“The soul has been given it's own ears to hear things the mind does not understand.”
― Rumi
Your consciousness contains many aspects or lines of intelligence with your passions and values being prime in these lines. Transformation means getting crystal clear about what is deeply meaningful to you. Not the ‘you’ as shaped by everybody else – your family and your society, but the utterly unique you that is waiting to be recognised (re-cognised, known again) in your heart and soul. Recognising your higher values gives you the courage to step out of the shadow of expectations and stand in your own power. Listening to your soul leads to radical authenticity where you follow no-one’s advice except that of your own inner guidance system and become inspired by it. The word inspiration means ‘in spirit’ and you will have no spirit behind anything you do until you get intimate with what is deeply meaningful to you. “There’s a voice in the Universe entreating us to remember our purpose, our reason for being here now in this world of impermanence. The voice whispers, shouts, and sings to us that this experience—of being in form, space, and time—has meaning. That voice belongs to inspiration, which is within each and every one of us”. (Wayne Dyer: "Inspiration: Your Ultimate Calling”).
Get Real
Stop trying to be something you're not. Wake up to who and what you really are. Find out what makes your soul sing. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs culminates in self-actualisation, the need to realise and bring forth our deepest potentials. The trouble is, we have a tendency to try to actualise a concept of who we think we should be – our ‘idealised self’. We concoct an objectified version of who we really are and then we look at this object of our imagination and criticise it. We turn ourselves from the sovereign subjects that we are into objects of scorn. We are full of judgment about this human object, this false self that we’ve created. And each judgment is a little stab of self-attack. As Eckhart Tolle points out, we are the only species to do this. You don’t find a dog worrying if its tail is too short or its ears look too pointy – the dog is totally engaged in the sheer pleasure of simply being in the flow of life. We, on the other hand, are in our heads where attack thoughts sap our life energy, crippling our ability to connect with life as it flows moment to moment. One of the subtlest and most insidious self-attacks is to fall in line with what you perceive society expects of you, to live your life for others. This is death to the soul. You get the feeling that something is not quite right within you, and believing this saps your life force and drains your inspiration. Because instead of living your unique destiny, you are selling out to a false and unfulfilling existence dictated by outside influences when the only influence that matters is the one coming from your own soul, your own intuition.
Your raison d’être is to manifest the spirit in you, to perfume the world with your own exclusive fragrance. Your job is to extend love and positivity into the energy field and you can only do that when you are happy and fulfilled in your own life, consciously expressing the passions and values that allow all of your potentials to unfold as you live your life on purpose.
Get Creative
Re-cognising your values is easy when you go beyond the rational mind to the domain of your soul. Soul level consciousness can be accessed by engaging the right brain, the intuitive, imaginative, big-picture aspect of consciousness that creates rather than repeats. Creative visualisations offer a gateway and a favourite is meeting your “Future Self”, a metaphor for your own inner wisdom and higher values. The ideas and images that arise during this flight of fantasy reflect what is deeply important to you. You use your heart-mind or soul to evaluate them. If your heart sings and your soul lifts, you’ve hit a sweet value; if your stomach sinks it’s probably not right for you. This is how to decide whether you’re envisioning your own values or ones you feel you “should” have. You bypass the critical mind and prioritise your values based on how they make you feel. This is how intuition operates. You will feel the energy and excitement behind your highest values:
“I got a huge rush of energy through my body as I answered my future self’s questions” (M.M., client).
There are no worries at a soul level of consciousness:
“The message from my future self seemed to come from my soul: ‘Enjoy being who you are. Let go of concerns because there’s no need to worry.’” (J. R., client)
You can experience yourself differently through visualising your future self:
“Vision, understanding, patience, self realisation, greater self esteem from being able to see my “future self” (E.W., client)
Pursuing what is true for us sometimes requires bold action:
“I used to be risk aversive but not any more. I’ve learned to take more risks in order to be congruent with what I hold true for me internally” (D.C., client).
Integrate Body and Mind
Reports reflect the essence of the authentic stage of development where being true to yourself means actualising your unique values, sharing your inspiration. Jenny Wade describes it as body-mind integration where qualities of autonomy and authenticity rise up. Hence keep your mind on your values, setting your intention to be mindful of them and deliberately choosing them. Being intentional means making conscious, moment-to-moment choices to honour your values. This client reported that his coach had been exploring his values and encouraging him to use his intuition at the time of his “Aha” moment:
“Creativity –my value around being creative and proactive with all – making a connection with all makes it right and whole” (P.L. client).
The next client refers to this body-mind integration as she looked into her soul:
“During my most recent coaching session, I experienced the a-ha moment. I was aware that my whole body was suddenly truly at one. Thinking and feeling were no longer coming from separate places. I was experiencing vibes in the atmosphere and understanding them, I had become everything I was supposed to be, I had looked into my soul and become whole”. (K.G., client)
Practice
Find yourself a great creative visualisation or contact me and I’ll send you the “Future Self” one.