Establishing and regularly connecting with our individual priorities is an essential component of creating our lives consciously. To living mindfully, rather than living on auto-pilot and getting lost in the status quo. Your priorities will help you know what needs to change in your life and how, and serve as the motivation to take effective action. In this essay, I share with you a snapshot from my life during one of the most transformative periods and how my priorities influenced my personal growth and evolution.

The Previous New Journey

When my husband and I first got married, we knew what type of home and life we wanted to have. We were both working for companies, outside of the home, in cities that were in two opposite directions. We knew we wanted to buy a house that was somewhere in the middle, in a nice area, and not too big, but one that also suited our taste and style.

We wanted to be near the big cities, without living in one. We wanted a friendly and safe neighborhood. We wanted to fit in, without keeping up with the Joneses. We wanted to settle down in a common way, while maintaining some of our personal uniqueness. We wanted to regularly connect with family and friends in person. We wanted to focus on jobs that we felt were both comfortable and fulfilling. We felt this would create a good life.

Those were our priorities, then.

Fast forward a few years later, and so much changed! We grew. We changed. We continued to evolve emotionally and spiritually, and thus expand our consciousness on all levels.

This was now, and our priorities have changed.

The Tough Side of Change

After a period of roughly 3 years, during which we coasted comfortably, it became evident that the time had come for a major expansion. But this was not any kind of financial or business expansion, this was an internal expansion. This transformative period resulted in many, what some may consider, extreme changes in our life. And indeed, some praised our new path, while others found it to be quite unconventional, to put it mildly. It became very evident that our society is not set up for change, at least it does not seem to handle change very well. It is set up to exist within the status quo and protecting what is at all costs.

Thanks to the consciousness awakening on our planet, many more people today right from their early adult years and right through their senior years are treading new waters and abandoning old ways of life which no longer serve them. Of course many more continue to live in a very limited way, boxed into and attached to life being a certain way. Follow the pattern. Don’t cause any ripples. Blend in. Fit in. Secure the elusive future.

How many people do you know that still focus on getting a job, getting a spouse, getting a house, getting the two kids and a family pet, getting the pension and talking about retirement like it was some incredible reward to which all wanted to aspire to?

What about LIFE? What about LIVING? What about right NOW?

Don’t get me wrong, there may not be anything wrong with the above mentioned pattern, but only IF it is done with utmost conscious awareness along the way. Unfortunately, most often it isn’t. Most often the above is nothing more than a carved out pattern that is today considered the “norm”, into which many fall, thinking that this is just the way it is.

And yet, let us look at those of us who are following the most normal version of that… Many are unhappy with the job, unhappy with the spouse, saving for the future, while complaining about the present. There is not enough money, not enough time, too much to do, but in the end that is life, right? Wrong.

Life is what you make it every single step of the way, and if you are choosing to live in the mold, I guess there is no surprise as to why you might be complaining or unhappy with most in your life. After all that too, is part of the “norm“. It has actually become more “abnormal” to not complain about one’s spouse, job, kids, money situation, and anything else that can add drama to our lives, and give us something to talk about over the barbecue in the summer.

I don’t mean to sound negative in any way, but I look around and I see a lot of people who are walking around asleep. This is not a judgement, but an observation. Too many are limiting their own happiness, freedom and growth.

Every single one of us has the power to change our lives and our circumstances, but so few do. That is the tough side of change. Stepping out of the status quo feels scary and uncertain. We will most likely be shunned by family and friends as we become the “different” ones. We may stop being understood. We may even stop being liked. How would we fit in and be considered “normal” anymore in society?

And yet everyday, one by one, more people are waking up, taking life into their own hands and creation, and saying enough.

Shedding the Old To Bring in the New

About 4 and half years ago, I began what I call today my spiritual awakening. So much changed in my life. I changed so much. But nothing prepared me for the accelerated changes that would take place in the last three years. Once we surrender, once we allow our eyes to start opening and really start living with a heart-centered, rather than mind-centered approach, watch out – as the awakening effects can be exponential!

In the last three years so much change has taken place within me. And that is also the thing, I have learned that we just have to step onto the new path, in a new direction with just one foot – a conscious intention – and the Universe will take care of the rest.

Since 2007, over roughly a 3 year period, I quit a secure full time career that I loved to become relatively speaking “jobless” for the sake of pursuing my greater passions, I disconnected myself from the religion I was brought up in and all religious labels, I gave up various sentimental items, I completely changed my diet, and views on most major topics. Is that enough change for three years? And that is just me, I didn’t even mention my husband’s changes.

To mark the last part of that change and shed the old, my husband and I have decided to sell our home earlier this spring, and move out into nature, into a completely new lifestyle that is governed by the “natural“, not the “normal“. Thus, this marks my last article from our old home and old way of life, as tomorrow – May 21, 2010 – we officially part ways with it.

During this move, we have parted with a lot of material items. I cannot tell you how freeing it was! Out with the old, to bring in the new. Except the new, will not be materially based. We are not following the norm, and moving up to a bigger, grander house as most young couples our age do. We are moving into voluntary simplicity.

Current Priorities

So what are our priorities today?

Today, we prioritize having the means to grow our own food, rather than choose our home based on the distance to the nearest grocery store.

Today, we prioritize having free, clean drinking water, without the added goodies of chlorine, fluoride, pharmaceutical waste and more, over deciding which bottled water is on the best sale.

Today, we prioritize having clean air, over being close to man made attractions.

Today, we prioritize protecting the environment, over protecting our assets.

Today, we prioritize respecting the lives of animals, over adhering to traditional meals or taste buds.

Today, we prioritize sustainable living, over economic growth.

Today, we prioritize being known in a small community, rather than getting lost in a big city.

Today, we prioritize less, over more.

Today, we prioritize the present, over the future.

Today, we prioritize walking the path that is most right to our soul, rather than fitting in with the status quo.

Today, we prioritize silence and stillness, over the hustle and bustle that drowns out one’s inner being.

Conclusion

I invite you today, or perhaps at a time when your inner being will most call forth to you, to think about and truly consider your priorities at the present moment.

Are you living out your personal truths?

Are you living out your current priorities?

Are you expanding and growing in consciousness with each new day?

What is stopping you in any of these areas and how can you move towards a more authentic life?