Soulful Leadership: Elevating Purpose and Empowering Change E-Book

Mark Porteous

• Herausgeber: WS
• Kategorie: Fachliteratur
• Serie: Soulful Leadership
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 284

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2025

Beschreibung

In a world where change is the only constant, authentic leadership is about more than just guiding others—it’s about leading with purpose, compassion, and a deep commitment to making a positive impact. Soulful Leadership: Elevating Purpose and Empowering Change brings together the wisdom of visionary leaders who have chosen to lead from the heart, creating a powerful collection of stories, insights, and practical tools for anyone ready to step further into their soulful leadership journey.

This book is not just about leadership in the traditional sense; it’s about elevating your purpose, embracing your true self, and empowering change in every aspect of your life. Whether you’re an entrepreneur, a community leader, or someone seeking to make a difference, the stories and strategies in this anthology will inspire you to lead with integrity, authenticity, and a commitment to the greater good.

Soulful Leadership: Elevating Purpose and Empowering Change is your guide to leading in a way that honors who you are and the impact you want to make. It’s time to step into your power, elevate your purpose, and become the leader you were meant to be.

Join us on this journey to elevate consciousness, inspire action, and create a world where soulful leadership is the norm, not the exception. The world needs your leadership now more than ever. Are you ready to answer the call?

Leseprobe

SOULFUL LEADERSHIP

A Spiritual Path to Health, Wealth, and Love

Mark Porteous

Published by Hybrid Global Publishing 301 E 57th Street 4th Floor New York, NY 10022

Copyright © 2021 by Mark Porteous

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by in any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the Publisher, except where permitted by law.

Manufactured in the United States of America, or in the United Kingdom when distributed elsewhere.

Porteous, Mark Soulful Leadership: A Spiritual Path to Health, Wealth and Love LCCN: 2020919891              ISBN: 978-1-937055-03-5 eBook: 978-1-937055-04-2

Cover design by: Jonathan Pleska Copyediting by: Claudia Volkman Interior design by: Suba Murugan Author photo by: Deborah M Kulig Letourneau

