Personal Ascension

A model created by researchers at
The Max Plank Institute in Germany. 
It shows the pattern a thought takes 

when firing through "neural networks"
within an average brain.

Old Dog, New Tricks

        It's been said, "you can't teach an old dog new tricks."  I would have to disagree with that.  I think anyone any age could expand their horizons with new interests, lifestyle changes, changes in values, and so forth.  And I think science bears me out on this one.  Brain research has proven that when you're an older learner, someone with some life experience under your belt, you're better able to connect new information that comes into your brain with the old information stored in "neural networks" you've created through life experience.  You understand the "bigger picture" quicker than someone without this advantage.  You literally are better able to "connect the dots."  We just keep growing, it seems.

        In fact, it seems to me there are two urges we all have: one, to find balance, and the second, to expand.  These two urges seem to be across the board for humans, in my observation.  When we have too much of anything, we instinctively find balance for our bodies and minds again.  But balance and stasis could lead to stagnancy, so it seems that we then get an urge to expand again ...take a new class, embark on a new love relationship, visit a new place, take a chance on something we were previously reluctant about before.  It seems that throughout our lives there's always higher vibrational levels to which we aspire, and we're driven like salmon swimming upstream to get there.  Nothing and no one will stand in the way.  We need to go higher, dig deeper, better understand our boundaries ....then expand them.

Personal Ascension

         I've come to term this growth as, "Personal Ascension."  I don't know if that's already a popular term somewhere, but I said it spontaneously during a reading once, and it's stuck with me since (note: I am not using this term in relation to the current New Age trend of "ascension to the 5th dimension," etc. that is popular right now).  I can tell when people are experience this, as there tends to be telltale signs of it...

       For example, when you think about your life, you might find yourself saying, "There's got to be  more than this."  You may no longer ask yourself, "What can I get from this world?" but you may start asking, "What can I bring to this world?  Why am I here?"  You sign up for metaphysical and spiritual classes, looking for answers.  You visit churches or other holy sites outside of your religious comfort zone, not quite sure what you're looking for, yet totally sure you'll know it when you find it.

        You find yourself wanting to "realign" where and how you invest your consciousness, your resources of time and emotion.  I think the rich man mentioned in the Christian scriptures, who got rid of his material things to follow the teachings of the rabbi Yeshua ben Yosef (better known by his Anglicized Greek name, Jesus), experienced this.  It's not that the man's money and belongings were in themselves "evil."

        It was probably more like the man felt that the time-consuming and stress-producing management of his estate, day after day, got in the way of his pursuing spiritual goals.  Perhaps he wanted to devote more time to prayer, or to studying inspired writings, or to doing heart-felt community service projects.  Perhaps the never-ending process of acquiring and maintaining "stuff" no longer fulfilled him.  And maybe he tired of the materially-oriented friends that came along with the stuff, and he wanted, instead, to hang out with more enlightened people who shared similar spiritual interests and goals.

You Already Have the Answers

        People experiencing Personal Ascension tend to visit intuitive readers like me.  I can't speak for other readers, but I tend to try to find a way to tune into a person's Higher Self, and point the person toward the wisdom of that consciousness.  We already have the answers within ourselves.  I don't have your answers; I'm more of a midwife, a facilitator assisting people in pulling the answers they need out of the metaphysical, and birthing them into the physical. I think we've all written scripts for our lives, complete with timelines and a carefully selected cast of characters, before we incarnated here on Earth.  I can use my psychic abilities to clue you into your own script, but ultimately you're the writer, producer, director and star of your own show.  You can flip that script, at will.

        More times than not, friends won't have the answers we need, especially since in some cases (bless their hearts, but) "friends" are part of the problem!  We'll look to them for advice, and find they don't get us, or they're disinterested, or just plain hostile toward our newfound spiritual aspirations.  You might find that family members don't understand either, as our families have a vested interest in us not rocking the boat in any way, but keeping things the way they are.  After all, your spiritual adventures may "make the family look bad," somehow.  I don't think someone interested in exploring Wicca will make her devout, pillar-of-the-community Christian husband very happy at all.

        Doctors won't have the answers, since they often can't think beyond the left-brained, Western outlook they've invested tens, if not hundreds of thousands of dollars in school loans to master.  They're not trained to understand such woo-woo concepts as spiritual growth --that's not science!  And you may find your religious leaders won't have the answers either, because the next step in your Personal Ascension may inspire you to search outside their religion to another, or no religion at all.  It's their job to talk you out of "crazy" things like that.  They have to protect the spiritual sensitivities of the flock, or they'll be in trouble with their superiors.  If you don't remove your spiritual spoon from the pot, and quit stirring it with your crazy spiritual musings, you might find yourself the next candidate for ex-communication.

        So, just look at all the problems you and your Personal Ascension process could be causing yourself and everyone around you ...and isn't that just fabulous?

Spiritual Growing Pains

         Personal Ascension certainly has its enlightening, inspiring moments.  After that aha moment, we want to take the world by storm.  But often, that's just "the honeymoon phase," and not long after that it starts getting uncomfortable.  It's akin to the physical "growing pains" we experienced when we were children, as our bones, muscles and ligaments grew so fast it hurt.  Children also experience spiritual growing pains, as well, like the disillusionment of realizing that Santa's not real, that their parents aren't perfect, that the toys and TV programs so cool yesterday are suddenly quite uncool today.  Growth can be rather painful, and change, no matter how refreshing the thought of it may be initially, can get ungrounding and uncomfortable.

A lot of clients consult with me during
their Dark Night of the Soul.  They don't
"fit in" any more, and know they need
to be somewhere else.  It can be a de-
pressing, but enlightening and libera-
ting time of one's life.

