Swimming against the stream 

What usually happens is we find ourselves swimming again the stream of life - and boy that’s hard work, exhausting in fact!  We’ve all done it many times.

We try so hard to do the right thing -- to do what is expected of us, and when it gets hard, we try even harder.  It starts to feel like we are swimming against a strong current and we’re not getting anywhere -- in fact it feels as if we’re going in reverse despite the incredible effort we are putting into our lives. 

We have to ask ourselves, what is life trying to tell us as we battle against it’s sheer strength and pressure?   There are so many reasons as to why we “swim against the stream” of life.  Let’s take a look at some...

You’ve been born into a family that has definite ideas about the way you “should” conduct yourself. You’re told, and shown clearly through your family’s actions what behavior is “appropriate” for your clan; what is expected of you; what success means and also what failure means; what you “should” do; and what’s possible and what’s not.  

We all have a desire to be accepted by our clan, so we learn at a very early age to give ourselves over to the pressures of the primary group we belong to.  Then there is the next tier to negotiate -  the larger group, the one all of our families belong to -- our “society”.

We learn to bend to the society we live in, all of its rules and active laws of the time. 

As you grow up, you might feel like you don’t fit in, you feel like the square peg in the round hole - you label yourself as the “black sheep” of the family, wondering if you were swapped at birth, or adopted because you are so different to the rest of your clan.

You feel misunderstood, stifled, tormented and unhappy.  You have different ideas to your clan,  and your pleas fall on deaf ears, and you start to resent the restrictions placed upon you.  By this time you make an internal decision, although you might not be aware of it at the time - (we usually end up going one of two ways) you become the pleaser, being the “good” boy or girl, or you fight the constraint and become the “rebel”.

Either way you feel disconnected from a deeper part of yourself. 

We all negotiate our inner and outer worlds to the best of our ability, but the two can often feel like a mismatch.

So how can we lighten the load and eventually soften the boundaries between societies values and our own deeper core values?  ...and how do we recognize our own core values?  

Our deeper core values are the ones that “feel” right -- beyond any logic --  they just feel right!  They feel right because they are guiding you. 

Your greater life potential Your greater life potential is always, always, always, aligned with your life purpose!  Your  personal direction and life purpose will be shown to you, not so much in logical, rational thought, but through hunches, feelings, and a sense of what “feels” right.   They are more  like “rumblings” of the Soul. 

IT’S THIS DEEPER PART OF YOURSELF THAT HOLDS THE KEY TO YOUR LIFE PURPOSE!

The Soul or Higher Intelligence within you communicates using a different language. For example, have you ever had a feeling you shouldn’t do something, and yet ignored the feeling and gone with your logical mind instead?  How did it turn out?  My guess is, not too well!!!!!  

Those hunches and subtle whispers we experience at times, are coming from that deeper part of us, the part that knows our life purpose and why we’re here.  This part is always guiding us, and communicating with us, but most of the time we’re so busy with life, we don’t hear it, or we shove it aside because it doesn’t line up with what we’ve been taught.  We must start listening to that deeper “Self” if we’re going to step more readily onto the true pathway of our life purpose.

One way to start connecting with this deeper “Self” is to learn to sit still and become quiet within yourself. By creating a daily routine of sitting quietly in meditation or engaging in a simple, conscious breathing practice, you begin to move inward which naturally creates a deeper connection with your Higher Intelligence.

In your daily life, become super aware  - What are the signs of life telling you?  What’s “presenting” in your life?  Look for the sign posts, they’re all there.  Slow down, there is no need to rush from one thing to the next, we often miss the signs when we’re rushing.  

Life is always guiding us, supporting us and showing us the way - it is our job to look for the signs and then take action in the direction we’re being shown.  That can be challenging because it means that we have to step through our fears and take a leap of faith.

 
It takes courage to walk the path that leads to your life purpose! Ultimately it’s worth it, because when you make decisions that truly honor you, life will rise up and support you in the most astonishing ways.