If you enjoyed the teleseminar, I’d love to hear about it! Please hop over to my Facebook page and let me know!

And don’t forget, my newest teleseminar – the six week series “Breaking Through Barriers in Love & Relationships”  - where you’ll receive six individual clearings as well as learn my technique so you can continue to do the work on your own – begins May 22nd.

Sign up for Breaking Through Barriers in Love & Relationships. Find out more  here.

NEW! “Ever wonder why a certain person is in your life? Ever feel like something’s blocking you from finding love, making money or having lasting relationships? Ever consider that your pet might be here to help YOU learn and grow? Soul Contract Consultant Danielle MacKinnon explains that Soul Contracts can be pre-birth agreements between souls to help create growth and transformation. Or they can be annoying past-life vows blocking us from our desires – which we have the ability to change. In this video Conversation, Danielle illustrates how to identify your soul contracts, recognize how they’re influencing your life, and what you can do if you don’t like how a soul contract is affecting you. This is an Afterlife TV conversation that can give you a greater awareness about your life and help you begin making changes right away.”  -Bob Olson, AfterLife TV

Unfortunately, Soul Contracts can also act as painful blocks that stop people from being able to achieve their dreams, have a wonderful marriage, find a best friend, or even become successful in business. When a Soul Contract is blocking the way, it is disheartening – and always confusing. I’ve met many a person who has tried every “thing” they could think of to find their “true love” or to make their business a great success – and yet, nothing worked. In situations like this, it’s often a Soul Contract that is standing in the way.

Below, I’ve listed five common Soul Contracts that people often don’t realize they have. Perhaps you recognize some of these within yourself? Perhaps it’s time to take some action (I’ll show you how to do that as well!).

5. Soul Contract of Martyrdom
Do you find that it’s a lot easier to say “yes” than it is to say “no”? Do you put your own needs or desires aside to help other people (or animals!) – even when it is really inconvenient to you? Do you feel like you’re a good person or a better person if you sacrifice your own needs in some way to make someone else happy? If you answered yes to any of these, you are probably a) feeling pretty frustrated with your life b) feeling that other people don’t appreciate you c) feeling tired and drained.

You probably also feel that being called “selfish” is the worst type of insult, and you most likely make decisions constructed to ensure that no one can ever apply that label to you. This is how the Martyrdom Soul Contract often manifests… and it’s not pretty. Once you’ve broken this soul-level agreement, it won’t mean you’ll never help another person. Rather, it will allow you to make better decisions about who to help and when – and also about how to continue to take care of yourself while giving to others. A much more balanced way to live for sure!

4. Soul Contract of Loyalty
Do you stand by your friend, lover, parent, boss etc. no matter what they do or how they treat you? Have you ever heard yourself saying “yes, she’s pretty mean but family is family” or “I have no choice, he’s my boss”? The Loyalty Soul Contract will often help a person create a situation in which they are walked all over by those they love and where a person feels helpless or trapped when considering changing or leaving the relationship because they don’t want to abandon the other person.

When a Soul Contract of this nature is finally released, you’ll be able to make changes in your relationships (personal or professional) even if those changes are something you’ve struggled with for years, such as leaving your husband or quitting your job. The “hold” that those people have over you will be gone!

3. Soul Contract of Loneliness
Have you been looking for your Soul-Mate throughout your life only to have one relationship after another result in failure, dis-ease, sadness and heartbreak? Have you tried blind dates, online dating, or settling for someone who isn’t “it”? While there are many different contracts that could be standing in the way of finding love, the Soul Contract of Loneliness can be one of the most difficult to handle. When your soul is adhering to this type of agreement, even when you’ve found someone wonderful – you still feel alone, separate and unsupported. Release this contract and you’re finally able to “feel” the support and love that is out there – whereas WITH this contract, it’s like it doesn’t exist (even though it often already does).

2. Soul Contract of Anxiety
If you are someone who always feels anxious, nervous or worried – your soul might be holding you to this type of contract. Do you wait for the other shoe to drop? When money is coming in – do you count the days until “you know” it will go out again? When one of your worries alleviates, do you quickly replace it with another thing to worry about? You may be thinking this is normal human nature, but it isn’t! In many cases, it’s a contract that you took out some time in a past life that your soul still believes is valid.

