12 Steps To Spiritual Enlightenment From The Psychic Monk

Step 1. See my place as an ordinary human being in a spiritual universe.

This first of my  2 steps to spiritual enlightenment is actually quite deceptive. Suddenly, I am free of the need to be Superman. I discover that I am another person searching for liberation from what I've been told my life is supposed to be. This never suited the real me. As an ordinary human in the spiritual universe, I really can connect with spiritual forces!

Step 2. Accept that there is Another, Greater Power which loves and protects me. 

I am not alone. There is a loving Power who wants me to flourish, to be the things I have always been afraid to be. This Power will help me to become my real self. Am I willing to risk being myself?

Step 3. Choose to be at one with that Power.

I choose to be free! I choose to become myself! When I choose to let go of what I think other people expect of me and become one with that Power, my spirituality will express itself in all sorts of ways. The 3rd of 12 steps to spiritual enlightenment may be something as simple as wearing a color shirt I like, but would never normally pick because I think it isn’t what other people expect of me. Or maybe I try a food that I’ve previously avoided. A thousand little things become possible.

Step 4. Look clearly and boldly at whatever spiritual problems held back my life.

Why did I hold myself back from oneness with the Creative Power? Early in life most of us are taught the proper way to eat, drink, to live. We are also taught acceptable spiritualities. Typically, this does not include a close, personal relationship with the Power of our understanding. In these steps, the point is to accept yourself and your Power as you understand. Surprisingly, we become aware of old ideas and behaviors that really held back our spiritual growth. When this happened to me and I began to see my own life more clearly, I became aware that these ideas and behaviors were honest spiritual problems. I had to look at them clearly and boldly to understand why I too often found myself in crazy situations I would never choose. Like many other people, I discovered I was spiritually immature.

Step 5. Discuss these issues with my spiritual counselor.

Some of my old behaviors and ideas had been with me all of my life. Why talk about them? Why let them go? The men and women I’ve been gifted to counsel have found new spiritual freedom and strength in frank and honest discussion with another person. As working the 12 steps to spiritual enlightenment also taught me, not everybody understands discussions about spiritual issues. Even today, many people are threatened by discussions about the spiritual life that fall outside the range of generally accepted religions. As a lifelong clairvoyant who is blessed both to have a spiritual counselor and to counsel others, when old ideas and behaviors are discussed, these actions make room for a more fully spiritual life.

Step 6. Make the decision to let them go.

Let go! Live! This reinforces your earlier decision to be at union and communion with the Great Power of the Universe. You can choose to be happy, to live in full oneness with your Great Power. Did you find you don’t like the way you drive? I often work with people who pick up their car keys and their anxieties at the same time. I offer them the option of a new focus. They know they drive too close to the car ahead, honk the horn, weave in and out of traffic. Then they ask me why they do it. This step is all about choosing the spiritual power to redirect your actions and your thoughts.

Step 7. Ask my Greater Power to take any old spiritual problems that I’ve found.

Here in my 12 steps to spiritual enlightenment is your opportunity to radically become your real self. By putting both feet firmly on the ground and giving your problems away, you become the real you. Your Greater Power already knows who you are and what you did. This is where we discover the problem isn’t with that Power taking away the ways and ideas we didn’t like. The problem is with us. Your Power wants you to live in light and love, a fully joyful spirit. Why not? It’s easier than holding on!

Step 8. Without apology, review others to whom I may need to make amends.

This step is a great gift. As a spiritual counselor, it is my gift to walk through this step with you with the constant reminder that it’s easier than it seems.

Step 9. Make appropriate amends.

This is where we actually live who it is we want to be. My job, as The Psychic Monk, is to help the people I’m honored to counsel realize how easy it is to live this way. Did you uncover some behavior you don’t like? For example, is there a person in your life whom you often criticize and then later apologize to the person? This action offers the amazing spiritual gift of learning how to make all of the previous elements, of the 12 steps to spiritual enlightenment, real living parts of your life. As you do, you gradually become aware of a new feeling inside of yourself. You change inwardly and outwardly.

Step 10. Look more clearly at what I want for my future.

Do I want to be the person I used to be? To live the same life I had before? Or am I ready to think deeply and lovingly about myself and who I want to be? The first nine steps were all about your choice to change and reviewing your personal history. Now it’s time to move on in an even more fundamental way. You have looked at the roots of who you appeared to be. This teaches you how to look even further into who you were and who you are.

Step 11. Incorporate prayer and meditation into my daily routine.

In order to find out what you want for your present and future on a daily basis, daily prayer and meditation open us up to our infinite possibilities. Starting off slow and gradually adding spiritual building blocks, prayer and meditation make it possible for us to reach our true union and communion with our Greater Power. These simple tools help us to become the person we want to be.

Step 12. Carry my new spiritual self out into the world every day.

Whoever it was you thought you wanted to be, it will be obvious by this point that you have gone beyond your initial desire. Using all of these 12 steps to spiritual enlightenment by design, you are living as a new person in a new life. You are living as a deeply spiritual person.