Living in the Light Book Summary I Shakti Gawain

Book – Living in the Light (Follow your inner guidance to create a new life and a new world) (Summary)

Author – Shakti Gawain

Genre – Self -Help Book

Published in – 1985

If you have the attitude that life is something that happens to you and that all you can do is make the best of it, living in the Light will change that for good.

Shakti explains the power of creative visualization, surrendering to a power greater than ourselves within us. She stumbled on to her passion through a workshop called Healing through Intuition, which she skeptically attended after his mother strongly recommended.

She explains, “On this amazing human journey of ours, the strongest guiding force we have is right within us. We gain access to it through our intuitive sense, our “gut feelings” about what is right and true for us.”

About the Book –

Living in the Light claims we are energy first and physical body later. This energy (Soul) has created the body and life on the physical plane. Unfortunately, we get stuck in survival mode in the physical world, ignoring the ocean of power lying unused within us.

Shakti Gawain highlights this power throughout the book and encourages readers to lean into this power she calls Intuition with guided meditation and exercises for improving life in all aspects and making the most of everything life has to offer.

The book is divided into two parts – 1) The Principles and 2) Living the Principles – Here are excerpts from Both Parts. At the end of every chapter, Shakti gives meditation guidance and a few exercises to establish a relationship with a higher power within us.

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Part I – The Principles

1) The New Way of Life –

• Old ways, the worldly ways are seeking meaning in external things, like money, material possessions, relationships, work, fame, food, drugs, and so on. This is changing with time, and we are now turning inside as we open to the higher power of the universe within us and consciously allow that creative energy to move through us.

• Living in the Light transforms consciousness within each individual and the world. The author uses the terms old world and new world throughout the book to refer to the old way of living we relinquish and the new one we create.

2) The Higher Power Within Us –

• The foundation for life in the new world is built on the understanding that there is a higher intelligence, a fundamental creative power or energy in the universe that is the source and substance of all existence.

• Many names are given to this knowingness (Intuition), which is difficult to define. Few are god, goddess, higher power, inner guidance, source, soul, the Tao, great spirit, life force.

• There is no specific way to connect to our spiritual nature; everyone differs. If this is something that you desire, ask within yourself that you be guided into an understanding of your spiritual nature.

3) Becoming a Creative Channel –

• The author uses the term channeling for being in touch with and bringing through the wisdom and creativity of our most profound source. Being a channel is being fully and freely yourself and consciously knowing that you are a vehicle for the invention of the universe.

• The more you practice trusting and following your Intuition, the more consistently you will feel that sense of “flow.” At “these times, you may find yourself right where you want to be at every moment.

4) Spirit and Form –

• Spirit is the essence of life, the universe that creates all things. Each of us is a part of that spirit — a divine entity. The heart usually tends toward expansiveness, risk-taking, and change.

• The form is our physical presence, body, and personality. Our self-concept, ego/identity, name, nature, character, achievement, work. The condition often tends toward safety, security, and the status quo because its primary task is ensuring we survive, and it fears that change might mean disaster or death.

• After being born into the body, most of us forget who we are spiritually and why we came here. We take on the “survival” consciousness of the physical world and get lost in the world of form.

• The first step in the process of consciously integrating form and spirit is to be able to recognize and feel both the consciousness of your heart and the consciousness of your state. My nature tends to race ahead, so I must learn to go at the pace my form can handle.

• The second step is to love and accept both aspects of yourself. They are both beautiful and vital parts of you. It’s Crucial to recognize that our form has wisdom, and the spirit can learn from the state just as the reverse is true.

5) The Male and Female Within –

• The author states Eastern philosophy and Western work in explaining that all humans have masculine/feminine within us, and we must be able to develop both energies to their fullest.

• The Female part is the intuitive self; it is the receptive aspect, the open door through which the higher intelligence of the universe can flow, the receiving end of the channel. And if we learn to listen carefully to her, moment by moment, she will guide us perfectly.

• The male aspect is action — our ability to do things in the physical world — to think, to speak, to move our bodies. Again, whether you are a man or a woman, your masculine energy is your ability to act.

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Part II – Living The Principles

1) Trusting Intuition –

• Most of us have been taught not to trust our feelings and express ourselves truthfully and honestly. We end up accommodating others around us and behaving in accepted ways. If we try to rebel, we fear falling into the opposite trap.

• We rarely get any support for trusting ourselves, listening to our sense of inner truth, and expressing ourselves directly and honestly.

2) Feelings –

• Most people lose touch with their feelings, for they haven’t had enough support growing up when they expressed their feelings.

• It is essential to learn to be in touch with your feelings as they arise: in this way, they can continue to move through, and your channel will remain clear.

3) Relationships –

• It’s important to understand that our external relationships reflect our internal relationships with ourselves. Our primary relationship is our relationship with ourselves — all others mirror it.

• As we learn to love ourselves, we automatically receive the love and appreciation we desire from others.

4) Money –

• When we follow our inner guidance and move with the flow of energy, we find we have enough money to do what we truly need and want.

• There are active and receptive aspects of the process of channeling money. The masculine, or busy, way of making money is to go after something. The feminine, or receptive, method of making money is to attract what you want to you.

• We have to be able to do both. We need to release our outgoing energy to move towards the goal, and we also need to practice nurturing ourselves, appreciating ourselves, and becoming attuned to our inner selves to attract and receive what we want.

5) Health –

• Our body is our primary creation. We can learn much about our spiritual, mental, and emotional energy patterns by looking at our bodies, listening to them, and feeling them.

• Trusting and loving yourself is the way to a healthy, strong, and beautiful body. You can begin this process by becoming aware of all the rules and ideas you have about how you should look and feel, what you should eat, how you should exercise, and so on.

6) Transforming the World –

• The more you are willing to trust and be yourself, the more life energy will move through you. Everyone around you will benefit from your power and begin to trust and be more themselves.

• If the world is our mirror, then whatever we see there somehow reflects what is in us. We must take responsibility for it and be willing to transform it within ourselves to see it change on the outside.

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I have also created a video of a few quotes from the book – I hope you like it. Please subscribe to my YouTube channel – Myread4change.

Conclusion –

As you finish reading Living in the Light, you will be inspired to change how you look at your circumstances and how much control you have over them. The book will inspire you to work on your inner life and let it reflect the outside world.

If you like this book, you may also enjoy The Complete Game of Life and How to Play it.

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Thank you for reading.

Muzammil