The book club I am part of started a new book this evening, The Untethered Soul, by Michael A. Singer. I am thrilled about this opportunity to read through the book again, and discuss it with the thoughtful and lively ladies who participate in the club.
The Untethered Soul is one of the books that shifted my life dramatically a couple of years ago, when I read it for the first time. The description of the book, from the back cover, states:
What would it be like to be free from limitations and soar beyond your boundaries? What can you do each day to find this kind of inner peace and freedom? The Untethered Soul offers a simple, profoundly intuitive answer to these questions. Whether this is your first exploration of inner space or you’ve devoted your life to the inward journey, this book will transform your relationship with yourself and the world around you.
The Untethered Soul begins by walking you through your relationship with your thoughts and emotions, helping you uncover the source and fluctuations of your inner energy. It then delves into what you can do to free yourself from the habitual thoughts, emotions, and energy patterns that limit your consciousness. Finally, with perfect clarity, this book opens the door to a life lived in the freedom of your innermost being. (I highlighted the two words that are so important to me this year!)
Those paragraphs certainly intrigued me two years ago. I was ready to be free from limitations, ready to move beyond my boundaries. I knew the journey I most needed to take first was an inner one, and that can be a scary road to travel, alone. Michael A. Singer was my traveling companion on this important trek. His chapters on energy are some of the best I’ve ever read. Suddenly, so many things clicked into place and made sense. Such as why certain things trigger a reaction from me. Why I used to protect my heart area, or chakra, so much, even sitting with a pillow on my lap to make me feel more secure. As I moved purposefully through this book, old energy that had long been trapped in the region of my heart came to the surface, painfully sometimes, and I was able to set it free. It is a continuing process, this untethering.
My word last year, Beyond, first came into my awareness as I read this book. There is a whole section of the book on moving beyond, which became the name of my blog about my own journey of moving beyond my limitations and my comfort zone. It was with great anticipation that I delved back into the first two chapters, in preparation for the book club meeting tonight. Michael first focuses attention on the thoughts and dialogues that are constantly circling in the mind. It was good for me to be reminded that I am not my thoughts and that the mind seeks always to control and to keep safe, at the cost of freedom, peace and joy. It will be wonderful to slowly read through this fascinating book again and see where I have grown since my last reading. Already, a couple of things stood out.
One came to my attention this evening, as I was looking at the cover of the book before our meeting started. The subtitle of the book is the journey beyond yourself. I realized that last year’s word beyond and this year’s word journey are right there, together. Interesting! I had to get beyond my fears and limitations, my comfort zone and safe spaces, before I could really journey this year, in a way that is unencumbered. Then, as we discussed chapter one this evening, I suddenly saw these sentences about awareness: The one inside who is aware that you are always talking to yourself about yourself is always silent. [Realization] is a doorway to the depths of your being. To be aware that you are watching the voice talk is to stand on the threshold of a fantastic inner journey.
There they were, my keys words for this year….journey….doorway…and the amazing visual of standing on the threshold. I choose to pass through that doorway, and step over that threshold. The journey will take me deeper this year, deeper into myself, deeper into the Divine, deeper into life. I am excited to have Michael A. Singer again, as a traveling companion. I am grateful also for the company of the five extraordinary women, all seekers as well, who are sharing in this journey. Oh, the places we will go.
