The little guys on your shoulders
Some might call them an inner voice. Some may call them good and evil. Some may call them Holy Spirit and satan. We all have an inner voice that speaks to us constantly if we take the time to listen. I will call them Josh and John.
John and I are not friends, we have never been friends. John wakes me up in the middle of the night when business is bad and tells me that all is lost. At 4:30 am he tells me that if I don’t get up and write a letter, make a contact, figure out how to sell a listing, lose 10 pounds, and generally make things different than they are, then life as we know it will be over.
John is the one who prevents me from working because he paralyzes with a certain fear, and the one who doesn’t want me to succeed because that brings with it its own kind of paralysis.
I am, however, in love with Josh. Josh is the voice that tells me it doesn’t matter what we face that day, that we have strength like few others to climb whatever mountain lies ahead. Josh motivates me and pushes me to be better. Sometimes his voice frightens me because he is luring me to trust the unknown. If I am still and really listen to which one is speaking, then I know that if it’s Josh, I can trust it.
One of the fastest ways for me to tell which one is speaking is in whether their words bring peace or panic. Josh will never overwhelm me with what needs to be done. He will always take it one step at a time. There will not be twelve things that we need to conquer immediately, it will be the most important that needs to be addressed first.
In my household, John sometimes inhabits the voice of my mother who lives with us. A product of The Great Depression, we are always on the brink of disaster no matter how good things are. Even with four closings last week and this week, there is an absolute panic that the world economy is crashing and why am I not doing more?
So I go to my Happy Place, and drown out John’s voice. In The Teachings of Don Juan, Carlos Castenda described something similar:
Look at every path closely and deliberately. Does this path have heart? If it does, the path is good; if it doesn’t, it is of no use. A path without heart is never enjoyable. You have to work hard even to take it. On the other hand, a path with heart is easy, it does not make you work at liking it.
In my personal life what always comes to mind is, “Be still and know that I am God.” Today I would encourage you to be present in your life, to listen to your good voice, your Josh, your Holy Spirit, the one that motivates and challenges and champions you.
