Life is a little weird right now. I’m in a season of “transform” to use parlance from Network Spinal Analysis. Part of what that means is taking my power back, trusting myself, etc. Instead of writing a new post, I’m sharing this one from October 2018. Enjoy.

The other week, I had a conversation with a friend who told me instead of following conventional wisdom and keeping his part-time job to pay the bills, he devoted himself completely to his own business and went into debt. And now, years later, his business is taking off and turning a profit. I love stories like this because they remind me there isn’t only one way to do things.

Our society likes to give advice – we spend millions of dollars on self-help books every year. We constantly think someone else knows how to do things. We hear people say things like, “It’s when you stop looking for a relationship that you find one,” and absorb it like the gospel truth. Except for every couple who had that experience, I can name another pair who married because they met through a dating app. They were actively looking, and it worked out.

We each have one of these. Photo by Jamie Street on Unsplash

As for myself, it’s scary and thrilling to contemplate that there’s more than one way to do things. And more than that, sometimes conventional wisdom is wrong. It feels much safer to purchase a course for four easy payments of $99.99 that will give me the steps to success. A guarantee that I, too, can have the life of my dreams if I only follow the advice of someone else.

I’m not throwing shade at self-help books and courses because they have merit – I’ve purchased many of them, and they improved my life, but the ones that worked the best encouraged me to seek and trust my own inner wisdom. The ones that led me deeper into myself were the most helpful because ultimately, we are each our own compass.

According to my spiritual philosophy, we are each a reflection of Cosmic Consciousness. We are all mirrors showing an image of the same moon, so to speak. However, each mirror is unique with a different shape and size. Some mirrors are dirtier than others. Some mirrors are cracked. But each mirror is still reflecting the same moon. It does me no good to look at someone else’s mirror – I have to focus on my own, and more than that, focus on the moon itself.

We are each on our own journeys and that means not always following the footsteps in front of us. Sometimes it means heading into uncharted territory but always remembering we still have our own mirror and that mirror is still reflecting the moon.

I dream of a world where we remember we have our own internal guidance system. A world where we realize sometimes we have to find our own way and it may not always make sense. A world where we understand we are all different and what works for someone else may not work for us. A world where we learn to trust our own inner wisdom.

Another world is not only possible, it’s probable.