.
Walking a New Path with Personal Power
No More Walking Your Path with Other's Perceptions
No More Walking Your Path with Other's Perceptions
So after a lovely conversation on the discord, I felt that this was a beautiful post that should be shared with some of those points that were made.
Starting off on a new path is the hardest. It's scary, it's unknown and even thrilling. There's many things that are pointed out from those who have walked the path too once. It is hard though. You don't know where to begin. You don't know where you are to go or how to even get there. But most of all, you don't know what works for you.
That's the starting point right there.
Learning What Works For You
This is so important yet can be the most easily forgotten in the wake of wanting to just drive forward and do it too. There's stories and experiences that you read from so many others. Now you want that too!
Take a deep breath. This will come in time. Rushing is not good.
What you need to focus on right now, is YOU.
You are the most important person in this whole equation because at the end of the day, this is not their path... it's yours and only yours.
Walking this Path (any and not just LHP), is all about personal growth and experience. It's about where you go with your life, your beliefs, and your desires. But this all depends upon you. You decide where it goes and how much it means to you.
Everyone has different experiences and therefore different perceptions of the same thing.
For those in the back:
Everyone has different experiences and therefore different perceptions of the same thing.
THIS is where YOU will begin to step away and learn what works for you. You are not going to have the same hearing, sight, smells, touch, meditations, visuals, communications, manifestations... as ANYONE else. Because everyone perceives it in a different way, which is why they are stronger for some and not as much for others.
The important thing to understand is that YOU are the boss and student of your own life experiences. You KNOW when things are in your head and when they are not. But trusting yourself is hard and trusting the DISCERNMENT is even harder. So we turn to others to validate our experiences.
Doubt: Be Aware and Be Thoughtful
Onto the second part. Doubt. Doubt Doubt Doubt. Gods that word will make anyone cringe and whimper. It's to be expected. Even experienced path walkers understand and know this very thing. If they are bravado and say "I've never doubted it for one moment", I'd call bullshit and tell you to run far away.
Discernment and doubt is KEY to a HEALTHY meta-working human.
But we are all just that: HUMAN AND FLAWED.
Doubt is normal. It is okay to have doubt, especially in the beginning when it is all new and you don't know the difference in manifestations and imagination. We've all been there and we all know this struggle. Some of us forget this. I'm guilty of forgetting too.
The issue is when it comes to having so much doubt that A) we hamper our own experiences because we talk them down, and/or B) we go to others who are around us to ask their opinions and therefore bringing outside perspective, and/or C) base our own experience off of what others have posted before and brush them off because they aren't the same or good enough.
Let me break these issues down:
A:
So everyone's brain is different, whether you are neurotypical or a spoonie or someone who struggles with mental/physical disabilities. The point is that doubt creeps in so fast because we've been taught what is considered proper discernment or "REAL" in regards to the supernatural or path walking. So Doubt can come from preconceived ideas, beliefs, or notions that have been conditioned based upon the society we've come from. To sound less like an academic paper: our culture teaches us what is "right" and what is "wrong" when it comes to the supernatural or spiritual.
This can be harmful to ourselves because we see or experience something and because it's outside fo the "norm".. we then dissect it too much without sitting and thinking "What if it is real and they are wrong?" But let's get rid of the words: "Right" and "Wrong". Because in my opinion.. it should be "Truth" and "Knowledge".
Where you have one, you have the other. Because in the end, they build upon one another. "Truth" is what it sounds like, capital T and all. Truth is what you know deep inside of you to be your truth, your understanding, your instincts. Having and accepting something as "Truth" leads to "Knowledge", where you know that your "Truth" means this and beings a foundation of many "Truths" to become this "Knowledge".
To give an example:
You are new to the path. You aren't quite sure how to go about communicating with your companion, but you heard that doing some easy discernment tests can help. You decide that the method you want to try is holding both hands out, palms up.. and asking them to touch one hand for no and the other for yes. You sit there and you ask a question that you know the answer to (such as yes for demon and no for other race).. you wait and you think you feel something in the yes palm. But wait, maybe you are sitting wrong, so you adjust. You ask again. The same sensation, it's a gentle tingle. Hmm, maybe you are under the vent and air is blowing over. You move so your back is towards the vent and your hands are lower so there isn't any airflow. You ask again. The tingle is back, but you don't see anything around you that could cause it. You move to a whole new room and make sure that nothing could interfere. You ask one more time. Same response.
Now, you sit and think, I've tried many things to make sure that it's not a fluke or explainable. You know that you are experiencing something. You aren't sure, so decide to try again another day. You do and get the same results. Now you know it's something manifesting. You've done it multiple times and tried it different places or ways, same results. This now has become your "Truth". You know that this is a manifestation if it happens the same way with the same results to the same question.
