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7 Books to Help Light Up Your Path

Clyde
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7 Books to Help Light Up Your Path

“What fascinates me is that hardly anyone is wondering what we’re actually doing on this planet. Most accepted the work-eat-entertainment -sleep cycle as life and have no desire for a deeper understanding of our purpose in this universe.” ~ Jim Carrey

Life consists of so many things; the more you begin to unwind and discover who you are, the more self-work comes into the picture. I’m someone who has always liked to uncover and work on myself without any assistance, but books definitely have helped expand my perspectives and light up my path.

Today, I’m putting down a few books that have helped, not enlightened me, but really helped steer me, to put the wind in my sails, whether it comes to understanding myself, past traumas, or even questioning my beliefs, or stirring up some new ones.

These books have guided me on my life’s journey, and I’m confident they will help you with yours. Here are 7 books to help light up your path.

1. When the Body Says No

With decades of experience and interactions with patients, Dr. Gabor Maté talks about how stress due to multiple reasons, but mostly focused on childhood trauma, is a root cause of diseases in adulthood. In his book “When the Body Says No” Maté puts forth his conversations over decades with his patients suffering from a range of chronic illnesses.

The book puts forth a case that the way we have been conditioned to live our lives can contribute to illness. To look at the body as a whole and not separating the mind and body, psychoneuroummunology, is not a new concept, in fact one of Plato’s dialogues, Socrates quotes a Thracian doctor criticizing one of his Greek colleagues, “This is the reason why the cure of so many diseases is unknown to the physicians of Hellas; they are ignorant of the whole. For this is the great error of our day in the treatment of the human body, that physicians separate the mind from the body.” You cannot split mind from body, said Socrates

The book dives deep into emotions and their effects on the body, parent-child relationships, and how they affect adult life. Multiple behavioral patterns that do not serve us stem from acts of people pleasing that get incorporated from an early age. Maté also includes the Seven A’s of Healing to understand how we can conduct ourselves in a way where we can avoid letting our body be taken over by negative emotions.

2. Ikigai: The Japanese secret to a long and happy life

Who doesn’t want to live a long life if it’s a happy one, this book by authors Héctor García and Francesc Miralle is an international bestseller for a reason. Okinawa in Japan has the highest life expectancy, where reaching a 100 years is normal, as a matter of fact 80 years is still considered young there as most people are absolutely fit at that age.

In the simplest lesson the book teaches us that, “Life is not a problem to be solved. Just remember to have something that keeps you busy doing what you love while being surrounding by the people who love you.”

That itself is a valuable lesson to learn, the book talks about the lifestyle of people who are happy and live long, surprisingly, simplicity places a big role in it but combined with other things like living close to nature, socializing with people who you love or who are fond of you, eating till you are 80% full, never retire even if you have retired professionally and a lot more.

Discovering your Ikigai, your purpose for living and it also talks about how you can achieve flow states.

3. Becoming Supernatural: How Common People Are Doing The Uncommon

If you ever underestimated the human body’s potential for achievement, this book is a must-read. From healing to manifesting your destiny, Joe Dispenza puts forth multiple case studies along with his research and documents to support his claims.

Of course, that’s not going to be enough for most people. his work has been claimed as pseudoscience, but to be honest, he’s not the first person to put forth claims such as these. With case studies of self-healing, to achieving a life that one desires, Dispenza’s book will walk you through understanding your energetic system, drawing your energy back to put it to use in your life, clearing your brain with meditations and breathing exercises, and even manifesting your desires to make your life better.

The book showcases the power of self belief and the ability to reprogram your mind to enable healing and higher wellbeing. It will teach you how to be in a state of gratitude to enable receiving, if you want to know more read Going Supernatural ~ Unlocking your True Human Potential ~ Part 1

4. Taking Charge: Your Life Patterns and Their Meaning

As compared to all the other books on this list, the probability of you hearing about this one is quite low. Gudrun Burkhard was a physician and therapist who specialized in Biography, and she lectured around the world. Taking Charge combines her years of work as a therapist with Rudolph Steiner’s seven-year maps of human life from the age of 0 to 70 years.

According to Steiner each of these cycles put forth their own challenges and rewards, Gudrun, puts forth multiple biographies of her patients and showcases how when hardships are ignored they keep coming back after a period, with vengeance until either we work on it or it gets the better of us.

