The #1 trait you need to fulfill your true potential
Your greatest task on earth is to become self-actualized.
“This I know for sure is what matters. For me, it’s the only goal worth aiming for: a transformation of consciousness that allows me to know that I am no better or worse than any other being. That I simply am.” ~Oprah
I spent most of 2016 in a cocoon of Kundalini mantras and breathing techniques. Kundalini is the yoga of awareness that includes breath, mantras, meditations and postures called kriyas.
I had never taken a Kundalini yoga class, yet my intuition led me to enroll in a nine-month Kundalini yoga teacher training!
I had a strong desire to become more conscious and awake.
That year — 2016 — I wanted to work-part time but never could seem to make it happen.
Each month, my group of women friends met for our self-healing group. We talked about what was going well in our lives and where we were feeling stuck. Then we’d work on beliefs that were holding us back.
I knew there was a belief that was driving my behavior to work more than I wanted since John had retired, but I couldn’t bring it into my consciousness.
I created a God Box and wrote notes to God asking for help and guidance in letting go of working full-time. I sealed each note and dated the envelope and put them in my God box.
Then in early 2017, we flew to Loreto, Baja, Mexico, to spend a month with our friends in the warmth of the sun. Each year for the past ten years, we escaped the rain and gray skies of Oregon and rented a home in Loreto for a month.
At the end of our first week there, we rode with a group of friends to Magdalena Bay on the Pacific side coast of Baja to whale watch.
Spending time with gray whales is the closest I’ve ever felt to oneness.
When I spoke lovingly to the whales, they came toward the boat and showed us their babies. Their massive eyes would look at me as I spoke to them in my own love language telling them how beautiful they were.
On our way back to Loreto, a friend, who was driving the van, moved it over to give a bicyclist more room on our side of the road. The car behind us accelerated and smashed into the back of our van causing it to roll over in a ditch.
I moaned as I hung sideways by my lap belt. John and I didn’t have shoulder harnesses in our bench seat behind the driver. My small bowel had been lacerated in two places.
I went on to have two emergency abdominal surgeries in Baja. Then I developed advanced respiratory distress, which put me in critical condition. I was airlifted to Sharp Memorial Hospital in San Diego where I had three more surgeries – for a total of five surgeries in 15 days.
After a long 18-month recovery, I began to realize that each time I’ve experienced major traumas in my life (my youngest brother was killed in 2005 and my son had major medical interventions in 2012 due to a rare genetic disease) these difficult circumstances led me to open my awareness and become more conscious. By the way, my son went on to thrive in his life.
These traumas broke me open to becoming more self-realized.
I remembered listening to Oprah on Super Soul Sunday when she talked about one year that she prayed to God asking for success. That very year she was sued by the meat industry for saying something about the meat industry on her show. It was one of the most difficult challenges of her life.
Oprah eventually won the lawsuit but said she would never ask God for anything specific again. Now Oprah asks God to use her for her highest purpose.
Becoming awake and conscious is not easy. Often it’s easier to stay in an unconscious trance. Yet the rewards of being more conscious are that you can create the life you want.
Becoming conscious is a process of learning to observe what you think, believe and your actions in the world.
It’s difficult when you start to become conscious. You see mistakes you’ve made in the past. I’ve found myself looking back on my life and feeling bad about how I treated certain people in my life and the mistakes I’ve made. What helped me heal was to forgive myself and those people I hurt.
Self-compassion and forgiveness leads to confidence.
You’re exactly where you need to be. All those mistakes you made led you to who you are today.
Connecting with your higher self has a lot to do with rising above your own mind and body. Your higher self is often considered as an eternal being that is also your soul.
Self-realization is ultimately learning the answer to the question, “Who am I?” The more you know about yourself and what you believe will help you stay aligned with your intentions and desires.
I’ve learned to ask God to bring me what I need for my highest good and to use me for my divine purpose.
This spring I’m taking another Kundalini training. I’m excited to start sharing more meditations and kriyas to help you strengthen your nervous system to handle the changes in our world. Meditation is the first step.
Ask yourself these questions:
- Whose life did I touch?
- Who did you love, and who loved you back?
Self-realization affects all areas of our lives and leads to these benefits:
- Higher levels of confidence – once you begin to be aware of your inner life – you become aware of your thoughts, beliefs, feelings and behavior in the world.
- Your emotions don’t control you – learning to be self-actualized teaches you how to observe your emotions so that you can shift them to feel better. Your power lies in being conscious of your actions and changing your behavior to align with your true potential.
- Acceptance and compassion for self – compassion leads to higher levels of self-confidence. The more you accept yourself in any situation, the faster you can move towards what you want in life.
How to begin to become self-realized
- Follow your emotional GPS system — In order to find your true calling, you need to develop a level of self-awareness that comes with connecting to your emotional GPS system – your inner voice. Listen and follow your gut instincts / intuition.
- Start meditating regularly – As you become calm and your meditation deepens, the sensations and awareness of your body recede. You feel an expansion of your being beyond the boundaries of your physical form. The vast inner space becomes bigger.
My husband, John, started meditating with me a years ago. It was easier to have him start listening to Deepak and Oprah’s free 21-day meditation series that’s offered once or twice a year.
Check out Calm and Headspace for good mediation apps.
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Have you had a spiritual awakening – a major trauma or life circumstance — that broke you open and helped you become self-realized? I’d love to hear about it in the comments below.