Spiritually Loose author Susan Pearse shares how you can be your own self-help guru.
There’s an exercise used in many self-development programs where you are given the opportunity to speak to your sixteen-year-old self. You write a letter detailing the advice you would give with hindsight. The messages are always similar: Be true to yourself. Believe in yourself. But in a world where everyone has an answer to the latest problem before you even know it’s a problem, it’s hard to stay true to yourself. There is so much noise, conflicting advice, opinion and expertise, and it’s hard to hear yourself with all the distraction. But living your truth is the most important thing you can ever do. Your voice is the most important voice in your life.
We’ve been told our whole lives to listen to others. A doctor is the authority on your body, a psychiatrist knows your mind better than you do, a nutritionist knows what your body needs to eat, a teacher knows what you need to learn and in what order, a magazine knows how you need to look, a stranger on the internet knows how you can find love/cure cancer/discover the career of your dreams because she did it using this exact five step process, and now you too can do it for just three payments of $189!
But none of them know you like you know you. No one knows what makes your cells sparkle, your heart sing or your body ache with desire. No one knows the trauma in your DNA, the emotional blockages in your body and your life challenges. And in a ten-minute consult or a “free 15 minute coaching call” they don’t have the time to find out.
We all have the map to our best lives deep within; the wisdom of many, many lifetimes. It’s a guidebook and, if we listen, it will show us every single step. We don’t need to find the answer outside or follow someone else’s rules. There can only be one authority on your life and it’s you. Each and every one of us has different paths in this life. What’s right for one is not necessarily right for the other. Blindly following someone else’s example and teachings will only lead to distraction – and many dollars down the drain, believe me!
If everyone found their own path, what a powerful force we’d be! Humanity would exist as a beautiful kaleidoscope of colour and diversity. There would be many different paths, but all rooted in the same principles of transformation, kindness, oneness and surrender to the field that connects all of us. Science calls this energy. Religion calls it God. Whatever you call it, invest in it. But realise that you don’t need to go anywhere to do it. Like Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, you just need to tap your shoes and come home. Spend time with your guru every day – on a mat, at the beach, in the forest. Remind yourself it’s always there.
About the Author Susan Pearse is a business thought-leader, key-note speaker and an author. She has just released her latest book, Spiritually Loose which is a must-read as we prepare to hit the reset button for the new year ahead
