Unity of Birmingham Guest Writer Series:
By Jane Phillips
“The mind lives in doubt and the heart lives in trust. When you trust, suddenly you become centered.” ~Osho
I wonder whether you believe that your soul comes into a human lifetime to learn
a particular lesson. In this lifetime, I believe that my soul is here to learn trust. As such,
life has provided me with many opportunities to learn what to trust and what not to trust. I haven’t always gotten it right, and I have paid the price for that, but hard lessons are always the most instructive.
What it comes down to, I think, is that all the hard lessons, all the mistakes, and
all the course corrections we make, teach us that trust is a fundamental element, a
basic building block for a stable, joyful life. The ability to trust resides in the center of
one’s body and both stems from, and leads to, a solid sense of self. Trusting others
begins and ends with one’s ability to trust oneself. The essential cornerstone of trust is truth. One must first be honest enough to self-assess—to look at one’s own motives and behaviors and to ferret out what and why. “What am I doing, and why am I doing it?” Twelve-steppers call it taking a “fearless moral inventory.” Until one is honest with oneself, trust is not possible.
This is not a call to eviscerate oneself, to punish and condemn, but to truly
understand one’s own humanity. We make mistakes, we protect ourselves from things
that hurt, and we throw up smokescreens to hide our human fears. We all do. When we
come to the truth that all of us are equally worthy of forgiveness and love, and that our
errors do not define our totality, we stand on the solid ground of trust.
Life is the teacher—you can trust that. Life will present us with exactly what we
need to learn. Our role is to be clear-eyed about what life brings and ask ourselves,
“What is the lesson here?” That includes more than simply recognizing our mistakes. It
also requires that we become aware of what brings us joy. What sets your heart on fire?
What draws you to it? What desire is so strong that you feel its physical tug in your
heart center? Deep trust asks us to listen to that and, even if it means a leap into the
unknown, to take the next step.
In the Spirit,
Jane
Jane Philips is a retired Special Education teacher, Licensed Professional Counselor, and Licensed Massage Therapist. She has also lead Spirituality Groups, Wisdom Circles, drumming circles, and she wrote a daily blog for twelve years called Spiritually Speaking.
Jane is currently working on a memoir titled, Old Crazy Town. She is a fifth-generation quilter.
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