To evolve means “to develop from a simple to a more complex form.”
However, for this blog I prefer “to come forth, gradually, into being more of your potential,” after all we’re here to learn about growing as individuals to achieve a better life experience for ourselves, right?
By definition, evolve means to change, so the next questions become, How do we create positive change, What will we change into, and How does this change impact our lives? I’ll answer these questions shortly but first I would like to provide some relevant context so the answers become more meaningful for you.
Who am I now?
This journey of life we are on is one of continuously unfolding possibilities. There is no ‘set’ way for us to be living, and there are no single answers to life’s big questions that will satisfy everyone.
We can look to nature for inspiration as nature is never static, but very dynamic, and always in a constant state of growth, always filling in the gaps in the best possible ways. Even when decaying, nature is busy returning the raw materials back to herself to be recycled into something new. No potential is wasted, and life never rests but continues to create even more life.
However, for humanity, the majority of us have been programmed to live within clearly defined boundaries and our programming is preventing us from exploring our huge potential for more personal growth and development. The possibilities for greatness we are all born with are usually stifled from the moment of our conception and continue throughout our lives as we are compelled to conform to, and then to perpetuate the current consensus reality.
We are encouraged, pressured, and even forced, to comply with all the written and unwritten rules of our societies, and if you think about it, this happens without our informed consent. After all, how could we give consent to all the rules, regulations, restrictions, and conditioning that we have received since birth when at birth, we had no conscious ability to comprehend language, rules, the world, and its cultures.
So, by default, we accepted programs (the ideas and beliefs of our families and cultures) and we became a product of the environment we were born into. We were born a ‘blank slate’ and have gradually, with time, evolved into who we are now. And those of us who take the time to reflect on the meaning of our lives are often left feeling like we are missing out on something greater, something important!
What happened to us that we lost our ability to continually evolve?
In our early years, even though we were not conscious of it, it seems that we are naturally primed towards phenomenal growth. We learned so much without having to think about it or working hard to achieve it. Learning new things was exciting and we were passionate to understand the world around us. Everything new had to go into our mouths, unfamiliar sounds would grab our attention, and pulling the cat’s tail made us squeal with delight.
We quite naturally learned how to walk, talk, ride a bike, socialize, and do thousands of other things. Then something went wrong!
Unfortunately, as we were ‘taught’ (indoctrinated with) more of the ‘rules’ over time, it seems that our natural ability for learning diminished until many of us just settled into a familiar and comfortable life which doesn’t allow opportunities for us to see, or hope for, much beyond what we are currently experiencing.
For many people, this means that their evolution effectively came to a standstill. They basically stopped learning anything new and significant that would challenge them in any meaningful sort of way.
They are either content to remain as they are, are afraid of the unknown that comes with changing themselves, or they are unaware that far greater possibilities for an amazing life experience afraid of the unknown that comes with changing themselves, or they are unaware that far greater possibilities for an amazing life experience are waiting for them just above the horizon. I say greater possibilities because evolution never goes backward, it is always moving forward to something better than what it currently ‘is.’
Is evolving a choice that I can still make now?
To continue to evolve, or not, is a choice we can ALL consciously make at any time (remember, NOW is the only time that we have any conscious influence over). Few people are wise enough to realize this, and the rest of us……….well, we just sit around waiting for things to happen.
If you are lucky like me, the choice will have been made for you.
For some of us, it almost seems as if our souls don’t like ‘easy, complacency, and mediocrity.’ So we are ‘given’ situations to shake us up a bit (or tear our smug lives apart) to encourage us to change.
I say I was lucky because I didn’t realize that I could change, should change, that change was even a possibility. It was never something that was actively discussed within my family or group of friends.
Looking back, I can honestly say that I was previously just scratching the surface of life and that so much more was always available for me to experience than what I was living at the time. I was too busy living my life in a bubble that I could not see outside of the bubble. I needed to be kicked out of my comfortable, easy, lifestyle so that I would wake up and look over the horizon to become aware of the greater possibilities and more opportunities.
So, circumstances in my life conspired to give me a much-needed ‘kick in the bum.’ I was forced to take a good look at myself, and ask the big questions: Who am I, What am I doing, and, What is it that I want to do with the rest of my life?
I am forever grateful that the most painful experience in my life turned out to be the greatest gift that I have ever received. I can say this now because from then, I have been using my time to create the best possible life experience that I can for myself, and those that I love and am surrounded by. Life is great, better than I knew what was possible, and this is why I encourage all of you to continue to evolve yourselves until your very last breath so that you too can go out saying, Wow, that was a life worth living!
Why would I want to evolve myself?
The journey that got each of us here has been unique, and that is why there is no one else on the planet who is exactly like us. We are all distinctive individuals even though we still conform to the common ‘herd mentality’ for the majority of our waking lives.
For most of us, our personalities, unique as they are, still only allow us to play the game of life within the rules of the game, or the matrix, which makes up the ‘playing field’ (the rules of time and space, societies, families, and religions, etc.) And this matrix, because it has rules, will only allow us to evolve up to a certain limit. However, the majority of us have reached nowhere near that limit, and this means there is still plenty of scope for all of us to evolve, mentally, physically, and spiritually, right here and right now.
