"The land wasn't meant to be bought or sold
It was meant to be loved and sung to
It was meant to be appreciated for its wonderfulness
Admired...
Shared...
The world has never been in worse shape; global warning, animal extinctions, people fucked up and crazy, war...
And then there are us, harmless little humans, who seem to nibble at the root of things..."
Alice Walker 'Now is the Time to Open your Heart"
It sounds about right. We nibble and nibble like termites at the roots of a large tree and then one day when the tree dies, the secret murderers are no where to be found. It couldn't be little us. We're too small to harm Earth.
What difference does it make if we smoke that cigarette. It's only one small cigarette in such a huge universe. What difference does it make if we chop down that tree, there are millions more. What difference does it make if we poison our weeds and termites with pesticides, the poisons will be diluted in the drain water and what difference does it make if we kill a few harmless insects or rodents when we flush this toxic water, there are many more where they came from. What difference does it make if we keep on building shopping malls, forcing the wildlife to retreat to smaller and smaller locations, forcing them to inter breed and over graze. What difference does it make if we catch all those fish along with a whole host of other sea life in our huge fishing nets, there are many other seas to catch fish in. What difference does it make if our cars give off toxic emissions into the atmosphere, causing acid rain. The world's big enough for the rain to fall on someone else's head.What difference does it make if we eat badly, we're going to die anyway
Now is the time to open your heart...
Open your eyes!
Open your ears!
Open your nostrils!
Open your pores!
The secret is that you do not need to be told.
wishing you an experiential week of being conscious
love
Nicolette
P.S. try walking softly and consciously, noticing where you put each foot down. Notice the mushrooms and insects, snails and butterflies and try to avoid trampling on anything in haste.
You might even avoid stepping in the dog pooh!
xxx
Monday 31 October 2011
Monday 24 October 2011
I Release my Fears
I have been protecting myself for way too long, afraid to feel suffering, afraid to show emotion, afraid to drop my mask.
I have been living in an emotion-free, padded cell, of my own making.
I have been sooo happy, in fact too happy, that at times I felt uncomfortable in my skin, as though, if I were to feel just one more iota of happiness, I would literally burst and spill my guts.
I was becoming increasingly aware of this need to cry to release the huge pressure I felt from all my pent up happiness.
Now this might sound really bizarre to you, but I have been begging dance teachers to do a class or a workshop to induce me to tears through dance. I was wishing to dance until I sobbed. But no one would step up to the plate to take the challenge. Admittedly, it is a bit of a weird request, as most normal people want to be transported into great realms of abounding happiness, releasing endorphins and feel good hormones. Perhaps the perception is that no one else would pitch for a class like that. Perhaps it is fear of embarking on a journey of unleashing skeletons, undealt with issues and baggage.
It's really funny how I have been receiving physical signs all year, which have been pointing me to my truth. Those of you who have been reading my weekly inspirational letters, know how many struggles I've had with flooding, water leaks, plumbing leaks, burst geysers, roof leaks, neighbours trying to block my outlet pipes, punctured and ruptured irrigation pipes, you name it. Even the jacuzzi we had built, new, leaked like a sieve when we filled it for the first time.
There were just too many similar occurrences for it to be coincidence.
Everything has been pointing towards emotional build up, build up to the point of bursting.
So, how did I get to the point that helped me to release my fears? What was the push that I was so craving?
I was most fortunate to attend Richard Higgins' Shamanic Constellations workshop last week and the theme was 'Seeing and Being seen'. It was here that I was able to recognise and see my own self made pattern of protection. I became aware that I had not been fully present thus far. I was always busy formulating my next response, instead of listening and hearing what someone was saying.
I was seeing and listening with my peripheral eyes and ears like the man in the Cremora advert.
How often have we gone to the fridge to look for something and even when it is staring us right in the face, we don't and can't see it. "It's not inside, it's on top!"
