Is your spirit happy?

Honoring Your Spirit

by Diane Goble

Being on a Spiritual Path is not an easy thing. Many are called, but few stick with it. For, while joyful, it is also a painful experience, until one finally and consistently lets go and lets God. Much of the pain results from staying stuck in old belief systems such as, we are bodies with souls. The higher truth is that we are souls with bodies - I Am That I AM. Until we honor the Spirit that we are, we will continue to experience emotional pain and emptiness.

Life is a journey of self discovery. It is through experiencing emotional pain that we eventually discover our true spiritual heritage-- pain is the message to us that our Spirit is in distress. Do you listen when your Spirit is speaking to you? Are you even aware that your Spirit speaks to you?

Listening to Spirit

It is your Spirit whispering to you when something is going on that doesn't feel quite right to you. Your feelings are messages from your Spirit, prompting you to speak up for yourself or others. Emotional pain or hurt feelings are messages from your Spirit that you're not taking care of it. You're settling for something less than you deserve in life because you don't feel lovable and your Spirit suffers from lack of love.

Your "job" is to take care of and nurture your Spirit, but how can you do that if you've been brought up to believe that you're not worthwhile or that you're bad or you'll never amount to anything? You tend to accept whatever abuse is heaped upon you or put up with the status quo because that's what you're used to. If you don't make self-respect your highest priority in life right now, you'll end up selling out for success, love, money or power to fill that emptiness inside.

When you stay in an abusive relationship, or a job where you and others are not treated with dignity and respect without standing up for yourself or others, you are not honoring your Spirit. When you begin to speak up on its behalf, take a stand for what you know is right, refuse to allow indignities to continue, you will begin to live ethically and take back control of your life.

Listen to the messages of your Spirit. The whisper is the first twinge you feel when something isn't right... the ethnic joke, the sexual innuendo, the racial slur, the misdirected anger, the patronizing remark, the little lie or indiscretion, the first slap in the face. If you let them pass without expressing the discomfort you feel, the abuse will escalate and you will feel more pain, humiliation, rejection. Your Spirit cries out louder. And yet you do not listen. You let it go on, thinking you can make it better if you can just be a better person, work harder, do a better job. After all, you were raised to be a pleaser and are used to selling out for approval. You will deny that there is a problem, that you are in pain, that you deserve better.

Will you hit bottom before you listen to your Spirit? Will you have a nervous breakdown? Develop an illness? Drive your car into a brick wall? Overdose on drugs or alcohol in an attempt to stop the pain? Your Spirit is screaming at you to drop your denial and wake up! Do what is right for your Spirit... do it with respect and caring, be compassionate and fair. Honor the Spirit of the other as well, but stand up for your rights as a human being.

Warning Signs

The sooner one "gets" this, the sooner one can get on with their life and spiritual path. Learn this lesson and move on to the next. What are the signs that you have sold out and are not honoring your Spirit?

1. Feelings of resentment about the way you are being treated.
2. Complaints about meaningless things and the inability to see the real problem (denial).
3. No enthusiasm for the things you used to enjoy.
4. Feeling sad and alone even though you have a family and friends around you.

If you relate to these signs, your Spirit isn't happy with something that's going on in your life. If you are totally in the dark as to the cause of your inability to feel lovable, I suggest some inner child work. You need to be able to accept yourself as lovable and worthwhile. But, sooner or later, you're going to have to get out of your denial, forgive and let go of the past, and do the right thing for your Spirit.

Just Do It!

Ask yourself, "What will it take for me to respect myself, to be proud of myself today?" Ask your Spirit to guide you. In your heart, even now, you know what the right thing is to do. Confront the person, blow the whistle, tell everyone the emperor has no clothes, do whatever you have to do to make it right. Just do it! Peace be with you.