Luckily, there have always been individuals who have pushed against the boundaries and sought to extend themselves beyond what most of us accept as life’s limits. Two of my favorite examples are The Buddha, and Jesus Christ, both of whom were subjected to the mind-numbing conditioning of their times, and yet managed to overcome all the obstacles to evolve into enlightened beings. And through their examples, and their teachings, they have shown us that the same possibility exists for us.
Our evolution is only ever restricted by ourselves. We are ALL very capable of seeking new information and new experiences to propel our lives into new directions for more love, joy, success, abundance, and power, and if our desires are up to speed with what our soul desires for us, then the growth that we achieve will be extremely rewarding in terms of increased satisfaction with our life experience.
How do we evolve ourselves into something more than we are now?
There are about seven and a half billion people on the planet, and no two people will walk the same path. This means there are many, many, paths to creating a better life for ourselves than the life we are currently living, and really, there is no limit to what is possible.
We will ALL eventually achieve a state of enlightenment, however, whether we choose to pursue it in this current lifetime, or not, is up to us. We may just be happy to settle for some small positive benefits that slow change bestows upon us like greater abundance, a smoother flow to life, fewer problems, more love and joy, a greater sense of self-satisfaction, and a feeling of self-empowerment. While others may be ready to take a much bigger leap!
As I mentioned earlier, evolution requires positive change. Positive change is achieved with purposeful attention to our lives, (mindfulness, or conscious awareness) and by being focused on what we wish to achieve. We will never arrive if we have not set our destination! Knowing how we want to be and how we want to be living in the future is the key to achieving it.
So we have a choice: We can sit around and wait for something to happen to bring random changes into our lives, or, WE CAN MAKE POSITIVE AND DELIBERATE CHANGES TO OUR LIVES TO STEER US IN THE DIRECTION WE WANT TO GO AND THEN REAP THE REWARDS AND BENEFITS THAT THIS BRINGS.
The easiest way to create positive change in our lives, starting now, is to rebuild our personality to ‘become the person we wish to be.’ We can look to our role models, or people like Jesus and Buddha, and begin to copy their belief systems and behaviors into our lives. And even if this is difficult or uncomfortable in the beginning, it will become easier and easier as we persist until we eventually become the type of person we are emulating. The action of ACTING ‘AS IF’ WE ALREADY ARE, WILL WITH TIME, BECOME LIVING AS ‘ALREADY BECOME.’
We can effectively be ‘BORN AGAIN’ in personality to BECOME the person we desire to be.
Massive changes require effort and this means that we need to become more consciously aware of our thoughts, feelings, and actions, at all times.
Are there any processes available that can help me speed up my evolution?
Yes, there are.
Meditation and mindfulness are great practices for becoming more self-aware of who we currently are and exposing what thought processes and beliefs we have that are holding us back.
For more information, check out some of my other posts:
What is the real purpose of meditation?
How will I benefit by practicing mindfulness?
Learn to meditate: The two biggest secrets that actually work!
Yoga, Tai Chi, Qigong, and intentional breathing are some other methods that have been used for centuries to help people evolve themselves.
And recent technologies including brainwave entrainment tools are increasingly being used to speed up people’s progress towards creating better lives for themselves and on the way to enlightenment.
You can check out my reviews of the best products currently available here:
The Raikov Effect: How can I hack my brain for success?
How The Medici Code helped me change my life.
The Light Code: How can we thrive in these uncertain times?
As we evolve, we become aware of a greater purpose for our lives. This purpose is to become the ‘deliberate creator’ we were born to be. This means that instead of living life by default, we take control and have a clear purpose in mind for every thought that we think, every word we speak, and for every action we take.
Our purpose, while focused on ourselves, will infect the overall wellbeing and joy of all beings that we share our homes, countries, world, and universe with.
By purposefully looking to evolve ourselves, everyone and everything wins 🙂
Check out my next post that talks about: Why evolving ourselves is important.
Shared with love and respect for all beings that choose to play the game of life.
Andrew
I believe that without development it is impossible to move forward and achieve your goals. This applies not only to life in general but also to the development of my hobby and the development of my business. All this requires certain new knowledge and skills, and all the time. You have a great article that gives you the opportunity to weigh in the right direction I am moving.
Hi Milos. Yes, I agree with you that we have to keep developing ourselves. This is because as we attain one goal, we then set our sights on new goals. New goals mean that we have to learn new information and new ways of behaving in the world because we cannot achieve something that we don’t have the information about.
You are right that the same rules about achievement apply to our work life, and personal life, in fact, all that we do and want to achieve.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts,
Have a great day 🙂
Andrew
Hey Andrew, thanks for sharing this thoughtful article. I’m also a big fan of personal development and growth. The sad truth is, we live in a society that is designed to stop or limit the growth of an individual.
However, we’re wired to evolve and grow all the time. And we do until a certain age. Then, the system steps in and takes over.
