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Editor: Teresa Proudlove Issue #003 Aug 21, 2004

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Table of Contents

1. Proceeding on Faith and Trust

2. Trust: Lessen Anxiety & Save Your Life!

3. Attending to Your Inner Teacher

Another month has blasted by and Steve and I are now “officially” married (although we have lived together for four years and called each other husband and wife.) Our marriage was an exceptional exercise in proceeding on faith and trust.

Our original idea for our small reception began as a get together in a restaurant; which then mushroomed into a gathering on a friend’s deck (they even rushed to build the stairs!); and ended by being held in the church hall – confirmed, none too soon, the Tuesday prior to our wedding Thursday! It was a test of faith (and nerves) to be sure.

The simple but lovely buffet was created – free of charge from the goodness of his heart - by a chef from England we met a week before our wedding! He was a friend of my cousin David visiting from England – who played the church organ for us wonderfully well – on two week’s notice. The two of them beautifully transformed our banquet tables into a delightful wedding spread. Such blessings!

The message I am sent repeatedly in this life is clear. Can I manage the obvious bits and pieces put in front of me each day and then, trust in the unfolding and timing of things? Can I let go of worrying over the details, the unknown, the uncertainties, the timing, and my inadequacies and hold the faith?

When I can hold the faith and trust that things have a way of working out in this life I feel less anxiety and stress. You might want to read “Acceptance it the Answer to All Our Problems.” I feel more peace, more solid, closer to my core somehow when I proceed on faith and trust. My small still voice within nudges me repeatedly each day, as each small eddy of work, wedding, kid, spouse, money anxiety arises. Often, I hear… Trust, Teresa… Trust.

Ah, such simplicity assures me this is the voice of my inner guide. Many times my prayers are answered as I am bid to… Trust, Teresa…Trust. This simple mantra helps me lay my worries down. Try it.

The next time you are caught in the whirlwind of self-doubt, uncertainty, fear (guaranteed to surface during career change) try using this simple mantra. Trust, (say your name)… Trust. Feel your anxieties easing, however marginal. As simple as this sounds it is imperative we practice managing our anxieties or they will endlessly destroy our peace and threaten our very lives! We’ve all lost far too many acquaintances and friends to heart attacks before age 50!

Through aspiring to trust – even amidst uncertainty – we are more able to let go of and hear our inner guide or teacher. As Parker J. Palmer in “Courage to Teach,” says, “We need to find every possible way to listen to that voice (within) and take its counsel seriously, not only for the sake of our work but for the sake of our own health as well…I am convinced that some forms of depression…are induced by a long-ignored inner teacher (guide) desperately trying to get us to listen…”

Parker clearly defines the importance of developing a relationship with our inner guide in the following few paragraphs, “How does one attend to the voice of the teacher within? …solitude and silence, meditative reading and walking in the woods, keeping a journal, finding a friend who will listen. I simply propose that we need to learn as many ways as we can of talking to ourselves.

That phrase, of course, is one we normally use to name a symptom of mental imbalance – a clear sign of how our culture regards the idea of an inner voice! But people who learn to talk to themselves may soon delight in the discovery that the teacher within is sanest conversation partner they have ever had.

That conversation does not have to reach conclusions to be of value: we do not need to emerge from talking to ourselves with clear goals, objectives, and plans. Measuring the value of inner dialogue by its practical outcomes is like measuring the value of a friendship by the number of problems that are solved when friends get together.

We attend to the inner teacher not to get fixed but to befriend the deeper self, to cultivate a sense of identity and integrity that allows us to feel at home wherever we are.” In this, we gain an inner authority which enables us to stand our ground in the midst of life’s complex forces. The more I attend to the whispers of my inner teacher the more solid and peaceful I feel.

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Reminders Remember: Be gentle with yourself. Listen to your guidance. Trust, my friend, trust.

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Thank your for your time. I hope you enjoyed this e-zine and found it useful. I look forward to hearing from you. So, my until next month’s issue…