Self-Awakening: Are You Someone Who Has “Awakened?”

Last week I wrapped up the latest cohort of “The Climb,” a 10-person vertical-development intensive that culminates in summiting a 14,000-foot peak. Actually—make that two peaks: Mount Belford and Mount Oxford, connected by a saddle of loose rock that feels designed to test both quads and character.

Three days in the Rockies gave us more than sore calves and spectacular selfies; it surfaced a single, ringing theme: awakening to ourselves. I watched it play out in two directions at once. Some participants arrived having already awakened—aware of their inner operating system and actively upgrading it. Others found the trek itself to be an ignition switch: a heat experience that cracked open new self-insight in real time.

One hiker, let’s call him Mark, embodies both trajectories. Mark used to be a hard-charging executive who measured worth by wins and led from a reservoir of barely managed rage. A painful divorce several years ago became his personal “earthquake.” Instead of armoring up, he entered therapy, sought spiritual mentors, and began rewiring decades of conditioning. Rage gave way to mindfulness; success stopped feeling like a substitute for self-acceptance. During this Colorado adventure, even Mark’s brother told me that Mark is a transformationally different person than what he used to be. Yet even for someone that transformed, the program still nudged him higher—helping him refine purpose, deepen his calm, and see leadership as an act of service rather than self-proof.

Mark’s story spotlights the essence of awakening and why it matters for anyone committed to vertical development.

What Do I Mean by “Awakening”?

Awakening is the moment you realize you have an internal operating system—made of mindsets, motives, and nervous-system patterns—and you decide to observe, question, and upgrade it on purpose.

Often “awakening” occurs in the aftermath of a “heat experience,” and is supported by:

• Observation: You catch yourself thinking instead of just thinking; you notice emotion without becoming it.
• Interrogation: Old scripts (“My worth equals my promotion velocity”) get held up to the light.
• Integration: Past wounds are faced, not buried; physiology is regulated, not ignored.
• Iteration: You uninstall habits that no longer serve and author fresh code aligned with deeper values.
• Expansion: Awareness stretches beyond self toward systems—how your choices ripple through teams, communities, ecosystems.

Vertical development research shows that each “mind” stage (Mind 1.0 → Mind 3.0) corresponds to a wider field of awareness and a more intentional, collaborative form of leadership. Awakening is the portal that moves us from one stage to the next.

The Vital 8 Self-Awakening Questions

Below are the eight reflection prompts you can use to gauge whether you are someone who has truly awakened and begun upgrading their internal operating system. Scan them honestly; count how many earn a confident “Yes.”

1. Catalyst Check: Have you experienced an event or insight that forced you to re-examine your deepest motives, values, or life purpose?
2. Meta-Moment: Can you step outside yourself—mid-moment—and observe your automatic thoughts, feelings, and body sensations without judging them?
3. Shadow Work: Have you consciously explored past wounds or trauma and traced how their echoes still shape your reactions today?
4. Nervous-System Re-tuning: Are you actively learning to calm and re-wire your physiology (breathwork, somatic practice, EMDR, etc.)?
5. Response over Reactivity: When tension spikes, can you pause, name the trigger, and choose a response that serves long-term intent rather than a knee-jerk impulse?
6. Re-coding Habits: Have you intentionally unlearned a long-standing habit or belief and replaced it with one you consciously chose?
7. Feedback Fluency: Do you solicit feedback that might disrupt your self-story—then sit with the discomfort instead of deflecting it?
8. Systems Sight: Do you sense how your daily choices ripple outward—affecting relationships, teams, and larger systems—and adjust accordingly?

Scorecard:
0-3 “Yes” answers → Pre-Awakening: You’re curious, but the OS is still on factory settings.
4-6 → Stirring: You’ve cracked the code and started rewriting it.
7-8 → Actively Awakening: You’re living the upgrade loop and influencing others to do the same.

Your Next Summit

Whether this is your first awakening or your fifth, the journey never really ends—there’s always another ridge to crest. Here are two intentional pathways you can take:

1. Vertical Development Coaching (1-on-1)
   Work directly with me to map your current vertical stage, identify operating-system bottlenecks, and design practices that accelerate your next elevation. Think of it as personalized base-camp support between summits.
2. The Climb (Group Intensive)
   Once or twice a year, we guide a small cohort through a three-month development arc that culminates in a Colorado 14er ascent, called The Climb. The shared heat experience + structured reflection creates a catalytic environment for awakening.

Invitation

Awakening is a life-changing gift you can give yourself. If reading the Vital 8 questions sparked excitement—or discomfort—that’s your inner compass pointing toward the next ascent. Reach out and let’s explore which route fits you best. Your next awakening could redefine not only how you lead, but how fully you live.