We often think that it would be very awesome if we had some kind of internal guidance system that would assist us with the many choices that we are faced with day in and day out with our lives. There are no fully complete instruction manuals to describe our emotional/mental equipment and so we go through our lives in trial and error trying to figure things out as we go. Or, we just go and take in all the experiences personally and painfully or if we feel like we've been lucky, joyfully and lovingly. But get this, we do most definitely have an internal guidance system that if we but tuned into carefully and with much consideration, we could be appropriately guided every single step we take on this amazing dream and path that is our lives. One of the keys to tune in takes a bit of effort but when you make that effort, you will immediately be rewarded with results. Now, like with anything new you are learning, there will be both successes and failures until you get into the groove of it. But you can strive for it with a bit of practice and even begin to measure your own success rate over time.
So, to put it very simply, often things are a matter of surmising truth from seeming facts that we hold -- perceptions, perspectives, etc. primarily set with the mind. The problem is the mind alone does not comprise the totality of our guidance system. There is a mental component of our guidance system that gives us an ability to analyze facts...but what if we treat perception or perspectives as fact when those perceptions and perspectives are farther from the truth than the sun is to the Earth? There would only be improper guidance gleaned if you do not fully understand your own guidance system. Here is a fact for you, we are more than mind - our ability to think, reason and rationalize. We have a body that senses many things. Our bodies produce anxiety when certain thoughts are held and loving blissful chemical reactions when other certain thoughts are held in what we call emotion. There is a mental-physical correlation here that we must better understand if we should desire to begin to rely on our own internal guidance system. Then, there is yet another piece to our existence that we are less able to definitively prove although some fields of science are beginning to study - like the presence of the soul. Beyond the soul, there is the spirit. I'll save that detail for another time but will incorporate some aspects of soul consciousness here. So, our guidance system is actually comprised of mental consciousness, body consciousness and soul consciousness. The mind part is easy to validate. If you are reading this now - your mind is conscious. :) The body consciousness that correlates to the mind's thoughts generates chemicals and emotion - take a look at fight or flight response and you will see how this correlates. The mind holds a fearful thought, then the body withdraws blood and energy from the farthest extremities to give one a boost of energy for either fight or flight as is necessary. Then, there is a soul consciousness. When you are emotional at the physical/mental consciousness level, there is a separate part of you that observes this objectively and without judgement - the part of you that notices what the mental and physical aspects of you are feeling or producing. Eckhart Tolle writes about this in the Power of Now - (Great eye-opening book if you've not yet read it).
So, these 3 main components of you establish a reliableinternal guidance system. Now, a summary thought I submit for your consideration is this: Everything we encounter is designed to help us establish what is truth from what is not truth. Truth and not truth become our deciding factors for response or reaction to stimulus we encounter either physically or emotionally. What is true - we react or respond to. What is not true - we react or respond to. When contemplating how the soul-physical-mental consciousness work together to help us discern truth from non-truth, all of these act in concert and we can feel the truth in a loving, anxiety free flow to our actions - we feel good about what we are doing and experiencing. When we think we feel truth in our thoughts, actions, reactions and responses but there is an untruth there, we will feel anxiety, adrenaline and conflict. When we feel nothing but love and flow, we are perceiving the truth of what we see. When we are feeling anxiety and conflict, something is not in alignment and that means we have a truth hidden we need to uncover. A very simple example is a scenario like this: Someone seems to attack you for X reason and you are feeling anxious, hurt or angry. There is an untruth in the attack and that untruth is either that what is coming in is not yours or what is coming in is truth but your thoughts are rejecting or hiding the truth from you. When someone issues an attack, often it is their own internal conflict they are projecting and your mind-body-soul knows this and reacts in conflict as a part of the mind tries on what is coming in. When what is coming in is not true, you can relax in a flow of love and let it go knowing psychological projection or transference has just occurred. However, if you are in denial of something and a truth comes in you are not ready to embrace, anger, frustration and pain will go so deep within you that psychology may take over and nothing but anxiety and distress will occur. Psychology - the mind - helps us to see what is real and unreal but not all by itself. Often we consider that if we think it, it must be true. This is not true and if you get very quiet and still your guidance system will start affirming this truth.
To fully feel the urgings of your internal guidance system, you must tune into more than your thoughts and your emotions. You must be able to feel how your body is feeling. You must understand how your body feels to you when you are in a loving and flowing state and how your body feels when you are not in a loving and flowing state. When you begin to notice this difference, you become much better equipped to discern definitive from provisional truth and thus, develop the ability to rely fully on your own internal guidance system. So, how to do this...well, I have a simple exercise for you below that is a combination of things I've read, learned and used myself to get there. Try it out from time to time when you are in different states - good moods or bad moods just so you can become familiar with the differences.
Exercise:
1. Sit either in a chair with a back in it or even against a wall. Sit up very straight so that your spine and your neck are in complete alignment and then try to consciously relax.
