WHY PERSONAL POWER IS IMPORTANT TO YOUR SPIRITUAL DEVELOPMENT RECONNECT WITH YOUR SPIRITUAL SELF HOW TO REINVENT YOURSELF PROFESSIONALLY WITH SPIRITUAL INSIGHT WHAT LIGHTS YOU UP 9 STEPS FOR HOW TO FIND YOUR PURPOSE IN LIFE AND ACHIEVE IT
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2017 / Issue 13
understanding the connection between personal power and spiritual development
THE CONSCIOUS CREATIVE
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PURPOSEFUL SPIRITUALITY
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Conscious Creative is published online every month by Dr. Kate Siner. The magazine is an online journal of articles, art, and wisdom. Conscious Creative Magazine promotes holistic health and well-being to its readers by providing enriching literary and visual content. We are working to transform Conscious Creative into a true collaborative art piece, and we need your help! The magazine includes poetry, artwork, and articles by many contributors, which inspire and resource its readers. Will you contribute? Learn more.
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Understanding why personal power is important to your spiritual development begins with understanding that personal development and spiritual development are interdependent, mutualistic processes. The idea that each of these processes is separate and strictly secular/spiritual is a misconception that will prevent us from truly claiming our personal power.
Why Personal Power is important to your spiritual development By Kate Siner
Personal development resources take many forms, but they often manifest on one of two paths: a spiritual path or a secular path. In my experience, people in need (or in hope) of developing themselves turn to their spirituality or they turn to therapy. Each of these paths boasts many strengths, and some shortcomings. Neither is inherently “better” than the other, but both tend to leave out some of the valuable components of the other. Having a toolkit of personal development skills will help you go deeper in your spirituality. Likewise, your spirituality will help keep you grounded and centered as you work your way through personal development practices. Each of these paths offers value that will enable you to reach a level of personal clarity beyond what can be found by just pursuing a single path alone. In the same way that spiritual development provides a firm foundation from which to begin personal development, personal development is part of the essential groundwork that spiritual development is built on. Our personal power, or our empowerment, is a critical component of our spiritual development. Here is why. Spiritual Development Demands Humility. The more that we grow in our spiritual power, the greater the problems that can be created by our unchecked egoic needs. Because of this it is essential that we are humble and true. “Please let me say it loud and clear, the more you powerful are, the more your actions will have impact on people. The more responsible you are to act humbly. If you don’t your power will ruin you and you will ruin the other.” -- Pope Francis Without a sense of personal power, one is subject to the whims of the ego. One uses power to cover up for their limitations. Personal power is not power over. It is the power of choice and being right-sized. It allows us to know our limitations as well as acknowledge our greatness. It provides the foundation for being humble and therefore worthy of our spiritual development. Spiritual Development is Challenging. There is not a single person on a spiritual path who goes untested. The tests, both successfully met and not, are means by which wisdom, impact, and spiritual capacity are gained, much more so than the peak experiences and other epiphanies we might be lucky to have. Each test that comes our way is an opportunity to learn and to grow by recognizing our role in its creation. “Swami Veda says that whenever he gets sick first he thanks the Lord himself that he has the opportunity to close himself and he goes into silence. So each time he has pain he just closes his eyes and he thanks that now I have an opportunity to look within more.” -- Pandit Hari Shankar Dabral Personal Power helps us to be strong enough to ask the important question, how have I helped to create this problem? Without a toolkit of skills developed in our personal development work, we are unable to do this in a healthy way. We may blame the other party or situation or we blame ourselves when we ask the question. Either way, our spiritual development is curtailed. Spiritual Development Requires Effort. To develop ourselves spiritually, we need to maintain continued focus and applied effort. There are no spiritual gains made by sloth or inactivity. Our outcomes are the direct result of the effort that we put in. This continued effort is the act of devotion. Devotion yields powerful results on our spiritual journey. “That’s exactly it. True devotion only appears when we have just one desire and feel that we will die if we cannot realize that desire.” -- Paulo Coelho Without developing ourselves personally, we are unable to act from our adult self on a consistent and regular basis. This inability gets in the way of any sustained effort on our part. The ramifications of being unable to sustain our efforts is larger or smaller based on the place we are in our spiritual development. Some people have spiritual awakenings that are not in balance with their personal development, throwing them into experiences that challenge their mental health. Personal development and spiritual development have many areas of overlap. However, they also provide some unique skills, techniques and insights that support us in becoming our full self. I encourage you to dive into both!
