Art of Waking

View Original

Free Will vs Divine Will

Hello Friend,

Let’s talk a bit about WILL.

The will I am speaking of is defined as control deliberately exerted to do something or to restrain one's own impulses.

Most people can innerstand it when applying it to the idea of willpower - do I have the strength to not partake in something or the strength to build the discipline TO do something? Can I lose the weight I wish to by following a plan? Can I refrain from cheating on my diet? Can I refrain from cheating on my significant other? Can I follow a plan, any plan that I have laid out for myself? Can I execute upon what I have set out to do?

These are all examples of Free Will - when you are in full control of the decisions you make. There is no one or no thing standing in your way of going down a particular path, whether that path be for good or your downfall.

We all have the free will to decide who we will be with, what career path to take, where to travel to, what to eat, what to watch or read and so on. We can decide how we wish to engage with life and go along choosing our own adventures each and every day.

But did you know there is also Divine Will at play?

Divine will is when no matter what choices we have made, there are moments upon our path that cannot be avoided. Divine checkpoints that must be touched. These moments come most often when we are using our free will in opposition to our intuitive knowing. When we are ignoring the nudges of our own hearts and giving in to the desires of others around us. When we ignore the inner artist in favor of making mom happy and becoming a doctor. When we marry the rich man we do not love or the beautiful woman who looks better on our arm, instead of the one we deeply feel connected to. When we go against ourselves, divine will steps in to correct our course. These moments can look like mini bombs in our lives that detonate and take out entire sections we used to be comfortable in. They can also come in quietly with a download of information that just shifts us so completely that we have no choice but to change what is in front of us. Divine will trumps our free will each and every time and each time I have had the privilegde to witness its power, it has humbled me to the fact that there is a knowing out there that will step in and show out, no matter how much money, power or influence one thinks they have.

I try to live my life so connected to my heart that my free will is always aligned with the divine plan for me. I do not ignore the nudges of my heart, even if I find that I lack the courage in that moment to follow them. I acknowledge them and I do not align myself with anything in contradiction to them. I try my best to not become attached to what I know is not for me as I have seen it yanked from me no matter how comfortable it was. If it was not for me, it was just that - NOT FOR ME. The boyfriends that I knew were not really for me, the jobs, the friends, the clothes, the whatever. I would allow myself to lean in to them until I knew for sure that the alignment was not there and then I gracefully moved on. No need to argue and fight for what I knew would be taken away from me anyway. And I know you know what I mean. Those people and things that always brought doubt with them, well they brought that doubt for a reason. It was my job….OUR job to not ignore that doubt. To go within and search our hearts for the truth. To find the real reason we were reaching in the first place. To ask - Am I reaching for this purely for the money or a connection? Am I ignoring the other ways I could obtain the very same things because I lack the courage/vision/energy to go about it a different way?

Of course, we have every right to exercise our free will and ignore any guidance in its execution. However, we cannot then blame the world when we do not get what we really want. It is up to us to know what it is that really fuels and drives us and to use our free will to walk towards that a little bit every day.

So how do we avoid the painful redirections? Use your free will in conjunction with your divinity. Ask yourself questions about why you are making the decisions you are making. Whatever the answer is, at least you have the clarity of your intentions and can move with more grace from that point. If you know you are just in it for the money, you won’t make it your identity. If you know you are in it for the connection only, you won’t be dishonest in who you connect with. If you know you are doing it for clout, for love, for recognition - whatever it may be - you can move with more peace because you know your why and can operate from grace more and more with every piece of gathered knowledge of self.

Remember, all things worthy take time to build. Be kind to yourself.

Now, go forth and be great.

xx,

Laticia