Underneath the surface level of life there is a dimension that we all long to make contact with. This level of consciousness is not bound by the physical world and is much beyond all the boundaries and limitations of ‘reality’. It is this consciousness that we call the spiritual and although there are many views and definitions of what spirituality really is, the one thing we know it is, is that it’s that invisible part of life that affects our life in many deep and often mysterious ways.

What I would like to do here is to present 3 quotes on spirituality that I find deeply insightful. It comes from 3 very influential people; people who have made vastly different contributions to life and our understanding of what it means to be a human being in this world. It’s one thing to receive spiritual advice from a spiritual teacher, but to receive it from someone who actually lived it makes it so much more practical and believable.

The first quote is from Joseph Campbell, a man who spent a lifetime writing and thinking about the mysteries of life. Joseph Campbell is very well known in academic circles for his work on metaphysics and the significance of mystery in our lives. Here’s what he had to say:

“All you can learn is what your own inward life is and try to stay loyal to that.”

In our ego driven world we all tend to look outside ourselves for approval and our peers tend to dictate much of our aspirations. We tend to compare ourselves to others to determine where we are in life and also where we ought to be going.

The great value of spirituality is that it calls on you to look deep within to find your own unique place and path in life. Realizing that you are unique in every way and that on a spiritual level you have a unique journey through life will open you up to a new way of living. When you look within you will discover that authentic spiritual part called your Self through which your entire life is lived. Joseph Campbell tells us to find this part of ourselves and then to stay true to that instead of always looking outside of ourselves for answers.

True fulfillment in life will never come from living up to someone else’s expectations or living your life the way you believe you ought to. It will never come from the attainment of goals or achieving success on someone else’s terms. The ultimate purpose of life is to find out what you are about on that deeper spiritual level and then to live it – it’s about translating your spiritual nature into you’re the life you are living.

So how do we do this?

There are many great insights, but one of the most powerful comes from a ‘little’ unassuming woman who changed the world through compassion. Here’s what she had to say:

“We need to find God, and he cannot be found in noise and restlessness. God is the friend of silence. See how nature - trees, flowers, grass- grows in silence; see the stars, the moon and the sun, how they move in silence… We need silence to be able to touch souls.”

The first quote on spirituality from Joseph Campbell was about finding your own authentic path in life. In this quote from Mother Theresa, she tells us how to do it. When mother Theresa offers spiritual advice I for one am willing to listen.

Mother Theresa shares with us a very profound spiritual lesson - embrace silence. God is the friend of silence and when you quiet your mind, you get to reconnect with God on a personal level. In our crazy-busy world, silence is often frowned upon. Dedicating time for silence and contemplation is probably the last thing on most people’s list of priorities, yet this is where true authentic power in life comes from. When you empty your mind from all the mundane demands and you return to the centre deep within, you are once again connected with that divine power that orchestrates the entire universe.

In a world dominated by new trends and technologies it seems like there is an even greater demand on our attention from every direction. We marvel at the latest inventions and the wonders of new technology, but still it’s all very temporary and only lasts until the next best thing comes along.

Technology is an wonderful part of life and is as much a part of the wonder of creation as anything else. Even when you look beyond all the man-made wonders and venture into nature to observe a sunset, a shooting star or a thunderstorm, there is one thing that is universally mysterious about it all. Even with our technology advances and scientific knowledge, there is still a huge part of life that we simply do not understand and even something as fundamental as ‘where do we come from’ remains a mystery to us. Renowned scientist Albert Einstein spent a large part of his life trying to come up with answers to some of life’s most pressing questions. Here’s what he had to say about it:

“The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and all science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead: his eyes are closed.”

Behind all the surface wonders of the world lies a deeper mystery – as if there is a divine hand behind it all that silently orchestrates and organizes it. This is the true wonder of life. At the heart of spirituality is this wonderful and mysterious force that is the essence of life.

