Here is what we mean by peak experience, a phrase that the psychologist Abraham Maslow made famous a half-century ago:
It's that super-charged rush you get when every cell in your body aligns with a moment of clarity. Some of us experience these elevated states by literally climbing a peak — like Kilimanjaro — some of us find it deep within, far away from physical forms, by using mediation, prayer or other mind-body techniques. We can also get there on a dance floor, or by immersing ourselves in a creative endeavor, experiencing a lucid dream, or do we even have to mention this one? — melting the boundaries of self through sublime sex.Soul's Code is devoted to advancing self-reinvention and inner evolution, and peak experiences can accelerate both. Anyone reading this would love to hear about yours. Submit a peak experience through the Comment form below, and include an image if you can.
Six ways to combine a job search with your spiritual path
Posted by Soul's Code on 20 Feb 2010 | Tagged as:
Confessions from a job management coach on how to use surrender, service and grace to make your next career move
GUEST COLUMN: JEFF ROBINSON — From July 2005 until approximately April 2006, I began a spiritual transformation that changed the course of my life in some amazing and often difficult ways, and which continues to this [...]
An Ash Wednesday confession: You are stardust
Posted by Soul's Code on 09 Feb 2010 | Tagged as:
If happiness equals slimming-down the ego, the Imposition of Ashes on the first day of Lent is a powerful and public ritual of spiritual self-immolation
I did confession (Ash Wednesday) and received the imposition of ashes. I’ve never felt so stripped naked in public as when I kneeled below the altar, and the priest made the [...]
An artist’s journey of creation: Klassic Koalas: The Book of Valentines
Posted by Soul's Code on 06 Feb 2010 | Tagged as:
Like Alice down the rabbit hole, Joanne Ehrich leads us along the path that helped her to reconnect with her true calling and create Klassic Koalas: The Book of Valentines and Other Loves
“A picture is worth a thousand words”, and Klassic Koalas: The Book of Valentines and Other Loves is no exception.
In her recently released book, Klassic [...]
Oscar special: The glee inside me
Posted by Soul's Code on 05 Feb 2010 | Tagged as:
New York theatre critic Retta Blaney discovered the spirituality of film stars when she interviewed Vanessa Williams, Liam Neeson and Kristen Chenoweth (Hey, she was on Glee!)
GUEST COLUMN: RETTA BLANEY — As I researched and wrote my book, Working On The Inside: The Spiritual Life Through The Eyes Of Actors, I found that my personal [...]
High on ice: Jump into a frozen lake, naked
Posted by Soul's Code on 29 Jan 2010 | Tagged as:
The crazy Finns invented the idea of skinny-dipping through a hole in the ice after a sauna. Their secret: you get a peak experience — and natural high
BY PAUL KAIHLA — I spent the afternoon breaking trail through the great boreal forest on the north shore of Lake Superior on cross-country skis made of hickory [...]
“Swami Ji” and falling in love for the first time, really
Posted by Soul's Code on 27 Jan 2010 | Tagged as:
The holy man I met, “Swami Ji”, has no organization, TV show, or book. His name simply means “great teacher.”
GUEST COLUMN: SMADAR DE LANGE — How would you describe the experience of falling in love? For me, meeting with Swami Ji (personal name: Krishnamurti) was like falling in love. I fell in love with love [...]
An unlikely love connection
Posted by Soul's Code on 23 Jan 2010 | Tagged as:
How to turn MySpace into Our space: A contemporary shaman’s response to hate-mail
GUEST COLUMN: DAWN DANCING OTTER — Everywhere I go, in every moment, the ongoing mantra in my mind is a repetition of the four graces of Ho’oponopono — “I am sorry, I love you, please forgive me, thank you.” What I have come to realize is [...]
The gift of surrender
Posted by Soul's Code on 15 Jan 2010 | Tagged as:
“I can feel the years of fears, abandonments and hungers. And then, I let it all go in acceptance.”
GUEST COLUMN: JULIA TUCHMAN — I have never been very good at surrendering. I have been the fighter — the hold-on-to-the-side-of-the-cliff, fight-for-your-life, never-give-up and “go down with the ship” kind of soul. It was exhausting work, and [...]
The bearable lightness of being Roni Lipstein
Posted by Soul's Code on 14 Jan 2010 | Tagged as:
An experience with altered consciousness provides a wellness coach with the strength to leave an abusive relationship, and an opportunity to learn to “love self, first”
GUEST COLUMN: RHONDA SHERYL LIPSTEIN — As an author, I realize that we all could write a book, since life itself is a series of experiences that expand our consciousness.
The [...]
