Originally written in 2021, as I was navigating my own path, making sense by writing and sharing, I have been prompted to share this newsletter once again. Although several years old now, there are many aspects that are still relevant. So enjoy this short series, published with the aim that anyone new to the path may find something of value to help them on navigating their own.
Welcome to this second issue of Challenging Times, the new seasonal newsletter in tune with the Celtic Wheel.
Spring is busy around and within us. Outside, signs of snowdrops, primroses and narcissi are in the woodland and new beginnings are rising up everywhere around us. Inside, the callings are asking us to come out into the world, just as the plants are displaying their beauty and gifts for all to see, so are we called.
The incredible work that is happening in the world to bring people together in spirit, if not in body, continues. It fills the air with its intoxicating perfume, asking us to take in the scent and become intoxicated ourselves.
A questioning mind
During a dream someone asked me what is a mind?
Interesting question, I thought, as I sat down at a table and started to describe its functionality. Was this the type of explanation required? Or did they want to know what is was physically? I wondered, but before I could ask, I woke up.
Then two questions popped into my head. Mytho-logical or logical? Malleable or rigid?
Of late, I have been seeking out the stories that are just thought of as ancient tales of people and places used to teach morals, or ancient myths that in no way seem to depict any actual historical facts, that we can make sense of anyway using our current understandings. Often it has been found that the place does not exist, or it has several different possible options of where it was. Just think Atlantis for instance. Atlantis has been located in many differing parts of the world over the years, and, we may yet find out that this was the truth, it was not just one location, but many. So rather than spending time working out which, or arguing one location is a better bet than another, not focussing on an either/or outcome, but actually embracing the possibility that all are possible.
I have begun to gain the understanding that even the everyday can hold another layer of meaning that can easily be overlooked. We become so familiar with an icon, or a story, that it stops at its outer layer. It is no longer intriguing, or, we think we know everything there is to know about it already. When in reality it holds much more to the enquiring and seeing eye.
Applying the curious mind, the questioning child stance, with the ‘but why?’ Or the ‘what if …?’, we can delve deeper. Opening up, rather than closing in.
My mind likes to make patterns, and I link differing concepts or objects that may or may not have a commonality, a divergent thinking pattern. I gather a rule from one thing and see if it fits another. You are then free to discover if you have found something new or unique. If it doesn’t fit, I leave that piece of jigsaw to one side and pick up another.
If you’re trying to stay on task though, that can be difficult to rein in, so switching to become a convergent thinker, focussing in rather than out has to be mastered sometimes for life to function in an orderly way. That can be tricky at times for me, but I look upon my thinking style as a gift, where my mind is not constrained, it is free to find its own path of discovery. Although occasionally when I’ve not got a timer I can burn whatever is in the oven, whilst engrossed in this research.
I acknowledge what I currently know, and then look for wider perspectives and alternative meanings. I suppose this is where a researching mind can come in too, gathering from different sources to compile a new composition, or angle on a particular subject, bringing to the surface new perspectives.
I have found openness has helped me tremendously on my path of discovery. With a curiosity, a willingness to be surprised, to be wrong in my current understandings. Happy to put a long held belief to one side and replace it for another, until an even better one arrives. I delve in, looking for more, to make sense of the expansion that is on offer right now.
This tactic, of course, can become the rabbit hole, but then, sometimes, thats an interesting place to go, like Alice in Wonderland, finding herself in new surroundings and experiencing different ways of being.
Now that sounds like fun to me.
A sun blessing
Bless the rays that warm our earth
that send away the dark and dirth.
Bless easterly risings every day,
to touch the creatures faun and fae,
to give the growth its vital needs,
to hold the sway of grass and seeds.
We bless it's setting in the west,
We bless it's return without behest.
In-tuition
“Immediate apprehension by the mind without reasoning, … apprehension by sense … immediate insight.” Concise Oxford Dictionary.
Sometimes a familiar word can be re-presented to us, and it seems as though we are reading it with new eyes. Musing on the word ‘intuition’, its construction and meaning, its form struck me: in-tuition. Inner tuition, inner instruction, this is available to us all, if we can become familiar and practice the inner listening.
It reminds me of the art of dowsing. I witnessed an impressive demonstration when looking for some hidden car keys, the rod led the diviner to the exact spot very quickly. I enquired about how this could work and the reply was, it is a type of knowing. I didn’t quite get what that may have meant at the time. I have since heard this type of knowing or intuition being described as the unconscious being made conscious. And dowsing is one of the ways of sharpening this communication channel.
When I had a go at finding the hidden keys, my intent was probably not as clear, the rod led me to the car and was quite insistent that I had arrived at my destination! I think I need more practice of this type of inner tuition, I’ve definitely got the L plates on for the time being!
Coping with change - Part II
Continuing the article in the last issue where we looked at coping with change and the stages we may experience in that process. I thought it may be helpful to explore how we can take different attitudes to the decision we may take.
There are times when difficult decisions need to be made, how we then re-act to having taken them unfolds, our behaviour impacts the ensuing experience.
As a reminder here is the change cycle diagram once again, showing the stages we can move through, either quickly or slowly. We covered the early stages in Part I.
