What is spiritual awakening? Have you ever had a transformative experience in your life? In this episode of High-Frequency Healing, host AngelaMaría and guest Forrest Rivers delve into the more profound meaning of humanity’s spiritual awakening. After returning home from a transformative encounter, Forrest began to immerse himself in the aspects of some religions. He is a meditation teacher and a spiritual guide to help others become the best version of themselves. He also emphasizes the Earth as the medium of restoration and therapy. Tune in and join AngelaMaría and Forrest as they talk about spiritual healing and connection and how mother Earth plays an essential part in the process. 

AngelaMaría:

Hello, this is AngelaMaría of the SuperPower Up! hosts, and you are listening to the High-Frequency Healing Show: Awaken superpowers through higher dimension healing. The only difference between where you are, where you want to be is the actions you take here and now to heal your life. So let’s take a deep breath and be here and now. I invite you to enjoy this time together. So here we go. Let’s welcome Forrest Rivers to my show. Today, we will be talking about spiritual awakening. 

Forrest Rivers is a writer, teacher, and speaker who splits his time between the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina and the Colorado Rockies. His personal journey of awakening began at the age of 30 on an inspiring trip to Maui, Hawaii. It was there that enchanted Iceland where the profound healing power of the earth spoke through his heart and helped him overcome a difficult period of alcohol abuse.

After returning home from that transformative experience, Forrest became interested in the spiritual traditions of the far east, and began to immerse himself in the teachings of Buddhist, Hindu, and Taoism mystics, and took the pen name Forrest Rivers in honor of the air and her profound healing power. Forrest is a teacher of meditation and has started meditation gatherings at each of the schools that he has taught at during his over-decade-long run as a community college professor. Today, Forrest spent a great deal of his time guiding others to look within and become the best versions of themselves. In the very near future, it is his dream to start a wanderlust retreat center that focuses on the spirit of service and inner work. Holy garage, my same dream, and my listeners know that that’s one of my dreams. So we have aligned Forrest. He’s the author of two books, The Hippie Revival and Collected Writings as well as COVID-19, and Humanity’s Spiritual Awakening. Please join me in welcoming this beautiful soul, Forrest Rivers, to my show. Forrest, welcome. So glad to have you here.

Forrest Rivers:

I was going to say, Angela, the earth is, in my experience, the greatest expression of connection of God, of oneness, of unity, of love, and I really believe that. Not only do I believe that, but I also experienced that daily when I’m in nature, it’s my greatest daily connection to spirit.

AngelaMaría:

I completely agree with you. If you ask me why I’m just discovering this lately, I think it is what it needs to be. But nowadays I ask myself, how come it took me all of these years for me to realize that if I want to connect up there, I just need to connect that down here with my mother earth. So thank you, Forrest, for sharing that, because sometimes I think we are as spiritual teachers or life teachers or therapists, we think that everything is up there in the saddle, in the ether, in the energy, but everything can be experienced and expanded here in the earth with plants, trees, water, and fairies. I think this is marvelous that you are sharing this with us today.

Forrest Rivers:

You’re welcome. We can’t have enough connection to the earth. The earth is the purest expression of absolute spirit, and we are of it, it is of us, and there can be no separation. And if you’re looking to fully understand the nature of creation and the creator, look no farther than the earth.

AngelaMaría:

Amen. I completely agree. If you told me this some years ago, I would say, “Yeah, you’re right.” No, today I’m telling you, “Yes, absolutely, with no doubt.” Forrest, would you please take us back to your early years and name one memorable life lesson that is useful for you today?

Forrest Rivers:

Oh gosh, there have been so many lessons. As you know, anything on the path of the spirit, everything becomes a lesson. But one thing, I think one big lesson I think I’ve learned over time is, just generally becoming more humble. And that’s something that I’m trying to work on every day. I still have slip-ups, of course, but one big lesson is learning to live life with much more humility, and a sense that we are, I don’t know anything. And I think for me specifically, I’ve had many, many lessons where that lesson of humility came forth to me.

