Maybe it’s New Years and a time for reflection and review, maybe it’s a few things I’ve been told recently, maybe it’s the effect of a film I saw recently … no matter, for me it’s a time for taking stock.
Taking stock is so very important.
When you get busy, stressed, live life fast, you often get lost in the details. The urgent little jobs that you have in a life mean sometimes all you see is your to-do list. You then get into coping and survival mode. Life isn't easy, fun, profound, nor truly alive.
When you get your head up you can see clearly. "Am I living life the way I want to?"
What a great question. And if not ... what needs to happen?
Sometimes slowing down is the best way to speed up. Sometimes stopping is the very thing you need to move forward.
Then you can navigate according to your why, as in why you are alive: the very core reasons what you want your life to be about, and not the urgent little jobs clammering for your attention.
Needless to say Ascension is magic for clarifying what you want from life, your why, and where you are compromising on that.
It's the New Year. Why not take a look, make some course corrections if necessary, and keep your head up?
But be warned.
You know if you look, you will find … right? If you find stuff you’re not proud of, go easy.
Now you know. Now you know so you can do something different. And that is key, the doing something different.
The funny thing is, sometimes you don’t even need to do differently. It might be about doing less, and BEING differently.
What do I mean?
For me, the New Year reflection is certainly about doing less – the un-necessary, the un-true, the doubt and fear-filled – and being more.
You know all those things that get us, well, to be honest, get ME?
I’ve been seeing – and none of this is as epic as it has formerly been in my life – but I’ve been seeing how impatient I can be, how yesterday isn’t soon enough, how frustration comes and then pushy I can be, how I think being recognised as a great Ishaya or great teacher is the way forward to get what I want from life, how numbers on my email list or video views or book sales is the key thing.
It all means I’ve just forgotten my why. And my why has been getting clearer and clearer recently.
My why is my vows as an Ishaya monk. My why is a life of integrity to that inner knowing. My why is a life free of shoulds and struggle and suffering. My why is to make life easy. My why is to know the silence so completely there is nothing left. My why is to not give a millimetre to doubt and fear. My why is to do what I can to help others from all of that.
I’ve been seeing how I can think there is a path to my why via the details, or I can simply just be my why.
Being my why is so much easier, so much truer.
I get so inspired by stories of legends, of heroes who conquer the dragon of their fear, of honour, integrity, respect, truth, of total Aliveness and living the life I was born to live.
I shouldn’t be surprised by this given my name, but that’s my why.
I strongly feel if you remember your why, all the core reasons you want your life to be about, that becomes your GPS, your direction, your signpost to more.
Without which you are lost: stress and struggle and suffering and compromise can come flowing in, all simply because you forgot what was important.
Take a moment to find out your why. Then when you know it, stay reminded of it. It’s the most important, if not crucial, thing – and something you will never regret maintaining.