We all have a path upon which the Universe supports us, and it’s a matter of reading the signs to know whether we are on the right one.
In “Adventures on the Quest,” Richard and Mary-Alice JaFolla offer their ideas as to how we can know whether or not we’re in tune with God’s will. Questions we should ask about the situation:
1. Is it for the greater good of all involved?
2. Are doors continuing to open?
3. Is energy flowing in that direction?
If our instincts make us recoil; if the still, small voice is clamoring No, should we reverse our own objection and travel on that path?
In my opinion, the best answer lies in prayer and meditation. What are we recoiling from? Is it something that will drain our energy and prevent our journey to our own calling?
If that is the case, a reconnoiter is mandatory.
DON’T PROTECT, CORRECT
Delightful Dr. Susan Jeffers states in Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway, “Don’t protect, correct!”
If we recognize shortly along one leg of our journey that it’s taking us in the wrong direction, we don’t need to stay the course until we crash on the rocks that we spotted from the distance. We simply turn in another direction and steer to safety, as a good sea captain would.
At times, that course correction is very minor, but at other times, it involves turning the entire ocean liner around. As we all know that can involve monumental effort and energy–faith, patience and trust. And time.
TACK THIS!
Envision a sailboat race, with a regatta of proud boats sporting puffed sails and darting toward their destination. Sailors know that the boats most certainly do not move in a straight line to the finish; they’re constantly tacking back and forth to take advantage of the breezes and currents.
Even so, they arrive at the finish line (God willing) despite having been “off course” approximately 90% of the time! The same holds true with airline flights.
The captain or pilot (our conscious mind) is at the controls to correct the course of the sailboat, aircraft, or our life when we seem to be heading in the wrong direction.
There is no need for self-flagellation or shaming when we get off course. Correction and moving forward are all that’s necessary.
SIMPLE SHIFT
On the path back to the garden of self-awareness, self-acceptance, self-respect and self-love, we need to give ourselves all the support we can get!
Additionally, there’s no reason to make anyone else wrong when we decide to make a shift. It is what it is–simply a shift–and we don’t need to point the finger of blame out there because of a decision that we have made that’s in our best interests.
Dr. Jeffers describes the lighter feeling that we can choose to experience when shifting course: “If you take Path A, you get to taste the strawberries. If you take Path B, you get to taste the blueberries.”
And the obvious corollary: If the berries you’re eating are poisonous, spit them out and go find a path with berries that nourish you instead of making you sick!
TINY LIZARD SCUFFS
Discovering one’s true path sometimes requires some real sleuth work–but it usually does hearken back to remembering what we love or what we love doing.
Famous shoe designer Manolo Blahnik experienced some very limiting careers as a young man. They tapped his creativity, but only peripherally. Eventually he found himself working at Vogue as a clerk. Editor Diana Vreeland spied some of his doodles of handbag designs and encouraged him in that direction, until he got back to his original love, shoe design.
As a child, he’d gotten a great deal of enjoyment by fashioning tiny shoes for the lizards in his garden in the Canary Islands off Spain.
He configured the tiny lizard scuffs out of the foil from his mother’s cigarette packs!
Now those stylin’ shoes for lizards have morphed into high fashion worth several hundred dollars a pair. What tiny pair of high heels for lizards is scampering through your psyche and ready step out on the dance floor?
Please pass along the article and share this link from Patrice Dickey, Your Guide to the Life
You Love at www.artofchange.org/promo_registration
* Patrice Dickey, Your Guide to the Life You Love, multi-award winning author (BACK TO THE GARDEN: Getting from Shadow to Joy ©2008)and originator of Emory University’s consistently sold-out course, “Get the Life You Love” offers transformative tips on “How to Get The Life You Love—and Afford It!”
She offers Simple and Quick Ways to Kick-Start Your Day, Release Stress, Feel Better, Stay Focused, Get More Done and Experience a More Meaningful Life! Get Your FREE Special Report, 101 Simple Ways to Kick the Depression Habit & Get Happier Without Prozac! along with its companion Ezine, Your Guide to the Life You Love, with tools & tips, perspective shifts, and always some Cool Mind Candy with that Hopeful Flavor! Extra bonus: your FREE Inspirational Audio, “For the Next Level of Healing.” Here’s the link again, thanks! www.artofchange.org/promo_registration