The Align Your Purpose Program

STEP FOURTEEN: WAKE UPLEAVE THE DREAM; REALIZE A NEW SELF

Fiery Dance

Copyright © Vladimir Kush

A L IGN YOUR PUR POSE P ROGRAM - S T E P FOURTEEN : WAKE UP

Copyright © 2013 Choice Point with Jaime Mintun - www.choicepointmovement.com

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IN THIS LESSON:

• Waking Up is Hard To Do• A Great Wake Up Call

Our truest life is when we are indreams awake.“

”Henry David Thoreau

As we begin Step 14: Wake Up, we see another vital reason for humility and solidarity as we move through

our Choice Points...

People will always encounter Choice Points often in their lives. However many never harness them because

they often don’t realize the opportunity until it’s too late. They do not recognize the chance for change—

or if they do, they do not know how to seize it.

When we approach our world (and others in it) from a place of humble solidarity we soften our walls to

other perspectives and hence to other Truths. It becomes easier to wake up to a new reality because we

have not dug our heels into the dream of reality we had in our past.

So in this lesson we are going to look at Choice Points from the perspective of your level of awareness, and

your willingness to integrate all you’ve gained by Understanding Your World... so that you may step forward

into rebirth and a truly new pattern.

Copyright © Alice Popkorn

A L IGN YOUR PUR POSE P ROGRAM - S T E P FOURTEEN : WAKE UP

Copyright © 2013 Choice Point with Jaime Mintun - www.choicepointmovement.com

5

Holding clarity and awareness during a Choice

Point isn’t always easy. That’s why most people

remain oblivious to the choices available to them or

to the ways they can alter their lives. Not because

they don’t know how to do things differently... but

because the level of awareness required to create

true change can be scary. It can even be

downright painful.

In fact, you can almost always be sure you’re in a

big Choice Point when you find yourself in crisis.

Waking up means you see things for what they are,

but if you’re seeing them through the lens of your

past, or your personal story, what you see might

make you feel depressed, desperate, angry,

frustrated or sad.

Also understand that the first part of waking up is

simply to see things as they are – to glimpse the

truth. It doesn’t mean you necessarily know yet

what to do about that truth or how to fix the

situation. And so this can lead to a sense of

hopelessness and powerlessness.

If you’ve ever felt like that please know that there is

always hope and you are never truly powerless. Your

power stems from within you; it is always yours – and

no one can ever take it from you.

Yes, we will often accidentally give our power away:

to people, to objects, to the past or future, to beliefs

or laws or principles. But even if we do it

unconsciously, it is we who do it. And that means it

is always within our ability to call our own power

back. How?

Neutral awareness and a focus on filling yourself up

with your own power and energy is one effective

way to call your power back, which we taught in an

earlier lesson.

Another effective method is by making conscious

choices, which we are teaching throughout this

entire course.

Don’t worry if you’re not ready to make the big

choices yet, or you’re not sure what the right choice

is for you. For now, just practice on little seemingly

inconsequential choices.

For example, choose what you wear each day with

intention. Use your clothing to set the tone for what

you want to express or experience that day. Choose

to do your chores or errands with elegance and

excellence—finish each task to completion and

with conscious awareness of what you’re doing as

you do it.

This helps create a sense of confidence and builds

your intention muscle as well as your decision

making muscles. Just as we must use and stretch our

physical muscles to build and strengthen them – so

too must we use and stretch our abilities to build

and strengthen them!

WAK ING UP I S HARD TO DO

Alice Popkorn

A L IGN YOUR PUR POSE P ROGRAM - S T E P FOURTEEN : WAKE UP

Copyright © 2013 Choice Point with Jaime Mintun - www.choicepointmovement.com

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What we here at Choice Point call “waking up” is

really a transition from the old you and your old way

of life into a new you and life – via a powerful

realization or rebirth. You can have many of these

in your lifetime and they can vary in intensity.

During a “wake up” episode who you are and how

you perceive your world is irrevocably shifted.

There’s no turning back. And when you face

forward, you face a new truth.

Most people don’t actually try to wake up on their

own. Instead, they unconsciously plant little “wake

up alarms” into their lives via drama and

‘ticking-clock’ relationships. In other words, they will

unconsciously create situations that will eventually

spiral into crisis or confrontation, forcing them to

wake up via a dramatic and disturbing alarm.

Such episodes will often lead to a new level of

awareness and some people even come to be

grateful for those moments that blasted them

awake.

Yet what if you could wake yourself up without the

crisis?

It is far easier and less painful that way – and the

awareness is still just as sweet.

HERE IS A POTENT WAY TO WAKE UPWITHOUT THE CRISIS ALARMS!

We all have parts of ourselves we’d rather not shine

a spotlight on. Perhaps somewhere along the way

someone told us it was wrong or inappropriate. Or

we were laughed at because of it... or punished.

By the time we cross over into puberty each of us

has a rich history of events and experiences that

divided and fractured us: into the personality that is

acceptable... and our shadow-side we’ve been

taught to hide.