https://markporteous.com

CONTENTS

Introduction | Mark Porteous

PART ONE: CONNECTING TO WHO YOU REALLY ARE

1. Revolutionary Agreements for Soulful Leaders | Marian Head

2. Do You Know Your Mind Type? | Hubert Lee and Ridgely Goldsborough

3. A Case of Mistaken Identity | Lisa Engles-Witter

4. Emotional Mastery: Change CAN Be Easy | Andrea Isaacs

5. Note to Self: Pay Attention to Your Inner Compass | Ariela Sarai

6. To Attract All of What You Want, Know All of Who You Are | Nancy Benitez

7. Receiving—What’s That? | Gina Pero and Dr. David Stella

8. Healing through the Heart: A Gateway to Intuitive Balance and Action | Carolyn McGee

9. Can You Relate? | RaShawn-Renée

10. Pain, Breath, and the Butterfly Effect | Jana Danielson

11. Celebrate You First | Renée Porteous

PART TWO: CONNECTING TO YOUR SOUL OFFER

12. Following the Golden Thread | Holly Woods, PhD

13. Sacred Contracts Decoded—The Roadmap to Your True Home | Dr. Ollga Belova

14. Four Steps to Living Your Life Purpose | William Heinrich

15. The Evolution of a Soulful Leader | Ronda Renée

16. Choosing the Beneficial | Monique D. Toh

17. Seven Words to Live By | Nancy Fields

18. Soulful Leadership and the Forces of Love, Hope, and Breakthrough | Dr. Melissa Andersson

19. Transforming Your Story into Your Stand | Iman Khan

20. From Invisible to Impact | Afrin Khan

21. The Miraculous Power of Vibration and Frequency | Barry Auchettl

22. Divine Leadership | Christine Kloser

PART THREE: CONNECTING TO YOUR SOUL TRIBE

23. Attracting Your Soul Tribe through Alignment Consciousness | Mark Porteous

24. Relationship Capital: The Most Important Currency for Soulful Leadership | Debra Poneman

25. The Magic of Sacred Synchronicity | Jan H. Stringer

26. My Accidental Tribe | David Riklan

27. Your Client’s Transformational Journey | Alan Davidson

28. “More, Please”—Selling with Love | Sue Shalley

29. It Really Does Take a Village | Karen Strauss

30. The Emergence of an Art Collective | Tom Franco

31. Playing a BIGGER Game | Natalie Ledwell

32. Awakening to Exponential Momentum in Love, Life, and Business | Lars Rain Gustafsson

33. Vision, Values, and Velocity | Nancy Matthews

Next Steps

INTRODUCTION

Mark Porteous

We live in a unique time in human history. The choices we make individually and collectively over the next decade will determine the direction of humanity’s path. We are entering a new era in the story of humankind that penetrates every aspect of life, including how we serve in business, politics, organizations, and families.

“A New Way of Being” is emerging that supports the good of the whole. Visionary pioneers like you are leading the way. As a Soulful Leader, YOU are a beacon of light and a powerful force in the Universe!

To be a powerful force of good, you need to be CONNECTED—connected to who you are at soul level, connected to your Divine Purpose, and connected to your Soul Tribe.

Together, we are shifting human consciousness from our current state of “fear and the illusion-of-separation” to our natural state of “love and deep connection.”

To make this critical shift, what is needed MOST right now is Soulful Leadership.

Soulful Leadership is recognizing that you are a Divine Being who has chosen the “human experience” for a reason and then living in alignment with that knowledge by making conscious choices for the highest good. Your leadership is expressed in how you show up—as a person, for your family, in your community, and through your work.

And how, you might ask, will Soulful Leadership help you attain optimized health, abundant wealth, and deeply loving relationships in your life, as the title of this book suggests?

My promise to you is that as you read these personal stories, it will become abundanly clear how you can live an extraordinary life while transforming the lives of others.

Soulful Leadership: A Spiritual Path to Health, Wealth, and Love is designed to guide you through the Evolutionary Path of the Soul-Connected Entrepreneur and to provide valuable wisdom about life’s most meaningful questions: “Who am I?”, “Why am I here?”, and “How do I thrive in my Divine Purpose?”

Every chapter tells a powerful story by an author who demonstrates Soulful Leadership in the world. Each story offers valuable insights and practices you can integrate into your life now. These stories weave together like a fine tapestry, illustrating the Quest of the Soulful Leader.

The people you are here to serve are Heroes. Their experience with you is much like the Hero’s Journey. The Hero is “called” and ventures out into the unknown on a mystical quest. There he or she discovers unimaginable challenges and obstacles. The Hero also meets a guide with a map and special gifts to support the Hero in overcoming his or her challenges and obstacles.

We are the Guides. We hold the maps and the tools needed by the Heroes we each serve. Your “Customer Journey” is a powerful tool for your clients. It’s also very helpful in providing clarity for your Dream Team AND for attracting affiliate ambassadors to share your work with their audiences.

This collaborative project also serves as an example of how to develop your own Soul Affiliate Alliances to amplify your impact in the world and demonstrates what they can look like in the New Paradigm of Business and Life.

In addition to the treasures provided in each chapter, the authors have also provided special gifts to support your Hero’s Journey. You can learn more about these authors and download their valuable tools at no cost by visiting our website, www.SoulfulLeadershipBook.com.

Part One

CONNECTING TO WHO YOU REALLY ARE

Who you are at the deepest innate level of your human nature is the most important element in your life. Who you are at this deep level is your most important contribution to this world.

I guarantee that adapting this perspective WILL change your life.

Your journey as a Soulful Leader begins and evolves through personal awareness. The more you learn about who you really are and how to optimize your presence in this world, the greater will be your success, happiness, and life effectiveness.

You’ve been on a lifelong trek of self-discovery, learning more and more about who you are so you can BE all you came here to be and DO all you came here to do.

To discover why we are here, first we need to better understand what we are. I refer to “we” as both a collective and as each of us individually. Collectively, we are a family, a community, a nationality, a race, and a species. Individually, we are composed of three very unique components: Body, Mind, and Spirit.

