#449 Am I in Good Balance?

Jeanne Marie Ketchel
Channeled by Jan Ketchel

Dear Jeanne,
Do you have a message of guidance for us today?

Look inward as you continue seeking balance in all aspects of life. Even though you may teeter on the edge of the precipice, look inward for the true balance that will keep you from toppling over the edge. Look inward for the calm knowing that comes to the man who understands that there is no other wellspring of life, and contentment, than that which is found within in the stillness of balanced calm living, with love and compassion binding all connections.

Do not hesitate to ask the self often this week: Am I in good balance? Simply in presenting the self with this question so will your attention be directed and placed upon a worthy pursuit. Ask this as often as is necessary of the self, with intent to constantly be aware of the self in all circumstances. Too often is balance attempted by achieving a superior stance, or by negating or departing from aspects of life that are truly necessary to experience. Balance requires that every aspect of life be taken into consideration as a possible true part of life to be partaken in, lived, enjoyed, and yet in such a way as to not overdo, over consume, or go out of calm and fulfilling balance. You see, balance does not mean giving up that which life freely offers, but it does mean maintaining a mature presence.

Maturity is understanding that life is meant for growth of spirit and for evolution of soul. A priority in every life should be this knowledge, underlying all aspects of life, and as the basis for every word, action, and deed. As you continue your practices of awareness and balance, do not forget that you are an energy being who is seeking evolution from your reincarnation cycles. With this knowledge underscoring everything you do, perhaps your place of balance may be more steadily achieved, as purpose becomes focused on evolution of spirit energy, over all other purposes.

Once acquiescence to spirit growth is acceptable to you, perhaps your way in life may not appear so troublesome, so precipitously precarious, or so defeating. With focus on true purpose, to evolve, so may your purpose in this lifetime be achieved based on spirit intent as well, rather than on the comforts of the material world. The physical world is but your school, your center of learning, and your teacher. But your true world is one of energy, and that is what you must also keep in mind as you continue to live balanced lives.

I like to remind you of this fact at regular intervals, My Dear Ones, bringing you back to your awareness of self as energy above all else. This aspect of self can get so buried beneath the trappings of life, and I use that word in the true sense, for life can trap you in what it offers, stealing and burying your sense of self as anything but burdened and heavily weighed down by life and its difficulties.

Today, I remind you that you are an energy being. Your life upon that earth is a learning experience. Your job is to maintain your awareness of all things, all people, and all aspects of life, as energy. And your goal is to learn balanced detachment as you live in that world, yet as you also seek to disengage from it. That may sound quite tricky, but it can be done, even while you live and work, and love and play in the USA. Learning what it means to live a balanced life in such a situation is quite a challenge. Are you living in balance?

#448 Chuck’s Place: Mother, Father, Where Art Thou?

Welcome to Chuck’s Place, where Chuck Ketchel expresses his thoughts, insights, and experiences!

Today, I am performing idea alchemy. In an effort to arrive at the “prima materia” of these two archetypes, mother and father, I have distilled these entities into their single essences. Perhaps this can be challenged on many grounds, but I invite you to suspend judgment and take this journey with me, to discover mother and father inside us all. Who are they; where are they; and how do they get along inside you?

I begin with mother. Mother is our body. We come from mother, having once been physically merged with her, as one, then delivered to the world in our own body, our mother. Our motherbody carries all the knowledge of where we came from, and where we may evolve to, in every cell. The wisdom accrued through countless eons of life in the flesh is stored within our motherbody, the ultimate motherboard. The structures, systems, balances, healings, gleaned through centuries of evolution, all the secrets of survival and material manifestation, are wholly contained and known within our motherbody. Our motherbody knows only truth, records and registers all facts of life, and our life in particular. Our motherbody deals in concrete physical fact, communicating truth through sensation and emotion. To know our mother is to experience our body, understand its communications, and attend to its needs and requirements.

Father is mind, total abstraction, devoid of any material substance. Father is thought, interpretation, and idea. For idea to manifest, mother and father must cooperate or join. Idea cannot manifest without matter (or mother). Idea can create a blueprint, but without matter there will be no creation. My ideas for this essay, from my father mind, will not manifest without my body’s participation, to give form and substance to abstract thought, as I physically write.

