Tag: voice of love

Final Day: From Ego to Divine Guidance in 36 Days

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On 2014-04-08

In Guidance & Inspiration

An ongoing personal exploration of Divine Guidance and distinguishing between the voice of fear and the voice of love reflecting on the article, How to Distinguish Between Divine Guidance and Fear/Ego/Imagination, on Sir Froggie’s PositiveNews Network .

Today’s pairing is:

Bottom line, Divine Guidance is LOVE.
Ego is FEAR, false evidence appearing real.

Eeee!!! I did it. Um…WE did it!!! 36 consecutive blogs on Divine Guidance.

Rather than comment on this last pairing directly, I think I’d like to spend some time reviewing what I’ve learned through this 36-day virtual adventure:

1. For me, Divine guidance speaks in a language beyond words. If I’m hearing a loving language, I am hearing the Voice of Love, which is still pretty much ego…just a kinder, gentler, somewhat “reformed” version of it.

2. Divine guidance guides me toward acceptance of what is without destroying the miracle of what can be.

3. Ego is relentless, cunning, deceptive, and had the desire to survive at any cost. In any moment, I can be 100% sure that I do not perceive my own best interests.

4. If I’m feeling bad or beginning to suffer over anything, it is a sure sign my ego has pulled the wool (or veil) over my eyes. I am focused on the wrong things.

5. The best way for me to discern Divine guidance from ego is to stop doing, stop thinking, and simply sit and observe myself and situation quietly.

6. It isn’t nearly as complicated or mysterious as I make it out. Divine guidance is simple and elegant. It does, however, require a great deal of both courage and trust to listen.

How do you distinguish between Divine guidance and ego?

Day 10: Coming to Terms

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On 2014-03-13

In Guidance & Inspiration

An ongoing personal exploration of Divine Guidance and distinguishing between the voice of fear and the voice of love reflecting on the article, How to Distinguish Between Divine Guidance and Fear/Ego/Imagination, on Sir Froggie’s PositiveNews Network .

Today’s pairing is:

Divine Guidance works within the realm of what you know you can do.
Ego throws the seemingly impossible at you and sets conditions you know you cannot meet.

10 days ago, I was so sure this was a good idea. It may still be, but honestly, I just feel more confused than ever. And I wonder if the premise of my explorations is at fault. Perhaps I failed to define the terms from the very beginning…but then, the whole point of doing this was to come to a better understanding of the terms!

I feel the need to reiterate my earlier declarations that I’m not into ego-bashing. We absolutely need ego to not only survive, but thrive in this three dimensional reality. What this daily meditation has clarified for me then is that there are two sides to the ego…the harsh, judgmental, sabotaging side and the loving, hopeful, encouraging side which I’ve called the voice of fear and the voice of love.

Divine guidance then, is something beyond these voices. And herein lies my quandary; I don’t think the author of the pairings I’ve been using had drawn this same distinction.

But maybe it doesn’t ultimately matter. It’s all making me think and question what I think I know or knew.

For example, until recently, I’ve been a very strong proponent for the “we create our reality” movement. But lately, I am more of the “we create the perception of our reality” persuasion…which I know will drive many people I know absolutely crazy. Which makes me think, maybe we’re all here for different lessons. Maybe some of us need to learn about directing everything and manifesting the ideal life and some of us are here to let go, let go, let go. Maybe we go back and forth.

Day 6: Divine Guidance vs. The Voice of Love?

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On 2014-03-09

In Blog, Guidance & Inspiration

An ongoing personal exploration of Divine Guidance and distinguishing between the voice of fear and the voice of love reflecting on the article, How to Distinguish Between Divine Guidance and Fear/Ego/Imagination, on Sir Froggie’s PositiveNews Network .

Today’s pairing is:

Divine Guidance gives you positive feedback, yet lovingly helps you in specific areas if needed.
Ego lashes out criticism (and can do so either in-your-face or so subtle it’s hard to recognize, you just know you feel like you’ve been deflated).  Ego also makes generic and pointless criticisms you can do nothing about.

My husband is an amazing landscape artist. He’s encouraging me to paint, something I’ve always wanted to do. My ego is all over the process. It compares my work to the work of others. It judges the flaws and miscalculations. It tells me not only that I am not good enough now but that I never will be. The judge can be incredibly subtle, though. It can say, “That’s pretty good…for a beginner,” and while it pats with one hand, the way it says “beginner” is a dig. Yeah, yeah. Thank you very much. Move along. When it comes to creativity, I learned to ignore the judge long ago.

I also hear another voice. It compares my initial work to my advancing work and gives me a sense of accomplishment. It looks at the “mistakes” I’ve made and takes in the information for next time. It finds what it likes in what I’ve done and makes me feel good about the risks I’ve taken or the discovery I’ve made. It propels me forward. Now that’s the voice of love! But it is still a voice, if you know what I mean. I don’t think this is Divine guidance.

