Port Royal; SC
“Showing up is eighty
percent of life.” - Woody Allen
“Get up, dress up, show
up and grow up.” - Anon
As we begin a spiritual path it is
all we can do to quiet the voices in our head.
The ego clamors for control with every device it can muster. Try as we might, it is very difficult to
differentiate what is our ego talking and what is that intuitive voice. But with time and effort we start to sort it
out, and we start to get the guidance we seek from that small still voice
within.
How often do we miss our intuitive voice’s
urging? We are driving down the road,
and the notion hits us that a passing place might be interesting. Or we are sitting somewhere and see a person
who seems they might be interesting. Maybe
it is a book we hear about and it strikes us that we should read it. Perhaps it is the idea that we should get out
of the house and go for a walk in the park.
Immediately the ego steps in. “I
can always stop there. They probably don’t
want to talk to me. I’ll get it later.” Next,
our ego gets the rationalization going. “Besides,
I need to get home. On second thought,
they don’t really look that interesting.
It probably would have been boring anyway.” And just like that the opportunities to
expand our horizons pass us by. The
intuitive thought comes in and is quickly shoved out by the negativity of fear,
procrastination and judgmentalism. It
happens on the larger scale too. We talk
ourselves out of taking some continuing education classes, out of learning a
new skill, applying for a new job – on and on the list goes. And just like that we miss the infinite world
of possibilities that might have been ours.
What is the point of praying for guidance
and direction if we then refuse to follow the intuitive voice that would guide
us? Why bother taking the time to pray
and quiet ourselves if we are going to allow anxieties to blot out the path
that is ours for the taking? Why let our
concerns about what others think outweigh the world of possibilities that is
ours? These things seem so evident when
we look at them from this detached point of view, but when the “rubber hits the
road” in our day to day life listening to that intuitive voice isn’t nearly so
easy.
The only time we can listen to that voice
and make the choice to follow it is now.
We can’t go back and try to apply yesterday’s guidance today, and we
cannot get a road map for the next two days – let alone the next two
decades. But we can attune to the best
of our ability today, then make the choice to take the actions necessary to
follow up. The next thing we know whole
new vistas of life open up, and where we despaired that our life was drab and
boring we suddenly have a wealth of opportunity. Yes, faith without doing the work to take the
guidance given is a dead faith indeed.
But faith combined with willingness and curiosity opens doors we never
thought possible.
Today, may I show up
for my own life.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Feedback