Category: life purpose

The meaning of life is…

.Reading time 2 minutes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some questions are easy to answer and other questions have no answer only an exploration of possibilities and improve abilities. What about a meaning of life? For many the answer will be certain and definite and for some the question will never be answered fully or the answer will change as life evolves. Life is about meaning making whether we are aware of its doing or not. Unconscious or conscious we go through life performing tasks and engaging in dynamics that are either meaningful to us or have no identifying factor of meaning included in the experience.

What is the meaning of life? Like everyone I have pondered upon the question and the closest answer I have come up with for me is that the meaning of life is life itself. It is the very act of living that creates meaning day-to-day. It is in finding what brings your heart and soul joy and then living through those experiences effecting yourself and others around you. Surely it’s got to come from the heart, so to speak, a place where one is truly content with what is in their life be it family, work, books, art or the natural world and al the things include in those categories, feelings, thoughts, dreams, goals. Expression of meaning can come through various undertakings throughout a lifespan and it is unique for everyone.

What is the meaning of life for you?

Advertisements

The energy of ‘new’ continues…

.Reading time 5 minutes.

june-coming-sun-feet_927465611-690x518

I am loving this year of totally new and different, inwards and outward recovery, re-learning back to the original state, simplifying, clearing and emptying a space that is pure and light, zooming in on intention and conscious awareness more so that it feels even more natural, effortless.

This ‘new’ is so different this year with a vibration of solid knowing and that original signature that lays so firmly underneath all the layers within us all. When it came this year it was instantly recognisable and very welcomed. Things fall away with ease and transformation is quick and natural. As a space is created new things flow in. So far winter and spring for me have been redefined completely. Previous wounding seems to have crumbled into a glorious material of new building material.

‘Recovery’ this spring is a prominent theme on many levels. This recovery covers our identification with the societal, with the old way of doing things, what ‘we should be doing’ and not ‘what we would like to’. The message is to get back to the original, to our soul purpose. It also applies to a physical recovery inviting us to focus on our health and vitality. Emptying the mind and our surroundings of the ‘non-essential’ and leaving only what truly matter, which mostly transpires to be what we already have within and nothing from outside.

Every year in spring without a fail I get some mysterious physical disturbances and it hit me in the face the other day the meaning of what it is all about. It is needing to recover, but not only that, allow time to recover without judgement, wanting it to be gone instantly and never come back. This instant gratification culture and want for things, events and changes are so deeply rooted within the society that it has become a natural default, it seeped into every area of our life, yet it is not working. Layer after layer, behaviour after behaviour have been dropping off with clearer vision and awareness this spring and I have learnt to be humble with pain and love my physicality and fragility even more. It speaks of impermanence of things very loudly and the more we embrace the concept of things ending, life ending the more we will engage with life now. This is so simple yet so true and it is encouraging to see changes all around that call for a ‘new’ way of looking at life amidst all the insanity of the world.

As we approach summer this year, my next challenge, as it is the darkest time for me, I actually feel I am activating my Fire element again in a very different way this year. Fire element has always been my winter element, but this year I was luxuriating in Water all through winter and summer is calling my good Fire. The opposites are taking place. I feel focused, motivated, passionate, productive, purposeful and decisive, which are normally qualities of my winters. Things are riping into being, as I go about my days. I can feel the rise of manifesting energy, as small seedlings grow higher on my land. I am also so far less rejecting of the hot weather and finding such pleasure in early mornings and evenings, which are truly beautiful near and during summer. Nature wonderfully supports this new inner blooming every day as serves as a container of all the richness we carry within.

Signatures of comfort, space, freedom and purpose are all present this spring and as we going into summer I am excited to see what it brings. All I seem to being asked to do is create space, exhale and open up my heart more than ever before and the rest will follow.

 

Life and death as one

.Reading time 3 minutes.

life and death

Not taking risks, avoiding what we perceive as ‘risky’ implies that there’s no freedom in our choices only a stagnant, familiar and constrained. Life imprisoned is like constant death anxiety. Surely the more death is feared the more we should embrace life yet we ignore it as if death is not present in life but something of a distant abstract idea, concept that is never to materialise.

Being free in life means being free in death, not afraid of taking a turn unconventional, perhaps, but something that calls us in the moment. Mistake, you say? That’s an instant regret about choosing freedom. That’s beating yourself up about having courage to live in the moment. There are no mistakes only a decision taken in the moment, a choice. How we take that turn is up to us. Will be go for it unconditionally and without attachment to an outcome, or cautiously with a degree of fear in the background. Both are valid to some extent and both are possible.

