Read excerpts from Lynn Woodland’s new book The Breakthrough Point—A Spiritual Activist’s Guide to Thriving in a Modern World
Chapter One:
Let the Journey Begin
Quiet your mind for a moment and let your attention float free. Take a deep breath or two to help you transition to a soft, open mental state…
Now imagine that you are at a turning point in your life, though you may not realize it yet. (You don’t need to believe this, just imagine.) Recall other turning points where everything changed in the direction of your highest good. Perhaps you met your significant other or had an opportunity come to you that changed everything. Maybe you decided to move or take a new job and the change had a huge, positive impact on your life. Maybe it was when you left home for the first time to go to college or be out on your own.
If you don’t think you’ve had this kind of positive, major life change, know that you probably have. But if you can’t think of one, imagine what it might be like to have everything transform so thoroughly that you know you can’t ever go back to the way things were because you’ve moved from one phase of life to another very different and better one.
If you can recall such a time in your past, remember how you felt right before this life-changing event occurred. Maybe you had a sense of something on the way. Maybe not—maybe you were in despair and felt that life would never change, right before it did. Recall that experience of life becoming so different that it marked a huge turning point in your personal history. It was the ending of a chapter and the beginning of a new one.
Look at your life now and imagine that everything to date has been moving you toward another major life change in the direction of your highest good. You don’t necessarily see the details of what that change is, but imagine that you’ve received enough of a glimpse into your future to know that one is coming.
Spend today living with this knowing. Look around at the life you have with the perspective that there are things you’ll soon be saying goodbye to, and things that will soon feel like part of a whole different lifetime. You may feel some sadness as you recognize that it’s the end of the world as you know it, yet you sense the change will lead you somewhere your heart has always longed to be. Move around in your life with a growing sense of anticipation, knowing that something wonderful is about to happen!
And as you read these words and have your own small journey in consciousness, be aware of the many others who have or will encounter these words: the many minds stopping here for a moment, suspending disbelief, dreaming and wondering; hearts growing expectant… Imagine that you can sense the accumulation of anticipation that has collected around these words, just as you might get a “feeling” when you pause at a spot where many have stopped to reflect and wonder.
If you choose to keep reading, know that there are adventures ahead that may have already changed you. You don’t need to believe this, just imagine how it would feel if you did… And you will find us along the way—the many of us who, like you, have paused here for a moment and agreed to take this journey together. Beyond time and space, we have already loved you and rooted for your success. Welcome, dear friend! We have been waiting for you!
Chapter Two: (Just a taste)
The Seeds of Change—The Power of Us All Together
Exercise: Write Your Own Evolution Story
- Identify the most significant challenges and crises that you currently experience in your life. If you come up with a long grocery list, see if one or two stand out as most influential.
- Create a story of your life from the perspective that each one of these challenges and crises, be they clearly of your own making or circumstances that just seemed to happen to you, came to you purposely to fuel the next phase of your evolution. Imagine that each obstacle is pushing you to become something greater than you have ever been and write the story of how this progression has unfolded and continues to unfold into your future. You don’t need to believe this to be true. Use your imagination and write a story about your path through challenge and what lies beyond.
In your story, answer these questions:
What new strengths are you developing in the process?
What new joys does this path of evolution hold?
What new behaviors does this path require?
How does this path of evolution increase your positive impact on the world around you?
- Spend a day living as if this story is true.
Chapter Three: (Just a tease)
The Point of Breakdown or Breakthrough
If you’re like me and sometimes skip the introduction of a book in your impatience to get to the meat, let me repeat: 2016 was one game-changer of a year. There are many different stories about why this is, coming from such diverse fields as economics, politics, and environmental science. But our story here is about an evolutionary impulse coming of age.
