Becoming whole is a lifelong process.
It is finding and embracing the new self and forgetting what you learned to be.
Forgetting or losing the connection to essential spiritual self.
This happens when we enter the physical world at birth.
We develop a personality that allows us to adapt to our circumstances familial and cultural.
This original self is rarely remembered, although at times we catch glimpses of it.
Moments of unexpected grace falling in love, acting from instinctive certainty rather than fear are reminders.
We reconnect with our essence, too, when our senses are moved by the natural world around us.
Remembering is the key to most world religions and to spiritual experience.
Such revelations often signify the beginning of the journey back to our true essence.
Exploring spiritual ideas and religious practices moves us toward an awareness of remembering.
We participate in traditional and unfamiliar forms of prayer or attend retreats and seminars.
We explore the revival of spirituality through books and even pilgrimages to sacred sites whatever sacred means to you.
Practicing allows us to begin using rituals that keep us in alignment with our spiritual path each day.
Without practice, the treasures we find in exploring will lose their light and promise.
We may feel grief for all the time we have lost to ego-driven choices.
Reclaiming is that stage in which we begin to recognize and trust those things that have meaning for us.
At this point, we take hold of the direction of our lives, both inside and out.
We work harder to be honest with others and ourselves.
We are more accountable for our actions.
Acceptance is less of a stage and more of a condition woven throughout the stages.
It is the knowledge that we never completely arrive.
We are always on the path.
We are always forgetting, remembering, exploring, practicing, integrating, and then forgetting again.
Acknowledging this, we learn to accept the inevitability of lapsing into old responses and our previously limited perspective.
That, after all, is life.
How to Start Your Search
1.
Ask yourself if soul is different than spirit.
It is important that you have your own unique definition for these essential words.
Create your own definition of spirit.
Pay attention to what makes sense to you.
Ask yourself what it means to you to remember who you are.
What qualities do you consider to be a part of your soul self?
Look at pictures of yourself as a child that reflect what you interpret to be your essential qualities.
Describe what you see in your activities, body, or eyes that recalls these fundamental spirit qualities.
Meditate on that journey.
