The Angel of Success

The angel of success appears in a vision set in a beautiful country kitchen with a large stove and oven at the heart of it. The handpainted wooden cabinets and the spacious countertops are filled with handy kitchen appliances, utensils, crockery, cutlery and a big supply of natural cooking ingredients. The aroma of fresh herbs and freshly baked goods fill up the entire space. The angel of success welcomes us into this magnificent room and invites us to take a seat at the cozy kitchen table, while she pours us a steaming hot cup of tea and offers us one of the cookies that are still hot from the oven. Allow me to enlighten you on the true meaning of success, dear ones, she says.

My dear ones,

This kitchen represents nourishment, warmth, healing and financial stability, qualities that are related to success, and it is the place where you have the opportunity to create something from scratch, something that pleases you and brings you great joy. Kitchens are often referred to as the heart of the home, where the fire is always burning. Your heart is the seat of your creations, where your creative fires are lit by the joy of received inspiration, dreams and desires. Your creations are unique and personal and so is the level and definition of success that you attach to the process of creation as well as to the outcomes and endresults. Allow me to illustrate this with the metaphor of cooking in a kitchen.

First of all, in what capacity do you enter your kitchen of creation? Are you an experienced cook when it comes to certain recipes or are you just starting out and are you still developing the necessary skills? If you are a beginner, it is important that you are willing to practice, experiment and even fail at certain times, which is part of the journey and part of the learning curve. Instead of beating yourself up for making mistakes or not making enough quick progress in reaching your desired success, I encourage you to focus on the joy of the process and celebrate your steps forwards when it comes to the improvement of your cooking skills and results. Do not compare yourself to others when it comes to success. You might be excellent at baking cakes, while someone else is a master at making a great casserole. Your talents, skills and levels of experience vary and that is perfectly okay. Learn to be satisfied with your own progress and level of success. Also take into account the cooking time of the dish of your choice. You cannot change the boiling point of water or speed up the time that a pie needs to be cooked at a fixed temperature, for example. You simply cannot rush the coming together of the endresult. Patience and trust in divine timing are key here.

Then there is the kitchen itself and its content. Some of you are in the possession of a large modern kitchen with lots of fancy appliances and a rich choice of ingredients to cook with, others of you must make do with a smaller and simpler version, but it is the cooking itself that matters the most. Accept where you are and start cooking, do not waste your time and energy complaining what you do not have, but make the most of what you do have. Say to yourself that this is only the beginning and that things will be added and improved along the way. Be content and at ease in your kitchen of creation, keep it clean and well organized.

The success of your cooking does not solely depend on the quality of your outer circumstances, it is fuelled by your passion and joy.

One way to ensure high levels of joy and passion during your cooking activities is that you do not overdo it and that you find a healthy balance of work, rest and play. When you spend hours on end standing on your feet and baking the same old cookies over and over again, you will surely tire and get fed up with the whole activity. Making yourself work harder with more strain and effort is never the answer to more success, allowing yourself to switch more from a work-mode into a receiving and allowing mode however is. Take regular breaks and go outside to breathe in the fresh air and soak up the sunshine. And then when you return and you are ready to start on a new dish, make sure to bless your kitchen first and all the utensils, pots and pans that you are going to use, say a prayer of gratitude and appreciation, love where you are and what you are about to start doing. Bless and appreciate the ingredients and never take them for granted. Maybe you even get some help in your kitchen from a fellow cook, who comes in to assist you, guide you or teach you how to be become a better cook, make sure to thank them for their presence and assistence. This creates an attitude of abundance even before you start the process and it will ensure a lightness and flow in all your cooking experiences and the success of your dishes.

Lastly, but most importantly, there are your expectations of your success. When you constantly doubt yourself while cooking, asking yourself if you have added the right amount of ingredients, if you have stirred the mixture well enough or if you have forgotten something crucial to add to the mix, you conjure up resistance, especially when these doubts turn into projections of disaster and failure. Reaching for perfection is setting you up for disappointment, learn to laugh about your mistakes and learn to enjoy a cake that might not look as well as you expected, but still tastes good. So in this case, focus on the taste, focus on what went well, focus on your strengths and not your weaknesses and do not overly criticize yourself and condemn yourself for making mistakes. Revel in the sweetness of the pie, get excited about new recipes and new creations, but remain in a spirit of optimism, ease and flow. Your mental and emotional state are just as important as your practical skills when it comes to cooking. When you notice that certain negative thought-patterns are leading you astray, pause for a moment and start again from a different viewpoint and perspective. Once again, do not be too hard on yourself for having a bad day or a bad experience. As long as you are there and your kitchen of creation is there, you can always start afresh and with renewed passion and joy, because this is a choice that is yours to make. You do not have to prove yourself to anyone, not even to the universe that you are worthy of success. You are worthy beyond measure and the success is already yours. You could not be more deserving just as you are today, so choose to enjoy the process of cooking and make sure that you feel good and have fun along the way! That is the true recipe for success!