by Mark Pitstick MA, DC

If you’ve not already, please read . . .

  1. ‘The Great News‘ (article #19 at SoulProof.com/Articles)
  2. ‘Eight Developments for Widespread Conscious Living Now’ (#125)
  3. Greater Reality LIVING Program: Integrating ‘The 8 Developments’ Into Your Daily Life (#72)
  4. Greater Reality HEALING Program: Journeying FROM Deeply Grieving TO Brightly Shining (#82)

The evidence-based information and holistic resources outlined in these articles will help you to:

  • realize your true nature as an eternal being of consciousness / life-force / energy 
  • receive guidance and assistance from highly evolved energies and Source / The Light
  • heal old wounds, release lower energies, and update erroneous teachings
  • create the greatest life YOU have envisioned (YOU = your higher self / soul)
  • help others by sharing your greatest gifts
  • make our world a better place

As enough people do this, widespread personal and planetary change will naturally unfold. 

 

When Reaching a Fork in Your Life’s Road

Perhaps you are an important fork in the road of your life right now.  Or maybe you have looked back, realized how important taking the optimal path is, and want to do better in the future.  If so, read on . . .

Here’s a personal example of a fork I took many years ago; I now realize I could have done better.

At the age of 21, my first love of four years was clearly starting to break up with me.  She was my best friend, the epicenter of my life, and had a dazzling personality and looks.  We were pre-engaged and I thought she would be my wife and life partner.  It was Memorial Day weekend with just a week until final exams then summer break.  I had planned to visit her, but she didn’t want me to.  I could see, feel, and hear the handwriting on the wall.  I was devastated because I thought she was my one true love and the only one for me.

Bill, who lived next door on my dorm floor, sold pot on a small scale.  By the end of my junior year of college in the ‘do your thing’ 1970’s, I had tried marijuana a few times but wasn’t that impressed.  I had big goals to reach – including marrying my first love and being a doctor – and didn’t want to be sidetracked.  However, with a long weekend at school, most people going home, and facing major heartbreak, I decided to buy some pot.  I told Bill that I wanted ‘a nickel bag’.  ($5 bought a quarter ounce back then.)

I had counseled Bill during the previous year and helped him when he lightly cut his wrists during a traumatic break-up with his boyfriend.  Bill respected me and told me how impressed he was at my focus and drive.  So when I asked to buy some marijuana, Bill said: ‘No, Mark, not you!  Come on, man, what are you thinking?’

How could Universe signal any more clearly that I was about to make a poor choice — the lower energy fork in the road?  It’s a HUGE sign when a drug dealer tells you to not buy drugs.

However, I persisted and prepared to ‘get high.’  I pulled the small baggie of weed from inside a sock where I had hidden it.  (Simple possession was a serious offense back then and no one would ever think to search there, right?)  As I held the bag, a super strong voice / feeling / knowing said, ‘Mark, don’t do this!’  But I didn’t listen.  I wanted to stop the pain and sadness.  I wanted to be someone else and escape what was happening.

But I went about it a suboptimal way.  Looking back, I clearly didn’t make the best possible choice.

I smoked some pot and, suddenly, everything seemed wonderful.  The music, movies, pizza, and – well, everything – were so amazing.  I didn’t even think about my lost love . . . until the next day when I had to face reality again.  I continued to smoke pot twice a week to cope with the changes and feel better.  It was a lower energy response by self-medicating to handle the relationship breakup.  I didn’t do very well in my final exams that quarter.

(I’m not saying that smoking pot was immoral, evil, or horrible.  Used occasionally and optimally, it may be better than getting stupid drunk.  But it wasn’t the highest possible choice for me at that time.  I might have later chosen to use it occasionally for the buzz and mind-altering benefits.  But using because I needed it wasn’t, in my opinion, the best reason or use of the plant’s gifts.)

Several weeks later – sure enough – she broke up with me and I felt like I wanted to die.  For the first several nights, I awoke in the middle of the night and found my pillow wet from crying during my sleep.

Soon after, while driving by myself at night on a highway, I briefly thought: ‘I could end all this sadness and pain right now by driving my car into a big tree.  Then I wouldn’t have to suffer anymore.’  Very quickly, a voice inside me shouted: ‘No! You should not do that!  Look at all the good things in your life.  Think what your suicide would do to your family.  You can get through this and be stronger and better because you survived it.’

I listened to my inner voice / G.O.D. that time.  I literally took the better of the two forks in the road at that moment. 

