Looking Back So You Can Look Forward
I woke up again at 4 am. It’s been the same all week. I often find myself wide awake in the middle of the night, but it’s become consistent all of a sudden.
You may think something is wrong, but for me being up early is a gift. It’s quiet. There’s an incredible space for my spirit to be with my own thoughts.
I just need to reconcile being up with my mind and body still going to sleep at 11!
When I first began talking about the 5 am club, it came from listening to Robin Sharma. His Best Habits video is still my go to favourite for providing a plan of action to create that 1 hour to yourself.
You will find your own rhythm, and make modifications, but once this becomes a ritual, you will not let it go. It becomes a little treasure to start your day off great.
So many clients who started out with “I’m not a morning person” become a morning person to honour this sacred space for themselves.
As I got further into my spiritual practice, I began to recognize how vital stillness becomes where I can connect with Spirit to journal, and get insights.
When everyone is still asleep, it’s almost like being in a ‘waking meditation’.
The sound of silence gives you a playing field to hear your own wisdom. I light my candles or incense – sometimes both! I play the songs that bring me closer to my inner wisdom. (A few are “Eternal Flame” by the Bangles and “You Are Loved” by Josh Groban).
I listen.
This morning, a song came into my mind…”Do You Know Where You’re Going to..”
It was a song I used to play on the piano as a teenager. I also knew it as the “Theme from Mahogany”. I looked up the lyrics.
Do you know where you’re going to?
Do you like the things that life is showing you?
Where are you going to?
Do you know?
Do you get what you’re hoping for?
When you look behind you, there’s no open doors.
What are you hoping for?
Do you know?
Once we were standing still, in time
Chasing the fantasies that filled our minds
You knew how I loved you, but my spirit was free
Laughing at the questions
That you once asked of me.
Now looking back at all we’ve had
We let so many dreams just slip through our hands
Why must we wait so long, before we see?
How sad the answers to those questions can be.
~Music & Lyrics by Gerry Goffin & Michael Masser
I understood now why this song resonated back then.
It echos the life review you will have after your life ends here, and before you cross over to the “light”. Your soul is aware of many things on a superconsciousness level.
You are here to develop your soul, and part of this journey is taking a good, hard look at your evolving life experiences that become the ‘fruits of your soul’.
Listening to this song can move you into the experience of looking back to ask “what am I creating? Am I happy? Do I feel fulfilled? What are my dreams, and are they coming true?”
I wrote about near death experiences in my previous article, and how each of us will have a life review on the other side. In order to move forward you will have an opportunity to look back and be in the shoes of everyone you impacted (both the highs and lows) in order to understand the true impact of your choices.
Then I remembered a lesson that Uteah, one of my celestial teachers shared on having a “Near Life Experience.”
Here’s an excerpt:
Your greatest teacher is the wisdom you glean from your own life experiences. Think deeply, my dear students—your consciousness is to be used to reach into the deep well of the mind and see where you have been, what you have learned, and where you are going!
As soon as I read the words “where you are going”…where are you going to? I knew Uteah was here with me – guiding me. I call this a “synchronicity” and they regularly blow my mind : )
Uteah goes on to say:
Take time to sit and think real thoughts—deep thoughts! This is where Spirit meets you—in the solace of the mind. Do not wait for death to take you to a quiet place—go there now and look at the good, the bad, the ugly, and the beautiful. Let Spirit sort it out with you and return to your life fearless!
All these years, I never had the interest to look up the film. Until now.
Mohagony turned out to be a 1975 film starring Diana Ross who plays a struggling fashion designer desperate to get out of Chicago and finds outer success in Rome that impacts her romantic relationship.
She goes through her own “near life review” as her many life lessons show up.
The words & music of this song used to “get into my soul” when I didn’t have the words of “soul” or “spirit” in my vocabulary! I always sensed something deeper with song, but couldn’t articulate it.
Our soul speaks to us through many creative avenues, but until we slow down, we can’t see or hear the messages.
I was curious about whether the film is worth watching so I checked out Rotten Tomatoes 1*, and barely any reviews given it’s a 1975 film. Roger Ebert gave it 2*s. I kept looking knowing not to believe a mere handful of public opinion.
I discovered a special extended collector’s edition had been created -a good sign. Amazon.com had an accumulated review with nearly 500 people – a full 5* as well as her concert edition for this movie with 552 reviews also 5*.
5:52 is a very special time prompt for me so that’s all I needed to watch it! You will discover your own special signs that help lead you back to remembering who you are.
By the time I saw Diana Ross, she was already a singing legend. I never knew her in her younger years. I didn’t even know she acted!
I’m fascinated by people’s soul journeys – how they went from where they were to where they are now. It’s why I love being a coach – to be part of this journey in someone’s life.
Often we see the end ‘result’, but are missing the middle that makes up the past. This film appears to be a glimpse of the middle for me.
I wonder how Black and White dynamics will be portrayed in the 1970’s given our current “Black Lives Matter”. Hidden gems are often Free. You can see the whole movie on You Tube here.
The soul wisdom for today that’s been brewing all week? Look back. It’s my guidance team telling me it’s time to review my journals, my endless writings, and pull it together.
It was a reminder that it’s my own voice I need to hear, and share more of.
You need to hear your voice through the noise of everyone else, and bring your gifts to the world.
Where are you going to….do you know?
Always be looking back so you can look forward with new eyes, and more wisdom.