It’s fascinating to see that more or less each of us as humans has a broad, similar pattern to our lives that we unfold uniquely to our being. At the end of the book, Taking Charge allows you to create your own life biography to understand yourself better and gives you some clarity on your own milestones. If this interests you, our article on the cycle patterns of our existence is a must-read!

Books to Help Light Up Your Path

5. The Love for Imperfect Things

The love of imperfect things is written by a Zen Buddhist South Korean Monk, Haemin Sunim. He is well known and was actually involved in a controversy with his app that charged for his meditations. He has travelled the world lecturing and finally decided to go back to monastic life.

The Love for Imperfect things does involve a lot of personal experiences, simple quotes and wonderful lessons. It also taught me how to accept the father-son relationship which I had quite some trouble with. The book really helps you understand who you are and why you do the things you do.

It engages inner dialogue and help you come alive and love your imperfect self. The book is filled with little stories that help shine some light in the darkness, its a tiny little book that makes for a quick insightful read.

6. The Courage to be Disliked

At this point of this article I would like to say that none of these books are in order of best to worst, the courage to be disliked by Ichiro Kishimi and Fumitake Koga would be the book I would recommend you to read if you have no time to read any of them.

Our world moves via principals generated by Freud and Jung, where trauma plays such a massive role in shaping who we are today. But the book takes the contrary views of Alfred Adler that says that we’re basically shaped by our lifestyle or rather that none of our past creates who we’re today but us ourselves.

That statement can be very blunt to just read like that, but the book builds it up very nicely, where a young man who does not like his life talks with a philosopher. The entire book is based on multiple encounters, or to say so, debates between the two of them shifting through insights of Adlerian psychology.

Being someone who has held trauma responsible for shaping my life, there were so many tada moments that the conversations were nudging me out of my comfort zone. I’m going to be doing an article for members on this one soon!

7. The Gene Keys: Embracing Your Higher Purpose

Let me be honest with you, I haven’t fully finished working with the Gene Keys completely, and in all honesty, it will probably take me a long time to completely embrace all it has to offer. But this book by Richard Rudd has immense potential in steering you on your path, and it has to be put here.

The Gene Keys is deep work on what we in India call the Kundalini, the Chinese call the IChing, where your life path or so to say destiny is already pre planned based on the time and place you were born. Now don’t get me wrong, you still have a major part to play as the choices you make send you in different directions on this map.

Something like a game of Snakes and Ladders, but with different outcomes, the gene keys come with a set of codes to help you find the ladders on this game, leading you to find your genius (your talents, not just intelligence) and live your best life possible. While the concept is fairly simple, you can imagine that it’s very in-depth as it takes into account these ancient systems that are still used and combines them along with years of research into a massive book that can help guide you on your life’s path!

I do hope you enjoyed this selection of books, I’m positive each one of them has something that can assist you on your path. But remember it’s always you who has to take the steps and convert this knowledge into wisdom! All the very best.

Image Source

The 9 Paths Of Life by Arthur Robins

The 7 Spiritual Laws of Success

Bhavika
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The 7 Spiritual Laws of Success

We are conditioned to believe that only hard work and determination is the way to achieve our life goals and dreams. We follow the rat race, work on tight schedules, being busy becomes the norm and as a result we lead an unbalanced life that leaves us emotionally, physically and mentally drained. 

“At the moment you consciously make a choice, pay attention to your body and ask your body, “If I make this choice, what happens?” If your body sends a message of comfort, that’s the right choice. If your body sends a message of discomfort, then it’s not the appropriate choice.” ~  Deepak Chopra, The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success: A Practical Guide to the Fulfillment of Your Dreams 

In the book The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success, Chopra mentions that striving to achieve our goals to the extent that our lives go out of whack is unnecessary. A flower doesn’t struggle to blossom, nor does a tree grow fruit. Similarly, when we follow certain mindful practices, we can achieve what we want in life. When our actions are motivated by love, awareness, and courage, we find ourselves in greater harmony with nature.

The Seven Spiritual Laws are guidelines that, when put into practice, place us on a clearer path of awareness and to successfully achieve our objectives.