Read More

End of winter Imbolc 2017

.Reading time 3 minutes.

Imbolc 2017I sat on an early morning train to London feeling apprehensive yet excited at the possibilities that might await me at the end of my journey. I felt a slight smile touching my lips and became aware of a warm feeling within, which reassured me I was in the right place, at the right time. I continued by observation of passengers looking at their faces wondering what they might be thinking, feeling and where the train was taking them on this morning of Imbolc 2017.

Imbolc is my favourite Sabbat, which always feels fragrant with delicate scents of crocuses, tulips and daffodils to me. Snowdrops begin to poke their innocent white heads out of the ground preparing of the play of spring ahead. Those are the first signs of the earth beginning to wake up in the next few weeks. We are not out of the winter yet, but I always feel this energy of fresh, newly promised possibilities around me. I feel grounded in this day, which is particularly useful when today I am taking a journey towards exciting possibilities of working in a hospital with patients and other team members. It is all happening and there is a sense of disbelief that this is actually possible. The outcome of today is yet to be known, but I am filled with hope.

It wasn’t an easy ‘birth’, with a lot of people and energies completing for space and I found myself breathing into my heart with reassurance that whatever was to happen would be for the best. I resolved to being myself and presented with authenticity. It worked. I got the place and the manifestation of that felt so fast that amidst pure joy I felt overwhelmed by this new beginning.

Success and achievement is the primary happiness signature for me. It makes me feel expanded in all senses, full of joy and hope. I feel truly satisfied, a feeling I embody within myself. It feels good.

On the way back I reflected on my encounter with Brigit on the train and how real that was. She felt so present and free-flowing in her deep wisdom and knowing. I am filled with gratitude and love for the possibility of connecting to deities and their sacred energies if and when needed or called. Imbolc has been the most ‘deity present’ celebration for me so far when Brigit never fails to be close to me with her support and teachings.

Blessed end of winter!

Searching for…

.Reading time 3 minutes.

img_0255

Searching for what I know not

The invisible, senseless, shapeless something

Grabbing on to nothingness of what’s there

Where? Here? Not now, not yet, not ever…

What do we search for? Meaning, fulfilment, purpose, love, joy, happiness? Moving towards having our needs met, things, adventures and people that make our lives full and our hearts singing, feeling useful and present in life, noticed, heard and seen. What do we want? We want to live and not fade into nothingness, that scary uncertain place no one wants to talk about, but let’s. It is not nothingness or empty when a life lived fully can be felt in our blood and expressed even in our last breath. Dying well, dying knowing and conscious holding on to love and vision to the last moment. Preparing to travel to places unseen and unknown.

Searching is a natural element of life, like a flowing river always on the run not knowing where it will end or will settle, but it does, I am sure it does and perhaps, then the flow begins again? Like trees stripped of their foliage every year come back to blooming again at some point. Trust, faith in growth and movement of life protects and comforts and it is jumping on board of the train seemingly running away into nothingness or river flowing into place unknown, it is that jumping into life that will carry us through and will lead us to whatever we are searching for. It is a journey of searching, questioning, which contains periods of peace and settled feeling, contentment, slowing down, picking up pace again. It is in the mixture and variety, colour and moments of dull despair and the darkest night there is life itself, which is the meaning of it all. Life is the meaning of life.

Who made the world?
Who made the swan, and the black bear?
Who made the grasshopper?
This grasshopper, I mean-
the one who has flung herself out of the grass,
the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,
who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down-
who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.
Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.
Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.
I don't know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?

—Mary Oliver

Existential…

.Reading time 6 minutes.

crosby-jan2012-0050-640px-wide

We are born, we bloom and we die. What of those in-between spaces? That is day-to-day living, those are the moments, of which life consists.

Today, it feels like the past is gone and the future is doubtful and uncertain. There is death anxiety present and struggles with staying in the present moment. ‘What if, if only, can I, when this and that’, how will I, what if I don’t, I suppose I will have to’, etc. – these phrases run through the mind over and over.

