Trusting Our Felt Sense

Trusting the awareness of our felt sense is key in moving to a place of intuitive connection. Our bodies are the house of wisdom that holds all the answers and guidance we seek. As we learn to listen, practice discernment, and trust the guidance of the quiet voice inside, we become more confident and carefree. At times, contradictory messages from our environment urge us not to follow our inner truth; this is where we really get to deepen and strengthen the connection with our wise inner guide.

My experience is that this process takes time, and it takes courage to trust this inner guidance fully. With repeated confirmation and feedback, we trust it more and more. Through the process, we may vacillate between listening to intuition and then indulging the ego, which urges us to take the known path. With time, our ability to follow the truth of our intuition becomes more natural, and the inherent wisdom that has always been with us begins to radiate out into our lives. This connection brings a deep gratitude in the full awareness of who we are and the potential that we embody.

Reflection

Today when I am faced with a decision, I will pause and take it as an opportunity to practice listening for the voice of intuition. In this space, I will become aware of the felt sense of the body's sensations. In this inner aliveness, I will become aware of pulls in one direction or another, opening or contracting, or a subtle voice of guidance. As these sensations settle, I will follow the direction that matches this inner guidance the best. In this practice, I will trust that the connection to this inner voice of wisdom will continue to deepen and unfold over time.

What aspects of the reading resonated most with me?

How can I apply it to my life?

How might I integrate this awareness into my daily activities throughout the week?

Day 2-7: Journal your intentions and your experience of your weekly practice for the day.

For the final day of the week, contemplate and journal what you have learned and how you can carry this new awareness forward into your life.

Truth Is in the Experience

Present-moment awareness is where the truth resides. What is the truth? The truth for each of us resides in our current experience. The truth can be found and known experientially. When we experience the divine, it can be difficult to put into words. Even trying to remember the experience and conceptualize it in the mind doesn't do it justice. Awareness of the immediacy of our physical sensations is the most reliable pathway into the truth. Reflecting on the significant shifts, intuitive guidance, and spiritual experiences in our lives reveals that the "aha moment" occurs in the center of our being rather than in the mind.

Reflection

Today I will breath into the sensations of the moment. If what I am sensing is uncomfortable, I will refrain from judging and will practice being unconditionally present with myself. In this I know and trust that this nonjudgmental awareness will give the sensations space to move me naturally into the truth of the moment. In this natural flow of experience, I open myself up to a greater unfolding of who I am in the world.

What aspects of the reading resonated most with me?

How can I apply it to my life?

How might I integrate this awareness into my daily activities throughout the week?

Day 2-7: Journal your intentions and your experience of your weekly practice for the day.

For the final day of the week, contemplate and journal what you have learned and how you can carry this new awarenessforward into your life.

Acceptance

Acceptance is a universal principle referenced in many spiritual paths and traditions. Resistance is the opposite of acceptance and is a state many of us experience in our busy, modern lives. We are in resistance when we try to make life conform to our hopes, fears, and expectations. In response, life can get uncomfortable and disagreeable. We may find ourselves feeling increasingly frustrated, stressed out, or anxious.

In an attempt to remedy our experience, we try even harder to control other people, places, and things — and even our own minds and experience. Unfortunately, in doing so we are simply resisting life as it is, creating more of what we do not want. In our attempt to gain what we think is missing or should be different, such as happiness, success, or romance, we tend to attract exactly what we are trying to avoid: the lack of these things in our lives.

Acceptance is a powerful tool that allows us to move back into peaceful harmony with ourselves and with life. This kind of peace is referenced in the Serenity Prayer: "God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference."

Accepting the things we cannot change requires us to accept that we, the finite ego, are not in ultimate control of our lives or anyone else's. It encourages us to consider that perhaps there is a spiritual power working for our highest and best interest through this experience called life. You may call this power your true nature or higher self, God, the Universe, or Buddha Nature. When we consider that this presence is capable of managing our lives much better than we are, we begin to open to the possibility of letting go. This creates a new perspective, a turning in the seat of consciousness, a belief that life is working for us, not against us.