Let’s dive in and get a clearer picture of The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success – 

The Law of Pure Potentiality

“People who don’t know the power of their mind shall only have power without power.” ~ Ernest Agyemang Yeboah

We are pure awareness at our very core, according to the Law of Pure Potentiality.

All possibilities exist in the world of pure awareness. It is the foundation of all types of creation. When we realise our true worth, our true potential, it gives the confidence to achieve any objective we set for ourselves.

From the beginning, right from the time we’re born, our societal structure associates our worth with the possessions we have, the education, the family you are born in, the place you live in and so on, and this forces us to question ourselves and ignore our true nature, it’s an endless cycle of self-doubt and trying to prove your worth. 

But when we unravel our truth hidden behind the veil, and become impervious to outside criticism, we realise our true potential. One way is spending some time in nature, going for a walk in the forest helps us distance ourselves from outside interference and connect with who we really are, uncovering our true potential. 

Practising the Law of Pure Potentiality develops our capacity to directly experience the field of pure awareness, which is infinite in nature. Imagine what happens when you throw a little stone into a pond, it causes ripples that spread all around the center. 

When we practice this law, set your intention silently, it ripples across the field of universal consciousness that connects our desire with everything else. 

How to Practice the Law of Pure Potentiality

Mantra

Sit in silence, chant the mantra Om Bhavam Namah, or “I am absolute existence.” Simply think the mantra silently, or say it aloud from time to time throughout the day and during your practice.

Commune with nature 

Watch the sunset, sunrise, smell flowers, touch the leaves, hug a tree, and witness the magic within every living thing. 

Practice non-judgment. 

Begin your day with the statement, “Today, I shall judge nothing that occurs,” and throughout the day remind myself not to judge.    

 The Law of Giving and Receiving

Thy infinite gifts come to me only on those very small hands of mine. Ages pass, and still thou pourest, and still there is room to fill. ~ Rabindranath Tagore, Gitanjali

Like the old saying goes, “The more you give, the more you get,” is how the universe operates, it is the fundamental universal principle. In every relationship, giving and receiving are the two actions that represent the universe’s energy flow.

When we tamper with nature’s intelligence, we block the energy flow, this principle is used in fengshui as well as vastu. The most crucial aspect of giving and receiving is our intention behind it. When we give joyfully from the heart, the energy behind it multiplies many times over. However, if it is done reluctantly, means if giving is not genuine, and we feel we have lost something in the process, then there is no energy behind giving, then it will not cause an increase.

The Law of Giving and Receiving is pretty simple: If we want love, practice giving love; if we want attention and appreciation, practice giving attention and appreciation; and if we want material wealth, assist others in achieving material wealth.

Silently bless everyone with all the wonderful things in life if we want to be blessed with everything good in life. We know the effect of sending out positive thoughts and energy, or a small act of giving can have an impact on someone else. 

How to practice the Law of Giving and Receiving

Spread joy around

Let’s use each day to spread joy and happiness around us. Today, whoever we meet or come across, bring them a gift. A gift doesn’t mean to buy something but something as simple as giving a compliment, a flower, saying a prayer, giving a blessing. 

This is how one can initiate the process of spreading joy, wealth, and affluence in our own life and in the lives of others. Be open to receiving from others – be it a compliment, a good deed, or anything. Receive the gifts of nature – sunlight, tune in to the sound of the birds and the wind, or the waves. 

Express Gratitude 

Express gratitude for everything that is going right in our life, and also for everything that isn’t – because both are required to support personal growth and development. It makes us the person we are right now and contributes towards balance.  

Mantra

Sit silently in a comfortable position, close your eyes and chant “Om Vardhanam Namah,” or “I nourish the universe and the universe nourishes me.”

The Law of Karma

“Karma, when properly understood, is just the mechanics through which consciousness manifests.” ~ Deepak Chopra

The third spiritual law of success is The Law of Karma – based on the expression, “What you sow, is what you reap.” It is our action and the consequence of that action. 

We must learn to plant the seeds of happiness if we want to cultivate happiness in our lives. The Law of Karma therefore suggests that we must be aware of the decisions we make in our lives. 95% of the time, we operate from our subconscious mind, that is based on our conditioning, so our decisions or actions are often triggered by people or circumstances. 

It is only when we become consciously aware of the choices we make every moment, can we be aligned with the higher force, and reap the benefits of our karma. 

