The light of our inner fire

Perhaps you know someone like my friend.  When she’s around, you feel like the only person in the room. Her hugs are like warm chocolate. Looking into her eyes is like connecting with the brightly burning light of an inner fire.

She has the soul of an artist and the heart of a mamma bear.  I would crawl over broken glass on my bare knees to help her.  Her inner fire lights a fire in me to serve, to sing, and to play.

And I’m not the only one she touches in that way.  She is one in a web of open hands, ready to catch what falls and lift what needs to grow.

An inner fire that shines so brightly is an outcome of someone who has connected with their gifts and lives in accordance with them.  We know it when we see it in others, but the reality is it’s hard to recognize our own impact.

How we fail to see our inner fire

Louise Hay advocates a daily exercise of looking into a mirror, gazing into our own eyes and sending loving messages to that person.

Sometimes, though, looking so closely in the mirror can be difficult.  Seeing the real person staring back is nearly impossible without being intentional about it. What happens between our ears explains the world and is our personal reality.

We can spend a lot of brain energy remembering all our mistakes and feeling terrible about them.  And in the other direction, we like to replay fantasies of our impact on the world without questioning whether our impressions are accurate. 

Here are a few ways we exacerbate the misery:

Frustrated desire.  We want, want, want and never receive. It’s a frustrating way to live.  On top of that, when we don’t receive the appreciation or circumstances we think we deserve, we feel rotten inside.

Fixate on errors.  Every miserable detail replays in our minds. We lay awake at night thinking of snappy comebacks.  We demand a level of perfection from ourselves that we would never demand of others.

Discouraged by others.  Who doesn’t have a childhood story of put-downs, ridicule, or out-and-out refusal to celebrate an accomplishment? Those experiences have a deep impact on our ability to encourage ourselves to continue in the face of adversity.

Everyone does this.  Everyone. But not everyone stays there.

Reconnect to the inner fire

Beneath all the negative thoughts and self-recriminations is a beautiful soul learning to navigate this physical environment.  We are here to grow and to create. As we do that, those layers of thought repetition can be reversed over time.

It’s important to remember that whatever we give attention to, we receive more of. That’s how the Law of Attraction works. When we are disconnected from our inner fire and focus on what isn’t working, then we get more of that.  A life that doesn’t work.

The key is Attention.  The path to discovering our purpose, our gifts and our impact is to pay attention to our thoughts. 

It’s a very simple thing, isn’t it?  But what a challenge!  This is the work of our lifetime and no one can ever do it for us.

We can ramp up exposure to our thoughts through journaling, through meditation, or even a simple walk outside unaided by technology.  It’s important to integrate quiet time into our day so the thoughts have a chance to surface for examination. 

The payoff is a calmer life, one that holds serendipity, synchronicity and happenstance. Our lives are better when we first connect to the deepest part of ourselves.  We are more patient, more loving and more forgiving, especially to ourselves.

Our inner fire makes a difference. 

Without the chatter of judgmental thoughts, the light of our inner fire has more opportunity to blaze brightly.  When we give ourselves permission to shine, we give others permission to shine as well.