The desire to really make a difference is the start of every development.
How often do you really give suit to what you really want; really feel, and really think?
Or do you more get up in the morning with a list of things capturing your thoughts that are expected from you; or that you think or feel are expected of you; or that you expect yourself to do?
Without realizing it, we often allow ourselves to be guided by whatever it is the outside world has on offer. From commercials and news bulletins to rights and wrongs we detect in the world; as if we are part of a movie in which we play a certain role.
This morning I rebelled. I stepped out of my role of understanding mother, friend, counselor, feeling a bit off.
This rarely happens to me. I prefer to stay in the flow, to pursue whatever it is I expect from life. Once I step out off the high road it feels like my whole being is greedily grabbing the chance to switch itself off. I cancel all my appointments; eat what’s left in the fridge (which sometimes produces some amazing soups) and hang an ‘out of order’ sign on my connection with the outside world, and keep the problems of others at a distance unless they need immediate attention.
This morning when I ‘caved in’ I turned totally inward to do some soul searching and ask myself in there a couple of questions,
Question 1:
‘How often do I actually do this?
How often do I ask myself how I am doing. My children, friends and colleagues get the question often enough, but how often do I pose this question to myself?
Question 2:
And then when I do ask myself how I’m doing; what are the thoughts and feelings that surface? What answers does my soul give?
Question 3:
And then, question 3, what do I do with the answers that surfaces? Do give them space or do I dismiss them as irrelevant to my life at the moment ?
When you click on the Nan Yar- Who Am I personal development card featured in this blog; you’ll find it reflects these questions really well. The card is titled The Hermit; I call it the meditation card.
It always reminds me of a saying by Tibetan teacher Sogyal Rinpoche who says:
Western laziness consists of cramming our lives with compulsive activity, so there is no time to address the real issues.”
Culturally it is often seen as commendable to keep busy, yet we all need that quiet time to find out what we really want, feel and are capable of. The road to happiness is paved by the exploration of the soul. In quiet moments, we find answers otherwise drowned out by the noise.
Keep this with you as thought of the day and see what it summons up from within you for whatever it is you really want to pursue to sow happiness in your life.
Ingrid Schippers,
10-04-2018
Click on the card to learn more about its background
The spoken version of this blog, features as end note on ‘Dutchbuzz’, the radio hour for Internationals every Tuesday from 10 to 11 pm on ‘Den Haag FM and can be found in the Programme Archive of the Dutchbuzz podcasts, dated April 11th , 2018.