Why would you ever make such a commitment? Perhaps you felt that if you wrapped yourself in a blanket of anxiety – it would heighten your awareness so that nothing could ever get by you and surprise or hurt you again? (I’ve found with my clients that this is a common reason!)  Filtering life through a blanket of anxiety is not fun for you (obviously) or for the people around you. When you release this commitment, you’ll find that you are more able to be in touch with your

intuition (anxiety blocks us from our intuition) so you are more easily and naturally kept up to date by your own gut on what is coming down the pike for you. A much more enjoyable way to stay aware for sure!

1. Soul Contract: Rocking the Boat
Are you someone who is afraid to be seen as marching to your own drummer? Someone who doesn’t break rules or rock the boat? Who doesn’t even want others to know you’re reading this website? This is a very common agreement that we humans tend to commit ourselves to as a way of protection. By standing in the background and blending in, you run less risk of being ostracized, penalized or pointed out. While this might have seemed like a good idea during some lifetime when you were still reeling from being made fun of for something that you did – the current reality means that it will become difficult to build a business, become an expert, write a book, and more because you must stand out in order to do these things!

When you release this Soul Contract from your life, things really begin to open up. So much of what each person has come here to do is dependent on being able to blaze your own path. When you finally let go of this soul-level agreement, it’s like “ta-da!”, the lights turn on, your work is highlighted and things move forward.

How to Get Started Releasing & Clearing These Contracts

So, what do you do if you realize (through your own self-examination or through a session with me) that perhaps you’ve been unknowingly running up against a Soul Contract that you no longer want? How can you break it?

First, you have to realize that you can’t just break ANY Soul Contract that you want. It doesn’t work that way. You first must do the work to understand how this agreement has both served and hindered you. It’s like… your understanding is loosening the tooth so that it can be pulled.

Your second step is awareness. Spend time witnessing the Soul Contract and understanding how it’s been rearing its ugly head in your life. For example, if martyrdom is the issue, take a few weeks to notice when you’re giving up your own needs for those of another person. You’ll start to see patterns in your behavior, and as they emerge, it will become easier and easier for you recognize those times when you tend to sacrifice for others. This takes some time, so don’t expect to get it perfectly right away.

After you’ve mastered the awareness portion, a new piece will emerge: the awareness of the contract will bring about a moment of clarity. If you normally say, “Yes! I’ll take your Grandma to the grocery store on Sunday so you can stay in and watch football” you’ll now find that there is a small pause just before you give your answer. Within that pause you have created an opportunity: “Do I want to follow the same pattern or do I want to make a different decision this time?” Sometimes you will make the same decision and you will see the same results – but the more aware you are, the more you’ll be able to make a healthier choice.

Once you feel you’ve really got a handle on this contract, you understand where it shows up and how it’s affecting your life. After you’ve been working on making some different decisions, you can speed up and deepen the release by writing about it (automatic writing can be very effective!), addressing it in a therapy session, or doing Soul Contract work with me.

There is no right or wrong decision here – only what works. It’s a process – a process of realizing the Soul Contract is there, becoming aware of the pattern and how it shows up in your life, and then taking action steps to finally release it from your life. It’s one of the most empowering things you can do as a human!

Read more blog posts about Soul Contracts

Schedule a Soul Contract Reading or a Soul Contract Clearing with Danielle

Sign up for the upcoming Teleseminar: Break That Soul Contract! – Overgiving

I bring this little story up because there are a lot of people who ask me “am I on the right path?” or “what am I supposed to be doing with my life?” I find that as we make our way through this tumultuous year of 2012 – this is one of the hot topics. There are so many people out there who don’t believe they are aligning with their soul purpose or that they are incapable of figuring out what it is.  If you’re one of those people who gets up every morning with dread in the stomach, hating minute after minute of your job – you’re probably also someone who hasn’t yet aligned with your purpose quite enough yet – but that doesn’t mean your should lose hope!

One of my favorite phrases is:

Follow the passion not the emotion!

and yes, it rings true here. Grab on to the little bit of something that you DO love and start exploring there. Sure, you might have to continue your work at the bank while you’re looking into the other options – but then your boring job at the bank becomes a GIFT put in place to give you security while you grow and expand another avenue. There is a purpose to everything – even the icky career that you started but do not like. You won’t be able to see the big picture though if you don’t find a piece of passion somewhere else in your life and begin cultivating it. And don’t assume it will lead you in a straight line! You never know where it will take you!

