I recently learned a very important lesson about myself. We know the small personal battles we fight and win each day. Our work isn’t only prayers and rituals. Our battles are not always initiated by forces outside of ourselves. What I love about Ifa practice, is understanding that the true work is the inner work we are continuously presented with. We are challenged to change our perspective, listen to our inner voice of reason, and develop our character to the point where anything that is outside of balance is corrected.
Due to past experiences, I developed a habit of leaving the door open for disruption, failure, hurt, disappointment, and negativity in most situations. So when Ifa spoke to me about seeing negativity in my path, I immediately started looking for the possible culprits. I began to question what harm I should prepare for this time? A broken relationship? A severed friendship? Betrayal? Death? Sickness? Loss? Now as I am going down this road of possibilities in my own mind, I completely omitted that I was not told that ANY of the above mentioned situations were in my path. As a matter of fact, I was given a message of blessings and assured that all would be well.
Here is the thing, sometimes we just have to sit back, shut up, and watch The Divine work. I was faced with a situation, and the circumstances around the situation were a bit unusual but not blatantly outside of the box of possibly normal. I immediately went into a place of defense and panic. I assign the situation as this negativity that Ifa saw and go to my husband with my concerns. My husband responds by asking me “Didn’t Ifa show you that everything was going to be fine?” Since I am not a fan of taking his words and advice lightly, I took a pause in my way of thinking and considered that even if this felt like a less than favorable situation, I should trust that I was going to come out on the other side of it just fine. So I started to tell myself to calm down and just bring what I wanted to see in the situation. So I decided to bring coolness, lightness, laughter, generosity, and love with me in this uncomfortable situation. I began to feel the negativity melt from me and what I perceived as a possible harm was actually a blessing that came to me. A little while after the situation had passed, I was reflecting and understood that the negativity that Ifa saw was inside of me. It was the fear I fed, the thoughts I created. Sometimes we allow negativity to cloud our sense of reason and judgement. Sometimes we forget that death, sickness, loss, betrayal, and brokenness are part of the human condition, and that we are not meant to live in fear of these things. Knowledge of their existence is one thing, but even better is understanding how to face them in a healthy way when they come. If we listen to the guidance of Ifa, we will always be able to do just that.
So I sit here now, grateful for the blessing and opportunity to see myself and live another day to make healthier choices. I sit with gratitude for a husband who walks hand in hand with me, and always speaks to my spirit to help me find my way back down to earth when my head is in the sky. I sit in gratitude for Ifa, Divine Wisdom, the voice of Olodumare. The truth is always there, we just have to open our eyes and look at it. Ase!
Ifayinka 