For example – when we get angry and react, we might not even realise, because it has become a habitual pattern. But when We become aware about it and witness it, the emotion soon fades away. Every moment, we have a plethora of choices available to us, which makes us in control of every moment. Think about the consequences of your action, and then choose to react or not react at all. 

Chopra suggests to pay attention to the sensations in our body – does it cause comfort or discomfort? If your body sends a message of comfort, that’s the right choice. If we feel uneasiness in our body even as we ask the question, then it might not be the right choice.

How to practice the Law of Karma

Become aware of our choices

spiritual laws of success

Be aware of the choices you make every moment.

Ask yourself two questions: “What are the consequences of this choice that I’m making?” and “Will this choice bring fulfillment and happiness to me and to those who are affected by this choice?”

Often the heart knows what it wants, so connect with it and see how it feels before you react. What is the best response to this situation? If it feels comfortable and confident, then go ahead with it. 

But if the heart feels discomfort of any kind, take pause and gauge the consequences of our actions in our life and for those around you. Instead of being reactive, respond with creativity, kindness, intuition and awareness.  

Mantra

Chant the mantra, Om Kriyam Namah: My actions are aligned with cosmic law

The Law of Least Effort

“Nature’s intelligence functions with effortless ease.” ~ Deepak Chopra

Nature functions in complete harmony and rhythm, with effortless ease. There is least resistance, it simply adapts, and surrenders to the situation. If a plant growing in shade needs more sunlight, it will move towards it, and often the branch stoops in the direction of the sun. It simply adapts without any resistance.   

The Law of Least Effort is about minimizing our effort and maximising our effect. Just like Occam’s Razor, “shave away”, let go of what is unnecessary from our lives. The razor represents our need for striving toward simplicity and consistency despite complexity and inconsistency.

Let go of the need to struggle, worrying about the future or about things we cannot change and accept the present moment as it is, and simply go with the natural flow of life. 

How to Practice the Law of Least Effort

Acceptance has always been the key to lead a more fulfilling life. When we accept the situation, people or circumstances in our present life, there will be less struggle and less resistance. This takes off the burden that we carry all the time, and can help remove judgment and resentment from our lives.

When we accept a situation, we also take responsibility for our actions and choices, and not blame anyone else or ourselves for the way the situation has turned out. This opens up the opportunity to transform pain into wisdom, demons into diamonds and darkness into light.

When we take charge, we also don’t feel the need to defend our point of view. In other words: we give up the need to be right, or convince others to believe our viewpoint. 

Mantra

The mantra for the Law of Least Effort is Om Daksham Namah which means my actions achieve maximal benefit with minimal effort. Sit quietly in a comfortable position and chant the mantra and believe that we can accomplish more by doing less if we are not wasting energy through struggle and strain. 

The Law of Intention and Desire

“Inherent in every intention and desire is the mechanics for its fulfillment . . . intention and desire in the field of pure potentiality have infinite organizing power. “ ~ Deepak Chopra

Energy flows, where attention goes. What we give your energy to, will grow. If we keep thinking negatively in our life, we end up attracting negativity and giving it space to grow, and when we feed ourselves only positive thoughts, we attract positivity in our life or at least we can see a positive side to any situation.

When we really desire something, and we intend to achieve it, we have already sent out our intention in the universe to achieve it. The two go hand in hand. If we desire something, but still have doubts and fear about it, then there is still an element of negativity. Focus on what we want, and not on what we don’t want.

How to practice the Law of Intention and Desire

Write down all the things you desire, or want. Carry the list wherever you go. Read the list before you sit for your daily meditation, or let it be the last thing you read before going to bed, and the first thing you read on waking up.

Trust the universe in the process. Even if things don’t go according to plan or as desired, trust that it’s part of something bigger to follow. Release your desires into the infinite potential of the universe. 

Always do your best to hold space for your intent, through the day, be fully aware of what you desire and you find yourself working to it and the universe putting stepping stones that lead you to your intention. 

Mantra

The mantra for the Law of Intention and Desire is “Om Ritam Namaha”, this mantra brings our awareness, understanding, and beliefs into accord with cosmic reality.

