4  LIFE PATH: The Teacher Personal Mission: To Develop Stability and Process in Every Aspect of Your Life A 4 Life Path is all about developing stability through process. Yours isn’t a rambunctious journey; rather, you’re cerebral, intelligent, and a seeker of knowledge. If you were to audition for the cast of Winnie the Pooh, you would land the role of Owl. Because you know how to build solid foundations, you’re often placed in charge of developing operating systems and are expected to look after the details. You’re the workhorse and “master builder” of the world. You devour information so that when you find a topic or subject that interests you, there’s no end to the depth of your knowledge about it and your ability to impart that knowledge to others. You’re a born teacher. You may not become a teacher in the traditional sense, yet you demonstrate an undeniable depth of knowledge and just can’t help sharing what you know with others. While you can certainly have a sense of humor and moments of lightheartedness, you tip the scales toward seriousness, brainy activity, and rational thought. You may come off as cynical when you offer advice, yet what you’re really trying to do is offer information you think will help a person or a situation. You’re the first to say you don’t want to argue and yet you most often end up in arguments because you tend to be opinionated about things you feel you know a lot about. You need a lot of positive affirmation and are uncomfortable with, or even afraid of, criticism. If you can’t do something perfectly according to your standards, you often don’t do it at all. As a result, a lot of your dreams haven’t been achieved. Home is important to you. You crave a sense of security that “home” exemplifies. One of the primary issues faced by the 4 Life Path is the necessity to work through problems with family of origin. While all of us have family history to deal with, the 4 Life Path rides a particularly rough road with family that’s at the core of the healing and learning you’ve come here to do. Many 4 Life Paths have family histories that include literal or figurative abandonment, abusive parents, drug or alcohol abuse by one or both parents, an early death of a parent, and other forms of trauma. In order to work optimally with the gifts of the 4 vibration, you need to look at your wounded or problematic relationships and work through the feelings of lack and pain they’ve brought to you. Because of your volatile past, you have a desire to protect— yourself, things, and the people around you. You like things that are tangible and solid. Honesty is crucial to you, especially in relationships. You take in everything and experience a lot of sensory overload. Even though that’s the way you process information, it can lead to feelings of being overwhelmed. Because of the high-intensity way you absorb and process information, you need to take plenty of time for yourself and cultivate peace and quiet in your environment. This is imperative for your mental and physical health. You have a sensible, traditional, well-behaved way about you and aren’t “into” people who are otherwise. You don’t understand people who are big risk takers, don’t follow the rules, or don’t thrive in a traditional work or family environment. You also have a “loner” quality to you. You have no issues with spending time alone. If you’re a woman, you may be strong to the point of being perceived as more “masculine” because of your energy; you take care of everything and are super responsible. Many 4 Life Path women are drawn to intimate relationships with men whom they end up financially (and emotionally) supporting. Sometimes you might lean on alcohol or other calming drugs as a way to relax your constantly moving brain. Yet remember that nature’s beauty has a calming effect on you, so use that as your outlet for relaxation. You feel most comfortable when you’re moving slowly and deliberately. You work out your plan and want your life to be orderly. Underneath that planning is a fear of chaos and a real dislike of appearing stupid or naïve in any situation. Overall, you’re eminently practical, hardworking, and determined. No matter what, you’ll get it done. One of the primary issues the number 4 must come to terms with is limitation and restriction;  both the limitations that are externally imposed on you and also the limitations that you impose upon yourself. Part of your life's journey is to learn to get outside of your own box and take a chance or a risk once in a while. Common threads when a 4 Life Path is “on fire” and working with optimal energies are being practical and detail oriented, sharing knowledge, and working to establish a sense of security. Your life purpose is to achieve stability and security by patiently following a gradual process toward your goals. 4  LIFE PATH: Potential Challenges Your potential challenges are: To embrace the idea that a stable foundation is the key from which all else flows for you. Foundation energy reflects issues with family—either the family you came from or the one you produce. To comprehend that because you’re here to work toward stability through step-by-step processes, many things test your sense of stability. You may have deep issues with parents and other family members who served as your foundation early in life. You’ve probably asked yourself more than once: “How the heck did I end up with these parents?” Therefore, working out family issues and rebuilding your sense of security forms an integral part of your life’s work. To confront issues in the areas of stability, commitment, patience, clarity, and willingness to follow a slow process to reach your goals. You need to create a sense of inner stability—physically, emotionally, mentally—before moving forward.  “Proper preparation prevents poor performance” is a good mantra for you! To beware that the flip-side of your hard-working energy is the avoidance of hard work. Do you have difficulty putting down roots and staying put for a while? Do you cringe at the thought of hard work and concerted effort? Then it’s your task to understand the value of commitment to things in your life: to a relationship, a present location, to a line of work. You might be surprised at the relief you feel by allowing yourself to commit to something. To realize that if you lack physical flexibility, you most often have psychological rigidity as well, manifesting as stubbornness in the form of self-deception or “tunnel vision.” You prefer to operate with blinders on, not really listening to, or heeding others’ feedback or advice. This often leads to feelings of regret because of opportunities not taken. To know that you might have a heavy dose of impatience. Your tendency is to drive hard to reach your goals and then if you don’t achieve success as quickly as you’d like to you feel discouraged and say, “What’s the use?’ or “Just forget it.” You may approach relationships in the same manner, starting with intensity and enthusiasm and then abandoning the relationship when problems surface. You need a plan and the patience to follow through with it because you have tendencies to skip steps on the one hand or get obsessed or stuck on a single step and lose momentum. If a step is skipped, you’ll always have to go back and make up for the lost step before being able to move forward. You have a surprising amount of stamina, vigor, and fortitude, yet these qualities can sometimes manifest as stubbornness and resistance, making it difficult for you to let go of the past. Often you tend to nurse regrets and have tendencies to obsess on old relationships, mistakes, and failures rather than seeing them as lessons to be used for bettering your life. You have a tendency to make the same mistakes over and over again. You may marry the same type of man or woman several times. You may quit smoking and start smoking again and quit again, over and over throughout your life. You might hop from job to job without finding the type of job that you feel passionate about and that fits your needs. You may avoid committed relationships again and again until you realize too late that you let real love slip out of your grasp. 4 LIFE PATH: Strengths to Develop You make an excellent parent if you’ve done some good emotional work surrounding your own wounded childhood. Developing your own family is a great way to become the parent you always wished you’d had yourself and give your own children the benefit of your hardship. You can also take the opportunity to parent yourself along the way to make up for what might have been lost during your own upbringing. A 4 Life Path needs to focus on practical ways to manifest goals, because you’re the one with the plan! Achievements results from clear intent and focused effort over time. Your ability to build strong and resilient “things” extends from relationships to business systems to the actual products people use. You thrive on responsibility once you get a taste of it, because often it provides you with a sense of stability you so crave. You’re the one that people look to for answers and are the solid presence other people count on. Yet often you then take on so much responsibility that you get overwhelmed. Because you need guidelines and limits, and to know what is expected of you, for you the best kind of support can take the form of clear expectations. You take comfort in having and living by a clearly defined system of rules.  If you don't know the rules, you tend to feel confused.