You've come up with goals and plans and all sorts of energy to move forward towards them, but you're going slower than expected. Why? Well maybe it's that 50 lb bag of rocks you've got on your back. What's in it? All of the guilt and resentment you've been clinging onto for years and years. Guilt is the perception that you failed in some capacity, resentment is the perception that someone else failed. The key word here is "perception." You perceive that you should be been/done differently, or that someone else should have been/done differently. You cannot control this though, you cannot change another nor can you change what has already happened. So these emotions are just stopping us from dealing with what is. It is clouding our ability to cope with reality.

Now that you know what you did, or what someone else did, who you are, who someone else is, what are you going to do about it? In the case of guilt, this is your opportunity to change. What do you perceive that you failed? What can you do about it now? You can figure out what you can do now to make this past mistake better. You can also figure out what you can do now to ensure that it doesn't happen again. This is called "learning the lesson." The beautiful think about learning the lesson is that you only have to do it once. Holding onto that guilt once you have learned your lesson is essentially you not trusting yourself. In the case of resentment, you cannot change the person, or what they did, but you can change your relationship with the person and you can change your reaction to it. You can let them know that you felt they failed in some capacity. They they choose to not change as a result then it is up to you to act again. It is always you responsibility to right what you perceive is wrong, not the other person, because most likely they do not perceive that they were wrong. If at any point you choose to no longer express your feelings then it is now entirely your problem if you continue to let the person treat you this way. If you choose to do nothing about it then it is now entirely your problem. This is when you must change your relationship or at least your expectations of the relationship. 

Does it really, truly matter if you (or someone else) failed? No. What happened does not matter because it is in the past, what does matter is how you use "what happened" to move forward. You cannot control what is not present, therefore you cannot control what you or someone else did. What you can control is how you react. Your reaction is both your chosen perception of the situation combined with the lesson that you choose to take from it. Guilt and resentment are highly gratifying, they give a lot of power to the situation and justify all of those negative feelings, which tend to make us feel special. We all love to feel powerful, or justified, or meaningful in our course of action and guilt/resentment will do that for us. But what does guilt/resentment also do? It takes away our energy from actually dealing with the issue or moving forward. It serves as a little black rain cloud moving forward, it doesn't matter if you got the point and learned the lesson, that little black rain cloud is reminding you that it might happen again. When we live like this we are silently asking the universe to put us through that negative situation again. Guilt/resentment makes it very hard to go into the future with an open heart and mind. 

So why forgiveness? Because it is liberating to you. Remember, this is your life, so if you live with guilt and resentment that is your burden to bear, not anyone else's. Do you want to be burdened or to be free? Forgiveness does not mean that what the person  (including yourself) did was ok, but it is letting go. Forgiveness should come when you have learned what you need to learn in order to move forward. If you learn a lesson then a highly negative situation has created a very positive outcome, was it easy? Most likely not. But congratulations, you took a step forward with your life. That is something to be grateful for. It is truly powerful when you can look at yourself or another after a really tough time and say, "thank you, because of this I am a stronger, wiser person." Then you go on, living your life, lighter, wiser and ready for more. Evolution is learning so that you can let go of the past and move forward towards your new future. Evolution is only complete when you let go, so that you may be free. 

You naturally are spiritual, so in many ways to live a more spiritual life it isn't so much adding in, as it is taking out... Take out the distractions, the coverup, the excuses, the bullshit. Strip back down to your most natural, pure self. What do you do when you are entirely naked? You observe. You feel.  

Have you ever been through a life changing situation that worked out for the best? Losing a job, divorce, moving, unexpected death etc? These incredible challenging points in our lives can change us for the better because they completely strip us down. We feel entirely exposed, exhausted and quite frankly terrified while going through this situation, but that is what is needed in order to see who we truly are and what truly matters to us.

The point is that when we stop trying to be perfect we give ourselves the space to simply be us. The best question you can ever ask yourself is, "what do you want to do?" As simple a question as this is, it may be incredibly difficult to come up with an answer. We can get so lost in what we perceive we should be doing and who we perceive we should be that we can no longer answer that question easily. It's best to start simple, just start asking this question with the most menial issues in life. Eventually it will be simpler and simpler to be clear on what you want to do that you can start applying the question to the bigger issues of life. 

The power behind this question lies in building awareness. In my mind, spirituality is really just a way of heightening your awareness of yourself within the world around you. Ultimately, spirituality is awareness. You must be sensitive to have awareness, which means you need to be relatively "naked." There cannot be a lot of b.s. going on if you intend to feel, and be honest about what you are feeling. It takes practice, the more you tune in to how you are feeling about absolutely everything, the more comfortable and confident you are of those feelings, the easier it is to guide yourself based upon those feelings. Just keep communicating with yourself, ask yourself as many questions as you can, then be still enough to feel the answer. Feeling the answer means that the Soul is speaking, not the mind and not the ego. Know when you're getting the answer that you think you should be getting, versus the honest answer. 

The final piece behind living a "naked" life is to love who you are when you are "naked." I believe that a lot of people hide from awareness because they are afraid of what they see/feel/find. Let go of the perception of what it means to be "perfect" and simply let it be. Be willing to see yourself and sense your answers without the judgment and questioning. Wherever you are, whatever you are, that is perfect and the sooner you can acknowledge that the sooner you can get in sync with your own natural rhythms and life will begin to flow once more.

What does it mean to be a Spiritual being in this physical lifetime? Well, the key word here is Being, the term isn't Spiritual Doing. Spirituality is presence more than action. What is the most important step in leading a Soulful life? Knowing your power. The more I immerse myself within a spiritual existence, the more aware I am of my power and the more aware I am of my power, the more powerfully I live. 