Because they share a common language, the ego can easily masquerade as the voice of love, not to say that the voice of love isn’t authentic. Maybe there is an assumption at the root of my confusion over what is and isn’t Divine guidance. If ego relies on us to consult the voices in our heads for Divine guidance in order for it to pretend to be our guidance, then maybe the key is finding a language that only Divine guidance speaks.

Divine guidance is what gives me the inspiration to paint in the first place. Divine guidance is what takes my hand and eyes, the paints and brushes, and creates something unique and colorful and surprising. Divine guidance is simple and transcends language. Knowing this, how can I confuse it ever again?

 

About the Author:

Beth Ciesco is your Selfcare Specialist, a certified yoga teacher and meditation facilitator. Check out the rest of the website to learn more about Restorative Healing Yoga, Mirror Meditation, E-Motion Alchemy, and Voicework as capital S Selfcare tools. You can also follow her on these sites:

❤ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/divinemetime/
❤ Insight Timer: https://insighttimer.com/tranquilliving
❤ Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@DivineMeTime

Day 4: The Voice of Love in a World of Fear

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On 2014-03-07

In Blog, Guidance & Inspiration

I am in a personal exploration of Divine Guidance and distinguishing between the voice of fear and the voice of love. My inspiration came from the article, How to Distinguish Between Divine Guidance and Fear/Ego/Imagination, on Sir Froggie’s PositiveNews Network. In it, the author shares 36 descriptors to help us realize the differences between the voices of love and fear. I am taking one pairing each day, meditating and working with it, and then sharing my discoveries here.

Today’s pairing is:

Divine Guidance helps you manifest your heart’s truest
desires and abundance in every realm.
Ego blocks you or tells you that you’ll never get what you want.
It works from a reference point of lack.

My thoughts around this pairing went immediately to two questions: what are my heart’s truest desires and what does my ego have to say about them?

But to start, I want to take a moment to consider the word “abundance” and what it means to me. Typically, people think of abundance in terms of money or material goods. I certainly did for most of my life. That…and food! And if you’re lucky enough to have monetary abundance, maybe that is all that matters; I don’t know. But coming from a different background, what I’ve come to know abundance as is in terms of grace, opportunity, creativity, and possibility.

We often hear, “We live in an abundant universe,” which is evident everywhere you look. Some would argue though that we also live in a world where distribution of that abundance has gotten extremely off balance!

Regardless, I am all too familiar with what the ego has to say. “You don’t have enough money to do that (and you never will)”, “You will never get what you want!”, “You might as well forget it!”, and “That’s not gonna happen in a million years.” It’s all very interesting, especially when I consider that the desire might arise out of ego in the first place. Perhaps it generates a desire for something that wouldn’t serve me anyway and then tells me I can’t have it, reinforcing its position. Maybe.

The voice of my divine guidance says, “Relax. Take it easy. If it comes, it comes. If it doesn’t, it doesn’t. Move toward without expectation. Move toward with a light attachment.”

But on to my first questions. What is it that my heart desires? To answer this question, there are many directions I can look. What it desires in terms of health, wealth, creativity, relationship, travel, etc? And are these things the desires of my heart or the desires of my soul or the desires of my ego? The ego masquerades as divine guidance a lot, I’m finding. It likes to pretend we have (or should have) control over everything.

But does the voice of my divine guidance say I can have anything I want? Absolutely not. And maybe this is where a lot of people make a mistake and end up beating themselves up when they find that “thing” hasn’t manifested.

I think our truest desires are very light and ethereal. They naturally guide us toward what we want, effortlessly and without control. They aren’t something we have to think about. If we simply live our lives in trust, divine guidance can’t help but lead the way.

About the Author:

Beth Ciesco is your Selfcare Specialist, a certified yoga teacher and meditation facilitator. Check out the rest of the website to learn more about Restorative Healing Yoga, Mirror Meditation, E-Motion Alchemy, and Voicework as capital S Selfcare tools. You can also follow her on these sites:

❤ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/divinemetime/
❤ Insight Timer: https://insighttimer.com/tranquilliving
❤ Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@DivineMeTime

Day 2: The Voice of Love in a World of Fear

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On 2014-03-05

In Blog, Guidance & Inspiration

Yesterday, I started a personal exploration of Divine Guidance and distinguishing between the voice of fear and the voice of love. My inspiration came from the article, How to Distinguish Between Divine Guidance and Fear/Ego/Imagination, on Sir Froggie’s PositiveNews Network. In it, the author shares 36 descriptors to help us realize the differences between the voices of love and fear. I am taking one pairing each day, meditating and working with it, and then sharing my discoveries here.

Today’s pairing is:

Divine Guidance will always lift you up, and leave you feeling empowered.
Ego/Fear/Imagination DIS-empowers you.

Lately, I’ve been feeling disempowered by bureaucracy. Bureaucracy reflects so well the voices of fear, ego, and perhaps lack of rather than  imagination itself. I’ve been up against so many walls as of late and told, “That’s just he way it is,” or “Sorry, there’s nothing we can do.” And if I’m not careful, I swallow and internalize those voices until they become my own telling me a situation is impossible and leading me down a road of “my only option” instead of “my best option.” Everything becomes fixed and inflexible.

