Follow your heart, take responsibility and believe in yourself!

You know… life can get real crazy at times.  I’ve had an interesting few weeks – part of the human experience I suppose!  However, I’m hoping to impart to you today a bit of hope and a bit of inspiration amongst any challenges you may be experiencing.  I believe we have so much to gain from the times that seem most challenging.  We often forget our greatness and these difficult times present the perfect opportunity for us to remember.

 I like to think that we made an agreement with God or the Universe before coming to this earth.  In our agreement, we would have the opportunity to have a human experience – and with it comes an amazing instrument, a body.  But before signing on the dotted line, we understood that our connection to our spirit would often be clouded by overwhelming feelings of grief, anger, fear and shame – the human journey wouldn’t always be easy, but we signed the agreement knowing that it would be worth it.  

I recently completed a yoga teacher training and learned some basic yogic philosophies and that have helped shape my understanding of our human experience.  “According to the Kosha system in Yogic philosophy, the nature of being human encompasses physical and psychological aspects that function as one holistic system.” (wikipedia) And this system has five layers also known as sheaths.  The outer most layer is our physical or food body, the second layer is our energy or breath body, next we have our lower mind, which deals with our interpreting our senses, and then we have our higher mind, which is where wisdom and reasoning exist, and the fifth inner most layer is the bliss body, where we experience joy.  Now, here’s where things get interesting.  None of those layers are the true you!  Your true divine self resides inside all these 5 layers – like those Russian nesting dolls.  And, our challenge as human beings is that those 5 layers get cloudy, dirty and smeared, scratched by our experiences, and the divine light that’s inside, doesn’t shine through as clearly.  However, with regular and consistent effort, we can polish and clean the layers (like when we work through challenging times, or perhaps enroll in a personal empowerment training), and the hard work has a payoff.  As we begin to uncover, connect with and share our divine light, our lives develop a deeper sense of meaning, of peace, and of interconnectedness.  Because as we allow our own light to shine, we become much more aware of the divine light that exists in all others.

Although, we often forget our own true nature, the times when we remember our greatness and ‘awaken’ our spirits – that connection would be undeniable.  So, why do we forget?  Why do we need these challenges? I like how one of my favourite artist's Jason Mraz puts it “it wouldn’t be so bright, if there wasn’t a shadow once in a while.”

So, that being said, if like me you’ve been feeling a little extra wonky these last few weeks, I have some really good news for you.  The planet Mercury is no longer in retrograde!  What is retrograde you may ask?  (Before I go on, I must say that I don’t know much about astrology and I’ve never really been into horoscopes, etc, but I find that when I encounter something I don’t really believe, I like to consider “what if?”) So, I invite you to join me for this ride J As a result of the planetary alignment, Mercury (which is the planet of communication) appears to be moving backwards for about three weeks at a time, three times a year – most recent retrograde happened from June 26^th – July 20th.  Mercury rules clear thinking, truth and travel – so if you have experienced travel delays, petty arguments, miscommunications or the sense that your life is moving backwards in the last three weeks – you are not alone!  It seems that everyone I talk to is feeling unsettled, uneasy, unhappy or unfulfilled in some way! I’ve certainly experienced my share of miscommunications, frustrations and really began to question where my life is headed these days.  Am I where I should be? Is my life is passing me by?  I talked to my dad a few days ago and shared how I was feeling, and for many years now he has encouraged me to apply the 24 or 48 hour rule (The Rowsome side of our family is known to be a bit impulsive in our decision making) and see if I felt the same in a couples days.  Now that the dust has begun to settle from my series of reactions for the last few weeks, I’m beginning to re-examine what is being presented to me.  As challenging as it can feel to have misunderstandings, delays, or the past resurface, with it comes great opportunity.  It’s a perfect time to go inwards and to reflect on what we are being shown by the universe.  A Course In Miracles says “there are many answers you have already received, but have not yet heard” T-p.164.  The great thing about the Universe is that it doesn’t give up – remember… we made an agreement J.  It keep showing us over and over again the answers we need – and when we don’t pay attention, the lesson usually gets bigger and bolder until we can’t ignore it anymore!

            The biggest challenge I’ve been facing, and I’ve struggled with this for much of my life, is the feeling like I’m living my life for everyone else.  I get busy trying to assist others or please them, and I lose sight of myself and my passions.  I’ve done a lot of things in my life because I thought I had to and usually felt resentful, bitter and unappreciated as a result.  There’s a part of me that really just wants someone else to be to blame for my unhappiness.  “If I wasn’t so busy helping you do this, then I would be happy” “If only you would do this, then things would be better” “If I were acknowledge for my hard work, I would be happy.”  Any of this sound familiar?

