Like many of us on a spiritual path, I’ve had my share of teachers. I humbly open to their wisdom, but I have to admit, sometimes ego gets in the way of me heeding their advice.

Maybe you can relate?

I’m in a program for spiritual coaches currently. I’ve spent the last year aligning content with my audience (or so I thought) over the past year.

Recently I had a call with my mentor. She’s skilled at connecting to the Divine to really tune into who a client is supposed to serve. After I went on and on about how I wanted to help women start businesses, she looked at me over our Zoom call, kindly but firmly, and said, “You’re not going to want to hear this but…they’re not your audience.”

I think my jaw dropped. All I could think of was all the work I’d put into reaching this audience. Sure, I hadn’t really succeeded, but still! I’d had this audience as my focus for so long, and my inner tantrumy two-year-old was stomping her feet about changing it.

Why Do We Resist?

Given that our guides usually have our best interests in mind, why do we still kick and scream?

Ego’s role is to keep things status quo. Anything that changes creates great discomfort, and ego doesn’t like that. Ego lives in the comfort zone. Ego will never skydive or do anything that risks looking like an idiot.  Ego is that chick on Instagram whose life looks perfect, but if you knew her, you’d know her life is anything but.

So many of us surrender to ego because she’s bossy! It’s easier to go along than to upset her by making big changes (which, honestly make us better humans).

Part of this journey is understanding that ego is not in charge, or shouldn’t be, anyway. Your spiritual growth skyrockets when you can be humble and accept that maybe you don’t have all the answers. And that maybe someone else might be able to guide you to figuring them out.

Getting Out of Our Heads

As I started nattering on about how I’d just relaunched my Facebook group to target this business audience…how I didn’t know how I’d pivot so quickly, she simply said, “get out of your head.”

This was a signal to me to stop doing and start listening. I, like many of my fellow entrepreneurs, have often approached business from a masculine perspective, but I’ve been deliberately trying to allow in more feminine energy. That meant not right away trying to fix or change things but simply be with the energy of change.

I see you nodding your head in agreement.

Maybe you’ve gotten advice from a friend or full-on spiritual teacher and your ego is screaming “noooooooo” because they’ve told you something you really don’t want to change or do (even though you have a teeny voice inside telling you this is absolutely what you need to change or do).

The challenge with being on the spiritual path is putting that ego, that fear aside, and doing the damn thing.

I allowed myself to sit with the idea of shifting my audience from one of women who want to start a business to women who are seeking authenticity in their lives. That could, quite honestly, encompass starting a business. The more I processed this, the more I realized it wasn’t a huge leap. And it felt right in my core.

Listen to the Teacher Within

Speaking of that core, that gut wisdom, it’s an unfortunate fact that many of us ignore it. I know I did for years in my marriage. Now I listen better. When I feel a “no” in my body, I pivot. I avoid people with negative energy. I don’t go down the dark alley that makes my root chakra tighten up.

But that’s why we attract spiritual teachers: to have a sounding board and someone who will hold a mirror up to the truths we’re trying to ignore. Even the most aware of us still gets tripped up by ego, and having someone else who understands our humanness can be incredibly helpful.

A good spiritual teacher has our best interests in mind. They see us from the outside and often that’s just the perspective we need to make important shifts internally.

Now, that being said, there are certainly spiritual teachers who act from their own egos. I’ve met a few. If you are tuning into that intuition, you’ll be able to spot those teachers who are only radiating out their own fears and desire for control, and you’ll veer away from them.

As for me, I’m listening to both my external spiritual teacher and my internal intuition. Yes, it means some shifts in my business, but I can’t wait to see the results and pat myself on the back for putting ego aside and aligning with my true purpose.