Navigating Your Lifepath: Reclaiming Your Self, Recapturing Your Vision
Section III: Entering the Forest
In Section III, the material and assignments are focused on the areas below to support your process.
Tasks:
—Creating mindfulness
—Kenosis
—Widening possibilities
Metaquestions:
—How do I inform my life?
—What are my gifts?
—What do I transform?
Presuppositions:
—You already have the resources you need.
—The map is not the territory.
— You are a gift.
— You always have choice.
— The more flexibility you allow, the more expanded you become.
Success
To laugh often and much;
to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children;
to earn the appreciation of critics and endure the betrayal of false friends;
to appreciate beauty;
to find the best in others;
to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition;
to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived.
This is to have succeeded.
— Ralph Waldo Emerson
Mining Resources
Thus far, you’ve set your intent, defined what is important in your life and named some specific outcomes you wish to focus on during this coursework. In doing so, you have already embarked on your journey even though there may not seem to be much movement as yet — or perhaps there is. You can begin to experience an undercurrent of excitement and anticipation because, having actually named the life you desire, you’ve released a message. You sent the scout ahead, into the forest, as a lookout to attract to you what will fulfill your dreams, and to deflect what does not. This is the nature of reality. Your reality.
As a quester, you are sent allies to guide you on your journey. It is your responsibility to recognize them. Recognition is indeed the challenge sometimes. Many are sometimes blind to what they are offered, particularly when that ally comes from within the Self.
— Are you aware of the resources that dwell within you?
— Have you forgotten who you are?
— Have you kept your gifts hidden?
If you’re not fully aware of your heroic qualities, or are keeping your gifts under wraps, now is the time to recognize your own inner ally. That ally will serve you well and provide you with strength along the way.
1. Think of a time when you had a peak experience. Access a particular time when you knew that you were “right on.” Really step into that situation. Immerse yourself in the sights, sounds, feelings, even smells and tastes. Re-experience it fully.
2. Integrating the resource. You exist at different levels that are naturally integrated to make up the totality of who you are in the world. Explore the levels here.
— Where, when and with whom does your peak experience take place?
— What are you doing in that environment?
— How are you able to have this particular peak experience? What are your capabilities?
— What do you believe about yourself that you are able to create this success?
3. Create a metaphor that answers each of the next two questions. Metaphors are very attractive to the mind and “go in” at a deeper level. See some examples below.
I am a gentle wind blowing raindrops.
I am a strong oak tree with deep roots.
I am a gardener seeding the soil.
I am a bright star lighting the galaxy.
— Who are you that you create your peak experience?
— What does that say about your connection to what is greater than yourself in creating your peak experience?
SPIRIT: Who else?
IDENTITY: Who?
BELIEFS: Why?
CAPABILITIES: How?
BEHAVIORS: What?
ENVIRONMENT: Where? When?
Levels of Experience
Spirit equates to Vision. Within Spirit resides intent.
Identity equates to Mission.
Beliefs give motivation and permission.
Capabilities generate direction.
Behaviors are the actions and contain the highest quality information for internal processes.
Environment is the nature of constraints and what is resident surrounding the person.
Each person is a microcosm (parts) within a macrocosmic system (whole).
4. Re-sourcing. You already have the resources you need. When you bump up against a problem and get stuck, it may well be that you’ve forgotten that you actually do have the qualities you need to move through the challenge you are facing. It’s just in another context of your life. For instance, say that I’m nervous about public speaking. But I freely speak with my friends and colleagues. Since I am already confident there, I can map it over — or re-source it into a larger context.
Think about your outcomes for Navigating Your Lifepath. Where could you use the inner qualities you have uncovered in your peak experience?
—Recall your success once again and step into that time. Experience the sights, sounds, feelings, smells and tastes.
—Re-source the experience of your success into your chosen outcome as you bring it to mind now.
—Be aware of your expanded experience in your chosen outcome and the increased possibilities therein.
— Witness yourself in the future having these expanded possibilities with your chosen outcome.
Panning for Gold
All your resources are nuggets of gold that filter through your greater identity and connections in the world. Explore at least three peak experiences using the method in 1–3 above. Create an image that captures your imagination or use the graphic provided below, naming your resources and metaphors. Put this picture where you can see it daily. Draw sustenance from it. These are your inner allies. These are your strongest supporters. You are never alone and always in good company.
Learning Discernment
Having released your message of intent, the news has gone out in, what you may consider, a strange way. It’s the call for certain treasures to be dropped periodically on the path of your travels.
This is the gift: Any expectations you may carry, like a sack on your back, will likely be exacerbated. Remember, expectation comes from intention, which is a misalignment to intent. Your response to a situation will bring thoughts and behaviors in alignment with either intent or intention based on your focus.
If intent is present, you will move along your path easily. You will invoke heroic qualities that perhaps you didn’t even know you possessed. You will be alert to guideposts and maintain the flexibility necessary to respond to the higher path. This is true even in the face of things not going your way — so to speak. (Even thinking of “your way” is a signal of expectation.)
If intention is operating, you will bump up against things and have another kind of response. This type of response is a convolution. It’s a convoluted expression — thought and action — based upon attachment to form.
Part of the reason intentions are now exacerbated is because you’re awake, but intent is still waiting in the wings. At some level, you’re beginning to instruct yourself in awareness of any mismatches in your life that keep you from co-creating your full intent. Intention and expectation also have to emerge in order for you to know they are there — in order to release them. It’s difficult to transform something holding you back if you don’t even know you have it!
Most of us move happily along until some form of stress arrives in our lives. That’s when we’re most able to discern where we are on the continuum of intent to intention. Here are some guidelines to use.
