What allows you to feel that your life has purpose and meaning? How do you nurture the internal dimension of yourself? Do you have a personal connection with the deeper rhythms of your life and of the Earth? How do you relate to the mystery of life? What offers you inspiration and hope? What allows you to feel deep joy? Do you feel connected to a higher power and intelligence? These questions require us to go deep within ourselves for the answers. Those answers shape and frame our spirituality.
Spirituality is a highly personal and intimate experience of our deeper nature. It should not be confused with religious doctrines. Discovering what allows the deeper parts of yourself to be fulfilled has little to do with other people’s ideas about God or with theological prescriptions. Your relationship to your deeper nature determines your spiritual path. Your path is unlike anyone else’s path. It is uniquely personal and evolves out of finding, uncovering, and nurturing your inner truth.
People give many answers in response to the question “What does it mean to be spiritual?”
• “To pray, meditate, to love myself and others, and to begin to fulfill what is truly me.”
• “Claiming my creatorship and being truth and light.”
• “To be trusting and accepting that my inner process is unfolding exactly the way it should.”
• “Listening and living the guidance of my inner voice.”
• “To be the truth and keep my word.”
• “Acknowledging my physical existence as only a part of the universal order; seeking out the intentions of the Cosmic Coordinator.”
The purpose of this chapter is to help you create or move further along your personal spiritual path. We will lead you through three explorations that will assist you in this process. The first will be an inner journey to your higher purpose.
Journey to Your Higher Purpose
Each of us comes to this planet to learn and accomplish certain things. Our higher purpose is the deeper reason for our being here. Understanding our higher purpose allows us to have available to our conscious minds those lessons that our evolving soul chose to learn in this life. When we create our lives in alignment with our higher purpose, we have an extraordinary asset to motivate us. Gandhi called it satyagraha, or soul force. It is the force of our deeper nature urging us to do whatever is necessary to learn our lessons and grow as spiritual beings. Some examples of a higher purpose might include:
• To raise a family and learn how to love.
• To learn that you are not a victim of circumstances, but rather the creator of your own fate.
• To learn how to manifest a particular gift or talent.
• To trust that there is a benevolent and supporting higher intelligence—call it God or whatever concept works for you—that cares about your well-being and with whom you can have a personal relationship.
• To learn the lessons of caring for people in need of help.
• To learn how to unconditionally love yourself.
• To learn to create financial abundance.
• To help the Earth and our human family through this challenging time in our evolution.
• To learn how to cooperate with others.
• To learn how to play and be joyful.
No one higher purpose is better than any another. To grow spiritually, we each need to move toward fulfilling our unique higher purpose. No one higher purpose is better than any other. The purpose of this next exercise is to help you understand your higher purpose or, if you understand it already, to take it to the next level.
As you ask about your higher purpose, your inner self will communicate to you in an appropriate way. If you don’t understand the communication, ask for clarity.
One man who did this exercise was sure that he wasn’t spiritual and that the following exercise had confirmed his belief. Frank felt he had “failed” spirituality because he had no meaningful higher purpose. What had come to Frank during the exercise made no sense to him at all. His answer was “a shoe attached to a helicopter!” We suggested to him that he ponder those symbols.
On reflection, he broke into a fit of laughter. His inner self was telling him that his higher purpose was for his soul (sole) to lift off (helicopter). Given Frank’s offbeat, somewhat irreverent sense of humor, this image was the perfect way for him to get the message. Frank has subsequently developed an active, relationship with a new friend he calls the Ultimate Big One. He writes poetry to his new friend all the time.
While on your inner journey, keep yourself open to symbols, subtle feelings, any activity that unfolds in the visualization, and, of course, any obvious message you receive. Allow the process to flow easily and naturally in whatever way it does. Our inner guidance is totally available to us—all we need to do is ask.