Well, there is nothing quite like having to give an inspirational talk to take you out of your own shit!  As I was looking through my usual sources to find some inspiration for my talk today, I turned to July 21 in my Robin Sharma book of daily inspirations and came across this:

“We can reduce the suffering in our lives by assuming absolute personal responsibility for ourselves and making wise choices during the hours of our days.  In this way, we do shape our destiny and have the power to live much happier lives.”

Well, there we have it.  If I’m unhappy and feeling helpless – there’s a good chance I’m not taking responsibility for myself.  Today, when I was driving I thought to myself - “I miss yoga”.  Now if yoga was a friend, I could easily blame yoga for never calling, or always being busy, however… it’s yoga.  It’s always there.  And if I’m missing yoga – I need to do something about it and I’m the only one who can make that connection again!  In order to follow my heart and create what I want for my life – I must take responsibility. 

           I’m reminded of a quote by Napoleon Hill:  “Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve.” If I’m not achieving what I want in my life, I must not be conceiving or believing – and I’m certainly not responsible for creating any of these.  For me, what we conceive of for ourselves – comes from our heart – inside the five sheaths.  It has all the answers, but we have dirt, smudges, scratches etc on the layers that cover our true selves!  Which is what the challenging times are actually revealing to us – we have lost that connection to our divine spirit.  And, like the song “Against the Grain” by City and Colour, there is nothing else that needs to be done in our lives except to follow our hearts.  When times get tough, when you feel misunderstood, when the road is a dead end – you need not do anything else except follow your heart. 

            Now, as simple as it sounds to just say “follow your heart” it certainly doesn’t mean it’s easy.  Our egos like to run interference here!  The ego exists in our higher mind and disguises itself as wisdom and truth.  It can create all sorts of crazy thoughts!  In order to work through this layer, I need to set some time aside to be quiet time and even that can be really challenging to do!  However, the longer I go without feeling that connection to my heart, my spirit feels unfulfilled and restless – and then the finger likes to come out!  It’s a sure sign that I need to take some time for me.

            In the last year, yoga has been something I’ve been able to give myself on a consistent basis, and it has built on the trainings that I have completed with Breath Integration.  What I love the most about yoga, is that what happens on my mat is a reflection of how I live my life.  There are days when I look in the mirror in class and feel judgmental, competitive, not good enough, defeated or broken – physically or mentally.  I feel frustrated and stuck and it can cause a lot of needless suffering.  In his book “Meditations from the Mat” Rolf Gates, a long time yoga practitioner and teacher, talks about how physical or emotional problems give us an “opportunity to pay closer attention to what we do, and to put our faith in our ability to heal.” So, not only do we need to take responsibility for our happiness, by paying attention to our actions, but it’s also crucial that we have faith in our ability to overcome obstacles along the way.  (This is the ‘believe’ portion of Conceive + Believe = Achieve formula)  A Course in Miracles says: “Everything is for your own best interests” W-p.38.  and it also says “Every loving thought is true.  Everything else is an appeal for healing and help, regardless of the form it takes” T-p.215.  It’s important to have faith in a loving universe, and know that our healing (whether it be physical, emotional or otherwise) is a pathway to more love.  Believing in the outcome plays a significant role in creating the results.  Henry Ford and Confucius have both been quoted as saying: “Whether you think you can, or think you can’t – you are right.”  So, while there are days on my mat when defeated, I remind myself to keep believing in my ability to heal, to grow strong and to persevere.  The song “Hall of Fame” by The Script reminds me I can be anything I want to be – work hard and dedicate yourself – why not create your own hall of fame for all of your own accomplishments?

Yoga has felt very challenging for me at times, and I’m thankful for these challenges and what I receive from them, because – more and more often there are days on the mat when I can look at myself in the mirror and feel incredibly grateful, loving and present.  Breathwork and Yoga have both taught me lots about living in the NOW.  A Course in Miracles says “…now is the closest approximation of eternity that this world offers.  It is in the reality of “now” without past or future that the beginning of the appreciation of eternity lies” T-p.247 and isn’t that where we find our ultimate happiness? 

Learning to be in the moment, stand in our personal power and take responsibility for our lives.  The challenges we face are all opportunities to create more healing and allow us to connect with the light that exists inside each and everyone of us Again, a Course In Miracles says: “Every loving thought is true.  Everything else is an appeal for healing and help, regardless of the form it takes” T-p.215.  Whether it be a miscommunication, a delay, or a hard yoga pose – you don’t have to let it steal your peace.  (My yoga teacher training Kristin Campbell taught me that one!)

So I encourage you to follow your heart, take response ability for your actions and believe in yourself and the love of the universe.  We are all capable of far more than we give ourselves credit for and I believe that whatever you want – you can create.