One question I am often asked is whether there are more practices to Deep Coaching than the 9 transformative practices introduced in the Deep Coaching Intensive course and book A Shift in Being. The answer is yes, there are, and one of the most valuable is the capacity to increase positive energy levels within your being.

The tenth transformative practice is: Expand your capacity to be with light.

This is both a Deep Coaching practice and a transformative practice because it’s purpose is to augment the process of awakening and transformation itself by supporting the emergence of new or higher ways of being – those reflective of our most authentic Self and spiritual nature. 

A Curious Phenomenon

Years ago I read a book called The Big Leap by Gay Hendricks. It’s not one I particularly recommend, but in it he shares a salient observation from his years as a therapist: people who are trying to increase their level of positivity or happiness continually sabotage themselves when doing so. 

Hendricks observed that once we begin to feel too good in any given moment, when we have a higher degree of positive energy within our being than we are accustomed to, when we move beyond our internal ‘feeling good’ threshold, we will unconsciously do something that triggers us into drama or negativity, and we spiral back down into our normality around feeling good.

He posits that we all have a threshold for how much positive energy we can hold within our being, and when that feeling of goodness surpasses what we are used to for too long, we will do something to bring it back down to what we are used to.

If you are habituated to stress, dis-ease, worry, negativity, fear or anxiety, then your threshold for positive energy and feeling good is not very high.

How We Self-Sabotage

Our self-sabotaging behavior can be something as simple as having a negative or worrying thought. The moment that thought crosses our mind there is an inner contraction that occurs, and immediately we no longer feel ‘too good.’ We do this form of self-sabotage constantly, but the rub is that we’re totally unaware of doing so – it’s an unconscious, habitual behavior. 

Take a simple example. You’re out having a wonderful evening with a friend or partner, and suddenly after a delicious dinner feeling alive and joyful, an argument ensues over the smallest of things, and all those joyful feelings drain away. You might blame the other person or the argument itself for suddenly not feeling so good, but in reality it was triggered by an unconscious reaction to an overdose of positivity.

A Unique Conundrum

Hendrick’s finding has significant implications for those on the journey of awakening and transformation, and who are desiring to embody new ways of being and living. As we awaken, we are attracted to ways of being that are often of a ‘higher’ vibration or frequency, as they reflect more of our authentic Self, soul, and its inherent light. We desire to increase positive energy. Transformation as a process brings us into contact with the potentials for more joy, peace, happiness and love, and we begin to desire embodying those ways of being more and more. But if we are unconsciously sabotaging our own efforts to grow in this way, this presents a unique conundrum.

How do I embody more and more positive energy within the totality of my being if I am wired to sabotage myself whenever I start to feel too good for too long?

Increase Positive Energy: Expand Your Capacity to Be With Light

My own experience is that it helps to make it all conscious, and the transformative practice of expanding your capacity to be with light does just that.

By focusing on expanding your capacity to hold more and more “light” – by which I mean all forms of positive energy, good feelings, peace, joy and happiness and more – we bring conscious intent to the work. We become more aware of ourselves when we are actually in those higher frequencies, and can become vigilant for the ways in which our mind works to sabotage our efforts to remain in those fields. 

Meditation sessions are an excellent place to begin the practice to increase positive energy.

Many meditation techniques teach practitioners to still the mind. That is not the method I am referring to here. Instead, as you relax into a quiet state of mind and body, focus on embodying one of your core spiritual values.

It goes like this: choose one of your spiritual values, let’s say Unconditional Love. Begin by feeling the energy of Love stirring in you. At the same time, open your mind and heart to the inflow of Love from Spirit, from the Universe, from the Divine (or however you conceive of the greater Consciousness that supports your existence).

Then, as you feel Love moving within you, expand its energy through your entire being – physical, emotional, and mental – so that you feel it radiating from you into the world. Hold this feeling in a meditative state for as long as you can to integrate these frequencies into the totality of your being. You then calibrate to them, become used to them, and thus embody them. 

Make Expanding Your Capacity a Daily Practice

Now that you have expanded your capacity to be with light, once your meditation is complete, consciously carry those feelings and energies into your day, sustaining them as long as possible. Whenever you notice yourself feeling positive, happy and alive during your day, pause for a moment, take a breath and expand in that goodness. Do the same thing as in the meditation, and simply allow that increase in positive energy to expand in and flow through you into the world.

Remain vigilant for how your mind will want to disrupt that and knock out out of that feeling through a simple negative or fearful thought.

When that happens, take a breath, relax, and again allow yourself to expand in light. You may not be able to remain conscious of it all through your day, but in time you will habituate to those higher frequencies and they will become the new norm. Your threshold has shifted from beyond its previous limit, and you are now capable of holding more and more light within the totality of your being. 

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