Blog | David M Masters

Your Higher Self

There is that higher part of you which resides off campus which is very much a part of you, just as your mind and your body is a part of you. Some people refer to it as your soul, your spirit, or your higher self. Others maintain that these are all different parts of you, your higher self is that part of you which is both outside the body as well as inside and a part of your body.

This is the divine part of your body which has a fuller knowledge of who you are completely, where you have been, where you are going, and seeks to guide and nurture you as you travel this journey of life. Your higher self knows your purpose, message, passion, and mission in life and desires to see you live your life to the fullest, enjoying all that this life has to offer.

Part (if not the primary focus) of society’s mission of is to program you, to keep you separate from, unaware, and even fearful of your higher self. So, it’s no surprise if you think the idea of having a higher self seems preposterous the first time you hear about it. Nonetheless, it is there, waiting for you.

Whether you are aware of it, or not, your higher self is always there inside you, walking beside you, above and all around you 24/7.

While your mind is more focused on your body’s concerns in the third-dimensional world, your heart, intuition, and your feelings are more connected to your higher self which is more concerned about the big picture of your life.

Because of our social programming, usually, it is our mind which stands between us and our higher selves. Knowing this, your higher self uses your heart, intuition, and feelings to knock on the receptors in your head to urge you to break free from your societal trance.

Every once and a while, it does, and you have clarity, even if it doesn’t seem to make sense, but the more it happens, the more sense it makes. Your higher self will present you with circumstances and decision-making opportunities which will result on realigning yourself with your higher purpose.

These redirections may be unpleasant to the experience of the body but are necessary to recalibrate your life and get you back on track.

At some point, as you become more aware of the existence of your higher self and the divinity of it all, you may seek to take a more proactive role in connecting to your higher self to better accomplish your highest and best.

When you awaken and become aware of your higher self and begin the process of integrating the power of your mind with the power of the superconscious part of you, you make a massive evolutionary shift from a slave of society to master of your own destiny.

You possess the power needed to fully engage in all your gifts, talents, and special abilities to accomplish all the greatest things in this life, to enjoy life to its fullest, filled with love, peace, harmony, and happiness. This is the personal empowerment which affects not only your world but the world at large. This is your true reason for being. This is your destiny.

Knowing that your higher self uses your heart, intuition, and feelings to communicate with you, means you can start trusting and listening to what that part of you is trying to say.

When you want something, and your desire is inspired by your higher self, in the moment that you became aware of your desire for it, it was given to you in all its fullness. The higher part of you can see you already having it because this part of you is unencumbered by the same restrictions of time and space that you are. If you can trust and listen to your higher self, it can guide you through the maze, removing anything which stands between you and your heart’s desires.

You can use your higher self as a compass to help navigate and guide you throughout life, more effectively from where you are to where you want to be.

You know when you are on track when you are feeling good, you know it’s time to readjust your direction when you are not feeling good. When connected to your source, the right track feels good. Trust your feelings.

Just like anything else that you desire in life, good health is waiting for you and your higher self will help guide you to a healthier you, full of joy and longevity as you achieve and receive more from this life than you previously thought possible.

It is not uncommon for those who awaken and maintain this connection to find themselves receiving healing from life-threatening disease with little or no effort by stepping into their divinity.

Quieting your mind and listening for what your higher self has to say to you in the spaces between your thoughts is another way to deeply connect to that part of you which is divine in nature. So, you may see yourself prone to consider taking time out for rest, relaxation, and meditation.

As you allow this relationship to blossom, life will get easier as you start to understand the truth behind what is going on, and you will be able to find joy in all things as you celebrate your newly expanded life.

Have We Met Somewhere Before?

There are times when you meet up with someone in this life who at the outset seems so familiar, even though he or she is a perfect stranger, and you might even ask, “Have we met somewhere before?” What is going when you feel so strongly that you know this person?

Logically, you know you have never crossed paths with this person, but still, there is the strange and undeniable familiarity or connection.

On one side of it, this phenomenon is the idea that this person reminds you of someone with whom you’ve shared a connection in the past and you can project those very same feelings on a perfect stranger who is similar enough to trigger your latent emotional feelings.