Our bodies are physical objects made of matter. Matter is anything that has mass and occupies volume. Albert Einstein’s Theory of Relativity led to many amazing discoveries, including the relationship between mass and energy. Einstein explained that mass and energy are transmutable. We are familiar with the equation E= mc2. In physics, mass–energy equivalence is the concept that the mass of a body is a measure of its energy content. All physical objects are made of energy; therefore, we, our physical bodies, are made of energy. This is a scientific truth.

“If you want to know the answers to the universe, think in terms of Energy, Vibration, and Frequency.” —Nicola Tesla

Because we are self-aware, we realize that we are more than our bodies. Psychology, the study of the mind, was considered to be a branch of philosophy until 1879, when it was developed as an independent scientific discipline in Germany and the United States. The mind is so mysterious that it was considered to be philosophical, not scientific. Just as we continue to learn about the physical world, our understanding of the human mind continues to expand. Understanding the power of conscious and subconscious thought is an important part of understanding who and what we are.

Theories can be debated in both physics and psychology. Both subjects are now accepted as science. The controversy gets far more intense when we discuss the theories, or even the existence, of spirit. If you think the mind is a mystery, the spirit may seem absolutely magical.

Abraham Maslow talks about your innate, unchanging core values being the essence of who you really are. In the Grand Perspective, you are a Divine Being who is one with Source and all that is. Your mind is the bridge between body and spirit and the gateway to personal transformation.

Tapping into Source for Inner Guidance is the single most important skill that you can master to navigate through life.

At your inner core, you are directly connected to Source and to All That Is. This is your true “Being.”

When you start with “being,” ALL your “doing” becomes inspired action. One ounce of “inspired action” can be more effective than one hundred pounds of “raw action.” You will get incredible results when your “doing” directly reflects your “being.”

Imagine for just a moment if all you had to DO to make a bigger impact and a greater income was to BE more of who you REALLY are so that every action you take is inspired, joyful, and in your highest good.

The stories included in Part One will provide you with tools, practices, and perspectives to help you discover more of your magnificence and will help you train yourself to hear the whispers of your inner guidance and take inspired action so you can avoid the alternative, a two-by-four to the head.

1. REVOLUTIONARY AGREEMENTS FOR SOULFUL LEADERSHIP

Marian Head

Are you aware of the agreements you have with your business associates, clients, and loved ones? Do your agreements support you in being the fullest expression of your authentic self?

We make many agreements during our lives—spoken and unspoken, conscious and unconscious. As business leaders, we enter into contractual agreements, employment agreements, and nondisclosure agreements. Written agreements help us to clarify our expectations, and this is good. Yet as I have grown and evolved, I have come to know that the most powerful agreements are those agreements I have with myself. Every action I take, every response I make, comes from these agreements.

Thirty-five years ago, I began living from a specific set of agreements with myself. At that time, my husband was president of the Win/Win Business Forum, a weekly meeting of spiritually minded business owners. He invited some of these business leaders to our home to explore a question together: “How can we support one another to live our highest values in every aspect of our lives, and especially in our work where we spend most of our time?”

At that very first gathering in June 1985, we meditated together, drew insights from the Field, and began developing a set of agreements to guide us on our path. That group decided to meet again one month later. In addition to fun and expansive practices that fed our bodies, minds, and spirits, we shared how the agreements were positively affecting our lives and the lives of those with whom we worked and lived.

Without any obligation or membership, this forum, dubbed the “Geneva Group,” continued meeting for a full day every month—for the next twenty years! We began each gathering by reading and discussing the agreements. As we evolved, the agreements also evolved. Fifteen years after our first gathering, I shared the essence of those agreements with the world, calling them “Revolutionary Agreements.”

What’s So Revolutionary about These Agreements?

These Agreements are revolutionary in that they have the potential to transform the prevailing paradigm of negativity to one of positivity and possibility. At a personal level, they can transform stress and struggle into freedom and joy.