The first part of knowing your power is simple: know that you are the most powerful force within your life. In my Higher Purpose Readings I explain something called the Godspark. As positive Souls we all possess a Godspark, which is an energetic cord that stems from your chest and connects you back to Source (or God). This cord instills in you every single day a divine power, your power straight from Source. This is saying that 100% of your power comes from Source, which is connected directly to you. The Godspark is a reminder that you are a spark of God, you the full spectrum of divinity within you. As a result, you do not get your power from anyone other than yourself and your connection to Source. This Godspark is woven with the energies of Love, Light, Truth, Power and Abundance, which means that you get 100% of your Love, Light, Truth, Power and Abundance from YOURSELF and your connection to Source. Nobody can take this away from you, but you can give it away. We see this regularly, people giving up their power to their parents, friends, spouses, bosses, leaders, etc. etc. It is all of those relationships, jobs, activities, etc. that fuel (or diminish) your Godspark, but they are not your Godspark. If the relationship is no longer active, you still have 100% access to Love, because that Love comes from within. Look at all of these positive relationships and factors in your life as feeding the fire of your Love, Light, Truth, Power and Abundance. The fire is yours, but the wood comes from all the positive things that you are apart of. 

Now that you know that your power is 100% yours, that means that you are 100% responsible for it. Sorry folks, it's all on you. I am not shaming you for every bad thing you have ever felt, I'm empowering you to take control over how you feel about everything. We cannot change the action, but we can always change and control our reaction. When you recognize that you have 100% control over your reaction then you will also realize that you can always choose love, joy, wisdom, abundance and power regardless of the situation you get into. Easy? No. But start practicing it and your life will improve tenfold. 

When you begin to fully own your power you will also begin to recognize that you are entirely worth working hard for. When I say "working hard," I mean putting in the effort to grow your life into the best space possible, mentally, physically and emotionally.  The mental, physical and emotional aspects of your life will further evolve from spiritual development, or creating a relationship with your Soul. You will grow the best when you are really connected to you who are at Soul level. You recognize that you want to start exercising, or meditating regularly, or getting more sleep, or having more fun because as a radiant, powerful individual these are the things that you need to keep you running at 100%. It is with this mentality that you will achieve the greatest amount of success with any change you attempt to make, because you are doing it for yourself and yourself alone. We all know that the greatest change comes when you are doing it 100% for you, but you need to know why you are doing it for you. Knowing how powerful you are is the best reason for all positive change, and it is the only reason that will always push you forward. You know why you are worth this change, but you are also willing to take 100% responsibility. Take this responsibility isn't a result of personal shame, but personal love and self worth. Taking responsibility is your way of stating your claim to the work that your life is your own,  it is magnificent, it is Divine. 

Are you Spiritual? Well this has become quite the ego-loaded question. There are a lot of people running around these days tooting their spiritual horns, sharing their stories of how they "found" themselves after being lost for so long. It seems that being Spiritual is a chic thing to be at the moment. The upside is that people are becoming more and more interested in developing a spiritual practice. The downside is that there is an increasing amount of spiritual arrogance. The problem, like most trends, is that when there are a few "celebrities" leading the way then people begin to assume that these people are the be-all-end-all of the field. Though they might be really good at their own spiritual practice, and understanding what it means to be spiritual, there ultimately is no be-all-end-all when it comes to spirituality. The right way to be spiritual is your way, and your way alone... and "your" way may change every few months!

So, what is Spirituality all about? It's about connecting deeply with yourself, via the Soul. As you deepen this connection to self you also heighten your awareness of and connection with the world that you live in, and the unseen energies that created and continue to support you. This definition sounds very vague, that is the point, because each individual is highly unique so there is a specific prescription of spirituality that serves everyone. 
More importantly: any can be spiritual, it is simply a matter of making the connection. So be skeptical of anyone who makes you feel as through you aren't as good as them because they  have found the spiritual path. 

The point is that spirituality is a more elaborate form of personal awareness and mindfulness, so it doesn't matter how you are doing it as much as the simple fact that you are doing it. When people start discussing "the way" to do anything, especially anything spiritual, I immediately become skeptical. Being told that there is a specific way of doing the work at the most is going to stop you from being attuned to your needs and desires, at the least is going to make you question your present practices. Remain open to trying new methods and modalities, but be mindful of the reason for doing it. Going for a long quiet walk in the woods is just as spiritual as meditating or performing a ceremony. They all serve the soul, just in highly different ways. The best thing to do is to build a Spiritual Toolbox, which means to practice a few different methods: meditation, alters, tapping, prayer, etc. so that you know what serves you best each day. All of the best spiritual leaders and healers will tell you that when "learning" spiritual activities and practices it is important to not become a copy-cat; take the practice/ritual and make it your own. The only one who suffers is plagiarizing spirituality is you.

The ego wants everything to be perfect and the best, the Soul is just happy to be. Connections to the Soul are developed through spiritual practice and heightened awareness. This connection comes from a sense of feeling and being, not from doing and thinking. You cannot try to be spiritual, or to connect to the Soul. There is a degree of boldness that is required for this to happen, are you willing to trust your senses even when your mind disagrees? Be still, be quiet and feel what is good, feel what is not good then ask yourself why. Human beings have developed spiritual practices as a way to foster their connections to their Souls, other Souls and the physical and etheric world around them. They did this to better understand why everything is the way it is, and to possibly see how it can be improved upon, strengthened or healed. We want to grow and evolved, many of us want to help others do the same. Within the writings of the Soul and the energies around us lie the answers, and spirituality is the tool we can use to decode the messages. The less we boast and brag, and the more we share and connect, the more powerful this tool will become.