Choose Soul-based decision-making

My child is unhappy at daycare, growing noticably more anxious, and getting sick more often. I will regret it forever if I don’t leave my job, change my livelihood, to care for my child at home.

“I feel stressed in my workspace. There is so much negative energy among colleagues, even discrimination. I don’t know where to go for grievances. Just know that I can’t stay.”

“ I feel an urgency to pursue my dream. I have a vision but lack full clarity.”

I can relate to quandries about parenting and work-life balance, as well as roles in public and private sectors.  As a coach, clients consult me for guidance about life change without always knowing the next steps on their journey. What they and we all come to realize if open and receptive, is that our body-mind is constantly giving us signs and signals. We can learn to read them. Part of us knows what is not aligned with our soul. The messages are loud and persistent, to where they are difficult to ignore.  The voices invite us to give up the needs of our ego – earned job title, predictable income, security, maybe how and where we live and take leaps of faith without knowing how things will turn out! Its an exercise in trust. Can you relate to that inner urge to change?

With the onslaught of the global health concerns, wildfires, environmental calamities, political upheavals, and far more, we are repeatedly to prompted to act differently.  The inner voice is getting louder. As we begin to see our lives in terms of energy, the stakes are high when we are out of alignment! How can we learn to make decisions that are aligned with collective wisdom and that reliable intuition?

Six Modes of Decision-Making

In the book The New Leadership Paradigm, Richard Barrett talks about Six Modes of Decision Making.

1. Instinct-Based
2. Subconscious Belief-Based
3. Conscious Belief Based
4. Values-Based
5. Intuition-Based
6. Inspiration-Based

Question is, in day-to-day life, what sort of decision-making evokes more joy and freedom? If we are guided by internal feelings, or the soul, then these modes take us closer or further away from the best choice on our path.

1.    Instinct-Based Decisions 

This is about biological survival. For example, babies instinctively know how to suckle and cry when they are born, in order to help them gain the food and attention they need to survive. As adults, your instincts kick in when you are in danger, such as the fight or flight response.  In this realm, actions proceed thought. You are not consciously in control of your decisions.

2.    Subconscious Belief-Based Decisions 

This is about personal memories and experiences from the past and are often driven by emotions rather than rational thought. When you make subconscious decisions based on beliefs from the past, you are often responding to unmet ego needs.  In this realm, action still proceeds thought and you are still not consciously in control of your decisions. The key decision driver is your personal experience rather than your biology.

3.    Conscious Belief-Based 

This is where the realm of rational decision-making based on conscious thought, information, and experience.In this type of decision-making you switch to thinking before you act. You are in control. Yet, you still tend to make decisions based on past experiences and feelings, rather than on your future and infinite potential.

4.    Values-Based decision-making

This involves examining your past beliefs and experiences and letting go of what no longer serves you anymore. When you move into values-based decision-making, you can create a future that resonates with who you truly are and want to become.  Values-based decision-making is based on your personal values and the future you want to create. You are in control of your actions and consult with others to consciously create the best outcome.

5.    Intuition-Based decisions

This is about allowing you to tap into a deeper and collective wisdom of a larger group. This may involve giving up your personal preference in service of the whole. You shift away from your ego-system into a larger eco-system view.

With intuition-based decisions, you expand our awareness of the whole, suspend your judgment, empty your mind, and are open to thoughts that arise and reflect a wisdom that is greater than your own.

6.    Inspiration-Based decision-making is responding to the promptings of our soul. This decision-making enables your soul to fulfill its purpose in this world. Barrett mentions that some forms of depression arise from ignoring these insistent promptings of the soul.

In this realm, thoughts seem to appear from nowhere, they are persistent, and there are emotional consequences for not listening to them.

Three Ways to Align Decisions with the Needs of Your Soul

Here are some tips you can practice to begin shifting to making decisions aligned to the needs of your soul:

1. Be Aware of the Level at Which You are Making Decisions 

• Do you tend to get stuck in rational decision-making based on your past experience, without considering values? When is that appropriate? And when might you need to shift to exploring the involved in the situations.

2. Consult others 

• Through consulting with others and becoming more aware of diverse perspectives, you begin to expand your own knowledge, gain deeper levels of understanding, and tap into a collective wisdom that is greater than your own.

