I was sat in beautiful Regents Park in London yesterday with some good friends having a picnic. One of the things that we had to do was create a playlist of 10 songs to share with the rest of the group. As I had compiled mine, I wanted to share some songs that reminded me of some formative summers when I was at university. Interestingly, it didn’t dawn on me until I heard my song list playing that the first two songs were “There’s no other way” by Blur and “There’s only one way of life” by the Levellers. Seems that even at the age of 18 when these songs became significant, my guides somewhere were trying to tell me something!
This weekend has been one of remarkable insight actually and many “aha’s”…but one of the biggest ones is something that I have actually known for a very long time but never quite integrated until now.
Really, when it comes down to it, you just have to stop listening to other folk and follow your own knowing.
I have spent so much of my life either actively soliciting other people’s advice, being given it directly or even just feeling the gentle pressure of other points of view grafting themselves to my world view. It is not that we can exist in a vacuum, or even that other people’s viewpoints aren’t with merit. Indeed, there is an exercise called the Johari Window which can be done with people who know you which points to blind spots in our own self perception.
However, I am minded to note a piece of “wisdom” that I have felt compelled to share this week with a few people…and it is interesting that I am making this statement. Feedback from other people often says more about them and what they need to hear than it ever does about the receiver. Think about it….all feedback is passed through the filters, perceptions, prejudices and so on of the giver. What they perceive to be the subject that the receiver could do with feedback on might be entirely different to the receiver’s point of view.
What am I trying to say here? By all means, listen to some extent or another to what other people have to say on a subject. However, don’t EVER let that be a substitute for your own internal vibes, your own internal knowing. Other people who may well be very insightful and operate at a high level of consciousness will never really know what is going on in your world…certainly never anymore than you do even if you are not fully aware. Always take feedback and opinions with a massive dose of salt and check in with your vibes to see if the feedback resonates for you.
That resonant quality for me is the important factor. When it has that kind of quality, the statement just stands out from the rest of the conversation. It is almost as if a highlighter pen has been applied to that part of the conversation. Different people experience this phenomenon in different ways. For me, I just know. I can’t explain it, I just know (actually I can….google “claircognizance”!).
As my teacher Sonia Choquette says, to start hearing your own little internal voice, you have to stop listening to everyone else’s! So next time you are in a quandary and are not sure what to do, put your hand on your heart. Take a deep breath and say “My intuition/guides/guidance (whatever word works for you) say….” and fill in the blank with whatever comes to you. Do not hesitate and just blurt out what comes to you…and say it out loud. This legitimizes your guidance and if you name your guidance, you own it. Play with this for a while and see what comes to you. It sure beats listening to everyone else and you might just be surprised where your vibes take you!
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