Do you ever stress out over decisions? Or judge yourself for the choices you make?

Wherever you are along your own, unique path, knowing that you have free will along the way can be both empowering and scary at the personality level. Some people seem to be able to ignore their soul’s will without a single qualm, and others agonize over each and every choice they have to make. How you relate to yourself internally says a lot about where you are on your personal learning path. Wherever you are is Ok; at any point you can choose to use the tool of free will to achieve greater alignment with the will of your soul.

Here’s how free will works: You make a choice. There are natural consequences that occur as an outcome of your choice. Your internal feeling barometer will register positive, neutral, or negative feelings towards your results which you can then evaluate as information. When you act out of alignment with your soul’s will, you will register a feeling-level response ranging anywhere from mildly unpleasant to excruciatingly painful to let you know you’ve gone off-course. When you act in alignment with the will of your soul, life will feel peaceful and joy-filled on the inside, and you’ll feel good about your choice. Based on your experience, you will learn something to help you make your next choice.

From the place of free will, there are no right or wrong choices, only the choice you make and its natural outcome. No matter which way you choose in any situation, learning will result. The game is set up in a way to guide you toward the completion of your soul’s lessons so that you may fulfill your soul’s destiny.

But what fun would the game be without a little extra challenge! In Earth School, our free will also comes with urgings that are in direct opposition to the urgings of the will of our soul. This ego-based urging is what is known as ‘temptation’. Temptation is often illustrated as a little devil perched upon a person’s shoulder, with the voice of the soul as the angel on the other. While this image can be humorous, it is locked in good/bad, right/wrong reality. What is really taking place for us as humans is neither good nor bad, and our choices are not always so clear-cut.

Instead of picturing temptation as a little devil, I like to imagine temptation as a tray holding very rich, enticing foods that aren’t really that good for me. This tray is being passed right in front of my nose by an invisible server during the party of my life. The foods on the tray may look very appealing; they may even smell delicious. But deep down I always have the knowing that if I eat from that tray, I’m not going to feel well. Those foods are going to give me anything from a stomach ache to a major bout of food poisoning, depending upon what the choices are and how much I eat. I absolutely know that I will feel much better about myself and stay healthier if I can simply resist the urge to reach for what is on the tray.

How do I know those foods aren’t good for me? Naturally, I’ve tried them before! That is usually the way we humans learn – by trial and error, which only comes from personal experience. Once I tasted the foods from the tray of temptation, I had the experiential knowing that they made me sick. However, sometimes by the time I became aware of how a particular food made me feel, I was fully hooked on it. The challenge for me then was to learn to care enough about my own health and well-being to enable me to gather the strength to pull away from the lure of the unhealthy food.

Temptation can be viewed simply as a test to pass. If you ignore the will of your soul, and go with the impulse to give in to the tempting, ego-based choice, you will experience some sort of pain or suffering as a direct result – this is your feeling barometer’s way of letting you know you are off-course. This is neither good nor bad, just information. You absolutely will have the same platter of temptation pass by for another test, sometimes dozens or hundreds of times. It is as if the server of that particular tray learns of your craving and comes by more often asking, “Would you like another taste of this one?” The server is simply eager to please, and will not stop passing that tray in front of your nose until you complete your learning and make it clear that you no longer want anything to do with what it is offering.

Have you ever had to deal with a tray of temptation that was difficult to say ‘No’ to? How did you treat yourself while you were going through that lesson?

If you’ve ever been hard on yourself, I encourage you to apply lots of compassion. Stop stressing out over every decision, and begin to be gentle and loving with yourself, knowing that your free will choice is just a tool for growing and learning. Say, “Whichever way I choose is Ok. I am always learning, and personal experience is how I learn best.”

Many Blessings of Joy and Vibrant Freedom

Action Step ~ Let go of judging your decisions and see your free will choice as simply an opportunity to gain personal experience, which is how you grow. Declaration: “I now know that any choice I make is Ok; I am simply gaining experience about my lessons. I now choose to love myself, no matter what learning results from my decisions.”

Additional support: Listen to this 9-minute closed-eye process on accepting whatever choice you make as ‘Ok’; please refrain from driving while listening.

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