Are You on the Straight Path or the Wandering Path?

Hint: The answer can be found in the voice you follow

Photo by Tamas Pap

A number of years ago, I received a life-changing download one night before I went to sleep.  It flooded in all at once with no breaks. All I could do was receive it and do my best to integrate it. The essence of what came through was this: Most of the early days of my adult life, I made decisions from the intellect and the place of desires, NOT from heart or from the place of intuition. In fact, much of the suffering in my early adult life was a DIRECT result of these poor choices. Yes, my experiences have been great teachers, and I’ve received many gifts from having them. However, these same lessons could have been taught to me in entirely different, less painful ways. 

There is the straight path, and there is the wandering path.

The straight path is the one lead by the heart and by intuition (otherwise known as Divine Guidance).

The wandering path is the one lead by the intellect or monkey mind (aka the ego), the one that runs here and there, curious and interested in exploring places that it doesn’t belong. The monkey mind is a time waster and, sorry to say, a pain inflictor. We get an idea and without a second thought, the monkey mind gets hold of it and starts planning and scheming its way to make it happen.

The straight path doesn’t work this way at all. Instead, it follows the lead of the Greater Intelligence, the All-Knowing, All-Seeing Creator (via our Higher Self) who has a view of the bigger picture and who knows our place in it. How foolish are we to not yield to that Intelligence, but think we can control and direct our movements without an experienced guide.

This idea, while obvious when explained in this way, is veiled. We’re programmed in school to rely on our intellects to make decisions, with no regard to our intuition (what’s that?) or inner wisdom. It’s only later, after making a series of painful mistakes, that we even begin to suspect that the problem was our faulty decision making. In fact, the responsibility to listen to inner wisdom or follow the impulsive ideas is ALL OURS. No one else is to blame. Sure, we didn’t know any better. But not knowing doesn’t save us from the poor choices, does it? We can have compassion for our ignorance, instead of regret. However, it’s critical that we own our past decisions and use the wisdom gained to assist us in learning to make better decisions going forward.

What does that look like?

For me, it means to slow down more and really listen. It means not being on automatic pilot when offered an opportunity, and not using past criteria in which to base future decisions. It also means, saying “yes” or “no” to a decision based on the present. This takes time and reflection, and really listening to the feelings and sensations around the opportunity. It also takes reading the field to see if there are messages and signs that validate and corroborate the opportunity or negate and block the opportunity.  Sometimes these messages and signs are subtle and take acuity and precision to tune into that flow.

Because it’s all about being in the flow, isn’t it?

Flow is that comfy emotional blanket that tells us that life feels right and we know where we belong.

Stress, strain and struggle are signs that we’re out of that flow and have made a wrong turn (poor decision) somewhere. It’s good to track back to when things first felt off to see where we stepped out of the flow. The monkey mind/ego is a stealth character that often sneaks up on us and then derails our plans with distractions, shiny objects and even our own ideas! Sometimes the most attractive, cool, fun-sounding ideas are the ones that, if acted upon, lead us astray and cause tremendous suffering.

Think about it.

How often have you had the experience of a good idea sounding great on paper only to discover that once you’re in the experience of it, it falls horribly short? In fact, you quickly discover that it’s nothing at all like you thought, and then you wish you could undo or reverse your decision. It’s usually too late, and you have to chalk it up to lesson learned and wisdom gained.

Wouldn’t you appreciate—at least some of the time—making decisions with certainty, knowing that life, the universe and the Divine were behind it? Think of all the help you would get. If you’ve ever made Divinely-Guided decisions, you know what I mean. They have “meant to be” written all over them. You feel that you are in the right place at the right time. There’s nowhere else you’d rather be … that type of thing. 

And yet, listening to and following Divine Guidance takes practice.

Listening to the monkey mind doesn’t, and unfortunately, that’s become our default. To shift to an intuitive, heart-led life is to consciously choose to listen to AND follow whatever comes through. This sometimes means going against the group consensus and taking risks.

To live a life in accordance with the Grand Design, you need LOTS of courage. So, don’t beat yourself up if you’ve been a coward and opted for the shiny objects that have appeared in your life. We all have.

I’ve been untangling all of these threads for years now. The process began when my consciousness was finally ready to sort through the messes I’d made while being unconscious about all of this. As I sorted, I had to also experience the squirmy feelings of regret, shame, sorrow, guilt and so on.

It’s part of the territory.

However, the medicine of the process makes it worth the discomfort. It’s so healing and freeing to own our mistakes and see them for what they are: poor choices. What that does is open up the landscape to a whole new way of navigating the world going forward.

In fact, if we really want to stay in the flow and continue on the straight path, all we have to do is to practice staying present. But that’s the easy part. The difficult part is not reacting to all the myriad of things that try to convince us to wander, to follow an idea or please someone or follow their agenda. Now THAT takes discipline and the courage to hold fast to your commitment to say “yes” to your intuition no matter what.

What I’ve learned since receiving that initial download is that before making any major decisions—minor as well—I need to pause and listen, and ask for signs, if necessary, BEFORE going forward. The more I practice letting go of control, the more freedom I have. And after all, freedom is what I’m most passionate about. Not as a destination but as a way of being—the wind beneath my sails, guiding me forward into the next.

I’ve also learned that even when I do make a poor decision, things can turn around very quickly if I’m willing to acknowledge what’s happened, accept it, own it and open myself back up to my intuition. When I do this, the circumstances actually shift from being a challenging situation filled with problems, struggling and suffering to an opportunity filled with solutions, relief and blessings.

Surrendering to my place in the Grand Design is as good as it gets. It’s my practice now, along with being present. The way I know it’s working is how much peace permeates most of my experiences now, and how much better I’ve gotten at making decisions. Plus, I’m truly enjoying the mystery and wonder of a life I no longer try and control