This is a contemplation or meditation that came to me over a period of a few days in 2008. For a year or more prior to that I had contemplated on The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success that Deepak Chopra had published as a book in 1994. Then one day it came to me unbidden (as a gift from the Divine) to focus on “seven spiritual choices for success”, and I was guided to choose the choice of life as the first one. The other six came to me over the next few days.
I meditated on the Seven Spiritual Choices for Success deeply in my morning meditative walks for many years. To me, it was quite enlightening, expansive, powerful, and life-changing. I think meditating on the Seven Spiritual Choices will likewise be inspirational and transformative for you, and perhaps even life-changing as well.
Move into a state of presence or present-moment awareness. You can do that by focusing on your breath for at least 3 deep breaths, or use inner body awareness to become fully present to (aware of) your body. Then you can contemplate on the Seven Spiritual Choices, either all seven in sequence in abbreviated form or selected ones by your choosing and as short as 3-5 minutes or as long as you wish, per choice. Initially, contemplate on these while reading your selected choices below. Later as you become familiar with the ideas within each choice, you can just think about the choice based on what you remember or on your own level of integration of the choice into your self and your life.
These spiritual choice meditations are excerpted from my book Awakening to Wholeness which was published in 2018 and is available on Amazon. You can gain an even deeper understanding of the Seven Spiritual Choices for Success from the book because it discusses the seven choices in much greater detail.
THE CHOICE OF LIFE
How can you make the Choice of Life in your own life?
First, you can summarize the Choice of Life as a decision and commitment to embrace life and engage in it fully and creatively. Let this commitment be your guide to living your life.
The most powerful way is to meditate daily in two parts: first going deeply into silence to align with the higher Self, and then following that by a period of contemplative mediation. During the contemplative meditation, consciously choose Life in both the fullest sense (the grand unfolding and the process of creation) and in the personal sense of living and creating your own life.
Know that you are part of the grand unfolding of Life. Get out in nature, or if you can’t, at least imagine your favorite park or other place in a natural setting – the trees, flowers, birds, and the sun and sky. Enjoy (or imagine) breathing the fresh air. Reconnect to the living Earth.
Imagine living the life you desire. Imagine creating it slowly and steadily from the point where you are right now to the point where your dream is fulfilled. Imagine being totally clear about your purpose in life and then living true to that purpose. In your meditation, feel the experience of having created the life you intend to live – the feeling will help anchor the desired intention within you.
In moments during the day, choose to embrace life, to be alive and participate fully in life in an engaged way, and to consciously create the life you desire. By making these choices consciously, clearly, and strongly with feeling, you begin to reprogram your past conditioning (typically based on a mechanical view of the universe, separation, and scarcity) and in its place, you can steadily program new beliefs (based on consciousness as causal force in the Universe, oneness, and natural abundance) into your being and your life.
Repeating the affirmations “I choose Life, wholeness, and well being” or “I am alive, one with the flow of Life” can be a powerful reminder, but don’t just think the words – you must feel the meaning and the emotions behind the words.
Stop and become aware of the flow of Life, of the flow of your life. Accept it as it is in this moment and embrace it.
Your thoughts, desires, words, and actions are the tools with which you create your life, so learn to use them wisely and constructively, always aligned with Wholeness.
THE CHOICE OF AWARENESS
How can you make the Choice of Awareness in your own life?
The Choice of Awareness is a decision and commitment to experience life actively and consciously and to act wisely within that awareness. You can only do this by becoming aware of your experience of life as you live it. Without awareness, you are not awake and therefore not fully alive in each moment.
In daily contemplative meditation, remind yourself to be aware of your self (body, mind, and spirit) and of the world around you. And remind yourself to be present in the now.
Choose to be aware of the flow of life from moment to moment. Use the reminder of “Be here now” to bring your self to full awareness in the present and to full presence in your human beingness. Start by being more aware of your body. After you become more attentive to your body, increase your awareness of your thoughts and emotions.
Thoughts are powerful and affect how you feel. If you notice that you are feeling negative and disempowered, shift to thoughts that fill you with well being – thoughts of love and gratitude, and engagement in Life, are always good choices.
In making choices, pay attention to your sense of rightness with each choice. Ask your heart if the choice is right for you, for others who might be affected, and even for the world as a whole (if the choice is a big one). The heart is connected holistically to the Universe and can instantly detect rightness or wrongness. Learn to trust your heart.
Stop spending time in activities that do not reinforce or guide you towards the life you desire – such as in watching the news on TV, reading the negative news stories in the paper, or watching violent or otherwise negative TV shows about dysfunctional families, dysfunctional organizations, and dysfunctional people. Stop wasting time on meaningless phone calls, tweets, and texting that do not improve you and others. And stop the negative judgment of what is wrong around you, wrong with others, and wrong with the world. Instead, become aware of what is right in the world and start constructing a better world and better life for yourself and others.
