My last post, “The Bigger Picture And Divine Plan – It’s Not What You Think It Is,” which is about the importance of fulfilling your higher purpose as well as the idea that you won’t consciously know what your individual, specific higher purpose is (and you certainly won’t be able to understand the bigger picture)–not until you have made it a practice of following through with your inner guidance daily and then seeing what happens over a period of time–generated a few comments from people thanking me for the reminder for them to make it a practice of meditating daily and listening to their higher guidance. (Whew! That was a lot to cover in one sentence!)
My friend Joshua Tilghman, who is the force behind The Spirit of the Scripture blog, wrote,
“Good post, Christine. I just wanted to add that the process can be sped up a little by living in the NOW and daily meditation.”
Another person shared that she wishes she could make daily meditation a habit, instead of doing it once or a couple times a month.
I agree that daily meditation is the place to begin. However, it is worth examining what your intention behind your daily meditation is. Is your intention behind meditation about receiving higher guidance for your daily life that you will then follow? Or is it because meditation is part of our pop culture now and a “spiritual” thing to do? Or is your intention something else altogether?
Most people have to learn to meditate, they have to learn to focus on hearing that inner guidance, that still, small voice within. Daily meditation (a deliberate and intentional connecting with your higher self / higher guidance) is often needed in order to overcome the very strong inertia and habit of ignoring our inner guidance. (I know this because before I made a conscious commitment over a decade ago to meditate and then follow through with my inner guidance consistently I ignored much of it. And then I noticed that what often happened is that I would feel regret or remorse that I had ignored it; I would regret not having followed through with my intuition in the moment, regret having ignored it or put it off due to simple procrastination or the habit of “remaining small.” And the reason I regretted it is that I realized I had lost some kind of an opportunity that would have given me and those around me joy, or else I got myself into some sort of trouble that made my life more complicated.)
So what did I do to overcome that powerful inertia? Besides making it a practice of meditating 10 to 15 minutes right before I went to sleep at night and right after I awakened (I did the heart and soul meditation described in a post I wrote early on in this blog), several times a day I stopped what I was doing (just for about 30 seconds to a minute) and focused on what I was feeling in my “sacred space” at the moment. What was my heart feeling? Was I feeling or sensing anything different in the center of my chest? Was there any guidance for me to follow at the moment? I had already by then made the commitment to follow through with my inner guidance and now was “checking in” with my higher self, learning to pay attention to subtle feelings, learning to anticipate guidance so that when it came, this time I’d be “on it,” this time I’d follow through. There would be no regrets.
Meditation does not have to be hard, you don’t need to be a “pro” at it, and you don’t need to do it the “right” way, i.e. sitting Indian style with fingers in the right place. It’s not about that at all, I discovered. I tried it the “traditional” way years before and it didn’t work for me and then I “meditated” in bed lying down, right before I fell asleep at night and a little when I woke up. That (and the strong desire to hear and follow through with my higher guidance) was all I needed to finally get things rolling, meaning, experiencing favorable, sometimes amazing synchronicities, new insights, new inspired actions, new connections, plenty of personal growth, as well as feelings of joy and expansion, regularly. In other words, you are being the change you want to see in the world. (Isn’t this why we meditate?)
When you hear the inner voice and you DON’T follow through, well that’s not helping you go forward at all, you’re just remaining stuck in the same old place.
Regarding “Living in the Now,” being connected to that divine part of you and following through with your guidance NOW (promptly, in the moment) is what “Living in the Now” is about. It’s about not worrying about the future because you know that by taking care of what there’s to take care of today you’re transforming your future and you’re being the change you want to see in the world.
What will you do today that will help you be the change you want to see in the world? Don’t put it off any longer!
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