Are you consistently applying lots of effort, but receiving very little reward?

Do you often feel like you’re taking two steps forward and one step back?

Does your heart long to experience less struggle and striving, and more freedom, flow and fulfilment?

If you answered yes to any of those questions, then the good news is ‘you are not alone’!

In fact you have probably got more in common with the other 7 billion people on the planet who are actively seeking to expand, grow and develop, yet consistently find themselves being held back, resisting and sabotaging themselves from their innate natural state of freedom, flow, success and fulfilment. Welcome to Life 101!

The greatest gift of our soul is that it is always seeking to experience greater, and greater expansion and growth. Yet the reality is that anything that is moving will always experience some form of resistance, while anything that is stagnant or resting in the same place will eventually fade away and die.

Your job therefore as an ever expanding soul and being, is to evolve and become the best you that YOU can be, and this requires learning how to align your own internal energy to produce your greatest results with ease, joy and happiness.

So how do you align yourself for success? By understanding that when your actions and behaviours are aligned with your thoughts, when your thoughts are aligned with your values, when your values clearly reflect your life and soul purpose, when your soul purpose is aligned with the higher purpose for your life, and when your higher purpose contributes towards the Divine Will for humanity and the world – then miracles are possible.

So how do you create greater states of internal alignment between your body, mind, soul and spirit?

5 Simple Practices to Align Yourself for Success

1. Creating Greater Rapport Between Your Ego and Spirit

Much of the conflict that takes place in our everyday lives takes place at one of two levels – our conscious behaviour, thoughts and patterns, and our unconscious behaviour, thoughts and patterns.

Your job as the master of your life is to harness the innate intention of your soul to direct your will towards bringing greater harmony, balance and purpose to these two aspect of your being. This inner-battle is best symbolised by the images presented in the major arcana of the mystical tarot that depicts two horses, one black (representing ego), one white being (representing soul) being guided by a chariot driver (yourself), who holds the reigns and must direct these two aspects of self to work together towards its highest intent.

Contrary to popular myth it is not necessary to rid yourself of ego, for to do so would be futile. Your ego brings great strength, resilience, and power to your life when it works in harmony with your spirit. Likewise, a life that is completely bound in spirit, without the grounded connection of ego would spend most of its time with its ‘head in the clouds’, dreaming, but producing little result.

The Practice:

1. Take out a blank piece of paper out and simply draw a line down the middle of it. On the left side write the title ‘Gifts of my Ego’ and on the right side write the title ‘Strengths of my Spirit’.
2. Now brainstorm all the benefits and strengths that both your ego and spirit provide you.
3. When you have completed your lists imagine that each is a horse, and ask them: What they need from you to create a more harmonious, productive and fulfilling life? How can they each work more closely with each other to use their gifts and strengths for your greater good? Who do you need to develop yourself to become a better ‘chariot driver’?

 2. Let Your Soul Be Your Guiding Compass

Whether you realise it or not, your own soul is your best and most trusted ally in life. It knows exactly where you are, where you need to be, and what brings you great joy in each moment. All you need to do is find the stillness within and take the time to ask it for its highest guidance for you right now.

The Practice:

1. Take out four pieces of paper and on each write in the big letters the letters N, S, E an W.
2. Find a large space where you can move freely in your living area or home, which is quiet and where you won’t be disturbed. Stand in the middle of your room. Place each of the pieces of paper at least a meter away from you in a circle, where the N is placed at 12 o’clock, E at 3 o’clock, S at 6 o’clock and W at 9 o’clock (representing the points of a compass).
3. Now as you stand in the middle close your eyes and place your hand on your heart. Ask your heart to be awakened and to provide you with the highest clear guidance for your soul. Then ask your soul to show you the direction that you are currently heading in your life, and as you feel compelled simply turn in that direction and take a step forward. Open your eyes and see where you are on the compass.
4. Go back to the centre of the circle, close your eyes and now, ask your soul to show you and guide you in the direction of your highest life path at this moment. Turn to it and take a step forward. Open your eyes and just notice where you are? Is there a difference? How do you need to bring your current life into alignment with your highest soul path?

3. Learn to Love What You Resist

In my many years of working as a hypnotherapist and counsellor what I noticed most amongst my clients who were experiencing limiting behavioural patterns, self-sabotage and resistance was that every behaviour has an underlying benefit to the soul.

The Practice:

1. So rather than fight or resist the behaviour, instead start by first thanking it for being there, thank it for all the benefits that has been providing you (even if you don’t see any in it right now).
2. Then ask it if it would be willing to share with you why it is presenting itself to you? Ask it to share with you its higher purpose and benefit?
3. Then ask your higher-self to share with you some alternative and more empowering ways to experience those benefits right now?

Simply by learning to love your resistance you allow it to share its greatest gifts with you, and by doing so you create the pathway to integrating yourself towards wholeness, rather than living a fragmented life.

4. Let Go of What You’re Tolerating

As simple as this sounds, it is often one of the most challenging realisations for many people. In the same way that trying to hide inflated beach balls under water takes lots and lots of energy, so to, the people, activities and tasks that you are tolerating in your life right now, are also draining your chi and life-force energy.

The Practice:

1. Make a list right now of all the things in your life that you are currently tolerating, know you need to stop, or that you need to complete.
2. Then go to work at eliminating these ‘beach balls’ from your life!

5. Your Only Job Is to Get Clear

I was recently at a seminar in Melbourne recently where the seminar leader shared some powerful advice that really resonated with me. He said ‘you only job in life is to get clear about who you are, why you are here and what you do’. Then you simply need to allow the people, places and situations that resonate with your true-self to turn up!

Surprisingly, the number one reason most people don’t get what they want, is because they don’t really know what they want! Or if they do know, then most of the time what they want is really being driven by other people’s needs, expectations or demands.

The Practice:

1. So what do you value in life? What do you hold as being most important to you? If you had only one more year to live what would you do?
2. If you won $70 million in the lottery what would you do with the rest of your life?
3. If I gave you a magic wand and three wishes, what three aspects of your life would you most want to change and how?

Learning to align yourself for success, and developing greater levels of alignment both internally and externally is one of the greatest gifts that you can give yourself. Just as a river that is free from obstacles, rocks, sticks and branches will flow with ease, so too your mind, body and soul when aligned have the capacity to produce and reflect tremendous life force potential.

Remember, you are here to be the best YOU that you can be!