My formula for Personal Transformation
I have been on the Path for past ten years or so. If I say that I have metamorphosed during this period that would be an understatement! Yes, I have changed and am still changing; it is nothing short of transformation. Ever since I stepped on the Path, I have been led to many books, people, workshops, and inner knowing. I have worked on all these and formed a kind of synthesis of this learning. It is not ‘new’ in essence, but every seeker has his/her own way of internalizing the ‘truth’. I have mine. Today, I would like to share my fool-proof formula for personal transformation.
Awareness: -
Awareness remains the solid foundation of this transformation. We need to be aware of ‘all’ that is in our experience; be it an illness, a discordant relationship, a pain, confusion, negative trait, over-weight, eating disorder, personality disorder, whatever……. This is not a difficult thing to do. We all are aware of our ‘conscious’ self. We are aware of our ‘conscious’ shortcomings. We are aware of our challenges. Of course we are! But we are not aware of our ‘subconscious’ self. We are not aware of our ‘inner child’. We are not aware that we are not aware!! How do we become ‘aware’ now? We need to look at everyone and everything in our experience as our ‘mirror’.
What is it that you don’t like about your spouse? Note it down. Now become aware that s/he is ‘reflecting’ your sub-personality to you. Yes, that ugly part that you don’t like is the part of ‘you’ that you have been denying in yourself! Initially, you will ‘deny/resist’ this information too. But look deep, search within, you will find the truth.
What is your relationship with your children? What is it that bothers you about this relationship? Remember, your children reflect your ‘inner child’. Look at the way you treat your children, it reflects the way you treat your inner child. If you think your children neglect you, see how you are neglecting your ‘inner child’. Just become ‘aware’ of all these aspects of ‘you’.
How do you relate to your parents? If you think your mother doesn’t love you, perhaps you don’t love yourself. If you are on shaky grounds with your father, it means you are not comfortable with your own power and authority. If you don’t get along with your sibling that means your inner support system is shaky. Everyone around you, including your friends, colleagues, and acquaintances are reflecting ‘you’ back to you. Notice if you ‘like’ something about someone; that is your ‘reflection’. Now if you don’t like something in someone that is your reflection too. Just become aware of these reflections. Everyone is ‘mirroring you’. Become aware of ‘you’.
Acknowledge: -
Once the awareness has dawned, the next step is to ‘acknowledge’ the self. Do not try to justify your ‘being’. Acknowledge all aspects of yourself; good, bad and ugly. This is ‘you’ in your entirety. How come you are what you are? Simple. You chose to be. Yes, ‘you’ chose to be all of it. You ‘chose’ all parts of you. You did that when you had the larger picture in view; when you were privy to the Master Plan. Acknowledge this truth.
Accept:-
Once you have acknowledged ‘all’ of you, you have come a long way. All parts of you are rejoicing in this acknowledgement. Don’t you feel good when others acknowledge you? Your parts are feeling the same. Now go a step further and ‘accept’ all these parts without any judgment, criticism, or explanation. Just accept all of you. You chose to be all of this for a good reason. Whether you know that reason consciously or not, trust that this choice was made in good faith. Accept yourself in totality. This is a very empowering step.
Celebrate: -
This is my favorite step. No matter how ‘down’ I may be feeling in any ‘acceptance’; the moment I say, ‘I celebrate this part of me’, I can’t help but smile/laugh. Yes, unless we can celebrate our ‘set-ups’, our various ‘roles’, our acceptance is not complete. For years I have looked into my eyes in the mirror (on Louise Hay’s advice) and repeated, ‘I love and accept myself exactly the way I am’, but it was merely an intellectual exercise compared to what I ‘feel’ when I celebrate ‘all’ parts of me in full awareness, acknowledgement and acceptance. It is not to say that I didn’t benefit from Ms. Hay’s advice. Of course I did. If I hadn’t repeated that affirmation hundreds of times a day, I wouldn’t have been writing this piece today. It was an important milestone on my journey, but ‘celebration’ takes you miles ahead of it.
Why must we celebrate? Well, isn’t it great that all ‘aspects’ of your multi-dimensional selves are making themselves ‘known’ to you so that you can assimilate them? Isn’t it cause enough for celebrating and doing a jig? I think it is.
Transmute to Love:-
This is something that I have discovered recently. (To be precise 9/9/9 brought this understanding.) Earlier I used to ‘release’ all the so-called negative aspects of me. I used to celebrate the fact that all my negativity is coming up for release/cleansing/clearing/letting go. Now I am a bit wiser. I have realized that I need not release this negativity into the ethers; in fact I must not do that. It only adds up to the negativity already present there (thanks to us humans). Since I claim my magnificence and my mastery, I must acknowledge that I am an alchemist too. I have this tool to transmute anything into love (the ultimate energy). My philosopher’s stone is my ‘intention’. So now I ‘intend’ and turn all that comes up into ‘love’. Oh, how I love these ‘magical’ moments!!
Assimilate:-
Once I have transmuted everything into love, all that is left for me to do is ‘assimilate’ it into my being. Ah, what a pleasure that is!!! In every moment I assimilate more and more love into my being. Now I ‘really’ celebrate the ‘mirroring’ of all aspects of ‘me’. The more that I am aware of, the more I can acknowledge, accept, celebrate, transmute, and assimilate.  What an incentive to increase my awareness!! I am continuously at the look out for ‘more’ aspects of me. Isn’t this what is known as ‘connection 24x7’? Something that seemed so difficult to do until the other day has become an integral part of my being!
I feel so full of love that I ‘overflow’. Loving ‘others’ (there is no other, all are my mirrors) comes naturally now (it is no more an ‘exercise’). Similarly, I don’t need to ‘do’ the mirror work recommended by Louise (and by me to many others) any more; I have ‘live’ mirrors everywhere. Every time I look into another’s eyes, I automatically say, ‘I love and accept ‘myself’ exactly as I am.’ And that is my current Truth.