by Ada Porat | Oct 23, 2020 | Conscious living, Cope with change, Empowering changes, Fear and anxiety, Life skills, Resilience
Photo credit: Daniel Sessler, Unsplash
When we droop with fatigue, overwhelmed by the relentless pace of change, yet yearning for a better life, it is helpful to turn back to basics – hopefully a little wiser. Wouldn’t it be nice to have the heads up on a few things we may encounter along the way?
I sure could have used a few pointers along the way to smooth out the kinks! However, a huge range of life experience taught me some valuable lessons, and I am happy to share them. Here are eight insights from my personal playbook on surviving in this world of marvel and change. May it encourage, embolden and inspire you!
- You will pass from this life leaving an unfinished To Do list behind.
Shocking, isn’t it – and that despite your very best efforts every day! Today more than ever, there’s no reason to assume any fit between demands on your time – all the things you like to do or feel you ought to do – and the amount of time available. Thanks to capitalism, technology and human ambition, these demands keep increasing, while your capacities remain largely fixed. It follows that the attempt to clean up your To Do list is doomed.
The upside is that you need not berate yourself for failing to do it all, since doing it all is structurally impossible. The only viable solution is to make a shift: from a stressed-out rat race trying not to neglect anything, to a life intentionally lived and consciously choosing what to neglect in favor of what matters most.
- When stumped by a life choice, choose enlargement over happiness.
Jungian therapist James Hollis said that major personal decisions should be made not by asking, “Will this make me happy?” but “Will this choice enlarge me or diminish me?” We’re usually terrible at predicting what will make us happy: the issue quickly gets bogged down in our narrow preferences for security and control. Yet choosing enlargement elicits a deeper, intuitive response. You tend to know when leaving or staying in a relationship or a job, even though it might bring short-term security, would mean cheating yourself of growth.
- The capacity to tolerate minor discomfort is a superpower.
It’s shocking to realize how readily we set aside even our greatest ambitions in life, merely to avoid any level of unpleasantness. You already know it won’t kill you to endure the mild agitation of getting back to work on an important project, initiating a difficult conversation with someone, asking somebody out, committing to a workout routine, or checking your bank balance – yet you can waste years in avoidance! This is exactly why social media platforms flourish: they provide an instant, compelling distraction from reality where we can escape to at the first hint of unease.
Instead, you can truly empower yourself by gradually increasing your capacity for discomfort, similar to doing weight training. When you expect an action to bring up feelings of irritability, anxiety or boredom, you can stick to your commitment; let the feelings arise and fade while doing the right action anyway. Once you experience the rewards of tolerating discomfort, it will reinforce this path of walking straight ahead as a more appealing way to live.
- The advice you don’t want to hear is usually the advice you need.
I spent years fixating on becoming hyper-productive before I finally started wondering why I was staking so much of my self-worth on my productivity levels. What I needed wasn’t another personal goal, but asking more uncomfortable questions instead.
Yes, it isn’t fun to confront whatever emotional experiences you’re avoiding – if it were fun, you wouldn’t avoid them – so any advice that could really help is likely to make you uncomfortable, too. And that is okay! If you can muster up the courage to go where you really don’t want to, you may just break through to a deeper level of personal truth.
Be especially wary of celebrities offering advice in public forums: many of them pursue fame to fill an inner void, which tends not to work – so they are likely to be more troubled than you are and by the time you buy their snake oil, they’d have already moved on to the next gig.
Here is a bit of reverse psychology that does work: ask yourself what kind of practices strike you as intolerably cheesy or self-indulgent. Is it a gratitude journal, mindfulness meditation, or seeing a therapist? If you feel resistance rising, it might well mean that the very issue your ego is resisting, is the one worth pursuing.
- The future will never provide the reassurance you seek from it.
As the ancient Greek and Roman Stoics understood, much of our suffering arises from attempting to control what is not in our control. And the main thing we try but fail to control is the future. We want to know, from our vantage point in the present, that things will be OK later on. Yet we never can!
It’s wrong to say we live in especially uncertain times. The future is always uncertain; we’re simply very aware of it in current times.
No amount of fretting will ever alter this truth. Accept that certainty and it will set you free.
While we live in uncertain times, it is still useful to make plans. Make your plans with the awareness that a plan is only ever a present-moment statement of intent, not a lasso thrown around the future to bring it under control. The spiritual teacher Jiddu Krishnamurti said his secret for peace was simple: “I don’t mind what happens.” That does absolve you from trying to make life better for yourself or others. It just means not living each day anxiously braced to see if things work out as you hoped.
- The solution to imposter syndrome is to see that you are one.
In the current era of incompetent leadership, it is not possible to ignore corrupt governments and egocentric self-indulgence amid global threats of destruction to the point of extinction. Yet the way forward lies neither in complaining nor in passively accepting that we are all doomed.
I believe the answer lies in recognizing that you – unconfident, self-conscious, insecure, and all-too-aware-of-your-flaws – you potentially have as much to contribute to your field and to the world as anyone else.