Now, it's a new time and a new question. You decide to ask the "Truth" you gained before, because of it's the control. You know the results and the answer. It rings true. You try the new question and you get the same results, but the answer is different from the first. Say yes was the answer instead of no. But the tingles are the same. You have now tested it multiple times like before. Your "Truth" has become "Knowledge" in that you know this is a viable way to discern what is an answer or "Truth" because it's been tested in different ways multiple times. So this now becomes your base way of testing.
This is a healthy dose of DOUBT and BELIEF. This is DISCERNMENT at it's basic. You are now breaking down the ways that you can hamper yourself by doubting too much.
B:
The second is the hardest part and the one that really gets people fired at times.
Those who walk before you are experienced, they know what they are doing because they've been there. But you must remember that even they cannot speak your "Truth" or "Knowledge" because that is something personally gained by you. A lot of beginners and people go to outside sources, usually friends that they make, to ask them if this experience they just had was real.
Stop. Right. There.
You do not rely on others for validation for your experiences.
For the back:
You do not rely on others for validation for your experiences.
This is something that can get out of hand REALLY quick. To get validation is wonderful and feels great! I know, we all do it and desire it. But the issue with this is that you can begin to rely on something to the point that it becomes TOXIC. Relying on others can actually hamper you because then you won't need to develop and grow on your own abilities. You will rely on their abilities and their perception in order to further yourself. But that's the issue: It's their abilities, not yours. You must rely on yours to really understand your "Truth". Otherwise, it would be their "Truth".
Now, of course, you can ask for guidance or clarification! Like asking a friend for a tarot reading about your experience if it confuses you. This is cool because you have discerned that it is an experience, but there are things that confuse you and need some clarification because they don't fit in a way you can see. This is cool! go for it. Shoot, pick up a tarot or oracle deck and do some more discernment on your end! Then have your friend do the reading and see if they come up with the same results without giving them details about it. Now that is some validation without compromising your own abilities or healthy development. You learn to lean on your own methods of discernment and abilities to make sure you are picking up the right things.
Now, for the final thing. This one actually is going to be its own section.
Comparison is TOXIC to YOU
This is a touchy subject. So please know that this is not aimed at anyone, but an observation that I have made because it's pervasive.
Comparing YOUR Experiences against Other's Experiences is TOXIC. Your TRUTH and Their TRUTHs are BOTH VALID.
For those in the Back, I will repeat this:
Comparing YOUR Experiences against Other's Experiences is TOXIC. Your TRUTH and Their TRUTHs are BOTH VALID.
I feel super strongly about this because I see it happening all the time and no one thinks about it or if they do, doesn't say anything. So I'm saying it now.
For the love of all that is sacred.
STOP. COMPARING.
Did you know that by comparing your experiences with someone else's that you are practicing self-deprecation? You are thinking, "Oh wow! Their experiences are so cool. I wish that I could have that too. Why can't mine be like that?"
They can be and they are. You just don't feel that they are. Your experiences and your manifestations are what YOU NEED. They are perfect for you because that is how you perceive it and how you are growing. Your experiences will change and grow with you.
I hear all the time about people talking down their experiences and their manifestations or callings because of me. I hate myself for it and makes me want to not post. But then I think of why I post in the first place. Because I want to show people what I'm learning and sharing in that wisdom or that experience because maybe they need to hear a part of it to help them... but it turns around and bites me because now people are saying that their experience was crappy compared to mine or somehow less.
NO. ABSOLUTELY. NOT. LESS.
Your experiences are just as valid as what I go through.
YOUR EXPERIENCES ARE JUST AS VALID AND GOOD AS MINE.
YOUR CALLINGS ARE JUST AS VALID AND GOOD AS MINE.
YOUR MANIFESTATIONS ARE JUST AS VALID AND GOOD AS MINE.
Stop comparing yourself to me. Stop comparing yourself to others. Stop saying "I wish I had a Calling like yours". Stop saying "Oh, I won't accept any Callings unless it's a Ysa Level Calling".
ABSOLUTELY. NOT.
This is self-deprecation even if you don't think it is. Why? Because you are saying that because your experiences or callings or manifestations don't "RoCK Your WOrld", that they are lesser than others. That somehow others are greater than yours. They aren't. They suck just as much as anyone elses can be. You are now hampering yourself by setting standards that shouldn't even be yours in the first place because you aren't them.
It is all about your PERCEPTION and training yourself to stop thinking about how it could be like others. Instead, think of how YOURS IS UNIQUE and SPECIAL FOR YOU.
This is about your personal power in your spiritual path. No one can define it but YOU.
My super thanks for reading this massive beast of a Ted Talk. But a super important one and I hope that you all would like to contribute too!