By Lori Lines

Anger is often perceived as erratic and unpredictable when in fact, anger is a process. It can be both adaptive and maladaptive, but either way, there is a formula. It all begins with an event that trigger’s the anger, something that could be inconvenient, frustrating, hurtful, disappointing…the list goes on. We’ve all been there before. 

Next, there is the mental response, how the occurrence is perceived. For some, it is pretty simple, “they keep cutting me off when I am speaking, and I feel disrespected."  For others, negative and at times irrational thoughts are elicited, “they cut me off because they think I am stupid,” “They don’t love me enough to hear me out.”
 
The emotional response follows. Once again, there are two primary courses anger can take. The more objective response, “that hurt me,” “I’m annoyed,” or an emotional reaction activated by the negative thoughts. These emotions tend to be intense and out of proportion, like shame, guilt, fear, rage, panic, and depression.

These intense emotions often influence both the spiritual and physical body. Leading to bodily tension and spiritual disconnection from divine purpose and universal harmony. This disconnection from the higher self and stabilizing force of the physical plane detract from the path of self-actualization and ascension.
 
This type of fury leads to what is known as open aggression, expressing itself as screaming, accusations, blaming, harsh criticisms, and emotional manipulation. In the worst-case scenarios, it can lead to property damage or violence against the self or others. It puts those in the immediate environment at risk and can threaten the infuriated individual’s health, mental stability, career, and relationships depending on the context and extremity of the rage.
 
Open aggression is typically what we think of when we say someone has “anger issues,” but there are those whose anger issues are rooted in not being able to express anger at all. This type of maladaptive coping falls under the umbrella term passive aggression. Passive anger can look like sulking, subtle digs at others, and shutting down. What many don’t realize is it can also look like grief and depression.
Frequently, people have been punished for displaying anger, struggle with abandonment, or suffer from emotional disconnection fall into such patterns. 

Whether outwardly volatile or passively despairing, anger is often rooted in trauma. Going back to the negative and irrational thoughts that a triggering event can evoke, these thoughts are elicited from the inner child and wounded self. When emotional responses lead to maladaptive anger, either grief or rage, we are not reacting to the event itself. We are responding to the traumatized parts of ourselves that are triggered by the event. Disproportionate sadness masks anger, and that anger disguises trauma.

As such, anger and grief persist as long as there is trauma to repress. To heal excessive ire, we must uncover, acknowledge, heal, and release the trauma that necessitates it or risk being trapped in a toxic cycle of grief and rage. But how? When we encounter an anger-triggering event, we must explore the thoughts that arise between the event and the emotional response. What is the source of the anger, what automatic thoughts are aroused, who comes to mind, what circumstances does your memory recall? The answers to these questions will help you uncover any wounds the event is dredging up and the associated trauma that needs to be released. This can easily be done through a QHHT session, when one is ready to squarely face the underlying, core trauma rather than repressing it.
 
Does this mean you’ll never get angry again? Hopefully not! Healthy displays of anger are adaptive, empowering, relationship strengthening, and beneficial. Healthy anger is balanced, proportional to the event, and expressive. There is no screaming. Everyone involved feels heard and listens, allowing all sides to be acknowledged, no “my way or the highway” energy. All parties can be impassioned while remaining patient and, above all, non-aggressive in word and gesture. Healthy anger, in short, means you may express your irritation, frustration, hurt, or disappointment with someone or a situation without losing control or sight of the real issue at hand. Interestingly, healthy anger can often play a pivotal role in healing and releasing trauma.
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They say, for every minute you are angry, you lose sixty seconds of happiness. Unhealthy anger blocks the blessings joy, presence, and love can create. On the path to self-actualization, anger is a towering gnarled tree in the middle of the road. You must remove it by the roots to ensure it never again casts a shadow on your light.

In love and truth,
Lori Lines 

By Lori Lines

​Let’s begin with an exercise. Say to yourself, I am, and then your first and last name. “I am Mary Smith,” for example. What comes to mind when you reflect on who that is? Are you reminded of your accomplishments, your obligations, material possessions, public persona? 