EXERCISE | YOUR HIGHER PURPOSE
Allow approximately fifteen minutes to do this exercise. You will not need your journal during the exercise, but you will want to have it handy immediately afterward. Space has been left in case you do not have your journal. Find a quiet place where you will be undisturbed. Sit in a comfortable chair and put on some soft, relaxing music. The exercise is divided into several parts. Read a paragraph, then close your eyes and visualize. When you’ve completed that part, with soft eyes go on to the next paragraph. Get ready for a journey to your higher purpose.
1. Take several deep breaths and allow yourself to relax. Take a few moments to get still and find the quiet center within. In that quiet center, begin to get in touch with the yearning that we all have to understand why we are here, the yearning to understand our higher purpose for being on the Earth. Prepare yourself for a journey in which you will seek spiritual counsel on a very important question: What is my higher purpose and how may I manifest it more fully in my life?
2. Imagine yourself on the outskirts of a very ancient forest. See yourself beginning to walk through this ancient forest. You walk farther and farther through this forest. As you walk, you ponder the question you carry: What is my higher purpose, and how may I manifest it more fully in my life?
3. Soon you reach an opening in the forest and before you is a crystalline, clear pond. As you look into the pond you see an image. You ask this image the question you have been carrying with you: What is my higher purpose and how may I manifest it more fully in my life? Spend as much time as you need contemplating whatever you receive. If the answer is not clear, ask for more clarity.
4. It is now time to leave the pond and go back into the ancient forest. As you walk back through the forest, continue to reflect on what you have learned. You walk farther and farther out of the forest. You walk back over the same trail and finally you’re out of the forest. When you are ready, gently open your eyes and bring yourself back to the here and now.
5. Maintaining soft eyes, write down or draw what you have received as an answer to your question. Describe or draw the particular image you saw in the pond and anything else of note about the journey. If the answer didn’t come in words but in some other way, write down or draw what you experienced.
One man, an artist by profession, had the following experience:
The night before this exercise I had dreamed of a blond woman with whom I felt a deep intimacy. She had many other woman friends. Later, I also dreamed of touching my mother gently on the cheek.
I began the journey into the woods very skeptically. On my way, I noticed a peculiar smell in the room, that of a woman’s clean-washed, soapy hair, a wonderful freshness. Momentarily ignoring the visualization of being in the woods, I open my eyes and look around to see whose odor I had caught. I am sitting beside a sweaty man and other unlikely candidates; I conclude that I am imagining things, though the odor was so strong.
Back on the trail I approach the pool, expecting absolutely nothing to happen. Suddenly, out of the pool somebody hands me a birthday cake. I am stunned. This is the craziest thing that I ever expected. What the hell am I supposed to do with the cake? I dutifully begin to carry it out of the woods and finally come to rest on a hill. I think, “This must be my birthday!” But why? I am perplexed, but feel light, happy, and [grin] foolish.
After the visualization was over, I told my partner about my unusual experience. Her vision had been of a woman with long blond hair who had told her to love herself. Suddenly, the smell of clean, close hair rushed back to me. Suddenly, the blonde in my last night’s dream came to life. Suddenly, I felt my hand on my mother’s cheek.
I suddenly understood! My higher purpose is to celebrate my anima’s birthday, the birth of my divine goddess! As a result of this higher-purpose exercise I created the following affirmation: “I celebrate the birth of my female divinity.”
Another person reported:
As 1 looked in the pond, I felt a puff of air against my cheek. I looked over and saw this big eagle sitting on my right shoulder. It was looking straight ahead. I realized that I was protected. The next thing I knew, I was flying. I’m soaring over the hills and I feel like a three-year-old. The eagle gave me the experience of trust in the universe. I realized my higher purpose was to develop trust in the universe and that this eagle would help me to do this.
We hope you now have a deeper understanding of your higher purpose and how you may manifest it more fully. If anything is still unclear to you, go back to your pond and ask for more clarity. If you had a particularly positive rapport with the entity or symbol you saw reflected in the pond, it can serve as a representation of your inner self. You can go to the pond and ask this being or symbol for guidance on other matters that are important to you. The more you cultivate and draw upon your inner self, the more adept you will become at receiving inner guidance and connecting with the deeper rhythm of your life.