Begin by bringing into your daily awareness the activities, sources of information, and people that will help you become more in harmony with Wholeness and how to create wholeness in your life (i.e., health, happiness, abundance, good relationships, and other forms of success). When you look for such sources of inspiration and guidance, such as in books, audio programs, TV programs, and websites, you will be especially drawn to the ones that are most right for you at that time. Again, make your choices of what to pay attention to through the wisdom of the heart.
Finally, attempt to become more aware of the wholeness of the Universe and of Life all around you. This takes time, but when you make the conscious choice to become aware and open to it, your world will expand and you will expand – that is, your state of conscious awareness and being will expand.
THE CHOICE OF FREEDOM
How can you make the Choice of Freedom in your own life?
The Choice of Freedom is a decision and commitment to live life true to self and free of limitations, especially those that are not real. You can do this by becoming free of limiting beliefs and acquiring in their place beliefs about wholeness and abundance. Even better is to learn to become one with Universe and to know and live directly in wholeness, abundance, and the co-creative process.
In daily contemplative meditation, reaffirm the choice to be free. Feel the sense of freedom and the power that it gives you. Know that, when you are in alignment or union with the higher Self, you are naturally a powerful being who can create the life you desire with least effort.
Freedom and least effort go hand in hand. Creating with least effort is possible because the Universe is “designed” to respond to human thoughts and intentions. It will organize, orchestrate, and bring into your reality that what you think about – especially what you concentrate on, visualize, and desire with strong emotion. Visualize what you want to bring into your life and then simply turn it over to the Universe with trust and gratitude.
Occasionally during the day, when you feel small, tied down, and less than powerful, choose freedom. Bring the sense of freedom that you have in meditation into your moment-to-moment awareness. That sense of freedom will influence your choices and actions and will empower you.
Of course, you must be aware that other people are programmed by beliefs and influenced by rules based on those beliefs, so make your choices with that knowledge. Use your feelings of rightness and wrongness – in your heart, not your head – and, because the heart is totally holistic in its knowing, you will choose wisely.
Learn detachment and allow the Universe (the higher Self) to exercise its infinite organizing power. Be open to possibilities. Let go of thoughts and feelings and go into the flow of Life. Trust the Universe (God) to guide you toward your greatest desires.
Work on reducing ego in your daily life and interactions with others, and especially through prayer or meditation. As you learn to be one with the higher Self, and choose wholeness more and more, you will eventually allow ego to diminish.
Remind yourself to “be free now”. Visualize yourself cutting the bonds that hold you back, wiping the negative beliefs and programs that control you, and cleaning away the accumulated debris that blocks the white light of your spirit from shining through. Pay attention to recurring blockages that do not seem to be being resolved or getting smaller – in those cases, you might turn to other techniques, such as hypnosis/clearing audios or guided meditations
THE CHOICE OF LOVE
How can you make the Choice of Love in your own life?
The Choice of Love is a decision and commitment to consciously embrace life and engage in the flow of life, in all of its relationships.
In daily contemplative meditation, choose love in your relationships to work, people, things, events, and life as a whole. Love is very empowering and connects you to your purpose, people, things, events, and wholeness of life. Love helps you tap into the shared intelligence, insights, knowledge, creativity, and capabilities of the whole (at multiple levels).
So, in your meditation, feel the potential and the sense of power that love gives you. Also feel the delicious feeling of being loved that anyone who has been in love knows – the feeling of acceptance, connection, being appreciated, and the joy it brings. But being loving is equally rewarding – when you accept, appreciate, care about, and serve others (the world outside of yourself), you open to the flow of Life and you grow in consciousness and in oneness with Self.
Acceptance is a key aspect of love. Accept the Universe as it is right now, even as you intend for things to be different in the future. This will help you align with the Universe.
In moments during the day, choose love – feeling loved and being a source of love. Bring the sense of integrative power that you had in meditation into your awareness. Tap into that remembered sense of power, connection, and acceptance and use it in whatever you are doing. Your creativity and productivity will soar, and this can be especially true when interacting with other people.
Be with family and friends often – in person or in spirit, and let them know that you accept and appreciate them. Share the living of your life with them, and let them share the living of their life with you. Thank them for being who they are and for the gifts of their kinship or friendship.
If there are conflicts with other people (or with your own thoughts or feelings), choose love in those moments… Love will help you come from the most constructive and healing place in difficult interactions. And feel love for all people; love truly felt has a healing power that is magical and works in surprising ways.
