Discovering Your Own Vibrant Guidance: Only the Lost Will Ask for Help

If you want to live a life that celebrates your gifts and fits you like silk…you might first have to lurch into brick walls or down blind alleys. Poet Galway Kinnell says, “And the first step, shall be to lose the way.” When I share this at workshops, participants gaze at their shoes. They don’t want to lose the way. They want to find their way. And they want to find their way, their way—and by five o’clock Eastern Standard Time. But that’s the slippery thing about inspiration. You may have to hit exasperation and drop all your marbles. Because only the open-minded can look in new directions. And only the lost will ask for help.

You are called to walk off the beaten track and light upon secret turnpikes. That means there often won’t be road signs or easy entry ramps. There won’t be mass transportation or park rangers. Your truth will not be on the evening news. The creative life is not driven by external cues. That’s the point. You don’t need those inferior tools. You have guidance.

If you want to live an extraordinary life, you have to open to an extraordinary presence within you. Some of us might call that experience God or the Universe. Others may call it their creative mind, life force, instinct or intuition. Whatever you call it, please call on it…often. Learn your captain’s language and you will not feel lost. Why rely on clumsy, conventional wisdom to navigate an unparalleled life? The spiritual study of A Course in Miracles asks, “Who would attempt to fly with the tiny wings of a sparrow when the mighty power of an eagle has been given him?”

I think those of us who dare to live a larger life, often feel smaller and more uncertain. We are walking naked into the unknown. We are leaving behind the safety of mass agreement and approval. It would be a sad situation, if we truly were alone. But we’re not. We have guidance. We have a knowing sense within us, a more vibrant encompassing compass, and this beloved presence will empower us beyond our wildest dreams.

But most of us don’t consult this incredible resource until our old answers no longer bring us peace or freedom. That’s why feeling uncertain is the first step towards a smoother life. It’s when we become available or ready to expand our understanding. In twelve step programs they call it “being teachable.” That means that “know-it-alls” are somewhat crippled. Don’t you love that? I do. Because maybe those of us who sometimes feel as though we can’t find our way out of a paper bag, might just careen our way into grace. Author Anne Lamott, quoting a friend of hers, says, “The opposite of faith is not doubt, but certainty. Certainty is missing the point entirely. Faith includes noticing the mess, the emptiness and discomfort, and letting it be there until some light returns. Faith also means reaching deeply within, for the sense one was born with.”

And all that being said, you do deserve to feel certain inside, resolved and whole. It’s time to don your eagle wings. It’s time to stop going it alone. Ask for help. Ask within. Begin this vital communication. Bring your hesitancy with you and even your cynicism. But don’t deny yourself the privilege of using your full strength. You have beautiful radar within you and it only gets more resonant with practice.

What a clever design. We have to feel frustrated by life so that we’ll reach deep within us to find answers we didn’t find in the world. Perhaps they’re the answers we came to give the world….