Recently, I have been working quite intensively with one of my Guides, working towards healing some-- literally-- 'gaps' in my sense of self; gaps I have been truly ignorant about. At the same time, I have been reading 'The Undervalued Self,' a new book by Dr. Elaine Aron, a research psychologist who originally coined the term 'Highly Sensitive Person,' or HSP. The synchronicities between the suggestions of an otherdimensional Guide and this respected psychologist are rather amazing.

Like many who gravitate to a site like this, I have spent much of my adult life on a quest to-- for lack of a better term-- 'improve myself.' My upbringing was neither here nor there, but upon leaving home at 18 I did rather feel like I needed to 'find identity,' because the examples I'd been given did not serve me. Sure, I was highly capable in the 'practical' realm of banking, cooking, cleaning and taking care of myself... but I lacked any kind of identity beyond that of a 'Human Doing.'

As a general rule, we reach for any number of things that typically center around developing the 'Higher' self. Maybe we want to become enlightened. Maybe we want to live with higher self awareness. Maybe we want to become more mindful. Maybe we want to become closer to God. Most of it centers very strongly on becoming something 'more' and 'higher' than we perceive ourselves to already be. We look up to the Dalai Lama, not to 'Al Bundy' from Married, With Children.

Don't get me wrong, I see nothing wrong with any of these lofty aspirations. We tend to look UP, and reach for what we see there.

As I was having one of my morning conversations with my Guide (his name is Henry-- and he 'approved this message' for sharing) he asked a simple question:

'How far into your Higher Self do you really believe you can ascend, without being intimately in touch with your Lower Self, first?'

::: Crickets chirped :::

::: Jeopardy music played :::

LOWER Self?

Of course, maybe I should back up a bit and 'define terms.'

By Lower Self I do NOT mean some Neanderthal-ish brute who runs around smashing windows, peeing in flower beds and uncontrollably reacts only from the most 'base' human instincts. What I DO mean is the Lower Self as 'The Innocent' within us; the part of us that reaches out playfully in wide-eyed wonder without fear; jumps into puddles and gets wet; the part of us that has 'some idea' and reaches for it without pausing to overanalyze it into oblivion, so it never comes to pass. In a sense, our Lower Self is our child-personality, before it became excessively polluted and encumbered by a world in which 'no' is the typical response to anything that might seem a little... well... strange. It is our inner Joy, our inner exuberance.

Henry's point was that reaching out to live in our Higher Self without having the blessing (and help) of our Lower Self tends to rather easily become an 'intellectual exercise,' lacking in soul and authentic feeling. In a sense, we end up 'thinking' ourselves elevated, without actually feeling it. Or, for that matter, feeling like we truly belong.... it's that sense of 'faking it,' I (and I'm sure many others) have felt, from time to time.

The odd synchronicity occurred a day later, when I got to the part of 'The Undervalued Self,' in which Dr. Aron suggests healing trauma trough connecting with and healing our 'inner innocent' who originally suffered the trauma that NOW causes us to react in ways we don't fully understand. Two VERY different sources... all but the same message.

Of course, this may superficially look like the often written about 'inner child' which is not exactly a NEW concept. What *was* new to me was the idea that maybe we need the help and even 'permission' of the Innocent, in order to TRULY move higher...

This morning, I found myself looking at some photos from His Holiness the Dalai Lama's recent visit to Wisconsin. In the story, there's a picture of this most dignified man of transcendent wisdom sitting on stage for one of the panel discussions... wearing a Wisconsin Beavers baseball cap he'd been given. Clearly, His Holiness is well in touch with his Lower Self, even while spreading a message of hope, love and healing from his Higher Self.