Trusting Our Felt Sense

Trusting the awareness of our felt sense is key in moving to a place of intuitive connection. Our bodies are the house of wisdom that holds all the answers and guidance we seek. As we learn to listen, practice discernment, and trust the guidance of the quiet voice inside, we become more confident and carefree. At times, contradictory messages from our environment urge us not to follow our inner truth; this is where we really get to deepen and strengthen the connection with our wise inner guide.

My experience is that this process takes time, and it takes courage to trust this inner guidance fully. With repeated confirmation and feedback, we trust it more and more. Through the process, we may vacillate between listening to intuition and then indulging the ego, which urges us to take the known path. With time, our ability to follow the truth of our intuition becomes more natural, and the inherent wisdom that has always been with us begins to radiate out into our lives. This connection brings a deep gratitude in the full awareness of who we are and the potential that we embody.

Reflection

Today when I am faced with a decision, I will pause and take it as an opportunity to practice listening for the voice of intuition. In this space, I will become aware of the felt sense of the body's sensations. In this inner aliveness, I will become aware of pulls in one direction or another, opening or contracting, or a subtle voice of guidance. As these sensations settle, I will follow the direction that matches this inner guidance the best. In this practice, I will trust that the connection to this inner voice of wisdom will continue to deepen and unfold over time.

What aspects of the reading resonated most with me?

How can I apply it to my life?

How might I integrate this awareness into my daily activities throughout the week?

Day 2-7: Journal your intentions and your experience of your weekly practice for the day.

For the final day of the week, contemplate and journal what you have learned and how you can carry this new awareness forward into your life.

Truth Is in the Experience

Present-moment awareness is where the truth resides. What is the truth? The truth for each of us resides in our current experience. The truth can be found and known experientially. When we experience the divine, it can be difficult to put into words. Even trying to remember the experience and conceptualize it in the mind doesn't do it justice. Awareness of the immediacy of our physical sensations is the most reliable pathway into the truth. Reflecting on the significant shifts, intuitive guidance, and spiritual experiences in our lives reveals that the "aha moment" occurs in the center of our being rather than in the mind.

Reflection

Today I will breath into the sensations of the moment. If what I am sensing is uncomfortable, I will refrain from judging and will practice being unconditionally present with myself. In this I know and trust that this nonjudgmental awareness will give the sensations space to move me naturally into the truth of the moment. In this natural flow of experience, I open myself up to a greater unfolding of who I am in the world.

What aspects of the reading resonated most with me?

How can I apply it to my life?

How might I integrate this awareness into my daily activities throughout the week?

Day 2-7: Journal your intentions and your experience of your weekly practice for the day.

For the final day of the week, contemplate and journal what you have learned and how you can carry this new awarenessforward into your life.

Acceptance

Acceptance is a universal principle referenced in many spiritual paths and traditions. Resistance is the opposite of acceptance and is a state many of us experience in our busy, modern lives. We are in resistance when we try to make life conform to our hopes, fears, and expectations. In response, life can get uncomfortable and disagreeable. We may find ourselves feeling increasingly frustrated, stressed out, or anxious.

In an attempt to remedy our experience, we try even harder to control other people, places, and things — and even our own minds and experience. Unfortunately, in doing so we are simply resisting life as it is, creating more of what we do not want. In our attempt to gain what we think is missing or should be different, such as happiness, success, or romance, we tend to attract exactly what we are trying to avoid: the lack of these things in our lives.

Acceptance is a powerful tool that allows us to move back into peaceful harmony with ourselves and with life. This kind of peace is referenced in the Serenity Prayer: "God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference."

Accepting the things we cannot change requires us to accept that we, the finite ego, are not in ultimate control of our lives or anyone else's. It encourages us to consider that perhaps there is a spiritual power working for our highest and best interest through this experience called life. You may call this power your true nature or higher self, God, the Universe, or Buddha Nature. When we consider that this presence is capable of managing our lives much...