This is common when we’ve loved someone who is not present in our life at the moment. A friend, a family member, a teacher, mentor, or someone we admired from afar. Maybe they moved away, or you just ended up on different journeys and drifted apart, or they may have passed on. It may have been long ago enough that you may not even remember them consciously.

Still, there’s a part of you that misses them, and your subconscious triggers all that connection and projects it on someone. And, Bam! There you are. This is a blessing because it honors the original person, the effect he or she had on your life, you go right back into that state and it feels very good, but it’s a little socially awkward.

Then, there’s the “other side” of the have-we-met-before phenomenon.

I don’t know how you feel about all this, but buckle-up buttercup because we’re goin’ for a ride…

There are a great many “other reasons” you feel like you may have met this person before, and the likelihood that you may know this person deeply and/or intimately from beyond your present experience.

“Oh, no, not the, ‘I know you from a past-life,’ thing!”

Yes, it sounds so romantically trite, nonetheless, this is a real thing. The higher part of you, remembers experiences from lives you’ve lived before, and it recognizes those with whom you’ve shared these experiences with.

Just like this life, past lives have had both good and bad experiences, so the feelings that you feel for this person might not be good. This person may have been connected to a highly-charged tragic event in a past life and those negative feelings are breaking through in this reality.

If you have met before in a previous life, there’s a good chance that you may have unfinished business to tend to in this go-round.

How do you know if you know someone from a past life?

First, there is the knowingness of recognition, with deep emotional impact, followed by an initial (albeit you might think of it as silly) idea that pops into your head, indicating you must have known them in a past life. If you’ve been well-socially-programmed, you quickly discard the idea of having a past-life connection because that would be ridiculous.

When reuniting with someone from a past-life, you feel this deep connection which goes beyond any logical explanation because you feel as if you’ve met a long-lost friend, someone, you cared deeply for but haven’t seen in years. This overwhelming flood of emotion could come accompanied by tears, extreme joy, and/or a compulsion to embrace because it has been a long time, at least one lifetime since you’ve been together.

They say that the eyes are the window to the soul, and you are likely to understand the meaning of this when you look into the eyes of someone you’ve shared adventures with in a past life. There is an uncanny instant knowingness and trust that you have shared experiences and you get a feeling, if not a glimpse, of this feeling of shared experiences. This shared trust allows you to drop human pretenses and feel like you can be open and honest with this person because you share this vast history with him or her.

As you reconnect with this person, you may find that you both have particular fascinations about geographic locations around the world and specific time periods. It’s likely that you have shared experiences in these locations in a past life. Your souls remember, even if you’re unable to consciously remember in this life.

As you get to know your fellow traveler (which happens very rapidly, if you’ve traveled together before) you realize that you understand, trust, and know each other more deeply than other people you have met in just this present life.

When you interact and spend time in each other’s presence time seems not to exists, you can share and chat with each other for what seems like minutes when hours may have slipped by because you’re more deeply connected outside the timeline of this life.

Even though you may be miles apart, the connection persists without any degradation due to time and space, and when you are able to reconnect again, it is as no time has passed and you just pick up right where you left off.

And who knows, you may even be a part of the same Cosmic Speakeasy, where you and a number of other soul mates, rendezvous and commiserate in between lives.

Just saying.

Changing Bad Habits into Good Ones

So, you’ve got some bad habits, who doesn’t? Sure, you could just quit cold turkey that works one out of ten times, or you could try changing bad habits into good ones which is much more effective and long-lasting.

Changing bad habits into good ones will help to keep you from backsliding into old behavior patterns which link you to those destructive activities that are not helping you to become the better person you want to be.

Old or bad habits can throw a wrench in your intention to step fully into your new and improved life and can keep you anchored in the old life of your past.

There are many methods of letting go of those activities and actions which connect you to the “old you” which can take a lot of research, delving into your past to find the root cause of what triggers the behavior, which is part of the deep inner work which you will probably want to do at some point.

Even so, if there is a habit you’d like to let go of in the meantime, you could just consider changing a bad habit into a good one.

