“We are living with the old paradigm of age as an arch. That’s the old metaphor: You’re born, you peak at midlife and decline into decrepitude….A more appropriate metaphor for aging is a staircase. The upward ascension of the human spirit, bringing us into wisdom, wholeness and authenticity.”
This metaphor is just as apt to our spiritual journey unfolding. That too like a staircase we walk after life in the climb towards enlightenment.
“Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.”
~unknown
Another post that spoke to me is turning into another share on this blog. As the year is coming to an end, I found this article by Matthew Beuno as a perfect reminder and in perfect timing to close out one phase and to enter another.
He mentions that there are four Native American Indian Spirituality Laws that say nothing happens without reason in life. When you understand this, it’s very easy to handle and you confidently look at what’s happening, thankful for what was there and happy for what’s going to happen. This couldn’t have spoke to me more and see myself as having arrived at that point. Perhaps it is the point of there.
The 1st law says: “The person you meet is the right one.”
That is, no one comes into our lives by accident, all the people around us who interact with us, stand for something, either educate us or to help us in our situation.
The 2nd law says: “What happens is the only thing that can happen.”
Nothing but absolutely nothing of what happens to us could have been different. Not even the most insignificant detail. There just isn’t “If I had done it differently…it would have been differently…” No, what happens is the only thing that can happen and needs to happen, so we can learn our lessons to get ahead. Everything, yes, every situation that happens to us in life is absolutely perfect, even when our spirit resists our ego and doesn’t want to accept it.
The 3rd law says: “Every moment when something starts is the right time.”
Everything starts at the right time, not sooner or later. When we are ready for something new in our life, it’s already there to begin with.
The 4th law says: “What’s over is over.”
It’s that simple. When something ends in our life, it serves our development. Thats why it’s better to let go and move forward, bestowed on the experiences that have now been gained.
If you stumbled across this post and if you are reading this, I don’t think it’s a coincidence. If this text meets you today, it’s because you meet the conditions and understand that no rain drop anywhere in the world accidentally falls in the wrong place.
Let it go well….
Love with your whole being….
Being happy without end….
Every day is a happy, happy day!
I am. You are. We are one.
The struggle is real sometimes and this is for everybody who needs to hear this. Remember that nothing will ever be perfect. Not in life, not in this world that isn’t perfect, not in the eyes of others. You will never please everyone and the only person you have to live with and should be at peace is yourself. I know it’s hard to take things with a grain of salt or to consider the source, not taking it personally, but the sooner you can realize this and let go, the sooner you will achieve that peace and set yourself free. So don’t fret and don’t burden your heart, stay true to who you are, but take a moment to take note…
“She sat at the back and they said she was shy. She led from the front and they hated her pride. They branded her loud, then were shocked by her silence. When she shared no ambition they said she was sad. So she told them her dreams and they said she was mad. They told her they’d listen, then covered their ears, and gave her a hug while they laughed at her fears. And she listened to all of it thinking she should, be the girl they told her to be best as she could.
But one day she asked what best for herself, instead of trying to please everyone else. So she walked to the forest and stood with the trees, she heard the wind whisper and dance with the leaves. She spoke to the willow, the elm and the pine, and she told them what she’d been told time after time.
She told them she felt she was never enough, she was either too little or far far too much. Too loud or too quiet, too fierce or too weak, too wise or too foolish, too bold or too meek. Then she found a small clearing surrounded by firs, and she stopped…and she heard what the trees said to her. And she sat for hours not wanting to leave, for the forest said nothing, it just let her breathe.”
I read a quote the other day that triggered further wonderings. It is a quote from Doug Larson and has to do with wisdom. He states that wisdom is the reward you get for a lifetime of listening when you’d have preferred to talk. It stopped me dead center, wondering about how many times I have talked, so eager to tell my own story, in such desperation to be heard and understood, when in reality I should have listened instead. Maybe I just blabbered away and unleashed stuff that was boiling over that needed to be released, but other than just a release I’ve gained little and definitely no wisdom could derive from there if this quote is true.