The Law of Detachment

When you think of detachment, we often tend to associate it with isolation, or becoming cold-hearted, and uninvolved. The Law of Detachment means to be involved and yet not be affected by the outcome, to loosen the rein, let go of controlling the outcome of any situation and give in to the uncertainty of life. 

When you are fully attached to something, it keeps us rooted in insecurity and fear, what if it doesn’t happen or if
I lose it. Attachment is the ego’s dramatisation, that takes away the true power of our self.

We live our lives in this pursuit of happiness by gaining wealth, goals, achievements, power and so on. This pursuit keeps us attached to material gains, which simply breeds instability.

Our intention gets locked into a rigid mindset, and how can we create new circumstances and opportunities if we’re attached to a specific mindset? We will only find the same outcomes.

So when we practice the law of detachment, it brings in a sense of freedom, freedom from our past conditioning, freedom from our habitual patterns that forces us to remain attached to our beliefs, our intentions and desires. 

“Let us realize that engagement and detachment aren’t opposite-the more engaged we become, the more detached we will have to be.” ~ Deepak Chopra 

How to Practice the Law of Detachment?

Practicing detached involvement – Give everyone around you permission to be what they are. Don’t impose your ideas on others of how things should be, or try to solve issues by force, which would just lead to more issues. Step back from the situation, so you can respond more positively to it.

Be comfortable with uncertainty. Don’t try to control every detail of your life, and expect things to be perfect. Find order in the midst of chaos, find stability in the midst of insecurity, and when you adopt that approach, solutions spontaneously emerge, and you remain centered when things don’t go according to plan. 

Mantra

The mantra for this law of detachment is “Om Anandham Namah” which means, my actions are blissfully free from attachment to outcome. Practice this mantra during your meditation, or make the time to sit quietly and chant this mantra.

The Law of Dharma or Purpose in Life

“We are not human beings having a spiritual experience; we are spiritual beings having a human experience.” ~ Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

We all have a purpose in life, a unique gift that we can offer others, some have realised their true purpose, while others are still in the process of finding it. 

How to practice the Law of Dharma

The first step towards practicing the Law of Dharma is to understand that each of us is here to learn who we truly are. “I will awaken myself to this deep stillness within my heart. I will carry the consciousness of timeless, eternal being in the midst of time-bound experience.”

Discover your unique talents, and how those unique talents can be used to serve others. 

When you are in a flow state, and your purpose has found its highest expression, you are in complete alignment with your purpose, it creates a positive impact for all.

You continue this work and ask yourself, “How can you serve and how can you help others?” When you keep an attitude of being in service to others, you become aware of your own limitlessness.

Mantra

The mantra to chant for the law of Dharma, “Om Varunam Namah” – My life is in harmony with cosmic law.

A Guided Meditation on the Seven Spiritual Laws of Success

We hope this article assists you on achieving what your heart desires, here’s a guided meditation to assist you in the process.

Resources

Deepak Chopra on the Spiritual Success Laws

Image Sources

Celestite by LouisDyer

Anything that Annoys you is for Teaching you Patience

Hari Quoter
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Anything that Annoys you is for Teaching you Patience

“Anything that annoys you is for teaching you patience. Anyone who abandons you is for teaching you how to stand up on your own two feet. Anything that angers you is for teaching you forgiveness and compassion. Anything that has power over you is for teaching you how to take your power back. Anything you hate is for teaching you unconditional love. Anything you fear is for teaching you courage to overcome your fear. Anything you can’t control is for teaching you how to let go and trust the Universe”
~ Jackson Kiddard

5 Signs You Are Spiritually Bypassing

Clyde
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5 Signs You Are Spiritually Bypassing

Often times, we use spiritual discipline to avoid actually getting in touch with our feelings. We overemphasize the positive and avoid the negative, and do not find our balance with shadow work. We believe everything that happens to us is meant to serve a bigger purpose, and some of us are overly compassionate.

What is spiritually bypassing?

“Spiritual bypassing separates us from our humanity and all its messiness and struggles and pain and It makes us feel good briefly.”
~ Karl Forehand

Often described as spiritual narcissism, spiritual bypassing is the practice of trying to find a way to feel better by ignoring our negative feelings. It is a way to cover up problems, avoid confrontation, and avoid the real world. While this is a coping mechanism, it is also dangerous.