Humanity is divided into two: on the one hand, those who are improvising their way through life, patching solutions together and putting out fires as they go, but deluding themselves by arguing for their limitations; and on the other, those doing exactly the same, except that they know it. It’s infinitely better to apply yourself and accept your failures and successes both as intrinsic parts of life.
Remember, the reason you can’t hear other people’s inner monologues of self-doubt is not because they don’t have them. It’s simply because you only have access to your own mind!
- Selflessness is overrated.
We respectable types, and women especially, are raised to think a life well spent means helping others – and plenty of self-help gurus stand ready to affirm for a price that generosity and sacrifice are the way to happiness. There’s truth here, but it generally gets tangled up with exploitation of deep-seated issues of guilt and self-esteem.
If you think you should be doing more, that’s probably a sign that you should direct more energy toward your true passions and ambitions. As Buddhist teacher Susan Piver said, it feels radical to ask how we’d enjoy spending an hour or day of discretionary time – yet the irony is that you don’t actually benefit anyone else by suppressing your true passions anyway. Instead of being disciplined about hating on yourself to get things done, try being disciplined about remaining close to what brings you joy. It takes a lot of courage, actually.
- Know when to move on.
And then, finally, there’s knowing when something that meant a great deal to you has reached its natural endpoint. All things in life come to an end, both the good and the bad. Your most empowering response is not to bewail the ending or unfairness of it all, or to hang on for dear life until your claw marks scar the very thing you loved most as life pulls it away from you. Your most creative choice in the face of endings, is to let go and to turn to what is next. The rest of life awaits, both for you and for me!
About the author
©Copyright Ada Porat. For more information, visit https://adaporat.com. This article may be freely distributed in whole or in part, provided there is no charge for it and this notice is attached.
by Ada Porat | Sep 21, 2020 | Conscious living, Cope with change, Empowering changes, Personal growth
Photo credit: Tom Ohlin, Unsplash
Amid well-intended government efforts to inhibit the spread of a worldwide pandemic, many individuals now experience the chokehold and restrictive pressure of autocratic rule. This top-down authoritarian domination of many by a few, imposes subservience to only one official view.
Many individuals realize that the prevailing authoritarian viewpoint is limited, because it represents and tolerates only one view. As new information emerges, we are learning that other viewpoints may have been overlooked or that the magnitude of oppression cannot be justified by the scope of the problem. Many people in the West have never lived under a dictatorship, and so they do not have a frame of reference of how to respond.
How on earth could this situation be helpful to our inner journey of personal growth and peace?
First, we need to understand that nobody is exempt from the winds of change sweeping the planet. Everyone is experiencing some level of turmoil in their lives because they are energetically part of the collective of homo sapiens. There is no possible dismissal around the chaotic shift that is happening, because all humans are experiencing ripples of the same wave.
Next, we need to learn that true freedom comes from within and is not determined by external forms. It is this inner sense of freedom that gave Nelson Mandela the courage to bide his time and keep his faith alive for 27 years of incarceration by a totalitarian regime until the tide changed.
Despite constraints placed on us by external circumstance, most of us have our basic needs met during this time. And with our basic survival needs of food and shelter met, we are called to the next level of existence: to operate from a level of kindness and compassion toward others who may not have as much as we do during this time.
People move toward resistance and protests not because they want to fight, but because they want to do something – anything – to shift the pressure. This reactionary impulse comes from our lower animal survival instinct in the amygdala. It pulls us deeper into primal responses and triggers a similar reactionary response from others.
More than a hundred years ago, Einstein reminded us that we cannot solve a problem from the same level of consciousness where it was created. We need to shift to a higher place before we engage with the challenges we face, or we will get sucked down into that maelstrom of hatred and resistance.
The higher response of lovingkindness calls us to action in a more effective way. Instead of feeding the primal instinct in ourselves and others, we can practice compassion toward other sentient life forms, contribute to someone in need, and exercise lovingkindness to ourselves, fellow humans and the earth.
The change we wish to see in the world around us, must come from within us. When we choose to walk the path of kindness, we allow our Higher self to transcend our lower human nature. We learn to be present; to make conscious choices in each moment and to practice lovingkindness instead of allowing the weeds of fear, hatred and anger to grow inside us and further pollute the collective.
Each one of us has the right to choose our responses to life. This freedom includes the choice to fuel anger, to marginalize others, to judge, fight and oppress; yet while all choices are available to us, not all choices are optimal for our evolving consciousness.
To make choices that ultimately empower us to live our best life, it is helpful to ask ourselves first: Does this choice fuel my soul evolution, or does it feed my lower nature? Does it elevate my consciousness, or does it feed my ego?
When we lean into our true soul nature of lovingkindness in the present moment, it will infuse all our actions to become positive catalysts for change around us.
Instead of reacting to the spectrum of lower human emotions playing out, we can step back from the precipice of reactivity and return to lovingkindness in the present moment. By recognizing the extreme emotions that have led to the reactions we observe in society – fear, lack, frustration, hatred, control desire – we can consciously choose a higher response.
To choose a higher response, we also need remove the pious mask of our conditioned responses to see just how we have been hurting ourselves and others.
