Choice and Responsibility

Choice and Responsibility: This is an excerpt from Open Your Akashic Records, Chapter 28.


For much of my early life I had a very active critical voice inside me which liked to keep a running commentary about my faults and bad choices. Very little happened in my life that didn’t come under its critical scrutiny, and the voice would quickly berate me for my stupidity and failure to be perfect. It was a voice which I tried to cover with sugar, especially the chocolate chip cookie variety. It was later the voice reflected to me by my then abusive husband. Three years into my marriage I realized that I had stopped doing anything creative because I was trying to avoid anything which could come under attack. I even reduced what I read because he and that voice didn’t believe I could choose a good book.

Long story short, that realization coupled with several others helped me leave an abusive relationship before it became physically damaging. However, the emotional damage was deep and broad, and it took me years to recover. The guy was gone but not the critical voice.

In my spiritual exploration which followed the divorce and then a new marriage, I discovered that the critical voice was losing a bit of its volume, perhaps due to a lack of outside fuel. I was discerning a difference between my internal experience of myself and an external experience with the world. More importantly, I was learning about my ability to choose in all aspects of my life. I had choice about all of me—my thoughts, feelings, and beliefs. 


At this point, I learned to open my own Records and was introduced to new voices in my head and heart. One was the “voice” of my guides in my Records. The other voice was me at choice, without fear, beyond the detriment of criticism. This voice, which had been overwhelmed and dismissed, was the real me, the me empowered, balanced, and free. My voice, compatible with the voice of my Records, found strength to counter my critical voice because I realized my critical voice was powered by judgment from outside of me. My real inner voice grew in assurance and balance fueled by my personal truth. In a very emotional exchange, my Records introduced the concept of inner master and outer master. These useful concepts gave me a direct, practical perspective which, along with hundreds of affirmations also from my Records, helped me first quiet and then almost eliminate my critical voice. Gone is the slander and hurtful critique, and in its place is my real voice speaking through the balance and clarity of my inner master. 

The outer master is the urge to look outside of yourself for truth and validation, to exchange your truth for another’s because yours is suspect. When self-trust is challenged, then inner truth is either very quiet or hard to trust. In this place of doubt, you will feel the push to look beyond yourself to others to understand you and find your path in life. While asking for support and assistance is always a good idea, replacing your truth with someone else’s truth is self-defeating. The outer master wants to create dependency, hampering self-trust and judging your truth. The outer master is not you and does not have your experience in life nor your understanding of yourself. 

As self-trust builds, and inner truth begins to speak with a louder and clearer voice; you can turn from the outer master to your inner master. The inner master is the empowered voice of your true self, clearly connected to the voice of your truth. As trust builds, you build confidence in following your inner master.

Within the perspective of choice, the outer master wants to enforce what you should choose. A simple way to uncover the presence of the outer master is to notice the presence of “should.” Thoughts of “I should do this” are often choice driven by something outside of you and not by inner clarity.

The choice of the inner master comes in the form of must. When you are called and are clear about a decision, the inner motion will be a declarative, “I must!”  You are clear about your choice and unless you are at must, then whatever you are trying to choose is not worth your time. There are other versions which express must as “Hell, yes!”  Worthy choice is powerfully declarative, aligned, and resonates with your inner sense of the absolute rightness of your choice in the moment.

In the Akashic Records, choice is important as a demonstration of responsibility. You are responsible for you, and you are responsible to make choices for yourself. Reliance on the outer master transfers your responsibility and choice to another. In contrast, your Akashic Records will encourage you to follow the voice of your inner master and to not look toward the Akashic Records as the voice of an outer master. You are always at choice and always responsible for yourself.

The Akashic Records, speaking from the origin of your soul and aware of your highest and deepest expression and intention, respond with support for you to maintain responsibility for yourself and to make choices for yourself through self-trust and inner-truth. The Akashic Records are not available to you as a replacement for your awareness. Instead, the Akashic Records are here to help you learn to trust yourself to hear your truth. No matter how much you enjoy them and they enjoy you, self-reliance is the ultimate goal. Learning to trust and hear your truth within the Records encourages you to utilize the same awareness outside of the Records in your everyday life.


Choice and Responsibility: This is an excerpt from Open Your Akashic Records, Chapter 28.

author avatar
Cheryl Marlene
Cheryl Marlene, Akashic Mystic, is unafraid of the tough, the raw, and the real aspects of doing deep work. She is the world’s authority on the Akashic Records and consults in the Akashic Records with clients around the world through readings, research, and executive programs. Student learn to access the Akashic Records through ZENITH, her comprehensive four-level learning program, and her signature classic, The Akashic Records Masterclass. In the field of consciousness, she is known as a futurist, innovator, and master teacher who delivers life-changing lessons with warmth and humor. Her powerful exploration is cutting edge -- providing you with deep insight today to ignite your vision for tomorrow.

Headshot of Cheryl Marlene, Spiritual Guide in the Akashic Records

A mystic, futurist, and trailblazer in spiritual consciousness and the Akashic Records, Cheryl is unafraid of the tough, the raw, and the real aspects of doing deep work.

Cheryl has expanded the collective understanding of the Akashic Records beyond the outdated myths of yesterday into a dynamic healing spiritual practice of divine and human consciousness. She consults in the Akashic Records with clients around the world through one-on-one sessions, extensive research, and future-driven, strategic business development.

Cheryl’s clients and students know her as a relatable, funny, everyday person who loves red dresses, urban fantasy books, and skinny margaritas. When she is not hard at work on her next book, she is on the hiking trail listening to the beauty of nature and the heartbeat of the mountain.

Through her journey, she has distilled her intention for life to these seven words: BELIEVE. Laugh. Learn. Love. Be. Become. Always.