Today’s blog topic focuses on living in alignment. We will explore what alignment is, what alignment feels like, and how to live a life aligned.
Alignment is when our thoughts, choices, and direction operate from a place that honors our core values. Alignment is when we listen to our intuition and move through the world embodying authenticity. When we are aligned, our life will flow with ease, decision making becomes clearer, and we can walk in a way that is consistent with our path and our purpose. This is what alignment is. It is when we find meaning and vision. When we have direction and can act with confidence and courage as we move though our days. It is when our values determine how we show up in the world.
Being aligned encompasses all components of your life. You can live a life aligned with your values through showing up intentionally. Often, we will become unaligned when our focus and energy stems from unhealthy belief patterns and ways of being. Sometimes we can become unaligned when we are focusing on people pleasing and acting in a way to be liked or accepted, even if it goes against our own character or value systems.
We can become unaligned when cultural pressures push us to act in a certain way that is not congruent with our deepest longings and motivations.
We can become unaligned when we pursue things out of fear or shame, instead of from a place of peace and self-knowing. When we pursue money, fame, or material wealth, we may find a level of unfulfillment if those things come at the expense of our value systems. Maybe we seek material status to hide our insecurities. We may seek wealth out of a fear that we will never have enough. Maybe we seek fame because of a deeply held shame. Money, fame, and material items are not inherently wrong, but they can be distractions to our souls' deepest desires.
It can be hard to know what true alignment looks like. Say a person operates in their relationships from fear, maybe a person is with someone that they know is not the right fit but being alone is scary. If this person continues operating from fear, then they will never listen intuitively from a place of self-knowing or from seeing that they already have enough inside of them.
When we act from a place of love, openness, and self-awareness we can better make decisions that are rooted in confidence, and we will have a deeper understanding of our own needs and desires. When we live in alignment, everyone else that we engage with will benefit. Alignment isn’t selfish. It isn’t just focusing on what you need or want. But it is about how we show up with others, how we give to others, and what boundaries we create with others. Alignment can be saying “I value being there for my family”, and then acting in a way the reflects this desire through sharing time, showing up to important events, and being consistent. Alignment is knowing what you value so that when something comes your way you can have the confidence in knowing what path you should take.
Life is filled with an abundance of choices. Researchers say we make around 35,000 choices every single day. That is astounding. The more we know who we are, the more our choices can pull us in the right direction. Often, we act habitually and intuitively from this place of authenticity. But other times, we pause and are faced with two roads diverging. This is when we can connect to our internal compass. Where we can listen to our value system over fear. Where we can act with intention and understanding.
When we are unaligned we will feel unsettled, unfulfilled, possibly bored and confused. Rarely will we act impulsively from our emotions when we are coming from a place of alignment. It doesn’t stem from a place of fear, anger, frustration, envy, or sadness. Don't get me wrong, feeling those emotions are not a bad thing, and they are welcome, but when we are walking in alignment, we are walking from a place of being centered, content, and having clarity.
When we are aligned, we can move from a grounded place of understanding, and we can act in a way that is connected to a felt sense of our internal guidance.
So, with this in mind, I want to conclude with a therapeutic art activity that can be done to check in with yourself, and to take inventory of how aligned you feel.
Download my free PDF art therapy worksheet to help you turn inwards and process how aligned you are in this current season of life. This guided worksheet is a practical tool that will help you understand how aligned you are.
I hope this helps you to move from an intuitive and deeper sense of knowing.
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