Copied from Discover Diamonds in the Mud: Clarity, Creativity, or Genius
Here's a little secret. You can't force clarity, creativity, or genius.
Yes, it's maddening when you don't know what you want--and no one else knows--because it's your life.
Years ago, I felt very confused about a relationship issue. I journaled about it, cried about it, meditated about it, and clamored for certainty. And all I ever got when I asked my inner guidance was "you'll know when you know." Now that's the kind of guidance that makes you want to shriek and join a cult or something where someone just tells you what beverage to drink, what thoughts to think, and what to wear, and things are nice and clear cut. But I already had a Jewish mother, so I resisted that urge. Instead, I hunkered down in the mud, cried, made myself comfortable, and mucked around until I claimed my diamonds.
Okay that's the short version. In truth, I resisted, complained, obsessed and eventually decided I was going to have to live with confusion. And of course, when I accepted confusion, it evaporated wisp by wisp. Self-love cleared the fog.
So I thought I might offer you some tips on how to invite clarity when you're feeling stuck and confused.
1. Definition without Experimentation is Limitation
Sometimes you want an answer so bad that you'll squeeze into an ill fitting box or label just to end the search. But of course that's not certainty, that's insanity, and just delays the pain. Dare to ask until you have a true answer. Experience will answer you if you give experience a chance. Become a researcher collecting data. Let go of your concepts of your self and become aware of this beautiful, new emerging identity. See what this self prefers.
I've worked with a good deal of writers who need to try on different styles before they commit to a direction. They often feel frustration because they want to get started. Experimentation is how you get started. We want to finish before we even know what we want to create.
2. Take Out the Garbage and the Garbage will Clear
Do the task at hand and the vistas will emerge. Nurture the seedling and the tree will grow. Sometimes the Universe has given you an answer. It's right in front of you. Work with the client you have. Clean out your garage and create that studio. Water the marigold seeds in the pot on the porch. Love the people who come through your front door. Take care of what's in your midst so that you're free to take the next step and move on. Don't wait for the next thing to come before you tend to the work that you've already been given.
3. Become Attentive, not Obsessive
I've never met anyone who finds an answer by staring at the question, intently having to know. Desperation clouds your investigation. Keep tickling yourself with questions, gradually unbridling the knots in your heart and mind. Learn about yourself with fascination. You don't need to become a stalker. Your truth knows how to speak to you. By all means, do focus on your situation. But don't make it the focus of your life. Stay conscious, not rigid. The more you relax, the more you connect to yourself and that's when the heavens shower us with diamonds.
4. Invite Every Answer to the Party
It's hard to let insights in, if we've dead bolted the doors. Sometimes we are begging for clarity, just as long as it's a nice, tidy, respectable answer and preferably one that doesn't really require us to change much at all.
Secretly, I'm looking for guidance that tells me that nothing has to change and I will get everything I want. I really don't want to hear anything else. I certainly don't want to hear how I might have to grow or do something different or open my mind to a new possibility. Really, I'm not looking for guidance. I'm looking to give guidance, as in give my script to the Universe. Meanwhile, my beloved Self is waiting for me to open my mind and heart so that it can flood me with kindness, direction, and magic beyond compare. It's a loving standoff.
In my book This Time I Dance! I said, "The heart speaks with closure to the open mind." When we're ready for any answer, we'll receive the one jewel we know is ours.
5. When Answers come Knocking at the Door, There has to be Someone Home
Sometimes I don't know an answer because I can't feel. I'm numb, tired, exhausted, whacked out, hyper, fearful and haven't exactly been in my body in at least a decade, or so it seems. In other words, nobody's home. If I'm not really there, then even if I'm surrounded by guidance, I won't know it.
Feel your feelings. Slow down, check in, cry, be uncomfortable, resist the temptation to avoid the hollowness. An opulence awaits you beneath the veil of hollowness. You are not empty. You may simply be tired and out of touch with your nerve endings. Slow down. Take a hot bath. Journal. Walk. Just be with your precious self--even in the heavy-hearted haze.
Sometimes truth hurts. If you're avoiding pain, then you're avoiding realization. The cost of escapism is no escape. Pretty Zen, huh?
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I want you to know that you will know what is right for you. Be gentle. Stay conscious. You can't help but grow. Giving birth and healing is a subtle business. I'll leave you with my love and this thought from His Holiness the Dalai Lama. "Nothing can get done abruptly. The real changes are slow and invisible."
Copyright 2007 Tama J. Kieves, All rights reserved.
About the Author:
Tama J. Kieves is the best-selling author of THIS TIME I DANCE! Creating the Work You Love/How One Harvard Lawyer Left It All to Have It All! She is also a sought-after speaker and career coach who has helped thousands world-wide to discover and live their creative dreams. Learn more about Tama's workshops and coaching or sign up to receive FREE monthly inspiration and tools for your creative life journey at http://www.AwakeningArtistry.com.
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