By better integrating your spirituality with the rest of your life I did not mean going around to your friends and preaching your spiritual beliefs to them or attempting to convince them of anything, but rather teaching them by making the way you choose to live your own life a living example. When they begin to see that living a life by these what should be common sense principles makes you a much happier person overall to be around, then they are themselves far more likely to accept your beliefs as being their own. To preach is to teach by example?

As for the old inner voices one of these is called your inner parent, and it is an important part of your psychological survival mechanism. One thing we do not want to do is completely silence this. What we do need to each do is to allow other voices than this one to also have their say. If allowed to our authoritative inner parent will gladly drown out all the other voices, all of which go to make up our total personality. We are I believe designed to listen just as much to the constantly questioning voice of reason, as we are meant to listen to our own instincts about what is the truth.

Be therefore kinder to yourself, as although you may see and hear spirits, you are still an FHB or a Fallible Human Being, and one of the most basic human functions is to continually question and doubt in order to determine what is truth, and what is definitely not.

eye_of_tiger

Thanks again, EOT!

Believe me, as far as the seeing and feeling spirits is concerned, I have questioned and challenged it in ways to rival the CIA.  It was not something that I ever would have believed would be possible before it started happening (I always thought that people who said that they could were either quacks or insane), but it's been almost a year of a multimedia experience that leaves no doubt (except for the residual "old voices") that it's really happening.  If I were psychotic and hallucinating, I would be a mess in other ways, and probably terrified most of the time, by now.  But, aside from the "voices" of some sad, frightened spirits, my main "voice" is always one of love, advising me to do the things that I know that I should do, but often need a little "push" to actually put into practice--love myself and be happy with who I am (although open to making changes to make myself a better, kinder person), drinking less, exercising, getting outside into the fresh air, and trying to understand the feelings and motivations of people who I feel have done me harm so that I can move past the hurt.  If I'm wrong (and I don't think I am) about who is here and what is going on, it's nevertheless a positive experience that has made me happier and healthier, and that's not something I'm willing to surrender, especially at this point in my life.  I feel blessed to feel that kind of unconditional love, although I have no intention (and I have not been asked to) of giving up my own free will in making the decisions that will affect my life.  The happiness and satisfaction that I feel as a result of all of this is not the result of being told that I'm more than who I am, or of being flattered, or being led in directions in which I never thought of going on my own.  It's simply love, and encouragement to be the best person I can be.  Hard to argue with that   .

The "old voices" (and I agree with you that nothing should be completely discounted) are much more negative--telling me that I'm simply not good enough, and that I shouldn't trust my own mind.  It's been crippling in many ways in my 46 years, and I'm pretty much over it!

I know that I'm intelligent, and relatively rational, although I've always been told that I'm a "dreamer" (nothing wrong with that, as far as I can tell!).  Every day is a constant struggle (albeit usually a pleasant one) to decide what to take to heart, and what to discount.  In spite of all of the stressful things that might be going on in my daily life, I now have a sense of peace at my core unlike anything I've ever felt before.  I just need to figure out how to make that peace spread into other areas of my life in a consistent way.

So, yes, I will take everything into consideration and make decisions based on my own best instincts, and fully expect to make mistakes from which I can learn.  As far as I'm concerned, "It's all good."

(By the way, the spirits didn't take me up on my hint; I got no latte, croissant, silver platter, or mariachi band when I woke up this morning.  Maybe they couldn't get together the necessary $25 or so that it would take to buy me breakfast.  But I love them anyway!  

Take care,

Doe

Damn--I did the double-posting thing yet again--sorry!