Every man and every woman is mother in body and father in mind. When we think, schedule, set goals, and make decisions, we operate from father, with our ability to abstract. Our mother self is always active, balancing and releasing energies and messages in the form of physical sensations, emotions, instincts, and direct knowing or intuition, which is instinctive knowing not mediated by thought. These functions can manifest as dream, image, automatic movement, or feelings. Mother presents impulse and image to father-thought, to be converted into plans of action. In these instances, abstraction is generated by body knowledge, where, in fact, the mind is not the architect of thought, but instead the converter, to thought and plan, of mother’s impulse. Of course, in many instances, pure abstract thinking dominates the body. For instance, a diet, an exercise regimen, a sleep schedule, clothing decisions, grooming behaviors, the use of drugs for medicinal or recreational purposes, are all at the behest of mind deciding what body will be subjected to. Western civilization, perhaps beginning with the Christian innovation, which decided that mind is more trustworthy than body, has increasingly supported mind over matter. This alienation of mind from body leaves many people disconnected from their physicality and all its accumulated wisdom, looking instead to science as the ultimate guide to decision making.

As with any family, the relationship between mother and father is fundamental to the health of the family. When we examine the health of our own being we must explore the relationship between our mother body and father mind. This can be a tricky assessment. For instance, a muscular, well-toned body may reflect a cooperative relationship between mind and body, or might equally represent a controlling father mind, completely dominant of, and alienated from, the true needs of motherbody. An overindulged motherbody might represent an alienation from body, both necessary and directed by mother. The body will often, when assaulted by trauma, register and absorb the experience in a body part, which it protectively numbs for the sake of survival. Motherbody has learned much about survival. Every living being is the product of billions of successful survival adaptations discovered over time, which is evolution. These are stored in the cells of the body, as archetypal strategies of automatic action to be released, as needed, to survive. Sometimes, some parts of the body are sacrificed for overall survival of the body, regardless of the resulting limitations. Sometimes, motherbody pushes awareness completely out of the body to survive. Ultimately this can result in an over-reliance on father mind, which only has abstract ideas of what body is, or may not even be aware of body at all. Realize, however that this extreme alienation of mind from body might be the necessary balance for survival. Often, motherbody waits until the appropriate moment to reunite mind with body, through the form of physical triggers that return awareness to the body and, in a successful recapitulation, restores optimal unity of mind and body.

Another consequence of the interaction of mind and body is that the artifacts of successful strategies for survival, that originate from mind, end up in the historical record of motherbody and become available as direct knowledge in the future, through motherbody/the home of the archetypes. An example might be where the world rests at this moment in time. By all objective accounts, we find ourselves on the brink of destruction. We have elected a new president, a new father. He now begins a redirection of energy and resources, as manifested through changed economic, social, and environmental policies, which may, in fact, lead to a successful adaptation to facilitate continued survival. The experiences of our time will be recorded in our motherbodies, becoming available to the future evolution of our planet. Here father becomes mother, as what originates as idea becomes manifest in body and is carried into the future through the body’s eternal registry, which becomes available, through mother, to future generations. Of course, it is likely that the impulse to act, leading to the current change of direction, came from motherbody herself. Certainly the breakdown of mother earth has generated images and emotions that have awoken consciousness, or father, to the need for change. Ultimately, mind and body are converging here and are, in fact, inseparable, and may be the ultimate energetic prima materia, as one.

I return you now to the exploration of your own inner family.

Until we meet again,
Chuck

#447 Your Kingdom is Complete

Jeanne Marie Ketchel
Channeled by Jan Ketchel

Dear Jeanne,
After your discussions of the archetypes within us all, and in combination with Chuck’s further exploration of them in “Chuck’s Place,” we are gaining a deeper understanding of how they operate in all of us. I realize that we are loaded with different archetypes that appear when called forth by circumstances in our lives, though we may be dominated by a single archetype over all others. Can you offer us some guidance on how to recognize our dominant archetypes, first of all, and then how to achieve a better balance of them? Do we need to live them all in a lifetime, or do they each take turns living more fully throughout our many lifetimes? I feel like I have more questions on the subject, but let’s start with those.

My Dear One, my preferred metaphorical method is the simple fairy tale when speaking of such hidden aspects of the human psyche. As you know, I have presented the king upon his throne quite often. This is, of course, an expression of the father archetype that resides in all of you. No one is free of this king. Though he may play a minor role for a great part of your life, so is he present in some form. If you feel he is absent, as if he has abdicated, it merely means that you have not constructed the perfect father archetype yet, for one reason or another.