First, we need to revisit our use of rights. No hurtful action can be justified by defending it as our right. Whenever we attach to our “rights” we are also taking a dualistic position of right vs. wrong, me vs. other on the issue. We use the concept of rights to lock our actions into a defensive position of duality, and that defeats the purpose of rising to a higher level of consciousness from where the problem can be solved. In truth, all lives matter, and when we can unite our desire for change at higher levels of consciousness, we will be able to transform our world in ways that ripple across all boundaries.
In addition, we need to see the arrogance in our desire to “educate” or correct others. So much of what we’ve labeled kindness, is simply our willful desire for justification and change on our own egoic terms. Our need to educate others on what we perceive as a more enlightened viewpoint about a topic such as mask wearing, further perpetuates the subconscious belief that we are right, we know better, and the other needs to be corrected. It is an ego trap that perpetuates the division between self and other in duality-consciousness.
Then, we need to come back to center. The further apart we are on issues, the more highly charged our emotions and reactions become – a bit like being on opposite ends of a children’s teeter totter. For true growth and evolution, we need to move closer to the center where the stillpoint allows us to observe all the emotions on the spectrum without engaging in extremes.
The only way to diffuse the minefield of survival emotions triggered by sweeping change, is to step out of our lower nature’s craving to exercise our right to protest, judge, label and hate; we need to step into a higher level of consciousness from where we can embody lovingkindness: the true kindness that allows everyone to evolve in their own way and time.
Lovingkindness lets go of inherent divisiveness and judgment. It allows us to look for nuggets of goodness and truth in everyone and everything we encounter. It opens our consciousness to embrace the truth wherever we encounter it. In so doing, the very kindness and truth we thus acknowledge, can expand in the world to bring all us together with new insight and harmony.
The era of judging a book by its cover is over. To find solutions for the challenges we are facing on the planet at this time, we need to stand together – all of us. Solutions require us to look for and focus on the nuggets of truth presented by others, not the splinters of division.
The time of amassing and protecting our individual loot, is done. Whatever is useful for our own lives and future, we need to give others the right to enjoy as well. We need to relinquish our greed for what is bigger, stronger, or better for us as individuals, and instead choose what enhances the bigger collective.
It is essential to recognize that everything in this Universe is connected at some level. Physicist Rupert Sheldrake found in his research that every form of life in the cosmos exchanges information with everything else in any three-week period.
How can we tap into this transformative wisdom? We can start by recognizing what resonates with our Higher nature in every situation. From there, we can focus on the strand of Presence that fuels our soul with kindness, and the density of division will drop away.
Lovingkindness is about aligning with a Higher perspective from a place of integrity – taking responsibility for our individual actions instead of waiting for others to change first. It allows us to do what we can with what we have, right now, despite conflicting appearances on the surface of our lives. It frees us to focus on what is possible now instead of what has happened already; to acknowledge the potential in every situation instead of fixating on what we are afraid of.
Practicing lovingkindness is not spiritual bypassing. It is not about putting on blinders to the problems around us. Instead, it empowers us to transcend the lower aspects of divisiveness to find the higher qualities of life that unite us, while extending kindness to everyone around us. This is how each of us can effectively address the challenges of this time and transform life into a more beneficial experience for everyone.
Awakening to truth allows us to see ourselves as we truly are, not as we have been conditioned to believe. We support the awakening of souls not by judging them, but by seeing the spark of Divine potential within each one. True acceptance holds up a mirror of kindness in which each soul can recognize themselves and awaken to a higher level of consciousness.
To survive and thrive beyond this time, we can – and must – step off the teeter totter of positionality and dualism. When we identify with the observer within, we can choose transformative responses at a conscious level.
Change has long been needed on the planet. It is upon us now. The current winds of change are bringing us chaos as well as opportunity. Let’s lean into the opportunity with true kindness that uplifts, instead of tearing apart others – and ultimately, ourselves – with judgment and hatred.
This time of upheaval offers us an unprecedented opportunity for growth in consciousness, lovingkindness and transformation. It challenges us to embody the change we wish to see in the world, and then to hold that vision until its transformative power permeates every aspect of society.
About the author
©Copyright Ada Porat. For more information, visit https://adaporat.com. This article may be freely distributed in whole or in part, provided there is no charge for it and this notice is attached.
by Ada Porat | Jun 25, 2020 | Conscious living, Cope with change, Empowering changes, Gratitude, Love, Personal growth, Self-awareness, Spirituality
We are gifted with life in the physical body and world to learn how to truly love. Our conscious participation in this process as awakened souls allows us to fulfil our highest purpose. And from the conflict all around, it’s clear that we’re not doing very well with mastering this lesson!
Life is very simple, really, but because most of us live from the mind and not the heart, we’ve developed the false belief that life is complicated and our ultimate purpose too complex or hard to find.
There is a better way.
It is time to remember why we came here in the first place. We did not come to earthly life to divide and conquer, but to find our way back to Oneness through love. All the great wisdom traditions tell us we are born from love, though we tend to forget that and operate on autopilot much of the time.
Learning to truly love requires us to develop gratitude and forgiveness. We cannot truly love with judgment and hatred in our hearts; and we cannot enjoy the beauty of life when we are driven by insatiable greed.