Over the three days of the workshop, I was reminded to listen to the spaces between and the silences behind the words, to become cognitive of the silent signals like body language. I hadn't learned the freedom of being fully aware and fully present. I needed to see like the Na'vi tribe in the movie 'Avatar, with the eyes of my heart and not my peripheral eyes. I needed to literally drop my mask. And so in the safety of the wonderful light workers present, I was able to consciously release my fears and cry. I had my first cry from the heart on Wednesday and I have continued to access my tears daily and it really feels great. I feel that I have awoken from a half century sleep. It's quite funny that Sleeping Beauty was my favourite childhood Fairy Story.
So as I dry my tears, having released my fears, I find that I am now free to be me.
I feel!
I hear!
and I see!
May you too choose to not just look, but SEE and be seen.
I see you
love
Nicolette
I have been living in an emotion-free, padded cell, of my own making.
I have been sooo happy, in fact too happy, that at times I felt uncomfortable in my skin, as though, if I were to feel just one more iota of happiness, I would literally burst and spill my guts.
I was becoming increasingly aware of this need to cry to release the huge pressure I felt from all my pent up happiness.
Now this might sound really bizarre to you, but I have been begging dance teachers to do a class or a workshop to induce me to tears through dance. I was wishing to dance until I sobbed. But no one would step up to the plate to take the challenge. Admittedly, it is a bit of a weird request, as most normal people want to be transported into great realms of abounding happiness, releasing endorphins and feel good hormones. Perhaps the perception is that no one else would pitch for a class like that. Perhaps it is fear of embarking on a journey of unleashing skeletons, undealt with issues and baggage.
It's really funny how I have been receiving physical signs all year, which have been pointing me to my truth. Those of you who have been reading my weekly inspirational letters, know how many struggles I've had with flooding, water leaks, plumbing leaks, burst geysers, roof leaks, neighbours trying to block my outlet pipes, punctured and ruptured irrigation pipes, you name it. Even the jacuzzi we had built, new, leaked like a sieve when we filled it for the first time.
There were just too many similar occurrences for it to be coincidence.
Everything has been pointing towards emotional build up, build up to the point of bursting.
So, how did I get to the point that helped me to release my fears? What was the push that I was so craving?
I was most fortunate to attend Richard Higgins' Shamanic Constellations workshop last week and the theme was 'Seeing and Being seen'. It was here that I was able to recognise and see my own self made pattern of protection. I became aware that I had not been fully present thus far. I was always busy formulating my next response, instead of listening and hearing what someone was saying.
I was seeing and listening with my peripheral eyes and ears like the man in the Cremora advert.
How often have we gone to the fridge to look for something and even when it is staring us right in the face, we don't and can't see it. "It's not inside, it's on top!"
Over the three days of the workshop, I was reminded to listen to the spaces between and the silences behind the words, to become cognitive of the silent signals like body language. I hadn't learned the freedom of being fully aware and fully present. I needed to see like the Na'vi tribe in the movie 'Avatar, with the eyes of my heart and not my peripheral eyes. I needed to literally drop my mask. And so in the safety of the wonderful light workers present, I was able to consciously release my fears and cry. I had my first cry from the heart on Wednesday and I have continued to access my tears daily and it really feels great. I feel that I have awoken from a half century sleep. It's quite funny that Sleeping Beauty was my favourite childhood Fairy Story.
So as I dry my tears, having released my fears, I find that I am now free to be me.
I feel!
I hear!
and I see!
May you too choose to not just look, but SEE and be seen.
I see you
love
Nicolette
Sunday 16 October 2011
My Way or the Highway
How often do we find ourselves sticking self righteously to our truth, believing steadfastly that we are right and the 'Rest' of them are wrong?
Don't we always want for our opinion to be heard, to have the last say? Don't we seek validation for our cause by seeking others who defend us and agree with us?
"...probably there's not just one truth but a number of equivalent interchangeable truths."
'The Voyeur' by Alberto Moravia
Hum! Food for thought!