The term “spiritual bypass” was first coined by John Welwood in 1984. It was inspired by his experience with a woman who read a lot of spiritual books, did Transcendental Meditation and was raised by a narcissistic mother. Spiritual bypassing can also be blind obedience to a spiritual guru. Even though those who spiritually bypass have a strong spiritual practice, they do not embody the lessons that come along with it.

They instead believe that they are superior to others and that they can avoid negative feelings by relying on the spiritual world. Spiritual bypassing can be seen in the form of exaggerated detachment, blind compassion, delusions of a higher level of being, and overly positive beliefs.

People who spiritually bypass may also have strong religious beliefs, and may attend fellowships, spiritual workshops, and meditation. But they haven’t yet found balance by confronting their inner demons.

Here are some signs that you are spiritually bypassing

You overemphasize the positive and avoid the negative

Using spirituality as a bypass is an attempt to ignore the reality of your life. In the world of spiritual bypassing, people become overly optimistic and avoid facing the harsh realities of life. People with emotional trauma are the ones who are highly likely to fall into this trap.

spiritually bypassing

Spiritual bypassing uses spiritual practices to avoid dealing with emotional issues. Some examples of spiritual bypassing include being overly tolerant and compassionate even when it hurts you. Debilitating judgment about negativity, and putting up weak boundaries. It is also important to understand that spiritual bypassing is a defense mechanism.

If you are spiritually bypassing, you probably suffer from low self-esteem, emotional dissociation, and anxiety attacks. You will also have a hard time coping with stress, and you feel like you are the victim of your problems. It can also lead to co-dependency, which is when you have unhealthy relationships with other people.

The best way to avoid overemphasizing is to find your balance, realise that one needs to acknowledge the negative as well as positive to grow spiritually.

You have feelings of entitlement

Having feelings of entitlement is something that can be dangerous on the spiritual journey. For example, if you’re a “vegan” and you think that you’re better off than another person who doesn’t have the same diet as you because you’re uber conscious, it’s spiritual bypassing.

Just because you do yoga and you have a fab body, or your chakras are aligned doesn’t make you a better person, but when you are kind is when you’re truly aligned. It’s ok to feel entitled if you also have equal amount of humility.

However, feeling entitled can also be a sign that you have an overly idealistic ego. In addition, spiritual bypassing can lead to control issues, and even spiritual narcissism. Many people have difficulty finding their true selves as they get attached to a dysfunctional identity based on the avoidance of unresolved psychological issues.

People turn to spirituality when they are feeling depressed or distressed. This is because it is supposed to be a vehicle for growth and change. It is also a way to provide a sense of hope and meaning. In addition, spirituality can also be a very beneficial coping mechanism.

Spiritual bypassing here tends to make people shift the blame onto others.

You believe that everything happens for a reason

Whether or not you believe in God, the universe, or energy, everyone benefits from the belief that one’s misfortune is part of a grand plan. It can help keep you motivated to accomplish your goals, and maybe that’s ok. But if this is an excuse you use to let things unfold without you actively doing anything about it, then it becomes another form of spiritual bypassing.

Using any of these terms divine/God/universe to ignore or escape the difficult experiences or feelings life puts you through is a sure sign you’re a spiritual bypasser.

You don’t do your shadow work

Identifying and accepting your shadow is important for self-growth and self-awareness. Shadow work is a psychological process that uses the unconscious mind to understand what is holding you back and how you are affected by your thoughts and feelings.

Shadow work is a catalyst for change as it helps you gain self-awareness and become more compassionate. It can also increase your sense of self-respect and improve your relationships. Although shadow work can be very challenging and it requires compassion for yourself and patience.

You have to be willing to look at your innermost emotions. It is also important to understand that the process may not happen overnight. You can do some shadow work exercises on your own or with a therapist.

When you first start to identify your shadow, you will have to be willing to lean into your negative emotions. You may be uncomfortable with these feelings, but they will help you uncover and understand why you react in certain ways and help you stop spiritually bypassing.

You are overly compassionate.

Taking a spiritual approach is a way of making the bumpy ride less bumpy. A person who is good at spiritual bypassing may be calm, compassionate, and gentle. He or she may also have chronic illnesses and instead of self-care shows more concern about you. Usually, people who are good at spiritual bypassing are peacemakers and help others.

