Wisdom Puts the Wind in Your Sails/Techniques Bog You Down; Automatic Updates from Wisdom
“Why is it that I can’t get myself moving in a direction that I’ve chosen,” a client was asking me. “I’ve chosen a direction for my life, got all the systems in place, know I want to be doing this, but can’t seem to do it.”
This is a client who in the past, was a bit of a systems and techniques junkie. She had taken many workshops, each one giving her a new system or technique for organizing her life, setting her goals, getting in touch with her true vision, accomplishing her goals, having a balanced life, etc. She was so bogged down with all these systems that it left her little time to do anything else. “The problem with techniques,” I told her, “is that they come from the outside in. Somebody has an inspiration that comes from inside themselves, from their wisdom or common sense. They use it in a way that works for them, and then they think, ‘How can I share this with others’, or ‘Gee, I might have something marketable here,’ and they create a technique out of it. Then they write a book and give a seminar about how when they used this technique, it changed their lives. You go to the seminar, learn the technique, and try it at home.
Sometimes, it works for a while. But it never lasts. Either it stops working, or you forget to do it, or you remember, but just don’t want to do it anymore. Then you go learn a new technique, thinking you’ll get it right this time.”My client was nodding her head – this sounded very familiar.
“What the principles teach us,” I told her, “is to listen for our own wisdom, our own inspiration. When you get your own idea for what makes sense in your life, or even a mental image or technique you might play with for a little while, it’s coming from deep inside you, from your own consciousness. When that happens, it’s like the wind is in your sails. It’s your wisdom, tailor-made for you. You don’t have to think about it, try to remember to do it. It just flows through your thoughts naturally.
Nature designed us to have access to a flow of good ideas, inspiration, wisdom and common sense. It’s available frequently when we’re not thinking about what we already know, what happened yesterday, what we want to have happen tomorrow, or what somebody else says about how to live your life. The more people realize that thinking about what they already know only gives them what they already have, the more simple people’s minds tend to become. Then we get access to a flow of good ideas, ways to tweak the direction of our parenting, career or whatever our concerns are – they just occur to us naturally, without all this hard work.”
My client became thoughtful.. “It’s true,” she said, “I feel really weighed down by all these systems I have in place. I don’t want to have to work all the time at all these processes. It’s taking up too much of my time. I want to be able to count on myself to do what I need to do, and at the same time be free to do things spontaneously, let my life be open for new ideas that change and shape things.” She became thoughtful. Then she said, “Well, I think I’ll get in touch with myself twice a year, at each equinox, and check in with what I’m doing and see what needs to be updated,” She talked for a while about how important it was to keep a clean slate mentally, to check in and make sure everything was working.
After listening for a while, I pointed out that these were just more systems she was putting in place. In fact, when we get less interested in what we know, our minds are often free and empty, and ideas for updating our lives flow in from time to time on their own. Our common sense and wisdom is plugged into an intelligence capable of doing that without our more limited, personal minds working at it all the time. It’s like when you have a software system such as Windows on your computer that has automatic updates – they show up when needed unless your mental inbox is always full.
‘Wow,’ she said, how freeing is that!
