Hi guys! Welcome to Episode 428 of the wildly successful lifestyle podcast! Welcome, Im glad you’re here…it’s nice to connect with like minded people! And we get to do it twice a week which is cool….
So I’m not a big fan of organized religion. I’ve seen too many evil things done in the name of religion. I’ve seen too many families ripped apart in the name of religion. But here’s my dilemma. People who have faith in a higher power of some sort in my opinion tend to be more at ease with life. They have families with values and standards not always but often when you see a family that is thriving, they have some belief in God or faith in something bigger than themselves.
I don’t usually discuss religion or politics because both can be so divisive. But you don’t have to be part of an organized religion to understand that there’s something bigger than us that’s looking out for us. That’s guiding us if we are open to listen.
Growing up religion to me was trying to follow somebody else’s strict rules or else you would be expelled from everything you know and love. In religion often People are ruled by fear. God’s love and willingness to hear our prayers is conditional based on if you follow the rules that men created. Something felt really off about that from a very young age. So as I got older I wanted nothing to do with any religion. I know enough about life to know not to push against religion but to simply acknowledge how I feel about it without judgement. Maybe you have similar thoughts about religion. maybe you don’t think about it at all or maybe you are part of a religion and love it. If you grew up in the America especially in the south, you probably have been involved or around some sort of religion and like me you may be a little confused as to the role it should play in your life.
You see for me no matter how I feel about organized religion, I could not deny that I felt guided in some way that there was someone always looking out for me. Always. Even in my hardest times I felt guided in a way that sometimes I didn’t realize it at the time but later I looked back and thought wow there has to be some higher power looking out for me because that could have been a lot worse. Have you ever thought that?
My point in this episode is really to remind all of us that religion or no religion, each one of us is loved beyond what we can even imagine. And each of us is worthy beyond what we know. And that being that’s guiding us whether you want to call it God or the universe or whatever it is to you, it’s real and available 100% of the time. It’s never separate from us and it connects each one of us together.
When Tony Robbins would seemingly implore us in seminars to understand that everything we need is inside us right now, he was so passionate that we each have the ability to feel loved and worthy and whole without anything outside of us needing to change…. I was very confused by that because I didn’t feel that way. I felt like I think a lot of people do that if only my parents were proud of me then I would feel worthy, if only I had a loving partner then I would feel loved, if only I had a million dollars then I would feel wealthy, if only I was loved unconditionally by someone else would I feel like I truly belong. I mean that’s the only way, right?
I was so confused by religion and how I was taught that you’re not worthy or unconditionally loved unless you are part of this religion, following all these rules, which means I never felt worthy because I had a fire inside of me that needed oxygen to burn and I felt suffocated inside that religion. I felt suffocated by the limitations and the judgements and the man made rules. So when Tony Robbins, someone I respected and revered said I was worthy regardless and that everything I needed was inside me…it confused me even more because I didn’t feel that way. I was so brainwashed into thinking that the only way to everlasting life and true happiness was following that religion but in reality that religion was killing me inside. It was snuffing out any ability to think for myself, any ability to follow my own internal guidance that we are all born with. It was snuffing that out because in order to have total control the powers to be in that religion have to control you, you of course can’t control yourself because now you’re out of their grip.
So my journey to feel whole and loved and worthy in an unconditional way has taken a very long time. My journey to understanding what Tony Robbins meant that everything I need is within me right now has taken a long time but I finally get it.
We all were born with an inner guidance system that is connected to a higher power. Some religions help you remember that connection and some snuff it out. My guess is if you’re listening to me you are on a journey just like me to understand how to be the best version of you possible. And I’ve gotta tell you. That best version of you is not going to be found living by someone else’s rules. It’s not gonna be found by ignoring your own personal inner guidance system, you can cal it intuition whatever but it’s not going to be found by ignoring your desires to please other people.
There are a gazillion ways to find it. And Some do find it in religion, of course it’s not all bad. But what I want everyone to hear and to know is there is no other one human that knows better what you need or want than you. If you’re an adult. Your inner guidance system is always on point. Always loving you and always connected to a higher power. When you feel worthy, there’s no greater feeling. Worthy to just take up space. Worthy to be happy. Worthy to have as much money as you want without feeling guilty about it. Worthy to be in any room and know you’re loved because you are and also worthy to know that life is always working in your favor even when at the moment you’re like what the heck? Even in those hard moments, It’s still working in your favor.
I guess my whole point is even if you’ve been disappointed by some organized religion. You don’t have to give up and feel like you’re alone in this world. You never are and you never will be..and if you feel that you are it’s just because maybe like me your inner guidance system was almost like I’ve been.
In the end as Mooji has shared with me, the thing we are meant to know is that we are here to walk in the light of our own understanding. You aren’t dependent on someone else for your salvation. No matter how much religion wants you to believe that. You’re responsible for you and answerable to you. This is the truth of life. And if a religion feels good and feels right and lights up your meaningful path then that’s a beautiful thing but if it doesn’t then ask for another way and it will be given to you as long as you are open to see it. This I know to be true because I’ve experienced it through years of daily meditation and awareness. I’m never going to be perfect at it but that’s ok because that means continuous growth and learning. Which is exactly what I want.
My challenge to you is to trust your inner guidance system more than you trust anything else but in order to do that you have to hear it, which means you have to quiet the thoughts that drown it out, and you have to give yourself a little downtime from the things that keep your mind occupied, whatever that is. I do that through meditation. You may do it by walking in nature alone or even some movement like swimming which I’ve recently started. Somewhere where you can quiet your mind and just be in your own light. Eventually you’ll find that you’re calmer throughout the day , less bothered by things you don’t control and a lot less inclined to look outward to feel worthy and loved. Everything you need for that is truly inside you right now. It feels good to say that and believe it. Share this with 3 amazing friends or family. I love you guys, I’ll talk to you in a few days.
