The Road to Self-Discovery: Awareness of Our Higher Self
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What is our Higher Self? Some people call it our Soul. Some people call it our connection with God or a Creator. Some people call it our connection with the Universe or the Spirit part of us.
In my mind’s eye, our Higher Self is the part of us that is connected to all things.
It’s the energy that flows through our bodies that is related to everything else.
The Higher Self lives is the spirit part of us. It resides in us and with us. It draws us, leads us, and can accompany us, to or through our lives if we open and allow it to.
Our Higher Self is the part of us that is connected to all living things. Our Higher Self is connected to the energy of the universe, which flows through all of us.
Awareness of Our Higher Self: Our Connection to All Living Things
Our relationship with our Higher Self is what informs our self-awareness of whether we are living in integrity, in purpose, and in joy. Our Higher Self calls us to keep growing, exploring, and shifting and changing as we age, our life circumstances change, and as we discover so many new things about ourselves.
It sounds so simple. It feels so carefree.
When we trust it.
Our Higher Self connects us to the ever changing, glorious, flow of energy in the universe. As the Inspirited Living’s BeComing You Intro Course helps us to realize: All we have to do it tap into our Higher Self to bring our full talents and creativity to the world.
And yet sometimes, that sense of intuition, that sense of connection to the universe can seem so far away.
Our voice of intuition can fade to a murmur.
Our sense of connection, of community with the wonderous universe, can feel like a faint memory. We become careless vs. carefree.
Or maybe, we don’t realize we even could have access to experiencing something like a felt connection to this something greater; our Higher Self. We’ve read about, or heard about it, but never realized what it feels like for us to be connected.
What gets in the way of us finding our Higher Self, our whole self, to live fully in the world?
Radical Self-Acceptance: Self-Compassion and Our Higher Self
Self-care, self-compassion, and self-acceptance are concepts that are all finally getting the airplay they deserve. They are also all steps to becoming aware, listening in, making space for and experiencing a relationship with our Higher Self.
Self-acceptance and self-compassion are about acknowledging that to fully connect with the world as ourselves, we need to invite in deep understand and kindness for ourselves.
- We need to practice self-care to sustain ourselves.
- We need to be kind and compassionate to the parts of us that are trying so hard to get us through the day.
- We need to accept, embrace, and fully welcome all of ourselves in order to be fully present in our lives.
It sounds so simple.
Radical Self-Acceptance: Listening to our Higher Self
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Even though we might want to tune into our Higher Self, we might have a few barriers to navigate. Luckily they are just that, barriers. They are part of the road to self discovery and learning what barriers we put in the way of listening to our higher self is simply part of the journey.
Here’s some radical news: We all have parts of ourselves or reactions that we don’t accept with compassion. Really. Everyone has parts.
And, even more radical: When we reject parts of ourselves, we also reject the intuition and the feeling behind that part of ourselves. In effect, pinching off access to our Higher Self.
When we welcome ourselves, fully, with love and compassion, we exercise and strengthen our connection to our Higher Self. And then our Higher Self can help guide us through the most complicated aspects of being human—self-awareness and connection.
How powerful can the mind-body-spirit connection be? Lissa Rankin, MD, has built a life around sharing her experience and research on following what she calls “the pilot light.” This is the inner light, the intuition, that guides us if only we can listen to it. And how powerful it can be! In her TED.com talk, for example, Lissa Rankin talks about the power of this connection to heal ourselves.
Our Higher Self: Living in Connection and With Compassion
We are all designed to be connected. Even the most inwardly focused person, is connected to the universe and all living things. Our Higher Self can guide us through that connection if we allow it. When we open up to acknowledge and accept all aspects of our own quirky selves, we also open up to the intuition and guidance that helps us navigate and discover our best life by developing connection first with ourselves, and then in community with others.
For example, when we really tune in and really listen to ourselves, we can figure out which relationships we should put more energy into, and which relationships don’t feed our spirit.
If we are open, we are able to be aware that our Higher Self, our spirit, let’s us know “That doesn’t person doesn’t feel good to be around,” we can choose.
We can listen to our intuition, our gut-instinct, and turn away from what doesn’t feel good to be around, or we operate from a pinched off place – with a judging part of ourselves in the lead – telling us to “try harder, be nicer, learn to fit in!”
Maybe we have a part that believes something like: we don’t deserve to be happy? We don’t get what we need? Why are we special? Or what about the perennial “it’s not safe to ask!”
Is that the inner voice that tells us not to even dare turning towards what we really need to nourish our spirit?
Do we start explaining away someone else’s behavior and making excuses instead of asking ourselves, “why doesn’t that feel good? Who should I spend time with instead?” We don’t have to judge someone else to notice their energy doesn’t feel good to us.
Perhaps our Higher Self is drawn towards something that feeds our spirit, lifts our spirits, connects us to creativity and generative energy? Do we turn towards that beautiful, uplifting, beautiful experience that lifts our spirit?
We can simply allow our Higher Self to guide us: we can chose to turn towards something else instead. Let’s turn our energy towards a different connection.
Our Higher Self: Being Only Human is Enough
One of the first steps to self-compassion is to acknowledge that we don’t know it all – especially when we’ve never done something before. When something is new to us, we need to give ourselves permission to not have all the answers. Believe me, this in and of itself can be transformational. Letting go of whether we are “perfect” or “good enough” or even “deserving” is not something that happen overnight!
Realizing that we can turn towards what nourishes us is a significant shift. It opens up our connection to our Higher Self, then it is much easier to notice what we need to put our energy towards.
Self-acceptance is rooted in the idea of acknowledging our own humanness. Tumbling through every moment of everyday, facing each moment for the first time, humans are quirky, and quixotic. Connected to our Higher Self we are simply, gloriously, one small part of the universe, connected to all things. Safe and simply human.
As the seasons shift and the light changes, our schedules can shift, too. Perhaps the early morning sun through the curtains that prompted you awake at 5am has changed to 6am? Maybe you want a few extra minutes asleep because your days seemed filled? …And then, are scrambling all day to catch up and never quite feel like yourself?
Start with the visualization of your roots going down into the ground. It lets our minds drift towards the sturdy strength of trees. Tapping into the energy of the earth. Connecting ourselves with the living world and reminding us that we are part of something vast, powerful, and beautiful.