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To Soar is to see.
Without blinders placed intentionally or unknowingly by those who have raised us.
Without filters placed by the culture in which we are raised.
More frequently in the past handful of years, a new vantage point is regularly included in films of all genres to set the scene of a place, that of a drone’s-eye-view of a natural or urban environment in which the characters find themselves. Giving us, the viewer, a perspective so close, yet lofted above just enough to give perspective of scenery the characters find themselves surrounded by entirely, yet so much they cannot see due to their limited viewpoint.
Such a perspective, one of unlimited views, above and beyond borders, property lines, tree lines, fences and walls often prompts a response of the onlooker (at least in me) a sense of awe in the vastness, the beauty, the possibility newly seen. The clarity and clear line of sight finally witnessed.
However, when we are in the thick of something, on the ground and living it, it is near impossible to know what lay beyond the moment and the situation that we find ourselves if we have never seen with our own eyes such a view from an elevated and slightly removed perspective.
When it comes to choosing to soar, it often does have to be a choice, our choice, because, as shared at the introduction of this post, blinders and filters, not chosen by us, are placed upon us as we begin our lives and will remain unexamined unless we soar. We usually don’t even know they exist and may even become quite fond of them if they provide us security of any sort – acceptance, approval, etc., but, and here is where the beginning of our relationship with ourselves is, a self-trust begins that wants to guide us to our genuine source of fulfillment if we will listen and heed what we hear from within ourselves.
You have always had and will always have an inner truth that wishes to guide you to realizing your true self and thus unleashing possibilities and opportunities for you to cease that will align and dance with the gifts you have been uniquely given. What you do with these gifts will be entirely up to you should you choose to not be limited by outside forces. Whatever you choose to do, by simply knowing you are contributing positively and that what you do energizes you are the two guide posts that will carry you forward well. But you must listen closely, and you must trust it without knowing what will unfold. Trust the nudgings.
What to do when you feel a nudge? First, you must let yourself soar.
Why? So that you can see.
Sometimes we don’t know we aren’t soaring or haven’t soared because how we are living is being applauded and we are being accepted for the life we are living, but if there is any inkling, any discomfiting feeling within you that you cannot shake, it is your inner voice nudging you to explore beyond where you find yourself (and it is always subtle for quite some time until it has to scream and shout which will often come in the form of something unwanted taking place in your life to give you a good shake).
Nudging you to do what, you may be wondering? Nudging you to simply set yourself free so that you can see, and in order to see, you need to permit yourself to soar. Which also means you will have to let go of some or many of the attachments which provide security but may not want you to see other possibilities, other ways of living that will speak to you in a way only you will understand.
When you bravely let go, this is when you can soar. This is when you begin to see with more clarity than you could have ever done had you remained where you were, and this is when the ahas have space to be experienced.
Sharing from my own experience, sometimes (but not always) the ahas take years, even decades to sink in and for us to take clear and decisive action, but the only reason you were able to have the ahas was due to seeing clearly, finally seeing the entire picture.
At the initial moment of seeing all that you witnessed by choosing to soar, you may not have known what you were seeing, but you still saw it because you courageously set yourself free to do so. And if you let all that you witnessed dance around in your mind and being, at the right time, a time you cannot predict, often another event will occur and marry itself to all of the new information and experiences you have had, you will then see with a pristine clarity a beautiful truth that will provide direction, perhaps validation of a choice you made intuitively without concrete evidence, but now the truth has revealed what you knew in your heart to be true at the time, and you will be reminded why choosing to soar made all the difference.
As I reflect on my own life, I now know that it was when I finally set myself free from limiting situations, relationships and paths, that it was then, and only then (so after I dared and without guarantee or assurances of what I would find), that I gained an awesome clarity. The nudging began speaking when I was a young girl in my teens and have never stopped, and I am ever so thankful I listened then and continue to listen today.
The clarity would sometimes be about the situation I had just left, but at other times it would also be about the direction I needed to go to be fulfilled and find an outlet for what I could uniquely give or what I needed to still learn in order to fulfill whatever I had the potential to eventually do. But first, I had to honor the inkling, the nudging that came from within. I had to acknowledge that something was tugging at me, saying, this place isn’t for you, either at this moment or ever, and I would then find the gumption and the self-trust to make a change. To dare to trust that the answers would come, so long as I let myself soar so that I could find them and see them with clarity.
Kate Northrup’s words ring true when she wrote “When we go first, the universe responds.” And yep, it will be scary at first if we have never made such a move, but with each move we make that asks us to be brave and step into the unknown following a nudge from within that is followed by clarity no matter how small or large (but always significant and helpful), each subsequent choice we make will come from a strengthened self-trust because we will have witnessed that through setting ourselves free to soar, that is when we see what the next best step is for us void of any blinders or filters others may want to place upon us to alter our view.
A funny and deeply wonderful thing has happened in my own life that began with my first choice to let myself soar (something I talked about in my first book), events that happen near 25-30 years later have given clarity to decisions I made without guarantee when I was a young girl yet that were without a doubt the best choices for my journey. And without having made those decisions solely from a place of trusting my inner voice, without encouragement to do so from those closest to me and even a confusion from others as to why I was making them, have made all the difference in being able to live a life that is deeply fulfilling and wholly in line with honoring my true self as well as now have a strengthened clarity of decisions I could not have made then but intuitively knew I needed to, and now can with peace of mind.
May you find the courage you need to soar because indeed you will leading you to a deep inner peace and true contentment.
Wishing you a most wonderful start to a brand new week. Bonne journée
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~All photos captured during my tour of the Lake District: Hill Top and Grasmere
Thank you for this post Shannon. It comes at a time where I happen to be feeling those nudges myself, so this has given me courage and hope for the changes I’m making. Hope you have a wonderful week!
Sara,
Happy this post helped in some way and sending you support and love from afar! 🙂
Speak it, sister! I became an artist at 67 because I let myself soar. That Birds Eye view helps you to see that the little things are just little things. Thanks, Shannon❤️
Thank you Susan for sharing your experience when you chose to soar ? So happy for you. ??
Lovely post, Shannon, a good reminder to always ALWAYS believe in yourself and have faith. I’m reminded of the brilliant poem, ‘High Flight’ by John Gillespie Magee: ” I have slipped the surly bonds of earth…”. And such glorious photos.?
Thank you, Shannon, have a fabulous week.?xx