Latest post for Nourishing Storm’s monthly theme blog.  See what those fantastic folks at the Storm are sharing with the world this month!

As we begin to answer Life’s call within our hearts of those undeniable Truths of who we are, we embark on the journey of our souls. It is not always easy to walk our paths. But these Truths are undeniable. When we make it known to the world who we are, the world may offer us resistance. Putting obstacles in our way, forcing us off course, disorienting us, turning our own minds against us. Maybe we can accept a life of half-truths if it is too uncomfortable to forge ahead. And so maybe we stray or stall.

It feels less stressful in the moment to follow the map we’ve been given. The one that shows the roads already existing, roads regularly traveled. These roads, built in times past, got us this far after all. These paths of least resistance are free and clear and easy to walk upon. Until our hearts offer a resistance of their own through a call that sings of places beyond the woods with possibilities we can just barely imagine. A call that begs us not to be distracted by false boundaries created by our fears. One that promises the journey alone is worth it.

The steps we take in manifesting the life we desire, the life our Truth demands, won’t always be on sure ground. Sometimes the road well-traveled just isn’t going in our direction. Sometimes we must put in the work to build our own way there. It is within our power to choose to do so. And if indeed it is our Truth calling, we must.

It can be a hard balance to blaze new trails while still caring for the ground we’ve come to own. Constantly, new seeds scatter upon our souls’ terrain. Some of these seeds offer us the strength we need to forge on, the beauty we need to want to, and the faith we need to hold true to our direction. And others create hedges to keep us lost in a new maze. And some are just pleasant enough to keep us where we are. All of these seeds can survive here. So which seeds will flourish? Only those we allow to grow.

We alone decide what takes root in our own hearts’ soil. What we clear out and what we feed. The world may make us believe we need to nurture all it throws upon us. It may seem right to keep tending our inherited forests always to wonder what lies beyond, especially when that is the only thing the world has shown us how to do. But our lives belong to our hearts. We must listen to our lives as they speak to us and do our best to heed what they say. We must make the space when needed to cultivate our heart’s truest desires. Do we live the life the world makes for us or the life we make for ourselves?

Always and in all things, what expresses in our lives can only be what we allow. So allow Truth. Allow Faith. Allow Love.

You alone serve as mapmaker and landscaper of your life. Allow love to be your compass and truth your lantern. Make your roads, tend your soul’s gardens and scatter seeds of your own. No power on earth can stop you without your consent. Keep going. The world needs us to find new ways.

“Like a wildflower; you must allow yourself to grow in all the places people thought you never would.” ~E.V.