Who Are You Listening To?

“Ego is insult oriented and Spirit is result oriented.”
Red Feather
              
“Oh, woe is me. What have I done wrong to create this reflection in my outside world?  How can I trust my judgment?  Woe, oh, woe!”

So goes my self-talk with my ego in charge.

Things didn’t go well at an event that I volunteered for the other day. My team didn't perform as I expected. Our intentions had been good, my judgment not so much, and it was not a harmonious combination.

That night I was wakeful, tossing and turning. After what felt like hours of mantra-ing, clearing techniques and prayer in an attempt to ease critical, egoic self-talk I finally got back to sleep.

The next day, I got busy thinking about something besides myself (!) It was then an idea blossomed in my mind. I could respond differently. I could release the drama and focus on the next step. I already knew what I needed to do to begin to heal the situation, thanks to timely advice from a friend.  I remembered Red Feather’s teaching and acknowledged how insult oriented I had been. I could choose to come from my spirit and be result oriented.

Coming from my spirit looks like relaxing about the situation. Trusting that I will be guided to each step I need to take. As much as my ego self wants to ‘fix’ it by gnawing at it like a dog with a bone, that’s not my job. My job is to take each healing step as it becomes clear to me. Spirit has the big picture, the why and the how. I can trust that, and move forward one step at a time.
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I choose now to release the insult and be result oriented.   


Photo by Megan te Boekhorst on Unsplash

​Your Spiritual Toolbox

“The first step toward change is awareness.”
Nathanial Brandon   

The next time you find yourself creating drama around a situation in your life take a step back.

Become aware of which voice you are listening to.
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Are you listening to the voice of your ego? It will be full of negativity and insult. It will wind you into internal knots. That voice will make you and others wrong. It will take you around in circles, thinking the same fearful, critical thoughts over and over. It will not fix anything, though it will sound like it is trying to.

Or, are you listening to the voice of your spirit? That voice will relax you with its quiet certainty. It will reduce the situation to its appropriate size. It will guide you to the first step you need to take.

Ask for this guidance.

Look for answers all around you, in the kind words of a friend, in books, in the lyrics of a song that you just happen to hear, in unexpected changes of perspective that drop into your mind, and in the countless special ways that Spirit communicates with you.