Spiritual bypassing can be caused by a good principle or practice that is applied at the wrong time or in the wrong context. It can also be caused by suppression, which creates an imbalance within, and often people who are good at spiritual bypassing do not recognize that their behaviour may hurt others.

How to stop spiritually bypassing?

It’s easier to justify living inauthentically than it is to admit something is wrong and begin working on the self. If you’re feeling frustrated or overwhelmed with your situation it’s a good idea to talk with someone you trust about your feelings.

As a member you can open up and seek support during our healing circles or even speak with a trusted friend. It’s important to accept your weaknesses, and that’s the first step to begin healing.

“In short: all the woo is keeping us from dealing with our poo. Instead of medicating with Marlboros and martinis, we might be doing it with metaphysics and macrobiotics. And unlike boozing it up to drown our pain, the side effects of neurotic psychoanalyzing or forced flexibility are difficult to spot. We don’t end up in rehab from too much meditation or therapy — we just end up in more workshops. Think of that friend you have who has a not-so-loving relationship with her body, but because she eats “health foods” and talks a good “body positive” talk about just wanting to be strong, we cheer her on. But really, she’s got self-destructive motivations and a mild eating disorder disguised as a holistic wellness routine. On the surface, positivity and wellness goalkeeping present so nicely that it can be hard to see when healthy actions are hooked to unhealthy ambitions. Like too much of anything, spiritual bypassing can numb us out from our Truth — which is where the healing answers wait to be found.”
~ Danielle LaPorte

Image Source

Third Eye Awakening

Spiritual Bypassing

The Benefits of Being a Curious Adult

Bhavika
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The Benefits of Being a Curious Adult

“I have no special gift. I am only passionately curious.” ~ Albert Einstein

Einstein’s words are ingrained with a powerful truth. Everybody is born curious, but along the way we lose that ability to stay curious and simply go about doing our mundane activities. Children have this insatiable thirst for finding out more about the world, their surroundings, because for small children that is the way they learn more about themselves. They have this innate ability to look at everything with new eyes, until their programming takes over.   

“Why is it like that, How does this work, What will this do,” we are asked multiple questions during the day by our 6-year-old son. He opens up his cars, his toys to see what is inside it, how is it made and how does it function, probing us on the how and why of things. 

That is the steppingstone to gaining higher level of awareness, a precursor to higher knowledge, learning and achievement. Curiosity is the source of everything. 

However, curiosity gets a bad rap, society looks to suppress that curiosity because it ‘only’ functions on order. Imagine if people all around us were as curious as Eve? What would have happened? Imagine if people were curious to explore new ways of healing themselves?

“Our oldest stories about curiosity are warnings: Adam and Eve and the apple of knowledge, Icarus and the sun, Pandora’s box. Early Christian theologians railed against curiosity: Saint Augustine claimed that “God fashioned hell for the inquisitive.” Even humanist philosopher Erasmus suggested that curiosity was greed by a different name. For most of Western history, it has been regarded as at best a distraction, at worst a poison, corrosive to the soul and to society.” ~ Ian Leslie, Curious 

This society will collapse if everybody were curious to know about the world they live in, if they were curious to ask the right questions. There are different kinds of curiosity to delve deeper into the subject – 

Types of Curiosity

Diversive curiosity

Curiosity starts with the itch to explore. Babies are a classic example of exploration. Putting things in their mouth, trying to reach out to new things, the urge to touch everything they see, this is their way of exploring their world, by tasting it, by touching it – through their senses. 

This attraction to everything novel is what is known as ‘diversive curiosity’. It encourages us to see things with new eyes, to seek out new experiences, meet new people.

In adults, the urge to check the new Insta reel, move from one tweet to the next, one video to the next feeds this diverse curiosity. But unless it is allowed to mature, transformed into something deeper and meaningful, it is futile and a waste of energy. 

Epistemic Curiosity

When diversive curiosity is channelised properly, in a more disciplined way, it becomes epistemic curiosity. It goes deeper into a subject to an extent that it becomes soul-satisfying.

As Ian Leslie says, “Epistemic curiosity is hard work; it involves sustained cognitive effort. That makes it tougher, but ultimately more rewarding. Just as the resistance offered by a tungsten filament to electrons generates light in a lightbulb, it’s the very difficulty of exercising epistemic curiosity that brings illumination.

