Lately I have heard many comments about the unusual weather we have been experiencing, and those comments are usually followed by a remark on how the weather man (or woman) was wrong, or waaaay off, and how frustrating that can be to follow incorrect guidance. If we take a moment to think about the elements – Earth, Air, Fire and Water, the fifth element is Storm. Storms happen when things get too far out of balance, so much so that a drastic shift is needed; and that drastic shift is Storm…it comes into play to bring back the balance, however strongly or gently required. Obviously, Mother Nature has been doing a LOT of shifting lately.
As our planet is constantly changing and evolving, so must we, as its inhabitants. As we talked about in our last email, change is necessary, especially where growth is concerned. Sometimes, growth means stretching to find our own answers instead of going outside to another source. Now, I am hardly asking you to predict the weather…but, in receiving any type of guidance or instruction, I am asking you to first check in with yourself. You have your question…you pose it to an outside source…and you get an answer…however, before you blindly accept that answer as truth, I ask you to check in with yourself. To take a moment, breathe, focus your attention to your heart or your belly, and see how that answer FEELS to you.
Did you know that we energetically process information through our bellies? Hence the term, “gut feeling” or “gut reaction”. Our intuition or instincts speak to us all the time, if we would just slow down enough to listen. By tuning into our own frequency, we are able to receive guidance from our inner voice or our higher self. More often than not, this information won’t steer us wrong. How many times have you been driving somewhere or doing something and gotten a strong impression to change your course, only to find out later that you benefitted from that change?
A couple years ago I was driving on a 2-lane yellow-stripe road in New Hampshire that connected to larger towns. While the woods came practically to the edge of the road, the speed limit was still 30mph. Being my third day of vacation, I was relaxed and enjoying myself. As I drove, I kept getting the impression to “slow down”…while I let up on the pedal a little, I couldn’t help but think it was perhaps just guidance in a broader sense, like “slow down” my pace at work or something similar. Lost in my own thoughts, a car beeped behind me, and I looked down to notice I was going 20mph, and since this was a no passing zone, the car was anxious for me to pick up my pace. Behind that car, I realized, were 2 more cars as well…”ok, I get it” I thought to myself, and was about to speed up, but again got the feeling to “slow down”, so I did. I not only took my foot off the accelerator, I gently pressed the brake, and just as I did, two large moose darted onto the road right in front of my car…I just gazed at them in astonishment, I had never been so close to a moose in nature!
Feeling both blessed and amused, I briefly watched them gallop off into the woods on my right and smiled as I began to drive again, at a more appropriate speed this time, since it now felt right. I had trusted my instincts, and found out almost immediately why I was guided to slow down. We don’t always get validation of why we are guided to do things a certain way, and it’s important not to consciously look for it after a certain point, either. For learning to trust ourselves is an important lesson that I believe we all must not just learn, but continue to work on at different levels throughout our lives. While validation can help us know we are on the right track, it’s important to strengthen our inner voice to the point where we know we can trust its guidance.
So, like I said, I’m not asking you to predict the weather; but I am asking you to “feel” into every situation and any questions that you have, so that your own inner voice can guide you to what’s right for you. Building that level of trust is a daily practice that takes time, but once forged is invaluable. And let’s face it, if we can’t trust ourselves, we’re all in for quite a storm…
