Part Four of the Women Who Dare To Be Wild Series

Ways of Knowing

Thinking – Mind – Logic – Air – East

Feeling – Heart – Eros – Water – West

Intuition – Spirit – Energy – Fire – South

Instincts – Body – Senses – Earth – North

I believe these never stand alone in the process of knowing and being in the world. They are inter-tangled in processes. A process may jump from one to another, yet to return to the first mode.

<This has happened to me plenty of times. When I was deciding if I should separate from the Air Force or stay in, my mind laid out the pros and cons, going over and over them. I finally broke down crying on a phone call with my mom. I was so painfully torn between what seemed like the rational decision (completing my term and saving up money in the process), and what I felt I must do (get out early, move to the Bay Area, and go back to school).

Experiences like this, remind us we can listen to our hearts and our instincts. Sometimes they are exactly what we should listen to. I’m not saying abandon logic and rational thinking. What I am saying is it doesn’t know everything, like it wants you to believe.

The interconnectedness of our different modes of learning can teach us the interconnectedness of other things. As with West, East, North, and South, Thinking, Feeling, Intuition, and Instincts are all on the same map. They all are attempting to chart out the map, to say this way is the way, but one doesn’t exist without the others. For on a map, east doesn’t mean anything without the awareness of west. Understanding this, we can better understand our feelings, thoughts, etc.

When do we talk about the other ways of knowing? Other ways of being in this world? Different ways of making sense of ourselves?
Do we learn them in school? From our parents, friends, co-workers?

Education in our society is for the mind.

 

“We need to be in touch with all aspects of ourselves. Each informs, but none controls, the others.” Starhawk

 

Why Care About Balance

 

I sit writing this, wondering what the point is? Hmmm, the POINT???

We have cut off so much of who we are. We live in a culture that sends us subliminal messages by the shit ton. You know what some of these are: -You are a nobody if you don’t go to school to be somebody -In order to feel good about yourself you need to look a specific way -Money rules the world -Wanting more is greedy -God is selfless as so you should be -Sex is dirty -Being confident means you speak up, let people know you exist -The more you accomplish, the happier you will be.
I could go on and on, coming up with messages we get from society. Rules to live by. Morals to believe as truth. We stretch ourselves thin. We deny modes of existing and being that are not ‘normal.’ We oversimplify our lives with ration.
It’s no wonder we are angry, depressed, and confused.

Our personal power, if we are not conscious, can easily diminish, be forgotten about -like a muscle not worked, it can become weak. Our focus for gauging our value and worth as a person is directed outside in society. Therefore, I am here to remind you to remember your inner strength, worth, power of discernment, and inner wisdom.

We must take responsibility for our growth and our balance. Liberating all of who we are, allowing it to be as it is, learning how to creatively exist with the unknown aspects in ourselves, and designing our beautiful lives with all of it, is what I believe the goal is here.

Times sure have changed; we are releasing delusions that define what a woman and man should be. We are starting to create different beliefs that heal our psyches and change the ways we show up for others. But don’t be fooled, the forces in society will keep trying to control you. When you let up, fall asleep, become too tired to drive anymore someone else will attempt to guide you on their trajectory. Be vigilant with your awareness, and know you have the power within you to create your inner world and your outer.

 

Expand Your Awareness

 

Open the doors to other ways of knowing, they may take you to places you have never been. Release your control and bring your awareness to your body, your feelings, and the grounding-ness of the earth you live in.

Relish in the moving forces within yourself. You have so much within you. Neither good nor bad, it is a beautiful chaotic miracle.

There is so much we don’t know that we don’t know. Allow this to humble you, but not take away your curiosity – curiosity to explore the depths of yourself and the world. I urge you to not believe everything your mind says, to use logic when your heart is feeling deeply, to listen to where your instincts are guiding you, and to trust there is something bigger going on than your problems.

It is a call to return to your true nature. I hope you stay tuned for the next few posts in this series where we will discuss what wild looks like in nature and in your life, what desire is, and how to use desire to transform your life.

Let me know what you think. Have you noticed ways in which you have known something through means of instincts, feelings, or intuition? Is rational thinking running the show in your life? Let’s chat in the comment section below.

Check out the other posts in this series.

-Kristina