​Now, say to yourself, I am and your first name. “I am Mary,” for example. What comes to mind when you reflect on who that is? Are you reminded of your hobbies, likes, and dislikes, how your friends and family perceive you?

Now, say to yourself, I am, with no qualifier. What comes to mind when you reflect on who that is, absent of the assumptions of others, temporal circumstances, past experiences, and future responsibilities. A challenging concept to grasp for those who have never attempted to do so before. Those who return to this practice routinely through mindfulness or meditation find it profoundly liberating, empowering, and calming.
  
Constructs like, I’m Mary, and I’m a realtor, married, afraid, affiliated “x” political party, or believe in “x” religion are limiting and burdensome. They suppress our inner divinity and true spiritual nature, distracting us from our higher purpose and path to awakening. Constructs hinder our ability to escape the matrix and socially determined concepts of reality that leave us blind to more high vibrational mindsets and perspectives.

When we define our personhood by the organizations, religions, politics, or groups who claim to share our worldviews, we limit ourselves to the standards or qualities we believe these factions represent. There are times when we must proclaim allegiance, take vows, agree to contracts, or otherwise commit to these sects, placing further restrictions on our possibilities and opportunities for growth. Every affiliation becomes a negotiation between what parts of ourselves and our divine path we must forfeit to belong and uphold the values and world schemas of others.
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Interpersonal relationships are no different. When we fail to focus on the “I am” removed from extraneous constructs, we further limit ourselves and our ability to manifest our own reality built upon our values, principles, and higher calling. When we are dutiful to whatever our relational status or our relational selves say about who we are, we fall short of who the divinity of the universe believes we can aspire to be and eventually become.
 
At its core, it is an issue of the temporal versus eternal nature of who we are. All of the utterances of who we are, our identity with friends, colleagues, spouses, families, and ourselves are primarily based on temporal likes, dislikes, experiences, and future projections. This construct-based “I am” is limited to this lifetime, this year, this moment. The great “I am,” absent of constructs, contracts, and allegiances, is eternal. It connects us to the soul we have always been and will ever be. It is our infinite existence from one life to the next and one dimension to the next. This is why when we meditate on the singular “I am,” we are free, empowered, and peaceful.

When we embody this limitless spirit, we can relinquish our labels, constructs, and temporal identities without fear. A fear rooted in the belief that these limiting qualifiers make us who we are, give life meaning, and define our purpose. Those who cling to this belief think that these constructs are the glue that binds together the individual parts of our identity.
 
What actually unifies our collective pieces into the amalgamation of who we are is our endless stream of consciousness. This stream of consciousness is the essential “I am.” It is a river fed from the current of the universal unconscious that connects us all to the bottomless ocean of the divine. In full awareness and acknowledgment of their eternal nature, we can move forward freely to heal, learn, grow, and thrive as both a vessel and conduit of love and abundance.

In Love and Truth,
​Lori Lines 

By Lori Lines

​Everything is energy, the emotions this article elicits, the thoughts it invokes. Your energy is an amalgamation of all the subtle energies you are made up of. Have you ever noticed that your annoying neighbor or irritating co-worker always seems to find you when you are having a bad day? That is because universal order is based in part on like attracting like. We naturally attract the energies we manifest.
 
Polarity is another universal law. The balance of oppositional forces is represented by light and dark, yin and yang, feminine and masculine, positive and negative. Within each of us exists light and shadow. Enlightenment is realized not in the absence of our shadows but when our light illuminates all that exists within them.

Spiritual growth is not a linear, quantifiable path. Viewing energy as a spectrum, some people's energy is more burdened by their darkness (lower vibrational frequency).  In contrast, other people's energy is elevated by their light (higher vibrational frequency).

Every interpersonal dynamic, platonic or romantic, has its own energy. It is the sum of both parties' energy. When two people who radiate more light are paired up, we admire their connection – "two peas in a pod," "meant to be," "soulmates." When two people who generate more darkness come together, we often dissent – "misery loves company," "match made in hell."
 
Then there are relationships when opposite energies attract and a positive vibration is entwined with a negative one – "toxic," "enabling," "codependent." Think back to when you or someone you know was in such a relationship. Do you recall watching the "positive" person becoming increasingly focused on the "negative" person's wellbeing? Did their energy fade? Did their spark diminish? That's because the person filled with light was being pulled down into the other person's darkness.
 
