It’s my pleasure to share a guest article with you today. Alan Seale is a dear friend and this article of his, “Aligning Your Life for Fulfillment and Success,” is very meaningful to me, so I wanted to share it here with you, in keeping with our “Life Purpose” theme. Alan is the author of one of my favorite books, Soul Mission * Life Vision, and I think you will find his discussion in this article, on the subject of aligning ourselves with the “vertical” and ‘horizontal” orientations of life, to be fascinating.
My father used to speak to me a great deal about the “vertical” and “horizontal” planes and instilled in me a deep appreciation for the meaningfulness, sacredness, and importance of living one’s life in alignment with the “vertical.” He used to say that the vertical plane is all that truly matters. I think he was right! Thank you, Dad. ♥
I hope you enjoy Alan Seale’s article as much as I have!
“Aligning Your Life for Fulfillment and Success”
by Alan Seale
A familiar symbol in many spiritual and religious traditions is a cross. The cross is a powerful metaphor for our two fundamental orientations to living: vertical and horizontal — who we are in the world and what we do.
In the most basic terms, the vertical orientation is all about being — who we are at our essence – and alignment of all the aspects of our lives with that essence. The horizontal orientation is all about doing — action and accomplishment. Where they overlap in the center, where the “being” and “doing” are both engaged, is the area where you experience your greatest impact and accomplishments. “Being” alone ultimately lacks effectiveness. “Doing” without “being” lacks meaning and insight as well as a sense of a bigger picture, and is therefore not sustainable. However when both are engaged, extraordinary things can happen.
Our mainstream Western culture has been primarily focused on the horizontal plane. Value and worth have been measured by actions, accomplishments, skills, and productivity. Our culture offers very little support or instruction for tapping into the vertical. Self-awareness, intuitive awareness, and an ability to access a bigger vision and the unseen world of energy and potential have not been a part of our mainstream educational process or consciousness.
However, the winds are shifting and today we are witnessing a gradual awakening to the importance of the vertical connection. It is this concept of vertical alignment informing and supporting the horizontal action that helped give birth to the Center for Transformational Presence. Stepping into your most dynamic and effective presence, reaching your greatest potential, and making your greatest contribution to your world involves making the vertical connection first — tapping into the vertical plane and letting it inform and guide your actions in the horizontal plane.
It is through the vertical plane that you get in touch with your soul and soul mission, and then bring all of the aspects of your being — your thoughts, beliefs, intentions, attitudes, perspectives — into alignment with that essence and mission. This vertical alignment brings a sense of feeling centered and grounded — a confident feeling of “having it together.” When this alignment is not in place, you may have a feeling of being “out of sorts” or “out of touch” with yourself and your place or role in situations, and even how you fit into your world. A sense of true and authentic confidence is often lacking.
As your alignment in the vertical plane grows stronger and more secure, you more fully understand who you are and why you are here. You recognize your gifts and the contributions you are here to make. You learn to trust your intuitive mind and recognize it as the greater mind of which your intellect is only a small part.
Beyond personal alignment in the vertical plane comes alignment with the bigger picture of life — a sense of connection and alignment with the evolutionary unfolding of life. From vertical plane awareness you are able to perceive a larger context through which the events of the horizontal plane are unfolding. Through the vertical plane, you can learn to sense the greater potential ready to emerge within your life or situation-to intuitively recognize “what wants to happen.” You can learn to partner with that potential and with the greater Consciousness and be a steward for that potential to become reality. You can learn to recognize what is wanting to happen in service of the greater good through your life and your goals and dreams. And you can learn to see how your life and your goals and dreams are a part of a much larger evolutionary flow. Through the vertical plane, you can learn to tap into the evolutionary Intelligence or Consciousness and let it guide you.
As you find that vertical alignment, you then step into the horizontal plane and move into action. While work in the vertical plane is largely “inner” work and therefore often not necessarily visible to others, moving to the horizontal plane takes you into the “outer” world — the world of structure and form — the “real” world, as the mainstream culture would call it.
When you are in the horizontal plane alone with no connection to the vertical, your awareness is limited to the three-dimensional realm. You have no access to a bigger picture and sense of energy and potential. You can easily feel like you are living in a world where you must push and shove to “make things happen.” However, when your action in the horizontal plane is informed by the intuitive awareness, insight, and big picture view of the vertical plane, incredible things can be accomplished.
To a large degree, the greater the height and depth of awareness in the vertical plane and the greater your alignment between all aspects of yourself, evolutionary potential, and the Greater Consciousness that connects everything, the greater your success and impact in the horizontal plane. The more action is informed by being, the more effective and sustainable it will be.
Therefore, you reach your greatest potential by establishing the vertical alignment first, and from there widening the vertical into the horizontal so that every action in the horizontal plane is informed by the power, wisdom, and insight of the vertical plane. Through widening the vertical you in effect also expand to much greater height and depth in the horizontal, creating a large sphere of energy, impact, and accomplishment, all informed by a great vertical alignment and awareness.
In the horizontal plane, the inspiration of the vertical plane turns into action. Through that action comes further learning, which in turn inspires deeper understanding, exploration, discovery, and transformation in the vertical plane. That transformation then leads to new choices, actions, habits, and practices in the horizontal. In the dynamic balance between vertical and horizontal orientations of awareness, each plane continues to inform and inspire the other.
While we could continue to talk about this vertical-horizontal awareness and balance, the best way to understand these planes as they apply to our lives is to experience them. Take time for the following exercise so that you might have your own experience of these planes of orientation.
Alan Seale is an award-winning author, inspirational speaker, leadership and transformation coach, and founder and director of the Center for Transformational Presence. He is the author of many best-selling books, including Intuitive Living: A Sacred Path, Soul Mission * Life Vision, The Manifestation Wheel: A Practical Process for Creating Miracles, and The Power of Your Presence, and most recently, Create a World That Works: Tools for Personal and Global Transformation. Vist Alan at: TransformationalPresence.org
Alan offers two fabulous eCourses at en*theos Academy: Soul Mission: Your Purpose in Life, Your Gift to the World and The Manifestation Wheel. Scroll down below for more info.
I’d love to hear your thoughts and comments on Alan’s article! Please scroll down and leave your comments below.
Also, Alan has generously donated his “Chakra Meditations MP3 Bundle Package” as part of our “Soul Retreat Gift Pack,” exclusively for Daily Soul Retreat Newsletter Subscribers. If you haven’t already picked up your free gift, click here for all the details!
With love and gratitude,
Valerie
