One of my favourite quotes this past year is from Sadhguru: The only way out is in.
In different stages of my life I have relied upon different forms of guidance. Any master I have heard, all the many and diverse forms of medicine, such as plants, meditation, isolation, contact, painting, music, dancing, have all brought me closer to mySelf.
Every form of guidance from the outside is merely a reminder, an inspiration, an intention of awakening that innermost connection to the Self.
In all of us there lies a deep knowing. A voice from the depth of our being that simply knows.
Discovering my own guidance, my own inner voice, my own inner knowing again and again over the years keeps surprising me and I continue to decide to listen.
There was a moment of crisis I remember clearly in which I felt so lost and helpless that, despite my greatest effort, the voice within me remained silent.
I was so distracted with what was going on around me, so stressed by the pressure I felt that, rather than take the time out I would have needed, I hurried along and searched for the quickest, most logical solution. I paid a high price for this quick fix and I learnt a valuable, painful lesson.
If the voice inside me remains silent, it is because she needs more time. She needs space, ease, relaxation, trust and surrender. She needs to know that she matters.
She is not as loud and clear as the voice of reason, she doesn’t provide linear arguments and her perception is not based on facts. When under pressure, she simply retreats deeper into the depth of my being and waits for me to meet her there.
She is the one that knows. Always. Her guidance can take me by surprise me, as my life following this inner voice leads me from one adventure to the next.
At times I feel lost and I begin to doubt that I am guided, that I am on my way.
The voice of reason offers a perspective, an approach, a rational solution which makes total sense. A voice that urges me to avoid adventures and loss of control, a voice that speaks with such urgency that I feel I need to move fast, decide quickly, that I have no time to “feel into it”.
And then I remember my moment of crisis and the loss, pain and disconnection I felt.
I breathe. I allow the worry, the fear, the tension. I allow the doubt. And I breathe again and I pause. I take my time and relax.
When I cannot reach my inner voice, when my inner guidance is not accessible to me, I try to make more time, more space. I avoid making a decision until I know that I can make a decision, that is in accordance with my being, with all of me.
The beauty of inner guidance is the freedom it beholds and the truthfulness in which it speaks. Independent from all the aspects on the outside, She has no career or money fears, she does not consider the need to belong or the intricate politics of a community. She simply knows what is best on the way to a happy, fulfilled life.
I believe we are all familiar with this feeling of knowing that it would be best to leave this job, that partner, this apartment, this city, etc. BUT and then an endless list of logical, convincing reasoning.
Until one day, we are so fed up with it all, that the step to trust this inner voice is easy and we finally do what we knew was due all along and things just fall into place.
The peace it brings to act in accordance to inner guidance is imminent.
In these times that are so unforeseeable, listening to the voice has become much easier for me as many of the heady arguments no longer hold: What if… ?? Who knows!
The time is Now! For this I am grateful.
With love
Charu Eliza Hermsdorf
Co-founder of DIMA Mallorca, A Centre for Conscious Living
Mediator and Conflict counselor at MediateBerlin
www.mediateberlin.com
