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Soul News March 2008 _______________________________________________ WHAT REALLY WORKS: ESSENTIALS FOR SPIRITUAL GROWTH Many people seek spiritual growth. Yet even though they seem to be doing the right things, their personal life is a mess. A newsletter reader wrote: "I'm 66 years old and was married... 10 years ago ... I was aware that we were on totally different paths.  Yet 10 years later (he married again quite soon and has the "usual" family life) I still struggle with the 'I should have done something more to make it work,' even though at the time I didn't want to...How do I strengthen my resolve to listen to my heart rather than my fears and overactive mind?   I do yoga and meditate regularly but it only helps somewhat."  We have found this recurring kind of conflict among many people who have entered on the spiritual path. They are quite open to pursuing spiritual growth -- meditation, gaining enlightening knowledge and doing spiritual practices -- and yet their lives still seem not to work on some basic level ( “even though I do yoga and meditate regularly”). As a note, we wish to state that we all have areas of our life that don’t work at times. These are areas for healing and more awareness. What we are referring to in this article is a large dis-connect between spiritual practices and knowledge and functioning in daily life. For example, I meditate daily, yet I am still filled with anger and disappointment throughout my day.  HOW TO HAVE A FABULOUSLY JOYOUS LIFE Over the years, we have been fortunate to have explored and developed some transformational approaches to spiritual growth and healing. We tend to use Spiritual Kinesiology and EFT as basic intervention tools. But to what do we apply these powerful, transformative tools?  The answer comes out of soul centering, the essence of our work. Over the years, we regularly sit down and connect with our soul for guidance and healing.  Everything else has followed. Although challenges have come our way, we use soul centering to understand them and transform any interference. What has resulted for us and those who have followed this straightforward, elegant path could be summed up by the subtitle of our newest book: As our book Manifesting Your Dreams with EFT, SK and More: How to Have a Fabulously Joyful Life.  details, the direction comes from following your soul’s guidance. This guidance provides the answers from within and the resources you need.  Taking time to soul center, which directs you to heal and clear what’s in your way, we have found to be essential for spiritual progress. Everyone has a soul and spiritual awareness. We denote those on the spiritual path as those who are seeking deeper fulfillment than just 3-D material, external things (although there isn’t anything “wrong” with that). Those on the spiritual path have taken conscious steps to examine what’s within them — their deeper desires, spiritual longings, and life purpose. This inner evaluation leads to taking outer action. AN ESSENTIAL MISSING PIECE As visionary philosopher Ken Wilber has noted, meditation can boost spiritual growth but it doesn’t cover an essential aspect: addressing the shadow. Your shadow is the good and bad stuff you have stuffed inside yourself. It is unresolved matters that hide in the unconscious. All the terrible things you might be and all the wonderful things you might be. So a limiting belief then influences our behavior, often in unconscious ways. Beliefs like “men are selfish” or “women are manipulative” or “feelings are bad” or “this group [name a race or group] is wrong” or “it's hard to succeed” may never be released, no matter how great a meditator you become or how great your peak meditative experience was. WHAT WORKS Tai chi, diksha, yoga and meditating can be wonderful, elevating practices. They can open you up spiritually and increase your well-being. Yet they may not deal with unconscious judgments of self and others and limiting beliefs, along with the negative feelings all that generates. That’s why adding soul centering to your life is so transformative. It directly gets at underlying issues that hold you back. It’s easy, illuminating, and can provide just about anything you need for the next step on your spiritual path. It also complements any other spiritual practices you have. SOUL CENTERING We realize there are different ways to have direct contact with your soul, and you may have ways that work for you. In our private consultations, classes, books, CDs, and DVDs, we feature a way of soul centering as a centerpiece for healing and transformation. It’s the springboard to continually finding the truth within. One of the primary ways we soul center is simply to visualize or sense an energy (your soul) connecting with your heart. Then connect above your head to your higher self (which unites more directly with the Source) and bring down that higher vibration into your body and energy field for healing and guidance. We have several easy visualizations to do this; one can be found at  http://www.gettingthru.org/sn0599.htm. Or see our Getting Thru to Your Soul book, CD or DVD 1, or Manifesting Your Dreams with EFT, SK and More. STAYING ON COURSE Without this regular heart and soul connection, it’s like a ship without a rudder. It’s easy to get lost. Without inner guidance, we easily turn to outside authorities, whose advice may or may not fit our individual situation. The idea is to use others as a resource under the direction of our soul’s guidance. Outside “experts” or others' advice shouldn’t be a substitute for our soul’s input. For the many people we’ve taught this soul centering approach, the results for those who use it regularly have been as miraculous as we have found in our own lives. Please let us know your results with soul centering. It will inspire us and others