Before you start changing your bad habit into a good one, review the habit you’d like to change out. Ask yourself why you want to stop doing this thing (whatever it is) and make a list of all the reasons you can come up with.

The more reasons you can come up with, about how this bad habit affects your life, and the lives of those around you, the better.

Now, you can’t just look at the downside, because you wouldn’t be doing this thing if you didn’t receive some benefit from it. So, next up, make a list of the why you like to participate in this habit. What do you get out of it?

Make a list of all the benefits you receive for yourself every time you do it.

Maybe it makes you feel better, or maybe you have just done it for so long its pure automatic response, with little benefit, but it would seem weird not to do it.

Here’s the tricky part but it’s also the most fun. Imagine yourself about to engage in your bad habit. What could you do instead in that moment? What, when you are triggered to do that thing, which you’d rather not do, could you do instead that would be far better for you and/or others?

Try not to limit yourself to just one thing, come up with as many as you can, then pick the best one.

Establish yourself as not having that old habit anymore by using your voice, first to yourself in the mirror, then out loud to others. Like, “I don’t smoke anymore.” This is the statement for the new you, “I don’t smoke.” (Replace “smoke” with whatever the bad habit is.)

Take time to see yourself in your mind’s eye as this new person who does this. See how it affects your life and those around you. Using your imagination, visualize all the positive benefits that come from your engaging in the new, good habit.

You don’t have to say what you’ve chosen to do instead of your old habit, show it by example. The next time you feel like participating in that old habit, do the new thing. Use the very same trigger to do something good for yourself or others.

Instead of doing whatever it is, give someone a compliment, eat a healthy snack, fix your hair, call a friend, do a good deed for someone else, look into a pocket mirror and tell yourself how much you love yourself, write something positive in your journal, grab the nearest book and randomly open it reading the first paragraph that piques your interest, make a paper airplane then write something encouraging on it and throw it out the window. Whatever it is, do that thing.

This is part of your new identity. Instead of doing that old thing, now you do this new thing that is more in-line with your goals and helping to make the world a better place.

As you get accustomed to doing better things by changing bad habits into good ones, you don’t have to do just the one replacement, you can just pick from a variety of good things to do instead.

There is no judgment here for you, and there must be none there for you. If you falter and fall back into your old habit do not beat yourself up. You are not a bad person, you are not broken, there is nothing wrong with you.

Love yourself.

Jot it down on your calendar. Tomorrow is another day. Make it through that day, no matter what. While changing bad habits into good ones can lead to lasting instantaneous change, sometimes it takes time. If so, there is nothing wrong with that.

If you’ve been jotting your progress on your calendar, you will notice the number of days of the new habit being exercised growing between the old one showing up. Before you know it, the old habit will be long gone. Just keep going and growing.

This is growth and change, and only you could have accomplished such a feat.

Everything is Going Wrong in My Life

Ever look around and think, “Everything is going wrong in my life?” You review your life and no matter how positive you would like to be, you just can’t find anything to feel good about. Your doctor might diagnose you as having depression, possibly even write you a prescription to make you feel better.

Your doctor might encourage you to seek out a coach, counselor, or consultant, but you can’t even see what the point would be. Why would you want to sit and listen to someone who would want to spin BS at you, when you know there’s not one good thing in your life.

Left to your own devices you might think about checking out altogether. Instead of wondering why do people commit suicide? You’re more likely to ask, “Why not?” I mean, what’s the point?

There is no doubt, this life can throw so many zingers at you that it can be overwhelming and appear to be too much for any reasonable person to handle.

Before you go off the deep end, here’s a little somethin-somethin’ for you to consider.

Just for fun, using your imagination, let’s pretend one day you get to be an infinite being living outside the timeline where we live in the 3-D and you have the ability to travel along the timeline invisibly.

There are people that you cared about in the past who could have had an enormously better life but weren’t able to because they missed all the opportunities they had by never being in the right place at the right time. What if you could help them?

What if you could go back in time and help them (even if you were invisible and they couldn’t hear or see you)? But, you could sort of affect the world around them with the hope of being able to steer them in the right direction, so they could have a massively successful and happy life.