It's important to remember neither party is inherently good or bad based on this dynamic. We often glorify people who are self-sacrificing as heroic, compassionate, and kind. In turn, we paint people with lower vibrations as malevolent, "energy vampires," and "toxic."  It is the dynamic that is toxic. What many don't realize is this type of dynamic is damaging to both people. It's as dysfunctional to pour all your light into someone else's darkness as it is to allow another's light to chase your shadows. It deters from your higher purpose by either distracting from your growth or undermining the need for growth altogether.
 
While it may be easier to spot imbalances in others' relationships, there are some hallmarks you can look for in your own relationships. Does the relationship leave you feeling increasingly run down? Has your own growth become stagnant? Do you find yourself reverting to unhealthy, unserving mindsets or behaviors? Do you maintain this relationship out of love and affinity or concern over how the other party will fare without you?

 It's never too late to become aware of these unserving dynamics and regain balance! We often feel a commitment to people based on how long they've been in our lives. "I've known her since grade school," "we have been together for 10 years". The calendar is not always a good measure for a good, balanced relationship. It's about how people show up within the relationship dynamic, whether you've known them 50 years or three months, doesn't really matter.  Ask yourself, if a food you have eaten since you were a child was making you sick, would you keep eating it because you had been doing so your whole life?  What if you found a new food? Whenever you ate it, you felt satiated, refreshed, and nourished. Would you disregard it because you only knew of it for a brief time? That's because what matters most is how good it made you feel. Relationships are the same. The length of the relationship is not important. What is essential is how well it nourishes both parties' spiritual bodies, serving the greater good.
  
If you find yourself in a chronically imbalanced dynamic, it's imperative to set boundaries. Focus on boundaries that make yourself a priority again, that stymie the energy vortex you have unknowingly been sucked into, and clearly delineate where your energy ends, and theirs begins. If someone refuses to honor these energetic boundaries, you may consider cutting them loose so they can no longer serve as an anchor that prevents you from taking flight on the wings of change.
 
It isn't a complicated relational perspective. When you break it down, the principles are founded in simple math; a negative will always diminish a positive, and the sum of two positives is always greater than the parts!

In love and truth,
Lori Lines

By Lori Lines

There is a misconception that the ego-self sits upon our shoulders, urging us toward a selfish existence that is hedonistic and instantly recognizable as shallow. We don't often equate insatiable ego needs with spirituality. Though, it can be those who speak loudest about being a "spiritual person" that are deeply compelled by the voice of the ego-self.

The zealous New Age pursuit of enlightenment is not always driven by an  impending ascension. It can be motivated by the desire to remain current and appear superior to the "unawakened masses." When we ask how to become enlightened and fail to ask ourselves why we should seek enlightenment, we risk going down the perfunctory path of shallow awakening.

Shallow awakening or false enlightenment has several hallmarks. As mentioned, among them is a braggadocios manner of proclaiming one's spirituality. People who do this often have the deep-seated belief that their spiritual nature makes them better than others, viewing themselves as virtuous and others as debased. 

Another quality of those who have been led astray by false enlightenment is the tendency to spiritually bypass. They wish to manifest peace and harmony that comes from spiritual awakening, side-stepping the often painful shadow work, dark nights of the soul, the heart, humility and ego death. When the real work is avoided, the words and actions that follow rarely amount to more than an elaborate pantomime of actual enlightenment.

The trend arising is the unappeasable pursuit of spiritual information mass-produced by those who have found or claim to have found enlightenment. Amassing and regurgitating other people's words and experiences without personal experience or perspective.
 
Seeking guidance from mentors you trust should always be encouraged, but the truly enlightened never intended for you to substitute your personal journey for theirs. Their intention is to inspire, not influence, to guide, not lead. Unlike their seminars and books, enlightenment cannot be bought and sold.
 
When one follows the "just-add-water-and-stir" brand of spirituality, it is devoid of any soulful nourishment. It's like waking up with the flu, putting on your best clothes and jewels, making yourself up, and expecting to feel better. The behaviors and words of false enlightenment satisfy the ego, bolstering a sense of worthiness and pride but abandons the higher self and the process of self-actualization altogether.
 
