Who or what determines the people or things that we label as the Authority, the all knowing, the one that knows more than you do about yourself, your body, mind, emotions?
I've been dealing with a skin rash issue for several months now. It started as just a couple of dry spots on my lower leg. I thought, "no big deal, apply some lotion and all will be well". Which I did and then proceeded to ignore that the real answer should have been to go within and ask my body what this was really about instead of assuming and using my thinking mind. Let's just say that now after three months of dealing with these "dry spots" spreading and each day becoming more of a distraction by becoming itchier and larger by the day, I took myself off to the doctor (the authority), whom by the way was a very nice and knowledgeable physician, who told me exactly what I already in my mind knew which was urticaria (aka rash of unknown origin). The doctor prescribed some steroids of both the oral and topical variety. Yay, all set right? Treat the rash and keep moving on getting stuff done and living life. Wrong!!
Not once did I pause long enough to ask the burning questions of "What's really going on here?", "What is at the root of this situation that started it to begin with?", "What is it that my body is trying to tell me with these symptoms?" Obviously I was having some type of hyper allergic/immune response. The symptoms kept persisting and worsening in an attempt to get me to wake up and listen. Truly listen beyond the superficial complaints of the itching and pain. But isn't this also how we live our lives, just looking at the superficial picture in a state of reaction to what we think we see and if we aren't sure what we see then we are looking for someone else to tell us rather the consulting the only person that knows us well enough to give a true answer. We believe that someone "out there" knows more about us then we do. The truth is that when we take a moment to sit in the silence and consult our Inner Authority it tells us exactly what is going on and exactly what it is that our body is trying to get our mind to wake up to.
Have you ever had a health issue that seemed as though no matter how many "health authorities" that you consulted the answers never rang true? Or the diagnosis turned from being an acute (short lived) issue to a chronic (long-term, unresolved) issue that defied anyone's explanations or treatments? This happens all the time. Not because the doctor or health care practitioner is incompetent but because they are limited by their knowledge of signs and symptoms, disease pathologies and experience of other patients before you. Health care practitioners are limited in that they cannot feel or sense what is happening in YOUR body. Only you can do that. Only you can get quiet and listen from within. Only you can measure from within what rings true for you. Health care practitioners can help you by listening and being an important part of your wellness team but only YOU can accurately feel what is best for you.
Getting back to this rash story that I was sharing with you. I started out with trying to use my rational mind and only deal with the superficial picture in front of me (the dry spots). As the rash progressed, I still relied on my rational thinking mind and started using Essential Oils that should do the trick and "fix" this rash. When that didn't work after now three months of using my thinking mind, I decided that clearly I couldn't "fix" this by myself so I took myself off to the perceived "authority" (the doctor) for someone else to tell me what this was all about and prescribe something that was going to "fix" this once and for all. Now, I can meditate with the best of them. I know to go within and ask my body what it is trying to tell me. If you are one of my clients, you know that I often make the inquiry with my clients asking them to go within and listen to what their body is trying to tell them. But, I did not do that for myself. Instead, I listened to my thinking mind and convinced myself that clearly I was not the authority in this situation and that someone "out there" was going to give me an answer and "fix" me.
Now yes, at first the medication did the trick. Key phrase being "at first". The medication took the itching away and started diminishing the spreading and size of the rash. However, when the medication was completed guess what started coming back. You guessed it, the rash. Why did this occur? Because I never took the time to go within and ask what this was all about?
Here is what happened when I woke up and realized what I was doing and took the time to consult my own Inner Authority. It was made very clear to me that my immune system was rearing up, in what I perceived as an attack, to wake me up to the ways in which I allow my thinking mind and not very kind inner voices to attack me and my character all day long every day. The inner critic who constantly is saying things like "you're not doing that right" or "nobody is going to accept you" or a million other things that I believe we can all relate to and list as the critical self talk that tears us down all the time. The inner nervous nelly who doesn't believe that you can actually accomplish something and is constantly challenging you to accomplish more or do better. What is it that we need to do better? Who says what is better?
These are the real and deep questions that we need to be asking ourselves when these self sabotaging, self defeating voices are chattering. Who have we assigned as the Authority, the measuring stick, the person/people that we look to for acceptance, for the "atta boy" or "good job"? That even when we do get that "compliment", we don't believe its true. And why don't we believe it? Because it isn't coming from within, we aren't accepting or congratulating ourselves. We are still looking somewhere "out there" for someone to say we are good enough. The truth is that we are only going to believe that we are "good enough" when we can look in the mirror and say "I am a good enough". Until then, no matter how many people tell you that you are good enough it only takes one person to be critical and you fall back into believing that you are not good enough because of what one person said. We refuse to believe all the positive and instantly believe the negative. We are the only authority that can transform this situation, be it negative self talk or physical symptoms that arise to get our attention encouraging us to come within and reclaim our own power and authority.