These Agreements are also evolutionary. According to Barbara Marx Hubbard, creator of the Foundation for Conscious Evolution:

Although they may appear simple at first glance, the Revolutionary Agreements hold the keys to transformation. Practicing the Agreements gently moves us from Ego to Essence. This evolves us into the deeply loving people we were designed to be by the Impulse of Creation.

People who practice these Agreements find support for being their best selves, staying centered during times of crisis, resolving conflicts with greater ease, and bringing out the best in others. What distinguishes Revolutionary Agreements from contractual agreements is that first and foremost, they are agreements with ourselves.

HEALTH, WEALTH, AND LOVE

The Revolutionary Agreements have become my guide to living my life’s purpose: to be Love in Action. For myself and many others, the application of these Agreements has led to outrageous financial success in businesses that fulfill us.

As a member of the “million-dollar club” for a global wellness corporation, I was invited to attend an extravagant forum on a beautiful tropical island. C-suite executives met with the top sales leaders of over 250,000 worldwide reps. At one point the meeting turned contentious. My business partner and I gently offered the Agreements as a possible way through our combative stance.

“Marian’s leadership, holding fast to the principles of these Agreements, transformed interpersonal and organizational struggles of ‘I’m right—you’re wrong’ into genuine, joyful collaboration, ultimately creating ‘we’ out of ‘us and them,’” said an executive consultant present at that forum.

The ability to effectively use the Revolutionary Agreements does not require my presence. A consultant to a Fortune 100 company recommended the Revolutionary Agreements to its stressed-out director of Systems and Operations. Seven months later, the director wrote: “To say that this core organization has turned itself around would be an understatement.” Perhaps my favorite part of his report was: “I can say that I am in love again with my career and assert that the Agreements are the best tools for stress reduction I have ever found.”

Transforming stress to love? I knew I had to share these Agreements with other soulful leaders! The more “Love in Action,” the better.

I decided to write a book about the Revolutionary Agreements in order to extend their powerful results into the world. I condensed what was then sixteen wordy (albeit inspiring) Geneva Group agreements to twelve easily digestible chunks. Those twelve settled into three groups, representing what I call three “pillars” of a good life:

•Truth—being the truth of who you are, your authentic self

•Acceptance—accepting others for who they are in this present moment

•Gratitude—feeling and expressing appreciation for the precious gift of life and all it has to offer

Each pillar is comprised of four Agreements that provide a structure for being Love in Action. I’ll comment on one Agreement in each of the pillars. I invite you to thoughtfully consider which Agreement in each pillar might have the most positive effect on your life if you were to practice it regularly.

TRUTH

I agree to live my mission.

The cornerstone of a soulful leader’s success is her or his passion, aka “calling” or mission. This Agreement is not about achieving our mission, but rather about living its essence. In that way, we can enjoy a fulfilled life now instead of waiting for some future day’s achievement to reward us.

What is the essence of your mission? How do you or could you live its essence now?

I agree to speak my truth with compassion.

I agree to look within when I react.

I agree to keep doing what works and change what doesn’t.

Which of the above four Truth Agreements would make the greatest positive impact on your life if you were to practice it consistently?

ACCEPTANCE

I agree to resolve conflicts directly.

Nothing sucks our energy more than an unresolved conflict. If you are ever burdened by one, consider when the burden is the greatest: when you are with the person with whom you are resolving the conflict, or in the days, weeks, months (and sometimes years) leading up to addressing it?

When we apply this agreement to resolve a conflict as soon as possible (and with only the person with whom we can resolve it), our energy is released to soar to infinitely creative and productive heights.

I agree to listen with my heart.

I agree to respect our differences.

I agree to honor our choices.

Which of these four Acceptance Agreements would most serve you and those you serve if you were to practice it regularly?

GRATITUDE

I agree to look for blessings in disguise.

Have you ever dealt with something difficult, maybe even traumatic, that you later saw as a blessing in your life? When we practice this agreement, we can transform worry, anger, and blame (including ourselves) in an instant. Embodying this agreement is having faith that Love is present, even if the proof is not apparent.

