If there is anything that's all the rage in the mainstream spiritual world, it's the idea of embodying your higher self. But what does that mean exactly? What does it mean to embody your higher self? And when you do, if you do, what does it feel like? In today's blog, we're going to delve into that topic and look at some aspects of the higher self that aren't readily explored.
What Is the Higher Self?
In the spirit of keeping things as simple as possible, the easiest definition I can give for this term is, "The purest version of you." Your higher self is basically you expressed authentically AND unconditionally. The higher self is your spiritual core that expresses the purest fundamentals of your nature as a spiritual and physical being. The higher self is always present, filtered through the soul as well as our many emotional and physical layers of being. So the higher self is not a separate entity. It constantly flows through us and can be tapped into at any point by any person whether they are on a conscious spiritual journey or not. When someone tunes into pure joy and love even for a moment, this is an expression of the higher self. Joy and love are some of the more obvious manifestations of attunement to the higher self. At the same time, the higher self is inclusive and does not restrict the emergence of emotions deemed as "negative", such as sadness, fear or anger. Emotions are not the higher self but can be used as a useful tool to help us gain clarity of what we are aligning to. However, the use of emotions as indicators of alignment cannot be seen linearly, as "negative" emotion does not immediately suggest that we are not in alignment with our higher self. Rather, it is about sensing out what feels "right" for us personally even if it results in a "negative" emotion. Sometimes the emotions we see as negative are indeed coming from a place of ego identification and sometimes not. Either way, it doesn't necessarily make them bad. It's more so about what is beneficial and what is not. For instance, when I went through my multiple cycles of healing, I had to navigate through several layers of emotion such as sadness, fear and anger. But feeling deep into these emotions was what was necessary for my growth. It felt "right" for me and therefore it was in alignment with my highest expression. In another situation, I was guided by Spirit to leave my job. It felt "right" but at the same time I had a lot of fear come up because I was guided to do something that I had no backup plan for. The fear was an expression of ego identification but was also understandable because the ego always fears the unknown. In situations like these, it's typically best to listen to what feels "right." In other scenarios, the emotions can be a direct correlation of higher self alignment. Dancing brings me joy and feels "right", therefore it is in alignment with my higher self.
Anything that pulls us away from that which feels "right", is what can pull us away from the higher self. Stuff that can pull you out of alignment with your personal truth consists of trauma from present and parallel lifetimes as well as any thoughts, patterns or emotions which result from those traumas. These traumas can cause damage to the ego resulting in habits that seek to protect said ego. For instance, if we suffer abuse as a child, we may adopt coping mechanisms to deal with the pain, such as closing ourselves off from being open to others. In other situations we may continue a harmful pattern that we observed or were taught from our childhood, such as putting others needs before our own. Typically, any approach we utilize as a result of trauma, we come to identify with and see as a part of who we are. It is identification with these coping mechanisms which stifles the expression of the higher self.
Touching upon the unconditional part of the higher self explanation, anything we do for it's own sake is an expression of the higher self. The higher self is not transactional in nature and does not carry out anything for the purpose of affirming one's sense of self. It resides in a place of spiritual truth and has no need to affirm what it is.
What Do You Want? A Higher Self Stepping Stone
Ask yourself, "What do I want?" I know this one might seem a little off to some people, but the thing is, in order for you to align to your higher self, you have to know what you truly want. When I say "want", I mean this in the purest way possible. This is important, because what many people think they want, they don't actually want. I know some people might be saying, "Oh come on, I know what I want!" Maybe you do, but the truth is that many of our supposed desires are based on the desires of our ego, or that which reflects our sense of identity and protects it. For example, a woman says she wants a big, expensive ring for her engagement, but then feels upset when she gets a more humble, inexpensive ring. She may feel cheap, invalidated, undervalued and disrespected. In this particular situation, she may not have actually wanted a big ring. What she really wanted was to feel appreciated, valued and cherished, and the ring represented that for her. It wasn't so much the ring that she wanted, but what the ring stood for. See what I mean?
Reverting back to the original question of "what do I want?", we can see why it's so important for us to get in touch with the purity of our desires. We know a desire is pure when it exists for it's own sake as opposed to it being a means to an end.
When we arrive at the point of purity with anything we do, this is when we are tuning into our higher selves. Our higher self is the purest version of ourselves. It is also the layer of our expression that sees the higher purpose of everything that plays out, knows that there is a deeper meaning to life and exists in synchronicity with Divine flow. When we reside in the higher self, we see the interconnectedness of all life and strive to do that which benefits the whole by following our hearts.
