This is a Guest Post by my frined Cathy Elaine. A few months ago, Cathy went on a soul searching roadtrip from Hosuton, TX, to Sedona, AZ on a whim, by sharing a ride with some people she found on Craigslist, and hitch hiked her way back home.
I had asked Cathy to write something for the blog, and when I received her post, it wasn’t exactly what I was expecting. But I find it an uncanny coincidence that Lea Woodward had written along the same lines just a day before I got Cathy’s Guest Post.
Lifestyle Design demands soul searching and internal cleansing. Enjoy!
Once More, With Awareness
It seems interesting to me that I am finding myself in a work situation that mirrors almost exactly the situation I entered into nine years ago. The similarities are almost uncanny. My soul is offering me a do-over.
But there is one important difference this time around: Me. I am in an entirely different place spiritually than I was at that time.
This time, I am entering into the situation from a place of awareness of myself as the Observer, and as a powerful Creator.
I see the same temptations I entered into back then: the temptation to blame others for certain aspects of my situation that cause me discomfort, the temptation to punish others by withdrawing from them, among others.
This experience is also bringing up shadow stuff I thought I had long since overcome and left behind, like the tendency to obsess over whether my efforts and talents are good enough.
Only, this time, I am aware I have choices. I can choose to react to my circumstances and feelings from my small self, or I can respond to the situation and the resultant feelings by surrendering control, relaxing and trusting that everything is unfolding exactly as it should and that my Higher Self has a plan – a plan that will lead me into joy, if I will follow.
We are never far from joy. We need only quiet the ego and trust our Spirit Self, and joy arises from within like a phoenix from the ashes. The joy is always there. It is merely covered over by mind stuff.
This doesn’t negate our need to be decisive. For instance, there may be times when it is needful to withdraw from certain relationships because they are detrimental to our soul’s peace and growth. However, relaxing and trusting creates space for clarity so that our decisions may be made from our inner strength and purpose, rather than making reactive decisions based purely on mental static.
Our emotions can function as a guidance system that inform us when we need to make a course correction, but what can steer us wrong are the thoughts that we have attached to our emotions.
We may have attached the thought of striking back or withdrawing when we feel hurt or unsupported. Or we may have the thought of isolating or hurting ourselves when we feel disappointed with some aspect of our lives.
The thought automatically arises in response to the emotion because we have attached the thought to the emotion. What I am suggesting is that automatic reactions may not serve our best interests.
Reaction arises unconsciously, but in the light of consciousness, we may choose to respond to a given situation in an entirely different manner. And when we respond from our mind stuff, we may find ourselves repeating the same situation later, because our souls can be pretty persistent when it comes to our evolution.
Thank goodness!
Cathy Elaine was the consummate ugly duckling, agonizing over why she never seemed to fit in, until the day she realized that she was not born to fit in. Now, she embraces her peculiarity, enjoys her quirks, and encourages all whose lives she touches to love themselves and one another, foibles and all.
Cathy’s Blog
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Do you find yourself repeating the same mistakes? What do you do to avoid repeating it yet again? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
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