Tired of being told how to live a more conscious life? Good. Here’s 5 steps to make your own.
How to escape spiritual perfectionism and create a delightful, magical existence that is uniquely yours.
A rude awakening
After a crash course spiritual awakening in 2017, I fell into a dark spiral of internet research and pressure that would take me months to climb out of.
Having suddenly discovered that I was actually part of the universe and had some kind of purpose here on earth, I became obsessed with finding out how to be a better, more conscious human. Every day I would search for new ways to live a more spiritual life, attain more health, wellness, energy or just plain enlightenment. And every day I was met with information.
In the first stages of my healing I found endless healing techniques, diets, self-help ideas and journalling prompts that would change my life. Then came a huge list of crystals I absolutely couldn’t manage without, and about 17 different life purposes that all needed my full attention right-this-second. My spiritual to do list was bigger than my worst days in my corporate office life gone by. At some stage, I realised I “needed” more new crystals than I even used the ones I had, and I just couldn’t save the world with infinite good ideas.
At the same time I was learning to drop all of the ‘shoulds’ from my old life, I was unconsciously gathering a ton of new ones. I was creating pressure was intense, dumb, and unhelpful. And it didn’t feel good. Beating myself up every time I committed to some new spiritual fad I’d seen on Instagram, only to dump it a day later or not even be engaged enough to follow it through once.
And with so much to do, I wasn’t doing much.
I’ll give you an example:
I became intrigued by the instagram account of a person using fasting, raw food diet and quite an intense breathwork routine to create his spiritual nirvana. It sounded great. He was glowing, he looked SO light, bright and full of life.
I became convinced that his methods would work for me too, and began to throw back 2 litres of celery juice daily (I couldn’t even carry that much celery back from my local greengrocer), and began a breathwork routine that didn’t feel fun or natural. It didn’t take long before I gave up buying celery and added another notch to my self-betrayal scorecard.
Intuition vs. distraction
Instead of deepening my relationship with myself, I was distracted, overwhelmed and frustrated at all of the options, with no clear guidance which way to go. Instead of connecting with my real desire, I was just re-creating a scenario in which I was acceptable to others. In attempting to find my own way down this new road, I’d found 500 bits of someone else’s way. In trying to find what I was actually curious about exploring, I was killing all of my creativity for life with comparison masked as research.
Solid advice from an alien
One day, deep down one of my internet holes, I was discovered the videos of Bashar — chanelled messages via a man called Darryl Ankyr. I then received the best piece of advice that continues to guide me now — follow your excitement. This statement gave me a new and profoundly simpler direction: follow what feels exciting, or don’t do it.
This began a new path of conscious creation: building a life that flows and feels good because it was created by me, for me! I began to connect with what actually made me feel some deep excitement. Life began to flow in a new way. I created a life that feels all my favourite kinds of delightful. Here’s where my 5 steps come from: enjoy.
- Give yourself permission to play
For so long I felt like life was supposed to be difficult. I thought in order to be an evolving, expanding human I actually should not be having much fun at all. This was misguided. Yes, life may be difficult and we might run up against challenges or shadows. But we don’t need to seek these out in order to grow. We expand through joy, pleasure and finding spaces and experiences where our energy can flow freely. So give yourself permission to connect to the things that light you up. You’re not at school anymore: you’re allowed to join the circus or learn how to play a really obscure and expensive instrument. - Connect with what’s real, drop what isn’t
Do you find Tony Robbins kind of annoying? I do. So I stopped following him. If something you’re doing or connecting with isn’t resonating for you — re-direct to something that is. Get honest about what’s really working for you, and what you’re just doing to tick the box. Discern what is truly for you. A practice I love is this: Does it feel like a full body, yes? If not, it’s a no. Trust your body to know what’s right for you. It might feel like a “guhhh I don’t really feel like it but I really do want that”… but get used to asking the question and listening for the answer. - Ask where life is inviting you to play
It’s cool and advisable to research your options (whether it’s a new career or just a new morning routine), but ask yourself what actually feels the MOST exciting? Get in touch with your intuition, and your body. Which options give you that wiggly excitement? What feels juicy? Tap into the sense of aliveness in you. Understand that what’s true for you, won’t be the same as your friends, your peers or your teachers. Get used to having a completely unique spread of experiences, world views and pleasures. - Trust and make movement
This may be the hardest part. Once you can feel your excitement, move. Take some inspired action. Go do the thing! A consciously created life needs action to be taken in it. And it’s much easier to tell if something really lights us up, once we’re actually doing it. And if it’s not, review step 2 again. - Experiment
Life is here with us, for life. We are ever evolving, and we get to be our own partner for probably many years to come. So make it spicy! The exact combination of choices that works for you in January probably won’t work for you in August. Mix it up, play. Discipline yourself. Don’t discipline yourself. This is the creation of the life that is uniquely yours — it’s possible to love everything about it, because you chose it.
Individuality is magic.
So that’s it. Life is a beautiful opportunity to create a really unique existence that matches your soul. When you connect with what is really true for you — you can begin to design a juicy life that just feels good. And a juicy, unique life creates ripples. It’s the medicine we all need right now.