Yesterday I had a vision of my life going forward. I have seen what is there potentially on offer in the next 20 years and it felt good, comforting, grounding and certain, as opposed to feeling very unsettled and doubtful in the last week. It looked contained, structured with challenges and transitional points clearly outlined, but what it didn’t outline was the way one would deal with it and what the actual outcome would be. That is life and no one knows for certain. There weren’t that many things out there, to be honest, it felt clean, clear and peaceful and would present a good life path for anyone, in my opinion. I like that existential language, which often sounds harsh and direct, which goes ‘this is your lot, this is what you’ve got at your disposal, what are you going to do with it or about it?’. I used this with my own clients a few times and it has that vibration of ‘wake up and smell the coffee’. It is startling, but refreshing if allowed to be present with. It is calling to look at life and present circumstances in a very real way (reality check) and see what can be done and how and be aware of the feelings. It is very ‘present moment’, life here and now and what can we do now in order to feel alive and really living. It is calling us to define in a way what we are about and what we want from however many years we might have. I like the idea of knowing what your purpose is and living it out, so to speak, similar to making a decision and sticking to it. I like that vibration of decisiveness and clarity of route.

I haven’t been in this place before, I don’t think, and if I have been it didn’t come through in the same way. This is really existential. Having gone through a spiritual journey and revival of my soul nature (transpersonal approach), which continues every day, and having looked at childhood set-up and my past (psychodynamic psychotherapy) and worked on self-growth and potential (humanistic approach) what is coming up now is the look at life as it is currently with all there is there, facing cross-roads and defining meaning (humanistic) going forward. It offers options and when one can see a potential path of how things could play out. It gives you certainty to a degree providing one is happy with the vision of their future. I am happy with it for now, as who knows what tomorrow will bring. There is safety in knowing, for sure, and fear in not knowing, absolutely. Both are very valuable. Security and certainty provides a good feeling and so does a vibe of adventure, freedom in a sense of not knowing anything at all. Providing I make it through the years and those around me make it there is a strong chance we make the vision a reality and what a lovely picture that is. In the meantime we live every day as if it is the last doing our best and feeling present and meaningful in our interactions and activities we partake in and feeling ok on the inside. Notice how ‘I’ became ‘we’ in the last few sentences, as I write completely intuitively. There is some meaning in there somewhere pointing towards a collective, community purpose with myself playing a role.

This phase can be scary and they don’t call it an existential crisis for nothing, as one of the most common descriptions. This, however, really resonates with my personality in terms of questioning, finding meaning and certainty within and following a natural course of life with a few challenges and hardships, but also bagging joyful and precious moments of any day like a beautiful sunrise and a good night sleep, a good meal and a smile of a child. It is all in that in-between space of life, in between we are born, we bloom and we die.

If you don’t know me…

.Reading time 4 minutes.

unconditional love, spiritual journey

A Ritual to Read to Each Other
William Stafford

If you don’t know the kind of person I am
and I don’t know the kind of person you are
a pattern that others made may prevail in the world
and following the wrong god home we may miss our star.

For there is many a small betrayal in the mind,
a shrug that lets the fragile sequence break
sending with shouts the horrible errors of childhood
storming out to play through the broken dyke.

And as elephants parade holding each elephant’s tail,
but if one wanders the circus won’t find the park,
I call it cruel and maybe the root of all cruelty
to know what occurs but not recognize the fact.

And so I appeal to a voice, to something shadowy,
a remote important region in all who talk:
though we could fool each other, we should consider–
lest the parade of our mutual life get lost in the dark.

For it is important that awake people be awake,
or a breaking line may discourage them back to sleep;
the signals we give–yes or no, or maybe–
should be clear: the darkness around us is deep.

I read this poem this morning and sadness and a sense of ‘this is what happens again and again’ penetrated me. It is so easy to just carry on, go on with never really getting to the heart of the matter why we are here, why we are in a relationship with a certain person, who are we in relation to them and ourselves.

It is this journey that makes things more interesting, a conscious journey of discovering your truth and then shine it out into the world.

A teacher gave a definition of love last night, which I really loved. He said that

‘Love is a profound appreciation of someone just as they are’

It touched something in me that rings absolute truth. There is the next level, which connects us to ourselves and others on a spirit level where the feeling is all accepting and unconditional where one must be prepared to let something or someone they love go free rather than holding on to them in order to really LOVE them.

I think what I am trying to call for is a close look at your relationship with yourself and your loved one and see if you can really SEE them as they are and for who they are including weaknesses, wounds, shadowy dark sides, irritating habits and all their magnificent traits. All together as this colourful treasure and say I love you just as you are. It is that appreciation that sets the person free, it is that allowing for them to BE that unique soul here on Earth. It is from that fountain of allowing and appreciation they can then go and fulfill their life purpose and be a gift to others and the world.

If this doesn’t happen, how many souls remain unseen, unheard, untouched by the love that is pure spirit. There is this unique opportunity for each of us on a journey of relationships to love the other to spirit, to help them grow their wings, so they can fly free and be just as they are. It is a glorious opportunity to be with another and produce a beautiful union with yourself, them and the spirit.