Two in One — Our Dual Nature

Good versus evil. Black and white. High and low. Manic and depressed.

The cartoon of an angel on one shoulder and a devil on the other sums it up nicely — don’t you just feel torn in two sometimes? We are all plagued by a great schism — an unexplainable but nonetheless real feeling of duality. We feel like two beings bottled up into one. We feel like we are battling ourselves. We feel, sometimes, like we can’t trust ourselves — we might go and do something we didn’t mean to do.

Many a philosopher, scientist and physician has studied this dual nature. Why do we have two sides? Why are we bi-polar? What makes us doubt ourselves? Why do we have such powerful internal conflicts?

I have noticed that I’ve been feeling less “dual-natured” these days, but this is pretty new for me, so I started wondering why, now, I am feeling more unified.

I love how Abraham-Hicks explains it. We are two beings in one — a physical being and a non-physical being, which together make up the “total you.” We have an undeniable link to our higher selves, and so we feel a disconnect — a dis-ease, anxiety, fear or frustration — whenever the two sides of us are not in harmony.

Our higher self, or as Abe would say, our “broader inner you,” dwells in a place of complete appreciation — of our selves and people/things around us. When we are having fun, feeling good about ourselves and grateful for the things in our lives, our physical self is in alignment with our higher self.

Of course, life is like a multi-coloured messy ball of yarn, and our thoughts are rarely uniform — they are a mix of positive and negative, self-loathing and self-acceptance. However, when the balance of our thoughts is negative, such as it is when we consistently don’t like ourselves much, we are in disharmony with our higher self and that ever-present dual nature is strong. But when you can find a way to appreciate yourself, your “lower self” is in harmony with your higher self, and you feel more unified and less schizophrenic. I guess I’ve been liking myself fairly consistently, and having fun with friends lately, so that’s why I am feeling so peaceful/at one with myself.

Another way to think of it is ego. The ego is the voice of the disconnected self — the physical part that doesn’t like itself. If you can find ways to quiet the ego, then you’ll feel much more at-ease and healthy. Eckhart Tolle’s A New Earth is a fantastic book to read for help with that.

You know, I think that’s why being in love feels so great. When we are newly in love, we are full of appreciation for our lover, and they for us. Appreciation flows back and forth freely and we also, without realizing it, are appreciating ourselves. What you do to another, you do to yourself. Self-appreciation feels great and everything is looking up. However, if your self-esteem was low (before you fell in love), then you will eventually slip back into your pattern of not loving yourself, which causes you to stop loving your mate, and the feedback loop of appreciation is broken. The only way to fix it is to spend some time with yourself, liking yourself, and do whatever you can to accept and appreciate yourself more.

This is what I mean when I say it’s important to be self-centered. That’s not the same as being selfish; it is in fact, serving everyone in your life to be self-centered enough to love yourself and therefore be capable of loving others.

Self-appreciation is central to everything in our lives. If you can, catch yourself when you are critical and change your thoughts to more positive ones. Why not decide that you’re okay just as you are?! Celebrate your quirks and appreciate your body. The more you can appreciate yourself, the happier you’ll be!

Hearing from Your Intuition (Part 3)

Intuition is how your higher self speaks to you. It is a message or a feeling about what action to take to follow the best course of action for you. What sort of “best course of action?” The action that will help you thrive or grow the most, to help you fulfill your destiny or become a more enlightened being. Sometimes, it is the biggest “stretch” — it might involve major change or facing a fear. But isn’t that always where we grow the most?! 🙂

Detailed Messages/Knowing

The most powerful way that you can hear from your intuition is in a specific message from your higher self. This is usually more complicated than “yes” or “no,” and might be a detailed message or more of a “knowing.” You might:
out of the blue have an idea about how to proceed on a problem
– feel like you just found your life’s purpose
– learn about something new and feel uncannily drawn to it
– suddenly know what you should do next
– feel amazingly inspired to do something
– feel like you know that you will have all the resources you need to take this inspired action.

From my experience, this type of divine inspiration can strike at any time, and the more you listen to it, the more frequently it happens. I bet you can think of a time when this happened — when you suddenly just KNEW what to do. For me, this inspiration often comes first thing in the morning (or even before I am fully awake), so I try to keep a note pad nearby so I can jot down the idea.

Here are a few things that can make it happen quicker:
1. Acknowledge that you have intuition, and make it known — write it down in your journal, on a markerboard, vision board or wherever — that you want to connect to it more.
2. Tell someone (verbally, out loud) that you want to hear from your intuition and that you think you will get an answer to such-and-such (next course of action) soon.
3. As you try to solve some “problem,” rather than struggling for the answer, imagine you are loading all the data into an “intuition computer” — just collecting data, and waiting for the computer to spit out the answer. Let go of the struggle.
4. Pay attention to slight nudges/hunches. Feel the urge to take a different route home after work? Do it. Thinking about someone and wondering if you should call them? Do it.
5. Challenge yourself to do something outside your comfort zone, and then trust that you will have the resources to do it successfully. (For me, this was a 7-day solo kayak trip, and that is the first time I received a VERY clear message from my intuition. I have not been the same since!)

In general, our reality is a result of
– what kinds of thoughts we think
– what kinds of words we say, and
– what we do.

So, if you want your reality to include you hearing from your intuition, you can think about it (acknowledge/imagine, step 1 and 3 above), talk about it (step 2 above), and do things about it (step 4 and 5).

 
– The “Hearing from Your Intuition Series” –
Hearing from Your Intuition (Part 1) Feel the Answer | Hearing from Your Intuition (Part 2) Tapping Your Imagination | Hearing from Your Intuition (Part 3) Detailed Messages/Knowing | Hearing from Your Intuition (Part 4) Centering Yourself