***When You Hear the Divine, Do You Feel Fear?

Many folks tell me they wish they could "hear" the Divine more easily. Lately, I've begun to think that it may not be as difficult to hear the Divine as we believe it is.

Sometimes when we receive information from the Divine, I believe we move into fear, and not surprisingly, these are the messages we are most likely to resist or simply ignore. The mind gives us plenty of reasons to reject the information, so we don't even have to feel guilty about rejecting it! It is, of course, valuable to feel fear at certain times and under circumstances of real danger, but that is not the type of fear I am referring to here.

When you receive information from the Divine, if you feel fear, what type of fear is it? Are you afraid because you are being asked to reveal a part of yourself that you haven't revealed before? Are you being asked to use a skill that you don't believe is your strongest skill? Are you being asked to embrace a part of yourself that you don't feel able to embrace? If the answer to these or similar questions is "yes," you can see that following this information from the Divine has the potential to be beneficial for you, even though it may feel uncomfortable.

This week I invite you to observe yourself and see if this limiting pattern is present in your life. Note any resistance to information you receive (remember, messages can come from anywhere and still be a message from the Divine). Are you afraid of the message/suggestion? Are you afraid because of the discomfort level, or are you truly afraid that it would be detrimental for you? Of course you would not want to pursue anything that you feel would be truly detrimental for you. However, can you enlarge the box you live in and expand the realm of what is possible for you? Many of us have developed extremely limited boundaries for ourselves and could benefit from expanding our horizons!

In my case, I will try to expand my box this week by cutting myself a break and making sure I'm not so hard on myself when I create situations in my life I would very much prefer not having created! (Can you relate?) My personal habit is to carry these events/situations for years (decades!), as if blaming myself and/or punishing myself could somehow improve the situation--which of course it can't. All it can do is drain valuable energy from me and keep me focused on myself in a destructive way.

If you become more aware of yourself, you may see yourself responding to God in a habitually fearful way. Once you recognize your pattern of jumping to "no" or fear, you will be able to recognize it for what it is--a habit of the mind--and you will be able to respond to opportunities in a more conscious manner. If you don't think you will be able to break the habit yourself, ask the Divine for help. (Yes, you can bet I have asked for help!)

When the Divine sends you messages, it will often require change on your part. It is this change that will allow the transformation that you are seeking. It is difficult for you to transform when you continue to follow in the ruts and the paths that you have followed consistently for all or most of your life. (This is true whether those ruts are in your physical, mental, emotional, or spiritual life.)

Just think...if you drove from North Carolina to California on I40 over and over again, it would become a very comfortable trip for you. You could do it on auto-pilot, and do it very successfully. But wouldn't you be bored? How many beautiful places in the United States would you be missing? I think we can all agree that you would be missing many of the wonderful sights and experiences that are available to you.

When you fall into a similar rut in your personal life due to habitual responses to God and life, you may feel safe, but you are missing out on many wonderful experiences. I invite you to identify one of these sacred opportunities this week and say "yes!"