In India, a dear teacher repeated often, “Ananda (Sanskrit for Joy) is your true nature.” It’s sometimes hard to believe this when life is whirling all around throwing out difficult situations, breaking your heart and disrupting your best plans. But the trick lies in going beneath the surface. When we’re attached to superficial outcomes and expectations, they may not always be in our best interest.

Through trust in Divine guidance and Divine will, we can learn to accept a path that may be harder, but the rewards are so much more rich. We can’t always do the things we want to do. Very often I find that I plan and organize, then God has other plans. When I surrender (practice deep and complete acceptance) and follow that Guide, the outcomes are very different than what my small self would ever expect.

The Divine Guide, the Higher Self (or whatever you want to call that inner guiding voice that shows the way), has a perspective that’s broader than mine. It’s as if He/She/It is on a mountain peak at the top of the universe and can see the possibilities and outcomes in a way that my small self cannot. I’ve trusted that guidance and it has moved me to Switzerland, back to the US and into and out of a marriage. Following that Inner Self or the Divine within can be one of the most challenging things to do on the spiritual journey. The ego-self usually thinks it knows best and wants to lead me in its direction. But the result is often pain and suffering. Following the path of the Heart, the Divine Self, leads to Joy.

 Bio: Debra Moffitt is author of Awake in the World: 108 Practices to Live a Divinely Inspired Life. A visionary and teacher, she’s devoted to nurturing the spiritual in everyday life. She leads workshops on spiritual practices at the Sophia Institute and other venues in the U.S. and Europe. Her mind/body/spirit articles, essays and stories appear in publications around the globe and were broadcast by BBC World Services Radio. She has spent over fifteen years practicing meditation, working with dreams and doing spiritual practices. Visit her online at http://www.awakeintheworld.com.