Don't all roads lead to Rome? Does it matter whether we take the high road, the low road or the road less travelled? We all have freedom of choice as to the twists and turns which we choose to spice up our lives. Does it make an iota of difference to our outcome which life lessons we choose along the way. Won't we be presented with the full array of challenges during our stay on planet earth, but in which order we choose to tackle them is up to us?
Haven't we noticed the chain reaction of cause and effect in our lives? Yes, the turbulence which we cause will be felt by people on other shores, but how do we know that those effects aren't just the lessons that those people are needing right now. I am a big believer in synchronicity.
Life is for living and experiencing. We can't learn about it from a manual. We have to get embroiled in all of its conquests.
So, to get back to the subject of "I'm right and you're wrong!" Let's do a role play
Role play 1
Man comes home from work in bad mood and shouts at his wife: "Why is my house in a mess and my supper not cooked? I work hard and do my bit. This is unacceptable"
Wife replies: "I am sorry. I have let you down. I will make sure it doesn't happen again."
Role play 2
As above man comes home grumpy and craps on his wife
Wife replies: "I can see you had a hard day at the office, but don't take it out on me. I have also worked and put in my effort to keep the family wheels turning. I have made meals, fetched and carried, gardened and shopped, wiped up tears, waited in queues to pay our bills, taken the dog to the vet and helped with homework and all this I did for love and no material remuneration."
Role play 3
Man comes home from work exhausted and slips quietly into the house unobserved, goes and lies on his bed and has some desperately needed alone time, a space to breathe quietly and just allow the spinning wheel of the rat race to slowly subside.
His wife seeing he is worn out, gets on with making the dinner and makes him a cup of hot tea for when he wakes up.
Role play 4
Man comes home via the pub, having downed his sorrows with a few ales and demands his dinner.
His wife, having already eaten with the kids, yells: "It's in the warmer". Feeling unloved and uncared for, he complains about the meal which is now spoiled to which his wife retaliates: "Well, make your own f@*+^ing food then!
So, the question then is: Which is the correct role play? Which of the 4 men and which of the four women are right?
If you chose man no. 1, you chose the Patriarch, the traditional man who is the head of the home. He is the bully. Woman no. 1 is the submissive, subservient wife, who is willing to take the rap for the sake of peace.
Man no. 2 could be a Patriarch or could be a normal guy just venting and letting off steam from his one-eyed perspective.
Woman no. 2 is more empowered and stands up for herself. She knows her self-worth.
Man no. 3 is more spiritually in tune with his needs. He goes within to find his peace and restore his balance.
Wife no. 3 is tuned inwardly too. She respects her man's space and allows him space to be.
Man no. 4 is your proverbial macho archetype. He is just trying to drown out today's pain with alcohol and putting off for tomorrow what he can't confront today. He is your caveman.
Woman no. 4 is your cave woman. She can give back as much as she gets. She is a survivor.
So, haven't we realised that all these role plays are some one's truth and aren't all these truths interchangeable? There are no right or wrong actions or reactions. Doesn't wife no. 1 deserve the husband she's got. She still needs to learn to stand up for herself and until she does, she will continue attracting the same sort of abuse. And that said is man no. 1 wrong for being the Patriarch. No, the system needs the bullies to create the space for growth in those who choose those lessons.
And so if we work through all the role plays, don't we observe that we all have our truth and there are a million more role plays which are each players truth?
We are all players in the game of life. We get to create our lives by living our truth. We are free to interchange our truth when it no longer serves us.
That's what I love about life. Nothing is cast in concrete.
Are you empowered by your truth?
If not, change it.
in love
Nicolette
Don't we always want for our opinion to be heard, to have the last say? Don't we seek validation for our cause by seeking others who defend us and agree with us?
"...probably there's not just one truth but a number of equivalent interchangeable truths."
'The Voyeur' by Alberto Moravia
Hum! Food for thought!
Don't all roads lead to Rome? Does it matter whether we take the high road, the low road or the road less travelled? We all have freedom of choice as to the twists and turns which we choose to spice up our lives. Does it make an iota of difference to our outcome which life lessons we choose along the way. Won't we be presented with the full array of challenges during our stay on planet earth, but in which order we choose to tackle them is up to us?