The Profound in Your Daily Life
A central element in creating a spiritual path is connecting with something that allows us to transcend the everyday, mundane aspects of our lives. This connection allows us to gain perspective and distance from our human drama and allows us to feel a sense of the profound in our life. We need to have a personal sense of oneness with the whole pattern of life that animates the cosmos. We need to experience wonder regularly. An intellectual concept of God is dry and sterile compared to a personal relationship with something transcendent. We can’t just read about it or listen to others talk about it. We need to experience it directly.
We can connect with this sense of wonder, oneness, awe, and profundity in many ways. Some experiences that might have transported you to a higher level of consciousness are:
• Being present at a birth.
• Witnessing death.
• A moment of intense beauty.
• A movie or book that poignantly depicts the human condition.
• A lucid dream.
• Euphoria after making love.
• Falling in love.
• An extraordinary piece of music.
• A moment when you were able to laugh at the whole human drama.
• Euphoria that results from physical exercise.
• A profound moment of experiencing nature.
These moments are available to any of us without having to do anything other than be open and sensitive to them. They are experiences that allow us to transcend our everyday reality and recognize that we are part of something much larger than we can explain or understand. The ancients called this The Mystery. Each of these profound moments is a spiritual experience that you can use as a point of focus for a regular meditation practice. As you meditate on this moment, your consciousness once again reexperiences a state of transcendence.
EXERCISE | TRANSCENDENCE MEDITATION
Allow approximately ten minutes to do this exercise. You will need your journal. Space has been left in case your journal is not handy. Find a quiet place where you will not be disturbed. Sit in a comfortable chair, put on some soft, relaxing music, and get set.
1. Scan your life and write down those experiences in which you transcended your normal everyday state of mind and connected with the profound in life. Look through the list above for inspiration, but don’t be limited by this list. If you had any meditation or prayer experiences that were profound, you can also draw on these.
2. Choose your most profound experience. Take a few deep breaths and immerse yourself in that moment. Experience it as fully and thoroughly as if it were happening right now. Spend at least five minutes being fully present in this experience and allow it to take you where it will. When you feel ready, bring yourself back to your normal state of consciousness.
3. Notice how you’re feeling right now. Notice how you’re relating to life right now. Notice how regenerated you feel. Use this meditation to spiritually refresh yourself whenever you feel the need. It’s an asset you have accumulated in your spiritual bank account.
Discovering Your Spiritual Gifts
We each come into life with certain spiritual gifts to assist us in our growth. Like our higher purpose, knowledge of our spiritual gifts is readily available if we ask for it. These gifts are the spiritual bounty by which we further our evolution and bless the planet. Native American tradition says that when you truly know your spiritual gifts, you are in a position to fulfill your higher purpose.
The next exercise is an opportunity to discover, or deepen your already existing knowledge of, your gifts. It is a very special and magical inner journey.
EXERCISE | SPIRITUAL GIFTS GUIDED VISUALIZATION
Allow thirty to forty minutes for this exercise. You will need your journal and colored pens or drawing materials. Space has been left in case you don’t have your journal handy. Find a quiet place where you will not be disturbed. Sit in a comfortable chair and put on some soft, relaxing music. The guided visualization is divided into several parts. After each paragraph, close your eyes so you can more easily visualize. At certain points in the journey you will be guided to draw or record in your journal. Maintain soft eyes as you move in and out of the meditative state. Get yourself ready for a magical journey.
1. Take several deep breaths and feel yourself relaxing. In this journey you will be carrying a question that you will ask of those you meet. The question is this: Can you please tell me one of the spiritual gifts that I have been given to help me on my path? We invite you to take this journey as your child self. Be open to wonder and magic. Take a few moments now to be in touch with your childlike spirit of wonder.
