All seekers on the path of personal development and spiritual evolution encounter specific universal lessons designed to inspire and imbue them with deep realizations. These archetypal, ever-present Truths act as guideposts for pilgrims on their journey back home. Here are three lessons that have meant the most to me on my own spiritual path.
1. There Is No One “Else” Out "There”!
Everyone, and everything, in your external world is a reflection of your inner world. Life is one big house of mirrors! You can only notice things in others for which you have an inner correspondence. For example: Do you find him incredibly narcissistic and unbearably selfish? Can you identify the parts of you that are selfish and narcissistic? If you can forgive and embrace these aspects of your own shadow, you will no longer need to project it out onto others or repress and suppress it. If you can learn to surrender and release the painful guilt and shame that your own “less than ideal” character traits or habits bring you, you’ll stop creating negative, self-sabotaging events in your life to punish yourself.
The same is true for traits we value in others. Do you have a friend who is absolutely one of the most creative people on the planet? Her creativity would not even register on your radar unless you carried an inner resonance that was equally as creative! Likewise with spiritual teachers you feel drawn to. No need to idolize or idealize them. Those higher aspects of them that inspire you are mirroring back the very same potentiality in you!
2. Love Expands, Fear Contracts
If you witness yourself with deep intention for just a few hours, you’ll notice how much fear we all carry around. It can be a very illuminating, and deeply humbling, realization! When you feel loved, you act lovingly toward others and they respond in kind. Everything about your energy and presence softens and expands, extending out into the world. When you are experiencing self-love, you’re confident that you are an integral part of the Universe. Conversely, when you feel alone, unseen, and frightened, you make yourself smaller energetically, restricting the free flow of love and life through you. Other people, and animals, perceive this expanded or contracted state and react to you accordingly. See #1 above!
3. Your Opinion is the Only One That Matters
Pledging allegiance to your own authentic spiritual path in life will test your mettle at every turn! You may need to do things that others cannot, or will not, understand or approve of. It’s easy to contract into self-doubt and second-guessing. But if you put the brakes on your own evolution whenever someone challenges the choices you make in life, you might arrive at the end of your lifetime with more than a few regrets and do-over wishes!
My best advice based on my own experience? Trust the Universe. Trust yourself and the path you have chosen. Stay in integrity, be impeccable with your word, keep your heart and mind as open as possible, and be gentle with yourself. You are evolving into the exquisitely perfect template for your own life expression that was seeded in you at birth!