Spirituality is about really waking up to life and to develop a higher awareness – an awareness of that mysterious force behind all of life. If you are not absolutely fascinated with life then you simply don’t know enough. It’s ironic that our modern day scientists are becoming more and more spiritual because the more we find out about the true nature of life, the more they are realizing that there is an indescribably force behind it all.

These 3 quotes on spirituality are from 3 very different people, but their message is the same: beyond the mundane activities of life there is something bigger; a higher force that some call God. It is in your nature to know this Force. By discovering your own unique place in the world, by embracing silence and making contact with God you can awaken an awareness deep within yourself that will open your eyes to a whole new way of life. Life truly is a magnificent experience and learning to embrace this mysterious part of life that is also a part of you, you can start to embrace more of life and experience a richness that is much beyond anything else.

Dr. Wayne Dyer’s bestselling book The 10 Secrets For Success And Inner Peace, suggests a vastly different approach to success. For most of us success is something that we’ve been lead to believe requires a lot of effort, determination and hard work. For the most part this effort is something that we have to find a way to do because of the rewards at the end of the tunnel. Ultimately, the goal seems to be to have enough time to do the things we really want to do and this process of pushing past short term obstacles for the sake of long term rewards becomes a driving force.

This approach to success seems to be the dominant one and learning all the principles of hard work, persistence, goal setting, planning etc. might make you successful, but the problem is that it requires constant motivation an inner coercion. Although hard work and all the principles behind success are important, there is something beyond it all that’s often overlooked. There is another way; a different path to living the life you really want to live. Although this is a less popular path, ultimately, it is a much more fulfilling approach to success.

This alternative path is what you might call the path of least resistance. It’s not about beating other people, conquering the world or accumulating more and more. Instead, it is about learning to be inner directive and following your own unique path in life. Ultimately it is about being fulfilled and realizing your Self. It’s a path that’s not concerned with the final destination as much as it is concerned with every step along the way and being joyful and fulfilled with life.

In The 10 Secrets For Success And Inner Peace, Dr. Wayne Dyer outlines the 10 principles for true success. These are 10 principles for creating that inner sense of fulfillment and learning to cultivate an authentic power in your life. Here’s a brief overview of these 10 powerful principles:
Secret #1:  Have a Mind that is Open to Everything and Attached to Nothing…

Secret #2:  Don’t Die with Your Music Still in You…

Secret #3:  You Can’t Give Away What You Don’t Have…

Secret #4:  Embrace Silence…

Secret #5:  Give Up your Personal History…

Secret #6:  You Can’t Solve a Problem with the Same Mind that Created It…

Secret #7:  There are No Justified Resentments…

Secret #8:  Treat Yourself as if You Already Are What You’d Like To Be…

Secret #9:  Treasure Your Divinity…

Secret #10: Wisdom is Avoiding All Thoughts that Weaken You…

FREE BOOK SUMMARY: Explore these 10 powerful ’success principles’ by downloading this FREE book summary of Dr. Wayne Dyer’s international bestseller The 10 Secrets For Success And Inner Peace…

“We may turn to God when our foundations are shaking,
only to discover it is God who is shaking them.” 
- Hebrew Proverb

Perception is everything. Everything that happens to you; everything from your past and everything in your future all relies on one simple thing and that is how do you choose to process that which happens to you? The way you choose to process everything that has or will happen to you makes up your entire experience of life. Although this ‘choice’ is mostly unconscious, it’s still a choice and something that you can take control of.

The majority of people are oblivious to this powerful fact, mostly because the majority of our thoughts are shaped automatically by our past conditioning. Most reactions and interpretations are decided in split seconds by our unconscious awareness. Higher awareness on the other hand is a state of mind where you learn to transcend ordinary ‘autopilot’ awareness and where you become more conscious of the illusion of everyday occurrences. Living your life with a higher awareness will allow you to find a deeper sense of meaning in ALL of life and help you to discover your own unique life purpose.

We tend to think that our life purpose only gets defined by our successes and our ‘glory moments’ BUT, even more so does our failures help to define our unique life path.