Like, if your son or daughter was stuck in a rut, and if you could just get them out of their life circumstance into a new place, where he or she had better resources and options, they would have unlimited potential. You might trip them up and throw up lots of roadblocks in an attempt to break them out of the life he or she was stuck in an attempt to move them away from a life that is leading nowhere.

The more they resisted moving and were intent on staying where they were, you might turn up the heat and allow them to walk into situations which would be harder and harder to handle. You’d be scratching your head and thinking, “What do I have to do to get through to you?”

You love your son or daughter and don’t want to see he or she suffer. You know that how the story ends if left to his or her own devices, you just want them to get out of the whirlpool that’s dragging them down, but he or she is so stubborn.

How might you feel?

Could you consider that God, your angels, your guardian angel, a loved one who has passed to the other side, your higher self, or maybe you from the future after passing-on or via the use of a time machine is doing the same thing?

Just “What if,” that one for a minute…

What if all you had to do was to change your life in some which would open up a whole new world of possibilities to you? Ask yourself, “what if the reason everything is going wrong in my life is me?” What if your resistance to try something completely different is keeping you from living a better life. Maybe that one (potentially scary) change could change your whole life for generations into the future.

You and your family could live your best lives, and make the world a better place, just because you had the courage to heed the signs that what you’re doing is not working and make a change.

What if you are in the driver’s seat of your life, with all the control, but are refusing to turn off the road your on, when the signs are indicating you need to take another route?

Maybe it’s not time to give up. Maybe a lot of effort is being exerted from outside yourself and beyond to get you to change your destination.

Consider this, if only for a moment.

What if you create your world… every detail of it?

There is a force far more powerful than you which wants you to have all the best things this life had to offer.

Your life is not in shambles, it is not a disaster, though it may look and feel that way. Your life is begging you to make a change a big change.

You are being called to achieve your highest and best, and it is clearly not available to you here, where you are right now.

Will, you answer the call and take a different approach changing your life forever?

A higher power has your back.

September 2018 Image Directory

Wrapping up the month of September, here’s a quick screenshot review of the month’s news. Let me know which ones you like the most. Thanks for your input, -David M Masters

My Partner Just Doesn’t Get It	Should I Smoke Pot?	You Think You’re Better Than Me?
Your Highest and Best Potential	7 Phases of Spiritual Growth	7 Phases of Personal Growth
You and Your Dog Inside	It’s a Mirror!	3 Minute Rant
Dying to Self	Encouraging Others	Betrayal
Why Everything in My Life is Going Wrong	Making Our Own Way to Love	How to Release Pent-up Emotions

My Partner Just Doesn’t Get It

What goes through your mind on that day that you wake up, look at your partner, and say to yourself that he or she, “Just doesn’t get it.” Every day you are getting more and more clear about your life, what turns you on, gives your life meaning, and makes your heart sing, then think to yourself, “My partner just doesn’t get it.”

You might see your profession as an extension of who you are deep inside, fulfilling your life’s purpose but your partner just thinks you work a boring job that he or she couldn’t possibly see him-or-her-self doing for any amount of money, and truth be told, you’d do it for free because you love it so much.

You know that what you do every day is making a contribution and helps to make the world a better place.

The most romantic idea in the world would have your partner loving the same things that you do with the same degree of love and admiration. Very little makes you feel so loved. Time passes, people grow and change, certainly, both of you have.

Just because your partner does seem to care about your passion(s) in this life, is not necessarily an indication that he or she isn’t interested in you.

Regardless of whether your partner takes an interest in your passion, it’s more important that you find those things that turn you on, do them, and fund fulfillment within yourself for being true to yourself, your calling, and purpose. Let your partner be aware of what you’re doing. If he or she doesn’t respond with glee, do not be discouraged.

Of course, we all think it would be nice to be supported and uplifted for doing the things which are more meaningful, because we invest our heart, mind, and soul into these projects, often for little or no remuneration, so any show of support would be appreciated, but not necessary.

In a relationship, there should be a cooperative reciprocal support for each other’s interests (which there probably is in the beginning). Then, as you both grow and change, it can fade over time, and that’s okay as there are different strokes for different folks. If your partner is not supporting your thing, it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be supportive of his or her thing.

