There Are 17 Levels of Consciousness. Where Are You?

Most of us think of consciousness as binary - you're either awake or asleep, aware or checked out. The movie The Princess Bride comes to mind: Miracle Max declaring Westley not dead, just "mostly dead." We joke about being somewhere in consciousness limbo after a hard week or a rough conversation.

But what if consciousness isn't a light switch at all? What if it's a spectrum, with 17 distinct levels, and most of us are living somewhere lower on it than we'd ever guess?

That's exactly what psychiatrist Dr. David R. Hawkins mapped out over decades of clinical research. And it shifted the way I see... well, just about everything.

What the map actually shows

Hawkins' Map of Consciousness assigns a numerical value to 17 emotional states - from Shame at the bottom (20) to Enlightenment at the top (700-1000).

Your level isn't your mood. It's your paradigm - the lens through which you experience everything.

The critical threshold is 200. Below it, life tends to feel heavy. You're more reactive, more influenced by circumstances, more likely to see problems than possibilities. Above 200, the emotional landscape shifts. Life starts to feel lighter. You begin to see options where you used to see walls.

Every level has its own gifts and challenges. This isn't about judgment - it's about awareness.

The part that surprised me most

Hawkins wrote that approximately 85% of the world calibrates below 200. When I first read that, I thought - well, that must be the struggling, broken people. Not the smart, self-aware, genuinely good ones who are out here giving and striving and trying. Not me.

Wrong.

Before I entered the world of coaching - in my late 40s, already someone who'd been told her whole life she was "mature for her age" and "wise beyond her years" - my coach assessed me at 122. I was floored. I thought surely that was reserved for people in real darkness, not someone like me who'd spent decades trying to grow, show up, and do things right.

Here's what I've since learned: that range is where a lot of smart, capable, self-aware people land before they start this kind of work. Not because they're broken. Because nobody ever handed them the tools to think differently. They've been running on default programming - some of it helpful, a lot of it inherited - doing remarkably well on the outside while the inside tells a different story.

The gap between how capable you look and how heavy it sometimes feels? That's the map telling you something.

What changed for me

Today I calibrate at over 500. I share that not to impress but because I've lived both sides of this map, and the difference is real. Five years of intentional, often uncomfortable, always worthwhile work. I can see things now I simply couldn't see before, and the people around me notice it too.

One of the biggest shifts came from releasing my grip on certainty. I used to think certainty was a strength. And maybe it is in some things. But when you're certain, you stop looking. Your brain literally stops taking in information that doesn't confirm what you already believe. Once I became genuinely open to possibilities beyond my own understanding, something unlocked. I challenged every thought, every belief. Some I kept. Many I lovingly set down.

The journey has been equal parts fun, frustrating, and freeing. I won't sugarcoat it - ascending the levels isn't passive. Information alone isn't transformation. Action is required.

Whether or not you subscribe to the framework

You don't have to buy into Hawkins' calibration system to benefit from what it points toward. What I know from personal experience, and from working with the people who find their way to me, is that the higher you climb, the more you can see. And seeing differently is where everything changes.

That's exactly what my course Unleash Your Inner Ally is designed to start. Not finish - start. It introduces four of the most common thinking patterns that keep brilliant, capable people stuck below their potential: people pleasing, the compare game, perfectionism, and control, and gives you practical tools to begin rewiring them. Around an hour of video. Months of implementation - one small shift at a time. Real work. Real results.

A special offer for my readers

Because you've been here a while, I'm offering over 50% off for the first 50 people to purchase. Use code First50 at checkout.

Find the course here: https://www.outofsmallthings.com/LunchboxLifeCoaching-InnerAlly

Happy climbing.

High five! ✋ 

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