What do you do when you’re at a standstill? What do you do when things get confusing and you can’t see the way? How do you find your way back when it feels like you don’t know which way to go?
The solution is simple: you pause, surrender, ask, and then listen.
Step 1: Pause
First, whenever you feel off track, you must pause whatever you’re doing. If you keep plowing forward even when you feel “off,” you are ignoring your Divine Directives and soul whispers. This is why you need to create some space to pause. Go outside, explore nature, sing a song, dance in your living room, go to a yoga class, chant, write in a journal, get a massage, go on a retreat, read an inspiring book, take the day off, knit, do a puzzle, create some art, hike a mountain, put your feet in the mud, sit in the sunshine. What connects all of these activities is that you’re not “doing” anything. You’re giving yourself space to just be.
Step 2: Surrender
After you pause, you must be willing to stop trying to force or control things to go the way you want them to go. Remember, the opposite of allowing Life is trying to control it, so when you feel like you’ve gotten off track, you’re probably trying to control too much. When you surrender, however, you become willing to let go of what you think you want so that Life can guide you.
Step 3: Ask
After you’ve surrendered and let go of control, ask Life for some help. You can simply say, “This isn’t working. Please show me what you want for me instead.” I’ve personally found that the stronger the feeling behind my asking, the more Life responds. There have even been times when I’ve gotten down on my hands and knees and cried, “I mean it! I don’t want to feel this way anymore! Please help me!”
Step 4: Listen
After we’ve asked for help with all our heart, we listen. Divine Directives and soul whispers are usually quiet, so after you’ve let go and asked to be shown the way, you must listen closely. Sometimes Life speaks to us quickly, but other times we may have to wait. Inspired Action comes to those who make space and listen. When it’s time for you to know, you’ll know.
Sometimes, the answer will come as intuitive hits that strike like lightning, while other times, the answer will come as an inner knowing that arises slowly. Often, you may find yourself in a conversation with someone who shares the exact thing you needed to hear, or perhaps you read a passage in a book or hear a line from a song that points you in the right direction.
Life is always here. We must simply pause, surrender, ask, and then listen.
As you put one foot in front of the other, moment by moment, day after day—trusting that the “how” and the “why” will all come together perfectly—Life will take care of the rest. Before you know it, as you live your life in a balance of Inspired Action and gentle allowing, you will look back and be amazed by how far you’ve come. You’ll begin to see how perfectly the dots connected, even though you may not have realized it at the time.
If you don’t feel directed yet, then it simply means it’s not the time to know. Listen for the whispers until you hear a Divine Directive and then take Inspired Action with confidence. This is what it means to allow Life to work through you. You are a conduit, a tuning fork, waiting for Life to show you what’s next.
Believe it or not, the answers always come at the exact right time and in the right way—not a minute too late, or a moment too soon. As you learn to trust in Life’s ever-unfolding path, you will also learn to see all the ways Life is trying to guide you on that path. When you open your eyes to these sacred soul winks, you will see that every song you hear, every conversation you have, every bird chirping or horn honking— every single thing—is Life’s way of guiding you. Though it may be hard to recognize at times,
Life is filled with signs and synchronicities to help you get off the wrong path and stay on the right one. You simply have to be open to seeing the winks and picking up the bread-crumbs along the way.
