A New Way of Life: A Guide for Transformation from Living a Lie to Freeing Your Soul

By Leah Brathwaite

What is your truth?

Have you ever felt like you’re living a lie? Are you pretending to be someone you’re not to fit in, or reaching for goals to meet the expectations of others, or settling for a life that doesn’t feel good in your soul? By uncovering who you really are, what you really want, and what you’re meant t

• Language: English
• Publisher: Leah Brathwaite
• Release date: May 15, 2019
• ISBN: 9781999035518

Book preview

Foreword

Stories are how we learn through another’s experience so as not to repeat the past. Stories are how we see through another what change can look like. The problem is that we often don’t see what’s coming or even the moment we’re in until it has passed. We don’t see with foresight our struggles to come and we don’t often know how to label and process the emotions as we’re in them. As Steve Jobs said, You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future.

But there is a way to connect some dots looking forward. It’s by building our knowledge and wisdom through the knowledge and wisdom of someone else who has already connected those dots. By learning about the dots someone else has lived and experienced as significant, we can recognize the places and feelings that we’re currently in. The subconscious (or conscious) mind recognizes these templates as we step into them, and then, through the wisdom we’ve picked up, can successfully navigate and steer our present moment towards a future we want. This proactive way of living is what can motivate us in learning, and to seek out teachers who are living their lessons and sharing from a space of humility. Leah is this type of teacher.

What I love about this book and Leah’s stories is that she’s not only sharing what she’s been through, she’s actually giving us strategies and tools to look at our own lives and really ask ourselves how we’re showing up. She’s teaching us how to connect the dots as we live them. Leah is walking us through her pain and her mistakes so that we may learn from them. And in doing that she is teaching us humility as well. She’s teaching us that vulnerability is connective. That owning our story doesn’t allow it to own us anymore. This is grace creatively transformed into words, and for that I’m grateful and I’m certain you will be too.

Reading Leah’s words and having known her through parts of the processing and implementation of her lessons has been as powerful as it is inspirational. She doesn’t try to protect us from our feelings; she invites us to turn towards them and their inherent wisdom. She invites us to really look at our lives, and, more so, within, so that we can become present to who we are and actually take creative control over our lives.

Leah’s story is not only riveting, it’s fun, playful, and adds a lighthearted, gentle reminder of our own humanity and what it means to make mistakes and to live and learn from them.

I’m not sure that there is any more powerful way to learn about ourselves and our own journey than through the journey of another. Leah’s journey is one that continues to be profound, relatable, loving, and a beautiful invitation to take responsibility for our lives and relationships, and design a future that is worth living for.

Leah’s book will change your life, if you let it. As with everything in life, all you have to do is choose to say yes. The path will appear as the words in this book light the way.

Mark Groves

Human Connection Specialist

#createthelove

markgroves.tv

●      Preface       ●

Love Letter from the Author

I believe the same force that animates the universe is what animates our human forms. In that way, we have a spark of something divine within these bodies that carry us through our years on earth. To me that spark is our soul. It’s what connects us to the entire universe and to each other, what carries our potential, and what drives us to constantly expand, love, and reach for infinity in our lives.

But we’re also human on a very physical planet with real threats to our survival, and for that we have a mind to process our surroundings and keep us safe. Just like everything else on earth we are a perfect example of polarity, divine and human, light and dark, positive and negative, hot and cold. Both sides of the same coin, these extremes exist to allow experience. You can’t know one without the other. A lie and the truth. It’s your experience of both that lets you tell the difference.

If you’re like me and tend to learn things the hard way, sometimes we need to get to the edge of one extreme before we realize there is another side. This is the story of how I found my way to that edge. The lessons, tools, and practices I share are how I made my way back. While you haven’t lived the same moments as I have, there are likely many similarities in our stories. Through it I hope you’ll see for yourself that we’re all far more alike than we are different and all share the same fundamental longings: to be seen, to be loved, and to know that we are worthy and matter. I can guarantee you that just by being alive on this earth you already are, and if you’ve forgotten, I hope this book reminds you and guides you back to your truth. You are loved, you are enough, you matter.

