The Constancy of Your Inner Knowing - as Certain as the Sun’s Rising
The sun rises every morning and sets every evening, no matter where you are in the world. The times may change as the Earth’s rotation changes and cycles, but we can always count on a sunrise and a sunset. And there’s nothing that we can do about it. We can delight in it, honor it, notice it. Yet, how many of us take time, each day, to give awareness to it? How many of us give thanks to our reigning star that warms us, gives us light and the energy to sustain our lives?
Many years ago, when I began, in earnest, to explore and discover my spiritual longing, it was the need for support that propelled me. I was at the foothills of the mountains in Taos, when I fell to my knees and cried, “I surrender.” And to pull myself up, I started to do sun salutations repeatedly. I would never say that I was a yoga practitioner, but when a studio opened up across the street from my home ten years earlier, I joined and added yoga to my list of workouts. All to say, I was not a follower of yoga’s spiritual practice.
From that morning in Taos, I committed to welcoming each day with several sun salutations, sunny day or cloudy day, and no matter where I found myself. I added meditation to the morning practice. I said to myself, and to the divine presence around me, that I would trust my practice so I might open my heart to healing, to feeling better. I began my devotional practice for recovering and remembering who I am and what I want.
What I didn't realize then, was that I was opening my heart to a greater way of living, and trusting a life path I didn’t know where it was leading. I learned to be patient, and even better, to be curious about the challenges and the glitches along the way. I began to feel and see in ways that had been closed off by me, my conditioning, my fears and by the narrow confines of a world where spiritual knowing was ignored.
It may be true that the complete disorientation of my marriage’s collapse opened me to an acute awareness of despair, but it was, with the steps and practices of allowing, that I learned the deliciousness of my guidance and spiritual support. I know now that these consistent spiritual practices developed and strengthened the still inner knowing within me that is as constant as the sun rising each day.
My heart is more open today with great compassion and forgiveness for myself and my own neglect, than ever before, if ever before. These initial practices were just the beginning steps, to show me that there is so much more to learn about our spiritual capacity to heal and thrive that has not been part of our modern culture, and even more to our detriment, has been deliberately sidelined (if not maligned). Fortunately, there are ancient practices and forms of knowledge that have been passed down and that have been updated for our modern context and also are increasingly making their way into our lives.
Your spiritual practice is the awareness of your inner life, including your emotions and your physical sensations, that is in dialogue with the world around you. To take note, to observe, to be present and to be aware that you are always receiving the whisper, the nudge, the signs of guidance. The daily practice, the constancy, the devotion, strengthens your awareness and your capacity to be the observer and the deliberate actor in a well-lived life.
My prayer for you is to start, or to strengthen, your daily spiritual practices. To invite blessings and miracles into your life with the power of your deliberate intention, your acute awareness, and your heartfelt gratitude for the divine love and support that emanates from you and is attracted to you. May you delight in your best life.
