Introduction to Personal Growth and Transformation

On the path of personal growth, there are times when we seem to fall into a deep, dark pit, and the light is nowhere to be found. This is what is meant by a "spiritual crisis." This series of articles was written to better help people in this predicament understand and resolve their situation.

Read more here: » Personal Growth: Personal Growth and Transformation

Personal Transformation

A profoundly intense mystical experience that leads to the acceptance and use of New Age beliefs and practices. Guided imagery, hypnosis, meditation, and (sometimes) the use of hallucinogenic drugs are useful to bring about and enhance this transformation.

Believers hope to develop new potentials within themselves: the ability to heal oneself and others, psychic powers, a new understanding of the workings of the universe, etc. Later, when sufficient numbers of people have achieved these powers, a major spiritual, physical, psychological and cultural planet-wide transformation is expected.

(See also: Personal Transformation, New Age Spirituality, Body Mind and Soul)

Personal Transformation

A profoundly intense mystical experience that leads to the acceptance and use of New Age beliefs and practices. Guided imagery, hypnosis, meditation, and (sometimes) the use of hallucinogenic drugs are useful to bring about and enhance this transformation.

Believers hope to develop new potentials within themselves: the ability to heal oneself and others, psychic powers, a new understanding of the workings of the universe, etc. Later, when sufficient numbers of people have achieved these powers, a major spiritual, physical, psychological and cultural planet-wide transformation is expected.

(See also: Personal Transformation, New Age Spirituality, Body Mind and Soul)

The world today suffers more from emotional and mental turmoil than from anything else. In fact, it is just the partial truth. Almost all suffering and most problems have emotional base. For instance, it is well known that emotionally disturbed people are more prone to accidents than others.

David Spangler writes: As man continues to grow in his recognition of what is within himself, he will increasingly realise that the creative source of his world is indeed in his own consciousness... When man knows the reality of the power within his consciousness to create inner changes, then he can make those personal changes, knowing that they will be positively reflected in his environment. The

(See also: Life Transforming Affirmations, Affirmations, Practising Affirmations, Life Transforming Affirmations, Essence of Affirmations, Faith and Belief, Peace of Mind, Love and Happiness, Body Mind and Soul)

We are what we choose to be. Man has access to all the gifts given by Existence. Yet life on earth for many is one of want and deprivation. There are people living below relative poverty lines, and there are those who are overwhelmed by their excesses in wealth. Why these differences? Is it that God is partial and kind to one at the cost of another?

No! Relative differences arise because one believes that the abundance of the earth is for him to reach out and access, while the poverty-torn person unconsciously and continuously re-affirms his / her poverty-consciousness.

(See also: Affirmation Advantages, Affirmations, Practising Affirmations, Life Transforming Affirmations, Essence of Affirmations, Faith and Belief, Peace of Mind, Love and Happiness, Body Mind and Soul)

Drop All Conclusions About God Almighty

It takes enormous courage for a person to look beyond the conditioning of his belief systems and admit that he knows nothing about even the most basic aspects of his life.

Read more here: » Spiritual Growth: Drop All Conclusions About God Almighty

I have a standing interview every Monday morning on a radio station in the southeast that I enjoy very much. You can imagine though that it can become routine. So to make it a little more fun, the host nowadays doesn't even tell me the topic before we go live on the air, and that puts some excitement into it!

This past week he asked me the following question cold at the beginning of the show::

How can a person guarantee that they will have a great day, every day?

Now some may find that a hard question but for me it was actually a very easy question to answer (a little harder to actually live, but not that hard).

(See also: Happiness, Affirmations, Practising Affirmations, Life Transforming Affirmations, Essence of Affirmations, Faith and Belief, Peace of Mind, Love and Happiness, Body Mind and Soul)

What are the things that can make a person's life happier?

An unusual three-month experiment, in which six specialists from a variety of disciplines worked to improve the happiness levels of a typical British town.

The experts tried and tested simple measures on the quest to happiness and found that the top 10 reasons that make people happy are:

(See also: Practising Affirmations, Affirmations, Practising Affirmations, Life Transforming Affirmations, Essence of Affirmations, Faith and Belief, Peace of Mind, Love and Happiness, Body Mind and Soul)

The act of self-forgiveness changes the energy and physical structures of your cells, and of your DNA. Guilt is a very powerful and deadening emotion. Guilt in itself can, as it were, close down the energy systems of your body, and thereby lessen, and in extreme cases, cut off the flow of Divine Energy and Love to the body entirely. Because each and every one of your cells has consciousness, they too can carry the essence and energy of guilt within them that makes their energy denser.