Love,

Leah xx

Introduction

And suddenly you know: It’s time to try something new and trust the magic of new beginnings.

– Meister Eckhart

The desire to live our best lives is imprinted in our DNA. But so often we find ourselves carrying out the same routine day after day, feeling farther and farther away from that primordial craving for a rich life. Why do we settle for less than we desire, deserve, or aspire to be? Why do we allow the expectations of others to dictate some of our most important decisions? Why do we hide who we really are and what we really want to fit in with people we don’t really even like? And why do we try to tell ourselves that everything is fine when deep down we know it’s not? If you’ve ever pondered any of these questions, this book is for you.

As a yoga and meditation teacher, writer, speaker, and coach, I’ve made it my life’s work to help others connect to the truest part of themselves, their souls, and allow that part the freedom to direct them to a life beyond their limiting beliefs and wildest dreams. The most potent teaching I have to offer you is my own life experience and the spiritual principles and teachings I’ve learned along the way. I’ve lived every story in this book and employed every tool I share with you, and in doing so have radically transformed my life from feeling like I was living a lie, stuck, empty and afraid, to one of true fulfillment, joy, meaning, and peace.

The goal of this book is not to tell you how to live your life in a prescriptive way. Rather, it’s my intention to show you what is possible when you release the lies that hold you back. My primary guide on my journey was my own soul. As I learned to tune in and listen, it guided me to the perfect teachers, coaches, and books to help me work through the challenges I faced. It’s how I was introduced to Mark Groves, known throughout the world as a Human Connection specialist, writer, speaker, and coach. We connected as I started writing this book and his guidance was the icing on the cake that furthered the connection I had to myself and helped heal some of my most challenging relationships. Similarly, on your own journey through this book, your soul will become your guide as you learn to connect with it deeply.

The Journey Ahead

I’ve written this book as a guide to freeing the truth within your own soul and encourage you to move through it in sequence as each step builds upon the one before it. You may want to read all the way through and then come back and spend more time on each step. When I take clients through this transformative journey we spend time on each step to really absorb the lesson, address what comes up, and let the practice do its work. Find a way that works for you, but allow yourself the time it takes for this work to sink in. Together we will move through eight steps to LIVE FREE (the first letter of the titles of these chapters forms an acronym that spells LIVE FREE), uncovering that truth first by learning how to Listen for the Whispers in Chapter 2. Using the power of intention, we will set the course for our journey and learn how to use our emotions and feelings to find our way forward. Aligning ourselves with love through forgiveness is what will lead us to discovering our purpose, the spark that set us on this course in the first place, and will allow us to Explore the Possibilities ahead and finally learn to Embrace the Unknown with trust and faith as we create a new way of life.

Each of the LIVE FREE chapters opens with how I made my way through the challenges I faced, in which I share my experiences and stories of transformation. Then, each chapter gives you lessons and practices to support and guide you to your own experience of transformation. This process allows you to access the healing and transformative power of your soul. Clarity will emerge, peace will follow, and you’ll access the power of your own intuition to move you forward to what lights you up. You will learn to release the fearful limiting beliefs and thought patterns that got you to where you are and learn to move ahead with forgiveness and gratitude. Deep healing and an intimate, loving relationship with your true self develops as you learn to surrender to and choose love over fearful thinking.

I invite you to go through these chapters with an open heart and an open mind. I believe our stories are what connect us, and while you may not live the exact moments I have, it is my sincere hope that you may find yourself in my words and be reminded that despite the pain we may endure and the mistakes we make, being human is a perfectly imperfect experience. Before we can move on to truth, it’s important to understand the opposite of it, how we find ourselves living a lie, and the various forms that lie may take. In the next chapter, just before we get to our LIVE FREE journey, I share with you some of my story and invite you to see some of your own experiences reflected in it. The stage is then set for a transformational journey, one in which at any moment we are capable of choosing who we are and how we carry out our time here on this earth.

Throughout the process outlined in this book, I’ll be introducing you to some tools that have been invaluable to