2. See yourself at the outskirts of the same forest you just visited for your higher-purpose journey. As you know by now, this forest is quite magical and has many surprises in it. Again, begin to walk through this ancient forest. As you walk farther into the forest you come upon a large tree trunk with a door. Open the door and notice that there is a spiral ladder leading down into the tree trunk. You begin to climb down the spiral ladder until you are well below the surface of the Earth. You spiral down, down, down.
3. Finally, you reach the end of the spiral ladder and come to another door. You open this door and enter a world of splendor and enlightenment. For several moments you just take in this extraordinary sight, listening to the wondrous sounds and delighting in what you see. As you are marveling, you become aware of your ability to communicate with everything in your environment. You also discover your ability to fly!
4. As you begin to explore this world of splendor and enlightenment, you find yourself attracted to a crystal. You develop a very special friendship with this crystal and ask your crystal friend this question: “Can you please tell me one of the spiritual gifts that I have been given to help me on my path?” When you have received your answer, with soft eyes record or draw what you have received in your journal.
5. Thank your friend the crystal and say good-bye. As you continue to explore this world of splendor and enlightenment, you hear a flower calling your name. Again, you develop a very special friendship with this flower. After a while, you ask your flower friend this question: “Can you please tell me one of the spiritual gifts that I have been given to help me on my path?” When you have received your answer, with soft eyes record or draw what you’ve received in your journal.
6. Thank your friend the flower and say good-bye. As you continue your adventure, you come upon a great kingdom of animals. You begin to play with the animals. Gradually, you are attracted to a certain animal with which you develop a special friendship. You ask your animal friend, “Can you please tell me one of the spiritual gifts that I have been given to help me on my path?” When you have received your answer, with soft eyes record or draw what you have received in your journal.
7. As before, thank your animal friend and say good-bye. As you’re leaving, a butterfly alights upon your shoulder and guides you as you fly together to the top of a mountain. Waiting for you on the mountaintop is a wise and loving person. Again, you develop a very special friendship with this person. You ask this wise and loving friend the question, “Can you please tell me one of the spiritual gifts I have been given to help me on my path?” When you have received your answer, with soft eyes record or draw what you received in your journal.
8. Thank your friend and say good-bye. As you leave your friend on the mountaintop, you take flight, fully experiencing the joy of flying. During your flight, you fly through a giant rainbow. As you come out the other side of the rainbow, you find yourself in the realm of spirit. Greeting you there is a spirit guide. You develop a special friendship with this spirit guide. When you feel ready, you ask your spirit guide friend your question: “Can you please tell me one of the spiritual gifts that I have been given to help me on my path?” When you have received an answer, gently, with soft eyes, record or draw what you received in your journal.
9. Thank your spirit guide and say good-bye. Your spirit guide lets you know it’s time to return to your regular world. You begin to fly back over this magical world of splendor and enlightenment, reflecting on the gifts you have received. You fly back over your friend on the mountaintop, over your animal friend, your friend the flower, and finally over your crystal friend.
10. You arrive back at the door that opens to the spiral ladder. You take one more look, savoring this magical world, and then open the door leading up into the tree trunk. You begin climbing back up the spiral ladder. Up and up the spiral ladder you climb, until you reach the door that leads out of the tree trunk. You open the door and reenter the ancient forest. You begin to retrace your footsteps back through the forest. You come farther and farther out of the forest, until you are on the edge of the forest where you entered. When you are ready, you leave the forest and come back to the here and now.
Spend a little time reflecting on what you have just experienced. There is no rush to move on. Allow the magic of the journey to be with you. When you’re ready, you can read further.
The kinds of spiritual gifts people uncover are varied. Sometimes they are intangible gifts, such as wisdom, love, compassion, kindness, integrity, generosity, gentleness, balance, trust, will, sensitivity, leadership, and intelligence. Sometimes they are very tangible gifts, such as organizational know-how, athletic prowess, a Midas touch, healing powers, artistic ability, physical beauty, manual dexterity, and so on. Like every other part of life, there is no gift that is better than another. The special gifts that we each have are there to help us learn what we came here to learn. Our primary responsibility is to use the gifts that we have received to the fullest of our ability.
