Asanee 44

We live in a culture that treats being busy like proof we're doing something right. The longer the hours, the fuller the calendar, the more successful you're supposed to be.

But Ifá teaches something very different.

Your Ori doesn't measure your worth by how much you produce. It guides you toward the path you chose before coming to Earth. Sometimes the busiest person is actually the furthest from their destiny.

I unpack why hustle culture and Ori alignment often point in completely different directions in my latest newsletter.

Ifa teaches that you are surrounded, guided, and protected by heavenly forces. The Orishas, your ancestors, and other divine forces are always with you, whether you feel their presence or not.

But protection does not mean an absence of challenges. It means you are supported and directed as you endure life’s hardships, guided by forces greater than you can see or feel in any given moment.

Most of us are taught to think of our ancestors as people we remember after they're gone.

But what if they are far more than memories?

In my latest Brainz Magazine article, I explore how ancestral wisdom continues to influence the way we think, respond to challenges, connect with others, and navigate life.

If you've ever wondered what it truly means to develop a relationship with your ancestors, this article offers a different perspective.

Your Ori chose a path for you that includes abundance. Not just material gain, but emotional fulfillment, purpose, health, and wholeness. That alignment is already part of your design.

But alignment alone doesn't guarantee that you’ll obtain it. You have to be in a position to receive the abundance that your Ori placed along your path. And self-doubt, fear, and the opinions of people who don't understand your journey can pull you out of that position.

When you stop believing in your goals or desires, you stop moving toward them. You get off track and begin walking a path not meant for you.

Protect your beliefs and mindset the same way you'd protect anything sacred. Feed your faith with intention. Spend time in the abundance of nature. Reflect on the blessings that you already have. Let those remind you of your greatness, your worthiness, and your mission.

According to Ifa, the path you chose before birth is filled with more abundance than you can see at times. Some of those blessings are waiting for you to simply show up and receive them. Others require effort, strategy, diligence, and endurance, and the willingness to keep going when all hope seems lost.

Not every blessing requires a battle. Some come to you with ease because that’s how your path was designed. But the ones that demand your fight often lead to the greatest transformation. They ask you to grow into the version of yourself that can hold on to all that’s placed in your path.

So when the path feels long, overwhelming, and relentless, do not confuse delay with denial. Your blessings are not lost. They are waiting for you on the other side of your persistence. Every step you take in faith and determination brings you closer to the harvest that was always meant for you.

Your Ori chose your path and gave you the exact gifts, abilities, and temperament you need to walk it. Not someone else's path. Yours. That means the way you think, the way you process, the way you create, the way you solve problems. All of it was intentional. All of it has a purpose on your path.

Other people will have opinions about your gifts. They'll tell you what you're good at and what you're not. They'll project their own limitations onto your abilities. Some of those voices came from your childhood. Parents, teachers, and friends who didn't understand who you were meant to be. Some of those voices are more recent. But none of them were consulted when your Ori selected your destiny.

According to Ifa, your Ori made its choices before you arrived here. The path was set. The gifts were assigned. No one else was part of that decision, and no one else has the authority to undo it. Someone calling your gifts irrelevant doesn't make them irrelevant. Someone not understanding your purpose doesn't erase it.

The problem isn't your abilities. The problem is letting other people's perceptions live in your head. When you internalize someone else's assessment of who you are, you start walking a path your Ori never chose. You start changing to fit a version of yourself that has nothing to do with your destiny.

Your Ori didn't make you by accident, and it didn't make you for someone else’s approval. It made you for a purpose that only you can fulfill.

According to Ifa, knowledge is one of the greatest gifts you can receive on your path. But knowledge without application is incomplete. It's not enough to understand something. You have to move with it. You have to let it shape how you live, how you make decisions, and how you show up for the calling on your life.

Ifa teaches that your divine purpose requires more than awareness. It requires diligence. When you receive wisdom, you must act upon it to enjoy the blessings and opportunities it brings.

Some of the most transformative knowledge you'll ever receive won't feel dramatic when it arrives. It might be a conversation that reframes how you see a situation. A realization about a habit that's been keeping you stagnant. Information that finally fills in a gap you didn't know how to identify.

The path to fulfilling your divine calling has never been about how much you know. It's about how faithfully you execute knowledge along your path.

Your Ori doesn't always give you a heads-up before it upends your life. Sometimes everything shifts at once. Your routine breaks. Your plans fall through. The things you built your foundation upon are no longer holding up. And none of it makes sense in the moment.

According to Ifa, your Ori chose your destiny before you were born. And sometimes you drift from it. You settle into situations, habits, and environments that feel good to you but don't match the path your Ori selected. The drift can be so gradual that you don't even notice it happening.

That's when the upheaval comes. This is your Ori correcting the distance between where you are and where you need to be.

Your instinct may be to panic or try to put everything back where it was. But if your Ori is dismantling your life, it's because you were being pulled further from your path. Fighting the upheaval is fighting your own alignment.

Not everything that falls apart was supposed to stay together. Sometimes your life has to break so your path can come back together in its original form.

According to Ifa, your destiny includes specific people meant to support your path. But it also includes the wisdom to recognize which connections are meant for you. Not everyone who shows up is meant to stay. Not everyone who offers help is meant to build with you. Discernment is a sacred part of your calling.

Your destined path thrives when the people around you match the energy you bring. Mutual respect. Honest communication. A willingness to show up for each other without keeping score. The relationships that belong on your path are balanced. They don't drain you. They don't leave you guessing. They feel like alignment because they are.

Ifa teaches that your character and your conduct shape the relationships you attract. When you move with integrity, when you communicate with intention, when you extend yourself without losing yourself, you create the conditions for the right people to find you.

Your Ori places wisdom in your path through people, situations, and circumstances you wouldn't always choose for yourself. The coworker you barely respect. The failed business attempt that taught you more than any course. The technology glitch that forced you to slow down and rethink your entire approach. A wrong turn that led you somewhere you needed to be.

The tendency is to only recognize guidance when it comes in a form that feels intentional or impressive. A mentor with credentials. A book with good reviews. A clear, obvious sign. But Ori doesn't limit itself to convenient packaging. It sometimes uses a stranger with no filter, a mistake you didn't see coming, a setback that rearranged your priorities, or a conversation you almost skipped.

You can spend months searching for answers and overlooking everything your Ori has already placed in front of you. Not because the guidance isn't there, but because it didn't arrive the way you expected. Sometimes the lesson is buried in the inconvenience. Sometimes the breakthrough is disguised as an accident.

A follower on Instagram asked me a question that I think a lot of people wonder about, but rarely ask publicly. If Ifá does not have a list of sins, how does it determine morality? 

I wrote a Substack post exploring how alignment, balanced character, and real-world consequences define right and wrong in the tradition. 

No commandments. No eternal damnation. Just a standard that is higher than most people expect. 

According to Ifa, your destiny unfolds through trust, not through force. The path that was chosen for you before you arrived here doesn't need to be manufactured or willed into existence. It needs your alignment. It needs your attention. It needs you to stop overriding what you already know with urgency and noise.

Ifa teaches that every individual has an inner knowing that connects them to their purpose. That knowing doesn't shout. It doesn't compete with the chaos. But it is always present, always accessible when you slow down enough to receive it.

Society often tempts us to do more, move faster, and push harder. To fill every gap with relentless effort because stillness can feel like falling behind. But our destiny doesn't always work on the same timeline as our ambition. Rushing the process pulls us further from the very thing we're trying to reach.