soul purpose
Enlightenment Is For Everyone
The term ‘enlightened’ seems to be everywhere these days. But what does it really mean? From a spiritual or metaphysical perspective enlightenment simple means refers to our level of awareness. Enlightened people are deeply aware – of themselves, the world around them, of the realm of Spirit
In a world of increasingly empty noise and superficial values, true awareness has become a rare commodity. It’s easy to immerse ourselves in all the empty noise and meaningless materialism. It’s much more challenging to look at the things of this world with greater depth and see these things (and yourself) for what they really are.
When we begin to see more clearly and authentically we become more enlightened. We begin to see the light of truth. And when we do, we become more aware how our beliefs, choices, and actions all have consequences.
For example, you might be tempted to answer with harsh words to someone who has wronged you, or to swat a spider in the sink rather than take it outside. Each one of these actions, no matter how small, radiates outward and impacts the world around you.
Choosing peaceful or harmonious action is a vital step on the road towards enlightenment. Stop to think, before you act.
Another common thread in the fabric of enlightenment is lack of attachment. In many spiritual traditions, including Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism, unhealthy attachment is seen as the root of all human suffering. This could be an attachment to material wealth and possessions, to beliefs and ideas, to people and animals, or to our memories and our ego.
Enlightened people are able to release attachments that are not serving their best interest and highest good by letting it go gracefully. If you spend less time worrying about these earthly fixations and obsessions, your spiritual inner being will naturally start to flourish. And once it does, you’ll become more aware of the signs, synchronicities, and subtle messages the Universe sends us all the time.
There Is Only One Path To True Love
There is only one way to experience love, joy, and peace and that is in the now. Too often we have most of our mental energy focused on our future happiness. These thoughts conjure up ideas and imaginings about some future reality we are yet to experience, believing that a certain future event, experience or outcome will finally ‘make us happy.’
There is a real problem with this line of thinking, because there is actually no way to ‘arrive’ at a future happiness. Even if specific ‘happy events’ do occur someday in our future, the happiness derived from these events will always be short lived. It will be a temporary excitement or euphoria, not lasting happiness.
The truth is we always carry our consciousness with us everywhere we go in life and the state of our everyday consciousness is our only sustained experience than will be able to count on in a future reality.
Many spiritual wisdom traditions talk about the past and the future as being an illusion, because the only moment that is real is the present moment. All the love, joy, and peace that anyone can possibly experience in their lifetime all happens in the current moment.
The never-ending search for ‘somewhere out there’ happiness is also fruitless because the experience of happiness can only happen within and in the here and now, and not somewhere out there. Love, joy and happiness are internal experiences.
There is no external place out there in the Universe where you can find a secret fountain of love, joy or happiness. You will not be able to seek it out and fill up a bucket with these feelings, because the actual fountain is within. Continue reading
Honor Your Goals And Dreams
Sometimes the goals and dreams we aspire to remain dormant, because it may seem daunting, challenging, or even impossible. But these ambitions deserve their rightful place in our lives. There is certainly no shame in dreaming big, but there is potentially much disappointment in giving up on one’s goals and dreams too easily.
Several modern technologies, such as motion pictures, sound recording, alkaline batteries, the telephone and the electric light bulb, that we take for granted today were once deemed impossible, until Thomas Edison defied all odds and made scientific research the focus of his life.
At just 12 years old, Edison lost hearing in one ear and was nearly deaf in the other ear, but instead of feeling defeated he used this traumatic loss to increase instead his ability to focus. From a tragedy emerged an uncanny gift for unrelenting concentration for hours at a time without distraction.
Edison subsequently honored his dreams and transformed our world with many great inventions that have impacted out lives exponentially. His industrial research lab was established in 1876 and was one of the first laboratories that welcomed teams of scientists and inventors to participate in the process of invention.
The world as we know it today would not exist without the many contributions of Edison and his teams of fellow scientists and researchers. These individuals were true mavericks who honored their goals and dreams. Their unyielding focus drove them to uncover many scientific complexities. By honoring their vision, they harnessed the power of nature to bring light to the world, and so much more.
The Who’s Who Of The Spirit Realm
Communicating and working with Spirit can become confusing when you need to discern who exactly it is that you are engaging with. Terms like Spirit Guides, Ascended Masters, Angels, Ancestors, among other, are often used in this context, but the distinction between these entities is not always made clear. It can be very confusing. For this reason, I have compiled a quick guide to the ‘who’s who’ of the spirit realm, and how to best work with each group of spirit energies.
Angels
Angelic beings are pure Love and Light. Angels have never experienced a human incarnation. They serve as our guides and protectors. Angels are our constant guides, steering us on our journey through life and helping us to achieve our dreams and goals.