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by Hannah Rousey
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GROUP HEALING INTENSIVE BENEFITS: Quickly release emotional baggage and core limiting beliefs. Access and transform the root of what holds you back. Transform self-doubt.Unlock hidden potential. Feel more empowered. Strengthen your intuition and inner knowing. Celebrate your uniqueness. Connect with others and develop a sense of community. Deepen your spiritual connection. GROUP HEALING INTENSIVE IS FOR YOU IF: You feel as if you’re stuck or cannot get out of your own way in some part of your life.For example, you struggle with creating healthy relationships, are not making the money you want to make, or you feel you’re not living up to your potential. You’re ready to take a giant step forward in your life. You’ve done personal development work (group or private therapy) in the past, and feel ready to go further and simply be done with whatever has been holding you back from living your life fully. You’re ready for deep, life-changing transformation.
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What is spirituality and why is it important? Spirituality means many things to many people. Some people might associate it with a magical feeling, others a state of inner calm, and others a sense of being connected - to a greater being, a greater meaning, or to themselves. Personally, I define it as the knowledge that there is a consciousness to all things. Why do we disconnect? The sidelining of our spiritual experience might occur for some of us because we have outgrown our usual paradigm of understanding spirituality - this sometimes manifests as a feeling that our prescribed religion ceases to make sense to us. For others, Maslow’s hierarchy rules out - the day-to-day of life becomes so overwhelming that there is little time to dedicate to learning how to nurture spiritual development. There are also those of us for whom there never existed a connection to the spiritual. We were raised in an environment that did not honor the spiritual and so we did not learn how to connect with our internal sense of spirituality. Whatever the reason, when a distance grows between our self and our spirituality we become cut off from a powerful resource. Relearning how to nurture spiritual development takes openness and intentionality. How do we reconnect with our spiritual selves? First, remember that spirituality is a process more than a goal. Linking your spiritual experience to an event (like meditation, yoga, or sermon) is good and well, but let’s push ourselves in our development so that we can reconnect with our spirituality in an everyday kind of way. Let go of what doesn’t work so you can let in what does work If your religion no longer aligns with your beliefs, if you're turned off by some of the atrocities committed in the name of religion, or if you cannot put science on hold to believe a literal interpretation of the creation myth, put down these thoughts. Why? Because, despite the idea that faith requires you to accept the beliefs of your religion whole-cloth, most spiritual teachers think for themselves. Most atrocities made in the name of religion have less to do with faith and more to do with small-minded human behavior. Spirituality does not create harm to others. Hateful, fearful, and judgmental people do. I encourage you to look for what makes sense to you, what creates meaning for you, and what helps you be a better person. Make these things part of your spiritual life regardless of what they look like. You've got something to learn from the disconnect Maybe you once felt very spiritually connected, but you do not feel that way now. When this happens, we can feel that we've lost something and we jump to all sorts of conclusions about what this means about us. These moments of loss and disconnect can be as meaningful as our moments of spiritual connection. These difficult times have their own sweet reward and often teach us how to open more deeply to our spiritual truths. When we learn to surrender to our heart, reach toward higher ideals, and let go of our shallow needs, our experience becomes more profound and meaningful. We learn that what we need to be deeply fulfilled is here and now in the present moment. Instead of looking for change, take a look at what you are resisting and see if you can embrace it. Hit the pause button A moment of pause is infinitely important and almost always helpful. Simply put, if we stop and let what is happening around us sink into our consciousness, we reconnect to the truth of our experience. The only thing we need to do is to stop long enough to let this happen. We can stop in different ways. We can go on a retreat or spend a weekend at home being quiet. We can stop the raging of our anger and create space for love in our heart. We can stop the chatter of our mind and allow for more presence. Ideally, we can do all of these. If you don’t have time to pause your life, do what you can. Even brief pauses like stopping to take a few deep breaths can bring in a deeper connection to yourself and what is around you. Over time the effects will become noticeable. Remember, Spirituality is a process and it doesn't come with dogma. So, open up, explore and find your own pathways to your spiritual connection. You’re the only one who knows how to nurture spiritual development in yourself.
