What It Takes

Over the last thirty years I have watch students come and go. Some pick up some meditation tools to help them with life, they find more peace and have an awakening that gives them an evolutionary bump up in consciousness, while others clearly get the glow, find the bliss and enlighten. Why do some just get just a little and others enlighten? I’ve been studying this for years and have some insights for you. The good news is that you are reading this, and that is the evidence you are being guided. Continue to follow that inner guidance and you will get it. You have it already, you are it; you have only to realize it.

One of the most common delays and deterrents, to our spiritual evolution is “The Busy Cycle.” Inevitably, as we meditate we accelerate our learning curve and our life starts speeding up, changes come rapidly and we become busier dealing with all the changes that we’ve stirred up in our life. While this is the most important time to keep meditating, it is more often than not the time students start missing their meditations, cutting them short or not being fully present when meditating. Whether it’s a few days, weeks, months or years, eventually people seem to come back to meditation, like a refuge, but those times away can be difficult. Sticking with your practice and allowing yourself to receive inner guidance during meditation is the best strategy to help you move through these trying times.

The second biggest obstacle is “dabbling.” I have seen students go from one spiritual practice to another, teacher to teacher, seminar to seminar, and retreat to retreat for years but they don’t go deeper in their meditation. Rather than going deeper in their meditation, they simply move on to the next fun thing. The third biggest obstacle, and the test that comes up with most of my graduate students, is the “I know” syndrome. When students learn a lot and start having epiphanies, satori’s or samadhi’s, it often goes to their head and this puts up barriers to learning. This is a test all students face (as I did): getting stuck on what we think we know (or have). If you think you know, you don’t.

So, what does it take? The students who have clearly awakened and enlightened have these qualities: They are deeply committed, sincere and consistent in their practice. They are open to receive, they listen, they allow themselves to be guided, they allow themselves to be loved, and they are able to take criticism and guidance without defensiveness or resistance. Most importantly, they don’t give up. You can never fail if you don’t give up. Don’t give up, it’s so worth it.

From the heart, Steven S. Sadleir