A few years back, I had a shocking spiritual realisation about myself.

I realised that even though I prided myself on my ability to listen to my body and trust my intuition… I didn’t actually trust myself at all. 

Instead, I’d actually built myself a prison — I’d created a cage of rigid rules that I followed religiously. I was convinced that following them strictly was the “spiritual” thing to do.

And seriously, I had rules for EVERYTHING…

I eat this, I don’t eat that.

I drink this, I don’t drink that.

I say these types of things, I don’t say these.

I hang out with these types of peeps, and not those ones.

I go to bed at this time, I wake up at this time. 

I vote with my dollar, so I spend money on this, but not that.

I give to this charity.

I must exercise daily. 

I must write in my gratitude journal twice a day. 

I only read these types of books (and never those ones). 

I meditate twice a day. 

Yoga is my church, I must go daily.

… and the list went on.

This rigidity felt suffocating, so one day, I decided to do something radical: drop it all and see what happened.

I’ll be honest, at first I had some fear about this little experiment. 

I was worried that I would fall off the bandwagon completely, and start eating fast food, drinking soft drink, and partying again.

But do you know what? The exact opposite happened. 

When I dropped all the heavy dogma and actually TRUSTED my body and soul, something happened that blew my mind… I was naturally drawn to the healthy food, to my meditation pillow, and to my journal, but WITHOUT the dogma. It was so liberating. I felt so much lighter and more free.

And the funny thing was, I could have given myself that freedom at any point. The power was — and always will be — in my own hands. Same with you, beautiful.

YOU have the power to set yourself free at any time. Don’t stay trapped in a cage of dogma because you think it’s the “spiritual” thing to do.

So tell me, what rules are you placing on yourself right now?

What dogma are you subscribing to? 

Write it all down.

Then, as an experiment, spend a week breaking your own rules, letting go of the dogma, and setting yourself free. What would that feel like, I wonder?

Report back to me, I’m excited for your experiment.   

And let me know in the comments: is there a ‘rule’ you’ve placed on yourself that has been feeling heavy and constrictive, rather than empowering and freeing? I’d love to hear about it…