When we are in struggle, wanting to change something, heal something, better understand something, we often seek external “authorities” to provide the answers we are seeking.
The opinions of others can be helpful or confusing, depending on how grounded we are in our own authority.
The guidance from many different types of spiritual practices align on the concept that the answers we seek are already within us.
“When God created human beings, the angels were jealous because God had endowed the humans with divine wisdom that would guide them through life. So the jealous angels conspired to hid this gift from the humans. “Let’s take it to the peak of the highest mountain,” said one. “No,” said another, “Let’s bury it at the bottom of the deepest sea.” But the smartest angel of all said: “Let’s hide divine wisdom deep inside each person. It’s the last place they’ll ever look.”
-Hasidic legend
“The seed of your authority is within you; you must protect this seed from external “authorities.”
Paraphrase of Julia Indichova’s work in the “The Fertile Heart” program
The seed of our authority needs to take root on its own first. If our roots are loose in the soil, we will bend every which way, changing our minds with every new perspective that blows in on the wind and we will stagnate rather than grow.
If we can anchor ourselves in our own authority, trusting our intuition and giving ourselves space to allow the answers to come from within , then we can still use external authorities as consultants or providers of information, but hold a boundary against allowing those external authorities to undermine the one true authority that lies within us.
Author-ity allows us to be the authors of our own lives. When we give that author-ity away, someone else writes our story for us.
When we are hurt or feeling unwell, we look outside of ourselves for answers and end up down a rabbit hole that breeds fear, uncertainty and takes our authority away.
Physicians give us advice or offer a treatment before asking enough questions to understand the issues we are facing. We blindly accept their conclusions because we have been trained to trust external sources more than we have been empowered to trust ourselves.
Parents, mentors, teachers and managers tell us what they think we “should” be–where we should go to college, what we should pursue for a career. We are influenced by their encouragement, which may be well-intentioned, but it is a distraction from our work to connect with our inner truth, the hidden wisdom that could reveal all the answers we seek.
When we receive solutions from others, the best thing we can do is view it with neutrality and consider that it is just information, and not necessarily the solution we are looking for. We can decide for ourselves whether it FEELS right to move forward with that proposed solution.
But in order to know what feels right, we need to leave the current of the daily routine and its influences and give ourselves space to sit with the external information before reacting to it.
Here are some ways to get “clear” before asking yourself the questions you have been asking the external authorities.
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Take a walk outside, preferably in nature. No headphones. No cell phone. No music. Take in the surroundings with a simple inventory of the senses. Notice what you hear, what you see, what you smell. Run your hand along some tree bark or a smooth stone or a lacy fern. This will bring you into the present moment. Once you’re clear, ask yourself the questions you are trying to decipher and then leave space in your mind to allow the answers to come up.
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Pick up a pen and piece of paper or a journal. Set a timer for 3 minutes and just start writing whatever comes to mind; it doesn’t matter if it is complete gibberish, this is just to clear the thought pipes. Don’t stop before 3 minutes are up, but if you can keep going after 3 minutes, let it flow! When your pen stops moving, write down a problem or question you are struggling with. e.g. “should I accept this job offer?” Set the pen down. Close your eyes. Take 3 deep breaths inhaling through the nose, exhaling through the mouth. Pick up the pen again and start writing whatever comes to you regarding an answer. It might be a long list of pros and cons, but you will eventually find that some of what you write feels a certain way, brings a sense of calm and knowing.
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Get lost in an activity that requires your full attention to clear your mind—put a puzzle together, color in a coloring book, paint-by-number, paint a rock or a seashell, do a crossword puzzle, go rock climbing (you really have to pay attention and be in the moment!). Don’t even think about your problem or questions during this time. But after you’re done and have cleared space in your mind, choose one of the above activities, take a walk or start writing and see what comes up for the answers that were in you all along but that you have just uncovered.
When we tap into our inner truth, our intuition, our gut instincts, we hold the pen to author our lives. We hold the authority to create, to decide, to research answers without blindly accepting solutions from external authorities.
We are all given the gift of inner wisdom. Let’s empower ourselves to create space for ourselves to access that gift. We must listen to and trust the inner voice to maintain authorship and authority over our lives.