Usually, absence of one archetype is due to over-dominance of another. So, let’s bring in the mother, the maternal archetype, in the shape of a queen upon her own throne. Often a queen rules without a king, or perhaps she rules side by side with her king, in harmony. She may even be the more powerful of the two, or a quiet but sensible aspect of the pair. Such characteristics are true for all archetypes, for they can play many aspects of a role throughout a lifetime, depending on the circumstances of a life. These two roles, the king and queen, the father and the mother, the dominant male and the dominant female, exist in all of you.

In order to study your own dominant archetype, must you be prepared to look, with utter honesty and some deep investigation, at how you tend to operate, first in your uppermost role in life and then in all the other roles you play, or are forced to take on in life. Are you more likely to be dominated by kingly decisions, the all-knowing father who must proceed forward on his path, no matter what comes to interrupt? Do you tend to push aside the signs that point you to your heart over your head, asking for an appointment with the king in order to plead for gentleness and mercy? How does your king act upon hearing disturbing facts and matters of utmost importance? Does he seek to gain control, at all costs, proceeding on his predetermined path, no matter what comes to suggest that another way might perhaps lead to fulfillment? Is it difficult to relinquish your power, your self as ruler-at-all-costs, even when you realize it means that your spirit is dying inside you? Do you stick to your promises, even when they no longer hold any value? These questions, though I ask them of the king, may also be applied to any other dominant archetype. There are so many more questions to ask your self as you deepen your quest, but also your respect, for each aspect of the self and the role each plays in your character make-up.

Is your maternal side, your queen, more dominant than your king? You must also acquiesce to the fact that such roles are not gender specific, but that each of you, male or female, may be dominated by the archetype of the opposite sex in more than one way. It is not unusual for women to carry the king upon their shoulders as they make their way in the world, for it may be necessary to do so in order to secure a place of authority. Even the most gentle of mothers may also be the king in the family relationship, though she may see herself as mother earth herself.

The questions to ask your self, regarding the various archetypes, are not restricted to who is dominant. In order to achieve balance must one be able to acquiesce to the fact that, hidden inside, many archetypes are fighting for dominance. Many receive the privilege of dominance simply because they won the battle a long time ago and have remained in power for many years, while the other archetypes have not had an opportunity to participate in life due to circumstances beyond their control. To achieve balance must one be prepared to investigate, quite truthfully, how one operates in life, looking at the many roles one has played, been forced to play, or chosen to play in a lifetime.

The process of recapitulation, that I speak of so often, allows investigation of the self based on review of past actions, noticing the dominant archetypes at different times in life, understanding the necessity of such an archetype at the time, and proceeding now with allowing long hidden or repressed aspects of the self to live more fully. This is a deep process, and it is also a deepening process, in that it allows for greater knowledge of self in action. By allowing reflection of self, open and honest reflection, to become a partner in your life, so may you find that your actions are no longer simply reactions, but become serious endeavors to maintain balance, integrity, and a striving for rightness of being upon that earth, at all times, and not just when confronted with challenges or discord.

When placed in an uncomfortable position may you often find your self reacting in a usual manner. This is how you will discover your dominant archetype, or at least the one who appears when confrontation is the name of the game. You see, it gets very complicated because your dominant archetype in one situation may be asleep in another! In order to more fully discover the archetypes that reside inside of you, I will once again refer you to your mirror on the wall. Request of your self, as you look into your mirrors in life (i.e., the people around you), that you pause a moment in your assessments of them, in your judgments of them, your so well known answers for them, and reflect upon the aspects of the self that they offer you such a clear understanding of. The kings in your life, the queens, princes, princesses, the knights in shining armor, and the ladies in waiting, as well as the children, the big babies, and the spoiled brats, all show you the propensities and possibilities that lie within the deeper self.

Not only do you give your self the gift of introspection by asking your self, where in me is my own big baby, for example, but you allow your self to begin a more compassionate existence. Each day, as you practice your self reflection, questioning your deeper selves about their true roles, so do you gain a better balanced understanding of self, and thus are you able to, consciously, begin to change, but also to love the self for the many parts you have had to play in life. Perhaps such self reflection will allow for a more compassionate allowance of your inner archetypes to join you in life more frequently, as you reposition your court and your kingdom with not only a new balance, but with new voices, opinions, and with respect and true regard for the importance of each aspect of self and the roles that each has played so well throughout your lifetime.

