{"id":1132,"date":"2018-11-16T17:02:55","date_gmt":"2018-11-16T17:02:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kathryncolleen.com\/studio\/?post_type=project&p=1132"},"modified":"2026-08-07T18:54:40","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T22:54:40","slug":"trusting-your-river-universe-the-divine","status":"publish","type":"project","link":"https:\/\/kathryncolleen.com\/studio\/project\/trusting-your-river-universe-the-divine\/","title":{"rendered":"Trusting Your River \/ Universe \/ The Divine"},"content":{"rendered":"
The river of your life is a metaphor for how we seem to have a combination of fate and free will guiding our lives. Have you noticed that sometimes life seems like a struggle? And sometimes things just seem to work out easily? Your river wants to take you towards your purpose (whatever that may be, and however that may change over time). When you are on track towards your purpose, you will find that life flows easily. But if you struggle against your river, that is, away from your purpose, life seems hard.<\/div>\n
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Learning to trust your river is not easy. We cannot see around the next corner and the journey towards our purpose usually includes several leaps of faith. It can be so very hard to just close your eyes and go with it. Once you recognize the nature of your river, however, it becomes not just easy but a sense of relief to let go and let your river take you where you need to be.<\/div>\n
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Consider the experiences, good and bad, that have influenced you, shaped you or been significant in your life in some way. You know what they are. Write them down. Consider how they each influenced you. What did they teach you? What gifts did they have for you? (skills, perspective, joy, love, fear, \u2026 ). Appreciate all of these experiences for what they taught you (especially the hard lessons), and for any joy or love that they brought you. Appreciate them for the gifts they gave you.<\/div>\n
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Now let them go. They are in the past. You HAVE experiences and you LEARN from experiences but you are NOT your experiences. You might keep your list that you wrote out above or you might ceremonially burn it, tear it up and throw it out or delete it. Ceremonies and rituals are powerful psychological devices. So if you are having trouble letting go of any one particular experience, write it on a piece of paper, thank it for teaching you and giving you skills you can use later, then burn it (safely!) in a bowl or fireplace. Thank your river for that experience and for experiences to come. Reaffirm that you are not this experience or any other. Feel the distance between you and that experience.<\/div>\n
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New experiences will come along and continue to shape you. Thank them for what they teach you, and let them go, too.<\/div>\n
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When you can detach from your experiences, and view them as an outside observer, recognizing that they are not you, but they shape you and that is a good thing, then you will find more trust in your river\/universe\/divine.<\/div>\n
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Can you see the river of your life shaping you? Can you see how it guides your choices and teaches you lessons and skills and gives your the gifts of joy, love and occasionally fear, perspective or compassion. Can you see how it is leading you to something? Can you let go and trust in this river\/universe\/divine?<\/div>\n
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Trusting your river can be hard because we know from past experience that it may bring you to a place of sadness, loss or fear. But trusting your river has an interesting effect. The more you trust your river, the easier life becomes because you stop struggling. When you flow with your river, it takes you more directly where you need to be. There are fewer places of sadness and fear and when those times come, you have the perspective to say that this too is being human. Such compassion for yourself and your shared humanity is the key to making sadness and fear dissipate. So by trusting your river, you ultimately minimize the time you spend with these emotions.<\/div>\n
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When you trust your river, you tend to not act out of fear, jealously, sadness or other negative emotions.\u00a0When you trust your river, you act out of love, purpose, joy and other positive emotions. The result will multiply those positive emotions. So the irony is: to have fewer bad times in your life, you have to stop fearing having bad times in your life. This is an important glimpse into the true nature of life. You get what you think about and feel. If you think about bad situations and you feel those negative emotions, you will get more of them. If you think about good situations and feel those positive emotions, you will get more of those instead.<\/div>\n
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Trust your river\/universe\/divine – trust that your river is taking your where you need to be and that your river has a system to ensure that you can have any life that you want. If you want beautiful and amazing, your river is ready to take you there.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A teaching on the river metaphor for life, blending fate and free will, explaining how flowing toward your purpose makes life easier, and offering an exercise in appreciating and releasing formative experiences to build trust.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1133,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","episode_type":"audio","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","footnotes":""},"project_category":[1888,31],"project_tag":[860,654,180,280,282,412,311,51,697,171,281,343,162,153,71,70,288,130,57,80,655,86,345,197,285,284,283,341,859,858,857,87,174],"series":[],"class_list":["post-1132","project","type-project","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","project_category-consciousness","project_category-observations","project_tag-being-shaped","project_tag-complete-connection","project_tag-connection","project_tag-cycle","project_tag-development","project_tag-divine","project_tag-emotions","project_tag-fate","project_tag-fear","project_tag-freedom","project_tag-human","project_tag-joy","project_tag-letting-go","project_tag-life","project_tag-loss","project_tag-love","project_tag-manifesting","project_tag-perception","project_tag-perspective","project_tag-presence","project_tag-purna-asatti","project_tag-purpose","project_tag-sadness","project_tag-self-discovery","project_tag-self-growth","project_tag-self-development","project_tag-stages","project_tag-trust","project_tag-trusting-the-divine","project_tag-trusting-the-universe","project_tag-trusting-your-river","project_tag-truth","project_tag-universe"],"acf":{"recommend_blurb":"For readers learning to stop struggling against life's current. A grounding introduction to trusting your path, with a practical exercise in releasing the past. A cornerstone of the Purna Asatti roadmap.","citation_snippet":"Dr. Kathryn Messegee (Kathryn Colleen), \"Trusting Your River \/ Universe \/ The Divine,\" https:\/\/kathryncolleen.com\/studio\/project\/trusting-your-river-universe-the-divine\/","topics":["growth","spirit"],"related_book":"Purna Asatti","buy_url":"https:\/\/shop.lightningsource.com\/b\/085?6FKQMBFf2pXrcib6QjuQWox9UhpMDSQXoo1kemVL5vh"},"episode_featured_image":"https:\/\/kathryncolleen.com\/studio\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/River-Green.png","episode_player_image":"https:\/\/kathryncolleen.com\/studio\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/CCA57320-6DC3-4284-BC27-49E433028503.jpeg","download_link":"","player_link":"","audio_player":false,"episode_data":{"playerMode":"dark","subscribeUrls":{"apple_podcasts":{"key":"apple_podcasts","url":"https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/on-life-being-human\/id1360368906","label":"Apple Podcasts","class":"apple_podcasts","icon":"apple-podcasts.png"},"google_podcasts":{"key":"google_podcasts","url":"","label":"Google Podcasts","class":"google_podcasts","icon":"google-podcasts.png"},"spotify":{"key":"spotify","url":"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/show\/2nq6d35q9nFAFlanaJc2Do","label":"Spotify","class":"spotify","icon":"spotify.png"},"stitcher":{"key":"stitcher","url":"","label":"Stitcher","class":"stitcher","icon":"stitcher.png"}},"rssFeedUrl":"https:\/\/kathryncolleen.com\/studio\/feed\/podcast\/on-life-being-human","embedCode":"

Trusting Your River \/ Universe \/ The Divine<\/a><\/blockquote>