When we go through hard times together as a team, family, nation, or world, soulful leadership is especially important. As we model love and compassion, faith and optimism, we can energetically transform personal and collective stress into greater peace and joy.

I agree to give and receive thanks.

I agree to see the best in myself and others.

I agree to lighten up!

Which of the four Gratitude Agreements is most important for you to practice in order to fully enjoy the health, wealth, and love you deserve?

The One Master Agreement

Practicing these agreements eventually leads to the One Master Agreement. This Agreement has the greatest impact on our leadership today and our legacy forever. While no single phrase can adequately capture its essence, I offer this:

I agree to be my Self.

Why the capital “S” in “Self”? To remind us that we emanate from a Divine source. To honor our life as a gift from our Creator, and to remember that what we do with it is a gift to all Creation.

To know that when we embody Love in Action, we are fulfilling our soul’s purpose.

I encourage you to allow these Revolutionary Agreements to be one of your cherished guides to Soulful Leadership. While they are first and foremost Agreements with yourself, they will have a profound influence on your relationships, which are the bedrock for your success in every aspect of your life.

This practice is so profoundly powerful in its simplicity that I am declaring the Revolutionary Agreements as the Constitution for my business. They support me with a structure for “being the change I want to see in the world.” —Mark Porteous, 2016

Marian Head is the award-winning author of three books, including Revolutionary Agreements: A Personal Path to Peace on Earth. Whether building her multimillion-dollar global wellness business, consulting to Fortune 100 companies, facilitating gatherings of world leaders, or parenting her child, she credits the Revolutionary Agreements as the practice most responsible for her achievements.

www.RevolutionaryAgreements.com

2. DO YOU KNOW YOUR MIND TYPE?

Hubert Lee and Ridgely Goldsborough

Why do we suffer a mid-life crisis? Or an identity crisis? Or any personal crisis? Why do people in seemingly stable circumstances melt down for no apparent reason?

Do adverse winds suddenly blow in with such force as to thrust your lifeboat into a perfect storm? Of course not. It takes a gradual build up, a seedling of doubt that grows over time, tiny shoots of disappointment and regret that crack the surface while they simultaneously sink their roots.

When you don’t know your WHY—your purpose and meaning—you become vulnerable, like a house built on sand or on a shallow foundation. Anything can sway you.

Since the beginning of man, the quest for understanding WHY we exist has led us into momentous directions—the drive for conquest and war, the establishment of philosophies and religion, the crusade for moral mandates that shape our behavior.

No matter where you find yourself on the spectrum, two fundamental questions will plague you until resolved: WHY am I here? WHO am I? No one can answer these questions for you. Only you know. Or at least, some part of you knows—AND THAT’S THE CHALLENGE.

The answer lies deep beneath the surface, not easily accessible, in the very fabric of your being, forged so early on that you don’t even perceive it as it takes control of your future and becomes the programming that guides every action you take.

We call it your MIND TYPE, the embodiment of your belief system. It manifests continually through your thoughts, words, and deeds. It explains in full living color WHY you do everything that you do. Where does it come from?

Your primary and most basic instinct as a human being is survival. Your secondary driving desire is the need for love and companionship. Your Mind Type stems from both, at the most primitive level.

When you crave milk as an infant, what do you do? Scream. And what happens? Someone brings you milk—which helps you “survive.” On a feeling level, screaming equals survival.

When you wake up in the middle of the night scared and alone, what do you do? Scream. Someone comes and comforts you. On a feeling level, screaming equals love and companionship.

On both counts, screaming equals success.

From that point forward, any time you have a need or a want, you scream. If it worked before, it will work again—until it doesn’t.

If your caretakers stop responding to your cries, your needs and wants nonetheless continue. If crying no longer gets a response, you try something different, a new behavior or course of action.

When you find one that works, you repeat it. And then you repeat it again. Like pieces of code wired into your personal programming, each successful act leaves a mental imprint. That worked—do it again. This didn’t—go back to plan A.

Think of every successful act as a slim wire filament. One single filament has limited strength.