Haven't we noticed the chain reaction of cause and effect in our lives? Yes, the turbulence which we cause will be felt by people on other shores, but how do we know that those effects aren't just the lessons that those people are needing right now. I am a big believer in synchronicity.
Life is for living and experiencing. We can't learn about it from a manual. We have to get embroiled in all of its conquests.
So, to get back to the subject of "I'm right and you're wrong!" Let's do a role play
Role play 1
Man comes home from work in bad mood and shouts at his wife: "Why is my house in a mess and my supper not cooked? I work hard and do my bit. This is unacceptable"
Wife replies: "I am sorry. I have let you down. I will make sure it doesn't happen again."
Role play 2
As above man comes home grumpy and craps on his wife
Wife replies: "I can see you had a hard day at the office, but don't take it out on me. I have also worked and put in my effort to keep the family wheels turning. I have made meals, fetched and carried, gardened and shopped, wiped up tears, waited in queues to pay our bills, taken the dog to the vet and helped with homework and all this I did for love and no material remuneration."
Role play 3
Man comes home from work exhausted and slips quietly into the house unobserved, goes and lies on his bed and has some desperately needed alone time, a space to breathe quietly and just allow the spinning wheel of the rat race to slowly subside.
His wife seeing he is worn out, gets on with making the dinner and makes him a cup of hot tea for when he wakes up.
Role play 4
Man comes home via the pub, having downed his sorrows with a few ales and demands his dinner.
His wife, having already eaten with the kids, yells: "It's in the warmer". Feeling unloved and uncared for, he complains about the meal which is now spoiled to which his wife retaliates: "Well, make your own f@*+^ing food then!
So, the question then is: Which is the correct role play? Which of the 4 men and which of the four women are right?
If you chose man no. 1, you chose the Patriarch, the traditional man who is the head of the home. He is the bully. Woman no. 1 is the submissive, subservient wife, who is willing to take the rap for the sake of peace.
Man no. 2 could be a Patriarch or could be a normal guy just venting and letting off steam from his one-eyed perspective.
Woman no. 2 is more empowered and stands up for herself. She knows her self-worth.
Man no. 3 is more spiritually in tune with his needs. He goes within to find his peace and restore his balance.
Wife no. 3 is tuned inwardly too. She respects her man's space and allows him space to be.
Man no. 4 is your proverbial macho archetype. He is just trying to drown out today's pain with alcohol and putting off for tomorrow what he can't confront today. He is your caveman.
Woman no. 4 is your cave woman. She can give back as much as she gets. She is a survivor.
So, haven't we realised that all these role plays are some one's truth and aren't all these truths interchangeable? There are no right or wrong actions or reactions. Doesn't wife no. 1 deserve the husband she's got. She still needs to learn to stand up for herself and until she does, she will continue attracting the same sort of abuse. And that said is man no. 1 wrong for being the Patriarch. No, the system needs the bullies to create the space for growth in those who choose those lessons.
And so if we work through all the role plays, don't we observe that we all have our truth and there are a million more role plays which are each players truth?
We are all players in the game of life. We get to create our lives by living our truth. We are free to interchange our truth when it no longer serves us.
That's what I love about life. Nothing is cast in concrete.
Are you empowered by your truth?
If not, change it.
in love
Nicolette
Sunday 9 October 2011
Hold me/Put me down/leave me Alone
Hold me, put me down, leave me alone... Funny how if we think about it , we all live our lives in this perpetual cycle.
First we started out as an infant, craving and needing the human touch and assurance of our parents. Then we became a toddler, needing to be put down so we could touch, feel and taste our fascinating worlds around us. Then as we gained confidence we rebelled from our fearful parents' over protective hawk eyes and started to explore our space by ourselves. We wanted to express our independence and explore our separateness, our egos. "Mine, mine, mine!" was the order of the day only to be countered by the sudden realisation that we were alone and the subsequent retreat to the security of our parents' comforting embrace.