The one thing that we all have in common is our pursuit of happiness. No one will consciously pursue anything that they believe will make them unhappy, yet there are so many people who are unhappy. Despite their best efforts, very few people get to truly create for themselves the kind of life that they ultimately desire. We tend to curse the ‘bad’ things in life and celebrate the good, but the transforming insight is that any life has many seasons. When you realize that you can start to welcome even the ‘mistakes’ and start to see it as an integral part of life. Regardless of how skilled or resilient you are, you will have ‘bad’ times.

Although we all pursue happiness and the good in life, we need the flipside not only to provide the contrast, but also to help us define what we really want. A rich life; one that is truly fulfilled is not one that is only full of the good, but one that is filled with both. Learning to deal with and even celebrate the flipside of life is just as important as celebrating the joys of life. We tend to think that all the tragedies and setbacks in life can’t possibly be part of our life’s purpose, but in many ways these are the very things that help to define your life purpose and redirect you to your own unique path in life.

In mid winter when everything is snowed under it’s quite hard to imagine a warm sunny day. The same is true when we meet with the ‘misfortunes’ of life – it tends to be really hard to find an empowering meaning while we are going through a tough time. Looking back at your life however, it becomes easier to find and to see a deeper meaning in what you went through. In hindsight we are able to ‘connect the dots’ and see that a divine hand has played it’s part all along. Your purpose in life is not just defined by the big ‘wins’ but also by the setbacks and learning to see this as it happens is a great step in your own personal and spiritual growth.

Your entire life is about spirit unfolding through you and until and unless you listen to this spiritual aspect of yourself trying to reconnects with you, you will continue to feel like something is missing. All of your life is on purpose. But you have to be able to see it in order to use it as a means of sculpting your life and your experience of life.

By embracing it all you can start to hear that silent inner voice that’s constantly trying to reconnect you with your bliss. Maybe the setback is God trying to tell you to move on; to take a new direction to connect to your purpose. When you start seeing your purpose as something that is continuously unfolding in every moment of your life, your entire perspective of life changes.

Think of you higher purpose in life as a big puzzle and every aspect of your life is a piece of this puzzle. If you are only looking for the ‘pretty pieces’ you will never be able to complete the puzzle. Sometimes the seemingly insignificant pieces makes you see the bigger picture. All of it is part of the puzzle. Know that in every aspect of your life there is something greater happening behind the scenes. All you have to do is to be open to this and realize that God’s divine guidance is present in everything. When the foundations of your life are shaking, instead of cursing it, try and look beyond it and realize that there is Someone who is trying to give you an important message: get your life on purpose.

Living your life with a greater sense of spirituality will help you to seeing everything that you are going through as something that you have to go through. You can stop blaming and wallowing in setbacks, and start using everything that comes your way as a tool to help sculpt your soul. Developing a Higher Awareness through spirituality will help you to develop a greater awareness of what’s really going on.

Ask for divine guidance and affirm to yourself that you intend to live your life on purpose. Intend for your life to be on purpose. Then, observe your life. Start to pay greater attention to everything you attract into your life – especially the seemingly insignificant things. Observe all the people that come in and out of your life. Observe everything that happens to you and start to look for that deeper meaning - this will lead and guide you to your life purpose and your own unique path in life.

“Thought is the sculptor who can create the
person you want to be.” - Henry David Thoreau

The seemingly incompatible ideas of being both successful and spiritual are a very intriguing and powerful field that Dr. Wayne Dyer explores in his internationally bestselling book, The 10 Secrets for Success and Inner Peace. In the book Wayne Dyer explores a vastly new attitude towards life, success and spirituality. This attitude goes against the grain of much of what we’ve come to believe about living an extraordinary life and it calls on us to adopt a new way of perceiving ourselves and the world at large.

In a world that seems to be obsessed with having more and being the best, it’s hard for many people to comprehend success as a spiritual idea, yet in this book Wayne Dyer lays down a series of timeless principles that each and every one of us can follow and practice in our everyday lives to create for ourselves the kind of life that we ultimately desire.

