I Was Five Years Old When I Knew (Part 1)

There is a profound myth that shapes our early years: the belief that we arrive on this Earth as blank slates, waiting to be written upon by the world. We are taught that our purpose is something we must go out and find, something we must learn from books, from teachers, from the systems that surround us. We are conditioned to believe that the wisdom of the universe is outside of us, and that our job is to adapt, to fit in, and to absorb the knowledge that others have deemed important.

This myth creates a deep sense of disconnection from our own innate wisdom. It teaches us to doubt the quiet voice within, the voice that remembers why we came here. We learn to silence our inner knowing in order to survive in a world that values conformity over authenticity. We become experts at observing how the system works and molding ourselves to fit its expectations, even when those expectations feel entirely alien to our souls.

The cost of this adaptation is immense. We spend decades trying to remember what we knew the moment we were born. We search for our purpose in careers, in relationships, in achievements, only to find that the answers we seek have been waiting patiently inside us all along. The challenge is not to find your purpose, but to find the courage to remember it—and to trust the wisdom that has been with you since the very beginning.

The Knowing in Lourdes

I remember the exact moment my own knowing was validated. I was five years old. My parents had received scholarships to pursue their master’s and doctorate degrees in France, so our family had moved there from Mexico. 

During that time, we took a trip to Lourdes. As we entered that sacred space, I experienced a profound vision. I felt the exact sensation of the All and the Nothing, everything united in perfect oneness. Then the message of the great mother came. The message was clear and undeniable: You arrived here on Earth to create bridges and to bring down information and tools that haven’t been on Earth before, to help the evolution toward a new human.

I remember pulling on my mother’s hand, looking up at her and saying, “I am hearing everyone. I know what everyone is saying. No one is speaking, but I hear everything.” My mother, who was having her own deep experience in Lourdes, turned to look at me down, and say AHA! She didn’t really listen or care. 

I was five years old. The knowing was complete. That was it. But very quickly, the reality of the human experience set in. I looked around at my family, at the space we occupied, at the world around me, and I thought: Wrong planet. For sure. I am definitely on the wrong planet.

My family system was very mental, very focused on achievements and doing. I had one deeply emotional sister, and I watched as she struggled within that environment. As a child observing how the system worked, I made a decision. I saw that being emotional made life difficult in our family, while being mental and achieving good grades brought freedom. So, I adapted. I decided to focus on getting the best grades possible because I realized that as long as I excelled academically, I would have the freedom to do whatever I wanted.

I learned to navigate the system perfectly, but the five-year-old who knew her cosmic purpose went quiet, waiting for the right time to return.

The Wisdom of the Child

This is why this journey of remembering is so important to the world. We are living in a time of profound planetary evolution, a time when the old systems are crumbling and new paradigms are emerging. To navigate this transition, we need the wisdom of the child—the pure, unconditioned knowing that remembers our connection to the cosmos.

When we reconnect with that innate wisdom, we realize that we are not here to simply adapt to a broken system. We are here to create a new one. We are here to be the bridges between the old world and the new earth. The tools and the information that will help humanity evolve are not going to come from the systems that created our current challenges. They are going to come from the deep, inner knowing of souls who have remembered why they came here.

The child within you holds the blueprint for your unique contribution to this planetary ascension. That child remembers the joy of creation, the playfulness of discovery, and the profound truth of our interconnectedness. When we allow that child to lead, we move away from the heavy, mental striving that has defined our past, and we step into a flow of joyful, effortless co-creation.

Reclaim Your Innate Knowing

The time has come to stop adapting to a world that is too small for your soul. The time has come to remember what you knew before the world told you to forget.

Acknowledge your inner knowing. Take a moment to reflect on your earliest memories. What did you know to be true when you were a child, before the world taught you otherwise? What were the whispers of your soul before you learned to silence them?

Stop trying to fit in. Recognize the ways in which you have adapted to systems that do not serve your highest good. Give yourself permission to be the unique, multidimensional being that you are, even if it means standing out.

Invite the child to play. Reconnect with the playfulness and curiosity of your inner child. Approach your spiritual journey not as a serious, heavy task, but as a joyful exploration. Ask “why” with the innocence of a five-year-old.

Trust your unique bridge. You came here with a specific purpose, a unique bridge to build. Trust that the blueprint for that bridge is already within you. You do not need to seek it outside yourself; you only need to create the space for it to emerge.

You are not on the wrong planet. You are exactly where you are meant to be, at exactly the right time. The world is ready for the wisdom you brought with you. It is time to remember.

TAKE ACTION: Take a few moments today to reflect on what you knew to be true about yourself before the expectations of others shaped your path. What gifts, dreams, or inner wisdom are ready to be remembered? Learn more about Lilly Wong’s work and teaching.