This is in stark contrast to actual awakening, when many are harshly judged, friends and family may walk away, and concepts like self-worth and personhood are very fragile. At the beginning of the path to enlightenment, we have to turn a blind eye to others' opinions. Towards the end, ego death means we no longer give much thought to these opinions at all, turning our intensified awareness to our higher-self.
 
A fragile sense of self and losing the relationships that no longer serve are just parts of the price we pay for enlightenment. The process of authentic enlightenment can be likened to the education process. Making our way through primary, middle, high school, and university, we are given lessons and assignments, cumulating in proving our mastery to progress to the next level. 

The Divine timing of our spiritual growth is much the same, though you could say even more painstaking! We are given lessons and assignments, but there are never easy passes. We must repeat the same lessons over and over again until we get it right. Divine timing dictates when and where the tests will be administered and if we are ready for the next chapter. As hard as it can be to surrender to Divine timing and Divine order, we must accept it as the only "administrative" body accredited to appoint our degree in enlightenment. 

What does true enlightenment look like? It can't be chalked up to changes in speech and behavior. This can easily be faked. True enlightenment leads to significant transformation in how we interact with the world through meaningful lifestyle changes, understanding who we truly are, and perception shifts. More importantly, this transformation speaks to the profound changes our spirit is undergoing.
 
Through all the wounds, cracks, and scars that have been uncovered through your journey, the light of awakening will begin to shine, illuminating your truths, your values, and your intentions. The way you care for your mind, body, and spirit will become a priority, not for the sake of how you are perceived or for the sake of vanity, but as a measure of how you FEEL as you align with and navigate your world - all the while taking responsibility and accepting accountability for your choices and their outcomes. You will live a life that honors not just yourself but all you meet, uncovering a deep sense of peace, regardless of where others are on their life journey.
 
The greatest gift and perhaps the biggest dichotomy of enlightenment is the freedom that comes from the connection you will feel with all sentient beings, the Divine, and your existence. Liberation and oneness at once? Yes! When we align ourselves with pure love, compassion, empathy, and harmony, we are unencumbered by judgment, invulnerable to the judgment of others, and unburdened by the competitive ego that thrives on comparison.

Enlightenment is the freedom to be exactly who you are intended when removed from the shadows and illuminated by the dawn of awakening.

In love and truth,
​Lori Lines 

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By Lori Lines

In the age of keeping things that only "spark joy," organizational specialists, and decluttering hacks, most of us have embraced the concept of out with the old, in with the new. Spring is a time when we tend to give the most attention to letting go and making way for the new items and projects that interest and delight us. If only as much attention was devoted to emotional, mental, spiritual, and energetic clutter!

With each day that goes by, even the most "spiritually hygienic" among us take on baggage. The criticism of a co-worker, breakups and makeups, and outdated perceptions can all weigh heavily. This is without taking into account what we have stowed in the attic; trauma, parental conflict, negative concepts of self, toxic relational patterns…
 
Without being acknowledged, accepted, and released, these emotions, thoughts, memories, world views, and maladaptive coping strategies begin to take up space. Remember, everything is energy, so these things all possess a vibration. When unresolved, these vibrations are often burdensome, cumbersome, and cloudy. They take up spiritual space! Leaving little to no room for the positive things you want to attract and manifest.
 
When you are unable to attract and manifest what you desire, you can develop a negative view of self. What am I doing wrong? Why am I not enough? Am I being punished? Why me? Why do good things always happen for everyone else? The truth is, when you don't get what you desire, it doesn't necessarily speak to some sort of karmic punishment or a lack of merit. It is a symptom of spiritual dis-ease, a chronic state of perceived powerlessness.
 
When we are disempowered through our life experiences, trauma, negative perceptions, and stagnant energy, our decision-making ability is damaged. We forget our divinely ordained power to choose, manifest, and attract our wants and needs and how to open ourselves to the abundance of the universe. 

