“The way to find your own North Star is not to think or feel your way
forward but to dissolve the thoughts and feelings that make you miserable. You don’t have to learn your destiny–you already know it; you just have to unlearn the thoughts that blind you to what you know.”
-Martha Beck
When my son, Jack, was four years old, he became my teacher. We were getting ice cream, and I said to him, “Say thank you, Jack.” His little face looked straight at mine and said four little words. “I’m not your parrot.” While some would see this as hugely disrespectful, I have always had a sense of humor around the remarkable things kids say, but more importantly, he was letting me know his truth. He knew who he was and had his own voice. He didn’t need my input. There is a saying I once heard, “as in the beginning, so as in the middle, as in the end.” In other words, children show us who they are from the start, and my son has always had a firm sense of his inner being. We still laugh about this line as he is a teenager confronting big decisions. He knows he doesn’t need to live his life to meet what other’s say but follows his inner compass. He loves deeply and has compassion for life, but he also knows his destiny doesn’t rely on others’ thoughts and words.
Finding our truth can be challenging in our world today with the inundation of information and misinformation. Often what makes us fearful and miserable at the state of the world are words we hear from sources outside. They are taken for the truth when maybe it is an opinion or, even worse, a lie. We become parrots repeating stuff like “the country is divided” when there are plenty of real examples of how this is not so. We start to fall into group-think and pick sides based on false ideas. The most dangerous thing about repeating the division lie is that it creates separation and judgment. It lets us off the hook of reaching out to each other because why bother?
If we are honest, we will recognize we have been through major challenges before without this feeling of “never before so divided.” However, with all the social media “parrots” repeating this idea of division, again and again, it almost starts to feel true even though it is not. Some of my most respected friends have shared this idea, and yet I know these are people who are wise enough to know we have lived through the outrageous only to become stronger by coming together. Why is today different? It depends on where we point our inner compass.
As a child, I was taught to respect authority, but as I saw behind the curtain that sometimes leaders do the wrong things, I had to challenge that idea. When we put our power outside of our inner truth, we can feel lost and like the world is falling apart. Maybe sometimes it needs to fall apart in places so we wake up from that trance. We need to realign and get our bearings individually as well as collectively. Stepping out when it goes against the mainstream takes courage, but we aren’t here to live someone else’s story. We aren’t here to repeat what we are told but to explore our own path. This is not an invitation to drive home some egoic sense of power but to remind us of our connection to all of life and the importance of living from our core.
What is your truth? How do you discover that sense of inner knowing? I find that when I get close to the source and rhythm of life, the answers are readily available. I take a walk in nature or get my hands in the mud doing my gardening. Another way is through meditation or yoga when I silence the chatter in my mind and body to seek my connection to the wholeness that exists. Spring is a fabulous time to ask these big questions. All around us, as the seasons change to create anew, we are a part of that cycle of undivided wholeness. Like a seed destined to grow into something larger, we are called to manifest what is within us so that it may bless the world. Individually and collectively, our gifts will transform the world. The tension we are feeling now is the push that is trying to make that happen despite all resistance to stay small.
Becoming like a child and realizing your innate connection to the whole of life is the answer. When we recalibrate our compass, we recognize that we have all we need to get started. We don’t need another book, lecture, or someone else to give us the words. As in the beginning, we are love, in the middle, we are love, and in the end, we are love. The beliefs in division, scarcity, and separateness are what pulls apart today. Will we risk letting go of the judgment and over-consumption of what everyone else says so we can stay open to that mystery? Don’t be a parrot of someone else’s ideas. Find your truth. The world is waiting for your gifts.
Photo credit: My little Jackie boy so many years ago–love from the very start!