There are times in our lives when, for one reason or another, the spiritual aspect of our experience moves to the side-line. For some of us, learning how to nurture spiritual development was never a part of our lives at all, and this shift may go unnoticed. For others, the shift may be a wide and gaping rift in our lives. Reconnecting with your spiritual self begins with learning how to nurture spiritual development.
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Reconnect with your spiritual self By Kate Siner
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Ready to get to work on building your confidence? Sign up for my Morning Mindset Confidence series and get step-by-step support! Learn more here.
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THE FOUR HEAVENLY FOUNTAINS Laugh, I tell you And you will turn back The hands of time. Smile, I tell you And you will reflect The face of the divine. Sing, I tell you And all the angels will sing with you! Cry, I tell you And the reflections found in your pool of tears - Will remind you of the lessons of today and yesterday To guide you through the fears of tomorrow. ― Suzy Kassem, Rise Up and Salute the Sun: The Writings of Suzy Kassem
Learning how to reinvent yourself professionally is a challenge at any stage of life and career. You may have already had to tackle this challenge when you lost a job, became obsolete in your field, or just needed a new level of challenge in your work-life. But what do you do when you’re called to make the deeper kind of shift that occurs when you begin craving work that feeds your soul at a whole new level? This shift requires you to learn how to reinvent yourself professionally, with spiritual insight. At this point in life you might find that the importance of what you do for your livelihood is overshadowed by the importance of your own well-being. Sometimes this feels like, “What once worked for me no longer works.” At other times, it feels like, “The work I used to love feels less interesting, if not outright out of alignment with who I am!” However it manifests for you, this need to connect with a deeper meaning will halt you in your tracks. When people work with me during this phase of their development, they are frequently at a loss as to how to proceed. Their craving to have more rewarding work may not coincide with a knowledge of what that is, or even a desire to make the switch to this new way of being. It can take time to do the necessary and challenging work to figure out how to reinvent yourself professionally so that your work aligns with the needs of your body, mind, and spirit. Responding to the next calling of your personal development requires fresh acknowledgement of what is now most important to you. It also requires that you do the work to become the person who can have that “next level” experience. Adapted from the words of the spiritually wise, here are some suggestions on how to reinvent yourself professionally. “Our livelihood is intimately tied to the food we eat, water we drink and places where we recreate.” -- Mark Udall The physical health of our bodies is essential to our overall wellbeing. This means being attentive not only to the food we eat, but also to the health of the environments that we frequent. If we work in a toxic environment, eventually it rubs off on us. If we sit all day, we eventually pay the price of that habit. The worst culprits are work environments that are emotionally toxic. Whether it is the people in these environments or the emotional price we need to pay to do the work, emotionally toxicity is a slow poison to your wellbeing. Taking care of yourself in a holistic way means no longer settling for what is unhealthy. It requires that we become more aware of the effects that each part of our life has on us. This process can initially seem to increase, rather than decrease, the discomfort of being in these environments, but what is really happening is that we are fully noticing the toxicity that always surrounded us. “But if you can create an honorable livelihood, where you take your skills and use them and you earn a living from it, it gives you a sense of freedom and allows you to balance your life the way you want.” -- Anita Roddick The myth of the entrepreneur tells us that with ingenuity and hard work we can create riches. This dream, and the benefits mentioned in the last Roddick quote, might make entrepreneurship seem like the answer to your prayers for balance and time. And for some, it is. And for some, working for themselves is in fact a dream come true. But for most, the spiritual satisfaction we are looking for in our work is not answered solely by taking the path of entrepreneurship. Instead of riches, let’s focus on satisfaction. Roddick tells us that if you can do something that you are good at, skilled at, and “earn a living,” the life you want will be yours. This is not the dream of untold wealth, this is the dream of dream satisfaction. They are not necessarily mutually exclusive, but when you approach your work with the goal in mind solely of profit then you may miss some things along the way. If, on the other hand, you approach your work with pleasure and satisfaction as the goal, then your financial rewards will be that much richer. “A man without ethics is a beast loosed upon this world.” -- Albert Camus Too often I have heard people diminished the impact of