3. Meditation, Prayer, Spiritual Practice

• Tapping into values, intuition, and inspiration is a spiritual practice. Take 5 minutes per day to quiet your mind, be present, and seek wisdom from your ancestors in the spiritual realm and the wisdom of the universe. Ask for guidance in decision-making. It may come in a dream, while immersed in nature or in a quiet moment. Listen carefully and pay attention.

At what level do you tend to make decisions? At what level would you like to make decisions?  What is most effective for you in different life areas?  Would you benefit from coaching along these lines? Contact us.

Align with 12 Universal Laws

Many ancient cultures suggest true success and fulfillment relate to living according to 12 Universal Laws. Hermes (Thoth) known for ancient Egyptian Hermetics narrow this down to 7 Universal Principles.   The ancient Hawaii Ho'oponopono meditation for freedom and other cultures embody these Laws. They echo life is mastered as we align with love and joy.

Consider where they reonate or not and how they could serve to guide your life in new directions:

1. Law of Divine Oneness

• "How can I show more compassion and acceptance?"
• "What would love do?”
• "Why/How would the highest version of me respond?"

2. Law of Vibration 

• "Why are my dreams not happening or being realized?
• "How can I align my thoughts and feelings to manifets more authentically?"
• "What are effective ways to elevate my frequency/ vibration?"

3. Law of Correspondence 

•  "As above, so below. As within, so without."
• "To everything there is a season, A time for every purpose under heaven."
•  "It's happening for you, not to you. 
• "A chaotic and fearful life echoes chaos and fear within. A calm and grounded life, echoes peace within."

4. Law of Attraction

•  "Like attracts like, and you get what you focus on. 
• "Congruence or aligned beliefs are needed to obtain/ manifest what is envisaged."
• (Similar to Law of Vibes)  "Attraction is based on vibration"
• "Give love to receive love " (otherwise you send universe a message about your priorities."  
• "When we focus on what we want versus what we don't want, it will show up in our life,

5. Law of Inspired Action

• "Follow intuition/ listen to inner guidance"  
•  "Let go of control of outcomes and be open to all possibilities"
• "Where in life are we evolving/ flowing/ realizing dreams differently"

6. Law of Perpetual Transmutation of Energy

• "Energy is strengthened/ transmuted or depleted based on intention"
• "see the power of positive thought"
• Actively uplift negative energy/ create opposites"

7. Law of Cause and Effect

•  "effects are not always instantaneous"
• "every action will have an equal and opposite reaction" 
• "The vibration of our every action has a ripple effect- anger leads to suffering"

8. Law of Compensation

• Visualize the value of energy exchange 
• "You reap what you sow"
• "Where am I being called to serve and support others today?" 

9. Law of Relativity

• In reality, everything is neutral
• Relativism exists in all things (meaning comes down to our perspective and perception)
• Appreciate what we have without comparison

10. Law of Polarity

• Every polarity points to power of neautrality / balance
• "contrast brings more clarity " 
• "Challenges invite us to feel into a blessing, new perspective or lesson"

11. Law of Rhythm

• "Integration is just as important as growth"
•  "Cycles and flows are natural in every life area" 
• "Inner rhythms shape outer reality"
•  Feeling depleted? Rest or saying no to some things may be what is required.

12. Law of Gender

• masculine and feminine energy exists in all things. 
• Patriarchy oeprates from masculine mentality
• Authenticity is about creating balance between the divine masculine & divine feminine

Summary  

Integrating and living from these 12 Universal Laws is more about understanding and visualizing them in the context of our own lives. Apply them in a case-by-case basis and see the difference for yourself directly.

Nourish unseen potential

(Seascape Photo by Anton Gorlin)

Notice success doesn't come from outside. It comes from our brain. It begins with nourishing the right thoughts, knowing and accepting we are innately successful and capable of doing anything we set our minds to at any life stage. We each have unique talents and are extraordinary being ordinary just as we are in this moment. As awareness grows, we accept and do the best we can with the bodies and gifts we have and know we are always more than enough. As we grow to love and accept ourselves, we resonate confidence, effectively follow soul paths, inspire others to be the best they can be wherever they are on their path.

Consider this : some people have an idea but not the tenacity to think it through and take it to the next level. Each of us can tap into courage and perseverence to develop our mind power. Every idea is like a little seed but we must grow it. Seeds may look small, but they grow into enormous trees. The hidden potential alone in the seed does not make the tree. The seed requires attention, to be put in the ground, cared for, given the right conditions of water, light, nutrients to develop. As the seed sprouts and grows into its full potential, we see how something little can transform into something big and beautiful. Similarly, every thought we nurture is like a budding seed of success. It cannot grow without infusing love and belief in unseen potential. Only then, does the light within the seed and us emerge like joy felt in each new sunrise.

