I don’t know about you but for me the last few years have been crazy hard! There has been lots of inner work, tons of healing, more inner work and more healing. But the thing is, I asked for it! I asked to be changed. I asked to be more compassionate. I asked for a deeper relationship with Spirit and I asked for self-confidence, to feel worthy, and to be able to move forward with grace in knowing who I am.
With the coming of this New Year I have thoughts like – “This is going to be a year filled with laughter”; “I want to create more … (fill in the blank)”; “I would love to travel”. In a way, these are affirmations or goals. The thing is though, these thoughts also bring me out of the now moment.
It’s great to have aspirations or hopes of the future. Sometimes it’s all we have to hang on to. But can we learn to be here now and be at peace no matter what is going on in our lives? Each day is a gift. There are no promises that tomorrow will come for any one of us. What are we doing with today?
Always looking ahead can be a form of distraction from what’s right in front of us. Attitudes and mannerisms we have learned to survive need to be adjusted and healed within us. Maybe we have control issues we need to work on and heal. Or maybe our ego needs to be cut down to size. How about the anger that blows up every now and then, where is that coming from? We can’t see these things within us if we are always projecting into the future.
Sometimes the things we want come from a place of need. For example say we want a million dollars so we can be out of debt. That’s legitimate – debt looms over us like a cloud and that becomes all we see. But if you haven’t done the inner work to receive the million dollars you will be broke again in no time. Another example could be if you want a partner. You must do the work within yourself to attract the RIGHT partner to you, not just someone to fill the void of being alone.
What if this year, our intention was to get to know ourselves better. To stop projecting “out there” what we so desperately need within ourselves.
If we “need” money – where do we have a lack mindset? Where does it come from? Is it ours or did we pick it up from our parents or someone else? What are our beliefs around money? Is it hard to come by, you have to work hard, nose to the grindstone, money doesn’t grow on trees. If we feel alone – where are we not loving ourselves? Do we put ourselves down by our self-talk? Do we belittle ourselves when we mess up? Why do we do this? Do we accept ourselves just the way we are or do we want to be skinnier, taller, smarter, more like so and so?
Life is a journey of self-discovery. That’s what we’re here for. We are here to rediscover and remember who we are minus all the input from the outside world – parents, teachers, friends, society, spiritual gurus. Everyone has an opinion of what is acceptable and what isn’t, what we “should” be like, how we “should” act. If we took all that away – who are we?
The truth is we are all spiritual beings living in a human body. We are human beings with a soul. Our soul is the spiritual part of us that has been lost, forgotten and ignored. As humans most of us have never been taught that our soul is the center of who we are. When connected to our soul it is the part of us that connects us to the miracles of life itself. Miracles happen every day but we don’t recognize them because we’re to caught up in our humanness, worrying about how to pay the bills, feeling sad or angry because someone said or did something that triggered a deep hurt within us from years ago, feeling we’re right and others are wrong.
Connecting to our soul is a conscious daily act of surrender of our beliefs, our hurts, and our ego. EGO is an acronym for Edging God Out. It means we think we know all the answers, we’re right, we don’t stop to question anything and we don’t give the time of day to consider we are part of a much bigger plan than our minds can comprehend.
Now don’t get caught up on the word God! You can call it God, Universe, Source, Energy, Light – God has many names. The point is God is within each and every one of us because we have a soul. Our soul is our connection with God – the Source of all that is – and our soul is crying out for value to this existence we call life.
Be brave this year and cultivate your connection with your source – your soul. Ask the hard questions. Then take some time in silent contemplation. Allow yourself time for the answers to present themselves to you. It may take a day, a week or a year but the answers you seek will come. This is called a life journey so you will forever be learning more about yourself. There is no fixed time when you will have all the answers (and if you think you do have all the answers, that’s proof your ego is in charge). Learn who you are and what makes you tick. Learn to love yourself again.