As always, you should be giving the love you desire. So, support him or her the way you would like to be supported, maybe your partner will reciprocate, if not, keep doing your best.
Stay true to what is meaningful, important, and pleasurable for you. Keep discovering your own innate skills, talents, special abilities, and passions. Out of these, try focusing on the three that have the most meaning for you at the time.

Feel free to experiment, try them on, and see how they fit. Look in the mirror and see what you feel like (metaphorically) with this new attribute. The most important thing is to check to see if it pleases you. If your partner doesn’t appreciate it, notice it, or seems disinterested, that’s okay.

Try not to show off or seek your partner’s approval. If he or she notices it, fine. If not, this too is perfectly acceptable. Give him or her enough sacred space to work on their own stuff,

If you’ve awakened to a new understanding, awareness, or state of being, you can briefly mention it. If there is no interest in it, simply file it away with your truth intact. You cannot persuade or convince someone to see from your point of view. To do so completely is next to impossible. Attempting to force someone to see it borderlines abuse.

Your first responsibility is your life, your growth, and expansion. You were born with all the permission and power to achieve your highest and best, living a better life, your best life, and make the world a better place. The support or encouragement of your partner is not necessary.

Stay true to your path and keep checking in with yourself to see if you’re on track.
Unlimited possibilities are within your reach, waiting for you to ride the wave to the most exciting and fulfilling life.

And if you’re feeling as though, “My partner just doesn’t get it,” that’s okay.

Keep going…

Should I Smoke Pot?

You might ask, “Should I smoke pot?” Or wonder what the effects of prolonged use of marijuana might be on one’s life journey?

With the growing popularity and legalization of the use of marijuana, increasingly I am asked, “Should I be smoking pot?” by clients on their path to a better life, their best lives, and making the world a better place.

Now that there is a “growing trend” of marijuana uses, especially since more states are decriminalizing the use of marijuana, are allowing the medical use of marijuana, and it is becoming legal in many states, there are many questions arising about the effects of marijuana in general, and in my work increasingly, clients are inquiring about its use more often.

It’s not an easy question to answer because of it’s not a black-and-white issue. There is nothing inherently bad about the use of marijuana, and it offers many health benefits if used medicinally. Then, there is that part of, if used in excess, it could be counter-productive.

Many people with worse addictions are using marijuana to kick their addictions. My question is, are they just trading one addiction for another? If one addiction causes less harm than the other there is definitely value in trading a bad one for a better one, right?

The effect of this growing green substance also affects each person differently depending on their body’s chemistry and psychological profile. As therapeutic as the green stuff might be, it may be keeping you from achieving your highest and best.

What do I say when a client asks what the effects of marijuana would have on the quality of their spiritual journey from prolonged use over time?

It’s really up to you, where you are in your path in your life’s journey. There are times when the use of marijuana and other drugs could be highly beneficial or warranted for mitigating the damages from the surprises of life that catch you off-guard,

Weed is an excellent numbing agent and if you’re in a lot of pain, physically or psychologically, it can certainly help to keep you in a calm state or help you to sleep at night. When choosing a substance to help get you over the hump, why not pick something that is less likely to harm or kill you.

It also depends on where you are in your life’s journey amidst the 7 Phases of Personal Growth, or the 7 Phases of Spiritual Growth, as well as those situational moments of change.

No one but you can really discern when it is a good time for you to use pot, if at all.

Other things to consider are whether you actually need the effects of THC to get the benefits you want from Dr. Mary Jane. CBD oil is growing in popularity and is legal in most states now because it can be manufactured with little or no THC while retaining the healing properties of marijuana.

No one is going to judge you for your use of weed in any of its varieties if it is legal where you partake, but some people may raise an eyebrow if it affects you negatively, and it would be wise for you to get regular input from people who really care about you. Because, if you’re taking marijuana with any degree of frequency, you might not be able to see its effects on you and your life.

Objective views are very valuable, and I think this is why I am seeing the question, “Should I continue to smoke pot?” asked more frequently.

No problem. This is what coaches, counselors, and consultants are there for, right?