Having reached the decision stage, the action step is next. It is how we hold our belief about the action, that results in the behaviour that accompanies it and affects the overall experience.
When a decision is a joyful one, then we open our hearts and jump straight in and immerse ourselves in the experience. However, there are times when a decision requires other actions that may not be joyful, but are necessary. Taking a different approach when we need to engage with the action can help to ease the path.
Eckhart Tolle speaks of three modalities, or ways to approach events:
acceptance,
enjoyment and
enthusiasm
I've found these three modalities to be useful in identifying my re-actions to my decisions, or events I find myself in. They allow for the default behaviour to be investigated, and opens up other options to choose from.
Yes it is a choice. Once we are aware of the choice, we can alter our default behaviour to then have a different experience.
Tolle suggests acceptance is, “whatever you cannot enjoy doing, you can at least accept that this is what you have to do. Acceptance means: “for now, this is what this situation, this moment, requires me to do, and so I do it willingly.”
By taking this attitude, the resistance has been removed and this eases the path of the experience .
He goes on to state, enjoyment is “... the peace that comes with surrendered action …. when you make the present moment, instead of past and future, the focal point ...”. This is mindfulness, there is no other moment except this present one. You are not worrying about what happened in the past or what may happen in the future, but focussing only in the now.
When speaking about enthusiasm, Tolle says it “... means there is deep enjoyment in what you do, plus the added element of a goal or a vision that you work toward. When you add a goal to the enjoyment of what you do, the energy field or vibrational frequency changes”.
”Such powerful reframing to alleviate the stress of action helps the body and the mind”, as Tolle states there is a “...strong link between stress and negative emotions, such as anxiety and anger. It is toxic to the body ...”
So, next time you have to make a decision, or find yourself being in a position of having a choice of your re-action to a situation, experiment with this approach, act consciously to alleviate negative emotions, and turn what may have been a stressful situation into something more calming.
“Healing what pulls our body down will help our spirit to rise.” Anon.
Facing your fears
The biggest fear there appears to be around currently is that of dying. With the pandemic it has been most evident this past year, the fear has permeated everywhere and everything.
In the western world, generally, we have a particular view of the natural process of birth, life and death. We are surrounded with advertising that tells us we need to stay young. This advertising and the role models we have come to uphold, who often promote youth as the only viable and attractive way of being. As a result, many dread becoming older, despite there being some distinct advantages that come with it, like knowledge, experience and wisdom.
We also remove the aspect of re-birth, or the concept of an 'after life, which other traditions still have. We see the end as 'the end', and therefore something to be avoided for as long as possible.
These viewpoints do not help the transition through life and eventually through the death experience, and hence we have great fear of the event of death.
Most of our rituals about death are grief based, bathed in loss, mourning and tears, although recently there has been a movement towards more of a celebration and gratitude for a life lived, which does take us a step closer to being more at ease with the event. There are still tears, this is a healthy expression of releasing emotion from the body, but with a smile at the same time, at the beautiful memories.
None of us want to loose loved ones, and wish to be able to hold on to them in our lives, or to hold on to our own life in this physical realm, though sometimes this is not possible.
We are aware of the experience of this natural life cycle everyday in nature, the seasons show us the way every year. Beginning with the darkness in winter, leading to spring and the birth of the new, onto summer, the youthful exuberance, autumn and harvest, maturity, reaping and offering the work of the year, and again to darkness and death in winter … all to begin again soon, after an appropriate rest.
We recognise these natural cycles and may feel comfortable with them happening each year, but cannot transfer that 'comfortable' feeling to that of our own life and death, or to others close to us.
I can always remember a poem that brought on a period of deep depression for me, as it made me realise that I was always living for tomorrow, waiting when I could just get to that point in the future and all will be fine. This poem used the metaphor of a train journey, and pointed out that the a person’s destination station was death.
After this deep realisation, I fell into an emotional heap for quite some time. The impact of the way I was living my life, I was so unhappy with the present, that I wasn’t there, but instead I placed myself to one side whilst looking at the future as being my reward for battling through that unhappiness. Once I could reach the next point it will be well, but of course I was not fully living in the meanwhile. I would not know when my station would arrive and there would be the end of this journey, many years wasted, not taking in the view, looking too far ahead for relief from the present, a life half lived.
Lifting myself out of this way of being, made me appreciate that living fully was the most important thing I can ever do. To enjoy the journey, knowing that some of us reach the destination at different times, though when we do arrive there, there are no regrets at a life half lived. The passing is embraced with a sigh of satisfaction of a full life well lived.
Facing our fear and making friends with the thought and act of dying, we can approach life in a more wholehearted and fearless way. We can also help others navigating their own journey, by showing another way to be.
Once this different way of looking at life and death is brought into being, there is a huge relief, we can enjoy the journey, taking in the beauty, along with hardships we may witness, and perhaps also endure, as we are travelling through, never fearing the ultimate destination - when we walk out of our physical body and become our non-physical selves once more and look back thinking, gosh what a satisfying life that was!
If you light a lamp for someone else it will also brighten your path”. Anon