the unethical choices that they have been encouraged to make in service of their career. Ethics, in our current complex world, can indeed be quite challenging to hold onto. Ethical dilemmas are posed by the simplest components of what makes our job – Who built those desks you work on, and were they fairly paid? Are you using recycled paper, and do you recycle in your office? - and they continue all the way through to larger issues of race, gender and power. If you are looking to start a new chapter in your life you will be aided by examining where you are drawing your ethical lines at this particular juncture. Once you’ve drawn this map, it will be easier to turn away from any options that are not in line with your ethical beliefs at this time. “Don’t ask yourself what the world needs Ask yourself what makes you come alive and then go and do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” -- Howard Thurman For many, a lifetime of fitting ourselves into the form of other people’s wants breaks on the floor as we enter into this period of desire for deeper nourishment by our work. Some of us got degrees, careers, and accolades that were less about what we loved and more about what we felt the world needed from us. Some of us kept trying to find what the world was looking for in hope that we might be happy with it. This was not an effective strategy when we employed it at the start of our careers, and it is not an effective strategy for moving forward. Learn what it is the lights you up. Whatever it is that truly makes you happy, when followed, will lead you in the direction of deep satisfaction. If you are unclear about how it will translate into your work, let that go for a moment and see if you can embrace the process of enjoying what you do. It will educate you about next steps, in one way or another. "We must not rest until right livelihood is within reach of every human being upon this earth we love and cherish. We all have a role to play in achieving this goal." -- Agnivesh Finally, think of what a world we would have if everyone was engaged in meaningful work that did not harm others or the planet. I sometimes struggle to image that world, but I know it would be amazing. By taking steps in the direction of loving what you do and by approaching your work holistically you are moving the needle in this important direction for yourself and for others. Learning how to reinvent yourself professionally with spiritual insight begins with learning how to ground yourself spiritually and create the space for yourself to grow.
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As I write the title to this article, I can feel the spirit of Alan Watts frowning. “The point of becoming conscious? There is no “point” to doing a thing,” he might say, “because the activity itself is the reason.” Well hold on Alan Watts, I may not be letting you down after all.
how to reinvent yourself professionally with spiritual insight By Kate Siner
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Starting over and starting anew has been a big theme in my life – and I know I’m not alone in that. Whether it’s my yoga practice, my hiking fitness level, relationships, spiritual path, figuring out yet again what I can or can’t eat in the realm of food sensitivities, changing jobs, or my business, it seems I’m always needing to start again. Change has been the only constant. But that’s the point, right? Change brings new vibrancy to our lives if we can calm the primal part of our brain interpreting change as unsafe. If we can take a moment and whisper to our scared self, “Shh, it’s ok. This is going to be fun!” then we can release fear, move forward, and let our lives unfold as needed. And when I say “needed” I’m not saying that in a “should” sort of way. What you need in your life may look very different from what I need in my life. The common thread, however, is that each and every one of us needs to continually be moving toward that which lights us up. “Don’t ask what the world needs, ask what makes you come alive and go do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” --Howard Thurman I love that quote because it resonates so deeply for me. When I’m overwhelmed and wondering how can my life possibly make a difference, this quote helps me remember. Because it’s true: when each of us lives from our hearts, drawing guidance from our deep, authentic selves, we can find the life we need and can then become a life the world needs. Our very existence with all its actions and reactions creates organic ripple effects which can be immeasurably positive. And this can’t be achieved strictly through thinking strategy, this requires feeling your way, too, trusting your heart, your gut, that little voice — especially if you are unsure about what it is in this world that lights you up. It isn’t about pushing or forcing our way through transition to what we think it ought to be. Instead, we need to let go. We need to stop grasping desperately at that which no longer serves us, but with which we’re familiar (the devil we know!) and remember that if we trust our inner voice, it is NOT going to steer us wrong. When we consistently ask, “Does this feel right? Does it feel good? Am I excited about this?” and use that as our navigational guide, it will direct us to what is most in alignment with where we are in the moment. Sometimes, there’s subconscious resistance, fear, or confusion which muddies up that inner navigation. That’s when we need to step back a little and welcome all the new and unfamiliar with as much presence, breath, and heart as we can muster. The practice becomes living as compassionately as possible—for ourselves and others, connecting with others authentically, and finding joy and increasing our tolerance for it on a daily basis. It’s not an instantaneous event, rather, it’s a practice that requires us to start over again and again. But, the more we do that, the brighter and clearer our inner light becomes. And the more we pay attention to what lights us up, the brighter and clearer our individual paths become. Let yourself be silently drawn by the strange pull of what you love. It will not lead you astray. --Rumi