         Personal Ascension can be quite lonely, and you may discover that you need to find a new "flock."  Seagulls hang out with seagulls, ducks with ducks, quail with quail, etc.  You enjoyed a common resonance with certain people, which is what attracted you to them in the first place, and vice versa.  But over time, your personal dialogue with and about life changed, as did your lifestyle.  Yet, theirs may not have changed.  And that's not a judgment against them, just something you may have observed.  They're totally happy where they're at, just as you had been, and that's fine.  But now, you're not feeling fine.  You now feel like a duck among seagulls, a quail among pigeons.  You don't quack like you used to, don't fly the same way, eat the same things.

      I suppose a bird just starts flying around with a new flock and it's no big deal, I don't know.  But, I do know that with humans, finding a new flock is no easy or quick undertaking.  It takes a lot of time, patience, trust, confidence and a perennially positive attitude.  You'll have to grin and bear a lot of new quirks, voices, outlooks and other details until you all get to know one another.  You'll have to prove yourself so they will trust you.  You'll have to build memories with them, experience things together, so that later you'll all be able to say, "Remember when we did that?"  So, it's quite an investment in time and emotional resources.

        Some people lament that they've wasted so much time, that they've strayed from their path.  As I explained in my blog post titled, "The Hero's Journey Always Looks Like This" [click here to read the article], I don't believe anything, any experience, is wasted time.  I believe everything we experience "fits" somehow into the larger picture of why we're here, though it certainly doesn't feel like it at times.  To me, the high times, as well as the low times, are all "steps" in one's journey of Personal Ascension.  Take nothing for granted.

 Death of the Old You

        There are times when the Personal Ascension process is similar to death: there's an "old you" dying, so a "new you" could be born and live a new life.  It reflects the archetype of the "phoenix."  Not surprisingly, you may find yourself responding to this experience the same way someone responds to death.  You may go through a phase where you don't want to see the inevitable.  I guess they'd call this denial.  Some of the reluctance may be even be laziness, and fear, since "breaking in" new friends is a lot of work and investment.  It's just safer and simpler to stick with the old ones, though you don't identify with them anymore.  Whatever the reason, you may find yourself thinking, "this can't really be happening to me," when it comes to this first phase of Personal Ascension.

In Western cultures like America, it seems
death is a taboo subject for some reason, 
and Eastern cultures seem to have a better 
grasp of the concept of it being part of the 
natural cycle of existence.

In Hinduism, the godhead is composed of
Brahma the Creator, Vishnu the Sustainer,
and Shiva the Destroyer.  Shiva's destruc-
tion makes it possible for new things to 
be born, after the old things have died.

        Denial may then lead you to a "deal-making" phase, where your inner voice starts speaking louder and louder to your consciousness.  You sell yourself out so you could still hang out with your old flock, rationalizing your behavior all the while.  You laugh at jokes you don't think are funny anymore, watch movies you don't like, go places you hate going to.  Or perhaps you drink, smoke or participate in some other habit you no longer want to participate in anymore.  Perhaps there's an outlook they quack loudly when their little flock assembles.  You half-heartedly amen and second their motions, because you know it's necessary for membership in the flock.  But inwardly, you're just not feelin' it anymore.  It's harder and harder to keep rationalizing where your life is going, but you keep doing it anyway.

        After a while, perhaps you tire of selling yourself short, and you then go through an anger phase.  Why won't they see things like you do, "see the light" as you have?!   Why don't they stop eating meat, and assume a more healthy diet as you have?!   Can't they see what they're doing to themselves?  Or maybe you don't smoke anymore, and you call them on their smoking one day.  Oops, bad mistake, you later realize.  But you were just trying to "help."  In actuality, you were just trying to mold them into what you want them to be, which means the only person you were really trying to help was you. You can't force a duck to become a quail, a pigeon to become seagull.  It might make you angry, but the problem isn't with them; it's in you.

        Finally, in the end, you may realize the futility of your efforts.  You're not going to change your old flock.  It just ain't gonna happen.  You've got to let them build their own neural networks in whatever ways they choose to.  You can't reprogram them; you can only reprogram yourself.  You realize you must accept them as they are, and bless them on their journey.  So you cut your loses, and move on.  Then, perhaps the sadness sets in.  You're forced to accept the "death" of your old self, and the death-like separation from your old flock, and the anxiety of having to find a new one --it's a triple whammy!  It's very lonely.  It's the Dark Night of the Soul.  But I view this time as a chrysollis, changing on the inside, one day to emerge as a new, beautiful creature.

        You may cycle through all these phases several times.  But one day, you most likely accept, and perhaps even enjoy, the changes your Personal Ascension brings.
      

A Beautiful Phoenix Rising

New interests, new experiences, new contri-
butions to society ...these are the fruits of
following your Personal Ascensions wher-
ever they lead you.  Angels, spirit guides 
and ancestors surround and assist you in 
your efforts.  You never walk alone.

        The only constant really is change.  You'll eventually attract a new flock to fly around with.  But even after migrating with this new flock for a while, you may decide to move on to yet another one.   Before you retire to birdie heaven, you may have made several lateral and vertical spiritual moves in your life.  We always have everything we need.  As we grow, the Universe grows with, and around, us.  Trust that it will ascend with you to the next level, whatever that may entail, and wherever that may take you.

        Embrace each new energetic attunement your spirit undergoes of its own volition.  Learn to honor every Personal Ascension in your life, and there will be many.  They are integral to your greater life purpose.  With love, neither judge yourself, nor any of your old flocks.  Rather, be grateful for them, for the wisdom they imparted to your soul.  And be grateful for the person you were when you once flew with them, because being the person you were then, informs the person you are now, and will always be part of the beautiful ascended master you'll be tomorrow.  Have no regrets, only gratitude.

_______________________________________________



.