Why Pause and Reflect
Many people feel that their lives keep moving faster and faster. The to-do lists are getting longer and longer, and the collective perception is that there is not enough time to get things done. You may find it hard to keep up with life. You may feel that the currents are pulling you in different directions that do not always resonate with your heart. You may feel that you are hearing everyone else’s voice but your own. You may think that other people’s voices and intentions are your own. There comes a time when this fast-paced lifestyle driven by fear becomes unsustainable.
Pausing and reflecting means slowing down and asking the fundamental questions: Who am I? What am I here to do? What is my inner voice of well-being saying to me? What is important to me? What do I love to do, and what prevents me from doing it? Are my thoughts and beliefs truly mine, or have I allowed mass conditioning to tell me what to think and believe? Are my emotions aligned with well-being, or do they stand in the way of my joy and aliveness? Am I tuned into the channel that promotes hope, compassion, and harmony? Or am I tuned into the channel that justifies blame, guilt, anxiety, frustration, impatience, and the like? What messages does my physical body have for me?
When you ask questions about ways in which you can grow and live with greater ease and joy, you initiate a shift in consciousness. With your questions, you are inviting the Universe to help you get out of dense energies. As you look within to find answers, you begin to notice patterns, attitudes, and beliefs that may have kept you disempowered and away from your well-being. You begin to hear your own true voice and learn how to follow it.
Reflection
Speaking Your Deepest Truth
Purpose
All life is about relationships—relationships with loved ones, friends, colleagues, and many others. But the most important of all relationships is the one that we are willing to foster with ourselves. At the superficial level, the statement “having a relationship with yourself” may sound pretentious.
However, on a spiritual level, it means you are willing to have a relationship with your true self, your heart, the spiritual being within who is connected to the essence of all life—All-That-Is—God Essence. And this God Essence is deathless and birthless; it is who you truly are; it is unconditional love and radiant light—the breath within all creation. Therefore, for the soul, having a relationship with yourself is fundamental.
When it comes to relationships, we are often afraid of expressing our innermost feelings and intentions when interacting with friends, loved ones, and others. There is this constant dance, “Should I speak my truth or should I just bury it?” But in that sense, we are never free, and our loved ones still expect us to be a certain way. Perhaps it is for you to finally decide to take on the family business, to follow a predestined career, or to be in a romantic relationship they have chosen for you—in sum, to be someone that you are not. And this is how you may find yourself in these relationships walking on eggshells because you may be afraid to offend your loved ones. You may be afraid to be rejected because you have decided to do what matters to you, which may not matter to them. They may not even look upon it favorably. So there is this constant dance:
“Do I speak my truth, or do I just remain quiet and sacrifice my innermost desires because this is how it has always been in the family?”
Let’s say you have a circle of friends. One day you say something. The next day, you say something different, which contradicts what you said the day before. And the third day, you do not even remember what you shared with them the previous days. So, you have three different versions of your truth, and the larger the circle, the greater the number of truths.
Is there a truth that never changes? Yes, there is. That is the truth from within your heart—the one faithful to you that needs no rehearsal.
When we are constantly trying to be who we are not or trying to please others, we are always rehearsing what we will be saying to each and every one, hoping that they will approve of who we are. But in the midst of it all, we always forget what we say, and we may get very confused about who we truly are. Indeed, many of us may have experienced being confused about who we truly are.
So the golden truth is the one that does not need to justify itself.
If you choose, you can pause and reflect upon ways in which you may have been afraid to speak your deepest truth. As you begin to work more in this way, you will find much peace and greater ease in dealing with people. It will become much easier to speak your deepest truth. Everyone knows the truth when spoken. All hearts know.
Explore Your Inner World
- If you have been struggling to speak your heart-centered truth, here is an exercise that can make it easier for you.
- 1. Place yourself in a peaceful environment. Wherever you are, make sure you can hear your inner voice.
- 2. Imagine that the person you wish to speak with is right in front of you. Write down precisely what you want to share with that person. Do not judge what you are writing. Do not judge how it sounds. Allow yourself to feel what needs to be said, even if it is not as loving as you may want it to be. Love yourself for speaking in this way, for you are doing your best.
- 3. Move away from what you have written and let it go for now. Refresh your mind and come back to the exercise.
- 4. Now, connect with your heart once again. Take a few deep breaths in and out and call upon the purifying power of light. When ready, start writing this note more lovingly. Remember, the gentler the tone, the closer you are to your heart, for you are moving away from a right/wrong framework to see the situation from a higher perspective. You are connecting deeper with the wise, loving self within. Write from the heart and let go.
