Summary
People who do not have any spiritual beliefs can think of their higher consciousness as the part of the mind that is more loving, happy, and wise than they feel at the moment.
You do not need to have a mystical vision of your higher power in order for higher-consciousness healing to be effective. You can simply choose how you want to perceive your higher power—for example, as a central figure of your religion, as a beautiful angelic being, or simply as a shimmering light.
Even though we may use different images for our higher consciousness, we always share it with all beings in the universe.
Your higher consciousness is always beautiful, wise, and loving. If it seems ugly, judgmental, or critical, you are actually perceiving your personal consciousness.
Chapter 8
EXPLORING OUR LIFE-PATH
EXPLORING OUR LIFE-PATH is not an essential part of higher-consciousness healing. It simply allows us to understand ourselves more deeply and receive additional feedback. Therefore, you can skip this part of the practice if you wish.
In order to explore our life-path, we imagine our higher consciousness sitting on top of a mountain. As I have said before, we don't need to “see” a clear picture when we visualize this. It is enough to have an idea of the mountain and of our higher consciousness. Then we ask our higher consciousness to show us a road, a path, or a track leading up the mountain. This image of a path, which symbolizes our life-path, will just “pop” into our mind. It is our personal route toward our highest unfoldment.
We all lead different kinds of lives. One person is a computer consultant; another is a teacher or a housewife. Whether the life we have chosen makes us happy depends on one fact alone—whether it brings us nearer to our higher consciousness. This journey is symbolized by the path that leads toward our higher consciousness on top of the mountain. There are as many different roads toward higher consciousness as there are beings. No one needs to develop in exactly the same way as anyone else, and we are all free to find the path that exactly suits our needs and talents. What we are doing is not the most important factor. What counts is our motivation for doing it.
When we walk up our life-path and finally unite with our higher consciousness, we realize the love and compassion for all beings that is dormant within ourselves. On this journey, we become truly and deeply happy and gain the liberating wisdom that teaches us the true nature of the universe. And we also help others to realize the happiness we've found for ourselves.
The image of the life-path that pops into our mind is different for everyone. For some, it is a wide paved road; for others, it is a steep rocky path. Most see it as having different sections that represent the more or less difficult phases in their lives.
Once we have received an image of our life-path from our higher consciousness, we need to express our gratitude. Every time we acknowledge the help we receive, we become more open and receptive. And the more open we are, the more we will receive the full benefit of this work.
Receiving Answers from Our Higher Consciousness
Unfortunately, there is not much that distinguishes messages from our higher consciousness from our other thought processes. These messages may come into our mind as thoughts or images accompanied by feelings and body sensations. Unfortunately, even if these images and ideas feel great, there is no guarantee that they are channeled exclusively from our higher consciousness. It is important to be realistic about this so we don't fall into the trap of a spiritual “ego-trip.” We should take whatever comes into our mind with a pinch of salt and see if it makes sense to us. What matters is whether we can learn something from the images we receive. A helpful message from our higher consciousness will feel good and it is often accompanied by a sense of relief.
Most people find it fairly easy to receive messages from their higher consciousness, but sometimes they get a feeling that the images they receive are their own fantasies, or even pure nonsense. If you feel like this, ask your higher consciousness again. Watch out for an inner feeling of relief or relaxation, or for a little sigh. These are all signs that you are on the right track. If you feel uncomfortable with your message, it is very likely that your inner image has come from your personal consciousness. If that is the case, go back to your relaxation and try again.
It is not a good idea to ask our higher consciousness the same question more than two or three times in a row, because the part of our mind that receives answers on an intuitive level tires quickly. It is better to give ourselves a break after two or three attempts and try again later. With practice, our intuition will sharpen and we will find it easier to receive messages from our higher consciousness. What is important is not to give up too soon.
Sometimes, people say that they don't get a response at all when they ask their higher consciousness a question. In most cases, this isn't true. Many people actually do get an inner picture or thought, but they quickly dismiss it. Unfortunately, by doing that, they shift their state of mind and are less connected to their higher consciousness. If you find that you are not getting any answers from your higher consciousness, check whether you have dismissed the very first (and perhaps shadowy) thought that came into your mind immediately after you asked your question.
The Imagery of the Life-Path
Now we ask our higher consciousness to show us where we are on our life-path. We may get a picture or an idea of ourselves standing down in the valley, or we may see ourselves already near the top of the mountain. It really doesn't matter where we are on the path. What matters is that we are moving forward. As long as we are walking in the right direction, we will be happy—whether we are still in the valley or already near the top. We will be happy because we are fulfilling the purpose of our life—moving closer to our higher consciousness.
