“I assure you that you can make your judgement perfect by living up to the highest spiritual premise where your 'natural will' leads you." Emma Curtis Hopkins
We all spend conscious and unconscious thought working on strategies to ensure acceptance and approval from others, so that we feel secure within our ‘tribes’. Everyone is doing it. So, while I am trying to figure out you, you are trying to figure out me. Meanwhile, very few members of our society really know themselves.
With this in mind, it seems insane that I am trying to figure out you, while you are doing the same about me…. There is nothing to figure out, because we are all so busy thinking about others, that we have no relationship with ourselves.
How can I support you when you don’t even know who you are? As far as I am concerned, this is the root of any craziness in our world. Millions of individuals are trying to grasp a sense of security from outside of themselves, yet that world outside is temporary, disoriented, and undefinable. It is an impossible endeavour, that I believe is the root of loneliness, depression and confusion.
How can you know if you aren’t following your own heart… your inner wisdom, the calling of your own soul? It’s easy. You will be suffering any form of physical ailment.
Take ‘cold sores’ for instance. I get one every time I deny the call to speak my truth and to feel my feelings all the way through, in any contentious situation. When I let anger build up inside of me, it bursts out as a cold sore. When I honour and love myself, creating peaceful situations, my lips are healthy… always. (Ha… now you know me a little bit more!!)
So what to do?
We each have a heart. Within that heart is a deep knowing. When we get quiet, we can tap into the still small voice of our heart that knows Truth, and says… “go this way”.
We can all hear that voice, but, most often, we don’t follow its lead. We push away what is calling from inside us, fearing rejection from others. But this is foolery. We all love a genuine soul. Think of the attraction we have to young children, who are so pure in heart. So many of us lose this authenticity somewhere along the way to adulthood, and some of us never rediscover that free spirit within us that loves Life.
I had the most delicious experience, organizing and participating in my mother’s Celebration of Life. There was a very strong pull within me, that spoke through me, guiding me in the decisions that best suited me and my family, as we closed this chapter of our lives together. All my siblings were in the best of spirits. Relatives and friends gathered in celebration, in “Gladys style”, and it was magnificent.
At one point, at the after-party, I laughed as my brothers demonstrated the synchronized swimming moves my mother had taught them. There we were, the Brocklehursts (the 4 of us siblings, my 3 sons, my brother’s wife and my granddaughter), all bobbing and splashing, while friends ate, drank and conversed at the poolside. So fun!
Our inner beings are connected to the highest principles of Life. (These instincts and vital convictions are sometimes called “will”). Our natural will never leads us astray. It has the brilliance of the Highest Intelligence, letting us know when to back down, when to let go, and when to trust. Our wills are the power centres of our lives. And yet, we have a culture that tells us to be “good girls and boys”, and to do what we are told by others instead. I am, right now, giving you permission to listen inside, regardless of outer objections.
After my mother’s celebration, I insisted it was time to let my parents ashes go in the wind, and then to bury their boxes in my father’s favourite spot on our old farm. We got permission from the present owners to place our parents’ remains wherever called to us.
For two hours, we enjoyed reminiscing and exploring. Eventually, we found the “highest point of land in all of Ontario,” (my father’s claim to fame). There, we spread the ashes and covered the boxes with rocks, in the perfect hollow. To wind up the momentous occasion, we shared a glorious meal, filled with laughter and good cheer.
‘For all my limited beliefs, narrow-mindedness, distrust and uncertainty, give to me deep faith, good judgement, trust in myself and inner knowing”.
Life is for me, and it is for you, too. Life is Good, and It is always looking for an outlet to express Its highest wisdom. Each of us can be a channel for this Intelligence, but we have to let go and trust our hearts, our inner compasses… our wills.
“The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. To be your own (person) is hard business. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself.” ― Rudyard Kipling
I don’t believe it has to be lonely and frightening to be your own person. I believe that the more we honour our own individuality, the more compassion we have for others on their unique journeys, and then the more alive, peaceful and balanced our world will be for everyone and everything.
What Emma Curtis Hopkins and Rudyard Kipling were advising in the quotes I have shared, was to listen to, and follow, the wisdom of your heart. The rewards are great.
Prologue
My husband picked me up from my long journey and I was hungry. I suggested we go for Mexican food. He didn’t want to go, but decided to do what I wanted. He didn’t speak up. In the end, he was miserable and I had a tummy ache for half of the day. Had he suggested his idea, we would have both had a salad, or a much lighter meal, and have been rewarded with greater energy.
I know that when you speak up to your truth, it is always the highest truth for everyone involved. Don’t let fear be your master. Trust your heart instead.
~ Take time every morning this week to sit for 5 - 10 minutes and meditate, asking yourself, “What is the wisdom of my heart? What is the one thing it desires for me that I can follow through with this week?”
~ Write down all that comes to mind, and then pick just one inner recommendation, following it through right to the end. Journal your results.