FOR MANY OF US, WE HAVE WALKED THE HEALING AND/OR SPIRITUAL PATH FOR MANY YEARS. WE HAVE CLEARED OUR MIND-IDENTIFICATION, OUR EGOS AND OUR WOUNDS (PERSONAL AND INHERITED) AND DISENGAGED FROM OTHERS’ DRAMAS AND PROCESSING. WE HAVE LET GO JUDGEMENT OF OTHERS.

We have begun to live in the moment, the here and now.We have taken the brave step of having full, extreme ownership of all of our remaining ‘stuff’ so that we don’t project it into our lives, into our relationships. We may have some stuff still remaining, still some work to do on ourselves, but it doesn’t interfere in our lives; we don’t get triggered anymore.  We are at peace.

Having cleared away our wounds (and ego and mastered mental discipline), we then embark on our identity work.  Sometimes the enmeshment in others’ drama, or being so wrapped up in our own wounds, or ego, means we didn’t ever really get to know who we truly are.  We never got to truly stand in our own power.  Identity work is ‘bedrock work’, finding out who we truly are; it’s finding out the identity that we stand upon that helps us to stand strong in the world.  When we know who we truly are, we are able to stand in our own power.  

But what does that identity work look like?  Part of that work is simply asking ‘do I like this?’, ‘do I like that?’, ‘do I believe in this?’, ‘do I believe in that?’ and finding out who we are through trying things out. Simply knowing foods, music and ambience that we like goes a long way to telling us a lot about who we are. Then we build on that by asking bigger questions. Asking ourselves more in-depth questions about our preferences and our ways of being (not just what we have come through, but who we are in the face of those challenges), helps us to see not just who we are in ourselves, but who we are in the world. 

For those of us at this stage in our journey, we have transcended our ‘personal life identity’, or our story, and begun the work of engaging with the ‘archetypal identity’, such as the healer, the warrior, the seer, the teacher, the mother, the activist, the artist, etc.  We have moved on from the individuated self into a more collective identity.  With the mind, ego and wounds curtailed, the ‘lower identified self’ recedes and this gives way to begin the precious work of identifying with the Higher (or True) Self, that is, the divine self. Identifying with the divine self is when we operate from a state of ‘knowing’ (not ‘thinking’) and that is truly who we are. Embracing that and living that helps us to move quickly into our potential.

All of this work gives us a more aerial approach to our lives, who we are, our life’s work  and our purpose. Instead of being down in the weeds enmeshed in our ‘stuff’ (with a ‘mouse’ eye-view) we can have an aerial prospective on our lives (that of ‘eagle’), looking out over the vast landscape of our lives, watching our life span out in ways that less identify with the individual mind and more coalesce with the collective.   As we begin to live like this, we identify more with the collective and move to become one with it, co-creating with the universe in beautiful ways.

We are fortunate. We live in a time when this type of consciousness is accessible to a vast number of people; many more people than ever before. In the past higher level consciousness was limited to a select number of people, for example, sometimes indigenous medicine men and women, those in monasteries, Goddess worship communities, or elite wisdom schools. Today, that level of knowledge is readily available to anyone who wishes to rid themselves of lower grade thinking and embrace a more full and loving way of being in the world.

But once we’ve done the lower grade work, what then? How can we find direction to our life’s true path? How can we know where we are supposed to go and what is written in our soul contract? That elusive contract within which is encoded all that we wish to achieve in this lifetime and have achieved in all our lifetimes so far.  Some people are lucky enough to know from an early age what it is that they came here to do.  Most of us have to clear the space within to be able to hear our purpose when it speaks to us.  

Clearing the lower grade self means being able to get access to the Higher Self and, because of that, being able to ask of the Higher Self the question, ‘What is my Big Work?’

Our fullest potential, the truths and goals that we set out for ourselves before we came to this lifetime, written in our soul contract, is embedded in our being, waiting to be unlocked.  Making space for that unlocking is key.  Our fullest potential, encoded within, is the purpose of our life this time around. 

So how do we ‘clear space’ to hear what our potential is when it speaks to us?  Clearing our own ‘stuff’ was part of the work.  Now we need to clear our schedule for a little time every day and get in touch with the Higher Self and put forward the intention clearly that this is what we wish to know: “What is my Big Work? What am I meant to offer? What is my voice? I am ready to receive and listen”, and cultivate that for a few minutes every day, using your intention to make that message loud and clear.

Why the delay in the answers coming forward? If we have come through a lot of personal work, we are likely in a stage of ‘awakening’ and in a process of embodying that.  Getting our lives in order (physically, emotionally, mentally, spiritually, all at once, and noticing the empowerment because of all that) is a position many of us have never been in before.  We are allowing that to settle.  We must allow that to seep down and embed deep within us in a natural and soothing way before we are in a position to take the reins on the next level of our awareness.  We are building a solid foundation to hold up whatever it is that we are about to create.  As you go forward you will get a better sense of what’s next.  It will be revealed to you as you go forward and you can get a better sense of what’s coming by probing into your options and seeing what is more alive for you at this time. But trust the body to reveal to you whatever it is that you will create at exactly the right time.  

Blessings on your path!

For more on related topics, see Mastering Mental Discipline, healing through Wound Work and accessing our Higher Intelligence of Knowing.