How to Raise Your Vibration (Part 1: The Soul)
Alignment with our soul is the most profound techniques we have to elevate our vibrational frequency and access a higher consciousness. How to start today.
*For your listening pleasure there is also an audio version of this article read by the author. It may include a few sidebars ;)
Updated April 2024
Layers of Vibrational Frequency
This gem was pondered in to existence staring out a car window on a road trip through the Smoky Mountains. Take it for what you feel it’s worth. Here we go.
There are layers to our being, that together make a vibrational frequency. Like layers to a cake. The top and bottom toasted almond layers may be spongy and delicate, the lemon layer made with eggs teetering on the brink of expiration. Strawberry filling made with berries warm from the garden. Stale dry fondant. Sprinkles lend a sense of party.
Each part of the cake has a varying level of freshness which plays a roll in how appetizing the cake is as a whole. This is like the layers of our being that contribute to our frequency. Some are on point, some are taking us down a notch.
What makes us an appetizing cake? When it comes to humans I see four layers I’ll discuss over a series of articles detailing how to raise your vibration. Working with these layers is working within the innermost ring of influence to change your vibration, yielding epic rewards. There are likely more than this initial four. Over time I’m sure society will contribute additional ideas to the layers of vibration that collectively become the vibrational frequency of our being.
Plus, as we vibrate higher we simultaneously expand our consciousness. We develop into a being more content and calm on the inside, and insightful in our observations of the world. Vibrational alignment can often deliver rewards on a deeper level than what we imagine we’ll get through money and lifestyle. Although candidly, I think the blending of both is where I want to land.
The Soul Layer
Let’s start with the soul layer. The base of the cake if you will. This is our purpose in life. Our soul, our fun, what lights us up, what brings a glint to our eyes. What makes us radiant.
Developing a higher consciousness often starts with just the simple courage to be authentic. We usually have some ideas for how to make ourselves sparkle. Yet I suspect most of us, myself included, will spend a decent chunk of life figuring out what lights us up beyond the obvious.
Society doesn’t necessarily foster ample discovery time. Hopefully we grab a sport here, an activity there, but there’s likely much more that makes us glow than we uncover in our lifetimes. Why? Because it’s eminently easier to stop searching and take what’s easily available.
Scrolling social media clips is brain candy with no hangover. Alcohol gives us a hangover, but at least we can relax. Money from a job we don’t like feels safer than trying to figure out what we really want.
Streaming services make epic shows. We can grab a drink with co-workers at happy hour. It is far easier to grab a remote, or those in proximity, versus pondering how to put ourselves in circles of highly resonant individuals.
Mortgages make it feel scarier to not have a job, then have one where we are exhausted by Tuesday evening. The energy and time to cultivate a deep inner knowing of how to bring ourselves genuine fulfillment is a much steeper mountain to climb, versus flinging ourselves on a couch with device or tumbler of scotch.
I suspect this is why social media has become the such a behemoth. It may be panacea for our society’s lack of knowing a fulfilling place to put our attention.
“Soul is about authenticity. Soul is about finding the things in your life that are real and pure.” ~John Legend
Stories like the above are what can throw off the soul layer. Collectively, we are just starting to get familiar finding fulfillment. We don’t get too much time to look for it, or have the best tools for this archeological dig.
When Are We the Ugly Ducklings?
Consider the 1843 Danish fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen, The Ugly Duckling. The little hatchling tries to bond with geese and ducks before realizing it’s a swan. The little duckling could have been the best imitation goose ever- but its life would never hold the richness or ease naturally imbued in life as a swan.
Higher consciousness is a side effect of being the best version of ourselves, not the best lawyer/doctor/[insert other admired career].
So often in society we are the ugly ducklings. We pick directions in our lives, or possibly even entire careers, trying to be something for money, prestige, or other’s esteem. We follow directives, values and rules that don’t originate with us; we become the imitation geese.
A family lineage of attending Oxford, a well-meaning mentor telling us of a career path that will put us in the right social circles, societal values saying we need to decide what to do and take action around a certain age, a family business handed down.
No one can know what lights our path but us. When we don’t know what to do we often turn to others instead of turning to ourselves.
To make choices in our lives to please others, or live up to legacies, can be wonderful for tradition…and hard on frequency. The discernment of a higher consciousness is knowing when something is authentic for us and when it is not. Nothing says good results await the dutiful son who follows in his father’s footsteps. The path set by those before us, or those we admire is theirs, and theirs alone.
Advice is well-meaning, sometimes wonderful, but often too plentiful. It’s a mixed bag of treasures and dead ends.
It’s up to us to sift advice carefully. Run it through our own wisdom. Does this feel true to me? Does this apply to my life? How does my body react to these words? Clench up, or relax? Feel excited, or hesitant?
Our bodies are often communicating big wisdom with us if we take time to listen. In my article on times I failed trying to raise my vibration, one of my fails is definitely about not following what I’ve just written here.