Ram Dass said, “If I’m an ego, I am judging everything as it relates to my own survival… souls love. That’s what souls do. Egos don’t, but souls do.”
From the soul perspective, a life well lived is not measured by the amount of power, money or status an individual can amass at any cost – a well-lived life is measured by how well the soul learned to embrace gratitude and forgiveness as expressions of Divine love.
We are intrinsic parts of nature and inexorably interconnected with all other people. Anything detrimental we do to the planet or to others, we ultimately inflict on ourselves. And so, the true wakeup call sounding for all of us is to see just how far we have drifted from the moorings of love so that we can course-correct.
Only when we acknowledge our part in the game of separation, judgment and fear, can we begin to heal the wounds of separation consciousness. There is no transformative benefit in reacting to the voices clamoring for separation, division and conflict, because whatever we react to, we entangle with energetically.
Instead, this is the time all awakened souls are asked to first go within and realign with Higher consciousness. From that alignment with the Source of love, unity and truth, our presence becomes transformative as we interact with fellow souls. We heal when we align with our Source – that truth, love and unity is what sets us free.
Our realignment with Source enables us to approach life from a place of Divine love rather than from survival anxiety. It also enables us to live with greater interdependence. As we increase our awareness of existing within an intelligent and benevolent universe, we experience greater intimacy and connection with all forms of life, including ourselves.
Will this guarantee a life of safety and comfort?
No – that is not why we came here. We embarked on this life for our personal soul growth, not to isolate ourselves from the lessons of this earthly school and our fellow soul companions.
It is true that life can be full of suffering. We all get physically sick and our bodies sometimes ache.
Just as in school, we may not enjoy all the lessons that come our way. There are abundant opportunities to feel let down by others or frustrated with ourselves. And the world at large—now there’s a circus! We are confronted with all sorts of painful, alarming situations—abuse, starvation, poverty, war, lack, uncertainty, corporate depravity. On any given day we might get into an accident or learn that someone we love has died.
Over eons of time, we’ve developed many coping strategies to survive, and not all of them are helpful. Coping strategies allow us to roll out of bed each morning and face the world. And while some of them are useful, we may overuse or over-identify with these survival strategies. When we do so, we become cut off from love, separated from trusting life and our Source.
Separation consciousness is rooted in the belief that the external world is separate. The ego believes that it resides “in here” and everything else is “out there.” By locking in this duality-based viewpoint, we cannot see our role in co- creating all our experiences. We become limited, fear-based and paranoid.
This duality-based view of life is an obstacle to the emergence of our Divine nature. To heal that, we need to return to love. A Course in Miracles states, “Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.”
Science tells us that we reside in a unified field of energy called the universe. Every major religion, spiritual path, and wisdom tradition has some version of Oneness at its core.
From an energy perspective, we are all interconnected like billions of mirrors endlessly reflecting and stimulating one another’s growth. The world is an enormous reflection of our psyche. Our job is to attend to the source of the projections, not the mirrors. We are to heal the roots of separation, not to slap labels on others that keep us separate.
Anais Nin said, “We see things not as they are. We see things as we are.” When we stand in judgment over something, it can be very enlightening to ask ourselves what it is we do not wish to see in ourselves, for it is that inner blindness that makes us project our self-judgment out into the world instead.
Spiritual awakening frees us from the blindness of unconscious living. It allows us to transcend ego as our primary identity. Awakening empowers us to bridge the separation we formed with life beyond ourselves. This ongoing process calls us to heal and reunite the wounds of separation consciousness, both in ourselves and with others. And we do that profound work with the tools of forgiveness, gratitude and love.
Persian mystical poet Rumi wrote, “Everyone sees the unseen in proportion to the clarity of their heart.” Clarity is what remains within when we replace our ego distortions with growing awareness. This shift in consciousness enables us to recognize the spiritual lessons presented in our experiences.
To the awakened soul, everything is a benevolent lesson—despite the ego’s endless stories that tell us otherwise. Stress, frustration or “negative” emotion is just an indication of something that needs attention, an invitation to expand our true awareness and heal the underlying separation.
We expand our conscious awareness through the practice of forgiveness – it asks us to surrender our attachment to the ego’s need to be right, to feel validated or empowered.
The ego wants to win, whereas the soul wants to grow.
When we let go of our attachment to the ego’s power addiction, we forgive. And when we forgive, we discover gratitude for what is. We’re able to see the beauty of what is, instead of blindly striving for what is not.
Situations the ego may construe as failure or loss may now be seen as opportunities to learn rich and necessary spiritual lessons. Even trying situations contain buried gifts. The imperfections of the world are perfect for our purpose of learning how to love in a healing way.
Instead of asking “Why this? Why me? Why now?” which implies that we do not trust the implicate order of life, we can start to ask instead, “How is this helpful on my journey? What can I learn from it? How do I need to change to return to my inherent state of peace?”
In true awakening, the presence of spiritual love within calls on us to have compassion for the struggles of others and to forgive them for their limitations. When we do that, we start to heal the wounds of separation. We don’t love the other because they are black, or white, Muslim or Jew, rich or poor – we love them because they are part of our family of humankind.
