Have you ever faced a time of questioning everything?

Wondering ‘what’s the point’ or ‘is this all there is’?

I achieved an enormous amount of external success by the time I was 28.

I was a dentist, quickly established myself at a large practice and excelled at the commission-based approach…

I was recently married, we had purchased our home (which we intend to stay in long-term)…

And I paid off 170k of student loans after 2.5 years in private practice.

Nothing else external felt worth working toward.

I would often think…is this it?

Is THIS what I worked so hard for?

I rarely felt light or connected.

I often felt anxious and insecure.

I experienced debilitating gut issues, and a few years later, infertility.

Thankfully, this ‘rock bottom’ of being disconnected from myself spurred a radical shift.

I turned inward.

A process that I now call my ‘deconstruction and reconstruction of self.’

A great unwinding.

A stripping back of everything that was never me in the first place.

Beliefs, preferences, even personality traits that I unconsciously adopted when I was relying on external validation.

This process is not linear.

It has involved multiple cocoon phases - sometimes called a ‘Dark Night of the Soul.’

When we release what was never us in the first place, take a leap of faith into what feels uncertain…

Something remarkable happens.

The sturdiest of places is revealed.

A place within us that is untouched by external chaos.

A place through which our greatest creativity flows.

A place from which we feel alive, joyful, and ENOUGH.

Further reading:

“A New Earth” by Eckhart Tolle (my all-time favorite book)

Blog posts related to his work:

Awaken to the Infinite Possibilities of the Present

Finding Unity in Spiritual Wisdom

Recognizing the Human Condition: Insights from Ancient Religious Teachings

The Ego and the Higher Self

The Transformative Power of Recognizing Our Pain-Body

Unlocking Presence

“Letting Go: The Pathway of Surrender” by Dr. David Hawkins

Blog posts related to his work:

A Framework for Everything

The Map of Consciousness

The Map of Human Consciousness and Humanity’s Tipping Point: An Optimistic Lens

Biblical Mistranslations, Spiritual Unity, and Our Modern Understanding of Healing

Dr. David Hawkins' Journey

Written by Dr. Jen Johannsen