True power is in devotion
…to go all the way with complete trust and love. Devotion is a conscious choice that can truly be made only from the depth of your own soul. To choose what pleases your soul, because it feels right, though it need not be rational. At the same time it excludes everything else that is not in alignment with the higher purpose of that devotion. So a choice always comes with leaving something out. But to say “NO” to someone or something, because you are saying “YES” to your own soul. To stay with it regardless of circumstances, or without any outside confirmation.
Devotion has no conditions.
Devotion is not for someone else.
Devotion is not for recognition.
Devotion contains freedom.
I believe that the soul needs devotion, because it gives life depth on an entirely new and more powerful level. To devote also means to take responsibility for truly staying present for yourself. To devote yourself to your health, your relationships or your mission in life, and from there a truly powerful creating begins to grow. Without it, emptiness, meaninglessness and aimless functioning can take hold of the soul. But when you devote yourself so that soul, body and mind align, an inner flame is lit that carries you through every storm and every darkness.
This is an unstoppable power inside you!
So reflect on how it is in your world:
Why is it so hard to devote yourself?
Why are people ready to suffer, but not to devote themselves?
Why is that power which comes out of the true energy of devotion not experienced?
In what follows I dive into looking at some of the obstacles that hold devotion back. You can travel with me and work out how it goes for you from this or that angle, whether you are floundering there or not.
But be honest with yourself!
And believe me, I know, it is not easy, because most of all people tend to lie precisely to themselves. The stories with which we deceive and brake ourselves every day are unbelievable. That is why I at least like to review them from time to time. Could I first identify one of the nonsense stories I tell myself, and then somehow swap it out or change its energy. These stories tend to be like old programmes that keep running somewhere underneath and consume resources, but never lead anywhere.
Superficiality. A level where many people spend their time, and waste their lives too. It is endlessly pleasant to spend your time with ever new things, events or people, but it is standing still and gives the soul nothing. Because the same themes, conversations and activities are repeated. Human relationships suffer a great deal from this, which is a pity.
What is the indicator that superficiality has taken over? It is simple. Life lacks any showing of vulnerability, any standing face to face with your own shadow, and there is constant wearing of masks, a fear of really being present as yourself.
As long as we keep others at a distance, we can never experience real closeness, and the soul fills with loneliness and a longing for a meaningful relationship.
But have you experienced the feeling when you have already eaten a lot of salt with someone and walked a long road of life together, and you still discover something new and interesting in them, when layers open under which lies the most beautiful diamond of the soul? For that you need trust, which is born slowly, and also devotion, presence, honesty, sincerity and courage.
These are relationships where you allow yourself to show up even when it is complicated or hard to be with yourself. Where you do not hide or try to make an impression, but simply be honest.
To acknowledge that being human is a layered onion, but not to fear the tears, rather to see in them the pearls of a gift. These are relationships in which you go through everything together.
Habit. Devotion is not merely a habit. There can be many habits and patterns of everyday life, but doing them consistently does not in itself create devotion. I can do the same work for years, but in the end that is not devotion. I can live for decades with the same person, but that is not devotion either. Habits are things that have happened over time. They are not voluntary choices.
Devotion, however, is a consciously made decision that exactly this choice is the only right one for me, and it does not matter at all what any third party thinks of it. The difference between habit and devotion lies in the courage to acknowledge your choice as the only right one for yourself.
Dependence. In devotion there is choice, and so it contains freedom.
When the freedom disappears, devotion turns into dependence.
Dependence arises because some need is not being met. It is worth asking what it actually is that we are lacking in that moment. To hang on to something because there is no courage, will or self-confidence to be present in yourself.
Everyone has their own dependencies, whether we admit it to ourselves or not. Their problem lies in the fact that with dependence I give my power away to something or someone else, and then it seems that life is no longer in my own hands. There is no longer the freedom to choose or not to choose, what remains is a screaming need.
Its root, though, is elsewhere, and I strongly encourage you to look deep into your own soul to see what emptiness some dependence in your life is filling.
Dependence on the screen and on easily available dopamine is one of the biggest problems, taking shamefully many hours out of some people’s days. Whether it is a glowing screen from which you cannot retrieve your attention, because one more episode has to be watched or important letters need sending. In truth, in that case the person simply lacks the personal boundaries that would help them hold themselves.
But even lovely and useful things can become a dependence that robs you of power and strength. For instance, when I started doing tea ceremonies at home every morning at five, it was an indescribably great power that I discovered. But it happened that after several years of morning tea, when it was not hard to wake up and there were no other obstacles, because it was pure self-charging and supported creating change and being in connection with myself perfectly. Until at one moment I understood that this was no longer a choice, but pure dependence. The body needed that little caffeine from the tea, and the mind needed that moment of being with myself. It was precisely because of the latter that an empowering meditation with tea had become my grating need to take time for myself.
It takes courage to notice and acknowledge in yourself the place where you no longer stand on your own feet and a dependence has become a crutch. A situation can always be changed by going deeper still and being even more honest with yourself.
Fears and doubts and self-sabotage are a proper compote of obstacles. If you devote yourself to nothing, you also never have to feel the fear that someone will criticise you, take offence or even condemn you. So it is better to keep finding substitute activities than to truly devote yourself, hoping that maybe something “right and good” will come from somewhere one day. The same is done with human relationships, a fear of showing your true self both to yourself and to the other, so it is easier to keep changing the people around you. If you devote yourself to no one, the losses are not too great.
Fear and doubt only take your strength away and poison your body. There is simply no need for it. Everyone deserves to experience that they are valuable and important, and it all starts from the ground inside you.
Whether that devotion is to the mission of the soul here on earth, or to a relationship, or to health. The decision to devote yourself is only one step. After that you also have to act for it. To stand face to face with difficulties. To be soft with yourself, but honest. Devotion needs time, and also a readiness that the end point may never be reached, and that the journey continues regardless.
Devotion is first of all allowing yourself to admit that something greater is genuinely important. And to be ready, for its sake, to find the courage to arrive, at least on the journey. What is interesting is that when I truly said “Yes” to the Wolf Spirit tradition, an alignment took place in my soul at such a deep level that from there the wish to devote myself in other areas of life was born easily. So I really do believe in the power of Devotion and in its strong creating. First tune the energy, and then matter aligns with it.
You only have to choose your own rhythm, be patient and loving towards yourself and towards the world.
I believe that with goodness you always get further!
Until we meet!