All our fellow humans deserve our love, forgiveness, respect and support because that is how we heal separation consciousness – not by sticking labels on them and then arguing about the meaning of the labels. And certainly not by destroying the fragile physical vessel of the soul.
Humans evolve when they can see and grasp a better way; a better vision of themselves and of the world. One of the greatest gifts we can offer others, is to recognize their true potential as souls and to mirror that for them so they can evolve toward that potential.
We heal anger with love, hateful acts with forgiveness, and disrespect with respect.
This is the real work of awakening. It is the work of healing the wounds inflicted by egos operating on greed and inequality.
If you are reading this, you are one of the awakened souls on the planet who are being called to be part of this monumental task. The time is now. Together, we can do this!
About the Author
©Copyright Ada Porat. For more information, visit https://adaporat.com. This article may be freely distributed in whole or in part, provided there is no charge for it and this notice is attached.
by Ada Porat | May 27, 2020 | Cope with change, Empowering changes, Faith, Fear and anxiety, Life transitions, Personal growth, Spirituality
COVID-19 changed our world: yours, and mine, and everybody else’s. Life as we knew it, is no more. Moreover, there is no going back. The past is irrevocably over; we are called on to create a brave new paradigm of life.
To move forward, we need to let go of things outside ourselves that we cannot control, and take charge of our inner reality, which is completely in our hands. We also need to act in mature ways to support wise choices. Let’s look at how to get from here to there.
What is it you need most now? What do you wish to see in your world? How do you intend to participate to bring that about?
Despite months of turmoil and upheaval, the totality of life remains filled with possibilities and probabilities. Every challenging circumstance contains seeds of possibility for us to tap into and create more optimal outcomes from the inside out.
Everybody responds differently to change: some are awakening to their true soul identity, others are grieving their losses, and yet others are huddling in denial for lack of knowing what to do. Some may even look for a way to return to the past because they don’t know how to cope with a world that has irretrievably changed.
Trying to resuscitate the past is not helpful. We cannot go back to yesterday or the life we lived ten years ago. Life happens in this present moment, and it is the choices made in each present moment, that will create a sustainable future for us all.
We all feel the enormous impact of irreversible change that has swept around the globe. None of us knows exactly how our lives will be different by the end of this year. We simply know that it will be different in more ways we can imagine. There are no iron-clad guarantees and reassurances – and so everyone is learning to devise ways of coping.
During this upheaval, emotions can feel overwhelming. Daily events may trigger shock, grief, fear or anxiety. After all, we are awash in a world of uncertainty and unknowns.
It is easy to become defensive in the face of uncertainty because defensiveness is a natural human response. It is normal to look for survival tactics and protective measurements to survive.
However, defensiveness keeps us stuck in resistance and prevents us from moving forward.
To avoid getting stuck, it is important to remember who you really are: you’re not just an ego in a body suit, you are an eternal soul who embarked on this earth journey to participate in the evolution of consciousness at this very time of unprecedented change and awakening.
You are so much more than your physical being! You have more resources available to you at non-physical levels than you can imagine. Whenever you start to feel overwhelmed, stop instead and take inventory of your spiritual arsenal.
Humans are blessed with innate creativity and innovation. Even during this challenging period, we can create effective ways forward.
To do so, we need to let go of lower levels of consciousness from where the quagmire of problems in our world were created. We need to expand our awareness of multiple possibilities coexisting in the Field, because higher awareness and a larger scope are essential to creating optimal outcomes now. Clearly, we need more than duality-based options that belong to an outdated Cartesian world view.
This time of social distancing offered us opportunities to reflect and return to right relationship with our innate Self. We have become aware of what no longer works, what no longer nourishes us, and what we’ll no longer tolerate in life. We’ve also been able to recognize what we truly want from life, so we can choose wisely.
This global time-out helped us reconnect with our inner being and what we truly need. By reconnecting to our inner core, we can make empowered decisions for our path and the greater good.
Humanity has outgrown the place where a few can dictate and make choices for the collective. It is time for each of us to step into maturity and take full responsibility for our own decisions. From there, it will ripple outward and create optimal collective outcomes.
During this season of loss and uncertainty, don’t look back. Go beyond!
Beneath the surface defensiveness of reactivity and blame, lies the presence of Spirit. That Presence contains all possibilities and potentialities. By stepping away from the ego chatter and centering deeper within, we access that Core where all possibilities exist. We can detach from habitual ego reactions of fear and anxiety.
Instead, we can enter a centered space of peace and calm from where we are able to simply observe. We can hold this space until clarity arises. We can cultivate awareness of possibilities beyond our linear thinking to make optimal choices.
We can use this perspective to recognize the limiting conditioning that hampers us and let it go so we can step into our true potential. We can anchor into the Creator Presence within and align with all that is possible to create a brave new paradigm.
This season of change also calls for spiritual maturity. It challenges us to let go of waiting to be rescued, and to step into choosing the path forward ourselves. Spiritual maturity empowers us to step out of old roles of limitation that were assigned to us and to become co-creators of a more empowering future.
Maturity gives us faith in unseen possibilities, so we can hold the intention for what can be. It calls us to elevate our viewpoint above the limitations of what was or is, to what truly can show up in response to our choices now.