2. Next, close your eyes and take in a very deep inward breath, hold it for as long as it is comfortable to do so and then slowly breathe out through your mouth. Repeat this for a total of 5 times. As you breathe in, imagine you are taking in beautiful white opalescent light from the Heavens or the Sun itself and as it enters the crown of your head and moves down your spine, into your shoulders, your torso, your arms, hands, legs and feet, imagine this light is pushing negative energy from you and transferring it into the Earth where it can be transformed into clean energy. So, simply put, breathe in the light, breath out the stress and strain and allow your body to relax.
3. As you continue focusing on your breathing, allow your consciousness to become aware of any sensations in your body. Are you in pain anywhere in your body, is there any tightness in your muscles, does anything tingle, twitch, feel hot or cold? If yes, focus on those points in your body and just feel them in a complete absence of judgment. Imagine with your next in-breath that you are breathing into the heart or center of these sensations. If you are tense or are in pain ask your body to show you the origins of this pain. Wait to see what you migt see with closed eyes. You may see a picture of a person, a place, a color...you may notice a stressful thought or a loving interaction from the past or present that rises to your consciousness. What does that thought feel like to you - not just mentally but in your body? If it is a loving thought - notice how your body feels - notice whether you see any colors in your minds eye, notice if you are feeling happy emotions. If it is a stressful thought, an anxious thought, just notice without judgment how your body feels.
Now, as you sit and feel how your body feels and you connect the state of your thoughts to how your body feels, you begin to learn the subtle voice of your body. When you can begin to understand the inner language of your body and how it correlates to the thoughts that are your mind's perceptions and perspectives, you can discern if there is truth in a matter or if there is a truth hidning that needs some uncovering. That obscured truth could be in part based on what is coming in or it could be what you are telling yourself. Perceptions and perspectives are not fact unless you have source validated your thoughts as fact. A quick example in the extreme: My friend (insert name) has not called me in 3 months, he must not love me, respect me or value my friendship as is obviously evidenced by his lack of outreach. This is only a perception or perspective you have surmised based on provisional truths and conclusions your own mind has created. In this example, what is presented cannot be fact because you have not source validated it as true. Only a phone call to your friend and a direct question asked and answered will tell you if what they say is true. Now, if you should make such a call - notice how your body feels when they speak. Did they convey that there is nothing wrong and they were just busy? Has this person always been truthful with you? If yes and you are still feeling conflict and wanting to go with your original assumption, I would suggest that it is you creating the truth obscuring thoughts for your own reasons and your internal guidance system is going off in warning for you to take a closer look. Are there any thoughts within you that do not believe you are worthy of attention and phone calls from friends? If yes, such a thought from your own mind that you cannot validate as truth with someone else is actually a message from your own guidance system that you have a wound in need of healing. The idea is to deal with empirical evidence as fact and not deduced or derived perceptions and perspectives from other than the source (regardless of prior experiences and filters that make you think your perceptions and perspectives are empirical evidence - they are not).
Its hard for us to deal with our wounds because they are sore and tender and we don't know how to heal them. However, if we can pay attention to our guidance system in sync - mind, body and soul - we can determine where we need to either work on loving ourselves more and healing more or holding a space of understanding and in some cases - even setting boundaries with those that are acting inconsistently and psychologically projecting upon you due to their own unhealed wounds. We are complex creatures - no doubt about it. But we do have tools at our disposal within our own bodies.
I didn't talk much about the soul - I'll do that very quickly. So, the soul consciousness is aware of what your ultimate goals are - the themes that run through your life and will actually, often push you into situations that will surface pain for you to become aware of and heal. It will also observe and communicate with you if you listen. When you think a random thought out of the blue and then a part of you thinks: "Wow, where did that come from," that is the soul consciousness. Any of those thoughts that are neutral and loving would be from your soul's consciousness. Your mind's consciousness contains the ego and would think nothing of throwing an insulting and judgmental or comparative thought in there for you to manage. That is how you can tell the difference between the ego thoughts and the soul thoughts. The ego is judgmental and comparative by it's nature - not bad - it just is what it is. The soul is not judgmental but will neutrally guide you to look at some thoughts again until you resolve those not in sync.
I realize this is a tough topic to take in all at once but if you've read my other blog posts - you will begin to assemble a picture of what I'm getting to with this article. You are not guide-less, instruction-less beings thrown into the Earth school on your own to just "figure it out." You are guided every single step of the way by your own internal guidance systems, angels on Earth and even loved ones and family beyond (and the latter will no doubt be another blog exploration). I hope that even if the concepts within this are difficult or far-fetched for you even, that it at least gives you food for thought or maybe even a little comfort that you are well-equipped to manage this life and if your internal guidance system isn't functioning properly - that too is a message from that guidance system that you may need some additional assistance. Go get it - it matters (aka - see a counselor, clergy person or even a trusted friend to help you work through something that may be emotionally bigger than you to deal with). Help is only ever a moment away. ~Blessings of love, light, truth and great healing beautiful dreamers. You can do this! You are doing fine and all is well and always will be.
(c) 2012 Jaie Hart (photo, random internet find).