Perhaps you have had to play a certain role for a long time, yet it no longer fulfills you, for it has played its part, and the play is no longer running on Broadway. Perhaps your old role had just become boring, as you repeat your same lines over and over again, and you begin to notice that even you do not like this role any longer, never mind the fact that the world around you no longer needs such a character. I suggest that your process in life is, ultimately, to change, to change the self, to grow, and to evolve. By this, I mean that you must not play the same role, one role in a lifetime. You must dare the self to shift many times, when appropriate, and when challenged to do so in order to evolve.

Evolution means meeting your challenges, allowing the self to change as a result of them, shifting and growing in all aspects of life, in order to aspire to a newer level of fulfillment. In order to open the doors and windows of your castle, to your inner self and your full psyche, so must you desire the fresh air that will come wafting in to wake you from your slumber and your hibernation. You must desire to grow, to evolve, and to proceed into the unknown. But keep in mind that you are never alone; you are full of the resources offered by the many archetypes that reside inside you all. Your kingdom is complete, but your journey may just be beginning, as you rearrange your stores of power, and seek a better balance, so that all appropriate players are present and accounted for as you continue to explore the possibilities they hold within, even as you retire those who have done their jobs so well up until now.

Who do you wish to be when you grow up? Where will you point your mirror next? Look inward, turning the mirror upon the self and ask: where are the doors and windows so I may open them? Where is the fresh air? What direction does it come from? What does it stir awake within me? Who wishes to sleep now? Who wishes to awaken? All aspects must have their playing time, yet only those most appropriate for an evolving life will, ultimately, get the part.

But it is up to each of you, as you live out your life, to determine who is going to mature and grow with you, and who is going to nestle down inside and hibernate deep within the castle walls, already played to perfection. And yes, many aspects of self may have already been played out in other lifetimes, or they may appear in lifetimes to come. In present life, may they go unexplored, as yet unknown aspects of self, not necessary for this time on earth, or already long ago dominant, and now no longer necessary.

I end now with this idea: perhaps your quest for the truth of self is not too far hidden from your knowing? Perhaps you do not need to look or ponder too far? Perhaps it is quite blatantly apparent in your life, in all that you are presented with each day? In each present moment, are you perhaps being asked to change your self, to shift your archetypal standard bearer, and allow another to lead you to a new place of fulfillment?

#446 The New King of Innocence

Jeanne Marie Ketchel
Channeled by Jan Ketchel

Dear Jeanne,
Do you have guidance for us today?

My Dear Ones, do not hesitate to go innerly, to your soft self, your sweet self, so readily available and waiting for connection. This aspect of self is resident in all of you, though you may not address this part of your self in quite the same way that I do. I speak today of innocence, and this is a true and ready aspect of all of you, though you may have buried this under your years of life upon that earth. It is time now to excavate it and reconnect to it, but also to use this aspect of self more fully now, as you progress through life.

When great change is called for so is it also necessary to replace the king upon the throne, for the old king will not carry you forward upon his old steed, his armies tired and weakened by their struggles to uphold an old ideal that no longer holds any promise. Look to your self now for the new energy of change, for it too resides in you along with your innocence, two aspects of self awaiting your discovery. Innocence holds energy, light, and the ability to remain open to what is to come as you proceed now into the unknown, into your changing world.

I speak metaphorically, as always, yet do I also speak of true facts of the self, for all of you hold this innocence at bay, reluctant to release it into your reality. You fear it will be harmed or damaged by exposure to the rudiments of life upon that earth, but you forget that the old world is tumbling down. The old world that forgot about the existence of innocence and goodness, in all beings, is crumbling, leaving behind nothing but dust and rubble at your feet. The new world rising does not call for old fears now, but for hopeful enterprises, based on truth, on the connection of all beings, one to another, and on the underlying innocence of spirit that resides in all of you.

Do not look upon another as your enemy or your foe, as your adversary or your oppenent, but look upon that being as comprised of all that you too hold within you. Realize that just as you can have access to your innocence so can that being as well. Your course in life now must be resolution of, and acquiescence to, truth. Do you not find your truths being exposed to you now, as your life is reduced to the bare essentials of necessity and desire? Are you not able now to point to that which is of utmost importance to you, at this moment in your life?

This is a time of revelation and by that I mean that truths are being revealed to you, either by sudden exposure or because you have long sought them. Now is the time when these truths will show up at your door step and ask you to befriend them and accept them into your knowing. They ask for acquiescence to them, for only in so doing will you be able to discover how to proceed toward using your innocence properly, to guide you without the old fears, the old fragments of desire or supposed needs dragging you down or holding you stuck. As truths are revealed, so are you offered a taste of your innocence and the opportunity to accept it as your new power, your new king upon your throne, your inner throne of self. Your actions and decisions, in order to shift with the changing world, must be made from this inner innocence. You see: inner and innocence both reside inside each of you. They have been pushed down for many years as you have made your way through life, achieving and succeeding on many levels.

