The Way of Knowingness. Kim O'Neill

spiritual destiny? Think of your destiny in terms of a spiritual to-do list. You are currently living on the earthly plane to accomplish a very specific set of goals and objectives that you planned while you were still in heaven. Fulfilling your destiny is the reason you have been reborn on the earthly plane, and your entire quality of life hinges on how you pursue your spiritual objectives.

      The secret of creating a satisfying quality of life is twofold. It involves developing an awareness of your spiritual destiny and employing daily effort to achieve it.

      This task isn’t as difficult as it sounds. In truth, spiritual destiny is a very simple concept. Imagine that you’re in heaven and you’re planning to return to the earthly plane for another incarnation. You must tailor the unique itinerary, or spiritual agenda, for your upcoming earthly lifetime. Your spiritual agenda is your destiny, which represents a series of emotional, spiritual, mental, and physical challenges that you plan to experience, typically one right after the other, on a particular schedule. You’ll experience some of the challenges alone and some of the challenges with other people.

      Your time on earth may be enjoyable and triumphant, despite the fact that by its very nature, the earthly plane is a destination that is certain to offer difficult encounters and intermittent hardships, providing the opportunity to prevail over adversity and, in turn, allowing you to earn spiritual advancement.

       The Keys to Unlocking Happiness on the Earthly Plane

      • Center your concentration on the present moment rather than on what has occurred in the past or what may happen in the future.

      • Develop an awareness of your specific spiritual agenda.

      • Remember that all events and circumstances occur for specific reasons that are meant to be spiritually beneficial.

      • Accept that all events and circumstances occur in perfect time frames.

      • Maintain an initiative to accomplish your specific destiny, step-by-step, undeterred by inevitable hardship.

      Like your inborn ability to communicate with your soul and your guardian angels, securing happiness on the earthly plane is a birthright for every human being. Regardless of how miserable, confusing, or empty your life is right now, you still have the ability to create true happiness. And I don’t mean the kind of misguided happiness that comes from kidding yourself about your circumstances, denying your problems, or enjoying a false sense of well-being with the newest pharmaceuticals. I am referring to attaining a profound, penetrating peace that you feel every day and that can only be achieved by understanding your specific destiny and by mustering the determination to fulfill it.

      The notion of a bliss-filled existence isn’t a new concept. For centuries, countless books, speeches, paintings, songs, poems, films, operas, ballets, and plays have celebrated the existence of true happiness. If you’re an optimist like I am and you reveal to others that you believe in earthly bliss, you might be regarded as naive and misguided, and other people may argue that true happiness cannot exist on the earthly plane.

      There are many people who regard enduring happiness as nothing more than a fairy tale, wonderful to ponder but unattainable in practice. The individuals who discount or dismiss the possibility of creating true happiness will argue that bliss cannot be achieved when other human beings are suffering. How can happiness be experienced while others go hungry and want for simple necessities? While there is so much rampant violence, hatred, and cruelty in the world? While there is so much prejudice, distrust, and suspicion? While the world has become too complex and jaded to even conceive of such a concept?

      When people choose to become resigned to this limiting philosophy, they often surrender their ability to make a positive impact on the earthly plane to alleviate the need and the suffering of others. Instead, they often find themselves pessimistically focusing on their own day-to-day, bleary-eyed survival. If someone considers the earth to be such a negative place and uses that hopelessness as an excuse not to make improvements in his own life, he certainly is not likely to contribute to the welfare of others. Rather than mustering the initiative, strength, and courage to light a candle, he finds it easier to wallow in the darkness.

      Many years ago, my entire life revolved around surviving each day as miserably as I endured the day before it. Although I was incredibly busy, I was not setting any new or different goals, so I had nothing to look forward to. My philosophy at the time was reflected in these statements: “If I can just get going this morning, I’ll be okay.” “If I can just make it to lunch, I’ll be okay.” “If I can just make it to the end of the day, I’ll be okay.” “If I can just get back home to eat dinner, relax, watch TV, or get on the computer, I’ll be okay.” “If I can just make it to the weekend, I’ll be okay.” “If I can just meet my bills this month, I’ll be okay.”

      If you have created this kind of life, you are not really living but simply existing as if you are marking time like a prisoner confined to a cell. Is each day of your life simply a clone of the day before?

      For example, what do you have to look forward to right now? I’m not referring to the things you have tentatively planned or are fantasizing about for tomorrow, or next week, or next month, or next year, or five years from now—but right now?

      How many new challenges are you accepting? Are you widening your circle of friends? What additional skills are you building? What greater risks are you taking? How will you structure tomorrow differently from today? What are you specifically doing to increase the level of financial abundance in your life beyond toiling in your current job? How are you resolving your issues and conducting the necessary healing? How are you tangibly making a difference in someone else’s life?

      If you’re like many people, you may not be able to answer even one of these questions. You may not have considered all of these dynamics. But you can begin—right now—to create positive improvements in your life rather than to remain depressed or frustrated over things that you have in your power to change. Choosing to remain upset about a situation or circumstance that you have the power to change is a tremendous waste of your precious time and energy. I pose these questions in order to inspire and motivate you to begin thinking of your life in different terms—your terms!

      All of the topics I just asked you to consider are dynamics of your spiritual destiny. You have it within your power to create a life not only filled with financial abundance but also charged with the rush of success achieved by setting and reaching new goals. You will achieve the heightened confidence and self-worth that results from meeting varied risks and challenges, the stimulation of positive, healthy relationships, and the knowledge that you are here on earth to accomplish something meaningful that will have a constructive impact on the lives of other people.

      However, if you are surviving locked inside a prison of sameness and routine, you are not working toward your spiritual destiny. All it takes to build a better life is the willingness to venture forth and escape the dreariness of your current existence by becoming aware of your destiny and mustering the initiative to achieve it. By doing so, you’ll quickly erase the boredom, confusion, and lackluster routine of your life as you begin a journey toward enlightenment that will lead directly toward a secure and lasting happiness. You can create an existence that yields emotional, spiritual, physical, and financial abundance, in which each day is profoundly different from the previous day.

      What I have learned is that building true happiness and inner peace is definitely attainable, but only through the awareness and ongoing pursuit of accomplishing one’s spiritual destiny.

      Consider the dynamics that make up your current destiny—or what I’ve referred to as the itinerary for your present earthly spiritual journey. For instance, why are you here on the earthly plane at this time? How is this specific historical period on earth pivotal in allowing you to accomplish your destiny? How are you currently earning a living? What does your physical body look like? How many issues are you attempting to explore? Why did you decide to be male or female? What is your life’s work? Why did you choose your family of origin? Why did you choose to interact with the various people in your life? Are any of them platonic or romantic soul mates? And, why do you currently live where you do?

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