Today, we are looking for a lost part of you that is holding back from fully participating in your life. This part is hidden in the dark and is waiting for permission to step out into the light of today.
Imagine that you are spiraling back into your childhood to recapture that feeling of true excitement about life. Remember when you couldn’t wait to get up in the morning and were never ready to go to bed at night? Remember getting new sneakers and knowing that you really could run faster. Remember shrieking and yelling, jumping and running. Remember laughing while making up crazy games and elaborate plans with your best friend of the moment. Remember star light, star bright and making wishes you knew would come true.
Now, come back to the you of today. Bring that remembered exuberance along with you as you answer these questions. What is missing from your life at this time? What would you love to do that would be out of the ordinary for you but would lighten and brighten your life?
Can you even entertain giving yourself permission to honestly answer those questions? If not, it may be that your inner critic is firmly established as your own internal, critical parent. Discipline gone haywire.
The reasons for squelching things that interest and attract us are many. “It’s not practical. No time. No money. Too frivolous. I’d feel too uncomfortable, silly and irresponsible. I already have too much to do.”
The real issue is that we have forgotten how to be fun or have fun. We are boring, bored, numbed out, and on automatic pilot, trudging through our endless lists of roles and responsibilities. We are locked into being adults. High rollers. Big impact people who are only about big changes. We are waiting for just the right time. Our inner longing says: “When can we?” And we reply: “Not just yet.”
This is where a shift in perception must be made. Profound shifts come in small and seemingly inconsequential ways.
Once again, remember. Teenage years. The thrill of simply holding hands. Tender kisses. Walks on the beach. Slow dancing. The electricity of attraction. Being flooded with emotions. The experience of really listening and being listened to while trying to first time talk about new, unexplored feelings.
Remember the exquisite, tumultuous experience of first love? And remember the pain when the rocket of heightened sensing and experience fueled by impossible expectations came crashing down and landed in a rubble of dreams turned to ashes.
Why would I ask you to recall the pain? Here is why. The key to our disowned passion for life is hidden in the ashes of our worst disasters.
When we truly face head-on the heart hurts of our lives, we have a chance to grab the elusive brass ring. When we can admit that we are vulnerable to exquisite heartache when we can directly face and own that we are vulnerable and have been hurt, a miraculous thing happens. We start to realize that we are still here. We are still whole. We are not damaged, used up or unable to. When we acknowledge that we are whole, we can begin to own our wisdom. Our intuition becomes a full partner in the creation of the next phase of our lives. The task before us is to become an awake, aware person with new choices to make.
Life invites us to participate, and we can accept or decline. We each have the right to say yes or no to life. The truly miraculous gift is that life continues to ask, moment by rich, potent moment.
Susan has been writing and producing personal development seminars since the 1970s. She is the author of Beyond Intellect: Journey into the Wisdom of Your Intuitive Mind. susanvelasquez.com.