(you can download a FREE summary of this book – click here… for more info)

This new spirituality is not one which you can keep neatly wrapped up until next Sunday morning. It is not a spirituality that is grounded in the traditional stigma of fear and dogma. Instead, it is a very practical and personal spirituality – one where God is personal and part of ALL of your life. The ultimate purpose of spirituality is for it to serve you and not frighten or judge you. The challenge is that we get born into a life and with this comes a set of belief that we cannot help but to adopt. This is the very thing that often keeps us from making the kind of progress that will free us.

A very important aspect of your personal and spiritual growth is to be willing to be wrong and to have your belief system turned upside down. One of Wayne Dyer’s secrets for success and inner peace is to have a mind that is open to everything and attached to nothing. Having an open mind is a very hard thing for most of us to have simply because we’ve all been conditioned in so many different ways. Most of what we think is right or wrong is nothing but a function of the environment that we grew up in. When you close your mind, you close yourself off from what’s possible for you. When you open your mind to everything, you open the doors to the creative genius within you.

What you are capable of is a function of your mind and what you believe as being possible and not your physical capabilities or resources. Scientists have now proofed that until and unless you can see something happening in your mind, you won’t take the action necessary to make it happen. With an open mind, you are open to new suggestions and along with this you are able to see the entire world in a new way. Throughout history, all progress depended on people to have an open mind and people who were able to consider and conceive of the ‘impossible’ where those responsible for advancing humanity. A mind that is closed, especially to the obvious, is a mind that will only continue to move along the same line. Open minds can break their bounds and see things afresh.

Your own inner genius relies on you to allow it to blossom and it starts by opening your mind. Creativity is a force that requires a fresh look at things and a mind that is open is a mind that allows the creative force of the universe to work through it. Even though most people claim to be open minded, very few are truly open to new points of view. Very few people are willing to be wrong or to have their own beliefs challenged.

When it comes to matter spiritual people tend to tighten up. We’ve been so conditioned into slotting spiritual approaches into categories – especially when it comes to religion. People are incredibly sensitive when it comes to spiritual beliefs, and some will even defend it with their lives. George Bernard Shaw once said that “There is only one religion, though there are a hundred versions of it.”

What’s your view of it? 

Sometimes we just can’t help but to ‘slot’ people and to be judgmental, BUT being open minded calls on us to let go of this and to really explore the possibilities. Life’s treasures are usually found in the most unlikely places!

Living a more spiritually conscious life requires of you to be more open minded. The fact remains that we know very little about the true nature of the world we live in. There are just so many dimensions to life and so many unanswered questions that after 2000 years we are only starting to get a glimpse at the vastness of it all. How can anyone be an optimist in a world that is so rich in unexplored ideas and unanswered questions? How do we really know things are what they are? With an open mind you can start to embrace more of life and in the process you will start to develop a greater sense of awe for life. This is the foundation of having a rich life – rich in experience and in the totally of what you allow into your own private world.

Spirituality is at the centre of our exploration into the world we live in and ultimately understanding more about ourselves is a thirst that we all have to quench. Spirituality has always been at the centre of humankind’s quest to know itself – to discover and explore life’s most profound quests. Life is not so much an ‘either or’ as it is an ‘as well as’ but our conditioning keeps us locked up in our own limiting beliefs. Open your mind and free yourself from the limitations that keep you locked up in your own limitations. An open mind will free that creative force that lies dormant within you. An open mind will help you to create a greater sense of harmony in your life and embrace more of life with a sense of wonder and awe. Free your mind and your spirit will follow.

“You cannot cross the sea merely by starring
into the water.” – Rabindranath Tagore

I am embarrassed to admit but there was a time in my life where my ultimate dream was to be rich enough so that I can have everything that I want without ever having to work. Although I have outgrown this shallow dream, a lot of people still entertain this dream in some shape or form. The ideal of freedom is as old as mankind, but in our modern (and seemingly more civilized) society where slavery is no longer a reality we are faced with a different set of challenges. So how do you go about creating for yourself that sense of freedom that you ultimately desire?

