The first time I ever heard of a higher self was in Shirley Maclaine’s book, Out on a Limb. I was young, though, and didn’t really understand who this higher self person was, or what her importance to me might be. Once I became an adult, however, I learned exactly who my higher self is and why I needed to get to know her as intimately as possible.
Who is the Higher Self?
Your higher self is you. You in the ether. Your higher self is the real you, your total soul consciousness. The you that is living here on Earth is just a projection of the consciousness of your higher self. Your higher self is the more complete you, the one that isn’t being frustrated by the veil that draws down upon us when we incarnate that causes us to forget where we came from. The higher self is the one in possession of your spiritual contract, the plan you made for yourself before you incarnated. He or she has your instruction manual and your life plan in his/her hot little hands. Want to speak to him/her? Yeah, I thought you might.
Where is your Higher Self?
Let’s call your higher self HS for the rest of this article. HS is neither male nor female, but for the purposes of this incarnation, you’ll probably want to identify HS in your current gender. Your higher self resides in the ether, but is still quite connected to you. Nothing can break that connection. HS has access to your thoughts, goals, intentions, everything you’re thinking and feeling and wondering. There is a conduit that goes directly between you here on Earth and HS up in the ether.
What is the role of the Higher Self?
Your HS is watching over you and helping to steer you in the direction you intended to go when you created your spiritual contract (your life plan). HS knows where you’re supposed to be, and when, and who you’re supposed to meet and when. Before you incarnated, your higher self got together with some spirit guides and basically said, “Will you watch over me when I incarnate? I’d particularly like your help to accomplish X.” HS gets all your guides together, explains the plan and how they will be able to help you, and then prepares to cast a portion of its consciousness onto Earth. HS works with guides of your future parents as well, to make sure they’re in the right place and the right time doing the baby dance at the right time of the month. Once you are born, however, all you have of your higher self is an ethereal connection, which you will hopefully feel or discover as you tool along through life. Your HS also scrambles to edit your life plan if, through your free will, you “mess” things up and get off track.
How do you reconnect with your Higher Self?
First know that you are always connected to your higher self, but what we want to do is consciously reconnect with HS. If you can accomplish this, you’ll have access to your life plan! Score! The first thing I recommend people do is begin to hear their higher self. Sometimes HS sounds like intuition. Sometimes HS sounds like the voice of your mother warning you not to play ball in the house. Sometimes HS sounds like the voice of reason, or justice, mercy, or compassion. Sometimes HS says, “He’s hot, we want to marry him!” If you’re aware, you can probably discern the voice of your HS versus the voice of your ego, which is usually fear-based.
If hearing isn’t your thing, try seeing your higher self. My method is to imagine myself going to a garden, imagining a gazebo or a stone bench, and requesting that my higher self sit with me and talk to me (she usually brings tea and cookies, though I protest since I don’t like tea, to which she shrugs and says, “yes you do”). When you first do this, it’s going to feel like you’re imagining the whole thing. As Joan of Arc once said, “Well how else would God speak to me if not through my imagination?” But the way you can tell when you’re speaking with HS instead of your own ego is by the answers HS gives you. When the answers to the questions you’re asking start to sound wiser or more knowledgeable than you usually do, you’re probably talking to HS. When you get insights into your current situation and the advice seems sound, it’s probably HS. Just keep talking to this manifestation of your higher self until it feels like you’re talking to someone else and the answers you’re getting don’t seem like they’re coming from your own head. This can take time and practice. You need to achieve a high state of consciousness to do this. HS can only come down so far to your level.
Another method to reach your higher self is through journaling. Using journaling softwareor just a Microsoft Word document, type up a question, listen for the answer, and type it. Then ask another question. Keep going. In the beginning you may be talking to your ego. But go deeper because before long you’ll notice a shift in the answers you’re getting. They won’t seem like they’re coming from you. Don’t filter them, just type what you hear. Play meditative music in the background while you’re doing this which will help raise your vibration.
If you can manage a lucid dream, those are excellent vehicles for reaching your higher self. The next time you find yourself in a lucid dream, ask your higher self to appear and have a conversation.
What does your higher self look like?
This is open for interpretation. My higher self looks a little like Alanis Morissette when she played God in the movie Dogma. Don’t ask me why. Your HS might look exactly like you, or an older version of you, or a wise man, or a greek goddess. Whatever. What HS looks like isn’t important, as long as you feel the energy is that of your higher self.
The ultimate guide
Your higher self is your ultimate guide because HS knows you intimately, more even than the angels or your spirit guides. Because HS is you. Even when you don’t hear, see, or feel HS, trust me, HS is right there with you. Where else is HS going to go? Once you’ve tuned in to your higher self you’ll be able to get some key information about why you’re here and where you should be going next, and with whom you should be going there. Take advantage of that information. It’s not cheating.
Make a date with your higher self
Once you’ve reconnected with your higher self, speak to him/her often. Sometimes if I haven’t checked in with HS in a while, I will start getting signs that she wants to tell me something. Sort of like a spiritual, “You’ve got mail!” When that happens, I’ll open my journal program and channel a message from her, or have a conversation. She’s always there when I need her, and sometimes she knows when I need her before I’ve realized it. Sometimes my higher self wants to speak to me so badly that while I’m doing a reading for someone else, she will waylay me for a moment to give me a message and then drop me back off where I was. I’ve tried telling her that the middle of a reading is not an appropriate time to drag me away for a chat, but she admonishes that if I visited her more often she wouldn’t have to do that. She always wins that argument.
So, make a weekly appointment with your higher self and find out what HS wants to tell you. It will be worth it, I assure you. Since reconnecting with my higher self I’ve manifested better psychic abilities, entered a higher level of consciousness, and now I go around singing and dancing for no apparent reason, and walking around the grocery store with a silly grin on my face.
Just imagine what will happen to your life when you’ve reconnected with your own higher self!