Positivity sometimes gets a bad rap. For good reason. It’s often seen as the forced persona of someone who is afraid of their shadow.

Most of us probably agree that… Positivity can be a form of spiritual bypass when it's not rooted in true awareness. Click To Tweet And, given that many people seek coaching and healing as a means to move up out of depression or despair, I find that looking at your shadow is essential.

Two Pathways to True Awareness

In my work, I’ve found that, generally, the two pathways to awareness and understanding are the heart and the mind. Some people do better with one, or the other, or both at once.

The Heart-Centered Pathway

The heart-centered path is love… to think it (positive thoughts and attitude), feel it, merge with it, dissolve in it, be it. This path is about focusing on love, seeing love in everything, embodying love as completely as you can until you accept love as reality. It is blissful to dance, sing, meditate in high states of awareness, and open to joy beyond understanding. Shadows melt in the light of the truth of love. The mind’s desire for conscious understanding becomes redundant in love’s radiance. What is left to understand? (Who is left to understand?!) And then, a paradox arises as the heart’s knowing satisfies the mind through insight and awareness.

This path is difficult to reach for the deeply wounded because it is almost impossible to even touch joy when you are in depression or despair. So, I usually start with the path of mind for those who come to me in those states.

The Mind-Centered Pathway

The mind-centered pathway is to sift through the shadow, the wounding, and identify what is yours/not yours, truth/untruth. The mind-centered path can be grueling, drawn out over years and years, and still be ineffective if you never “hit the wall” of the mind’s inability to understand love. However, with time or skilled assistance it can work. This path is made easier by also incorporating the path of love.

A Balanced Approach to Awareness

To help a client merge the mind and heart is my ultimate goal as a spiritual coach. Oftentimes my clients need to have a conscious understanding of the workings of their subconscious before they can accept or give love, and I help them by teaching them loving inquiry and how to integrate their insights. It’s effective. With the heart’s help, the mind can eventually release the grip of fear that keeps us feeling isolated. When the mind and heart are united, there is pure awareness of what is needed in the moment, and flow in life. When we embody loving presence, positivity is not a bypass. It is our truest expression. Click To Tweet

What’s your relationship with positivity? Leave a comment below!

Rich Blessings, Jack (and Stacey)

One More Thing…

If you’d like to be supported to embody loving presence and positivity, start with a spiritual coaching session. I’d be honored to help you.