Along the way, do not allow obstacles and appearances on the surface of life to undermine your faith. Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of what is not yet seen. Hold on to that.
We are asked to clear out old conditioning, to heal the memories of what happened before, and to let go of what’s no longer needed. By freeing ourselves from past wounds and limitations, we create more room for our path to unfold.
Do not let others tell you what is appropriate for you. Step out of that habit and embrace a more empowering approach. Evaluate, contemplate within and choose for yourself.
Do not resist the process of individual growth, for it is your evolutionary lifeline. Let go of resistance and allow possibilities to emerge from the Truth within.
Trust in the benevolent plan of a loving Creator – and trust yourself. Maturity requires us to trust in ourselves, in the unseen hands that guide and uphold us, and in the Divine plan that we may not yet see but which is unfolding even now.
When we were children, we needed continuous reassurance and simple solutions to feel safe. As mature adults, we learn to be at peace with not knowing. Maturity teaches us to embrace the ever-changing nature of life, and to take full responsibility for our individual choices along the way.
Maturity also teaches us to stay in the void of uncertainty and discomfort; to resist grabbing for some easy version of permanency or settle for some substance to numb our awareness. The security we want is within; it does not lie outside of us.
We also must avoid the pitfall of settling for the devil we know. If we wish to evolve, we dare not let the familiarity of known limitations hold us back from the limitless possibilities we do not yet see.
When we turn away from external conditions beyond our control to focus on our inner life over which we have ALL control, we will find our innate power, peace and creativity restored. That is an important step toward creating a brave new paradigm in which everyone can thrive.
About the author
©Copyright Ada Porat. For more information, visit https://adaporat.com. This article may be freely distributed in whole or in part, provided there is no charge for it and this notice is attached.
by Ada Porat | Apr 25, 2020 | Conscious living, Cope with change, Empowering changes, Life transitions, Personal growth
Change is everywhere, sweeping through our lives and leaving no-one untouched. It is driving us inward to identify and process our individual sense of loss and grief, asking us to let go of our attachment to what was before. This process is two-fold: the dissolution of an old paradigm, and the emergence of a new paradigm, in which you can thrive when you understand how to navigate.
After the storm has swept through, there will be a time for rebuilding. New life will emerge again, and we can find renewed hope by preparing ourselves for life after this.
But right now, during this time of loss and death, the failures of the old paradigm are laid bare for all to see. No matter how painful, we first need to acknowledge these shortcomings if we wish to build a better future and not repeat the mistakes of the past.
This period of global death and rebirth offers seed forms of new ways of living to participate more effectively in creating a society that benefits all. We are shifting from a linear, three-dimensional paradigm to a non-linear, multidimensional paradigm.
By understanding the navigational limitations of the old paradigm, we can embrace the possibilities of a new, higher level of consciousness to steer us forward. I’d like to offer you a navigational perspective for the emerging multidimensional paradigm, as well as a functional roadmap for leveling up perceptions to support our unfolding potential in this new paradigm.
The navigational system of the old paradigm
The navigational system of the duality-based paradigm consisted of a three-step process, which can be recognized in every major event of recent decades:
1. Problem
Problems are typically labeled as such not at the grassroots level, but by leadership, the media or both. It may be a false flag or it may have merit. Either way, attention is then focused on managing such problems superficially, often at the cost of ignoring deeper, systemic issues. This process of labeling certain issues as problems while ignoring others was ego-driven, short-sighted and often exploited for personal gain.
2. Reaction
Once a ‘problem’ is labeled by ego, it triggers an egoic response in others at the same level of consciousness, because it resonates at that level throughout the collective. Ego responses commonly evoke fear, anger, blame, shame and greed. These emotions trigger the ego’s survival response in humans, narrowing their focus to black/white dualistic thinking and blocking creativity. Often, ego-based leadership continues to fuel the flames with ’evidence’ of just how bad the problem is, thereby heightening public reactivity.
3. Solution
Once people are whipped into a frenzy of fear and reactivity, blinded to alternatives by their basic survival instincts, a ‘solution’ is offered – yet the offered ‘solution’ is merely a smoke screen for more nefarious agendas of power and control. And so, a superficial solution is sold by manipulative egos to fear-based egos without truly addressing core issues. Such solutions are always bound to fail, because they go no further than the ego’s survival instinct and perpetuate the reactive cycle of problem – reaction -solution.
There is a gift embedded in this crisis: We have the opportunity to step out of ashes of this limited paradigm by embracing higher perspectives to create more equitable processes for our world.
The navigational system of the new paradigm
The emerging new paradigm operates at multidimensional levels of consciousness, not just at the egoic level of survival. It fosters a growing consensus that to effectively address issues, we need to do so from a higher level of consciousness than where the problem originated. Einstein told us this more than a century ago!
Operating from higher levels of awareness expands awareness of multiple options and supports more empowered decision-making. To transcend the old paradigm of problem – reaction – solution, I would like to offer you three concepts for effective navigation in a new paradigm: Awareness, Neutralization and Discernment.