So – follow that passion, find the energy, get excited! Stop worrying, let go of over-logic-ing (my own word obviously) and rationalizing yourself and uncover that smallest hiccup of passion somewhere in your life – and then start exploring it. It’s ALWAYS there – sometimes it’s just more hidden. And sometimes uncovering that thread IS the actual passion.

In Love & Light,

~Danielle

What Our Pets Are Really Telling Us

June 8-10, 2012
Omega Institute
Rhinebeck, NY
Register here

Have you ever longed to communicate with animals? Is there a way to understand what dogs, cats, horses, and even wild animals are thinking and feeling? Tap into the universal language of all species through telepathic communication and get answers about the health, life, and love of your own beloved pet with animal intuitive Danielle MacKinnon. You discover her pioneering animal communication techniques to telepathically connect and work with animals at the level of the soul.

Throughout the weekend, you:

• Develop your animal intuitive senses to cultivate healing, harmony, and a deeper connection
• Explore the eights steps to telepathically give and receive information with animals
• Discover how to go beyond a superficial connection and attain a soul-level connection
• Learn about animal soul contracts and how animals use them to assist and heal us

You return home with valuable animal communication skills you can put into direct practice. No previous experience is necessary.

Bring photos of your pets. Recommended reading: Boone, Kinship With All Life.

Registration Link

Can’t make the whole weekend? Try Danielle’s two-hour online Animal Communication class instead!

Not everyone is so naive and not everyone is so honest. And this is what my husband and I experienced this past week. My husband, Kevin is one of those very active Dads. When my son plays a sport, Kevin usually tries to coach the team – and he puts his all into it. When my son wants to learn a new activity, my husband is right there with him showing him how to do it.  For example, Cole (my son) wanted to learn skateboarding, so my husband starting teaching him everything he knew. They now skateboard down the street and at skate parks all the time together. (And yes, Kevin is the old guy skateboarding, but he doesn’t mind). Kevin is one of those “do it all for the kids” kinds of Dads and that’s something I really admire about him. By the way, he’s also an engineer – so he’s very detail oriented and conscientious in anything that he does with Cole (sometimes to a fault as well!)

Cut to the present when Kevin is volunteer coaching my son’s hockey team. He’s been devoting about 15 hours a week into it, on top of his regular job. He loves coaching, he loves watching the kids develop and he has an attachment to every last kid on the team. He knows these boys so well – he can tell you if someone didn’t get enough sleep, is going to have the game of his life or isn’t grounded (my son’s problem) before a game even begins. The problem is that kids are involved. And with kids come parents.

Last week, Kevin and his assistant coach had a meeting with one of the parents of a boy on the team. The coaches wanted to make sure everyone was on the same page. As it turned out, everyone was not on the same page and the parent launched a personal attack against Kevin three inches from his face. This father spit as many personal and coaching insults as he could think of at Kevin, the rest of the coaches and the other boys on the team. With his voice raised, his face red and sweaty this father really lost his cool (although based on this, I’m not sure he ever had the cool). The assistant coach, a great peacemaker, struggled to calm the father down and get him to back away from Kevin who thankfully, did not rise to meet the challenge and remained perfectly calm. Finally, Kevin ended the meeting saying “This isn’t getting us anywhere. Perhaps we should talk again when you’re calmer.” The take away point was that this father wanted his son to play a different position and that was how he chose to express that thought.

Here’s the thing: Kevin and I were both blown away by this father’s behavior and attack. This man’s wife has been very nice to me and to Kevin throughout the season and yet as it turned out, she was completely in line with what her husband had said about Kevin both as a coach and as person. And here’s where my naivety comes in. I had heard through the good ol’ town grapevine that the wife had said these exact same things, but since she was so nice to me during games and when I saw her on the street, I passed it off as town gossip. Which it clearly was not.

For Kevin, this was a difficult lesson to learn. He wants to make all of the kids AND the parents happy while also helping the kids grow their hockey skills and have fun. Over the weeks prior this blow up, Kevin and the other coaches has spent hours and countless emails putting the kids into positions they thought would be best of the team as well as for the individual play. A hard task with 18 kids! Not having this plan valued – and in fact, watching it get attacked was very difficult for Kevin but more importantly, knowing that his plan was the catalyst for someone going into that much anger was worse. In order for Kevin to come through this experience and master it, he’s going to have to become accepting of the idea that he can’t please everyone. Difficult to swallow, but he’s working on even as we speak.

