We have gotten so that we only respond to a problem when it becomes pressing.  How do we know it's pressing?  Usually by the “check engine light” or the high cholesterol count, or the overdraft notices.

But what about when the problem is spiritual?  Even though our minds, our hearts, and bodies have been communicating with us all along. I would say our spirit has too, but that voice has been so faint or nonexistent in so many of us, and the loud hum of our life has been deafening, that I’m not sure we have ever heard the voice to know what it is, or if we heard it we’ve ignored it because we couldn't recognize the sound….of our spirit calling us.

How do you recognize it? 

There’s an ache. Kind of like a vague stomach ache that doesn't go away and is telling you something isn’t quite right.

Then it turns into a yearning – a deeper ache that moves to your heart....like you are yearning for something….you might not know what it is. So, you reach for the chocolate, a glass of wine, or you buy some more clothes or the newest ipod techno thingee.

But it doesn’t stop. It gets louder and louder.

It shows up as mental confusion. You blame it on having kids.

You forget birthdays. Other birthdays you remember, but you don’t have the energy to buy that card with the meaningful message and all the pretty wrappings anymore.

You lose your passion and then worry some more that you’ll never get it back.

You might get depressed.

All of the sudden you realize that all the women in the neighborhood are all depressed  and you're the last to join the crowd!  So, you join in the discussion on the latest anti-anxiety pills and anti-depression medication.

Even the happy events are shadowed by a dull irritation.

You turn your light out and go through the motions.

You get to the point where you can’t stand to have another idle conversation about nothing important… the football scores, or maybe that becomes the most important thing in your life because you are afraid to look past this week’s game because you might have to face the world and the chaos that’s taking place around you.

You start whining to your friends – all your friends, every conversation, whine, complain, nothing is right.

You start to not want to hang around those friends (and they don’t want to hang around you).  You don't even want to hang out with yourself!

You start dropping out of social conversations.

You see a therapist.

You think about selling your house and moving to a beach town. You think about buying that convertible. You consider an affair - you just want to feel alive!

You start hanging around Barnes & Noble in the self-help section. They know your name now.

You start going to lunch alone with your latest book searching for the magic paragraph, the 10 steps, the success strategy that will help you feel joy in your life again.

You start searching online for the answer….pills, vitamins, energy remedies, msn, more books, ebooks…

You might start wondering about going to church.  But the fear of your childhood memories of being shamed and the words “hell and damnation” come to mind...and the thought of adding more guilt to your life makes you stay home.

Maybe if you were out of the corporate environment where people are measured only by value of how much money you made or saved today matters.

Maybe you’ll start your own business.

You find this little voice in you that peeps and says....there's got to be a better way.

And you find the voice of hope inside you. 

.....Thanks for letting me share part of my journey.

(You didn’t think I was talking about you, did you?)

:)

Don't make the journey alone.  Find a trust advisor, coach, friend, healer, consultant who can help you find your "better way."

With love and compassion,

Laura

Comments

[Danusia Malina-Derben]

Laura - what a great post. Where are you at with your spiritual crisis today~ big smiles......

Danusia
xx

[Jon Willis]

Great post Laura - behind all the goals, commitments and everything else in coaching, it is the deep conversation that I find most inspiring.

We seem to spend so much time searching for spiritual experiences, when they are available to us all the time - just not necessarily the way we want them to be...

With love, Jon

[Suzanne Holman]

Laura, you expressed that so well. I felt as though I were following with you through all those experiences!
Thank you for being so real.

[Mary Hambleton]

Wow Laura you hit it right on! Life is truly a journey. A journey is an adventure not an obligation. We need to stop treating life as a race to the finish and learn to enjoy the adventure that is life. You'd invite friends to join you on an adventure. You'd find a guild on an adventure. Well hire a coach and invite some friends along and have some fun doing your adventure, your life. I love your gift - insightful wisdom. Colorfully yours -Mary

[Linda Kolker]

Laura, your writing is an inspiration. You're so on-target with this--thanks for putting yourself out there. I see myself through you!

Linda