Fact is that we all have a story and we all need to be heard. We all seek that understanding, that approval, that companionship, that being seen. I think it is human nature, we want to belong to something and some cause that we deem important and which brings us purpose. Yet I feel that I didn’t stumble upon this quote by accident and it comes at a time that is much in line with the spirit animal energy of December. Perhaps this is a time to wisen up and to listen a little more. Maybe instead of telling our story so much, we need to let someone else tell theirs. Maybe just maybe, a different reward is waiting for us, enriching us with a new, yet unknown purpose. Until now…
Today I am writing more wisdom stolen from the Velveteen Rabbit and I titled it “Becoming.” That is where my musings is taking me back today as I ponder the twists and turns of becoming. Becoming, what a process it is. Becoming takes a long time.
Becoming someone and something we aspire to be is a tough process. I wonder when this “becoming” has started. Is it when we finally choose for ourselves, when we make up our own mind, when we come to terms with what it means to us, is it then that we start to take the first step of becoming. Today I am walking down memory lane, revisiting the trials and tribulations of becoming. Of what it took (so far) and what lessons were learned along the way. Today I am pondering the process, while giving myself credit for all the hard work it took. I might just glance at a moment at what could have been done differently. But just for a moment. There is not much to look back to although there has been a ton. What I mean is that not much has substance anymore. I took my lessons and mulled them over so many times that there is nothing left, nothing to be extracted from anymore. Nothing to be learned, nothing to be gained and that’s a good thing. I am armored with the experiences of the past as I march forward in the process of becoming. It doesn’t mean that I’m untouchable and should wound be triggered that isn’t fully healed, this time around I am much more confident in saying that I know how to recognize it and most importantly, heal it.
Life is moving fast right now and my plate is full. I can feel a tug, a tearing away that feels as if it is trying to keep me from further becoming. Perhaps it is just reaching me in a different sense than I had pictured in my mind. Perhaps sometimes we get too busy and can’t sit back, taking in the process of becoming. Maybe we would stand in our own way if we did, trying to control the outcome, and therefore we have to be removed, side tracked, occupied, so we can look back later in hindsight when it all makes sense and when we recognize the process of becoming.
I know the process is there for me more than ever and I feel it every day. There is an inner revolution that is playing out, challenging the status quo and my core beliefs more than ever. Everything is reaching new levels and new heights and I couldn’t be more excited as well as grateful for this process that leaves me hungry for more. Yet it understands that patience is of the virtue and this time can’t be rushed. I wouldn’t want to miss a thing and the process of becoming is a truly beautiful thing. This uprising perhaps is not something everyone will get to experience but without a doubt will it be the greatest chapter in my book.
Another book has crossed my horizon, and heaven knows that I love to add books to my library. If you don’t know it by now, I am a bit of a bookworm and an old fashioned lover of holding the pages within my hand. There is no shortage of reading material in my world, and several books literally beg me to be pick them up. They are books I had for awhile, perhaps gifted and which time has not quite arrived yet. For now they remain unread, because a book speaks to me when it’s ready to be read and comes into my life with that exact purpose. It has to be read as a companion to my journey, a time that marks a paint of where I am now. “Hearticulations” from Jeff Brown is calling me and Jeff Brown has come up several times over the past weeks. I relate to his wisdom and just recently added this title to my library in the tiny abode.
This year has been much about pain and how to embrace the darkness. So much indeed that I decided to write my own book about the topic and journal my personal journey and experiences. Deep down some tough lessons were learned but strangely I wouldn’t change a thing. Not even if I could. In a passage from his own book Jeff mentions that you can’t talk about your purpose without talking about your pain. This resonates deeply with me and there have been many times that I have questioned my purpose this year. I couldn’t see that the pain body was still unfolding, still teaching me lessons and therefore a talk about the pain and my purpose was not possible. Not to the point of leveling up and reaching new heights. Not to the point of coming to terms and moving further along in the journey.