Unlike Kevin, I’m not so concerned with making everyone happy. If you’re not happy with me, you’re not happy with me. We’re not a match. So be it. My lesson in this situation was different because I’m psychic. And I didn’t use my intuitive abilities to even glance at the situation. I heard the horrible things the mother had been saying about the kids on the team, the coaches and the team itself – from several different sources and yet, I chose to ignore it because in person, this mother is nice to me. Instead of ignoring it – a “check-in” would have been a better step. I could have taken just a moment to “feel” out the gossip (Is this true? Did this mother really say these things?) and get prepared if necessary. The problem is that I often tend to separate my time as a hockey mom from my time as an intuitive. On the one hand, it’s never fun to watch a game and know who is going to win before it starts (this was a problem during the Stanley Cup Finals last year-just ask my husband who wanted to shoot me). On the other hand, I have to allow my abilities to part of every aspect of my life (just like I teach all of you!) Including hockey. Including hockey mom. For me, this was a reminder to be me, everywhere.

The Want to Please Everyone Soul Contract and the Separate Psychic Times from Real Life Soul Contract are very common among Lightworkers. I’m hoping that through this blog post you can find those places in your life where a Soul Contract has been activated within you and then try to master the lesson from it. Dealing with Soul Contracts and lessons is not always easy (as you can see here), but it does pay off. Both Kevin and I are happier because of what we have gained from this experience (but it took a few days to get the perspective!)

Read more about Soul Contracts

Book your own Soul Contract Reading

Buy “Navigating the Soul Contract Code” for even more info!

March 20, 2012 8:30-9:30pm ET

The process of attaining clarity can have a profoundly positive affect in all areas of your life. Join Danielle and Jennifer Farmer for this information packed tele –seminar as they share practical tools to assist you in developing self-trust and gaining intuitive clarity. Ultimately, this will allow you to make better, clearer and wiser decisions.

During the call, Danielle and Jennifer will discuss the process of developing clarity, meditation and intuition. They will also open the phone lines and take calls from participants. This call will be recorded.

The Dial in number will be provided upon registration. No computer or Internet connection is required.

Free Registration Link

About Jennifer Farmer
Jennifer Farmer is an experienced Intuitive, Medium, and Spiritual Teacher.  People from all over the world, and all walks of life seek Jennifer out for professional and personal development. She has given public demonstrations of her mediumship and taught her signature workshops on developing intuition. She has been a featured guest on Sprit Connections with John Holland, Dr. Pat Baccili  and many others. In 2008, Bob Olson – Editor of Ofspirit.com & BestPsychicMediums.com, named her as one of the Best Psychic Mediums. Jennifer has developed a series of healthy living guided meditations to help improve your spiritual connection, reduce stress, manage chronic pain, overcome anxiety and depression and take control of your life. In 2010, Jennifer’s meditations were featured in Yoga Magazine.

Your personal Soul Contracts are a little sneaky – it’s not like you can look them up on the web or ask your Mom or read about them in a book. Your personal Soul Contracts are exactly that: personal. So,it takes quite a bit of conscious looking and effort to understand and master them. Luckily, the point of being human is to understand and master these relationships – so it’s not an impossible task, just a task that requires focus and intention.

Soul Contracts are those wonderful agreements that occur between two souls before embodiment. That’s right – before you became Jane Smith or John Cullins your soul got together which a whole bunch of other souls and figured out how you would help one another evolve once you came into your next human lifetimes. Sounds great right? The problem is that most of the time, you (as the human attached to that soul) has no clue how this or that relationship is helping you evolve (your soul knows and it’s up to your human-ness [my own made-up word] to find out). It’s an interesting little system that has been put together for us. The more you work toward “getting” these soul contracts, the closer your human-ness comes to your soul, the better you feel about yourself and the happier you are in your life.

These beautiful Soul Contracts created before embodiment are not to be confused with Negative Soul Contracts which people create during embodiment when they are trying to control their lives rather than have faith that they are safe, guided and protected by Spirit, the Universe, our Angels or Guides – or whomever it is that they normally put their faith into. Like Positive Soul Contracts, Negative Soul Contracts also help you evolve it’s just that the road to that evolution is just a lot bumpier, more confusing and stressful. Feel like you’re a good person because you help others despite yourself? Perhaps, you’re someone who can’t break your word or maybe every time you make a friend you end up resenting them because they demand so much from you. These are all examples of Negative Soul Contracts!