The beings who reveal to us our gifts are themselves sometimes quite meaningful themselves to many people who do this exercise. If this was so for you, you might find it exciting to reconnect with one or more of them at a future time. They can be special spiritual friends who help you on your life’s journey. If you feel the need for spiritual counsel above and beyond what your own inner self can provide, ask your spiritual friends for advice.
Walking Your Spiritual Path
With knowledge of your higher purpose, your special way to connect with the mystery, and your inner gifts, you have all the elements you need to proceed along your unique spiritual path. Only you can determine how to walk this path. How slowly or quickly you travel is your choice. You are totally in charge of and responsible for your own spiritual evolution. You can get inspiration from a spiritual group, religion, or teacher, but ultimately the spiritual journey is a solo journey. An interior life that is constantly unfolding and deepening will motivate and excite you to keep walking your spiritual path. Like every other aspect of life, your inner life needs nourishment and cultivation to grow and thrive. Let’s look at some ways to do this.
DEVELOP AN ONGOING RELATIONSHIP WITH YOUR INNER SELF
To be in touch with the deeper rhythms of your life, you need to take time each day to relate to your inner self in silence. If the phrase inner self doesn’t speak to you, choose a word or phrase that does. You can make up your own, like Frank’s Ultimate Big One. Whatever you call it, you need to take time each day to cultivate this inner relationship to renew yourself spiritually. It is this daily interaction that gives you the energy and inspiration to create a life based on your own inner truth.
Meditation is the method best suited for this, as its explicit purpose is to quiet your mind so that you can become attuned to your deeper nature. Along with deepening your access to your inner self, meditation has many other rewards. Vimala Thalzar, an Eastern meditation teacher, says this of meditation:
Silence has not been explored in your culture. Meditation offers the silence and balance. In this state of silence there is no tension. The wholeness of silence begins to heal the body and the mind. A new quality of perception, a new quality of response is available to us through the silence. Through the silence we gain an intimate relationship with ourself, the whole, and the timelessness of life.
Whether through a meditation practice or another means for getting silent, a daily interaction with your inner self is an essential ingredient in walking your spiritual path.
ALIGN YOUR ACTIONS WITH YOUR HIGHER PURPOSE
Knowing your higher purpose and the assets you have to help to achieve this purpose is a remarkable blessing. You may not know exactly how to get where you’re going at every moment, but you know your purpose for being on Earth. You have a direction. Most people stumble along through life, never quite sure why they’re doing what they’re doing. They adopt the dominant beliefs of the culture, their parents, and their religion. They never develop their own inner truth and consequently never feel very satisfied or fulfilled.
To stay on your path, you need to continually be aligning your actions with your higher purpose, asking yourself, “Does this activity further my higher purpose?” It’s important to remember that your higher purpose has nothing to do with moral prescriptions, or dos and don’ts. It has nothing to do with being religious, yet it can include deep religious observance. Your higher purpose revolves around the lessons your soul wants to learn in this life. When your actions align with your higher purpose, you will feel inwardly satisfied.
DEVELOP A SPIRITUAL SUPPORT SYSTEM
Walking your path is easier when you are around others who are also on a spiritual path. It helps inspire and encourage you to deepen your own spiritual practice. This is the primary reason churches, synagogues, and spiritual brotherhoods and sisterhoods came into existence. A spiritual support group is primarily oriented toward the interior life. While sometimes this can be combined with a personal growth support system, it’s important to recognize the distinction.
A personal growth support system is often focused on issues that are externally or psychologically oriented. This complements a spiritual support system, but it is not the same thing. The purpose of a spiritual support system is to meditate together, pray together, chant together, celebrate the joy of being spiritually awake together through singing and dancing, share insights and spiritual experiences with others, and get support and feedback when we feel spiritually stuck.