Over time, I realized that using even a little bit of pot actually delayed my grieving.  Several years later, while receiving individual and group psychotherapy as part of my clinical psychology training, I was surprised to discover that my pain was still there.  I hadn’t processed it, just covered it up.

Soon after that, I quit using pot and discovered I could feel much more peace and joy via meditation, prayer, yoga, loving relationships, optimal diet, time in nature, exercise, and fulfilling my highest reasons for being on earth at this time.  But there were some negative consequences of taking a suboptimal path for seven years.  I wish I had listened to Bill – and my inner voice / spiritual support team – and responded to my suffering in better ways.

Looking back, there are many better choices I could have made:

  1. visit dear family and friends
  2. study more for finals
  3. take advantage of the many cultural events and activities on campus
  4. seek counseling
  5. pray more for assistance and clarity about how to best handle this
  6. meditate more to hear wise answers from within and all around
  7. double down on my goals and resolve to not get side-tracked
  8. spend quiet time in nature
  9. serve others suffering in much worse ways
  10. enjoy pizza, movies, and music – but without the drugs

Many valuable lessons have arisen over the last 47 years from all that.  I can appreciate and honor the experience now.  One lesson is to take the high road in life whenever possible.  It’s usually not the easy one, but it’s the wisest and – in the long run – best path.

My friends Jeff and Lynn Hollahan are bereaved parents I met while working with Helping Parents Heal.  They have taken many high roads since their son Devon passed on.  As a result, they have become exemplary people who love, care, and help others.  While having lunch, we discussed the ever-present option to make good choices no matter is happening to us or around us.  Jeff said, ‘I’ve learned that, when you come to a fork in the road, go up.’

We all looked stunned for a moment at the simplicity and wisdom of his statement.  He said, ‘I don’t know where that came from, but it sounds really wise.’  A Google search revealed no references to that phrasing.  My wife Andy who is a medium thought it could be a message from Devon since messages from ‘spirit’ are often shockingly short but profound.

In my twenties, a great song by the band Marshall Tucker was Take the High Way.  At the time, I thought that smoking weed was taking the best route.  I immaturely and judgmentally thought that people who smoked pot were better / cooler / more hip than ‘straights’.  Later, I learned that what’s within is what counts – not age, hair style, drug use, etc.

I asked people who didn’t use drugs why they chose to abstain.  They usually said it was because they liked to be as clear as possible.  They wanted to be in touch with themselves and their senses.  I get that now and applaud them for deflecting peer pressure and not doing what so many young people were in the 1970’s.

At the time, there was a ‘we can save the world’ mentality and ‘getting high’ was a key to it.  Nearly fifty years later, how has that worked out?  Yes, there have been some improvements but there are many problems.  Legalizing pot concerns me.  As I experienced, it’s so easy to lapse into euphoria instead of working through challenges and finding the silver linings.

Part of choosing the fork that goes up is realizing there are greater meanings to life’s toughest changes and challenges.  But you have to look for and apply them.  Here’s a recent example of a young women who faces tremendous challenges but is choosing to find the blessings and use them to help herself and others.

At a height of just over seven feet, 24-year-old Rumeysa Gelgi of Turkey is the tallest woman in the world.  But she will never play basketball; her height is a result of Weaver Syndrome, a rare condition that causes rapid growth.  She can walk slowly with a walker and attendant but usually needs a wheelchair.  But Gelgi uses her Guinness Book notoriety to help educate people.  Search for the video about her (October 2021).  Notice her little smile and deep eye contact when she was a kid and now.  She is quite likely an evolved soul who purposely chose to endure physical pain and more to grow and help others.

Very impressive.  That is taking the high-energy fork in the road.  You and I can resolve to do this whenever we face two or more paths.  It’s never too late to shift your focus and direction.  Lyrics to the song Stairway to Heaven are so enigmatic that even Jimmy Page said he doesn’t know what they mean.  But my favorite lines that are apropos for this topic are: ‘Yes, there are two paths you can go by, but in the long run, there’s still time to change the road you’re on.’

That’s my take-away from this song and life in general: no matter has happened in the past, there’s still time to upgrade the road you’re on.

Making more evolved choices when confronted by challenges may not be the most comfortable route.  But it’s easier now that we know – without a doubt – that life continues after bodily death.  If this brief time on earth was all we have, it may be tempting to succumb to self-pity, bitterness, anger, and other lower-energy emotions / ways of being.  But we now have convincing scientific and clinical evidence that this earthly experience is but a blink of an eye in the span of eternity.

