Lost Your Center? These 4 Tips Will Help!

You might remember that I published a book last year. If you don’t, I wouldn’t be surprised.

The Angel Inside:  Inspiration to Connect with Your Inner Guidance came out in June 2016.  I had a book launch, sold some copies to friends and family, then went on vacation.  We came home, the kids started school, and our lives got busy with activities.  I continued to work, see healing clients, and teach classes and programs.  The book excitement died down and life went back to normal. The Angel Inside took a backseat to every day life.
Isn’t that how a lot of things in life work out?  We get busy and we toss aside our Angel – our projects, our dreams, our goals, and perhaps even our actual intuitive guidance.  We don’t mean to do it.  We just get caught up in work, play, families, and commitments and we forget to come back to center, to go inside for the deepest, truest answers to all we need.  Even I do it from time to time.

It’s this roller coaster of a spiritual practice that many of us need to balance out.  We think all these other activities are more important, largely because the world tells us they are.  Our wallets and our watches tell us they’re important.  But what good does money or time do for us when we aren’t in that connected place?  In my experience, we get a lot of “stuff” done with no big picture results.

You see, we are here for a purpose, even if we don’t know yet what that is exactly.  I don’t mean we have a prescriptive “fate” over which we have control.  I do mean that we’re NOT here to spin our wheels on mindless activities that have no larger meaning.  Our very existence has purpose.  And that purpose is enhanced by connecting with the bigger picture – our spiritual nature.

Of course, this happens in different ways for each of us.  Some find purpose and meaning through work.  Some from a hobby or extracurricular activity.  Some from volunteer work or other ways to be of service.  Some teach or share or heal or rescue animals.  There are many individual possibilities as there are individuals.  However, when these actions become rote, when they become something we do because we have to or someone told us to, even if they don’t connect us to our greater purpose for being, then we have a problem.  We’ve disconnected from our own personal Angel (figuratively and literally) and moved into automatic mode.  And this is where we get stress.  And overwhelm.  And dissatisfaction.  And sense of futility.  This is where we overeat or overmedicate to fill the void.  This is where we lose ourselves.

But all is not lost!  On the contrary, we can reconnect to our Angel anytime we want with a few simple steps.

Make a commitment – Anytime we’ve become lax on a habit that is good for our soul, we owe it to ourselves to recommit to our own wellbeing.   It doesn’t have to be a huge chunk of time.  For example, I tend to get lazy about exercising regularly (mostly because I have trouble doing what I like consistently and I have trouble forcing myself to do things I don’t enjoy).  So I get in this rut where I do little to nothing for a while, then I start to feel bad, and so I commit to doing it again, except that I go at like I was 20 and wear myself out.  Making the commitment to restart is the first step; moderation is the second.

Pledge moderation – Start by committing to just 5 minutes a day.  This small amount of time will get you back in the groove without feeling like you’re making a huge life change, which we all know can be extremely daunting – enough so to make us give up before we even start (you know the excuse “I just don’t have enough time”….it’s my favorite one).  I just recently recommitted to daily meditation.  I do plenty of meditative activities, yet I’ve been lax about sitting in my quiet closet with my altar and simply be-ing.  I knew from past experience that planning for 30 minutes a day would backfire.  Some nights I’m just too tired or get home too late to get it all done.  But 5 minutes is just right.  And I can always choose to keep going if it feels right.

Let go of guilt – Sometimes, you’re not going to have even 5 minutes and that day it might hit you like a ton of bricks that you can’t even keep such a miniscule commitment to yourself.  Don’t even go there.  It’s not worth it.  And honestly, it’s an excuse that keeps us stuck in helplessness (you know that voice that says with great conviction, “No matter what I do, I can’t seem to do it right.”).  I try my best to follow a principle that I discovered from doing yoga.  Some days you hit all the yoga poses with ease, no shaking, no falling, no pain.  And some days, you falter on every single pose.  Life works the same way.  Today, you do your 5 minutes of meditation or exercise or some other soul-nourishing activity.  And tomorrow, maybe you don’t.  That’s ok.  The point is to be in the experience, rather than caught up in the outcome anyway.

Find the bigger meaning – This might be the most important step.  In fact it IS the most important step, because if we’re making a commitment to restart something that isn’t meaningful to us, we’re going to be back in the same place where we started.  So this step is CRUCIAL.  When you are feeling like you need something new or to return to something that previously fed your soul, you need to be really, really clear with if it’s right for you, and not just something cool that someone suggested.  Mediation is a great example.  Everyone says you MUST meditate.  And I agree, it’s a foundational practice that can benefit everyone.  But like all cycles in life, sometimes a mediation practice isn’t the right choice in this exact moment.  Or perhaps it’s the right choice but you need to do it in a different way.  Ask yourself, “Will this new activity, practice, or belief supporting my current growth goals?”  Even if it supports your long-term goals, it may not be the right choice in this moment.  If you don’t have goals or an idea of your bigger meaning, do that work first.  Ask, “What do I like to do?  What I am drawn to do, even if it’s not my current paid work?  What gets me excited and passionate to do or talk about?   What do I NOT like?”  Follow these kinds of questions down the paths they open up for you to get a clearer idea of where you might like to grow in the future, and subsequently, how you might get there.

These are some tips that help ME get reconnected with my Angel Inside, not just my book but the bigger meaning and purpose of my life (which, incidentally, happens to involve angels). What do you do to get back to center?  Reply to share your tips with me, or better yet, join the discussion in our Facebook group!  The more tips the better!  I know you have a great ideas and insight!

Love & light,
Ashley

P.S. If you want your own copy of The Angel Inside:  Inspiration to Connect with Your Inner Guidance, it’s available on Amazon, in both paperback and Kindle!