We can then take an honest look at our needs, beliefs, and impulses. What is it that we need, want, or are trying to avoid? Is it true that this person or circumstance will give us what we want or need? How can we give this to ourselves? Is it true that this person or circumstance will protect us from what we do not want?

This process takes courage. But as we loosen our grip on the way we think things should be and accept life on life's terms, something in us begins to unwind and relax. We begin to open to how things are, moment to moment, and to understand that we are okay, regardless of the circumstances around us. We begin to see through our denial and see that when we are in resistance, we are actually giving our power over to that very thing or person we are resisting.

As we gain the courage to change what we can, there is a subtle yet powerful turning of the mind inward, and we begin to see that our perception is creating the difficulty. In this recognition, there is a shift. In this transformative moment, we can see we have a choice about how we view life. We see that the one thing we can change is ourselves. We may even see that the freedom and power we seek is within our own mind.

By letting go of control, accepting life is as it is, and turning inward, we develop the wisdom of discernment — the wisdom to know the difference. Accepting and engaging in life from this wisdom is the ultimate freedom.

Reflection

Today I will steep my mind in acceptance and be willing to let go of what I cannot control. If I notice resistance or struggle in myself, I will drop the struggle and turn the mind inward. I will pray for guidance and the wisdom to discern what I can control and what I cannot. In this choice I am empowered, transformed, and free!

What aspects of the reading resonated most with me?

How can I apply it to my life?

How might I integrate this awareness into my daily activities throughout the week?

Day 2-7: Journal your intentions and your experience of your weekly practice for the day.

For the final day of the week, contemplate and journal what you have learned and how you can carry this new awareness forward into your life.

Trust Is an Inside Job

Sometimes trust can become a divided activity when we try to negotiate between self and others. Trust builds over time, trust is earned, and trust can be broken. On many levels, trust is a choice we make to open and deepen our experience of intimate vulnerability. We set ourselves up when we choose to place conditions and expectations on trust in a relationship. The paradox of trust in relationships is that it is an inside job and also a two-way street.

In the beginning of a relationship, some trust those they feel comfortable with and others wait for people to earn their trust over time. Either way, trust requires that we trust our felt sense and then experiment with varying levels of openness as the relationship deepens. It is not unlike learning to swim: we stay in shallow water to start and slowly move into greater depths as we feel safer and more confident.

Reflection

Today I will open myself to deeper ways of trusting myself and all my inner resources. As I move to greater depths of trust within, I will ease myself out into the deeper end of the pool of life. From a place of unconditional acceptance and presence with myself, I will practice the wisdom of discernment to choose whether to jump off the high board or gently dangle my feet from the edge of the pool.

What aspects of the reading resonated most with me?

How can I apply it to my life?

How might I integrate this awareness into my daily activities throughout the week?

Day 2-7: Journal your intentions and your experience of your weekly practice for the day.

For the final day of the week, contemplate and journal what you have learned and how you can carry this new awareness forward into your life.

Unconditionally Present

How would it be to trust the moment with unconditional acceptance and presence? If we look into our thoughts in any given moment, it may become evident we are everywhere but the present moment. The mind tends to wander back into the past and ruminate without resolution. It is as if we think that if we analyzing, obsessing, and manipulating the past well enough, it will somehow feel better. Sadly, while we were fantasizing about the past, we missed the present moment and made it even more difficult to be present.

Some of us choose to project onto the future in hopes of resolving the past or even the present moment. The truth is that the only hope for resolution is in the moment. The future has not risen, and the past has fallen, so neither one truly exists anywhere but in the fantasy world of the mind. If we take this fact to heart and commit to showing up for ourselves with an attitude of unconditional acceptance and presence, we have nothing to fear. From this place of awareness, we are open and receptive to the blessing of the present moment.

