I begin to shed light on the wound and the light acts as an antibiotic and heals the wound. As this happens, and honestly it doesn’t happen everyday, only when something is ready to be revealed. I have learned how to sit with the discomfort of the emotion and not judge it and not run from it, but to wholeheartedly embrace and accept it. This generally breaks my heart and I spend some time grieving, it used to be days I would have to spend grieving before I could move through it, but the more I practice, the more centered and balanced I stay throughout the emotional reaction and the more quickly I move through it. The emotional process has truly taught me valuable lessons in Self Love and Self Care. In this process I have learned how to nurture and support myself unconditionally. I highly recommend seeking a Healer or Therapist for this kind of work, but honestly I have done it all on my own, and not even on my own because I have had my angels, guides and Ascended Masters helping all along. I’ve also had the support of a community, family and friends.

The breakthrough that I have had recently was very positive and helped me move beyond a limitation that was severely holding me back, in relationship and in finances. That simple little breakthrough that may just change my life forever is; I realized that our legacy, our empire that we leave behind is not our possessions or our riches, it is our beliefs, behaviors and our habits. It is the actions that we model and the words that we speak. It is how we tend to ourselves in our most difficult and challenging times, those are the treasures, those are the prize possessions we will leave behind.

For such a long time I was so caught up in this idea that an empire came from the physical world, that if I built a big enough income or had the picture perfect relationship (let's be real, that doesn’t even exist) yet in most of our minds we limit our sense of value based on these very two things, and I thought that If I saw it externally I could finally validate my “success”. To my dismay I only resisted what I already knew deep in my soul, that I am innately valuable. The “search” continued and yet I still felt this aching emptiness, only to realize that I am already made whole, that I do not have to build, all I have to do is become. It was this tiny little shift in perspective that totally realigned and expanded my consciousness.

It was one of the most uplifting epiphanies I have ever had. With it came a sense of relief and lightness. I felt my heart begin to open and expand as I had this shift in perspective. I got super excited and it all began to make sense. When I look to the outside to see this “empire” I have built, it looks nothing like I thought it would, or rather what I have been taught it should look like via our society. Or even what others think it should look like. This would make me feel defeated and I would get stuck in this mental trap that I wasn’t doing enough, that I wasn’t enough, that I must be doing something wrong. I only felt this way when I was focusing too much on the material world, too caught up in the physical and not enough focus on the spiritual world, the emotional, the feeling aspect. I believe we will never be satisfied with the life we have until we are satisfied mentally, until we are present and at peace with our innate wholeness. If not we will desperately cling to the material world to give us a sense of security, stability and self worth. I wanted and needed my foundation to be built upon what is eternal, not what is temporary.

As I took some time to process this new information I felt a sense of clarity come to my mind. Where I was once foggy, confused and uncertain, everything began to clear up and shift into new spaces within my psyche that helped me see beyond the veil. ;) It’s amazing how quickly these changes can happen when we become aware of something we once kept hidden and “ran away” from. I can see now that as much as I wanted my “empire” to look a certain way in order for me to claim myself as “worthy” and valuable that it was completely made up of weak spots that would never support my internal world. So, I had to refocus my intention and hone in on what it is that makes me feel like an Empress and what I discovered, believe it or not, was that I feel the most rich and abundant when I am connected deeply and intimately to my heart space, not when I am immersed in “building” in the physical.

This is my moms wedding veil & inspired this shoot!

I connect deeply to my heart space in the stillness, in the quiet and in isolation. I thought that I had to constantly be producing in order to build my empire, but in fact I discovered that I am the empire and all I have to do is bring it forth with how I behave, with what I believe and with the habits I create. This is where I began to have the realization that I already have it all. I am the empire, it is wired within my DNA, into my genes, into my psyche. As I took the time to understand that the work I had been doing for years to shift my beliefs, behaviors and habits IS the legacy that I am going to leave behind for generations to come I felt a surge of self worth. I began to realize that my limiting beliefs around health, home, relationships, well-being, finances and career would no longer impact and hinder my children, grandchildren and so on. Rather, it will empower them to become their own empire, their own unique Kingdom of God. I felt a sense of accomplishment and a sense of love from my ancestors. Not only did I do this work for myself, I did it for the ones who came before me who couldn’t and I did it for the ones who will come after me.

When it comes to my shift in values I see that it all stems from a palpable awareness with my connection to God. Through Him I was able to rebuild my sense of Self from the Ground Up. ;) This new found sense of value can not be taken away by loss of a job, a home or a relationship. It cannot even be taken away by death, for this empire I have built within will follow me to the grave. I will not be haunted by the trials and tribulations of my life, I will be built out of them. My strength, will, discipline, ambition, love, peace, compassion, empathy and courage will live on far after my physical body ceases to exist and those traits will be passed on like an inheritance that money could never compare to.

I see so many people searching, pushing, exerting their mind, bodies and soul to the brink of exhaustion and depletion. They work tirelessly to attain some thing they think will bring them some sort of satisfaction and fulfillment, but they neglect their health; mentally, emotionally, physically and spiritually, they neglect their relationships, missing out on moments with their children and partner. They strive for this life they have been told to pursue at the cost of their own liberation, their own expansion and their own value.

One way to recognize that you are living out of alignment with your core values is how you feel about yourself when you’re doing the things that you were taught to do. Your values determine what you will prioritize. If you value feeling good, mentally, emotionally, physically or spiritually and the “work” you’re doing makes you feel depleted, exhausted, bound and limited, whether it be a job, a relationship or a habit, then it is not meant for you. It may be what was modeled and taught to you, but it is not in alignment with your truest essence, your soul.

Your work, relationships and habits should enliven you, they should bring you ample amounts of joy and stamina. If you don’t feel invigorated by your work, relationship or habits then it is time for you to make changes, to start living in accordance to your highest good. It is time to stop settling for less than you deserve, it is time to stop settling for what was passed down to you and it is time to start living in alignment with God. Because when you live for God, when you work for God, when you relate through God, you are living in your eternal Kingdom, you have not built an empire, but you have become one, with your actions, words, beliefs, behaviors and habits.

Thank you for reading!

Love and blessings, Ashley <3