what lights you up? by Deb Goeschel
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A short story of my origin Once upon a time there was a little girl who didn’t come from between white sheets, or drunken forgotten sleeps. She came from the mountains. Right where the sun wakes up the flowers and rests on top of the peaks. With her she brought magic stars. She kept them tangled in her curls. Her mission was to see everything the world had hidden away. Tiny Streams, underground caves, silent butterflies, ancient trees. There she would plant a star to keep them safe. Once her hair was empty she would climb up the mountain, set with the sun and return to the stars. -- Hannah Rousey
If you’re wondering how to find your purpose in life and achieve it, YOU ARE NOT ALONE! Whether you’ve struggled with this question before or are just embracing it for the first time, it can be daunting to get started on the path of development. The tips below will support you in your personal journey. You can also check out my article “What Nobody Tells You About Finding Your Purpose” Regardless of where you are in the process, these nine steps will help you get on track and stay there. 1. UNCOVER. It is challenging to uncover our life purpose when it is buried under unresolved past issues. This junk of the past can conceal our motives for our current interests and actions, making it hard to tell which direction to even face when starting down the path towards our purpose. The first step of finding your life purpose is working through the personal emotional baggage and false beliefs that were developed prior to this stage in your life. 2. DISCOVER. After you begin to resolve the past, who you really are begins to emerge more clearly. You begin to notice more of your strengths and natural inclinations, and spend less time getting caught up in the stories of your. Although you have been there all this time, this phase of finding your purpose can feel like a stage of discovery. 3. STRENGTHEN. Once you have made contact with your deeper self it is time to build and strengthen that self. This step includes both continued self-discovery work and letting go of any unresolved business from the past. It is a good time to nurture the skills and traits that are associated with your true self. 4. PRETEND. You may or may not feel ready to step in more fully to your life purpose at this point in time. Let your imagination guide you. Try on different hats and approaches. Give yourself the opportunity to explore outside of whatever box you have been accustomed to. 5. ENJOY. Our joy helps to guide us to our true purpose in life. Pay attention to where your enthusiasm and your joy are. Identifying these reactions and what causes them will help you find your way to your life purpose. It will also help you stay on track with your purpose as you get further down the road. 6. PRACTICE. Just because you are meant to do it does not mean that you know how to do every part of it. There are skills that need to be developed for you to achieve your purpose in life and take it to the next level. Learn what they are and begin to practice them in any way that you can. 7. REFINE. It is very unlikely that you will be 100% clear and on track with your life purpose from the start. It is important to pay attention throughout your process. See where your energy levels and enjoyment go up and down. Notice where your natural talents shine. Make adjustments so that you are more on track. 8. SUPPORT. Manifesting your life purpose requires support. People who understand and believe in you are essential to your ability to find your purpose in life and achieve it. Pay attention to who supports you and who does not. If you do not have these people in your life already, begin to look for them. No dream is fulfilled in isolation. 9. MASTER. Keep learning and developing what you have now determined is your life purpose. Do not worry if it does not have a label. Allow yourself to focus on the many aspects of what you are undertaking and develop each of them to a whole new level of mastery. This advanced skill level will give you what you need to overcome new levels of challenge and reach new levels of personal fulfillment with your life purpose.
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9 Steps for how to find your purpose in life and achieve it By Kate Siner
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What can an world-renowned comedian tell you about the meaning of your life? A lot, it turns out. Take five minutes right now and give this a watch.
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