Do I Need a Guru?

Amanda Dobra Hope

It depends, what do you want one for?
Are you looking for a guru? A spiritual teacher? Finding a great teacher on our path is a tremendous boost when we are looking to grow spiritually in an exponential way. However, when seeking a guru or teacher, choose carefully, and consider what those titles mean. Remember first and foremost that you are already your own guru, and so is everyone around you.

If the guru you seek, or friend and teacher you love, knows that he or she is still growing and evolving everyday as well- you have found one worth their weight in gold. Learn from them, but do not hand over your personal power or your will to learn and discover things on your own.

A real teacher is one who is happy to let you go when you are ready to fly. Teachers come in many forms, not all are hired, and the best are most rewarded when their students fly off ahead of them- surpassing their own knowledge and sharing their new discoveries with others. In a real teacher, you will find a person who works to empower you, not to make you dependent on them.

Do not do exactly as they tell you, just because they told you, but rather take their teachings deep into your heart and look for your own spin on the answer. We are all gurus to each other.
Do you find yourself looking up to certain people in your life? Perhaps you think they know more than you, or are in a higher place spiritually than you are. This may be true, but also true is the fact that you may be a teacher or guru to them in a very different way.

Do not underestimate the power of your own self as a teacher to others. Live your life with impeccability and integrity, and be the best and most authentic YOU that you can be. In doing so, you empower and inspire others to do the same. Humanity benefits greatly when all humans are being their most authentic selves. We have all come here with things to teach and things to learn.
True teachers, just like true friends, bring us gifts- but we may not wear them all of the time, or give them a prime spot on our wall. We accept them in the loving spirit that they were given, and then choose what we wish to do with them.

Teachers, gurus, or whatever you choose to call them by, may come and go, or may be with you for a lifetime- but what you make of this life for yourself and those around you is yours, and yours alone. Do not depend on another human to live your life for you or tell you what you should do. Learn to look inside yourself for your answers, and don’t forget to partner often with your higher power.
You are the one you have been waiting for. All others are merely a reflection of you.

Please enjoy this musing on the ‘teachers’ in our lives.

Dear Friend,

Thank you for showing up and engaging with me in this life.

I have grown much, and enjoyed the intellectual and spiritual stimulation of spending time with you.

I thank you, but I resist loving you any more than those who have been my antagonists.

For I love them the same.

In this instance, you may have brought me pleasure when they have brought me pain- but the impact on my growth and my soul is the same.

I bless and love those who have brought me my unpleasurable lessons as well, and perhaps love them more for choosing to play the villain in the theater of my life at times.

So friend, while you have played the hero this time- we are all truly heroes. For everyone, if we are conscious and aware, gives back to us a piece of ourselves that we have long since forgotten.

I love you my friend, but no more and no less than the others I love, whether or not we may currently play together on this earthly plane.

Thank you for being my playmate, and thank you for giving me back one more piece of myself for the taking.

For you are not my guru- you are merely my reflection.

And I have finally chosen-

To like myself.