Listening to the Whispers Within

Listening to the Whispers Within By Michelle C. Ustaszeski Beginning in our younger years, and reinforced time and time again, we have been encouraged to reach for the stars and to follow our dreams, yet so few of us actually voyage through such a beautiful, satisfying, and difficult journey to its end. It is the journey of finding our soul's desire, recognizing and following signs along the way, while listening only to the songs and the harmony of what our hearts sing. It is allowing our souls to find their way back to where they belong. to a place where we can exhale and rest in peace once our time here has come to an end. We allow guilt to overcome, fear to overwhelm, time to discourage, and we give permission to our daily routines and current circumstances to imprison our own fate. We deny ourselves from reaching our own destinies and from the true happiness that we all deserve. We learn many lessons throughout our lives. Some of these lessons may interfere, challenge, or overcome other, more important lessons. We have been told that focusing on ourselves, our own needs, and our own desires can be an act of selfishness. We've learned that pleasing and thinking of others before ourselves is an act of heroism. Perhaps we feel that following our own hearts and dreams, doing what we love to do, and aiming for such pleasures is being selfish, but it's not. Perhaps we feel ashamed for climbing the ladder of success when it demands change and possibly a level of discomfort for those we love the most who travel this journey along with us, but we shouldn't. And perhaps we feel we are to blame because with each step, each reach, we must leave something or even someone behind, but we aren't. While letting go of guilt and giving ourselves permission to follow our hearts, we have to also be aware that fear dictates our every move. The fear of failure may be universal, but so is the fact that if we do not try, we are giving ourselves a life sentence of nothingness. a life where we will simply exist. Although it can be frightening to move forward into the unknown armed with nothing more than faith and to gamble with the lives, people, and things we treasure the most, it is much more frightening to be aware that if we don't, the fear that is holding us back today will transform itself into regret later in life. The fear we experience should be regarded and compared to nothing more than a mother's tender, loving, and protective embrace. Once she sees your strength, your courage, and how well you have learned to fly, she will set you free. In a world where instant gratification is becoming more and more rampant, the issue of time itself can become a discouraging factor when imagining how long our journeys may take. Each dream and journey could take years, even a complete lifetime to obtain and travel to. Time is essential to the process as there are necessary experiences that we will need to endure and valuable lessons that we will have to extract in order to reach our destination. Do not allow the uncontrollable to discourage you. Just as a mother cannot rush the birth of her miracle until it has gone through each of its necessary stages, we must let our days unfold and go through each of their own stages. If we continue to nurture our dreams, we too, will hold our own miracles. What is in front of us today may actually be our hearts most dangerous keeper... a master in disguise, concealing the truth while imprisoning us within an easy dwelling and comforting zone. Although our prison cells are made up of nothing more than a layer of haze placed before our eyes only, for all of our other senses know, we remain motionless as if surrounded by an indestructible barricade. The circumstances we live in and our daily routines hinder our dreams from moving forward and prevent our desires from taking action without even being aware of it. We sometimes confuse an eventful life with a fulfilled one. We allow our days to interfere with our destinies by focusing most or all of our emotions and actions on insignificant and irrelevant matters. We are all born with dreams and desires and have places we want to go. Do not let the longing to find a place where you can stop and rest cause you to settle down short of your destination. Extract your lessons and continue on with your journey. We need to step away from the world we live in from time to time, sit in silence, and hear what our hearts and souls are whispering within us. We need to remove ourselves from the everyday sameness and think about where it is that we want to go. We need to follow our hearts by closing our eyes and becoming aware of our inner surroundings. We all have an imaginary sanctuary that we travel to when we close our eyes to rest at night or when the world we live in is not in harmony with whom we really are or who we really need to be. Why not close your eyes, visit that place as often as you can, and listen to each and every whisper. So that one day. When you do open your eyes, you will know exactly where to go and how to get there. Then you, your mind, your heart, and your soul can finally all rest as one. Go now, sit back in silence, and listen to the whispers within.