As you bind it with a second one and then a third and a thousand more after that, suddenly you build a wire cable capable of holding a massive bridge—certainly strong enough to control your belief system. In short order your coding sets. The proven pattern of behavior becomes your driver, how you survive and succeed in life.

This coding shapes, molds, and forges your Mind Type, WHY you think the way you think, WHY you speak the way you speak, WHY you do literally everything that you do.

Your Mind Type quite literally takes over the governance of your existence. It is the engine that drives your decision making based on early programming that met your most fundamental needs of survival and love.

Your Mind Type will never change nor turn off. It is as much a part of you as your physical body.

Whether you know your Mind Type or you don’t, it still runs you. Like the law of gravity, it affects every choice you make—whether you understand it or not, agree with it or not, or have any knowledge of it at all.

When you embrace your Mind Type, your existence makes more sense. Your motivations flow seamlessly and elegantly. You gain immense clarity about who you are and how you view the world and operate in it. It empowers and guides you.

When you live it, you acquire immense power—the power to be yourself in all of your glory, to find where you fit and share that with the world. You answer the question: “WHO are YOU?”

When you discover your Mind Type, you understand your WHY.

You are a Superhero. Yes, YOU! Through your Mind Type, you have unique Superpowers. Each Mind Type also has its own unrivaled Kryptonite—a flaw or weakness to which that Mind Type is susceptible.

In each case the Kryptonite is directly related to the Superpower, the perfect antithesis to the Superpower’s greatest strength. When you fully understand both, you can maximize your power and neutralize the Kryptonite—you can bring forth your potential, your talent, your gifts.

There are seven Mind Types: The Giver, The Connector, The Problem Solver, The Innovator, The Perfectionist, The Rebel, and The Master. What’s yours?

Although you will always have a primary Mind Type, you can put on the Superhero cape of any of the others whenever you need to and tap into their Superpowers as well. A fully realized leader who understands his or her own Mind Type and how to use it can both recognize and appreciate the Mind Type of others and will temporarily discard their own Superhero cape in favor of another to accomplish a goal—with the understanding that they will naturally default back into their own identity with ease.

When you flick a switch and the light comes on, the room looks different in an instant. A cave that has been dark for ten thousand years brightens with a single candle. Discovering your Mind Type feels just like that—a burst of instant clarity.

We exist, decide, select, move, shift, interpret, enjoy, and agonize based on our Mind Type. It affects EVERYTHING. Don’t you want to know what yours is?

What a mess we endure as humans! Few of us truly have any clue what drives us, what guides us, or what influences our decisions. What if we could change all of that? Future-cast for a second. You fully get who you are. You understand yourself. Your relationship craziness actually makes sense—because you perceive your part in it.

Your business and career foibles become more obvious and comprehensible because you understand what part you’ve played in each challenge. You know what to do next time, how to tap your Superpower for maximum success.

Your Mind Type gives you great clarity about yourself. Your Mind Type allows you to unleash your full power. Your Mind Type complements other Mind Types who can multiply your strengths.

Discovering your Mind Type can be likened to the Hero’s Journey. To survive and thrive early on, without conscious realization you have experimented with multiple behaviors and failed many times—maybe even most of the time—and then you found something that worked, something that resonated, something that both “felt” right and yielded the desired result. Like donning a Superhero’s cape, you exert your newfound “Superpower” through the same behavior. It sticks with you.

You are Clark Kent. You step into the phone booth and come out as Superman. Except that this time, you wear your cape all the time. The only need for a phone booth is to step in and change capes—to don the powers of another Mind Type while you need them.

When you honor yourself and other Mind Types, you gain immense power—the power that comes from respect and humility, from understanding who you are, and from a desire to use your power for good. Be yourself in all of your fully expressed splendor. Our belief is that we can change the world one empowered Mind Type at a time.

All that’s left is to discover YOURS. Your future awaits!