The first time I asked to be shown my life-path, I saw a huge mountain. It had a rocky slope near the top that only an experienced rock climber would be able to climb. In the middle, there was a steep stony path; near the bottom was a fairly flat, wide road. I saw myself on this road down in the valley. I was pleased with this image, because I liked the prospect of a flat easy road for a while.
Our life-path represents the path of our personal and spiritual growth. It shows the shortest and most harmonious way to develop our full potential. We are all different; what works for one person may not work for another. This is as true for learning a new language as it is for developing our personal and spiritual potential. If we see several paths leading up the mountain, it is always the shortest one that will bring us the deepest happiness.
We are completely free to decide whether we want to follow our lifepath. This means we can choose for ourselves whether we want to grow personally and spiritually. No one can force us to climb up the mountain and develop our potential. Not even our higher consciousness can do that. On the other hand, nobody and nothing can stop us if we decide we want to move closer to our higher-consciousness.
So the obvious question is: How can we be sure we are following our life-path? The answer is that in order to move along our life-path, we must develop a compassionate heart and a wise mind, no matter what is happening to us. By contrast, if we become bitter or depressed and allow ourselves to be controlled by others, our progress on our life-path will be slow. On our life-path, there are no problems—only challenges we are happy to overcome. On our life-path, we may experience adversity, but we will know how to turn problems into wisdom and compassion. For example, if we feel rejected and harmed by others, following our life-path means developing extraordinary compassion instead of becoming resentful and depressed. If we are ill, following our life-path means finding a way to use this illness for personal growth instead of becoming full of self-pity.
Please don't think that suffering is something bad, or a sign that you are failing in your development. On the contrary, for most of us, suffering is the only thing that will turn us again and again toward a concern for our inner growth. Without problems, most of us would never dream
of following a path of self-development that involves effort and discipline. Only through admitting to our suffering can we use it to progress along our life-path more happily.
Therefore, the next question we must ask our higher consciousness is what we are doing on our life-path when we experience our suffering from our problem. For example, we may receive images of walking slowly and with effort. We are even more likely to see ourselves standing still, sitting down, moving backward, or even moving along other paths that lead us away from our higher consciousness. When we ask this question, we should go back to our initial definition of our problem (see chapter 4) and ask in the following way:
Please show me what I am doing on my life-path when I suffer from feeling (emotion) about (problem).
Here are two examples of answers my clients have received to this question:
Rob suffered from worries about money. When he asked his higher consciousness what he was doing on his life-path when he was suffering from feeling worried about his financial situation, he saw himself crouching down and feeling tense.
Claire suffered from a major problem in her relationship with her boyfriend. When she asked her higher consciousness what she was doing on her life-path when she felt angry with her boyfriend, she saw herself walking along a different path that led away from her higher consciousness.
Most people readily get inner pictures or ideas when they ask what they are doing on their life-paths when they are experiencing their problems. To most, these images make immediate sense. When we are confronted with the truth, it is as if something clicks into place. Pictures are like clues that can give us a general idea of what is going on. For example, Claire realized in a flash that if she carried on in the same way with her boyfriend, she would become more and more unhappy.
Again, please don't judge yourself if you find that you are not walking happily along your life-path. Instead, see this information as the first step to improving your life. After all, if we don't know that we have lost our life-path, we can't do anything to come back to it again. The following list gives a rough guideline of how to interpret the imagery of the lifepath. It is intended only as a guide, however. Please feel free to interpret your life-path in the way that feels true to you.
A steep path in front of us: The next phase of our development will be hard work, but very rewarding.
A flat path in front of us: The next phase of our development will be easy.
A fork in the path: There is a possibility that lures us away from our original path.
We can only see bits of our life-path: We do not see our life's purpose.
Our path disappears behind the back of the mountain: We don't know how we want our life to unfold.
The path seems to disappear altogether: We feel confused and without direction.
There is a river crossing our path: We are experiencing obstacles.
There are big rocks on our path: We are experiencing obstacles.
Our path is muddy or covered with little rocks : We are experiencing many small obstacles.
Our path is smooth: We do not experience any obstacles.
We are in a dark forest: Depends what a dark forest means to us—it could mean we feel hopeless and trapped, or we feel surrounded by protective forces.
We walk through bleak and rocky terrain: Our life feels barren and hard.
We walk through a beautiful landscape: Our life feels beautiful and harmonious.
The weather is sunny/rainy/gray: Our emotional landscape is happy/sad/joyless.
We are looking downhill instead of uphill: We are looking away from the solution of our problem.
We are standing still: We do not actively work for the solution of our problem.
We are sitting down: We feel hopeless or confused, or we are lazy.
We are walking downhill: We are actively moving away from the solution of our problem.
