Take Me To the River
Yesterday I returned from a journey by slow boat. It was exotic. I saw wild animals and birds. I smelled the ripening earthy smells of plants, the cleansing palate of the water. I watched the weather as it rolled across the sky during the day. It was invigorating and revitalizing.
The most amazing part for me was that the journey took place through my own city.
In my city, there is a big river that flows right through the middle of it. In fact, the river was the main reason the city was built here. The river was the main method of travel when the city was built. It also supplied the city’s water, and even food and furs. But as the city grew, and roads replaced rivers, its bounty was forgotten. Now it is only used recreationally, and only by a few.
The river still flows through the entire city though, even if few remember that. It is usually ignored or worse, used as a dumping ground for waste. The water is poisoned with sewage and chemicals. Even though the river is largely ignored, it still supplies the entire city with all of its water – the elixir of life.
The River of “Higher Self”
Why do I care about this river so much?
Because, to my shame I had forgotten how amazing the river is. After my boat trip, I realized that I didn’t need to go to a foreign place to have an adventure in the natural world. This experience was available to me in my own backyard.
The river was patiently waiting for me to remember how great it was. It was simply flowing in my city, like it always had. The river was there, just like our Higher Selves are there, waiting for us to access it, to remember how great the “real us” is.
We forget that our Higher Self is always there, flowing through us. It will always be there even if we ignore it, poison it, or can’t remember where to find it. It will always be there. That river of Higher Self is the real us, and we are it.
We forget this River. Just like we forget that we don’t need to be “prettier”, “thinner”, “smarter”, or anything that is not us, but closer to the ever elusive ideal. We only need to be the most authentically ourselves. We just need to go inside, take whatever we really are, and be more of whatever that is. That is our standard – the most authentic who we really are.
The river of our Higher Self, is that part of us that is Source. It makes each individual “us” one with the Divine. That Higher Self is always there in our lives, it is just that we have first learned to ignore it, and then forgot how to get back to it.
This Higher Self is the first thing that gave our lives meaning. As babies we simply knew that the Universe was a fascinating place. Since we were still close to Source, we didn’t need to be reminded of it. We were still shining like the tiny pieces of the Divine spark that we were. We didn’t need to “try” to be who we really were. Over time though, we eventually “matured” into adults. Like this city, we learn to ignore the life-giving river.
We let reason take precedence over our natural instincts and intuition. We forget the unique “me” of who we really are, and believed what the world told us about ourselves. We choose to believe the lies about ourselves reflected back to us from others, over the deep knowledge of us that resides inside ourselves.
Go Back to the River
The river is still the thing that gives us life, whether we know it or not. It is life-giving and restorative, and yet we are often unaware of where this life quality comes from. We often hunger for it, but cannot take advantage of it because we cannot remember what it is or where we find it.
Even though this river flows right through us, and is part of us, most of the time we are too lazy or forgetful to get to it. And yet without it, we feel lost, and sad, and depressed. If we could remember that all we have to do, is walk the short distance that separates us from the edge of that river, we could be at that river again in the blink of an eye.
We can get back to the ever-flowing Higher Self in many ways. Spending time in nature (like my real existence on the river), listening to our intuition, meditating – all of these are ways to get to our inner river. And when we do take the time to go inside, to visit that magical life-giving river, it is still the cure to our ills.
The more that we interact with our Higher Selves, the more easily we are known to ourselves again. We can fully immerse ourselves into that river our Higher Self, choose to just skim the surface, or just look into it. Any and all contact with this river, brings us back in touch with the real us, with our connection to Source.
Our river is always there, shimmering, and sparkling and flowing through our lives. To follow our life path the most easily, we need to go with the flow of that river as much as we can. For our best paths, we need to be connected to our Higher Self. But no matter what we do, or how badly we screw up, we can never be totally lost to ourselves, even though it may feel that way. Our Higher Self is a part of us and always will be. We can always “find ourselves” by going back to that inner river.
Kara
Need to get back in the flow of your river? I am here to help you get connected. Email me at conduitofjoy@hotmail.com
