by Barry Kerr and Kristine Gay

Ever stop to consider just how materially wealthy you really are? Think of all the things you own. Compared to most humans alive today and virtually everyone in history, you probably have more material comforts and possessions. Most royalty went with less. So how come we often just can’t get enough?

Our relationship to the physical world dominates our senses. Experiencing ourselves physically is what we are here to do. Why else come into this world? The question is to what degree do we live consciously, remembering that, on an eternal plane, we are spirit, beyond form, time and space.

Ancient and modern wisdom has taught that we are individual rays of the one creator, incarnating into physical form. Why? Well, to put it simply …because we can. Do you know that part of you that just delights in exploring something new, something novel, something challenging? That is an aspect of spirit. It’s your fiery soul wanting to explore being in human form, wanting to learn how to manifest in this dimension.

It starts at the beginning of life with an intense awareness and relationship with the physical body and grows outward toward relationship with all things physical. Forgetting that you are spirit, over time, your physical senses dominate your mind with the illusions of separation and limits. Your mind begins to categorize everything into “me” and “other”. In spirit world, we experience ourselves as one with all others, with everything, no separation. In the physical world, this knowing is sublimated into attractions, desires, and longings. That which we passionately desire, we forget, is really an extension of our greater self. It just shows up looking separate in this tricky world. So, as humans, we go about trying to “attain” it so that we can “relate” to it. This applies to people as well as things.

Now here’s the thing: just as in spirit world, we are infinite and without end, in this physical world, there is no end to what we could desire, to what we could want to relate to, to what we could want to experience. It’s all us, longing to experience the fullness of who we are, but in the physical world. What we choose to attract, create, relate to at any time is driven by our values. Our values are determined by our experience and awareness. With less awareness, our values form around the illusions of separation and fear. With more experience and awareness, we begin to remember what we truly are…spirit, love, eternal beings without separation, without fear.

When our values form from this awareness, it no longer matters what form life takes. We attract, create, see and appreciate the love and beauty in all forms. Our desires spring less from the tangible and more from the experiences that the physical form allows. It becomes less about owning things and more about having experiences. The fixedness and quantity of our possessions no longer guarantee security of well-being. We discover that it is in the fluxuations of our relationship to things and people that we find FULL-filment.

As more and more of us are awakening to our spiritual selves, the tendencies toward consumerism and accumulation of wealth are changing. As people begin to value experience over material ownership, addictions to shopping and hording give way to longings for deeper, more meaningful experiential connections to self and others. Experiences with travel, adventure, creativity, romance, parenting, emotional growth, education and spiritual learning and more begin to be more appealing. Experiences have an eternal quality to them. They become part and parcel to who we are, part of our individualized and unique expression of spirit. Experiences build the bonds of recognition between souls and reconnect us to the oneness of love and beauty that we are.

If you are beginning to feel the fatigue and emptiness of buying and having more things in your life, perhaps it’s time to reconsider your values. Perhaps it’s time to spend your time and money on experiences that will bring you deeper connection to self and others. Personal growth work, coaching, healing, workshops and retreats could be part of the answer. What you keep and take home may not fill a space, but it will fill your soul.

Barry Kerr, an evolutionary astrologer and certified life and relationship coach, and Kristine Gay, a licensed psychotherapist, own Choose Conscious Living in Madison. Both have extensive training in soul-guided, transformational healing of mind, body, heart and spiritual systems. They offer healing, coaching, therapy, mindfulness and astrology services for singles, couples and groups. For more information, visit http://www.ChooseConsciousLiving.com. Call or email for a free consultation and questions.