Time to hear our inner self?
I listen for the whispers
That come from within.
But who can hear the whisper
Mid the noise of trying?
As with the bird
On his lonely flight,
It’s in the calm and the stillness
That we hear the whispers
Which tell us the way.
Ainslie Meares M.D. – A Kind of Believing: 1984
And so, throughout our lives, whispers come and go. Sometimes, though, whispers grow a little louder – and these whispers are quite likely speaking a great deal louder to us right now, within this time of global pandemic. Life as we knew it has become difficult. For some, time drags by painfully as concern and fear fills minds and hearts. For others, time is frustrated in juggling responsibilities, managing home-schooling again, adjusting to living arrangements and prioritising workload. For most, worries worsen as finances diminish and a range of future insecurities become apparent. Humanity is indeed facing a serious situation.
In modern life as we have long known it, emphasis has been placed on a drive to explain things, prove things and fix things. We have been focused on control and to seek outside our self. But now, the throb of life, the ups and downs of life and the thrills of life speak in undertones of a new urgency. Are we feeling out of control? A bit lost, scared and confused?
What is it all about? Why this current world challenge? What is the purpose? What is truth? How? Where? Who? Even more questions and the urge for answers as frustration, anger and blame rise in crescendo from a whisper to a shout – to be met only with silence. From the depths of the raucous din of everydayness, in all this chaos, it is really the quiet inner self, filled with life questions, that is calling to be heard.
So then come more questions and what are we really seeking? The ‘old’ ways and the world we thought we knew? Or is it security – or prevention and cure? Or is it fulfilment? Or our happiness, peace … contentment … resolution … wholeness maybe? And that little voice inside us says again…
‘the answers won’t come from out there, but from within yourself’.
So maybe now’s the time. That time perhaps previously spent on matters that seemed important then has now become a little more available as time for reflection. Time to pause and consider and remember how we began and how we have travelled since. To question our beginnings … who was this person when I was seven … or seventeen … or twenty-seven … who is this person now? And we might for a moment feel even more afraid!
Because of course, it’s fear – anxiety – that detracts from contentment and peace and robs us of the security of happiness. In other words, fear gets in the way of all that is good. So, before seeking answers we may first need to manage fear, that human reaction that holds us back and can spoil our own life and the lives of those around us.
To know our ever-changing ‘self’ is a journey without end. It takes time! And commitment and lots of stumbles along the way.
But now is an opportune time to begin!
Let’s value our personal history, where we came from, who we were then and who we are now. And let’s truly hear, in times of quiet, the whispers within – the truth and value of the inner self.
Pauline McKinnon, July 2020