If fear comes up for you – such as fear of making a mistake, ridicule, loss of your job, loss of a love relationship, speaking in public, inability to do what is expected, or failure in any form – replace it with love: the experience within yourself right now, love for yourself, love of Life, love of accomplishment, and the love of feeling good about yourself.
Have compassion for those less fortunate than you, and do what you can to help them even if it is only to send them a silent prayer and to intend that the Universe bring them that which they need.
Remember gratitude… Be grateful for all that you have in your life, even those negative people and things that just happen to teach you lessons about life. Choose gratitude, and the higher Self will give you guidance and more good things to truly be thankful for.
And finally, choose to be loving of Life and all those who are part of it.
THE CHOICE OF EXPRESSION AND CREATION
How can you make the Choice of Expression and Creation in your own life?
The Choice of Expression and Creation is a decision and commitment to express your true self in the living of life and to create the life you truly desire.
In daily contemplative meditation, choose to express your true self and create the life you desire – perhaps reaching its most complete form in the future, but beginning with your choice today, even if expressed in the smallest of steps.
Explore your true self and your true desires if need be. If you have doubts, don’t be hasty in making your choice. You do not want to create a life that is not true to yourself. Visualize the life you truly desire, feel it, let it expand within you. Validate the feelings within yourself… Does the vision match what your true self needs? Do you have a strong feeling of rightness about it?
During the day, when you think about what you desire, remember to express your true self and to be creative. Be open to possibilities, and be aware of the moment to moment flow of events (and of the information and energy that surrounds those events). Pay attention to synchronicity. Surrender to the process, trust in your higher Self, and be grateful for the results you are co-creating with the Universe.
But when it comes to manifesting, here are the keys:
- clarity and visualization (of the end results you desire),
- strong feelings (of desire for the end results),
- faith (in the creative power and infinite intelligence of the Creative Universe),
- oneness (with the flow of Life, the field of creation),
- gratitude (for the end result that is coming into your life), and
- appropriate action (to move you towards your desired results).
Expression of self can be in the every day living of life, it can artistic, or it can be expressed in big ways, as in climbing Mount Everest or quietly walking with awe and respect through ruins such as at Machu Picchu or Stonehenge. Likewise the act of creation can be in the every day in small things, or in the large and grand things, or it can be anywhere in between.
Your thoughts, desires, words, and actions are the tools with which you create your life. The Universe arises from one consciousness in a process that is responsive and co-creative to thoughts. The law of attraction says that what you think about most of the time will be attracted into your life.
But thoughts are at the lowest power level of the creative process. Intentions have more creative power, especially if combined with strong desire and visualization of results. Words, written or spoken, are thoughts brought into physical being and have even more creative power – again especially if combined with strong desire and visualization of results.
Actions speak far more powerfully than words. When you take action, you put the full force of the co-creative process to work. The Universe will join you in taking the right actions, actions behind the scenes and far beyond what you might even imagine.
Let Life guide you in what’s right for you. Listen to your higher intelligence – its message of inspiration will have a strong feeling of rightness and will contain the energy for you to take action. Action based on inspiration is the strongest way in which you can express yourself and create your life. Learn to be open to inspiration from your higher Self and to receive its message whether it comes to you spontaneously and unexpectedly or when you actively seek it out. Then when inspiration does strike, act on it as promptly as you can.
THE CHOICE OF KNOWING
How can you make the Choice of Knowing in your own life?
The Choice of Knowing is a decision and commitment to know yourself and know Life, to live life as an integrated human being, and to evolve to fulfill your destiny.
Practice daily meditation, and be open and receptive to knowing, integration, and transcendence. Add contemplation of specific areas of development and integration such as grounding, healing, energy, balance, love, and gratitude.
Occasionally repeat the affirmations “My intuition and knowing grow daily” or “I am becoming more and more integrated in body, mind, and spirit” – but always with strong intent and feeling. Choose to know in ways that tap into universal consciousness and that will serve you and the world around you.
In moments during the day, if you feel stressed or tired or low in energy, practice grounding, opening the chakras, alignment of energy, being grateful, and sending love to yourself and others.
Doing physical exercise of any type can help enormously to promote and balance energy and emotions, as can playfulness, humor, laughter, chanting, singing, playing games, making music, and dancing. When you are grounded and mentally relaxed and in the flow of life energy, you open to the Universe and to knowing.
Remember to embrace life, enjoy life, and let your spirit soar.
THE CHOICE OF WHOLENESS
Wholeness means being whole – all parts of yourself integrated and healthy – and one with the one consciousness of the Universe, with the world and all human beings, and with the flow of Life.
How can you make the Choice of Wholeness in your own life?
The Choice of Wholeness is a decision and commitment to be whole and to live in oneness with the Universe/One Consciousness/God and to create a life of wholeness and abundance.
