Is everything that happens to us fate?

What is fate and what is destiny and how much free will we have are questions that come up over and over again.

I believe that fate does play a part in all of our lives, but what does that actually mean?  We all experience fate at both an individual and collective level.  We may be bringing something forward from a past life or we may enter into soul contracts with others in a way that means we will encounter certain experiences along our way.  We may meet someone and fall madly in love, or move to a particular place or even follow a certain career path that unfolds following many synchronicities that takes us in a particular direction.  On a collective level, we share a certain kind of fate with everyone in our tribe, our group or society in terms of the big themes that play out and touch all of us.

Yet we are also at a point of evolution where we can come to understand that we are all part of the whole and here to embrace the limitless nature of our true existence, that we are powerful creators not only of our own but of our collective destiny.  We can begin to expand the beliefs that may have been passed on to us from others about what we are capable of and reach out for something far more powerful.  We can begin to understand that the universe acts like a mirror, reflecting back our essence, our beliefs and vibration.  As powerful creators, we can transcend even our beliefs about the nature of fate itself, and when we do that we can change it.

We might all live out very different lives in very different ways, but I believe that this is our true destiny, our real reason for being here and the foundation of our evolution.  Whether we embrace our destiny or not is down to our free will. Our free will gives us the ability to step into our true nature and become powerful creators.  Every single one of us has free will, and that means that even though we may share something that is fated with one, two or more people, each one of us can choose at any moment to step out of our fate and into our destiny.

When I was a child, I was abused.  How I think about that determines how I feel and the understanding I have come to is this.  Whatever energies or events preceded it, the adults involved had free will.  Even if it was our collective fate or a soul contract, they didn’t have to do it. They  could have stepped into their power and done something different.  That would have been the moment that they embraced their destiny.  Deciding that the experience said nothing about my worth as a sacred soul and that it would not affect my trust in the universe or my fundamental belief that people are good was my point of power at which I embraced my destiny.

The idea that we’re in charge is something that we can all find challenging.  When we are feeling low, weak or depleted we can feel that life itself is against us and that we are the powerless victim of fate.  The belief that life is against us in turn erodes our power, and so it can feel as though we never stop being buffeted around.  Changing our consciousness to one of a victim of fate to being a powerful creator of our own destiny can shift our experience in a heartbeat.  When we do that, the universe mirrors our new truths back to us.

Strangely, we can even shrink back from our true nature, putting our faith in an external power rather than realising that it lies within us, deepening our connection to it and beginning to use it in our lives.  As Marianne Williamson says, “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us.”

How do we begin to make the shift?  By embracing the idea that whatever shows up in our life can actually be the point at which we step into that power and begin to shine our light brightly.  As soon as we do that, our experience magically transforms.  Not only can we change our future, but we can also change our present and our past itself.

Loads of love,