When you are unreceptive to universal blessings, it is often because you are resistant to the truth. What is the truth? That you are part of an infinite and divine universal system that is ultimately loving, compassionate, and abundant. This system is not based on merit. It is based on unconditional love and unwavering trust. While trust in the plentiful nature of the divine is important, it is not paramount. The most essential form of trust is in yourself and your ability to manifest and draw the blessings you need.
 
Keep in mind, what we want is not always what we need. You may want a new job but need to learn how to stand up for yourself at your current one and stay for that long-awaited promotion. You may want a romantic partner but need some time alone for shadow work before you meet "the one".  Even after heartache, find strength that you will always draw those with both the wounds and wisdom you need to heal. The universe has divine wisdom. It knows not only what you need but what your heart, absent of fear and ego, truly desires.

We must awaken to the awareness that as spiritual beings with a higher purpose, we are not only cared for but empowered. This empowerment is rooted in the trust that we can have what we truly want and need by doing what we truly want and need to do. You are not a vulnerable soul waiting on the divinity of the universe to land on your doorstep. You are a bold and courageous spirit who asks for what you want and aligns yourself with the energy and actions you need to receive it!
 
Some of the things you must release in order to gain are resistant, untrusting, fearful, lacking mindsets. They slam the door squarely in the face of the blessings that await you and leads to a life of perpetual helplessness. Trust that it is already yours because you have the strength, tenacity, and wisdom to remove all blockages between you and the life of your choosing. That is the gift of free will and divine order.
 
Are you able to let go? To invite new blessings and abundant energy into your life, you have to do the decluttering and Spring cleaning! You need to ask yourself what thoughts, behaviors, perspectives, and relationships are misaligned with your desires, hopes, and intentions. What mindset, actions, and people no longer serve your greatest good or support your spiritual growth? Lighten your load! Let them all go and make room in your life, heart, and soul for the blessings and abundance you long for.
 
It's natural when we engage in release work to encounter blockages. By surrendering to the process, you will find greater ease and peace. Acknowledge the areas in which you struggle to let go. Surrender to the grieving process. When we release that which no longer serves us, we must also grieve what we thought it would amount to, who we thought it would help us be, and what it was supposed to accomplish. The greatest pain comes not from what these behaviors, beliefs, and relationships were. It is derived from what they never became.

Find comfort that when you need to let go, it is because these things just aren't working. There is something and someone better waiting for you. These unserving energies are standing in the doorway of opportunity, growth, and victory. It may hurt to let go, but it hurts more to hold on.
 
There is no need to force a shallow release. Through surrender, trust, and divine timing, any obstacles to your intended abundance and blessing will fall away as long as you are willing, allowing you to rise well beyond your current circumstance and reach for all that you long to realize and receive. Have faith that it is through release and letting go that you will be made whole again!

In love and truth,
​Lori Lines
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By Lori Lines

We all know that person who fails to take responsibility for anything that goes awry in their life. They’ll lament and shovel heaps of blame on others and when that does not work, they will have a laundry list of excuses to soften the blow.

Bad things can happen to good people. Not everything that goes awry is due to someone’s fault, directly. Yet, people who play the victim have an M.O. They weigh themselves down so heavily with the mantle of victimhood that they render themselves powerless through their own negative self-talk and self-sabotage. To the awakening person, it’s common to see this behavior in others, which begs the question, “how am I at cause for the effects in my own life?” “What role, big or small, have I played in my own life situations and outcomes?”

Those of us who have or still play the role of the hapless victim, unable to assume responsibility for the bad and ultimately the good that takes place in our lives, often end up experiencing a life that is akin to being tossed in the waters of a tumultuous sea. Anger, depression, frustration, anxiety, compromise the matrix of the 3rd-dimensional experience and 5th-dimensional projection.

While some portray themselves as victims to manipulate and control others, most people do not intentionally burden themselves with the archetype. Victims are often born of trauma and betrayal. It is then they are taught that the world is a dangerous place, with dangerous people. After repeatedly experiencing traumatizing or hurtful situations, they begin to believe that bad things are bound to happen and keep happening, the result being a fractured individual. At its core, victimhood is a sense of disempowerment that goes unaddressed and unhealed, affecting the “victim’s” personality, worldview, and way of life.

