Tag: Eco-Spirituality

We Will Shine

We Will Shine

“When I know they are listening, when I know I really have them, I couldn’t sing off-key if I tried. I’m exactly the person I was always meant to be. I’m not afraid of anything.” In the movie Bohemian Rhapsody, Freddie Mercury’s character says this to his girlfriend after the band begins to attract large audiences and she asks him what it’s like to perform in front of so many people. This scene in the movie replays in my mind often.

I allow my mind to wander through experiences in life…When have I felt I am exactly the person I am meant to be?

Recently as I explored this question, as if on cue, an email arrived with various teachers sharing their idea of being on purpose. Here’s a bit of what they said:

-Be patient and loyal to something deep within you. Be loyal to it no matter what.

-There is a crystal clear path within…follow the way that creates lightness within your body.

-Find the place where deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.

In the high school football stadium in the 1970’s, Queen’s music inspired a generation. Stomp, stomp, clap…stomp, stomp, clap…stomp, stomp, clap rocked the bleachers as We Will Rock You inspired us. I remember feeling alive with amazing, endless hope for the very essence of life as the entire student section came alive. Carefree, with my spirit open to every possibility, their music was fuel for life. We Are the Champions was even our senior class song…

During my teenage and young adult years I never knew the story of Queen, of Freddie Mercury. Their music is what spoke to me, what made me join with others of my generation to stomp, stomp, clap…..stomp, stomp clap and rock the world around us.

Odd that now, as I dive deeper into my life and purpose, their story becomes known to me and these decades later Freddie Mercury’s dynamic energy and passion is inspiration…long after he died.

After reviewing old videos of his performances there is no doubt that he was fulfilling his life purpose when he was on stage. The magnetism and profound energy he generated between the audience and the band was magic. Freddie’s final wish was to do what he was born to do as long as he could—perform…like a shooting star.

Days ago this bit of writing began to come together but the question kept echoing in my mind and heart…when do I know for sure I am doing what I came here to do? Today, as I cycled at sunrise, the question continued to repeat. And still, as I sit with Buddy dog curled up beside me, the answer isn’t totally clear.

There have been moments….photographing humpback whales while floating motionless in the Atlantic Ocean, a calf a few feet from me…a manatee laying its head in my hand and gazing into my eyes, sharing a transmission from the deepest realms of Nature…a female spotted dolphin healing my headache and swimming with me and her calf…kneeling at a standing stone circle in north England and weeping about the election and ‘hearing’ the outcome would hasten the awakening…standing at a cliff in Ireland and feeling the immense Presence that has been with me ever since…writing about these and many more experiences and sharing them…diving with an octopus that danced with me…hearing the Song of the Sea as I was diving in Bonaire…diving in caves in Mexico that awakened the shaman in me…being present for moments such as these and more but perhaps sharing these experiences with others and watching their faces light up with wonder and awe and feeling their appreciation for deepening with Nature helps me really feel I am doing what I was born to do.

In that recent email one of the teachers said this: There is nobody designed to do your life’s purpose better than you.

When I write from my heart, I feel that truth. When I facilitate women’s circles I feel it. When I am in the water with humpback whales…or manatees or dolphins…and listen with my heart, photograph them and then communicate the experience by writing or speaking so that others can touch their sacredness…I feel a sort of personal mastery. I come alive when I connect Nature with humans.

I’m not a performer like Freddie Mercury but I feel the dynamism within awaken when I feel deep passion and love for Nature and the desire to share the sacredness of life on this planet. When I allow that to flow I become transformed, on fire with purpose. It is during these moments that I become a channel and simply allow Earth to rise up and move through me—a crystal channel—an arrow of fire traveling at the speed of light.

The lyrics to Queen’s Don’t Stop Me Now have been in my mind all day…“I feel alive and the world I’ll turn it inside out, yeah…and floating around in ecstasy…I’m a shooting star, leaping through the sky like a tiger defying the laws of gravity…I’m burning through the sky, yeah, two hundred degrees. That’s why they call me Mister Fahrenheit. I’m traveling at the speed of light…”

Perhaps the movie is helping me remember and clarify my purpose. Maybe Freddie’s life reminds me to do what I was born to do and drop the fear. Once we fully commit to our purpose and come alive to it, the fear can be burned up in the passion. Sometimes it takes a while to figure that out but if we pay attention to the whispers within and listen when our heart speaks, we will find our way…and we will shine.

Resources

Resources

What resources do you have in your life? With this question we might begin to list bank account totals, assets that might be used as collateral for a loan or some other material possessions. But imagine instead resources much more vital and significant than those.