Diversive curiosity makes us want to know what lies on the other side of the mountain; epistemic curiosity arms us with the knowledge we need to survive when we get there.”   

Empathic curiosity

Empathic curiosity is being curious about thoughts and feelings of others. When you step into the shoes of another person and try to see things from their perspective, it shows empathic curiosity.

It is diversive curiosity that takes us deeper into the ocean of knowledge, curiosity can fizzle out if it’s not channelised and nurtured appropriately.  

Here are some best strategies for breaking out of that rut by cultivating different ways of staying curious that will ensure our survival in an increasingly complex world.

“Curiosity is a muscle — use it or lose it. It’s something that we consciously have to nurture in ourselves, in our families, in classrooms, at work.” 

Stay hungry, stay foolish 

Steve Jobs is a classic example of following his curiosity and intuition that helped him to make bigger strides in his life. The rest is history. 

In his Commencement address delivered to Stanford University graduates, Jobs emphasised the need to ‘stay hungry, stay foolish’, get out of your comfort zone, keep learning new things, explore new ideas, and never stop learning. Basically, never let your curiosity fade away, keep moving, keep flowing!

Ask why

We accept automatic answers, without asking why does a particular thing happen this way. The society and culture doesn’t support and encourage questions. When our 6-year old son continues asking questions, it’s not about giving him ready-made answers, or ‘this is the way it is supposed to be’ kind answers, but give him open-ended answers that will further fuel his curiosity and not allowed to atrophy.   

Ask questions, sometimes without seeking for answers, but with the intention of exercising that curiosity muscle.

“Childhood curiosity is a collaboration between child and adult. The surest way to kill it is to leave it alone. Epistemic curiosity is not a “natural” state of mind requiring only the removal of obstacles to flourish, but a joint project that needs to be worked at.”

When was the last time you did something for the first time?

This one is a classic question and every time I think of it, it takes me back to questioning myself. On most days, we function out of auto mode, our subconscious mind. When you sit and pause and ponder over this question, you might realise that it has been a while since you did anything for the first time. 

What are we waiting for? Do something that you have never done before. It can be cooking something new, go for a run, play a sport, record a video. This builds curiosity because doing something for the first time makes you curious to know the outcome, the feelings it brings up, the experience it gives you and so on. Isn’t that exciting?

Create for the sake of creating

“You don’t really have to have knowledge — what you have to have is curiosity.” ~ Maira Kalman

To create helps you to deal with your own fallacies. Write down about what delights you. You may not be Picasso or Mozart, but you are not required to be one. Simply create to create. Make something to remind yourself that you’re still alive. Make things to inspire others to do the same. Make something to learn more about yourself. Make something just for the heck of it and see how it makes you feel. 

Get bored

Allow yourself to be bored. Throughout life, there are situations where you are forced to do things or tasks that are extremely dull, boring or uninteresting.

In such a scenario, you need a bait – either it’s money at the completion of the task, or as a child you get an ice cream or a treat if you finish your homework, and so on. It’s the reward you are working for. What if you find ways to change this mundane activity into something that stimulates our curiosity, and once that happens, we’re more likely to spend time on it.

Honestly, cooking is something I am not very fond of, so the whole act of waking up in the morning to cook and pack food for my elder son can be boring and challenging. In order to make this mundane routine interesting, I often, search for recipes and try out something new, something different to eat which in turn feeds my curiosity and also makes this whole process more bearable.    

Like Andy Warhol, the American visual artist, said, “I like boring things.” Warhol was known to transform the most boring object, like a can of soup – and made millions of people see it anew. 

Another beautiful example is of a child brought up in slums with very little to no toys to play with will use the most ordinary object like a tin and make it into a playful drum that he enjoys and cherishes. It was the curiosity of the child that fuelled his imagination.

Replace fear of the unknown with curiosity

The video above is an amazing watch that complements the article perfectly, I hope you enjoyed it and have the power to move beyond your fear!

“The greatest virtue of man is perhaps curiosity.” ~ Anatole France

Don’t allow your life to become dull and lose its spark. Curiosity keeps the inner spark alive, feed it with fodder and nurture it with wonder, curiosity will be your antidote to happiness.

Image Source

Art by Nuvolanevicata Cristina

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