Spiritual Growth

Your Soul’s Plan: Discovering the Real Meaning of the Life You Planned Before You Were Born
by Robert Schwartz
Frog Books, 2007, 2009.   325 pages

Why are we challenged by difficult circumstances or experiences in life? Author Robert Schwartz believes that our souls plan these experiences before we are born in order to learn and grow.

In this illuminating book, he introduces readers to ten people who have experienced such life challenges as physical illness, death of a loved one, addiction, accidents and parenting a disabled child. He shares some of the information they received through working with gifted mediums and channelers as they became aware of the pre-birth plans their souls made, the contracts they made with other souls for their fulfillment and the reasons they chose these lessons.

Blending interviews with these people, excerpts from the channeled descriptions of their pre-birth planning sessions and his own commentary, the author lifts the veil between worlds to illuminate how our soul’s unlimited perspective and boundless love create lessons of deep purpose, meaning and promise. Reading this wonderful book is an invitation to awaken to the greater gifts, grace and blessings inherent in even the most challenging circumstances we experience , and to know the deeper love that is woven into our soul’s plan.

Sacred Contracts: Awakening Your Divine Potential
by Caroline Myss
Harmony Books, 2001.   430 pages

Why are we here? In this book, Dr. Myss seeks to answer this question through her examination of the Sacred Contract, which she describes as “an agreement your soul makes before you are born. You promise to do certain things for yourself, for others and for divine purposes. Part of the Contract requires that you discover what it is that you are meant to do. The Divine, in turn, promises to give you the guidance you need through your intuition, dreams, hunches, coincidences and other indicators.”

In this masterful work, Dr. Myss presents a historical/spiritual/energetic overview of Sacred Contracts, their five stages and the archetypal roles or patterns that ”provide the foundation for our personality, our drives, feelings, beliefs, motivations and actions.”

She takes readers through a detailed process of discovery to help them unearth the reasons they came to Earth and how they can fulfill what they came here to do. Sharing real-life stories from her medical intuition practice and others from spiritual traditions and literature, she illustrates the archetypal journeys that are expressions of Sacred Contracts in ways that vividly bring to life these subtle keys to understanding and fulfilling our sacred purpose and true potential.

Whether you choose to follow Dr. Myss’s step-by-step process for discovering your Sacred Contracts, or read this book as an enlightening guide to exploring your sacred purpose and potential in other ways, Sacred Contracts is a remarkable book you may choose to return to again and again for fresh insights.

Spiritual Growth: Being Your Higher Self
by Sanaya Roman (Orin)
H.J. Kramer, 1989.   225 pages

This channeled book is described by its authors as a course in spiritual growth, helping you connect with your Higher Self and the higher power of the Universe, however you personally identify it. Simply and beautifully written, it is an invitation to know yourself more fully as your soul’s expression here on Earth and to live a life in alignment with your soul’s clarity, wisdom and loving nature.

The authors call the Higher Self “your expanded, loving, wise and compassionate self.” The first section of the book is devoted to helping the reader meet their Higher Self, the Universal Mind and Higher Will. The second section focuses on helping the readers to learn how they can love themselves more fully and allow the flow of love into their lives and all they create. The third section teaches about how to come into a state of unity with all life, become an expression of Divine light and fulfill one’s own unique service in the world.

This book can be read and experienced on different levels. It can be read as an excellent introduction to the higher aspects of our self and our relationship to all that is, and as a fuller experience of that knowledge through practicing the meditations at the end of each chapter. This wonderful book is one I have continued to treasure and refer to over the years.