These three concepts form the acronym AND: together, they symbolize an inclusive, multi-dimensional perspective in addressing issues. We do not live in a simplistic, dualistic world of this or that; we live in a multidimensional Universe where this and that, and a multitude of other possibilities, coexist. To navigate effectively in this emerging paradigm, it is imperative for us to start working with these higher navigational skills:
1. Awareness
We cannot heal, fix or change that which we are not aware of. Ignoring problems does not make them go away. Who decides what the important issues are? What lies beneath the symptoms masquerading as problems in our society? If we are to make meaningful change, we need to think for ourselves, educate ourselves and learn to decide for ourselves. We are all responsible for life on this planet and our individual choices matter. To create true meaning and purpose in life, we need to use our Divinely given free will to learn, analyze and choose for ourselves!
2. Neutralization
When we become aware of an issue that causes dissonance or imbalance, it is not helpful to judge or blame others for the situation. Doing that, makes us a part of the problem! Feeling off-balance is a symptom of old, dense emotions in us that need to be processed. As long as we look outside ourselves for a scapegoat, we cannot evolve in consciousness. The planet needs us to evolve or else we will all become extinct. It is time to own the shadow in us because the teaching will continue until the lesson is learnt. We need to neutralize all dense emotion, no matter who caused it, so we can transform that energy into higher levels of consciousness. By neutralizing the dense emotion inside us, we are letting go of the ego’s grip on us while creating space for higher frequencies of forgiveness, love and faith. Neutralization of the old energies frees us to find a better way.
3. Discernment
Finding optimal solutions are easier when there are no discrepancies in our value systems and we are no longer manipulated by the ego in ourselves or others. In order to find the way forward, we need to take a higher perspective on issues and evaluate options from multiple levels. Once we can see multiple options, we can discern the most optimal. We need to navigate from our inner discernment instead of being manipulated from outside. Solutions that look great at first, may be exposed as flawed once we evaluate them from multiple levels in terms of both content and context. Discernment always guides us to optimal decisions, and it is a skill we can all learn.
Upgrading our systems of perception
To effectively navigate in the emergent multidimensional paradigm, we also need to upgrade our systems of perception. The old paradigm of duality-consciousness thrived on ego-based positions – we defined who we were by opposing what we were not. We let the ego control the agenda through our thoughts, feelings and emotions. These forms of awareness, while useful, are subject to the whims of ego and become limited in a multidimensional world. If we wish to rebuild a better society, we need to upgrade these basic areas of perception to operate from higher level of understanding, love and perfection:
1. From Thinking to Understanding
Knowledge for its own sake is a self-limiting ego activity. Knowledge which embraces both content and the appropriate context for its application, on the other hand, fosters wisdom and offers understanding. We need to learn, apply and become the change we wish to see. We need to allow our learning to transform us first, so our presence comes from a place of knowledge and integrity. This gives us a solid basis for empowered decision-making.
2. From Feelings to Love
In the old paradigm, it was easy to nurse feelings of woundedness and having been wronged. In the long term, wallowing in such feelings keeps us stuck in the ego’s victim-consciousness and its endless need for validation or revenge. It is time to free ourselves from these emotions by doing the work of inner healing: forgiving the perpetrators by understanding that wounded people cannot help but wound others, and by recognizing the shadow in us that is capable of the same. When we heal and release these primal emotions, we find that our natural resting place in consciousness becomes more loving: not the schmaltzy Hollywood type of temporal and conditional love, but an abiding, unconditional love for all forms of life. This higher expression of love goes hand in hand with compassion and wisdom. Our task is to become less affected by fleeting feelings and emotions, and to ground our actions in the unconditional love of the Creator. From there, we are able to co-create optimal solutions instead of placating our egos by seeking scapegoats to blame.
3. From Positionality to Perfection
In an ego-driven mindset, everything is viewed from the perception of how it could serve the ego’s needs and further its own self-interest at the expense of another. The ego thrives on taking a position on everything. To feel justified or important, it needs to label things as good or bad, right or wrong. In so doing, it keeps the focus on problems or wrongs instead of working toward solutions. Expanding awareness of All That Is, on the other hand, allows dualistic viewpoints to drop away until we can behold the magnificence of Consciousness unfolding and enfolding in Divine perfection. As the limiting positionalities of duality-consciousness drop away, we step into the beauty and perfection of All That Is. The Master plan of creation is always a plan of perfection because it emanates from a perfect Creator.
This is the optimal position from where we can create a healthier, beneficial society. We can become active co-creators in the emergent multidimensional paradigm by upgrading our systems of perception and functioning. By evolving as individuals, we will thrive at higher levels than before as a collective also.
The world we’ve dreamed of is waiting to be born – and we are the ones who will define the parameters by our individual levels of evolution. We create from the level of consciousness we embody. Let’s become fearless in our personal evolution, knowing that transformation within us also ripples out to benefit the collective. Let’s heal and transform at every level of our being to co-create and thrive in the emerging new paradigm around us!
About the author
©Copyright Ada Porat. For more information, visit https://adaporat.com. This article may be freely distributed in whole or in part, provided there is no charge for it and this notice is attached.
by Ada Porat | Feb 20, 2020 | Change bad habits, Conscious living, Empowering changes, Fear and anxiety, Mindfulness, Resilience, Self-awareness
Gandhi, that great peacemaker and inspirational leader, applied a simple motto to his life. It read, “My life is my message.”
