Do you have the courage?

This past week’s full moon posed the transformation questions; “do you have the courage to pursue your dreams? Do you have the courage to pursue the urgings of your soul so that your outer life and inner life are in complete alignment?”

I simultaneously shout “YES” to these questions and get panicky. I say “of course” because there is nothing more delicious sounding that alignment; knowing and trusting that I’m completely worthy of happiness and making choices every day from this knowing. But I’ve often confused alignment with some standard of perfection or thinking that there’s a divine plan or purpose that I’ve been put here to realize and follow through. I hear these questions and as much as they inspire me to know the depths of my capabilities they seem so big and I suddenly feel small, inadequate in my little life.

It may be easy to confuse alignment with a standard of perfection because when aligned there’s a richness to life that we often don’t feel. Colors are more vivid, a sunset more magical, food tastes better, our conversations more engaged, life’s beauty becomes obvious.

But in reality an idealized vision of perfection is nearer to the definition of misalignment because we are looking outside of ourselves for what can only be found within. Looking at other’s lives and thinking “I should do that”, “I wish I had what they had”, or worse, we become dependent on others suggestions and demands and our own intuition dims. With a little practice we see we are never that far from alignment. As our own intuitive muscle grows and we become grounded in our own truth we realize that the imperfect world around us is still as chaotic as ever but we’ve become more anchored and can maintain center.

Life becomes more fun, we take more chances because we trust in the lessons we will receive, we find a softness that had gotten covered by the armor of protection we no longer need. We become kinder, mostly to our own dear selves. We have faith in who we are, exactly as we are. We learn to trust in our own intuition and we feel more connected, to ourselves, to others and to world around us. Alignment doesn’t necessarily mean we perform some outrageously incredible feat, although it can. It will mean what you want and need it to mean. Your alignment will look drastically different than my alignment and we can’t forget that this life is our game, these are our rules, it’s whatever we want to make of it. Take more naps, go for more walks, send more letters to those you love. Do something grand, start something new, but know it’s completely up to you.

Unfortunately, we’ve gotten so far from this way of living. We’ve learned to rely on the suggestions and demands of the outside world and have gotten caught up in the should and shouldn’ts and supposed to's that we have lost our own vision. Our souls calling barely audible in the bombardment of stimulation from the external. But slowly we are remembering what we’ve always intuitively known to be true. And as we remember the truth we become responsible to ourselves for creating our own happiness. Mike Dooley says, “If you’re  breathing, you’re now filling that one sacred, special niche that no one else could ever fill. Your eyes see what no others will ever see, your ears hear what no others will ever hear, and your perspective an feelings will never, ever be duplicated. Without you, the Universe would be less. This is your offering. Being “you” is a sacred role that no one else could ever fill. As long as you’re here, you’re filling that niche -- being who no one else has ever been.”

So, “do you have the courage to pursue your dreams”? Of course you do.