Inside us there is something that has no name, that something is what we are.
—José Saramago, Blindness
My last two posts of 2015 focused on looking at what truly matters and then turning those things that are most important into lofty dreams. For New Year’s I wrote about creating a compelling vision so we can build in the here and now instead of simply creating yet another list of resolutions. Last month I changed gears a bit and talked about forgiveness as an act of selfishness because a mindset needs regular maintenance. This week I’m looking to my soul for guidance, so that I can move all of that from theory to practice. My soul is my faithful ally in this quest called life. And if we let it, it can be an indomitable force that will guide us to fulfillment.
One of the keys to creating a life you love is tapping into, learning how to listen to, then trusting that inner knowing and finally learning how to tune into it in such a way that it can help guide us in turning our visions into reality. Since my days on campus I’ve made a conscious effort to uncover my reason for being on the planet, to find my personal truth and to align my life with them both. In doing so I’ve come to see again and again see how my soul leads the way by helping me to recognize serendipity or guiding me with impossible to ignore gut instincts.
Our souls both leads the way and provides a filter for our life experiences. In graduate school I had a conversation with an Associate Dean and Director. I honestly don’t remember what we were talking about, but at a certain point in the conversation I said something about wanting to know the truth. She viciously bit back with the questions, what is the truth? Then unwilling to let go, she answered her own question saying there is no truth. Only that brief moment of the conversations remains in my memory. But I know I remember that fragment for a reason. That reason is that my soul, my guidance, my cooperative component knew that the directors was not quite right, that something was not said or perhaps the conversation was not yet finished. The message put me on alert for a forthcoming finish to the conversation.
Being divine is an innate part of who we are from birth. Lindsay Wagner sums up the idea best when she says; “There is only one issue man’s lack of experience in feeling his Divine self and his innate connection with the Divine.” She concludes, “All other issues stem from this.” Luckily sometimes our souls refuse to be suppressed and unconsciously urges come from out of nowhere. That’s when we seem to mystify ourselves most. “Why did I do that?” and “What was I thinking?” or “I know I should do this rather than that, but I’m compelled to continue on this path.” Being pulled like that can be disconcerting, but that’s our soul saying, “I am learning, I am experiencing, I am seeing what it felt like to be alive.” That’s when we are often being who we truly are.
I watched a video in which Marie Forleo interviewed Elizabeth Gilbert. Ms. Gilbert described the experience as our souls saying they came here to experience life and they want to do it again, and again and again. When I stop resisting what seemed like my baffling urges, I was able to look at them and watched where they were leading me. It was then that I realized that with every urge I was actually getting closer to the life I wanted. I was stunned when I grasped that I had been fighting against the very path that would make me happiest. And pleased to find that Maya Angelou is right, “Nothing can dim the light which shines from within” each of us.
Some call recognizing guidance as becoming conscious. Others refer to it as becoming more mature. I call it connecting with who we really are and living in flow. But I’m not talking about going with the flow, which can lead anywhere or nowhere. Vironika Tugaleva aptly remarks, “Being passive is not the same as being peaceful. If you aren’t doing what you know, in your heart, you want to do; you are NOT going with the flow. You are going against the flow. Your reactions, emotions, desires, and talents are all part of the flow of life. Ignoring them is passive resistance. Let yourself go.” Tapping into the power of my soul requires conscious, purposeful participation. When we live in flow, we use our mental, physical, spiritual and emotional facilities.
The key is realizing that we are multidimensional beings. Leveraging all of our capabilities aides us in becoming the greatest version of ourselves. What is the greatest version of you? Whatever we want it to be. Morihei Ueshiba says, “You are here to realize your inner divinity and manifest your innate enlightenment.” I translate that to mean our souls looks for ways to open up, express, expand our connection with who we are and manifest it here on earth. Our expression of the divine changes as we expand, grow and shift. There’s nothing wrong with that, in fact, therein lays the fun. Side by side with my love for my childhood friends, that pair of earring I bought when I landed my first real job are lay my desire to meet new people and travel to places that I’ve not yet seen.
Today I agree with my old advisor to the extent that there is no truth with a capital T. There are only many small truths. And to be happy we need to align our lives with our unique series of truths. Those truths aligns us with a meaningful life, which is each of our birthright. Often we need to connect and reconnect and reconnect again to our own true self to be truly happy because we are not static. We change as we experience life and trusting our souls is key to finding and staying on the path that leads us where we really, truly want to be, deep down on inside where it really matters. Today as I dreams my dreams, turn those dreams into plans, launch myself in the new year and stop along the way for a little TLC, I’m opening myself up the revelations that reside inside of me, those ah-ha realizations that connect doing and inspiration.
Please leave a comment below and tell me what you think…
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