The state of perpetual victimhood is associated with the theory of learned helplessness. This is when an animal or individual is forced to face painful, hurtful, or otherwise undesirable stimuli or experiences and becomes incapable of escaping or avoiding the same situations in the future due to a learned or adopted belief their circumstance is inescapable and beyond their control. Even when solutions and opportunities become available, they are unable or unwilling to adapt to the changing events, sometimes due to fear of losing a part of their identity.

Pause for a moment and ask yourself what things would look like if all of society, or at least a majority, struggled with learned helplessness. We would be in a continual state of decline, allowing ourselves, our homes, our jobs, our communities, our nations to fall into a state of disrepair because no one can be bothered to strive for better. We would cease to pursue more love, unity, advancement, growth. Vaguely familiar?

There is light at the end of the tunnel for those who struggle with learned helplessness and perpetual victimhood! People with a genuinely optimistic worldview are less vulnerable to falling into the rut of perpetual victimhood. Meaning, assuming the mantle of victimhood is often a choice, and instead, we must choose to look at life with hope and faith, as opposed to fear and distrust.

What most awakening souls understand is that the first step is to reposition ourselves as creators of our own lives and experiences. For better or worse, we must take accountability for the cause of the effects we encounter. When we confront circumstances beyond our control, for instance, being sideswiped by an errant driver or laid off due to company cutbacks, we must still view ourselves as possessing the wisdom, strength, and tenacity to be the cure of a changing, more positive effect.

As creators of our lives, we may fear picking up the brush and palette out of dread that our creation will fall short of our expectations or the expectations of others. When we are fully responsible for the life we create, we fear a mistake or stumble could make us look foolish or lesser-than. This is the ego talking. Our higher-self knows there is no shame in failure. There are lessons and wisdom, as long as we are humble, willing to admit our role, and willing to learn. When we are receptive to the inherent wisdom in defeat, we no longer need to fear responsibility. Instead of thinking about the misstep, we begin to focus on the next opportunity to show what we have learned.

Where we lose a person, an opportunity, a material asset, or a perspective that upheld our beliefs that taint our worldview, we must learn to find peace with the loss. By viewing these losses with a healthier attitude of gratitude for having even had them to begin with or for an opportunity to embrace new things, we are less likely to sink into a sea of despair and view the world as unjust and malevolent. When suitable, accepting responsibility for our defeats empowers us to generate new mental, physical, and spiritual abundance.

Spiritual growth and abundance are the greatest reasons to cast off the mantle of victimhood and instead pick up the painter’s brush, the sculptors chisel, or the writer’s pen. By accepting your role as the creator and source of the outcomes you experience, you can learn how to prune and shape who you are, fostering enormous growth.

Accountability is the first step of self-actualization and crucial to understanding the role we play in the universal balance of cause and effect. This understanding is key to shifting the matrix and ascending to the 5th dimension. A cause and effect most are sure to stand behind.

In love and truth,
Lori Lines

P.S. If you have recently awakened to a pattern in your life and would like help to determine your cause for its effects, I'd love to process it out with you.  Acknowledging our individual roles in life situations is 90% of the healing process.  Appointments are now being scheduled in April!  To book your  appointment with me, click on the button below:

By Lori Lines

"Dark Night of the Soul" sounds ominous, doesn't it?  In many ways, it is, yet, like your first real heartbreak or significant failure, many believe it is a standard part of spiritual growth and development - a major growing pain as seekers on the road to higher consciousness will pass through this rite of passage, an initiation of sorts, before the seeker is admitted into a regular connection with higher consciousness.  

The Dark Night of the Soul is described by some as similar to mild depression or general sense of malaise.  You feel lost, stuck in a rut, wistful, and sleeping and eating are disrupted. Others describe it as a soul-crushing deeply depressed state, at times so profound people may believe they are truly dying.  Having gone through this journey myself, it felt deeper than a depression and most certainly, "soul-crushing."  To me, it felt as if my light had been extinguished and all hope was lost. 

Interestingly, we can undergo similar times of storms and stress socially.  During these times, life can feel bleak, the inequity and hate paints a dystopian society, and the current social structures lose their meaning.  The sense of meaninglessness is a feature of the dark night.  On the communal or personal level, nothing seems to make much sense, including life itself.