You may be part of an existing group that, with a little tinkering, will provide you with the kind of spiritual nourishment you need. Or you may have to create your own group. If you do the latter, consider it an opportunity to create the group exactly the way you want it to be. To maintain intimacy and quality communication, the ideal group size is eight to twelve people. Sometimes people set up a small group within the framework of a larger group or class that meets regularly.
SPEND TIME WITH NATURE
Another source of spiritual support comes from being with nature. Activities like taking quiet walks by the water or through the woods, sitting in a garden, and sailing can be very spiritually renewing. For some, this is the primary way of connecting with the deeper rhythm of life. For all of us, it provides an opportunity to slow down and become tranquil. When we’re in this state of mind, we can listen more closely to our inner selves and feel more connected with our life-support system, the Earth.
ACCEPT OTHER SPIRITUAL PATHS
As we come to more fully understand that this planet is a school with each of us here to learn different spiritual lessons, our ability to accept others greatly increases. Our spiritual lessons are not better or worse than anyone else’s—they are simply different. It is to learn these lessons that we create and follow our spiritual path. As we integrate this fundamental truth into our worldview, we feel secure in our own spiritual path and more accepting of other paths. We come to understand that each of us must create his or her own spiritual path. We move from wanting others to be like us, and negatively judging them when they are not, to accepting them. Eventually, we move from accepting others to encouraging them to find their own paths.
BECOME A CONSCIOUS CO-CREATOR
If you were the creator of the universe, how would you like to interact with human beings? Would you like to interact with human beings who couldn’t make decisions without asking you for advice at every turn in the road, or would you like to interact with human beings who had developed inner knowledge and wisdom of their own, had learned to trust their inner guidance, and periodically came to you as a friend seeking advice? The former is like a child asking a father or mother what to do. The latter is like the mature adult who relates as one friend to another.
As we travel along our spiritual paths, a maturation process takes place in which we move from a dependent relationship with something outside ourselves to a trust in our own inner knowing. We move from being an instrument of some higher power to a co-creator with this higher power. We move from being a victim of circumstances on Earth to being a co-creator of its evolution.
Whether you like it or not, you are a creative force in the universe. You are constantly co-creating the world through what you believe and the actions you take. Taking responsibility to consciously direct your thoughts and actions toward evolving a better world is the next level of empowerment.
The creator of the universe has a role—creating the evolution game and supporting us when we need help. And we have a role— playing the evolution game as a co-creator. When we engage in the game wholeheartedly, our personal evolution and the evolution of the world take place. By expanding the framework of our lives to include helping the Earth evolve, we take our power to a new level. This stretch furthers our spiritual evolution. It’s quite a game!
A wonderful story describing this co-creation process is told by Marc Gellman. It is titled “Partners.”
Before there was anything, there were God, a few angels, and a gigantic, spinning, swirling glob of rocks and water with no place to go.
The angels said to God, “Why don’t you clean up this mess?”
So God took all the rocks out of the swirling glob, put them in one place, and said, “I will call this place the universe. Some of the rocks will be planets, some will be stars, and some will be just rocks.”
Then God took all the water from the swirling glob and spread it around the universe, saying, “Some of this water will be oceans, some will be clouds, and some will be just water.”
Then the angels asked God, “Is the world finished?”
God answered, “NOPE!”
On some of the rocks God placed growing things—and creeping things—and things that only God knows what they are! And when God had done all this, the angels looked around the universe and said, “Well, it’s neater, but is it finished?”
God answered, “NOPE!”
God made a man and a woman from some of the water and dust and said, “Look, I’ll give you the whole world, but you have to finish it.”
“Now you look!” they said. “We can’t finish the world without your help—so maybe—we could be partners.”
God warned them, “If we’re going to be partners, sometimes you might get angry at me, and sometimes I might get angry at you, but even so, none of us can stop finishing the world— that’s the deal.” And they all agreed to the deal. Then the angels asked God, “Is the world finished?” God smiled and answered, “I don’t know. Go ask my partners.”
