Deepak Chopra's 10 Steps to Wholeness

I recently completed another Deepak Chopra book and was blown away as usual. I highly recommend reading “Reinventing the Body, Resurrecting the Soul” - however, if you’re unable to read a 300+ page spiritual book at this moment, I decided to share my notes from the last chapter in the book. Here he describes his 10 steps to wholeness as he wants readers to “make wholeness a daily possibility.” 

The text below is directly quoted from the book, unless it’s italicized. Italicized text represents my thoughts and interpretations.

Wholeness is the result of connecting body, mind, and soul. In wholeness, you aren’t divided against yourself; therefore the choices you make are beneficial at every level. Once you realize how the soul functions, there is no reason to turn back and live any other way than from the level of the soul. The lifestyle [of wholeness] is simple, and can be followed without anyone else needing to know or approve.

You’ll notice he never mentions “death” of the ego, even though “ego death” is a popular phrase in the spiritual community. Instead, by focusing on living from the soul, the mind / thinker / ego naturally fades to the background. Our goal, if we chose to walk a spiritual path towards enlightenment, should be to live from the place of our soul, not our mind. 

Step 1: Nourish your “light body”

• Consciously channel energy into your vision

  • This means having a vision. Perhaps determining your vision could be considered step 0.

• Feed your soul with meaning

• Recognize the quality of the soul that appeals to you, and interact with the potential that wants to unfold.

The soul is….	The overriding theme is….
Dynamic	Reaching a goal
Loving	Ever-expanding bliss
Creative	Inspiration
Spontaneous	Surprise
Playful	Innocence
Knowing	Reflection
Ever-expanding	Evolution

Step 2: Turn Entropy into Evolution

• A future depends on constant renewal… the vision must remain fresh, and that only happens when you find fresh uses for your energy.

• Keep on building. Never ending creativity is the goal.

• The miracle is that by dedicating yourself to a vision, you are swept up in the cosmic force of evolution itself, which has no beginning or end.

• Even though you’re aging, that doesn’t mean your body has to be in pain or develop diseases or cancers. Instead of dying, cells can evolve. No need to convince yourself that pain is inevitable as you age.

Step 3: Commit Yourself to Deeper Awareness

• Awareness is the source of all that is, was, and ever will be.

  • The silence I experience is the source of infinity and eternity.

• New vision is possible when you stop being tied to the raw data that your senses bring in.

• New beliefs will shift accordingly because you have found that believing in yourself is all that you need.

  • Look with total love at the world and God will notice that you love his creation. Then, God will want to meet you

    • I think about this a lot when surrounded by the beauty of nature. The more I admire God’s gift of nature the more I feel the Divine Spirit all around me.

• A new sense of self dawns when your belief in yourself is secure. Go inside and meet yourself - you’ll meet openness, silence, calm, stability, curiosity, love, and the impulse to grow and expand.

Nature is an excellent tool to maintain awareness.

Step 4: Be Generous of Spirit

• When you feel secure that you’ll never run out of energy and awareness you can afford to be generous in spirit:

  • Offering yourself first

  • Never withholding the truth

  • Being a force for harmony and coherence

  • Placing your trust in the flow of abundance

Step 5: Focus on Relationships Instead of Consumption

• You cannot be whole in isolation.

• Relationship is the true test of any spiritual state; otherwise, you might be deluding yourself. Your ego could be using the soul to build itself up.

  • It’s easy to think you’re “evolved” or “awake” when you are in isolation most of the time. Spend a weekend with your parents, your siblings, or embark in a Spiritual Partnership - that’s where the true tests lie on whether or not we are in a true spiritual state. Relationships are meant to trigger you, so let them!

• Place your attention on seeing untold potential in another person.

• What deeply matters in any relationship is the level of awareness that’s involved.

• The secret is to realize that relationships exist entirely in awareness.

Step 6: Relate to Your Body Consciously

• Awareness wants to flow freely from body to mind and back again.

• Pain and Discomfort are no longer danger signals to run from - they are messages asking for a reply.

  • When something in your body “hurts” try not to complain. Instead thank your body for sending you a message and do the emotional and physical work to heal that part of your body.

• Your attention is a basic nutrient that your body needs.

Step 7: Embrace Every Day as a New World

• If you reinvent yourself every day, you will experience a new world with every sunrise.

• Say, “I want to be new today” so clearly and with such commitment that the message is received with no mistakes or confusion.

• Even one minute cannot be experienced the same way by two people. Because you are experiencing a unique world, it’s up to YOU how any given moment is received, processed, judged, and absorbed.

  • This resonated so much with me. How many times have we experienced the same situation as someone else: the same argument, the same movie, the same concert, the same aggressive stranger - and yet we each walk away with something entirely different? Our interpretation of reality is individual - you have a choice on how to interpret and reach to each moment.

• The Present moment is the only place where renewal is possible.

Waking up to views like this remind me that a new day can bring me infinite possibilities.

Step 8: Let the Timeless Be in Charge of Time

• Only when time disappears is there enough.

• The unfolding of time is actually the unfolding of the self.

• Once you see that time is completely subjective, geared to what YOU want out of life, the whole notion of time pressure vanishes.

• When the task of time management is turned over to the mind, the order it tries to impose is crude and unsatisfying compared with the spontaneous organization of the timeless.

  • Try to avoid saying statements like “I’m too busy” “I don’t have time for that” “I never have enough time in the day.” There is plenty of “time” which is a made up construct. Instead, think about prioritization more. What are you prioritizing over other things that are preventing you from getting everything done or doing what you want to do. You are allowed to say “that’s not something that excites me” or “I don’t want to do that.” Without using time (or lack of time) as your excuse. 

Step 9: Feel the World Instead of Trying to Understand It

• If you feel unlovable to begin with, you cannot sense that someone else loves you. (Read that again!!)

• People who don’t feel safe cannot be made to feel safe by external protection… those who feel unworthy cannot gain self-esteem through achievement.

  • This illustrates a disconnect between the self and the world.

• Instead of trying to understand the endlessly changing world, you can feel your way and trust those feelings.

• To be whole requires a specific feeling, “I am Enough.”

• Any sense of lack (I am unlovable, I am not safe, I am not fulfilled, I have no purpose) can be traced back to disconnection from your source.

  • Feel your way back and fix the breath.

• Because it is your natural state, your search for Wholeness (if you stick with it) is destined to succeed. 

  • You cannot fail at reaching Wholeness. Isn’t that comforting? It’s more so about releasing (rather than achieving) all the limiting beliefs and all that you’ve learned throughout your life to reach your source, your soul.  

Step 10: Seek After Your Own Mystery

• Human beings can never be satisfied with limited fulfillment (jobs, houses, cars, money, a family). We are designed to transcend.

• The yearning to transcend unites you, your soul, and every soul.

  • If you ever feel like you have nothing in common with someone, remember this! We all have an innate desire to transcend - to live as our most authentic soul-forward selves.

• You will NEVER have to ignite your passion to be whole. The passion is in you already. It is your birthright.

• There’s no escaping two facts:

• You must want wholeness as fervently as you want a job, house, car, and family.

• You must be willing to walk the path alone.

And, there you have it! A ten step guide to wholeness. If you want help or accountability in walking through these ten steps, please reach out. A huge part of coaching is defining your vision, discovering your soul’s desires, unleashing your source energy, committing to your goals, staying present, letting go of unnecessary concepts, truly feeling and sitting with your emotions, and letting your soul shine! It’s a lifelong process, but together, collectively, we can make a lot more progress a lot more quickly. Build a support system for your journey to Wholeness. People are there for you - I’m here to help you.