Just be aware that the answer is not as easy as it might seem. There are many things to consider.

Also, remember that just because a thing is legal and has beneficial properties doesn’t necessarily mean that is good for you in all circumstances and situations.

I smoked pot and got high in my teens regularly, until the day I woke up and looked around at all the adults that were smoking pot regularly and asked myself if that was the life I wanted to live? Fortunately, I had a wide breadth of pot smokers’ lives I could examine.

There were mostly low-income earners and a few high-rollers to give me an idea of the range and what I might expect if I were to continue smoking weed.

Always the love-inspired person, I decided to stop smoking pot and started to take a more proactive roll in managing my own life. I made a lot of changes, and these changes led me to harmonize with the love of-and-for God and the ministry, and I didn’t stop there.

I’ve never regretted my decision and continue to live one of the most amazing lives I could have ever imagined. Every day is a new and exciting day, leading to yet another.

Sure, there are times when I hit a rough spot, and I might even use marijuana (with or without THC) products if deemed necessary or beneficial.

I am definitely in favor of the continued legalization of marijuana, and I hope that one day it could be truly free and unregulated, as should all substances.

Know this: Love is the most powerful drug of all. Far more powerful than marijuana or any other known substance. Just as you would with any substance, use and exercise your love with care.

What are your thoughts? Have you ever wondered,

“Should I smoke pot?”

Tell me what you think below…

You Think You’re Better Than Me?

There are those individuals you will run into along your life’s journey who will assert that they are better than you and that you are somehow less of a person than they are or beneath them. You may ask, “You think you’re better than me?” Superiority complex in certain people could indicate something else going on deeper inside.

People suffering from superiority complex may claim to be better than you and may intentionally disrespect you or hurt your feelings in an effort to make themselves feel better about themselves. They are often over-compensating for some shortfall in their lives. Superiority complex is just the flipside of inferiority complex.

For instance, the people who are super-achievers might be using their ability to be successful at any cost as a method of coping with their inadequacies or feeling (or having been told) they weren’t deserving or good enough for love, affection, admiration, or acceptance unless they displayed clear high-performance results.

They may also feel they are entitled to be treated differently than their peers as they sacrifice all other areas of their life to exercise their enormous abilities to succeed.

Even though a person, like this, might come of as disrespectful or being mean, if you could walk a mile in this person’s shoes you could imagine what it must be like to be driven by such an underlying need to exert themselves as being better than others, only to have some hope of being respected or liked. Otherwise, they might feel very badly, get depressed, and possibly suffer suicidal tendencies.

Then there are those who think they are better than you because they possess a moral superiority. These are the people who are the self-imposed judges in life, imposing their judgment on everyone and everything around them. They are highly critical and likely fail in social situations for they have no filter which respects the feelings of others.

The moralist will exert their superior opinion and cut-down others with words on the scale of harshness and may have little regard as to whether he or she is hurting someone’s feelings, or not. They more the chasm between their moral standards and that which is the object of their attention, the harsher they may become in asserting their superiority.

While we tend to think as moral superiority as people who feel they are very good in comparison to those being very bad, you can also find this on the other end of the spectrum, where people who refuse to comply with social norms, because they feel they are morally superior based on their insistence to not comply. You will find conspiracy theorists in this segment, asserting their superiority over people who refuse to “face the facts.”

You (more likely than not) have run into the individual who says, “I tell it like it is.” These individuals have a commitment to “tell the truth” or say whatever they think, no matter how brutal, and they excuse their behavior by asserting their superiority based on their ability to say whatever they want regardless of how it affects others based on the idea that doing anything else would be a “lie.”

Interestingly enough, even lovers have made a commitment to each other to “tell the truth no matter what” as being a highly help principle at the outset of a relationship, only to regret it later. It’s not that we should lie in a loving relationship, but rather tell the truth in love, with the highest regard for the feelings of our partners, not disregarding the emotional impact of our words which only leads to deterioration in the relationship.

A step beyond the basic superiority complex is the idea that due to your genetic disposition or heritage that you are somehow superior over those who do not share the same pedigree. This is the basis of most racism, where one being feels they are superior to others based on their race and/or creed.

