Prologue: Awakening
There are so many reasons why embarking on this path is not a good idea, given that we are challenging everything we know about the world and ourselves. There are too many reasons not to embrace its trials and wake up. In my on and off search for the perfect life, the notion of my higher Self was something I had considered only momentarily.
Truly and actively seeking God, was invariably honorable yet unattainable. God didn’t answer. Or at least my ears were closed. Even if She was responding, I was too stubborn to listen. I had wanted God to be my easy answer to problem solving. Everyday life had little room for holiness or wholeness. My impression was that enlightenment was merely reserved for those who wandered around with shaved heads and wore orange tunics, or those high up on the virtual sacred ladder: the Dali Lama, certain Yogis in India, or the rare (whom I defined as lucky) person.
Over the years I had read many books and attempted to be spiritual, exploring a multitude of options from yoga retreats to the more obscure – when one day, I found myself lying on a bear rug, in the middle of nowhere in Southern England, with a shaman shaking a rattle above me. I had sought an extreme measure for healing a perpetual melancholy that hung over me like a gray cloud, ready to burst at any moment. Nothing I had tried in the conventional sense, had worked. I kept reaching and tugging at the quick fixes and it was only Band-Aid therapy which always hurt when removed. Instead of finding true healing, I found one Band-Aid after the other to cover my self-inflicted scars. Perhaps I had been a spiritual juvenile and not yet ready for the search of my personal holy grail. I’d been caught in a sort of eternal hangover, with my true consciousness covered snugly under the warm security blanket of my ego. Sitting under the Bodhi tree cross-legged with closed eyes and smiling blissfully, was just a nice story. It was all far too advanced for an ordinary soul like me. Or so I thought.
It was, at that moment when my life felt astray, that I, in desperation, called to God for help. Fortunately, the Universe heard my mental SOS signal. Little did I know that a new life was waiting for me just over the edge of my ego. My life began to evolve from out of a very old cocoon, where I found myself, finally being able to breathe in order to spread my wings in a spiritual orgasm. The moment when I stopped trying so hard, an answer came. God did care and was listening.
The stories contained in each of these chapters are based on true encounters of an unexpected journey to finding my higher Self. With its blended liqueur of inspiring joys and staggering struggles, I began to see the world anew. One graceful evening and a chance suggestion, lead to one fated meeting with an extraordinary human being. This left me wondering, what I had been waiting for in my life’s wandering so far. Through a series of unforeseen events, I began lessons in awakening consciousness.
This knowledge is for all of us, here and now. The dawn of a new day is not prescribed sometime in the future. The dawn of a new day is when you, the you that resides deep within, decides it’s time for a change. With this decision, a teacher may appear to end your story of personal history. All you have to do is ask, be patient and listen past the external noises of illusion. There are many roads to Rome and the beauty is that all roads will take you there – eventually.
In essence and on one level, you’re already there. By embracing this path, you’re asked to have the courage to cast out the old, by inviting in an unimaginable beauty – filled with both destruction and resurrection. Often, when you stop identifying with your old mindset, you may discover that it’s time to step outside your comfort zone. At this moment, it’s up to you to keep moving forward in faith that the Universe knows exactly what She is doing.
Every ray of light no matter how small, ultimately banishes darkness. Each of us carries within ourselves an inner flame waiting to be lit, in order to return and embrace our spiritual innocence.
On the very first day I met myself, I met you, and when I met you, I met myself again – to remember that we are all one and the same.
Wake up and cease your sleep.