Most people tend to believe their shadow is actually

evil or wrong – a weakness or wickedness within

them that they must be rid of or at least fight tooth

and nail. But except in rare and extreme cases, your

shadow holds as much treasure and goodness as

the rest of you. You just had experiences that taught

you otherwise.

And keeping parts of yourself hushed away in the

corners of your being, covered and in the dark, will

inevitably create both inner and outer

confrontation. Our shadow, just like any other part

of us, craves healthy expression.

When those parts of us don’t get expressed they will

manipulate and sabotage us from the shadows –

hidden blocks and 2X4s that seem to come out of

nowhere to knock us down or stop us in our tracks.

In fact, 9 times out of 10, if there’s an explosive

confrontation between two people... it’s their two

shadows battling it out.

The reason why is that any part of you that goes

unexpressed has a stuck energy that has no release

valve. It keeps building and building until the lid

blows off of it and you have a volcanic eruption of

shadow energy.

Your shadow is largely responsible for the crises in

your life. But not because it’s bad. It is simply causing

strife because you’ve kept it hidden and

unexpressed. The solution is not to get rid of your

shadow, but rather to integrate it and bring it into

the light, i.e. into your conscious awareness.

A GREAT WAKE -U P CA L L

A L IGN YOUR PUR POSE P ROGRAM - S T E P FOURTEEN : WAKE UP

Copyright © 2013 Choice Point with Jaime Mintun - www.choicepointmovement.com

8

Ways to healthily express and integrate your

shadow include art, journaling, deep self-reflection

where you are honest and open with yourself and

also accepting and compassionate.

You also heal a lot of your shadow side as you

forgive and complete past wounds and painful

memories, which we touched on in Lessons 3 and 4.

To wake up without the shadow alarm, I

recommend having a conversation with a friend

that I call, No Holding Back About What Holds You

Back.

Select a friend or family member you greatly trust

(and trust yourself not to get defensive with). You

can speak with them in person or by phone.

Before you meet with them, take some time to

center and ground yourself so that you feel

peaceful and calm. Meditate or take a relaxing

walk, or maybe just stand outside in nature with your

bare feet on the sand, soil or stone.

This will help physically ground and relax you.

The guidelines I recommend for this conversation

are the following:

• Write down or record everything your friend tells

you during this conversation. If taking notes, try to

be as thorough as possible. But doesn’t have to be

every word.

• After you ask your initial question, try to remain

silent and simply let your friend share. Let him or her

know they are in a safe space to be honest with you

and remind them that you would like constructive

criticism—nothing hurtful or judgmental. Ask them to

share observations and try to stick to facts.

• Though it may be hard, refrain from responding to

each item your friend gives you. Don’t explain why

you did or didn’t do something, and don’t give the

story behind what was going on.

You’re not trying to dispel what they tell you. You’re

trying to really hear it so that you can transform.

You’re trying to bring these blind spots (usually

having to do with the shadow parts of you) into your

conscious awareness now so that they have healthy

expression (through being discussed and

acknowledged) and don’t explode later on to

cause a crisis.

When you speak to your friend, begin with

something like this:

“I would like you to help me identify and explore my

blind spots – you know, those things I’m doing or

living with that are perhaps harming me, but are

beyond my awareness... the places where I’m stuck

or perhaps holding myself back that I can’t see. I’m

giving you permission to be honest with me about

your observations—what would you say has been

holding me back or keeping me stuck?”

Invite your friend to include ways you hold yourself

back, or perhaps people in your life, environments,

your selection of job or home or romantic partner.

This is not a license for them to judge you or to tell

you how to live your life. And you can take anything

they say with a grain of salt.

However if it strikes a chord with you and angers you

or sets you off in any way (“How dare she say I do

that!”) consider once you’ve calmed down that

what has a charge on it usually has some truth to it

as well, and that’s okay...

Be sure to select someone who can honor this

sacred space of honesty and who will not abuse it

or belittle you during this conversation. It can be a

very difficult conversation to have, without you also

feeling judged or abused in the process.

I also recommend that if this conversation brings up

a lot of unresolved wounds or emotions that you

consider visiting a professional counselor or therapist

to help you work through the material that came up

for you.

A L IGN YOUR PUR POSE P ROGRAM - S T E P FOURTEEN : WAKE UP

Copyright © 2013 Choice Point with Jaime Mintun - www.choicepointmovement.com

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Just keep in mind that the point of this exercise is to

acknowledge and accept your shadow – not to

label it or make it wrong.

So utilize any therapeutic sessions to help you reach

acceptance and forgiveness... not to find out

what’s wrong with you and how to fix it. In my

opinion it doesn’t quite work that way. ☺

Now, you might be thinking that waiting for a crisis

wake-up call is far better than inviting this kind of

illuminating conversation. I mean, it’s literally lighting

up everything you ever didn’t want to know about

yourself and your life.

Yet I promise you, knowledge is power and ignoring

something will never make it go away. It’s the things

we refuse to see that can hold us back. We can only

limit ourselves by what we edit out of our awareness.

When you have the whole picture now you know

how to navigate it, and better yet you know how to

change it.

All you have to do is be willing to wake up. ☺

Alice Popkorn

Cameron Gray

NOTES

www.choicepointmovement.com