There are seasons in our lives when we crave and need to be held and protected, to feel safe in the arms of our loved ones, and then there are times when we want to be let free to explore our horizons and grow.
Teenagers are a wonderful example of a mixture of these feelings. They want to break free of the shackles of their parents, and 'leave me alone' becomes their shout as they assert their independence as young adults, trying to find their identities. Yet at the same time, the 'hold me tight' needs to be met by the love and understanding from their peers.
Is it therefore a surprise that we continually move in and out of these three cycles of needing reinforcement and affirming, to wanting our freedom to explore and space for solitude?
According to Desmond Morris, in his book 'Intimate Behaviour', this is perfectly normal behaviour for adults as well and the sooner we accept this, the sooner we'll let go of fear when our partner starts to pull away from us in order to journey along the path of self discovery and spiritual growth.
A growing distance between partners is not a signal for alarm. It is a completely natural occurrence for all of us. We all alternate periods of greater intimacy with periods of greater distance. It is rather like the ebb and flow of the ocean. Just because the ocean recedes away from the shore line, isn't a signal for panic. We know with assurity that the tide will come flowing back in. And in the case of a tsunami when it recedes very far out, just know it is coming back in with great vengeance. It's part of our checks and balances.
A growing distance can be part of a cycle that returns to redefine a relationship in a new way that can surpass the intimacy that existed before.
Change is such an important part of our interactions with others. Often when we think we have lost something from our relationship or fear that we are losing our loved ones, a transformation occurs and yes, perhaps our relationship may shift from one of intense passion to one of seeing the other as a separate individual, with faults and weaknesses, like ourselves, but it is at this amazing pivotal point that we can really commit to the growth of the other which is the ultimate act of true love.
In much the same way as we discovered that our parents weren't perfect, when the tide washed back in we redefined our relationship with them as equals, as friends. And so it is with our life partners, after the honeymoon phase has run its course, we explore our parameters and return to a deeper knowing and understanding of each other. How perfect is that.
I'm sure if we had been taught this wise lesson a long time ago, there'd be far fewer relationship breakups and a lot more trusting and acceptance and a deeper respect for one another.
So whether you find yourself being swept out to sea in the backwash or caught in the swirl of an eddy or swept up in the mightiest wave about to crash onto the shore, just know that you're exactly where you're meant to be and that you will repeat this cycle endlessly until you breathe your last breath.
I just love life and all its precious lessons, don't you?
Have an awesome week
love
Nicolette
First we started out as an infant, craving and needing the human touch and assurance of our parents. Then we became a toddler, needing to be put down so we could touch, feel and taste our fascinating worlds around us. Then as we gained confidence we rebelled from our fearful parents' over protective hawk eyes and started to explore our space by ourselves. We wanted to express our independence and explore our separateness, our egos. "Mine, mine, mine!" was the order of the day only to be countered by the sudden realisation that we were alone and the subsequent retreat to the security of our parents' comforting embrace.
There are seasons in our lives when we crave and need to be held and protected, to feel safe in the arms of our loved ones, and then there are times when we want to be let free to explore our horizons and grow.
Teenagers are a wonderful example of a mixture of these feelings. They want to break free of the shackles of their parents, and 'leave me alone' becomes their shout as they assert their independence as young adults, trying to find their identities. Yet at the same time, the 'hold me tight' needs to be met by the love and understanding from their peers.
Is it therefore a surprise that we continually move in and out of these three cycles of needing reinforcement and affirming, to wanting our freedom to explore and space for solitude?
According to Desmond Morris, in his book 'Intimate Behaviour', this is perfectly normal behaviour for adults as well and the sooner we accept this, the sooner we'll let go of fear when our partner starts to pull away from us in order to journey along the path of self discovery and spiritual growth.