In the work of reclaiming the deep, soulful life I use the word resource as something that strengthens a person or supports the expansion of their inner world. A resource is something that provides nourishment for the soul.

Last night a couple friends and I drove to a quiet part of the beach for sunset and a meteor shower. Conditions couldn’t have been more perfect…few clouds, nice breeze, no biting insects, very few people with flashlights…it was, for our busy tourist area, amazing.

As darkness deepened, beauty of the firmament deepened. Space seemed to open before us. First it was the planets that shone brightly and then deep space seemed to reveal itself as light of the day faded. It was as if we were looking into infinity.

This morning as I was in that dreamy state of reflection, I sensed inner expansion lingering from brushing against the numinous Universe. The experience of last night became a resource for me to draw upon, helping me expand into a truer expression of my Self and feel a greater sense of connection with all life…with the Divine.

When I feel constricted or fearful I can reflect back on how it felt to be with the night sky, to sense the Infinite within and the connection to something so much bigger than ‘me.’ This memory can help me move through moments of unease and it prompted me to be mindful of the many inner resources that arise from connecting deeply with Nature, from moving into Oneness.

In the work of reclaiming the life of the soul, a resource is an experience that becomes a memory-tool that takes us to a deeper relationship with our Self and Oneness.

What resources do you have to help you expand into a deeper, truer expression of your true self? They are priceless treasures….remember to use them.

On Being Sensitive

On Being Sensitive

“All trees are not good trees,” she said as she leaned over, placed her hand over my arm and smiled with that knowing smile that she was right and I, because I dare to care about all trees, was wrong. It wasn’t the first time I was put in my place because I am sensitive to life.

My first memory of being ‘put down’ for being sensitive was when I was a child. My dad and I were watching a movie on television where an old man had saved, at great hardship, to purchase a piece of glass for the window in his cabin. After he bought it and installed it, his mule kicked a bucket through the window. I cried and my dad laughed at me for crying. That’s my first memory of feeling compassion and being pushed out of the tribe.

Those of us who are sensitive live in a world where we are put down, outcast, made to feel less than, called names and in general judged to be stupid or simply wrong. And because we are sensitive as part of our very nature, we sometimes feel completely out of step with the rest of the world. I know many of you are keenly aware of this truth.

It is a painful life we live until we become strong enough to recognize the bullies for what they are, until we come to value our beautiful sensitivity and champion ourselves…and even then we can get stung and so begins the process of healing that deep wound again….and again.

Because we receive negative feedback so often about our deepest, truest selves, we have difficulty believing that we are whole and beautiful. If the world mirrors back to us that empaths are silly, flakey, ridiculous then how do we believe the truth about ourselves? How do we learn to trust ourselves? How do we claim our space in the world?

Clarissa Pinkola Estes says, in her series Mother Night, that people who feel, that are sensitives, are pushed to the edge, are outcast…these people who are the artists, the creatives, the healers with their open hearts and minds…they are pushed to the fringes of society. But when this happens, she warns, the culture dies because they are not allowed to do their work, for their work is nourishment for the psyche.

I was having a rough day and asked for guidance. When I arrived home from cycling I put the sound files on my phone on random play and Clarissa’s series was what came to me…as a big answer. Listening to her reminded me that my empathic ability is my gift. My ability to feel deeply is a gift…to the world. How many of us can breathe that statement in? Try it… My ability to feel deeply is a gift to the world.

Besides the fact that we are outcast and have to deal with that our entire lives, we are keenly aware of the seemingly multitude of beings crying out in pain these days….children, families, animals, wildlife, wild places and yes, even trees. So how do we cope with this two-edged sword of empathy, of sensitivity?

I would suggest not trying to fit in to a world that tries to consistently push us out. So you want to push us out, okay. I will walk along the fringe…I will dance along the fringe and I will find those who will dance with me. I will connect with my sisters and brothers who also bear the scars of feeling in an unfeeling world. Clarissa calls us Scar Clan of the Tribe of the Sacred Heart. We recognize each other by our ability to feel deeply, love deeply and we have the audacity to care deeply.

And then I would suggest spending time to connect with our feelings of love and compassion and to do so without shame. We were taught to be ashamed of our compassion and kindness so let us un-teach that to ourselves and simply sit in stillness and silence with acceptance for ourselves….our beautiful, bright selves.

Everything is Possible

And lastly, I would suggest allowing the beautiful feelings to be expressed through the creativity we bring to the world….writing, photographing, painting, dancing, singing, speaking, connecting with Nature. What do we love? What do we feel such burning compassion and kindness toward? What are we waiting for my loves?