Co-creating the future of our planet with God is the best game in town! No spiritual path should be without it.
Your Spiritual Growing Edge
To find your spiritual growing edge, think about your responses to the three exercises you just completed. Did you notice any limiting beliefs that arose to stop you from making spiritual progress in your life?
To further assist you in defining your growing edge, below is a list of some common limiting beliefs and turnarounds. Then we’ll share some stories of how others have worked with their spirituality growing edges.
LIMITING BELIEF: I can’t be spiritual and also be financially successful/sexual/powerful/desire worldly things.
TURNAROUND: Spiritual does not mean antimaterial. I imbue my life with spiritual values, such as joy, peace, harmony, love, beauty, kindness, generosity, and reverence, which add quality to my material existence.
LIMITING BELIEF: To be spiritual, I must follow a code of conduct laid out by a religion/guru/writer of a spiritual book.
TURNAROUND: My spirituality grows out of my own self-knowledge. I trust it and ground my actions in it.
LIMITING BELIEF: To grow spiritually, I must remove myself from the snares of the world.
TURNAROUND: My life in the world is where I practice my spirituality.
LIMITING BELIEF: Spirituality is too removed from daily life to be practical and useful.
TURNAROUND: The more I am in alignment with what gives my life meaning and purpose, the more powerful I am in the world.
LIMITING BELIEF: Spirituality means ceding control of my life to some higher power that’s outside of me.
TURNAROUND: God’s will is my own highest consciousness in this moment.
LIMITING BELIEF: To be spiritual, I must subdue my ego.
TURNAROUND: My ego is the form that holds my sense of self. I allow my sense of self to grow until it expands beyond the ego container and merges with the infinite freedom of spirit.
LIMITING BELIEF: The nature of life on this planet is suffering.
TURNAROUND: Life on this planet is whatever I make it. My life is about love, joy, harmony, service to others, and oneness.
LIMITING BELIEF: The goal of spirituality is to go to heaven/attain nirvana/become God-realized as soon as possible, and our actions should all be directed toward this end.
TURNAROUND: I learn the lessons of Earth on Earth and nowhere else. My spirituality can certainly include expanding my consciousness.
LIMITING BELIEF: A sign of spiritual evolution is the acquisition of special powers.
TURNAROUND: A sign of my spiritual evolution is wisdom, kindness, and love; special powers are a sideline.
LIMITING BELIEF: To evolve spiritually, I need to master sacred esoteric texts, have a guru, and spend years meditating.
TURNAROUND: To evolve spiritually, I need to learn what I came to Earth to learn. That may or may not include a teacher, scriptures, and meditation.
LIMITING BELIEF: My life is a mess because of my bad karma.
TURNAROUND: I accept where I am at this moment and take responsibility for creating my future. I am in charge of my destiny.
LIMITING BELIEF: The world is full of corrupt, evil people who are leading it down a road of destruction.
TURNAROUND: I take responsibility to create the world as a beautiful and sacred place, filled with beings committed to their own and the planet’s evolution.
LIMITING BELIEF: God is a male figure with a lot of power who will punish me if I don’t do the right thing.
TURNAROUND: I create God as a loving, kind, playful, wise, powerful friend. We play together, co-creating the universe.
When Michael did the Empowerment Workshop, he was feeling disempowered spiritually. He had recently left a spiritual group that laid out a prescribed path that he was supposed to follow in order to grow spiritually. There were lots of dos and don’ts and dogmas. He had not been encouraged to develop his own relationship to God and his inner self; rather, he was told the spiritual leader knew best and had all the answers. In his recently abandoned spiritual group, Michael didn’t trust that he could find his own inner truth and be in charge of his own spiritual development.
When he did the higher-purpose exercise, he broke into tears. For the first time in his life, he felt he could go within himself and get answers to important questions. Michael discovered that his higher purpose was to learn to trust the God within and not to rely on outside sources to tell him how to act and think. This insight was reinforced in the meditation on the profound in daily life. In that meditation, Michael felt a very close relationship with nature and realized that this was an important way for him to connect with God.
