Hi Theoria,
Besides all the recommended reading material, nurturing and wise advise and comments, I want to share that when I started The Work, what helped me a lot to first of all become more conscious, to really become aware of my being, was taking a deep breath, and asking myself when was the last time that i looked in the mirror and honestly enjoyed the self that was greeting my gaze. Then and there making a conscious decision that whatever it takes, whatever i must do, whatever i need, wherever i must go, i commit to doing it as long as the end result is my comfortable joy-filled, healthy and confident gaze returned to me in that mirror. To really realise that you are that important, to really grasp that your participation in this world is active through thoughts, actions and presence. In that way, it does all begin with you. F.i. you have great power with verbal declarations, every word coming out of your mouth is in a way your affirmation; what are you affirming? Observe yourself closely at what you say out loud, you will be amazed. And when you are tested by someone approaching you with a complaint or gossip or so, think of I believe it was Plato (sorry, I know i have read this somewhere long ago, don't remember where but was really impressed by it so it stuck) when he said to the man who came running to him asking whether he had heard the latest about so and so, Plato said no, i have not, let me ask you: is it really important for me to know this? Is it a matter of life and death? Whereupon the man said, well, no, then Plato said, then let us talk of something else. I tried to do that many a time with the result that many "friends" no longer sought my company. I found myself losing connection with more and more people i once held dear. And that is okay, there is no resonance anymore, it really works like that.
Then what further worked for me was watching my breath and knowing that i basically get to breathe to hurt or to heal, so what was that breath? When you breathe in, do you breathe in crummy energy or uplifting energy? It always comes to down to choices.
I know these are small steps but this is how my journey toward clarity and truth really started. I understand clarity as the energy of a consciousness freed from fear. And when you notice you feel fear (through meditation you really learn this!) and you can determine that that fear belongs to you, then there is something that needs to be traced back to anything that needs to be recapitulated. It helped me to understand that 3 types of fear can be identified:
1) Fear of death
2) Fear of destitution
3) Fear of not measuring up, lack of self-worth;
Take your pick and work from there. When you see through the illusion that the concept of fear really holds, you will overcome it and when you can actually experience that, as the C's say, there is only lessons, and you develop the ability to laugh at yourself every now and then, you will find yourself empowered, way more balanced and clearer. You wake up and ask, how can i serve today? And if you truly decide to do volunteer's work be sure that your motives are healthy, do it because you enjoy it, because you really want to. And i always remember that without making mistakes, we cannot learn, be gentle for yourself as well.
Good Luck
