The most common question people ask me in personal interviews is “What is my purpose, my destiny?” I always give them the answer. “Your destiny is not one fixed route through life. You create your destiny with each step you take. The best way to feel you are living with purpose is to pay attention to the next step.” The words are not hard to understand. Living with such intention and awareness takes effort and guidance from trusted sources.
Your soul knows who you are, what you are, and why you are here. We call this intuition, inner guidance, trust, foolishness, and more. How can we better listen to our souls? To truly hear it’s loving messages? We have the very tool needed to hear what the soul knows. It is called the mind. We can develop our mind. It takes courage, commitment, sacrifice, and regular effort.
If each person already knows what to do and why they are here, then what function can I serve as a spiritual guide? The short answer is ‘by listening’. The better I am able to listen, the more a person’s life becomes illuminated. They talk, often complaining, and explaining their problems, and their struggles. By listening from my heart, with full attention, and from a neutral mind, the weight is lifted, a little. Less weight and less pressure bring a sense of hope. Hope is like the morning light as it chases away the darkness of night.
After many years of learning to listen to others’ problems and then offering them some guidance, I came across a unique situation. The student shared their ‘story’, I listened, and inside was completely blank. No inner words. No metaphors. No questions. No stories to share. Nothing. At first, I felt a wave of panic sweep over me. I attempted to access some past advice I gave another student in a similar situation, but I still came up blank. The student finished speaking and was now waiting for my response. My guidance. I felt empty, opened my mouth, and out came a question. I asked the student, “What do you feel is best?”. The student simply went into a detailed explanation of what would be best for them to do. I listened with amazement as they answered their own question.
This was a great lesson for me to trust that the silence inside me, was by design, not a block. Silence may be the best response. I have experienced many more amazing interactions with people. I learn from everyone and give what I can to everyone. The personal interviews usually come around to the question of their daily practice, or sadhana, and how strong is their desire for change. It is easy to want to change and often hard to bring about that change. Change always creates stress. To change an underlying pattern or habit takes sacrifice and effort. Sometimes, a lot of effort. Our desire for change must be greater than our desire for comfort.
Daily practice is the point of communication with your personal soul and what we might think of as the universal soul. By strengthening the link to the soul, your trust expands and you have more confidence to take action. This will create success. Sadhana requires daily sacrifice to get up, set the time aside, and to meditation. This process of training your mind takes repeated action to fix the new neural pathways towards your personal goals.
Kundalini Yoga kriyas and meditations help people understand the mind and how to direct its attention. With this repeated experience, you can learn to trust deeper and find the courage to do what is needed to live your destiny. Alignment applies to relationships, health, finances, and your soul. I am not saying you will win a gold medal at the Olympics, or earn a million dollars. Your soul has it’s own loving path for success.
photo: from one of our Level 2 teacher training courses. big ears make for better listening.