There is one that I could particularly think of. When I was living out in Colorado for a while, I had the privilege of meeting this one being, his name slipped, but he was homeless. And he taught me way more about life than I ever learned through all my schooling, all my years as a teacher, formally and informally. And society would look at this one guy and say, “He’s failed,” but that man was filled with more wisdom than anyone I’ve ever encountered. So that was kind of a lesson to me that your teachers come in different forms, they come from all around. And I think in that whole experience, I learned too much about judgment. You don’t cast judgment on anybody because that person could be your teacher. So that’s been a big lesson for me, just becoming more humble and accepting of the fact that your teachers could come from all walks of life, that the number of degrees that you have, or having gone to college, none of that matters. That’s not wisdom, that’s knowledge, and it’s very different from life experience.

And maybe the ultimate lesson that I’ve had in humility was meeting this Cherokee elder who I and my partner were both blessed to have met years ago. And her name is Myrtle Driver, and she’s a Cherokee elder, and she’s been probably the biggest lesson in my life of humility. She’s about 75 years old now. And the rare honor of being a beloved woman in the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. And she has more or less single-handedly kept the entire Cherokee language alive, the Cherokee syllabary. And she’s translated numerous books into Cherokee. She works with people who were addicted to drugs within her tribe to help them get clean, bring them to God. She’s probably the most inspiring person I’ve ever met. And she doesn’t even expect any kind of praise or honor. She actually dismisses any kind of praise when she gets it. So she’s probably the most humble and truly enlightening person one of them I’ve ever met. And she’s a lesson in herself of humility. And I can speak for me too, we’ve both been blessed to have met her.

AngelaMaría:

I love that you’re talking about being humble. I don’t know if you have read or you know A Course in Miracles. And in that book, I love the concept of being humble. And being humble is realizing, feeling, embodying the fact that God is in you, that you are light, God through you. And when I was listening to you, I remembered that, because that has been one of my goals every day. Today, I just want to be a channel of love, peace, abundance, and information.

Forrest Rivers:

That’s absolutely beautiful.

AngelaMaría:

Yes. That’s the only thing I ask. But after I finish that, Forrest, I say, “Well, God, and my ego would love to have a retreat house in nature. So if that can come, I will be happy. If not, I’m happier,” because that’s what I want. I want to be the channel of love. And I know that if I am willing 24/7, I’m just going to be able to manifest whatever I want. But I also would love to have the retreat house that you mentioned before. And so I think that when I read it in your bio, I said, “This is my guest, I’d love to meet him.” Forrest, where can people go to find out more about you?

Forrest Rivers:

Anybody who wants to make contact with me to learn more about spiritual awakening can go to my website at ww.forrestrivers.com. You can also connect on Facebook with me, just type in Forrest Rivers. And on my website, I also have a blog and I usually post daily little inspirational writings to uplift people, so feel free to check that out. And you can find the book itself, the latest book I wrote is COVID-19 and Humanity’s Spiritual Awakening, and you can find that book on Amazon and the Barnes & Noble website. And I do have a special right now, if you go onto Amazon and you buy the COVID-19 and Humanity’s Spiritual Awakening, and you leave a review on Amazon, I’ll go ahead and send you a free copy of The Hippie Revival and Collected Writings my first book. You just got to write me an email at [email protected]m, and/or connect on Facebook and give me an address and I’ll send you the first book.

AngelaMaría:

Do you listen to that my listeners? If you go and you buy the book, and you write a review, send him an email and you’re going to get another book. What a deal.

Forrest Rivers:

You get a free book.

AngelaMaría:

All right. Thank you so much. I really appreciate this. And same thank you for me and for my listeners that I know they will be so excited.

Forrest Rivers:

Yes, it’s awesome.

AngelaMaría:

So we’ve been talking with Forrest Rivers about spiritual awakening. When we come back from this short break, we’re going to talk more about his healing superpowers. Stay tuned. We’ll be right back.

To listen to the entire show click on the player above or go to the SuperPower Up! podcast on iTunes.