If You Are Guided By Your Higher Self, Then Why Are There So Many Difficulties?

You do have a higher self, and its purpose is to provide a healing, yet instructive cosmic perspective, provided that you are ready and willing to receive it. And you do have many aspects of self that could definitely benefit from higher self assistance: Your body, your emotions, and your thoughts all express their own understanding — or misunderstanding — of reality, and each of these aspects would certainly benefit from the endearing light of your higher self’s deep compassion and cosmic guidance.

Your soul exists on many levels, ranging from the eternal higher self, to those troubled aspects of the soul that have become stuck in negative patterns acquired throughout many challenging lifetimes of experiences. It can seem a bit messy when you realize that at any given moment, you are getting signals from this unlikely combination of your multidimensional self:

– Patterns from your past-life troubles and triumphs,

– Combined with your sub-conscious patterns, resulting from your experiences in childhood and adulthood,

– And infused with the cosmically spiritual perspective of your higher self,

– Then mixed with all the signals you receive from your environment, and

– All filtering through and mediated by your conscious thoughts in the present moment…

This is the mind-boggling mixture of your consciousness at any given time, but it all adds up to your uniquely splendid Self, and it leads to your understanding of the higher self and its purpose, so let’s keep exploring…

Now about the nature of your higher self — does your higher self sit like an owl upon a lofty perch high in its cosmic pine tree, quietly observing everything? Well, perhaps it does seem that way at times, because the ordinary self becomes embroiled so easily in difficult matters of the moment that it seems to forget the higher self amidst the daily excitements. This is not the fault of the higher self, however. It would be convenient indeed if the higher self would magically whisk away all your problems. But it can’t, and it won’t do that, but not because of spite or neglect.

Your higher self is available when you come to it, and when you let yourself raise your awareness to its level. Is it rude, though, that your higher self expects you to enter its domain, as if it were a doorman at an exclusive club? Or is your higher self, perhaps, trying to help you, in its own gentle way? But if so, and for what purpose, does your higher self seem to maintain such curious exclusivity? And besides, if your higher self has the wisdom, shouldn’t it just give you the wisdom automatically, in the spirit of compassionate love and caring?

You are not a naive and helpless child, and your higher self is not an all-powerful parent. But to understand who you are, and who your higher self is, requires asking what you are doing here on this earthly plane. When you know that, you will appreciate how your higher self has ways to help you that, though subtle, may well exist for a higher purpose.

Your higher self is your eternal essence. It has always been, and will always be. It is made from the cosmic essence of the universe, and so you could say that it is made, as religious teachings might express it, out of the body of the creator. And your higher self seeks to grow. That sounds paradoxical at first, because you would imagine that being made of universal substance, your higher self is just about as advanced as can be. Everything’s relative, though…

Your higher self grows in the same way that families grow — they produce children, who have their own free will. They grow and evolve, benefiting from the family guidance, and also bringing in their own unique soul wisdom. Ideally, they are able to express the best from their ancestors, from their upbringing, and from their own creative mixture of all these influences blended with their own soul’s history and possibilities.

So, what then, are you?

Your selves that express through each lifetime are, in a way, the children of your higher self. But not quite that, because you have another identity as well — you are also choosing to utilize your higher self’s wisdom. And that makes you somewhat like the president of a company who utilizes experts to assist in running the company. And that leads to the intriguing question…

Are you a growing child learning from your parental higher self, or are you the president of a company utilizing the knowledge and guidance of your higher self’s expertise? Since these are both metaphors, and since you’re a multidimensional being anyway, let’s just say that you are both of these — you are the child of your higher self, and you are a competent adult in charge of a company — let’s call it Divine Self, Unlimited — and for both these aspects your higher self stands ready to assist you — when you are ready to access the wisdom.

Consider the child aspect — when you understand why parents let their children go hiking, even though it might be possible that the children could wander off and lose their way, you can understand why your higher self doesn’t prevent you from having learning experiences. If you never learned, the younger aspects of the soul would remain naive. And this suggests that your younger aspects are maturing, through their daily learning experiences, and through their learning from the higher self.

The higher self does not avoid giving you appropriate cautions, when needed. However, it is not in the style of the higher self to step in and issue stern warnings. This is because the higher self prefers to give hints, rather than warnings. Now a hint is a rather subtle thing, so shouldn’t the higher self be issuing strict warnings, instead? It depends whether you see the higher self’s purpose as a rigid taskmaster, or as a friendly coach. When you look back on situations, you may see that you did, in fact, have a subtle sense of what was to come, but perhaps you didn’t notice that insight or subtle feeling.

It is not your higher self’s job to force you to notice subtle hints. That would be a function of your spiritual maturity, evolving over many lifetimes. Now if you’re reading this, you’ve no doubt been told, at some time or another, that you are an old soul, and that you have spiritual wisdom exceeding that of many younger souls. All well and good, but if you’re assuming that being an older soul means that you’re entirely free of younger soul limitations, realize that learning is eternal. It takes place each day.

Yes, you have some deeper insights and attitudes that reflect your spiritual maturity. And yes, as well, you are still working on some seemingly-silly younger soul concerns. These are not contradictory, because they are the human condition.

