Lately I've been working on being more flexible. I don't mean just being flexible in a physical sense, although as the years go by I find that moving my body more is a must if I want to maintain my quality of life. What I mean is that I really thought that, as I traveled along on my spiritual journey these last 25 years or so, I had finally gotten rid of all those limiting beliefs and negative self-talk that had kept me so rigid and unhappy for most of my life. However, I find that I am one of those people who can easily exchange one limiting belief for another without even knowing it and before you can say, "but I have to," I am stuck right back in old habits.
I have always been someone who believes that if someone I admire, like a meditation teacher, or a favorite author, says that I should do something a certain way, I blindly accept that they probably know better than I do (or they wouldn't be my favorites, right?) so I should do it the way they suggest. When someone says something that "rings true" for me, I automatically accept it as gospel. For example, I am a follower of the meditation teacher Davidji. He tells us that we should meditate first thing in the morning upon rising. Most days I can do this, but when my granddaughter comes to spend the weekend, or an early morning appointment comes up and I have to skip it, I admonish myself all day. I feel out of sorts and verbally beat myself up with things like, "well, you could have gotten up earlier and done it before she woke up, or before you had breakfast." The same is true with my writing. For years I firmly believed that I had to write in the morning because all of the so-called experts, many of whom have truly helped my writing, insisted that writing first thing and setting a firm writing time was the only way I would get anything done (so do I meditate first and then write, or vice versa, and do I really have to get something done every day?).
What I did not stop to think about was that the only expert I should be taking advice from is me. I am the expert when it comes to what works for me and what doesn't. I should be ringing my own bell. Right now we are coming into my very favorite time of the year and I am blessed to be living in an area where I can experience it in all of its glory. Maybe I'd like to meditate during a morning walk, or after I get back from it - and isn't walking a form of meditation, after all? Maybe on days where the outdoors calls to me, I can work at my desk in the afternoon and use the morning to spiritually feed my muse? And maybe, just maybe, I don't have to do anything at all except only those things that make me happy and allows me to be the greatest idea of myself that I can be in that moment. Wouldn't my spirit, mind, body and muse benefit more from my being in a state of happiness and gratitude that only I am responsible for rather than someone who doesn't even know me and what my life is about?
The bottom line here is that we need to learn to trust ourselves more. We know what makes us happy. We know what feeds our soul. We know what rings our bell. We just have to learn to ring it more often.
And so it is.
P.S. As we approach the Third Anniversary of Flower Bear's Garden, we are offering our e-book, "Staying Rooted: Living and Growing Through the Seasons Of Our Lives," for only .99 cents from September 16-22. This is our way to say thank you for your support. Sit back and enjoy a year in the garden as we plant and grow our authentic lives. Just go to the Flower Bear Facebook Page and hit the "Shop Now" button, or go to the link on this page to Amazon: amazon.com/dp/B00M8CBWTQ. Happy Reading and thank you!