 

3 Tips to Accept Innate Worthiness

To accept innate worthiness, implies you accept you are worthy without doing anything. The essence of your being is love, which means your basic nature, when functioning freely, is constructive and trustworthy. Love, in this sense, is not a romantic emotional state, but rather, a rational, coherent, and positive intelligence, guiding your life forward with subtle and ordered complexity toward goals the Soul aspires to realize.

In a nutshell, it is your essential loving nature establishes your worth and belonging as a human being, meaning you are inherently perfect exactly as you are right now, have been in the past, and are in the process of becoming. It’s the truth and science backs it up. The fact that your worth as a human being is inherent means it is always true. There are no conditions you need to meet, no prerequisites to qualify you, no accomplishments required to earn it. Your worth is not earned; it’s given. Your successes and failures in life neither increase or decrease your worth. Whether you live in a mansion or on the street, you are worthy. 

The research of Brene Brown reveals only one variable that separated the people who have a strong sense of self-worth and belonging from the people who struggle for it. That variable is that people with high self-worth believe they are worthy. They accept it as fact (which it is). Your unqualified acceptance of yourself as worthy is fundamentally all it takes to experience it.  Your basic nature drives you to fulfill your potentials. Something within guides you to express and activate all your talent and gifts to enrich your life and reach your full potential.  Consider 3 Tips to accept innate worthiness; 

1) List of qualities you experience when you are at your best.  Simply jot down 10 words or short phrases that describe your experience when you’re in the flow, in the zone, consciously co-creating with love and things happen. This will help you identify the experience of the directional force emanating from your essential nature.

2) Know the code for your essential nature is embedded in the very neurocircuitry of your brain, unwrapping to express the creative, curious, explorative, playful, constructive, peaceful, loving, joyful, compassionate, sharing, and cooperative forces within that move you forward toward self-actualization.

3) Repeat positive affirmations and femonstrate them to yourself in practice, What you are is good enough, and all you have to do is to be it openly. Transcend struggle, shame and self-doubt, by proving otherwise.  Although you are by your very nature intrinsically worthy and forward moving, your inherent core of worth is so overlaid with layers negative thoughts, fears, and doubts as to feel nonexistent. Thus, your challenge is to remove the layers of fear and negative thinking so your intrinsic worth can emerge naturally. 

Vulnerability is strength

Notice the more vulnerable we are, the more invulnerable or untouchable we are. Contrary to what is often taught, we are only ever vulnerable to ourselves. What other people think is irrelevant. Fear of vulnerability stems from fear of self-love. The irony is that to be vulnerable is to be truly powerful, confident and free. To be fully open and transparent, is to hide nothing, fear nothing and be indomitable. As we love and accept ourselves as we are, fears and insecurities fall away. We only seek to control others so long as we are run by insecurities. The more vulnerable we are, the more the subconscious trickle of negative thoughts/ beliefs dissipates. Society is designed to make us protective of self-image. Social acceptance is based on a keeping up an "acceptable" identity. Embracing vulnerability invites us to break the shell that hides who we are so we reveal it and grow as a Soul. Society trains and challenges us to project and reach outward for a sense of success and happiness until something shifts our focus inward. As you choose love, choose to be more gentle and kind to self and others, you embrace vulnerability, consciousness expands and realities shift. Being conditioned into anxious states keeps us looking outward for success and happiness so people avoid finding security within. Fear is metaphysical energy moving into greater fear and illness. Vulnerability is a path to opening up and questioning everything you think about yourself, to go with the flow of what comes and goes. As consciousness expands, what one fears losing turns out to be the construct of social conditioning. At the perfect moment, it dawns the transition from metaphysical and physical to purely metaphysical is simply a change in energy. Being aware of everything as energy, is a state where fear no longer runs you. As long as you fear death, attachment, identity, the body, life mirrors your fear. As you begin to see fear is illusion, you stop fearing judgement, retribution, constructs, ideas linked to death and dying. Caution though. This goes way beyond a mental journey. True aliveness unfolds through a mulit-facited, visceral journey. Ultimately, vulnerability is a choice and a vibrational energy field. Trust is also a vibration. Choosing to let go of defenses that cloud more than the solar plexus is life-changing. It marks milestones, stages of Soul transformation.