A long, long time ago, in a 365 Day Blogging Project far, far away, I wrote a post called “Becoming a Clarity Sleuth.” In that post, I was talking about those moments when you feel a special sense of connection or rightness about something, when “your entire being (mind, body, and soul) are in agreement.” It might be a movie you see, someone you are hanging out with, a job you are offered, or a new house you want to buy. It’s like that saying, “If the shoe fits, wear it.”
Sometimes you feel like something is a great fit. Indeed, that is clarity. It is an important sensation to listen to. But I think clarity can also work in the opposite direction. Sometimes you know, deep in your gut, that something is NOT a great fit. Know what I mean?
The questions is, when you have that instinct, do you listen to it?
For a long time, I didn’t 🙁
One reason I have been so interested in clarity is that I spent so long ignoring my own clarity! I spent a long time being confused, turned off, mixed up, frustrated because I wasn’t listening to my own instincts. In fact, it could be argued that I became a Master of doing things that did not feel good.
Yikes!
I was well-meaning, hard-working, caring… and entirely confused about what it meant to choose what made me feel good. On at least three occasions I made big, life-changing decisions that I justified with nice-sounding but totally bogus rationalizations. Meanwhile, being in these situations made me totally miserable from the first second in them until the moment I left!
After eventually getting out of each situation, I did my best to pick up the pieces and learn from them. But repeatedly, I learned a powerful lesson of what happens when you don’t listen to your instincts!
As I wrote in another post from this blog,
I have come to a place of clarity in my own life where I am will no longer accept substitutes for my own inner guidance. I believe that, deep down, I know what is best for me. If I check in with myself, I can filter through the options that come my way, and learn to pick and choose which of it actually fits for me. No longer am I willing to trust someone else over my own inner guidance. In fact, I would rather risk finding out later that I was wrong, but acted on my own instinct in a way that was true for me, than ignore my own instincts. I have tried the latter too many times, and it never works.
Day 199: Accept No Substitutes
To me, this is clarity! This is accepting nothing less than finding out for myself what I really think and feel about things. I know my own truth, and I wish to experience it. Nothing is more important than being in alignment with this!
So yes, Clarity Sleuth I continue to be…
And I still accept no substitutes!