I felt lost at times, unable to see what’s next and it required a lot of faith and a mindset that kept me going and trust the process. I had to believe the unproven, the facts that were non existing. I had to take that leap of faith all over again. It’s tempting wanting to focus only on the light of our calling and offerings – but that’s only half the truth and we know that life is not all about love and light. It’s about darkness and challenges. Trials and errors. Experiences and learning lessons. The other half – and in many cases, far more than half – is the relationship between our painful life experiences and the life purposes that they forged. There’s a reason why people who had it easier, often find it difficult to find their true-path. Have you ever noticed this, it can be seen in the simplest of examples, and you might think that nothing bad has ever happened to that person. In reality they become sheltered individuals, lacking certain survival skills to make it in today’s world. “Bad” is how we might initially interpret the experience, but when you see it from this angle, it might also be a blessing. A fortunate gift within an unfortunate experience. Without something to overcome, they lack the resilience necessary to find their purpose in a distractive world. Working through and overcoming our traumas ignites our resilience, and lights a fire of sacred purpose deep within our souls. When we see how hurtful the world can be, we also see the many ways that we can make a difference. In the heart of our suffering, the calling to heal this bloodied planet. Let’s get to work. You are needed.
The universe aways replaces what exits your life with something bigger and better. Don’t be stuck holding onto the past or resisting change. Welcome new energy. Let go of what needs to be removed. There’s great blessings in surrender and allowing.
~Idil Ahmed
I have spent quite some time with the Crone lately. She intrigues me and inspires me on my journey of becoming her. New material keeps popping up everywhere about her. Things I am meant to find. Things meant to stir and guide me along. Just like this prayer…the prayer of the Crone.
“We are the women who sit between the mountains and the sea, between the earth and the stars.
We are the women who see the white hair of the Ancient Mother lying on the mountains.
We are the women who lie beneath her cloak of night that encompasses the land that sleeps.
Ancient Mother of the stars, of the winter, of souls. We are the women who remember you in our hearts and in our wombs.
Bless us so we may know you when the Moon is hidden. When our bleeding comes. When the winds are cold and the days are dark.
Bless us so we embrace the sacredness of darkness and to see the seed of the light that is to come.”
Today I want to revisit our Triple Goddess from the other day and this post is mainly about the Crone. The dictionary defines her as a cruel, old woman who is thin and ugly, but who is she really? She is in all of us to some extent. I don’t see her like that at all and to me she is beautiful, the living embodiment of the Maiden, the Mother and now the Crone. Don’t see her as your eyes might see her, old, debilitated, with her prime life passed. See her with your heart. See the completion and the fulfillment of the Triple Goddess, the experiences, the lessons, her achievements and even her shortcomings. She has earned her wisdom and she has paid her dues. She didn’t get here by mere chance. She is forged of trial, tribulations, and errors. Pain has been one of her greatest teachers. Adversity has made her stronger and turned her into a Warrior. She has gotten up more times than she has fallen. She has a fighting spirit and she doesn’t give up easily. She knows how to be playful and nurturing, but she is often alone, and chooses her battles these days. She alone decides what is worth fighting for and what is not.
She is the Crone. The most dangerous, most radical, most revolutionary woman in existence. She exudes confidentiality and at times she is a threat to those, less confident who yet have to walk the path. She might intimidate as she knows exactly what she wants and only a strong, secure soul can handle her wild spirit as her partner in crime and throughout life. Whether in fairytales or in conventual reality, the old one goes where she wants to and she acts as she wishes. The filters have been removed. There is no one left that she needs to impress. She tells it how it is, without fear of who will be by her side. She lives as she chooses and she has long followed her own drumbeat. She is not afraid to stand alone and she has learned that a big part of this winding, twisting journey has to be walked alone. And it is as it should be. No one can stop her, nor ought they try.
Rhapsody Bohème 