A human being does not possess this thought-pattern of their own accord, it has usually been placed in their psyche by familial or other social programming. Bigotry is unnatural and is a learned behavior, which may be based on one’s race, financial and/or educational disposition, among others.

As they look down at you, you might think (or ask), “You think you’re better than me?” Superior complex’s reply would have them replying, “Absolutely.” You are NOT good enough…

When you find yourself face to face with someone suffering from a superiority complex, the best thing you can do is to not engage in a batter of wits. Try to understand that they are just doing the best they can with what they have and love them anyway. Maybe your respect for them will help them to see that there might be a better way to approach life or look at things differently.

Your Highest and Best Potential

You have much more potential power than you can possibly imagine unless you are very highly evolved, know, and are in the process of having and being it all. Most of us, mere mortals, are just doing the best we can with what we have, but you could choose to have and be so much more.

Have you reached your true potential? Do you know what your highest and best potential is?

When you start to think about the possibilities which lay ahead of you, different things begin to appear to your consciousness. These are all true potentialities. Your heart brings awareness to your mind’s eye all the desires which you are fully entitled to.

It’s easy to get distracted by the day-to-day details of life and the just-getting-by of it all. It leaves little available bandwidth for imagining a better life for yourself. (And this is no accident. “Society” wants you to remain small, just being a cog in the machine.) I mean, if you’re well over basic survival, what more is there to want for? And if you did want more out of life, there just is no time to consider some legal way to obtain the things you want.

You are the key that unlocks the fullness of your potential in this life.

If you look at the regrets of the aged, what bubbles to the top is the realization that it was they, themselves, that let them down, even though throughout their lives they tried to blame anyone and anything for not achieving their highest and best, in retrospect hindsight is 20/20.

They come to the awareness and accept the responsibility for not living a better life because as they’ve aged they can look back and see that they could have made different choices or taken more inspired action.

These regrets can pile up emotionally and cause disappointment, conflict, and stress to the aging individual leading to their rapid deterioration of health and wellness unless they find proactive ways to fill the void.

If we could learn any lesson from our elders it would be to heed the warning that is echoed in their distress caused over missed opportunities or chances not taken that could have led to a far better life for themselves, their families, their community, and potentially the world at large.

You should have a growing notion that you could live a better life, your best life, and make the world a better place.

Faced with this awareness, you can start to make better choices and take inspired action to move you closer to achieving your highest and best, especially if you live in a relatively free society, like we enjoy in the United States, where you have the ability to make choices and take action independently (within the confines of the law of the land).

It can be very helpful for you to start to get in touch with what the potential of your highest and best might entail.

Every tale of success or rags-to-riches story has a base theme where the hero has an inner knowing that he or she was called forth to do something great, something counter-intuitive to the person he or she would have expected based on his or her life up to this point.

There comes the point in time when inspiration meets inspired action. This is that pivotal point in life when the individual faces their fate and jumps in, all in, pushing aside all fear and does whatever it takes to make it happen.

Once you have an idea of what your highest and best consists of, you will be miles ahead in your path to your best life.

You will discover everything in your life has played an integral part in what comprises your calling. Your highest and best is a unique combination of your genetics, your past (both painfully tragic and magically magnificent), how you were raised as a child, what you have learned since then, the body you’ve been blessed with, your unique talents, gifts, and abilities.

You are divinely qualified for your special purpose in this life.

To uncover your divine potential, document your personal inventory. Take a moment and answer these questions…

What have people told you, you’re good at?
What are your gifts, talents, and special abilities?
What are your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats?*
What are your highly-held beliefs?
What inspires you to want to change something or to make a difference?
What do you love more than anything?
What are your deepest desires (your secret wish)?
What would make you feel the most at peace?
What activity can you engage in where time just seems to fly by?
What profession might you like so much that you would do it without getting paid?

Answering these, and other similar, questions can provide you with clues or a specific roadmap leading straight to your highest and best.