“Quiet the mind and the soul will speak.” ~Ma Jaya Sati Bhagavati
The Dangers of Living Within Time
Time is another variable that can decide if the almond cake layer ends up spongy or soggy. Do we want to be a cake where ingredients were hastily thrown together? Flour not measured. Maybe missing an egg. Sprinkles spilled on the floor.
Society puts a lot of value on having an answer, a plan, having things figured out. There’s little to no reward for sitting with the unknown and getting to know ourselves better, the creation of our life allowed to unfurl at its own pace. (To be clear, there’s a huge difference between actively digging in to oneself, and sitting on a couch eating chips willing inspiration to show itself.)
If we collapse time, removing the idea of past or present, our ideal life has already arrived. It’s just waiting on us to remove the barriers keeping us from it. Authenticity, stored emotions, mental baggage, everything I’ll be discussing in this series on how to raise your vibration.
Reality conforms to vibrational frequency. Raising vibration elevates us to the level of our desired reality, and higher consciousness.
We tend not to sit with the unknown, and instead force an answer just to have one of what Tony Robbins calls the six primary human needs- certainty.
The unknown is uncomfortable. Directionless. On the flip side, there is absolutely value in action. I have certainly hesitated on the edge of something out of fear or perfectionism and regretted it later.
There’s hesitation from fear when you know where you want to go, and hesitation because the path forward doesn’t feel resonant yet. It’s a nuanced difference.
As those who’ve read my article on using intuition to select rapidly vibrating timelines may recall, if we act from a place of indecision we’ll likely plunge down a timeline offering further indecision.
There’s unappreciated wisdom in sitting in the unknown, letting the storm clouds of life continue to build, and saying, “I am still figuring this out.” It takes discernment to know where we are, if we need a push off the edge, or if we need to find our edge first.
The Opportunity Cost of Societal Wisdom
Easy entertainment, traditions, opinions of others, and societal values of speed and action can all throw off our soul’s vibrational frequency, and keep us from becoming a high vibration person. How do we reclaim our vibration and be sure this cake batter comes out smooth?
We remember that when we find ourselves weighing the opinions of others above our own there may be something amiss. Our own confusion is something to pay attention to. Possibly a time to turn off Netflix and go inward instead of engaging a choir of external voices.
The voices of others may be much easier to hear, yet our inner whispers often have the highest level of accuracy.
These whispers offer ideas that feel ridiculous, annoy our ego, usually aren’t friends with logic, and yet ultimately elevate our vibrational frequency if we follow them. Higher consciousness is found when we combine intuition with discernment, and move from a grounded place.
We can embrace streaming services and neighbors for the joy they bring to our lives, but we don’t want to let ease or convenience weigh too heavily in where we direct the valuable commodity of our attention.
What are we not discovering about ourselves if we spend the next hour scrolling for cheap dopamine? Who might we be genuinely laughing with if we weren’t polite chuckling at a co-worker’s joke? We take the gifts of convenience, and acknowledge the cost of accepting them.
We don’t rush to the answer just to have an answer. Executing a half-baked solution will lead to a half-baked result. When we feel excitement, alertness, energy that bubbles up from nowhere, those signal high vibration paths for our soul.
Part of expanding consciousness is learning to sit with what’s uncomfortable. When we are only comfortable in certainty- that’s a problem.
Does Wealth Come From Alignment or Money?
Being a lawyer may offer us much material success. Yet, if our heart is beckoning us to be an herbalist we want to listen. The alignment experienced as an herbalist will likely lead to a much richer life than the material success of being a lawyer will.
However, I empathize with people here. It’s hard to imagine the mysterious delights of an aligned life, compared to visualizing exactly what we can buy, and how we can live, with money we earn. Yet, we often picture the amazing house or boat, and forget to calculate how satisfied we’ll be internally.
We want to carefully consider trading multi-dimensional fulfilled versions of us for primarily wealthy versions of us. Our highest vibration self is our most aligned version of self.
“When the ego dies, the soul awakes.” ~Mahatma Gandhi
We want to value the wealth of experiences, feelings, anti-aging benefits, synchronicity, friendships etc. that arrive in a high vibration life just as much as we value salary when job hunting.
The salary is visible right away, whereas the benefits of alignment and leveling up your vibration reveal themselves along the path. Thus, they can be initially overlooked when considering life choices.
I also suspect that when we’re our most aligned version of ourselves abundance and money will flow to us in ways we can’t imagine until we experience the reality. This logic is why I’m giving it a go.
When you want to go deeper on shifting your vibrational frequency I’d be honored to help facilitate. One of the most popular topics is how to align with your soul’s vibration. Visit my website for details.
This article is the first in a multi-part series exploring how to enhance your vibration. Next up is How to Raise Your Vibration (Part 2: Programming).