What's in your toolbox? Part 2

If you read Part 1 of this series, you know that I enlisted Joe’s help to fix up my new home back in the late 90s. As gifted as he was with home projects, he couldn’t get anything done without the right tool for the job at hand.

And the reverse is true. Even in possession of the high-quality tools Joe selected, I couldn’t complete a single project without his assistance because a good tool is not enough. You have to know how to use it, and—in many instances—you need to practice the skill.

The same is true when we broaden our view of what we call home to include the planet we live on. The scope of the world’s needs for repair can certainly appear too much for a single individual to handle. But as with my DIY home projects, a person armed with the right tools can learn to accomplish almost any job.

Tools for DIY World Repair

Care of the planet starts with personal self-care. Respect for the body transcends the physical form and extends into the environment. So in this age of overwhelm, we must begin by stepping out of the fray and into the calm to balance the energy of the planet.

Take only two things into this first step: yourself and your determination to do what needs to be done, no matter what.

Seek to block off at least 15 minutes or longer to be alone. I find it best to start my day with this “grounding” time, but you may prefer the middle or end of day. And of course, the time you select may depend on the activity you choose.

Here are some suggestions for things to do in your alone time:

· Meditate

· Journal

· Walk or be in nature

· Take a bath

Not exactly radical suggestions, I know. But do you do any of these or something similar daily? Regularly? At all?

If you don’t practice any alone time or self-reflection routinely, it may be uncomfortable and/or hard to shake the compulsion to check your phone or other device. But that passes and your alone time eventually becomes a welcome relief from being slave to every ding, ring, and chime you hear.

Once removed from outside distractions, it becomes much easier to think clearly and be more comfortable with your own thoughts. With some practice, you can even learn to detach from the emotional pull of negative or stress-filled thinking.

Step One of raising the vibration of the planet accomplished!

Step Two involves turning your calm, focused thinking toward solutions or decision-making. Sometimes logic and deductive reasoning can be all you need, but often for big, important decisions (a move, career or lifestyle change, getting married or divorced), you’ll need to use your intuition to answer the questions of what you want at the soul level.

Having spent my entire career in the fields of publishing and advertising, I worked with many individuals who used their creative talents for writing or art in their jobs as editors, copywriters, stylists, and art directors. Not one of us grew up thinking that’s what we’d be when we were adults. As children, we saw ourselves as future authors, artists, and photographers. Later, we let logic, parents, advisors, and fear of starving propel us instead into fields where we could use our gifts and make a living. Very few of us even tried to pursue our original dreams.

Because my career spans 45 years, I have a retrospective view of how those logic-based decisions worked out for us. I can truthfully say that as much as we were happy to at least be employed in a creative field, no one I worked with ever expressed preference for their job over having the freedom to simply create. In fact, many turned to their true passions once they reached retirement age, very often with regrets that they didn’t begin sooner.

If I’ve learned anything in this lifetime, it’s that if we seek change in ourselves or the world, we can no longer relinquish our own authority to know what’s right. We need to learn to trust our intuition in decision-making and our ability to know what best serves us and the world.

Regardless if these decisions are related to our health, community service, activism, or how we want to spend our final years, they are ours to make. And if we wish to experience true fulfillment in any one of those goals, we often need to forge our own paths, not follow the one someone else paved.

And it can be fun! I've discovered some interesting and enjoyable tools that help me "test" the ideas that come to me to see if they're really guidance from within or the product of my highly imaginative mind.

Have you spent a good part of your life believing that feelings can't be trusted? Or have you often leaned into "trusting your gut?"

Either way, you don't want to miss Part 3 of this series next week, when I reveal the fun tools I've been using to develop my intuition and make it a vital part of my decision-making process.

Until then, I'd love to get your thoughts and feedback in the Comments below.

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Image: Asheville Tools ©Gemignani.

Text ©Shelley Lieber

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