For many the solution is easy and that is to find an easy solution. This rarely works. Passivity is a disease that so many people suffer from. Every healthy person aspires to be better in some way and everybody fosters a dream and a vision for their life, however faint it may be. Unfortunately the majority of people just sit back and wait for something to happen – for some ‘unexpected’ miracle or ‘savior’ to come along. Maybe this explains why hypnosis, visualization and the theories around manifesting is finding such an appeal these days.

In some respects finding the easiest way is built into us – as if we have a built in mechanism designed to help us. Much of the lure of today’s ‘success literature’ is aimed at promoting the ‘easy way’ and how you can get something for nothing. In many ways, the success of Rhonda Byrne’s The Secret flows from many people’s misinterpretation of the great law – thinking that they can use the law of attraction as a passive tool with which we can sit back and attract what they want.

The reason why passivity is so appealing for many is because for so long we’ve been taught that to be successful we have to work hard, struggle and sacrifice much. The pain associated to this is just too much for most of us and instead we look for easier ways to get what we really want in life. The law of attraction is very real and regardless of whether you believe in it, it still works in your life. The power of deliberately and consciously tapping into the law of attraction is not so much in what you attract through passivity, but what this powerful law invokes in your consciousness.

When you start looking past the shallow interpretations of The Secret and using it as a means to ‘cheat the universe’ you will start to see the real value of The Secret. It’s a tool that you can use to find your own unique place in the world and to create for yourself the life that YOU were destined to live. The real Secret as it was taught in the ancient scriptures is about finding your bliss and following it through the path of action. This is not the kind of action that is forceful and in need of constant motivation. It’s effortless and joyous.

We all usually want more money or better relationships or greater health, but why? Underneath the surface of success lies a deeper spiritual need – a need to claim what’s your which is all of the abundance that you were born into and to  realize who you really are. Being abundant, healthy and loving is inherently part of your nature.

Using the law of attraction to passively attract more stuff into your life might work for some, but in the end this will only help you to suffer in comfort. Using the secret to find your bliss and attract into your life your deepest innermost desires to help your to realize your true self – that is the real power of using this eternal law of the universe.

If you have to constantly force yourself to do things in order to be successful you will probably get there if you are very diligent and have great determination. But, real success on a deep spiritual level, is really the path of lest resistance. It’s not about having it all, but rather feeling that you deserve it and that it’s actually worth it. As long as your happiness and sense of fulfillment in life relies on stuff you will never be happy because having more is a function of your ego and by nature the ego can never have enough. You will find yourself always striving for more and never having a sense of inner peace.

What you think about will expand in your life. What you really need to expand is not more stuff, but rather your bliss – on a spiritual level you want your highest calling and your deeper self to realize itself. What The Secret really calls on you to do is to find deep within yourself that which you really want; to find your bliss and then focus all your attention on that – not for the sake of having more, but rather as a means of realizing your Self.

Don’t sacrifice your dreams for the sake of having more. Don’t use the law of attraction as a means to sidestep life and the process of creating your life. Passivity is usually the path chosen by those who are pursuing something that’s not in accord with them. The ancestor to every action is a thought and this is where the real power of The Secret lies – to dictate and to orchestrate the creation of your life; not through passivity, but through action. Ultimately your bliss and your path in life is the one of least resistance and using the power of thought and action you can walk this path in joy and without striving.

You can never fool the universe. Everything that you do with an egotistical ideal will come tainted with doubt and it is this doubt that will prevent you from attracting that which you desire. The law of attraction is a very real and powerful force and is not some ‘new’ discovery but an ancient spiritual secret. If you use it as a tool for self realization and enriching life for yourself and everybody else, your intentions will be pure and you will be free from doubt.