With his “Master” Mind Type, Hubert Lee believes in digging deep into every nook and cranny of topics such as digital marketing and social media. As a Problem Solver, Ridgely Goldsborough believes in making sense out of things for the benefit of all involved—always! Together they have helped thousands of people discover their Mind Types.

www.MindTypes.com

3. A CASE OF MISTAKEN IDENTITY

Lisa Engles-Witter

To say that we live in unprecedented and turbulent times is nothing new; it’s something you’ve most likely heard, thought, and experienced. The big question on everyone’s mind is “What’s next?” Global pandemic, civil unrest, climate change, economic collapse—what’s next? Every day we’re hit with another piece of shocking news. Confidence is dwindling as uncertainty mounts.

How did we get here? How is it that we find ourselves in arguably the worst global crisis we’ve ever faced? But first we need to consider the idea that everything we’re experiencing right now is a symptom, a consequence of past actions. The crisis we’re currently facing and the tremendous suffering that has resulted both personally and collectively is caused by our conscious and unconscious actions.

The Law of Cause and Effect: Every Action Has a Consequence

It’s a simple enough idea, right? For every action, there’s an effect or a consequence. In Eastern spiritual tradition, it’s called the Law of Karma. Our actions are inseparable from and interdependent with other people. It’s impossible for the action of one person to not affect another person in their sphere of influence and ripple outward across time and space, creating a complex web of causes and conditions that result in an inconceivable number of situations, circumstances, and events. Some of these we think of as “good” or pleasurable, and others we think of as “bad” or painful.

And right now, we’re experiencing a Mount Everest of consequences at the collective level. If what we’re experiencing right now—the pain and suffering, the global crisis—is the result of our past actions, then we need to ask ourselves another question: What type of actions have led us to our current situation? Now, you might be thinking, Hey, I didn’t create this situation! They did. They meaning the politicians, the government, the other party, the lobbyists, the 1 percent who own 99 percent of the world’s wealth, the “bad guys.” They, not me is precisely the type of thinking that got us into this situation, because thinking is an action. And misinformed thinking leads to misinformed action which leads to . . . climate change, civil unrest, economic breakdowns, global pandemics, and every type of injustice and inequity.

The solution, of course, is to take responsibility for our misinformed actions (and we’ve all taken misinformed actions) and the hurt our actions have caused others and ourselves. We need to recognize that our actions have far-reaching effects, sometimes years, decades, or even lifetimes into the future. Case in point: In 1864 the Thirteenth Amendment was added to the United States Bill of Rights, as a “constitutional guarantee” of “perpetual freedom.” However, the way it was written, argued then-Massachusetts Senator Charles Sumner, was simply a deceptive way to reestablish slavery by another name. This created America’s carceral state and the disproportionate number of Black people who are incarcerated today, over 150 years later.

Our misinformed actions, however, can be traced back to something more fundamental.

So now we arrive at the point of this chapter: The reason why we’re experiencing social and global crises right now is because of a case of mistaken identity. We’ve mistaken ourselves (and others) to be something other than who we really are. Our minds and hearts have been confused, making us believe that we are our religious and political preferences, our race, color, creed, and gender. We’ve been confused into thinking and believing that we are our social status, our personality, and our intellect. This case of mistaken identity has caused us to take misinformed actions in the name of protecting something that we are not. Now is the time for us to reclaim our True Identity as a reflection of the One Infinite Love Intelligence. Through this reclamation process, we will come to realize that it’s not our body or our beliefs we need to protect with our actions—but rather our one human race and the Great Mother Gaia that provides us with life.

Answering the Question “Who am I?”

“Who am I?” and “What’s my purpose?” are perennial questions that man has been trying to answer for millennia. Knowing the answer to these questions gives our life meaning and direction. But we must begin with the first question, “Who am I?” In answering that question, the answer to the second question, “What’s my purpose?” becomes self-evident.

In Yoga philosophy, practitioners are encouraged not to think about or ponder these questions; rather, they are given time-proven practices that gradually open them to the realization—through direct experience—of the answer. So, it’s in that vein that I offer the following and encourage you to experience the Truth of who you are versus understanding it conceptually. The danger in not knowing who you really are, as a felt experience, is that you will continue to live a life in reaction to all the causes and conditions of your past (karma) and continue to take misinformed action which will sooner or later lead to the experience of suffering.

I Am a True Self