In daily contemplative meditation, recite the Mandala of Wholeness. As you say each line, feel the experience of the inner and outer relationships, and sense the truth of the statements. As you go deeper into the experience of the lines, you will go deeper into the meaning and the mystery of wholeness.
A key aspect of wholeness is oneness. If the Universe is in you, you are one with the Universe. In some mysterious way, you are the Universe. The very essence of the Universe is that it is one consciousness – a single consciousness that contains the universe and is the universe.
The essence of you is that you are a part of that one, universal consciousness that we could call “divine”.
In moments during the day, if you feel less than whole, recall a line from the Mandala of Wholeness, recite it, and feel its power in that moment. Or affirm to yourself “I choose wholeness now”, or “I am whole”, or “I am one with the Universe” (or “I am one with God”) or simply say the word “wholeness” – but always say the words with total belief and feeling. Feel the strength and power that is wholeness. Feel the wholeness (especially the healing and empowerment and sense of wellbeing) that comes from the truth in those statements.
How can you “bring wholeness” to everything you do?
- Be one with the world and with the God essence within you
- Care about body, mind, and spirit in self and others
- Be full of unconditional love for the world, and be a giver and receiver in the flow of Life
- Accept and appreciate everything in life, for the divine is within everything and everyone
- Nurture the experiences of oneness, being of service to others, sharing knowledge, and creating life together
Finally, below is a special prayer of wholeness for you and for the world. Read it often; it provides additional teachings about wholeness, but it also helps tie the seven spiritual choices together and summarize them.
As you read it, pay attention to each verse and feel that verse’s lesson for you. Each time you read it, you will feel a deeper sense of meaning within each verse if you are present in each moment of its instruction. Apply its teachings, and you will indeed create your life of wholeness and abundance.
Even though I wrote the Prayer for Wholeness many years ago, I am still moved profoundly when I reread it. Actually, I would say that it was written through me, not by me.
It is truly my intention for the reading of this prayer to attract greater wholeness to you and to bring you not just a happier moment or a better day, but to bring well being, purpose, and oneness into your life.
Prayer for Wholeness
Create wholeness in yourself and in your life… for the purpose of the Universe itself is to create ever expanding wholeness. By creating wholeness in yourself, you align yourself with the Universe and seek to fulfill the purpose of your being.
Build your path on love and knowledge… for your love is how you create wholeness and make it manifest, and your knowledge is a measure of the lessons you have learned in the process. Both love and knowledge must be fully felt in the heart, not the head.
Love yourself completely and unconditionally because the Universe loves you completely and unconditionally… but know that the Universe wants you to take responsibility for creating wholeness in your own life and for learning the necessary lessons along the way. Two guidelines to learning about life are: the wisdom of teachers and others can often help us avoid the pitfalls, and it is wise to pay attention to our inner sense of rightness in all choices.
Love others and all things, especially those close to you, completely and unconditionally… because the Universe loves all things completely, unconditionally, and equally, and always works to expand wholeness through evolution, interconnectedness, and oneness. Extend your love to the Earth, for it is the extension of your physical body, and it is the home of an amazing array of the Universe’s most wonderful creatures, of which we humans are only one part.
Accept and appreciate yourself and others, and expect good things to come to all… for acceptance, appreciation, and positive expectations are keys to creating wholeness through love and knowledge. Through acceptance and appreciation you learn about yourself and the world and learn to accept it as it is, and through positive expectations you tap into the abundance and potential of a Universe that is always in the process of continuous creation.
Open your heart and mind to the Universe around you, and strive to live in its natural flow… for openness and full participation in life are also keys to creating wholeness through love and knowledge. Openness creates the room for growth, but only by living naturally and wisely in that openness can you learn, grow, and become the person you seek to become.
Forgive yourself and others easily, and give of yourself, your love, and your knowledge readily… for forgiveness and sharing are the final keys to creating wholeness through love and knowledge. Forgiveness is an aspect of unconditional love and admits that you and others, and the Universe itself, are still learning how to create wholeness in each human life. Know that the Universe is unfolding as it should, and new levels of wholeness will be attained through learning, sharing, and evolving by all of us together.
Study and apply the other spiritual choices in this book. They all build on the first choice of Life, and they give you powerful ways for how to create and live life – through growing awareness, freedom, love, expression, creation, integration, and wholeness. Learning to live these choices is a developmental process that takes you through a spiral of stages towards the ultimate goal of becoming fully one with the creative and abundant Self.
Your degree of results – in terms of awareness, freedom, love, creation, etc. – will grow over time and become much more powerful than when you first began. So expect to take these choices and resulting skills to new depths as you develop and integrate them into your being.