For every new ambition, relationship, and experience you seek at this time, there’s a commitment in place that must be eliminated to make way for the new. Current routines, habits, and even types of free time must be sacrificed so that you can open up to new energies. Your Master Teacher is present, urging you to identify what must go. Be honest in your assessment, and also be realistic and thoughtful in setting your goals so that you don’t overreach and fail.

Your Master Teacher reminds you that even though the Universe does support your heart, it doesn’t allow you to bypass the work necessary to manifest your desires. In other words, “You reap what you sow.” And the best way is to systematically move toward your priorities while simultaneously discarding what no longer serves you. If you want to lose ten pounds, you must release jelly doughnuts. If you want to work for yourself, you must let go of the need for others to take care of you. If you want to create a new love relationship, you mustn’t brood over past heartbreaks any longer. The message from your Master Teacher: “To reach for something greater, you must first let go of what’s in your hand.”

You may be entering or experiencing a period of loss, regret, disappointment, pain, and perhaps even grief. These feelings may have arisen from present painful circumstances, or they may be the result of a surfacing of unexpressed or unprocessed loss from the past. Whether caused by something in the past or present, your heart is ready to unburden your pain and your soul is ready to grow from these experiences. Your Healer Guides are present to assist you in your healing through these difficult times. These soothing helpers assure you that your present pain will transform into learning, and this too shall pass. Your joy will return.

Ask your Healer Guides to help lift your heart, and turn your loss and pain over to their loving care. Trust their counsel as they urge you to call a grief counselor, seek a healing massage, or pick up a book that will assist you in your current situation. Their message: “Seek sources of help.”

Our culturally perverse notion that “doing, doing, doing” is the correct use of time, and that “doing nothing” is a complete waste of time, has indeed made us a sick society. Your overwhelming desire to back off from this whirlwind of activity and take a break—even throw in the towel altogether—isn’t crazy or unrealistic. It’s a direct summons from the Holy Spirit to withdraw your attention from the outer world and reconnect with your soul. Your life is not to be frittered away in meaningless and unexamined activity. You came in with a purpose, and specific soul intentions that are being neglected. They’re now knocking at the door of your attention, reminding you that you have commitments to keep. If you don’t heed this call and begin to self-examine, you may even enter a dark night of the soul, a time where nothing feels meaningful.

Listen to the Holy Spirit and open your heart to its direction. Take lots of time to be alone, and get in touch with your soul. Write in a journal, seek counseling, and pray. Allow yourself to be in direct contact with the guiding wisdom of the Holy Spirit on a daily basis. Withdrawing from the world—whether through contemplation, meditation, or even a sabbatical—is the most powerful way to use your time right now. The Holy Spirit is guiding you in your quiet moments. Its message: “Make time for yourself.”