Five tips to spiritual transformation

Why are we here? That's the question we all seek to answer and it takes a lifetime to (maybe) get one. The journey of spiritual awakening, evolution or transformation is not an easy one. Yet what else do we have to do while we're here? Isn't coming to recognize ourselves as a reflection of the Supreme Intelligence, Divine Consciousness or Source of all that is a worthy cause?

For many of us the journey of spiritual transformation is a bit rough, yet wildly blessed too. In the end we probably wouldn't change a thing if we could. It's gotten us here, and here is a mighty distance from where we began. A road map for guidance at the start of our journey would be nice, wouldn't it? I imagine some form of map is out there in "spiritual land" if we go far enough to find it. But in the interest of making our lives a bit easier, the following five principles of personal transformation have been validated by many others who walked the path before us.

1. TIMING IS EVERYTHING

Things happen in perfect divine timing. It may not feel like it because this is a "soul thing," not a "mind thing." We can't figure it out with our mind. The mind is linear, energy flow is not. And we only have eyes on one tiny thread of an entire tapestry of evolving life, so we can't grasp how all of the moving parts interconnect and influence each other. Plus, it's usually only in hindsight that we see the gifts of our experiences.

2. INTUITION RULES

Follow your instincts and listen to your intuition. Then we can let our mind work out the details. Our mind is not meant to be the driver of our life. It's meant to be our map reader in the passenger seat and our problem solver at the table. It's not the boss of us. It's our heart and soul's employee. Catch my drift?

3. CONTROL STIFLES

Control is an illusion. When we try to control our lives, we subvert the flow of Supreme Intelligence through our reality, pretending we know better than the Supreme Source of all that is. But we don't. We can't, because our view is too limited, while Supreme Intelligence is infinite. Trying to outpace or outguess Divine Intelligence doesn't get us anywhere fun. We get farther faster by paying attention to what's already moving, deeply listening to our heart's wisdom and guidance, being willing to take some wise risks on our behalf, and releasing our desire to force things to happen that may not want to or that we may not be ready for...because if we bite off more than we can chew, we'll choke.

4. PATIENCE PAYS

Be patient. Re-read the last sentence of #3 above. There's no benefit to rushing through transformation. That defeats the purpose and the process. While devotion to the journey is imperative, pushing the river of transformation stalls the very thing we're trying to achieve. It's not where we go that counts. It's what we do with where we are. We're only ready for what's next when we're ready and not a moment before. So racing forward doesn't serve us. We must face what's before us and deal with it. We must go through the pressure to become the diamond.

5. TRUST THE PROCESS

Transformation is an evolving process, not a one-time event. When walking a path of spiritual transformation, we experience multiple mini (and sometimes not so mini) transformations along the way. The path is an upward spiral rather than a straight line. The answers we seek can be found in new ways we relate to old things, not solely in encountering completely new things. We revisit places we've already been and each time we do, it's from a higher perspective than before with deeper wisdom born out of prior experiences. Step by step, day by day we evolve. This is why transformation is better described as a process than an event, although we could also say it is a trail of events.

Remember—if we change nothing, nothing changes.