You may remember as a child singing the words “This little light of mine, I’m going to let it shine.”
Recently, we bought Bruce Springsteen’s wonderful album and dvd “Live in Dublin” and one of the selections in this unique and compelling collection of folk songs is his version of “This Little Light of Mine.”Bruce and the Sessions Band sing it this way…
“This little light of mine, I’m going to let it shine…everyday, everyday, everyday.”
What a simple yet powerful lesson for all of us to remember to help us create the life and relationships that we want.
So what does it mean to let your light shine? And what does it mean to let our light shine in our relationships?
Does it mean that you have to constantly have a smile on your face, no matter what’s happening in your life and no matter what’s being done to you or those you love?
We think the idea of letting your life shine is very personal and unique to each person. It means that we live our lives from inspiration without hiding behind fear, mistrust, limitation and our old negative stories about ourselves and others.
Dr. Joe Vitale and Dr. Ihaleakala Hew Len have written a wonderful book called “Zero Limits” and in it, Dr. Len says that in every single moment, you are living your life from either memory or inspiration.
In other words, your thoughts and actions originate either from experiences and fears from the past or from a place of possibility, openness, and a knowing that wells up inside you.
The “light” is this inspiration, the place from which you act from or “shine” as much of the time as possible.
We’ll give you a practical example…
As you may know, we’ve been in the process of selling our house and buying another one in a larger city about an hour from where we live now.
During this process, we’ve had plenty of opportunities to notice whether we were acting from a place of memory or from inspiration and shining our light to each other, as well as the rest of the world.
When we’ve thought or acted from memory–events from the past that need to be healed, we haven’t been open to each other and there’s been a feeling of disconnection.
When we’ve acted from pure inspiration and love, our connection has felt strong–and we’ve felt sure of the steps that we are taking are the right ones for us at this time.
So how do you live from inspiration and let your light shine more of the time?
That’s certainly a big question. It’s one that we live with every day and here are some ideas we’ll share with you that have helped us to live from inspiration more of the time.
We think they could help you as well…
1. If you feel an uneasiness come up inside you or you are triggered by what someone else is doing or saying, stop yourself before you react from “memory” or the way you’ve always reacted before.
Feel what’s coming up inside you. You might know where these feelings are coming from and you might not be able to identify a memory or reason for your feeling or reaction.
Does this mean that the other person is “blameless”?
Of course not. But if you want to live your life with more ease and have more love, you have to start with you and what’s going on inside you.
2. Find a way to love yourself and that memory. If you have no clue about what memory is coming up, just keep loving yourself with your thoughts and even your words. We’ve discovered that when we do, the situation becomes easier and there’s a feeling of letting go and relaxation.
3. Allow room for inspired action. Open to listening to the other person and say what’s true for you so the other can hear. True inspired action can come from this type of honest dialog. We know because this is what we try to practice in every moment.
This week, allow your light to shine as you live your life more from inspiration than memory.
If you do, you’ll discover how much joy and love can come to you.