By Aditi Raman Shridhar
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Most of January has already melted away and I am not sure how many of your New Year plans are still seeing the light of day. But it is certain that even one little success in one area of your life is positively affecting your whole world. And it doesn’t have to be only in terms of wealth generation or attaining a new job title.
May be you are a new parent or planning to be, or you have reconnected with an old friend or made a new one. May be you just turned a certain age that you consider a milestone in your life or you are grateful for everything in your life and happy. Maybe a plan failed to bring a desired result in your life, but then it gave you an indication what you need to change. In any case, you are only profiting.
You see we human beings forget that we don’t come with anything in this world and we leave without taking anything from this world. So, everything that is happening in between is really just profit. Wouldn’t you agree? We have simply nothing to lose!
Yet, why do we keep striving to find meaning in life, create new goals and wish for success? This is because we are different from other forms of life. Every plant and animal on Earth lives their life within two parameters –Birth and Survival. And they fulfil their destiny. For example, when a lion cub is born in a jungle it is not taught by its parent how to be a ‘good lion’ or how to be ‘better than other lions’. It only learns how to hunt and feed itself, then mate and reproduce, and then teach its own cubs to do the same. It doesn’t need any meaning or purpose in life.
However, we human beings come with our baseline of birth and survival and then it’s an open, infinite minefield. We have no pre-determined or pre-destined upper limit. For example, if you achieve the usual goals we as a race have set – good education, good job, happy marriage, brilliant kids, good post-retirement life, some traveling around the world, a few bizarre experiences and good memories – you are likely to be called a success by others and yourself. However, there are thousands of old people that I know who have achieved all of these and much more, yet they still seem to be searching for something more. Why is this?
Human beings have the consciousness to realize that they are limitless. But they don’t fully accept this. You see if you are declared the king or queen of the planet today, you would want to conquer another planet tomorrow. If you are completely fulfilled in terms of wealth and love today, you will want to fulfill yourself spiritually or health-wise tomorrow. If you have acquired everything materially and all the possible goals of the world, you will dive deep into yourself to explore the depths of space inside of you. In plain language, you will never ‘stop’. You will remain restless till you become ‘All’.
If you are even slightly aware of physics and the law of energy, you will realize that we as energy beings are limitless and we want to expand infinitely. It will not be wrong to say, therefore, that the desire to be ‘ALL’ will involve being infinite in every respect. And only one dimension of life – say material, physical, emotional, spiritual – single-handedly cannot help you fulfil it.
I like to tell my clients to think of themselves as an onion which has many layers. You are at source – Life or Energy – itself which is making everything possible in your reality. Then you have layers of consciousness, spiritual depths, the intellect, emotions, senses, the physical body, the worldly layers of relationships and vocation, and then your money, awards and material acquirements.
Wouldn’t setting a goal to achieve just one or two layers amongst these be called a skewed mind set? Will a few accomplishments in just a couple of layers really make us successful and help us achieve our truest desire of being ‘ALL’?
A WIN IN ONE DIMENSION IS A WIN OVERALL
After many years of research into human potential, life energy, thoughts on existence, meaning and purpose of life, and what humans really want, many psychologists have concluded that there are several layers to our existence. As human beings we desire to be ‘All’ and the journey will not end till we achieve this. The many layers of human existence have been categorized into 12 categories by a couple – Jon and Missy Butcher – who have created an inspirational concept of LIFEBOOK. And there are 3 additional categories propounded by world famous psychologist Marissa Peer.
These fifteen dimensions are 1) Physical Health 2) Emotional Health 3) Intellectual Potential 4) Beliefs and Values 5) Spiritual Health 6) Love and Romance 7) Parenting and relationship with one’s children 8) Family, Friends and Community Relationships 9) Vocation 10) Wealth Generation 11) Quality of Life in terms of Personal Satisfaction and Material Acquirements 12) Contribution to the World 13) Notable Experiences 14) Adventures 15) Manifesting Dreams with Ease
It would be unfair to say that all human beings need to achieve all of these in order to reach their ‘truest’ potential, but personally evaluating how many of your own layers are necessary for your expansion is important. And since there are so many dimensions to all of us, it would be nice to remind ourselves that a simple win in one area of life is a win everywhere since we are expanding overall.
Tell me if you acquired the power to create your thoughts at will, your emotions at will, could manifest all your dreams into reality with ease like a powerful creator, would your life look the same as it is now? It is folly to think that only wealth can buy us experiences. Most profound experiences in life such as falling in love, having a baby, earning blessings from someone by saying kind words do not need money or properties. Therefore, putting any one dimension of your being higher or lower than another is a limiting thought.
Let me stir you with a few questions:
What would your life look like if you reset your metabolic clock and health?
What would your intellectual life look like if you doubled your rate of learning?
What would you feel consistently if you could create emotions at will?
What would you think like if you knew could completely control your mind?
What would your spiritual life look like if you can expand your consciousness?
What would your love life look like if you attracted a relationship you desire?
What would you be as a parent if you could connect deeply with your kids?
What would your social life look like if you found a group of inspired people?
What would your finance look like you figured out your formula for abundance?
What would your career look like if you could went to that next level?
What would your experiences be if you could have it all in life?
Now that you have answered these questions or at least pondered on them, it is time I debunked three myths for you. Before you start cancelling all your goals and dreams that you just wrote down – let me help you get rid of some limiting beliefs such as – a super successful life is not possible for me, I don’t have the tools necessary to achieve what I want, only others deserve success, I am a victim of other people’s thoughts and actions, someone else is responsible for my life – STOP. The three myths are: 1) Others control me/ or I have partial control on my own life 2) Success requires knowing one perfect formula to achieve results 3) I am not the creator of my life.
Debunked: 1) You and only you are responsible for what you think and feel. There is a thin line between what is happening inside your mind and outside your body. The actions outside cannot affect your thoughts in reality. However we are trained to react and respond to everything happening outside us. (2) There is absolutely no right way or the perfect way of achieving anything in life. Apply yourself and your skills in any which way that works for you. (3) You are the only creator of your life and your life will go your way or in an even better way that you didn’t imagine possible when you surrender to the highest being (call it god, your highest self or energy, or cosmic consciousness) and flow with the purest intention of goodness and blessing.
It is time to explore your hidden dimensions of life, peel your layers like an onion and start enhancing your life in every way. It is time you realized who you really are and start living in your truest potential.
Until next week.
Aditi Raman Shridhar is an Indian Journalist, Therapist and Health Instructor.