Approximate Reading Time: 4 minutes
Looking back over the last 12 months, everything has changed. It’s been a period of immense growth, but also loss, challenge, and transformation. When you go through this kind of journey, what becomes clear is that it’s not just about the people you’ve actively cut out of your life, but also those who have removed themselves, leaving behind a complex process of grieving and release. Some of these changes are by choice and some are not, but both lead to a reckoning of what’s truly important and what you need to let go of in order to grow.
In dealing with toxic people—people whose extreme behaviours harm not just you but those around them—it’s often not just the person you lose. It’s also everything connected to them. You might find yourself losing friendships, a job, or relationships with their children. You realize how deeply embedded they were in different parts of your life and removing them isn’t simple. There’s a ripple effect. Toxic people often vilify you, alienate others from you, and manipulate situations so that you’re not just losing them but losing entire networks of connections. And that loss brings its own process of grief, which is layered on top of the relief that comes from no longer being under their influence.
The pain of losing those connections is real, but through that pain, there’s growth. As you step away from toxic influences, you begin to see how much they were distractions, weighing you down, pulling you away from the things that truly mattered in your life. Every time you were in a good place, these people would drag you back into negativity and away from your goals. They were a drain on your energy, your focus, and your ability to thrive.
But here’s the thing—these experiences, while difficult, are also opportunities. They’re the pressure that forms the diamond. Over time, you begin to see the blessings in those challenges. You see how each toxic relationship, each difficult situation, was an opportunity for growth. The roles these people played in your life, no matter how painful, were part of the process of you becoming who you are now.
Once you’ve removed toxic people, behaviours and patterns from your life, you’re left with a clearing—a space where you can start to introduce things that truly serve your growth. This is where personal development really begins to take center stage. One very effective way of managing this growth is to determine what your goals are and focus on them with intention.
When you start off with your initial goals, often you’re only able to see the surface of what you’re working toward. But as you grow and expand, repeating these goals to yourself every day, you begin to see incredible layers and depths that weren’t visible before. What once seemed like a singular goal now unfolds into something far more complex and beautiful. As your understanding deepens, your goals expand accordingly. You start to explore new levels that you couldn’t have imagined at the beginning and this expansion allows you to continue growing in ways that keep you aligned with your purpose.
It’s important to remember that during times of difficulty, you can always ask the universe for grace. This is something recently mentioned to me during my Alchemy of the Peruvian Altar course. Grace supports you so that the lessons don’t feel as harsh. Sometimes we need that extra softness, because while pressure can create something beautiful—like a diamond—it can also break if it’s too much. You have the ability to decide how much pressure you’re ready to handle. This idea of “God only giving you what you can handle” shifts once you reach a certain point in your growth. You become an active participant in deciding your own path and growth. That’s part of mastery—learning to become your own teacher, working collaboratively with the universe. Sometimes you lean on the universe for guidance when it can see more than you can and other times, you clearly state what you need in that moment. This back-and-forth is part of what it means to grow into mastery.
As you remove what doesn’t serve you, you also invite new opportunities for learning and growth. For me, continuous learning is essential. I’m always doing courses and workshops, even when I tell myself I’ve done enough. Each course, whether it’s on something practical or deeply spiritual, adds another layer to my life that I never would have discovered otherwise.
It’s similar to our understanding of Earth-based spirituality and the unseen forces of the Earth. We’re just beginning to truly grasp the depth and richness that the Earth has to offer when we open ourselves up and connect with her. Many ancient traditions have long known the incredible beauty, magic, and wisdom that the Earth holds and we are now just starting to reconnect with that knowledge. But even more than that, the Earth is now opening herself up to reveal new layers and depths to us. There is even more we are discovering, more than ever before, and as we deepen that connection, we realize how much more she has to offer. The more we open ourselves to these ancient teachings and practices, the more we realize how much we have yet to learn about the Earth's spiritual gifts and the role she plays in our growth. Connecting with the Earth in this way deepens our understanding of ourselves and the world, allowing us to expand in ways we might never have imagined.
In the end, it’s about being an active participant in your own life. You don’t need to let life simply happen to you or stay in a reactive state. Instead, you can co-create with the universe, setting your intentions and aligning yourself with opportunities that support your growth. By living with intention, purpose and meaning, you take an active role in exploring every corner of what you’re capable of—what you can create, what you can learn, and how far you can expand. It’s about striving to discover the full potential of your growth, your light and your purpose in this lifetime.
When you live in this way, everything changes. You become more focused, more aware, and more in tune with what truly matters. Looking back now, after 12 months of living this way, I can see the massive transformation. My life is unrecognizable, not because it’s been easy, but because I’ve been intentional about what I wanted to achieve, and I’ve worked through the pain, the grief and the challenges to come out stronger on the other side. I’ve truly put myself on a path of deep expansion, dedicating everything I have into each day, and the results, as I stand here now, have been well worth it.
It’s a beautiful thing to look back and realize how much growth has come from the very situations that once seemed so difficult. The pressure has created a beautiful diamond and I’m proud of the person I’m becoming and the path I’m on. The losses, challenges, and setbacks have all been part of the process, and I’m grateful for the lessons they’ve taught me. There is so much beauty in this human experience, and I feel incredibly fortunate to be on this journey—constantly learning, growing, and connecting more deeply with myself, with the Earth, with the Universe and with the people who truly matter.
I feel more love and a fuller spectrum of emotions than ever before. I feel aligned with the cosmic heart and the depth and richness that love has to offer. I once thought I had awakened, but now, I feel like I am just beginning to truly awaken to a level of consciousness and spirituality that is now available to us on Earth in ways that might not have been before. Whether it was once accessible only to shamans, or whether this is a new level of awareness, it doesn’t matter. What matters is that through hard work, determination, commitment, and above all, love—deep love for your path and your life—the journey continues to unfold in the most beautiful way. And it keeps getting better and better.
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