Road to Awakening

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I remember, years ago, when I first started in Tae Kwon Do, I was a “no belt”… not even a white belt. I would look at the black belts and think, “Wow… what a long, long way to go. Can I do that? Really? Will I be able to break a cinder block with my bare hands… and all of those other things required?” And actually, I had moments of thinking, “Can I do really do that… ME?”

Once I stopped (or rather, my ego stopped) obsessing about that “long-off” goal – even though there were black belts present through the process to be a physical reminder of that goal – when I focused on what was at hand, one belt at a time – there were 10 belts in between no belt and black belt – I did eventually BECOME a black belt; actually, I went beyond that and later attained a 2nd degree black belt! And, because I had worked tirelessly through the basics, one step at a time, by the time I got there – to that first black belt test – it was second nature to me, because I had a strong command of the basics. Not only that… but I had a lot of FUN doing it!

Often, it’s no less overwhelming when starting out on the path to actively developing our spirituality and remembering how to tap in to our Divinity – or, in common terms, learning to regularly and accurately access our Higher Self, intuition, psychic ability – whatever you want to call it.

Now, I will say that I was sort of “thrown in” to doing this work… initially, it wasn’t something I consciously (knew that I) chose at the time. I fell open like a book when I had what I call my Grand Awakening… and had NO IDEA what was going on… besides wondering if I was going schizophrenic LOL! Though I had accumulated the uncovering of one natural Divine ability after another over my life before that time, I’d always looked at them as the equivalent of “parlor tricks”… fun and cool… but just something I could do, nothing more, nothing less. (For a more detailed account, see In the Rabbit Hole We Go.)

Since I’m a problem solver – I love puzzles – when the Grand Awakening occurred, of course I was voracious in finding out what was going on… and once I did, then concentrated on how to focus and funnel the menagerie of abilities I had naturally uncovered! However, I never stopped to think about it… never really thought about whether I could really “do it,” how long it would take… what it would take, and what that would mean. Essentially, I had set it up for myself to be so distracted that I circumvented having those same feelings I’d had when looking at the black belts at the onset of practicing Tae Kwon Do.

However, don’t get me wrong… I DEFINITELY know that feeling!

Often, when I work with clients and students on developing their innate intuitive abilities in one form or another (or many), I get the “deer in the headlights” look when we first start talking about developing their skills… especially when I get a specific message about a particular innate strength of the person, communicate it to them…and that person has no idea about the strength that lies within them. It’s largely because the ego starts projecting immediately – “I can’t do that!” “What if I can’t do that?” “Who… ME? Who am I to be able to do that?”

So, I tell them… STOP.

It goes back to changing our perception from the glass is half empty to the fact that the glass is ALWAYS full (see Seeing the Glass COMPLETELY Full, and Taking From It What You Will); we just have to remember that it is!

How different do you think it would be for those starting martial arts if they were told at the onset, “You already ARE a black belt… coming here and doing this is simply going to help you get back in to practice to remember that…and each belt level is another level of remembrance that you’ve uncovered…” Sounds a lot easier than trying to reach for something outside of you, doesn’t it?

It’s the same thing in terms of our intuitive, “magical,” Divine abilities… we’re ALL Divine, we ALL have ALL of those abilities (I promise), regardless of where you are right now… it’s simply a matter of getting back in to practice to remember how to access them. So, we break it down, and generally work on fluency in one ability or set of abilities at a time… and all we need to do is start with gaining command of the MOST basic, yet MOST important ones – such as simply quieting the chatter of the ego and remembering that fluid connection with the Higher Self to know whether what presents itself to you is for your Highest/Best, and whether it’s Truth for you.
Back in Tae Kwon Do, there were others who started around the time I did that became black belts more quickly than I did… and some did it more slowly. But you know what? We all got there in the end; how long it took and what we did to get there individually didn’t really matter. Again, it’s the same in terms of our spiritual/intuitive development: Some of us just take a blind flying leap off the cliff (sort of like I did)… some stop to look and test the air and then parachute down… and many decide to take the train down to the bottom (or simply walk) instead of leaping. That’s OK; everyone’s at their own pace… this is one thing that is definitely NOT a competition, and there is no one RIGHT or WRONG way or time frame in which to do it! It’s individual to each and every one of us. We’ll ALL get there, eventually… every single one of us.

So, yes, though we should have an idea where we’re going and what our goals are in doing this work on ourselves, the key is to stop looking at (and comparing ourselves to) everyone else, note who’s present and who can assist us, and just simply BEGIN the journey…. do the work (or play, as I call it), at our own pace. Practicing – or, remembering – mastery of the very basics, one step at a time, also helps to remind us how to experience the joy and excitement of being present completely in the now, where we are as individuals today, as we allow every single beautiful petal of ourselves to open up, into the magnificent, brilliant, menagerie of the Divine that we all are!

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