We are walking parallel to our path through difficult terrain: We are making it unnecessarily hard for ourselves.
We are walking on another path, away from our original path: We have lost our life's purpose.
We move forward, but very slowly: We are going in the right direction, but we are making it unnecessarily hard for ourselves.
We are moving back and forth: We are undecided.
We tread on one spot: The way we are trying to solve our problem is fruitless.
We move forward at a good speed: We are solving our problem in the best way possible.
The following case study shows how the imagery of the life-path can give us feedback on our progress.
Roger
Roger contacted me because he had lost his job and was unable to find another. He was beside himself with anxiety. Roger was an atheist and chose to see his higher consciousness as a shimmering light. He was shown his life-path as a steep rocky road and saw himself as halfway up the mountain, confronted by a torrential stream that blocked his way. When Roger asked his higher consciousness what he was doing on his life-path when he suffered from fear about his work situation, he saw himself walking nervously back and forth along the stream. All this made perfect sense to him, because it mirrored his anxiety and indecision. He then received a healing symbol—a golden star—and he worked with it for two weeks. When he came back to me, Roger reported that he felt much calmer and had been able to think more rationally about his problem. He had even started to consider new career possibilities. I guided him into relaxation and instructed him to ask his higher consciousness what he was doing on his life-path. To Roger's surprise, he discovered that a bridge had appeared across the wild river and he saw himself walking slowly over the bridge. This image reassured him that he was on the “right” path. In the following weeks and months, he started his own business with the help of a friend and the imagery on his life-path “improved” simultaneously. Obviously, Roger felt a lot better as well.
• • •
This case study shows how we can check the imagery of our life-path again and again to receive feedback from our higher consciousness on our progress. In the many years that I have been working with my clients with this imagery, I am still surprised how accurate it is. Only very rarely do people receive images that do not make sense to them. If this happens to you, feel free to dismiss these images, as they are not essential for higher-consciousness healing to work.
Summary
Working with the life-path imagery is not essential for higher-consciousness healing. You can skip it if you experience problems with it.
Your life-path is the path of your own personal and spiritual development; it leads toward your higher consciousness. It is your own choice whether you follow it or not.
Ask your higher consciousness to show you your life-path and where you are on it at the moment.
Messages from your higher consciousness come into your mind as images or thoughts accompanied by feelings or bodily sensations. If you are not sure whether you have received a genuine message from your higher consciousness, ask again. Feelings of well-being and relief are signs that you are on the right track.
Ask your higher consciousness: Please show me what I am doing on my life-path when I suffer from feeling (emotion) about (problem).
On our life-path, there are no problems—only challenges that we are happy to overcome. Therefore, when we suffer, it is a sign that we are straying from our life-path or standing still.
After working with higher-consciousness healing for two weeks, you can ask this question again and see how the imagery has “improved.”
Chapter 9
ASKING FOR A HEALING SYMBOL
NOW WE COME TO THE HEART OF higher-consciousness healing practice. After we have explored our problem with the life-path questions, we can ask for a healing symbol to overcome our suffering. It is important to use the exact same definition of our problem we formulated earlier (see chapter 4). Then ask your higher consciousness for a healing symbol in the following way:
Please give me a healing symbol to overcome my su
ffering from feeling (emotion) about (problem).
Someone who suffers from depression over not having a partner may ask: Please give me a healing symbol to overcome my suffering from feeling depressed about not having a partner. As I have explained before, that person should not ask: Please give me a symbol for finding a boyfriend. If we define a specific aim, as in the second example, we limit the possible ways in which our higher consciousness can solve our problem. But if we are completely open to whatever our higher consciousness wants to do to help us, the whole process is much more effective. As I was writing this, my friend Robert phoned me and told me about his latest results with higher-consciousness healing in solving his own financial worries. His story illustrates this dynamic quite clearly.
Robert
Robert retired early and worried a lot about money and about how to survive on his small pension as he got older. Sometimes, these worries were so bad that he felt panic-stricken. Two months before, he decided to use higher-consciousness healing to solve this problem. He measured his suffering from feeling anxious as 7 on the scale, and asked for a healing symbol. He received a beautiful gemstone, and after working with it for two weeks, he felt a lot calmer in himself. Then something astonishing happened. A chain of unlikely coincidences led him to the house of a friend of a friend in his favorite seaside town. They spent a lovely afternoon together and chatted about many things—among them, house prices. My friend learned, to his astonishment, that house prices in this seaside town were only half those in the town where he lived. In a flash, he realized that this could solve all his money problems. If he sold the house he lived in at the moment, he could not only move to his favorite seaside town, he would also have plenty of money for his old age. Robert has been 0 on the scale of money worries ever since.
The Five-Minute Miracle Page 6