What is spirituality? Although we have many definitions and interpretations of what is means it remains open for interpretation and it means something different for everybody. Many wise teachers spent lifetimes contemplating the nature of life and what it means to be alive. Spirituality is at the centre of life and in many ways spirit is synonymous with life. Here are some interesting and insightful quotes on spirituality from some people I (for one) think it’s worth listening to:




“The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and all science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead: his eyes are closed.” - Albert Einstein

“The personal life deeply lived always expands into truths beyond itself.” - Anais Nin

“Happiness cannot be traveled to, owned, earned, worn or consumed. Happiness is the spiritual experience of living every minute with love, grace and gratitude.” - Denis Waitley

“The unique personality which is the real life in me, I can not gain unless I search for the real life, the spiritual quality, in others. I am myself spiritually dead unless I reach out to the fine quality dormant in others. For it is only with the god enthroned in the innermost shrine of the other, that the god hidden in me, will consent to appear.” - Felix Adler

“Spirituality is a domain of awareness.”  - Deepak Chopra

“The real trick to life is not to be in the know, but to be in the mystery.” - Fred Wolf

“We are not physical beings having a spiritual experience, we are spiritual beings having a physical experience.” - Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

“Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter.” - Yoda

“Walking the spiritual path properly is a very subtle process; it is not something to jump into naively. There are numerous sidetracks which leades to a distorted, ego-centered version of spirituality; we can deceive ourselves into thinking we are developing spiritually when instead we are strengthening our egocentricity through spiritual techniques. This fundamental distortion may be referred to as spiritual materialism.” - Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche

“We need to find God, and he cannot be found in noise and restlessness. God is the friend of silence. See how nature - trees, flowers, grass- grows in silence; see the stars, the moon and the sun, how they move in silence… We need silence to be able to touch souls.” - Mother Teresa

Quotes On Spirituality

(continues from part 1)

In part 1 we looked at some key ideas about inner peace and we defined inner peace as an inner sense of harmony; a feeling of bliss that we feel deep down inside. In part 2 we will look some of the barriers that we all encounter towards living with a greater sense of inner peace.

1. The Ego
Your ego is that part of you that’s like a veil to your spirit. It’s the external façade that we all wear in order to operate in this world. Your ego constantly reminds you about your separateness and how you have to proof yourself by being better than, faster than or stronger than everybody else. Your ego is the source of most of the conflicts in your life. These can be conflicts with other people and even with yourself because the ego is fixated on being the most important person. Much of the anger, resentment and frustration in your life come from the ego’s demands on you

Having a sense of inner peace allows you to be in harmony with everyone and everything. The effect of inner peace is a sense of unity and you start to see both your environment and your fellow human beings as being connected to you in some invisible way.

Although you cannot rid yourself of your ego, you can go along way in subduing the ego’s demands on you and focusing on living from your higher self instead – making a conscious effort not fall prey to your ego and all the millions of demands it places on you every day.

2. Living In The Future
It’s important to realize that wherever your mind is – there you are. If your attention is in the past or the future, then that is what your experience of life will be. So many people waste away their precious time living their lives in a time other than now. Wallowing in the past serves no purpose and no matter what you do you cannot change that which is over. Worrying about what might happen in the future will only cause you to feel an inner sense of turmoil. Worry tends to consume your entire mind, removing you from feeling at peace.

One of the key spiritual realizations is to understand that the only ‘time’ you really have is now. Where your thoughts are now is where you are. If you think that one day when you have enough money or when the right person comes along or when you are fit and healthy THEN you will be happy – think again! Divert your thoughts and your energy to the present moment instead and give up everything that’s over and done with and let go of everything that might be.
 

3. Spiritual Ignorance
There is an aspect to each and everyone of us that is invisible, yet very real. This higher self, your spirit is who you really are. You will continue to feel unfulfilled in life until you recognize and nurture the seeds of divinity deep within you.

It is this spiritual part of you that seeks to be at peace. When you recognize and nurture your own divinity you can start to listen more to your Self and less to the demands and expectations of the world. Knowing what brings you a sense of inner peace is the essence of living a more peaceful life.