People want to work on their Soul Contracts (positive or negative) because learning why a certain relationship is the way it is or why a certain patterns repeats in your life can be so helpful. You could finally feel safe in your relationship with your husband – or perhaps finally leave him. You could finally feel comfortable living outside the box (perhaps you leave your corporate job and start your own business). You could finally feel happy taking care of yourself (after all, “selfish” is not a four-letter word).  But to do this is takes some personalized and focused self-examination. Yes, through my sessions I help people do this work – but there are other ways as well. Yoga, for one, can be a great way to get to know yourself and your patterns. Writing with your guides – is another wonderful method for gaining insight into your relationships and negative patterns – but you have to trust what you are getting (a little issue for some people!). Therapy, changing your diet, pushing yourself to live slightly outside of your comfort zone in your relationships and out – these are all other methods through which I’ve seen people find success in understanding and mastering their Soul Contracts. In the end it will be a completely personal decision – and what works for you will not necessarily work for someone else. My suggestion? Start trying different methods! You will find the right thing for you to start experiencing that feeling of moving forward at the deepest level!

Learn about the Intuitive Coaching Program (ICP) •   Learn about a Soul Contract Session

Read Best Psychic Medium’s Review of a Soul Contract Session with Danielle

MORE on Soul Contracts

The recent long holiday weekend was a challenge for me. Really. Not because family was visiting (they were) or because they stayed for many days (which they did), not because it made it more difficult for me to get some “down time” (which it did) and not because I had to attend nine million hockey games (which I did). Thanksgiving was hard for me because of the food. Yep, that’s right – the food. Those of you who have worked with me repeatedly already know this – but for those who don’t – I keep myself on a very strict diet intended to keep me clear, calm and grounded. After all, if I wasn’t clear (if I was stuffing myself with as much lava cake as I would really like to) I wouldn’t be able to be the conduit that I am everyday in my work AND I wouldn’t be able to be a very effective mom, wife and human outside of work.

What’s nice about my diet is that it was created through communication with my guides and it is completely tailored to my needs. For example, many people can eat chocolate and become more grounded – but for me, it (oh-so-sadly) takes me right out of my body and makes it hard to concentrate. So, no chocolate for me. Potatoes are another one. I have plenty of clients who can eat baked potatoes or french fries every once in a while – but not me. Again – POP! I’m out of my body, unable to function well.

When Thanksgiving rolled around this year, I had planned on being extra careful so as to maintain my clarity and grounding by staying in constant contact with my intuitive side. I actually got off to a great start and “knew” that it was OK to try a couple dalliances here and there. Based on connection with my guides beforehand, I thoughtfully added mashed potatoes into my Thanksgiving meal. It was off my diet but my guidance said that if I kept things in check, I would still feel good and mostly clear. That was if I kept things in check!

And I didn’t. I really, really didn’t. I took one bite and went “Oh wow! I have missed this! I shouldn’t have to miss this!” In the first three minutes of the meal, I had eaten more than two cups of mashed potatoes which easily contained a half container of Earth Balance in them. I just kept going – shoveling them into my mouth spoonful after spoonful. I finally stopped, not because I intuitively knew I should (by that time I was ignoring all intuitive advice) but because it didn’t look like there would be enough left for everyone else who hadn’t even finished serving themselves yet! No joke. The result was that I felt completely off balance and unclear (translation: cranky) and had to go upstairs to my bedroom and lay down for the next three hours. I missed out on the rest of the holiday.

Why am I writing this humiliating story? I simply wanted you to learn from my mistake. Like me, there are a lot of people who will make decisions about what to eat this time of year based on emotions (“I’m having such a great time! I can eat whatever I want!) or feelings of deprivation (“I’ve been good for the past week, I deserve this treat”) and even on anger (“Screw them all, I’m doing what I want.”) My mistake was in the vein of all three really. PHEW!

So, the lesson here is one you’ve heard me say before:

Decisions made through emotions take you the long route home.

Clarity and balance again turn out to be the most important factor in a successful holiday meal (as well as a family visit, a Christmas party, a Hanukkah get-together and whatever else you’ll be doing). If you find yourself going off-balance, just step back for a moment, take some deep breaths and clear yourself. I know I wish I had – and I know I’ll be doing that for Christmas dinner in a few weeks!

Danielle