Did You Make the Same Mistake?

Did you set out on the journey of awakening without any map to guide you?

Most of us did! And most of us spent a lot of time, energy and money on the promise of instant results.

It’s not that instant results don’t happen. They do – frequently. In fact my first ever venture into the world of alternative medicine was when I visited an acupuncturist 6 months after my sister died. I walked in feeling totally blocked and stuck in every aspect of my life. I walked out one hour later feeling free, easy and light and never again slipped back to where I had been. That was a miracle at the time.

Almost 25 years have now passed and I have been on the journey of self and life discovery ever since. I have experienced many miracles. I even (three times) received huge sums of money virtually out of the blue – and I am talking hundreds of thousands of dollars each time from totally unexpected sources – none of them inheritances. But interestingly that didn’t teach me much about wealth or money, except that extraordinary things can happen when you least expect. I spent 10 years after that completely broke!

When I look back on all those years, and all the many people I have met who are at various stages of awakening, I see there are some essential steps which make the journey a lot easier. Many people miss one or several of these steps and then get very stuck, sometimes for a long long time. Making sure you cover them all creates great satisfaction and fulfilment in the long term.

1. Start every stage of your journey by getting radically honest about where you are. Never pretend you are better (or worse) than you really are, otherwise you will waste a lot of time learning stuff you are not ready for and it has no power! If you miss this step you may end up talking a lot of great philosophy but not being able to walk your talk.

2. Learn the fundamental principles of energy and change.
   Life is energy and it is always changing, yet we are often looking to keep things static so we don’t rock the boat. There are fundamental principles of energy/change that once understood you will apply every day for the rest of your life. If you miss learning them you may end up with a lot of confusion or unnecessary physical and emotional pain.

3. Solve your biggest problems.
   If you have problems with your health, emotions or finances find a way to solve them as best you can. It is often by solving these problems that you learn most about life. If you miss this step you may find later that you simply cannot proceed any further, because you do not have the physical, emotional or financial power to grow any more.

4. Discover your true purpose for being alive.
   At a certain stage, you will start to ask the big questions. Some people get here earlier, while others are more concerned about solving problems first and leave the purpose until later. Discovering your purpose will give you great joy and fulfilment in life. If you miss this step you can easily become depressed even after many years of development.

5. Take full self-responsibility.
   Most of us tend to blame other people (or events, the government, life, our parents, God and anyone else we can pick on) for what has happened to us in life and where we’ve got to so far. The moment you begin to take full responsibility for your own life is the moment you begin to feel powerful. If you miss this step you are likely to sabotage yourself over and over again, which is very demoralising.

6. Learn the power of love.
   Your relationships are the most fertile ground for learning how love transforms even the darkest and most challenging situation. When we learn how to handle the hurts that occur in relationships we open our hearts to love, and this is a truly wonderful experience. If you miss this step you will always feel you are missing something in life.

7. Aim for true prosperity.
   Prosperity combines material wealth with being relaxed, trusting, happy, light-hearted and peaceful. It is a very high state of consciousness, at the gateway to heaven on earth. At this level you can achieve whatever you want and you will be an inspiring example for other people. If you aim only for material wealth, without any spirituality, you may end up looking desperately for health and inner peace. If you aim only for spiritual wealth, without mastering the material world, you will find it hard to share what you have attained. It takes financial support and good organisation to make a difference in the world.

Most of the problems that I come across with anyone who has started out on the journey of self discovery, spirituality, healing or awakening arise from missing one or more of these steps. It is common to find someone who has an advanced meditation practice but has not solved their health or financial problems. Then they wonder why everything is getting stuck. They meditate even more and it doesn’t make any difference.

I could draw a little scenario for each of these steps to show what happens if it gets missed and I am sure you would recognise every single one of them!

Photo by Ashley Batz on Unsplash