They gently nudge us forward along our life path and deliver to us unconditional love from the Divine, but only if we ask for their support.They never overstep the Law of Free Will, unless it is a life-threatening situation that demands divine intervention.
You know you are in contact with an Angel if you feel warm ‘tingles,’ and a sense of unconditional love, inner peace and well-being.
Ascended Masters
Unlike Angels, the Ascended Masters are loving teachers. They are guides who have experienced human life on Earth. These beings have achieved self-actualization, enlightenment, or an ascended state of being. They have come into full alignment with their Higher Self.
Your Beliefs Shape Your Reality
In metaphysics and alternative spirituality the idea that our belief or faith shapes our reality is a well-known concept. This notion is found again and again in sacred texts, ancient religions, and wisdom traditions.
In The Bible, for example, Jesus says, “With a mustard seed of faith you can move a mountain,” and the Buddha says, “The mind is everything, what we think we become.” These are just two examples among many others.
What is a belief? It is simply a thought that we choose to think again and again. Faith is when a belief becomes established as a pattern.
The mind, our consciousness, is where belief occurs. Whatever we choose to believe about ourselves, and about life, becomes true for us. The thoughts we hold in our mind shapes our reality.
‘Old school’ belief and faith is however a little different and maybe less trendy than the modern idea of the Law of Attraction and our ability to ‘manifest,’ that has become so popular in recent years in spiritual circles and the metaphysical community. Yet, it it is still an important spiritual principle.
Our beliefs and biases work as a filter within the brain to organize our experiences to confirm a belief or bias. For example, if someone has a belief that their partner is aloof, or not present in the relationship, their brain will filter out those experiences where their partner is actually active and present in the relationship.
In this way the brain confirms its own biases. Even if their partner is present, caring, kind and open to communication, their chosen belief will overshadow their reality. Continue reading
Finding The Courage To Heal
All of us will experience some heartache, adversity and grief in our life. It may be a serious health scare, the ending of a relationship or marriage, the tragic loss of a loved one, retrenchment from a ‘secure’ job, sudden bankruptcy, becoming homeless due to a foreclosure, or becoming the victim of abuse and violence.
These major setbacks in life can be truly devastating, and the pain and trauma extremely difficult to rise up from again. In such times of loss or trauma, it is vital to allow yourself to feel your true emotions. To effectively process and heal from traumatic events. hardship and bereavement, we must acknowledge our raw feelings. Grief and trauma are deeply private and personal journeys with no rules and no deadlines.
However, do not allow the ego to keep you trapped indefinitely in a place of anger, bitterness, hopelessness, or self-pity. If left unattended for too long, our initial emotional responses to the negative event can become toxic in a way that simply keeps us away from our truly divine self and our future happiness.
Yes, it is always hard work to release intense loss or trauma and move forward. It takes courage, self-awareness, and inner strength. However, if you proceed with faith, trusting and believing that this too shall pass, and that there is a reason for everything, even if you don’t understand it right now, you will ultimately be able to move forward in a healthy and productive way.
No matter what happens to you in life, you will grow stronger and wiser by working through it. Regardless how intense the dark night of your soul may be, move forward step by step, day by day, trusting that you can heal and will become stronger. Focus on self-care and loving yourself and hold the faith that better days are coming into your life. We all deserve to be happy and have inner peace.
Surrendering Your Free Will To Divine Intervention
To have free will means to have choices, to act at your own discretion. Choices in what? Well, in everything. From eating ice cream for breakfast, to establishing a humanitarian mission to support the homeless.
The ice cream is a simple choice, while the non-profit requires significant planning, a vision, a passion and purpose, as well as personal sacrifices, effort and action.
But both will have consequences. Eating deserts for breakfast may lead to weight gain and even long-term health problems. Helping the homeless will make the world a better, safer and happier place.
Between these two extreme examples, there are a myriad of life paths, choices, decisions, options, and potential experiences. It is what we call life and relationships. In all these possibilities the power of free will always exists.
You also have the free will choice in life of taking things too personally, being too controlling or demanding, being lazy or discontented, playing the victim…or living your life with courage, joy and gratitude.
One of the most prevalent challenges many people is their unwillingness to accept the principles of co-creation. To live a happier, more peaceful life we have to accept that just because we have free will in our own life choices, the world we live in is a co-creation. We do not only choose for ourselves, but we also choose everyday along with others. Every day is an act of co-creation. And not everyone always chooses the same things. We must learn to accept this.
Go with the flow? Never, you might say, I need to be always in control. I call the shots! The paradigm shift of realizing that I am spirit in a physical body is what changed it for me. Consider what your life might look like today had you more often simply trusted the Divine, Universe, God, Creator, Spirit, Source to let things unfold for the greater good, at the right time and in the right way? Well, it’s never too late to try. The results just might surprise you.