A Little Grit or a Little Grace

I saw it this way...by Janice Brown

Navigating the Shit and the Shine!

When you’re backed up against a wall with a seemingly impossible challenge, the only way to move forward is with a little grit or a little grace. As your awareness becomes more profound, you're going to find that the same old approach can't meet you where you are. You will be challenged to respond in higher ways. This doesn't mean righteous or elitist, it means authentic and true to your own most authentic nature. It begs the questions:

Where do you go when you can never do

what you’ve always done before?

It’s a tough question, and it needs some broad perspective. If you narrow your mind down into a pinhole, you’re going to want to dig in your heels so hard that your knees snap forward, and that is not a good day. 

Where we have the greatest opportunity for expansive experience is to know who we are at the deepest level. Knowing who you are means you can choose where you want to be going next with a great deal of certainty, and when you do, you’ll have no regrets. 

I’ll give you an example, I’ve been looking for a little something these days called a job. It's been interesting, until I started this process, I didn’t really know what I wanted to do next. By simply defining the experience and opportunity that I don’t want to be in, I’ve been able to set a new course with a very bright track. 

I can tell you that as little as six weeks ago, I would never have considered this path for myself, and as little as five days ago, I knew with absolute certainty, that my next step is the only step for me. Period. 

That’s what radical alignment with self is—an opportunity to see directionality with little or no other choice in front of you. It's going to be a precise finetuning, it's not going to be every choice on the horizon, as we so often think. It's going to be one choice, the one that was meant for you.

And truly, that’s not a bad thing, but it is a compulsion that you need to be on the lookout for. Why? Simply because, people are going to push you in a direction you’ve always gone, and they’re not necessarily going to like it when you say, 'I don’t do that anymore, or walk that way, or think that small'.

And this can be about a job, a relationship with yourself or others, or even a whole life, whatever you imagine it to be.

First and foremost, it’s not thinking small when you narrow your goal to a singular spot of light on the horizon; that is a gangster move. 

It’s got to be done with a certain level of zeal and quietude, and you can’t always bank on traditional methods to get there. 

And this can be a bit tricky: I’m going to say that the ones that love you best are going to be cheering you on hard from the sidelines, but sometimes, they just may be the ones that are sitting in their firm ‘no’ camp about the situation. And then what are you going to do? Kick and scream? Pull your hair out? Bend and fold like a lawn chair? 

Not anymore, my friend. Not any more. 

You’re going to stand up with your head held high and walk forward. Walk forward towards the light of your Heart’s next calling.

And that’s a clue: Your Heart’s calling is always going to be flooded with a light that only you can see. Know why? Because it’s meant for You not Me. And that is a tremendous point of clarity.

And I’m going to go out on a limb here and say, I can bet with a great deal of certainty that when you see that light, you’re going to be going to a distant shore. And distant shores hold a lot of surprises; you might even find there’s a few zigzags along the way. 

Then what? Where do you go when you get to where you’re going? What do you do next? How the heck do I know? I’ve never been there! And just because you haven’t doesn’t mean that you won’t know exactly what to do when you get there. That’s the point of having an inner guidance system.* That’s the point of navigating by feel and not demand. That’s the point of walking into a reckoning and walking out dusting off your fingertips like you just nailed the landing.

You’ve got to know that whatever lies before you will either have the resources for you or that you can get them. And let me tell you, it doesn’t mean you’ve got a bankroll in your pocket the size of a giant stack of silver dollars; it means that each new unfolding is going to bring you a delightful surprise. 

You’ve got a whole life force within you that hasn’t even been explored in the slightest of ways. So just stop looking over your shoulder for the other guy to take what is yours away, because you’re going to find that there’s no one else seeking your shoreline.

Your shoreline is distinctly for you.

And that’s why we’ve got to pull together on this journey and be on the lookout for golden opportunities because there’s one waiting there for each of us, and we are the only ones that can fulfill the role that is meant for us. 

It’s going to seem like they baked you a cake in the shape of your face because when you get there, everyone will say, 'Ahhhh, it’s you. We wondered when you were coming?’

It’s going to feel like coming home because home is where your heart is.

It might be on the ocean floor or it might be on a mountain high,

but there’s no way to get there without standing by

(pause)

...and looking at your life with such laser focus that people quite frankly might think they see steam coming out of your ears.

Know this: That’s not a shudder and die moment.

And it's ok

if all the panels suddenly pop off

and fall off your car

and your sidewalls go flat,

it just might mean

that there’s no turning back. 

But then, then again, it just might mean that you’ve been ordered to fly. 

And fly you will,

...right off the land

When you want to step forward. And if you don’t know where to land,

that’s got to be faith,

...that’s got to be will,

and maybe

just may be

it calls to you still. 

I saw it this way.

~ A Girl

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Feeling Words: Grit, Grace, Inner Guidance System, Self (capital S), Me

These are helpful awarenesses when we are walking a metaphysically aware path

Grit: The opportunity to know the Self through a radical adjustment in purpose and awareness. The launch point of being who you are. The stamina to bear the weight of transformation. Using the rough edges to purchase your resilience. The complete and total surrender to the willingness to Be.

Grace: The expression or experience of divine fulfilment in the every day moment. The presence of humility born from a battle hard won. The desertion of fear. The trust in your own Divine Nature and Knowing.

Inner Guidance System*: A mechanism for understanding your own personal relationship with your Self. The way you distinctly feel and become aware of your Soul's communication method with you. All feeling and emotion has a relationship with the soul, broadening this understanding widens your toolkit exponentially and if you aren't aware of your own inner guidance system, it helps to know how to navigate the Emotional Zones*.

Self (capital S): Higher self is something that has been a part of our language and lore for as long as stories have been told and once you dial in this relationship, you're going to find that you have a great deal more space and resilience in your life than you have ever been aware of before.

Names for Higher Self also include words like Self, True Self, Higher Nature, High Wisdom, Calling part of the Self, Authentic Nature, Divine Nature, Spirit, Holy Spirit, Dharma Nature, Atman, Buddha Nature, Completeness, Best Friend and more.

Me: Me, capital M, the wholeness of the Individual self, including the Self.

*Wondering about your personal inner guidance system or the emotion zones? You'll find more detailed information in Book I: The SolePath Book of Knowledge, The Essential SolePath Academic Reference.

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A little bit about Me.

My name is Janice Brown, and I am both a doctor of Chinese Medicine and a Reverend who writes and talks about life from a metaphysical perspective. My understandings of the Tao and Emotional Relevance come from these two veins of understanding. To me, the work I do is Spiritual Care.

I’ve been working with the Tao as long as I’ve lived; and so have you. Here’s what that means to me: I’m a problem solver and I use the Tao as a framework for my discussion. In my writing, I share with you how I use it, and you can decide if that’s helpful for you or not.

I write from the Heart in the moment, specifically from my point of view. You may not have seen it this way, but that's the whole point—to turn it around and look at it another way. ~ Janice.