Gandhi understood that we communicate with everyone we encounter each day; our lives are the books read by others, and our message is shared through our attitudes, values, beliefs, thoughts, words and actions – everything that drives us daily.
The message of your life consists of three very important components. Through it:
- You guide yourself to what is possible;
- You guide others about what is most important to you and what they can expect of you; and
- You affect and influence the larger environment around you.
What does your life message say? Your message will always communicate what is most important to you. For your life to have positive impact, it is essential to cultivate awareness of the issues that occupy your time and attention.
You shape your life through the power of your attention before you even make a choice. Whatever you pay attention to, think about, dwell on, talk, worry or obsess about, will increase and multiply until it affects who you become.
- If you constantly think about what frightens you, you will become more fearful.
- If you constantly think about how unfair life is, you will see more reasons to support this view.
- If you believe you are worthless, your choices and behaviors will reflect that belief.
- If you feel entitled to be angry, you will find more and more to be angry about.
Likewise, when you pay close attention to what is positive, hopeful, supportive, uplifting and encouraging, your life and sense of self will inevitably reflect that.
You have the power to choose what you cultivate in the inner garden of your mind!
Whatever your circumstances, you can direct your attention to what will most positively affect your attitudes and actions. Your personal attitudes and values can lift your spirits or dash them far more effectively than anything outside yourself can!
The power of consciously focusing your attention also sets the stage for personal empowerment in your life. To the same extent that you harness your focus to practice self-awareness and self-knowledge, personal happiness and inner harmony become available within. Self-knowledge helps guide optimal choices, so the more self-knowledge you develop, the more self-empowered you ultimately become.
True self-knowledge allows for an honest assessment of strengths and weaknesses – not to judge or avoid the weaker aspects, but to allow for their healing and integration. This process is at the core of all personal growth. It ultimately empowers you to call on inner strengths and capabilities to meet life’s challenges, instead of making excuses for your woundedness or fear. Each time you strengthen or heal an area of woundedness, you become more integrated and more resilient to make empowering choices.
Over time, self-knowledge fosters trust in yourself and in the choices you make. There is no short-cut to true self-knowledge; it is developed in the thick of living where it grows from keen awareness and attention to the unfolding process of your life.
Your life is your most powerful message to others, and self-knowledge allows you to fine-tune that message. By observing your life and actions, you can cultivate the attitude and skills necessary to fulfill your life purpose in the most optimal way.
Here are a few pointers to get you started on honing your unique message:
Observe your impact on other people. Put yourself in their shoes. See yourself from their perspective. Listen to yourself. Get to know your emotional terrain and how it affects everyone around you. When you don’t like what you see, change it!
Listen carefully to your own stories. Your stories shape your character, temperament and sense of what is possible, so know what your stories are. How do you habitually describe the impact of life events on you? What themes do you emphasize? Which stories do you keep harking back to? When you see the impact of the stories you tell, you can change your habitual stories for more optimal outcomes.
Know your strengths and weaknesses. Perhaps even more important than your strengths, is the awareness of what challenges you. Both strengths and obstacles have lots to teach you. True authenticity is found by being aware of your weaknesses and working to improve them, yet choosing to reach for your highest potential.
Find out what matters to you. What do you talk about most persistently? Where are you focusing your time, money and attention? If it does not bring you the outcomes you desire, perhaps it is time to shift your focus.
Notice what makes you happy. What makes you feel genuinely excited and alive? What inspires and moves you? What fascinates you? Focus on these things, and they will surely expand to enrich your life.
Notice what dampens your enthusiasm. What are the thoughts that drive your fearful thinking? When you become aware of the thoughts that trigger your emotions and spin you into fear, anxiety or depression, you can exchange them for positive ones. Emotions are driven by thoughts, not the other way around.
Notice how much you learn from your mistakes. There is no failure in life; there is only learning. Cultivating this attitude will save you from repeating self-destructive behaviors. Adopting an open mind leads to learning and growth; it also allows you to let go of habitual defensiveness and fear because you increasingly act from self-awareness instead of ignorance.
Learn from other people. It has been said that smart people learn from their experiences; brilliant people learn from the experiences of others. When you appreciate the experiences of others, you do not need to repeat them for your own learning; instead, you can avoid pitfalls and focus on optimal actions.
Get to know your inner world. You are the only companion you have for life. By getting to understand your own dreams, hopes and wishes, you’re able to support yourself in the best possible way to reach those goals while maintaining a sense of inner harmony.
Stay curious. Children are wonderful teachers because their minds are not cluttered with value judgments of good and bad. The more curiosity you cultivate about life, the more you will move out of judgment and into the field of possibilities from where miracles happen.
Your life is indeed your unique message and contribution to the world. Self-knowledge is the key to unlock that message so you can communicate most effectively with yourself, others and the world around you.
About the author
©Copyright Ada Porat. For more information, visit https://adaporat.com. This article may be freely distributed in whole or in part, provided there is no charge for it and this notice is attached.
