I am addicted to personal growth and a good teacher—I’m a Spirit Groupie.

I am as passionate and devoted as a fan of the greatest rock and roll groupies but without all the psychedelic drugs and weird sex stuff.

I’ve traveled the continent in the pursuit of growth, sitting in person with some of the greatest thought leaders and spiritual teachers of our time.

Oprah, Deepak Chopra, Wayne Dyer, Abraham Hicks, Joe Dispenza, Panache Desai, Elizabeth Gilbert, Iyanla Vanzant, Joe Vitale. I could go on and on. (Really.)

There is something indescribable about sitting in the presence of a person who has mastered an energy that my heart is currently grappling with, and there is a palpable thrill in sharing space with the human form of someone who has been whispering to my soul from afar.

In my time on the road trailing some of these wise souls, I’ve learned a few things:

1. Oprah—Own your bigness.

I will never forget the way I felt when Oprah said the following words to our audience before the taping of our Life Class episode, “Y’all know how big my life looks in the media and on TV? Well, I’m here to tell you it’s even bigger than that. It’s huge. My cup runneth over!” She said it with love, with grace and with a purpose—I was blown away with her ease in talking so openly about her money and her fame.

Standing in the tallness of your creation is empowering. Acknowledging your greatness in the image of the Divine is beautiful. We are here to create and then enjoy that creation with love and reverence.

2. Panache Desai—Embrace all of yourself. (Not just the good stuff.)

Our humanity is a magical thing. And yet we all seem to want to cherry pick the best aspects of ourselves and cling to those in the name of spirituality and transcending humanity. But when we turn our backs on the perceived wrongness in ourselves we thwart our ability to find wholeness and contentment. Even our anger, our jealousy and our sadness are lovable in the eyes of our Higher Self. We are not a collection of individual aspects labeled “good” or “bad”—we are one perfectly imperfect being here to find contrast and expansion in embracing all that we are.

3. Joe Dispenza—Change is a choice.

We are not victims of our DNA, our upbringing, our relationships or any other aspects of our lives that we tend to blame for our discontent. We have the power to change with thought alone, and it starts in the brain. The minute we make a decision to be different and then attach an authentic, elevated emotion to that decision (gratitude, love, awe), our brain begin firing and wiring in new ways creating a whole new program instructing the brain and body. Do this again and again, and we can literally rewrite the fabric of our very being.

Daily mediation under this man’s teachings has changed my life. Like rockstar changed it.

4. Elizabeth Gilbert—Tell the truth.

We do the world (and ourselves) a disservice when we hide in the name of the “disease to please.” When I heard Liz speak, she so elegantly told the story of an older version of herself who, when asked a question, would look into the eyes of the asker to find the “right” answer instead of looking into her own heart.

The truth will never be found outside of ourselves. It’s nestled right there between love and alignment, and it is our duty to spread that truth with our heads held high and our hearts shining forward.

5. Wayne Dyer—Love.

It is simple. Love is the pervasive, rhythmic, ever-present vibration of this existence.

It is the question and the answer.

It is the origin and the destination.

It is the reason we are all here, and it is ever-present.

There is always a loving choice, a loving response, a loving solution, a loving way to be and breathe and think and feel. And when we fix our gaze in its direction, it will always embrace us. Without fail. There is an abundance of light in this world. I am reminded this each time I sit in the illuminating presence of any of these teachers.

Our only job is to spread that light, and it doesn’t matter how.

It doesn’t have to be through becoming a world-renowned spiritual teacher or through funding a global charity.

It just has to be authentic.

It is as easy as dragging your neighbor’s trash to the curb for them or offering a smile to a stranger on the street. Sending a loving thought to a friend or foe or taking a deep breath and letting a car merge in front of us on the freeway.

We are given an infinite number of opportunities to practice love in our day, and there’s never a wrong time to start.

That is what this Spirit Groupie is learning again and again.

~

Author: Kayla Floyd

Editor: Ashleigh Hitchcock

Photo: flickr/Eddi van W