So in essence, to embody your higher self is to convey through the physical container, your Divine expression.
Expectations of Higher Self Embodiment vs the Reality
What would it feel like to embody the higher self? The mind has some interesting expectations of this concept. Some people expect to gain supernatural powers and live a life of pure joy 24/7. They might expect to traverse dimensions and communicate with ethereal beings. They might also expect, their psychic abilities to skyrocket and to be able to read the minds of anyone they come across. Is any of this true? Well. Yes and no.
You Will Hone Your Gifts but...
Yes, you may very well be able to manifest more quickly, to perceive energy more easily, to heal through the power of your intention and travel interdimensionally. Yep, your past life gifts will make themselves more obvious to you. You may also find that it's easier to realign your center and maintain your sense of peace. Overall, you will be able to do things that you didn't think were possible before.
Spiritual powers, psychic abilities and interdimensional travel/communication are all gifts that can be accessed when humanity becomes aware of and embraces the idea that these things are possible. BUT, being able to do all of these things does not necessarily mean that the higher self has been embodied. This is especially true when "power" is the main goal. Being able to hone one's power is an important concept but it must not be taken advantage of. Power must be used wisely, as there is a risk of it spiraling out of control and becoming destructive. When the higher self is embodied, power is utilized in balance with love. True power is not forced as it naturally emanates from the person who is in touch with it. When the higher self is embodied, it guides the direction and intention of any personal power.
Supernatural powers and psychic abilities cultivate as a result of higher self embodiment but they are not the main focal points of the process. People that have embodied their higher selves know this. They may have gone through a period of psychic development but continue along the journey and don't become attached to these abilities (these abilities can wax and wane throughout the journey anyway). They allow the abilities to express themselves but don't identify with them or feel they are better because of them.
Both Joy and Sadness Are Welcome
Joy may indeed increase as the higher self is embodied, since the higher self is one with joy. Joy is a high vibrating state. That which makes you feel happiness and contentment is in alignment with your higher self. But will you be happy all the time? Probably not. In life, we suffer from loss, grief, physical pain and illness as a part of our earthly incarnation. But the key is NOT to avoid experiencing these things, but to embrace them as a part of life. When the higher self is embodied, we embrace the colorful and multifaceted nature of our humanity without becoming attached or identifying with the experiences. As a result, the hard stuff plays out, we feel what we need to feel and move on. When we don't identify with the experiences and cause ourselves undue suffering, we can experience joy more readily.
This same idea also applies to the idea of joy. We experience joy and embrace it but do not become attached to it, allowing ourselves to flow with the everchanging cycles of life.
You'll Be Different but the Same
Backtracking a bit, people may expect embodying the higher self to be this bubbly, angelic, trance like way of life. But in reality, this idea comes from the expectation that once the higher self is embodied, we will feel "higher" than life or "higher" than everyone/everything else. The truth is however, when we truly embody our higher self, it's like we've gone all the way back to the starting line, except now, we're wearing a different pair of shoes. When you embody your higher self, you'll feel like a normal person. Nothing outrageous or out of the ordinary. You won't feel any different and yet you'll also feel completely transformed. Everything is the same and yet everything is different. Before you embody your higher self you are more prone to identifying with everything that happens in your life, whereas embodying your higher self brings you to a space of living life without taking everything so personally.
Life Will Still Be Life
A lot of people expect that life will be different once they embody their higher self. Life will be different but that is because your perception of it will be different. People will still get old, get sick and die. Bills still need to be paid, you still need to take out the trash and you still need to live your life. None of that changes once your higher self moves into the driver's seat. Embodied in the higher self or not, we all must live life and accept it. Life still is what it is, but our approach towards life and the way we experience will have changed. As opposed to the ego mind trying to control how life unfolds, it moves into the background where it may mumble a bit but won't be able to determine our actions like before. Part of the higher self embodiment process is not necessarily completely destroying the ego, but transforming it and changing our relationship with it.
At the End of the Day
The best thing that we can do on this journey towards higher self embodiment is let go of our expectations. Surrender to the process is essential. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll go up and come down several times. That's all part of the journey. Regardless of what you experience, know that everything will be ok. Anything that you are so attached to during the process may look different to you later on.
Much love,
Saiedah
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