Diversity Leads to Growth, Greater Awareness, and Consciousness Expansion

Growth, greater awareness, and consciousness expansion requires that you diversify your interests, your friendships, your activities, and your mindset.

Expanding in consciousness and awareness often means expanding your mind, your relationships, your experiences, and so much more.

I often notice diversity … more notably, I tend to notice the lack of diversity. While viewing a business summit, I notice when all (or almost all) of the speakers are men … and often white men.

I remember my first job after college. I was a new industrial engineer and was given a very important assignment. Someone in the engineering group at company headquarters had come down with a disease that doctors couldn’t seem to diagnose. So, they had to find people to take over all the guy’s projects. Most were divvied up between the various other engineers at corporate. But a couple of assignments were handed to me. I was the only new recruit working in the corporate offices.

Every other week, I flew out of Lancaster, Pennsylvania through Pittsburg or Philly, to get to Columbus Ohio on a Monday and then returned on Friday doing one of the assignments I’d been given.

One day, there was some issue with the travel plans and I was rerouted through Harrisburg, Pennsylvania on my return flight. Harrisburg was only about an hour from where I lived at the time. I went to the gate in Pittsburg to wait to board the plane to Harrisburg. As I looked around at the people who would be on the plane with me, I was dismayed by my observations. Every single person in the waiting room was white (not even a tan), a bit or more than a bit overweight, and not a stylish outfit anywhere. It was the 80’s, when stylish outfits were pretty much everywhere. And I loved jaunts to New York City to see and buy them.

It was just one more sign letting me know that Pennsylvania Dutch Country was probably not the best place for me to be. I love going to major airports where people are flying in from countries across the globe, many wearing their native dress. You see people of all shapes and sizes wearing the most wonderful outfits speaking lots of interesting languages.

Soon, thankfully, I was reassigned to Portland Oregon … land of ethnic neighborhoods, fabulous festivals, lots of outdoor sports (biking, hiking, wind surfing, skiing), monthly art walks, and more.

Romance took me back to Pennsylvania.

It was then that I had a massive spiritual awakening and Stuart Wilde became my metaphysical mentor. At his 8-day Warriors in the Mist training high in the Sangre de Christo Mountains, he asked  where I lived. When I responded, “Pennsylvania,” he looked at me and said, “Pennsylvania is an ingrown toenail.”

I laughed so hard I almost cried. He told me I had to go west.

Before long, I was living on an island on the West Coast having co-founded a non-profit for dolphins and whales.

When you want to expand in consciousness and awareness, you have to be willing to expand everything – the things you are willing to try, the ideas you are willing to entertain, the people you are willing to meet and spend time with, the places you go, the things you do, etc.

Not doing so keeps you limited … in your thinking, your beliefs, your view of the world, and your behavior.

Stuart did all sorts of things in the training on purpose to break up your patterns … getting you up at 4 am, not feeding you breakfast until noon. It was to get you out of your “same old same old” thinking, breaking free of worn out habits, and becoming open to new things.

When I was homeschooling, I did some research on socialization … since many people don’t think home schoolers get enough. One thing I found interesting is that studies show even in schools with lots of diversity, kids tend to hang out with others like themselves – same color skin, same style in clothing, same religion, same economic status. Just because we have the opportunity for diversity in our lives doesn’t mean we avail ourselves of those opportunities.

It takes getting outside your comfort zone sometimes to break out of that.

How often do you:

• eat in the same places,
• spend time with the same friends talking about the same things,
• travel to the same locations,
• get up at the same time, or
• go to bed at the same time?

Or, on the flip side … (a reference to the back side of a record for those too young to remember)

How often do you:

• try a new restaurant,
• take up a new hobby or skill,
• go to a new place,
• meet new people,
• read a book in a different genre,
• sleep in, or
• stay up late?

Are you only friends with people just like yourself? Do they dress like you, talk like you, like all the same things?

If you need any convincing, just look at what happens without diversity.

I love diverse neighborhoods, communities, and cities. I’ve been traveling my whole life and I love learning about and experiencing other cultures. International festivals and festivals celebrating specific countries or cultures are often especially fun.

Adding some variety to your life helps you expand your mind … and in turn, your consciousness and awareness.

When I lived north of Santa Fe, I was often the only white person at the grocery store. Everyone else was either Indigenous American or Hispanic with brown eyes, brown hair, and brown skin.

I’m always fascinated, and feel deeply blessed, by the diversity of my circle of friends: African American, Hispanic, Jewish, Christian, Buddhist, Cherokee, Navajo, Lakota, Pueblo, Hindu, Taoist, Pagan, Wiccan, Secular, LGBTQ+, Democrat, Republican, … the list just goes on. And they aren’t limited to the country I live in. They are in countries all over the globe.

Getting to know other people, their customs, their beliefs, their viewpoint has helped me immensely in understanding others and having better, more meaningful and productive conversations.

How about you? How diverse are your friendships?

My global circle of friends is diverse and interesting on purpose … because I intended it so.

And because I created an affirmation decades ago letting the Universe and my subconscious mind know exactly the type of friends I wanted. It went something like this:

“I have interesting, uplifting, kind, passionate (about life), honest, zany, fun, intelligent friends all over the globe who are making a positive difference in the world.”

I would think those words, say those words, write those words, etc.

The result is I have exactly what I asked for.

But, if you are wanting to develop relationships with people like that … then you, yourself, have to begin embodying those same qualities.

As you grow and evolve, releasing and healing the past and rising in vibration, your friendships tend to change. You find yourself connected to others operating at a higher vibration.

Along with higher vibration comes compassion, kindness, consideration, poise, grace under pressure, and several other deLightful traits. So, even if you aren’t yet fine tuned enough to feel the energy of a person, you can determine it by paying attention to their actions.

Because you are committed to growth, consciousness expansion, raising your vibration, and achieving your dreams, The Sacred Circle is the perfect place for you. Those are precisely the things we’ll address in every single one of the gatherings you attend. Its also the place where I teach the latest things I “download” from the Universe about raising vibration, energy healing, achieving wholeness of body, mind, and soul and much more.