What did it take for you to listen to your higher self so that you could evolve into an older soul? Could it be that when you are expressing your older soul wisdom perspectives, you had enough challenges from lifetime after lifetime that you finally realized what your higher self was talking about? But this doesn’t mean that your higher self was communicating in mysterious abstract terms, because your higher self can speak as simply as you require. However, if you choose not to notice or listen, then that is the likely reason for your situations. You’re learning, and there’s no one to blame — not even yourself.

To shift out of blame of self or others, just quietly tune into your higher self, and ask what is the best way to proceed for any given situation. If you demand a pathway, and the higher self seems not to give it, that doesn’t mean that it is withholding vital information from you. Rather, the higher self is offering you something more subtle than an action plan. It is sharing a non-verbal offer for you to access its pure presence, and in that presence you can cultivate the subtle knowing that can lead you in an effective direction.

Then, there are those situations that, from the deeper perspective of the higher self, require your participation through active engagement in a situation. In other words, the guidance seems not to be given because this is a learning experience for you. Not that your higher self will be absent, because it is always there. This seems to be a rather mysterious way to be helpful, but it has its own wise purpose to it.

When you aren’t getting specific guidance from your higher self, you can still tune into the vibration of your higher self, at any stage of any activity. Although that helpful vibration isn’t specifically verbal, it is a vibration of spiritual alignment that does bring balance and blessings to every situation.

When you realize that the higher self is helping, but not in the way that your ego prefers, then you become free to release blame, of self and others, and to proceed with a new plan: You can choose to attune with your higher self, as often as possible. But would this mean that you are quietly closing your eyes and chanting Om all through the day? Only do this if you want to express an amusing spiritual cliche, because shared presence with your higher self really involves practicing something subtle, yet profound…

Being present with your higher self involves staying grounded in your body, being aware of your surroundings, and gently including the subtle presence of your higher self. However, this description — the higher self — may make it seem that the higher self is somehow lofty or above you. Not so, for it is ever-present, within you and around you.

It has no form, and so it is not located specifically anywhere. Your higher self is not superior to you, nor inferior either. It is what it is, and you can utilize it. And it wants you to do that, because it evolves along with you.

Words make it seem that you are different than your higher self. And paradoxically, your higher self is an aspect of you, but at the same time, you are an aspect of your higher self. Don’t try to figure this with your rational mind, because it can’t be done. But you can let yourself be present with these paradoxes, and this helps you bypass the limited understanding of the rational mind.

In fact, holding this curiously contradictory realization, that you are an aspect of the higher self, and that it is an aspect of you, lets you access a marvelous state of cosmic unity.

At all times, your higher self is present with you, and so you can choose to let yourself include its subtle presence in your consciousness. You aren’t bowing down to it, and you aren’t issuing it orders, either. You are participating with your higher self in a subtle conversation, and this conversation may include words. However, being a special kind of spiritual conversation, it may be free of words. It may have pictures, feelings, or just shared presence.

How do you know when you are contacting your higher self? If it seems to be making demands, or making vaguely pompous mystical pronouncements, you are likely opening your attention to a discarnate entity, instead. This is because the higher self doesn’t need to make demands, as that is not its way of working. The higher self doesn’t feel grand, because it is too humble for that. Nonetheless, there is a general sense of vastness when you encounter your higher self, but vast is rather different than grand or ornate. Consider the vastness of a forest or an ocean, because they are deep and majestic, but in a natural way, and not at all affected or fancy.

And when you most need your higher self, it is there. You may not be listening, though, because the noise of your ego or your lower mind may be making its own noisy complaints that draw your attention. It takes much practice to notice your noisy mind without becoming drawn into its arguments and issues. When you recognize the characteristic quality of the inner ego noise, and you compare that with the distinctly different quality of vastness and calm within the higher self, then you learn the secret of the higher self. It is so quiet that you had almost missed it, but it shares a healing presence with you, as deep as the forest or the ocean.

Vast though it is, it is not something to get lost in. Rather, you include it in your daily activities, whenever possible. Don’t judge yourself when you forget. Just quietly bring your attention back to gently including your higher self. Your higher self never judges you, and doesn’t demand anything. But it is there for you, and infinitely patient with you. Simply look about you, right now, and know that within this experience of the moment, you can choose to include your higher self.

So the problems of life aren’t going to go away, but there is hope nonetheless, because your ability to navigate through each daily situation become easier when you include your higher self. And the blessings you receive from your higher self truly help you bring balancing vibrations to each situation you encounter. This doesn’t promise a life free of difficulties, but does offer the possibility that each situation can be relatively more smooth than it would have otherwise been.

You’ve encountered too many naive platitudes in your spiritual journey over the years, and now you’re ready for the refreshing reality of your higher self. It won’t lie to you, and it won’t live your life for you. Your higher self won’t control you, and it won’t leave you adrift. For now, please take a slow and gentle breath, and quietly inhale the divine and peaceful presence of your higher self, as you uncover the subtle gifts that your eternal self shares with you within this sacred moment.

Many Blessings,

Joel Bruce Wallach

Founder, Cosmic Living for spiritual empowerment – tele-classes and home-study mp3’s