Making Discerning Choices Inspired by Love

“Be universal in your love.

You will see the universe to be a picture of your own being.”

—Sri Chinmoy

Making discerning choices inspired by love is key to living a soul-hearted life. It leads to actions based on a broader spiritual perspective and prepares the way for loving relationships with ourselves, others, and the world. As the transformative energy of love in today’s world continues to shift human consciousness, we are being guided away from choices that prevent us from loving ourselves and others. Choices inspired by lower vibrational frequencies originating from fear, negativity, and stress result in suffering, imbalance, and disease.

Even though many people think they are making choices based on a positive outlook―such as choosing “good” over “evil,” or “right” over “wrong,” their options have usually been limited by egos that see the world as polarized. When we make discerning choices inspired by love, on the other hand, we are propelled beyond such polarities, and beyond the egos which created them, into a more universal, encompassing, and compassionate worldview.

Most people do not realize that, even before birth, we make spiritual choices, thereby co-creating our lives after birth and impacting other choices we make during our lives. The spiritual choices we make before we are born―such as choosing our body, gender, parents, and circumstances―impact our lives.

Knowing that we are responsible for these prior choices can shift our consciousness and affect our current choices while living on Earth. The conscious awareness that we made such choices before we were born empowers us to make choices during our lives that, guided by spirit and inspired by love, help us shift to a higher vibrational frequency and perceive our life circumstances from a more spiritual perspective.

At this particular time in our spiritual evolution, it’s imperative that we make discerning choices that resonate with our soul’s path. We are finally recognizing that we have the ability to consciously co-create our reality instead of relinquishing that power to others, our circumstances, or shirk our responsibility to make conscious choices. When we operate as the source of love, we can make enlightened choices that are not bound by gender, culture, or the dictates of others, and thus live more authentically and move in accordance with a universal perspective, one focused on what’s best for our world as a whole.

For many of us, making a choice can be confusing, if not overwhelming. Our brains store so many beliefs of what we “should” do that selecting only those in alignment with our hearts can be baffling. It’s hard sometimes to pull ourselves out of habit or pattern to make the choice that truly resonates with our soul’s path. Living in this way, our energy stagnates. We feel uninspired and stuck. A heaviness permeates our choices, and fear of change impedes our creativity.

Fearful that we will make a wrong choice, we may become paralyzed and avoid choosing altogether. However, not making a choice out of fear or insecurity is still, in fact, making a choice; when we do this, we are simply choosing to let external events, other people, or blind chance dictate our experience.

If we desire to move forward spiritually, we cannot let such fears keep us from making the most choices that most support our well-being. Only when we begin making discerning choices inspired by love instead of fear do we feel like creators of our lives in sync with all of life. 

Love frees us to make distinctive choices beyond the options presented to us through limited mind-sets. With love, such enlightened choices, however challenging, are not daunting; if we feel connected to our love source, we know we are well equipped to handle any situation. We can trust that we have created the support and opportunities we need to transform our lives for the better.

Last fall, I spent several days with my long-time friend Debbie in Sunset Beach, North Carolina. On Saturday, we took a stroll on the beach with the intent of beachcombing. My friend desired a sand dollar to place in a healing fishing net she was creating. I, on the other hand, wanted a sand dollar to support my intention of abundance for myself and others.

While beachcombing with these requests to the universe, we sorted through myriad shells. Each time Debbie or I picked up a shell, we examined it, and decided if it resonated with our intention. We kept those that aligned with our hearts, and returned the others to the sea.

As we meandered along the beach, a swath of exquisite shells washed up at our feet―including a perfect, whole sand dollar. Excited, I picked it up and placed it in my pocket to protect it.

A little later, we celebrated our rare finds with some yoga sun salutations on the beach, during which I forgot about the delicate sand dollar in my pocket. A few downward dogs later, I reached in my pocket to find my sand dollar in crumbs. But instead of becoming upset or angry, I blessed and released the sand dollar, along with everything else in my life that no longer served me, and simply trusted that the outcome was for the best.

Turning toward home, we took divergent paths along the beach. At about the halfway point, Debbie walked toward the sand, while I headed toward the surf, each of us drawn to something we intuitively sensed. Simultaneously calling each other’s names, we saw that we were each holding up an exquisite sand dollar. 

Like combing the beach for and dollars, you can carefully and discriminately sort through the myriad possibilities in front of you before making a decisive choice. You can consciously select the possibilities that align with your heart, and with a greater good. Then, you can let go of the rest.

Here are a few simple tools to assist you in making discerning choices:

Keep following the path you are on as long as things are moving smoothly. When things aren’t going so well, pause, assess the situation, listen to your heart, and choose a different path. When doors open easily, you know you are being guided by spirit―but when you keep banging your head against the same closed door, you must stop and go to where the doors open without a struggle.

If you feel anxiety during any decision-making process, pause, open your heart, and breathe deeply. This “time out” will put you back in touch with spirit, enabling you to respond to any situation without reacting, and thereby making the best possible choice with the information and guidance you have at that time.

Take inspired action on intuitive hunches without overthinking, as intuition stems from spirit speaking through your heart. You can assess the inspiration motivating such choices by asking yourself: “What is motivating this choice? What’s the best use of my time and energy right now? What choice feels right for me at this particular time? What supports my well-being and the greater good? or, “Does this choice bring me closer to what I want or does it push me farther away?”   

Let go of any need to make the “perfect” choice. The pattern of perfectionism can keep you from making any choice at all. Making any choice will get you unstuck and moving again. It unblocks and shifts the energy and gives you information that guides you toward fulfillment and happiness. When fearful of making a wrong choice, remember that you can always choose again.

Write down all the things you think you have to do in a week and then reflect on how this feels. Now replace “have to” with “choose to” and repeat your list. This simple exercise will empower and help you release feeling overwhelmed and weighed down by your list.

Finally, don’t judge yourself for having made a wrong choice.  Instead view so-called mistakes as opportunities for transformation, steering you in a new direction, releasing negative energy, and enhancing your understanding of what resonates with your heart.

Although making discerning choices inspired by love does not necessarily help us avoid contact with the unwanted energies or influences of others, it does enable us to more quickly remove ourselves from negative situations. When our choices are supported by love, we create a continuous flow of positive energy that can move us away from negative energies and toward realizing our dreams.