Read more here: » Forgiveness: Forgiveness and Self-Forgiveness

Suffering seems to be one of those fundamental human experiences that we all have in common, and is perhaps the one we would all gladly give up. We often feel oppressed and frustrated by suffering because we do not understand it. It can pierce the heart of our being and our identity, and shake every assumption we hold about ourselves and the world. It often seems to destroy our will-power and overthrow our commitments, to our dismay.

Read more here: » Personal Growth: Understanding Suffering

Love is the primary, fundamental building block that everything is made of, and love is self-aware; it recognizes itself in everything, and loves itself in everything. In its primal, unified, unlimited, infinite state, it knows nothing other than unity, perfection, completion, wholeness.

Read more here: » Personal Growth: On Love, Separation, and Sacrifice

When I was growing up, I thought that "spirituality" was the same thing as "religion," which was something for which I had little respect. My early experiences with organized religion left me convinced that the church was a body of contradictions, from which you would never get a rational, straight answer. I was quite mystified that so many people would go to church every Sunday to engage in something that seemed so irrelevant.

Read more here: » What is Spirituality: Reflections on Spirituality

We are here to learn. We have created all our experiences for that purpose only: to learn, understand, and recognize ourselves in all that is. This is our sole/soul purpose in this entire existence. To learn a lesson never requires eternity; it is only our own unconscious choice to resist and avoid the learning that perpetuates the lesson.

Read more here: » Personal Growth: On Lessons, Creating our Reality, Limitation, and Eternal Suffering

Whatever else you say about emotions and feelings, you have to admit that you just "wouldn't be your self" (little 's') without your own, familiar feelings. That's why we think we're going crazy or becoming "possessed" when unfamiliar or "out of character" emotions or reactions show up in our lives. However, there is another, more positive way to look at these disturbing occurrences. Remember that anything that feels like it isn't "you" must be a part of your shadow, and when parts of your shadow start to show up in your "self's" experience, this is HEALING.

Read more here: » Personal Growth: Healing the Shadow and the Mirror of Relationship

When you appreciate what God has given you, instead of saying "thank you" in word or thought, express your gratitude by choosing to be who God wants you to be - toward yourself, toward God, and toward others. Use the opportunity of "thank you" to correct your attitude and remember to love.

Read more here: » Personal Growth: On Opening to Higher Guidance

Most of us on our healing path have become very familiar with the admonition to "love ourselves." We may be clear that our purpose is to bring more love into the world. Since how we perceive and relate to "the world" is always a mirror of how we perceive and relate to ourselves, our goal is really to bring more love into ourselves. It is important to understand that, in terms of cause and effect, the external world is a reflection (or an "effect") of our "internal world: (our self), which is the opposite of how we naturally perceive things to be.

Read more here: » Personal Growth: Loving Ourselves

Desire

Desire is one of the great paradoxes of being human. We find desire both at the heart of our greatest joy and of our greatest suffering. Sometimes we are empowered and uplifted by our desires, and at other times we feel enslaved to them.

About Desire, The Ego, Attachment, Victimhood and Empowerment.

Read more here: » Personal Growth: Desire

There are many types of women in our society, but the one that cries out for the healing the loudest is the Female Warrior. She longs to transform herself into the Goddess and yet doesn't even know it. Nor does she know how.

Who is the Warrior? The Warrior is powerful, independent, self-reliant and successful --because she has to be. Yet, she resents all of the responsibility and obligation that goes with her role. She's the only one around who can get things done, and get things done fast enough and perfectly enough.

Read more here: » Women's Spirituality: Warrior to Goddess - How to Transform the Feminine

Now that you have become aware of the power inherent in affirmations and of the potency with which they can influence individual lives, you would not be wrong in regarding them as virtually magical! They are wondrous - like so much else in life. Through affirmations much can be accomplished easily; objectives that would otherwise seem like an arduous uphill task.

Nevertheless, there are certain pointers one ought to know and remember. Firstly, affirmations should not be used negatively or for negative ends. Secondly, there comes a time when you need to rise above shortsighted affirmations and broaden your horizons - ultimately giving in to the Spirit of surrender.

(See also: Life Transforming Affirmations, Affirmations, Practising Affirmations, Life Transforming Affirmations, Essence of Affirmations, Faith and Belief, Peace of Mind, Love and Happiness, Body Mind and Soul)

Emotions

Constructive expression is the key to emotional clarity. Constructive means expressing feelings in a way that does not harm the person they are expressed to. For example, saying "I am angry", or "I am frustrated" to someone is different than acting out the anger or frustration. Finding the method of constructive expression that fits our unique characteristics is part of the path to awakening. It may be an art form, or a particular practice, like yoga.

Read more here: » Emotions: Emotions and the key to emotional clarity.