Every now and then a new term is coined during a reading. Most recently, “high work”.
High Work is the type of inner work you’re called to do, that is a little extra hard or tricky. It’s the kind you don’t have to do. Your life would continue on, mostly okay if you didn’t do it. So you have less inclination to respond to this kind of work. It’s mostly pushed to the side.
It comes back to the foreground when you’ve done the other more “urgent” work, and there is opportunity for “high work”. Interestingly, most people would rather dive into lower work to avoid high work.
Because HW compels you to break new ground. To take your thoughts to new places. To catch yourself as you go down familiar thought-ways and redirect your attention.
It takes more energy to do HW. You can’t be as lazy with your thoughts and you can’t feel sorry for yourself in this kind of work. It presents itself when your spirit knows you are currently Able to do this kind of work.
Today I was called upon to do some HW of my own. I could feel that it was coming, but the last month or so I was too busy in my low-work to get there.
Everyone’s work is different of course, and all work is created to clear paths to freedom. So that life can feel like a choice and not a chore. Like a creative adventure rather than penance.
My current high work gives the following instructions:
When my thoughts include another person, to notice whether my energy dips or elevates, and if it dips, to immediately take that thought and shift it so that it elevates. I can feel the tension as I attempt this. The practiced habit of moving forward with the suggestion of a thought tugs at me to follow. And in the moment that I hit pause and redirect, I can feel a visceral “Whoop!”. Like going over a big bump while driving and feeling the tummy flop as you come back down the other side.
As soon as I notice a thought enter about a person, and a subsequent energy dip, I imagine that person laughing or smiling, or the sun shining on their face. That’s my go-to image that helps me redirect. Or I’ll think about them standing outside smiling, on a sunny day. And Whoop! suddenly I feel upliftment in my heart about them and about myself.
It’s high work because it takes a lot of interference with practiced thought-ways. It’s bringing a lot of awareness to what you’re thinking and how you’re feeling. And it’s seemingly less appealing than moving forward with practiced thoughts and feeling patterns. There is comfort and predictability in doing what we know. So why take that comfort away and do something new?
Sometimes it’s not a good time for high work. There might not be enough energy flowing in your system to make make such constant interruptions. Sometimes another type of work is more beneficial.
When I attempt HW at the “wrong” time, I can’t keep it up. It doesn’t feel beneficial. In fact, it feels like it’s making things worst for me. That’s why listening to yourself is so important.
I always feel-out how easy or difficult it is to move energy at a particular time. How easy is it to shift my thoughts? If anything ever feels too strenuous or taxing, I back off. Then it’s not time. That’s not the way. I look for an easier path. I ask questions like, “What feels like Love right now?” or “Where is Love right now?” There is a time for soothing, a time for smaller work, and a time to do work that propels you upward. All are valuable.
High work doesn’t compel you as much as other types of work. It invites you. It gives you an opportunity for something better, but never tries to convince you to come. It says, “here is this space. you’ll like it here. it’ll feel better. but I won’t drag you here, you have to walk yourself.” High work is Self-compelled and Self-propelled. You have to choose to say yes and choose to follow.
To me, the highest paths are the ones that light up and invite you, but never force you. It’s the ones you follow for no reason. The ones that feel good to you, but you can’t always articulate why.
Other paths Compel you. They are an answer to physical needs or wants like money, success, companionship, or status. They “make sense” in terms of what other people think and what society deems right or normal. They make sense to your logical, intellectual parts.
Higher paths don’t seem to make logical sense to those parts of you, or to anyone watching you from the outside. But they speak to your heart. There is a warmth to them, a sense of magic or right-ness deep within you-even though you can’t figure out why. They guarantee nothing, they promise you nothing. And so following is a choice, a feeling that part of you is coming home on this path. There is only Resonance with your spirit.
There will be many beautiful things gained on this path and by doing High Work, but the focus is never on attainment, only the path. And if focus shifts to attainment and not the path, you’ll stumble back into some old thought-ways and life will reflect to you old patterns and experiences.
And so when the time is right, another opportunity or invitation will come to you to follow the higher path. No guarantees, no promises, only a feeling of “yes”, “rightness”, and resonance with Being.
Over and over this happens, soaring and then sinking. Following and diverging. But it’s all part of a beautiful design. Always soar when you are Able, always lean towards the light. Because distraction is inevitable. The enticement of physical things is inevitable. The physical world will give you endless Reasons to be immersed in it. Lend your thoughts elsewhere when you’re able – – if you choose to be an active participant in the Balance of your life.
Love: 