While on the cusp of social renewal – re-entering after the pandemic – I have been thinking about how to decide what to do to be safe and to enjoy the upcoming season.
What is my personal responsibility? As always, it is to take care of my physical and mental health. I am a conscious consumer, reading labels and considering what I take in from food to health care to media, but I cannot know everything. At some point, I need to trust and to make a leap.
Basically, I need to know the science, that is information based on experts’ research and I need to know the voice of my own experience. The first comes from the outside in, the second from the inside out – we need information from both. The one on the inside is quiet, personal and gets less attention; let’s explore it.
One of the gifts of the pandemic is that we have had more quiet, more time for reflection. What have I learned?
It is not my place to judge anyone, but to live in accordance with the internal guide that leads me to my higher self. That is where the voice of the spirit is heard, unmediated or interpreted by any organization or individual. It is not always easy to get quiet enough to hear the voice within and to be brave enough to act accordingly.
I think it is up to me to stay connected to my internal barometer and to trust when I do, all shall be well. Most of us (I know I do) have layers of conditioning and “shoulds” that can drown out the inner voice.
While I am writing on this beautiful spring day, I am looking at the side of my yard by the fence. When we had our shed built a few years ago, a big old tree was trimmed to make room for the new building. The heavy limbs were placed on top of the bamboo in front of the wooden fence.
My inner knowing, which I also refer to as my gut, was telling me that the bamboo plants would not fare well. Yet, when I brought it up, I heard that bamboo is hardy, impossible to kill, and it would come back. Well, the shed got built, the branches taken away, but the bamboo did not come back.
On the side of the yard where the bamboo was not covered, it it flourishing – tall and green – where it was covered by the limbs, it still looks bare even though I planted new stalks last summer. They grew a bit but never reached anywhere near the height or density of the other side.
Lesson learned. Again. I have to say it because I have made this mistake before. Allowing another’s opinion to carry more weight than my own, I have disconnected with my internal barometer, my inner knowing, my Daemon. Instead of expressing that voice, I have silenced it.
I disconnect because I don’t want to risk being seen as mean or unknowledgeable or foolish, if I make my view known and attach it to a request. But the fact is, when I tell my truth with quiet certainty, trusting my knowing, I honor myself which lays the groundwork for others to honor me as well.
Too late to save the bamboo, but it’s not too late (ever) to reconnect with and give expression to the voice within. When I look back on my life, the biggest regrets I have are when I knew something but ignored what I knew to go along and get along. That’s conditioning which goes deep – yet freedom is possible.
Imagine a rebirth of the spirit guide within each of us! That would go a long way to resolving conflicts within ourselves and with others.
If we live in accordance with our knowing, others may not like it, but it is better to displease them than to disconnect with ourselves. Regarding the bamboo, the builders may have complained when I asked them to take the branches off the plants, but that’s alright.
I don’t believe it’s my job to make everyone else happy, or to have them agree with or like me, although I forget at times. It is my job to hold what’s dear – my home, my work, my family and the connection with my inner knowing. When I forget, I am free to forgive myself and come back to what I know is true.
When I do, what happens is not only good for me personally, but it sows seeds of goodness in the world.
This spring, I will re-enter the social realm, one step at a time, listening to both the whisper voice and the voice of scientific research to guide me on my way. If I am not well or exposed to someone who is ill, I will take care and stay home. I know how to support well being in my body, mind and soul. That’s something I can do!
I will consult, trust and follow my inner guide. In life, there will always be sickness and pain as well as vitality and growth. I resist neither. My spirit is strong no matter what; I align with it. It is my source.
This spring, my wish for you is to listen to the voice of your spirit whispering how to live with both connection and freedom, knowing both what is true in the world and what is true in you!