If there’s no investment, there’s no effect. To explain further, if you’re not attached to form, then there will be no negative response. Instead, if something different is presented than what you thought would be, you can be open rather than closed. You can then test it against your core values to see if it’s a match, even though it’s coming to you in another way. If you’re open to form, then opportunities increase.
How does this honor me? Ask yourself this question in the midst of your response to a situation. Also understand that there’s a very thin line between the ego’s defense and true honoring.
In what ways does expectation raise its head? Be alert not only to your thoughts, verbal exchanges and actions, but also how you feel in your body. There’s a felt difference between contraction and expansion, flexibility and inflexibility, etc.
Learning Discernment: Follow this exploration in order to know your own tendencies and what is resident.
1. Recall a stressful time in your life when you rose above the situation.
—What were the heroic qualities — states of being and actions — you evoked?
—What was the motivation?
—How did this align with your intent?
—Is there something you would do more of?
2. Recall a stressful time in your life when you responded less than resourcefully.
—What was the convolution?
—What was the secondary gain?
—How did this expression align with your intention?
—What would you do differently now?
3. For learning purposes, explore in what ways the expressions below could be valid or convoluted depending on what is behind them?
Persistence:
Courage:
Love:
Confusion:
Anger:
Crying:
Judging:
Disconnecting:
Rescuing:
Apathy:
Others:
4. How will any tendencies you presently have assist or hinder you on your path? How will you use this new understanding?
Section III Assignments
1. Continue to:
a) take steps toward your outcome(s);
b) perform your chosen practice;
c) journal your dreams, experiences, resistances, learnings, etc. Begin to note any common themes.
2. If you have not already done so, finish your Panning for Gold image. Begin to use a resource in a new context related to your chosen outcome(s). Journal your experiences.
3. Finish your exploration in Learning Discernment. Allow yourself to go deeply into this exercise. The more understanding you have, the more you will assist yourself.
4. Create a collage or mandala showing yourself or some symbol of yourself birthing the life you desire. The elements of your life can be represented literally or metaphorically. You may draw it or use pictures from magazines. It can be any shape or size and of any material. Just use your imagination and make sure it is deeply meaningful to you. Display your creation where you can readily see it. The more you take in the image, the more it will settle in your unconscious mind to help create reality.
5. Read:
a. Calling Our Spirits Home — Chapter 5 “Things Buried Deep and Tended Well.”
b. Standing Stark — Chapter 4 “Intentful Existence” and Chapter 6 “What Matters.”
6. Listen to the audio teaching of Entering the Forest:
Lifepath Session 3 (MP3 file, 46.7 MB)
Note: Access Calling Our Spirits Home and Standing Stark in serial chapter format in the publication Illumination on Medium for free. Chapters in assignments are linked above.
Entering the Forest (PDF file, 224 KB)
If you need assistance with the material or outcome you seek, please refer to consultations.
Bio
Carla Woody is a spiritual mentor, writer, and visual artist. She is the founder of Kenosis, an organization based in Prescott, Arizona, supporting human potential since 1999 through life enhancement coaching, retreats and spiritual travel programs working with Indigenous leaders and healers in the US, Mexico, Central, and South America. In 2007 she founded Kenosis Spirit Keepers, a volunteer-run 501(c)3 nonprofit organization to help preserve Indigenous traditions threatened with decimation.
Table of Contents
Section I: Preparing for the Journey
Jack London Quote
Questions We Live By
The Re-Membering Process Model
Presuppositions to Support Your Journey
Our Work
Tenets of Intent
Setting Intent
Readiness
The Cycle of Fulfillment
The Threshold
Understanding Your Values
Commitment
Journaling as an Ally
Section I Assignments
Section II: Setting the Direction
Life Energy
Whole Life Balance
The Bright Hope
Setting The Direction
Setting Outcomes Worksheet
Systems
Voice and Expression
The Juxtaposition
Building a Foundation
Section II Assignments
Section III: Entering the Forest
Success
Mining Resources
Panning for Gold
Learning Discernment
Section III Assignments
Section IV: Transforming the Dragon
How You Fulfill Your Destiny
Emotional Freedom Technique
Uncovering Limiting Beliefs
Clearing Limiting Beliefs
Understanding Homeostasis
Elements of Reformation
Evolutionary Dimensions of Archetypes
Section IV Assignments
Section V: Uncovering the Jewels
Doing and Being
Striving to Surrender
Activating the Witness
Telltale Signs
Creating Space
Starting Within
Paving the Pathway of Your Future
Spiritual Travel: Destination or Process?
Section V Assignments
Section VI: Engaging Your Allies
Hafiz Poem
Embracing All Parts
Relating to Relationship
Section VI Assignments
Section VII: Negotiating the Landscape
The Art of Reciprocity
The Principle of Seed Money
Giving and Receiving in Relationship
The Energy of Money
Section VII Assignments
Section VIII: Bringing It All Home
The Outcome of Intent
The Point of Re-Entry
The Disney Creativity Strategy
Sorting and Behavioral Styles
The Importance of Acknowledgement
The Nature of True Community
The Stages of Learning
An Autobiography in Five Chapters
Walking the Edge
Your Legacy
The Despacho Ceremony
Excerpt: Portals to the Vision Serpent
Section VIII Assignments
Copyright 1999–2021 by Carla Woody. All rights reserved. No portion of this manual, except for brief review, may be reproduced in any form without written permission of the publisher. Inquiries may be directed to: Kenosis Press, P.O. Box 10441, Prescott, AZ 86304, info@kenosis.net.
Also by Carla Woody:
Standing Stark: The Willingness to Engage. Read in Illumination Book Chapters.
Calling Our Spirits Home: Gateways to Full Consciousness. Read in Illumination Book Chapters.
Portals to the Vision Serpent. Coming soon to Illumination Book Chapters.
