Step Into Your Shoes: It’s The Year to Reclaim All That You Are

Part of the featured topic series,
The New Year Ahead

“Step into your shoes.” As I sat here connecting with those who collaborate with us from other realms, I heard simply, “Step into your shoes.” Nothing more. I waited, and listened, but that was it.

So much for the easy button. At first thought, that statement seemed somewhat cliché, especially from those so other-worldly. Then I thought, “How the heck am I going to fill an entire article with one mysterious sentence? And is this the topic you wish to discuss or is this actually some kind of suggestion directed toward me as far as how I approach this article?”

I had some questions after hearing that and I contemplated the meaning, its brevity and its symbolism for a long time. But the more I thought about it, the more fitting it appeared, and not just as a topic of discussion for the new year, but also as a very personal message as I began to write.

I paused for a moment to put on my shoes.

The Symbolism Within

Shoes seem to possess more symbolism for us than any other article of clothing. They literally provide protection, functionality, style and comfort as we make our way through the day, but we’ve also come to use shoes as a kind of symbolic representation of our individual journeys as well.

For perspective we say, “Don’t judge someone until you’ve walked a mile in their shoes.”

For direction or guidance we say, “If the shoe fits, wear it.”

And as a measure of mastery we say, “Those are big shoes to fill!”

Shoes symbolize something powerful about an individual. They have the ability to reveal a sense of style, the kind of life one lives, and the ease or treachery of one’s journey. They are the symbolic collective story of one’s life or lifetimes, so when it was said to me, “Step into your shoes,” they were in effect saying, “Reclaim all that you are, all that you have endured, and all that you have evolved.”

I thought back upon my experiences in other lifetimes and throughout this one. I see now that perhaps I was not always wearing my shoes. I see that I abandoned them – left them behind – at some point. They may have become hardened in symbolism to the point where I could not wear them any longer. Perhaps they were no longer just shoes. They had become something else, something crystallized or fixed… something preserved and no longer flexible. Perhaps family, friends, colleagues, or others would simply not let me wear them, out of fear I may wear them out during my journeys. So I walked away without them, from whatever they had become symbolically, to others… something not entirely useful any longer, for protection, comfort or even style. They no longer fit… they’re purpose.

This was a significant realization in the moments just after I stepped into my shoes. Somehow I inherently knew what it meant to put them on, but I did not realize I had not been wearing them nor the reasons why I had abandoned them in the past. This statement and the exercise of putting them on, was meant to reveal this.

2011 The Year of Mastery

If you follow the numerologists, you know that 11 is a master number. It’s about mastery. While I have no expertise in numerology, I do know that mastery has everything to do with being present and living from within your own experience, so if you asked me what this year is about, 2011, that would be it: Mastery through presence and personal experience. Quite literally, 2011 reads 2 11 or to mastery.

It’s no surprise then, as I sat and contemplated the new year ahead, that these words were whispered to me, “Step into your shoes.” The journey out of duality (separation) may have ended, but a new journey toward mastery (wholeness) has just begun. One cannot be whole when aspects of what you are have been set aside or left behind. For this next journey, I need my shoes! Indeed, I reclaim all that I am!

I’ll wrap up with a comment about mastery from Yeshua who spoke through Michele Mayama the other night. He said, “We are with you more closely than ever, as collaborators with you. It is time now to reclaim your gifts and open your presence!”

Step into your shoes.

Copyright © 2011 Suzanne Ahjira. All Rights Reserved.