Spiritual Icon & Best-Selling Author
Spiritual Icon & Best-Selling Author
Deepak Chopra, M.D., FACP, founder of The Chopra Foundation and co-founder of The Chopra Center for Wellbeing and Jiyo.com, is a world-renowned pioneer in integrative medicine and personal transformation.
Image by BONNINSTUDIO / Stocksy
January 10, 2023
Yoga asks you to identify entirely with the light, which doesn’t happen all at once. The light is glimpsed, to begin with, in memorable experiences. Everyone has had them at one time or another. The list on the following pages includes the most important kinds of experiences.
To assess where you are right now, look at each statement and mark the response that applies to you. The time frame isn’t critical—some experiences might be very recent; others very far back. The point is to recognize moments of heightened experience. There are no right or wrong responses. Just assess your experience as objectively as you can. When in doubt, choose the answer that first comes to mind.
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10 ways to be in the light:
1.
I have experienced bliss. (Examples: a peak experience of a joyful, energetic body; a loving, compassionate heart; an alert, vibrant mind; lightness of being.)
- Never
- Rarely
- Sometimes
- Frequently
- Don’t know
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2.
I feel in control of my mental experience—I can have positive, creative thoughts whenever I want.
- Never
- Rarely
- Sometimes
- Frequently
- Don’t know
3.
Life can feel like a dream, with something hidden from sight that is very real and yet mysterious.
- Never
- Rarely
- Sometimes
- Frequently
- Don’t know
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4.
Much more than material success, I measure my life by my level of happiness and joy.
- Never
- Rarely
- Sometimes
- Frequently
- Don’t know
5.
I welcome a wide diversity of experiences—they give my life real richness.
- Never
- Rarely
- Sometimes
- Frequently
- Don’t know
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6.
I live in the present moment, without reliving the past or anticipating the future.
- Never
- Rarely
- Sometimes
- Frequently
- Don’t know
7.
I experience myself in the flow, adapting easily to new situations.
- Never
- Rarely
- Sometimes
- Frequently
- Don’t know
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8.
I experience gratitude.
- Never
- Rarely
- Sometimes
- Frequently
- Don’t know
9.
I look upon life as abundant, offering untold possibilities for fulfillment.
- Never
- Rarely
- Sometimes
- Frequently
- Don’t know
10.
I experience meaningful coincidences—they tell me that everything happens for a reason.
- Never
- Rarely
- Sometimes
- Frequently
- Don’t know
Assessing your answers.
This questionnaire is about seeing yourself according to the quality of your inner life. Being in the light is what ties together these 10 experiences. If you have a rich inner life, you will likely mark “Frequently” more than half the time.
On the other hand, if you often answered “Never” or “Rarely,” your inner life isn’t fulfilling. The light has become blocked or obscured. Most people will fall somewhere in between the light and the dark. They are aware of their inner life but don’t turn to it as a great source of fulfillment.
For most of us, positive experiences come and go at will; we have little control over them. Fears, regrets, and painful memories seem to have a life of their own. Yoga teaches us to change the situation through the following steps, which will become second nature as the book unfolds:
- You pay more attention to what is going on inside you. You notice any experience of being in the light.
- You value that experience.
- You begin to focus more and more on the light, increasing it in your life.
Living in the light is the most natural way to live. It is easier to live more consciously than to continue experiencing things unconsciously, driven by habit, routine, old conditioning, and denial. The habit of being more conscious will emerge effortlessly and without pain and discomfort if you keep in mind that the best experiences in your life indicate that you have been living in the light all along while struggling to get there.
Excerpted from LIVING IN THE LIGHTcopyright © 2023 by Deepak Chopra. Used by permission of Harmony Books, an imprint of Random House, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, New York. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.