Now however, as your adult mature self knows, so well, you must have balance and you must be accountable in your world for every word, action, and deed. Your adult self knows, so fully, that true actions, true words, and true deeds must be the framework of who you are, at all times. This adult self must not be deserted, yet must this adult self move aside and make room now for the new energy of deeper truths to sit beside it upon the throne. The king must rule now from deeper truths, from the long repressed and hidden truths of innocence, rekindling now the stories of old that hold the energy of youthful vigor and daring.

So for today, I suggest that you ask your adult self, your resident king, to step down, or to move aside, or to relinquish to, even just a little bit, the inner new king of innocence who holds such truths of self firmly in his grasp. I do not mean to imply that a takeover or mutiny is at hand, or should be perpetrated, but definitely a friendly takeover would be a means of breaking down the doors of old and revealing what treasures lie waiting inside.

As I speak in metaphors, so must you relate their meaning to your own lives, My Dear Ones. I speak of finding your truths of spirit and allowing the energy of that inner spirit to guide you. Though your adult king self may fear the future and the demise of the old ways, so is your inner innocence a more truthful guide than any other available. This is the time to resurrect your inner self and allow it to lead you upon your truthful path. That is what is most important now, as the uncovering continues, and the dismantling reveals that there is much to rebuild with. Do not be frightened by the truths you discover, they are leading you to your next place of residence, inside the inner self, to the Inn of Innocence.

#445 Your Path is Rich

Jeanne Marie Ketchel
Channeled by Jan Ketchel

Today, a Reader asks a question about spiritual awakenings and finding true path.

Dear Jeanne,
I once had a conversation with the divine, God, perhaps angels, I don’t really know or don’t remember, but it has stayed with me for many years. I was a child, maybe a teenager, when I had this dream. This energy was telling me how nothing was an accident. The dream showed me the expanse of the universe and how guided we all are. It was spoken that, after each birth, the baby is programmed to forget because if she remembered then the work would not get done. I recall accepting my duties, my “contract,” with great excitement and I recall being excited to get down there (to earth) and get it done so I could come back “home.” I had no hesitation, no second thoughts, just a pure joy to be able to serve. I also remember, at the time this was revealed to me, how important it was that I remember, and I wondered why I was allowed to remember, seeing as we are “programmed” to forget. For many years I would forget and then re-remember this dream, and in my mind it is very clear, very real, and it is the thread that has kept pulling me back onto my journey. I have never revealed this to anyone, maybe because I did not want to be met with doubt, and it is certainly easier to write this experience rather than try to articulate it. I am certain now, after recent events and synchronicities, that this was a real experience, that I was meant to remember it in this lifetime. After reading some of the book, “Sacred Contracts” by Carolyn Myss, I realize that this was my glimpse into enlightenment, my spiritual awakening. It is the single moment that I draw upon and keep remembering. I know it is significant and, yet, I need or want validation. I also would like to know when, or how, I can open myself up for another one. Is it possible that an experience like this can happen more then once in a lifetime? Also, there are many things that I want to “do,” but how do I know what my true path is? This has been a struggle and a question for me for so long, and so I am just flowing right now, accepting my duties as being a stay-at-home mom, and loving it, but I know there is more, writing a book, opening a business, becoming a fitness model… you get the picture. How do you know what your true path is? And it seems to me that not all paths “look” spiritual.

Thank you for your love and insights.
D

My Dearest Reader, your experience, as described, is indeed an opportunity for spiritual awakening. Many such opportunities may be offered in a lifetime, until your progress is assured and your mission accepted. Though many disregard such information, your own spirit latched onto never forgetting, which is vital awareness training. Such an experience has marked your path.

Do you not see that your true path is the path you are now on? As you search for meaning and experience life as a young mother, so are you being shown all that you now need in order to progress on a path of spirit. Your early dream experience did indeed alert you to many truths that remain buried in the physical body, and in the psyche, until unleashed by circumstances or profoundly moving experiences.

