Stop! Look! Listen!

STOP! LOOK! LISTEN! That’s my mantra for reminding myself to slow down and turn to my inner wisdom when I don’t know what to think or do about some situation. There are many times when our minds are in turmoil over some issue in life. So the first thing to do is STOP everything and get calm. Take a break like go for a walk or meditate or sit with a pet or listen to some quiet music.

When we are calm we can LOOK at the situation and the issue we are concerned with. Then we can examine the ins and outs, the pro and cons of the issue. By really looking, we can see aspects that aren’t apparent at first glance. This is when we can ask questions like, “Is it harmful to me or someone else?” “Will it be a good thing in the long run, or is this just a passing thing? Do I really need these challenges in my life?” There are many stumbling blocks ahead, but they don’t have to trip us up if we let ourselves see them instead of just hoping they’ll go away. This phase of things may take time, though.

While waiting for your inner wisdom to speak, it’s a good idea to be patient. In this fast-paced world we want everything right now, but Spirit doesn’t work that way. it waits for us to relax and be ready to LISTEN. Just like all living things on earth, growth and progress take time. No matter how hard we try, we can’t make things happen any faster than they can – period.

Our number one enemy, however, is doubt. We worry about whether we’re on the right path. Looking back, I’ve seen so many times when life took me where I needed to go, even though I thought it was totally wrong. One of the most valuable mantras I’ve learned so far is that “all thing work together for good,” even though we can’t see it at the time. So maybe another part of this process is TRUST. If we genuinely turn to our inner wisdom, we can trust that it will lead us on the right path.