Tuesday 15 January 2013

A New Kind of Wonderful

As another New Year gets into full swing there is a growing sense of ‘earthing’ as each of us finds peace and stillness in the spaces within. After so much shift, transition and metamorphosis it comes as some relief to sense a tranquillity rising up from within that brings with it vision, wisdom and a powerful sense of knowing. Although many are still standing at the crossroads pondering which way to turn (if at all), many others are now contemplating the best way to embrace life in order to live the best life possible. The year ahead feels exciting, vibrant and full of life, and even though the path is uncertain on many levels, intuitively it still feels ‘right’.

Of course, embracing life and striving to live the best life possible has always been the aim, but with so much uncertainty, confusion and discombobulation it has been hard to see the wood for the trees. As a result, the ‘bigger picture’ shifted slightly out of focus as the day-to-day challenges kept us locked in keeping on keeping on. 

Yet, despite the challenges and the up’s and down’s, the awareness of the tranquillity within has enabled many of us to ‘keep the faith’ and to continue moving onwards and upwards. This determinedness came from a realisation that in order to move beyond the confusion and doubt we needed to move through it rather than away from it; not to wallow in it or become consumed by it, but to face our Truth and set our Selves free. Awakening is not simply about opening up to the new waves of consciousness and spirituality, but it is about living, being and standing in Truth and allowing this to shape and define our paths, our lives and our Selves. 

In many ways, it has been the presence of struggle and challenge that has enabled a great many of us to face our fears and our pain in order to find our strength, for it is often pain and struggle that sees us seeking out wisdom, meaning and understanding. When life gets tough we turn to spirituality for the answers: we pray, we affirm and we gaze longingly into the depths of the Universe in order to find resolution. Of course, those ‘answers’ don’t come from external sources, they come from within, and it is only when we really accept this that we shift from feeling lost in the struggle to feeling centred within. Whilst this doesn’t change the reality, it does change how we perceive it and deal with it, and this seems to be at the heart of things now, for self-knowledge is power and the more we go within, the more aligned and centred we become. 

The consciousness of living in the moment and embracing the ‘now’ is not just about being aware of the multi-layered, multi-dimensional aspects of the Universe and our roles within that spectacular panorama, it is about being awake in the moment and being fully aware of our Selves and our choices. We can choose to drift through life never really gazing at the scenery or connecting with whatever makes our hearts sing and our soul’s soar, but many of us have now crossed that particular threshold as such an existence feels even more hollow now. 

Yet, many will continue to walk such avenues in life, and that is their choice, but for those of us who have lifted our heads above the parapet, there is a sense of feeling more aware and awake than ever before. This feels exciting and a little scary, for everything now seems to be in sharper focus as we move through the ‘struggle’ in order to step beyond the boundaries of fear and doubt in order to live as brilliantly and as magnificently as possible. 

Healing the Self has been an important mantra over recent years; for it has shaped and defined the path of awakening on so many levels. Letting go of pain and trauma, and realigning mind, body and soul have led many of us down healing pathways. Whilst such healing is unlikely to stop, it seems important now to shift the focus away from analysis and exploration towards acceptance and a willingness to embrace All that we already Are. 

When we change the dynamic away from trying to fix and find Wholeness, to accepting and acknowledging our Wholeness in the present moment, everything changes, for we shift from chasing and seeking out answers and resolution, to standing strong as we are now. Our feet re-centre firmly on the ground as we pull back in all aspects of our Self in order to live life in the present moment; it is time to be awake and to let the joy of this radiate brightly from every cell of our Being and to feel the life rising up from within as we choose to live life and to be fully alive. 

So many of us have spent so long hovering on the periphery of life; not quite fitting in and always feeling ‘different’, and whilst this has been hard at times, there is a sense that it is this ‘differentness’ that matters most now, for this is the source of our gifts, our inspiration and our strength. The pain and the struggles that we have each experienced have ultimately led us to this present moment; the pain has given our lives context and strength, and our willingness to lean into this pain has allowed us to go beyond to a place of magical beauty and tranquillity. 

We are now moving beyond the conditional boundaries that have shaped and defined our lives towards experiencing a true connection with the unconditional, boundary-less, Whole that is both wonderful and amazing...