* See your Personal SWOT Analysis

7 Phases of Spiritual Growth

Moving beyond the 7 Phases of Personal Growth the human being begins to transition into its evolutionary being, above and beyond its primitive peers and ancestors. The evolution of contemporary humans takes place in both the head and the heart, expanding the limits of human potential. This evolutionary process continues through 7 phases of spiritual growth.

Phase 1: Awakening

This is the first phase of spiritual growth when the individual begins to ponder there being something more to this life. He or she notices inconsistencies in life, the stories we’ve been told, how we’ve been raised, what we’ve been led to believe.

After the first shock to the system of your self-realization, of getting a glimpse of your being far more than you were told you were or could be and realizing that things are not as they seem, phase ones start to let go of psychological trauma, stress, guilt, and unworthiness.

Leaving behind the negative programming of society, the spiritual phase 1 becomes somewhat of a rogue, a lone wolf, and a reluctant leader. He or she finds a new sense of self and being and begins to go with the flow instead of forcing his or her way through life.

Personally inspired, this person, while choosing a path clearly different from his or her peers, becomes more natural, and is less concerned with goal-setting, as he or she becomes more actively focused on the greater good.

Typically, martyrs are found at spiritual growth phase 1.

Phase 2: Leader

Embracing his or her ability to lead, the spiritual phase two inspires others to embrace the evolutionary process as he or is considered to be a visionary, spiritual leader, guru, or shaman, as they increasingly submit to the process of evolution and spiritual growth.

Those in phase two of the spiritual growth process are shining societal symbols encouraging others to consider new ways of looking at life and its unlimited possibilities, have a desire to help change their community and even the world at large.

Phase 3: Master

As the phase 2 leader evolves into phase 3 he or she allows the higher power to do the heavy lifting of evolution. Empowered by the force of life multiplies their effectiveness in influencing others and the world to join in the evolution of society, mankind, and our planet.

The master becomes aware of his or her unique gifts and talents, finding his or her calling and unique message creating a niche for exercising him-or-herself fully alive, blessed, and moving about with the feeling or possessing this power.

This power is challenging for the master who has the utmost respect and fear of the power he or she wields in phase 3. In an effort to balance power with humility, it may also be difficult for him or her to accept the outpouring of blessing and abundance which is attracted by mastery.

In the spiritual phases of growth 1, 2, and 3, there is a symbiotic relationship, a cooperative interdependence among people. Unlike the phases of personal growth which vary from dependence to independence.

Phase 3 is the gateway to enlightenment.

Phase 4: Cosmic Consciousness

Finding comfort in the balance of humility and being open to receiving blessings and abundance, the phase three progressing into phase 4 spirituality which becomes aware and is able to see that he or she is an active part, an extension of the cosmic consciousness.

Phase fours are part of the absolute, unchanging, and infinite greater whole, experiencing this life in tandem with the life not limited by earthly confines of physicality, time, and/or space.

Phase four brings with it a dichotomy of being one’s “self” observing life from one perspective and that of being aware of one’s unlimited higher self at the same time. This is the key perplexity which the phase 4 faces in this evolutionary process, as their enlightenment continues to grow and expand.

Phase 5: God Consciousness

Once the phase four has fully accepted his or her humanity and divinity simultaneously he or she evolves into God consciousness. Fully aware that God is everywhere and everything, in and through all things, is never-changing yet ever-expanding, eternal, and only the greatest goodness.

There is no longer any of the confusion of separateness which is felt by the phase 4, as the idea of the oneness of self and the source of all life is understood and embraced.

In phase 5 one can experience the full range of life on this planet as well as beyond, finding new ways to integrate with both ends of the spectrum of all life and all its unlimited possibilities.

Phase 6: Unity Consciousness

In the sixth phase of spiritual growth, you are aware that everything (EVERYTHING) including everyone, all things seen and unseen, possibly experienced and not yet experienced, past, present, and future, on the planet and unlimitedly beyond is all one and the same.

Everything is fully integrated. You are God experiencing life from a unique perspective and there is no disconnection from anyone of anything in this experience.

Phase 7: Ascension

This phase is the passing from this dimension to another which may, or may not, be accompanied by death. As the evolution of the human continues there may be the ability to move freely among all dimensions and worlds at will while still retaining your own unique consciousness.