Our Path to Becoming Who We Are

One of the greatest universal desires is to live our lives to the fullest. We strive to manifest a purposeful life - one that showcases our uniqueness and the very best expression of ourselves. It is our life’s journey - to become who we are, who we are meant to be. We wish to achieve something and fulfill some sort of life purpose. We long for a life filled with joyful experiences and inner contentment. We may not always be clear on how to achieve this or, even truly understand how to qualify what this means for us.

A good place to begin is by understanding that during our lifetime, we occupy both our human nature and spiritual nature.

We live our days immersed in the needs, desires, and aspirations of the ego. We experience a vast spectrum of emotions in our joy, elation, sorrow, and suffering as we make our way in the world. It is through our separate sense of self and direct experience of life that we are able to create our own story and identity. We contribute outwardly and learn through our relationships, work, and passionate hobbies. We seek to take on roles and express our uniqueness to the world. We are all creators of the storyline of our life.

We are also much more than the limitations of our physical body and thinking mind. We are beyond our ego - we are connected to all of creation, to each other, and nature. This part of ourselves is our spiritual nature, it is our soul that exists outside of the confines of time and space. It is our innermost self that is beyond our external experience and what happens to us in life. It exists outside of how others may perceive us to be and is free from the validation or approval that we may or may not receive from them. It is the Self that is revealed through our inner wisdom and our faith in something greater than us.

It’s almost as if the veil of our ego clouds our ability to recall our truest Self. But when we get quiet and tune out the outer noise, even if just temporarily, we gain insight into the magic of who we are and we remember how to live authentically. From there, we live with greater trust in our intuition and gravitate towards making the life choices that will support our body, mind, and spirit and serve the greater good.

There are ways we access the wisdom of our soul and utilize it to guide our human journey. The things that help us remember our Higher Self occur within the ordinary moments of our days. It could be through a deep connection with another person, a sense of inner peace and harmony for no external reason, a moment of inspiration, reading the work of a favorite poet, while hiking through the woods, being introspective, noticing synchronicities, feeling intuitive, or simply while being immersed in the beauty of nature.

Living in a healthy relationship with both our human self and our spiritual self, we are able to satisfy our longing and desire to manifest an extraordinary life - one that brings us joy, harmony, meaning, purpose, and peace. Staying in connection with our spiritual nature lets us create a life that is sourced from our most authentic self rather than solely from the desires of our ego. It is a life where our outer actions reflect our inner compass. It is also a life where we are motivated to live a way that feels right for us without seeking external praise or becoming attached to the outcome of our actions.

To become who we are meant to be is a very personal journey, no one else can define it for us.

Asking the following questions can give us deeper insight into ourselves:

• What makes you happy?

• What do you love about being alive?

• What inspires you?

• What makes you feel at peace?

• What makes you feel aligned on a deep level?

• What makes you feel in flow with life?

• What are you engaged in when feeling most content?

• How are you spending your time when you are feeling truly like yourself?

• Who are you spending your time with?

• What has remained true, a constant theme(s) for you throughout all the phases of your life?

• What parts of who you are, what ideals, are nonnegotiable?

• If no one else’s opinion of you mattered, how would you spend your time? What type of work would you do?

Letting go of our attachment to receiving external validation, is a good starting point for realizing who we are, what we value, and how we wish to spend our time.

Being and acting in the world creatively requires that we live in awareness of our spiritual self while we also live outwardly in our humanness. In other words, all we really need to do is remember who we are in order to become who we are.  We are already that which we desire to be.

Each aspect of ourselves serves a purpose and role in our becoming.

Through our humanity, we get to experience life - to take it all in and to create our reality. Walt Whitman wrote, “That you are here—that life exists and identity, That the powerful play goes on, and you may contribute a verse.” This is the gift of being here - to explore, celebrate, and grow into who we are and to contribute our own unique verse to the story of life.

To manifest a life in such a way necessitates that we enlist the guidance of our soul. That we see beyond the clouds of our ego and remember what truly matters to us. Our spiritual nature grants us deeper insights and connections to elevate us to the highest version of ourselves. Living in such a way also gives us glimpses into the larger mystery and magic of life and lets us see how we fit into of the whole of life. It’s in this space that we can truly tune into that which brings us joy and bliss rather take on what we think is expected of us. This is a creative space and it is where true freedom lies in being ourselves. We are not held back by the limitations of the ego, of feeling like we aren’t good enough, that we need to prove ourselves, or that we are defined by the outcome of our actions. Instead, we are in flow and in alignment with our soul’s purpose. We can create a human life for ourselves by remembering our spirit and with that we can manifest and live an empowered, blissful, and aligned life.

Our life’s journey is both a human and spiritual one. When we remember our spirit, we become divinely guided and supported in our human experience. We are led and inspired by the desires of our soul and we become who we are, on our own terms, not by other’s expectations for us. In becoming who we are, a sense of inner peace enlivens us, and our unique expression is realized.