How to be Receptive to Your Deepest Wisdom

Everybody has wisdom; we just do not always know how to tap it. We value our thoughts and identify with them, sometimes more than our wisdom. To really tap inner wisdom, we have to go beyond thinking and be receptive to the Wisdom of our Body.

Visualize linear thinking as an unbroken horizontal line. Imagine inner wisdom resting deeper than linear thinking, below the line. This inner wisdom comes from the Wisdom of the Body. To receive input from the Wisdom of your Body, you have to create a space in your linear thinking line. This space can be opened by creativity, love or traumatic experience.

Creativity uses what you know in a different perspective, painting a picture linear thinking cannot grasp. You may end up with the same conclusions, but along the way, new things are revealed. For instance, when poetry captured what I felt like in regards to my declining health, the new path was spiritual, instead of resigning to simple worries and fears. I learned a lot on the creative path, which took me, the object of who was dying, out of the picture. The flow of creativity eliminates thinking about yourself. I have been an MS patient for 35 years.

My illness was not killing me; it just created suffering that steadily increased. After fear and worry were less, I was sharing more easily with those I loved. I sometimes got so into the creative perspective, I had positive dreams where I had no pain. This carried over to my everyday life, where I would forget that my death was not far away. It is easier for people to share with me on a creative path, because there is no pity needed and they are more comfortable.

Another way of penetrating the linear thinking plane is simple love. The expression, ‘It touched my heart,’ shows being conscious of the inner reality beyond thought. Let me use my experience with my wife as an example. I feel that the love that Amy and I share comes from a depth beyond thinking. For me to be able to receive that love, there has to be a space and an openness on the thinking level. That love is received, not by something I do, but by opening my heart and desiring a strong connection. This is not linear thinking. In a loving relationship, there is a natural attraction.

That openness that happens in love is like a doorway, where your deepest wisdom can pass into your conscious mind. Without that opening, people get trapped into linear thinking. I feel, with an illness that causes pain and suffering, it is natural to set limits on how long you want to live.

I write this with pain rated 4 out of 10 after a good night’s sleep. I have had a rating of 8 out of 10 before my brain surgery, so I know how intense my pain can get. I know that when pain gets more intense, the linear thinking level gets tight and impenetrable, making it hard to connect to love and wisdom. That is when the will to live is weakened. Amy and my love is strong and we can face this consciously when the time comes. There are many things in our life that can penetrate the linear plane. They can be dramatic or as simple as a good night kiss. We just have to be open and receptive when it happens.