Michael’s affirmation was this: “I trust my own inner knowing and path to God.” His visualization was seeing himself at his favorite spot in nature, feeling totally connected with himself and all of creation.
Joan came to the Empowerment Workshop inspired to work on all the parts of her life—except spirituality. She just didn’t know what to make of this part of life, nor did she really pay much attention to it. During the exercises in the spirituality part of the workshop, she didn’t expect a lot to happen.
During the higher-purpose exercise, Joan learned that her purpose was to love herself, and through this she would experience the enormous love of the universe. Her growing-edge work in the other parts of life had been precisely about loving herself. She began to feel more excited and intrigued as we moved into the spiritual-gifts exercise. She received the following gifts to help her on her path: a compassionate heart, gentle patience, lighthearted humor, vulnerability, and a sense of adventure. She felt these were appropriate gifts in helping her love herself.
During the meditation on the profound in daily life, she reconnected with a moment when she felt the benevolent love of a higher power in nature. This crystallized in her mind that a loving higher presence cared for her.
By now, she realized that spirituality was not something separate from the rest of her life, but rather an integral part of life that supported and infused all the other parts with meaning. Joan realized that, by nurturing the spiritual part of her life, she was helping all her other growing edges. She created this affirmation: “I nurture my spirituality, and this sprinkles love on all the other areas of my life.” Her visualization was taking quiet time to meditate.
Several months later, she wrote us, “I now understand that my spiritual life is the foundation that informs all other areas of life. I continue to be committed to my affirmations and meditation. My spiritual life is growing and sending ripples out through the rest of my life. I am living with more joy and more fullness than I thought possible.”
When Brad came to the Empowerment Workshop, his greatest longing was to feel a personal sense of spirituality. He had only experienced spirituality intellectually through books and others’ words. His growing edge was to create a personal relationship with something larger than himself.
During the meditation on connecting with the profound in everyday life, Brad went back to his grandmother’s death. He reexperienced the mystery of that moment—the feelings of awe, profound love, and the precious fragility of life. He remembered feeling the miraculous largeness of the universe as it enfolded him and his grandmother in both life and death. As he came out of the meditation Brad felt supercharged. He felt that he had received what he had wanted—a personal way to connect with the mystery of life.
He created this affirmation: “I take time each day to touch the mystery of life.” His visualization was seeing himself connected to the fragile life on this planet, yet also part of something much larger.
Margaret was a therapist who had been on a spiritual path for many years when we met her at the Empowerment Workshop. Though she was very happy with her spirituality, she was seeking her next stretch in this area. Her growing edge was to find that next stretch and go for it!
During the higher-purpose exercise, Margaret learned that her purpose was to be more than a psychological guide for people—she was to be a spiritual guide. Accepting that she was a spiritual guide was definitely a stretch. She was still considering this new edge as she went into the spiritual-gifts journey. She received the following gifts: unconditional love; light; service to humanity; a still, clear mind; and spiritual vision. Margaret was overwhelmed by the beauty and depth of her gifts.
Margaret became aware that her spiritual growing edge was to fully own her gifts and accept that she was a spiritual guide. She recognized that the primary focus of her life and work with people was spiritual, yet she still viewed herself in a more traditional role as a therapist. The shift she needed to make was subtle, yet dramatic. She crafted this affirmation: “I joyfully own my purpose as a spiritual guide and dedicate my life to spirit.” In her visualization she stood with her hands outstretched.
EXERCISE | SPIRITUALITY AFFIRMATION AND VISUALIZATION
It’s time for you to create an affirmation and a visualization that address your own growing edge for spirituality. Review the higher-purpose exercise, the transcendence meditation, and the spiritual gifts you have discovered. Look through the limiting beliefs and turnarounds for more insight on your growing edge. Create an affirmation and visualization that addresses your growing edge for spirituality. We wish you fulfillment as you walk your spiritual path.