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Life Lessons and Numerology
"Life is all memory except for the one present moment that goes by so quick
you can hardly catch it going." --Tennessee Williams
In this column we'll discuss life lessons and Numerology. As part of this
discussion we'll talk about your personal Life Path number. It has several
facets, but most importantly for us, it describes the theme of the lessons
that you may learn through experience as you move through life, and this is
where we will focus on in this column.
Now you should know that the Life Path is the sum of all of the numbers in
your birth date.
Example: If a person was born on April 12, 1962 (4-12-1962), add the month
(4) to the day (12) to the year 1962.
Within Numerology, you would add the full year together first: (1 + 9 + 6 +
2 adds to 18). Then reduce the year value to a single digit: (1+8 = 9).
Then, the total of the month , day (1 + 2 = 3), and year is: (Month: 4) +
(Day: 3) + (Year: 9) = 16 (which adds together as 1+6 = 7). This person has
a Life Path of 7.
Primarily, I think that we all realize that true life lessons are learned by
living your life. Most of the time, we are not living in the moment; we let
fear, memories and daily routine get in our way. In order to fully learn
from life, you have to be awake and present. You have to face life and the
challenges that it brings. It's about being aware and being the true you,
which means that you are willing to take on authentic and meaningful
challenges. As you do this, then you will gain experience and knowledge
about yourself and your abilities. For those of us that do take on
challenges, your Life Path will become more important as it can highlight
particular pursuits that will be most rewarding to you.
Utilizing your life lessons will require a level of compassion for yourself
and others. Some of our lessons can be distressing. You may want to look for
tools or techniques that will help you to remind yourself to be
compassionate. Being hard on yourself will probably not help you to be as
successful as you could be. One simple and powerful tool, The Serenity
Prayer, may help you to find some peace with yourself and the lessons that
you learn. It is: "Give me the wisdom to change what I cannot accept, the
wisdom to accept what I cannot change and the wisdom to know the difference"
Understanding your Life Path is a learning process that involves finding out
who you are. It comprises living authentically and truly trying to pursue
the life that you desire. One way to live through your life path is to seek
out the activities that you love, no matter the difficulties. Part of life
is about learning, and learning from your mistakes (or life lessons) can
help you to grow. Following the guidance represented by your Life Path is
about being honest with yourself; listening to your inner voice and actually
living authentically. Part of this is understanding that we will have fears
and doubts, and living with them. Eventually you may be able to live with or
step past your fears.
As you learn more about yourself you can get a better handle on the things
that trigger your personal uncertainties and fears. I think that it's
vitally important that you are willing to learn from the past. Learning from
the past is probably the most critical part in utilizing and working with
your own life lessons. There is a distinction between "learning from the
past" and "living in the past." For instance, I am sure that as an adult,
you don't touch hot stoves any more. Your Life Path number can offer some
guidance on the types of lessons that you will learn about and experience.
It will be up to you to incorporate what you have learned into your life in
a constructive and healthy manner. We all make mistakes, but we can learn
and benefit from them, instead of dwelling in regret. After all, don't you
want to live the kind of life where regrets are not impediments, but
building blocks, and perhaps even something to learn from.
Your Life Path number can help you to be more aware of the particular
lessons that you may face within your life. Below is a chart of the
particular life lessons that you may face, based on your life path number.
Important lessons, based on your life path:
Life Path Skills, traits or qualities to learn about
#1 Learning about balance, especially around independence
Learning to have self-confidence
Learning about leadership
#2 Learning to be optimistic
Learning to share
Learning to trust others
#3 Learning to value your talents
Learning to be expressive in healthy ways
Learning to believe in yourself
#4 Learning to have fun and be non judgmental
Learning that you can't control everything
Learning about trust
#5 Learning to trust in your beliefs
Learning to find time for rest
Learning about staying in one place
#6 Learning to take care of yourself
Learning about personal guilt
Learning about personal roles
#7 Learning to focus
Learning when it's time for action
Learning about insight
#8 Learning to delegate and let others have some control
Learning to be a good leader
Learning to value outside opinions
#9 Learning to be realistic
Learning to trust your gut
Learning not to isolate
#11 Learning about idealism (see #2 as well)
#22 Learning to be practical (see #4 as well)
As an example, consider someone with a #8 life path. This person will
generally have to face lessons around leadership and delegation, and related
categories as well. All of us may face similar issues, but for these people,
learning and life lessons around their own leadership abilities is vitally
important for them to grasp and understand. They may repeatedly have to face
situations in which they are called upon to make critical decisions. As they
age, the decisions will gain in importance in their career and personal
lives. Somehow they will have to find a way to gain perspective on these
particular leadership challenges within their lives, in order for them to
develop the skills and qualities represented by the life path and other
personal numbers.
Learning to face your doubts, fears or uncertainties and balance yourself is
important. But how do we do that? Finding ways to focus and center may help,
but before we talk about that, you should know that recently there have been
studies which indicate that the heart has a greater role in our total health
than we ever thought. Recently researchers at the HeartMath institute, and
other facilities, have found that heart has its own basic brain and nervous
system. The studies show that every beat of our heart carries complex
messages that affect our emotions, health, and quality of life.
