“Open your mind, allow your feelings to be expressed, to be pushed out, and your heart will neither break nor burst, but be a free-flowing channel of the life energy in your soul.” — Neale Donald Walsch
The philosopher Søren Kierkegaard said that life is not a problem to be solved; it’s a mystery to be experienced. Contained within that message lies a conceivable reality if we are willing to embrace it.
The principle underlying most self-help guidance is to surrender control on how circumstances will play out.
The need to influence conditions is an illusion, since we have limited control after all. What if underneath our desire for control lies the need for safety? It is widely held that what we want and what we need are distinctly opposed.
Upon closer examination, our desires are obscured by past conditioning to maintain a sense of security. Yet open any news bulletin and we see how little control we have within the natural order of events.
Through the neuroscience of free will, it takes 300 ms to evoke a response from our nervous system, demonstrating the updating of working memory. At 500 ms we are thinking about what we saw for the first time.
In the context of free will, our mind is one step ahead of our nervous system before we intend to act.
So how does this relate to gaining clarity on what matters most? The mind is notorious for pulling us in different directions.
To pierce the essence of our existence, we must surrender our self-fabricated story and allow the truth to emerge. Yet, for many to discard their long-held beliefs is painful as throwing money down the drain.
To gain clarity, we connect with our core self which knows the best path to take and uncover our truth along the way.
As an example, Dr. David Hawkins spoke of finding one’s truth and living it as best we can. Living our truth may oppose others and even annoy them.
Yet to support a distorted view of reality because it supplicates to their needs is harmful to our potential. It is helpful to re-examine your purpose when you feel you are being pulled in different directions.
Do you want to pursue your deepest desires or be at the mercy of others and live an inauthentic life? Which will it be? You cannot have both, so we must choose what supports our highest potential and serves our growth.