Listen

Today, while shuffling through files and papers and research, I ran across this quote:

“Live the life you’ve dreamed.” -- Henry David Thoreau

Time suddenly stopped. The trivial concerns that had been plaguing me the last few days suddenly ceased. I sucked in a deep breath. Yes, I thought, my heart fluttering madly. Yes, exactly! Live the life I've dreamed - regardless of what's going on around me.

Oftentimes, it seems like we're forced into situations or circumstances that, well, just aren't us. Be it a job, a relationship, a city, a certain life-style... Whatever it is, every person has, at one time or another, felt the disempowering collapse of his or her free will. Almost like it evaporates into thin air, leaving us... Powerless.

But that's not the case. That's never the case.

Our freedom, as it is, never leaves us. We do have the power to direct our lives. To drastically effect the ebb and flow of our everyday reality. To pick and choose our destiny, our fate. It's all within us. And only within us.

Sure, I have my off days. Like many, I was trained to accommodate others, to please others, to make others happy - even if it meant sacrificing my own dreams, my own desires. But I am getting better at it. Better at directing my thoughts and listening to (and only to) my voice - that inner voice that seems to be getting louder and louder every day. Or, maybe it's not really the voice that's getting louder. Maybe now I'm just suddenly able to hear it.

From a sigh, to a whisper, to an all out symphony, it's a voice that I'm training myself to not only listen for, but follow.

Powerlessness is just an illusion. I am the only person I have to please. And you, dear reader, are the only person you have to please. Listen to your inner voice. The voice that calls to you from the very center of your Being. And let that be the only voice that matters.

And, of course, live the life you've dreamed.

_____________________

“Your mind knows only some things. Your inner voice, your instinct, knows everything. If you listen to what you know instinctively, it will always lead you down the right path.”
-- Henry Winkler