Many things can trigger a Dark Night, a loss, a death, a disaster, an injustice, an ego-assault, and an ego-death.  Socially or individually, it can come when we can no longer explain maladaptive systems and structures, dysfunctional perceptions and thought patterns, and low vibrational automatic behaviors.  By profoundly examining the frameworks of life, those that govern society, and those that shape our values become so askew that they collapse.

On a personal level, this collapse may cause you to lose touch with who you are.  This is called ego-death.  It is symptomatic of the Dark Night.  As your world loses meaning, so does your place in it.  You can't fit in as you had before.  You know on some level the reality of higher consciousness and yearn to be more deeply in communion with this part of yourself, yet you somehow can't fit in or feel at home in the company of those who you usually relate to, let alone yourself. The ego thrives on comparison and judgment, when existing measures are no longer sustainable, the ego's voice dies away.

This can lead to feeling lost.  During the Dark Night, the veil is lifted, and you begin to see what an illusion your old reality was.  It is here we find ourselves in a state of suspended animation with no 'new' reality to cling to.  At this stage, people often feel as though they live in a void of emptiness in which nothing is real.  Days, weeks, months and years can drone on and the part that's so difficult to accept is there's no finite time we can cling as to the duration of this experience.

Your motivation may plummet.  Work, education, success, esteem, and popularity no longer drives you.  Some people experience the need to rid themselves of material possessions, relationships, and pursuits that no longer fulfill them.  Initially, this cleansing may seem like just what you need.  In the end, it can trigger feelings of worthlessness.  Your ego may start to press you, "who are you without your things or your people?"

At some point during your Dark Night, memories and old traumas may rise to the surface.  From your current realm of emptiness, these flashbacks can elicit an intense emotional reaction.  In fact, everything you encounter may garner a more visceral response.  This results from the ego falling back, and the subconscious (higher self) taking the helm, reactivating parts of yourself that have been long denied and repressed.

As your subconscious awareness rises, you may feel like you are thinking with two brains. The subconscious mind sitting back with pen and paper jotting down notes as the conscious mind darts back and forth from one fearful thought to the next.  When you are aware of your thoughts, this state of higher consciousness can be unsettling, to say the least.  At worst, some people believe they are losing touch with their sanity.  But, in reality, one going through this process is gaining their sanity.

Another symptom of the subconscious taking the lead is the ego will wave a distress signal.  "I'm dying! SOS!"  Many who walk their path during the Dark Night of the Soul start to become profoundly aware of their mortality. This awareness can be so stark, some even believe it is they, themselves, who are dying, not the ego.

The Dark Night can be a lonely time of isolation regardless of who may be around you.  During this phase you must confront the fears and insecurities that emerge from the shadows.  At times people's sleep is dysregulated, causing one to sleep too much or not enough.  The same can happen with food and physical activity.

Similarly, when we experience a Dark Night in the social context, we can be afraid to challenge old detrimental perspectives and social mores.  Our daily foundations become dysregulated, and so can the unity we extend to all members of humanity.

So, why must we endure it, for some more than once, this long, dark, difficult night of suffering?  Because, as with most nights, when it is complete, we awaken.  Awaken into a higher state of consciousness, if we will just allow ourselves to do so.  In this transformed state of consciousness, we are set free to ascend to merge with our higher self.  

It is important to point out that not everyone goes through the above mentioned intensity of the Dark Night of the Soul.  But, if you are, understand that this is YOUR way. And, once on the other side of it, it is a rite of passage that should be honored, as you will be completely transformed.

This experience of being reborn is one of greater unity, love, peace and understanding of one's self and others on a very intimate level.  Yes, it is a very dark night, but the sunrise is breathtaking.

Stay tuned for Part 2.  The Night is What Makes the Dawn So Bright.

In love and truth,
​Lori Lines

PS: If you feel you are going through a Dark Night of the Soul and want support from someone who has authentically gone through it and now can offer real compassion and insights into your process, I am offering a 6, one hour session package for $600 (a savings of $300).  Just contact me at higherselfaccess@gmail.com for more details. Find out more about my services at www.higherselfaccess.com.