A growing distance between partners is not a signal for alarm. It is a completely natural occurrence for all of us. We all alternate periods of greater intimacy with periods of greater distance. It is rather like the ebb and flow of the ocean. Just because the ocean recedes away from the shore line, isn't a signal for panic. We know with assurity that the tide will come flowing back in. And in the case of a tsunami when it recedes very far out, just know it is coming back in with great vengeance. It's part of our checks and balances.
A growing distance can be part of a cycle that returns to redefine a relationship in a new way that can surpass the intimacy that existed before.
Change is such an important part of our interactions with others. Often when we think we have lost something from our relationship or fear that we are losing our loved ones, a transformation occurs and yes, perhaps our relationship may shift from one of intense passion to one of seeing the other as a separate individual, with faults and weaknesses, like ourselves, but it is at this amazing pivotal point that we can really commit to the growth of the other which is the ultimate act of true love.
In much the same way as we discovered that our parents weren't perfect, when the tide washed back in we redefined our relationship with them as equals, as friends. And so it is with our life partners, after the honeymoon phase has run its course, we explore our parameters and return to a deeper knowing and understanding of each other. How perfect is that.
I'm sure if we had been taught this wise lesson a long time ago, there'd be far fewer relationship breakups and a lot more trusting and acceptance and a deeper respect for one another.
So whether you find yourself being swept out to sea in the backwash or caught in the swirl of an eddy or swept up in the mightiest wave about to crash onto the shore, just know that you're exactly where you're meant to be and that you will repeat this cycle endlessly until you breathe your last breath.
I just love life and all its precious lessons, don't you?
Have an awesome week
love
Nicolette
Monday 3 October 2011
I am Me Own
"I am the living, loving, joyous expression of life. I am my own person!"
This is my positive affirmation for the next while and one I borrowed from Louise Hay.
Isn't it fascinating how just when we think we have done enough growing and have conquered a milestone of challenges, emerging victorious, we seem to get hit with another scourge of the same challenge, but perhaps at a deeper level? It's almost as though we are required to peel back a few more layers of the onion and get deeper to weed out the core issue.
How often do we take on other people's stuff? Do we do it knowingly or just because we think it is our duty? We must feel really inadequate to voluntarily take on another's anger, hostility, fear, low-self esteem, etc. Don't we have enough of our own challenges to tackle without taking on those of our peers? Or do we feel that we have greater coping skills and therefore rush to help put out the self-inflicted fires induced by our fellow passengers in life?
Perhaps we feel it is our way of earning treasures for ourselves for another plane or improving our karma.
One thing I know for sure is this: we came into this world alone and we are going out alone. No matter how many people wash across our paths in the period between those two events, no one will be able to hold our hands as we cross the barrier between this material world and the other realm to which we belong.
My mother loves to tell the story of when I was only two and a half years old, snuggled in between my parents in bed one morning. My mom asks me:"Nicolette, are you mommy's girl or daddy's girl?" to which I reply:"I love me mommy and I love me daddy, but I me own".
So, I ask myself, why is it, when I had such a clear insight into knowing this truth, at the age of two and a half, that I find myself letting people get in under my skin?
"I am my own person!" I shout just to remind myself yet again.
How often do we find ourselves trying to help people along the way, attempting to solve their problems for them and offering them baskets full of advice? Or worse, we try and act like a scape goat and accept their fears and inadequacies as though they belonged to us, and literally carry their burdens which weigh us down causing us illness and bottled frustration and anger?
We all know the story of the butterfly, trying to free itself from its chrysalis, when a well meaning passerby compassionately helps it to untangle its wings and break free. Unfortunately that butterfly never flew, because the struggle required of the butterfly to break free, was the magic key to building the strength to fly.
Why do we want to tell everyone around us how to navigate the path of least obstacles, with no suffering or lessons.? Isn't it these very lessons that make us strong and wise? Don't each and every one of us deserve to find out for ourselves, create our own paths and fight our own battles?
We always seem to feel that unless we are doing something, making something happen, saving the world, that we are not becoming more spiritual?
But isn't the lesson: "To become spiritual I simply need to become myself"?