But if an individual steps outside of the box (the system) and starts searching for the truth, he or she can easily get back on the right track by setting some personal goals. As you said, positive change is achieved through purposeful attention to our lives, and I couldn’t agree more!
In my experience, this is the key to evolution. Thanks a lot for sharing this awesome post! Keep up the good work.
Hi Ivan. Thanks for stopping by. It seems we are in agreement about how the system wants to control our lives and as a result, actually ends up limiting our potential. The way through, as individuals is to become more aware, more of the time, so we have the power to make decisions that are for our benefit.
I ‘bash’ the system in my posts, however, due to the Law of Attraction, we have the system we deserve. As a conscious species, we have attracted this current system due to the collective beliefs and thoughts we have, and because of the actions we have and haven’t taken. However, I do believe that we have been manipulated, or steered down certain paths that do not support our original intention for our experience on earth….. which is to evolve into the remembrance of the magnificent creators that we already are.
Instead, we are fed fear, lies, and poisons, on a daily basis to keep us ‘small’ and to slow down our evolution. The recent endless wars, pandemics, terrorist threats, etc. in my opinion, are all orchestrated to keep us fearful and stressed, and while in this state, many of us willingly give up our freedoms (in the name of security) and allow our respective puppet governments to keep us, dumb, uninformed, misinformed, and therefore robbed of our potential.
Having said that, there is a way out, and that is to evolve ourselves, one by one, and the time will soon come when enough individuals are ‘aware’ of their true magnificent selves, that the vibration of the planet will be raised up and then rest of the populations will remember that they are actually powerful creators.
I wish you well on your journey, and look forward to seeing you on ‘the other side.’
With much respect,
Andrew
Hi Andrew,
It’s funny, while reading I was reminded of two separate groups of people that I know, who live at opposite ends of the world (almost), but typically live life in a bubble.
I’m probably being a little stereotypical by bunching people into “groups”, but I just mean, in the main, these are how certain people act.
Anyway, both groups don’t tend to look outside their “bubble” and live each day in the exact same way.
There are certain things they will do every day, and certain things they won’t, but they never veer from the path too far and venture into something different.
Not to be contradictory, but as a whole, both groups of people seem fairly content in their lives, but as someone who has undergone an “evolving journey” in recent years, I can’t help but think they’re simply living on autopilot.
In effect, the attitude is, this is how our parents, grandparents, great grandparents lived, so we’re going to live in the exact same manner until the day they die.
If things go wrong in life, they immediately accept defeat, and blame everything and everyone else around them, or seem to sink into a pit of depression.
I’m not sure if any of this makes sense Andrew, but I always think that perhaps these “groups of people”, people that I do consider friends or acquaintances, could possibly have a far more fulfilling life.
But in the same respect, as I’ve mentioned, for the most part, they seem fairly content with life, but often I have no idea what’s going on underneath the surface.
Very thought-provoking as always Andrew.
Partha
Hi Partha.
Yes, very interesting. As you say we never really know what’s going on under the surface. However, when you mention “If things go wrong in life, they immediately accept defeat, and blame everything and everyone else around them, or seem to sink into a pit of depression,” this gives us a really good indication that they are not yet grown-up enough to accept responsibility for their own lives, and are absolutely not aware that they are actually creating the very reality that they are not happy with.
I think it’s probably true that not everyone who is alive today is here to evolve. I think some of them are hee ‘just for the hell of it,’ just to experience what living in a body on planet earth s like at this time in history. It’s just a theory I have based on observation, because some people have their head so deeply buried in the sand that I don’t think they will ever look up for the ‘light.’ (I’m hoping I’m wrong about this, but at the end of the day it doesn’t really matter as ALL life choices are perfectlly valid choices.)
But for some of us, we desire newness, change, excitement, and growth, just for the fun of it, and just because we can do it. I, for one, could not imagine doing the same thing each and every day, the same things my parents and grandparents did. However, this does not mean that they are necessarily un-enlightened people.
I thik people should be appreciated for who they are and not what they do. I’m reminded of the saying again, “before enlightenment chop wood and bring water, and after enlightenment chop wood and bring water.’ I guess whoever said this was cold and thirsty? haha.
Enjoy your day, chopping wood and carrying water?????
Cheers mate,
Andrew
Hey,
This is such a great article, as I love to talk about evolving and our personal growth. Just the other day I was talking about a very similar topic. I wrote the following:
“Your personal growth can only come from one person, you. Having that self-belief that you will make it work is an absolute must. Growing and developing yourself is imperative to build that bright future. Reading this book is the start to developing yourself and growing. So, the next step is to take a chance on yourself.”
I love how you are talking about something very similar and want to help others to do the same.
Keep sharing these kinds of posts and thank you for your great work.
All the best,
Tom
Hey Tom. Awesome, thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment.
I have to agree with what you have said. Personal growth is something that we have to do for ourselves, and it is the level of belief that we have in ourselves that determines what we will achieve.
We can all have a bright future, however, it amazes me how few people still relize this. Siting around nd waiting for outside circumstances to change in our favor is a waste of time, because our circumstances are not going to change unless we change urselves first.
Have a great day mate!
Cheers,
Andrew