By becoming more aware of these three ‘enemies’ of inner peace you can start to make a more conscious effort to stay connected with your own spirituality and live a more blissful life. An inner sense of quiet and tranquility is a very important part of being happy in your Self. Make it your goal in life not to achieve or have more, but instead to be at peace and reorganize your priorities to create an environment within yourself where your spirit can thrive.

Without inner peace no person can survive. Almost daily we see headlines of super ‘successful’ people having to turn to drugs or alcohol just to cope with the inner turmoil they are experiencing. It’s a challenge that we are all faced with and with every experience of life you have the choice: Do you choose peace or do you choose turmoil? Do you choose to win, to be better, to have more, to proof someone else wrong…OR do you choose that which will bring you inner peace?

“People are born for different tasks, but in
order to survive every one requires the same
nourishment; inner peace.” – SRI SAI BABA

What exactly is inner peace? What does it mean to be at peace? People go around using the word peace very loosely and in our current world circumstances for many the word peace simply means to be free from war and conflict. However, peace has a much more profound and much more significant meaning than mere freedom from war. As Sai Baba pointed out to us – inner peace is the very thing that nourishes our spirit.

Although it’s quite hard to define what inner peace really is, we all know what it feels like because we’ve all had times in our life when we experienced it. For many inner peace shows up in their lives as fleeting moments of bliss and more often than not it is something that they cannot really hold on to. One of the greatest blessings that comes from living a more spiritually conscious life is to cultivate a greater sense of inner peace.

Any form of conflict that you experience removes you from that sense of inner peace. Inner peace is a deep inner sense of ease – a sense of inner comfort and stillness that is both joyful and calming. Inner peace will free you from many of the demands and expectations that drive most people over the edge. By living your life with a greater sense of self awareness you can start to cultivate a sense of inner peace and live life with a greater sense of clarity and perspective. A life of turmoil is characterized by immediate demands and shortsighted gains and like a wildfire you can never quite get the best of it.

Living your life with a sense of inner peace is not so much a conscious pursuit as it is the result of living your life in a certain way. It’s not so much in what you do as it is what you don’t do. Your nature – your own spiritual essence (your soul) comes from a place of peace and it’s ultimate pursuit is to be at peace. The challenge that we are all faced with is that our everyday lives tend to distract us from a sense of inner peace.

In part 2 we will look at 3 of the biggest barriers to inner peace. These are some of the biggest things that cause most people to disconnect themselves from this sense of inner peace. (read more in part 2)

The great value in reconnecting with your higher self is not just to find a brief moment of divine connection, but to transform the very way you live your life. Being connected to that higher and sacred part of yourself is the key to living life more consciously and having a greater awareness of the folly of ordinary daily distractions.

On a deeper and mostly unconscious level, we are all aware of our spirit. Even though we are all aware of this spiritual nature, the challenge in living a truly spiritual life is that we so easily get seduced by appearances. Even though the world of sensory perception is rich, it is the invisible and intangible aspects of life that really fascinates us. Throughout history this has been the driving force behind much of humankind’s explorations into both the physical and the metaphysical world. There are so many things that we know is there, yet we can’t see it. It is this fascination that’s been the driving force behind some of the greatest discoveries and it’s also the driving force behind most of our spiritual pursuits.

In the New Testament Saint Paul reminded us that although we are ‘in this world’ we are not ‘from this world’. It’s a peculiar thing, living life without really knowing why we are here or where we came from. We know that there is something or ‘someone’ bigger than us and that we had to come from somewhere. We often get caught up in this life and all the problems and frustrations that we all have to deal with on a daily basis. But, underneath it all is that part of you, your higher self, that is not concerned with any of it.

Regardless of your personal spiritual beliefs, we know that there is a divine and universal intelligence behind all of life. It is from this infinite intelligence that we all come and it is to this that we all go back to when we leave this life. This ‘invisibleness’ is something – a force or an energy that we are always connected to because it constitutes the very essence of your life. When you are connected to this dimension of yourself you are united with the very intelligence that creates and sustains all of creation.