Reflection

Today I choose to let go of the past and future so I can fully show up for the mystery of the present moment. From the spacious awareness of commitment to this unconditional presence, I receive the gifts and lessons life is offering me. From this spacious awareness, I know and trust that this spontaneous presence will continue to provide all of the resources and guidance I need. From this place, I choose to live in full expression of the goodness dwelling within me.

What aspects of the reading resonated most with me? How can I apply it to my life?

How might I integrate this awareness into my daily activities throughout the week?

Day 2-7: Journal your intentions and your experience of your weekly practice for the day.

For the final day of the week, contemplate and journal what you have learned and how you can carry this new awareness forward into your life.

Letting Go

Letting go can feel like a boulder tumbling off a cliff, when viewed from the perspective of the ego. When letting go is approached from a surrendering heart, however, it can be experienced like a soaring hawk flying through a vast canyon, full of possibility.

As life's connections develop, achievements unfold, and transformation occurs, it is easy to get hooked into hoping these gifts will always remain. It is human to become attached to comfort, to the known, to thinking we know the best outcome. When we get stuck in "needing to know," we block the blessings of change and resist the movement toward a new beginning.

In addition, the experiences and circumstances that bring us pleasure can actually create a magnet of attachment over time. We begin to depend on that experience as a source of happiness and security. When the source of happiness is placed outside of us, we become preoccupied and seek out or even protect this external "thing." This thing becomes like a shrine that we prostrate to over and over. As we pay homage to this mistaken source, we move further and further away from our true selves. The all-powerful outside fix becomes what we know and depend on for our happiness and security.

When natural movements of change and impermanence occur, our foundation can easily be shaken. This may feel like we are losing ground. The temptation may be to hold on tighter to protect the mistaken source of happiness. Or we can use it as an opportunity to allow the waves of change to open us up.

Life, with its divinely orchestrated dance, has a way of knowing when the time is right for the winds of change to move out the old and bring in the new. We may wage war, resist, bargain, and fight for our illusion of control. You may know, from reflecting on your own experience, that when you finally do surrender, that moment opens the door for a greater plan to unfold.

Letting go abruptly can be as painful as refusing to let go. At times, we struggle to let go and then recognize we are resisting the inevitable. We tend to rush and force ourselves at this stage, but that is generally not the solution. A practice may be simply to rest in the awareness of knowing it is time to surrender and to notice how we are with that understanding. The recognition that the way we hold on is a source of suffering can be both painful and transformative. As we loosen our hold on our attachments, we begin to see the possibility of holding things lightly, with gratitude. The waves of change will naturally release the old and provide guidance into the new.

There are also times when we become aware that a circumstance or relationship is no longer serving our highest and best good. We know it is time to let go. After gaining the courage to surrender, we may meet resistance within ourselves or from others. This can be confusing, especially when the surrender to change was intuitively motivated. We may feel we have learned the lesson or exhausted the resources, and it is beyond time to move on. Knowing the universe is divinely led and perfectly orchestrated in its guidance and unfoldment, we can trust and surrender to this larger wisdom, knowing that if things are meant to be, life will conspire to make it so.

Reflection

If the unexpected happens, I will breathe into the discomfort, staying present to my experience moment to moment. When I notice a tightness or holding, I will practice pausing and breathing into the feeling and sensation. I will remind myself that letting go is the path by which I am freed to be present with whatever rises in my experience. I let go and surrender to each moment, trusting life's plan for me. Today I will watch for where I'm holding on too tightly. I will look at new ways I can hold life with loving awareness and ease. I surrender to the wave of interdependence, and I trust that what is no longer needed will be cleared away, as the blessings of newness are ushered in.

What aspects of the reading resonated most with me?

How can I apply it to my life?

How might I integrate this awareness into my daily activities throughout the week?

Day 2-7: Journal your intentions and your experience of your weekly practice for the day.

For the final day of the week, contemplate and journal what you have learned and how you can carry this new awareness forward into your life.