Many on their awakening path find themselves delving into a variety of teachings, philosophies, ideologies, and such in a never-ending cycle. As the journey begins, they realize it will not finish anytime soon. That was my case when my journey commenced 12 years ago.
I had the dream job most of my friends would envy; I was successful in my career and my finances; I had started a family and things were pretty much going according to the script society sells us. But deeper in my soul, there was a void no material or societal success could ever fill.
I knew there must be something else—another way to live and feel to be really happy.
So I started to devour information, and one thing led me to much more. I tried yoga, Buddhism, Tai Chi, and Aikido. Meditation, mindfulness, bioneuroemotion, and even Reiki.
Eventually I stumbled upon Abraham-Hicks’s teachings, and somehow Mike Dooley and the Notes from the Universe appeared in my life. Playing the Matrix condensed most of what I had learned in a very simple and understandable way. The more I read, the more my mind felt sure I was on the brink of the change I’d longed for.
But I kept feeling stuck… to the point I started questioning if all of those paradigms, including The Secret and all related materials, were just marketable products in a society hungry for a beacon for how to live a life that was worth the journey.
It was not until I realized something that I am pretty sure all those ahead of me certainly went through as well: wisdom does not heal.
I first approached that level of awareness when in a session with my holistic therapist. Maybe because that was my next logical step or because she was really fed up with me going through the very same arguments of how limiting my life was and why, despite all the knowledge I had accumulated, everything was not working.
In one of those crucial moments, she just shot: “Héctor, wisdom does not heal. You have to put that into practice.”
In her words, I had spent a lot of time, years actually, collecting what she called “cake recipes” from the most basic homemade and rudimentary ones to those worthy of a Michelin star chef. The problem was not the recipes themselves but me never baking a cake.
“Go and try, really try, something, whatever you want, of all you have learned,” was her recommendation. “Try something for a while, commit to it, and be patient, and see if that fits you. If yes, keep up with it. If not, pick another recipe… but you need to understand that what makes a difference is practice.”
That’s when I fully comprehended what she had tried to tell me so many times—and that comprehending hurt.
Understanding that whatever is preventing you from having a fulfilling life is inside you hurts. Acknowledging the beliefs and mental models that rule the way you see the world and, thus, the reactions you have in life, hurts. Knowing hurts. Recognizing it hurts. Healing hurts.
But in the end, this is where you reach the point of no return. Once you fully understand and internalize this, the path reveals itself. True transformation has commenced.
So take that leap of faith. Go beyond teachings and wisdom and see what fits best for you in practice. Be patient and, after a while, commit or discard it based on your own proven experience.
Fortunately, all roads lead to Rome… but you have to start walking.