I quote John Perkins in 'Shapeshifting': "Just be, don't try and become anything....
happiness is not about production and consumption but simply a matter of feeling our connectedness, experiencing the euphoria of being. It seemed to me that such a realisation allows us to break through a barrier that has oppressed modern, industrial cultures for a long time, opening us up to the possibility of defining ourselves and our relationships outside the centuries-old limitations that have locked us into the shackles of fear, uncertainty, and the need to take control."
There isn't a single ingredient we need to add to ourselves to make us more spiritual. We are spiritual beings. All we need do is reach within to our own Divine Nature and follow the life lessons from the path of our hearts and our spirits will be joyful and free.
So, let's love ourselves
Let's be ourselves
Let's be living, loving, joyous expressions of ourselves
and let's stop trying to fix the world and fix the one we can, ourselves!
until next week
Nicolette
This is my positive affirmation for the next while and one I borrowed from Louise Hay.
Isn't it fascinating how just when we think we have done enough growing and have conquered a milestone of challenges, emerging victorious, we seem to get hit with another scourge of the same challenge, but perhaps at a deeper level? It's almost as though we are required to peel back a few more layers of the onion and get deeper to weed out the core issue.
How often do we take on other people's stuff? Do we do it knowingly or just because we think it is our duty? We must feel really inadequate to voluntarily take on another's anger, hostility, fear, low-self esteem, etc. Don't we have enough of our own challenges to tackle without taking on those of our peers? Or do we feel that we have greater coping skills and therefore rush to help put out the self-inflicted fires induced by our fellow passengers in life?
Perhaps we feel it is our way of earning treasures for ourselves for another plane or improving our karma.
One thing I know for sure is this: we came into this world alone and we are going out alone. No matter how many people wash across our paths in the period between those two events, no one will be able to hold our hands as we cross the barrier between this material world and the other realm to which we belong.
My mother loves to tell the story of when I was only two and a half years old, snuggled in between my parents in bed one morning. My mom asks me:"Nicolette, are you mommy's girl or daddy's girl?" to which I reply:"I love me mommy and I love me daddy, but I me own".
So, I ask myself, why is it, when I had such a clear insight into knowing this truth, at the age of two and a half, that I find myself letting people get in under my skin?
"I am my own person!" I shout just to remind myself yet again.
How often do we find ourselves trying to help people along the way, attempting to solve their problems for them and offering them baskets full of advice? Or worse, we try and act like a scape goat and accept their fears and inadequacies as though they belonged to us, and literally carry their burdens which weigh us down causing us illness and bottled frustration and anger?
We all know the story of the butterfly, trying to free itself from its chrysalis, when a well meaning passerby compassionately helps it to untangle its wings and break free. Unfortunately that butterfly never flew, because the struggle required of the butterfly to break free, was the magic key to building the strength to fly.
Why do we want to tell everyone around us how to navigate the path of least obstacles, with no suffering or lessons.? Isn't it these very lessons that make us strong and wise? Don't each and every one of us deserve to find out for ourselves, create our own paths and fight our own battles?
We always seem to feel that unless we are doing something, making something happen, saving the world, that we are not becoming more spiritual?
But isn't the lesson: "To become spiritual I simply need to become myself"?
I quote John Perkins in 'Shapeshifting': "Just be, don't try and become anything....
happiness is not about production and consumption but simply a matter of feeling our connectedness, experiencing the euphoria of being. It seemed to me that such a realisation allows us to break through a barrier that has oppressed modern, industrial cultures for a long time, opening us up to the possibility of defining ourselves and our relationships outside the centuries-old limitations that have locked us into the shackles of fear, uncertainty, and the need to take control."
There isn't a single ingredient we need to add to ourselves to make us more spiritual. We are spiritual beings. All we need do is reach within to our own Divine Nature and follow the life lessons from the path of our hearts and our spirits will be joyful and free.
So, let's love ourselves
Let's be ourselves
Let's be living, loving, joyous expressions of ourselves
and let's stop trying to fix the world and fix the one we can, ourselves!
until next week
Nicolette
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