When am I most in touch with a sense of inner connection, guiding strength, calming love, reassurance or ease?

When I’m writing, free writing, letting my thoughts flow without editing. When I have the time and space and willingness to listen to my inner voice. She always knows what to do. It is when I ignore her that I get myself into trouble.

How can I build a structure for this inner connection into my life? (group or class? A friend? A place in nature? Etc.)

Morning pages. Morning yoga. Aryuveda massage after shower. Walk dog. Go to the river. Take moments to breathe. To unwind at the end of the day. Keep dancing. Keep going to yoga. Keep in contact with Ian and Liz. Keep in contact with Sawrah and Marie.

How do I find my inner voice of wisdom?

By listening. And then trusting.

When have I heard my wisdom in the past?

When I consciously called upon it, listened, recorded it, and then thought about how the wisdom applies to and affects my life at that particular moment. When I was ready to listen. When I was ready for clarity. When I asked for help and guidance.

What power do I believe in and how can I strengthen my relationship with this power?

I believe in the connective power in and among all human beings and nature and the universe. Though we have a perceived separation and beginning and ending to things, I believe it is all unending and loving and inclusive. I can strengthen my relationship with it by daily reminding myself of this and clarifying my role as one piece of the grand whole. I can become closer to and more aware of myself, and through that strengthened self-awareness I will be closer to the connective power.

What kind of divine being did you grow up with? Is that definition still helpful to you or do you need to let that definition go so that you can have a new experience in your life?

I grew up on the Science of Spirituality, which sells itself as a hippie-type practice but has somehow defined it self in my consciousness as something that expects a perfection I can’t achieve. I am resentful when I am pulled into it time and time again, but I still haven’t outright said no. I think it is because that is outright saying no to the path my parents took, and I still have this sick idea that I have to impress them, that I have to do what they expect of me. But really, I think I need to let that go—let go of their expectations and let go of their spiritual practice. I need to explore my yoga, my ideas, my writing, my passions. I need to follow my path. Not “the” path as they call “their” path. I need to forgive myself for that and embrace the idea that I need something different and that’s OKAY.