What does it mean to me to be empowered? It means I am open to discovering new options and that I can make choices toward happiness rather than “this is the best we can do.” It means, in the blink of an eye, I can change my perspective and see the world differently. It means that I can remember I may be in this world and subject to its insanity at the moment, but that I am not ultimately of this world nor subject to react to it in a way that keeps me from being content. Besides, I have, at my disposal, The Great Unknown.

 

About the Author:

Beth Ciesco is your Selfcare Specialist, a certified yoga teacher and meditation facilitator. Check out the rest of the website to learn more about Restorative Healing Yoga, Mirror Meditation, E-Motion Alchemy, and Voicework as capital S Selfcare tools. You can also follow her on these sites:

❤ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/divinemetime/
❤ Insight Timer: https://insighttimer.com/tranquilliving
❤ Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@DivineMeTime

36 Days with the Voice of Love in a World of Fear

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On 2014-03-04

In Blog, Guidance & Inspiration

I am starting a new venture today. I discovered a phenomenal piece of writing on the internet yesterday, and it’s got me so fired up that I’ve decided to work with it for the next 36 days and share my discoveries. It deals directly with our “voices” and helps us to understand the difference between the voice of love and the voice of fear.

Despite having made voices of all kinds my work for the past 13+ years, I’ll admit that when my life started to change recently in unexpected ways…unbelievably positive ways…I lost touch with myself and what I know to be true. With the influx of love and dreams coming true came the surfacing of a great deal of work left undone…self doubts, delusions, bad habits. It all became so painful to me that I began to worry for my health and sanity.

The little article I found yesterday, so unassuming and straightforward, helped pull me out of the dark and refreshed my tainted perspective. You can find the original article, How to Distinguish Between Divine Guidance and Fear/Ego/Imagination, here on a sweet little website called Sir Froggie’s PositiveNews Network (yes, that’s really the name). In it, the author shares 36 descriptors to help us realize the differences between the voices of love and fear. (I did make three attempts by three separate means to contact the site owners to request permission to use the article. I’m not sure the website is still being maintained. Unfortunately, no author was credited either. I hope I’ve done my due diligence as my intent is not to step on or abuse anyone’s rights.)

The first pairing is:

Divine Guidance will always come from a place of Love.
Ego/Fear/Imagination breeds fear and confusion.

I decided to sit in meditation with this. I wrote down a question that had been concerning me and for which I wanted guidance. I held the question in my mind and asked to see how fear would respond. What came up for me was everything I’d been hearing inside my head the past few months of my chaotic life (I’m in a huge transition) that was aligned with fear. I was surprised to realize that this comprised about 90% of my recent thoughts. I’ve been steeped in fear and totally blind! Ego* had totally taken a hold, and it was indeed breeding fear and confusion. I was in a death spiral of self-sabotage. A change of focus was in order to correct my altitude.

I then held the same question and asked to see how love would respond. The impact wasn’t instantaneous. At first, what I heard and could see quite clearly was just how insidious the ego can be. It was disguising itself as the voice of love. But underneath the syrupy phrases, there was this energy of a lie. Along with the comforting words came a twist in my gut. I felt graced and astounded to be able to see it so clearly.

Eventually, what broke through was a quiet, authentic voice of love. I was feeling reassured and lovingly redirected, not by anything necessarily tangible, but by a feeling alone. I stayed with it and decided to trust it, even though it wasn’t exactly answering my question. Rather, it felt like a sweep of energy, a clearing out perhaps.

What happened later in the day was a confirmation that I was once again flying straight. A friend brought me my answer, unbidden. She just came out and said that she had an intuitive feeling about my situation and shared it with me. My jaw dropped, and I actually fell over in relief!

By the end of the day, I was feeling so amazing. Pockets of negative energy that had been suffocating me for weeks…maybe even months…started to burst. I was finding my center again. I was reorienting myself with Divine guidance.

I plan to continue sharing one “distinguisher pairing” from the original article each day along with my experiences in working with it over the next 35 days.

*I use the word “ego” here with hesitation, as I do not wish to villify it. Still, it is helpful to have a term of reference. The ego serves a Divine purpose just like everything else in this world. In my case, its purpose was to help me see all the ways I hold myself back from Love. In truth, it is my teacher and ally. Had it not expressed itself so forcefully, I would not have seen any of this and would be in no better position to serve my clients facing similar challenges. I believe our goal should not be to kill the ego, but to dance with it more gracefully and redeem it to the extent possible.

 

About the Author:

Beth Ciesco is your Selfcare Specialist, a certified yoga teacher and meditation facilitator. Check out the rest of the website to learn more about Restorative Healing Yoga, Mirror Meditation, E-Motion Alchemy, and Voicework as capital S Selfcare tools. You can also follow her on these sites:

❤ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/divinemetime/
❤ Insight Timer: https://insighttimer.com/tranquilliving
❤ Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@DivineMeTime

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