Hi loudguitar,

Thanks for your post - thanks for your honesty in sharing.
From my perspective as a life coach, course facilitator and simple family man, I can say yes! We all have such days where we seem to be pulled in different directions, where we question everything that we're doing and where its difficult to listen to the quiet inner voice of the soul.

My answer to your question is to "turn up the volume" - that's what you must do loudguitar!

What do I mean by this? It means that every moment presents a choice. Either we can attune to the difficulty in life, the questioning, the fear, the doubt, or alternatively we can make those choices that make our souls sing.

For example, lets imagine you're walking around the streets of London on a busy day with lots to do. The mind might be full of ideas, thoughts, dreams and plans. If we're not careful we can get lost in a world of drama.

However we could instead choose to see the beauty all around us. We could notice the birds flying between the buildings, or the scent of the odd flower bed that we might pass, or look up to the sky and notice the expansiveness and vastness. We could imagine that within every event there is a hidden message. Every lyric you by chance hear, or the conversation going on at the bus stop, or the appealing images of a billboard, or the sign on a passing bus. Imagine that each message being given to us is the same one: "I love you!"

And then when you realise that every moment presents the opportunity to notice the beauty, perfection and love in every moment, then ask "how does that make me feel inside?" Love is simply a choice that we make every moment. We can either choose to identify with the drama, or we can choose to see and feel love.

If we keep choosing and feeling love for ourselves and the whole of life, if we look through the darkness and find the light, then the strength of the soul within our lives will get stronger and stronger. Then it becomes much easier to follow the direction of the soul and walk the path we're meant to walk.

But my dear friend loudguitar, you have to turn the volume up first!

Best wishes

Chris

turn up the volume.
thanks for the reply chris, ive tended in the past to let myself dwell on the density, then for a while found myself in awe at a cloud or how the rain feels. i guess its already there around me, it just noticing it.
thank you
dale

That tension you feel, that tightness, I get that sometimes. It's just something you've got to work at - like a knot in yourself you must loosen. And it seems there are certain people in our lives who try to tighten the knot. And it's so scary sometimes, thinking that maybe you don't even need the rope at all! that you could just...float freely and explore the universe. Everyone will tell you that you can't do that, that there are rules and you must be like this or like that, or else you are a dreamer or something. They tell you that you will fail. But this is a language of fear, taught to us at such an early age that it seems like the truth. It is the background of our very lives, every day, and we don't even realize it. All these ropes and knots, binding us to an ego that we don't need. It's so frustrating trying to get out of this mess of the self! It has been a long and arduous journey for me, but I feel so alive every time I loosen another bond. That feeling in itself makes all the effort worthwhile.

I think something I'm taking away from Zen meditation and some other things I've been reading is that, you don't have to analyze it all so much. Just BE it. Don't think "am I following my soul?" or "how should I be feeling? is this right? it doesn't feel right! oh no, I must be doing it wrong." That just leads to a jumble of thoughts that will drag you down, like a thick net. And there are all those ropes again. Just think a bit before you say things, pause for reflection any time a choice of two different actions presents itself. If you listen to your inner voice, the silence and stillness within, you will probably know the right answer almost immediately. Then there will be no need for doubt, and the tension will go away. In time, these reflections become easier--they become second nature. But there will still be people who have negative energies, who are caught up in the "drama" of the material world, whom you will come in contact with. They might disrupt your peace if you are new to this way of thinking, but soon you will be able to deflect their negativity or turn it in more positive directions with your own spiritual energy.

Wow, I didn't mean to go on so long. I hope some of that helped you, loudguitar. ^_^