Step 1

Contemplate the following questions: (you can even journal if you like)

Q1. Are you experiencing your life as missing something, perhaps something deeper, more meaningful or more vital than what is present for you?

Q2. Are you open and willing to discover things about yourself that you didn’t know?

Q3. Would you be open to knowing truths which resonate inside you but challenge your current level of excitement, peace, comfort? 

Q4. Would you be willing to consistently commit time and attention to discovering your deeper, fuller self, and operating from that depth and fullness?

Step 2

Take a Soul walk. 

What is a Soul walk?

Here is my description of it :

Soul Walk

• is a quiet, solitary walk amidst whatever nature you have access to, 

• in which you are communing with Soul, as a way of connecting with that within you, which is simultaneously deeper and vaster than your ordinary thinking mind.

What is Soul?

The word Soul here is used as shorthand for the deeper, fuller you, already existing, and waiting to rise up into your consciousness, and into your living. Soul is within you, and you are within Soul. 

Time : plan for at least an hour 

Process

Set aside an hour for this walk. Choose a safe and quiet place to walk on the land, or a quiet time of day, within a natural a setting as available to you … maybe a park or by the ocean or up a hill or on a trail, or even a street with trees if you don’t live with much nature around you...

Before you set out, have the intention to commune with Soul on your walk. It is a soft intention, almost like a prayer, and not a decision from the will.

Ask Soul if you have permission to dialogue with it. If you get a Yes then continue with the next steps. If you get a No, try again later.

Begin your walk and for a few minutes just allow a sense of rest and silence, to be felt in your body. Notice how your body feels and how your breath feels. Allow yourself to soften…. no rush, no agenda, no goal…. only the intention to offer your time and attention to Soul, to that quiet depth of yourself.

As you walk, begin to notice the ways in which nature is presenting herself…. trees, clouds, sky, ground, rocks, bushes, bird, squirrel … and if you’re so blessed, maybe the sea, mountain, lake or whatever else …

Consciously make a connection with the nature you see, as if seeing it for the first time, taking it in …. and notice the effect on you, your body… 

Introduce yourself to nature, maybe to something in particular that calls to you…. speak your name and your intention or say what feels natural to say by way of introduction… if you feel comfortable saying it out loud, do so, or else say it in your heart…

Next, make an offering to the natural world … it can be anything… maybe a poem, or a few deep breaths, maybe a prayer, or words of appreciation or gratitude…. anything that feels appropriate….offer it from your heart….

Allow the possibility of Soul to resonate within you…. Soul as the vastness and depth of you and in you… Soul has the same essence in all creatures, and also in all non-humans like trees, rocks, mountains, lakes, etc. 

Soul is in you and all things, and you and all things are in Soul.

Now open your inner senses, allowing a deeper than normal keenness to your listening and seeing… permitting everything around you its own sentience, its own living quality …take some time to sink into this experience … walking as one Earth-being among many….feeling a sense of wider community … 

Then when you are in this state of consciousness for a while, ask Soul the question:

Am I ready to take on this program  Beyond Thinking Mind, at this time? 

Allow Soul to communicate with you, in whatever way it wishes to…. through a sensation, sound, smell, a signal coming from a bird or a rock ….. be receptive … allow your imagination to open as a new way of knowing...Soul can communicate in non-ordinary ways….stay soft and supple inside… don’t force anything…

Now, no matter what happens, receive whatever you are given, even if it is simply silence… receive it with gratitude….thank Soul.

For the last few minutes of the walk, just relax into the rest and silence and return to noticing the experience of your body, feel your breath….

When you come back home don’t immediately jump into activity. Take 10 minutes or so to be quiet and reflect on your experience. If something arises to be written or drawn or even danced, do it.

Do not listen to the interpretations of the skeptic or cynic inside you for at least 8-10 hours, preferably 24 hours. (Let the skeptic/cynic know that you will listen to it after that time )

Then after this time has elapsed, it is very likely that you will know from a deeper place within you, and you can decide whether or not to sign up for this program.