Knowing about the power of the heart, makes most of us want to change our
lives to tap into the benefits. But, how can you benefit from all of this
research? I believe that meditation may be one way to benefit. It can help
you to find your center and allow you to ease your fears. One of the most
obvious, and studied, rewards of meditation is the reduction of stress. So,
developing a practice around centering meditation could dramatically
influence your health.
For me, I find that a simple silent meditation helps to slow my 'inner
chatter' down, which can be very distracting. In fact, I got a great chance
to learn about quieting my mind during a recent 2 week retreat which
included 3 days of silence. I learned about the importance of being still
and simply finding a quiet spot to relax and breathe. It was a powerful
time, especially for the meditation. Meditating on a regular basis may help
you to be able to live more in the present moment. This may help you to find
a way to better live through the energy of your Life Path, which benefits
from your ability to be present, and being who you are and not the person
that others may have dictated or expect you to be. It's your choice.
Those people who are more outer directed, and about being of service to
others (especially Life Path #4 and #6) may want to think about
incorporating some kind of meditation in their lives, as it will bring your
concentration inward and allow you to focus on yourself, rather than the
noise of your daily life.
Amazingly, recent research also has shown that when you learn how to
intentionally shift to a positive emotion, your heart rhythms will quickly
change for the better! What is even more revelation is that, as you
experience emotional reactions like anger, irritation, worry, hatred,
frustration and personal doubt, then the analysis and research quite
remarkably illustrates that your heart rhythms become erratic and
incoherent, which then interferes with the communication between the heart
and brain. This can create or trigger a series of internal, body based,
reactions; your blood vessels become constricted, then your blood pressure
rises, and the power of your immune system becomes diminished. However, a
positive change in your emotions, which is also reflected in heart rhythms,
will create a favorable flow of biochemical actions that benefit your whole
body, with the stress reducing effects that are long lasting.
What stops you from becoming less stressed, more positive or expansive? Well
known author, Joan Boryseno says: "Whenever you feel stressed, remember that
you have a choice: to practice stress or to practice peace." In the past, I
guess fear is one thing that kept me in certain stressful patterns. What is
most annoying, is that most of the time, I see later, that the fear is
mostly in my mind. I know I can create all kinds of impossible scenarios.
Only you can move past your fears. Learning to center and meditate can be
ways to deal with your worries. Fear, often keeps us from growing and
reaching our potential.
Another tool that can keep you from living in the past, and help you to feel
less stress, is forgiveness. I feel that it's a natural extension of
compassion. Author, Dr. Andrew Weil says that "The events of September 11
teach us to maintain healthy relationships. If there's someone you're on the
outs with, forgive them--it's a powerful healing tool." To tap into the
power of forgiveness, you can say the words below, in person or as a quiet
prayer. You can develop your own words of forgiveness, but the words that
Dr. Weil suggests are:
"I forgive you for whatever you may have done that caused me pain,
intentionally or unintentionally, through your actions, through your words,
even through your thoughts, through whatever you did. Through whatever you
didn't do. However the pain came to me through you, I forgive you. I forgive
you."
We all have the ability to achieve our greatest and deepest dreams. Don't
let your blocks, obstacles, pain or insecurities hold you back. Find ways to
let go of stress and find ways to live your life in a nourishing, supportive
and productive manner. You may want to utilize some of the techniques here,
or develop your own routine. Even something as simple as some form of
moderate exercise may help. During recent studies, Columbia University
researchers checked the activity levels of several thousand adults, and they
discovered that those who were active had lower rates of anxiety. "It's not
a magic bullet, but increasing physical activity is a positive and active
strategy to help manage depression and anxiety," says Kristin
Vickers-Douglas, Ph.D., a psychologist at Mayo Clinic.
Willingness to learn, about yourself, will help you to embody the qualities
that your Life Path represents. As you live your life in this way, you will
find that you can draw others to you who wish to learn from you and utilize
your strength, knowledge and courage. This involves being a vibrant, and
active life participant, instead of passively existing. Willingness to learn
will help you to take ownership of your life. When you engage yourself in
your life the world around you will become more alive. This is what the Life
Path number is about. Find the pursuits that feed your inner flame and go
after them. Your Life Path is directly linked with your passion, vitality
and your connection with others. When you are on your Life Path, you are
connected with yourself. Also, know that personal accomplishment brings joy,
pride and experience.
Use your own insights, especially those you learn from your Life Path, to
discover more about yourself. As you progress and step onto your Life path,
the qualities, skills, and abilities that you develop through your actions
can brim over into your life. You will discover that you can really use your
developing abilities to succeed beyond your wildest dreams and help others
to do the same.
Good luck on your journey in Soulful living and Numerology.
Copyright © 2006 Rob Ragozzine. All
Rights Reserved.
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