Selecting Guidance

No one can make you feel inferior

without your consent.

Eleanor Roosevelt

THIS IS MY STORY

There are people in our lives who play significant roles.  Some have been with us all of our lives while others may be time-worn friends.   In addition to  new friends and  there are folks we meet while traveling, shopping, conferences or waiting stations.  Whether having life residency or merely passing through, people can hold  power over us whether we acknowledge it or not.

If we are not confident in our selves, the words of others may hold more significance than our own.   The words of strangers may offend us or cause us to second guess our selves.  It is difficult to keep moving forward if we consistently get side tracked by the opinions of others.

Then there is Divine Guidance appearing in dreams, prayers, conversations, books, movies, and spiritual advisers.  We can receive guidance just walking in nature or contemplation or washing dishes.  Ideas can come out of 'no where' while we are physically active doing something totally unrelated. 

As human beings we frequently are amused by the words of spiritual enlightenment, but sigh as we return to our daily lives.  As human beings we frequently obsess over words of significant others, especially if they were critical or unkind whether meant or innocently spoken.  If we are truly aware of our heart's desire, we will know which conversations need to be pursued.

It is important to discern what information is in our best interest and that which is not.  We can learn from any opinion, but we need to decide if the opinion fits our situation.  Guidance needs to be in our best interest, but not at the cost of others.  The information is healthy when we can feel it resonate within and our mind immediately takes hold and moves forward into successful supporting ideas.

If someone is directing us to minimize who we are or attempts to control us through power, this is not guidance, but tyranny.  Respect is offered to our superiors, but we maintain our personal code of ethics.  Divine Guidance will never instruct nor suggest we harm our selves or others.

When in question, it is always good to consider these  suggestions: 

*Seek out a trusted mentor and share the information, really listening to a new perspective. 

*Sit with the information just like it were incubating. 

*Experience what it feels like at night or the next day. 

*Form an idea as to how this information will impact life years from now. 

*Avoid impulsive decisions.

*Discern if this wisdom is aligned with the highest good.

Divine Guidance offers us courage, hope, and the desire to be better.  Tyranny keeps us in line through negative and demeaning control.  Divine Guidance offers us opportunities to thrive and become connected with our talents and life purpose.  Tyranny has a selfish motivation in keeping us working while dissipating any sense of our personal self.  We must choose our guidance accordingly.

 

To Be Seen and Not Heard ...

In our contacts it is probably the sense of being

really needed and wanted which gives us

the greatest satisfaction

and creates the most lasting bond.

Eleanor Roosevelt

Many of us were raised without the sense of having any needs.  As children, we were told to 'be seen and not heard'.  We were to be grateful for what we had and to ask for nothing; but as breathing human beings, we all have needs. 

So many of us grew up meeting the needs of others.  We were taught how to serve and obey.  Our goal became to meet all of the needs that a family may have.  And by doing so, we were unaware of the damage we were doing to our spirit.  We felt depleted without any thing left to offer.  We could not then feel desirable.

Ignoring our personal needs, we lavish attention on others.  We make others feel loved and adored.  Therapists would most likely tell us that our motivation for 'loving so well' was based on our own need to be loved.  Perhaps our subconscious was convincing us that if we loved someone totally, we would be secure in not ever being replaced.  Unfortunately, we who learn to adore our love, frequently fade and become invisible, hidden in our lover's light.

As in all things there must be a balance.  Harmony is created when each person is extending energy.  Through a healthy relationship, we help to support the dreams and needs of each other. 

To some degree, we all want to be recognized and heard.  We want to speak our truth and share our dreams.  Physical touch is imperative for infants, children, teens, adults, and the elderly to thrive.  Hugs are needed by everyone. 

Whether we are coupled or living alone, our needs can be met.  First, determine what individual needs are.  Second, imagine how these needs can realistically be met.  Third, create a plan of action as to how needs can best be met. 

Determining our individual needs can be done through conversations with a close friend or through journaling.  Writing down our random thoughts, quite often leads to discovery.  Meeting our needs can be addressed through support groups, memberships, adventures or planning a gathering of favorite people.  When we spend time with folks we care about, it enables us to become more aware of what we want more or less of.  Taking action always pulls us out of a funk or the role of a victim.  If we do not have a circle of friends, discover trusted energy workers or massage therapists in the community.  Where there is a will, there is a way.

We need to extend the same quality of loving kindness to our own mental and emotional health that we give to our family or friends.  We provide much better friendships when we first nurture our inner self.

Be nice to you!

The Right To Be An Individual

In the words of Eleanor Roosevelt:  "Remember always that you not only have the right to be an individual, you have an obligation to be one."

Tea

"Women are like tea bags.
We don't know our true strength
until we are in hot water."

Eleanor Roosevelt