A West Coast lawyer’s tale of race and reconciliation
Posted by Soul's Code on 14 Jan 2010 | Tagged as:
Childhood friends, then enemies, come to terms with their past
BY DANIEL D. WOO, 1st of 2 parts — In 1960 when I was in 7th grade, a bunch of kids started the “Boo for Woo” club. I was furious.
Our family moved to the United States in 1953 when I spoke only Mandarin Chinese and not [...]
Making peace with childhood ghosts
Posted by Soul's Code on 13 Jan 2010 | Tagged as:
Daniel realizes the far reaching effects a 49-year-old fight has had on many lives
BY DANIEL D. WOO, 2nd of two parts — I immediately found Chapter 18 and read it; here’s a paragraph:
“It is a summer evening, down in a green hollow, at the corner of a wall. I meet the butcher by appointment. I [...]
Serenity in a cup of tea
Posted by Soul's Code on 10 Jan 2010 | Tagged as:
Life-coach Jemitra Hairston ushers the ancient sacred ritual of sharing tea into the 21st century.
GUEST COLUMN: JEMITRA HAIRSTON — This is not an easy subject for me because I grew up in the South, home of Lipton “sun tea.” On Sundays, my mama would place a big container full of water on the well next [...]
Meetings with Remarkable Men and Women
Posted by Soul's Code on 16 Dec 2009 | Tagged as:
David Rickey reports on the Parliament of the World’s Religions in Melbourne, Australia, and his dialogues with the Dalai Lama, Pujya Swamiji, Amma, and other leading lights of enlightenment
BY DAVID RICKEY — I’m happy to report back on an amazing week I spent at the Parliament of the World’s Religions where I saw and heard, [...]
A spiritual author’s personal journey to awakening
Posted by Soul's Code on 15 Dec 2009 | Tagged as:
A near death experience gives Cari La Grange Murphy her life’s purpose and opens up a portal to creativity
GUEST COLUMN: CARI LA GRANGE MURPHY — As a spiritual and inspirational author, I’m often asked when, where, and how my spiritual journey began. As a child I grew up on ten acres of land in south [...]
Touched by an angel
Posted by Soul's Code on 10 Dec 2009 | Tagged as:
From down and out to pin-up: How a burnt out fitness trainer was voted Playgirl’s ”Man of the Year,” and discovered that true beauty isn’t skin deep
GUEST COLUMN: KEVIN TALLEY — While some may debate whether angels or spirit guides really exist, from my life experiences I can state categorically that I am a “true believer.”
As a counselor, fitness trainer and [...]
The spiritual scientist who “invented” paranormal
Posted by Soul's Code on 16 Nov 2009 | Tagged as:
The success of Paranormal Activity has eclipsed Dr. Charles T. Tart, the psychologist who turned the concept of the paranormal into a new branch of science
SOUL’S CODE — Paranormal Activity is now the most profitable movie in history ($15,000 to make, it’s earned more than $100 million in box office) but the inventor of the [...]
NIA: a mind-body workout that’s *breaking* out
Posted by Soul's Code on 13 Nov 2009 | Tagged as:
Like Pilates, Nia started out as a secret of the dance community. Drawing on yoga, martial arts and ecstatic movement, it gives you the same kind of body-rush
GUEST COLUMN: KATY LEASK— I stood in the doorway of the studio, barefoot and skeptical. After a brutal day at a draining job, I had dragged myself to [...]
Dancing with the invisible ones
Posted by Soul's Code on 31 Oct 2009 | Tagged as:
Dia de los Meurtos is my annual chance to dance with spirits in the material world
DANNY KENNY — After reverent invocation to the spirits, the samba-like beat pulsates through the snake of flesh coiled in waiting. Slowly it begins stretching, swallowing innocent bystanders and eager collaborators alike in its path.
Aztec warriors rub shoulders with zombie-like creatures, [...]
What is the origin of inspiration and invention?
Posted by Soul's Code on 17 Oct 2009 | Tagged as:
DAVID RICKEY — The ego exists only to function in relationship to the whole system, and the ego functions best when it is consciously aware of itself as part of a larger system.
Inspiration derives from the word, spirit. But it is the latest breakthroughs in science, not necessarily spirituality, that give us the clearest prism [...]
Surgery, radiation, reiki and the mystery of healing
Posted by Soul's Code on 10 Oct 2009 | Tagged as:
“I had thyroid cancer, and a reiki therapy session that changed my life. Call it a peak experience, call it a spirit guide . . . I’m healed and happy”
ANONYMOUS — Throughout my life, I’ve received many messages from the Spirit World and, as a child, had a spontaneous out-of-body experience. But there is [...]
the beautiful cycle of life...lambs in the spring...wild flowers in the summer...enlivening winds in [...]