Discovering and connecting to your higher self does not require and special mountain retreats or far eastern meditations. It simply requires that you look deep within yourself. Discovering your higher self and finding God in your life is not something that you have to go and find somewhere outside yourself. Think of it this way: electricity has always been available to us – even to prehistoric cavemen. Only when we discovered it, were we able to use it. Your higher self and divine guidance is, and has always been available to you. You simply have to discover it to be able to use it.

Here are 3 insights that will help you to rediscover your higher self:

The First Insight: Self Awareness
When you become aware of your Self and realize that you are a spiritual being on a spiritual path you can start to live your life more consciously. Most people are numb to life and they just float through it unaware of themselves and the bigger picture. Epictetus said that what’s necessary to change yourself is self awareness. Only when you are ‘awake’ can you pay attention to and notice the higher dimension of life.

The Second Insight: Perception
Everything within your field of experience is based on your own personal perception. Different people can experience the same events and circumstances, yet they can have wildly different experiences. One of the great spiritual insights is that life simply ‘is’ – it is through our perception that we create meaning. When you are connected to your higher self and live with a greater spiritual awareness you are able to live from that part of you that is free from interpretation. This will help you to stay centered and to see past the limitations of the appearances and trivialities of life and live and live a more peaceful and fulfilled life.

The Third Insight: Divine Guidance
You have divine guidance available to you at all times. Your higher self, your soul (or your spirit) is your connection to God and to the infinite intelligence that keeps this entire universe in complete harmony. When you turn your attention inwards, you can access this guidance and as you learn to trust in this source of inner strength you will learn to live with more power and a greater sense of inner peace. God is to be found inside yourself. God is not some being up in the clouds that dictates our lives for us. God is within each and every one of us. In the ancient scriptures, it was said “be still and know that I am God.” Be still and discover God for yourself and ask for divine guidance in your life.

Reconnecting to your higher self does not require any special spiritual rituals (although is could). The very thought of connecting with your higher self is enough to connect you to God. When you seek you shall find and when you ask you will receive. When you seek to live closer to God, you will, for the very act of seeking this connection will connect you to God. When your thoughts are on love, peace, joy, goodness and abundance you are in harmony with God and you will know God. When you remove yourself from it through thoughts of hate, guilt, harm, anger ec. you prevent the Divine guidance from working through you. Stay connected. Look within and consciously live your life with love, peace and harmony.

(Click here… for The Secret To Living From Your Higher Self – Part 1)

“As far as we can discern, the sole purpose of
human existence is to kindle a light of meaning
in the darkness of mere being.” – CARL JUNG

We all know that the really important things in life are not what we usually get caught up in – things like bills, arguments, worries…What really matters is that deep inner sense of peace and happiness. It is that inner part of you, your soul or your spirit which is your higher self; your inner self that really matters. It is ‘the’ Self which is much beyond all that you can perceive. On a deeper and higher level you know this.

The problem is that we tend to postpone our spiritual needs for self realization in favor of the demands of daily life. Carlos Castaneda once said that the problem with humanity is that we all know that we are going to die, yet we live as if we are not. When you realize that you come from somewhere and that you are eventually going back there, you can start to see past the trivialities of everyday life and live a more spiritual life.

It’s so easy to loose perspective and forget your higher self in the pursuits of everyday life. Living from your higher self means that you are consciously living a spiritual life. Underneath the veil of physicality there is an infiniteness to life and there is a bigger picture. Until and unless you slow down and look within you will not see the bigger picture and be blinded only by what you see right in front of you. The majority of people are consumed by their sensory perceptions of life; by facts and analytical thinking. Underneath it all there is an invisible force that is the real driving force behind life.

Living from your higher self starts with the spiritual realization that you are not your body or your mind or your personality, but that you are your spirit. Through conscious growth and raising your spiritual awareness you can start to strengthen your spiritual connection. As you consciously live with the awareness of your higher self you will be able to transcend many of the trivialities of life and become self reliant. Divine guidance is available to you at all time. You simply have to look deep within yourself. You will become more able in integrating your life and all the different aspects of the life experience when you realize that all of life is spiritual.