Turn Up The Volume

"Listen to the gentle whispers of the holiest places in your heart"  unknown

There is a voice within us all that is so powerful and brilliant and wise.  A voice that has been around the block once or twice, or 100 times, and knows the essence of us better than anyone else.
  This voice IS our essence, actually.  It's the voice that is totally connected to the flow of life.  It is our plug-in to the knowledge and secrets of all the universe.  It's the voice of loving guidance whose sole purpose is to nudge us and gently show us the best way for each of us to evolve and enjoy our lives.


It's the same beautiful and loving voice that gets slowly silenced over time - waning little by little starting right after we are born.  It gets hushed by well-intending people who love us more than life, our parents and family.  The voice gets even more muted when we join the systems of society such as school and work.  It's quieted by our friends, co-workers, and community acquaintances.  And perhaps this voice gets totally tuned out by the constant bombardment of media... television, computer, IPads, IPods, IPhones... I,I,I...whatever comes next!  Until one day... we just look in the mirror and wonder who we really are. 


What I'm learning about my voice is that I moved farther and farther from my authentic self (my voice) the older I got.  The more experiences I had, the more people I met, and the more life I lived, I just dis-connected from my voice until it was like the voice on Horton Hears a Who.  That beautiful little spec of a world on top of that dandelion calling out desperately to be heard.  But no one could hear it but Horton, and everybody thought he was crazy! 


What I have learned in the past few years is that I don't need to be so guided by my external world. For so long I looked at myself from the world's perspective.  My value was decided and engineered by what the world thought of me.  Parents, teachers, church, work, friends, television.  I made choices externally instead of internally, and I lost myself.  Can you relate to this? 


 I have the best guidance system in the universe smack dab inside me, and I can access it anytime, any place, and as often as I want.  Sometimes it's wise to ask guidance of others, but most of the time, it just can't work well because they are not living and breathing and seeing from your exact perspective.  Who is the very best person to guide you from your perspective?  You, of course!  I think we have forgotten how to trust ourselves to guide our own selves. 
 I have focused on returning to my essence and really turning up the volume of my voice by:
*journaling
*taking more time for myself - even if I don't think I have the time.
*being in nature more
*being more aware of the present moment
*being silent (for me this is meditation- just listening)
*finding gratitude in as many things as possible


I think that we need to each find our own way, and that it can't be done by opening ourselves fully to what the world offers us, even if the intentions are wonderful.  What you create has nothing to do with what anybody else is creating.  Instead of reacting to the world around us, let's create our own!  And if you don't like what I'm saying here, then don't listen to me....listen to your voice instead and do what you know rings true for you. 


Here's a quote to end on that gave me a chuckle....
"I will not let anyone walk through my mind with their dirty feet."  Gandhi

Any thoughts???? I would love to hear them!  Have a really good day.