Listen to Yourself

"You can experience true freedom when you learn to listen to that still, small voice inside you and not what anyone else may say, regardless of popularity of circumstance."

On this path, you will encounter both external and internal resistance as I have written about previously.  Conquering the internal resistance helps you when you encounter resistance outside yourself.  For example, recognizing when the ego crops up internally and learning how to observe it, rather than act on it helps your outer life.  When we encounter other's personal egos or even collective egos, we can learn how to observe that too.  Both practices have a synergistic effect on one another, such that you learn how to become an observer in all things.

This is easier said than done unfortunately.  This is because we have all been socialized into an idea of external reality.  This is, of course, the domain of the ego.  The ego thinks that it only exists through the eyes and opinions of other people.  The worth system is reversed.  Rather than obtaining your worth through the sole fact that you are an eternal, supernatural Being, your worth is measured by what others think of you.

A common practice when others are giving you advice is to employ the idea of a "them" or "they."  They may harmlessly refer to a respected group that could either disapprove of you or even affect you in some way.  This is a way for them to reinforce their point, so you may be dealing with a bunch of egos, personal and collective, as a way to sway you.  When we get criticism from others, even constructive, it is like getting a banana peel thrown at you.  What do you do?  You duck, but, before you duck, open the peel and see if there  is a banana in there.  If there is, eat the banana and throw the peel away.  In other words, examine their opinion with your internal Voice and take anything away that is of substance.

We all have people in our lives that will offer unsolicited opinions.  A lot of this opinion does not come from a centered place.  You can quickly see that adopting this opinion as reality, even though it may be popular will bring you into an uncentered place as well.  We, of course, have a few people in our lives that are our spiritual mentors.  They may offer advice that resonates deep within you and not with your ego.

On an energetic level, any time you take on someone else's opinion as your own, you literally are plugging a cable from your energy center to them and energy is being drained from you.  Call back your spirit from that individual or even collective ego that you are plugged into.  Mentally imagine pulling the plug on that cable so that you are free.  You can experience true freedom when you learn to listen to that still, small voice inside you and not what anyone else may say, regardless of popularity of circumstance.

For me, personally, as I unplug from other's opinions, reality begins to shift as these "distortion fields" are removed.  Much of our anxiety comes from attempting to live up to this distorted reality, which, many times, is comprised of future projections.  This is a process that needs to be done continually so that we are not giving our power away to others.  How good it is to experience true freedom that comes with living an authentic life.