What’s more, there’s the long list of benefits – listed at the beginning of this article – that help you take the high road.  As Robert Frost put it: ‘Two roads diverged in a wood, and I took the one less traveled.  And that has made all the difference.’  Or, as Carlos Casteneda encouraged, take the path with heart.

Perhaps I needed to experience how it feels to take a lower-energy path before I could appreciate the upsides of better choices.  Whatever the case, I resolve to take the forks that go up as much as I can.  I hope you will do the same.  Just imagine the cumulative ripples of that for all people and our world. 

We just watched the lovely movie The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel that highlighted this message: “Everything will be alright in the end.  So if it’s not alright, it’s not the end.”

That saying in India applies to your time on earth and beyond.  Life doesn’t end but it does change.  And everything is actually alright right now if we could only see from a sufficiently evolved perspective.

I hope this article comforts, inspires, and informs you – especially during your toughest changes and challenges.  See you on the high road, my dear fellow travelers!

*       *       *       *       *       *       *

Thank you for telling others about this article!  Your life, and that of others around you, will be more enriched when you:  

  1. read the article again so you really know it.
     
  2. discuss with close family and friends to more deeply internalize it.
     
  3. take action steps that seem right for you.
     
  4. share it with others via social media, discussion groups, and other ways.

Hugs, love, blessings, and let it shine!
Mark

Mark Pitstick, MA, DC
author, lecturer, counselor, and holistic chiropractic physician; spokesperson, research assistant, and strategic planner for the SoulPhone Project; founder of Greater Reality Living, Healing, Helping, and Sharing Programs

SoulProof.com    SoulPhone.org   GreaterRealityPrograms.com

Mark Pitstick, MA, DC is a master’s clinical psychologist, holistic chiropractic physician, and clinical nutritionist.  He has also helped others in pastoral counseling and suicide prevention / education settings.  His goal is to help you know and show that this earthly experience is a totally safe, meaningful, and magnificent adventure amidst eternity. 

To learn more about the Greater Reality LIVING, HEALING, HELPING, and SHARING Programs, visit ‘Greater Reality Programs’ top tab at SoulProof.com and SoulPhone.org.  Also see  articles #19, 72, 82, 119, 122, and 125 at SoulProof.com/Articles.

SoulProof.com provides many FREE resources:

  • 8 e-books Radiant Wellness, Soul Proof, The Eleven Questions, Greater Reality Living, The Big Picture of Life, The Afterlife Evidence, Ask the Soul Doctor, and Shining Light Parents Speak
  • 10 audio programs Holistic Breathing; Afterlife Contact; Ask Your Soul, Angels, and The Light; Pre-Birth Planning; Identify and Fulfill Your Purposes AND Enjoy Your Greatest Life; Your Life Review; Appreciate, Realize, and Transform; Love, Acceptance, and Forgiveness; Past Life Regression; Heal and Transform Your Suffering
  • 4 audio books (Greater Reality Living, Soul Proof, Radiant Wellness, and Shining Light Parents Speak; we don’t have control over the others)
  • 125 Articles (as of 3/1/25) answering the most commonly asked questions and providing holistic solutions for your toughest challenges
  • 25 Radio Shows: interviews with experts on consciousness, afterlife, and creating an optimal earthly experience. These include Wayne Dyer, Brian Weiss, Anita Moorjani, Raymond Moody, Michael Newton, Caroline Myss, and others. 
  • 27 Videos on different pages
  • Monthly newsletters (subscriber sign-up at bottom of each website page)

Instead of payment, he asks that you: (1) fully use and appreciate the products, (2) share them with others, and (3) help others in ways you feel called, that is, pay it forward.

The following are also available for a fee:

  • 8 printed books Radiant Wellness, Soul Proof, The Eleven Questions, Greater Reality Living, The Big Picture of Life, The Afterlife Evidence, Ask the Soul Doctor, and Shining Light Parents Speak
  • Coaching / Counseling Sessions with Dr. Pitstick by Zoom to gain answers to your biggest questions and holistic solutions to your toughest challenges.

Note: This article is intended as a reference source, not to replace professional treatment for physical, emotional, or mental problems.  The author disclaims any liability arising directly or indirectly from the voluntary use of action steps discussed in article. 

I created this article while ‘wearing the hat’ of a clinician, counselor, and educator.  My statements are based upon some scientific research; much clinical and experiential evidence; my personal experiences; and my best current understandings.  This program does not reflect my roles with the SoulPhone Project since those require solid scientific data for all statements.