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Transformation is the goal of personal development. It is taking a life of limitation and moving it towards the unlimited.

This movement from the limited to the unlimited is both a death and a birth. It’s a winter turning into spring. It’s a letting go of the old and worn out ways of life to make way for new growth and expansion.

The biggest challenge in personal development, in this movement towards the unlimited, is having the perception that there is room for growth. It’s taking a personal inventory of limitations and potentialities. This is a role that consciousness plays that is of vital importance.

For example, it is consciousness that gives the toddler the idea that it can walk. It sees adults walking and realizes that walking beats out crawling.

That was one of the first experiences of transformation each of us had. We would take a step. Fall down. Get up and take another step. The promise of a more unlimited life gave each of us the motivation to keep getting up and trying again. Transformation 101.

It is this perception of potential that creates enthusiasm. Just the fact that one is able to see the potential for a more unlimited life gives one the energy and motivation required.

The other night I was reading a book by Caroline Myss entitled Sacred Contracts and I came upon the following quote about the ultimate transformation:

The oldest wisdom in the world tells us we can consciously unite with the divine while in this body; for this man is really born. If he misses his destiny, Nature is not in a hurry; she will catch him up someday, and compel him to fulfill her secret purpose. – Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, President of India 1962-67

Sometimes, reading quotes like this makes me feel happy. And sometimes, they propel me into action from the inspiration they invoke. This one propelled me into action.

That night I went to bed about 11 pm with this quote on my mind, or more specifically, with the idea of consciously uniting with the divine. I couldn’t sleep. And since I couldn’t sleep, I decided to see if I could make some progress in uniting with the divine by diving deeper than I ever had before into the present moment.

I observed my mind trying to defeat my purpose by taking me into the past. And by virtue of this observation, I was able to get back to the present moment, to the inspiration I was feeling. I would go a little more deeper into the present, and again I would observe my mind trying to take me into the past. And again and again this cycle played out.

My experience was that my mind was trying to sneak away with my attention into the limitations of my past. But as soon as I perceived what it was doing, it would stop. It reminded me of an incident from my junior high school days in Spanish class. It was the last day of school. There was supposed to be a special treat that day in the cafeteria for lunch, something like all the pizza you could eat for free.

My Spanish class was the last class scheduled for lunch. I, along with a friend of mine, decided when the teacher wasn’t looking, that we would jump out the back window and go eat early, before all the pizza was gone. When no one was looking, Randy and I got up, and walked quietly to the back window. The teacher looked up. “Greg and Randy, sit down.”

So we sat down. And a few minutes later, we tried again. And again we heard, “Greg and Randy, sit down.” So we sat down again.

But on the third time she didn’t see us and to the astonishment of a few classmates who were watching, we climbed out the window, jumped down into the parking lot, and went and ate a lot of pizza.

That’s how the mind is. If you don’t observe it, it will jump out the window. It behaves only when it is observed. Turn your back on it and it will do its own thing just like Randy and I did.

But this night in bed, with each occurrence of catching my mind trying to jump out the window, my consciousness was able to get a little more entrenched into the present moment. And each time I dived back into the present moment, I felt more and more inspired.

This inspiration came from the perception that I was able to control my mind and be free of my past programming. Why was that inspiring? Because past programming is such an obstacle to transformation.

Programming says: “This is the way I’ve done it in the past. This is the way my father did it. And this is the way his father did it. And this is the way I will always do it.” Programming tells you that the old approach to life is best. That the new is inherently flawed.

Programming tells the alcoholic to keep drinking. It tells the lazy to stay lazy. It tells the bully to keep bullying. It tells the stupid to stay stupid and it tells the lonely to stay lonely. The bottom line is that it keeps the finite from moving towards the infinite.

That night, after observing my mind for a couple of hours, and living more and more in the present moment, I finally drifted off to sleep. But when I awoke in the morning, I was in a wonderful state of bliss. It made me grateful that I had such trouble going to sleep the night before.

I admit that waking up in bliss isn’t the goal of life. It’s more like being awakened by a pep rally by all the energies of my being, all coming together to encourage me in the next step on my journey of personal development. But that in itself, is a transformation, at least the turning of a page in the book of my life.