We Go Beyond Where Voices Tell Us to Go
Our minds are filled with voices telling us where to go, what to do, how to live our lives. We must choose whether we live the way voices tell us to live or we go beyond where they tell us to go.
The voices fill our hearts and minds with expectations and directions about how we should live our lives. Voices ring in our ears to remind us about our responsibilities.
Some of us spend our lives struggling and resisting the voices we hear. Other people surrender and allow the voices to tell them what to do. Many of us want an opportunity to pause the voices and think for ourselves for a few moments.
Whether we fight them or try to accommodate them, the voices rarely stop talking. Our lives can feel like an endless stream of voices demanding we act in accordance with their wishes.
For many of us, voices tell us what it means to be a good person and how we should spend our time. They may be voices of parents or other family members. We may hear voices of teachers or friends or bosses or anyone else.
The voices we hear describe the boundaries of what is expected of us. Voices tell us what it means to be honest or trustworthy or brave or smart. We hear what it means to be hard working or efficient or creative or young or an adult.
Other voices tell us what we are expected never to do. We hear what it is to be lazy or foolish or unprepared or bad.
The voices fill our ears. It is up to us to choose whether we listen to what the voices say or we go beyond their understanding.
How We Go Beyond Where Voices Tell Us to Go
The voices in our minds and hearts can be difficult, or impossible, to ignore.
We began hearing what the voices say before we even realized it. Voices still tell us to Sit Up Straight and Stop Fidgeting and Be Quiet.
The voices I hear often tell me I need to work harder and be more perfect. They remind me about things I need to do or qualities I need to develop. When I sit down to listen to sacred stillness, voices seem to come out of nowhere to distract me.
Some of the voices say things we might want to hear. It is not because the voices are always lying to us, but they are always there demanding our attention.
We may become comfortable with the voices within us, growing used to hearing them. The voices become part of our regular everyday lives.
When we go beyond where the voices tell us to go we find spiritual life.
We go beyond what the voices tell us as we learn to listen to sacred stillness. Our intention is not to fight against or eliminate what voices tell us. By listening to sacred stillness we find our way through the voices and we go beyond what they say to us.
It is not about destroying the voices we hear or never hearing them again. We practice listening carefully and intentionally. Our practice of listening to sacred stillness is how we go beyond what they constantly tell us.
We are not fighting harder to eliminate the voices from our lives. Listening to sacred stillness is how we remind ourselves there is more than the voices. We go beyond where we thought we could go, beyond what voices tell us.
Our practice is not about never hearing those voices again.
Where Are We When We Go Beyond What Voices Tell Us?
When we listen to sacred stillness we are reminded there is so much more than we thought there was. Through our listening we go beyond where we thought we could go.
The voices we hear, which surround us and are within us, are about limitations. They point out how limited we are and where we fall short. Some of the voices try to sell us things which they promise will help us become better.
We go beyond what voices tell us to appreciate we already are better than we thought we were. Spiritual life draws us in and asks nothing more of us than we listen to sacred stillness.
The more we listen, the more the stillness fills us and flows through us. We begin to share sacred stillness with the people around us, and the people around them.
We listen to sacred stillness and we go beyond where we were convinced we could go.
As we go beyond the boundaries we thought limited us we begin to see how free we are.
We Go Beyond Where We Thought We Could Go
Listening to sacred stillness is like looking through an open door or a window. We begin to glimpse the rest of the world around us.
The voices we hear so constantly are not trying to restrict us or keep us under control. We hear voices telling us things to protect us and help us as well as trying to sell us things. What we hear reminds us of important lessons again and again.
We hear voices which are trying to help us. The problem is those voices no longer know us very well. People have expected us to live in certain ways for our own benefit. We have internalized their voices and we hear their advice as absolute truth.
When we go beyond what they tell us we learn there is more to life than following rules. Spiritual life helps us see there are more than rules to follow and ways we are supposed to behave.
We go beyond what we are supposed to do into the depth of spiritual life. Listening to sacred stillness helps us transcend all those voices.
How do voices tell us we need to live?
When do we go beyond doing what voices tell us to do?
[Image by joshwept]
Greg Richardson is a spiritual life mentor and leadership coach in Southern California. He is a recovering attorney and university professor, and a lay Oblate with New Camaldoli Hermitage near Big Sur, California. Greg’s website is StrategicMonk.com, and his email address is StrategicMonk@gmail.com.
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