Love Down Under: Following Inner Voice For The Good of Others and Myself

Some of the most challenging times in life can also turn out to be the most amazing opportunities. That has been my experience. We are given challenges to allow us to grow on our path to awareness, and we are also given opportunities to let others help us along the way.

Our ego says, loud and clear, “Go this way,” and we race to follow. Then our greater consciousness speaks up. “For your greater good you need to go in this direction,” it says. But what if we do not want to listen? This is when hardship ensues. After years of practice, I have learned to listen to the soft voice of greater consciousness rather than the booming voice of my ego, and it has shown me my true path.

Let Me Tell You My Story

I am originally from Victoria, in the southeast of Australia. After eighteen years of working as a nurse and in community services management, I moved up north to Queensland to attend graduate school in naturopathy and homeopathy. I had found the natural alternatives to be a better way to go.

I was a mature age student, and I loved it. Near the end of my fourth year I was wrapping up my final exams and thinking about what would come next. I wanted to remain in Queensland and establish my clinic there.

With our exams out of the way, everyone celebrated. Graduation was imminent, and we were all having fun. I felt the excitement too, but I was suffering from acute back pain at the time. The pain was excruciating and I needed help. But being so focused on my studies, I was not tuned in to Spirit, so I decided to ask my dreams for relief. My dreams have always given me answers when I am not listening to the quiet voice of Spirit.


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Before going to sleep one night, I asked what I needed to do to relieve my back pain. “Please tell me what I am doing wrong. Whatever it is, I will change it,” I promised. That night I had a series of three dreams, and one by one they unfolded my future life plan. My first dream told me to leave the north; my second dream told me to head south; and my final dream told me to go back to my home state in the far south. I was reluctant to move back to my home, but I knew deep down that these dreams had come from my higher consciousness, so I agreed to follow this path.

The Promise to Follow Spirit

When I awoke the next morning I had no pain—none whatsoever. Not only that, but I jumped out of bed like an energetic ten-year-old. Part of me was much happier in the north, and I viewed going back to my old home state as regressing to a past I had left behind. But I had promised myself I would follow my spirit, so I made the arrangements to move after graduation.

I arrived back home to learn that both of my parents were in need of my help. I bought a house in the country and started setting up my naturopathic and homeopathic clinic. I lived about forty-five minutes west of the city, and I would drive to the city each day for work. After work, at least twice a week, I would visit my parents on the eastern side of the city an hour’s drive farther away.

My new business had massive start-up costs, and money was extremely tight. I was filling my gas tank every day, and I had to start skipping meals to make ends meet. I could not afford the cost of heating, so I would quickly eat my dinner, shower, and then jump into bed for warmth. Life was tight, really tight.

I eventually found myself unable to cope and spent a week sick in bed. There was no food in the house, and I was miles away from anyone I knew. The local shops would not deliver, so I reluctantly asked a neighbor to pick up a takeout meal for me. I coped on my own after that, eating the equivalent of one meal a day.

Through all this hardship I knew I had made the right decision to return home. Without me close by, my parents would have been in a far worse state, and I would have always regretted not being there when they needed me if I’d stayed far away. When I was younger they were always there for me, and I valued that greatly.

My father died a few months after I arrived, and I was thankful I had been able to spend some valuable time with him before his passing. In the weeks leading up to his death he had several dreams that warned him of his impending transformation and journey to the other side. I suggested that he do exactly what he wanted to do, complete what he wanted to complete, and see who he wanted to see while he still had the time. He did that, and when the time came he was ready to pass over with no regrets.

I then turned my attention to my mother, who also needed my help. She was frail and on oxygen 24/7. We were able to get help for her during the week, but on the weekends I had to take over. I would arrive in the morning with breakfast and then get her showered and dressed. I made her lunch, put tea in a heated container, and made sure she was comfortable. I would then leave and return at 5:00 p.m. to get her dinner. When she was ready I helped her into her nightgown and into bed. I would make her hot chocolate and leave for the night, and then return the next day to do it all over again. Occasionally I rang my sister, who also lived in the country, and asked her to come because I needed a break. She would stay for two weekends and then I would take over again.

It was a year before we could get Mom into a convalescent home. When she moved in I was free on the weekends for the first time in over a year. I visited regularly, and we would often take walks together; she on her mobility scooter, while I walked alongside. I have fond memories of those walks. Mom eventually passed three years after my father.

Unexpected Rewards

A couple of weeks before my father died I met my current husband. I had been married and divorced once before, and my second husband could not have been more different from my first. They were like chalk and cheese. Greg was gentle, kind, and helpful. When we got married my mother could not attend, so I called her and she listened to the service and the speeches by phone. My two grown-up daughters were my attendants, and we all had a wonderful day. If I had stayed up north I never would have met my soul mate.

Six years ago Greg had the opportunity to leave his job and begin contracting. After a few contracts he was offered a job in Queensland. As that contract kept being extended for longer and longer periods of time, we decided to sell our house and move permanently to the north. I finally returned to where my heart belonged. Greg and I have now been married for fifteen happy years, and for the last five we have lived in the northern state I loved and left long ago.

Everything really does happen for a reason. I followed my inner voice and did what the greater consciousness wanted me to do for the good of others and myself. I knew intuitively that I needed to return home to care for my aging parents and to meet my soul mate. The path my life took from then on opened before me.

I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to help my parents the way they helped me, and I am grateful to have found Greg. He had waited all his life to meet me and had never married. Greg was there in my greatest time of need. When I was starving he fed me; when my parents passed to the other side he nourished me with tender love.

If I had done what my ego wanted and stayed in the north, I would have moved away from my greater awareness, away from what my soul needed to experience. Following my ego would have meant not being available to help my parents when they needed me most, and I would have regretted that choice for the rest of my life. And it would have meant never meeting Greg. I would have satisfied my ego, but at what price? So you see . . . everything happens for a reason.

©2013. All Rights Reserved.
Reprinted with permission of the publisher,
Hierophant Publishing.
www.hierophantpublishing.com

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No Mistakes!: How You Can Change Adversity into Abundance by Madisyn Taylor, Sunny Dawn Johnston, and HeatherAsh Amara.No Mistakes!: How You Can Change Adversity into Abundance
by Madisyn Taylor, Sunny Dawn Johnston, and HeatherAsh Amara.

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About the Author of this excerpt

Carole J Toms NDCarole J Toms ND is a writer and qualified naturopath and homeo­path with more than forty-five years of experience inspiring people to become all that they can be. Her motto is “You are FAR GREATER than you imagine. Be INSPIRED to EVOLVE and CONNECT TO YOUR GREATNESS!” Visit her website at http://thedreamspecialist.com/