Until the experience is accepted, and acquiesced to, there may be many such awakenings, but even the most clearly defined explanation for life and purpose are often dismissed as mere dreams, rather than deep insights. From your description of your self, I gather that you are not one to dismiss such dreams as mere trivia, but that you are indeed quite awakened, and were so at a young age. Perhaps you have had many other such awakenings in your life, though your awareness was not as attuned as during this episode that you describe? Perhaps you did not need another awakening jolt after that grand one you received? Or perhaps you have not truly wanted another yet?

There are many reasons why spiritual awakenings are presented, many forms in which they are presented, and for what purposes, based on where you are now in your life. Your latest awakening was in your birth-giving process. For if you ponder your experience, from other than that of manual/physical labor (ha! ha!), so will you understand it in the context of a spiritual experience.

I can only say that, yes, many awakenings are offered, but not always of the sort that you have described until you are ready to receive them. You see? In your innocence were you allowed access to such knowledge, for in your innocence could you capture it and keep it safe. The information you received was not only granted to you, but your child self was available to receive it and also to capture it for a lifetime. In so doing were you offered an entry into spiritual pondering of life as much greater than that which is right before the eyes.

That is what you must remain aware of now as well. Experiences of awakening, and of other worlds, are offered in many ways throughout your lifetime, yet is your place in life an important factor in whether or not you are available to receive them. I gather that your attention now is quite focused on your motherhood, your child, your marriage, and your self growth. But if you are honest with your self, you know that you must remain in the world of mother now more fully. Perhaps you are feeling that as your child grows, becoming more active, more demanding, and needing more of your time, that you will lose connection to your spirit self? Perhaps you fear a darkness ahead, as you find your self further embedded in the process of marital discord or harmony, as life progresses as it should? Do you wish for more time for the self, while knowing that your duties as mother and wife are of ultimate importance right now?

I do not mean to imply that you are confused, but I do point out that you are exactly where you should be. For it is the process of learning to become the maternal figure that your life, obviously, has laid out for you as the path to now be on.

In order to fulfill your true path, so must you embrace your budding self, while at the same time embracing your burdening self. Your maturing self is fully capable of taking on the tasks and challenges of motherhood, for they are quite adequate for learning everything you will need to know about the secrets of life that you yearn so greatly for knowledge of. Your path is rich. Your life, though at times tiresome and even unclear as to its future, is fertile and offering quite a plethora of gifts, spiritual, material, and even energetically inclined awakenings.

Look upon your child as your guide, even as you look upon her as your responsibility. Do not hide your spirit self from her, for it is your duty, as a spiritual being, to allow her innocent child self to trust her own experiences as they are presented to her. She is also the mirror of your own innocence. As you watch her discovering the world, remind your self of your own initiations into life, observing how she experiences it in the company of you, who also are her mirror. Your job as mother is a fully spiritual experience, My Dear One, though it is also steeped in the necessities of your every day life.

I bid you turn your head more often to the knowledge your child holds and may reveal to you as she grows, speaks, and articulates her experiences of life, trusting you and your permission to discover that all experiences are valid, necessary, and spiritually based. Your child and you share a path now, teacher and student both, as you reciprocally teach and learn what life is about and what it has in store for you both.

Your future holds many gifts, as does your present. Your awakenings are available, more real than you may notice. It is how you elect to interpret the events in your life that matters. That is how you will discover your next step along your path and the direction to take. You see? How you interpret your life’s unfolding is key to how you will proceed, making choices and understanding the meaning of all that you are provided with, each day, the little things and the big things.

Your gifts are many, your life abundant with signs, synchronicities, guidance, and purpose. Your attempts to remember your vision will always remind you of your innocence, but do not forget that you still have your innocence available to you. Allow your child self to reawaken alongside your own child, even as you remain her mother. Your innocence awakened, and your trust in it, will allow for new interpretations of your experiences in life, enlightening you once again.

Allow your innocence to guide you. Watch your young child for clear-cut examples of how to do that. Accept your role now as guide to her, but also as receiver of guidance. Each day is a new awakening of your innocence, as you go now forward, hand in hand, learning once again what life is all about, accompanying innocence inside you and outside you.

I suggest that you do not ponder too far into your future as to what you want to be when you grow up, as your question regarding your true path in that life is concerned. Your true path is the one you walk now. Your awareness of now, of your tasks and challenges of now, will lead you to your future, as you remain impeccable in your trust of spirit and your role as maternal guide, while reconnecting with that child self, who was once so awakened to the truth of a spiritual journey.

Good Luck! Your path is clear. You see?

Chuck Ketchel, LCSWR